Hey Guys! 

So I'm done crying over American Idol now (lame, I know) and I'm going to finally finish this chapter. Here goes nothing! 

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Dedicated to Samanthaberry2020. It only took 1 line for you to call it. 

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Saffron

I try to make sense of the Moon Goddess's words, but then they slowly start to fade away. Then, they're replaced by more insistent sounds: an incessant beeping, followed by shouting, and then...

Saaaaaaaffron!" Logan cries my name with so much pain, and so much longing, that my heart literally jolts in my chest. Panic floods my vein, until I feel it with everything that I am... until my only thought is to find Logan. Why didn't I go to him when I heard him shouting in the garden? How could I have ignored him and walked around smelling flowers. Logan needed me! So did Zara, and Jess, and the little kids!

I remember what the Moon Goddess said—that they're in The Land of the Wolves—but I don't know what that is. Hopefully, it means they're okay, but what if it's her way of saying they're all dead? How could I have stayed so calm when she said that? It makes no sense, not unless whatever I felt wasn't real. Either the Moon Goddess could control my emotions—control me—or it's all just a horrible dream. Maybe I'll wake up in bed and realize that the entire day never happened?

Wake up, Saf, I chide myself, but an opposing force tries to pull me under and force me to sleep. I fight against it, but then a sudden calm takes over—just like in the garden—and even though I know the feeling isn't mine and I should try to fight it, I feel myself drifting off to sleep.

I don't know how much time passes before I wake up again. My mind feels groggy, and I realize that I don't have a body. Okay, that's not quite right. I mean, obviously I have a body; I just don't know where it is. Okay, that's not it either. Maybe it more like I can't feel my limbs, and I don't know how to make them move. I feel a momentary panic, then another wave of calm. With it comes a memory—a dream about a multicolored wolf in a field of saffron. I start to long for it, but then I remember Logan and my new friends—and maybe even my pack.

I drift off to sleep again and wake up when a woman calls my name. Her soft, melodic voice reminds me of my mother's, and I wish I could move my lips in a smile. I should be worried about that—about not being able to move—but her tone is filled with so much love and caring that I instantly relax. It's almost as if her voice is a blanket that wraps itself around me as drift off to sleep.

After that, I lose count of the number of times I wake up, only to drift off again. It's like I'm stuck in a loop, with a song playing over and over again in the background. I can't remember the lyrics, except four words from the chorus: 'neither dead nor alive.' I hear those words, dancing in the wind, until they're all I can think about. Until, finally, I choose.

I don't know how much time passes before I wake up. I struggle to open my eyes—which is when I realize I can feel my eyes, and my eyelids, and my hands and feet. I feel a humongous wave of relief, only to realize I can't actually summon the energy to move anything. I feel like I've just had the worst run-in with Dad; except that can't be it. Dad sold me to POW, and I moved into the pack house, which means...

Did POW hit me? For some reason, the thought feels wrong, but why else would I be in so much pain? Logan? No, that feels even more wrong. But then who? I can't remember ever feeling quite this bad. Even my face hurts. My eyelids do feel dry and swollen, and my head throbs. My jaw hurts too, and I quickly run my tongue along my upper and lower teeth to make sure they're all still there. Luckily, they are.

I let out a sigh of relief and pain reverberates through my ribs... my very human ribs. Did I get injured while I was human? Did I not have time to shift into my wolf?

I struggle to sit up and assess the damage, but someone holds me down. I can't see whoever it is, and I start to struggle harder. What if I ended up in the hospital and some mad scientists are experimenting on me as we speak? Or there's an attacker looming over me, about to kill me?

"It's okay, Saf," a familiar voice whispers. "You're safe now."

"Logan?" I croak. My lips feel parched and my tongue like coarse sandpaper against the roof of my mouth.

"I'm here." I feel Logan's hand gently squeezing mine, and then he doesn't let go. I long to savor the moment, but I hurt too much.

I try to summon the energy to at least ask for a glass of water when something cool touches my chapped lips. Then I taste a those first few cool drops of water and realize that Logan has read my mind. I part my lips, but almost before it's began, the flow of water stops.

"That's enough for now," a woman tells me. Her voice doesn't sound familiar, but the feeling of Logan's hand linked with mine reminds me that I'm safe. I relax back against the soft pillow, and then I drift off to sleep.

When I wake up again, the sun is shining so bright, and I can see it through my closed eyelids. I no longer feel like I had a run-in with Dad, just a very pesky rogue. My side hurts when I inhale and my head throbs, but the rest of me feels fine.

I start to move, but the arm wrapped around me keeps me in place. Wait, arm? What arm? Is someone in bed with me?

I try to shove whoever it is away when a deep, groggy male voice mutters, "Saffron, Saf. Relax."

"Logan?" I gasp. My eyes fly open, and when I get a good look at my surroundings, I gasp again.

I don't know what I was expecting. Probably to find myself in my bed, or Logan's, with absolutely no memory of how I got there. I kind of wish that's what happened, because finding myself in the hospital with no memory of why I'm there is infinitely worse. Almost as bad as the sight of the pale figure in the bed next to mine.

"Zara?" I cry, trying to sit up.

"She's okay. She should wake up any minute now," Jasper tells me. He's squeezed onto Zara's bed next to her, much like Logan is lying next to me, and I quickly look away. It's too much like the room I shared with Zara; the beds are about the same distance apart, and Zara is in the bed to my left, just like in our room. I feel a rush of embarrassment at what this must look like and quickly try to sit up.

"Saf, don't move," Logan grabs me around the waist. "You're still hooked up to all this stuff."

"What stuff?" I ask, finally realizing that there is an IV attached to the inside of my arm, and a blood pressure cuff around my bicep, not to mention all these weird electrodes attached to both arms. Plus, I'm wearing this blue hospital robe that makes me look like a patient. "What's all this for?"

"To help you get better," the doctor replies from across the room. She's a middle-aged woman, with a long white braid, and a warm smile that seems kind of forced. "I'm Patricia Devon, Pack Doctor, but everyone calls me Doctor Dev."

"Doctor Dev," I hesitate, then say what's bugging me about this whole thing, "I'm a werewolf."

"I know that, Honey." She gives me an amused look.

"Then what's all this for?" I gesture at the stuff hooked up to my arm.

"Well, this is an IV," Doctor Dev sounds like she's talking to a five year old. "It's to replenish your fluids. Now this device right here—" she reaches for the blood pressure cuff, and I quickly interrupt.

"I know what all this does, but I'm not human. I don't need it."

"Honey," Doctor Dev gives me a patronizing smile. "You were severely injured."

"How?" I frown. I remember having pizza with Logan, and then health class—I cringe at the memory. After that, we were walking home and... "Oh no, are you sure Zara is okay? And what about Jess? Nisha and Joshie? Nicki?" I talk a mile a minute, heart racing, and the machine next to me starts beeping wildly.

"Relax, Safron. Everything's fine." Doctor Dev says it soothingly, but it doesn't help. There's something in her tone that I don't like. I think it's how she keeps her voice level, like she's trying to calm a wild animal. It feels forced and fake and I let out a loud, angry growl.

"Saf, hey." Logan squeezes my shoulder, and I instantly relax. "Doctor Dev saved you."

"She did?" I give Doctor Dev a suspicious glance, but before she has a chance to reply, someone knocks on the door.

"Saffron, you're awake," Luna breezes in with a warm smile. "How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

POW's behind her, and I start to tense, but when he stays in the doorway, I slowly relax.

"Better than I look?" I try to joke, but it comes out flat.

"I hope so," Luna teases as she approaches the bed and she doesn't bat an eye at the fact that her son is in it with me. I sneak a glance at POW, but he doesn't seem as pissed off as usual, if anything, he looks worried. I still try to sit up and move further away from Logan, so it wouldn't look quite as bad, but Luna stops me. She smooths back my hair and then gently pushes me back down onto the soft pillow. Then, Logan wraps his arm tightly around me, and my cheeks heat.

"Luna, I was just about to give Saffron her medicine."

"I'll do it." Luna takes the small bottle from Doctor Dev.

"Remember, two teaspoons."

"No!" POW shouts, making me jump. "That's enough to put her to sleep and I need to ask Saffron a couple of questions."

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Sorry it took so long to get this update up.

I hope you guys liked it? What did you think?

What's going on with Doctor Dev? 

Any predictions? 

What do you want to happen next? 

I'll try to update more quickly in the future, but first let me go finish that Hunter's Luna chapter I owe you all! 

♥ Thanks for being here with me on this Wolf Pack journey! ♥