Wild and Free

THIS IS A BIG ONE GUYS I’M SO EXCITED!!!!

(Mason’s POV)

Run dammit. That’s all she had to do.

I should’ve known that she wouldn’t listen. That little glint in her eye when she made eye contact with me. She understood what I was saying and what it meant, but she refused to leave. Just as she had said, she didn’t need anyone to fight her battles for her. Dammit.

I had to trust that she and Holden and Cassie would know what to do.

But in that moment while they ran toward the crumbling church, I had other things to worry about. Those things unfortunately including the egotistical “Alpha”, Orion, that seemed very content with the idea of seeing my head on a stick.

He stood up from the ground where I threw him and turned his murderous obsidian gaze back on me before charging once again.

I rammed my head into his stomach, using his own force against him and sending him flat on his back. Using that moment to my advantage, I jumped on top of him, pinning his hind legs to the ground and hovered above his head. I snarled at him to which he returned with bared teeth, obviously enraged.

Swiping my claws across his face, I drew blood and made his wolf whimper in pain. The action just made him more angry but I didn’t let up on my grip.

I was just about to make another move when one of Orion’s men tackled me to the ground from the side. We landed in a heap on the grass and before even moving I could tell that I had broken a rib or bruised something, just by the noise. When I did move to get up I winced inwardly.

The only thing on my mind was to get up, keep going. I wasn’t about to let them win or let someone from my pack die because I had gotten a little bruise. So I got to my feet, or I guess paws, ignoring the flaming pain that shot up my side.

In some way the pain fueled my anger just as much as Orion’s had fueled his.

Orion stood with his partner, presumably the blonde from the first encounter with them. I growled at the memory of his hand wrapped around Auden’s throat. He didn’t have the right, nor deserve to touch a hair on her head, let alone hold her long enough to nearly kill her.

Lucky for me, pain wasn’t my only fuel. Anger worked just as well.

Kenzie threw her opponent across the clearing and after what looked to have been an intense fight, knocking him unconscious. Probably. She was at my side in a second, ready to help.

Ever since we were kids, she and I had always been the best in partner combat. It was like our movements were in tandem and we didn’t even think about it. Our mother always said it was a twin thing.

She made the first move, rearing onto her back legs and coming down on top of Orion while I latched my teeth onto the ankle of the blonde warrior. He howled in pain and kicked the leg that I held, throwing me backwards.

I rolled over the grass, landing on my side. He limped toward me in human form and I quickly staggered to my feet, just in time to morph before his first punch hit me square in the stomach. The second split my lip and I tasted blood. I bit down on my tongue to prevent a wince from escaping my mouth. I couldn’t afford to show weakness.

Angry, I let my hand shoot out and catch him in the jaw. I felt the sadistically satisfying noise of the bone dislocating underneath my touch. He stumbled backward, landing flat on his ass. Pain contorted his features and a curse spilled from his mouth.

With him distracted, I took the chance and kicked him hard in the side. He rolled over onto his stomach and I kicked again. He looked up at me weakly, a trickle of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Then he surprised me and spoke.

“I should’ve killed her when I had the chance,” he grinned maniacally.

I fumed and drew back my fist, slamming him as hard as I could, right in the nose, again enjoying the pleasurable noise it made as it cracked and he was knocked out. If he knew what was good for him, he’d stay that way.

I didn’t have a second to recover before my attention was drawn to a different masked warrior who held my sister in the air by her collar, both in human form.

My eyes narrowed as I watched her try to kick at him to loosen his grip. He didn’t budge so I knew I had to intervene. I looked around and saw a plank of wood from the debris of the church sitting on the grass. Using my ability I lifted the projectile and swung it at the man, hitting him first in the ribcage and then in the throat, making him crumble to the ground. Kenzie went with him but landed on her feet.

She ran over to me and embraced me. I winced at the contact on my side and she glanced at me warily. I shook my head quickly before we both glanced at the rest of the battlefield.

Riley wrestled with two grey wolves and Greyson was pinned to the ground by another. Both didn’t look much better than I did in that moment, with a scratch here and there. Thankfully they didn’t look fatally injured. The same couldn’t be confirmed of Auden or Cassie or Holden.

I turned to face my sister, “You go help Riley, I’ll help Grey then we’ll go to the others.”

She nodded and we both bolted in separate directions.

I sprinted towards Greyson, using my momentum to kick the guy off of my friend. He landed in a heap on the ground, seemingly collapsing due to the number of injuries that Greyson did on him added to my rough shove.

I reached a hand out, helping him to his feet. He stumbled a little bit and I looked down to see his ankle in an odd position, “Shit,” I muttered under my breath. “Can you walk?”

He nodded, putting pressure on his ankle. I could tell by the distorted expression on his face that it hurt like hell, but he pushed it aside like I did with my ribs.

I patted him on the back. And the two of us went to join Kenzie and Riley who were both now on their feet. I assessed their condition and the fallen grey warriors around us.

We all looked a little worse for wear. We all had various smudges of dirt and blood on our exposed skin and clothes. Riley had a bite mark on his upper bicep and a claw scratch under his chin with another on his side that had torn his shirt. Greyson leaned his weight on me and not on his ankle that was probably worse than he was letting on. He too had a long cut on his forearm and leg.

I turned to my sister. Kenzie’s dark brown hair had come down from it’s bun and was now sprawled over her shoulders. She had escaped relatively clean except for a big purple bruise that was forming on her neck and slowly creeping its way up her jaw. I felt my jaw clenching just looking at it.

A burst of panic was sent through me when I remembered our friends. Our heads all snapped in the direction of the chapel.

Fighting could be heard from inside. But there was no screaming. I knew Auden well enough to know that she didn’t really scream in fear, but Cassie definitely would. I couldn’t tell if the lack of sound was a sign that they either weren’t doing well or weren’t doing at all.

We hadn’t even taken a step toward the chapel before we heard more wolves approaching. Our attention was slowly turned back to the edge of the woods where at least six more grey wolves emerged, standing proudly with their heinous leader. Orion, who had escaped both my grasp and my mind for the past few moments, grinned wickedly with his followers.

He was right. We had underestimated his pack. Maybe not in power because they were seriously lacking there, but most definitely in number.

“Fuck,” Greyson cursed. “What are we going to do?”

I opened my mouth to respond but was interrupted when the doors of the chapel burst open. Out ran Auden, Cassie, and Holden who all looked frazzled and scared but seemingly unfazed.

We let out a sigh of relief as they spotted us and ran over. Cassie ran into RIley’s arms and Kenzie did the same into Holden’s. In his hand he held a metal rod that looked like it had blood on it. Cassie had a dagger that upon closer inspection was made of silver. My mind immediately went to Auden but I didn’t have the brain power to reason why she would carry one of those.

Auden was the last to join the group. For her, unfazed probably wasn’t the right word to use.

My eyes widened when I saw her. There were two large gashes on her upper body that had clearly been made by claws. One was in vaguely the same spot as Riley’s bloody bite mark, on her bicep. The other was right across her collarbone, where her shirt had once been perfectly intact.

She met my eyes but didn’t say anything.

I wanted to scream and yell, telling her that I knew she would get hurt in some way if she didn’t listen to me and run. And guess what happened.

But I couldn’t seem to get my body to agree with my mind and make the words form on my lips.

Are you okay? I mindlinked her.

She flinched beside me, looking up at me with wide eyes. I had forgotten that I’d never done it with her before. Once she realized from my look that she wasn’t going crazy, she took a deep breath and nodded, her eyes trained forward.

I wasn’t buying it but didn’t say anything.

What happened to the ones that came after you? I asked.

She looked up at me and almost smirked, I told you I didn’t need you to fight my battles.

I held back a grin and shook my head. She bit her lip next to me, the only sign that showed me she was the least bit nervous.

Orion stood once again at the other side of the clearing but his smirk had been wiped away the second he realized that his weak pack hadn’t seemed to have an effect on us. Our wounds would say otherwise but we let the mostly unconscious grey wolf bodies do the talking.

“You can’t win Little Alpha,” I mocked, making his scowl turn even more rageful.

“Wanna bet?” I asked challengingly.

No one moved as my father and our own pack warriors emerged from the forest in wolf form. My father made eye contact with me and we nodded in acknowledgement before he joined me at my side. The rest of them fanned out beside my friends.

Orion’s face was a mix of emotions. Rage. Disbelief. Surprise. And my personal favorite, fear. But despite it all he didn’t seem to back down.

“Perfect,” he sneered, “a real Alpha. A true, worthy opponent.”

My father scoffed, “My son is more of an Alpha than your sad little mind could even try to convince yourself you are,” he proclaimed. Just his tone of voice was enough to make a person feel small.

Orion and my father were caught it a seemingly endless battle of glares. But what no one else seemed to observe was that Orion’s warrior were slowly creeping around us, closing us in inch by inch.

I glanced at Auden and saw that she had noticed that same thing. Neither of us even had the chance to see Orion’s smirk before they attacked. Again.

Orion launched himself at my father first. My first instinct was to rip him off but my father yelled for me to help the others.

I looked over and saw that everyone was fighting against someone. More surrounded the field to hop on the opportunity to take us down. Some were in wolf form but it seemed as though Orion and his pack were trying to assert their dominance in human form. It was their way of challenging us, not that it made it any harder for us.

Not wasting a second, I ripped one off of one of our pack warriors, Jayson. My fist collided with the guy’s jaw three times before I pushed him towards Jayson who finished him off. I didn’t stay to marvel in the accomplishment.

I turned just in time to see Kenzie get shoved into Greyson by the guy she was up against. They were both knocked to the ground. Kenzie got up first, anger written on her features. She whispered something to Greyson before launching herself feet first at the one who pushed her. I spared her quick smile, proud of my twin’s skill.

Holden, Riley, and Cassie with their backs together, daring anyone to come near them. Cassie held her own with the dagger in her hand. Though she was but a mere human, that single piece of metal in her hands was enough to earn the fearful tint in the eyes of any grey wolf that challenged her. And she wasn’t bad at using it either.

Holden’s skills seemed to live up to what Auden mentioned before as he fended for himself against beings of a different species. His fighting was in a way similar to the way Orion’s pack fought in that it wasn’t as uniform. It definitely played to his advantage.

That just left Auden.

She stood next to me, her hands balled into fists, ready to be used.

Two masked warriors charged at us from a couple of yards away. Auden turned to me.

“Throw me,” she said quickly.

I opened my mouth to protest but she put her hands on my shoulders and bent her knee, “No time to argue Mason. Just throw me!” she said.

I found myself doing what she asked, lacing my fingers together. She placed her foot in my hands and I propelled her upward, towards the approaching guys, just as she said.

I didn’t know what she was thinking. How did she expect that to end without something going badly?

But as usual, I underestimated her. At the very last second she swung her leg out and one’s head, knocking him sideways. Then she twisted and aimed her body at the second, landing on top of him on her feet.

My mouth was agape. It all happened within a few seconds.

Again, neither of us had time to do anything before we were cornered again.

She moved swiftly and smoothly like a cat. Every touch she made on the grey warriors was planned and executed perfectly yet it seemed to have no pattern. It was fluid and effortless, as if it was as easy as breathing to her. She must have trained a lot more than I originally thought.

I was so busy watching her that I wasn’t ready when a grey wolf plowed right into me.

I shifted as fast as I could but he latched his fangs onto my leg and my moving to shift only made the bite worse. Grunting in pain, I kicked that leg out and shook him off. My adrenaline helped with the pain but I knew it would last. None of us would at this rate.

He snarled, baring his blood covered teeth. This time, I charged first, enraged.

I dug my claws into his chest, a whine of pain escaping his mouth as I did. He swiped his claws at me, scratching me once on the temple but I wouldn’t let go. His writhing and moving just made my claws rip at his chest until he finally stopped fighting.

I left go and shifted back to human, trying to push the thoughts of what I’d done out of my head.

Orion kneeled in front my father, barely standing. Two of our pack warriors next to him on the ground. All of them were badly wounded.

Cassie tossed her dagger to Riley, which he used in a split second before he was taken to the grass by another wolf.

Where the hell were they all coming from.

A familiar voice’s cry of pain hit my ears and I turned to see a man dangling Holden in the air. But his hands weren’t holding him there. The masked werewolf had his claws buried deep in the human’s shoulder and held him up by that only.

Holden’s face was contorted and he screamed in agony. Blood ran down the warrior’s hand and a sadistic smile on his face.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that Auden had seen what was happening too.

She didn’t even have time to grab Cassie either before the blonde was being held with an arm around her neck, the man prepared to cut off her air supply the second that he was given the okay from Orion.

Riley roared in anger and went to attack the guy who was holding his beloved mate. But the grey wolves were ahead of him, two of them latching onto his arms. One of them snatched the silver knife from his hand and held it against his throat.

Shit.

Riley screamed as the metal edge of the blade burned his skin. I knew he’d never show that weakness unless it was unbearable pain. None of us would. I mean, Greyson probably had a broken ankle and I probably had cracked ribs but never once had we let out a sound to show the pain. There was definitely something about this knife and I knew I’d ask Auden about it later. If we made it out.

Cassie’s eyes widened at his sound and she struggled against her captor.

Orion got to his feet and assessed everything around him. Sure, almost all of the bodies on the grass were from his pack, but even then he could tell that he had us right where he wanted.

All of us were either down, wounded, or had no choice but to stay where we were in order to keep our friends alive.

“Well, well, well,” Orion smirked. His obsidian gaze met mine, “What was that you were saying earlier about my not being a real Alpha? And not having a real pack?”

My father snarled, “Open your eyes. You’d never beat us in a fair fight. Playing dirty is the only way you would ever know how to accomplish anything.”

Orion rolled his eyes and kicked my father in the stomach. It was as if he’d kicked me in the stomach and I wanted to rip his head off for it.

Tears rolled down Cassie’s face and she struggled against the man’s grip. One glance at Holden made my stomach turn. His face was pale and his body limp in the warrior’s grip. I feared he wasn’t going to last much longer. I could tell Riley was in pain but was trying hard to contain it, as a bead of sweat rolled down his temple.

It was strange though that Orion hadn’t ordered his men to kill them yet. It was as if he was waiting for something.

“It’s over Royals,” He sneered. “Just accept that you’ve lost and surrender.”

I glared daggers at him. But I wasn’t the first one to speak.

“Not quite yet,” Auden said. Something in her voice was different than normal but I could place it.

All I knew what that those three words got a reaction out of Cassie and Holden.

“No,” he choked out hoarsely.

Cassie opened her mouth, a panicked look on her face, but the arm around her tightened, cutting off her voice. Her brilliant green eyes flickered back and forth between me Orion and Auden. What were they talking about?

Auden turned to me and mouthed something I hardly understood. But her voice in my head was enough.

Forgive me.

And then she did the last thing I expected her to do.

She took of her necklace, and shifted.

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

;)

Hope you enjoyed!

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~your Cheshire Cat loving friend