*The name at the top of each chapter is the point of view the chapter is based on. Bold is inner wolf voices, italic text is mental links*
Silas:
His face went blank for a split second, it was an unusual question so I couldn't blame him for the surprise. "Oh, uhm we have one employee who goes between the tents and the food area for employees only. She refills the trays on both tents so that we don't have to walk the whole way and keep people waiting." So this person does all the walking no one else wants to? In the dark without any light?
She must be something that can see in the dark at least. My mind began to race, what if the scent meant…it couldn't be. My wolf began to stir, pushing me to find out. He wanted to follow the scent I could trace through the opening of the tent and into that dark path. It was empty right now but lingering with the delicious scent left behind.
I heard a scream, one that any wolf would recognize. It was a scream of pain, although it sounded like it came from a young voice. Why would a young wolf be here? "HELP! SOMEONE!" I saw a circle forming on the floor and followed it to find a young wolf who couldn't be older than sixteen. Probably a new wolf, meaning his healing wouldn't be fully developed.
The screams continued and the reason why made even me flinch in response, he had broken his leg. The femur was split into at least three pieces and right now two of them were sticking out of his skin with blood pooling onto the floor around him. Harvest's Alpha was the one who had yelled for help. "Someone with healing gifts please! He's my youngest Omega, only fifteen and his wolf has been active less than a month. His healing can't handle this on its own!"
I leaned down to the young wolf, he had gotten his wolf early and probably overestimated his skills. Unfortunately, a woken wolf doesn't mean a trained wolf. This little pup didn't need to even be here, but Harvest had limited options with their pack rebuilding.
"Try to breathe, does anyone know someone that could help with the pain? I can cycle out the energy a little bit, but not enough to handle this level of pain. We also need to build some sort of brace to set it."
One of the workers standing in the circle around us called out to us, "We have an employee who can help! Let me get her!"
"Run!" The Alpha from Harvest yelled as he took a board from the stage and broke it off to act as the brace when we were ready.
"Hey there pup, what's your name?"
"What happened?" Sinlan's voice called through our mental link.
"Young Omega from Harvest, only fifteen. Shattered his femur, the pain now is already above our level of handling let alone when I set it. A worker said they have someone who should be able to help. Waiting for them now. Maybe if we team up together with them we can make it bearable to set, but the pup is in for a painful night." No matter who they got, witch or otherwise, no level of energy control I've ever seen would be able to completely cycle the pain caused by something this drastic or painful. I only hoped there'd be enough power for us together to minimize it.
"Okay, I'm heading your way in case you need me."
"I'm Marshall." The words came in grunts between sharp breaths. He was trying to focus on anything but the pain.
"Hey Marshall, I'm Silas. Now listen, in a moment we will have someone to help with your pain, but I'm not going to lie to you. When I set this into place, it will hurt. However, if we let it heal like this it'll hurt worse to rebreak the bones to set properly later." He looked scared, his eyes wide and his head looking to his Alpha for assurance.
His Alpha returned and set the wood next to him. "They are the best to fix this, trust them." I nodded my thanks and Marshall nodded once before going back to grunting and trying to breathe evenly.
POV Shift to Sylvia:
I heard the scream, everyone did. It didn't stop at the one, after a short moment it came again along with a call for help. I wanted to go see what had happened, see if I could help, but I needed to keep my distance. If it was a wolf that got hurt they'd heal, right?
It couldn't be as bad as it sounded. My heart was racing, something in my gut just telling me that it was definitely as bad as it sounded. "Sylvia!" I heard my name being called by one of the waiters from the main tent. They were out of breath and their eyes had a look of shock and panic.
"What is it? What happened?" I put my hand out to them, trying to calm their nerves. I felt the wave of their panic rush through me as I quickly sent the energy from it into the earth, letting it neutralize the negativity-filled energy.
They took a single deep breath, feeling the relief of my energy work to ground them and quickly grabbed my arms. "There's a young wolf, he can't heal because he's still newly awakened and his leg, it's bad! We need you! To help with the pain while they try to set it before he does start healing."
A young wolf? Why was a pup here? If he couldn't heal properly he shouldn't have been anywhere that could get him hurt and these events weren't exactly known for danger, but things happened. "Take me to him!" I couldn't let a pup go hurting like that! He was probably a teenager, that poor kid! I'll just keep my head down, focus only on the wounded kid.
I let the waiter lead me to the tent and the familiar scent from the elevator washed over me. I felt it coming from numerous directions. In the closed space of the elevator the scents seemed to somehow blend together but now they were clear and distinct. Each of the two somehow beckons to me. I needed to focus, I couldn't think of it, but I also couldn't not.
The scent of a chilled air morning, when the grass was wet with dew and the air was clear seemed to nearly radiate from a place off to the left. We seemed to be passing it as we moved into the room. A new scent called to me. A rainy forest in the twilight of the moon, the scent of a crisp night air mixed with wet trees and mossy earth, and it was in the direction we were heading. Getting stronger as we found the center of the circle.
I kept my head down, not even looking at who was holding the boy. The boy was my focus and he was definitely a pup! Who had let him come? As I looked at him I caught another scent, this one was different from the original two. It was from in front of me, a bit further back than the first scent seemed right now. It was the scent of a freshly doused fire, smokey and warm, it smelled as if a freshly burned tree was standing a few feet away, but I knew better.
I knew what these scents meant. My mate was somewhere around here, one of these scents belonged to him, maybe each scent and it was just from where he was standing or sitting earlier in the night. Regardless, I couldn't let them find me and I couldn't deal with them, especially not right now.
I pulled my energy as close as possible, trying to minimize it and hide in plain sight. "Hey there, what's your name?" I kept my voice quiet, not wanting anyone to hear except the boy in front of me. Whoever was holding him was bound to, and whoever it was had definitely locked their eyes on me, but I couldn't worry about them right now. They were probably just wondering how someone like me could help, in this minimized position my energy read as mortal at best.
"Marshall, my leg, please help me!" I felt my heart ache.
"I will, this will feel a bit strange okay Marshall." I looked into the fearful eyes of the young pup. He nodded once and I bit my lip as I looked at his wound more closely. There was a long piece of wood, clearly waiting to be the splint. The leg itself was a mess. Two large pieces of bone stuck out and you didn't need an x-ray to know the inside was a shattered wreck as well.
I would have to pull on my energy for this, it would spread out, if my mate was near he would absolutely feel it and be able to follow it quickly. The Moon Goddess had ignored my request for the night. I was doomed to put forth a rejection, and before that I'd have to spend a great deal of energy and time healing a wolf pup who should have been at home instead of out at an event like this. Goddess give me the patience for this night, it would be a long one.
I raised my face, hiding my eyes no longer mattered. They met the face of a man who had his eyes piercing my own. He had earthy brown eyes that mimicked the scent coming from him. Of course, it was him. His hair was down to the middle of his arm holding the pup steady, his chiseled face and sharp chin squaring directly with my own. I looked at his arm holding up the wolf who was injured, his long, broad shoulders met the large arms with a pale brown tan lighter than most wolves.
Wolves tended to be outside a lot, meaning sun and tans all around for the most part. I tried not to focus on his arm too long and just motioned for him to move down, "Be ready to set the leg. I'll completely numb the bottom half of his body, but his body is already trying to heal and we can't wait for you to set his leg."
"Mate!" The word was a low growl as it left his lips. Damn it I did not have time for this!
"Listen to me damn it, the pup in your hands needs you to focus, now push that aside until later and focus!" I saw a glimmer of realization wash over his eyes as they shifted from the intense focus he had on me to looking at the pup. He didn't say anything but he moved to Marshall's legs.
I pulled energy from the earth and placed one hand under Marshall's head and the other on the ground. "Pain leave this body and pass through me." A simple phrase, single and focused. With it came the thunderstorm at sea of waves with intense pain. I pulled the energy more, focusing on his legs, calling to that pain, that torture. I felt it through my chest and it felt like a thousand knives cutting into every part of my skin. "Now!"
"How are you doing that?" Marshall asked with shock in his voice, no more pain as he watched his leg being broken again, bones being pushed back into place and tied to a splint made from the stage. Blood pooled a little more, but all the pain was going straight to my chest and then down to the earth. I passed it on as quickly as possible, but all things have a cost, and I had to feel each moment at least once.
I wouldn't show it to this pup though, he didn't need to know I was suffering to help him. "Don't worry about it, and listen, when I let go you'll have a few more minutes of pain-free before it comes back. Take my advice, get a ton of ice and some type of medicine to knock yourself into a long sleep before then." I moved my hand from the earth to his forehead. I sent a silent call for the elements to send me his pain until his mind slept. I'd just keep grounding until then, and then sleep for three days because of the energy drain. I felt a knock on the wall in my mind where my wolf slept. She had noticed our mate nearby and was wanting to reach for him.