Learning to Trust

(First of all a big thank you to Markrazi for Editing this. Remember to leave comments , and hope you enjoy. this is only the first chapter.)

Rose was panting hard as she pushed herself to keep running. As a wolf she had blonde fur and was only about half the size of a normal wolf as she was barely sixteen. Her paws were cut and bruised from her running; she had run from near Weatherby all the way up to the Northumberia National Park.

She knew that was where her brother intended to attack in order to claim the land and the females. Rose had been punished severely for voicing her objection and felt she had to do something she had never done before. After her punishment of being beaten by the males of the pack, she had run as soon as the guards had left her. Rose had been running night and day only stopping to lap up water when she could. It had taken her a long time, but she had crossed the boundaries of the park and now she just had to find the Alpha before the other pack members killed her for trespassing.

Rose had made her way through barrow burn and deeper into the woods, but before she could start to track, an extremely large wolf appeared in front of her and growled. Rose's heart thundered as she sniffed, making sure it was not her brother's friend. She whined at the wolf before dropping low on her stomach and exposing her neck. She remained still as the wolf came over slowly sniffing her and, even as her muscles protested, she remained still until he snorted and tilted his head. Rose whined again weakly, ::pack... danger... William... coming... fight...:: Rose wasn't able to say any more -- everything went black after that.

Alexander cocked his head as Rose passed out in front of him. He watched to his surprise as she shifted back to her human form. For her wolf to willingly retreat she must be in bad shape. He growled low as he finally saw the deep ugly bruises that covered nearly 80% of her body, which was petite and very pale. With the deep cuts from claws and bite marks, Rose looked dangerously thin and dehydrated, her blonde shoulder-length hair matted with dried blood, he silently wondered what had happened to her, but he also had to warn his Alpha of what she had said.

Alexander shifted back to his human form. As a human he was an impressive sight, standing at nearly 6' 7" tall, with shaggy black hair and bright green eyes, he was built like a brick house and looked mean as hell. He picked up the young girl in his strong arms and started back toward the manor house. He was worried at how light she appeared to be to him and, as he walked, his anger built up even more. How could someone hurt a child like this? She looked no more then sixteen and it just wasn't right for one so young to be beaten so.

As Alexander came upon the manor he quickly approached the back entrance and carried the girl into the libary where he knew Edward would be. Edward was built similarly to Alex, but was slightly shorter at only 6' 5", and he had shoulder-length black hair. Edward frowned as Alex walked in and nodded to him. "Who is that?"

"I found her as I was patrolling the east side of the forest. She said the pack was in danger, someone named William was coming and something about a fight. Before I could question her more she passed out."

Edward came forward still frowning and let out a slow breath as he saw her face and the wounds the girl had sustained. "Get her downstairs to the safety room. We don't know how she will react when she wakes up, with her being this hurt. I will have Nicholas come down and take a look at her."

As Alex carried the girl down to the safety room, she let out a soft whimper, Alex started to hum softly to try to keep her calm. He knew an injured, confused wolf was a very dangerous thing and wanted to soothe the girl. As he entered the safety room, which consisted of a fully padded room with a section on the floor more padded than the rest to use as a bed, toilet and a blanket. He laid her down on the bed area and moved back to give her room in case she awoke. After a few minutes Nicholas came into the room followed by Edward.

Nicholas approached the girl carefully and placed his bag on the floor. Nicholas was a portly man, who looked around mid 40s, he had slightly graying hair and had been around for a very long time; a relaxing aura seemed to surround him. He very carefully examined and cleaned her wounds and it was a very long process; particulaly her hands and feet which were raw from her running, He placed an IV into her left arm to help replace fluids and then backed away out of the room to speak to Edward and Alex.

"She must have been running for a very long while. I'd say a few days at least. Her other wounds were extensive and are very likely from a beating, so we don't know how she will react when she wakes up. She will be extremely sore and possibly traumatised when she wakes. If possible I would like to speak with her and she should start to eat as much as she can handle."

Edward nodded at this, his mind already in overdrive. "Before she passed out she warned us of an attack coming, I have people readying to deal with one if it comes. Do you think we can ask her about it when she wakes up?"

"It would be best if we could build some trust with her and only ask a few questions. I honestly will not be able to tell until she is awake. But if she was able to speak in her wolf form, she must have extremely good control; rare for one so young." Nicholas and Alex both agreed to wait for the girl to wake up while Edward returned to make preparations and contact some of the other packs in England.

Rose awoke briefly a few hours later. She gasped as she opened her eyes and tried to keep them open. She looked around and frowned until it slowly came back to her... the wolf in the forest... she had made it to the pack! She slowly made herself sit up and look around. She was in a padded room, as she slowly became more awake she gulped hard trying to swallow as she saw two extremely tall males standing by the door, Alex and Nicholas.

"You're safe," Nicholas said, his voice soft. "Alex found you in the woods and brought you here."

Rose moved back against the padded wall and looked at the IV in her arm and then back at the two men.

"My name is Nicholas, what's yours?"

Rose frowned a little and mimicked writing and a notepad. Taking the hint Nicholas pulled out a small notebook he used to make notes on and handed her a pen as well. Rose quickly wrote out:

William will attack your pack. Must stop him. He has only male warriors. 14 males. Rose.

Nicholas smiled, "It is nice to meet you, Rose. Where did you run from?"

Rose frowned softly but wrote:

Weatherby.

Alex stepped forward slowly. "You really ran all the way from Weatherby, to warn us? Who beat you, Rose?"

Rose nodded to the first question but tensed up at the second question she looked around the room and lay back down. Nicholas held up his hands and hushed Alex. "Rose, it's ok you don't need to tell us who hurt you. Just know you're safe with us, alright?" Rose nodded.

Rose remained in the safety room for the rest of the day. She wrote a few answers on the notebook for Edward and Nicholas, she slowly ate the food that was brought her, and slept most of the day away. When night fell she awoke to find Edward standing by the door, Nicholas once again at his side.

"Would you like to come upstairs into the living room where there's a fire?" Nicholas moved forward to look at what Rose wrote.

With you?

Nicholas nodded and smiled, "Of course, you can stay with me. Shall we go upstairs then?" They waited until Rose had gather the notebook and pen and led her upstairs, they noticed she kept her contact with the others down to a minium for now, until she was ready. They joined her in dinner; steak and salad, in the living room.

The rest of the Raval wolf pack were eager to meet the young wolf who had ran over half the county to warn their Alpha but understood they had to wait before they could meet her. That didn't stop the rest of the pack from talking about her and being curious.

Rose wrote down as much as she could for Edward about how her brother planned to attack, although she didn't know when. She spent the day with Nicholas and Alex, keeping her distance from the other people of the pack. Rose wrote down bits and pieces of her life as they asked her questions, but always kept away from any questions about injuires or beatings, though Alex, Edward and Nicholas had all come to the same conclusion: her brother, William.

Nicholas was staying in one of the many small cottages just inside the tree line near the manor house with his mate, Samantha. When he saw how comfortable Rose was with him and after he spoke to Edward and Alex, he took Rose into the libary and sat down. "Rose, dear, I know how uncomfortable it makes you with the other pack members trying to get near you. Would you like to stay with me and my mate in the small cottage? None of the other pack memebers will come near the house with me in it. They know I value my privacy." He smiled encouragingly.

Rose blinked in shock and hesistated a little before she nodded rapidly and wrote:

Please.

Nicholas smiled as she stood up, "We should also get you some clothes. We can't have you wearing the same clothes over and over now can we?" Nicholas slowly led her from the main manor and down toward his cottage. As he opened the door he walked in and kissed his mate's cheek. Rose stepped in hesitantly to be greeted by a very petite, 5' 6" woman with a smiling face; she had waist-length brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a very friendly smile.

"Hello there, you must be Rose. It's very nice to meet you. My name is Sam. And you look like you could use some ice cream."

Rose's eyes widened as she smiled a little before sitting down on a stool and wrote:

Thank you.

She was handed a bowl of ice cream and began to eat it slowly.

Sam looked questioningly at Nicholas who laughed softly. "I'm afraid she doesn't speak, dear, she writes everything down."

"You were very brave to come warn us, Rose. Once you have had your ice cream there's a spare bedroom on the left and one of Nic's old shirts for you to wear." Sam smiled and went to give Rose a hug. Rose bolted off the chair and cringed back, her heart suddenly beating rapidly.

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry, Rose, I would never hurt you." Nicholas hugged his wife close and whispered to her, "I'll explain later."

He turned to Rose and said, "Shall we get you settled? It's been a long two days." He showed Rose the room and switched on the TV before pulling the covers back for her. "If you need anything then just come find one of us." With that he left and closed the door all but a sliver.

Nicholas sat with Sam in the living area, curled into each other. "You should have seen her when she first arrived. There's no doubt she was abused and the most likely suspect is her brother. What she did was nearly impossible and she has nearly full control over her wolf." He stroked Sam's hair slowly.

Sam sighed, "No one should go through that, the poor thing. And she hasn't spoken since she woke up?" Nicholas shook his head as he kissed her and let his hands roam her body. "Hey! Hey stop that! We have a guest and she might need us! You behave yourself tonight!" Nicholas groaned softly but gave in and settled for cuddling into her...

To be continued...