Chapter Text
The stealth stared at the man they had laid out on the table. He seemed stable, his chest was rising and falling with ease. Their healing magic had worked, much to their surprise. They were never good at healing, they only knew enough to keep others stable until real help arrived.
The stealth sighed, running a finger through their hair. "Christ...you really do a good job of staying hidden, don't you." They muttered to themselves. They squinted their eyes shut and whipped around. They didn't want to look at the table anymore, let alone the person lying on it.
They walked towards their bookshelf across the room. They ran their fingers along the spines of the books until they came across the one they were looking for. They pulled it from the shelf and flipped through the pages. "Ah! Here it is!"
"The Shaw Royal Guard has been a strong and reliable addition to the Palace Walls. With their wonderful and remarkable protection, the streets of Dahlia have been safer than ever. The group is largely made up of werewolf shifters, their abilities grant them advantages no other empowered race could possibly imagine."
The stealth's eyes quickly flew across the page as they read. They swallowed nervously as they moved down the section.
"The Royal Guard's original creator was Gabe Shaw. He was an extraordinary leader, but sadly passed away not too long ago. His son, David Shaw, took over and led the Guard to become what it is today!". They snapped the book shut.
"This book really talks highly of your whole pack, doesn't it?" The stealth chuckled, placing the book back on the shelf. "Hopefully your 'leader' won't have my head when he finds you."
They continued to search through their wall of books, hoping to find more on this "remarkable Royal Guard". Their fingers quickly searching through mountains of books, tossing each one to the side in a failed attempt to peak their interest.
The wolf stirred on the table. He groaned, reaching his hand up to wipe his face. He slowly opened his eyes, only to be met with a tacky wood ceiling, sunlight peering on his body, and a scroll on healing magic next to him. "Where the hell am I?" He whispered.
The wolf turned his head to the side. His eyes caught a glimpse of the stealth, their body draped in a dark coat, tossing books aside and searching through the remaining pile. He heard their voice, but their words were too fast for him to make out anything in particular. "AH HA!" They finally shouted.
The wolf stood up, groaning again and brushing the hair out of his face. He was surprisingly calm, despite the fact he had woken up in a stranger's home and had zero idea on the whereabouts of any of his pack mates. He blinked a few times, looking around the room.
The walls were also wood, darker than the ceiling but appeared to be made out of the same material. It was rather large, but looked to have no other rooms but the bedroom to the side and the room he was sitting in. It looked homey, perhaps it even felt homey to the person who lived in it.
Wait a minute.
The wolf seemed to snap out of a trance he didn't know he was under. He tensed up, finally understanding he was in a strangers house with no recollection of how he got there. His eyes darted back to the stealth, who had seemed to had finally found the book they were looking for.
They turned back around towards the wolf and the table, eyes buried in the book in their two hands. "Shifters huh..your pack must be really-"
The stealth looked up from their book, only to be met with the man (who was surely unconscious before) wide awake and sitting up on their table. "Oh shi-"
The wolf's eyes widened, and he reached for the first thing that could be used as a weapon. "Hey calm down it's-". His hands landed on the scroll on healing, and he threw it at the stealth.
He watched as it seemed to go through their body with ease. They didn't even flinch! "What the hell?" He exclaimed. "If you let me explain-"
The wolf reached for another thing, his hand landing on a bowl. He threw it, only for the bowl to simply phase through the person again. The stealth looked unfazed, as if this was just another normal afternoon activity for them. "Could you not throw-"
The wolf picked up a spoon, and raised it above his head like a sword. The stealth rolled their eyes. "Listen tiny, throwing that is just gonna have the same effect as the scroll and the bowl. Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you." They explained, placing the book on a side table.
"Relax? RELAX? How the hell could I POSSIBLY relax when I'm sitting on a table in some FREAKS house with no shirt on and-"
Oh god, had he always been shirtless? How was he just now realizing that?
"Ok I think freak is a very strong term, kinda hurtful in a way." The stealth said, placing their hands on their hips. "Who are you? And how did I get here? And where is my shirt?" The wolf spouted off a million questions at once. The stealth drew their hands down their face and groaned. "Are you actually going to let me explain this time, or are you just gonna throw the closest thing in arms length at me again?" The stealth asked.
The wolf hesitated, put slowly put the spoon down. The stealth sighed, running their hands through their hair.
"As I was on my way home from a small town a few ways east, I found you bleeding out in a field. I honestly thought about leaving you there and letting someone else find you. Then I remembered we were both quite frankly in the middle of nowhere, so I figured by the time somebody else found you, you'd surely be dead."
The wolf gulped. He opened his mouth to speak, but the stealth started talking again.
"So I decided to take you back to my house and heal you. The wound was pretty bad, it took a lot out of me but I was able to get you stable. The wound was on your chest, henceforth, why you are shirtless. I expected that once you woke up, you wouldn't want to be bombarded with questions so I didn't plan on asking you how you got the injury. I decided I'd leave it as a 'don't ask don't tell' interaction and let you go on your merry way."
The wolf was speechless. What was he even doing that led him to be lying half dead in a field in the middle of nowhere. "How did I even get there?" He asked. "I was asking myself the same question. I figured since you're a shifter and all, you worked for the Shaw Royal Guard, so you were surely not where you belonged."
The wolf scoffed and placed his head in his hands. "You really expect me to believe that?" He said wryly. "Well yeah..cause that's what happened?" The stealth replied. The wolf laughed.
"And..you healed me? I'm not even going to ask how you knew I was a shifter-" "I'm not unempowered."
The wolf looked back at the stealth, their expression completely serious. "You aren't? What are you?" He asked. "Stealth."
That explains the objects flying through them with ease. It also explains why he couldn't sense their aura when he woke up. "Ah, that explains a lot of things." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
A deafening silence followed that sentence. The stealth looked around, trying to avoid his eyes. "You know..I never caught your name." The wolf finally blurted out.
"That's probably because I never threw it." The stealth responded.
"I realized that."
"You're great with words. Maybe instead of being a royal guard, you should be a poet."
"You really make people feel welcomed into your home, don't you?"
"Well I was kind of expecting to avoid this interaction entirely."
"Oh..well I-"
The wolf was interrupted by the sounds of hooves outside. No..not hooves, more like feet? Wolf feet. It was his pack, they had come looking for him.
"Ah, seems as if your friends are looking for you. You better get out there before they tear this whole country apart trying to find you." The stealth said, eyeing the wolves out the window. The wolf followed their gaze and looked out the window himself.
They were right. There they were, searching the forest for him. He quickly threw his legs off the side of the table and pushed himself up. He made his way towards the door. "Hold on pretty boy."
He turned around to face the stealth again. He raised an eyebrow, a sign for the stealth to quickly explain why they had stopped him from leaving. "If it's possible, could you make it seem like you just got lost? I don't want your pack knocking on my door and asking me a million questions." They asked, hands falling into their pants pockets. The wolf chuckled, but agreed. As he turned to leave, he heard their voice again. "Oh and one more thing!". He groaned and turned back around.
He was quickly greeted by his shirt being thrown in his face. "You might wanna cover up the goods. Don't want even more questions being asked." They cooed. The wolf rolled his eyes and put his shirt on. "Anything else, your highness?" He asked. "Just one..I didn't seem catch your name." They mocked his recent words. The wolf scoffed and shook his head. "It's Milo. If you're so curious." He replied.
"Well then Milo, you best be on your way. And try to stay out of trouble. I don't want to have to heal you for a second time." The stealth waved their hand, a signal that he was free to leave. "I'll try." Milo smiled, and left the stealth's home.
As the door clicked behind him, the stealth let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. "My god..I hope all shifters aren't as stubborn as you." They groaned, turning away from the door back towards their bookshelf.
But as they pictured him in their mind again, their cheeks grew warmer. "Milo huh? I'll have to look into that."