Derik guided the young beautiful girl through the main hall of the city. His hand on her tiny waist felt almost right. He couldn't think about that yet though. He knew eventually he would have to report her presence in the city to Alpha Dante but he wanted to have answers as to why a human girl was so close to the city.
She was tiny standing at barely five foot in her small beige kitten heels that definitely weren't suitable for hiking. Her long golden blonde hair hung in thick waves down her back and her pale blue eyes were wide with awe and fear. Her pale blue dress may have been filthy but it showed off her curves perfectly, which was something Derik was trying not to contemplate.
Several young boys of about eighteen began to whistle and call out to the girl in a way that was entirely inappropriate. He doubted any of them had ever seen a human before. If they had been alive during the war they had been far too young to remember the fear that the scent of humans had caused in the city. He growled and grabbed her arm. He pulled her to the right and down a narrow passageway that was dimly lit. It wasn't until Devin came down the passage that he realized the danger he had put her in. Devin went stiff and shoved his daughter behind him growling at the young woman that Derik sheltered behind him.
"Human!" Devin half snarled not noticing the gun that Derik had drawn when Devin began to growl. Derik had the gun leveled on the other man's stomach.
"Go the other way." Derik growled coldly. He almost felt bad for drawing the gun on a man he considered to be a friend. Devin opened his mouth to protest but Derik merely repeated the order in his beta growl. Devin resisted only a few seconds before turning on his heels and scooping Marie into his arms before rushing back down the passage the way he had come from. Derik grunted in approval and pulled the girl down the hall to the empty unused room he had not known he was going for. He pushed open the door and entered the room throwing her across it. She stumbled and hit the bed with a gasp of surprise.
Derik locked the door and began to pace manically as questions filled his head. How had she gotten all the way out here? Where had she come from? Was there anybody that would come looking for her? Was she sent to spy on them? If not what was she doing out here? Why did she smell so weird?
Finally he stopped pacing and decided that he needed to know why she had been so close to the city. He broke the silence that hung like a weight between them. "What are you doing all the way out here?" The words came out harsher than he had intended. She flinched slightly and stammered an answer.
"I..... I got lost." Her pathetic whimper was accompanied by that same strange smell that he knew but couldn't quite place. He couldn't understand why it put him on edge.
"Bullshit." Where had he smelled that scent before? "Humans don't come this far out unless....." He stopped as it hit him. He knew the scent because he had been covered in it during the last two years of the war. A scent he had worked so hard to cleanse from his skin. The scent of human blood mixing with the stench of fear and urine. He realized that she must be hurt. Had he hurt her? He didn't think that he had hit her that hard when he tackled her in the forest. Why didn't he recognize the scent right away? What was so different about it that he couldn't recognize the stench that had been seared into his memory?
He crossed the room in a few strides and began to search her for the source of the blood. "Where are you bleeding from?" He demanded in a panic as his hands landed on her ribcage with more force than he intended. She cried out in agony and drew her arms in to protect her left side as she crumpled. Derik jerked back with a growl of frustration but almost immediately shot his arms forward around her tiny trembling body to prevent her head from smashing against the hard stone floor.
He lifted her and barely registered just how little she weighed. He placed her on the bed and removed her dress before she could protest. His eyes quickly scanned her from head to toe. She had large breasts and a tiny waist and was covered in massive dark bruises. She was trying to hide her body from his view when his eyes landed on the juncture of her legs and he froze.
That was why he hadn't recognized the smell of human blood. He looked in horror at the deep purple bruise peeking over the white waist band of her panties and the rapidly spreading stain of blood and..... "Amiotic fluid.....I didn't..... I'm so sorry." He barely managed to get the words out as the wave of guilt threatened to drown him. He spun and rushed to get the doctor, leaving her alone in the room. After all he was the reason she had lost her baby.
Lucky for him the doctor was making his rounds for the pregnant members of the pack and wasn't far. He rushed up to him and called out. "Hey! There's an emergency... I.... I think she miscarried. Come quick." The doctor didn't hesitate as Derik turned and sprinted back to the room where he had left the young human girl, Kendrin close on his heels.
As soon as they entered the room Kendrin froze for only half a second, shooting Derik a look that said 'she's human'. Derik responded by merely nodding towards the girl while rolling his eyes. Kendrin sighed and went to the girl setting his bag on the bed next to her as he spoke gently, introducing himself.
"How far along are you in your pregnancy? How old are you? Do you feel any pain tightness or tearing?" Kendrin asked all these questions in a rapid fire sequence and it looked like the girl was unable to register that she was being asked several questions. 'poor thing. She's terrified.' Derik thought as she opened her mouth to respond.
"I..... Don't.... Can't breathe....." She gasped in a panic. Derik's heart shattered. He rushed to the bed and sat next to her as he spoke calmly to her.
"Focus on me. It's okay. You're having a panic attack. Just focus on me." He saw the moment her panic settled into a numb detachment and wanted to scream in pain and frustration. Kendrin was asking him questions as he took the girls hand in his and held it tightly to ground her in the present.
"Where did this bruise come from?" Kendrin asked as he gently touched the girls ribs. Derik couldn't understand why he felt a wave of possessive jealousy fill his mouth with bile.
"I don't know." He answered honestly. Kendrin glared at him as he resisted the urge to fidget.
"Alright... What about the one on her lower abdomen? Do you know where it came from?" Derik looked away unable to hold Kendrin's gaze due to the guilt.
"Maybe when I tackled her... She could have fallen on something." He mumbled and glanced up to see a look of dawning rage on the doctor's face. "I didn't know she is.... Was pregnant at the time." Kendrin said nothing and finished his exam of the girl.
"I don't know Derik..." Kendrin sighed heavily. "Her injuries don't add up. You're sure you never hit her other than the tackle in the forest?"
"I swear I never hit her. I tackled her because she was running." Derik said sadly. He couldn't help but feel like he was being accused of something terrible.
"Regardless, she needs rest and shouldn't be lifting anything heavier than ten pounds for a while. She has several broken ribs and the bruising....right now she's in a state of shock. Keep her from interacting with anyone else for now... At least until she starts responding coherently. And for God's sake get her cleaned up. I'll come check on her later and make sure the miscarriage is complete. We don't need her getting an infection before we take her back to the humans. We don't need them to come after us again." Derik nodded in agreement with Kendrin's statement. He opened the door for the other man and waited. "Derik... I advise you to clean her up and move her to the cells." With that Kendrin left them alone to finish his rounds.
Derik shut the door behind him. He knew Kendrin was right. He should move the girl to the cells. It would be easy to shut her in the cells and walk away. But as he turned to look at her he knew he would never be able to do it. She looked so fragile and broken. He wanted to say something, anything, to reassure her that he would not inflict more pain on her. But what could he say? How could he make it better? He was probably the last person in the world that she wanted to talk to at that moment. So he sighed heavily as he ran his hand through his hair and went to get some water and a rag to clean her up.
As he made his way down to the hot springs, deep in the network of caves that his pack called home, Derik glared at everything and everyone. The message was clear. He didn't want to talk to anybody right now. His mind was a temoiltous storm of rage grief and guilt. When he finally got to the hot springs he growled at the crowd of people happily chatting away and made his way around the edges to where they kept buckets to carry the hot water to different rooms and caverns. He grabbed one at random and stuffed a spare wash cloth into his pocket before filling the bucket at the source of the hot water and hopefully it wouldn't be too hot by the time he reached the room where he left the human girl.
By the time he got back to the room the water was just about the right temperature for her more sensitive skin. He put the bucket by the bed and helped her to stand. Then he gently removed her blood soaked panties and was heartbroken by the lack of resistance. He grabbed the wash cloth and gently washed between her legs with gentle wipes and dabs, all the while muttering broken apologies and trying to soothe her.
No sooner than he finished washing her than the alpha burst through the door, rage written all over his face. Dante growled aggressively at the girl who flinched and tried to hide her body. Derik dropped the cloth in the bucket and stood, putting himself between the frightened girl and Dante.
"I can explain..." He said calmly holding up his hands in a placating gesture.
"Then explain to me why you didn't put her in an interrogation room on the out skirts of the city, why you had Kendrin examine her, why you brought her here, why she isn't in the cells, and when exactly you planned on informing me that there is a human in MY CITY!" Dante's voice got progressively louder until he was out right shouting. Despite the fact that the girl flinched behind Derik and tried to make herself seem smaller than she actually was, Derik knew that the shouting was a good thing. It meant Dante was at least willing to listen to what Derik had to say. Others had been far less fortunate. Though Derik supposed a bullet through the skull was among the more merciful ways to end a life.
"Alpha..... please... She's been through hell already...." Derik said in what he hoped was a submissive tone.
"Start explaining Beta!" Dante shouted and Derick sighed heavily. He ran his hand through his hair again, a habit indicating that he was trying to think. Finally he responded to the Alpha, having decided to tell Dante everything he knew.
"I saw her in the forest not far from the city. I went after her and tackled her because she was running and I was concerned about why she would be so far into the forest. I brought her back to the city to question her though she didn't seem to know that we were even here until I brought her into the city. What's worse is she has several injuries. I don't know where they came from. But.... I think I may have caused her to lose her pup.... She miscarried." Derik almost choked on the words and Dante ran his hand through his own pitch black hair.
"Derik..." Dante sighed heavily and Derik knew he was torn between pity and protecting the pack. "I feel for her. Really I do. But.... We have to protect the pack. We can't have her here draining resources with winter coming on. Put her in the cells."
"Alpha... I... I can't.... What about execution day? It's tomorrow. If I put her in the cells now she'll be killed along with the others in the cells."