Breathing a heavy sigh he began to mend the animal's wounds. The animal was exhausted and was sleeping on its own. When he started sewing its leg wound shut all he got was a tired whine of pain from the animal. If it survived the night, it would be a miracle.

Hours later, Celestino tied off the last wrapping around the animal's foreleg. The front room was a mess, covered in wolf hair and blood, strips of used bandages, bloody scissors, and thread from the stiches were scattered all over the table.

Thom and the driver had stayed, watching and helping Celestino as best they could. As Celestino sank gratefully onto a chair the other two men got the wolf down off the table and laid it on the floor next to the fireplace. The wolf was breathing fitfully and Celestino, for the hundredth time that night, said a silent prayer to see the animal through till morning.

He looked over at the other two men, "You two should probably go home and get some rest. Thank you for bringing the animal to me. Tonight, and the rest of the day will be rough. I give him maybe twenty to thirty percent odds of making it."

The truck driver had his hat in hand as he nodded silently and left through the front door. A few moments later the sound of his truck engine blared to life and the two remaining men listened to the engine fade into the distance.

"You too Thom. You have your own family to take care of," Celestino said, not unkindly.

Thom nodded, "I'll be back later, I think. I want to know if the patient makes it or not." He stood up and walked to the back door, before turning and looking back at the sleeping wolf and the tired medicine man. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but instead silently turned and walked out the door.

* * * * *

Michelle could not have been more grateful for the site of her bed. Trudging into her wooden cabin or hut… more like a shack, really, she stepped out of her snow shoes and collapsed onto her back onto the thick bear skin blanket on her bed. For long moments she stared up at the simple wooden ceiling of the shack. How long had they been here?

It had been more than a week or two since they arrived at the Bear clan village. In that time, they hadn't heard anything more of Yrsa or the guy she had fought when they first got here, Nathan? Lakey? Something, she would remember the guy's name soon, but right now she was too tired to even acknowledge her own hunger, much less the name of somebody she didn't even know.

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It had been Keva's idea to stay here, and in doing so, they had all agreed to 'pull their own weight.' What she hadn't counted on was the literal meaning these people held to that simple turn of phrase.

Since they had arrived, she had done everything from hauling wood, to cutting down trees, hunting, cooking, cleaning, mending, they even made her operate the bellows for the local black smith in making nails and horse shoes, and binders for plows and every other sort of thing that these people needed.

She thought back to when she was in high school, before she learned anything about being a Shape shifter at all. She smiled as she thought of her cute pink notebook that was filled with all sorts of doodles and sketches. How she really missed that pink and white jacket she had, it was so warm and cozy. She missed her boots and her Uggs, those cute blue ones that made every one of her outfits just stand out so much more.

She was brought out of her memories by a gentle but firm knock on her shack door. Rolling off her bed with a groan she walked slowly towards the door and opened it.

Javier stood there with a small smile on his lips, "Hey, how you feeling?" He stopped and looked at his bleary eyed packmate. "You look about as tired as I feel."

Michelle smiled as her eyes closed in a long blink as she fought down the huge yawn that wanted to split her face in half. "I'm doing ok, just tired. They had me clearing today, trees get hard in winter."

Javier laughed at the joke. It was good to see her in good spirits. "Keva told me to come and grab you. There's something going on with the village and we're expected to be there."

Michelle looked confused and scrunched up her brow in confusion, "What do you mean? Is this like another trial or something? Did something happen to Yrsa?!"

Javier held up his hands, "I don't know, none of us do. I was told to come get you and maybe we'll all find out together."

Michelle groaned at the thought of being outside with the temperatures dropping so fast at night around here, "Do we at least get to eat something first?"

Javier smiled and shook his head, "I don't think so, we'd better just go where we're told for now. We are still guests here."

Michelle stuck her tongue out at the Hispanic, "Yeah well, if I had guests and they were hungry I would be expected to feed them."

Javier nodded and held the door open for his packmate. Michelle took a longing look at the warm fur covered bed and stepping back into her boots, she trudged back out into the cold and deepening night that quickly surrounded them.

The deep midnight blue of the night sky was only overhead. On the horizon above the other cabins and squat buildings of the village, was a bright orange glow that lit up the surrounding trees. Michelle was sure that the fire, or fires must be huge. At least I won't freeze to death out here.

The two Shape shifters made their way to the center of the village. There in the clearing of the combat circle was a massive bon fire that reached up twice as high as the buildings that surrounded it. The surrounding trees were orange and yellow with the reflected light from the fire. Michelle and Javier relaxed and opened their jackets a little, the warmth from the fire was amazing and Michelle thought that if she was in shorts and a t-shirt she would still be warm.

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