"Paul!" Isaac shouts sitting up ramrod straight in the bed at the clinic. "Hey." Danny says walking in and slipping his phone in his pocket with a worried frown. "Where is Paul? I can't feel him!" Isaac demands getting out of bed. "Isaac you should rest more." Danny says trying to guide the anxious wolf back to bed. "Danny….." Isaac warns eyes glowing dangerously. "Isaac please you were in really bad shape you're not done healing yet." Danny deflects. Isaac growls deeply "Where is my mate Danny….." "We don't know." Danny finally answers after a few seconds of silence. "How can you not know where he is?" Kyle says sitting up in the other bed in the room. "Guys Derek, Stiles, and Scott are looking for him right now." "What happened?" Kyle asks standing somewhat unsteadily on the floor. Isaac steps over and offers physical support. "There was an accident. Your car went off the road." Danny says. "That was no accident." Kyle says angrily. "Something happened with the car. The accelerator went all the way to the floor by itself and then the wheel turned on its own. I remember….. OH god.. Isaac, Paul went through the windshield." Kyles hands go to his face covering his look of horror. Isaac looks at Danny and growls dangerously taking a step forward. "Do not lie to me Danny." "Isaac he's alive I promise I'd never lie to you about something this serious." Danny says stepping towards Isaac and touching him on the arm. "Tell us what happened after the accident." Isaac says calming slightly. "We got to the crash site within minutes. You were all unconscious. Scott and I got you and Kyle here. You heal too fast to go to the hospital obviously. Derek, Stiles, and Peter waited with Paul for the ambulance to show up. He was unconscious for several hours but eventually woke up. When he did he didn't seem to recognize anyone. He…" Danny looks down at the floor a moment before continuing. "Attacked Melissa, and ran away." "What?!" Kyle yells. "Is she OK?" "Yeah she's fine." Danny says. "He seemed terrified of everyone. Especially Derek, Scott, and Stiles."
"That doesn't make any sense, how could he not recognize anyone. Especially with the pack bond." Kyle demands looking from Danny to Isaac. Isaac has his eyes closed as he searches for Paul. "I can't find him something is blocking us. It feels….foreign." "Deaton thinks it's the witch. They think she some how caused the accident and is blocking the bond." Danny says sitting down on Isaac's bed. "Not recognizing anyone is one thing but why would he be scared of pack? Where would he go?" Kyle asks. "What if he's just out there in the cold alone? Hurt and scared?" Kyle asks struggling to keep the emotion out of his voice. Isaac puts his arm around him. "We're going to start searching right now." Isaac says guiding Kyle from the room. "Guys you were both in really bad shape when they brought you in." Danny says jumping in front of them. "Kyle we weren't even sure if you were going to make it for the first couple of hours." "Danny." Kyle says leveling his pack mate with a deadly glare. "I love you like a brother but either help us or get the fuck out of the way." "OK….OK I get it….. If Scott was out there…..come on I'll drive."
"I'll be just up the hall let me know if you need anything OK?" Jeff says standing at the door to the bedroom. "Thanks I appreciate you letting me stay." Paul says sitting down on the bed. Jeff smiles. "Who am I to turn away a pretty boy?" With a wink he pulls the door shut. Paul lies down on the bed on top of the covers and stares at the ceiling. After a few moments he sighs and sits up swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Reaching in his pocket he pulls his wallet out and sifts through it. After a few moments of going through the credit cards, and cash he drops it on the bed beside him. He pulls his phone from his other pocket and presses on it. Nothing happens. Dead battery. He thinks with another sigh. Standing he goes to the door and pulls it open. Peering down the hall towards Jeff's room he sees some light from under the door. Maybe I can borrow a charger. He walks down the darkened hallway and is about to knock when he hears Jeff's voice through the door. "...not really sure what I should do. I'm certain he has some kind of physical or emotional...injury…... No! If you show up here he'll hate me forever…... Asleep right now. How about this I'll bring him by in the morning. I just need to warm him up to the idea first." Paul scowls at the door and backs up silently. He looks at the stairs but shakes his head minutely knowing the noisy steps would alert Jeff. Retreating back to the bedroom Paul closes the door gently and looks around the room. Eventually his eyes settle on the window. Going over to it he raises the blinds and looks out. Without hesitating he unlocks it and starts to slide the window up. It makes a loud screeching sound. He pauses for a moment and looks worriedly over his shoulder at the door.
Paul quickly pulls himself through the window. Fuck it's cold. Shivering slightly he moves away from the open window waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Without much thought he swings down off the narrow ledge and lands gracefully on both feet. His flash of surprise at his gracefulness is cut short by a flair of pain from his barely healed body. Looking back up at the window a moment Paul puzzles over his acrobatic display. How the fuck…. Faint memories of practice drills in a wooded area flash through his mind. Unable focus on any of the figures around him in the vision he shakes the thoughts away and moves quickly down the side of the house. A short while later he is crossing the street to the sidewalk. He presses himself into a light jog and moves away from the house as quickly as he can without drawing attention to himself.
About half an hour later Paul approaches a Wall-Mart as plan forms. He heads straight to the electronics department and picks up a portable battery pack and a cell phone charger. Connecting his phone to the pack he drops it in the basket and proceeds to the clothing department. He grabs a coat, hat and gloves then heads to the check out. By the time he is out front his phone is sufficiently charged to power on. Thirty minutes later Paul exits the Uber and steps in the small office for the hotel.
Room paid for and key acquired Paul is soon locking the door behind him and turning the heater up to rid the room of chill. Pulling the blinds closed he turns to survey the room. Frowning at the austerity he pulls his phone out of his pocket. I need to call Mark. "Shit." He says when the device bleeps sadly then shuts off. Pulling the battery pack out of the Walmart bag he soon finds it only had just enough of an initial charge to briefly bring his phone back to life. Both devices plugged in and charging Paul moves to the small bathroom. "So god damn cold!" He says literally shivering a moment. He opens the door to the shower and turns it on adjusting the water towards the wall. Closing the door he begins to undress. He's just about to turn away and step in the shower when he catches sight of himself in the rapidly fogging mirror. "What the fuck?!" he exclaims. Paul looking down at his scarred and bruised torso runs his fingers over several of the old wounds. How did….. Flashes of the assault flicker dimly through his mind. No faces, no details. If Mark is in Texas why am I in California? Why would I have left? Just then another shudder goes through his body and he steps in the shower sighing as the warmth of the water envelops him.
"What's that?" Kyle says as Danny's phone begins to beep incessantly. The tall wolf pulls his phone out excitedly and unlocks the screen. "Credit card and phone activity." Danny says. "Where is he?!" Isaac demands taking the phone from Danny when he holds it out to him. Danny brakes hard and turns sharply heading towards the edges of town. "Well?" Kyle says from the back seat. "He bought a few things at Wall-mart then checked into a hotel. It's either him or someone with his phone and wallet. Ringing fills the car as Danny places a call via Bluetooth. "What do you know?" Derek says by way of hello. "Paul, or someone with his phone and wallet just checked into the Pines Inn. The sound of screeching tires comes over the speakers as Derek whips his car around presumably heading towards the hotel. "We are on our way there. Keep your distance he was terrified of us, it's safe to assume he'll have the same reaction to the three of you." "He's hurt and scared we have to…" Kyle starts to say loudly from the back seat. "No! Meet us there do not approach him! Understood?" Kyle winces at Derek's authority and strength crackles across the pack bond. "Yes Derek." Kyle says shoulders slumping submissively.
Eventually Danny pulls up next to Derek's Camaro parked discreetly towards the back of the parking lot. "He is in room 112." Stiles says pointing at towards the last room on the bottom floor near the back of the building. "He's asleep." Derek says. Focusing his superior hearing in the direction of their pack mate. "We can't go rushing in there." Stiles says looking from Isaac to Kyle. "We know where he is." Kyle says. "Yes, and if we spook him he may realize it was his phone and credit card use that lead us to him. If we scare him off it may prove more difficult to find him." Derek says. "How do we know it's him?" Isaac asks. "Scott sniffed him out." Stiles says. "Once we had the room number I walked past the door and got his scent." Isaac exhales heavily and leans back in his seat. What now?" Derek rolls his shoulder before settling back in his seat. "I want him to get some sleep he's not a wolf like us. He needs time to heal more completely. The witch obviously did something to him given the amount of blood on his clothes and at the crash site he was probably near death. We'll keep an eye on him and try and make contact using Deaton in the morning." Isaac whines softly wiping at his eyes. Danny reaches over and takes his hand while Kyle reaches over the back seat and hugs the distraught wolf tightly.
Rebeca jumps to her feet at the loud sound of something coming through the roof. There are scratching footsteps seconds before the door to her bedroom is pulled from its hinges. Maria covered mostly in dark scales storms in eyes glowing fiercely. "You!" Rebeca shouts. She gestures urgently at Maria her eyes going wide with fear when Maria is unphased.. Maria simply smiles and continues to advance. "Even weaker than I'd been lead to believe. Your spells and incantations won't help you now." Maria purrs. "Milton!" Rebeca screams backing into a corner. "Not here I'm afraid, not that there is anything a human like him could or would do to save you. You've grown careless. It's not like you to allow yourself to be so weak. To rely on someone else to shelter you." "How do you get in?" Rebeca asks frantically looking around for something to use against Maria. "The wards intent are to protect the owner from harm.There are lesser wards and protections for occupants but the majority of this homes protections are for the owner and his bloodline. That combined with the terrible miscalculation of focusing on ground based attacks have left you very vulnerable to attack from above. You're so foolish you don't even realize your end is here. I can tell that even now you're wasting what little bit of power you have left maintaining a connection to the human." "The Hale Pack will suffer!" Rebeca cries out. "Oh I'm sure their day will come. However that day is not today." Maria says as she lurches forward. The room fills with blistering heat as Rebeca shrieks with pain.
Paul gasps in pain and sits up in bed. Clenching his hands to his head his mouth opens in a silent scream of pain. His eyes roll up as his breath hitches before he slumps over sideways unconscious.