“CLEAR!” an orderly yelled before placing the paddles of the defibrillator on the body as everyone else tending the patient removed their hands. The shock given, the doctor wearing purple scrubs, soiled from hours of work with this patient, jumped right back into doing chest compressions on the man lying upon the exam table when the heart monitor showed no change. Her long, dark honey hair brown pulled back into a messy ponytail, hazel brown eyes flashing in determination, desperate to restart his heart even as she no longer could see an aura about the body.
Once more the clear was called and when again no improvement was shown, the other doctor, in soiled blue scrubs, who was leading the room, called for the struggle for restoration to stop, her cobalt blue eyes flashing in defeat. Rubbing her hands over her face and pushing back the strands of blond hair that had escaped the tight bun on her head, the lead joined in the collective sigh of grief that everyone in the room felt in their core, as a moment of rest and silence was taken by the team.
Collapsing beside the exam table, holding her knees to her chest, the darker haired doctor let her exhaustion take hold of her body as tears pooled in her eyes. Another patient lost. Another pack member dead. An arm went around the distraught doctor as the lead sat down beside her.
“The Moon Goddess will look after Travis now, Katherine. You need to get cleaned up and get some rest.” the blond doctor told her rubbing her head into Katherine’s shoulder, the blond’s bark like scent breaking through the smells of antiseptic, bleach and other chemicals that filled the medical center.
“Why can’t we stop them from succumbing to the poison? Why can’t we stop them from dying?” Katherine asks as her tears begin to fall, looking up to see the blond’s amber aura as the nurses and orderlies methodically unhooked Travis’s body and prepare to remove the body from the room to allow Katherine time to process through her pain . “Why aren’t I strong enough Allyson?”
“You are strong, just worn thin. There’s a lot for you to do on a normal basis. These poisonings are drawing even more out of you” Allyson says pulling Katherine’s head to her chest as the young doctor’s tears became heart-wrenching sobs from the painful emotions.
Others in the hospital would glance into the room, drawn to Katherine’s pain but never entering, knowing Allyson was soothing their Omega. It was rare for Katherine’s powers to leak out like this and affect the pack. Katherine being Omega had been a surprise to the pack, as she had not shifted until she was twenty years old. At that age, it was more likely for her to be a Theta, since normally Omegas have their first shift around thirteen or fourteen, Alphas, Betas, Cappas and Deltas around fifteen or sixteen, with most Thetas shifting at seventeen or eighteen. What was even more surprising to the pack was that she barely ever lost control, especially considering what prompted her to shift in the first place.
Three years before she had been working as an orderly in the whelping rooms of the medical center when one of the pregnant women had come rushing in with her mate because her water had broken three months early. Leading them to a delivery room, as one of the other orderlies ran to find a free doctor. Katherine had tried to move closer to the expectant mother to check her vitals. The woman’s mate, whose wolf was agitated from worry, shifted and stood between her and his mate. Katherine tried to calm the wolf with words, but it had not worked. Instead, it only made the wolf more aggressive towards her. Even his mate could not get him to calm. The doors had locked upon sensing a shifted Were, so Katherine had no way to exit until her uncle arrived to order the wolf back to human form.
The wolf had enough of Katherine being in the same room and moved to attack her. Using her Wiccan powers, she had held him off as her body forced itself into that first shift. Immediately her instincts had kicked in, she channeled not fear from being attacked but the soothing calm that Omegas are known for. Within minutes the wolf had shifted back, Katherine shifting as well soon after. The door unlocked and Allyson and several nurses ran in. Katherine had walked over to the man and led him to the waiting lounge where they both received a set of scrubs to change into, and then sat to wait for news of how his mate was doing.
Uncle David had come rushing in after being called about Katherine being locked in a delivery room alone with a protective, shifted mate of one of the patients. Reaching the delivery room and seeing no sign of the agitated Were or his niece, David walked into the waiting room to reprimand the man but stopped dead as he felt Katherine’s Omega powers for the first time as he watched her work to keep the man calm. Valorie, who had followed David over to the medical center had burst out laughing at David’s shocked expression directed towards his niece. She had known Katherine wouldn’t have become a Theta, the amount of power Katherine had from her Wiccan side alone would have attested to that, and Valorie loved that she had been right.
All of that seemed to have happened ages ago, especially with all of the poisonings occurring lately. Katherine just felt exhausted trying to keep up with them, but the losses of her pack members are overwhelming at this point. As Katherine’s sobs lessen, Allyson stands and pulls Katherine up with her, leading Katherine to the staff washroom. The room holds the lockers of all the staff off to one side with benches to sit on. The other side has multiple single shower stalls, each stall has a basket at the door for used scrubs, and a shelf of towels just inside the changing area of each stall. Lime green, plastic curtains separates the changing area from the shower itself as well as from the rest of the room. Trays with soap sit under each shower head, right above the handles for the temperature. Single stationed sinks with mirrors hanging over each station, line the far wall around an open door that leads to the toilet stalls. Along the top of the ceiling, natural lighting windows allowed the morning sun to brighten the room. An analog clock hung on the wall showing the time as shortly after 7:45. Turning the handle in one of the shower cubicles, Allyson pushed the now calmer Katherine into the stall and closed the outer curtain behind her.
“Start washing up. I’ll get your clothes from your locker. I want you to take the rest of today and tomorrow off.” Allyson tells Katherine as she heads to the lockers.
Katherine sighs, a soft smile gracing her lips a moment, thankful that Allyson knew when to push her to care for herself after a bad day at the medical center, before she lets her face go blank while undressing and stepping into the shower, letting the hot water sweep down her five foot six slender frame, more softness than muscles even though working in the medical center gave Katherine some subtle strength to her body. Reaching for the bar of scentless soap and creating a lather she began to wash her body, massaging her left shoulder where the scar from the seax knife remained before moving to the rest of her body as her mind wanders to the rescue and the years that followed being brought to live in the Fox River Pack by her Uncle David.
Katherine had fallen back when the knife pierced her left shoulder though it was more the pain and shock of Kaycee disappearing that caused her to collapse than the wound itself. The wolf that had been holding her shirt, who Katherine later learned had been Allyson, instantly shifted and started to apply pressure to the wound. Weres do heal somewhat quicker than humans, but only after their first shift, so Allyson had been very worried about stopping the loss of blood as much as possible early. While David shouted orders and started the search assuming the timid Thomas would not have gotten far from the scene of the attack, Allyson and a few of the other wolves rushed Katherine to the pack’s medical center where they treated the wound.
It was there Katherine first met her Aunt Valorie, who had been visiting the medical center for a checkup due to being six months pregnant with her’s and David’s first child. Valorie had held Katherine’s hand as Allyson worked to cleanse and treat the knife wound. When Valorie found out Katherine was one of Gloria’s twins and that her best friend was dead, the fiery Fox worked herself up in anger, grief and frustration, sending the medical supplies in the room flying around as her powers reacted to the swirl of emotions due to her own Hybrid Wiccan nature, causing Allyson to snap at her to focus. Katherine had watched amazed to see another Hybrid Wiccan using her powers subconsciously the way Kaycee did when she was upset. The sight gave her a sense of safety, and the exhausted Katherine curled into Valorie’s lap and fell asleep as Allyson finished stitching her wound, much to the surprise of both adults. While David continued with the search for Kaycee, Katherine stayed attached to Valorie, often following along with her for prenatal checkups and refusing to leave the Hybrid Fox’s side.
As the months went on, the search proved to show no sign of any Mages who were not aligned with the pack and Katherine had begun to lose hope of ever seeing her sister again. She withdrew into herself and stopped interacting even with Valorie. David had no idea how to console the grieving girl as the effects of losing his own brother proved effortful to the already overtaxed Alpha. It fell on Valorie to keep Katherine from becoming just a shell of a girl. Valorie tried just talking to Katherine about normal topics enjoyed by those her age and encouraged her to play with the pack’s children, but Katherine would only make a minimal effort to meet the expectations of her aunt. The only time she showed any sort of emotions was during the prenatal checkups as she studiously watched and asked questions about what the nurses and doctors were doing. Noting this, Valorie discussed with Allyson about Katherine shadowing with the less stressful procedures, which the younger woman agreed to readily, having already seen the interest in Katherine’s young eyes.
“I put your clothes in the changing section,” Allyson calls out, startling Katherine out of the memories.
“Thank you, Allyson,” Katherine calls back while rinsing off the soap.
Hearing the shower turn on to her right she turns off her own and grabs a towel and began to dry off and put on her flowy, dark A-line purple skirt and the soft yellow top with a lilac design along the hem. Stepping out of her shower cubicle, Katherine walks over to her locker and grabs the hairbrush she keeps there. Walking back over to the sinks, Katherine looks into the mirror as she listens to Allyson moving about under the spray of water to scrub off the stress of the day. For one moment she saw chocolate-colored eyes looking back at her before her hazel eyes focus on her refreshed face. Combing the brush through her hair and braiding it off her right shoulder, Katherine felt a wave of longing pass over her before she pushes it aside. She shook her head, looking once more at her crimson rainbow aura reflected image, before turning away and grabbing her shoes out of her locker. It never did well to let herself focus on the longing when she knew there was little hope of ever being reunited with Kaycee, even if her twin was still alive after all these years.
Katherine’s nights were filled with the memory of watching Kaycee disappear while in Thomas’s grasp. She often would feel as if she was running in slow motion towards her sister, almost grasping Kaycee’s shirt before suddenly the memory of the knife hitting her shoulder would force her away from her twin and she would lose her sister all over again. The more she let herself yearn for a reunion with Kaycee the worse the dreams would become. Allyson called it survivor's guilt, that Katherine’s dreams stemmed from a need to protect the younger twin, even if Kaycee was the more likely of the two to get into trouble on her own. Katherine, after all the training she went through to become a Were doctor and all the medical knowledge gained during her classes at the local human medical college, was inclined to agree with her mentor and friend. It was the main reason she was trying to become a human certified doctor as well as having completed Were trainings. Her guilt at surviving, of being rescued by David, often pushed her Omega powers to act on instinct so often it was becoming draining on its own.
Fox River Pack had been affected by Katherine's grandfather’s suffering of Rouge Syndrome on more than the old Alpha’s tainted judgment causing havoc. A common trait for Rogue syndrome is that when the Alpha of the pack is afflicted by it, the pack as a whole has a higher tendency of being afflicted as well. Luckily most of the pack was still in the mid Aggressive Rouge stage when Katherine shifted for the first time so being around them was not overly taxing on her, but that had changed as patients started coming in showing signs of the Manic Rouge stage.
Had it not been for her Wiccan ability to see auras, they would not have known something other than the Rogue Syndrome was affecting these afflicted Weres until the first death. Every afflicted Weres’ aura was tainted by metallic veins, that only became more pronounced as the poison moved through the patients. Even with this advance indication, they have yet to discover a way to treat the envenomed Weres before the poison starts to affect the victim with seizures, vomiting and heart palpitations before their bodies would succumb to the poison and flat line. Nothing any of the medical center’s staff have done has stopped the poison’s progress. Katherine took each death hard, seeing not the patient at times, but Kaycee laying lifeless after the fight to bring them back.
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