It took close to two days to finally get out into the jungle, the entire time, Karen only answering crucial questions, and even then only with yes and no. Theo didn't mind though, at least he was around her. Her scent, and seeing her was enough to help ease his burden. Perhaps Brett was right because even though she acted aloof and cool towards him, there were times he caught her looking at him in a way that made hope flare in his heart.
*We'll get her back*
he thought to his wolf, who whimpered at him pathetically. Theo didn't care though, at least his wolf had come out of hiding, lying curled in a tight ball in the back of his brain.
Karen sighed as she watched the helicopter fly off, dread and some other emotion settling in her stomach as she realized that she was alone in the jungle with Theo. Taking a steadying breath, she turned to face him, hoisting her pack onto her back.
"Are you ready to start?" she asked emotionlessly.
Theo nodded, settling his pack on his shoulders "You set the pace and lead the way, I'll follow."
Karen let out a soft scoff and rolled her eyes. Instead of saying anything, she pulled out the GPS, turning in a slow circle to get the direction they were supposed to go. Once she was pointed in the right direction, excitement filled her chest.
"Off we go then." she said as she made her way into the dense underbrush of the amazon jungle.
The first few days Karen led them in a punishing pace from dawn til dusk they made steady progress through the amazon. Each night, they took turns preparing the food, dehydrated packets of mystery food. At the end of the 5th day, they came upon a small clearing, where a tree had fallen. Though it wasn't quite dusk, Karen set her pack down and turned to Theo.
"Good spot for camp tonight?" she asked
He gave her a small smile and nodded. Karen went to set up her tent, sneaking glances at her silent companion. She had never been on a trip with someone else before. There was a part of her that wished that they talked when they broke for camp, or while they were walking. It was even more lonely having someone with her and not talking, than being alone.
*You can change that ya know*
her Spyrim half said peevishly
Karen rolled her eyes so hard it hurt.
* I am aware of that, but I'm still really upset about what happened. He attacked me, my arm still hurts. Do you know how hard it is to keep it clean in the fucking jungle?*
*I'm just saying, maybe you should start talking to him. Would it hurt to make small talk? Besides, maybe if you start talking he'll explain why he did what he did. *
Karen made a disgusted sound and shook her head.
"You okay?" His soft voice startled her out of her head.
Despite herself, she blushed. "Yeah just... heh" she pointed to her head "Arguing with myself. Totally normal."
Theo gave her his crooked smile and nodded "I know how that is."
After camp was set up, Theo went to find dry firewood and Karen pulled out the beige vacuum sealed pack of food and groaned. She was quickly growing tired of eating the tasteless food. She then pulled out her first aid kit and began to change the dressing on her arm. Theo normally took a while to gather the wood, so she would change it while he wasn't there. She removed the white bandage and the gauze pad, letting out a sigh of relief as the wound was aired out. She pulled out the schedule that Becca had given her, letting her know when the stitches had to come out. To her surprise, it was actually today that they were to come out. As she was digging for some scissors, a pained gasp startled her. As she looked up, there was Theo, arms full of wood, standing a few paces away. His face held a pained expression, his eyes swimming between his honey brown and gold. He took a step forward, dropped the wood and then continued until he was right in front of her. He dropped to his knees, his eyes pleading.
"Karen," he said softly, his voice raw "I'm so sorry."
Her back stiffened, and she leaned back slightly, "Yeah well..." she trailed off going back to look for her scissors.
"I can heal you," his voice cracked slightly, as he looked down at his hands which were clasped in his lap
"What?" She asked startled.
"I...I... I can heal your arm," he stammered
Her eyes narrowed at him "How?"
He heaved a heavy sigh and swallowed, looking at her through his lashes "Wolves have a healing ability in their saliva." he flinched a little.
"Saliva?" she asked incredulously "you'd spit on me?"
He let out a shaky chuckle "Not exactly." he rubbed a hand on his neck and sighed again "I'd lick you."
She gave him a deadpan stare "Lick me?"
"Mmmhmm," he nodded sheepishly "I'd also have to be in wolf form."
"Ah," she said turning back to the first aid kit. "Yeah, that's not going to happen."
Theo just sat there looking at her, she dug furiously through the kit. She set it down with a growl and glared at him, her eyes glowing a slight blue.
"What?" she asked furiously, "You think you can just lick my arm and everything will be better? Everything will go back to normal? You fucking attacked me!" she jumped up to her feet, her tattoo glowing in the dim light.
"WHY DID YOU ATTACK ME?!" She screamed, tears suddenly flowing down her face.
Theo quickly stood up, holding his hands out to the side, his own eyes starting to prickle. "I let my wolf take over. Your words hurt me, and I took the easy way out, thinking it was better to hide and the let wolf run things for a little while. What I didn't realize, was that he was also hurt by what you said. Along with that, he took your words as a rejection. He didn't know how to handle the hurt and the fear of losing you. His mind is more primitive than ours. He lashed out at the thing that was hurting him."
She looked at him incredulously "Really?!" she shrieked "You're going to blame me for this? YOU HAD MY THROAT IN YOUR JAWS! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!!"
Theo nodded, his eyes pleading "You're right. We both caused the fight. I was wrong to let my wolf take control." he gave her a soft smile "If you let me heal you then we'll be even."
Karen made a disgusted noise and looked at him like he was insane "How would we be even?"
He took a couple steps closer until he was within an arm's reach from her. His smile grew just a tad bit and slowly he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear "I distinctly remember being pinned to the forest floor with a knife pointed to my heart."
Karen blushed a deep red but didn't pull away as he gently cupped her neck, secretly craving his touch.
"Please Karen," he begged "Let," he grinned slightly and gave a slight shake of his head, "Cuddles heal you."
"I don't know Theo." she said softly stepping away, "I don't know if I can face him."
"I will be right there with him, he has to be the one in control, but I will be there also. He wants to apologize too. Trust me. He feels awful. I haven't heard anything from him since the incident"
"Please," He begged again "Please Karen, let us heal you."
She took a shuddering breath, steeling her nerves.
"This won't make everything better," she said with a small quaver in her voice "I don't know if things will ever go back to how they were. Don't think that me letting you heal this will magically fix everything."
Theo nodded stepping back "He's going to submit to you, if you'd like to forgive him, not saying you have to, but if you'd like to, just, rub his chin and belly."
Karen nodded and looked at her boots as Theo stripped down. Karen looked up when she heard a soft whine. There in front of her was the massive wolf, laying on his stomach, his pale gold eyes sad. He whined again, and slowly crawled forward. Karen's heart was racing as he slowly approached, but his eyes were so sad, and it was so pathetic to see such a massive predator inching towards her. The third whine broke through some of her defenses. She sighed and relaxed slightly. Theo's words ringing in her ear. When she took her anger away and thought logically, what the wolf did to her was no different than a hurt domestic dog biting someone who tried to help. It still made her mad, and the fight that had lead to the attack, still set her blood boiling, but she found she couldn't be mad at the wolf in front of her. She reached back into the kit, finally finding her scissors. She gently snipped the stitches and pulled them out.
"Okay," she said softly, holding out her arm
The wolf thumped his tail once or twice and got up, walking towards her. Karen shied away slightly when his cold nose brushed her arm. He whined and looked at her pathetically, and she smiled.
"Your nose was cold. I'm okay."
The wolf chuffed at her, before gently laving her injury. At first nothing happened, but then, with each swipe of his tongue, the laceration slowly shrunk until all that was left, was smooth, pink skin.
"Wow," Karen whispered as she looked at her newly healed arm.
The wolf let out a soft whine again and laid down, rolling to his back, his tail wagging slowly. Karen smiled and knelt down, gently rubbing his chin and tummy.
"I forgive you Cuddles, just not your other half." she said softly, letting out a chuckle as his tail picked up speed, thudding against the ground.
Cuddles rolled over and began licking her face, his happiness clearly showing. Karen laughed for the first time in days and scratched him behind his ears.
"Who's a big softy?" she asked in a cooing voice
Cuddles barked and snuggled his large head onto her shoulder, his whole body wagging with his tail. She loved on him for a while until her stomach growled loudly. Cuddles jumped back and into a play position.
