Wild and Free

(Auden’s POV)

My first thought was to get my friends safe. I couldn’t think about what I was doing and I definitely couldn’t stop to tell them I was sorry. If I spent just a split second to even look at one of them, I knew I’d choke and ruin this chance

No one was expecting me and although I knew I’d be hated for it later, it worked in my favor at the time.

I launched myself at the one that was killing Holden. I bit into his forearm as hard as I could and he yelled in pain, dropping my friend to the dirt. The metal taste of blood burned in my mouth. Holden’s eyes were closed and my heart ached and pleaded to see if he was okay but I didn’t have time.

Cassie, however shocked she was about what I did, seemed to snap out of it quickly. She used her captor’s surprise to her own advantage, digging the heel of her shoe into his foot and ramming her elbow into his stomach. He bent over and I took the opportunity to shove him backward. He flew threw the air for a moment before crashing against a tree.

Once I knew he was down, I turned and ran towards Riley. I couldn’t meet his eyes but I knew his face was a mix of confusion, just as the rest of theirs was. I ignored the sinking feeling in my stomach and slid to the ground, knocking the legs from underneath one of the men holding him.

With one arm free, he threw a hard punch to the second guy’s face and another to his throat. He coughed and released Riley’s other arm. With control back again he grabbed the guy by the throat with one strong hand and thrust him to the ground. The impact on the guy’s head left him limp and unconscious.

It seemed as though, simultaneously Orion, Mason and Kenzie unfroze because the fighting started again in half a second.

Orion went again for the Alpha Pearce but Kenzie and Mason ran forward and grabbed him by the arms before he could touch their wounded father again.

Two grey wolves came at me. I ducked under the first one’s large paw aimed at my head, but the other one went behind me and knocked my leg to the side. I fell to my side and hit the ground. He went to throw himself on top of me to hold me down but I rolled sideways, out of range and scrambled to my feet.

One of the Royal pack warriors took on the other grey wolf and a different warrior came toward me and the one I fought.

The grey wolf growled, barring his blood cover teeth at me. He charged again but I sidestepped and swiped my claws across his flank. He fell and the warrior took over. I didn’t stay to see what he did to finish him off.

I jumped across to the other side of the field in the blink of an eye to rip a smaller wolf off of Greyson. He was tiny compared to the others, one that I’d never expected would even come to this battle let alone fight.

He growled up at me but not with the same confidence or experience that the others did. He was so young. I took one look into his eyes that, also in stark contrast to his pack, were coffee brown like Mason’s not black like Orion’s. They held a sort of innocence that I couldn’t help but find familiar. I didn’t know what to do with him. So I didn’t.

Leave here. Now, I mindlinked him in warning, trying to give him the opportunity to save himself.

He glared at me and wriggled out of my grip, bolting to the side. He was nearly outside the range of the battlefield when a Royal pack warrior tackled him to the ground. The pup and the warrior rolled over a few times before I had to look away. I didn’t want to watch what happened next.

I turned to see Greyson with my knife in his hands. He must have picked it up from where the grey wolf had dropped it. I could see the glint of blood on it even from far away and my mind remembered Riley and Cassie.

Riley was back in wolf form, him and an enemy standing on their hind legs, clawing at each other. My blonde friend ran over to Holden who was still on the ground, out cold. She grabbed him underneath his arms and dragged him away from the others.

Greyson yelled something out to Cassie and she yelped before she was grabbed around the waist. The look in the man’s eyes was rabid and almost hungry which made me furious. Greyson tossed her the knife just in time for her to dig it into the guy’s arm.

They both screamed as the guy lost his footing, sending them to the ground. Cassie pulled the knife out quickly and plunged it into his side. My heart stopped when I saw the blood on her shirt right where she’d stabbed the man’s arm. I couldn’t tell if it was hers or his.

Almost everyone was back up, battered and bruised but fighting nonetheless.

I let myself be hopeful for a second but it was short lived when someone came behind me and kicked me right in the middle of the back. The person’s hard boot hit the flesh over my spine, sending a flaming burst of pain through my entire body.

It burned so bad I let out an involuntary cry.

That was all it took for Mason’s head to whip in my direction. He knew his mistake the second he did it but he was too late. His slack grip on Orion let him break free an arm. Kenzie stumbled backward at his jerking movement. Just like Riley had, he used it to his advantage, landing a punch to Mason’s cheek. Mason cursed but grabbed the arm again, this time holding it tighter. Kenzie got her grip back too and held the pathetic Alpha so he wouldn’t get free.

Any of the grey wolves that were still conscious or alive took one look at their captured leader and bolted, disappearing into the forest in all different directions.

The field fell silent save for our breath that came out in pants, and Orion’s struggling against his restraints.

Mason clenched his jaw and kicked the masked man behind the leg, dropping him to his knees. Two of the warriors that remained took their Alphas’ places, letting Kenzie and Mason step back. The warriors dragged Orion away while a few new people in wolf form emerged from the forest, obviously from the Royal pack.

The twins embraced for a moment, holding each other tightly in that moment. I couldn’t begin to imagine what was going through their heads. It couldn’t be good.

I shifted back and ran over to Cassie and Holden. He was slowly coming back, Cassie helping him sit up. It was a vain effort because my hug nearly made them both fall again.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” I whispered between them so they could hear me.

I felt a tear fall on my cheek and looked up to see Cassie’s green eyes watering. I knew exactly what she was thinking.

She opened her mouth to say something but I shook my head.

“I know,” I mouthed to her, causing her head to fall. I slipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out my necklace. “Can you give this to Mason please?” I asked. She looked down at it and nodded. “And tell him I’m sorry,” I added barely above a whisper. After setting it in Cassie’s palm and folding her fingers around it, I slowly got to my feet.

All I knew in that second was relief. The feeling rushed over my body like water. But it was quickly overtaken by realization.

What have we done? Celeste spoke in my mind. I could feel her cowering in the corner of my mind out of fear of what we’d done. I didn’t even realize I was doing the same until everyone’s eyes were on me.

I didn’t know what to do. So my body did the only thing it knew how to, and I ran.

My feet carried me across the field and I almost made it to the forest. But two pairs of arms grabbing me and yanking me roughly back was the only thing that stopped me.

I felt tears prick my own eyes but refused to let them fall. My legs didn’t even protest as they pulled me back toward the group.

It was like those arms grabbing onto me took that last bit of fight out of me. I was getting deja vu from that night at my apartment. I had felt broken then because of fear of getting caught. And there I was, caught. Was I actually going to break this time?

At least ten other Royal pack members, these ones in some sort of uniforms, had arrived in the minute I was gone. Some of them worked on pulling away the grey wolf men to somewhere I didn’t know, while others talked to Mason’s father or helped tend to everyone’s wounds.

Two other pack members walked toward me and the ones that held onto me. One of them pulled out a pair of handcuffs. As if I was going to run away now. My fate was sealed. There was nothing I could do.

The cold metal clicked around my wrists and it didn’t take me long to realize that they weren’t normal cuffs. The sickening feeling of silence fell around me and I instantly knew that they were made with Colt stone. It didn’t hurt as much as it would have if they were silver cuffs, but Colt stone cuffs made your whole body feel like it was made of lead.

Mason, who was getting one of his wounds cleaned, turned when he saw what they were doing to me.

“What the hell is this?” he asked angrily. “Father?”

Mason’s father walked over to me, ignoring his son. He looked me right in the eyes and when I looked back, I was startled to see they were bright white. It was like Kenzie whenever she got a vision or Mason whenever he used his power. The sight reminded me of something he’d told me a while ago.

Alpha, I thought before bowing my head slightly out of respect.

His eyes narrowed and his expression held a surprised look.

I might be a rogue or Omega, whatever you wish to call it, but I know how to be respectful, I thought, knowing well that he could hear me.

My friends stepped forward and broke their Alpha’s and my stare.

“Would someone like to tell us why she’s in handcuffs?” Kenzie asked, her eyebrows knit.

“She hasn’t done anything wrong,” Greyson added in agreement.

The Alpha scoffed, “On the contrary, what has this girl not done wrong?” he asked. His son opened his mouth, I could only hope to argue, but was cut off. “Take her to the cells at the pack house. We’ll deal with her once we’re done here.”

I squeezed my eyes shut for a second but kept a calm face, eyes on the grass beneath my feet.

“No!” Cassie yelled.

“What the hell?” said Holden.

“You can’t do this!” Kenzie shouted.

All different responses at the same time. In some way it was reassuring to know that they were at least speaking to me. Sort of. But part of me knew that they just wanted me to stay so they could beat me up with questions.

My two “guards” tugged me towards one of the two or so trucks that had pulled up on the path. The back was small and had no windows to see out of. They all but threw me into it, my chains making a clashing noise when I hit the metal floor.

The last thing I saw before the doors slammed was Mason’s face, but I couldn’t make out his expression before he was gone.

~*~

I guess I never stopped to think about what it would be like to return to the Royal pack’s territory again. The first time didn’t count because I didn’t go onto the land and the second time I didn’t have much choice in the matter. But less than a few hours before, I had been dead set on leaving White Chapel forever and now… my fate wasn’t in my hands any more.

The doors of the truck opened after probably forty minutes of driving in complete silence and darkness. Light flooded in, momentarily blinding me until my eyes adjusted. It wasn’t super sunny out, still cloudy and looking as if it was about to rain, but anything was brighter than the pitch black inside of that truck.

I looked around and saw huge crowds of people in the courtyard of the pack grounds. They all looked at me, some in curiosity, some in fear. I scanned the area briefly but didn’t recognize anyone.

I was dragged by the chain of my cuffs out of the truck, nearly falling onto the dirt before I managed to get my feet under me. I really wanted to hurt those stupid guards but instead settled for a hard glare before lowering my head while they pushed me toward a big stone structure.

The crowds disappeared from my sight when the door closed again. Me and the three or so guards were in the dark for a moment before lights slowly flickered on, one by one each leading down a stairwell. Had the lights not been there I surely would fallen down them.

One guard took the lead, the other two pushing me behind him and then following after.

We traveled down probably three maybe four flights of stairs, each leading us deeper and deeper underground. I tried to stay calm but even I knew that no matter how much my mind had accepted that I was doomed, my body was still terrified. For the sake of my pride however I hide it outwardly the best I could.

After another flight of stairs, they finally took me down a long hallway before stopped at an old steel door. There was a window on the door with cracked glass, through which I could sort of make out the shape of a chair but nothing else.

One of the guards took out an old key and unlocked the door while another, surprisingly, unlocked my handcuffs. I looked up at him confused. He smirked before shoving me backward into the room. I fell hard to the cold, wet floor.

The guy walked in a grabbed my wrists again, latching new cuffs onto both of them before I knew what was happening. These cuffs were mostly iron but I could feel the sting of blades made into them so if I tried to pull them off they’d cut into my skin. And as if a billion stories under ground, a huge metal door and handcuffs weren’t enough to keep me down, the chains were attached to the wall so I couldn’t move around if I tried.

A feeling settled around me and I choked on my own breath when I realized what it was, where they had put me. That was why it was so far underground. It was exactly what I had always stressed about if I was ever caught.

I was in a prison. Made entirely out of Colt Stone.

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

Yay! So I know that this one wasn’t that interesting but I promise that a whole crap ton of stuff is about to be revealed in the next chapter or two, things that you the readers don’t know and were most definitely not expecting :)

Hope you enjoyed!

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

~ your Cheshire Cat loving friend