To Feel Again [Welcome To Wolf's Peak]

Chapter Twenty-Five - Niko

Niko

I was woken by yelling and someone shaking me awake. The pain in my leg had eased to a dull ache so I wasn't fully healed yet but the wound must be closed. My mind was still a little foggy and it took a few moments for me to process what was going on and open my eyes.

"I'm sorry to wake you Niko but Bram needs you back at the camp site," the doctor said. He stood over me with a deep frown lines etched into his forehead and a smear of blood across it like he'd been trying to brush the hair away from his eyes when it had gotten there.

I sat up slowly, easing the weight onto my injured leg to test that it wouldn't buckle before standing fully. Looking around us I saw three other gurneys were occupied. Two by shifters from my pack and the other by an Elf. "Is anyone seriously injured, Doc?" I asked him.

"No thankfully. The shifters are already healing but they'll make full recoveries. Like you they were both shot with silver bullets. I don't know who has been making their bullets for them but I'd like to thank them for their shoddy manufacturing. All of the bullets barely leaked any silver. As for the Elf, I'm not too familiar with their physiology or capacity for silver. He still hasn't regained consciousness but I've done all I can. He seems to be healing, just slower than we do," the doctor admitted.

"That is because you haven't fed him," an elf said emerging from the brush around us. "We are similar to vampires. We may get most of our nutrition from food but we also drink blood. It helps us to stay strong and heal. We do not need it as often as they do though." The man came to stand beside his comrade and raised his wrist to his mouth. He bit down on it until the blood began to flow freely from the wound and then held it over the injured elf's mouth.

"I better go and find Bram," I said tearing my eyes away from the feeding. "Is the fight still ongoing?"

"I'm not sure. I believe most of the hunters have been captured or neutralized in other ways but be cautious when you approach the camp just in case.

"Thanks doc." I clapped him on the shoulder and picked my way through the undergrowth to the camp. The woods around me were eerily silent and I felt my hackles rising in response.

Suddenly there was yelling up ahead and I hurried my steps to reach the others. "Niko," Bram said sounding relieved to see me. "We have the threat contained. All weapons are either out of ammunition or we've confiscated them. I'd like you and Austin to accompany me to the council with the hunters we've apprehended. Do you feel well enough to travel?" He looked down at the cut open leg of my cargo pants where the blood had dried making it stiff like cardboard.

"Yes, Alpha. I brought a change of clothes with me in case I was forced to shift and ruin these. I'll change into fresh pants for the trip."

I ended the call I'd made to my mates assuring them that I was alive and safe and looked up at the council building. It looked just like any other office building in the city. Any passerby wouldn't be aware of the creatures within. 

We entered an open lobby area with a large desk at his centre and approached the brunette who was speaking in hushed tones into the phone handset. I could see a lone elevator against the back wall and a single doorway that must lead to the stairwell. Our prisoners were being unloaded in the lower level and would be brought up those stairs to the holding area. 

"Alpha Hunt, they're expecting you on the fifth floor," she said returning the handset to the base and gesturing behind her to the elevator. "Please wear these and show them to the guards when they address you." She handed each of us a visitors badge to wear. On the back were colour coded dots showing the guards the level of authorisation we had. Bram's badge gave him slightly higher access than mine or Austin's.