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Chapter 14 ~ Prayer of Silent Tears

Anastay snorted in her sleep, jarring herself awake from yet another nightmare. She snapped her eyes open and peered around at her surroundings in a filmy daze. She was back at home, sleeping with her back propped up against her couch. She yawned as her tired muscles ached for a proper stretch. Anastay pushed herself off the wooden floor, groaning as she finally forced herself to stretch, feeling as if her muscles were going to tear from their insertion points along the various bones in her body.

“Why the Hell didn’t I just sleep on my couch?” she growled angrily at herself. Her muscles would be filled with tension for the rest of the day. She was about to scold herself some more, but stopped in her tracks. She glanced at the couch and it all came flooding back.

The elegant wolf was sleeping peacefully on her couch. His snow white back faced the back of her couch as he curled on his side. His head was resting on one of her throw pillows. His beautiful face relaxed with sleepiness. A blanket had been draped over his warmed body to ensure that he would not freeze from the cold night temperatures. There was a faint wheeze in the air from his lungs, but it was from the anesthesia. For the most part, he looked healthier than the previous night. Almost human…

Anastay felt no fear as she leaned over him. Whatever fear she had accumulated from this beast had evaporated the second she inserted the scalpel into his flesh in hopes to rescue him from a painful death. Exhaling slowly, Anastay gently brushed the blanket off his flank. She noticed his eyes lazily peek open as she started to cut the bandage from his leg. She nor he flinched at each other, perfectly content with the actions at hand.

Anastay peered at the wound for a moment with relief. It was looking better. The flesh had been stitched together by her craftsmanship and maintained a healthy pink coloring. The edges of the wound were approximated and heavily cleaned throughout the night. She noticed there was still a build up of pus that would soon leak from the wound and onto the bandages, but the antibiotics she was steadily giving him through an IV could calm that. She felt his flesh, and it was still quite heated. She prayed that the antibiotics would help the animal. Until then, she would keep him in the house to heal.

“It seems to be doing better,” Anastay told the wolf softly, not caring that she was talking to an animal. She looked over to see Taco sleeping at the wolf’s head. Taco lazily opened his eyes, yipped out a small yawn, and then curled himself back up against the wolf. “Seems my puppy likes you, too.”

The wolf kept his eyes closed for the moment. Anastay gently caressed the top of the wolf’s forehead to soothe away the pain. She knew that the animal wouldn’t hurt her. He had been too calm to do anything of that sort. Nerves probably caused yesterday’s fears, or so she assumed and continued to repeat to herself.

“I hope you know that you’ll be staying around for an extremely large amount of time. I want you to heal up before I set you free. So, for now, Taco and I are your family,” she whispered as she stood back up to stretch.

Before she could react, a soft male voice exploded in her head. ‘Thank you’ it whispered. Anastay lurched with fright as she glanced around the room, fully prepared to see a malicious stalker that she was reminded of from the larger cities. But no one was around to call out to her. Confused, her eyes immediately locked with the wolf’s chocolate orbs. His eyes were misted with sleepiness, but genuinely filled with grace.

Anastay’s heart pounded as she tried to figure out what had happened. The voice had since disappeared, but a sharp rap on her door startled her further. She heard Alex’s cough. Anastay panicked as she glanced at the wolf’s weak body. Somehow, she knew Alex wouldn’t be pleased to see a wolf in her house.

“Anastay! Hurry up! I’ve come to take you for coffee before work,” Alex barked as he continued to pound on the door. Anastay cursed loudly as she brushed the wolf hair from her jeans. She had totally forgotten that she had to work today. She had no time to change. She leaned down and placed two kisses on Taco’s and the wolf’s foreheads.

Anastay then ran out of her living room and closed the two sliding doors that opened up to greet the living room. She grabbed her lab coat and ran into the door, not having time to stop. She smacked the door handle, managing to get it open. She opened the door, pushed on Alex’s chest to make him back away, and then she closed the door. Anastay panted as she pressed her back against the oak. “Good morning, Alex!” she greeted with a gasp for air.

“Running late?” he asked with an amused smile, pushing his sunglasses further onto his thin face.

“Extremely, Taco was so noisy last night!” Anastay exclaimed.

“You’re not taking him to work?” Alex asked, trying to peer in the circular stained glass of roses that was embedded into her front door. Anastay pushed him against, urging him toward his Sheriff’s car. He caught her by her wrists, surprising her by the amount of strength in his grip. “What’s the rush?”

“I’m late, I need to get to work,” Anastay lied. In reality, she had another hour to kill before Elania came into the office.

“No, you’re not,” Alex stated flatly.

“Excuse me?”

“You don’t need to go in for another hour,” he accused with a menacing smile. Anastay stepped back for a moment, startled by his actions. She really had a bad feeling about this man. He had no clue abut her schedule. No one really knew her schedule. They only knew what time her practice officially opened.

“How did you know?” Anastay asked, stepping away.

“El is a good friend of mine.”

“So?”

“She says you go into work when she does.”

“Sometimes,” Anastay replied.

“Well, let me take you for coffee,” Alex suggested, reaching out to grab her hand. She pulled her hand back like Alex’s was made of fire. He narrowed his dark eyes at her as he removed his glasses. “What is your problem?”

“I have labs to do today, and I need to go in early.”

“You can come in to the restaurant for a five minute coffee,” Alex assured her with a forceful voice.

“No, I can’t,” Anastay replied just as firmly. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get to work.” She retreated her steps and walked around him, planning on going to her jeep. Before she reached the car, Alex firmly latched his hand to her wrist. He yanked her back against him with a spurt of energy that caused her to quickly loose her own balance. Anastay yelped in surprise as she crashed against his hard body.

“You do have time for coffee,” he snapped at her.
“I told you no!” she replied forcefully, giving him just as dark of a look. The dangerous escalating in the situation made the fine hair on her arms erect. She refused to be manipulated with such distaste and disgust for proper manners. A sheriff who thought he could control the entire city like they were his puppets would not intimidate her.

“You’re hiding something,” he accused looking deep into her eyes.

“You’re fucking insane!” Anastay cried out in shock. She snapped her hand back and held it close to her body. She watched him reach out to grasp for her again, but she backed away. Since she had an open porch running along her house, she merely jumped off the porch into her driveway. She stumbled slightly with the landing, but proceeded to the jeep nonetheless.

“Anastay! Don’t you dare walk away from me!” Alex barked.

“Fine! I’ll drive away from you!” she challenged as she opened her car door and slipped inside onto the seat. “Get the Hell away, Alex! I’m warning you!”

“You can’t warn me, I’m the fucking Sheriff,” Alex barked as he hopped off her porch. At first, she thought he might rip the door off its hinges, but he stalked to his car. He turned around once more, giving her a deathly glare, and then slipped into the driver’s side of the car. He peeled off, leaving tire tracks in her driveway.

“Holy Hell,” Anastay whispered with shock. Her hands tightly gripped the steering wheel. She felt her heart pound with intensity. That had to have been the worst encounter with Alex. She felt tears slowly slip down her cheeks as she revved the engine, trying to calm herself as she made a silent prayer.