2 Waking Up

The light was brimming on her face and Elenora attempted to roll to the other side, knowing that she would fail yet again to sleep another second. And if it couldn't get any better her alarm was rinning in a steady beeping sound right next to her. She cursed the sun and her alarm as they always woke her from her sweet slumber. Rolling to her side, in an attempt to stop her annyoing alarm, she felt something uncomfortable picking at her. It made it hard to roll around and every movement was followed by a stinging pain.

"Ouch!" She tried to get up to see what it was that seemed to be constantly pushing into her side.

"She is awake. Darling, come here!" A familiar voice almost screamed into her ear.

"Let me sleep some more, mom." Eleonora took her pillow and pushed it over her ears to muffle out her mother's excited screams. What had her so excited in the morning, other than torturing her daughter with that shrill scream.

"Still a morning muffle." Theo said, a little chuckle followed from him. Yet he sounded oddly relieved.

Eleonora picked her pillow from her ears, she miserably failed to muffle the sounds around her. Her enhanced hearing didn't help her in this case. The beeping of her alarm continued and nobody seemed to turn it off. Why was everyone in her room anyway? Her eyes were still closed but she threw the pillow into the direction where she thought her brother was standing.

She heard the pillow hit and an amused "Hey!" from her brother.

"Get out of my room, Theo!" Her voice laced with anger. Theo knew exactly that she hated it when he came into her room in the morning. She could be anything but nice.

"As if nothing happened." Theo said in an amused voice, it wasn't directed at her but someone else in the room.

Eleonora had enough, she sat up in her bed, accompanied by the sudden pain that made her shriek back into a lying position. "I said to get out!" The anger left her voice as she saw her surroundings, she slowely sat up, leaning on her forearms now. She wasn't in her own room, she was sitting on a hospital bed, tubes connected to her arm, a bag of blood and another bag with clear liquid were connected to them. "I'm in the hospital." She stated rather than asked. To her other side she saw a heart monitor and saw the strings connected to her body, she took them off in one swift move.

"Took you long enough to realize." Theo teased.

"How are you, sweetheart." Eleonora looked up into her father's worried eyes as he walked closer to her bed.

"I'm fine, I guess. My side hurts, but it is bearable." She answered, slowly remembering what caused her to end up in the hospital. The rogues and their attack. She looked up at her father and brother who stood at the end of her bed, both had a worried and at the same time angry expression on their faces. Her mother sat to her left side, still holding her hand. Relief was written all over her face. "How long was I out?" She looked at her father.

"Six hours. One of the guys on patrol, Klaus, heard your howl and found you a minute later. He contacted the rest and brought you to the hospital." Her father explained.

Eleonora noted that she had to thank Klaus later but that could wait for now.

"What happened, Leo?" Her brother asked, sounding frustrated. "Why were you on neutral land in the first place?"

Eleonora let out a sigh. "I was at the lake and a black rogue appeared." Her mother gasped and her father let out a low growl, obviously not happy with rogues on his land. Eleonora easily forgot it since her father was so normal, but he was the alpha of her pack, it was his responsibility to protect everyone. And seeing his daughter hurt by one of the rogues didn't sit well with him. "I followed him and only realized I ran past the border after it was too late. I was attacked by another rogue who caught me off guard, he seemed to team up with the black rogue and another brown one." She explained further.

Her father buried his head in his hands before looking up again. "I'll have the border strengthened."

"What should we do about the three rogues who attacked Leo?" Theo asked, his hands balled to fists that his knuckles turned white. Eleonora was sure he would kill the rogues who attacked her. A little smile came to her lips at her brother's reaction.

"We can't do much until we sight them again. They are in neutral territory and didn't kill anyone." Her father stated and he was right. Even Eleonora knew that it was more dangerous to hunt rogues on neutral territory, even more when they didn't really have any leads on them, their scents or identities.

Another thought came to her mind. "They could have killed me." She said as if stating a fact, her father's and brother's head snapped to her, they looked at her in confusion. "I was hurt and barely able to stand. One rogue wanted to attack me again, probably to kill me and get rid of the trouble. But the one I followed interrupted him. Maybe they knew killing a pack wolf would bring them more trouble than what they would gain from killing me." It should have startled herself how objectively she spoke about the situation that could have lead to her death, but she was alive and only hurt, she could already feel her body healing. It wouldn't take longer than a week or two for her wounds to heal. But there were more important things to think about. "If the second one hadn't surprised me, I could have taken the black rogue out." She regretted her recklessness, not considering that there were any other rogues near her. It was usual that rogues formed groups to hunt in and live with, they were similar to pack communities but by far not so big and most of the time brutal in rank. They usually consisted of two to ten rogues, almost always male. A group of rogues had a leader, always the strongest or most brutal of the group. Eleonora was sure it was the black rogue in this case. He could have been a former Alpha or a high-ranking pack member that was driven out of his pack. She could only imagine the possible reasons for that, each more dangerous than the first.

Eleonora looked at her brother, he ran his hands through his hair more than once, and his blue eyes darted from different places on the floor to her occasionally. He was anything but pleased with the situation. She was sure he would take things into his own hands and try to find the rogues if nobody else did it. But he didn't know that Eleonora herself would start searching for the mysterious wolves who attacked her and let her live at the same time. And she was sure to give that grey wolf a good beating if she ever met him again. She didn't know why but she felt that something about these werewolves was different from the usual rogues that her pack had faced in the past.

"The important thing for now is that your wounds heal, sweetie." Her mother said, clenching her hand a little tighter and placing a kiss on her forehand. Her mother's worried face had gone back to a more normal look, rather a relieved and gentle smile. She wore her brown-hair in a tight knot, different from her usual appearance but she must have been in a hurry and stressed at the news of her daughter being attacked. But she was still wearing her normal clothes a white blouse and green pants. Eleonora couldn't stop but think how different her parents styles were. Her father, looking like your typical lumberjack and her mother looking as if she's walking to a nice party, her rummaged hair didn't change anything about that.

Eleonora touched her side feeling another gash of pain run through it. "How bad is it?" She asked into the room, holding her side in pain. She thought it couldn't be that bad since she couldn't feel much pain, only when she moved around.

Her mother was the one who answered. "Your ribs are broken, six on the left and three on the right side." The left side was the side where she had hit the tree, the right side was the one where the rogue had bitten her and pushed against her. The damage was bigger than she had thought. She looked at the tubes in her arm, the one with the clear liquor must have been a substance with a pain killer. Her mother continued. "The wound on your side, the one that was left by a bite, is starting to heal already. Thankfully it won't leave a scar as the doctor said. But it will take a few more days for the inner damage and your bones to heal."

Eleonora pushed the bottom of her hospital gown up, revealing a thick bandage.

"Like your mother said, your wounds aren't healed yet." The doctor stood in the door, everyone looked at him now. "I'm glad you're awake this early. You were glad that your lung wasn't punctured. It would have taken a lot longer and an operation for that to heal." He looked around the room and let out a low sigh, probably because of the presence of the alpha and his son who seemed anything but happy about that statement. Eleonora could only roll her eyes at her father and brother, who acted extremely childish today.

"When can I leave the hospital again?" Eleonora asked as the doctor stepped closer to the bed, checking her vitals and looking at her wound. But that wasn't important for her now. She wanted to get out of the hospital, out of this room. It smelled like disinfection and the only emotions she could feel and smell around her and on the hallways were dim and sad, consumed by worry and pain. This wasn't a place she wanted to stay at any longer.

"You can leave tomorrow –" A wide grin formed on Eleonora's face at the doctor's words. "Only if you don't move around for another week when you're home to recover. You don't want to fracture your ribs anymore or have them heal in a wrong position. Straightening them will be a lot more painful than it is now." She nodded at the doctor, reassuring him that she would obey his instructions, a small smile on her lips, knowing that she could go home the next day. "My job here is done then. I will send a nurse to give you your medication and explain the further treatment."

Her father held out his hand and shook the doctor's. "Thank you, Thomas."

"There is nothing to thank me for, Alpha." The doc smiled back. "I'm rather surprised that your daughter is recovering this fast. It has only been a few hours since the attack and she's already up and well."

"It's thanks to you, doc." Eleonora said grinning. "Or you might as well blame it on the meds you're giving me."

The doctor let out a chuckle before he left. Soon after her parents said their goodbyes and promised to pick her up the next morning. Theo was the last one to stay. He looked rather grumpy even though his sister was awake and well now.

"Go outside, you're ruining my mood." Eleonora complained to him.

A pillow was thrown at her face, she pushed it down in shook and saw the hurt look on her brother's face. She took a closer look at Theo, he had the same hair as their father, curly and black, but he wore it a little too long for her taste. Since it reached to his shoulders he always wore it in a lazy bun or a knot right on his head, if it wasn't for his good looks it would have looked ridiculous. She didn't know what it was, his face his stature or the combination of it but it let even a bad hairstyle look good on him. But he didn't look like their father, they said he looked more like his grandfather on the maternal side. Her mother on the other hand had light brown hair, always tied into a fish braid that was hanging loose over her left shoulder, not like the messy hair she showed today. Eleonora was always jealous of her mother's hair that was straight and long to the waist. Her sister's hair was just as straight but a few shades darker in color.

Compared to her family she stood out like a sore thumb with her long red and wild curls and her shimmering green eyes. Even her skin color was a notch lighter than theirs, and her face was covered in freckles. But the difference in appearance wasn't a surprise. When she was a child her parents had tried to tell her that one of her grandmas had red hair like her, but they soon realized that little Eleonora didn't believe that, none of the pictures showed a red haired grandma after all. That was when they told her that she was adopted. She was barely a year old at that time when her parents found her in a little crib in an abandoned house at the outskirts of their territory near neutral territory. They waited for days but her biological parents didn't come back, they assumed they were either dead or left her there for good. But she was happy that her new parents took her in and even after finding out she was not their biological daughter or Theo's and Dione's biological sister their behaviors didn't change. She was also almost as old as Theo, he was 22 and she was 21 years old and they grew up rather close. Their sister Dione on the other hand was a few years younger, she had just turned 18 this year and her party was still on hold since she was in Europe for college.

She crunched the pillow in her hand, missing her little sister at the thought, only a grumpy Theo was left with her and she cursed Dione for studying so far away. She would have to call her later and tell her about what happened. Her eyes fell back on Theo who crouched his forehead in an unhealthy way, showing more wrinkles than she thought were possible to have.

"Seriously, I'm fine." She threw the pillow back but to her dismay Theo caught it swiftly in one hand.

"You're still in the hospital."

"I know. Just promise you won't do anything stupid. You get reckless when your emotions are in the picture." She pointed out rather annoyed.

"You don't want me to do anything?"

"Nope-" She laid back down, using another pillow to steady her head. "We already discussed it. There is nothing to do anyway. And you heard dad."

Theo let out a deep sigh, it sounded rather annoyed than frustrated but Eleonora wasn't sure since she wasn't facing her brother directly.

She let out a sigh of her own, knowing her brother too well, if it was him lying in this bed, she would do exactly what he wanted to do. "At least keep me updated on things and don't do something reckless, you hear me?"

"I have no idea what you mean." Eleonora didn't see it but she was sure her brother was crossing his arms before his chest, he always did that when he was lying.

She sat up on her forearms again, facing her brother, ignoring the little pain that came from her left side. "I'll cover for you by mom and dad if you keep me updated on everything. Just don't do anything on your own! Promise!" She finished in a stern tone, not leaving any room for her brother to argue.

He let out another sigh, this time in defeat and a wide grin formed on Eleonora's face.

"Deal." Her brother said. "Now tell me everything you remember."

Eleonora told her brother all the details of the rogues and how she followed them, from the scent she picked up to the looks of the rogues. After she had told him everything he left, she was sure he would go back to the spot she was attacked at and try to find more clues. But he had to promise that he would take Dan and Jonny with him if he left the pack territory and since she threatened him to call their mother, he was sure to abide to it.

Eleonora was now left alone in her room and reached for her phone. Theo had taken it from her room where she had left it before she had gone on her morning run to wake up a bit. The accident woke her more than up she thought.

She typed in her code and looked at the screen. It was a picture of her and her siblings from Dione's 17th birthday. The background was packed with balloons and Dione sat in the middle of the picture with a horrified look on her face, Theo and Eleonora were running towards their sister from both sides.

Eleonora chuckled at the picture as she remembered the chaos that was caused after they had run into each other, literally crashing into the other person. The picture didn't capture how gracefully they had tackled each other to the ground. For some unknown reason Dione was able to avoid being caught in it. After that Theo had a broken arm and Eleonora a broken nose, it was more than embarrassing for her to walk around with a band aid on her face. Theo on the other hand showed off with his broken arm, saying he hurt himself in a fierce fight.

She swiped over her screen dialing her sister number from memory. It had been a few days since they talked and today's happenings were something she had to keep her sister updated on, especially if some of her friends from the pack talked to her about the incident. Her sister would be left worried on the other side of the world if nobody explained things to her. And back in her mind Eleonora just wanted to talk to her little sister.

Eleonora tried calling her sister a few times but was left with the voice mail. She checked the time in between her attempts of calling to make sure her sister was awake at this hour. The time in Europe was different than theirs and Eleonora liked to forget that quite a few times. Waking her sister in the middle of the night wasn't unusual for her. But Dione still didn't pick up. At the fifth attempt Eleonora put her phone down and decided to try again another time.