Enjoy and don't forget to vote! It'll be worth your while, I promise. 

~~~~~

Nova's POV

"Nova," I hear a voice echo through my head. "Nova, wake up!" someone shakes me and I open my eyes, fading back into consciousness. 

Ahh.. my head.

Someone takes my helmet off, easing my head back to the ground. I wince and raise my arms up to cover my eyes. Sounds and light hurt my head as my hearing returns to normal and my ears are filled with conversations and concern. All my friends are gathered over me with an on-site paramedic who was tending to me, all except Taylor. 

"Where is Taylor?" I ask groggily, trying to get up.

"Miss, I need you to stay still while I examine you," she says getting me back down. She isn't doing this with the hospital's knowledge, none of the paramedics who work these events do. They get paid big money by the people who run the race to be here just in case. I guess she was needed tonight.

"He is claiming the prize money you won when Mack cheated. A couple of the guys recorded it and got enough to prove it." Owen says with a look of victory.

"He.. what?" I ask, resting on my elbows and crashing back down when I remember that there is serious road rash on both arms and let out a wince and an expletive, gritting my teeth. I also feel pain shooting up and down my fingers, throbbing pain. When I look down at them, I notice serious swelling with bruises starting to form. They appear to only be sprained, so I'm not too worried.

The paramedic takes my fingers, cleans them off and wraps them up in splints.

Taylor makes his way back, his eyes fill with excitement which goes away and turns into concern when he sees me. "We need to get you to a hospital," he states.

"No, no hospital. The paramedic has it under control," I growl at her when she brushes past a finger and she looks at me with a surprised look, as if she didn't expect it from me. "Sorry," she mumbles and continues working. 

When she is done, I have her and Taylor help me to my feet. Everything hurts, my favorite pants are ruined and I'm bleeding. The paramedic had to cut through them in order to care for my wounds as best as she could.

Where's Mack?

I recite her question and get, "he's off whining to the manager about how innocent he is when we have a clear video of him," Owen laughs and leans against the rail.

"You saw it?" I ask smiling for the first time.

"Hell yeah we saw it. I could hardly believe it... that prick," Taylor spits and tightens his grip on me at which I flinch and jerk away. 

"Oh, my bad," Taylor exclaims letting me go but staying close.

"Shit, wait.. is my bike okay?" I ask getting worried and stopping in my tracks.

Taylor laughs, "a bit scratched up, but it's nothing we can't fix."

Phew.

I get my jacket off as painlessly as possible which turns out to not be very painless at all. I finally get a good look at my arms seeing more damage on the right one. I'm gonna have to redo all these bandages, she made them way too tight.

"What exactly happened?" I ask and look up at the remaining people around me to which they all say something similar along the lines of being shoved at my thigh, having the bike almost crush my leg, rolling, and sliding on my right side which now made sense given where most of the pain and injuries were. 

Hey, at least I remembered to roll. 

Pro tip for anybody who rides bikes, scooters or anything that offers the possibility to fall: always roll into it. 

Always. 

There is always more damage if you fall on your hands or elbows while keeping a rigid form. You're more likely to break something and that is way worse than road rash.

What about Blake?

Shit. He's gonna flip. I didn't even think about that. There's no way to hide it either, so what if we just avoided him until I could walk without limping? 

Hmmmm no. Not gonna happen. 

Of course it's not.. why would it? Why would this situation be convenient for me?

I help load up my bike to my best ability, which essentially meant trying to lift it and eventually allowing Taylor to take over since I couldn't. 

He helps me into the car and I am able to look at my phone for the first time since we got to the race. 

There are a few messages from Blake which I decide to ignore for now, not knowing what to say that wouldn't glue him to my side for the next week.

Not that he would... it's not like I liked taking care of myself all the time. Sometimes having someone else was good, but I'd been alone for so long that I hardly noticed anymore. 

If I told Blake I was okay enough times, he believed it even if I was lying. I know I should probably be straight forward with him, but I just couldn't. 

~~~

Three long, painful hours later I was home and Taylor insisted staying with me to help however he could. I was unable to grasp and hold a lot of things so he was able to get me what I needed. 

He helped me get the splints off at my request, they rendered me useless. I was unable to use my hands, so he got me ice for the swelling. It was a welcome change, the cold in contrast to hot, sharp pain. 

I actually considered switching over and letting her handle this because we heal faster in wolf form. I've always healed really fast, but not wolf fast. 

I rinse off what I can and let him get what I couldn't. He insists on helping me clean and bandage them up and wrap my fingers again with more delicacy than that paramedic.

I had always done the same for him whenever he fell or when he would sneak into my house at three AM bleeding. I'd always take care of him, fix him up, make sure he was okay.

He eventually leaves when I insist that I'm okay and when he can see that the swelling has gone down, taking my bike with him to fix. 

I try to go to sleep but that little voice in my head keeps hinting at things like how much faster the healing time would be if we switched, how happy Blake would be to see us. After several attempts at denial, she finally wins me over and I call Blake. 

The tone clicks and picks up, "do you know what time it is? You never call me this late," he says in an amused way almost.

"Uh- yeah.. I'm sorry if I woke you," I stutter. "I-I need you to meet me in the forest where our first meeting... thing was."

"What? Why? Are you okay?" His once amused tone becomes full of concern and worry.

"Yes, Blake I'm fine. Just do it," I demand as the pain starts to increase and I hang up, going to the garage to get an old electric scooter. It was better than a skateboard and faster, it was all I had. 

I manage to get out as soon as the rest of the gang pulls into the driveway. I lock my door and turn the light out, hopefully giving the illusion that I was sleeping. 

Blake's POV

I struggle to remember exactly where it was she was talking about, but eventually recall. Once I do pull in, I feel eyes on me as a dark figure lurks in the trees, making its way through the foliage as I step onto the forest floor. I immediately recognize the figure... Nova. She limps past me with clothes in her mouth to put them in my truck where I left the door open. 

I reach out to touch her, making her whimper and lose her balance. 

"What did you do?!" I hiss, getting on my knees to observe. 

I feel something strange and foreign that forces its way into my head, a message. 

"I was injured. I'll heal faster like this. I need you here to stay with me in case something happens. Don't ask questions."

"You what?" 

I try to storm back, but reach a firm blockade in her head. She isn't letting me through.

She jumps into the trunk and nods for me to get in and close it behind me.

"Nova, what did you do," I say lower, in a more daunting tone hoping to get something out of her, anything.

No answer, she just lays at my feet.

Questions fill my mind until I could hardly focus. She didn't tell me anything, so I couldn't even make guesses. 

I start to gently pet her head as I would if I was playing with her hair. I'm met with a low growl that eventually fades when I recoil but return my hand. If she wasn't gonna tell me anything but insist on having me here, patting her head and tracing her ears was the least she could allow me. It also let me know that her head wasn't hurt which was important. 

As happy as I am that I get to take care of her when she needs me, I really want to know what was wrong. My other side grows impatient as he watches her sleep while cradling her paws and legs.

Until she was awake, there wasn't much I could do but wait, watch and maybe sleep some. We were sheltered enough to be away from people, and her warmth spread to me keeping me comfortable. 

But why wouldn't she tell us?

That's what I was trying to figure out.

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We love early updates! Well.. earlier. 

I hope you all like his side of the story. I enjoy writing him and developing his character.

I actually planned to make this part of chapter 11 but decided not to at the last minute. I think I'm glad I didn't.

Tell me what you think, and vote if you love our wannabe couple.

^~^