Dominant Species Ch. 17-19

"Rachel, your husband is a former Green Beret. I'm pretty sure he can take care of himself for a few days. Richard and Tom will be back later on, once they've finished moving the supplies we talked about. And Reggie is doing a long patrol, he will be back by the middle of the night. Marcus is in North Fork, if he's leaving about now he can make it easily before dawn, even on that aluminum contraption he uses."

Rachel snickered. "I know he is faster with it than on three legs, but the 'pad-pad-pad-CLANK' sound when he runs is something I never get used to. He's got some ideas for..."

A scream cut through the night, followed by a loud "MOMMY!"

Abigail reacted instantly to her daughter's distress, her eyes shot open and she tried to get up. Her body wasn't fully responding, so all that happened was that she managed to roll off the chair onto the grass below. She was still trying to get up when Mary ran past her, saying she was getting the first aid kit. She looked out in the yard, in the dim light she could see Autumn sitting on the ground, holding her arm to her chest as the two small wolves licked at it. Her heart broke with her cries for her.

Rachel was there quickly, pushing the wolves away; she instantly assessed what was going on. Her left forearm had a compound fracture, and she was bleeding which was what their children had been licking at. Looking at them, she ordered them inside to change before gently picking Autumn up. She screamed as his arm was jostled slightly. "I know it hurts, Autumn, but I'm a nurse and we'll take care of you. I just have to get you into the treatment room, all right?" She nodded.

They got to the patio at the same time Mary was coming back out. "Leave the kit, get a wheelchair and fetch Abigail then you can help me in the treatment room." She moved through the house until she was in the room they used for treating werewolves outside the human medical system, and she set Autumn down gently on the table. "Autumn, you have a broken arm and one of the bones poked out. I can fix it, but I need to clean it up first. I will give you some medicine so you sleep through the bad part, but I need you to be a brave little girl and let me help, all right?"

She nodded, tears streaming down his face. "Mommy? Is Mommy coming?"

"Mary went to get her, and she can stay with you while I'm doing this, all right?" She gently moved her arm so it was near the edge of the bed on a pad, then put a sterile sheet over the rest of her body. She used one of the LED headlamps that still worked to take a close look at the wound. She had been trained on this, but normally a doctor did the actual reduction and repair.

She knew she couldn't wait for her husband, so she got to work. Moving over to the medicine cabinet, she drew a sedative that would put her under for a few hours and let her fix the arm without Autumn fighting her. She also pulled out a surgery tray, a soft cast and the materials she needed to clean and prep her arm for the reduction. Placing all this on a rolling cart, she was just turning around when Mary brought Abigail in on the wheelchair.

"Baby, I'm here!" Abigail still couldn't move her arms well, but Mary pushed her on the opposite side of the bed and put her hand up so she was holding her daughter's small hand in hers. "You'll be fine, baby, it's going to be all right."

Rachel moved the table next to the bed, then looked over at the two. "I have to put her under while I set the bone. She'll be asleep for a couple hours." Abigail nodded, while Autumn looked at the needle in fear. "It's just a sharp poke, then you will get sleepy. When you wake up, I'll be done. All right?" When she nodded, she cleaned a spot on her shoulder with an alcohol wipe and gave him the shot. "Can you tell me what happened out there?"

"I was chasing Raven around and I tripped. I put my arms out and I heard a crack, then my arm really hurt." She started to yawn. "They tried to make it better, they licked up the blood but it hurt so much."

Rachel frowned; sending to Mary over the bond, "You need to talk to them. If they licked an open wound, it could be the same as a bite." She watched as she struggled to keep his eyes open while her mom comforted her. It only took a few minutes until she fell asleep, in the meantime she informed her Alpha over the bond of what had happened and her concern. He told her he would be there shortly, so she closed the link and started to prepare for the surgery.

She and Mary both donned gloves and masks, then put disposable gowns on. Mary used antiseptic wipes to clean the wound, starting where the bone was sticking out and working her way outward until the arm was ready. "I really wish we had an X-ray for this," Rachel muttered. "OK, we're ready to set the bone. I need you to hold here at the elbow, I need you to just hold it in place and let me pull it straight." She waited until she was in place. "Abigail, you might want to look away."

Rachel picked up her left wrist with her right hand and trapped it next to her body, while her left hand hovered over the bone. She took a deep breath, then leaned back causing the arm to be pulled back. The jagged edge of the bone had to be guided into place by feel, and her fingers went into the wound to help move it around. It took about twenty seconds of pulling and moving before she relaxed. "Dang, that was easier than I thought it would be." She felt around, checking the alignment as best as she could. It wasn't bleeding much. Using the surgical kit, she repaired the broken blood vessels and tissue and carefully sewed it shut. She then put gauze over the wound then wrapped it lightly. She then put her arm into the soft cast, tightening the Velcro so it would keep it from moving.

Abigail looked over. "Aren't you going to put a cast on?"

"Not yet. I want Marcus to look at this before we do anything that final, and we need to monitor for infection." She stripped off the gloves, then injected her again. "That was a strong antibiotic, just in case. Has she had her tetanus vaccination?"

"Yes, before school started she got all the shots he needed." She looked down at her. "Will she be all right?"

"She should be. The arm should be fine by the time the change is done."

Her eyes got wide at the inference. Just as she was about to ask, there was a knock on the door. Mary opened it to find their Alpha there, with the children holding on to each leg. "Rachel, you are done now?"

"Yes, Alpha. She will be asleep for a few hours. Mary, could you watch her while we have a talk with Abigail?" She nodded. "All right then, let's move back outside. I don't want to miss any more of the night than we have to." She pushed Abigail out of the room, following the rest to the patio where Richard had set out some snacks and drinks. She pushed the wheelchair up to the table then sat on one of the chairs, pulling Raven up to sit on her lap. Richard sat on Abigail's other side, and he had Michael on his knee. They looked at each other while eating some of the food before the silence became too much.

"I don't want to die, Richard. I don't want to become one of you, but since I don't have a choice I will."

Richard looked shocked. "You can refuse the change. We won't force you."

Abigail smacked her hand on the table, shocking them all. "I knew you would say that, but we all know you won't let me leave. You'll kill me on the way out." She looked at Rachel, her eyes hard. "Oh, I was awake long before Autumn got hurt. I heard everything you said, and now I know I can't trust you at all."

It was Richard's turn to be angry. "I see we need to have another conversation about how to behave around humans." Rachel slumped in her chair. "No, Abigail, I am not lying. It seems that once again the rules we put in place to protect us from humans, and humans from us, have failed." The children had their heads down since they had already talked about this with their Alpha. "It wasn't intentional, and it can't be changed now. The children reacted like they would if another werewolf had been hurt; when she was bleeding, they licked the wound. Werewolf saliva has antiseptic and healing properties, plus it is a good coagulant. The licking prevented what would have been significant blood loss for that injury and reduced the chance of disease and infection. However, it probably will result in a different infection."

Abigail looked in panic between the two adults. "You mean that when those kids..."

"Yes. The licking of an open wound is no different than a bite, the werewolf gene is carried in the saliva and it will spread like an infection through your daughter's body. It isn't stopped by the cleaning she did, and no antibiotic can stop it because it works at the genetic level. If she is infected and she survives, she will become one of us."

"IF?? What the hell do you mean, IF?" She was on the verge of a full on panic attack now.

Rachel put her arm around her shoulders. "Like any infection, there are risks. Your daughter is young and healthy, so those risks are low. You do need to understand what this means and what will happen over the next few days." She grabbed a napkin and wiped Abigail's face. "The first day, you don't see much. Healing rates start to accelerate, which is a good thing as it will help her arm heal quickly. On the second day, her temperature will spike and she will have flu-like symptoms. That is the toughest part. On the third day the fever breaks, and she will have a higher metabolism and enhanced senses. Later that day he will make her first shift. That shift is very painful and stressful on her, since her body is doing things it wasn't meant to do, but after that the shifts will be painless and quick."

Richard put his hand on hers. "Your daughter is probably going to become one of us, there is nothing you or I can do to stop that now. She is still human, and is still your daughter, but she will gain a wolf and the same ability to change that you've seen in Raven and Michael. The good news is, werewolves are stronger, faster, have better immune systems, better healing and longer lives. She will be better off after this change, especially with everything going on around us." Abigail hung her head, thinking for a minute. "What about me?"

"You don't have to be changed unless you ask for it, because with your daughter being a wolf you will keep our secret to protect her. Humans fear what they do not know, they fear that which goes soundlessly through the night. We put these rules in to protect both of our species."

Rachel sensed the conversation was over, so she got up and put together a plate of food and tucked a water bottle in her pocket. "I know it is a lot to take at once, this whole day has been nuts for you. I also know that you don't trust us yet, but we have never done anything intentionally to hurt you. Even when you threatened us, we knew it was just because you were frightened. There isn't anything you have to do right now except be there for your daughter when she wakes up."

Richard nodded. "We will help you both through this, Abigail. Let any one of us know if you need anything." She smiled weakly as she was wheeled back into the house.

Raven came over and sat on her grandfather's other knee, burying her face in his chest as the tears fell. "I'm so sorry, Grandpa, I didn't even think about what I was doing, I just saw blood and..."

He hugged her back. "I know. Pups will make mistakes, but it was the adults who should have known better. Having you in wolf form around humans was a bad idea, and it's something I am going to address with the whole Pack so this doesn't happen again." The pups gave him another hug, then hopped off to go play again. He watched them for a few minutes until Rachel rushed back out; the smile on her face could light up the night.

"Marcus just contacted me over the bond, he's going to be here in a few hours!" She was bouncing in excitement. "He also said that he is bringing a family along, a human family he found on the road, and a human friend. He wouldn't go into detail, but it felt like something bad happened to them."

Richard stood up. "All right, I'll inform the rest of the Pack. We won't screw this one up, the next person who reveals our existence to humans is going to get an up close and personal with my teeth."