Two

Chapter Two

ORLENA’S POV

“Help him.”

I stopped walking, my heart suddenly beating faster.

I looked around me, but there was no one there. “Who said that?”

For a moment, I thought I was imagining it.

Then I heard the voice again.

Help me.

I froze. My eyes widened. “No…”

I knew that voice, I had not heard it in years.

My wolf.

I slowly placed my hand against my chest as tears filled my eyes. “No, it can’t be.”

I closed my eyes and listened.

There she was, weak , but present.

I could feel her inside me again. “My wolf…”

A broken smile appeared on my face. “I got my wolf back.”

After all these years, after believing the curse had taken her from me forever, I could finally feel her again.

I wanted to be happy. I wanted to hold on to that feeling but  then she spoke again.

Help him.

My smile disappeared.

I looked back toward the injured man lying between the trees.

“No.” I turned away.

Help him.

“I said no.”

I continued walking, but my wolf refused to stay quiet.

Help him.

I clenched my fists. “I am not doing this again.”

I had already saved one helpless man, and that decision had cost me everything.

I had saved Xavren when I found him badly injured in this same forest. I had used the herbs my grandmother taught me about, stayed beside him until he recovered, and even taken the curse meant to destroy his wolf into my own body.

I had lost my ability to shift because of him.

I had protected his secret for years because he begged me to.

And today, he had repaid me by calling me cursed and throwing me out of his pack.

I wiped my tears and kept walking.

Orlena, help him.

“No.”

My wolf had never spoken to me this strongly in years.

Still, I refused.

“I will not save another man just to be punished for it later.”

I walked farther, but my steps became slower, I could not stop thinking about the injured stranger, I could still see the blood covering his clothes, I could still remember how helpless he had looked. I stopped again.

My wolf spoke once more. He needs you.

I closed my eyes. “Why?”

There was no answer. I stood there for a long moment before finally turning around. I hated myself for it, but I went back.

The man was still unconscious. I knelt beside him and checked his wound.

It was deep, and the bleeding had not stopped completely.

I quickly searched the forest for herbs that could help him.

My grandmother had taught me which plants could stop bleeding and reduce swelling, and although I had not expected to use that knowledge again, I remembered exactly what I needed.

I found the herbs, crushed them between my palms, and pressed them against his wound.

The man groaned.

I froze for a moment, then continued, I covered the wound with a piece of cloth from my dress and tied it tightly around him.

The bleeding slowly reduced. I released a breath.

At least he was not going to die because I had left him there.

After treating him, I sat back and looked around the forest.

“Where am I supposed to go now?” I murmured. I wiped my face. “I don’t even know where to go.”

There was no home waiting for me. I had nowhere to return to.

Xavren had made sure of that.

I was about to stand when I heard footsteps approaching.

Several men rushed through the trees.

They immediately surrounded the injured man.

“Sir.” One of them knelt beside him. “Sir, can you hear me?”

The injured man slowly opened his eyes. “Yes.”

His voice was weak.

His men looked relieved. “We have been searching for you.”

The man looked around before asking, “Did you catch the enemy?”

“No.”

His expression hardened. “Where are they?”

“We lost them in the forest.”

The injured man looked angry, but he did not say anything.

His men carefully lifted him from the ground, he  groaned from the pain.

They were about to carry him away when he looked toward me. “Her too.”

One of the men looked at me.

The injured man pointed toward me. “Help her.”

I immediately shook my head. “No, I can manage.”

He looked at me. “You are weak.” 

“I can walk.” I turned away.

One of the men moved toward me, but I stepped back. “I said I can walk.”

The injured man did not argue with me. “Then let her walk.”

His men stopped.

I started walking in the opposite direction.

I took only a few steps before my legs became weak.

I caught myself against a tree.

The injured man saw it. “Take her with us.”

I turned around. “I do not need to go with you.”

“You need rest.”

“I will find somewhere to rest.”

He looked at me for a moment. “You saved me. Let us return the favor.”

I did not want to accept anything from anyone, but I was exhausted, hungry, and had nowhere to go.

I looked at the men around him.

Then I looked at the forest behind me.

There was nowhere for me to go. “Fine.”

His men helped him forward, and I followed them.

We walked through the forest until we reached a large gate.

The guards opened it immediately when they saw the injured man.

I followed them inside, this  was another pack.

I could tell from the way the people moved around us and the way the warriors stood guard everywhere.

Nobody treated the injured man like an ordinary wolf.

They rushed toward him the moment we entered. “Get the healer.”

“Prepare the room.”

“Tell the elders he has returned.”

I remained behind them as the injured man was taken into a large house, I stopped at the entrance.

I did not know what I was doing there.

One of his men turned toward me. “You should come inside.”

I reluctantly followed him.

The house was much larger than anything I had known in my old pack.

People moved quickly around the injured man, but nobody questioned why I was there.

A healer checked his wound. “Who treated this?”

The injured man looked toward me. “She did.”

The healer looked at me in surprise. “You treated him?”

I nodded.

The healer examined the herbs around his wound.

“These herbs stopped the bleeding.”

I said nothing, I only wanted to leave.

The injured man noticed me turning toward the door. “Wait.”

I stopped and looked back at him.

 “You have helped me,” he said.

I did not answer.

“You said you have nowhere to go.”

I lowered my eyes. “That is true.”

“You can stay here.” I looked at him again. “Stay?”

He nodded.

“You need somewhere to rest, and I owe you for saving my life.”

I hesitatedc I did not want to depend on another strangerc I had learned what could happen when I trusted someone with my life but  then I remembered Xavren.

I remembered his face when he stood beside Elyra, I remembered how easily he had erased everything I had done for him.

My hands slowly tightened, maybe  leaving was not the only choice I had, maybe  staying here was better.

If this was a powerful pack, then perhaps I could find a way to become stronger here.

Perhaps I could learn more about the world outside Xavren’s territory.

Perhaps I could build a life that did not depend on him and  maybe one day, when I was strong enough, I could return.

I looked at the injured man. “I will stay.”

He gave a small nod.

One of his men came forward to take me to a room.

I followed him, but my mind remained on Xavren.

He thought he had finished with me.

He thought throwing me out of his pack meant he had destroyed me.

He was wrong.

I had lost my home, but I had gotten something back.

My wolf and  now I had somewhere to stay.

If staying in this strange pack gave me the chance to become stronger, then I would use it.

I would not return to Xavren as the woman he had rejected.

I would return as someone he could no longer look down on.

I would make him remember everything he had done to me.

And when that day came, I would make him regret choosing Elyra over me.

For now, I had nowhere else to go.

So I would stay.

And I would become strong enough to take back everything he had taken from me.