When Dakota woke up, it was morning and the sky was clear. Her head was slightly submerged in the water but it wasn’t deep enough to reach her nose and mouth. She groggily tried to stand but then collapsed back into the shallow water. Everything hurt.

In her swimming vision she was other pairs of eyes staring back at her. She couldn’t fully tell what they were but they looked like other Crossbreeds. When they got closer, Dakota was able to tell they were two Beaver Crossbreeds.

“Oh my! Is she alright?” the female Beaver Crossbreed said.

“Does it look like she’s alright?” the male one responded.

“Cub? Hey, cub? Can you hear me?”

Dakota tried to answer them but her voice was caught in her throat.

“Well at least she’s awake… Kinda. What do we do?”

“What do you mean what do we do??? We’re taking her to the medic’s den,”

The female beaver bent down and gently scooped Dakota up, placing her on her back.

“WHAT? We have no idea where she’s even from! We can’t just steal her!”

“We’re not STEALING her. We can’t just leave her out here. Let’s just get her to the medic’s den and then the Alpha will figure it out from there,”

“Ugh… fine,”

……..

When Dakota woke up again, she was laid down in what felt like a water bed. She sat up and rubbed her head. Feeling a strange sensation, she peeled the covers up to see the sore parts of her body where wrapped in bandages, they still hurt, but less than before.

“Hello?”

The nurse walks in with more bandages and got startled to see Dakota awake.

“Oh! You’re awake! You sure gave us a scare when you passed out. How’s your head?”

“My head? It feels a little sore,”

“That’s normal, you should feel better soon. Would you be alright with our Alpha coming in here and talking to you now that you’re awake?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess,”

“Great… I’ll call them, let me know if you feel any pain anywhere,”

With that, the nurse walked away.

……..

Sometime later, the nurse walked in with a Beaver Crossbreed in her 30s.

“So, you’re the wolf Crossbreed they found? What’s your name cub?”

“Um… Dakota ma’am,”

“Ok, and I assume you’re from the forest settlement?”

“Y-Yeah. My parents are….WERE the alphas there,”

The beaver’s eyes widen.

“Darren and Rebecca’s kid?”

Dakota nodded, tears building up again.

“I’m so sorry, little one. You’re a long ways from home, we’ll figure out how to get you back soon. For now, just rest and heal up,” the beaver said, rubbing her back in an attempt at comfort.

“....Ok,”