Chapter 59 Chapter 59
Tiana
“Ouch!”
In the next second, I was on the floor.
I hit the ground hard and my ankle twisted beneath me with a sickening pop that sent white-hot pain shooting up my leg.
Another sound escaped my throat and I couldn’t stop it.
“Tiana!” Kaius was beside me in an instant, his hands hovering over me like he wasn’t sure what exactly to do. “What happened? Are you—”
“My ankle.” The words came out through gritted teeth. “I think I… I heard something break. Or shift. One of them. I don’t know, but it hurts.”
His face paled. “Don’t move. Let me see.”
He knelt beside me, his hands gentle as he carefully examined my ankle. Even the lightest touch made me hiss in pain, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.
“It’s dislocated,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fractured but we need to be sure. Let’s get you back to camp.”
I tried lifting myself, but he stopped me immediately. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to get up.”
He shook his head “Don’t be silly. You absolutely cannot walk on this.”
Before I could protest further, he slid one arm under my knees and the other around my back, lifting me almost easily as if I weighed nothing. But I knew that was not true.
The moment he shifted my weight, another wave of pain radiated from my ankle and I bit down hard on my lip to keep myself from crying out.
“It’s okay,” Kaius murmured, adjusting his grip to keep my injured foot as stable as possible. “I’ve got you.”
The walk back to camp felt both endless and too short.
Endless because every step Kaius took jostled my ankle slightly, sending fresh spikes of pain through my leg despite his careful movements.
And too short because I knew what awaited us at camp.
Zane.
Zane would see Kaius carrying me and would definitely not react well to seeing me in his arms again, vulnerable and dependent.
My stomach twisted even as I knew we had done nothing wrong but I dreaded having another moment of him reacting to this day.
When we emerged from the tree line, the camp came into view. Everything in it looked normal, except for a weird abnormality: all the wolves who had gone on patrol, including Zane, were back.
It should be a normal really, but nothing involving his presence ever did.
Keeping my eyes at the camp, instead of living this moment of relaxation being carried with the breeze of air blowing in my direction, I saw Zane standing near the center of camp, speaking with Gamma Rowan about something I couldn’t hear. But the moment he noticed our presence, his head snapped up.
His eyes found us immediately.
Especially me, cradled in Kaius’s arms.
Even from this distance, I saw his entire body go rigid, and I noticed his jaw clench as his hands flexed at his sides.
Kaius carried me forward without hesitation, his strides purposeful as he crossed the clearing.
“Uncle,” he called out. “She’s injured.”
Zane didn’t respond immediately. He just watched us approach with an expression that gave nothing away and somehow conveyed everything.
When we reached him, Kaius carefully lowered me to sit on one of the logs near the fire. My ankle throbbed in protest at the movement, and I couldn’t quite suppress the small sound of pain that escaped.
Zane’s eyes flicked to me, then back to Kaius.
“What happened?” His voice was controlled.
“I found her at the stream,” Kaius explained. “She fell. Her ankle is dislocated, possibly fractured.”
“How did she fall?”
“I don’t know,” Kaius said slowly and I wanted to turn my face to him immediately but gladly I held back. “I wasn’t there when it happened. I happened to be walking along the stream and found her on the ground.”
Zane’s eyes narrowed fractionally but he shook his head from up to down in response.
“Rowan,” Zane shifted his gaze. “Fetch the medical supplies.”
Rowan moved quickly, disappearing into one of the tents.
Zane finally looked at me directly, and the coldness in his gaze made my breath catch.
“How bad is it?” he asked.
“Painful,” I managed. “But I’ll be fine.”
“Let me see.”
It wasn’t a request. No, it did not seem like one.
I hesitated, then slowly extended my injured foot. Even the small movement made me wince.
Zane crouched down in front of me, his hands moving to examine my ankle with surprising gentleness. His fingers probed carefully, assessing the damage as though he had dealt with several injuries like this.
“Dislocated,” he confirmed. “But there are no fractures. The bone shifted out of alignment.”
“Can you fix it?” Kaius asked from somewhere behind me.
“Yes.” Zane’s eyes never left my ankle. “But it’s going to hurt.”
My stomach dropped. “How much?”
“A lot.”
Rowan returned with the medical kit, setting it beside Zane. Inside, I could see various supplies ranging from bandages to salves, and some leather strap-like material.
Zane pulled out the strap and held it up. “Bite down on this when I tell you to.”
My hands began shaking because at that moment, it seemed as though I could smell the pain. “Alpha, should we not just wait for the healers back at the pack house?”
“It has to be done.” His voice was firm. “The bone needs to be reset, and it needs to be done now before the swelling gets worse.”
I took the leather strap with trembling fingers.
“Rowan,” then he turned to face Kaius. “You too, hold her steady. Don’t let her pull away no matter what.”
Two sets of hands came to rest on my shoulders, anchoring me.
Zane positioned himself in front of me, one hand gripping my calf, the other supporting my foot.
“On three,” he said, meeting my eyes. “One—”
He didn’t count to three.
The bone shifted back into place with a sharp screech-like sound and the pain exploded through my leg with such intensity that my vision whited out.
The scream that tore from my throat was muffled by the leather strap, but barely. My entire body tried to jerk away from the source of pain, but the hands on my shoulders held firm.
Zane’s voice cut through the haze. “It’s done.”
I couldn’t respond. I could barely breathe through the residual agony radiating from my ankle.
Yet, silly maybe, a part of me felt Zane was laughing at my pain as punishment for ‘hanging out’ with Kaius.