Lucy’s POV
My feet moved of their own accord once I saw that he wasn’t going to be able to evade the arrow on time. And I didn’t know what the assailant was using that made them difficult to detect, but like last time, no one took notice of them until it was too late.
I shoved Shaun forward, pushing him out of the way, but thus put me where he had been standing, and before I could swiftly dodge, the arrow found its mark in the flesh of my shoulder.
Wild, hot pain zipped through my brain, consuming my every thought. My legs wobbled underneath me, before crumbling like ruined ash and bringing me to my knees. A loud sound kept pouring into my ears over and over again. It was my screaming.
The last thing that crossed my mind before the darkness was the thought of how a normal arrow shouldn’t have hurt so much.
–
” … Losing blood.”
” … Arrow was poisoned.”
“Wolfsbane?”
“They got away again, damn it!”
Voices flowed in and around me, and like hands, pulled me back to the surface. I came awake with a gasp, reaching out to hold air, and getting punched by pain in my arm.
A weight pressed me down gently. “Take it easy. Your arm was hurt pretty bad. It’s a miracle you didn’t have to lose it.”
My throat hurt from how dry it was. “Water,” was I could utter, and I did so with a savage desperation. “Please.”
Some scurrying around. Boots scraping the floor. Water pouring.
“Here you go.”
I opened my eyes to see a face I couldn’t quite recognize. She held a cup out to me, waiting for me to take it from her. “You seem pretty shaken up,” she said, “poison must have done a number on you.”
I took the cup from her hand, wincing from the pain in my shoulder as I did so. Whatever injury I had sustained emanated from my less dominant side, so I was lucky to be able to even lift anything at all. I downed the glass of water in one gulp, but it wasn’t enough.
The lady took the glass from me and refilled it, before bringing it to me again. “Did you see who did it?”
I drank the water. Handed her the glass cup. “Who are you?”
“Katrina, and the pack doctor,” she replied, gesturing to the pristine white coat she wore.
I remained silent, giving nothing away. The little girl I had taken home crossed my mind, and I tried to get out of bed. She would have been so worried that no one had come to see her since then.
“You can’t leave right now. Your wounds haven’t healed fully.”
“How long have I been here?” I asked over the blabbering.
“About a day. It wasn’t likely you’d wake up so early, given that you had been poisoned by wolfsbane,” said the doctor. I looked at her again, trying to figure out where I had seen her face before. But my brain came up with nothing, and focusing too much only gave me a headache.
Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I got out of the bed, but the doctor came to stand in front of me, blocking my movement. “Wait, you can’t leave.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” I grumbled. This was what I got for trying to help someone who had been nothing but terrible to me.
“At this point, I do. If you move too much, you could reopen your wound, which is the last thing we need.”
“I don’t care, I’d rather be anywhere but cooped up in this place that smells like alcohol.”
“Look, I might not be able to convince you, but the man that brought you was very insistent about you not leaving here until you were much better.”
Somehow, I could tell that it was Shaun she was talking about. But he didn’t care about me, so why tell a doctor to watch me anyway?
“As much as I appreciate his kind gesture, I’m not staying here,” I said. “Just give me whatever medicine I have to take to get better and I’ll be on my way.”
Katrina shook her head, looking exhausted from the back and forth
That made two of us. “That’s not how this works.”
I wanted to say something else, but the door to the room opened and none other than Shaun himself stepped inside. He took one look at the doctor, and she walked out after nodding, leaving us alone.
“What were you thinking?” he said almost immediately, glaring at me.
“Yes, thank someone for saving your stupid ass by asking them that kind of question,” I muttered, but he definitely heard it, because a growl came from deep within his throat.
“I didn’t ask you to save me. You could have let the arrow find its mark, just like the plan was. After all, weren’t you looking forward to my death? What happened to all that bravado?”
His statement shocked me a little, but what else was I expecting? Someone like him would never have the stomach to do something as simple as expressing gratitude. “You’re probably right, I should have let that arrow skewer you.”
He chuckled. “That’s the spirit. This is what I’m used to, not you are trying to paint yourself as some kind of hero. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all some kind of act to throw me off your trail.”
There it was, the accusation. “I don’t need to throw you off any trail because you’re far from the right one in the first place. If you think that this,” I pointed to my wounded shoulder, “is all an act, then you’re free to do so.”
I had never felt so bad fro helping someone out before, but apparently there existed a first time for everything.
Shaun’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t say anything. It must have been frustrating to him that he still couldn’t figure me out.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing,” he said, “but you can’t fool me, Lucy.”
My heart jumped with surprise. It was the first time he had said my name. But what did it matter when he was using it to accuse me?
He seemed to have noticed that as well, because he stiffened. But the moment didn’t last, and in the next moment he turned around and left like someone being chased.
With a heavy sigh, I sat back down on the bed to chase away the lightheadedness affecting me. Maybe the doctor was right and I needed a little more rest before I decided to leave. I could only hope that the young girl I had decided to take care off was still safe, and had somehow been getting fed and taken care of in my absence.
Even though I didn’t want to think about him, his words and face crossed my mind, and filled me up with unbearable heat. He brought out the worst within me, but I would never stoop to his level. I had a goal, and he and his brothers weren’t going to stand in my way.