Emma raised her head to find Lexa staring down at Clarke's un-moving body, her green eyes scanning the blonde intensely. She finished cleaning Luke's bullet wound, then placed a large bandage over the top to aid in the healing before rising to her feet, signalling for him to follow her out of the cabin.
Lexa barely registered her pack mate's leaving, completely focused on Clarke's chest rising and falling sporadically. The blonde's face wasn't it's usual blushing color, but instead a dull grey with a thin layer of sweat covering her features. Lexa knelt down beside the blonde, lifting her hand up to caress the other girls cheek softly. Clarke looked so serene. Lexa couldn't quite comprehend what she was about to do next. Sure, the thought had crossed her mind. She wanted nothing more than to share this life with Clarke. But she wanted Clarke to have a say in this more than anything. Lexa wanted to see her beautiful eyes open, so she could ask her if this is what she truly wanted.
The brunette held onto the hope that Clarke would magically wake up and be ok for a few more minutes before bowing her head in defeat. She removed her hand from Clarke's cheek, resting it against her forearm, as she brought her other up, placing it underneath Clarke's arm. Lexa closed her eyes. She felt her canines double in size, poking against the spongy flesh of her gums.
Clarke's arm was suspended in the air, being supported by Lexa's hands who now had her eyes open, shining a brilliant green. "I'm sorry" She found herself whispering aloud as she brought her mouth down, sinking her teeth into Clarke's soft arm, immediately breaking the skin. The blonde's blood began pooling into Lexa's mouth. It was warm and thick, but caused Lexa to grimace at the foreign taste it left. The brunette made sure to clean Clarke's new wound before wrapping a bandage around it and gently placing her arm atop of her stomach.
Lexa rocked by on her heels, not quite believing what she had just done. She looked down at her now shaking hands, finding a few smears of Clarke's blood. She jumped up, running across the room towards the kitchen where she stuck both of her hands under the tap, not caring about her flesh burning under the scolding water. There were a thousand things going through Lexa's mind. Various scenario's always ending in Clarke's death, causing her to instantly feel nauseous. The brunette continued to furiously scrub both hands under the water, trying her best to wipe away the events of the day.
"Lexa" Luke's soft voice sounded out from beside her. She ignored it and continued with her current task, refusing to look at her pack mate. He turned the tap off, however realised Lexa wouldn't stop scrubbing her hands. She wasn't going to have any skin left if she kept this up. So, he pulled her hands apart forcefully, feeling her fight back instantly, trying to break away from his vice like grip.
"Lexa!" The brunette snapped her head up as soon as she heard Octavia's voice, her green eyes filling with tears as she watched her oldest friend stride towards her, arms open. Lexa pushed herself off Luke, instantly feeling Octavia's warm arms embracing her in a tight hug. She hid her head in the crook of Octavia's neck as she felt the tears falling from her eyes, not caring anymore. Her emotions floored her. Everything that had happened to Costia came flooding back, followed by the entire events of the day leading up to Clarke practically dying on her couch.
Emma's wolf whimpered slightly at the sight before her, causing Bellamy to take her hand in his own, pulling her towards Clarke who was being checked over by Anya.
"How is she?" Emma asked tentatively as she knelt down beside Anya, who continued to monitor Clarke. The Alpha didn't reply straight away, instead she unwrapped Clarke's arm revealing the newly bitten flesh. It still oozed slightly, but it was the surrounding area that caused Emma to gasp. Clarke's veins popped out of her skin, weaving in and out of one another, coming together to form an intricate spiders web.
Both Emma and Bellamy were brought out of their stupor by the sound of their Alpha's calm voice, "This is a good sign. It means Lexa's werewolf venom is mixing with Clarke's blood. Her wounds should begin to heal once the venom has successfully infiltrated Clarke's antibodies"
"Are you sure?" The room filled with complete silence once Lexa's broken voice had spoken. Anya looked up to find Lexa's glazed over eyes staring at Clarke's arm, studying the bite wound.
"No one can be 100% sure of these things, Lexa. I do not wish to give you false hope. But, the fact that Clarke is still breathing is a good sign. It means she hasn't rejected the venom" Lexa's face shriveled up at that word. She hated that her body even had venom within it, let alone that it had the power to kill another human being with a simple bite or scratch. The brunette simply nodded her head in understanding, not trusting her capability to form a coherent sentence whilst looking at Clarke's broken body.
Anya ushered Emma and Bellamy away to make room for Lexa, who smiled in appreciation at her Alpha before sitting down gently on the sofa next to Clarke. She took the blonde's hand in her own, stroking the skin around the bite wound. Her wolf began purring softly at the interaction.
Lincoln emerged from the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Octavia's waist whilst resting his chin on her shoulder. The younger girl leaned into his warm embrace as they both watched Lexa stroking Clarke's arm.
"Have you ever come across a human turned werewolf before, Linc?"
"I haven't, no. But I've heard stories of them. They're supposedly stronger at first, just like pups. Then they mature after a few months. Same as we do" Octavia knew they were wives tails, but Lincoln's words still settled her nerves.
"Come on, let's head to bed. Emma's staying watch and I don't think Lexa's going anywhere anytime soon" Lincoln simply hummed in agreement before he felt Octavia's hand slipping in his own and dragging him up the stairs.
Lexa felt her eyes drooping every now and then. Sleep trying and failing to take her away from reality. Eventually she gave in after hearing Clarke's steady breathing, clearly the blonde's health was already improving, pulling a tiny smile onto Lexa's lips.
Lexa stood alone, her bare feet digging into the soft ground below, as she slowly opened her eyes. The trees surrounded her on either side, with the sun rays fighting their way through the thousands of leaves. She inhaled the sweet smell of pine wood as her feet began moving forward, taking her to god knows where. The pain from her leg wound now non existent as she climbed over various fallen branches. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she heard the soft patting of paws against the mossy vegetation. The familiar scent of a wolf filled her senses. But not one of her pack mates. No, she would have been able to identify which one the scent belonged to if it was.
Then she saw it. The dazzling white wolf, with vivid violet eyes looking directly back at her human form. Lexa's breath hitched in her throat at the sight. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She simply stood frozen in time, watching the wolf as it took one step towards her. Then another. And another, until it stood directly in front of her. Touching distance. And that's exactly what Lexa wanted to do. The brunette brought her hand up, tentatively reaching out to place it against the wolf's silky fur, but halted her movements when Clarke's husky voice filled her mind, "Lexa, wake up"
Lexa jolted awake, feeling a sweaty palm clinging onto her own for dear life. She looked down to find Clarke still unconscious, but looking much better than she had the previous night. The brunette sighed heavily in relief before leaning back against the couch once more and closing her eyes, trying her best to block out the sun light shining through the adjacent window.
"Hey, sleepy head" Bellamy's chipper voice caused Lexa to open one eye, finding him towering over her with a mug in his hand. He smiled as he offered her the cup, which Lexa greedily took before thanking him, never once letting go of Clarke's hand.
"How long was I out?" Lexa managed to ask between sipping her coffee and glancing at Clarke's twitching body.
"A good 15 hours or so. Clarke's been twitching and mumbling for most of the night. She's not mumbling anything coherent, but I'm pretty sure she was trying to say your name most of the time. Emma's been checking her every hour. Her wounds are already healing, and her fever has gone down tremendously" Lexa felt a smile creeping onto her face at the news. "We're just waiting for her to wake up now"
The brunette nodded her head in understanding before downing the rest of her coffee, almost instantly feeling better for it. She gratefully handed the mug back to Bellamy then returned her gaze to Clarke, watching her chest rise and fall consistently. Her brows were no longer furrowed together in pain, but resting normally above her closed eye lids. Her lips were parted slightly as Lexa heard her inhaling and exhaling.
"She's alive!" Octavia's almost too loud voice sounded out through Lexa's cabin, causing the brunette to snap her head in the direction of the unwelcome interruption. She found Octavia smirking at her from across the room, with one eye brow raised and her left hand resting against her hip. "Me and Lincoln thought you might have actually died in your sleep"
Lexa simply rolled her eyes in response as she watched the younger girl hop over the side of the arm chair, landing with a huff and a huge toothy grin plastered on her face.
"What's got you all smiley?"
Octavia raised her brows as she spoke, "Jeez, what's crawled up your bum and died?" After seeing Lexa's un-amused expression, Octavia let out an aggravated sigh before explaining herself. "Me and Lincoln had a bet on how long you were going to be out. I won, of course. Listen, I know you're worried about her but she will be fine"
Lexa broke eye contact with Octavia's now too intense stare, and instead focused down at her and Clarke's inter linked hands. "How do you know that, O?"
Octavia watched Lexa looking away from her as she spoke timidly. She leant over the low coffee table to place her own hand atop of Lexa's free one, squeezing slightly, hoping to calm the brunette down. Lexa finally looked up, linking eyes with her pack mate again to find her smiling sadly in return. Octavia went to open her mouth to speak further but was cut off by a small voice coming from the opposite end of the couch, causing Lexa to straighten her posture, almost towering over Clarke.
The words coming from the blonde's mouth were completely incoherent. Lexa felt panic overwhelm her. What if she rendered Clarke mute? What if she had brain damage? Octavia stood, rounding the table and placing her hand supportively on Lexa's shoulder, hoping to stop the brunette from panicking. It didn't help one bit. Lexa's heart rate increased the longer Clarke acted in this manner. She began squeezing Clarke's hand in her own, trying to get her out of the trance like state she was in. The blonde hadn't even opened her eyes yet, but her body began wriggling on it's on accord.
"Clarke. Calm down, it's me. It's Lexa" The brunette placed her free hand against Clarke's warm cheek, "Please, just open your eyes. Can you do that for me?" She began stroking Clarke's cheek bone with her thumb once she felt the blonde stop struggling. "That's it, you're ok, Clarke" Lexa's voice was almost a whisper. Octavia wasn't quite sure if she was reassuring herself or the blonde.
"Mmm, t-rexa" Octavia stifled a laugh at Clarke's words, causing Lexa to give her a pointed look before she returned to reassuring the blonde with her soft words and touches.
After a few more minutes of Clarke's incoherent rambling, she finally managed to utter Lexa's name whilst opening her eyes revealing the brightest shade of cerulian blue Lexa had ever seen. Octavia patted Lexa on her shoulder before leaving the two girls alone, with Lexa smiling warmly down at Clarke who was completely focused on Lexa's face.
Clarke found herself getting lost in Lexa's deep green eyes, as she brought her hand up connecting it with Lexa's strong cheek bone. The heat radiating from Lexa almost caused Clarke to pull her hand away but was stopped when she felt the brunette's hand cupping it, bringing it back against her face. Clarke soon realised it wasn't Lexa's face that was burning, but her own body. She felt like she was on fire. The heat completely engulfing her, causing her to push Lexa away slightly so she could shift her body into a seated position.
Lexa watched Clarke intensely as the blonde broke eye contact, still not uttering a word apart from her name. She watched as Clarke stared down at her hands, with her brows furrowed together and lips slightly parted. The brunette tentatively reached out for Clarke with her own hands before speaking, "Hey, it's ok"
Clarke, however, pulled her hands away from Lexa, immediately standing up and looking around the room with a panicked stricken face.
"Clarke, just calm down" Lexa's soothing voice was like music to Clarke's ears, but it didn't stop the insufferable heat running through her veins. It didn't stop her blurring vision. It didn't stop the thumping head ache caused by her own heart beat. She began stepping away from Lexa who continued to approach Clarke with her hands held out in front of her, signalling that she wouldn't hurt the blonde. It wasn't her own safety she was scared for, it was Lexa's.
"No!" Clarke's pleading voice halted Lexa's movements, but she never tore her gaze away from Clarke. She watched as the blonde stepped further away from her, hearing her breath hitch as tears leaked from her glazed over blue eyes. Lexa's chest constricted as she felt Clarke's distress running through her veins. Before she could react, Clarke made a run for the cabin door, barging through the wood and bounding down the porch steps, stopping momentarily to find her best escape route. The dazzling sun was too much for her. She ended up squinting whilst shading her eyes with her hands as she wobbled towards the tree line.
Lexa ran after Clarke, practically diving over the wooden barrier of her porch. Clarke's blonde waves flowed freely, swaying gently in the summer wind, still smelling of her strawberry flavored shampoo. It didn't take long for Lexa to catch up, gently grasping onto Clarke's wrist effectively stopping her footsteps and spinning her around on the spot. The blonde's heart melted at the look of pure concern in Lexa's green orbs staring pleadingly back at her.
"Clarke" Lexa breathed out before she heard footsteps coming from behind her. The smell hit her nose instantly recognizing it as Jess, her pack mate. Lexa didn't need to see her to acknowledge the anger radiating from the older wolf. She could feel it from miles away.
Lexa slowly turned around, effectively shielding Clarke's body with her own as she watched a furious looking Jess striding across her lawn, with Octavia and Emma in tow.
"You turned her?!" Jess's anger riddled voice caused Clarke to flinch, where as Lexa's resolve didn't falter once. Instead, she took a deep breath before replying.
"Yes" Lexa's calm one word answer sent Jess spiraling further into oblivion, clenching her jaw as she peered over Lexa's shoulder in disgust at Clarke.
"I can't believe you, Lexa. Do you even realize how dangerous that is? Not to mention, how unnatural it is?!" Lexa didn't miss the same look of disgust flash across Jess' face as she threw her arms up in the air, revealing her claw like fingers already making an appearance. Her usual brown eyes deepened in color, almost turning black as she snapped her head to lock eyes with Lexa again.
"Calm down" Lexa's stern voice sent a fresh wave of anger surging through Jess as she felt her wolf begging to take control. The brunette heard Jess' wolf bubbling with rage as a growl reverberated from her heaving chest, causing Lexa to hold her right arm out in the air, further shielding a confused Clarke.
"Lexa, I don't understand" Clarke's shaken voice caused Lexa to turn her head slightly but immediately snapped it back in the opposite direction as the sound of clothes ripping spread through the hot summer air. The sound of Clarke's dramatic gasp didn't go unmissed by Lexa, who stared intently at Jess' wolf, watching her every move as the other girl adjusted to her wolf form.
"Jess!" Emma's cries did nothing to snap Jess from her state of fury as the wolf began ascending on Lexa and Clarke's position. Octavia held Emma back, knowing full well Jess was too far gone at this point to be able to do anything. She just hoped Lexa knew what she was doing.
"Clarke, step back, slowly" Lexa's low voice sent shivers down Clarke's spine as she took a few steps back, eyes agape at the humongous wolf stalking Lexa, with it's snout pulled back revealing long, deadly canines. Her whole body shook with fear as she heard the menacing snarl rippling through it's chest.
Clarke was so transfixed on the still moving wolf, that she hadn't realised Lexa had shrugged off her jacket and thrown it across the floor, landing a small distance away from the.
"Lexa.." Clarke didn't have time to question the brunette before she witnessed her arching her back, then falling to her knees as the sound of ripping clothes filled the air once more. The blonde stopped breathing altogether once she realised what had just happened. Lexa. Her Lexa, had turned into a wolf. A wolf. And not just any wolf. The black wolf. From her dreams. From the woods. It was all too much. She felt herself falling to the ground after tripping up over her own feet, now leaning back on both hands as she watched the heavily panting wolves descend on each other slowly.
Clarke instinctively brought her hands up to cover both ears at the growl that resonated from Lexa's wolf, before she crouched down into a fighting stance to steady herself from Jess's impending attack. Jess' wolf flew through the air, her muzzle pulled back and teeth bared as she barreled into Lexa's black wolf, sending them both flying backwards. Clarke had to dive to the right in order to stop herself becoming a squashed ant. Lexa looked to do an acrobatic flip backwards as she landed on all four paws, and skidded back slightly before charging at Jess who was still gathering herself. Lexa's wolf seemed to have the upper hand. She was visibly bigger than Jess and stronger too. Clarke watched in awe as the black wolf rammed it's shoulder into the light brown wolf again and again, knocking her back towards the trees, away from Clarke.
Emma sprinted across the grassy floor, kneeling down beside a shocked Clarke, pulling her up by both arms and dragging her over to where Octavia stood un-moving. Bellamy and Lincoln emerged from the tree line, sweat dripping down their foreheads and chests heaving. They each looked over at Octavia and Emma before snapping their heads to the right towards the fighting scene.
"Shit" Bellamy hissed as he jogged over to Lexa's wolf, who was getting ready to snap Jess' back leg in two. He pulled his shirt over his head, instantly willing his wolf to take over as his last pair of shorts ripped from his body. Without thinking, he plowed into Lexa's wolf, sending them skidding across the floor. The black wolf rose to her feet again, growling deeply at Bellamy's actions. He simply shook his fur and pushed Lexa back again, away from Jess' wolf who lay submissively on the floor.
Lexa looked down at Jess' cowering wolf, letting out a huff in annoyance before lifting her head and connecting her eyes with Clarke's. The blonde's eyes remained agape and her lips quivered ever so slightly as she stared intensely at Lexa.
Emma picked up on the change in atmosphere, immediately dashing to Jess' side to assess her wounds. The wolf would surely be battered and bruised for the next few days, but Lexa hadn't caused her any life threatening injuries. Luckily. Jess' usual light brown fur was coated in smears of red blood, mostly from herself but Emma guessed some of Lexa's was probably mixed up in there too. Zak came charging across the field, skidding onto his knees and taking Jess' head onto his lap, whispering soft words of comfort as Jess began whimpering when Emma raised her injured leg in the air, checking to see if it was broken.
"Lincoln, I need you to help me get her in the truck. We need to get back to Anya's" Lincoln wasted no time in helping Emma carry Jess' limp wolf form and placing her on the back of Zak's truck. Octavia was glad Emma suggested taking Jess away. God knows what Lexa would do if she so much as looked at Clarke the wrong way.
Octavia hadn't noticed at first, but at some point during the whole ordeal Clarke had taken Octavia's hand in her own and was currently crushing the bones. The blonde must have sensed Octavia's change in demeanor and instantly freed her hand from her own.
Before Clarke could apologize, Octavia spoke soft words of encouragement, "It's alright. I'm Octavia by the way" Clarke mirrored the other girls smile before turning her head to look at the black wolf once more. It stood tall, still unmoved from it's previous position, but Clarke couldn't help but notice blood oozing above it's eye line. She took a few steps forward, never once breaking eye contact with the wolf, stopping only a couple of feet away. Clarke knelt down, making her eye line match the wolf's as she raised her hand slowly towards it's large head. The wolf took one small step forward, closing the gap completely, letting Clarke's soft hand touch her fur.
"Is it really you?" Clarke's words were barely audible. Just loud enough for Lexa to hear, who nodded her large head in answer to the blonde's question. Clarke inhaled sharply as she looked between Lexa's vivid green eyes, instantly feeling the heat creeping up her neck. Her hand had subconsciously began stroking Lexa's soft fur, causing the black wolf to emit a purring sound, vibrating through Clarke's whole body. Could this really be happening? She knew there was something about Lexa that Clarke couldn't quite describe. But she never in a million years thought this would be the explanation behind it. She needed answers.
"Lexa, I need answers. Now" Clarke surprised herself at her own assertiveness as she watched Lexa nod her head again before walking around the blonde's body, signalling for her to follow the wolf back to the cabin.