Outsider Series: Outsider Part 6

"A lot to take in? Are you kidding me? First, I'm told I'm not human, I'm a shifter. And not only are there wolf shifters but there are others. Then there are werewolves, but they're different from shifters. Then you tell me that we're 'mates' and 'we're made for each other'. Now vampires and fairies?"

"Breathe," he said.

I didn't realize that I had stopped breathing and the air whooshed out of my lungs.

"This is crazy!" I cried.

"It is," he agreed. "But it's real."

"Just give me a minute," I said. He sat back against the seat and didn't say another word. Finally I looked back over at him. Gripping the steering wheel in my hand I said, "Will I get to see you shift?"

He blushed. "Not yet," he said.

"Oh," I said.

"You better get home," he said starting to get out of the car.

"Wait," I said and put a hand on his arm. "How did you find me?"

He blushed. "You're my mate. I can find you if you're somewhere close, faraway not so much," he said.

"Can... Can I do that?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "According to the legends there's a lot more that we can do." Climbing out of the car he turned and said, "I'll follow you home. Make sure your safe."

I knew what he was really saying; he was making sure I didn't run away again.

I nodded my head and started the car. A moment later his motorcycle cranked to life.

As promised he followed me all the way home.

I pulled into Gram's driveway and waved to Caeden as he pulled away.

Gram came storming out the door. "Young lady, I do not appreciate you running out like that! I've been worried sick! Your parents are beside themselves!"

"I'm sorry Gram. I just needed to think. But it's fine Caeden found me," I said.

"Caeden?" she said.

"Didn't you tell him I was gone?" I asked puzzled.

"No," she said. "I probably should have."

"Well, he seemed to know that I had left and that I was upset."

"He's a good boy. A good Alpha too. He's young but he's strong," she said like she was selling him to me.

"He said I'm his mate," I said.

"I know," she said.

"You know?" I asked.

"He came to me right away. I'm the head elder so they come to me for consultation. He wanted to know if it was possible. I said it is."

"But how would you know if it's never happened before," I said.

"It's happened once, as far as I know, before," she said.

"Who?" I asked.

"Your parents."

"My parents?" I asked.

"Come on, it's cold out here," she said motioning me into the house. "Shifters all had mates a long, long, time ago. When we first started shifting. Then something happened and it stopped. The mating, the bonding, moved from fact to legend. Hundreds of years pa.s.sed. For whatever reason it's starting up again."

"And my parents were the first?" I asked.

"Yes, it's why they defied their packs, their whole lives, for each other," she said.

I sat down with a huff on the couch. "This is a lot to take in."

Gram came over and patted my hand. "I know sweetie. I know."

five.

Wolves. Shifters.

I'm a wolf.

I'm a shifter.

I stared at the ceiling of my room and tried to make out shapes and patterns while I contemplated the nightmare my life had become. I had never considered the existence of the supernatural and here I was a part of it! It was crazy, unbelievable.

Caeden and the others had done a good job of acting normal and letting me process the news. After all, my whole world had been blown apart.

Gram stuck her head in my bedroom door. "I have to go meet with the shifter council. Can you hand out the candy?"

"Sure," I said. I sat up and looked at her. "So, is that where you go when you disappear for a whole day?"

"Yes," she said and looked at her watch. "I'm late so I don't really have time to talk. I'll be in late." She came over and kissed me on the cheek. "We'll talk later, okay?"

"Yeah," I said and plopped back against my pillow.

She smiled and left.

I couldn't get my thoughts to shut up so I decided to busy myself by cleaning the house. I scrubbed the bathroom until it was sparkling and polished the hardwood floors. I vacuumed the carpet in the bedrooms and wiped everything down. Once everything was sparkling clean I started to organize, starting with the DVD's and moving on to the bookshelf. I ate a bowl of cereal for dinner and then proceeded to scrub the sink clean. There wasn't much left that would distract my mind but just then the doorbell rang and I realized I had completely forgotten about the trick-or-treaters.

I opened the door to a chorus of, "Trick-or-treat," from a fairy, power ranger, and Darth Vader. I gave each of the kids a handful of candy and they left happy. From that moment on the doorbell rang non-stop. I was bombarded by Frankenstein, witches, and an a.s.sortment of Star Wars characters that seemed to be the most popular.

I felt like a jack-in-the-box hopping up and down every time the doorbell rang. At least, I mused, my legs were getting a work out.

When I ran out of candy the kids moaned and groaned. I felt bad but I thought it was pointless to run to the store and get more. By the time I would get back it would be past most of these kids bed time.

I turned off the porch light and hoped that people would get the message and not come knocking anymore.

After about fifteen minutes of silence I decided that I was probably safe and no more kids would come so I pulled on some pajama pants and a sweatshirt. Gram hadn't called and normally when she left for a meeting with the shifter council she didn't come in until really late. I popped some popcorn, added b.u.t.ter, and put a movie on. I knew I should have been doing my homework but I figured I'd do it tomorrow. I was just beginning to fall asleep when I heard a scratching at the door.

Startled, I sat up straight on the couch, looked around, and clutched my heart so it wouldn't beat out of my chest.

I stood up and heard more scratching. I opened the door and said, "Sorry, I'm out of candy." Rubbing my sleepy eyes I realized that no one was at the door. Not a person at least.

A huge wolf sat on my front porch, its tongue hanging out of its mouth, with blood matting its fur.

I screamed and backed away towards the kitchen.

"Oh my G.o.d," I said and clutched my head so I wouldn't faint.

The wolf strode confidently into the house and collapsed onto the floor breathing heavily. I quickly realized that the wolf was seriously injured. Huge lacerations ran down the wolf's body, like claws, one was so deep I was sure I could see bone.

"Oh, dear," I said. Blood was quickly pooling on the hardwood floor that I had just polished. I looked in panic at the wolf. "I don't know what to do!" I cried to whoever the shifter on my floor was. The huge wolf lifted its s.h.a.ggy head and then plopped it back down on the floor. Its fur was a beautiful silver gray color but the silver was quickly turning red as blood oozed out of the wolf's wounds. The wolf's very human blue eyes bore into mine.

The wolf lifted its head again and motioned me back. "You want me to go into the kitchen?" I asked.

The wolf nodded its head yes. I put my hands on my hips. "I don't see how I can help you from the kitchen but fine. I'll go. Just bleed to death on my floor for all I care," I said throwing my hands in the air. "Stupid, stubborn, wolf," I muttered going into the kitchen.

A moment later a very human hand clamped down on my shoulder, startling me, and making me let out a blood curdling scream.

I turned around to face Caeden. "A little warning would have been nice," I said. "Where are your clothes?" I added noticing the fact that he was completely naked except for a blanket draped haphazardly around his waist. His chest was well defined and his biceps were huge. Unfortunately, for me, the image was destroyed by the deep cuts on his right side. "Oh my G.o.d!" I said, my fear of blood suddenly gone, I tentatively touched the skin at his side. He flinched. I could see dirt and gravel caked into the five deep cuts. "Caeden," I whispered "What happened?"

"Travis and his idiotic father," he growled and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. "As for my clothes, when we shift, our clothes don't shift with us. When you're a shifter you have to be comfortable with nudity. It's a fact of life."

"Oh so this," I said motioning to the blanket. "Is for my benefit?"

He blushed and ignored me. He lifted his arm up and poked at his wounds wincing. "Where's Lucinda?"

"She left for a council meeting this afternoon. She said she wouldn't be back until late," I answered him.

"Great," he said rolling his eyes. "I'm going to need you to help me then. I don't have much time. We heal fast, but," he said looking at his deep wounds. "Sometimes not fast enough. Go to the hall closet and pull out the large black case on the floor."

I did as he said but the box was too heavy to lift so I had to drag it into the kitchen. The lock was a set of numbers, which he quickly rattled off, and the trunk unlocked. I looked up at Caeden and I could see that his eyes were growing foggy and that he looked close to pa.s.sing out.

"Let's get you to the couch," I said and wrapped my arm around his uninjured side. Slowly we made our way to the couch where he collapsed. I had to pull the heavy trunk into the living room. Caeden's eyes were closed and his breathing was abnormal.

"Stay with me Caeden," I whispered. He looked close to death and as if my heart sensed it, it began to thump erratically in my chest. Suddenly my feelings for Caeden came to the forefront of my mind. He was my mate. My mate! And I was going to lose him! We hadn't even gone on a date! I hadn't even kissed him! I had been too wrapped up in my discovery of shifters to even think about a relationship with Caeden or the fact that we were mates; we were made for each other and here he was dying underneath my fingertips.

I opened the lid of the large black trunk and found what looked like a mobile hospital. There were gloves, masks, syringes, all kinds of medical liquids, sutures, bandages, and other items that I had never seen before that I a.s.sumed were specifically for shifters.

I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and rang Gram. It went straight to voicemail. "Gram, it's Sophie. Caeden's here. He's hurt. It's bad Gram. He seemed fine one minute, alert, and now? Gram, I think he's dying. Please get this, hurry!" I said into the phone and hung up. I only hoped she got my message soon enough.

"What do I do?" I said to myself looking into the case. I pulled on a pair of surgical gloves, grabbed some gauze, and alcohol. I figured the first order of business was to clean the wound.

I poured the alcohol into the wounds and Caeden came to life with a furry. He started screaming and cussing. "I know, I know," I murmured. "It hurts. I'm sorry. I have to clean the wound."

He growled through clenched teeth. A few tears leaked out of my eyes. "I'm sorry, Caeden, I don't want to hurt you," is sobbed.

His breath hissed in and out through his teeth. "You're doing a great job," he said. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"No, you won't!" I cried. "I can feel it," I said and touched my heart, not caring about the blood I smeared on my sweatshirt.

He looked away and then met my eyes with a steely resolve. "I'll be fine, for you." His breath hissed in and out again. "I'll make sure of it."

I shook my head. "I don't know what I'm doing! I'm not a doctor!" I cried.

He collapsed back against the couch. "Do you see that small vial of gold liquid?"

I began pulling out the different vials until I found one that was gold. "Found it," I said holding it up.

Taking a few strangled breaths he said, "You're going to need to pour that into each wound and then st.i.tch it up."

"Okay, I can do it," I said. "What did they do to you?" I asked not expecting an answer.

"Normally, we heal fast, the only thing that... kills us is... an attack from... another... Alpha... or silver..."

I could tell he was fading fast so I poured the gold liquid into his wounds. The raw skin sizzled and popped. I grabbed a needle and sutures and pulled his skin together. He groaned and bit his lip. "Do it quick," he moaned.

"I've never done this before," I whispered.

He groaned.

To distract him while I st.i.tched him up I said, "So silver? I thought that was werewolves?"

He groaned and it was a minute before he finally answered. "Silver is deadly... to werewolves too, more so, than it is to us... For shifters it gives us an injury... that doesn't heal fast... which can lead to death... whereas if silver... enters a werewolf's system... it kills them... And... for shifters... only another... Alpha's attack... can kill... an Alpha..."

"So, is that what happened? You were attacked by another Alpha?" I asked. I had the worst laceration st.i.tched up and so I moved on to the next most severe one.

He growled as the needle entered his skin and his breathing turned rapid. Sweat drenched his body. His eyes slowly closed and didn't reopen. "Caeden? Caeden? Caeden!" I screamed and shook his shoulder. His eyes slowly opened. "Stay with me," I begged. "Don't leave me. Talk to me, please?"

He grunted and had me repeat my question. Slowly he answered, "Yeah, Travis' dad... Peter... is the Alpha of the Grimm Pack... and he did this," motioned to his wounds.

"And since you're an Alpha?" I prompted him to get him to keep talking. I was scared of what would happen if he stopped.

"It won't heal on its own," he answered. He took a couple of breaths. "In fact it wouldn't heal at all if it weren't for that," he said and pointed to vial of gold liquid.

To keep him talking I said, "Oh, really. What is it?"

"You really want to know?" he asked with a quirk of his brow. I was pleased that he still found some amus.e.m.e.nt despite the dire situation he was in.