Sam

My eyes snapped open and I squinted, letting my pupils adjust to the light. I looked around the unfamiliar room and jumped to my feet on the bed I had been laying on.

"Nat?!" I thought, panicking at the thought of being separated from her again.

"I'm here." She said and I relaxed, realizing I was still in my wolf form as well.  I climbed off the bed and wandered around the room.

It wasn't the white room at the hospital and for that I was thankful. But I still didn't know where I was.

A mirror on the wall caught my attention and I looked into, huffing in disgust as I saw my reflection. My fur was dull and dirty and my eyes looked dead in their sunken in sockets. The damn collar was still tightly wrapped around my throat and I whined quietly.

There was a light knock on the door and I spun towards it, cowering into the corner with my ears pinned back. A small woman with graying hair walked in, her arms full of various objects. When I pulled my lips back and let out a snarl she froze.

"Hello." She said carefully, placing the things down on the table in the small kitchen area. "My name is Dr. Amanda. I'm the head doctor for the Appalachian pack." I continued growling at her, eyeing the open door behind her. She noticed my action and softly closed the door. I whined and she turned to me with her hands raised.

"I promise, I am not here to harm you. I brought you some clothes." She reached into one of the bags and pulled out some articles of clothing, I tilted my head in curiosity. "I didn't know what size you were so I brought a few things of each." She turned back to me and I pinned my ears back again. "I'll just leave these here in the bathroom and you can shift back and pick whatever you'd like." She walked into the bathroom with the clothes and I watched her place them on top of the toilet lid. She came back into the room and sat down in one of the wooden chairs at the table, opening a book. I stared at her, confused, and she looked up at me over the frame of her glasses.

"I'm sorry dear, but I can't leave until I've given you an evaluation. I brought you food too, but I need you to shift first please."

She settled into the chair and began reading. I sat on my haunches, refusing to leave the corner.

Two hours passed and I began to doze off where I sat. I nearly fell over and jerked back awake, looking around alarmed. The doctor looked at me silently before going back to her book. My stomach growled loudly, breaking the silence of the quiet room.

"Shift first please, then we can eat." She said, not looking up from her book. After a few minutes of listening to the sounds of my empty stomach I stood up, carefully walking around the perimeter of the room to avoid being as close to her as I could. I scurried quickly into the large bathroom and nosed the door closed.

"Do you think it's a trick?" I asked Nat, quickly looking away from my sad reflection in the mirror.

"If it is, I'm right here." She said. I nodded and phased back to human, shivering as the air hit my bare skin.

I locked the door and eyed the shower. I thought for a moment and shrugged, the doctor could wait for a few more minutes. I padded across the tile floor and turned on the water, waiting until steam filled the bathroom. A groan escaped my lips when I stepped into the water, relishing the feel of it running down my sore and aching body. I squirt shampoo into my hand and lathered it into my hair, and followed with conditioner after. I ran my fingers through my long dark locks, untangling the knots that had formed over the last week. I sighed, turning off the water and wrapping one of the fluffy towels on the hook around myself.

I went through the pile of clothes on the toilet and picked a pair of light skinny jeans and a black tank top. The jeans were too long and I had to roll them several times to keep them from dragging on the floor. I looked in the mirror again, grimacing at the ugly collar sitting flush against my skin. I pulled at it again, knowing it was useless and sighed, grabbing the doorknob.

Here we go.

The doctor was still sitting at the table when I walked into the room. She put her book down and took off her glasses, setting them on the table.

"Hello." She said sweetly.

I said nothing and stayed where I was in the doorway between the main room and the bathroom.

"Please, sit." She motioned to the chair next to her.

"Are you with Derrick?" I asked bluntly. If this was another form of torture I just wanted to get it over with.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who that is. Is he a friend of yours?" She asked.

"No." I replied harshly.

I stared at her for a moment before grabbing the chair farthest away from her and sat down, crossing my arms. She pushed a styrofoam container towards me on the table.

"Eat." She said kindly. I narrowed my eyes at her and pushed it back towards her. The smell of it was making my mouth water but I needed to be sure.

"You first." I said. She smiled at me and opened the container, revealing the most delicious looking cheeseburger and fries I had ever seen in my life. My stomach growled loudly as I watched her pick it up and take a bite. She placed it back in the container and again pushed it towards me.

"Like I said dear, I'm not here to hurt you. Please eat. I could hear your stomach rumbling from the bathroom."

I watched her for a moment more before I snatched the burger out of the container and ripped into it. I averted my gaze from her as I stuffed my face with the food, finishing every fry and crumb I could see. I leaned back in the chair when I was done, with a satisfied sigh and she smiled.

"Now," she smiled again, opening up a folder she had brought with her. "what's your name?"

"Sam." I watched her write it down on some type of form.

"Full name?"

"Samantha Jane Knox." I said. She paused for a moment, studying me before she continued writing.

"And you prefer to be called Sam?" She asked. I nodded silently.

"Ok Sam, here's the situation." She folded her hands on top of the paper. "We sent out a warrior party to find you nearly twelve days ago. We found a man unconscious in your store but you were nowhere to be found. They searched for you up until they found you.  Now, the store had a very specific smell and I need to ask you, are you involved with any rouges?"

I stared at her blankly. Twelve days? No wonder I looked like shit in the mirror. I had lost track of the days in that timeless room.

"Rogues?" I asked.

"Yes dear, are you involved with them? We do not allow rouges in our territory. So I need to know now if it's going to be a problem." Her pen hovered over the paper as she watched me.

"I don't know what a rogue is." I said quietly, staring at the table top.

"Interesting. What alpha or luna do you answer to?"

I stared at her blankly.

"What?" I asked stupidly. She didn't answer and continued writing.

"What pack did you grow up with?" She questioned. I frowned.

"I grew up in Philadelphia." I said, getting more confused by the minute.

"But no alliance to any pack?"

"I don't know what you mean." I said through clenched teeth. She merely nodded and kept writing.

"Who are your guardians?"

"Mike and Lori Chapman." I paused, my memories hitting me like a freight train. Mike's blank and staring dead eyes. The picture of Lori's terrified face. Tears stung my eyes and I tried to hold back my sob, covering my face with my hands.

"It's my fault. It's all my fault." I muttered, feeling the tears run down my cheeks.

"What's your fault, dear?" She said softly.  I sobbed and rubbed at my face, only for new tears to wet my cheeks.

"If I hadn't run they wouldn't have killed him." I said tearfully, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Run from who? Who did they kill?" Her eyes shown with concern as she asked.

"Derrick!" I cried. "Derrick was the one who took me from the store after he knocked Nick out." I could hear my voice growing louder and more hysterical. "He tortured me for days. I never thought I'd get out." I pulled at the collar absentmindedly, her eyes followed the movement. "I shouldn't have run. I should have just let him kill me. He killed Mike! He has Lori!" I sobbed. "It's all my fault!" I was breaking down into hysterics as she watched me silently.

The doctor let me calm down before she continued with her questions.

"Now Mike and Lori, they're not your parents correct?" I nodded, "what are your parents names?" 

"Marcus and Jane Knox." I said quietly.

"Are they living?"

"No."

"How did they die?" I scratched at the surface of the table, letting my nails form little half moon indents on the old wood.

"They were murdered in a home invasion." I mumbled.

"When was that?"

"Fifteen years ago."

"The men you killed a few weeks ago, were they a threat to you?" I stared at her blankly, I hadn't realized they knew about that. What kind of laws were there about wolves killing humans? I knew if the human police ever found out I'd go to jail, but what about werewolves?

"Sam?" She asked when I didn't answer.

I nodded my head. "Yes, they were going to attack me." She wrote something down and flipped over to the next page.

"Ok. I have your history, now let's talk about where you've been the last twelve days."

I looked up at her from the table, she had no malice or judgement in her eyes.

"I didn't know it had been twelve days. I thought it was maybe four." I told her.

"You didn't remember how much time had passed?" I shook my head.

"I had no way of knowing. They had me chained with silver in the basement of the old Hahnemann hospital. They kept me awake for days." I showed her the ugly red scar on my wrist and her eyes grew dark with anger before she calmed herself. 

"Before you continue Sam, I should let you know that I have my PhD in modern medicine, psychiatry, and veterinary medicine. I am here for you for whatever you, or your wolf, need." I frowned at her.

"Are you a wolf too?" I asked quietly. She let out a soft chuckle.

"Yes, I am. Everyone you will meet here is. Have you ever met any other wolves?"

I shook my head. "Not until those ones that attacked me in that abandoned house."

She nodded. "So that was you. Those were rogues dear, and you put up quite a fight. We were rather impressed." I didn't have a reply to that.

"Wait.. So how do you have all of that? That's gotta be at least thirty years of schooling." I said.

"Well I should hope I've used my time wisely, I'm nearly three hundred years old." I felt my mouth fall open and snapped it closed quickly.

Are wolves immortal? I thought to my self.

"We're not immortal," she chuckled, as if reading my mind. "but we do live for a very long time. The average life expectancy of a healthy lycan is about eight hundred years." I felt my eyes bug out of my head.

"Me too?" I asked, pointing a finger at myself.

"Yes dear, you too." She confirmed. I sat back in the chair, dumbfounded.

"So, why don't you tell me what happened at the hospital?"

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The doctor had left after I told her about the white room, and Derrick, and Grant. And everything they had done to me. She had inspected my collar, confirming that it was, in fact, enchanted and that one of the elder wolves would be able to remove it. This confused me as well, until she explained that elder wolves had unique talents that only came after hundreds of years of learning, and a little bit of magic. She checked the wounds on my back from the silver knife Derek had cut me with, confirming that they were healing, but I would have scars, due to them being from silver. She bid me good bye and left the room. I could hear the lock click behind her and sighed.

Now I was perusing the small collection of books that were on the bookshelf in the corner. I tensed when I heard footsteps approach the door and stop outside of it.

"You ready?" A male voice said.

"I knew it" I growled quietly. I grabbed one of the chairs by the table and held it ready, standing behind the door. My heart raced as a man walked into the room, his head swiveling from side to side, but he didn't look behind him, where I was.

"Where is-" he didn't have a chance to finish as I brought the chair down on his back. His body turned rigid as the wood splintered around him and I backed up quickly. He spun towards me with a snarl and froze. I felt my heart jump into my throat as Nat howled in my head.

"MATE! MATE!" She cried.

I drank in the image of him, my eyes traveling up his body. He was tall, and muscular. His worn jeans hugged him just right in all the right places. His chest muscles pulled the gray T-shirt he wore tight, defining how toned he was. My gaze trailed up his large biceps, stopping when they finally reached his eyes. I nearly lost myself in their hazel abyss under a mess of dirty blonde hair. They flashed gold as he watched me. He clenched his strong jaw under a five o'clock shadow as we assessed each other. He had to be the most beautiful specimen of a man I had ever seen.

I inhaled deeply and felt my knees nearly give out. It was the most intoxicating scent I had ever smelled, like freshly ground coffee and pine only ten times stronger. I wanted to bury my face in his chest and just breath him in. My mouth turned dry and I felt my lips move, unbidden by me as his did the same simultaneously.

"Mine."

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