Wild and Free

(Auden’s POV)

Pain.

That was the first thing that I woke up feeling. Everything came rushing back to me in waves. The boys, the break in, the glass, Mason. All of it before I blacked out.

My eyes opened slowly and sluggishly, eyelids feeling as heavy as sandbags.

On the contrary to popular belief, being unconscious and being asleep were two entirely different things. Waking up from being asleep left you energized, even if you felt like all you had the power to do was fall back into bed. Whereas when you were unconscious, you woke up feeling as if the life has been drained out of you. My limbs felt heavy and when I moved my leg, a sharp pain shot up it.

Where most people would hate the idea of pain, I was relieved. And when I reached up to my neck, I was even more relieve to feel the charm of my necklace. It hadn’t been taken off. If someone had removed it, thinking it was a courtesy while I was out, my leg would’ve healed and I’d be discovered.

I reached down and ran my hand over the bandage, feeling that familiar sting when I touch the spot where that glass had been. I flopped back on the pillows, exhausted. All I wanted to do was curl up and savor the warm bed-

My body jolted up in a split second. I was not in my bed. It was not my apartment. Well, I mean of course not, my apartment had been trashed and regardless did not have a nearly as comfortable bed. But that wasn’t the point.

I looked around at the room around me.

It was fairly large with room for a bed, desk and small sitting area with couches and a fireplace. The carpet on the floor was a dark crimson color and matched the flocked pattern wallpaper of burgundy and gold. The bed I was in was a four poster with nice soft sheets and a thick cream colored comforter. Two tables sat on either side of the lavish bed with a reading lamp on both surfaces. On the wall to the right of the bed were two windows lined with thick blackout curtains tied back by gold tassels. The bookshelf that lean against the wall by the fireplace was filled with tons of different classic books, all slightly dusty. I guess wherever I was, the people weren’t big readers.

My first instinct was to find an exit.

There were three doors in the room. One was cracked open and I could see by the tile floor that it was the bathroom. The other two were shut and when I jiggled the handles, we both locked. I assumed one would be a closet but there was a wooden armoire to the other side of the bed so I wouldn’t be. Plus, who locks their closet?

I pressed my ear against the door opposite the windows. It seemed like the most logical choice for an exit as it probably opened up to a hallway.

No noise came from the other side and I started to panic.

The last thing I remembered before blacking out was asking Mason not to leave when the doctor, Rojas I think, was about to fix my leg. Anything could’ve happened while I was unconscious. Hell, I didn’t even know how much time I’d been out, let alone what might’ve happened.

The next thing I thought to do was to find something to defend myself with. There was no way I could shift with how weak I was but I could still fight.

I looked around the room, weighing my options. I could very well rip a leg of the desk chair and use that but it would look suspicious that I woke up and di that so I scratched that idea. I really didn’t want to use a book because they look ridiculous as a weapon but they were hard and heavy. I finally let out a sigh of relief when I saw a couple of papers and letters sitting on the desk. Laying next to them was a sharp letter opener.

Before I my brain could find another thing to stress over or question, the door knob of one of the doors turned.

My hand shot back to grab the letter opener and I raced over to hide next to the armoire where whoever it was couldn’t see me.

“What the…?” a voice said, probably confused at seeing the empty bed.

I quickly jumped out from behind the cupboard, weapon bared.

But when I went to attack so I could slip through the door behind them, the person grabbed my wrist. I blinked a few times before I realized that the said person, was no kidnapper. It was just Mason. And the point of a sharp letter opener was a half an inch away from his eyeball

He looked at me with wide eyes and a surprised, slightly frightened, smile, “Good morning to you to.”

I sighed and dropped my makeshift weapon to the floor and stepping back.

“I’m so sorry, I thought I’d been kidnapped,” I said, my heart still racing.

He laughed and bent over to pick up the letter opener, returning it to the desktop where I’d found it.

“How long have you been awake?” he asked.

I shrugged, running a hand through my tangled hair, “Like ten minutes?”

“Sorry if you were surprised waking up here,” he apologized. “We couldn’t really keep you in the infirmary, people like to ask questions when they detect unfamiliar scents.”

I shook my head, “It’s fine. How long was I unconscious?”

“Only a day,” he answered, his hands casually set in his pockets. “We found you yesterday morning just about the same time as now.”

I knit my brows and looked down at what I was wearing.

“Someone… changed me?”

I don’t remember what I had been wearing when I came to the Royal pack infirmary but I knew that it was not what I was currently wearing. It wasn’t anything extravagant, just a dark grey tank top and a pair of lightweight black pajama shorts. I didn’t even want to think how I had gotten clean undergarments as well. The smaller cuts on my legs had been left uncovered, presumably so they could get fresh air, while the big white bandage over the stitches, I’d been given was still present.

Mason scratched the back of his neck, “Yes, but I assure you it was not me. We thought you be most comfortable with someone of, um, your own gender…” he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Cassie and my sister did it.”

I almost let out a sigh of relief but was too busy smirking at Mason. I’d never seen him look frazzled like that. It was kind of amusing.

“Well I appreciate it,” I told him, standing in the middle of the room awkwardly. “Sorry if I caused any trouble with you and your father.”

He shrugged, “It wasn’t hard getting you here, really. My father is out of town visiting one of our neighboring packs. The hard part will come some a few hours when he returns.”

“I heard you talking in the car with Kenzie,” while floating in and out of consciousness I almost said, “You said there were people that would report you for bringing me here.”

He sighed, shaking his head a bit, “It was just the guards, they were just doing their job.”

“But you’ll get in trouble with your father,” I said, biting my lip.

“Don’t worry about him,” he brushed it off. “I can handle him.”

I would’ve finished there but he didn’t really deny my statement.

I shook my head, rubbing my hands together, “I told you you shouldn’t have brought me here,” I muttered, my scars suddenly feeling deeper and raw as if they’d just been done.

Mason stepped forward and stopped my hands that were wringing together.

“There wasn’t a choice, okay? Don’t feel guilty for something that we had to do,” he told me. “I wasn’t about to let you bleed to death on your shitty apartment floor. As long as you’re okay I can deal with a little scolding from my father,” he grinned.

Part of me still felt guilty but I tried not to let it show on my face. I tried to show how grateful I felt for how much he’d helped me.

“I want to say more than just thank you. It doesn’t seem fit for this… situation,” I laughed, him joining me.

“You don’t have to thank me, I know anyone would do the same,” he replied.

I punched him lightly in the arm, “You know I’d do it for you too right?”

“Oh you mean if I had a four inch shard of glass sticking out of my leg and was bleeding to death on your kitchen floor?” he asked sarcastically.

I tapped my chin, “Now that I think about it I’d probably just leave you.”

“Wow, really feeling the love Auden,” He rolled his eyes, plopping himself on the couch and casually propping his legs up.

I looked at how comfortable he looked there and a thought came to my mind, forcing my eyes to trail around the room once more.

“This isn’t your room is it?” I asked tentatively, biting my lip. “Because I would for insanely guilty for taking it.”

He grinned and shook his head, “Don’t. It’s not my room, just a guest room.”

I eyed the desk, “And the letters?”

He shrugged, “I come in here to think a lot, sometimes to work. Alpha garbage you know? People know where to find you in your own room. In a guest room that is one of probably a dozen, no one would bother you. Anyways, how’s the leg?”

My smile waned a little bit but I glanced down at the horrid bandage.

“It’s manageable,” I said simply, lying down on my stomach on the bed and propping myself up on my elbows.

He shot me a look, a smirk playing on his face, “Manageable by Auden standards or normal human standards?”

I shook my head at him, remembering the first time he’d asked me that. He’d asked me about what it was like living on my own. It was weird looking back on that night because I’d been so uncomfortable and focused on the act I had to put on for him. It was that night I’d brought him to my apartment. At the time it had been in better condition...

“You’re going to have to start realizing that you can’t lie to me,” he said.

If only he knew… I mean I guess technically I’d never lied to him or any of the others. They had never asked if I was one of them, nor did I never say I was human. Of course if they ever found out I was like them, they’d never take that as a valid excuse. But I had my reasons for not telling them and that was life.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at him smiling, “Fine, it’s a little stiff, a little sore but I’ll survive.”

He shook his head in a sort of marveling way, “How can someone so small have such a high pain tolerance?”

“Hey!” I protested. “I’m not that short.”

“Yeah yeah whatever,” he said, earning my glare. “But seriously.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I told you, Holden’s dad owns the gym in town and we train together a lot.”

“That doesn’t tell me why you can handle more pain than probably one of our best pack members,”

“And who would that be?” I leaned forward challengingly.

“Me of course,” he boasted.

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah yeah sure hot shot.”

He just laughed and thankfully forgot what he had asked me.

“You should watch one of our training sessions sometime,” he suggested. “We have to have them, you know to keep our skills sharp.”

“Do you practice your ability much?” I asked out of the blue.

Mason sort of froze a bit. He tried to cover it but failed miserably to hide his unease.

“I take it you don’t like it very much?” I added, feeling a little guilty for bringing it up.

He shrugged, “People think it’s so cool like ‘oh my god you can make things move with your mind!’ and yeah it’s cool but…” he trailed off.

He was rubbing his hands together nervously, just as I had been.

I tilted my head a little, “But they don’t see how dangerous it is?”

His gaze snapped to mine, the brown colors swirling around almost like milk in coffee. Mason had a kind of quiet handsomeness about him. There was no doubt he was attractive but he didn’t show off like some people did. He and Kenzie held a stark resemblance with their dark, dark brown, almost black hair and rare light brown colored eyes. It made me wonder if they took after their mother or their father.

“How did you know?” he asked, an almost wary tone to his deep voice.

I shifted on my elbows, “You seem to be the only teenage werewolf who isn’t thrilled to have a superpower. I guess I just assumed after you told us the day on the rocks, that you were either bored with it or scared of it.”

He knit his brows, “But if you knew that I was scared of it, why aren’t you? This whole time, shouldn’t you have run for the hills already, knowing what I could do?”

I opened my mouth to give a rebuttal but he cut me off.

“The things I can do, the pain I could inflict, nothing about that scares you?”

I rolled my eyes, “As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t use it, I have nothing to be scared of and neither do you. You do train with it though right?”

He nodded, “A man from our pack named Julian has helped Kenzie and I since our abilities surface when we were kids. But it’s been years and I still don’t have a full grasp on it. One misstep that day and I could’ve killed Jaspar without even touching him.”

I thought back to that day in the hallway when he almost tore the jock Jaspar to shreds because he was anxious. Nothing had crossed my mind that he might have lost control of not only his wolf Bentley but also his Alpha ability.

“You don’t have to be so scared of it. The fear will take over if you don’t trust yourself,”

He studied me for a second, “If only it was that easy.”

I looked hard and intensely into his deep brown eyes, “You are the only person that can let yourself lose control,”

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

Hope you enjoyed!

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

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend