Chapter Seven
Michael waited for Max to come back, but there was no sign of the alpha returning. Deciding maybe he wasn’t coming back, he thought he might as well take a look around. He’d work out quickly enough if this place was as abandoned as it seemed or if someone else was coming for him. He started walking in the opposite direction to Max. It was slow going, each step making him wince. At this rate, his feet were never going to heal.
Once he’d left the cabin behind, he looked for other signs of habitation; buildings, roads, cars, smoke from fires. There was nothing and no one. He hesitated, looking back the way he’d come. Should he keep going and risk getting lost? Or go back and wait for Max? There was clearly something very wrong with the alpha. Michael couldn’t fix him, and it looked like the alpha couldn’t help Michael either. He turned in a circle, torn with indecision. Was Max his best chance of getting back to Ryan and Eliot or was he just in the way?
The decision was taken out of his hands when he heard something crash through the trees toward him. Something bear-sized. His instinct on knowing he was being chased was to run, but his feet slowed him down. And then Max circled in front of him, growling lowly. Michael froze and crouched, trying to look harmless.
The alpha changed back, staring down at him. When he took a step toward him, Michael hunched lower, but the alpha just reached down and picked him up, throwing Michael over his shoulder like he weighed nothing.
“Put me down,” he called, struggling to free himself. The alpha’s arms were like iron, pinning him in place. “Max, please.”
He was getting scared now and more frantic as each of Max’s steps took him closer to the cabin. What did he know about the alpha except for his name and that he knew the names of Michael’s brothers?
They reached the cabin, and Max carried him right inside, setting him down gently on the floor next to the discarded blanket. When Michael went to move, the alpha’s hands pressed lightly on his shoulders, a clear sign he wanted the omega to stay.
He decided it was best to do as he was told. There was no way he could outrun the bear and if he kept trying it might be a sure way to anger the other shifter.
Max turned and pointed to something on the floor. Leaning closer, Michael could see that they were fish. The alpha’s long absence suddenly made sense; he’d been hunting.
Sitting still, he watched as the alpha left the cabin, coming back a few minutes later with a bundle of sticks. Kindling. There was a fireplace against one wall and the alpha set to building the fire. Michael was a little unsure how he was going to start it, but the alpha magicked a lighter from somewhere and some scraps of old newspaper. The dry paper took quickly and soon they had a fire blazing brightly.
Michael inched closer to the heat, the alpha’s gaze snapping to him.
“I’m just cold,” he muttered, avoiding the alpha’s intense eyes.
Max’s hand gestured to him, waving him over. Gingerly, Michael got to his feet and hobbled the few feet to the fireplace. His legs weren’t feeling any better thanks to his walkabout. Plus the dirt in his wounds wasn’t helping.
He crouched on the ground, holding his hands out toward the flames. Beside him, Max was spearing the fish on sticks and cooking them over the flames. Michael let his eyes close. The smell of the cooking fish was delicious, and his stomach growled. Something nudged against him and he opened his eyes to see Max holding out a cooked piece of fish for him.
“Thanks,” he said, trying out a smile while he took the offered fish.
Using his fingers, he ate in quick bites. The food was hot and tasty, and Michael was feeling better as soon as it hit his stomach.
A second piece came his way, and he devoured that too. But when Max tried to hand him the third and final piece, Michael shook his head.
“You need to eat, too.”
The alpha thrust the fish at him again, seeming puzzled. Michael shook his head again, rubbing one hand in circles across his stomach. “I’m full, thank you. Your turn.” He nodded to the alpha.
Max stared doubtfully at the fish.
“Please, Max. You need to eat.”
Right then, the alpha was his lifeline. With the metal band around his ankle and the collar around his neck, Michael couldn’t shift. They were in the middle of nowhere, Michael couldn’t walk far and Max…
He was becoming more and more convinced that something was really wrong with the alpha. Even in his human form, he was acting with more animal instinct than shifter intelligence. But at least he was eating, munching on the fish with relish.
As soon as Max was finished, only bones left of the fish, the alpha got up and left again. Michael watched him go with a mixture of curiosity and confusion, almost certain now that the alpha wasn’t planning on abandoning him.
Sure enough, Max wandered back a while later, carrying a bucket of water in one hand and more kindling in the other. He set them down next to Michael. The omega crouched down in front of the bucket, cupping one hand and using it to drink from the water. His throat was very glad for the cool, refreshing liquid. The alpha didn’t touch the bucket, and Michael guessed he’d drank his fill from the river. Max turned to put more wood on the fire, sending sparks up into the air. As he did, Michael caught sight of the wound on the alpha’s head and winced again. It didn’t look any better. In fact, it looked worse. He guessed it was because Max had been traipsing around the woods in his bear form, finding them food and tracking him down after he’d wandered off.
He decided he had to do something to help. Scrounging around the cabin, he found an old pot. Pouring some of the water into it, he set it over the fire under Max’s watchful gaze.
“We, um, we need to clean your head wound,” he told the alpha, unsure how much Max was understanding.
He let the water boil, using the tattered blanket to pull the hot pot from the heat. The blanket was too dusty to be of use so he used the cleanest thing he had to hand: his shirt. Tearing off a strip from the bottom, he dipped it into the hot water and wrung it out.
Knowing the alpha’s gaze was still on him, he waved him over. To his surprise, Max came, settling onto the floor beside him. When Michael reached for him, he growled and pulled back. Michael’s heart started to race but he knew this had to be done.
“It’s okay. It’s just water. I’m going to clean the dirt and blood away. Like this.”
He ran the cloth along his own forehead, making a face at the heat of the water. “See?”
He dunked and rinsed the piece of cloth again. This time the alpha stayed still as Michael moved closer though he watched him with suspicion.
Starting with the easiest bit, he scrubbed the dried blood from the alpha’s temple, cheek, and ear.
“See, not so bad, right?”
The alpha grunted, the closest thing to an answer Michael had got since he’d woken in the cabin. Knowing he’d have to tackle the actual wound eventually, he tossed out the water and set more to boil, tearing off another strip of cloth from his T-shirt. His hand shook a little as he reached in to run the cloth over the wound. As soon as he touched it, the alpha reacted, his hand wrapping tightly around Michael’s wrist. The omega flinched and froze, waiting to see what Max would do next. But all the alpha did was let go.
“Sorry,” he murmured quietly. “I know it hurts. I’ll be quick and careful.”
The hair around the wound was matted, only making things worse. He worked slowly, methodically, glad for the alpha’s quiet patience. He dunked and rinsed the cloth again and again, until the wound looked, if not clean then better.
“There, all done. It should start healing up soon. In a day or two, you’ll be…” Be what? Back to normal? Nothing about this was normal.
The alpha was staring at him again. Awkward under the intense gaze, he turned and carried the pot to the door to throw out the water. As he hobbled back inside, settling down onto the floor with a groan, the alpha took the pot, poured more water into it, and put it back on the fire.
Michael felt sleepy, his eyes slipping closed.
“You’re all done,” he said. “We don’t need any more.”
He jerked back to awareness moments later when a hand touched his ankle. His eyes flew open, seeing the alpha crouched right in front of him, the bowl of steaming water beside him and a clean strip of cloth in his hand. The alpha gently drew Michael’s leg out from where it was tucked in against his body, turning it so that the sole of his foot was facing him.
“Don’t. Please,” he managed to stammer out, unsure what he was pleading for, knowing only that he was scared.
“Easy,” the alpha rumbled. “Clean.”
He dipped the cloth in the water, squeezed it, then gently ran it along the sole of Michael’s foot. The pain kicked up, sharp and stinging, and he tried to jerk away.
“Easy,” the alpha said again, his hand stroking soothingly along the side of Michael’s foot. Michael gritted his teeth and bore the pain as the alpha laboriously cleaned both feet.
“Better,” he said simply once he’d finished.
“Better,” Michael agreed. “Thanks, Max.”
He got the barest hint of a smile in return. Maybe the alpha was still in there, somewhere.