He's a Father, a Werewolf, and Poor. She's None of the Above

♥ {5} ♥ He's a Father, a Werewolf, and Poor. She's None of the Above.

Chapter 5

Cripsen's POV

I leapt over a fallen tree and glanced around worriedly when I heard a strange, gargled howling noise. Something must be attacking a wolf, or maybe a wolf was dying? I turned into a human and fixed my cut off jean shorts, before following the sound. I could smell werewolf, but it had changed into a human.

Looking around again, I saw a body and went over to it, gently turning it over. I gasped when I saw who it was, and jumped away slightly. It was Archer! He was out cold, his heart beating horrifyingly fast, and then there was the blood splattered on his lips. No, Hunter was going to be crushed if he saw his daddy like this. I wasn't sure what was happening, but if you didn't know he was a werewolf, then you'd think he was dead.

Gently, I hooked my arms under his knees and around his shoulders, lifting him up slightly and starting to carry him out of the woods. He wasn't actually all that heavy, and that was bad for a werewolf. If a werewolf weighed any less than two fifty, than he either had a disease, cancer, or malnutrition. Now, it was pretty obvious he had a slight case of malnutrition, but other than that, I couldn't see what the problem was.

When I came out of the woods, Michael was the one that was there waiting for me. He looked shocked to see that I was holding Archer in my arms like this, him passed out after having that spaz attack. All the wolves were already yapping about it.

"What happened to him?" Michael asked, almost guiltily. He knew that it was probably his fault if something wrong happened to Archer, and Hunter lost his only father, the only thing he ever had left. I know Archer would never let go so easily, never leave his baby, but there was nothing he could do when he was so... so sick.

I shrugged slightly, following him through the back way. "I don't know. I was just running and found him like this. And he's too light. He's either got a disease or cancer or something, because we're never as light as this. D*mnit, even you'd be able to hold him, and you're pretty much half his weight."

"Let me see," Michael said, holding out his arms. I put Archer into his arms and he grunted, imagining that Archer would be very heavy. But his eyes widened when he lifted Archer a little bit, and it wasn't that hard. I raised an eyebrow at him, silently telling him 'I told you so'. "Well, take him to your kind's doctor, alright? I'm going to go make sure my wife and daughter aren't scarred or scared."

I nodded my head as I grabbed Archer back from him, grimacing at his limp body. His head just rolled around in a way that would worry anyone, and his limbs just flopped around. Anyone would be confused, worried, scared... anything in that category, for this man. All he had left was his little boy, and all his little boy had left was Archer. I liked Archer myself, and I wanted to protect him and Hunter, but at the time my pride and hurt got the better of me.

When someone told me that my little sister had died at age fourteen, after child-birth, I snapped. It wasn't everyday someone told me that kind of news. I took action almost immediately and tracked down Archer. Only to find him in the apartment he most likely still lived in, curled up on the couch and holding a new born that was sobbing its eyes out. And Archer was crying to, muttering to himself. Saying how he couldn't believe he was just fourteen, had a baby, no mother, no money, no funds, no pack to fall back on, how his pack was set out to kill Hunter.

He hadn't noticed I was in the room at the time, but he did look up for a second. I could never forget that frightened - no, terrified, look - on his face. And his words. I tear up whenever I remembered them, and it was most days. On a good day I would only remember the face.

~ "Please, don't kill him," he'd said, tears flooding down his face. And he was shaking. "Don't kill him. He's all I have left. Please. If you're going to kill me, at least let him live. But please, don't kill me either... I'm all he has, too." ~

I could feel the moisture build up in my eyes and sniffled. After he'd finished speaking, I told him I was just Hunter's uncle. Archer tried to give me Hunter, told me to raise him, because he didn't want him killed. Even at age fourteen, Archer would have given his life for Hunter's. I almost accepted, but then I refused. I told him if he could get away from here with Hunter, then I'd take care of him back at my pack - since I was an Alpha then - but he never came. I assume he had nowhere to get to me, because Hunter was only a pup, and as he'd said, he had nothing to his name.

Sighing, I kicked open the door of the werewolf doctor's doctoring room. He takes care of all of the werewolves and makes sure their okay, because sometimes a lot of the people who visit Michael, are or were werewolf hunters and often try to poison us or something without anyone knowing. I always knew of course, and so did the doctor. And if someone did eat poisoned food, Raven had the right magics to get it out okay.

Raven looked up from his pile of papers and peered at me through his glasses, before his eyes widened and he immediately rushed over, taking Archer from me. He gasped when he noticed how light Archer was. "This isn't good. This is the boy who fathered your nephew, right?" he asked, setting Archer down on one of those papery things on top of a bed. I nodded my head slowly, sitting down in a chair and leaning my head on my fist.

Then I fell asleep. I don't know how or why. I was uncomfortable, and not even tired! Doctoring must be boring to me, then, because I was knocked out cold. Raven had to punch me in the gut, just to wake me up.

I glared at him, but then noticed how frantic and jumpy he looked. My eyes narrowed, and I looked over at the clock. It was 8:53 pm. "Shit!" I yelped, jumping to my feet. "Why didn't you-"

Before I could go on, my eyes turned to the bed that was past his shoulder. Raven had scooted Archer to a normal hospital bed, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that, Archer had tubes and wires sticking to him. There was a tube shoved down his throat and taped there, electrodes plugged into his chest, monitoring his heart rate. I looked over at Raven with a horrified expression.

"Well? What's wrong with him?" I asked impatiently, worried as I ran my hands through my hair.

Raven took a deep breath, reluctant to tell me but eventually did. "He has lung cancer."

I took a step back. That just wasn't possible. No werewolf gets lung cancer. Sure, we can get cancer, even though it's rare, but LUNG CANCER? That's unheard of. I shook my head, muttering, "No," over and over again, because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It wasn't possible.

"I want my daddy!" I suddenly heard, and whipped around to see a red faced Hunter barging into the room. He ran right in my legs and clung to them, apparently not realizing I wasn't his daddy. A second later, Kai ran in and grabbed him, trying to pry him from my leg. But she was human, and this was a werewolf baby. Hunter's grip tightened. I reached down and easily pried the squirming, red faced pup from my leg and held him up, just looking at him. He paused and looked at me. "Where's my daddy?!"

Kai gasped in horror as she noticed Archer and covered her mouth with her hand, a trembling, dainty finger pointed at the spot Archer lie. Hunter, hearing her gasp, looked at her, and then followed where her finger was pointing. He froze solid in my arms when he noticed his father. Hunter was like that for a few minutes, before he burst into fits of sobs, howls, moans and screams, kicking, scratching and biting at me. I grunted, annoyed with having my cheek just shredded and my shoulder bitten, that I handed him over to Kai. Hopefully he would know better.

And he did. He stopped biting, kicking and scratching, but he continued with those horrifying sounds that should never come out of a five year pup. "Get him out of here," I growled at her, spinning her around and giving her a light shove towards the door. "Go find Claw or Demon and give him to them. At this rate, he could change, and you don't want to be holding him when he does."

"A-Alright-t," Kai stuttered, wobbling slightly, her face contorted in pain. You could tell the screaming in her ear was driving her crazy and giving her a headache. It was giving me one, and that's not supposed to happen. As quickly as she could, Kai walked out of the room.

I sighed in relief as the screaming slowly went away, and shut the door. I don't think anyone else could come in that would care enough. Except maybe a wolf that noticed this one, completely vulnerable and obviously very dominant, who would try to tear Archer apart. It was just the way most wolves worked. Most DOMINANT wolves, anyway.

I sighed again, this time in worry and despair as I looked over at my nephew's father, completely vulnerable, completely out of it, and dying more and more each second.