13. Mine

The house was quiet besides a movie playing on the TV when I woke up. I rolled over, facing the room, and no one was around. Cy probably went to hang out with Odie and Ellie, or maybe she was outside hiding again.

The blanket was warm, and I didn't want to move, but my bladder protested, and thanks to a chronic habit of sleeping with my mouth open, I was in desperate need of water.

Both would wait a few more minutes so I could soak up the last of the warmth and fully wake up.

Truthfully, I didn't want them to know I was awake. Being awake meant there was a chance I would be cornered and have to talk about what happened. When we got home, they lectured me. Well, Ellie lectured me and the other two grumbled a lot, but they knew I needed some time to get my shit together before I explained.

The front door opened, and in a state of panic, I jumped up, nearly crashed over the coffee table, and bolted for the hallway.

"Mine, wait," Cy called out from behind me.

Ignoring her, I didn't stop until I was in my bathroom, letting the golden stream splash into the porcelain throne. I really needed to go. It was simply luck that it worked to my advantage and I could ignore the issue for a few more minutes. Footsteps stopped outside the bedroom, so I knew she saw the closed door and could put two and two together.

I stayed there as long as I could, but they'd come and find me eventually if I didn't show my face. Besides, what's the worst they could do?

Standing up, I realized my little jogging activity was a horrible idea, and my ankle and wound on the bottom of my foot were aching. I limped out into the living area and was met with two glaring faces and a smiling one that I had never seen before. She had shoulder-length brown hair with a slight wave, brown eyes behind thick rimmed glasses, and was around my height. She definitely wasn't an Alpha, but nothing else was spot on.

Who's this?

"This is Vaila. She's a friend." The way Odie looked at her, it didn't seem like friend was the best word to describe their relationship. For some reason, that irritated me.

And?

"And she's a Witch with a medical background." That cleared things up. My family had been involved with Witches before due to the curse, but they stopped trying before I was of age. "I asked her to look you over. None of us want you to lose an arm because of a little fall." How Odie could call that a little fall was beyond me.

I remained silent, then remembered I wanted water. Walking past them, I got out a glass and filled it before downing most of it. Once I was replenished for the time being, I set down the glass and paid attention to them again.

"Well, I'm glad you're taking your hydration seriously," Vaila joked. "I will tell them to fuck off if you want some privacy while I look you over. I'm sure you've been smothered but also ignored during your time here." My mouth fell open at the accuracy. "So they haven't changed much, then?"

At first, that was completely accurate, and although it still was on some level, they had changed. I shrugged, neither confirming or disagreeing.

"I don't know sign language though, so if you'd like to ask questions, one of them will need to be with me." I wasn't surprised by that. It was more surprising that the three people I was stuck with knew it to any extent. Cy and Odie were near masters with Ellie learning more now that she had someone near her that communicated with it.

I nodded. They can both stay.

Odie explained, and Vaila had me sit down on the two-seater without the blanket wrapped around me.

"Let's have a look at your foot first." She had a large bag that she set on the coffee table behind where she was sitting.

Vaila pulled my leg up and placed it so my calf was resting against the top of her thigh. It allowed easy access to my ankle and the bandages that wrapped around it and covered the cut.

She made quick work of undoing everything. My ankle was a lovely shade of purple, and I cringed. I couldn't believe I had been walking on it. Vaila poked and prodded as carefully as she could.

"You're lucky. It looks like a bad sprain. Keep it wrapped and elevated, and don't walk on it if you don't have to. Ice would help too. How did you do this?" Vaila adjusted so she could see the bottom of my foot. "And how did you do this? Did you step on a piece of glass?" I started to sign, but she interrupted me. She didn't mean to as she wasn't even paying attention to me. Apparently these questions were rhetorical. "No, that's not right."

Vaila set down my leg and retrieved some items from her bag to rewrap it. Cy and Odie were good at it, but watching her was something else. In no time, I was wrapped up again, and we were moving on.

"Really though, how did that happen?" She was looking at me, but we had already determined she couldn't understand what I was saying, so I glanced back at Odie and Cy who were standing behind the couch. "Oh, right. One of you explain."

"We don't know for sure how it started, but she ran away, tripped, probably stepped on a sharp branch or rock, then fell into a nine-foot hole." Odie went the concise route, and I was grateful. At least now we could get to the shoulder and maybe some pain meds.

"Excuse me? Someone actually escaped?" Vaila covered her mouth to hide the laughter.

"We would have had her back sooner if we didn't have to convince Ellie to stay put," Cy grumbled.

"I will never forget this. Best day ever." Vaila stood, ignoring them again, and leered over me. "I will try to do this with your shirt on. Thankfully it's large, so I should be able to adjust it as needed." I crinkled my nose, knowing this was going to hurt no matter how we did it.

Vaila got to work, pulling back the sleeve and examining my previously dislocated shoulder.

"Don't try and help or fight me, just let your shoulder roll with it." She straightened my arm slowly, then lifted it up and rotated it around a bit.

It was painful but not as painful as trying to do it myself, so I hoped that was a good sign. Still, I wished she would stop and I could go take another nap. Being here and dealing with all of this was exhausting.

Vaila set down my arm and stood up straight. "Well, whatever you did was the right move. Her sensitivity is more from the bruising from the fall than the dislocated shoulder, although that is definitely not helping anything. Keep an eye on it, ice it, yadda yadda, all the good things. I'll also give you some herbs for the pain and antibiotics to fight off any infection from the cut."

So I'm not a complete mess. Yay, I said as sarcastically as possible.

"That's a stretch," Cy said, but when I turned around to glare at her, she acted as if she hadn't said anything.

"Now that that's handled, how's Ellie?" Speaking of Ellie, where was she?

"As good as can be expected. She's in her room scrolling the internet while we handle this. If we're done, we can grab her though." Odie stepped around the couch and headed for the hallway, disappearing into it without waiting for an answer.

Moments later, Ellie bounded out of the hallway and squealed. "Vaila!" Ellie leapt into her arms and hugged her. "I didn't know you were who they called!"

"I'm so happy to see you." Vaila's arms wrapped around Ellie and held her close, reminding me how little I knew about these people.

Pulling back, Ellie asked, "Is she going to be okay? Physically. Mentally, she needs a slap in the face." I guffawed and leaned forward to whack her thigh to get her attention.

Stop perpetuating the teenage asshole stereotype.

"But am I wrong? You took off and got hurt after already getting into this mess, and you've hinted at other things." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at me.

Fine. You win.

"I can help with mentally too if Mine wants me to, but physically, she will heal with time and care."

"I'm on it. What does she need?" Ellie forced Vaila to reiterate everything, and she kept a list of notes on her phone to make sure everyone did as they were told. That meant everyone played servant until my ankle wasn't a mess.

Time went on, Vaila stayed for lunch, then dinner, and as much as I was annoyed with how Odie still looked at her, I really liked her. She was a nice and welcomed addition to keep the boredom at bay. Plus, I didn't think they'd start the interrogation until she left, so if I got her to stay too late, this shindig could be put off until tomorrow after a long night of sleep.

I found out Vaila was there when Ellie was born and was a constant in her life as well. Not as constant as Odie and Cy, but she was in and out, helping all of them as illnesses and injuries occurred. Apparently, she was close friends with Ellie's mom, which sparked everything, leading to her being in the room when Gerard birthed her.

Ellie and Odie were half siblings, sharing Gerard as a parent. Both had Alpha parents, but Ellie's was a female Alpha where Odie had a male Alpha. Learning about their breeding practices was interesting when compared to Humans. Omegas could, in theory, be impregnated by any designations, Betas were practically Human, and Alphas were as well except female Alphas could also impregnate others. It was easy to remember when thinking about who has dicks and who has uteruses. However, I wanted to see some drawings to get the full picture.

Female Humans already had complicated anatomy. I could only imagine what a male Omega's looked like. Add in slick and knotting, and it was an anatomical nightmare. When Vaila mentioned these, Ellie had lots of clarifying questions lined up, but Odie promised they'd discuss it more later as she already knew plenty it seemed like.

"I should be going," she said shortly after our dinner of steak, potatoes, and asparagus. Odie was a master on the grill, and they were all perfectly medium rare. "If you need anything else, you know where to find me." Vaila winked, and the irritation grew. I hated it.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay the night so you aren't driving around here in the dark?" Vaila raised a brow at Odie, and so did I.

"No thanks, Odie. I don't want to overstay my welcome. Besides, I like driving at night through the forest. It's calming." If I didn't know any better, I'd say she glanced at me when she said "overstay my welcome." I didn't know if that was a jab or something more.

"If you say so." Odie walked her out after we all said our goodbyes.

The house was quiet once again with Odie and Vaila outside, Ellie playing on her phone, and Cy and I cleaning up dinner. We worked in companionable silence, and despite her rough exterior and our initial meeting, I thought she enjoyed having someone helping out besides Odie.

Too bad the silence couldn't last forever. When Odie returned, my nightmare began.