Wild and Free

THIS CHAPTER CHANGES POVs SO MAKE SURE YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE BOLD

(Mason’s POV)

With less than a few words, I felt as if I had sentenced her to death. Maybe not literally but at that point anything was possible.

“The TS seemed to work great on your friend Orion,” My father said.

“He is not my friend,” Auden growled.

My father ignored her claim, “He sang like a canary, telling us exactly where is territory was. They had a supply of Razelea Stone hiding it from us.”

I tensed, looking down at the mention of the stone. When I looked back up my father was staring right at me.

“What a coincidence that you apparently hid yourself with the same mineral. Now I’d ask where you got it but that seems pretty clear already-”

I couldn’t take his verbal bashing of her anymore, “Father stop!” I shouted. “You’ve already decided we’re going to find out the real truth. Stop accusing her of things before we actually do that,” I managed through gritted teeth.

My father looked at me with a sort of mix of surprise, anger, and a little bit of pride? I couldn’t tell what was true anymore.

He nodded at my statement and called Marcus and Zack back in.

“I will send out the pack wide announcement once she is put back,” He said.

Kenzie huffed and rolled her eyes, “She’s a person Father, not a piece of furniture. Couldn’t she just come back to my room with the rest of us? Supper is soon, there’s no use if making her go all the way back to the cells before then,” my sister pleaded.

My father shook his head, “She’ll stay in here until the meeting is called. I’ll have Zack and Marcus keep watch over her.”

Kenzie sighed in frustration, “Can I at least give her some clothes to change into so she doesn’t have to look a mess like the rest of us did.”

My father looked to protest but hesitated and nodded, “Bring them down and they’ll be given to her before the trial. There’ll be no further discussion of this until then.”

He tone expressed finality, showing that he meant it. We were ushered out of the room quickly after. I managed to catch a glimpse of Auden with a look on her face that I couldn’t quite identify and I realized why. It seemed so strange on her because it was something that she never showed. Fear.

~*~

If looks could kill, I’d be dead. If thoughts could kill, I’d be dead. Just being within a few feet of my sister in that moment was lethal.

We got down the hallway, out of earshot of our father’s office before she spun around and glared at me.

“How could you do that? I thought that you guys were friends!” she nearly yelled, throwing her hands in the air for emphasis.

“What did you want me to do Mackenzie?” I fired back. “Lie?”

“Maybe, if it would’ve meant that she doesn’t have to be tortured like she will in a less than two hours!”

I rolled my eyes, “Truth Serum isn’t that painful.”

She shot me a look, “It practically burns you from the inside out if you try to resist it.”

“Well if you’re so confident that she isn’t a dirty liar then that shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”

She glared daggers at me, folding her arms over her chest, “I just don’t see how it’s different for you.”

I knit my brows, “How what’s different?”

“You. Her. All of it,” she answered. “With Holden it was like a light switch. The second it was flipped I knew. You and Auden hated each other for the first month or maybe even more that you knew each other. I thought you’d gotten over it but I guess I was wrong.”

She turned away, continuing walking down the hallway. But I caught up to her, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around to face me.

“I’m sorry that I haven’t known she was five feet in front of me for months! Don’t you think if I had met her the same way that you and Holden met, I would be with her?” I asked. “I don’t know what to do, Kenz. Everyone is pulling me in ten million different directions at the same time. With her it’s like the bond is there but she isn’t. Is it really worth it?”

“She’s your mate! Of course it’s worth it!” She shouted.

I stepped forward quickly and covered her mouth, glaring at her.

She rolled her eyes that were identical to mine, pushing my hand away, “You aren’t even trying. Throwing her under the bus like that to Father isn’t helping you either.”

I opened my mouth to argue but she held up a finger, “You need to make things right with her after the trial. Maybe things will get cleared up and she’ll feel more comfortable telling you her story but until then you’re going to have to try and at least hear her out.”

Her eyes bore into mine, pleading me to listen to her. And for once in my life, I listened.

“Fine,”

~*~

(Auden’s POV)

The shackles around my wrists jingled with every movement I made. The small noise echoed in the silence and bounced off the walls of the small temporary jail I sat in.

I didn’t know what was going on outside. It had to have been an hour or two after the meeting with Alpha Pearce. They escorted me through a million different hallways before shoving me into a room that was about the size of an average bathroom. There were no windows, nor places to sit other than the floor.

They had at least given me new clothes. I had still worn the same clothes from the school day, though they were falling apart and covered in dirt and blood. My dark jeans had ripped at the knees, where they hadn’t been previously and the scratches that the wolf in the church gave me had torn the top of my royal blue shirt to shreds.

The clothes that Kenzie had sent down were simple. Black jeans, clean undergarments, and to my dismay, a grey racerback tank top. It wasn’t her fault, she hadn’t seen all that was done to me, nor probably had much time to collect anything.

I was grateful for the change however uncomfortable I was letting people see the scars and bruises across my skin. It wasn’t like I could really hide from any of it anymore.

Solitary confinement gave me plenty of time to get all of my nervous energy out of my system before the trial. The last thing I wanted in a room full of people who thought I was a criminal was to break down under the pressure of their judgemental eyes.

I had lost track of time after we left school. If felt like so long ago. I assumed it was sometime in the evening because the rest of the Royals were eating supper. I forgot what if felt like to eat a meal with a pack.

They hadn’t fed me at all. Wow, I was already starting to think of myself as the animal they treated me like.

I had been so focused on schoolwork during lunch at school that day that I hadn’t eaten. But it wasn’t really like I had anything to eat in the first place. All of my money that I’d earned the day before had been spent on replacing the picture frames that had been destroyed, as well as reprinting the photos that had previously been in them. Sure it was a stupid thing to spend my money on as opposed to food but I was tired of living in an empty, semi put together apartment.

I guess none of it mattered anymore. They’d either decide to kill me by the end of the night, or I’d waste away in that horrid cell for the rest of my life.

After what seemed like forever, the two guards, who the Alpha addressed as Zack and Marcus, unlocked the door and brought me out. They didn’t say a word but the message was crealy written on their faces. It was time

~*~

I could hear the noise, even standing outside the large wooden doors that supposedly led into the Session room. When they creaked open however, the whole place went silent. People who stood, found their seats as quickly as possible.

Mason’s father approached the large chair on the dias. He took his place, settling his arms on the pedestal in front of him. There was a man and woman on one side of him, on a seat slightly lower than his as Alpha. I assumed that they were the Royal pack’s Beta and Beta female.

Mason and Mackenzie sat on a level the same as the Betas but on the opposite side of their father. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie, Holden, Riley, and Greyson sitting in the front row. Behind them and all around the room were rows and rows of seats, filled with members of the Royal pack. I kept my head level and my gaze forward but that didn’t stop me from feeling every single pair of eyes, tracking me all the way to the center of the room where a lone chair sat.

I could tell people were staring at the bloody scratches across my arm and chest, as well as the huge foot long bruise exposed on my back from the battle.

I’d never been in the one at my old pack house but I could imagine that it looked a lot less daunting than that place.

When my guards sat me down, they surprised me by taking out a key and removing the Colt Stone from around my wrists. The chair had simple metal cuffs attached to the arms but they were loose and let the bloody cuts on my wrists breathe.

I looked up at Alpha Pearce but his face gave away no indication of the reason.

If they were putting me under questioning, why did they trust me enough to be less restrained? Looking back it was a stupid question to be asking as I was in a room filled with werewolves which I could never fight my way out of, even if I wanted to.

Once the guards had removed the cuffs and taken their places at the edge of the room, Alpha Pearce stood and address the room.

“Fellow pack members,” he began, his voice booming over the entire room. “I am aware that most of you have no idea for what this trial is about,” his gaze turned to me. “This she-wolf has been living unknown to us in the town of White Chapel for over two years.”

There was an upstart of whispering and confused expressions rippling through the crowds.

“She was hidden by the effects of the Razelea stone and posed as a normal human up until today when she was discovered,” he explained.

I almost scoffed. Discovered? Looking around, people didn’t look nearly as troubled as they should have been after a major attack on their pack. It made me question if the pack even knew what was going on.

“Recently we also discovered a group of rogues lurking around out border. Nothing that anyone should be worried about as it has all been taken care of,” He assured.

So, they didn’t tell anyone about the battle.

“This girl claims that she is not a rogue like these men, despite the fact that she belongs to no pack and has lived in the region with them,” Pearce continued. I held back an eye roll as he spoke, “So today we put her to the test under the influence of TS to work out whether or not she speaks the truth or not.”

Another wave of chatter went through the room, making my stomach flip.

Alpha Pearce nodded to a man standing against the wall. He walked over and opened the door to let in a different man carrying a tray. On top of it was one thing. A syringe filled with a metallic silver liquid.

Just looking at it my hand shook. I quickly folded them in my lap, clenching them tightly together as the man approached me. He came around my left side and without hesitation, picked up the needle and stuck it in my neck.

I flinched at the suddenness of it but sat still until the liquid was drained from the syringe. It took a second before I started to feel it. There wasn’t any immediate pain but I knew that it was coming as Alpha Pearce stepped down from his seat and onto the floor so that he was on the same level as me.

“The rules are simple,” he stated as if explaining a sport. “You tell the truth, it won’t hurt. Understand?”

I looked up at him with cold eyes and he grinned back, “Good. We’ll start off easy. What is your full name?”

“Queen Victoria,” I said sarcastically.

He smirked at me just as I started to feel a burning through my body. It was as if someone had inserted fire into my bloodstream. I screamed through gritted teeth as my insides were scorched. I saw on the edge of my blurred vision, Mason’s jaw clench. I knew he could feel my anguish to a small extent but whether his reaction was out of pain or anger I did not know. The Alpha just laughed.

“Well thank you for proving my point,” he laughed, seemingly amused with my agony. “Now please answer truthfully or else this will be a lot more painful and take a lot longer than I anticipate.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to blink away the burning pain.

What did I have to lose? Dignity had been long forgotten all those years ago.

“Fine,” I spat.

I looked around, feeling the sweat on my skin. I took a deep breath before answering.

“My name is Auden Everly Wilde,” I said slowly. “I live in the town of White Chapel but was born in the city of Mayrana.”

Here goes nothing

“And I a-am the first born daughter of Naomi and Bishop Wilde and the rightful rightful born A-Alpha of the Wilde pack…”

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

YAY MORE PLOT HOLES!!! I need a majority vote of people who really read the authors notes to comment where they're from. Everyone else can hate me for the cliffhanger. Again. :)

Hope you enjoyed!

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

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend

PS: next chapter, its gonna be big. break out the tissues and the popcorn and buckle your seatbelts folks! ;)