One of Runts

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Apologies

        I separate from Azrael and walk towards the tree that has my bag under it. I had slipped out of it before hunting. I shift and kneel towards my bag, swiftly checking over its contents.

        I nod to myself as I see that all of my weapons and clothing are there. I grab my canteen full of water and two of the heat pills from the bottle. One is for if you'll be in your human skin while two is for if your wolf.

        I swiftly down the pills, knowing that everyone is looking between Azrael and I. "When exactly did you change my bandages?" I ask Azrael, testing out our newly formed mate link. Mates have separate links where you can feel their emotions easily without the wolf having to push them towards you and where mates can read each other's minds.

        Azrael, who had also shifted and is now helping take down his unused tent, looks towards me with a smile on his face, sensing the difference in our mind-link. "I changed them probably about an hour ago," he tilts his head to the side, looking at my small frown. "Why?"

        I unwrap the tight bandage on my leg and show the cut to him. His eyebrows raise towards the sky as he walks over to me. I see everyone out of the corner of my eye stop what they were doing and walk towards us.

        Raven walks closer and stands next to Azrael, crouching down to look at my wound. She presses against the pink skin and I let out a slight hiss of pain, though it doesn't hurt too much.

        "How did this happen?" she asks me, raising an eyebrow at Azrael, most likely knowing what he did.

        "I gave her some of my blood, that's all," he says, softly running his fingers over the inch-long shallow cut on my leg. "I barely gave her a few drops of it, so it shouldn't have had an effect like this."

        I frown at the mark. The good thing is that I'll be able to run much longer than I did yesterday, but the odd thing is that it's almost healed. A cut like I had should've taken at least a week to get to this point. Not two days.

        I straighten my leg out to raven and she inspects around the wound and right on the edge of it. There's a big scab on it, though it doesn't split when I move around. "I'm assuming you also licked the wound, right?" she asks Azrael, still looking over the wound.

        He rubs the back of the neck and I spot his neck and ears reddening. "Yeah," he says, his voice a bit rough. He clears his throat before trying it again. "Yeah, I cleaned it out before putting the blood in."

        Raven just nods her head to herself. "Ah," she says, muttering slightly. "Since you two have connected are mates, your saliva and blood greatly enhanced the speed of her healing. There's also the fact that you're of royal blood, which made it that much quicker.

        "I'd give it another day before it's a little tender scar, and one after that until it's completely healed," she says, holding her hand towards me for the bandage. "Shift," she tells me. I immediately do so and watch as she quickly wraps the wound, my scab having torn when I shifted.

        "You should be good, though I'd still recommend not pushing yourself too hard," she says, staring hard into my eyes. I flick my ears back at the stern and accusing tone, though decide to ignore it. She is thinking what's best for me.

        I leap to my paws and slip into my bag, shaking my fur out. I stretch out my body, noticing how much better my leg feels. I lift my head and look at the faces of those around us. Many of the wolves, especially Seth and Tryn, are between Azrael and me, curious and shocked looks on their faces.

        Everyone else doesn't seem to pay mind to the fact that Raven just said that Azrael and I are mates. Azrael runs his hand through my fur and rubs my ear slightly before returning to what he was originally doing.

        I spot Conner sitting by another tree, rifling through the stuff in his bag. I cock my head to the side as I watch him. Why would he be looking through his bag? He seems to spot something and looks relieved. He closes the bag and throws it over his shoulders. He slowly shifts into his wolf so as to make sure the bag doesn't sit on his back wrong.

        He shakes out his fur before turning towards me. He gives me a nod of respect before walking over to me. I don't show it on the outside, but I'm confused by his behavior. He's never really shown respect towards me, though I suspect it has something to do with what happened last night.

        His body language portrays guilt as he walks towards me. His head is angled away from me and he refuses to meet my eyes. His tail is somewhat between his hind legs and he's hunched over.

        He stops in front of my standing figure and I cock my head to the side in askance. "I want to apologize for last night, Ever," he tells me, his tone saddened and soft. "I shouldn't have let the conversation drift on to that point. I'm sorry that you're friend died." His ears are completely flat against his skull at this point.

        I lick his cheek in acceptance of his apology. "It's fine, Conner," I tell him, my voice soft. "You didn't do anything wrong. It just made me realize that it's nearing the anniversary of her death, that's all."

        He nods his head at me before walking over to Seth and grabbing a few things for him. Azrael walks towards me in wolf form, his ear tilted to the side. "What was that all about?" his voice is completely curious and not at all protective.

        I shake my head to the side. "Nothing, he was just apologizing for bringing the subject up, that's all." Azrael suddenly pins his ears to his skull and angles his head downwards.

        "I should probably apologize, too," he says, looking into my eyes. "I was the one to take the bait and ask you about it." I shake my head at him and nuzzle into his cheek.

        "You did nothing wrong," I tell him, nipping his ear. "C'mon, you've got to lead us in the direction of our sector."

        He watches as I walk towards the group of fully prepared wolves. He immediately follows beside me. I nudge him and he immediately takes lead, running off to the left. This time, I'm running right next to him.

Author's Note.:

I felt like doing another one.  (It totally doesn't have anything to do with the fact that y'all nicely asked me for another chapter.)

Comments make me happy.  :3