The Alpha Queen And Her Chosen Mate
Chapter 40

Thorin

“Forest has been quiet. We should regroup at cave and then search for Kelly.” I linked Jonas and Emmett, hoping they were still within range.

“On my way.” Emmett answered.

“Me too,” Jonas added.

I was already in the cave, having made my way over here about half an hour ago, looking for Kelly on the way. I found a few of our bags tossed to the side on the way. Hopefully, one of them will have our first aid kit. Keres took a few good swipes at me. I was cut up pretty badly, but it’s not the worst she has ever done. All things considered, it could be much worse. Unfortunately, I did lose a fair amount of b***d, having not taking the time to address the wound until hours later. This would make treking through the forest that much more difficult.

“Woah…” Emmett whistled, arriving at the cave, his eyes set on my wounds. “I brought some plants that should help-“

“Nyet.” I shook my head. “I don’t need help from someone like you.” I said, tearing a piece of fabric and tying it around my chest to try to help stop the bleeding.

“Someone like me?” He questioned, his brow raised. “Right because I’m the ‘evil plant doctor’?” He mocked.

“Da.” I agreed.

“You could get an infection out here, werewolf or not. Just let me sew you up.” He insisted.

“There would be nothing to sew up if you had just run as instructed.” I spat.

“Maybe if you or Kelly cared to tell us how dangerous Keres really was, we wouldn’t have even been in that situation!”

I growled in annoyance, tearing another piece of fabric to help stop the bleeding.

“Hey guys, I think I know where to replace Kelly.” Jonas said, tearing around the corner of the cave.

“Lets go.” I nodded, ignoring Jonas’s concerned look.

“You sure your good to go?” He asked, pointing to my chest.

“Now.” I barked, tossing a bag over my shoulder.

He and Emmett grabbed what bags we had and Jonas led the way towards the direction he thought Kelly was. He wasn’t far off, evident from the disrupted nature and dead bodies around us. We were on the right path. We put a few sorry souls out of their misery on the way, only adding to the depleting mood. Hopefully, we can replace Kelly by sunset.

– – – – – – – – – –

Emmett

As we searched for Kelly, I began gathering a few plants that I knew would help both Kelly and Thorin with their injuries. I would be blown away if Kelly got away with no further injuries after trying to murder half the forest. I highly doubted Thorin would let me look at him, but perhaps Kelly could convince him to get sewn up and use the leaves I had to cover his wounds and prevent infection. If we can replace her, that is. If we replace her alive. Thorin didn’t seem to worry about that, he was confident Keres shifted back to Kelly after some time and she hadn’t been killed by something stronger. I wish I shared his confidence. Nature has a way of grouping up on a common enemy. Hopefully that wasn’t the case here.

“How far do you think she got?” I asked after three hours of following the trail of disheaved forest.

“She had all night.” Throin snorted. “How far do you think?”

“Its starting to look less and less awful.” Jonas said, stepping around another dead body, this time it was a sloth. Much smaller game than the jaguar, apes, and alligators we have seen so far. Maybe she did get tired out after all.

“Do you smell campfire?” I asked, my nose turning up from the smoky smell.

“It must be Kelly, let’s go.” Jonas said, jogging ahead. I joined him and Thorin was slower than usual but wasn’t too far behind us.

Following the scent, we ran another mile or so, eventually coming into a small clearing with a few huts.

“Anyone home?” Jonas asked, getting an elbow to the ribs from Thorin. “What? We’re friendly…enough.” He whispered.

An older woman appeared, her tanned skin wrinkly and her posture subpar. She walked with a long walking stick and was wearing several necklaces made with what looked like teeth and bones around her neck. She narrowed her eyes, taking a fighting stance, though she seemed uneasy on her feet.

“Woah, we aren’t going to hurt you, we are looking for our friend.” Jonas began. He said it again in what I assumed to be broken Portuguese, probably hoping she spoke the language.

She looked at us curiously for a moment before shuffling over to one of the huts and gesturing with her walking stick for us to enter. We each had to crouch down to get inside, but once we were in, we could stand up straight again. On the far side of the hut, all our eyes were glued to a little girl who was tending to something, or maybe someone. She gasped when she finally saw us, moving back a few feet, revealing none other than Kelly.

I was sure you could hear each of us audibly sigh in relief the moment we saw her. She was covered with only a thin sheet and what looked to be several layers of b***d and dirt, but she was breathing. Thorin was the first at her side, digging something out of his bag, while Jonas began speaking to the old woman again. I quickly joined Thorin, taking Kelly’s pulse and listening to her breathing. Both were remarkably strong considering the night she had. It almost seemed like a medical mystery how this was possible.

“She says they found Kelly passed out a quarter of a mile from here about an hour ago. They brought her here to care for her.” Jonas said.

“Ask her about the flower.” I said, frowning when I saw Thorin with a few pills in hand, crushing them up. “What are those?” I asked.

“Pain pill.” He grunted, carefully opening Kelly’s mouth and spilling the powder in. “Its our post Keres protocol.”

“She is in pain afterwards?” I asked.

Thorin rolled his eyes as if I were an i***t before answering. “She spent all night on killing streak, going to battle over and over and over again. Running for hours. Nonstop adrenaline. Fighting her inner self. Being reckless to physical body.”

“And it’s like this every time?” I frowned.

“She is usually awake and asking for pain pill by now,” he sighed.

“Has her wolf always been this…neurotic?”

“When I first began training, she was far more manageable. I was able to get her to obey once or twice. But as time went on, she has only gotten worse. No longer trainable. Now we just focus on damage control.”

“I see.” I sighed, fixing the sheet over Kelly to provide a bit more modesty.

“She says we are heading in the wrong direction.” Jonas frowned, looking at the hand drawn map we were given.

“Where did she say the flower was?” I asked, coming to his side.

“She says its over here, at the bottom of this waterfall.” He said, showing me the map with a new drawing on it.

“I suppose it’s not impossible for there to be more than one of these flowers out there. The question is, who do we trust more?” I sighed.

“The original path will take us at least a day and a half to get to now that we are so much further. Her path will only take a day.”

“It’ll take more than that if we bring those two along.” I whispered, looking over to Kelly and Thorin, who both looked like s**t.

“So what, you want to go without them?” Jonas frowned.

“Look at them, Thorin looks ready to bleed out and Kelly might not be up for hours at this rate. If we leave them behind, we might be able to replace it while they recover, and if we don’t, then we have narrowed down our search and they still have time to recover.”

“And if something tries to kill us?”

“We deal with it. Though I think most of our predators have been eliminated or scared shitless.” I said, looking over to Kelly.

“Fair point. So when do we leave?”

“No time like the present.” I said, quietly leaving the hut.

“We’re not going to tell them we are leaving?” Jonas linked.

“Not until we are far enough away. Thorin will try to come with us and we aren’t leaving Kelly behind, nor do I feel like wasting time waiting for her to wake up. She is in good hands. Plus, this might just be the thing that gets you back on Kelly and Thorins’ good side. Last I checked she was ready to kill you and Thorin was going to string you up on the wing of the plane.”

“Actually, he threatened to break my legs and feed me to the Mapinguari.” Jonas shrugged. “Lets go.”