Chapter 4 Dirt

They found themselves in front of a little, orderly village after the trees abruptly cleared.

In front of them, a central house with numerous cottages on either side stood proudly. They were joined by a parallel route that vanished far into the forest. The road was split in half, with one side gravel and the other hard-packed dirt with white pebbles laid out in straight lines.

As Embry made his way to an old concrete building behind the main house, Dianthe gently rocked in his muscular arms. Since they crossed the tree line, she had not seen another person. "Where are they all?"

"I told them to stay away until I was confident in your loyalty."

Dianthe groaned. At least he is truthful.

An elderly woman was standing at the entrance when the door to the concrete structure opened. She smiled warmly and had nice eyes.

Embry lowered the Fae to the ground and said, "Clean her up, please." She followed the woman, leaving Embry at the doorway as the blood on her feet had dried and the fresh scabs complained. When Dianthe finally made it to the end of the hallway, she gave in to her impulse to look back at him, but he was already gone.

Kora here. the group's healer. Sit down here.

Dianthe eventually forced herself to look away from the vacant doorway, where she saw Kora still pointing to a hospital bed with a smile tugging at her worn-out lips. Dianthe moved to a seat across from the Healer after being told to do so. She moved back, making the clean sheets crumple.

Other than your feet, are you hurt? Kora shifted forward in her seat and put on some rubber gloves.

The answer is "no, ma'am." Ianthe was hanging above the linoleum floors as her legs lightly kicked back and forth. She gulped deeply as her eyes fixed on a syringe resting on a nearby bench, her brow prickling with perspiration.

"May I look at that?" Gently regaining her focus, Kora reached out to her while holding off until the younger woman could close the distance. As Dianthe raised her foot into Kora's waiting hands, she was grateful for the delay.

The healer hummed as her brows wrinkled. "Hmm. They appear to be already healing. What kind of being are you?

"Fae?" Ianthe's brows wrinkled like the woman standing next to her.

"Fae typically have an affinity for the elements, not for healing."

As Kora used several swabs to apply a topical treatment, Dianthe shrugged. Her nostrils were assaulted by the wafting disinfectant smell, and she pulled her sweatshirt over her face to stop herself from gagging.

If it's okay, I'd like to get some blood work done. We won't hear from you for a few days, but I need to check your levels and look for any infections.

Dianthe made an expression. "I don't have a disease,"

"Alpha told me you'd forgotten things. Is that accurate? On a pad she pulled out of her pocket, Kora scribbled some notes.

How in the world did he tell you that? He only spoke three words, exactly!

"Yes. That's accurate. Are all of you psychics or something?

The older woman grabbed the samples with a tiny tug at her lips. "Or something like that. You'll discover more about our species soon enough, I'm sure.

Before getting out of the cot, Dianthe hummed and grinned tightly at the woman. Do you know where I can take a shower? Do you also have extra clothing?

I said, "Come with me." As Kora left the room, she lowered her head a little. Down a short corridor, a shower and a bag of clothes were waiting. "These ought to work. Let me know if you run into any issues. After that, you can wait in the room where I conducted your examination.

Dianthe quickly nodded and sprinted into the shower, turning the nozzle all the way down. She exhaled contentedly as she scrubbed a week's worth of grime from her skin as the water scalded her. For ages, the water was stained dark and red.

Dianthe grabbed a large shampoo bottle off the floor and poured half of it directly onto her head, practically muttering with delight as she slathered it on. The conditioner came next. It barely took twenty minutes to tear apart the nest that had developed after applying another hefty dollop and combing it through her hair. She was horrified to notice that her hair mostly had a pure white tone and reached her breasts. She saw blue and indigo tones, which gave her hair a holographic appearance, but only upon closer study. Neat.

She dried herself with a large, fluffy towel that had a strong cinnamon scent. She sighs, "Mm," burying her face in the soft material.

Black cycling shorts, a basic t-shirt, and an enormous pullover dripping with Embry's perfume made up the outfit. She believed that she would faint if it were his. Instead, she gave a headshake. Most likely, it's just the detergent.

Before looking for Kora, she put on some fluffy blue socks and plimsolls. "Hello? I'm done at this point.

The structure was deserted. Dianthe felt confident about it. Kora advised her to wait, but she was unable to resist the need any longer. She put it off long enough. "Let's meet some people now,"

She heard voices as soon as she swung open the doors. Some of them were squealing; others were shouting and laughing.

"What in the hell?"

The two wolves she saw fighting in one of the white pebble squares as she rounded the main house were surrounded by a large group of people.

One was a rich shade of cocoa and umber, while the other was obsidian. She recognized Embry immediately because of the dark blue flecks on his clothing.

Dianthe eased through the crowd softly and stared in awe before she stopped to consider what she was doing. She caught the obsidian wolf's attention right away, and he huffed before turning to face his foe, grabbing his foreleg in his mouth, and dragging him to the ground. A snarl ripped from his chest as he stood over his body. Both animals appeared to be playing rough; neither appeared to be hurt. A portion of the audience cheered while conversing in silence.

This certainly wasn't what I anticipated.

From across the square, Kora caught her attention and winked at her, making Dianthe blush. It was unsettling that the elder woman knew something that she did not.

The brown wolf effortlessly transformed back into a human after submitting and tapping his paw on the ground. Dianthe was shocked to realize that they had lost their clothing because she hadn't seen it yet. On all fours, he grabbed a pair of shorts that Eve had thrown from the sidelines.

"Hmm." Dianthe tried to push the memory of Jed's nudity from her mind as she turned to face the other creature with a small scowl.

She held on when she noticed that his eyes were already fixed on her. Well, go ahead, she slyly thought. Her brows furrowed in anticipation of his transformation, and she overheard the beast emitting a low rumbling. He turned and sauntered into the woods, quickly blending into the darkness.

Dianthe pushed through the crowd, sprinting towards the wolf's direction, feeling overtaken by an odd giddiness. She paused at the tree line and experienced a moment of clarity. What do you have to say? Escape the area. But oddly, the voice didn't feel like her own, so she quickly disregarded it and continued on, crossing the threshold into the woodland.

She couldn't help but be drawn to him; the circumstances were overwhelming. Where are you, Embry? A massive, shirtless figure circled a tree and slammed into her as she continued to follow his smell deeper into the woods.

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