Northwood

Adline woke drowsily. Her eyes would not open very far and she couldn’t see straight but she knew she was laying on her side in what looked like an old office. The smell of mold filled her nostrils and invaded her senses making her gag and it was at that moment she realized her hands were bound behind her back.

She wanted to be fearful, she wanted to be frightened but she couldn’t. The people that took her reeked of desperation and acted as though she were the be all and end all of their problems. It bothered her more that some of those that took her were once friends of her mother and father.

Looking back at the moment they took her made her look down at her ankle and see the bright red and angry mark left by Kane. He seemed determined and desperate as well to keep her from being taken and resorted to pure primal instinct to make sure he would be able to find her eventually.

Though it was true that a pair of marked mates could find each other anywhere in the world in an instant, Adline and Kane had done it hastily and failed to realize that they had not been through the proper mating ceremony and although Kane would still be able to locate Adline it would be a general direction rather than a pinpoint location. Bonds were made stronger when the mating was consummated.

Adline however lay there blushing at the thought that Kane had marked her and wanted her but was completely unaware that he would not be barging through the door at any moment.

Instead the rusted door opened and a familiar face entered. It was someone she had known when her parents were leaders in the territory.

“Oh thank goodness, you are awake.” The woman whispered softly as she pulled Adline to a sitting position. The older woman had greying hairs and deep wrinkles in her face. They spoke of joys and laughter that she clearly no longer had in her life.

“Gran?” Adline whispered harshly at the elderly woman.

“Shush child there are guards outside. They don’t want you escaping like your brothers did,” an awkward silence quickly fell between them as Adline stared up at the woman apprehensively. “If I wanted you dead I’d have done it by now,” the old woman grumbled as she unscrewed the lid of a water bottle and forced it to Adeline’s lips, “drink. I don’t want to have to force it into ya,” she almost growled angrily.

Adline couldn’t help but part her lips as she stared up at the woman wondering if she were friend or foe. She wondered if her grandmother was there to help or hinder her. For as long as she could remember her grandmother had been on the outside. On the fringes of their society. Never completely a part of their pack but not really left to her own devices. An Omega, an outsider, an outcast.

“What are you doing here?” Adline again whispered harshly at the old woman. She hadn’t seen her in years and suddenly she was there?

“This new knuckle head and his play thing don’t know were related.” Her grandmother began carefully, “I want to keep it that way for as long as I can so don’t blow my cover.” it dawned on Adline then that things weren’t exactly as they seemed as she took in a large gulp of water that cooler her throat more than she knew it did.

“So..........” Adline began and paused as she quickly found herself at a loss for words. She and her gran had never seen eye to eye and they had only ever met on very few occasions. Adline didn’t know how to approach the situation.

“So what?” She grandmother replied harshly. The old woman then leaned close to her granddaughter’s ear and whispered, “you are my granddaughter and I love you. There are people that are willing to help you but we just need time to gather resources.” Adline had to focus all her energies on what her grandmother was saying but she got the gist of it. “Your parents still have friends here Adline and though I didn’t agree with the way your father lead he was my flesh and blood as are you. I will do my best to set you free,” as if by chance a knock sounded at the dirty window outside. It was one of the guards.

“When will I see you again?” Adline queried before the old woman left. She didn’t know what part of town she was in or if anyone would even find her but she needed to hold out hope. She needed to keep believing that Kane would come to rescue her eventually.

“I will come as often as they let me my dear. I will try for every second day but Ambrose is temperamental to say the least.” Adline didn’t know if her gran knew about the seriousness of the situation and sighed deeply.

“Tobias is dead. I think they were acting on Ambrose’s orders.” Adline couldn’t help but blurt out quickly; carelessly.

“What do you mean?” The elderly woman asked before Adline could even think of what she’d said.

A quick thought back to the lush green valley near Kane’s home lead Adline to believe many things. First and foremost in her mind was that no one could ever sacrifice their son the way Tobias had been sacrificed. How could anyone love a child of theirs so little that they would willingly do that?

The old woman looked at her granddaughter with doubt and apprehension. She was sure she had seen the boy just recently but in her advanced age she thought many things that weren’t completely true.

“The people that took me, one of them shot him in the back of the head, I just assumed he was dead,” Adline felt a great sadness at reliving the memory but for her there was also goodness there.

“No one is safe,” muttered the old lady as the news settled with her grimly. If an Alpha was willing to kill his own son for his betrayal there was no saying what else he would do.

No other words were spoken as Adline’s grandmother disappeared as abruptly as she’d entered leaving a very bewildered young woman.

Young Adline sat there remembering times of old when her parents and grandparents were on good terms. Her grandfather Vincent had chosen to hand the pack over to his eldest son and Adline’s father, Edmund in the hopes that he and his wife Serafina would do good.

Vincent had built a reputation for their pack and hoped they would be respected and in some ways feared. Edmund however had never agreed with bow his father ran things and as soon as he was named Alpha he loosened rules, welcomed in many packless rogues and gave everyone liberties that ultimately led to their downfall.

Adline knew her father stood for peace, love and for equality but she knew now that there were ways to do that without making a pack vulnerable.

She knew now that one could be strong and generous, tough but kind. She knew now her father had been foolish but it couldn’t and wouldn’t change the fact that she was at the mercy of a mad man.

Hours passed and no one bothered checking on her. Now and then the wind changed directions and she caught the whiff of a scent but her hopes were dashed when she realised it wasn’t Kane or anyone from Northwood.

The room grew dark and she knew the end of the day was coming. Adline didn’t know how long they would keep her for but she knew she wouldn’t break no matter what they did to her.

Slipping in and out of sleep she was startled awake when she saw a pair of feet standing before her. Immediately her eyes grew wide as she turned her head up to see a face staring down at her.

Adline refused to move more than she had as the similarity between the face she saw and Kane’s hit her with force. It was Luce, Kane’s little brother. For a moment Adline was hopeful he’d come to save her but part of her knew better.

His thick, slicked back hair and smarmy grin made her feel uncomfortable. The way he stood and especially the way he looked at her made her feel as though she were about to be his play thing.

“And Sleeping Beauty wakes,” his voice sounded suddenly shattering the silence between them. Adline was paying very little attention to him as he pulled his foot back and let it fly straight to her stomach.

An explosion of pain rocked her body and made her spasm in agony. To Adline it almost felt as if his foot went through her completely. She writhed wildly and not of her own accord. She had never been in so much pain before in her life.

Luce knelt before her with a wicked grin, “I am going to make you wish you never met Kane,” his voice laced with poison and thick with what almost sounded like lust. It was not a lust Adline could sate with her body but a lust Luce could sate with his hatred for his older brother and all that he stood for.

Adline, to her complete surprise and shock, laughed mockingly at her wannabe tormentor. “Do your worst you mongrel.” She spat at him through gritted teeth. What could he do?

Luce grabbed Adline’s cheeks and squeezed hard, “I’ll make you regret that!” He again grinned wickedly. Squashing his gloved fingers in to a fisted ball he punched Adline so hard that she blacked out. Adline knew Luce wouldn’t kill her. If he wanted her dead she would have never made it out of Northwood. She would have perished like Tobias.