Chapter 2: Healing

Ada

I placed my hands gently on his chest and neck, listening for signs of life. It would be pointless to attempt to  save a man if he was already dead.

I might not have my wolf yet, but that didn't mean I was totally useless. I actually had quite a gift for healing, and I used that gift now, though it didn't take an expert to conclude that the man was indeed still alive. However, it would take skill to get the man to safety by myself.

And for some reason, after placing my hands on him I really didn't want this man to die now. I shook my head as the feelings of sadness and heartbreak tried to make me pity him. I was only feeling those things surely because of how handsome his face was. There was something so striking and strong, yet still so gentle about his face and I found myself leaning in to get a better look before I caught myself and shook my head again.

I had been wanting to see his eyes.

I looked around me once more. Nobody seemed to be watching us, from my side or the other, so nobody would notice if we disappeared…or notice me saving an enemy.

But was he an enemy?

With great effort I managed to heave the man up enough to allow me to drag him away from harm's way of the fire and to a small shed a good distance off where we kept all of the gardening tools and supplies.

It wasn't in my nature to leave an injured man behind.

Especially one with such a handsome face…

As soon as the rogue man, who wasn't a rogue, was situated in the center of the small shed, I hurried and examined him more closely now that I had the time to spare. I was shocked to discover that he had wounds covering most of the underside of his body that were actually quite serious. And even weirder was the fact that it looked like his wounds were extremely similar to my mothers.

Was it possible that the same rogue wolf had attacked them both?

And if that was the case then why was he attacking me? Or was he?

He seemed, based on his body structure and muscle tone, to be a very skillful and powerful fighter. If I saw him in a fight I would easily put my money on him to win. Or at the very least, run away without a scratch.

So why was he injured even more than my father?

I began to administer some of the herbs and cursed aloud for what felt like the tenth time that hour. The herbs were rejecting, and that could mean only one thing.

This man was poisoned by Whisperbloom.

The name sounds harmless, but the poison itself is anything but. It was a rare poison that was nearly always fatal, and nearly impossible to detect.

Unless you were me of course.

Well, not exactly. There was only one way to clearly detect it, and that was that when a victim of Whisperbloom poison smelled or came in contact with an herb called Silkgaze said victim would become incapacitated.

Silkgaze was one of the main ingredients to Whisperbloom antidotes, but it came with its own set of side effects. His collapse in front of my cottage suddenly made sense.

Silkgaze is incredibly rare as an herb as well, but lucky for me, I grow it around my garden. So when the man, who was already injured unknowingly to me, stepped into my yard, the Silkgaze flower powder had gotten into his respiratory system through the flowery powder and his strength had been immediately extinguished.

In fact, the Silkgaze was probably what made him weak enough to be injured in the first place. The pollen would have been all over the pack with the smoke blowing it around.

While solving the mystery of the fainting man felt satisfying, I couldn't help but feel guilty as well. He had been poisoned with Whisperbloom before, but it had been entering my yard and village that had made him susceptible to injury in the first place.

Which meant only one thing in return: it was my job to heal him.

I would take care of him.I leaned close to the man, moving his clothes to the side so I could begin to dress his wounds. My eyes drifted to his face again as I worked and I couldn't help but pause once more.

There was just something about his face. Something so…familiar…but I just couldn't place it. And you would think I would remember seeing a face as handsome as his before. You would think it would be burned into my mind.

With a gasp I dropped the bundle of herbs I was working with and fell backwards, scrambling away from the man. Because I had finally realized what I recognized him from.

He had been the mate from the dream. The one who wanted to kill me.

The man in front of me groaned as he shifted back to consciousness and I froze.

His eyes fluttered open and stared above us, taking another moment to focus. All while I held my breath either out of anticipation or fear.

But I couldn't hold my breath forever.

"Arg!" he grunted in pain as I let out my breath and sucked in another.

The man had jerked when he saw me, causing him to cry out in pain at the movement. I had been scrambling away as well, but at the sound of his pained voice I moved closer to him. I wasn't sure if it was out of instinct as a healer or if it was part of this weird pull I had towards him that I just couldn't place…

Either way, I found myself moving closer to him.

However, this just made the man try to move further back, causing another wince of pain to flash across his face. This time he gritted his teeth. He collapsed back to the ground, breathing hard at the effort that even moving had done for me.

But just because he was laying back down, didn't mean his eyes weren't on me.

"Guess it's my kindness that got me into this mess, saving you at such a dire moment," I muttered to myself as a glint of icy steel aimed at my face.

I blinked, the dagger hovering dangerously close to my nose. At the other end of the dagger was the handsome face of a man.

He lay there, heavily wounded, not moving.

The faint scent of musk surrounded me. The earthly aroma reminded me of the forest on a rainy day. It was cold but almost psychedelic, just like him.

“ What did you do to me?”His voice was deep, very deep.

I chuckled, "Do you wanna off the person who saved your life?"

"You saved me?" The man sheathed his knife, his tone softening a bit.

"Not skewering you like a rogue was already a courtesy. Plus, without me, you'd probably be buckled up in Death's taxi by now."

His gaze fell on me, pondering for a moment. "Got it, thanks."

"You were just pointing a blade at your savior." I could've left him to fend for himself. I turned to leave, but he stopped me.

"Sorry." His voice trembled with pain. "How much do you want?"

"The herbs I used to save you are rare finds, plus the bandaging costs. It's a grand total of $1,000, no haggling." I grinned, approaching him with my hand outstretched.

" I don't have cash on me. I'll have someone send it over to you later, Miss." He sighed softly, "How on earth are there women like this in the world?"

"Nope, that won't fly here." I stepped closer.

Back in the day, I never asked for anything in return for saving someone. But the person in front of me is acting all high and mighty, doubting my motives. Well then, fair trade is.

I reached for his badge, but he instinctively flinched, stumbling and nearly falling again.

"Do you realize you can't move around recklessly right now? Move a muscle and your blood will clot. You'll faint in no time." I approached him, popping a pill into his mouth. His body seemed to regain some strength.

"My badge, it's worth more than $20,000," he smirked, taking it off and handing it to me. "Consider this badge your payment. It'll only add to your stash, not subtract."

"You're looking at a few months at least before you're fit enough to leave."

"Where exactly is this place?" he inquired.

"You are in the Western Pack," I replied, taking a few steps towards the exit of the herb garden.

"Take it, no backsies." I caught the badge, staring at it for a moment, feeling a strong sense of familiarity. It took me a while to recall—someone from the King Palace?

He watched my eyes, instinctively wary.

"My parents always said to steer clear of anyone from the King Palace"They have a terrible reputation."

But you seem kinda clueless, and with all that mess on you, you must be some sort of servant or lackey there, right?"

Since he didn't say anything, I took it as confirmation. "I have zero connections with that jerk of an Alpha there. You also hate the Alpha of the Grantmoon Pack, don't you?" My parents' distrust in the Grand Moon Pack would make everything slightly more difficult, but as long as I kept him in the shed I should be able to keep my parents at bay.

"That jerk of an Alpha..." His lips curved into a smirk.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

"Enemy? Are you enemies with the Alpha of the Grantmoon Pack?"

"Not exactly enemies. We've never met, but my parents always warned me about the wolves from the Grantmoon Pack, saying none of them are good news. But you seem to be an exception. Seeing how badly injured you are, I decided to take you in out of kindness. What about you? Why are you here?"