Wild and Free

Ok so another pretty long chapter but, ugh, I can’t, it’s just too cute :)

(Auden’s POV)

“So if you wanted, you could walk through that wall over there?” Greyson asked me, taking a huge bite out of an apple from the snack tray.

I laughed but nodded, “If I wanted to, yes,” I said.

“Ah come on you gotta show us,” Holden said.

“What are you talking about? You’ve known about what I can do,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

“Yeah but you never showed off for Cassie or me before,” he replied with a shrug, his arm draped over Kenzie’s shoulder.

We were all sitting in the huge empty pack kitchen, atop the long metal counters and eating random snacks that we’d gathered. The cooks had all gone home because by that point it was in the late hours of the night. We all just hung out and talked about random things, letting ourselves be teenagers for once.

I would be lying if I said that it didn’t feel good to not be doing anything, especially after the last few days we’d had. Non stop drilling of schoolwork on top of shifts at the diner had been grueling and it took all of what happened to make me really feel it.

Twenty four hours before then I would probably think that getting exposed was my worst nightmare, and in some way is was. But in that moment at least, I was happy with how things turned out.

“And if we threw a piece of fruit at you, you could theoretically just let it go through you?” Greyson continued.

“Don’t even think about it Grey,” Mason shook his head, “She’s not a circus act, let her be.”

I grinned up at Mason who sat above me on the counter while I sat on the floor. He was right but I waved him off, “You guys are like children. I’ll enlighten you to my extremely weird ability and then you guys can stop asking.”

I picked up a grape from the tray and set it in the palm of my hand. My focus was only on the small fruit and not a second later, the center of my hand glowed a faint white before the grape fell through and dropped into my lap.

“Okay I think it’s official,” Kenzie stated, “your ability is so much cooler than mine.”

“That is so cool,” Greyson laughed, picking up the fallen grape and looking at it for a second before eating it.

Riley punched him in the arm and we all laughed. Kenzie’s smile was wiped away and replaced with a look of concern when she looked over at me.

“Auden you’re bleeding,” she said, bending forward to look at the scratches on my chest and arm. “Are you okay?”

I looked down to see that they had indeed begun bleeding again. It was strange to see but I tried to hide my confusion.

“Yeah I- um- It’s fine. If you don’t mind, I’m going to excuse myself to go clean up,” I said.

“You sure you’re okay?” Cassie asked.

I nodded and stood up from the floor. Mason hopped down from the counter too.

“I’ll show you where,” He said, leading the way out of the kitchen

Riley, Holden, and Greyson had already engaged in some useless conversation about grape seeds before we’d even left the room.

Mason led me down the hallway we came through to get to the kitchens a while ago. He stopped in front of a closet that when he opened the door revealed itself to be a typical janitor’s closet. He stepped inside and rummaged around on the shelves until he pulled out a white box, similar to the one I owned. I guess they were needed there more often than I thought.

He pulled the door shut behind him. I reached my hand out for the first aid kit but he snatched it away from my grip. Looking up I saw he had a teasing smirk on his face.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest, “I can patch myself up thank you very much.”

He shook his head, “I want to show you something. We can clean up your wounds when we get there.”

I opened my mouth to protest but sighed, “Is it far?”

“Kind of,” he admitted. “Can you take us both to the courtyard?”

“I’ve never done it with two people before,” I bit my lip. “But I can try?”

I put my hand out for him to grab hold of. It shook slightly but I didn’t know why.

“The first time will be a little rough for you,” I cautioned him. “It’s going to be a few jumps so turn away from me if you vomit,” I laughed at his slightly disgusted face.

He took my hand and I focused. My gaze was out the window that lead to the side of the pack house. I closed my eyes and felt that ripple run through my veins, feeling the bright light that surrounded me. When I opened my eyes again we were outside, the cool night breeze nipping at our skin. Another jump and we were in front of the armory and another one to the edge of the courtyard. Mason stumbled on wobbly legs, almost falling face first onto the grass.

Our sudden appearance scared the shit out of some patrols, in which they pulled their guns at my head. I stepped away from their Alpha, putting my hands up to show I meant no harm. I was getting kind of tired of the nonstop thoughts that I was some sort of threat despite being literally forced to tell the who I was.

After Mason regained his balance, he called off the guards who went back to their positions with wary looks over at me.

Mason shot me a look that said, Sorry about them, before turning grabbing my hand again and leading me into the forest. We walked for a minute before we arrived on the edge of a small clearing that you could see all of the Royal pack’s grounds from.

The light of the sun was just beginning to light the horizon though it had yet to rise itself yet.

It was apparent that we weren’t stopping there when Mason pulled me toward a tree. Or at least I thought it was a tree before I saw the rungs hammered into the trunk and the platform at the top.

I gaze Mason a curious look to which he grinned mischievously and then urged me toward the structure. I sighed but began climbing, feeling his presence close behind me.

We both emerged on the top of the wooden platform. From there you could really see everything. The pack house. The armory. The training arena and sparring circles. The houses of countless pack members. If you looked past the treeline for miles you could see the outline of the town as well.

“Wow,” I mused, leaning against the railing that was the only thing that kept me from tumbling over the edge and plummeting to the ground. I was careful. After narrowly escaping death a few hours before, I wasn’t ready to roll the dice with the devil again just yet.

We stood in amazed silence for a moment before Mason broke it, “We should probably clean your wounds,” he reminded me, nodding his head toward the box that he’d set on the platform at our feet.

I nodded in agreement and the two of us sat down, our legs dangling over the edge.

I slipped off the long sleeved t shirt that Kenzie had lent me, leaving me in the tank top that I wore during the trial. Sure enough, the deep scratches that Orion’s men had given me had bled through the fabric of the long sleeve.

“Great,” I muttered under my breath.

“I can clean one and you can clean the other if you want?” Mason suggested. “It’ll get done faster.”

I nodded and turned so the gashes on my bicep were closer and facing him. We opened the first aid kit and began with cotton pads soaked in alcohol.

Mason looked at me, “This is gonna sting,” he warned me.

I just looked at him and smirked, “Don’t worry, I’m a big girl.”

He shook his head and laughed, “Feels like deja vu huh?”

I nodded, “Okay, same time?”

He agreed and counted to three before we both pressed the cotton against the bleeding wounds. It stung like a bitch and my body tensed but I didn’t move.

“Sorry,” he said but I shook my head.

“It’s fine,” I replied. “I’m just wondering why they haven’t healed more. I didn’t expect them to be gone but they should at least be in better shape that this,” I thought aloud, grabbing another piece of cotton.

He shrugged, “It’s probably just a side effect from the Colt Stone and the TS. plus using your energy on your ability can’t have helped,” he suggested. “Your healing system is recovering. It should be back to normal in a few hours. For now we can just keep them clean and covered.”

“I know,” I smiled. “This isn’t my first papercut.”

He returned the gesture and fell into a calm silence.

“Wanna play a game?” he suggested after a minute.

I looked over at him, “What kind of game?”

“Just something that my sister and I played when we were kids,” he answered.

“Let’s do it. How does it work?”

He set down a cotton pad and grabbed the gauze, tape, and scissors from the kit, “It’s kind of like truth of dare just without the dare part.”

I laughed, “Okay, I’m intrigued.”

“So,” he began, “we go back and forth with questions for each other and you have to answer. You have one pass. If one of us asks the other something that we don’t want to answer, they can use their pass, but if the person after answers the next question, then they win.”

I scoffed, “That’s not really a game.”

“Technicalities,” he waved it off. “You in?”

I narrowed my eyes and his but after a moment, nodded, “Ask away.”

He grabbed a layer of gauze and then handed them to me, “Ok, if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?”

I thought for a second, “Not sure. I’ve never really thought about it much.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Does that mean you’re passing already? I didn’t think you’d give up that easily,”

“Not a chance Princey,”

He laughed, “You’re one to talk Princess,” he fired back.

I rolled my eyes at the nickname, “Probably the coast if I’m being honest. I’ve always like the thought of the beaches and fresh air. Plus I’ve heard they have amazing local art museums there. I like the hidden gems like that.”

He nodded, “Nice. Okay now you ask.”

“Favourite smoothie flavor?”

He shot me a look, “That is probably the most random question I’ve heard asked in this game.”

“So you’re giving up?” I raised an eyebrow. “Gotta say I didn’t think you’d give up so-”

“Oh my goddess you’re ridiculously cynical, you know that right?” he rolled his eyes.

I looked up toward the sky, “I’ve been told it’s one of my best qualities,” I grinned.

He just laughed, “Fine I guess strawberry and blueberry?”

I wrinkled my nose, and he asked, “Why the face?”

“I’m allergic to strawberries,” I answered. “And blueberries… something is just wrong with those things,” I added with disgust.

“Wait so the all powerful, mysterious black she-wolf Rio, daughter of two of the greatest alphas of the greatest pack in history, has a weakness? And it’s for strawberries?” he asked, obviously trying to contain his laughter.

I nodded, “Some battles you just can’t win.”

He just shook his head at me again, “My turn. Biggest ridiculous fear?”

“What does that mean?”

He shrugged, “Like something that is so extremely stupid but it still terrifies you.”

I nodded, “Oh goddess, probably iguanas.”

He shot me a look before bursting out laughing, “L-Lizards?” he said between fits of laughter.

“I can’t help it! Those things are like the descendants of dinosaurs. And in some places where iguanas are native, if you leave your doors open for too long, they’ll just wander right in and scare the shit out of you,” I told him. It was true, I was forever scared after hearing about that. “What about you Mr. Big Bad Alpha Male?”

“For me? Is more like a superstition, but I cannot sleep with my closet door closed, or my window closed. Like they both have to be open or else I won’t fall asleep,” he explained.

“Ok yeah I think you’ve got me beat,” I remarked. “Why on earth would you need to sleep with both open? I thought that children got into the habit of thinking there was a monster in their closet when they were little so they always slept with it closed, not open.”

“I don’t know I just can never seem to fall asleep with it closed. Like something is going to attack me, I honestly have no idea.”

“What if it’s like snowing outside?” I inquired. “Wouldn’t you be freezing if your window was open?”

“It has to be open if I want to sleep.”

I scoffed, “You must have gotten sick a whole lot when you were a child.”

He just shrugged, a mischievous smile on his face.

“You’re a weird one,” I shook my head. “My turn. If you could take one trait from anyone in your family, other than an ability, what would it be?” I asked.

“From my father? Probably how he can notice the little details that most seem to forget,” he answered. “Like earlier, I don’t think anyone except him noticed that you let that boy go during the fight. From my sister? I’d say how she never gives up on anything,” he looked up at me through his eyelashes. “I’m ashamed to admit that I was on my father’s side for awhile. Kenzie never had anything other than faith in you.”

I shook my head, “Don’t blame yourself. I was surprised she believed me too. There wasn’t anything that would’ve said that I wasn’t lying and especially after you learned I’d been hiding such and big secret. I shouldn’t have let you find out that way. I know I was planning on leaving but I should’ve been honest with you a while ago.”

“I don’t blame you for why you didn’t though,” he said. “After that attack before you came here,” he gestured to my side where my scar was hidden, “I wouldn’t have trusted us either at first.”

He averted his gaze from me, “I just wish you felt like you could’ve trusted me more.”

“I did, I-I do,” I stuttered quickly. “But if you’ve been through what I have, i-it just makes trust one of the hardest things to get back once it’s been lost.”

“I understand,” he said, taping the edges of the gauze down to the unaffected skin around the wounds.

“You turn,” I said.

“Okay, and answer this truthfully,” he grinned mischievously, “how many times did you mess around with your nannies when you found out about your ability.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes, “Probably just as much as you did- and don’t try to claim that you didn’t,” I chastised him when he opened his mouth to protest. “They punished me for it, saying that I could be discovered. But it was the only fun I had because we were always training. They could not blame me, I was a little kid!”

He chuckled, shaking his head, “It was the same for me. I mean come on, putting it simple I have mind powers and you can teleport. In what universe would a kid not play around with that?”

“None,” I grinned. “Okay my turn.”

“Shoot,”

“What was your first impression of me when we met at the diner that day,” I asked, taping the edges of the wound on my collarbone.

“Wow, we’re gonna go there aren’t we?”

I laughed, looking him straight in the eyes, “Yes, we are.”

Our stare lingered, neither of us saying a word. That one statement, the mention of that word. We. Was there a we? I mean he and I had moments that some might consider more than just “friendly” interaction, but did that qualify us as a we?

“Speaking of our first meeting, that reminds me,” he said, turning away from me for a second and reaching into his pocket. When he turned back around he held my necklace from his fingers.

We made eye contact and again a foreign feeling ran through my body. It was similar to the ripple I felt whenever I jumped somewhere. We both looked at the delicate piece of jewelry that had endured almost as much as I had.

“Cassie gave it to me like you asked. I figured you didn’t need the Razelea stones to hide yourself anymore,” he said, and I noticed that the stones, previously black from the power they held, were now clear and sparkling in the early morning sun.

“I guess not,” I whispered, admiring how beautiful it looked. “My mother gave it to me a year before the attack. She told me to use it in an emergency, which I suppose I’ve used a little more than she intended.”

He grinned and looked over at me, “May I?” he asked, gesturing to my neck.

I nodded and turned around, pulling my long brown waves aside. He lowered the necklace in front of my face, pulling the two ends behind me. He latched it and the cool metal settled against my skin, back where I’d always felt it.

But that, like many things, was different.

Things weren’t the same as they had been a few months ago. I could feel it. He could feel it. We could feel it but we didn’t know what to do about it.

“Pass,” he said. I don’t know when we got so close but I could feel his breath, warm on my face, inches away

I tilted my head slightly to the side, “Why?”

“I don’t think it was in the rules for me to have to reveal why I wish to pass,” he said, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

I rolled my eyes, “Fine, ask your question so I can win.”

He laughed, “Eager are we? I’ll let you know when the question comes to me.”

“Oh come on, just ask anything,” I said.

He shook his head, “Nope, this question has to be thought through carefully, especially if it means that you beat me.”

“I’ll bet you’re a pretty sore loser, huh?” I smirked.

“You’d be correct,”

“Why?”

He shrugged, looking down at me intensley, “Probably because I don’t like feeling as if I’ve lost something important to me.”

I bit down on my lower lip, “And have you?”

“It was close there for a while,” he said. “Something extremely valuable to me was almost taken.

“How so?”

“I almost lost them because I couldn’t get my thoughts out of the way of my judgement,” he answered. “They clouded my vision, I couldn’t see what was right in front of me.”

I peered up at him, “And now?”

“Crystal clear,”

He leaned closer than I ever thought possible without touching. I could practically hear his heart beating rapidly just as I was sure he could hear mine. His coffee colored gaze flickered down to my lips for a second before returning to mine. Just another inch and...

But I put my hand on his chest holding him in that place, just a moment longer.

“I’m not the soulmate you deserve,” I whispered, afraid that I’d shatter the air between us if I spoke any louder. “You deserve someone who can stand beside you without holding you back from what you could be. I can do nothing but bring you down.”

“I don’t believe that,” he said quickly.

I shook my head, “You should,” My eyes fell to my hand that still kept us from doing what we both knew we wanted to do.

“I’m damaged. Unfixable-”

“Nothing is unfixable,” he cut me off, shaking his head at my words. “One of the hardest things that people like us have to learn is letting go. Whether it’s guilt, loss, anger, betrayal,” he looked at me, “love. We fight to hold on but we also fight to let go. You can’t blame yourself for things that weren’t your fault just because you feel guilty for them.”

“I-I don’t think I know how to do that,” I stuttered.

“Then you can learn, we can learn,” he said, my breath hitching after he said the long since avoided word.

He put his hand over top of mine. It felt tiny under to his. My skin grew warm under his touch and it seemed as though he noticed it too. It reminded me of that time in the woods where the same thing had happened. That felt like decades ago.

“I know that neither of us expected to end up where we are but I’m not going to lie and say that I wish it didn’t,” he admitted with a small laugh.

“I’m not denying it either,” I said, and he smiled. “But I can’t just ignore who I am and what I’ve done.”

“I would never ask you to do that,” he said, his grin faded. “Accept your past without regret. Stop letting it control what you do.”

“I-”

“No, you’ve been treated terribly your whole life, surviving but not truly living,” he cut me off, the truth in his words harsh but nevertheless true. “There’s no point in just wishing things would be different. The moment you stop burdening yourself with guilt that you don’t deserve, maybe you’ll give this a chance.”

“I’m not what you-”

“Stop,” he closed his eyes. “Stop telling me you’re not enough. I could sit here all day telling you ten million reasons why you’re wrong.”

I let my mouth close, listening to what he was trying to get across to me, no matter how much I wanted to deny it and tell him that he was wrong.

His eyes opened and stared into mine with an intensity I’d never felt before that day.

“You want to know what I thought of you that first day we met?” he asked, not intending for me to answer. “I first thought, goddess I hate people who don’t look where they’re going,” he said, earning a sad laugh from me. “But the second I looked at you, the first thing I saw were those eyes.”

I felt a blush warm my cheeks and wanted to pinch myself. I never blushed.

“I’d been surrounded by all the same brown eyed people since I was little and I didn’t think anyone could have eyes thatbeautiful,” he went on. “It wasn’t just the eyes that were different. It was you. And it was… refreshing. I know I was an ass to you for a while but even without knowing that you were my mate, something in the back of my mind just couldn’t forget you. It was like you’d put me under some spell with just a look.”

“That day in the library, I’d never been told off by someone like that before,” he laughed. “Gotta say, my pride was a little bruised. Here was this, smart, confident, amazing girl that basically spit in my face unlike Amelia who tried to cling to me like a little child.”

I wrinkled my nose at the thought of the bleached blonde demon.

“And then the first attack from Orion’s pack, I was actually jealous of how calm you seemed,” he admitted.

“What? Why?”

He shrugged, “My whole life I’ve been killing myself trying to become the kind of man my father wants to lead our pack. That collectedness and the way you handled such a terrible situation, that was what I wanted to be able to do. It just comes so easily to you, I don’t know how you don’t see it.”

He scoffed, “Even under my father’s harshness, that I’ve actually witnessed people leave in tears after, you looked completely unfazed. I’m not usually the jealous kind of person but the fact that I am jealous of you just says how amazing I think you are.”

I laughed bitterly, “Why did you pass on the question if you were going to tell me anyways?”

“Like I said, I’m a sore loser.”

I shook my head at him. I felt like he was saying all those things in the way I wished I could to him. That intensity and feeling that I knew we both felt but I just could find the words to say.

But you know what they say. Actions speak louder than words.

I leaned my head closer to his, slowly. He stayed frozen in his spot, both surprise and seemingly excitement. I rested my forehead on his. Both of our eyes fell shut, our breaths shaking ever so slightly.

“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice hardly audible.

“For what?” he asked, his voice low and thick.

The corners of my mouth turned upwards the slightest, “For making me feel like I have a chance to be something more than the girl my parents threw away. For making me feel like I belong.”

I opened my eyes to find him looking at me.

“And for making me realize that I might actually be able to know what love feels like.”

It was like neither of us could keep the air between us anymore.

So we didn’t.

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

;)

Hope you enjoyed!

As always, comment, don’t hate, and read on!

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend