Chapter 3
Unholy Alliance
CLARISSA
The sun had set hours ago but I kept walking with no destination in mind. The pack guards had escorted me to the boundary, wanting to be certain that I was gone for good. No one listened to my explanation. The Alpha had spoken and his word was law.
I was not allowed to take anything out of the pack because according to Clyde, I belonged to the pack and by implication, I owned nothing. I had given my time, my youth and almost my life for Wardwick Pack but when it was time for them to defend my honour, they had rejected me. My fate had been decided even before the mock trial.
Having eaten nothing, I stumbled through the dark, dizzy and weak. The urge to throw up kept hitting the back of my throat and I had to stop every now and then to steady myself. Soon, I could no longer see where I was going despite my werewolf abilities. My mouth was dry and my stomach ached.
Somehow, I made it to the side of the tarred road and laid there, resigned to my fate. I was too tired to go on and death seemed appealing at that moment. Suddenly, bright headlights came on and shone on me. I blinked weakly, the lights partially blinding me. It was a vehicle for sure and someone was slamming the door shut.
“Hey, are you alright?” a heavily bearded man asked me, his voice gruff because of his thick accent. He was old and his grizzly hair was hidden under a ball cap. He wore a shirt with cut off sleeves although the night was cold or was it just me who felt the bone-deep cold?
“Miss, can you hear me?” he continued asking questions but I could not lift my tongue in response. He pressed the back of his hand against my forehead and it was then I knew he was human. Werewolves and werecats had a double pulse count, one for ourselves and the other for our inner animals. Humans had just one and were more vulnerable because of that.
I opened my mouth but no words came out despite the busy activity in my head.
“Woah, you are burning up, miss. How did y— well, you have not been answering any of my questions so why bother asking more? Here’s what I am going to do.”
He explained that he would drive me into the city so I could get medical attention. He wanted to know if I was okay with that. I grunted as my answer and he took it fairly. With a strength I had not suspected he had, he picked me up, cold fingers behind my neck and knees.
“You will be fine,” he whispered as he secured me in his truck. But for the seatbelt, I would have slumped forward, probably banging my head against the seat in front. He didn’t know me yet he had come to my rescue. He kept murmuring under his breath, kind words of reassurance as my eyes spun.. If only he had known what I really was, he would have left me to die by the roadside.
Humans had an unending feud with supernaturals. To keep the peace, the boundary had been created to prevent them from interfering in our communal life and us from trespassing into their lands. The feud had been revived when the new mayor of Rosedale, Craig Hurdle complained that the werewolf community had more land than the humans. He was making some big plans and I had begun my underground investigation.
I had stolen the maps and knives Clyde found in my room from the mayor’s office after a successful stakeout. Fawnhide Pack had struck an unholy alliance with them on the condition that they kept their land and ours to themselves. It was Alpha Ivor of Fawnhide Pack who had pinpointed our territory weak points because we had done battle with them on countless occasions.
The truck jerked, throwing me forward roughly. I groaned, clenching my teeth together.
“Shit. Sorry about that,” the old man apologized, slowing the car down to check on my progress. “Damn Mayor ain’t doing anything about this bloody road. Too busy dragging land with animals. Bastard,” he added, resuming his driving. I winced at his insult, too weak to correct him.
Werewolves were animals first before we were people so he was partially right. However, we were much more than that. We were a close knit class of people with various gifts and abilities. My head ached from thinking nonstop so I closed my eyes and tried to relax. I didn’t know if I was safe with the human but I decided to put my life in his hands.
“The doctor will see you now, Miss Clarissa. Try to cooperate with him,” the pimple-faced nurse advised, smiling at me with sympathy shining in her eyes. It was early in the morning by the time we got to the city. The old man whose name I had heard from the nurses had driven me to a general hospital. At first, they had assumed Mr Taylor was my father but he immediately rectified their assumption.
He had to go home and let his wife know he was fine but he promised to come check on me. After depositing some money for my treatment, he left me in the hands of the nurses. My head still felt like it was full of wool but I fought to stay alert. Soon, I discovered that coming to the hospital had been a big mistake.
I had to distract the nurse from checking my pulse by breaking down into fake tears and pretended to be asleep when they came to ask me some questions. Not like I was not genuinely tired but I had gotten some rest in Mr Taylor’s truck. The nurse finally ran a few tests on me and went to fetch the resident doctor.
“Is somebody giving the nurses a hard time?” the doctor joked as he slipped into my room. His voice was low but carried enough power to draw my attention. His face was slim and a pair of reading glasses bracketed his narrow nose. He hovered around me, checking my face for signs of strain.
“I am fine. I would like to leave,” I demanded and my body chose that minute to counter me. I launched out of the bed and ran into the bathroom, emptying my guts into the bowels of the toilet. Clutching the seat hard, I dragged air into my lungs, gasping when it hurt. It was like someone was hacking at my innards.
The doctor appeared from nowhere, pulling his glasses off and helped me rinse out my mouth. He bound my hair with a rubber ring and mopped my neck with a warm towel. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw a sick, old woman looking back at me instead of the beautiful bride I had been yesterday. I noticed something else: a pair of golden eyes glowed from behind me.
“Yes, I am a werewolf too, Clarissa but that is between us. Congratulations, you are pregnant.”