At Dawn, in the Forest
Chapter 9

“Ah, you must be Dawn,” The woman in the dining room greeted her warmly. Dawn could see the woman was kind. Her gentle smile, her warm, welcoming eyes, and her soft tone would anyone feel comfortable and welcomed. Dawn noticed how slowly she let her guard down. Also because Max had his hands finally on her shoulders. She didn’t dare to show her discontent with his touch as she felt she was already in trouble.

Dawn only nodded her head to the woman and remained silent. She waited. For what, she did not know. When the woman realized Dawn wouldn’t say anything she introduced herself. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Dawn. My name is Larisa, the Alpha female or Luna of this pack.” This was the first time Dawn was introduced to somebody who had a high rank. She now wondered what role Max was assigned to in this pack. But it was also the first time she heard the Luna was also referred to as the ‘Alpha female’. Was this something new or different, she thought.

“I just made some lemonade for my daughter and her friends. Would you like some too?” When Dawn didn’t react, Max gave her a slight push and announced his departure, “I will leave you two to get to know each other, Alpha.” Max bowed his head and left.

“You gave us quite the scare when we couldn’t replace you.” Larisa poured Dawn a glass of the fresh lemonade she made thirty minutes earlier. It was during the making of the beverage she heard about the missing rescued girl. She felt awful and like a failure. Here the girl had found refuge and she was managed to be captured again while being in their care, but that she thought before they announced she was found again, of course.

Larisa set the glass with lemonade down in front of Dawn, who had sat down in one of the chairs. She took a sip. It took Dawn a while to realize her manners, or rather not using them. “Uh, thank you… Luna.”

Larisa smiled. “It must be hard to assimilate to the pack life again… I, no, we completely understand it will take a while. We assume you were long in that horrible institution.” The Alpha female raised her brows, hoping the girl in front of her would confirm their assumption. Only to be disappointed. Dawn kept silent. “The only thing we do expect is that if you want to go somewhere, anywhere, you ask for a companion, someone to escort you. We don’t want you to go missing again.”

Dawn sighed. She could feel a fire erupt in her chest, her anger bubbling up again. Over and over again she was still being told what to do. She didn’t want some tail following her, she didn’t want to report where she was going, and she definitely didn’t want someone controlling her.

It seemed she couldn’t contain her anger enough. Dawn may be weak for a werewolf but she was still stronger than an average human being. The glass in her hand broke from her tight grip she had. Shards were cutting her hand, but the pain was barely felt. Larisa gasped in horror. “Oh, dear. Let’s get you to the hospital wing. Those cuts need stitches.”

Dawn stood up. “No!”

“Dawn, you are still recovering, it’s better if we handle it than assuming your healing abilities are fully recovered. Let’s get Harper.” Larisa walked around the table to Dawn. The young woman backed up. “No! No, no, no. I am fine! My hand is fine!” She was done being told what to do, and she was done with anything that was medical-related. The only thing Dawn wanted was to be surrounded by nature. Her head got loud, voices of sadness, frustration, and anger screamed at each other in her head. She started to hyperventilate. The voices around her sounded muffled, blurred together.

Until…

“What’s going on in here?” A smooth voice. It cut right through the screams inside Dawn’s mind. Her breathing slowly stabilized. A calming aura surrounded her.

“Ah, Aiden, how good to see you again. I would love to catch up, but first I need Dawn to get to the hospital wing,” Larisa greeted the man.

“No! I don’t want to go. I am fine.”

Aiden stepped forward. “What seems to be the problem? Maybe I can help.” Dawn noticed how Aiden tried to focus mainly on the Alpha female, but would ever so cast his eyes on her.

“This here is Dawn. We rescued her over a week ago from – that doesn’t matter for now. She needs stitches.” Aiden’s eyes lowered and stayed on the bleeding hand. “But she is refusing.”

“I might have a solution. I know some knowledge of first aid. Would you be comfortable if I would be the one doing the stitches? I do need someone to look over me, to be sure I do a good job. But I am confident enough I can manage the job.” Aiden winked at Dawn.

Dawn was back at the hospital wing while Aiden stitched up her hand. She didn’t mind it as much as she thought she would have. Aiden’s presence made everything more comfortable. Still, she disliked the place, and still, she disliked Harper, who was standing behind Aiden, making sure he didn’t botch her up. But it was fine.

Even though she wasn’t as scared, she still thought of a documentary to keep her calm. This time she replayed Frozen Planet. It was the latest documentary of David Attenborough before she was kidnapped. Not her favorite as it solely focused on climates where trees barely could live, still the voice echoing through her head, gave her a sense of peace.

Then, just as Aiden made the last stitch, a tall, middle-aged man, who was also very muscular (like many of the men of this pack), entered the hospital wing. Harper and Aiden immediately bowed their heads (of course Aiden made sure he didn’t hurt Dawn while doing so). Larisa only smiled at the man, and he in turn smiled back. Then his face turned serious again. “Harper, dearest, can I both speak to you outside?” The two women agreed and followed, to which Dawn assumed to be the Alpha.

Dawn wanted to return to her documentary until she noticed they were speaking about her. Max was in the hallway as well. “So, do you know more about her?” The Alpha asked. No responses. “Max? Did she say anything to you?”

“No, Alpha.”

“Harper?”

“I am sorry, Alpha. The only thing I know is that she isn’t particularly fond of me.”

Dawn could hear a sigh. “It’s been over a week now, all the others are already sent home… We helped so many packs, but they didn’t return the favor. We are almost gone through our medical supplies for this month. And don’t get me started about the investigation of that place.” When she heard this, Dawn wanted to become smaller. She felt like a burden, but she didn’t know how to become less of a burden. Maybe she should speak to them, she thought. Then she could go home… Home. She was afraid to go home and she didn’t know why, which only frustrated her more. This whole situation was a very frustrating one.

“Don’t be so worried, honey,” Now it was Larisa who spoke up. “It’s only her we have to look after, like you said the others are already in their packs. So the medical supplies won’t lessen much further and besides we all think she might be taken when she was a minor. If that’s the case, it might be difficult to send her back. Officially she is then a rogue and thus packless.”

“You are right dear, like always.”

Then footsteps were fading and the talking had stopped. Harper popped her head around the door. “You can wrap this up, right Aiden?”

“Yes, I can. We will be done soon.” And then also Harper left. It was just Dawn and Aiden now. The man in front of her was almost done with wrapping up the wound when she asked, “Why am I packless?”