Chapter 3: Pain

Carlie's POV

I did not sleep well at all that night. Every time I rolled onto my arm I would wake up almost screaming in pain. I would bite the pillow next to me to keep myself from screaming out in pain and waking up the whole house. By the third time this happened there was no doubt in my mind that the bones in my arm had somehow fused together incorrectly and that's what was causing pain. I didn't know what I was going to do about that though. It wasn't like I could just go to a doctor and say that I'd broken my arm a day ago and somehow the bones had aligned and healed wrong in that amount of time. The doctor would think that I was crazy and would probably send me to another type of hospital.

Even if the doctor did believe me the idea of re-breaking my bones sent shivers down my spine. Pain killers have never worked for me in my life. At least not for very long. When I was eight years old I had appendicitis and needed surgery because my appendix burst. The anesthesia wore off quickly and I woke up in the middle of surgery screaming bloody murder. The doctors had to hold me down and sedate me quickly. The sedation didn't last very long either. That was the scariest situation I'd ever experienced in my life. Just the memory alone was enough to send my heart racing. According to the hospital I had been given the correct amount of anesthesia based on my age, height, and weight so no one knows what went so drastically wrong. How I didn't end up with more problems after that is beyond. To say that I was traumatized though would be a huge understatement when the memory alone was enough to get my heart racing.

Then a few months ago I got the epidural when I went into labor. At first the painkiller did it's job and numbed me. Then it promptly wore off before the first baby arrived allowing me to feel all the pain associated with childbirth. In my case twice since I was having twins. The doctors had assured me that epidural was foolproof and that the failure rate was close to zero. Of course I just had to be the one exception to that rule.

So yeah, painkillers didn't work with me. Not even the over the counter stuff like Advil or Tylenol worked with me. So the idea of going and getting the bones in my arm re-broken scared the hell out of me even though I was pain right now.

Ever since the twins were born I'd gotten used to less sleep at night but at least I wasn't in pain. All I could do was just lay there and try not to move in any way that would aggravate my arm more.

When morning finally came around I got out of bed slowly and made my way downstairs to eat breakfast. I could tell that the house was empty when I got up. Usually I would hear my mom and dad watching TV buy not today. Being police officers often meant that they were assigned to work weekend shifts sometimes.

I got Noah and Chloe dressed and ready to go though I had no idea where I was going. Anything that wasn't super straining was fine by me. By the time I had gotten in the car I still had no idea where I was going. I just knew I wanted to get out of the house.

I ended up driving to the woods again. Ever since becoming a wolf the woods has become one of my favorite places just to unwind. I also loved being close to nature when I was in my wolf form. Chloe and Noah loved it as well. Mainly because they had a lot more freedom to run around and play as wolf pups than they did as human babies.

"What are you doing here?"

I jumped and spun around when I heard Ethan's voice.

"Jesus Christ you almost gave me a heart attack!"

He laughed. "Come on you didn't hear me coming at all? We've got super powerful heading after all. Or am I just that good at stealth?"

"Oh shut up Ethan,"

"Ouch that hurt,"

I rolled my eyes.

"So you what are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were coming here?"

"I could say the same about you," I retorted. "I came here because it's very calming and the kids love it,"

"Yeah they're bursting out of their seats with excitement. Let me get them before they destroy your car now,"

I could feel my face lighting up as it always did when he interacted with his babies. Seeing him hold, kiss, and smile lovingly at them always warmed me up inside.

The second he set them down two very excitable wolf pups had taken their places. My son had the exact same reddish brown fur color that I had. While my daughter on the other hand had the same gray fur color that her father had.

I winced when I moved my arm and hoped Ethan would not notice.

"Is your arm hurting?"

I sighed. So much for hoping he would not notice.

"It's from the encounter with that creature yesterday wasn't it? I saw you limping yesterday. Did you break your arm

"I'm fine Ethan don't worry so much," I said. "Besides we heal quickly. Like instantly,"

"Only you're in pain which means you're obviously not healed. Or at least not healed correctly. Don't you think that maybe you need to go see a doctor?"

"and say what exactly Ethan?" I took a deep breath. "How would I even explain it? Oh I broke my arm yesterday and somehow it magically healed within twenty four hours. Only it didn't heal correctly and I'm in pain. You realize that sounds completely crazy to a normal person, right?"

"It was just a thought," he said.

"Besides that painkillers and anesthetics don't exactly work for me if you recall. Remember when I had surgery for appendicitis when I was eight? Remember how I woke up in the middle of surgery screaming in dire pain? Or how the epidural wore off right away before the first baby came?"

"Who can forget that? Especially the surgery. I still remember how scared I was for you that day," Ethan shuddered.

"I still have nightmares about that," I admitted.

"Hey where are the kids?" he asked, suddenly looking alarmed.

I spun around and looked as far as the eye could see but I couldn't spot them anywhere. My anxiety levels went through the roof.

"Jesus Christ take your eyes off of then for two seconds and they pull a disappearing act,"

Within seconds I was off running on all fours. Or rather on three out of four legs. Putting weight on that injured leg only served to cause more pain. Which slowed me down considerably. Ethan quickly joined me.

Even with our minds linked to theirs we couldn't quite figure out where they'd gotten off to. I knew their scents by heart though and it didn't take me long to find their trail.

"What's that?" Ethan said. "Looks like they found something,"

I stopped what I was doing and tuned in to my children's thoughts. They were in a part of the forest that we had never been in before. There was a house that we'd never seen before. The back door was left slightly open. Chloe, as curious as she was, was able to get it open wide enough for her and her brother to squeeze through.

"Damn," Ethan's voice echoed through my head.

"Take your eyes off of them for two seconds and they end up in trouble,"

I decided to change back into a human again because running on three legs was only slowing me down. Thankfully the whole pack had a lot of spare clothes around these woods for whenever we needed them.

Ethan changed back as well once we were sure we were getting closer to the house. My anxiety levels were through the roof when the house came into view.

"What are you doing?" Ethan grabbed my good arm when I started running toward the house.

I looked at him in disbelief. "I'm getting our babies back that's what!"

"You're just going to barge in there?"

"I'm going to knock,"

I tried not to pound on the door of these poor unsuspecting people. I stood frozen in shock when the door opened and I was suddenly face to face with the man I'd fought for the deer yesterday. Only he didn't look nearly as wild as he had yesterday. In fact he looked very civilized and even smiled at me kindly.

"Can I help you?"

"Hi I'm Carlie and this is Ethan. Um this is going to sound really odd but have you seen two wolf pups around here?"

"Oh those two little ones are yours? We were wondering where they came from. Would you two like to come inside for a minute? They're inside with my family,"

"Um who are you?" Ethan asked beating me to the punch.

"Oh forgive me. I went into shock when I saw you two and forgot to introduce myself. I'm Carlisle,"

"Well nice to meet you. Um can you lead us to our pups?"

This man was definitely much more civilized than the one I encountered yesterday in the woods. If this man was truly as monstrous as us wolves than he could put on a good human performance just as we do.

I spotted my babies instantly. They were being held by a woman who looked a lot like me. Next to her with his hand around her waist was that Jacob guy I'd met at McDonald's yesterday.

I could feel every single person in the room staring at me which made me feel very uneasy. Large crowds of people looking at me made nervous. Which is why I never did well when I had to give presentations in school. I always felt nauseous. Like I was going to barf.

I was even more surprised when I spotted Tanya Denali amongst the group of gold-eyes strangers. She was looking everywhere but at me. Like she was trying to avoid me again.

I could hear people talking and Carlisle introducing us but I was busy concentrating on trying not to be nervous. I caught all the names though. Esme, Bella, Edward, Renesmee, Jacob, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie.

Ethan bumped into my injured arm which made the dull pain worse.

"Ethan looks just like the male version of Leah Clearwater," I heard someone whisper.

I was more focused on Tanya though. Why she wasn't looking at me.

"Tanya?" I finally spoke up. Looking directly at her.

"Who are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know you two,"

"What?" Ethan said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "You Kate, Eleazar, Carmen, and Garrett have been avoiding us all week and now you're pretending like you don't know us. Why?"

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