Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 161: My House, My Patient, My Rules

Chapter 161: My House, My Patient, My Rules

The cold water did so much more than just add lubrication to my mouth and throat... it brought me a moment of clarity, and I looked around the room.

It wasn’t that big, but it wasn’t small either. It was about half of the size of Rip’s cabin; the walls were a color of white that I had only ever seen in a hospital, and the silver reflecting the sun shone so brightly that I had only one conclusion.

I was in a doctor’s house, and he was a hypochondriac.

The dark blue curtains were closed for the most part, but the sun still managed to find its way through the crack between them. Not many people invested in blackout curtains in their house... so I was surprised to see them in here.

Maybe that was just for this room since patients would need to sleep during odd times of the day and didn’t need the sun to disrupt that.

I had blackout curtains in all of my houses, both in this world and in Toronto... little known fact: they kept heat in the room and cold air from any drafts out. It was one of those must haves in Canada... especially when it was winter six months of the year.

I shifted just enough to see an interesting looking EKG machine beside an IV pole. It didn’t look like the ones that I had back at the hospital, but seeing as it did its job, the looks didn’t really matter.

There was a wall entirely made up of cabinets just behind Rip on the opposite side of the windows. That must be where the doctor kept all of their supplies. There was even a sink, which couldn’t have been easy to install after everything was done. Maybe they had the room planned out for medical use before the building was built, but I highly doubted that.

Just as Rip took the empty glass away... how did it get empty?... there was a knock at the door.

Such a simple... stupid thing for the reaction I had to it.

As soon as the first knock sounded, I flung myself off of the bed and looked around the room for my cage. Both Rip and I would get in shit if Alpha caught me in a bed...

"Where’s the cage?" I demanded to Rip as the second knock sounded. We only got three knocks before Alpha would walk in, and I needed to be in my cage way before then.

Not seeing the metal bars anywhere, I found the farthest corner and slammed myself into the wall in my hurry to get over.

It hurt like a bitch, but it would be worth it in order to escape punishment.

"For fucks sake," growled Rip, sounding scarier than I had ever heard him before. He stormed over to the door and flung it open so hard it bounced off the other wall.

"I told you we weren’t to be disturbed!" he continued, the rage and promise of violence pouring off of him in waves.

"And I told you that you don’t tell me shit. My house, my patient, my rules," grunted the man on the other side of Rip.

I brought my knees as close to my body as possible and hid my face in them... my hair offering a place to hide.

Maybe if I couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see me.

There was a scuffle at the door, but I refused to look up to see what was going on. I trusted Rip enough to know that if I were in danger, he would kill the man.

He had done it before, and I knew he would do it again.

"Where the hell is she?!?" demanded the new voice and I could hear a set of footsteps heading toward the bed.

I was far enough in the corner that he should just over look me but maybe I should have hidden behind the curtains? No... that’s the first place anyone would have looked.

I should have climbed to the upper cabinets and laid down on top of them.

I was thin enough to be able to hide up there.

"That’s why I told you I needed time with her! You scared the shit out of her! She asked for her fucking cage! Her cage!" growled Rip moving around the other man until he was standing between us.

And I didn’t get his anger about my cage. It was perfectly safe! No one could get to me when I was inside of it, so what was not to like?

"And all of that doesn’t exactly answer where my patient is," replied the other man and I could have sworn I heard his teeth grinding together in frustration. If he kept that up, he would get either a temporomandibular joint disorder or in the very least a massive headache. "She couldn’t have left the room, the others would have seen it."

"You leave and I’ll get her back on the bed," grunted Rip but I barely heard his words. There were others here? And they were keeping an eye on me?

I desperately wanted to look up and see what was going on, but I also liked the idea of keeping my head down and feeling invisible.

Rip said that we were in City A. Did Alpha sell me to someone there? Did I trade one camp for another?

But why would my buyer need both a doctor and a healer?

There were so many questions going through my head and I knew if I just asked them, they would be answered... but I just couldn’t.

What was the point in hiding if I was just going to give myself away?

No, I would talk to Rip when the other guy left and figure things out that way.

There was the sound of another scuffle and then suddenly someone was crouched down in front of me.

Taking in a deep breath, I smelled mint and alcohol. Not like whiskey or anything like that, but disinfectant alcohol. The kind that a doctor or a hypochondriac would use on a minute by minute basis.

"Hey, Firefly," came a soft voice over my head and I cringed sightly. Rip let out a low growl at my movement, but otherwise didn’t do anything.

"He’s safe, Little Bird. A pain in my ass, but safe," he grunted and I could hear the teasing in his voice.

I raised my head just enough so I could look at the other man.

And then I rapidly blinked, trying to clear my vision. There was no way he was real. He was much too attractive.

He was built like a bodybuilder but not so much that it was offputting. I couldn’t see how tall he was since he was crouched down in front of me, but it was safe to assume that he was taller than me.

His black hair was messy on top of his head like he was running his fingers through his hair on a constant basis. It made me want to run my fingers through his hair too, just to see how soft it was.

But it was his eyes that drew me in the most.