Irregular (mlm)

Chapter 36

Two months. It had been two months since Owen had woken up in a hospital bed with his leg in a metal cage and his mate no where to be found.

His knee had been shattered. The bone fragments were so small the surgeons couldn't remove them all before they gave him a metal replacement. His femur and shin had been splintered, hence the cage holding his bones together. He didn't wake up for a week, and when he did, Kai wasn't there.

His heart ached. His body was damaged and broken. He constantly stared at his mates sister, seeing his eyes on her face and wishing he were there. He was so, so angry.

Paxton had told him what he said to Kai. He'd thrown his food tray at the man and screamed until the nurses shoved him out of the room. He didn't try to come back, but Amy came by to check on him every day since he'd been transferred to the hospital in his hometown.

The cage had come off his leg a month after the surgery, thanks to his advanced healing. If he had been a human, he probably would've lost his leg. He needed a pair of crutches to walk. He hated the damn things.

He stared at them leaning against his hospital bed and wished he could tear them to pieces. He was too weak to do much walking, anyway.

Most of his day was spent sitting in a wheelchair by the window in his hospital room, staring out at the woods. Alice talked to him on weekends, when she could come into town since she wasn't working. He barely uttered a word.

He was staring out the window when someone knocked and cracked the door open. "Owen?"

It was Amy. Owen shut his eyes against his name. "Go away."

He heard Amy sigh and step into the room. "Someone wants to meet you. Properly, this time."

Owen glanced toward the door. A little girl, hiding behind Amy's legs. He sat up straighter. He knew that girl. The one from the photo, from the exchange.

Raven haired, green eyed and pale. But she'd gained some weight since he last saw her, and color in her cheeks. She was properly dressed and groomed.

Owen blinked against the sting in his eyes. "Hello."

His voice was hoarse. The little girl took a step forward, looking at Amy for reassurance. Amy smiled and guided her forward. "This is one of the men who saved you. This is Owen."

Owen stalked thickly. She was so tiny, even now that she was well fed. So small and fragile. How has she endured the same things he had at the hands of that awful man? Owen turned his wheelchair and held out a hand.

"It is nice to meet you."

She timidly reach out and wrapped her hand around three of his fingers and shook it. "Hello."

"What is your name?"

She glanced at Amy again. "Celeste."

Owen's heart squeezed. She was perfect. Innocent. The pain in his leg dulled a little. "Would you like to watch the window with me, Celeste?"

She nodded slowly, and, to his surprise, crawled up into his lap and settled herself across his legs. He rested one hand around her to keep her steady and turned his chair with his free one, back toward the window to watch the forest for his mate.

*****

Kai hadn't known determination like this before. His mind, his body, his very being was consumed with raging fire. Flames that danced and licked at his bones, echoing his purpose.

Hunt.

He'd been surviving on whatever game he'd could find without straying too far from his father's trail. The man was badly injured, but he'd a head start and he was familiar with the woods. Kai had never been very far into them.

He didn't know where his father was headed, but it didn't matter. There was no where on earth that could hide him from Kai's teeth.

He didn't know how long he'd been hunting. Only that the air turned cooler, and leaves began to fade to orange and red and yellow. Autumn. The season of decay.

He was getting close. He could tell. The air seemed thicker with the scent, his body prickling at the sense he was nearing the end of the line.

Still, the first few snowflakes had begun to fall by the time Kai spotted him. In wolf form, he was black as night with brown on his snout and legs. He was big, for a werewolf, but not as big as Kai. He had a foot on him still.

Kai smelled him before he saw him. Fresh tracks in the mud, a breeze wafting his scent towards Kai from across the stream. On the other side of the bank, his father was ripping into a small rodent, too focused on eating to hear Kai approaching.

His back was to the stream, head bent with blood dripping on his maw. Kai carefully stepped into the water, using stones as a path, and made it halfway before his father's ears perked and he turned his head.

For a moment, they only looked at each other. Eye meeting eye, deadly still, anticipating.

Kai bared his teeth in a wolf-smile. His father bolted.

Kai was on him fast enough that water sloshed onto the bank of the stream. Even living in the woods for months, his father had lost weight. He seemed weaker. Kai guessed he wasn't very good at hunting.

Kai, though, was strong and fast. His father barely made it half a woke before he jumped and caught his father's hind leg in his jaws, biting until he heard a crunch and his father collapsed into dead leaves.

Kai licked his lips and stalked over him, paws on either side of his head as his father laid on his side, panting. His eyes were wide, pupils strained to pinpoints, ears pinned back.

Kai lowered his head. His father was frozen in place. He didn't even try to fight back. Either he was weaker than Kai thought, or he knew there was no escaping.

Either way, Kai opened his jaws and closed them around his father throat.

He made no sound as he died. Only labored breathing, a slight rattle of blood in his lungs, then he was gone. Kai sat beside him and watched until well after he was dead, a statue over a grave site.

Snow was falling more heavily, powdering their coats. Kai stayed there until night fell, leaving the wolf corpse for the raccoons and ants and birds.

It was time to go home.

Guys the fact I didn't get this done during pride is so disappointing 😭 I really tried yall I hit a MAJOR wall trying to get the ending planned out. I'm thinking maybe like two or three more chapters <3