Profound Devotion

Chapter 2

July 14th
Monaia

  The grounds were lively as I sauntered down the winding path that I'd been used to taking every morning. The paving stones, pressed firmly into the dirt, lead me to the front double glass doors of our 10-room medical centre.

  Mandy, our pack doctor who had been on her own for nearly six years, was waiting patiently on one of the few injured warriors in the front room. He had faint claw marks across his chest that stretched up over his broad shoulder--an injury he likely suffered from the limited training our men were given.

  Having a doctor in a werewolf environment seemed silly to me, as we healed almost faster than the time it would take to make it to the medical centre, but I believed we were there for the major cases, though I had yet to see one.

  "Good morning, Naia." She called out to me as she led the man, Carl, into one of the empty rooms with a roll of sealed gauze in her grasp.

  I flashed her a warm smile and pulled on one of the bleached white coats that hung behind the welcome desk by the door. It reeked of chemicals, but it was a smell I was long used to by now.

  Shortly after moving in with Atticus, I felt strangely unfulfilled. I didn't really have a job or focus in our community like everyone else: my mother was acting as stand-in Luna until my brother found his mate, and my father was volunteering his time to help build more housing for the ever-growing families.

  After a scraped knee and a quick trip to get bandaged up due to my mother's insistence, I realised how comfortable I felt in a hospital scenery.

  It didn't take much persuading to get Mandy's help with training. After all, her last assistant moved two territories away with her mate, and she was left with no other help in case of an emergency. I was accepted in with open arms, and almost immediately after flooded with mounds of information.

  The bright blue rubber gloves sitting at the edge of the sink mocked me as I scrubbed my hands clean, dreading the feeling of prying them on. Nevertheless, I did what I had to and wriggled my fingers into their spot in time to assist Mandy with a shot of pain medicine that would be injected straight into Carl's shoulder.

  His deep brown eyes flickered from my calm features to the long needle in my hand, his nostrils flaring as he sucked in a deep breath.

  "Are we sure this is even necessary?" He asked with a wheeze, a flinch of pain crossing his face as his chest constricted.

  Mandy shook her head and nudged him to lay back on the freshly made bed. "Yes, Carl. The sooner we do this, the sooner the pain will go away, and you can go home."

  His chest, once dripping with blood, was now clean and wrapped with thick gauze that was already staining a bright red.

  "Okay." He swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes closed. "I'm ready."

  His shot took less than a second, and I was already disposing of the supplies when he lifted his head and let out the breath he was holding.

  "Okay, that wasn't bad." He laughed nervously and ran a calloused hand over the spot where the needle had pierced his skin.

  Mandy ruffled his hair and wrote something on his chart. "See? Now, I will need you to wait here about twenty minutes just so I can keep an eye on you. After that, you're free to go."

  My gloves snapped as I pried them off, tossing the used rubber into the lidded trash can at my feet. After, we filed out to give him some time alone, his chart now neatly filed into the holder at the foot of his bed.

  "That was good."

  The compliment fell from her lips as she typed something up on the front desk computer. It felt good to be acknowledged, even if it was for something I'd done many times before.

  "I'm going to take my lunch now." She continued, shrugging off her coat and hanging it on the silver hook. "You have this handled, right?"

  I nodded and watched her leave, the stale space falling silent as I lowered into the now vacant chair. Carl stirred in the distance before his curtain drew open, his posture straighter than when he'd first walked in.

  His bandages were clean from being changed, and from what I could tell he was healing nicely. "Just you now?" He smirked, scanning the area as he lounged lazily in one of the plastic blue chair sets.

  I just nodded, not really sure what to say. Before now, we'd never really had a real conversation. Sure, we'd pass casual greetings when passing through the village, but he was my brother's friend more than anything else.

  "Cool." He continued, oblivious to my uncomfortable expression and tightly crossed legs. "Thanks, by the way. For...earlier."

  "It was no problem." I shrugged. It was the truth. I'd been volunteering here long enough to make it through the shift without even realising how long I'd been there. I enjoyed helping people, so this was no different.

  "I heard your brother is planning to set up a new section on the eastern territory soon. I mean, might as well since it's no longer being...occupied."

  The eastern territory--the section of our land that bordered the Gurydia mountains and the land that once belonged to the Lycanthropes. We chose to stay deeper within our land so we would never cross paths, but now that it laid unoccupied? It didn't surprise me in the least that my brother made that decision.

  I, myself, felt like maybe he should give it more time. After all, the two brothers were out there somewhere, and as far as we knew, they could return any day.

  "Right." I mumbled, wanting nothing more than for this conversation to be over.

  Many members of our pack didn't agree with the way I felt about the situation, so I found it best to divert the subject completely.

  "Anyway," he continued, running his palms across his bare knees that stuck out from beneath his moisture-wicking athletic shorts, "will I see you tomorrow at breakfast?"

  It was common for everyone to share two of our meals together in our main hall. We were a small enough community that, with the help of some of the pack members, we were able to cook enough to feed everyone at one time. My father started it shortly after Atticus was born, thinking it was a great way to bring everyone together.

  "Yep." My 'p' popped, and I shuffled with some of the unkempt piles of paperwork. His unceremonious gaze followed my every move until, finally, someone sauntered through the door and broke the tension in my shoulders.

  Was I uncomfortable with Carl? No, not exactly. We'd just never held a real conversation before that moment, so why start now? I would be polite as the Alpha's sister, but I felt no need to take it any further than that.

  A young pup, Tammy, peered over the edge of the counter with wide, honeysuckle eyes and neatly-pinned midnight hair that was twisted into a high bun.

  "Good morning." I offered her a genuine smile and pushed Carl to the back of my mind. "What can I help you with?"

  She held up her right hand, her index finger stained with a pin-sized amount of blood. "My mommy sa-said I needed a-a band-aid."

  Her five-year-old vocabulary and stubby fingers were enough to melt my already aching heart, and I had to contain the negative thoughts of what could have harmed such a small child as I dug out a simple bandage from the drawer of the desk.

  "Here, why don't you come around here and I will fix it up for you?"

  I did my best to keep my tone even and warm, watching as she bobbed her round head and, with her finger still stretched out, carried herself over to the edge of my chair.

  It took all but two seconds to wrap her wound and send her on her way, and as I watched the door swing closed behind her, her happy squeal as she jumped down the single step and took off in an excited run in the direction of her house echoing off the empty walls, I remembered why I fought to find my place in the stale environment in the first place.