Predator | 34

Charles words had left April with deep worry. When she cautiously asked what was going on, he kept his answer vague and didn't go too much into details, which worried her even more. The only answer she had forced out of him was that Nikolaj was hurt.

Charles didn't tell her when and how it happened, what or who the one was that had hurt him. April didn't even let him time to explain - if he had the intention to explain - and run down to her car.

And during the whole drive, fear and worry clawed it's way deeper into her skin. The drive to Nikolaj's home was a short drive - usually, that is - but now it felt like hours until she pulled over in front of the small cottage. Driving to his home had never felt so long.

Charles words worried her already enough, but not knowing in what kind of state Nikolaj would welcome her behind the door was even more worrisome and left her anxious.

April gulped past the heavy lump in her throat. Her heart was beating in an irregular rhythm. She pushed the door open, not surprised that it wasn't locked, because, when has it ever been locked before?

Her eyes darted through the room until they stopped on Nikolaj. He was lying on the couch, one arm hanging over the couch, his knuckles skimming the ground.

She had to look twice to notice that he was in pain. Nikolaj's face was scrunched into an expression of utter agony. His forehead covered with drops of sweat.

A heavy amount of dread kicked through her. April rushed over to him, kneeling in front of him. Nikolaj's eyes fluttered open, green orbs watching her in confusion, probably wondering what she was doing here.

"April," he uttered in a voice that was laced in pain. It sounded so unlike him, too unfamiliar to her ears. "Why are you hear?" He asked, pain crossing his pale face with each world he drawled out.

"What happened to you?" She asked in a whisper. Her eyes took in the small amount of blood that tainted his shirt. Her eyes widened and she gasped. "What the hell happened to you!"

She felt her heart thrumming violently against her chest. Her hands reached out for his shirt, slowly pulling it over his stomach to get a better look of the wound.

"Don't," He Nikolaj whispered and caught both of her hands, but that didn't stop April.

She freed his stomach from the shirt and revealed an awful wound on his side. She gasped and was unable to speak, to ask what happened to him.

Nikolaj just stared at her with blank eyes. "It's nothing," he tried to convince her, but she didn't buy it. It was even too painful for him to breath with this kind of wound.

"Who are you trying to convince?" She asked frantically. The wound looked frightening. It looked like a blade-wound, but April was sure that it was anything but.

She swiftly got up to her feet, aimlessly running through the cottage, in search of a towel. This was just like the night after the fight at the bar, when she had cleaned his wounds.

Had he been fighting, then?

But even after the fight she had watched back then, his wounds weren't as deep as this one. Yes, he had been scratched and bitten a dozen of times during the fights, but none of these wounds could be compared to this.

She filled a bucket with water once finding a towel. April didn't know how to perform first aid, at least not in this kind of situation. Her thoughts were all over the place. The first aid lessons were useless if the brain wasn't adapting to the situation.

She dipped the towel into the water and pressed it on his wound as gently as she could, but Nikolaj still hissed in pain, his whole body stiffing. It was painful to watch, but she had to clean the wound.

April was careful not to add too much pressure to his wound. The last thing she wanted to do was to cause him more pain. Nikolaj was suffering enough.

"Do you have a bandage somewhere?"

"Bedroom," he forced out tiredly, his lips were barely moving. He was in too much pain to be able talk.

April nodded, though aware of the fact that his eyes were shut close and unable to see it. She hurried to his bedroom, scrambling up the wooden latter, and searched the small commode in the corner of the bedroom, right next to the bed.

She rummaged through the stuff he kept in the commode and was momentarily afraid that he had no bandages, but she found it eventually. A relieve sigh fell from her lips.

When she run down back to him, she realized that her hands were smeared with blood. His blood. The sight left her dizzy, she never liked the sight of blood.

Her eyes slid shut. She was trying to get a grip of herself and it was more difficult than she thought. This was not the time to get panicked, she thought to herself and sank her hands into the bucket. Her stomach twisted painfully when the water turned into a deep red.

"Can you lift your body?" She asked as wiped her hands with her jeans, drying them.

He didn't answer, neither did he nod his head, but he pushed himself up, resting all his weight on his elbows. Nikolaj was struggling to get up. April quickly looped an arm around him, steadying him, before he would fall back into the couch.

Nikolaj was heavier than expected. "You need to sit. Can you do that?"

He gave her a nod, sucking air between his teeth when he moved his body. His breathing was deep and harsh when the pain ripped through him.

"You okay?" April asked worriedly.

His eyes fluttered open when he turned his head to her. He watched her for a moment and then nodded, too tired to speak.

April then picked the bandage up and began to wrap his injury with the bandage. It took longer than she thought to wrap his injury up and both of her arms were aching once she was finished.

She helped him to lie down on his back again. Nikolaj breathed in utter relief when it was over, his expression relaxing slowly.

"How long will it take to heal?" April inquired in a soft voice and wiped the sweat off his face with a fresh towel. She laid the back of her hand on his forehead. At least he didn't have fever, she thought.

"Soon," he whispered back.

He didn't speak again after that. His eyes were solely focused on the ceiling. A long silence passed over them and the only audible sound was his deep breathing.

April watched his eyelids growing heavy, until he eventually dozing off into a sleep. Nikolaj needed to rest, the wound had drained him from all the energy.

She wondered what he would have done if she didn't come over? Would he have just remained on the couch without even treating his wound?

Just the though of that made a cold shiver running down her spine. She already was aware of the fact that werewolves - or Lycans, whatever they called themselves - were able to heal much quicker than the regular human.

But she still didn't know how long it would take for the wound to heal. For a human, it would no doubt take months until a good recovery. But how long would it take for him?

April rested her arms on her knees, with her head on top of them. She was tired as well, not only from the current situation, but because Lorena had dragged her from shop to shop. Her feet were hurting.

Until know she didn't realize how tired she actually was, but she was unable to find sleep. She closed her eyes, trying to doze off, but it didn't really help. Her thoughts were one big mess, all over the place and it kept her awake.

She couldn't sort her own thoughts out. There was so much going on in her head right now, so much she wanted to know.

A heavy sigh passed through her lips. Her eyes dropped down to her hands. There was still blood under her nails. She shivered and tried to wash it off in the bucket, but she gave it up when she noticed that it didn't help. The water wasn't even clean anymore.

She went over to the fireplace and lit a fire. Nikolaj didn't use the fireplace in the past few days, that much was obvious. It was freezing cold in the cottage.

Her eyes watched the flame rising, burning the wood slowly. Her thoughts drifted back to Nikolaj, who was softly snoring in his sleep.

She had never seen him this weak, not even when he had been wounded after the fight at the bar not too long ago.

April highly doubted that he had been in a cage fight, but she would find out soon enough.

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Hi! Hope you liked the chapter. Thank you for reading and for all the votes and comments on the last chapter.