Chapter 5

After yet another restless night, I drag myself out of bed. It's been two weeks since I've seen Liam but every night when I close my eyes I dream of him. 

It's the mate bond. Ember explains in her bossy way. It's trying to get you to jump his bones so you can either accept that or reject him. 

I tell my roommates to go ahead to training and I'll catch up, wanting a moment to myself to compose myself.  I enter the small bathroom,  splashing ice cold water on my face to force myself to wake up.  A quick glance in the mirror makes me cringe.  

My skin is pale,  my green eyes slightly bloodshot and my auburn hair looks more brown than auburn, hanging limply down my back. Try as I might,  I only make myself look faintly better - plating my hair and pinching my cheeks to try instil some colour into them.  

"That's as good as its going to get." I say to myself before I brush my teeth, throw on my training kit and run down to the training grounds where the others are waiting. 

I yawn behind my hand, barely registering the bitchy comment Lana throws my way as I move to stand by Megan. Jaydon sends us off on our usual run as he sets up what promises to be one hectic obstacle course. He's even roped in Beta Harris for this one. 

Coming in second to last, I glimpse at the course with some dread. It looks like the leadership team have watched Indiana Jones a few too many times. Complete with see-saw balancing beams and swinging logs, I'm glad when I get pulled to do it last. Maybe I'd learn a few tricks from the others first. We take turns manning the different parts of the course and I physically have to stop myself from falling asleep on my feet. 

Before long I find myself on the starting block awaiting Jaydon's signal. His raised hand drops as he presses the stopwatch and I leap towards the first obstacle - a gigantic climbing wall that had been dragged in. Clambering quickly to the top and dropping to the ground, I tackle the next few obstacles. My foot gets tangled in the cargo net and I waste a few precious moments getting loose before continuing. 

Just the swinging logs and the tyres left! I hear Ember silently rejoicing.

I feel Liam watching me before I smell him, his presence distracting me from the task at hand.

WHACK! 

The breath is knocked out of me as one of the flying logs smash into my ribs. Out of the corner of my eye I see Liam start to react before he forces himself to step back. 

"Shit! Sorry Nats." Ricky apologizes sheepishly as I grip my ribs and force myself to complete the course. 

"That's it for today runts. Juan, you got the slowest time so you're doing dishes." Jaydon announces before walking away with Beta Harris.

"Awww damn!" Juan groans as the rest tease him good-naturedly about his fear of heights. 

"Wolves aren't meant to climb!" He exclaims as he starts pulling off his shirt. "But we definitely can swim!  Last one to the lake has to help me with dishes!" 

He sprints off into the distance, the rest of the recruits racing after him. 

I shake my head at them, trying to control my breathing to avoid the shooting pain across my chest. No way in hell was I going running after them! 

"Ok, let's see the damage." Ricky sighs next to me as he guides me to a log and lifts my shirt to reveal the bruise slowly beginning to form. 

He prods it slightly before he's distracted by an ominous growling.

"Hands off my mate, scamp." Liam breathes, flinging Ricky away from me.  

I try to stand up to intervene but a sharp pain forces me back down and steals my breath away. Liam quickly settles beside me and holds his hand against my ribs.

"Hands off my sister,  creep!" Ricky starts before halting in his tracks. "Hold on… mate? Is this true Nats?"

He turns to me and I merely nod, in too much pain to vocalize. 

"Shit. I have a hundred questions which you're going to answer as soon as you can, sis." Ricky emphasizes the sis part while looking at Liam. 

My breathing is shallow with pain and I feel myself losing grip on the last threads of composure. Liam lifts me in his arms and warmth floods over me, some of the pain abating slightly.

"We need to get you to the pack doctor to get checked out." He says, walking towards a building on the far edge of the settlement. 

Ricky follows closely behind like a puppy. I can sense that he's frustrated by the turn of events and the fact that I never told him about Liam. It's not my fault though… we've both been so busy with training that we haven't really had a chance to chat. 

The doctor obviously sees us coming as he's waiting with the door open as we approach. 

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" The elderly man asks as Liam lays me on the examination bed in the relatively cramped treatment room. 

"Ribs." I manage to breathe out.

One brief examination and an xray later,  Doc diagnoses me with broken ribs and orders Liam to put me in the ward next door to his treatment room.  

"I'm going to give you something for the pain and something to help you sleep for a few hours.  Your body is clearly run-down else you'd be well on your way to healing by now." Doc says, patting my hand. 

"She's not sleeping and barely eating Doc. I honestly don't know what's happening!" Ricky tells the doctor. 

My eyes shoot to Liam who bows his head immediately. 

"I'm going to leave your patient to you, Doc. I have some work to catch up on. " Liam says as he walks towards the door,  glancing at me one more time before he exits.