Chapter 63

It took a couple tries, but eventually Natalie was able to get up and walk once more, albeit shakily. She had woken up once in the night, and had believed everything was fine. Her limbs had quieted down and did not seem to be in pain, until she tried to move them. As she did, lances of pain shot through her, debilitating her and keeping her prisoner in the bedding. After that pain had died down, she went back to sleep wary of a repeat episode. What dreams she had were hazy and barely remembered. Something about riding a giant lollipop into the mouth of a squirrel, then skating up a waterfall. It was the sort of dream that almost felt like a bad music video. The kind that makes you cringe and laugh, where you just cannot tear your eyes away from the train wreck of a production. Looking out the eastern window over viewing the monster half of Lethbridge, she saw the sun rising and realized she had missed an entire day.

Turning around, as if it was clockwork, Edwin and Lucille were sitting in the doorway, keeping watch on the surroundings and making sure no unwanted guests popped in. Kali was starting to rouse and woke up on the bed, and as the female wolf noticed that her bed buddy was no longer there, she turned her head around till she saw Nat. 'Feeling better?' She lightly inquired towards Natalie. A quick nod was enough to satisfy the wolf, who then slowly lowered herself down from the bed and took up a position beside Nat. 'Just in case you decide to fall down again, I will catch you this time.' Feeling the ribbing was warranted, a slight chuckle escaped Nat's lips before thanking the wolf.

"Thanks for the faith. By the way, what was that thing we did? My skin still feels weird from it, and I think that's the main reason I got so exhausted." While the power she had while joined with Kali was incredible, the drawbacks that she felt in that bed were not worth the hassle. She was still weak on her feet, with small bits of numb and sore spots all over her body.

'I do not honestly know. I just felt that it was something we could do just earlier that day. Maybe the amount of time passed bonded allowed it to happen?'

"So over time, we could get more used to it, with far less drawbacks. That and there is the possibility that even more things are left unknown, just waiting for enough time to pass before we can do them." Passing back and forth ideas, they started brainstorming ways to improve their capabilities in that state. Whether it was doing it more often to just get used to it, or how to push the boundaries of what they could do, they tried to think up each and everything. Maia even joined in the conversation from the Soulscape.

The two's theory crafting came to a quick and early halt as they heard a groan come from the bed beside Nat's. Looking over, Shannon was moving to sit up and still seemed a bit sore. Those ropes had apparently been incredibly tight and had not been loosened at all. Days stuck in that wrenching position left her muscles just as over strained if not more than how bad Natalie's were. Moving over to her, Nat went to sit on the edge of the bed. As she got closer, she finally noticed that she had not been the only one to have a bed buddy. On the far side of Shannon lay the shepherd, nuzzled up right against her best friends side. After checking mentally, it turned out that he had a soft spot for her friend, as she had also been abused by people in terrible ways. Apparently the days inside the Soulscape with all of the other canines had not been just him relaxing and recovering. He had also been reflecting on what he had been through and where he now was.  After a quick check, he confirmed Nat's suspicions that he wanted to keep his name, Scout, that he had before hand. Apparently he had gotten it from the child of his previous family, but when the kid passed away due to an illness, the dog was seen as a reminder of their loss. All of that only made her feel worse for Scout, as he was abused right after losing a family member by others of the same family. It must have been so hard on him.

As Nat sat down on the bed, Shannon visibly jumped and moved backward. While normally, most people would feel like that was personal and distrustful, the years of friendship had Nat see the reaction as something quite different. Her friend was entirely scared of other people. After being abused by a dozen men, and probably their bonded monsters, for days on end, she was now skittish of anyone around her. She was trying to move away from any and everyone that came near to her. Deciding to try and ease her friends nerves, Nat spoke up first. "Hey Sham, how are you doing?"

Shannon's eyes had been full of fear at the sudden presence of another person, but hearing the old nickname caused them to gather a little more light. "Nat, you're okay. It's all over right?" Tears started gathering around her eyes. Getting Maia to pop out a pillow quickly, she passed it gently over to her friend. Ignoring the shocked nurses outburst due to the pillow coming out of nowhere, Nat kept focused on Shannon. While her body language clearly showed that she did not want any physical contact, her face said she wanted something to hug. Burying her face into the pillow as she squeezed it tightly, Shannon cried tears of joy as she sobbed into the pillow. Scout even got up and nuzzled against her side, trying his best to comfort her as he had been comforted when he was saved those few days prior. Torn between happiness and sadness, Nat sat patiently with Kali beside her as the two waited for Shannon to let it all out. She was glad that her friend was safe now, but the memory of Shannon's strong and over confident self conflicted to harshly with the person beside her now.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Eric, Corgi, Lachlan, Coen, Adam, John, Nicholas, Ty, Jacob, Sir Hellington, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 25 patrons, which I will then open up an official discord for everyone to come and discuss the story in and hang out!