I hate running in the cold...

Chapter Seven

Frost came to a stop, cocking her head to the side and breathing heavily. Taking a deep breath of freezing air and trying to calm her nerves, she stretched out her hearing. He couldn't have gone far; she had already passed the still unconscious indigo beast and had tracked the tracks as far as the cliff. The tree she was currently examining had blood streaked down it and a claw lying at its base.

"Stupid thing must've gotten its claws stuck," she whispered, her dark eyes following where the bloody tracks led off to. They were heading at a bit of an angle back the way she had come, back toward the warehouse. Setting off again at a brisk pace, she kept her breathing quiet and her ears open.

A hoarse scream echoed sickly through the trees. Her heart stopped for a moment and sunk down before she broke into a full blown run. That scream had given her something to follow, and now her legs were burning from the exertion as were her lungs. But there was no way in hell that she was going to slow down until she found him. It had been her job to protect him, but she had allowed that beast to take off with him.

A fading light bounced about fifty feet away from her through the fog and snow. She pulled her lips back and snarled at the lanterns that swayed freely as their carrier lightly bounded through the icy forest. There was the nagging fear that the small lights would beat her to the Doctor, but she roughly shoved that aside. The lanterns had only ever beaten Frost once, and it wasn't about to become twice.

She pulled to a stop, seeing the beast through the trees leaning over the man she had been looking for. Her pupils narrowed into slits as she pulled back the hammer on the 10gauge.

He jolted at the sound of a shot being fired in his general direction. His pained eyes could barely make out the beast jumping as well and turning away from him to hiss at something in the distance. Another shot fired, this time blasting away the bark of the tree next to the one he was tossed against. If he had been able to sit up, he would've been able to clearly see who was shooting at the beast. There was half a thought floating through his foggy mind of who it was. And when his ears heard the gravelly voice shout, relief strangely settled over his hearts.

"Get out of here!" she yelled. The Doctor grit his teeth and hoped that the woman was able to shoot well enough not to hit him in the process. "C'mon! I said get!"

The creature growled and swiped its paw in her direction. He saw a 10gauge shotgun drop into the snow, its ammo spent. That relief that he had felt earlier began to dwindle away until another sharper, more defined shot cracked through the forest. Blood sprayed against the snow and tree as another shot actually hit the beast in the hindquarters, earning an enraged cry from its throat.

"Get your arse out of here!" Frost cursed roughly at the creature.

At ground level, the Doctor could see her bare feet circling toward him as the creature backed away with an irate growl. He snapped his eyes closed as the creature's feet left the snow in a flying leap, and another shot sounded out much closer this time. Cracking open one eye, he saw the bloodied beast hit the ground with a thud. It struggled to get up, but eventually did and started to limp away while casting glances over its large shoulders the whole way.

He heard the woman drop to her knees next to him, and felt her cold hand on his face. The relief was back, and was making itself at home in his hearts.

"Saving you thrice in twenty-four hours, that should be a record or something," her slight chuckle was a bit soothing, yet the physical pain that was coursing through him at the moment didn't let him make a remark. It was all he could do to just breathe through several cracked ribs and who knew what else. "C'mon, there's a cave about a hundred feet away. It'll be easier to defend and keep the cold out."

Frost paused to readjust her grip around the Doctor's chest as her bare feet faltered slightly in the snow. His head lolled on her shoulder, his breathing rough and labored. She felt most of his weight leaning on her and silently thanked the air that she was tall enough and strong enough to support him.

"Hey, use your good leg," she murmured.

The Doctor groaned, becoming aware that he had let Frost carry most of his weight the whole way. He stood up straighter and inhaled sharply. He could see the cave now; it was low to the ground, but tall enough for their purposes. Frost kept a firm grip on his arm as they crouched down under the ceiling of the cave, and as he carefully lowered himself onto the twiggy ground.

"I would've thought that I would've started to regenerate by now," he whispered. He clenched his teeth a wave of pain shot up from his ribs as Frost maneuvered around so he could rest his head on her lap.

"You're natural healing system is a bit shot," she replied gruffly, sliding off her backpack and starting to unzip it. She pulled multiple items out, ignoring the questioning look she was receiving from the Doctor. "My healing system is still fighting with yours, and will be for a while."

"Do you know what you're doing?" he asked as she took an extra coat and made a bit of a protective wall along his side that faced the mouth of the cave.

"Yes," Frost nodded, starting to gently undo the buttons on his jacket and shirt. She was quick and soon had his chest exposed as well as the enormous bite marks. "That thing could've crushed your ribcage in."

"But it didn't," the Doctor said. He sucked in a breath through clenched teeth as she poured a bit of water onto the wounds before continuing, "Managed to jab my thumb at its eye, made it let go."

"Jus' like a shark," she whispered. With slow and careful movements she wiped away the coagulated blood, her eyes narrowing at the revealed bruises that starkly contrasted with his pale flesh. "Are your lungs like a human's?"

"No, not exactly," he said. "If you're worried 'bout a punctured lung, I can tell you right now that a few ribs are cracked, not snapped. To be specific, five, six, seven, and eight on my left are fractured and nine is just seriously bruised."

"I wish all my patients could tell me what's broken," Frost gave him a smirk that quickly faded. She laid the cloth on the backpack and twisted around, lowering her head down.

The Doctor blinked, bringing his left hand up to wipe at his eyes. Suddenly the tickling and teasing feeling at the back of his mind made sense as large cat like ears came into focus where Frost's ears should have been. And it wasn't just his eyes playing tricks, either, because he felt the soft gray fur touch his chest as she listened to his hearts.

"I was right about you not being fully human," the Doctor said. "You've got to have quite the intricate perception filter."

Frost slid a thumb under the chain around her neck, pulling a small pendant from her shirt. It was a blue globe with green swirls in it and had a golden serpent with small red jewels for eyes wrapped around it.

"This helps keep me looking human," she said and grabbed the cloth again. "I can hold a human hybrid form easier than full human, so that's why I use this."

"Hybrid with what?" he asked. The Doctor flinched as Frost moved his arm a bit, reminding him of the out of socket shoulder. She looked down at him, and that's when he saw her pupils definitely turn to slits for a moment.

"Your shoulder's out of socket," Frost grumbled.

"Yeah, I gathered as much," the Doctor grit his teeth. He took in slow and controlled breaths, trying to calm the fire that flickered through his shoulder. His mind still being on the subject of her being a hybrid, he said, "Large ears, fangs, and slit pupils, you must be from one of the far ends of the galaxy."

"You're still missing something," she whispered and started to rub his arm.

The Doctor followed where her dark eyes were looking, and was met with soft fur. A long tail with dark gray fur swept bits of snow out of the cave, curling back around to lie across his arm.

There was a surge of movement and a crack that echoed through the cave.

"You cheeky devil!" the Doctor yelled as his shoulder snapped back into place. He would have jerked his arm out of her grip, but knew that would only cause more pain. "Should've guessed you would do something like that."

"Yeah," Frost bared her fangs in a small smirk as he looked up at her with a bit of irritation. She narrowed her eyes at him and laid back her ears. "Oh, get over it. You know that your shoulder would've started to heal wrong if it hadn't gotten popped back into place soon."

"Could've warned me," he raised a brow at her.

"Muscles tense up when people know what's coming," she said simply as she pulled her beautiful dagger from its sheath. Almost as if to prove her point, she felt his arm tense in her hand. "I'm not cutting your arm off. Just don't move."

"So, you've had medical training," the Doctor said slowly, keeping his mind off the pain for now as his body worked to dull it away. The hybrid merely nodded. "Where from?"

"Here and there," she shrugged one shoulder. "Learned a lot in Tibet and China."

"A traveler, then," he whispered mostly to himself. Though, he was sure, those large ears probably heard him. When he glanced up at her, however, she had kind of a far off look in her eyes as she watched a few flakes of snow fall outside of the mouth of the cave.

A caribou stood outside of the cave, hidden partially by the trees and the snow that the clouds spat down. Its glassy eyes locked with the two in the cave, especially the one that was looking at it. The lanterns that hung from its antlers flickered in the dulling light, melting the delicate flakes that came in contact with them. It puffed one long breath into the sky, causing the air to become foggy and misty.

"Lanterns," Frost said inaudibly, casting her eyes back down to the Doctor. Both of them looked out as the caribou gave them a gentle glance and a nod before turning and bounding away into the snow laden forest. "Beat ya this time."

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