h2 style="margin-top: 0.0000pt;"strongspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: #4f81bd; font-size: 13pt;"Chapter 17 - Chris/span/strong/h2
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"strongspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"1pm/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris woke as bright daylight hit his face. It was bright outside, but not sunny./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He looked out the window and saw that it was snowing lightly. He looked at the clock, it was just after lunc/spanspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"htime./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Slowly he pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing at the pain. The nausea had passed but his chest and arm still hurt like hell./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Remembering that Melissa said he could get up and have a shower, he threw the blankets to one side and went to get out of bed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Then he hesitated, she had also been very insistent on him staying put until she checked on him and she would be none too pleased if she found he'd disobeyed her order./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Reluctantly he relented; he sat back and let the pain subside a little. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"At last he heard a knock on the door, a moment later Melissa entered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Hey, you're looking better" She greeted him, her eyes narrowed as she looked at him "I hope you didn't try to get up by yourself did you?" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"s/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"he asked. His look must have said it all/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;",/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" she grinned slightly "I'm glad you decided against it then" she continued/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Do you feel well enough to get up" she asked coming over to stand beside the bed. She narrowed her eyes at him again "and remember I'll know if you're not telling me the truth"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He grinned back at her, well aware of what would happen if he tried lying to her "I feel better" he admitted seriously "my chest and arm still hurt like hell, but the nausea has gone and I feel strong enough to stand"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Alright" Melissa said. She took his hand and gently removed the drip. He winced slightly as the needle pulled out of his skin. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""You shouldn't need the drip any more" she told him "but you still need to be careful"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She stepped back as he sat up and got slowly out of bed. She supported him as he stood "I'm going to help you to the bathroom" she stated firmly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He wanted to protest, but she was giving him a sidelong glance that shut him up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"When he was ready they made their way slowly towards the en-suite. He began to realise that Melissa was right to help him. The pain increased as he moved and he still felt weak. He scowled to himself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"When they reached the bathroom she let him go on alone, he saw that someone had gotten clean clothes ready for him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Be careful not to get the bandages wet" Melissa instructed"they're waterproof but I'd prefer if you don't get them wet"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She glanced at the bandage covering his arm and gestured for him to let her take /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"his arm/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" span style="font-family: Calibri;""I'll take this one off for now" she told him, unwrapping the bloodstained bandage from his arm "I'll change them a/span/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"l/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"l when you've had something to eat"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He couldn't help but stare at the wound; it ran from the front of his shoulder all the way down to the inside of his elbow. Though stitched, it looked vicious; he remembered Koyla slicing the knife down his arm and gritted his teeth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Try not to stare at it" Melissa warned him, obviously sensing his anger "we saved your life and that's all you should be thinking about"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She stepped back "be careful in the shower" she instructed "take everything slowly. I'll be in your room changing the sheets on your bed" she gave him that commanding look again "call out if you need help" then guessing his next protest she went on "I'm a nurse, it won't bother me"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She closed the door and left him alone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He sighed, glad to be alone again, but soon found it harder than he thought to prepare for a shower./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He started the shower and got slowly undressed, wincing as the movement sent pain through his body again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Finally he stepped into the shower, careful to follow Melissa's instructions and not get his bandages wet. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"The shower felt like the best he'd ever had, he hadn't realise/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"d/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" how unclean he felt. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"After about 5 minutes he finished and stepped out of the shower, amazed at how much better he felt already. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He dried himself carefully, wincing as the stitches on his arm pulled slightly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"When he was dressed he went back into the bedroom. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Melissa was still changing the sheets on his bed "feel better?" She asked/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"" A lot" he admitted then paused as the pain increased slightly "well /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"I/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" feel cleaner at least"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I'm glad" she said "do you feel well enough to move down to the lounge-room and have something to eat?" She asked stopping what she was doing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"realized/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" how hungry he was now and though he still felt weak, he was determined to try and move out of his bed for a while "yes" he told her honestly "I'll be glad to get up for a while"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Melissa gave him a sympathetic look "it won't be for long" she told him "only downstairs and onto the lounge. I've set it up for you"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She walked over to him and took his arm "I'm going to help you down there" she went on firmly "and don't even think about telling me otherwise"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He wanted to protest, he hated relying on someone else for everything. But as they walked slowly out of the room, he found that he was glad of her support. It was hard to get a deep breath with the pain in his chest and his legs felt weak./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"They made their way slowly down the stairs and into the lounge-room. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran was asleep in front of the fire, stretched out on her side, she didn't wake as they approached./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Melissa/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" let him sit down and get comfortable before she left "I'll ask Stiles to bring you some of that food he made for you" she said over her shoulder "I'm going to finish your bed and then come and change your bandages"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She disappeared out the front doors./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"A few minutes later Stiles entered and made his way into the kitchen. Melissa appeared a few moments later and went back upstairs. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris found himself staring at Morgran. She was lying on her side exposing the scars on her face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"For the first time he could see it clearly. The scars stretched down the right side of her face and throat all the way down to underneath her foreleg./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He'd always known Morgran to be an exceptional fighter, so what could have attacked her?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Werewolves? Somehow he didn't think so./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"There was also a new scar he hadn't seen before, on her back. It stretched the length of her back dangerously close to her spine. It was old, a year or more at least. But the fur hadn't grown back over the scar. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran suddenly rolled onto her back, exposing her chest/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris leaned forwards as he saw more scars down her stomach. Multiple straight scars from her chest to the bottom of her stomach. These were old, very old but still stark against her fur./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran had more scars than any hunter he'd dealt with./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""You know she won't appreciate it if you stare" Stiles' voice made him jump/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He turned to see Stiles with a plate of hot food and a glass of water looking between him and Morgran /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris was going to make a stinging reply but he knew Stiles had a point "hmm, I suppose you're right" he admitted, sitting back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Stiles gave Morgran a wary look as he stepped carefully past her and handed the food and water to Chris. "I cooked this for you" he announced, with his usual stupid grin "everyone doubted my cooking skills" he went on "they won't doubt it now"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""How do you know how to cook?' Chris asked Stiles as he took the food/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Stiles shrugged "dad works late nights a lot" he said simply "I learned to cook for myself and my father when I was younger. Anyway, enjoy it, it's good"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He stepped warily around Morgran again as he turned to leave/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris couldn't hide his amusement "she won't bite you know" he reassured Stiles/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I will if you two don't shut up and let me sleep" Morgran growled/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She had rolled onto her right side and was giving them a hard stare with a hint of amusement./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Stiles jumped awkwardly and faced Morgran "sorry!" he exclaimed and walked quickly out of the room/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran watched him go then met Chris' gaze, with a hard look "did you see what you needed to see?" she asked harshly/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He was taken aback by her anger, aware that she'd known he'd been staring at her scars "I didn't realize that it would bother you that much" he retorted, annoyed/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""So it wouldn't bother you if someone stared at you that way?" Morgran shot back /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Like I said before, I'm a hunter" Chris replied "scars don't bother me, I have more than a few myself"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He winced as a jolt of pain went through his chest "now I'll probably have a few more" he pointed out angrily/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"To his surprise Morgran dropped her gaze, flinching slightly/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Everything okay In here" Melissa's voice came from the doorway. She was staring at them both, her gaze flicking between them/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Yeah it's fine" Morgran muttered, flipping back onto her left side and turning her back on them/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Melissa stared at her for a moment then walked over to hand Chris a small bottle of pills. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""These are anti-infmamatories" she told him as he took them from her "you'll need to take one with food twice a day"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She pulled a second container from her pocket and handed those to him as well "along with these anti-biotics"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris scowled, he hated conventional drugs "how long do I have to take these for?" he asked. Painfully aware that any resistance to taking them wouldn't please her/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Probably a few weeks" she admitted, she must have seen his disapproval because she added "I know you don't like them but they'll keep your wounds from getting infected again"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""They are pretty strong" she went on "so you won't be able to drive long distances while you're taking them"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Great!" he muttered "anything else?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He could see she was annoyed at him again but she grinned slightly "yeah, just eat the food Stiles gave you and listen to your nurse"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Her grin widened "that food is delicious, you won't regret it" when he hesitated, giving her a confused look she added cheekily "if you don't want it, I'll have it"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I second that" Morgran said from the fire, he saw her lick her lips./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris stared at them both then tightened his grip on the plate "alright, I'll eat" he relented /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Good" Melissa grinned, she glanced at Morgran "make sure he takes those pills" she instructed the wolf "I'll be back in a little while to change your bandages" she added to him before she walked out again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran shot him a teasing look, but he could also see care in her gaze "don't worry I will" she promised Melissa. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He met her gaze, annoyed, then finally took a mouthful of food. He paused, Melissa had been right, the food was delicious. He was surprise at how well Stiles could actually cook/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Good right?" Morgran asked,rolling over to face him, she licked her lips again/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Yeah" Chris agreed "a bit too good. I didn't think Stiles was much good at anything"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Jeeze, don't let Stiles hear you say that" Morgran said "he's more useful than you think. He may only be human, but he keeps Scott's pack together. He keeps them human"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris realised that Morgran was right,he'd seen a new side to Stiles when they were dealing with the Derach, though he still thought Stiles was an idiot "I never thought about that" he admitted. But Stiles was good at keeping Scott in touch with his human side. Scott, however was unlike any werewolf Chris had known./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran dropped her gaze "I'm sorry I snapped before" she went on "I hate people staring"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris could understand her anger "I didn't mean to upset you" he told her, pausing to eat a few more mouthfuls/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran gave him a pointed look "would you like it if you had scars and people stared at them?" she asked /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He thought about that for a second "No I suppose not" he agreed/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Do you feel better after a shower?" she asked, changing the subject/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Apart from being in pain, yes" Chris told her. The pain in his chest was becoming unbearable again/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""But you're home safe now, you need to relax" Morgran assured him. She nodded towards the bottles beside him "taking those pills will help"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I hate taking conventional drugs" he admitted /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Me too" Morgran agreed "but I'd rather pills than a needle. Wouldn't you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Needles didn't really bother him, but she was right, he still preferred not to have to have them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"When he still hesitated Morgran went on, raising her eyebrow "besides do you really want to annoy Melissa again by not taking them?" she asked, her tail twitching in amusement/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris let that sink in "No I suppose not" he agreed. Reluctantly he got one of each pill out of the containers and took them before he could change his mind/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran grinned at him then rolled back over to face the fire "now can I get some sleep?" she asked /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison entered the room "hey dad" she greeted him/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran rolled onto her stomach and put her paws over her ears "apparently not" she muttered /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison glanced at her, grinning "it's good to see you out of bed" she said to him. She seemed to want to say something but then decided against it "how good is the food?" she asked instead "Stiles is a really good cook"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Yeah, I didn't know he had it in him" Chris admitted in amusement "but he's still Stiles"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Gee thanks!" Stiles' voice came from the doorway, he was standing at the entrance to the lounge-room, giving them a hurt look "what's wrong with Stiles?" he gestured towards himself "Stiles is awesome!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Before they could respond he walked upstairs and disappeared/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""How are Scott and the others?" Chris asked, he paused "any sign of Koyla?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison hesitated before she answered "they're fine" she told him "and no, not yet. But Scott thinks that he'll attack at night time"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Makes sense" Chris agreed "it's when they're strongest, especially an alpha like Koyla" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He finished the food and leaned across to put it on the table in front of him/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""We wont let him get to you again" Allison promised "when he comes for you, we'll kill him" she added viciously/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I should be helping" Chris protested, he tried to get up but winced "I hate sitting here while you're out there fighting for me"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Like it or not it's what you have to do" Melissa's voice came again as she walked into the room carrying fresh bandages /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He glared at her as she walked up to him "I hate being helpless" he growled in annoyance ""I'm a hunter, I should be out there hunting that bastard down"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She met his gaze defiantly "I know you well enough now to know that you're not helpless" she told him "you're right, you are a hunter and you're stubborn. You're not helpless, far from it actually"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I can't help my own daughter protect me" Chris scowled "I can't help anyone right now. I'm pretty much useless"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Melissa rolled her eyes "says the man who has more weapons in his garage than they do at the Sheriff's station" she stated "you're not helpless or useless"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She waved her hand at him in a gesture for him to move "Now are you going to let me change those bandages or not?" she asked pointedly/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He glanced at Allison and then at Morgran, both of them were clearly trying to hide their amusement, he scowled at them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I'm guessing you're not going to take no for an answer?" he asked Melissa/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Your guess is correct" she confirmed "now take your shirt off"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"There was silence at they all stared at her "you know what I mean!" she snapped, half amused half annoyed/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris tried to hide his own amusement as he obeyed her and shifted to lie down so she could change his bandages./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Melissa sat down on the lounge next to him "did you take those pills like I asked?" she asked as she began carefully taking the bandages off. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Morgran answered for him "he did" she told Melissa "I made sure of that"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"When he glared at her she grinned and added "you know it's only because I care about you right?" she asked/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I do" Chris admitted, he knew Morgran meant what she said, she'd saved his life more than once and again from the alphas. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He winced as one of the bandages pulled at his skin, and made his stitches sting./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Sorry" Melissa apologized "some of the bandages are going to stick"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""That's okay" he answered, half distracted. He stared at his chest, it was the first time he'd seen the wounds. Though they were all stitched up, they looked vicious, like the one on his arm. His chest and lower stomach were covered in long slashes, there was barley a part of his chest that wasn't injured./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"The memories of Koyla slicing open the wounds came back to Chris and his anger returned, too quickly, he lost control of his emotions again. His breathing grew rapid with the anger. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Hey!' Melissa's voice cut sharply through the haze of anger "calm down" she instructed gently./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She lowered her face to look him in the the eye and forced him to meet her gaze "take it easy" she instructed "just calm down. Try not to look at the wounds"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"With an effort, he calmed himself, as he'd done countless times. He rarely lost control of his emotions. But Koyla and the wounds he'd inflicted made him furious, he'd never been caught so easily before. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He'd given himself up Willingly to Jennifer as a guardian to Allison, but Koyla had caught him in his own home, and he'd done it so easily./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Pain returned to his chest as his body reacted to his heightened emotions, he winced./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""The pain will return the more you lose control" Melissa told him "so just relax!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He obeyed her, looking away over the back of the lounge, resentment still burned inside him, but he forced himself to relax. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He was aware of of Melissa changing his bandages but he refused to look at his chest again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison walked around to face him "you need to stay calm" she told him gently "I don't want to you make anything worse"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I can't" he hissed softly "Koyla caught me too easily, he tortured me and he loved it. He's the reason I can't help you fight"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison reached down and took his hand "but we saved you from him" she tried to sooth him, using the same determination he'd known from his wife "we killed his pack and when he comes for you we'll kill him too. He won't get away with what he did to you" she went on, her gaze hardened exactly like Victoria's always had when she talked about werewolves "we'll make sure of that"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris met Allison's gaze, she reminded him so much of Victoria, she had his wife's fierce determination, but with a kind nature beneath. That had nearly been corrupted by his father Gerard, but he'd shown his true intentions and Allison had regretted her actions. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He still missed his wife, he hated the way Gerard had treated her after she'd been bitten, like she was a monster, Gerard hadn't cared about what had to be done next./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"It had nearly killed him, having to help his own wife commit suicide as part of their code. He loved her and he still missed her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I know you will" he agreed, trying to push down his resentment "we taught you well"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison let go of his hand "I'm going to sit with you for a little while" she told him. She shot a sly look between him and Melissa, who was finishing up her work. "someone has to make sure you don't keep annoying your nurse./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Melissa snorted a soft laugh "exactly!" she agreed grinning at both of them. She finished changing the last bandage on his stomach. She held out her hand I need to re-wrap the wound on your arm too" she told him. He let her take his arm, turning back to watch as she expertly wrapped the wound on his arm, it was almost a relief when it was covered. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Remember!" Melissa reminded him as the finished"take it easy, just rest and don't do anything stupid" she gave him a pointed look at the last words then grinned cheekily "in other words don't be yourself" she added. She stood up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Very funny" Chris retorted annoyed but a little amused. He sat up again, relieved to find that the drugs were working and his pain was subsiding/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I'm going to go and sit down for a while" Melissa announced "Scott bought me a really good book a while ago and I haven't had time to read it yet. I managed to get a few days off work to look after you" she went on, then paused "well they technically think I'm looking after Scott" she admitted/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Chris gave her a confused look "you told them Scott was injured?" he asked "why?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Well it was better than telling them Chris Argent got captured and tortured by alpha werewolves right?' she asked. "No offense but your family doesn't exactly have a good reputation in Beacon Hills"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""That wasn't me" Chris retorted some of his resentment returning at her words "that was Kate and Gerard"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""I know, I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that" Melissa soothed him "I just didn't want to have the Sheriffs involved with everything. Noah is having a hard enough time adjusting to it all, let alone a whole Sheriff's station"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Noah, Stiles's father, had been thrust, quite brutally, into the supernatural world when Jennifer kidnapped him for the sacrifices. Though it was thanks to Melissa that he'd known about Chris and Allison being werewolf hunters "where is Noah?" Chris asked "he helped with everything too didn't he?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""He had to go back to the station for a while" Melissa answered "but he'll be back soon"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Now I am going to actually read my book" she announced "then I promised Stiles that I would help him cook some dinner" she looked at him and Allison "Stiles picked up some more food" she went on "he didn't want to take all your food"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison rolled her eyes good naturedly as she came around to sit beside her father "I told him not to worry about that" she sighed "it's bad enough he insists on cooking for us in our own home. He may be annoying a lot of the time, but he's learned a lot of manners from his father"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""It makes him feel good to help" Melissa told her "he can't help with protecting you from Koyla, so he does what he does best, he keeps us human" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She turned around "I'll see you in a few hours for dinner" she promised before leaving the room. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison watched Morgran, who had apparently managed to finally go back to sleep. Chris saw her stare at Morgran's scars as he had./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Don't stare" he warned her in a low voice "I made that mistake earlier. She won't thank you for staring at them"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison looked away "I guess I wouldn't either" she admitted. She turned to face him "I know you're probably sick of this question by now" she began "but how are you feeling?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He was sick of it, but he knew that everyone was just trying to help "Better than last night" he told her "as much as I hate taking conventional drugs, they are definitely helping with the pain"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He scowled "I got to see what Koyla actually did to me" he went on in a dark voice, he looked at the bandage covering his arm and the multiple bandages on his chest and stomach "he nearly killed me"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He picked up his shirt and put it back on to hide the wounds./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison winced "I'm sorry" she whispered "we should have gotten to you sooner"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"She swayed "when….when we found you in there, we thought you were dead" she struggled to speak "I was so relieved when you opened your eyes and looked at me, you were alive" she flinched and swallowed hard "but seeing you like that, covered in blood….I…."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He took her arm gently "hey" he whispered gently "don't blame yourself. You and the other's did everything you could to find me and you did it. You saved my life, you stopped the alpha's from Killing me" he paused "you took the lead as the head of the family, just as I would expect from you"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"Allison cast her eyes down his arm and chest "but we didn't stop them from hurting you" she hissed softly "we didn't stop Koyla"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Not yet" he agreed "but I have no doubt that you will deal with him when he comes for me, You, Scott, Isaac and Morgran" he narrowed his eyes "you'll do what has to be done"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;""Damn right we will" Allison retorted in a low, savage voice. She suddenly leaned forwards to give him a huge hug "I love you dad" she whispered "I'm so glad you're okay"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0000pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11.0000pt;"He hugged her back, wincing slightly as the movement made his stitches twinge with pain "I love you too Allison"/span/p