In The Beginning, Chapter 72
Daniel POV
I broke through the thicket into a small clearing, where Alex’s wolf was crouched over an unconscious and naked body, snarling at the minotaur, who was ready to charge. I skidded changing directions and launched myself at the beast as he began to run at Alex and whomever he was protecting. I caught him in the chest with my front paws, my rear ones tore into his thighs, rearing him off course, and off balance before he found his footing and threw me off of his body. I rolled, hitting the ground hard, my entire left side of my body bloomed with pain as I tried to get back on my feet. I could feel my wounds healing, so I pushed the pain aside, and it had worked, the minotaur’s attention was on me, and not Alex. I stalked around the edge of the clearing looking for the perfect spot, while keeping the creature occupied, and within my eye line, it didn’t take long. I turned, facing the minotaur head on, and growled, snarled, anything to piss him off and get him to charge. He took the bait, bending at the waist and running on all fours, exactly like a bull. I took off a second later, leaping over his head onto his back, as he barrelled headfirst into a boulder, my claws dug into his flesh as I spun around to clamp my teeth around his neck. But I slipped as he stood, and he dragged me off his body by my back leg, swinging me into a group of trees. I saw black spots in front of my eyes as the air was forced out of my lungs painfully, the shock preventing me from inhaling, until he let go and I was slammed into the ground. The second shock somehow forced my body to inhale, which was worse. It felt like thousands of needles were piercing my lungs with every movement. I struggled to get my legs beneath me, I could feel blood trickling through my fur, and several ribs were definitely broken. My movement drew the attention of the beast again.
“You are brave, you and your wolf here. But you have what is mine, and I will not leave without her.” It snarled at me, I shook off my fur, it hurt like hell, but it was all I could do to communicate, I wasn’t about to shift and display just how much damage he had done. I heard the pounding of paws, twenty or so yards away, I raised my hackles, and crouched again, snarling, barking, growling, every aggressive move I had. He laughed, deep and rumbling, as I forced my legs forward, drawing strength from somewhere, I pounced. My teeth found their mark, piercing his throat as I bit down, until his massive hand gripped me by the scruff and tore me off of him. The Etas burst through the trees, surrounding him as I hit the ground, and everything went black.
I woke up to what felt like someone burning my chest, I groaned, but that hurt more, so moving felt impossible.
“Alpha?” A voice that was vaguely familiar asked, I could barely grunt. “One moment, this will hurt, but breathing will be easier for you afterwards.” The voice instructed, and I would’ve screamed but I couldn’t make my lungs work, as it felt like someone was twisting my sternum, there was a popping sensation, and relief, for three seconds before the rest of my injuries made themselves known, and I remembered.
“Did we lose anyone? Are there injuries?” I asked as I tried to sit up, a hand on my chest pushed me back down, I followed it, almost expecting to see Charlie, instead of one of the nurses from the hospital.
“No deaths, a couple of broken bones, you were by far the greatest injured out of everyone. Even the minotaur fared better.” The voice informed me, I forced myself to focus, and recognised the face.
“Ethan?” I asked, it felt like my brain was on a delay. “Well fuck, if you’re here I must be damn near dead doc.”
“Not quite Alpha, but I did have to give you a shot to set your fractures, you’ll feel a little out of it for the next ten minutes or so.” He laughed as he started clearing things away in a pack at his feet.
“Is he alright?” I thought I heard Ben ask; I sluggishly turned my head to look around.
“When did you get here?” I asked him as soon as the thought popped into my head. “Thought you’d be passed out by now; doesn’t Maria like to cuddle afterwards?” I smiled at his pink cheeks.
“He’s fine, just dealing with the aftereffects of some medication.” Ethan explained. “I need to get back to the prisoner. I put him on a ketamine drip so I could clean his wounds, but I don’t know anything about Minotaur physiology, so I will be monitoring him closely until the drip comes out. I suggest you move him to a cell before that happens. It took four warriors to hold him down for me to treat him, even with massive blood loss he was a tough son of a bitch.”
“If you think he is stable enough to be moved we can do it straight away. The prison has a van we adapted, you can ride with him and two Etas to the prison.” Ben nodded, and signalled a man, who led Ethan away. When we were alone, Ben let out a loud sigh. “A fucking Minotaur? A minotaur... I’m not telling Charlie, that’s on you.” He said to me suddenly, and panic overtook me.
“Where is she? Is she okay? What happened?” I demanded, craning my neck to search for her amongst the thirty or so wolves in the clearing. I tried to open the link, but I couldn’t quite grasp it in my muddled state.
“She’s fine, she’s still at the pack house. I went there earlier because she was threatening the patrol around the house with extreme violence when they stopped her from leaving. Even threatened to teleport back to the school and find you on foot before I calmed her down.” Ben replied angrily, but I found myself smiling.
“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” I asked him, but he just looked at me strangely. “Hey, did anyone find my phone? I wanna call her.” Ben rolled his eyes, retrieved his own phone from his pocket, unlocked it and handed it to me.
“Use mine, try and calm her down? I will send men to look for your phone, anything else you want them to look for?” He asked, unenthusiastically.
“My boots, I really like them.” I said with another smile as I tapped her contact.
“Ben? Are you with Daniel? Is he okay? I can’t reach him through our link and it’s scaring me!” She rushed as the call connected.
“I’m fine, got my bell rung a little and the doc gave me something that is making it hard to concentrate, but I’m fine.” I tried to reassure her, but I could hear the pain in her soft gasp.
“Are you hurt badly?” She asked, and I could hear her trying to stay calm.
“A few broken ribs, but they’ve been set... might have a couple of bruises too, but nothing serious. I made a promise.” I replied and tried not to think of her waiting for me when I was naked and had no way of hiding my erection.
“Will you be long? I could come get you?” She offered, but the idea of her seeing the blood splattered grass and trees, the shattered boulder, the patches of pink snow where the blood had seeped and spread like a horrific snow cone, and uprooted plants was sobering.
“I will be home as soon as I can. There’s nothing for you to do here, I will have Ben drop me off.” I tried to dissuade her.
“Oh, okay... does that mean... is he dead?” Frowning, I tried to understand.
“Who? What have you heard?” I asked, and though the fog was clearing slightly, my brain still felt sluggish.
“When I couldn’t feel you anymore, I got worried, so I asked one of the warriors to link someone. Just to make sure you were okay. He said that you were unconscious after fighting a minotaur... It was Tau coming back for the woman, wasn’t it? So, is he dead?” I let out a long shaky breath as several thoughts occurred to me at once.
“No, he isn’t dead, but it is the same minotaur that was at the house.” There was a pregnant pause between us, I nearly checked we hadn’t been disconnected when she spoke.
“Doesn’t he have a mark?” She asked, and I could see her forehead wrinkling in confusion.
“Like the female?” I asked, and the realisation hit me hard. “I’ll check.” I looked around for Ben quickly, spotting him with a couple of Etas, and the minotaur. I tried to link him, but I couldn’t create the connection. “Ben!” I yelled, covering the phone.
“Apollo will be able to trace him if he has one.” She added quietly.
“Yeah, I remember, gold, right?” I replied, while silently praying she wouldn’t have to get involved.
“What’s wrong? We are about to load him up.” Ben grumbled as he jogged over, I put Charlie on speaker.
“We need to check him for a gold mark, check his shoulders first.” I explained, Ben shot a look to me, then the phone.
“Okay... what does the mark look like? Other than gold?” Ben asked, still looking amused.
“It looks like a tattoo, like a Chinese character, but older... ancient...” Charlie tried to explain, but words failed her.
“Yeah, I mean like a circle, a square...?” Ben prompted, and I wanted to slap him.
“You’ll know it when you see it, you can’t miss it.” Charlie replied dryly.
“And if I find this mark? What happens then?” He asked, the smirk finally dropped.
“Just search him.” I ordered, pinching my nose in frustration. I heard him leave and turned back to the phone.
“What are you going to do if he has a mark?” She asked before I could say anything.
“I know what I should do.” I replied, but she said nothing.
“Left shoulder. Like a line with a squiggle, a square, and jazz hands in a triangle, yeah?” Ben asked, and I shot him a frustrated look, his pathological need to use humour to deflect every uncomfortable moment grating on me.
“I can remove it; you don’t have to kill him.” Charlie blurted before I could take her off speaker and I felt the shift in the mood around me as every wolf heard it.
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