Flip

Patrick was talking but his words sounded far away. She was pack? How was such a thing even possible. Mila was just a human; a human who made sure that the wolves didn't die from mistreatment. Blinking slowly trying to process his words as her ears pounded. It was such a physical reaction of disbelief it almost shocked Mila; should she be able to focus on anything other than what Patrick had just told her. "Mila, are listening to me?" A gentle shake from Patrick and Mila was jarred back into their conversation and raising her puzzled gaze towards his angelic appearing face shook her head. "How has this happened?" Patrick's face, before stoic, had dropped into a more crestfallen expression. "My… My wolf has taken rather strongly to you. It's convinced you are pack." Exhaling with a hiss of air Mila shook her head; sending the raven mass flying wildly about her. "No. No you need to fix this Patrick." Looking as if he'd been slapped the man literally winced and drew away from her; his warm hands vanished off her arms and Mila was left very, very cold. "Mila this isn't something I can just fix." Patrick sighed, rubbing the back of his neck looking dejected. "I have tried to tell my wolf that you are not a pack member; but he doesn't believe me."

Groaning and rubbing her face Mila stared down at the floor. Sure she liked Patrick; he was a nice person. But being a wolf pack? Mila wasn't even sure what that entailed and she was pretty sure that if Jane figured it out; there would be retribution for them all. "What does this mean for me?" She asked, in a deadly quiet tone as Patrick glanced up at her.

"Well… For starters it means that we all share an empathic bond. I don't know how it works for humans but if one of us is feeling strongly; the rest will feel. If someone's been hurt badly, you may experience phantom aches to an extent. This may not apply to you; I have no idea Mila. I don't make a habit of making a pack member out of a human. It was said to be impossible." His eyes flashed that bloodied red color as he obviously struggled to remain calm.

"Am I going to become a wolf?" The words were whispered quietly and blanching the alpha's face split into a grin. Light laughter echoed about him as the man gwuaffed with amusement. Pouting and crossing her arms Mila cleared her throat. "It's a… it's a good question. Does this mean I'm a wolf now?"

"No. You are one hundred precent human. I promise." Once he managed to compose himself the winsome alpha smiled kindly at her, and reaching out ruffled her hair. The simple, familiar gesture sent waves of comfort through the small nurse and leaning into the touch she hesitantly tilted her her head up.

"I'm sorry." Surprise flew across his face; and scrunching his nose with confusion shook his head.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. This is… Unusual. It's ok to be scared; but as your alpha I'm gonna protect you. Ok?" It all made sense now. Why Pete and 'Trick had been fighting.

"Protect me… From the humans?" Expressions going somber Patrick nodded. "What would they do if they found out?"

"No!" His voice rose, so sharply that Mila could almost feel it within her bones. He looked panicked and scared at the mere thought.

"'Trick?" Confusion evident the man took a deep breath exhaling loudly through his nose.

"Mila if they found out… It would be kinder to kill you." Ice slid through her veins at the words; and visibly her face paled. Stumbling with his wording and stuttering a bit Patrick swiftly reassured her.

"B-b-but don't worry. I won't let that happen." Nodding mutely she motioned towards the mess on the floor; a sharp juxtapose to the sterile, clean, and controlled whiteness of the rest of the hall.

"We'll have to clean this up."

"We can clean it up." Pete and Joe stood behind her unreadable expressions coloring their faces. Joe looked like he was falling more on the spectrum of being amused; while Pete looked slightly thunderous. Balking a bit Mila nodded and Patrick, naturally as one would breath air, placed his large and warm hand on the nurse's back; guiding her towards the door.

"Thanks." She managed to call before Patrick shut the door behind them, going to settle down near the examination room.

"Security is going to be here in about ten minutes. Get ready." He warned his dazzling colored eyes taking a hard edge.

"Nurse's order I think I take precedence."

"You'd be surprised." Andy chirped up, a shy tilt of head giving way to a more assured square of shoulders. "Welcome to the pack Mila." It was as gentle as a whisper against a gossamer thread. Appreciation struck her and an honest beam lit up her face.

"Thank you Andy."

"Patrick told you to not say anything right?" Nodding the woman tried to ignore the foreboding sensation that tickled the back of her spine.

"Alright, well I'm gonna go find the bathroom." Andy's quiet voice filtered around her ears; and Mila nodded absently. His footsteps faded towards the door and with a subtle bang; Andy was gone.

"Guards will realize we're not in our cells in about five minutes." Patrick ticked off like a foreboding time bomb. Rolling her eyes and trying to cover up her nerves about what Summick's reaction to the missing wolves; she simply curtly nodded. Lounging awkwardly in one of the examination chairs, the fluorescent lighting setting an artificial glow to the man's face the blonde alpha spoke suddenly and unexpectedly. "Thank you."

"For what?" Before he could answer however, a siren began to wail. It's caterwauling caused Patrick to cry out with pain; clutching his ears and dropping to the floor. His mouth was open in what was a silent shriek of pain. Clutching her own ears and feeling a startlingly intense shock of pain it was all Mila could do to stay upright and quiet on her feet. Her ears felt as if knives were being pushed through them, sawing away at the insides of her brains. Feeling something wet trickle past her fingers, Mila yanked them away and past the dimming of her vision saw red stained on the ivory skin. Patrick seemed helpless on the floor, clutching his head and rocking back and forth; out in the hall a chorus of pained howls rippled beneath the offensive alarm.

"What's going on?!" Mila managed to grit from behind her clenched teeth; and Patrick simply stiffened and finally a low groan was drawn from deep within his throat. It became clear that he'd be unable to answer her and glancing towards the cotton balls on Grent's rather cluttered desk the nurse forced herself towards them. The alarm was still going off; sending numbing amounts of pain ripping through her ears and skull. With trembling hands Mila clumsily knocked the lid off the cotton balls, and with no grace began stuffing them in her ears; hoping to block out the sound. It helped; to a degree. The sound lessened but the pain was still there; and it was with a startling realization did she realize what was going on. Patrick was experiencing this pain; not her. Startled and still feeling more than disoriented by the revelation the nurse shook her head trying to distance herself from Patrick's pain. It didn't work however and gritting her teeth together she mentally pleaded with the alpha to do… something. Anything as the pain was unbearable. A subtle thought danced underneath the pain and distress that she was only feeling phantom aches of what Patrick was feeling; did he feel this pain worse than she did? That gave her the strength to clutch a few cotton balls in her trembling hands, and tried to force her legs to move. For a moment the pain was too much and instead she stood still. Finally, after a couple of minutes her leg twitched into motion and she was slowly but surely making her way across the examination room towards the alpha; still curled in fetal position on the floor.

Every step seemed like a mile; and every mile was a new one, until Mila had managed to make it to Patrick's aid. Balling her free hand into a fist, with the nails biting down into her flesh the curvy raven haired woman gracelessly dropped to her knees beside Patrick; and with dread realized he was still not within arms reach."This better work. She though bleakly before crawling the rest of her way towards his side. When she was finally in range of the man, the nurse tried to pry his hand away from his ears; only to find that the nails had shifted and elongated themselves into feral looking claws. Claws that could easily rip through her flesh like paper, or snap her in half like a dry piece of kindling. An involuntary whimper escaped from behind her pale pink lips as she grabbed his hand with her free one; tugging on it trying to signal to him that he needed to move them away from his ears. A loud snarl was drawn from him in response and flinching the nurse swallowed her fear; and forced herself to strengthen her resolve. Dropping the cotton balls onto the floor beside her and in a fluid motion grabbed his wrist with both her hands and pulled. His grip wasn't as strong as she'd intended and in pulling his hands away from his ears Patrick's claws caught her across her cheek; opening the flesh. Vaugely she was aware of blood dripping down her cheek though it was nothing compared to the pain that she felt from the alpha. Quickly, before Patrick could cover his ears again, Mila stuffed two of the soft, fluffy, white cotton balls into his ear; then preformed the same action. The pain, while still present, was immeasurably better. It was more like a dull ache now, and in the hall the pained howls had stopped. Slumping down Mila took a moment to collect herself again, her breathing hard and heavy.Her cheek felt hot and tight, and raising a trembling hand wiped away the trail of blood dripping from the wound.

Turning towards the alpha to ask if he was alright, Mila watched in silent awe as he raised his own hand, still morphed into his lycanthrope claws, and touched his cheek the spot where Mila had been cut. It was then she noticed that it wasn't just his claws that had been morphed. His face, ears, teeth, and eyes were all "wolfed out." And it was the first time that Mila had seen him like this. As if sensing her gaze on him the man pulled away from her, turning his back. It was wild, beautiful, and graceful, though Mila could of sworn she felt a twinge of shame rolling from him. Silently she reached out, placing her hands on his back and tugged, trying to get him to turn towards him. "Patrick." She croaked, her throat parched and her voice cracked. He didn't respond, just a soft huff that didn't sound entirely human. "'Trick, I need to know if you're ok." She tried again to gain his attention though he remained stoic and unmoved. Finally with a more authoritative voice the woman demanded, "Patrick look at me." The alarms were still wailing, though the cotton balls were still holding up.

"No." His refutal was soft and tainted with a plea that Mila didn't entirely understand.

"Yes."

"I don't want… I-" Cutting him off with a fierce noise the nurse felt well enough to get to her feet. Walking around the man she crouched in front of him; only to find he'd put his arms over his face. "Get out of here." His voice was muffled and obscured but he walls of his arms. "The guards set the alarm off, it happens when someone isn't there for roll call. They'll come up here soon and they'll be angry. I don't want you hurt in the process."

"You'll need need me to explain why you weren't at roll call. Now stop being stubborn and take your arms off your face I need to check your ears." It was clear he was unwilling and placing her small and slender fingers on Patrick's arm the nurse tugged gently. This time, his arms moved away with her hands revealing his "other" face. His hairline was further down, and there was an almost fur-like appearing hair that'd grown on his face. His nose was more canine appearing than she originally thought and his eyes glowed with a crimson that took her breath away. There was no denying what he was when he looked like this, his ears long, tapering, and pointed. There was a red stain trailing from his ear down the side of his face, and had pooled and dripped on his shirt. The bleeding looked worse than hers and getting up to grab otoscope she was stopped by his hand; as gentle and careful as it ever was. Glancing up and meeting his eyes, she found his gaze was trained on the cut upon her cheek.

"You're bleeding." The sentence was soft, remorseful, and disappointed. Bringing her fingers up once more to press against the wound Mila shrugged.

"It's not a big deal 'Trick."

"Stand still." His command was quiet, though powerful. Complying the human was intrigued when he cupped the wound with the palm of his hand and closing his eyes winced, his lips peeling back into a silent growl. The tightness that Mila had felt began to disappear until the pain had faded into oblivion. Breathlessly the woman was once again held by the strangest awe for the alpha. Forgetting his reservations about his face for a moment the man smiled, though it was stained by a disgust that she didn't fully understand. "Aren't you scared of me?" The question was so obscure and outlandish that it rendered her speechless for a moment.

"Why would I be?" The genuine confused seemed to frustrate him.

"Because I'm a monster Mila!" Unflinching the woman reached out, and gently placed her hands on the side of his face; mirroring his movement when he'd healed her cut.

"You are not a monster. Do you understand me? Jane is a monster. Allen is a monster. You are nothing of the sort and you have nothing to be ashamed of so stop sulking and stay there while I grab the otoscope" She had just started to get up when above the wailing of the sirens a snarl of anger, then pain followed by yelps sounded from outside the door; and before the nurse could cross the room to see what was going on it was kicked in by security.

"There he is!" One of them called, and pointing a gun towards Patrick, Mila shrieked gaining the attention of the ten men. "Escort the woman to safety!" The leader called, and two men hurried to her side; gripping her elbows.

"Get off me!" Mila wailed, thrashing her body in hopes to shake them off. "'Trick!" She called, without thinking and the alpha, already surprised transitioned his attention to the struggling nurse. Growling he got to his feet, shakily, though his strides didn't carry him far as a gun was cocked in his direction.

"Freeze!" The command was shouted at the alpha who merely flashed his fangs, and looked torn between ignoring the man and going to Mila's aid.

"'Trick just listen to him." Mila recanted, though didn't stop her struggling. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" The woman shouted, and one man strode into the room; snide and vain even in his movements. Ignoring her question he honed in on Patrick and lifting the already drawn gun took the butt and smashed it into the alpha's face. Crying out in pain, Mila's cry echoed the alpha's as he crumpled towards the floor. Gasping as he used his elbows to push himself back up onto his knees, Allen drew his foot back, and with a painful force connected his foot against Patrick's ribs. A sickening crack resonated through her ears and Patrick dropped back onto the floor; simply curling up as Allen landed blow after blow on his body.

"Give me a reason to fucking blow your brains out." He snarled, face twisted with a sadistic pleasure that chilled Mila.

"Stop it, you're killing him!" Mila screamed, straining against the arms that held her from going to the alpha's side. To an extent she felt every blow, every crack that Patrick was experiencing. Glancing up at the sound of Mila's distressed voice Allen narrowed his eyes.

"You wanna explain what the hell these shits were doing out of their cages?" Desperately the nurse threw an arm back, catching one of the men against the jaw. Stunned, they both loosened their grip and wrenching herself free Mila rushed across the room towards Patrick, though Allen grabbed her arm before she could drop to the ground beside him. He twisted her arm back to a painful extent and crying out the woman found the struggling against him only made the pain worse. "What are these four doing up here Mila?" His voice was mocking, and when she failed to answer him, Allen landed another kick against Patrick; this one connecting his face. A snap could be heard as he groaned with pain and blood rushed forth from his nose. Biting back a cry from the pain she felt in her face the woman hissed "They weren't in any condition going back to their cells tonight. Pattick was in no mental state; I thought he may try to hurt himself, and Pete wasn't healing. He needed his pack. Two birds one stone; I was on my way down to alert you when the sirens started going off." She lied about Patrick's mental state though Allen didn't have to know that. Her words were clipped and spat at the security guard who glanced down at the blonde alpha; shivering on the floor blood pooling about him.

"That's against protocol."

"You know what Allen, fuck protocol. Taking care of the wolves so they don't go feral is my job. Protocol be damned." Silence met her words and glaring fiercely at the guard trying not to let the tears welling in her eyes fall Mila snarled "Now let me go." She still felt Patrick's pain, and she teetered on the cusp of passing out though retained a stoic face as Allen watched her with scrutinizing eyes.

"You win this time Little Nurse. But don't think Jane won't be hearing about this." Watching as he motioned the rest of the security guards to follow him, the man swept from the room speaking into a walkie talkie. Seconds later the alarms went off and Mila was free to drop to the ground besides Patrick. Trying to distance her phantom aches from the blonde Mila tried to tilt his head towards her. His eyes were unfocused and globs of blood clung to his face. She could see his lip had been pierced in a few places where he'd bit clean through them in pain. Gently prying his lips open Mila could see several teeth were broken, a couple missing ad his tongue seemed to be partially bitten through as well. Disgust whelmed her as the woman moved to his shirt where he'd received the worst of the beating. Taking a deep breath she pushed his shirt up, and over his head exposing his bruised and broken torso. His ribs, where Mila had heard the crack were not only bruised to the darkest extent, the bones were pushing against his skin, causing strange lumps in the skin. There was the possibility of a punctured lung. The rest of his pale skin had been broken by bruises dotting his chest, stomach, sides, and back.

"Patrick, can you hear me? I need you to answer me if you can." Trying to use her most professional voice possible, though it shook and broke in places Mila tried to gain his attention. A soft moan was pushed, though it sounded marred by a wet gurgle and was mostly an exhalation of breath.

"Check…. ot…hers.." Scarcely above a whisper Patrick cracked open the eye that hadn't been bruised and swollen shut, though she noted an alarming amount of red in his pupil. Probably a broken blood vessel, though Mila was going to be sure to check. She dreaded leaving him, and lingering by his side she kept a gentle and around a wrist that didn’t feel broken; making sure his pulse was steady before slowly getting to her feet. She didn’t want to leave him, but he was right. At least she had an idea what was wrong with the beloved alpha; she had no idea how her pack-mates were holding up.

Taking a breath to steady herself Mila got to her feet, this time taking herself towards the door. Opening the handle she found three crumpled figures on the ground. Admittedly even from where she was standing, they didn’t look to be in that bad shape. Crouching first by Andy she noted that he didn’t really have too many scrapes; a swollen lip and eye; overall he seemed ok. The other’s had similar injuries, though it was Pete she was worried about.

The beta had been curled unto himself, his impressive frame appearing pathetic and frail. Once she had convinced him to uncurl himself it became clear to Mila the worst of his injuries. There was blood seeping from his leg and upon closer inspection the nurse found he’d been shot. Swearing and trying to force the phantom pain from her body she leaned down, draping his arm around her. With a determined air she half carried, though mostly dragged Pete into the examination room; where Patrick hadn’t moved an inch.

“Why is to, Pete, that you see to to always be getting into trouble.” Trying to keep him conscious and awake she spoke in quiet and gentle tones so the man would at least stay awake. There was only one examination table in the room and deciding it would be quickest to work on Pete the woman motioned for Joe to help her lift Pete up onto the table the man cast a silent worried glance towards Patrick who was laying still in the pool of blood. Pushing her own concerns aside the nurse affirmed in a low and quiet voice “Joe, I need you to focus and help me get Pete up on the table. I only need to remove a bullet from his leg; from what I can tell. Dress the wound, and then I can focus on Patrick. He won’t let me help until this is done.”

Nodding with understanding the curly haired man braced himself before grabbing Pete by the middle, hoisting him onto the examination table. Snarling and snapping with pain at jarring movement Mila turned her head towards Joe and Andy. “Hold him down. I don’t need him biting.” His fearsome teeth snapping had really sent a chill into Mila’s spine and out of all the pack; she trusted Pete the least. Within moments two pairs of hands were on each of Pete’s shoulder blades as he tried to keep the noise down; his eyes flashing that golden and entrancing honey color again. His face too, had converged into his more wolf-like appearance and unlike Patrick it did nothing to quell her distrust of him.

Bustling towards the medical cabinet Mila got the necessary items needed to remove the bullet, and with a stoic face set to work. There was a grim fascination as Mila took the scalpel, her hands shaking and cloaked with the latex, began to open the skin around the knee as it had healed over. Once she’d successfully reopened the wound the woman placed the scalpel on the table next to her; picking up the forcep. Andy made a small noise when she picked the forcep up.

“What is that?”

“Forcep. It’s pretty much tweezers so I can dig the bullet out. And you are positive the bullet didn’t exit on it’s own?” There was a pause before Joe answered slowly.

“Pretty sure.” Frustration hit Mila like a ton of bricks. They didn’t know? She may of sliced Pete up for nothing. Furthermore she may of been wasting her time when Patrick was clearly on the ground in need of medical attention. Biting back a snappy response Mila nodded, angling the forcep around, until she felt something connect with it. It was metallic and relief, however small, stung her bones.

“Alright, I located the bullet. Keep holding him down.” All the while she was trying to fix him up, Pete had continued to try to thrash about, snapping his glistening fangs at the trio.

“We’ll try.” That didn’t sound promising, though making no remark Mila simply fumbled in grasping the bullet; slickened by blood and fluid. Finally after a good ten minutes she had the bullet in her grasp and with one movement, had pulled it from his skin. Spurts of blood arced upwards, splattering across her face and trying not to gag, this had always been the worst part of being a nurse Mila nodded dropped the bullet into the a bowl she’d placed out.

“He’s all set. I’ve got to keep an eye on him overnight to make sure it wasn’t a wolfsbane bullet.” With that Mila was snapping the gloves off, tossing them in the garbage and hurrying towards Patrick. She would of liked to get him onto the table, but Pete was there and everytime she tried to move the alpha he let out a roar of pain; his eyes flying open to reveal their crimson depths. “Patrick please, try to stay still I have to check you over.” While his eyes remained open, lips pressed together, and face pale and drained, he quieted down a significant amount while Mila ran her hands over his body; trying to identify any broken bones. His seventh and third rib bone had broken; yet healed in the incorrect order. They had healed puncturing his lung, as he continuously and periodically coughed up dark, almost black and congealed blood.

“‘Trick I need you to stay awake ok? Your bones have set incorrectly I have to reset them.” Apprehension darkened his handsome, angelic features though he nodded with an air of determination.

”Do what you have to do Mila. It is ok.” Gasping as she felt his voice within her head the human reeled backwards throwing a look around the room when his voice was within her once more. ”It’s one way wolves can communicate. Humans do not know this. However, I am in a great deal of pain; please do what you must.” Feeling as if there were many things that she had no idea about wolves, the nurse set to her gruesome work. Resetting the bone meant that she had to re-break the ones that had set incorrectly. She alone could not do it so turning to the male wolves largely unscathed the nurse closed her eyes briefly.

"I need you guys to help me break his bones." Andy jerked back as if physically slapped and Joe narrowed his eyes. "His bones have set puncturing his left lung and I need to reset it. Please." Without further ado the two crouched by her side. Swallowing and motioning to the rib Mila gave the command, "Break it." Joe shot Andy a look before he nodded, and in one swift motion and a crunch later the rib had been set into place. It was a long and dark night for the pack; filled with the screams of their alpha's pain. Even Pete at some point had shuffled over and placed his hand on Patrick's head drawing away his pain. By the dawn of early light had broken over the institution Patrick had almost been fully healed. Gore and blood had dried to his face, most of his teeth had grown back and most of his bones were back in place. He'd really taken a beating and by the time Mila was done with him she couldn't tell if he had just passed out or had fallen asleep.

Licking her dry lips the nurse; her outfit now covered with blood, looked at the rest of the pack and gave a weary nod. "He'll be ok now. Let's get him on the bed." Silently Joe and Andy hoisted 'Trick's arms over their shoulder's and with a collective effort depoisted him on the cot. Once that was done they milled about for a good hour, watching him like a hawk. Medically Mila knew he would be ok; yet she couldn't shake the fear he would not. Minutes ticked by in silence as the building began to wake up; and the curvy nurse felt the disgust, anger, and despair whelm over her. How could they treat wolves like this? They had done nothing and every time she closed her eyes Mila saw Allen's boot connecting again and again against Patrick's unprotected body. His screams and shrieks of pain rung in her ears; while her body still held testament to his phantom aches. Now as the new dawn broke over Summick's roof she could feel tears of bitter, helplessness, and anger sting her. A change was in desperate need; and she had no idea how to do so.

"Mila are you ok?" It wasn't until Pete's startlingly gentle voice did the nurse realize she was indeed crying. Sniffling and drawing her arm across her face the nurse shook her head.

"This has to stop." Quiet met her words. Each wolf seemed to appear dumbstruck when Mila glanced up at them. "I am going to stop this. I'm going to bring Summick down from the inside."