03 - Chapter Three - Cora Bradley's Point Of View.

"Exactly what can you do for him, Cora?" Zack asked, finally.

"Well, I can handle his physio and find something to slow down the progression of his blindness. I can promise anything, but I should be able to help."

"Do I not get a choice in this?" Kalib said, annoyance lacing his tone.

"No. Not really. You're my patient, so just be a willing one." I said flatly.

"That might help Cora. But he can't stay with you. He needs to stay here. He still has his own work to do."

"I can drive after work to look after him then."

"No, unacceptable," Kalib said deeply.

"Just why the hell not!" I yelled at him.

"It is too dangerous to be driving those roads at night."

"Cora could stay, will you then? You have the space."

"No." He said.

"I don't think so," I retorted.

"It is the best option here."

"No, the best option is for him to come with me!" I yelled, stomping my foot for dramatic effect.

Kalib stood up and tried to limp away. I set my hand on his T-shirt covered chest.

"Sit the hell down. You shouldn't be walking."

"You need to stop telling me what to do. Now." He snapped, pushing past me.

Zack looked at me, his eyes boring holes in me.

"Don't say a damn word. I don't want to hear shit from you right now, Zack."

"I was only going to warn you, Kalib won't be a willing patient. He doesn't enjoy being pushed around and forced to do things. He is going to snap."

"Good, Let him snap. I've dealt with nasty dogs before."

Zack's nose wrinkled in distaste. He hated when I called him a dog. He said it was a horrible insult. Kalib limped back into the office. He was in some discomfort. You could see it in his face.

"Let me look at your leg."

"I'm fine."

"Let me look."

I heard the growl as it left his lips. Zack didn't seem at all surprised. I don't know why I did it, But I flicked him in the tip of his nose. Like you might do to a disobedient dog.

"Don't growl at me. It's rude. Now let me see your damn leg."

He shoved the pants on his legs down, making me cover my eyes quickly, and Zack growled deeply.

"I have boxers on. Relax, you are the one who wanted to see my damn leg." He snapped.

True to his word, he had boxers on. You could see where I had opened him up. It was pink and tender looking, but not infected. It looked like it was healing well, but I also knew it wouldn't be one hundred percent back to normal. At best, he could have about eighty per cent usage. I dabbed the raised scar. I watched his leg tense under my touch, but he said nothing.

"The wound looks good, but inside is what I want to see. Once we know for sure it's as healed as it's going to get, I want to get new imaging, and we can then build a game plan."

"And for his eyes?"

"Leave my eyes alone. This is what the fates want, so just leave it."

"Zack, do you have a flashlight? I left my phone in the car."

"Yeah, here,"

He handed me his phone with the flashlight on and I looked at Kalib, whispering 'Please forgive me' before blinding him with the flashlight. He hissed at the brightness and I could hear his teeth grinding. I felt terrible for shining him in the eyes.

I could see the spots in his eyes. There were quite a few of them. He was right; he really was going blind. Removing the light from his eyes, he blinked many times, still grinding his teeth, and let out a growl. I got a fantastic look at them, so much better than just the sunlight before.

"Never again."

"I'm really sorry. I wanted to see how bad your eyes were."

He didn't say another word, he just growled, his eyes closed and covered them with his hand. Now he was closed off. He pulled the pants up his legs once he opened his eyes and glared at Zack.

"I don't care if you think you can force me to do whatever bullshit you think I need, But I'm fucking done. I'm going home."

"Please, let us help you."

"I don't need any fucking help." Kalib snapped, standing up and limping away. I worried about him going down the stairs. I followed him down the stairs and didn't have time to slip on my flip-flops, running out of Zack's home. He was limping down the driveway and down the road by the time I reached the end of the driveway.

His limping was getting worse with every few steps he was taking, but he wasn't slowing down at all. The road wasn't at all nice on my feet and I had to bite my tongue to keep from cursing him out about it.

"Could you slow down at least?" I yelled, finally having had enough of all this.

He stopped totally and turned around, yellowing ringing his eyes.

"I didn't ask you to follow me, stupid woman!"

I could handle a lot, but being called a stupid woman was it. I had to take a deep breath, so I didn't just hit him out of anger. But, That didn't mean I was going to let him have this free shot at me.

"I can't be so stupid if I opened you up, fixed all the damage done to your body, and put you back together. All while you slept peacefully. If I was a stupid woman, you would be dead."

He didn't say another word, at least for a few minutes, then he spoke again. This time, he seemed to have a cap on his attitude.

"If you walk closer to the side of the road, it is softer on the feet. I can't carry you, not like this."

"I don't need you to carry me. Thank you, though."

I walked along where he pointed out and it was indeed way softer on the feet. Part of me was so annoyed that he was right about the side of the road. I wanted to ask how he knew that, but I figured he probably had just walked it in bare feet before.

We walked for a while before anything even came into view. I was pretty sure I had rocks and glass embedded into the bottoms of my feet. A house came into view, followed by more houses. This must be where the rest of the pack lived. He pointed to the largest house as he spoke.

"This one is mine."

"Of course it is."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I just mean, Of course, your house is the largest."

"As Alpha, it is supposed to be the largest."

"Right, that makes sense."

We walked up the driveway and he turned the doorknob; the door opened, and the floor creaked as he stepped inside. You could tell this place needed a good clean. There were muddy paw prints and footprints on the real wood floor. He looked at the muddy prints, almost like he too was annoyed by them.

"Don't let this be a clue of how the rest of my house looks now." He hissed under his breath, probably meaning for only himself to hear it.

He hurried up the stairs that were right at the entrance, almost; he gave little warning that was where he was going, he just went. It was clear he was only interested in finding out if the rest of the house was the same way as the entrance. I saw no more muddy prints up here, though.

He threw open a door at the end of the hall; it was an office. A very messy one. He had a complete meltdown. He was visibly shaking, and there was a low growl rumbling out of his chest.

"Kalib, Breathe. You cannot shift right now. You really could fuck up your leg even worse. We do not know if that leg can handle another shift while not fully healed." I tried to plead with him. It really wasn't working all that well.

He stepped further into the room, picking up a stack of files that seemed to have coffee spilt on them and he completely lost it then.

"Why cannot anyone just do what I ask in a clean and perfect fashion without the largest of messes!" He snarled, throwing the papers across the room.

He started throwing things left and right off the desk. You could tell that was where the coffee had been spilt, by the fact there were a few papers welded to the top of the desk by dried coffee.

"I swear to the fates! I'm going to kill him!"

I let Kalib scream out his feelings until he just stopped screaming, then I asked if he wanted my help to clean the space. He turned down my help but made no moves to stop me when I picked up files and papers. He looked beyond pissed at the state of his space and, honestly, I couldn't blame him for feeling that way.

Someone had come into his space and wreaked his clean, and he really didn't like it.