Wild and Free

(Mason’s POV)

“I don’t know what you and your psychotic friends want from us but whatever it is I’m sure we can work it out before things get uglier than they already are,” I warned stepping closer.

I snuck a glance at Auden and she looked at me like I was nuts talking to a giant wolf.

You must not have heard my associate, we aren’t here for you, his evil voice replied.

“Mason behind you!” Auden screamed. I had just enough time to turn around and prepare myself before the wolf that I thought I’d taken down earlier jumped over me and into the circle.

I didn’t have time to thank her or process the fact that she impossibly saw it coming before she should have, because now I had two wolves to worry about.

The wolf growled and swiped at me with his huge claws, slicing my right side and across my collarbone before he stood down due to his partner’s command.

“If you’re not here for me or my pack then who the hell are you here for?!” I shouted angrily, painfully clutching my fresh wounds.

Both wolves did the things that I least expected them to do. They shifted.

In less than a second the grey wolves that stood in front of me before, were now two human clad in all black clothing, wearing masks. The one that I battled against not fifteen minutes earlier had black curly hair that poured over the top of his head. Just as in wolf form, his injuries were present. The other had spiky dark blonde hair and freakily pale skin. Both of them had eyes that were black as obsidian.

The blonde came at me, landing a hard punch on my cheekbone. In return I threw one, equally as hard straight at his nose, relishing in the satisfying crack I heard when my fist made contact.

He looked enraged and went to come at me again but the other masked man held him back.

“You ignorant fool!” the curly haired one said, “Stand down. We’re not after you. We’re after the scent and the scent only.”

“What scent?”

“The same one you’ve been trying to figure out since you got here,” the other said, matter of factly, holding his now bleeding nose. “We’ve been after it too.”

They meant the smell that I caught outside the diner the first day? That didn’t make sense. Sure it was a strange smell but hardly something that these guys should risk their lives coming onto our territory to investigate.

I knit my brows, “But why here, why now? What lead you to us?”

They both turned slowly and looked at Auden. She, with a look of discomfort on her face, took a step back.

“What, you think she’s where the scent is coming from?” I asked. “I’ve already looked into her, and I’ve already ruled her out.”

“And you’re absolutely sure?” curly haired asked doubtfully.

“I mean no but-”

They both sighed and turned back to Auden who just looked very, very confused.

“Are you one of us?” Blondie asked bluntly.

“Seriously? You think that’s the best way to ask her? You dimwit,” Curly rolled his eyes. He was starting to appear as the obvious leader, the way he carried himself and how he spoke to the other guy.

Auden shook her head, “One of what? Who are you people? W-what are you people?!” she yelled. It was the first time she’d shown any hint of fear or anything, though it still wasn’t much.

“See she’s human,” I concluded. “Now answer the question. Who are you?” I was tired of the stalling. I needed some answers.

Curly scoffed, his hands in his pockets, “That isn’t anything of your concern.”

“Why not? You injured me and my friends, and you’re trespassing on my territory so it is of my concern. Where do you come from? I demand you tell me,”

They both snickered, “Patience little Alpha. Everything will work out eventually. Now we’ll forgive you and your friends’ tempers, and the damage they did to our men if you don’t come looking for us. We’ll stay off this territory and we won’t cause you or your Alpha family’s anymore trouble,” Curly proposed.

I narrowed my eyes, “Okay first of all, my friend’s ‘tempers’ came only from the fact that your men attacked mine. Not the other way around. Second, how can you expect me to just, let you go and forget about this? Crossing territory borders is against the rules, if you’d yet to be informed. You said it yourself, I am an Alpha, letting this go would be against my duties.”

Curly shrugged, unfazed, “Fine then, we’ll negotiate the hard way.”

Auden’s beautiful blue eyes widened again, looking at something behind me and opened her mouth to say something but another man in a mask came out from behind her and grabbed her neck, stealing the scream from her throat. He dragged her over to a tree and held her against it, obstructing her ability to breathe.

I jumped to throw him off but two more masked men grabbed my arms from behind and pulled me back. A two of them I recognized from fighting earlier, mostly because of the injuries that Riley and Greyson inflicted.

It was as my sister’s best friend dangled from the stranger’s hand, I noticed something. There were three huge claw marks that bleed from her forearm. I hadn’t noticed it before but it was blatant and visible now.

I growled, struggling and fighting against their grip while Auden choked out a pitiful attempted breath. The guys tightened their hold on me and I winced because of the scratches that still burned painfully.

“Let her go!” I roared. I tried kicking back at the men but one of the hit me in the back of my leg, driving me down to my knees.

Curly folded his arms across his chest, and smirked, “So do we have a deal? Keep your mouth shut and don’t go running to daddy about us, and in return us,” he gestured to his men, “and the rest of my group won’t cause you anymore trouble.”

“Fine, fine but let her go!” I pleaded.

He waved his hand and the man dropped Auden to the ground like a rag doll. She coughed and panted, taking in big breaths.

The leader guy extended his hand toward me and nodded at his men to release me. I yanked my arms away from them and shot them a murderous look that made them back away.

After a moment, I took his hand, but not without a glare for their completely unfair tactics in deal making.

Then I ran over to Auden and knelt next to her.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She nodded and shot daggers at the guy that choked her. He tried his best but failed to cover his nervousness under her blazing gaze.

“I’m glad we see eye to eye,” Curly said, waving his gang towards him. They fanned out at his side. Though there weren’t a ton of them, they had a way of making their small size seem largely intimidating.

“Remember what I said,” he added before turning to leave, “If you go and tell your daddy about this then things will get ugly and next time it won’t just be your pack getting hurt. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

I wanted to scream, because you haven’t told me! in his face but they all morphed into their identical wolf forms and bounded out of the clearing. If what had just happened wasn’t what they considered ugly, then I’d be afraid of what they would.

I watched their backs until they faded into tiny specs, eventually vanishing. I was itching to know where they came from, but I knew I had to keep my pack and the town people safe so I decided that I’d do as their leader said and keep my mouth shut.

“Ahem,” Auden cleared her voice to get my attention.

I turned to her to see she was still rubbing her throat. Her voice was very hoarse from lack of breath support. There were also red marks where the guy’s hand grasped her. It was likely to bruise by tomorrow, judging by how tight it looked like her choked her.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” she affirmed, pushing herself to her feet.

I attempted to do the same but the adrenaline I’d been feeling throughout the fight and argument had worn off, leaving behind the sharp pains all over. Werewolf healing was great and all but you still felt every bit of the torture.

“Ah,” I grimaced, holding my side.

Auden’s face was painted with concern and this time she knelt by me, “What now?” I pulled my hand back that was holding the wound on my stomach. It was covered in crimson blood. Her eyes widened, “Oh god. You’re in no shape to get all the way back to town. Where did Greyson take Kenzie? And Cassie, where’d she go?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my temple.

She knew too much already. It was a total risk and insanely stupid move to reveal ourselves to her and Cassie. What could we do? If we hadn’t morphed then the wolves would’ve gone for Auden aggressively and dragged her into something she didn’t know a thing about. It was still strange to know now that others had caught the scent I was talking about. But Auden? Of all people, what made her special? I didn’t get it.

“I-I don’t know,” I muttered.

“Did you not tell them where to-”

I waved my hand to stop her, “No I mean I don’t know if I should tell you.”

She knit her brows at me and folded her arms, the again forgotten slash on her showing, “After everything I just saw and what they did you me, my friend, your friends, even your sister? After all of that you are considering not telling me?”

“Look I just saved your ass-”

“No,” She cut me off. “Mackenzie saved my ass, and she got hers handed to her. You got into a big ego fight with those assholes instead of handling it maturely. And do not forget that I warned you before the black haired one attacked you. And what do I get in return? Nearly choked to death and the title of untrustworthy!”

She huffed and walked a few steps away, turning her back to me.

I couldn’t find it in me to roll my eyes or even scowl. Partly because I was exhausted and partly because she wasn’t wrong. Sure I’d come for her and Cassie but my execution of saving them didn’t really come through as I might have thought.

“Okay I get it, you’re mad,” I said, looking down at my hand that was covered in blood. I sighed, “We can’t go back to my house, it’s not possible unless you’d like to see my father cut off my head and mount it on the wall.”

Auden turned around and cocked her head to the side, “Actually I wouldn’t mind seeing that.” she said.

“Gee thanks,” I replied with a small grin. “Is there anywhere else that you know where I can get this cleaned up before I go home? Maybe the diner or something?”

She bit her lip and looked around the clearing, “I don’t think I can take you there. There will be too many people on a Saturday night to get by unnoticed. Plus, I don’t think you’ll make it all the way there with that,” she pointed to my side and patchy, blood soaked shirt.

“I think I can handle it, I’m a big boy,” I joked. She did not hold back her eye roll.

“Not that big,” she shot back with a smirk. “And definitely not from here. I don’t know if you and your friends noticed when you were following us out here, but it’s a really long way from town.”

I sighed, “Well it’s going to be dark real soon so, any other ideas? What about your house? You live around here right? I can just-”

Auden shook her head, “I’m not going to let you into my house.”

“What?”

The disgusted look that she always gave me was back, “You’ll just gossip to the queen bitch of the school. You obviously don’t trust me so why should I trust you?”

“Look, I’m sorry about what you overheard at lunch the other day. I didn’t know anything about you-”

She shot me a glare, “So you just go along with what everyone else thinks?”

“I’m trying to apologize here!”

“Try harder!”

If I wasn’t in so much pain I probably would’ve punched a tree.

“I’m sorry,” I said after taking a breath, “It was rude of me and I shouldn’t have just assumed the worst about you, especially from people who didn’t have any proof in what they said. Can you please forgive me?”

She stared at me, her rich, calculating blue eyes studying my movements, probably making her decision.

“Fine.”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, “Okay now, I promise I won’t tell anyone anything about your house or how you live. I’ll be gone in no time. I really need to make sure that my sister is okay.”

“What about Cassie?” she asked.

Shoot. I didn’t think about her.

“If Riley got her away without running into any more of those nasty wolves, then she’s safe. If it’s alright I’ll call him at your house and tell him to bring her home,” I explained to her.

She nodded and walked over to me, holding out her hand to help me up. It was a nice gesture and I took it, weakly getting to my feet and cringing again at the stabs of pain. The scratches were a lot like the ones that the black wolf had given me. Strange.

In that moment when our hands clasped together, I felt my grip gradually get unusually warm until it was burning hot. The weird part was that it didn’t hurt at all. Her palm was rough because of the scars that I’d never seen up close. But before I could, she yanked her hand away and turned around.

Auden navigated the way back through the woods and by the time we came out of the tree covered mass, night had fallen. I followed her the rest of the way, wondering in the comfortable silence what the evenings events would lead to next.

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

I hope you enjoyed!

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

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend