Turning Page - A Jasper Hale story

Chapter Eleven

Jude screamed, falling to the floor, clutching her thigh. Blood seeped through her fingers as she sobbed, pain radiating from the fresh wound.

"PAUL!" Sam roared, horror marking his face. "GO!"

The wolf raced into the woods behind them as Sam scrambled forwards towards Jude who was paralysed with both fear and pain. He pulled his shirt from over his head and wrapped it tightly around Jude's leg.

"He didn't mean it Jude, he didn't mean it! I'm sorry. He's sorry. We're sorry. Please Jude!" Sam begged as she tried to push him away, sobbing.

"G-get away!" she tried to pull herself to her feet, but screamed in agony and fell to the floor once more as she tried to put pressure on her wounded leg.

"Jude, please," he continued, "let me help you."

She looked into his pleading eyes, seeing the sincerity shining there, and nodded her head sheepishly. Sam swept her into his arms, carrying her back towards her car, delicately placing her into the passenger seat.

His hands shook as he ran around to the drivers' side. 

"Keep pressure on your leg Judey, I'm gonna get you to the hospital."

Jude nodded, wincing in pain.

"Sam?" she whispered weakly.

"Yeah, Jude?" he turned to look at her as he pulled back onto the highway to the hospital.

"I won't tell anyone."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Thanks Jude," he looked over to her, to give her a small smile. Worry immediately creased his brows.

"Jude?" 

Her eyes had closed and she was very still.

Her blood had coated his shirt, hanging over her legs where her hands had gone limp.

"Jude?!"

***

The beeping of a monitor, an intense pressure on her leg and the weight of several pairs of eyes awoke Jude from the deep sleep she had entered in her car on the way to the hospital. She felt groggy and stiff and her body screamed at her as if she had not moved in a very long time. She kept her eyes closed, preparing herself for the questions that were bound to be asked as soon as she opened them. 

She remembered promising Sam that she would not say anything about what happened and so had wondered what he had told everyone had happened when he arrived at the hospital with an unconscious and heavily bleeding Jude.

She feigned confusion as her eyes fluttered open. Her vision was blurry, but she could easily make out the figures of her mother, Sam and an oddly familiar stranger.

"Judith?" the stranger spoke, his voice like silk as he moved further into her eye-line. She groaned quietly. "Are you in pain, Judith?" he asked, checking the chart in his hands.

Sam and her mother exchanged a glance, releasing breathy laughs and a sigh of relief. "No, Doctor Cullen," her mother giggled, "she just hates being called Judith."

"She prefers Jude," her favourite southern drawl echoed from the door, worry coating his voice. Jasper thought it best to keep his distance, her relatively fresh wound could cause something of a complication. Her eyes snapped to the boy, feeling warmth as soon as their eyes met. His worry overpowered his hunger, and he dared to take a step closer. 

Sam tensed at the two amber eyed men in the room, well aware of the secret they were hiding from Jude.

"What happened?" she asked smiling lightly at Jasper before directing her question towards Sam, knowing he'd understand exactly what she meant. Her mother ran a finger through her hair and kissed her forehead as Sam began to speak.