forum The Most Wanted Woman in Town [Romance o/o] (Closed)

Started January 22, 2023 by @emilyevewrites group

tune

Eve struggled inside the mind of the beast. It was her form, so why couldn’t she take back control of it? She had not lied to Ronnie before. Never before had she shifted — or even tried to — into the body of anything other than herself and her cat. This was why.

But whatever she’d managed to do gave Ronnie the opening he needed. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but his weapon slamming powerfully against her temple wasn’t it. Thankfully, though, it was enough to render the beast unconscious, and it collapsed into the snow.

After a few seconds of stillness, the creature began to twitch. Slowly, it shifted back into Eve, who was unconscious and still in her nightgown. Her body was tight instead of naturally relaxed, and her face was contorted even without being aware of it. Her week spent in the monster’s mind had clearly impacted her.

Ronnie moved forward as the beast fell. He sheathed the tomahawk and drew his rondel dagger as he approached the fallen shifter. His mind briefly forgot where he was, and he raised the weapon to strike a killing blow.
Teben gave a sharp whine, and Ronnie glanced up as the Warg stepped forward and stood over the shifter's body. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, until he remembered what he was doing, and who he was fighting.
He sheathed the dagger as the creature began twitching, and shifted back to Eve, in her nightgown there in the snow.
Ronnie pulled his pack blanket out of Teben's saddlebags, wrapped Eve in it, and draped her over Teben's back in front of his saddle, where the soft fur of the Warg would keep her comfortable.
……

Rumors and stories had flown around Tol Galen over the course of the week, with wild tales of a terrifying beast terrorizing the farmers and folks living on the outskirts of town, and half-truths about the young soldier hunting down the vicious beast that had eaten his betrothed.

So folks really weren't sure what to think when they saw Ronnie Vale riding back into town on his warg, with Miss Eve draped across the mount's back, unconscious but un-eaten. Ronnie made a beeline for Doc McElbrick's office. The old doctor saw him coming and frantically cleared a space for Miss Eve.

The Doc and his wife gently worked on Eve. Ronnie told him what he knew, and Doc's eyes widened as he listened. He'd had no idea Eve was a shapeshifter. He had wondered about magic in her garden, perhaps, but there'd been no reason to confirm that, or search for other powers.
Mrs. McElbrick slowly and gently worked a salve into Eve's muscles that would help her relax. Her face and body showed the toll the ordeal had taken on her. They weren't sure how long she'd be asleep, but Doc McElbrick was able to get her to swallow a drink that would help her fall into a natural sleep that would hopefully refresh her. They tucked her into a bed in their ward, on clean sheets, under warm blankets, and kept an eye on her.

Ronnie watched for a bit, but when Mrs. McElbrick had begun to work over Eve's body, he'd left, to preserve her dignity.

The looks people gave him as he walked back to the Blondewood were… mixed, to say the least. People didn't seem to know what to think of him, or of the whole situation.
Ronnie didn't say anything. Eve could explain this, if she wanted. If not… well, then the town could just wonder.

Eve had no memory of the events after her bestial form had been knocked unconscious. Somehow, though, in her haze, she recalled the feeling of being trapped and tense, then put at ease. Everything was distorted and muffled. It made the panic rise in her again, but just before she could spiral down into it, the light sedative was given to her, and she faded back into a dreamless sleep.

It took her two days to wake. In the meantime, she occasionally tossed and turned, but for the most part, Eve lay incredibly still.

Her eyes eventually flickered open, and she winced at the overwhelming physical presences around her. The blanket draped over her. The pillow underneath her head. The clothes covering her body. Her memories were dull in the back of her mind, like there was a dusty coating over them. Everything before now, she seemed to have temporarily forgotten. She had no idea where she was or why she was there.

Slowly, Eve sat up and looked around. “Hello?” she called out, and immediately put a hand to her throat in horror. Her voice was ragged and scratchy, like she’d been screaming for days on end. Eve blinked heavily, adjusting her eyes to the light while testing a tentative swallow. It didn’t hurt, so she coughed lightly. But she didn’t dare to speak again yet.

Doc and the Mrs. watched over Eve carefully. They kept visitors away, other than Ronnie, who checked in on her every day. In the morning, at lunch, and as the sun was setting, he would come check on her, making sure her condition hadn't degraded, and that she hadn't had an incident of some kind.

Eve woke up around sunset, and Mrs. McElbrick happened to be in the office a room over. She heard Eve call out, and quickly hurried in. She had a glass of water and some lissuin blossoms.
She stepped up next to the bed and sat down, so she wouldn't loom over Eve. "You're awake! Have some water and chew these before you try to speak. Your throat is probably fairly raw and you may have a headache." She kept her voice gentle and quiet, not wanting to startle Eve, and she placed the lamp cover over the light in the room, noting Eve having a hard time adjusting to it.

There was a knock on the door, and Mrs. McElbrick stood up and went to the door. She opened it and let someone in; the door wasn't in sight of Eve's bed, so she wasn't sure who it was, but the hushed conversation ended quickly, and the Doc's wife was back, smiling gently. "Let me know how you're feeling once you've drank your water and chewed those blossoms a bit. They should help with any pain and disorientation."

Ronnie stayed where he was, by the door. Mrs. McElbrick had said Eve was awake but out of it, so he stayed out of sight for now.

Eve was adjusting herself to sit more comfortably when a woman entered. The shifter jumped at the sudden motion from the doorway and eyed the other woman warily as she came to sit on the bed. She frowned at the slight exclamation. How long had she been sleeping for? What was going on? Where was she?

She winced slightly as the light shifted from the cover. How was it possible to have a headache like this? It hurt almost everywhere, but it wasn't a rushing, blinding pain. It was an incessant dull ache, like her very mind was too sore to process anything.

"Thank you," she whispered hoarsely, taking the water and the blossoms. Just the rugged sound of her voice made her eyes tear up. She had so many questions and so few answers. And she couldn't even ask them until her voice healed.

Her lips parted to speak again, but the knock on the door distracted her. She watched the woman get up, leaving Eve alone, then there was a hushed whispering coming from the hall. People were talking. What if they were talking about her? The woman came back, and Eve leaned away from her subtly. Before the bestial had taken over her body, she would have recognized the woman at first sight as the doctor's wife. But now… she was skeptical.

The woman's instructions only made Eve's eyes narrow slightly. "Disorientation?" she rasped, holding the blossoms tight in her fist. "What's going on? Where-" She stopped talking and winced as a sudden pain flared in her throat.

Mrs. McElbrick gave Eve the patient look a mother or teacher gives an errant child. "If you'll do as I'm telling you, I'll explain what's happened." She glanced at the blossoms held tight in Eve's fist, before reiterating. "The lissuin you're holding will only help you if you chew on it. It'll taste just the slightest bit sweet, and it should help lower your pain, and yes, the disorientation you're feeling. I can see you're a bit confused as to where you are and how you got here."
She sat down in a chair and scooted back from the bed, giving Eve her space. "About a week ago, there was an incident. Someone managed to get your key, but it was a rather traumatic situation for you, we think, and your body reacted. Your shapeshifting powers manifested and you became an animal, feral and wild. You were out in the woods for a week, and we don't know how much good food or decent sleep you got in all that time."
She glanced at the doorway, pausing for just a moment, but nothing happened. "You were finally subdued and returned to your human form a couple of days ago, and you're here, in the doctor's office of the town you grew up in, Miss Eve, to get better. We've been doing our best to help you rest and help your mind heal from what was obviously an awful experience." She looked at Eve, her expression gentle. "The water will slowly help your throat clear, as you rehydrate, and the Lissuin will clear other things. There is food if you'd like it, and I have more medicines we can try if other problems persist."

Ronnie listened to Eve's reaction, and Mrs. McElbrick's explanation, but stayed out of sight. He wasn't sure Eve would be ok if she saw him, and he didn't know if he could be as kind to her as she needed right now.

Eve shied away slightly from the woman's look. Her eyes darted between the woman's face to the blossoms in her hand and then back again. Slowly, she lifted them to her lips and popped one into her mouth. As she began to hesitantly chew on it, she blinked, taken aback by the sweetness she'd been warned about. Suddenly, her hunger struck her. The bestial had not eaten, so therefore neither had Eve.

While the blossom began to take effect, Eve listened to the woman's words. Mixed emotions and loads of questions piled up in her mind. She'd been shifted for an entire week straight? No wonder she felt so exhausted. She frowned. Someone had gotten her key? Why was she struggling to remember that part? She put another lissuin in her mouth and chewed on it with more certainty. Terror immediately filled her face when the other woman admitted to knowing about Eve's abilities. How many other people knew? Was everyone aware of it? The assumptions presented to her were laughable. The bestial had neither allowed her to eat nor sleep. She was purely exhausted.

Her eyes followed the woman's to the door and narrowed slightly in confusion. Was something or someone supposed to be there? Eve arched her eyebrows, which made a spark of pain shoot through her head. She hissed through her teeth. Subdued? She'd been swiftly knocked out. A couple of days? So she'd been back in her body for days now and still felt this drained? This was one of the reasons she had never dared to take on any other forms besides her cat.

As the woman concluded, Eve lifted the glass to her lips and swallowed. Finally, she began to speak again, her voice clearer but still strained.

"I… I remember being paralyzed," she began quietly. "My emotions were far too strong for me to release them any other way. I couldn't control it when I shifted like I could all the other times. I was in a mind that wasn't my own, but I was still… there. I was aware, but I had no influence other than my energy that the form exerted."

Suddenly, whatever the lissuin was doing worked. Her expression broke out in a mix of her natural softness and heartwrenching sadness. "It was Ronnie Vale," she murmured, looking the doctor's wife directly in the eye. "He won my key. And he saved me from my bestial."

Eve smiled weakly. "I wanted him to win it. I made it so. And now…" The smile faded away. "Now, I'm not sure if I'll ever see him again." She closed her eyes and sighed. "He promised to protect me from everything," she whispered. "Twice. He said it was his responsibility. He told me everything in my other form. And I couldn't help falling in love with him then. I wished hopelessly that when I told him about my abilities… that somehow he would make an exception for me.

"I thought…" Eve paused and opened her eyes as she thought of the words she wanted to say. "I thought that somehow, I could convince him that I wasn't like the horrible creatures he fought. Deep down, I don't think I really expected him to stay, but… he didn't even say goodbye when he left. And he promised he would. I asked him to before I told him. I just wish he would have said goodbye."

Eve's eyes began to tear up, and her grip on the water glass tightened. But she frowned suddenly as another thought occurred to her. Her gaze sharpened slightly with clarity and focused on the doctor's wife. "Why wouldn't you tell me his name? Has something happened to him?"

Mrs. McElbrick nodded as she watched Eve chew the lissuin blossoms. The young lady's confusion seemed to lift, slowly. It was replaced with fear at first, at the revelation that her power was known. The doctor's wife hurried to assuage her fears.
"Not many people know of your powers! Don't worry… We know, simply because we needed to know in order to take care of you, but the rest of the town only has rumors. I think Officer Vespasian knows, and of course Ronnie does, but… other than that, nobody else has the whole story."
Mrs. McElbrick noted the hiss of pain as Eve arched her eyebrows, and glanced at the lissuin. "You can't chew too many of those. Pop the whole handful, it'll help." She nodded as Eve drank the water, and made a sympathetic face at the sound of her voice.
She listened carefully, and kindly, as she always had, and was glad to see Eve remembering things. She nodded slowly as Eve concluded, and glanced at her hands for a moment, deliberating.

Ronnie listened to what Eve had to say. She remembered he'd got the key. And she remembered he'd come after her.
She was also seriously overblowing things. His words had been 'I need to think.' He hadn't left for good. He'd needed a moment to try to clear his head and his feelings.
And her response was extremely concerning. Did this mean that every time she got upset over him, she was going to lose control and transform into something he'd have to use violence on? That was a dangerous combination.
He wanted to step out and say that he had made an exception for her already. Every other shifter he'd come into contact with over the last 8 years was dead now, except Eve. Couldn't she see how hard he was already trying? Years of fighting instincts had reared their ugly heads when Eve had shifted in front of him, and it had taken everything in his exhausted, wounded, heartsick state not to snap her neck just then.
He stayed out of sight though, when she mentioned she wished he'd said goodbye. He had very intentionally not said those words, because he wasn't leaving her.

Ronnie wasn't leaving Eve.

He listened for Mrs. McElbrick's answer to Eve's question. The doctor's wife handled it with ease. "We weren't sure if hearing his name would be triggering to you, or if you remembered. If you didn't remember on your own, we didn't want to shock your system and risk another episode. Nothing has happened to him, though." She stood and stepped across the room, where there was a small tray of food. Simple bread and butter and some sliced fruit. "Here. You must be hungry. Have some food, I'll get more when you're done with that."

Eve couldn’t help the deep sigh of relief she let out when the doctor’s wife revealed that very few knew of her abilities. If word got out that she and her cat were the same… Eve really didn’t want to think about what the repercussions of that news would be. It was best to leave everyone in the dark, or at least everyone who didn’t truly need to know.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “If you keep my secret, I will forever be in your debt.”

At the woman’s suggestion, Eve looked down at the rest of the blossoms in her hand. Slowly, she raised her cupped hand to her lips and dumped the rest of the lissuin in her mouth.

“Mmm!” she hummed in surprise as the slightly sweet taste magnified over her tongue. But Eve didn’t miss the look the doctor’s wife gave her when she had started talking. Being cooped up in her bestial had meant Eve was unable to do more than think and watch its actions. She had so much to say now that she was freed.

When she finally did stop talking, she noted the woman’s hesitation. She was thinking over her words, carefully. And when she spoke, Eve listened.

Her expression immediately twisted into a frown at the word “episode.” But quickly, relief flooded her eyes when she heard the news Ronnie was alright. By the end of the woman’s speech, Eve had chewed up all the blossoms and now felt more relaxed.

“I see,” she replied quietly. “Has…” Eve paused a moment. She had a question, and she was petrified of getting an answer. But she needed to know. “Has he come?” she asked, barely audible though her throat was already feeling better. “To see me?”

The sight of the food made Eve’s mouth water. She swallowed heavily and nodded. “Yes, thank you,” she replied. Her face scrunched up slightly as she thought for a moment. “Mrs… Mrs. McElbrick?” Her memory was progressively returning with the help of the blossoms.

Mrs. McElbrick smiled at her. "It's no one else's business why you were in the doctor's office. Confidentiality and all that jazz. Your secret is safe with us." She noted Eve's relief, and hoped the girl was reassured.

She smiled as Eve downed the lissuin, and it began to work, slowly.

Mrs. McElbrick hesitated to answer the question but did finally. "He's been here every day, at least once." Every day, at least twice was more honest, but Ronnie was grateful she was downplaying it. He didn't want to seem desperate.
Though he was, a little. Mostly for answers and a way forward. He wasn't sure how this was going to work.

The doctor's wife beamed at Eve when she remembered her name. "Yes! That's me! Your memory is improving, that's good to see. " She reached forward and patted Eve's shoulder. "Eat up, and I'll answer any other questions you have, but know this is a good sign!"

She and the doc had treated a few other magic users over the years, and the results hadn't always been positive.

Eve relaxed and let her shoulders drop at the reassurance. "Thank you," she repeated. "You're very kind."

She swallowed heavily as the doctor's wife hesitated. Was that a bad sign? Had he not come at all to see her? Was she that delusional that she thought he would stay with her after finding out her secret? But the answer was as good as Eve could have hoped for.

"Every day, at least once," she repeated to herself quietly. Then, louder, she spoke up to Mrs. McElbrick. "Has he come yet today?" If there was any chance she could still see Ronnie today… She'd need to prepare for it, but that didn't mean she wasn't hoping it would happen. Eve found herself hoping that he hadn't come to see her yet.

Confirmation that she had the woman's name right also seemed to relax Eve. She was indeed recovering her memories, and the pat on her shoulder made the young woman smile. "Alright," she agreed. "I can't think of anything else to ask you for the moment. Will you be here if something comes to mind?"

Eve took a small bite of the bread and felt her stomach ache with hunger. It was a strong effort to keep herself from eating faster than she could manage, especially being as hungry as she was.

To the question of whether Ronnie had already been there, the doctor's wife once again hesitated. He had been there, but… if she said yes, it might imply he wasn't going to be there again, which. Would just be a flat lie, given he was just around the corner, listening.
"He-… he did come earlier yes, but… he may yet visit." She decided honesty was her best option in the moment. There was no specific reason to lie to Eve, and Ronnie could handle this how he liked.

She nodded reassuringly. "I'll be close by. Our house is attached, so if you call, or, if your throat is too sore, just knock on the door-" she indicated a door off to the side of the rest area- "-and I'll be right there for you."

She noted Eve's restraint with a smile. "Eat as much as you like, though eating slowly is probably a smart move."

Ronnie listened to all this, deciding that waiting until mrs. McElbrick had stepped away was smart. He'd let Eve eat a little, before stepping around the corner. No point in upsetting her stomach, if seeing him was going to be a problem.