Back to the Trees

Chapter 9 - Return of the Wolf

Lee was stood by the kitchen counter with his back to the door. I picked up one of the sofa cushions and threw it at his head.

"Where were you?! I woke up and you were gone! I went to the hospital and watched my dad die, and you just here as if nothing has happened!" He turned around slowly, a carrot stick poking out of his mouth. He looked ridiculous.

"What are you on about?" He took hold of he carrot and took it from his mouth. "You left me in the tree house at two this morning. Told me to stay where I was." I raked my memory for ever being in the tree house last night up I couldn't recall anything before my dad's passing.

"Lily what happened at the hospital? Is it your mum? Denise? Isobel? Jeremy?"

"My dad died." My sight blurred, my head span and my knees wavered. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Lee's POV

Her eyes fluttered and then shut as she hit the ground with an almighty thud. Neither Mitchell or I could catch her before she hit the floor. We it's dropped to our knees beside her. Mitchell reached out to pick her up it quickly pulled his hands away, as though he'd been burned. I could she her eyes moving frantically under her closed eyelids. 

"Call Nadia, now." I grabbed the throw off the back of the sofa, wrapped it round Lily and picked her up. I could feel the heat coming off her through the blanket. I swore. This shouldn't be happening, not after so long. Not after all this time. I lay her down on her bed and raced into the en suite. I turned on the cold tap and ran it until the bath was full of icy water. Then I went back to her. Her temperature was still raging, her breathing was far to slow and laboured. I pick her up as quickly as I could, dropping the blanket and putting her into the ice cold bath. Her breathing suddenly juddered and her eyes open for a split second.

"Nadia will be here in five, Lee, what do you need?"

"Ice, lots of ice." I could feel tears. Urging my eyes but I refused to let them fall this time. I was stronger than whatever this was.

By the time Nadia arrived, Lily's lips had gone blue and she was shivering like crazy but her skin was steaming, it was that hot

"You are not a smart wolf for an alpha." Her Brazilian accent was slowly fading. "When a werewolf takes the pill to remove the wolf, they do not remove all of it. A sudden change in lifestyle, emotion or anything that threatens to destroy the body will pull on that little bit and bring the wolf back completely. You have to leather wolf take over now. It's time take her out of the water Lee."

"What can I do?"

"You have to let nature take its course Lee." I sat beside her, the quilt tucked up around her chin. I wanted to cry as I watched her twitch continually. "She's stuck in memories for who knows how long. It could be days, weeks," Nadia paused, "months." Finally a hot tear escaped its prison and tumbled down my face, betraying every mixed up emotion. I felt useless and lost, hurt and angry, and just plain rotten. I had already missed so much, left her to deal with so much on her own. I turned and punched the wall.

"Damn it!" I hated feeling so useless. I had failed her yet again. "Why hasn't my wolf come back? Hm? Because there's been a whole lot of stuff that's threatened to destroy me!"

"Not in the same way Lee. Yours was grief, depression and guilt. Hers was a physical destruction course. Just stay by her side, be there for her when she wakes up. This isn't going to be easy for her either."

Lily's POV

I could feel every fibre of my being burning. I had been through this sensation before.

No! No I gave all this up. I didn't want this.

I could feel every muscle twitching and spasming. I felt sick and sticky, cold and clammy. I couldn't do anything. I was a prisoner in my own body.

Then suddenly it seemed as though I were sat in a cinema screen, sat strapped to a chair. Pictures began to roll on the screen and my stomach started to summersault. I didn't know what was gong to play and I wasn't sure I wanted to know either.

"Stop! Please, stop!" I was screaming but it was only my subconscious. Tears were spilling down my cheeks but no water dripped from my face.

"Oh come on George. It was just one kiss. My brother doesn't have to know I'm here. Please." The sound of own my voice made me want to vomit. I remembered every horrendous detail of that night; from the way I kept George quiet to the guilt of what I did, it was all so sickening.

"It's not your brother you have to be worried about, 'Lillian'. It's the millionaire ex fiancé and MIA boyfriend."

"What's it gonna take George?" My voice was sultry and I hated it. Even now I could still taste the bitter bile in the back of my throat as I tried to suduce him into silence.

"Oh I think you already know the answer to that." I could still feel his hands on my hips, my back, my stomach. I remembered the way I cried after he'd left me lying there naked and disgraced. At had been my first night at Terry's strip joint. The first of many. I didn't want to see the next memory that this monster wanted me to see. I hated the last two years of my life as it was, I didn't need a replay of every single mistake.

"The first night is always the hardest." Terry had brought food in on a tray and sat wi me as I ate it.

"I wish it were the last. Terry I know when you took me in you said I didn't have to do this, but I can't just not pay my way."

"You don't have to kiddo, I'm not gonna make you."

"Trust me, I've probably been in worse situations than this. Besides I need to forget a whole lot of stuff. I need a distraction."

I remembered all too well they way he'd treated me as his own flesh and blood. He was like a fast to me for so long and I just threw his help and advice out the window. All he had wanted to do was care for me as though I were his daughter and I just pushed him away. Just like I'd pushed everyone else away. It wasn't fair of me.

The pictures and memories played out each day of the first eleven months. I managed to block out the sound and images, until I heard my father's slurred, drunken words. My heart caught in my throat. I had made the worst mistake of my life hat night. In fact it was worse than worse. It was corrupt and vile.  And just plain wrong.

I didn't need to watch the screen to remembered the way I'd straddled him, throwing my arms around his neck and whispering dirty things in his ear. Then reminding him I was his daughter. It was the same, every night for seven months.

The last scenes were my dad's last hours alive. The moment his son was born, the moment he met his son ... the moment he died.

The straps fell away and I felt every bone in my body break and realign over and over again.

Then it stopped and when I opened my eyes all I could see was the sorrow in Lee's eye. And my reflection in his eye too. I was a wolf. Slowly and painfully the breaking and realigning stared again, and soon I was back in my own skin. I felt violently sick. I managed to run to the window and opened it before I hurled to contents of my stomach. Which as admittedly very little.

"How long was I out?"

"Six weeks."