Broken Souls

Kay’s POV

I don’t know how long I have been lying here on the floor. I can’t move; I don’t want to move. The burning in my body has died down to a dull burn, and a thin layer of sweat covers my whole body. I’m hoping the cold floor can help calm the last of the fire in my body. Finally, I decide to try and sit up. The chain on my neck feels like it weighs a hundred pounds. Once I sit up, the waves of nausea hit me, and I end up vomiting burning bile on the floor next to me. I fall back to the floor, passing out.

I’m woken up by the door banging open, but I don’t open my eyes. A hand grabs my arm, and I feel the needle plunge into my skin; my eyes fly open as John pulls back the needle and steps back, kicking me in the gut. He walks out, slamming the door. I can’t help but scream as the fire burns me alive. I’m going to die here like this.

I screamed ’til my voice breaks and sound could no longer leave my mouth. The Boss comes in, followed by John. My silent screaming is still coursing through me. John grabs my arm and pulls me to my feet.

The Boss stands in the middle of the room, smirking at me, “How are you feeling, Kay?” His frigid voice has hints of pleasure in it. He loves the pain I’m clearly in. I wish I could yell and spit at him, but my throat is so raw and sore all I can do is squeak. The Boss moves across the room to me, and I feel a rush of adrenaline and take advantage of John’s loose grip on my arm.

I lunge at the Boss and hit him with everything I have. The chain around my neck prevents me from escaping, but I can still do some damage. My fist makes contact with his mouth, splitting his lip, and my other hand scratches his cheek. John grabs me, and I look at the Boss. To my shock, he’s smiling, wiping blood from his lip. “Well, I see,” is all the Boss says as he proceeds to beat me ’til I blackout.

Alpha Aaron’s POV

It’s been four years, but we think we have found the rogue Boss’s hiding spot. We have located and destroyed a few smaller rogue groups, finally gaining the intel on where this Boss prick is hiding. I have done nothing but hunt for this man and strengthen my pack and myself to be the strongest and most feared.

Most of the other Alphas avoid me and whisper that I’m crazed and ruthless. The loss of my mate pushed me over the edge. They are probably right. I hate all outsiders and keep everyone that isn’t a pack member out of my pack.

Michael’s Gray wolf is to my right as we watch the small pack house, a few rogues move in and out of the building. So far, we have counted about forty men, but I’m still waiting. I want to see this Boss. The rogues we have interrogated keep saying, we’ll know him when we see him. I have thirty of my best warriors surrounding the building, all watching for this man. Then, I see him, and I know it’s him.

He’s tall with black hair that is graying at the temples. He is dressed in black pants and a dark blue business shirt; how is he a rogue? He’s clearly an Alpha. You can feel the power rolling off him. A small growl leaves me, and I mind link my men “Now!” And with that, all shit breaks loose: rogues come flooding out of the building, some shifting others fighting in human form but, I have my eyes locked on my target, and he’s locked on me.

He easily and quickly shifts into his giant black wolf, and it’s an impressive monster: big, fast, and clearly strong. My wolf is just as big, further proving that this man was and is an Alpha. Our wolves lock in, biting and ripping at each other. I’m channeling everything. I have all my pain, all my anger. I want them all dead, but, most of all, he has to die. We are matching each other blow for blow, ripping and taring each other.

I finally have the upper hand and have him pinned to the ground, about to rip out his throat when I’m sent flying. A very large brown shabby wolf stands next to the black monster wolf. Before I regain my footing, ten rogues attack me, and I watch in vain as the black and brown wolf run. I manage to break free of my attackers and make chase.

I turn and see that Michael has joined me in the chase. They are still just ahead of us, and we push ourselves, gaining on them. I can hear the river raging in the distance, and we are headed toward it. More of my warriors join the chase. We will get them. I push my wolf even harder. Suddenly, the trees clear, and the river roars with the spring melt. There is a good hundred foot drop down to the swollen and savage waters rushing below. We have them trapped; they can’t get away,

When suddenly they jump, and I race forward to see them land in the river, Michael is at my side. We don’t see them come up. I shift back to human, and so does Michael. Someone throws us some sweat pants. “What the hell was that?” I’m raging. This is not how that should have gone down. I needed to kill him, that Boss, that monster.

I’m pacing back and forth, running my hand in my hair, “Send trackers down steam. I want to know if they lived and if not, I want their bodies.” I bark my orders and turn to Michael. “How’s the rest of the fight? Where do we stand?”

Michael gets a faraway look and then snaps back, “Well, it seems we had the upper hand before those two took off. When the rogues saw their leaders fleeing, the rest of the rogues gave up, mostly. Our men are locking up the surviving rogues and searching the grounds. We took no casualties, but a few are very badly injured.” When Michael has finished, he and I get a link from one of the warriors telling us we should come quickly back to the pack house. They have found something.

Michael and I look at each other because the warrior didn’t want to go into more details. Michael and I strip off our sweats and shift, talking off at full speed. We get back to the building and shift again. A warrior hands us some clothes, and we dress.

My lead warrior Oriel comes striding over. She’s a tall woman, at least six feet tall, with chestnut hair and eyes. She’s the best fighter in our pack other than myself and Michael, and even we have our work cut out to beat her. “Alpha Aaron, Beta Michael, I need you to follow me.” She is straight to the point with a severe look on her face, and I can feel that she’s upset. I am her older brother, after all. “What is it?” I ask, keeping stride with her. “Just come with me,” she replies and leads us through the pack house. Finally, we are in the basement heading to a small door, probably to a storage room. Oriel opens the door.

Kay’s POV

Pain, pain, and more pain. The burning in my body is still a dull roar, and every part of me is covered in bruises and dried blood. I shift up from the floor to sit. I think I can hear sounds outside. I strain my ears to try and listen. I think it’s a fight. Did the rogues turn on each other? Is someone attacking?

I’m honestly too delirious to care. I have no idea how long I have been here. There have been so many injections of wolfs bane followed by beatings. I wish I could just die. The noise outside is quieter now, and I’m starting to feel dizzier but try to remain sitting. I bring my knees to my chest and rest my forehead on them. Suddenly, the door opens, and I know it’s John and the Boss back to inject me and beat me. I prepare myself for the torture, but, it doesn’t come.

I look up and see a dark-haired woman staring at me. I’m hit with nausea and end up throwing up burning acid. My vision begins to darken. I fall over on the floor, and I see her move toward me, wrapping something warm around me. I think she said something, but I don’t really know for sure.

Alpha Aaron’s POV

I’m looking at a small girl, possibly a child, lying on the floor covered by Oriel’s sweater like a blanket. I start to move into the room, and I’m hit by the stench of vomit and filth. How long has she been in here, and why? I look at Oriel for some answer, “What is this child doing here, Oriel?” I ask her.

“I don’t know. She passed out before I could ask her. We found several bottles of wolfs bane in the office upstairs, and I don’t think she’s a child.” Oriel answers as she moves to the girl. She lifts the sweater off her revealing a small broken woman indeed.

I’m shocked by the state she’s in. Her body is covered in bruises in various states of healing. I move closer to her and brush back the hair on her face. She has a thick chain and lock around her neck, and her eyes are closed. Clearly, they used wolfs bane to keep her wolf from healing her if she is even old enough for a wolf.

I go to touch the chain on her neck, and my hand brushes her skin. Her eyes shoot open, and she flies back away from me with a squeak. I could have sworn I felt tingling in my fingers when I touched her skin. No, I couldn’t have. I must be imagining things.

The girl is pressed against the wall, and Oriel comes over to her, crouching down, “It’s okay, love.” Oriel tries to soothe her, and the girl locks eyes with Oriel. This girl has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. “It’s okay. I’m Oriel and this is Alpha Aaron. That’s Beta Michael back there. We want to help you. Who did this to you? Why are you in here?”

The girl is looking at all of us. Terror is clearly all over her face, and she’s shaking. “Michael, go see if you can find something to get this chain off her. She needs a doctor.” Oriel is still trying to move slowly to the girl when, just as suddenly as she awoke, she passes out again.

Michael is back with a set of keys and hands them to Oriel, “Hopefully, one of those is the right key. They were in the office. What are we going to do with her?” Michael has concern written all over his face.

“We take her with us.” Oriel answers flatly, trying keys in the lock. The girl never moves.

“What if she is dangerous?” Michael asks.

“I think we can manage one malnourished half-dead girl, Michael. I got it.” Oriel says, freeing the girl from her chain. “I need a blanket to wrap her in. We can’t carry her out there like this.”

I look down and see she is only in a sports bra and leggings that are both ripped and filthy. Michael arrives with a blanket. I feel like I need to protect her, but I don’t want to let myself touch her again. “Michael, call the pack. Get a car and a doctor.”

I start to move out of the way, and Michael wraps the blanket around her. As I turn to leave, I think I catch the smell jasmine, and Griffin stirs in my head. I shake my head and move to the door. “I’ll be in that office. Let me know if the trackers find anything.” I leave before they can answer me and head for the office. I make it to the office and sit in the office chair, placing my elbows on the desk and resting my face in my hands. This was not how I imagined things going. I was supposed to kill him for everything he stole from me. “Damn it!” I yell, hitting the desk with the palms of my hands.

I have spent the last hour going through every scrap of paper and every ledger I find, putting anything useful in a box to take back to my office to look through further. I keep the mind link with the trackers, and, so far, they have found nothing: no bodies, no scents, just nothing. I feel my frustration rising along with the need to smash something as Griffin growls and paces in my mind.

He hasn’t really spoken to me since Lily died. He only growls and paces, and he does it more when I’m frustrated, which isn’t helping my mood at all. I’m prowling the room, flipping through books and tossing them aside when Michael clears his throat. I look over to see him standing in the doorway with an eyebrow raised.

“Finding anything?” He asks me.

“Yeah, I got quite a bit in that box,” I said, pointing to the desk. “Did you come up here to check up on me?” I ask him, glancing at him then tossing another book away.

“Yeah, I did, and to let you know the doctor is here, and he’s rushing the girl back to the hospital. He’s shocked she’s still alive.”

I nod, tossing another book away.

“Hey, Aaron, there is little more we can do here. Let’s go back with the doc. Oriel is insisting she wants to go with the girl, too.” Michael is right, and I know it.

“Fine, have someone finish here and bring it all back to my office. I don’t want that girl brought to the pack.”

“Well, about the girl. I have this really stubborn mate that said this girl needs help, and she’s going to help her.” I let out a sigh in defeat, and Michael laughs. “Come on we got to go.” I’ll get rid of the girl as soon as she’s well enough.

We head out of the office and out of the building. We find Oriel and the doctor. Oriel is in the black SUV holding the girl’s head in her lap while the rest of her lies curled in the seat next to Oriel. Michael hops in the driver’s seat, and I get in the passenger seat. The doctor is an older man and gets in on the other side of Oriel.

“All due respect, Alpha and Beta, but can we please step on it.” The doctor has a kind but no-nonsense tone to his voice. I glance back and can now see the IV in the girl’s arm.

“Has she woken up?” I ask the doctor.

“No, and I’m surprised to hear that she had at all. She’s severely dehydrated, malnourished, and seems to have large doses of wolfs bane in her system. I’ll know for sure once we can run some tests.”

I nod to the doctor, and Michael sets off for the pack like he’s out to see just how fast we’ll let him drive.

We make it back to the pack in record time and pull right up to the hospital. A team is waiting with a gurney to unload the small broken woman from the car. The doctor is giving instructions to his staff, but I’m lost staring at that broken, fragile girl; again, I feel the need to protect her. I shake my head as the scent of jasmine floats to me. Griffin stills in my mind. “Let’s go,” I tell Michael, and we head to the pack house.