In The Shadows (Re-written)

-NINE-

Pain exploded in my shoulder and a scream ripped through my throat. I tried to sit up, but I was held down by several pairs of hands. "Relax Cleo, they are only stitching your wound. It will all be over in a minute." Coda's voice was far from soothing but it was the gentlest tone I had ever heard him use.

Still, soft spoken words brought no relief from the searing pain in my shoulder. I thrashed against the hands as I felt a needle stab through my skin, finishing the stitches before the thread was violently broken.

"Enough girl. Stop moving! " Large hands gripped my face between them, holding my head still so that I wouldn't hurt my neck in my violent and agonized fit.

My vision was blurry, everything muddy shapes and murky colors but a bright flash of red coming towards me had me jolting back, trying to escape off the table and away from the burning knife.

"Hold her steady," the shape to my right was saying to Coda.

The beta still held my face firmly, his voice hardening as he commanded me once more to cease my movements and screams of protest. "We must cauterize the wound Cleo. Their claws were filthy and probably infected you with something."

"I don't care!" I protested. "Get that knife away from me!" I kicked and screamed at the dark shape holding the glowing knife towards me.

My demands went unheeded as the knife came down to burn the flesh of my left calf. I was kept from bucking, pressure holding my legs down steady.

My shouts morphed into tearful whimpers. My hand automatically reached up and grabbed hold of Coda's wrist in a death grip. Even though I was squeezing hard enough to turn my knuckles white, his hands stayed flat on my cheeks.

"Hold still, Birdy," Coda murmured as they lifted the knife to the open wound on my torso. Had I been scratched just a little deeper, my guts would have been spilt all over the forest floor.

The knife came down and the sizzle of my skin reached my ears. My back arched but I bit back my tortured howl and only gripped Coda's wrist tighter. I whimpered, tears leaking down my cheeks.

The beta's thumbs stroked the skin under my eyes, collecting the tears. "That's it, good girl." His voice was low, so low I could feel the vibrations rattle through me.

With my wounds now stitched and cauterized, the healers set to their last task, applying a salve to all of my wounds. Most of them burned, a lesser pain than what I had just gone through, but unpleasant all the same.

My lips cracked open. "Did–" I stopped, my voice coming out in a croaked unintelligible combination of sound. Wetting my lips, I tried again, forcing out the words from my hoarse throat, raw from screaming. "Did you kill them all?" The words were hardly understandable, more air coming out than anything.

Coda could guess what I wanted to ask him though. "They're all dead, Cleo. I killed the last of them."

The pain that was receding took away my blurry vision with it, the faces around me coming into focus, no longer clouded by my agony. Coda's blue-grey eyes were the first thing I saw. His jaw was set firmly, his brows settled in a deep line. He wasn't quite frowning, but there was a tenseness there that kept him from looking relaxed.

"Good." I rasped out but it sounded more like a wheezed breath ending in a cough than an answer.

The hunter nodded. "That's right Cleo, good. You did good, girl."

I tried to muster up a smile, but I ended up wincing instead. "t'was 'drenaline."

The beta didn't attempt to offer a smile in return, not that I had expected him to. "Not only the adrenaline. Though, it certainly played a part."