Hannah Pole - Silence of the Wolves

She held onto the image of her dark-haired man, desperately clinging to his blurred, handsome features. She liked him, she decided. He was nice. Though that might just be the medicine they had her on talking. Crippling heat engulfed her, taking her into the blackness once more.

When Tamriel finally passed out for the second time, Leyth heaved a sigh of relief. She was in so much pain, writhing on the gurney, tears streaming down her face. Every time she cried out in pain it scared the hell out of him. The thought of her in pain was hard, the thought of her dying? God-awful. Those fears were brought on by the blatant knowledge that whatever happened to her was on him. It was his goddamn fault and he cursed himself for letting her fight the infection alone, unprepared and afraid. God he was such an idiot.

She was strong though, so damn strong. Even in the state she was in, being practically burnt alive by the fever, her body physically tearing itself apart, she was still battling with the pain, trying to find out what was happening to her, though he could clearly see she was in agony and, hell, did that make him respect the crap out of her.

‘I will look after you,’ he whispered, absently stroking her hair. The beautiful strands were damp with sweat; her whole body beaded with it. Her skin still felt like a furnace against his fingers. Though she was now lying limp and her breathing was steady, he knew the war her body was fighting; knew the pain and the stress it was going through.

He bent down to kiss her forehead as sympathy for what she was going through overwhelmed him, lingering slightly as his lips met her skin. Though the heat of her scalded his lips he couldn’t help but notice the rush of heat that roared through him as he touched her, the feel of her against him, the scent of her filling his nostrils; it forced a primal urge at the very core of him to come rushing to the surface without so much as a whisper of hesitation.

She was just… beautiful. Even in this state. Leyth barked out an abrupt curse, where the hell was this soppy crap coming from?

Sliding down to the cold, tiled floor, he leant against the gurney and wondered what on earth he was going to do.

‘What in the hell?’ Julian snapped as Leyth stormed his way into his office. He narrowed luminous blue eyes, his blonde hair was tied back in a long plait falling down his back, out of the way, and he was wearing his fighting gear. He was supposed to be out patrolling with the others tonight, but Sod’s law would have him home just as Leyth got back with Tamriel, unannounced and without permission.

‘Julian, I don’t have time for this.’ Leyth spat, marching towards the heavy desk that all but dominated the large room.

‘Hell yeah, you do!’ Julian growled, blocking Leyth with his huge, muscular figure. ‘I am your leader and my word goes. And it’s my house you’re marching into.’

Out of habit more than respect at this point, Leyth dipped his head down in a half bow to his leader. Unfortunately, Julian’s rule came before any other responsibilities, and being that this merry band of fighters was ruled by the Council, you were pretty buggered if you didn’t abide by its laws.

‘Sorry, she’s going through her fever early. She’s not ready yet. I needed to get her to Doc.’

‘Who is she?’ Julian demanded.

‘She’s John’s kid.’

‘Shit.’ Julian ducked his head down, rubbing a hand across his eyes. ‘How is she?’

‘Not good. The infection is still strong, it could kill her.’

‘She’s a strong female, Leyth; she’s John’s blood. She will be fine.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Christ, you need to shower,’ Julian exclaimed as Leyth came to sit in the leather chair opposite his leader. ‘And eat, you look like hell.’

‘Yeah, maybe when she’s come through the other side.’

‘No, man, you need to do it like, now. Go and get some sleep, Leyth. That’s an order. Doc’s there to look after her.’

Leyth threw him a look; there was absolutely no way he was leaving that female in the hands of another male. Not to eat, not to sleep. This five minutes away from her was pretty much all he could take, and even now he was twitching with the need to go back to her… and do what? What was this desperate fury at the thought of leaving her about?

Hell, he just had a job to do. Nothing more, nothing less.

He needed to remember that.

‘Goddamn it, Leyth,’ Julian snapped, rubbing his eyes. ‘If you’re really intent on killing yourself, then at least have a shower. There’s one in the medical room she’s in so you can still keep an eye on her.’

‘Fine.’

‘Fine.’

Well, this situation had just gotten mighty awkward.

‘What are you going to do with her once the infection is gone?’

‘I have no idea. I honestly don’t know.’

‘Well, can I build her a house on the reserve? And she can stay in a guest room in the meantime.’ Julian started to talk.

‘No,’ Leyth cut him off. ‘We can’t register her with the Council—’

‘Leyth, you know I have to register everyone who goes through the fever that we find or oversee. It’s Council law.’

‘Julian, you know what they’ll do to her.’

‘Well, I can make it bearable, and she can stay with us.’

‘What, and make her feel like an outcast like Sarah? Or better yet, turn her into a slave?’

‘Well, no—’ Julian cursed, long and hard. ‘What do you suggest then?’

‘I really don’t know, I think we need to take her back to her own home so she can live out her life in the normal world, the less the Council know of her the better.’

There was a long pause. ‘OK, so be it. Let me know when you’re sending her home.’

‘Sure thing. Hey, did Alison get to your parents OK?’

‘I guess so, I’ve not had any “where is she?” calls, so I figure she has to be there.’ Julian laughed. ‘Are you going back in the field when Tamriel’s through the change?’

‘Yeah, I guess so.’ Leyth sighed. The thought of life without her seemed so empty.

‘Good, Carl needs to talk to you about that last clean-up you called in.’

‘Can I talk to him about it when I’ve had more sleep?’ Leyth grumbled, he didn’t need any more on his plate right now. He’d killed the tuhrned, and that’s what mattered right?

Julian’s phone chose that moment to ring, and Leyth was grateful for the distraction.

‘Yup, what? Crap, Yeah, I’ll tell him.’ Julian barked, slamming the phone down.

‘Tamriel’s fever is in full swing, you need to go and help Doc.’

Leyth didn’t even spare a second glance at his leader, just hightailed it out of the office and through the body of the mansion to the clinic.

Hammering his way through the door, he skidded to a halt by Tamriel’s bed.

She was writhing around on the gurney, heaving in huge gulps of air, her face was slick with tears and the whimpers that escaped her every now and again were enough to break his damn heart.

This was the hardest part of the fever; the infection was going to take over. He knew you just had to let it take over and hope for the best, but Tamriel had no idea what was happening to her and there was a strong chance that she would reject it and make her body fight against it rather than accept it. And it honestly could kill her.

Tamriel let out an almighty scream as her bones started to splinter and break, her skin stretching as every limb shattered. Leyth braced himself for the infection to spread, for her body to stop fighting and start healing… but it wasn’t happening, she wasn’t healing properly. Just breaking and staying broken.

‘Change, Tamriel, I need you to change,’ he whispered, stroking her hair, as Doc bustled past him, checking her vitals and injecting her with painkillers.