Awakening

He tried to open his eyes, but they were crusted shut.  His throat burned from dehydration, and his side felt as if it had been ripped open.  It took several moments for him to do so, but then he remembered what had happened.

He had gone out to hunt again, to clear his mind of his growing discontent.  While in his favorite grove, he found Harrison, the beast his alpha had been so determined to spare.  True to his old position Harrison had found himself in command, only instead of guards it was a pack of feral worgen.

Part of him felt hatred for his alpha for allowing him to live.  He had already proven to be a threat, but Marjolaine had decided to be merciful.  Another part of him simply blamed himself.  He should have never been out hunting.  He did it to sate his primal thirst.

Kor groaned as he tried to raise a hand to his eyes to clear them.  He heard a door shut, and was startled when he realized that he was indoors, and not alone.  He tried to call out, but his voice died in his throat.

His efforts to clear his eyes, were less than what he had desired.  He found that he was in his wolf form, the fur around his eyes made the endeavor far more difficult that it should have been.  Without sight or speech, and the pain too much to move around, he was left with only one option.

He inhaled deeply and slowly through his nose, and the world around him filled his mind with knowledge.  He smelled a forge, that had gone out some time ago, but the smell of it remained.  The scent of hickory, and cedar.  The scent of his own sweat and toil.  He knew where he was, his shop.

There were two other scents, both masked by a heavy perfume.  He knew that he knew them, but he could not tell distinctly who they belonged to, but he knew they did not belong to Josie.

Some time later he heard the door again.  He could hear two distinct strides in their steps.  They pair of visitors walked towards the stairs, and he tried to call out to them, but it hurt to do more than groan.  He heard one speak to the other, a female voice.  One he knew, light and somewhat carefree, he knew it belonged to Nora.

She spoke softly and quickly as the two reached the top of the stairs.  He could not make out what she said.  He didn’t want to guess.  He knew she hated him.  He resigned himself to the knowledge that she was here to gloat at his suffering and coming death.
He sniffed the air, to try to ascertain who the other was, hoping it was Josie.  The scent of Nora was strong, her perfume blocked out almost everything.  But there was one scent it could never mask.  Her scent wafted through the air to him, filing his nose and mind with her very being.

Xeress...the name echoed through his mind as the image of his moon danced in his head.  She was here.  He raised his hand trying to reach out for her.  He could trust her, she would not let him suffer any more than he had.  She would bring his end quickly.

He felt a hand on his head, and then heard her voice in his ear.  She spoke in her native tongue, one he had learned only little.  He knew she was calling the spirits.  The pain in his side eased slightly.  He felt her hands, ones he could never forget the touch of on his head, wiping away the crust from his eyes.

When his vision cleared, he looked into her eyes.  He focused on them, not wanting to see the rest of the world.  He wanted the last thing he saw to be a friend.

Nora nudged the shaman over and poured something into his mouth.  He swallowed it, trying not to gag on the foul mixture.  He heard Nora say he needed to rest more, that he was in a sad shape, and likely would be in pain for a long time.

His mind began to feel fuzzy and the world began to cloud around him.  He felt the warmth of what he knew to be Xeress’s lips against his ear.  She spoke softly into it “I am here for you, I should never have left you.”  Then the world around him faded away.

He awoke again.  His side hurt but not as bad now.  His mouth and throat were still dry, but no longer burned.   His eyes were clear now.  He looked around him, and found himself to be in his home now.  The scent of Josie had faded much, and he could barely tell if she had ever been there.  Xeress and Noras’ hung over him like a thick blanket, but Xeress’s scent was the stronger of the two.

The door to his room opened and she walked in, carrying a pitcher and two cups.  She sat them on the bedside table next to him and then she sat down next to him.  He looked at his arm when she placed a hand on it and saw that he was in his human form.  She smiled at him and told him that he could stop talking about dying.

He wanted to ask her so many things.

Did she find him?  Nora did, she came upon him shortly after.  How long was he bedridden?  Nearly three weeks.  What of his pack?  She said she didn’t know.  Josie?  Xeress lowered her head.  Josie had not come by the entire time.

Pain he had only felt once before welled within him.  It was the same as when Xeress had ended things between them before.  Yes, he was unhappy with Josie.  Yes, he had been considering setting her free of him.  He also wanted to make things work with her.  But this was beyond what he could comprehend.

She hated being a wolf.  She had told him she could be a huntress.  She was no huntress.  Josie had told him that she loved him, even given herself to him.  But where was she when he was here, laying in bed, his body broken and torn?  He felt anger at her stir in his heart.

The two sides of him, wolf and man, battled over his feelings.  Both agreed that she should have been there.  The man claimed that she could have been scared, or busy.  The wolf howled back only a single word...betrayal.  Josie had left him for dead, and likely was happy to be free of him.  She was no true wolf, nor would she ever be.  She would never be a true mate.

The thoughts of the two clashed back and forth.  Neither making sense with their fight.  He felt as if he would need to scream to drown them out.

He lowered his head as the war within him raged.  Xeress put her arms around him, in attempt to comfort him.  Kor raised his head and struggled to remain calm and speak in a non-offensive manner to her.

“Leave me.  I need to be alone.”

Xeress let go of him, and stepped back.  She could see the pain in his eyes.  Could her absence mean that much to him?

As she went to the door she looked back and said with all her heart “I have been here when you needed me.  For what it’s worth, I've missed you.”  He simply stared straight ahead, not looking at her.  She left with tears in her eyes.