Killing the Wolf

Epilogue 2: 14 hours after the wolf was killed

She heard muffled noises somewhere around her. Her eyelids were too heavy to open, though she tried. The noises started to change into voices. She felt she should have recognized who they belonged to, but her head felt too heavy to think about it any further. 

"She's waking up," someone whispered.

She tried to open her eyes, but could only barely blink once.

"Hey Lucy," she heard.

Lucy let out a small moan and as she did, she noticed how sore her throat felt.

"Is she ok?" a strange voice asked. "Maybe she's..."

"Shut up," someone hissed.

Lucy forced her eyes open and the bright lights blinded her. Little by little her eyes started to adjust. Fay sat on her bed holding her hand. Behind Fay stood Qiana and someone who caught Lucy by surprise. A tall figure whose presence started to overtake the room the more Lucy looked at him. Onija. Tattoos up and down his arms telling stories of his life as a living weapon.

"Can't you see, you're making her uncomfortable," Qiana hissed at him. Onija ignored her. Instead, he kept looking at Lucy as if he was waiting for her to do or say something.

"Do you need water?" Fay asked ignoring the two behind her.  She placed a cup near Lucy's mouth. Slowly Lucy lifted her head to take a sip. Her eyes never left the Onija. The cold water provided a short moment of relief from the soreness.  Fay took the cop away wiped the corner of Lucy's mouth with her thumb.

"Wh- what happened?" Lucy let out a raspy whisper.

"Do you remember anything?" Fay frowned.

"I remember getting attacked by -," Lucy stopped for a moment. Onija's eyes had never turned away from her. "- Onijas."

"You had a severe head injury," Fay said.  She nodded towards the Onija. "He helped you to stay alive before we were able to get you here."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did he help me?" Lucy asked. She didn't direct her question to the tall man despite their eye contact. But he did answer.

"You saved my life. I saved yours."

The belt, Lucy remembered

His deep voice resonated in Lucy's mind telling her his words held a deeper meaning. Something sacred.

"Okay... Thank you, I guess," she whispered. Now she turned away and looked at Fay and Qiana.

"Why is he here?"

Qiana let out a laugh.

"That's something we've been trying to figure out. He won't leave," she sighed eyeing the man. He turned to Qiana. They had a wordless conversation. Slowly Qiana's lips parted and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Don't even dare," she warned him.  She grabbed his arm to drag him out of the room, but he, without any real effort, stayed put. Qiana groaned as she realized it was useless to try again.

"Dude, seriously. You are not wanted here," she tried to reason but they all could hear her voice lacked the determination.

"Me being here is not a question of want," the Onija spoke. "I am here to fulfill the sempiternal duty. None of you can stop me from doing that."

"A sempi-what?" Fay frowned. She fought the urge to have this man removed from the hospital room. She had a hunch it wouldn't end well.

"Stupid Onija traditions," Qiana mumbled and shook her head.

"I would like to speak with her alone," the Onija said.

Fay shook her head vigorously. Over her dead body, she would leave her human friend alone with this - creature.

The man shrugged. He was visibly annoyed but as his eyes landed on Lucy, he was calm.

He walked to the opposite side of the bed from Fay and sat down. Though sitting, he was still a giant.

"The moment you decided to save my life, you rewrote my destiny. And yours."

"What a f*cking disaster," Qiana moaned. She could no longer stand still, so she started to pace around the room. Fay, on the other hand, was still as a statue giving the Onija a death stare.

"My life is now yours," he said ignoring the two female wolves.

Lucy felt dizzy. She wasn't sure was it because of her just operated head or because of this strange creature.

"What does that mean?" she asked cautiously.

"To the day I day, I will protect you, provide whatever you need, and stay by your side. If it comes to it, I will die for you."

"Um... I... Thank you, but no. I don't want that," Lucy whispered.

"As I said, it is not a matter of want."

Lucy stared at him with wide eyes.

"You are kidding, right."

"I don't kid."

What. The. Hell.

"Don't you have a mate? Isn't that like the sacred thing for you guys..." Lucy whispered.

"These things," Qiana spat out, "have a funny habit of killing their mates." The Onija looked at her. It was as if he had recognized something in her.

"This has nothing to do with mates. This is a duty," he said. "And from what I've learned, sometimes we have a funny habit of being killed by our mates."

Lucy closed her eyes. This was all too much to deal with in addition to the growing headache. She decided to ignore the Onija and his words for now. Maybe he and they would disappear. Before she fell asleep, she smiled.

"You're going to have a hard time keeping up with me, dude. I have a funny habit of getting in pretty tricky situations. You see I am a girl who saves werewolves after all."