Note to readers:
I changed Cline's name to Ian. Figured I might as well make any edits early on. Thanks for reading commenting, and voting!
*****
As he stared down at her unconscious body, Ian couldn't help but admire her beauty. Even though she was covered in blood, there was something different about her that just him made lose focus. Something that filled him with desire. During the fight, her ponytail had come undone and strands of curly brown hair hung in front of her face. Looking around, he quickly gathered what he needed to make a splint for her leg. Putting it all together, he frowned.
"I need something to tie this with", he said to himself. Seeing no other choice, he took off his brown leather jacket and removed the t-shirt underneath, revealing his toned chest. Removing the shirt and tearing it effortlessly, he made four large strands long enough to tie the sticks he found together, and tightened them around her leg. "Good enough", he said, "at least until I get back to Cold Hearth with her". He picked her up in his arms and started walking back to his home.
She wasn't that heavy, maybe 200 pounds, which was next to nothing for him. Feeling her warm shallow breath on his neck, he breathed deeply. "God, this woman's scent is driving me insane. Are humans even supposed to smell this good to us"? Holding her tighter, he walked as fast as he could. Even so, Cold Hearth was at least an hour away, and it was getting dark fast. During winters in Alaska, you really only had a few hours of daylight, if that.
About halfway there, he heard some movement in the brush off to his left. "Who's there" he asked. After a few moments, a woman stepped out. Roughly 5'10" and petite, with Auburn hair. "Oh, it's just you" he said, staring at his younger sister.
"Whoa, who the hell is that?!" she yelled, obviously alarmed by the fact that whoever the stranger in her brother's arms was, they were covered head to toe in blood, out cold, with a splint on their leg.
"She's the new forest ranger that Alpha sent me to check out before tomorrow night. She got hurt bad when a pack of wolves ambushed her" he said, continuing his stride.
"WAIT WHAT?!" she yelled, shocked on all counts. "You're not taking her back to the village are you?! To Cold Hearth?"
"Where else would I take her Michelle? You see how badly hurt she is, she can't survive out here on her own like this. She'll stay at Cold Hearth until she's better."
"That's not your decision Ian" she called out after him. "If she's going back to the village, then Alpha has to decide what's going to happen to her, and you know how he feels about outsiders, let alone HUMANS. You may as well just leave her out here."
Stopping in his tracks, he turned towards her and said "That's not going to happen."
"Look", he continued. "The last one went missing in the woods not even a month ago. The government's already wary about us, If this one turns up maimed, or even worse DEAD, what do you think would happen Michelle?"
"I don't know..." she said, looking down at the ground. She missed the last forest ranger, he was a nice older gentleman. When he went missing everyone stepped up to help find him, but they never did. It was like he just vanished into thin air one night and never came back.
"You can imagine though, two FEDERAL officers gone in less than a month. Especially if they were to hear that wolves were involved, their first reaction would be to blame us" Ian said. Seeing his sister was still unconvinced he said "look, this woman's going to tell them one of two things. Either 'those people did this to me' or 'those people saved my life', and considering our already strained relationship with the government I think we need all the friends we can get right now."
"Yeah... You're right. But where would she even stay? Tomorrow's the full moon, she won't be safe at cold hearth" she replied.
"She'll stay in my room, she'll be safe enough at the pack house." he said, marching past the bewildered look on his sister's face.
He couldn't consciously tell, but her scent was starting to really affect him. His heart was beating faster than it should've, his eyes were dilating, and anyone close enough would be able to smell the pheromones he was sending out that seemed to scream "MINE". Snapping back to reality, he thought for a second.
Tomorrow his entire pack would be shifting into their wolves for the full moon. Oh yeah, in case you haven't put it together, they were werewolves. As in, they were people that turned into 8 foot tall killing machines once a month, with a less than ideal view of most humans.
"Michelle had a point" Ian thought. "Very few people can control their wolves on a full moon, and if she were caught out in the open tomorrow night... Still it's a risk I have to take."
