Tysander Part 1

I stared at the ceiling and frowned. It was white, like the rest of the room and much of the building I was now confined in. My gaze fell from the ceiling to a man resting in a chair next to my bed. I glared at him, angry only for a moment, before I closed my eyes and looked away.

Gary had saved my ass more than once, and I should be grateful that I’m alive. Yet, being stuck in a hospital was not the first thing I had planned, injured or not. I had told him that, when I fell off my first bull. I was petrified of them knowing what ran in my blood.

Grandmother and Grandfather, they knew and they tried to tell us. I was twenty years old and just now figured out that they were telling us the truth. I don’t know how I would tell Mickey, or if I even should. I left them five years ago and any sign of my return might just cause chaos I wasn’t ready for.

“Well, it seems you’re doing better, Mr. Sencor.” A nurse walked in, a smile on her face. “Maybe you’ll get to go home in a day or two.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, twirling my blanket between my fingers. I said nothing more as she checked the machines that surrounded me. She was cute, usually the type who go after rough guys like me, but I would not drag her into a false hope of any kind of courtship.

I was dangerous. I was a monster. I could not be with anyone: not family, not friends, and certainly not strangers who only wanted to get closer to me.

“Oh,” she hummed in surprise as she looked at my wounds. “It looks like you may go home even sooner. You’re recovering quicker than we thought you would. A lot quicker…”

I clenched my teeth. She had noticed; they all do after a time. “Got good blood,” I joked, “Always been really good at recovering from falls and shit, ya know. Have to in my line of work; if you can’t ride, you can’t make money.”

Gary stirred, blinking sleepily. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Nothing, old man,” I said, “I’m just healin’ up real well and might get to go home soon.”

“Ah, good, been here long enough as it is.” He stretched and yawned loudly.

The nurse frowned a bit but shrugged. “I’ll go talk with your doctor and see if you can leave in the morning,” she said, walking stiffly out of the room, “since you’re doing well and all.”

–

I slouched in the passenger seat of Gary’s old farm truck. A scowl sat on his face as he drove down the nearly empty road. I tried not to look at him as we drove; I knew he was unhappy with me.

“What the hell were you thinking, boy,” he growled after sometime. “I thought I told you that using that sort of healing wasn’t allowed around the mortals.”

“It’s not like I was trying. I told you not to take me to the hospital, old man, but you wouldn’t listen to me. I can’t control my healing, and you know that very well.” I glared at him. “It’s like you want me to get caught by the government or something.”

“Do not smart mouth me, boy.” Gary snapped back. “You’re lucky you’re alive as is. If I hadn’t taken you in that night-”

“If you hadn’t taken me in that night, I probably would be dead,” I cut him off, finishing his usual rant. “Yeah, Gary, I know. And if I had known you were cursed too, I might have just gone home to deal with it myself.”

Gary snorted in disgust. “And what about your family, how would they have taken it?”

I opened my mouth to give some smart-ass remark, but closed it and turned my eyes back to stare out my window. I didn’t know how they would react. I wasn’t even sure if my sister would be part of this terrible world or not; if she wasn’t, then I wouldn’t want to drag her into any of it.

 “That’s what I thought,” Gary huffed, turning down a dirt road. “You’re done with the rodeo for a while, too. Can’t afford for you to get hurt anymore and not screw up by healing too quickly.”

“That’s not my fault!” I snapped. “I don’t know how many more times I can explain that to you!”

Gary snarled, and I clamped my mouth shut. He wasn’t the Alpha, not by a long shot, but he was my guardian for now and reported directly to the Alpha. This whole trip would be reported and I would get my tail whipped for it.

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