Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Zaira's POV

Will was a middle-aged man who seemed to be losing his already gray mane. His good-natured, light blue eyes only promised good things and he had such a relaxed atmosphere that I was almost uncanny.

He wasn't wearing a white doctor's coat as I expected, but rather faded jeans and a light blue shirt that matched his eye color fantastically. He's currently setting everything up so he could patch me up, not to mention humming placidly through it all.

Also like Luna Heariv, he had allowed me to look into his eyes and I was still reeling from possible reasons why they gave me safe passage. The only answer I could find so far was that they wanted to punish me afterwards. Most likely they're just patching me up so I don't fall dead on the first hit and they can only maim me worse afterwards.

Instinctively I wanted to back down, but I realized that would do me no good. I was in their home, in their pack, I had nowhere to go.

He had just finished getting his supplies ready when he turned to me and started to speak. "You can-" he didn't get any further because I interrupted him. I didn't know what got into me, but I realized that I just had to take more for it.

"Kill me.", emotionless.

His stunned face stared at me, and it took a while for him to break out of his shock. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Just do it. Get it over with right now." I stood motionless in front of him.

"Why on earth would I do that?" he was still staring at me like I'd grown two heads. Why was he making it so difficult for me? I didn't understand him either. Didn't he know about the tortures omegas were inflicting? That just could not be the case.

"You're going to kill me anyway, I'm an omega. Spare me the fight." my voice no longer belonged to me, it belonged to a stranger. I felt like the old Zaira was gone. I was long dead.

I saw a Rigel switch on him and he understood. "We won't hurt anyone here, Zaira, not even you, I swear to you. We are a peaceful pack. I just want to clean your wounds so you're not hurt anymore, okay? You're safe here."

I couldn't believe his words, having been too much the victim of multiple abuses to trust him enough.

"Lie down on the lounger, you'll feel better tomorrow, you'll see.", he smiled at me encouragingly.

Not believing that I could convince him with more words, I obeyed and tried to heave myself onto the stretcher. Sweat poured down my back, but no matter how hard I tried, my body couldn't keep up. Before my knees buckled, Will picked me up and laid me gently on the mattress.

Then he carefully pulled my shirt up so far that my wound became visible. One look was enough for him to know that I needed general anesthesia. He asked me about other injuries and I named them all, the soles of my feet, another one on my upper left arm, lacerations on my back, an injury on my thigh and so on.

Will's eyes were grim, but his voice was soothing as he told me to slowly count backwards from 100.

Everything went black.

***

A deep growl echoed through the room.

The smell of blood and flesh hung in the air.

Another growl sounded. This time louder than before.

I immediately opened my eyes and stared at the wooden roof. I took a deep breath and then my rest was over. I jumped to my feet, scurrying to the plate emitting the heavenly scent, stomach growling, grabbing the half-cooked meat in my hands and devouring it in minutes.

I sighed deeply. Ah that felt good.

Next to the now empty plate, there was a second one. Pancakes, that's supposed to be breakfast. My eyes widened as I thought about it. They had prepared me breakfast and some lunch and then brought me to my room. No one had ever done that for me in my old pack, oh no I wouldn't dream of it, I was the one making food for everyone else and woe was I late.

The sun shone in my face through a large window. So it had to be after noon.

Oh holy moon goddess! How long had I slept?!

If I didn't know better, I would say they would punish me for it. But why did they then treat me, then bring me here, to a nice little hut and then even send me food while I overslept. That didn't make any sense!

Maybe the first few days were just like that, and then hell came? I had no idea, was completely in the dark. I didn't understand this pack.

Since I couldn't get any further with my brooding, I took a closer look at my surroundings. I was in a small wooden hut, which had a kitchen, a corner sofa with a TV - I repeat TV! - and owned a bed. I twirled on my own armpit and inspected everything over and over again with my mouth open in wonder. The whole cottage was made of wood, as was all the furniture inside, not forgetting that there was a plant on almost every corner. My wolf side liked it extremely well, I didn't feel isolated from the forest, but always connected.

As I continued to pace and admire everything, I spotted a door next to the corner of the sofa. Curious, I opened it, behind it was a small bathroom.

I had to dream It just had to be like this.

That's when I realized something was missing. The pain. Holding my breath, I picked up my soiled old t-shirt and carefully peeled off my bandage. And indeed, my wound was cleaned and sewn up with precise stitches. I looked at the rest of the wounds as well, and got the same result. They were all already healing and they didn't hurt anymore.

Next to the shower, I discovered a pile of clothes, a terry towel and various shampoos. With big eyes and a racing pulse, I turned on the shower and then took off my clothes. A surprised sound escaped my lips as soon as the jet of water touched me.

For the first time in a long while, a small smile crept onto my lips and, surprisingly, in that tiny moment I didn't think about ending my life anymore.

I made sure that I kept all wounds away from the water as much as possible, then dried myself off and slipped into the jeans and white fitted top that I had been given. However, I disposed of my old clothes in the garbage. I never wanted to see her again.