Its eyes are concentrated on mine and the noise that's erupting around us is silenced as the hazel eyes lock with mine. Arms lock around my legs and I'm mounted up onto the wolf by who was supporting me. Before I have a chance to protest my body is immediately invaded by electric shocks but I don't pay too much attention to the feeling as my hands lock into the fur around its neck and when I get a good grip, it runs, leaving the guy behind. The wind whips through my hair as I lean forward over the neck as the wolf carries me through the maze of hedges and up into the castle. My nose is buried in the softness of the fur as I take in the heavenly scent of it, not paying an inch of attention to where it's taking me. Deep inside I know that I shouldn't be holding myself this close to something that I have no idea about and that this wolf could possibly hurt me if I don't protect myself. The wolf is familiar to me, I don't know why but I trust it. Finally the wolf stops and I pull back away from the warmth of its neck. Its front legs stretch out in front as its large head turns towards me. Its hazel eyes watch me carefully as he lowers to a level I can easily get off. Once I'm down in the open living space of my suite, the tingles I felt are gone and the pain makes another intense appearance. I try not to acknowledge the pain, keeping it from the wolf. The wolf sits down a couple of feet away from me and its front left paw moves drawing my eyes down to watch as he turns it in a circle before lifting it up and placing it over his eyes before it slips down the front of its nose. Doing as it silently says, I turn my back to it and cover my eyes. I hear light ruffling behind me as whoever it is changes back, jumping slightly a warm hand hooks around my elbow pulling me around to face Ryder. I knew he was the wolf. And I know that I should be scared of him and shrugging out of his grip. He isn't human and he can seriously hurt me but he took me away from the fight. He isn't trying to hurt me now as his breathe hits lightly over my face waiting for a reaction that he isn't going to get. He's protecting me. He's protecting me. He's protecting me. No matter how many times I say it, something at the back of my mind is telling me, that isn't all that's going on. My chest is rising and falling rapidly and my breathing is becoming shallow and I try to tell Ryder that I'm fine when I feel his grip tighten. I'm not scared of him, I trust him, I'm mostly curious. I can't get it out, the words stuck in my throat much like a breathe that's beginning to weigh down my chest Blackness blurs through my vision for a second as I realise that Ryder's grip tightened because I had fallen and he had tried to catch me but he had moved with an inhuman speed to position himself beneath my shoulders and head so they wouldn't make a hard impact with the floor. "Lottie," Ryder begins worried. "I'm sorry. I was about to tell you." Ryder's hands are shaking as he looks down at me as he tries to push my hair of my forehead. Then they freeze and I notice that he's looking down at my stomach as he must only just be noticing the blood coming through my shirt. "You're bleeding." He whispers to himself. His hands have a forced steadiness to them, tense as he holds in the shakes. He grabs the hem of my shirt quickly pulling it up so it bunches just beneath my breasts not giving me enough time to protest at the action. My back arches when his fingers come into contact with the cut, I sound of pain leaving my lips. He curses as he pulls his hand back away from me, when I drop my eyes down to it I see that the stiches have ripped and that my skin has a deeper cut then what I first thought and the blood from it and the three new small puncture wounds has run down my stomach and seeping into my jeans as well. It's still black and now that the cut's open, small amounts of puss are visible. I drop my head back into Ryder's lap as the sight makes me nauseous. He's moving out from underneath me and gently places my head onto the timber parquetry floor. I grab his hand so he won't pull too far away, his closeness reducing the pain that I feel. My hold seems to reassure him and he squeezes it back with a quick smile before he takes it back to bring my shirt back down. I'm shocked as everything hurriedly begins to play out, that one small intimate moment between us gone. Ryder's arms wrap around my shoulders and the bottom of my knees as he picks me up bridal style, my body resting gently against his bare chest. It's the first time that I notice that he's only wearing a pair of black shorts-much like how he was dressed when I first met him, just less sweaty. Within seconds I'm being dropped softly down onto the bed and Ryder starts to mess with the panels behind the wall. He's doing it all one handed as I grabbed his hand again before he could get to far away from me. I don't want him to leave his touch is making the pain bearable. The onslaught of what happened went from me feeling just slightly uncomfortable to a next to unbearable pain. It all started when the guy that pulled me back, put pressure on my cut and the shock of realising that not only I was living with wolves but Ryder was one as well. There is a black blurring beginning to form around the edges of my sight and everything is starting to drop in and out of focus, especially my hearing. It's not until my eyes open and their focused enough that I see pale red hair dropping down over my chest and realise that there's another person in the room with us.