"It's not broken, just badly bruised. I'm so sorry, Kate," I whisper. She just smiles timidly at me and closes her eyes, falling asleep.
I sigh as I stroke her hair. She can't keep going through this, she just can't. She won't last, she hasn't even shifted yet! Just another reason for me to kill that son of a bitch Damon. He better watch his back.
After hours of just sitting there with a sleeping Kate in my arms, the door opens to reveal the usual guard who brings food. I look up to glare at him, but I'm met with a sight that actually shocks me. Instead of food and a stone face, he's holding handcuffs and his face is filled with fear. Why? I have no clue.
He yanks open the cell door, clasping the cuffs on our wrists before I can even retaliate. He throws Kate over his shoulder, causing me to growl. He doesn't pay me any mind, as he grips my shirt and starts dragging me along with him.
I look at Kate to check if she's all right, but she hasn't even opened her eyes. I panic. She has to be okay. Maybe she's just in a deep sleep, yeah... that's all. She's just sleeping.
I shake my head, even I know that's a stupid thought. Kate's not waking up because something's wrong. Something's not right and I don't know if she's gonna make it.
"Hurry up!” the guard seethes. I use all my strength to try and hold him back, trying to get him to slow down. In my weak state though, it doesn't really work.
"Why should I, you son of a bitch?" I growl back in challenge. In response, he growls.
"Don't test me! I can knock you out cold,” he warns. I ignore his warning and send a harsh kick on the back of his leg.
He stops on his tracks and slowly turns around to face me with a menacing face. We're literally less than a metre away from the door, less than a metre away to the outside world.
"I said don't test me!" the guard roars then, true to his warning, he punches me square in the face, knocking me out cold.
I feel myself weakening as a headache hits me like a brick wall. I hold in my groan by gritting my teeth and slowly peeling my eyes open. I'm met with the shirt covered back of the guard who knocked me out. This time I have to hold back my growl. He better watch his back too.
I turn my head to the left and still see an unconscious Kate. Her head keeps knocking against the guard’s back, making me worry about her even more. I feel myself bobbing a bit too, so I'm guessing we're running. What's the rush?
"Damn it!" I hear the guy growl before he dumps Kate and I on the forest floor. I look up to the sky to see it pitch black, a full moon with no stars.
I look at Kate and wriggle my way over to her. I press my ear to her chest to see if her heart's still beating. It still is... thankfully.
"Seems like the boss can't do what he intended to do, so I'll just have to do it for him,” the guard mutters before flipping out a pocket knife.
My eyes widen and I growl. He pauses his movements before smirking and advancing to me.
I jump to my feet and snarl at the guard. He snarls right back and lunges for me. I jump into the air as he dives under me and I kick him square in the back.
He groans as he collapses to the floor, dropping the knife. He went to grab for it, but I quickly kick it out of his reach.
He stands wearily, eyeing me. I growl at him from low in my chest, it even surprises me a bit. His eyes widen as he stumbles to get away from me. I watch him run away like a coward, wishing that I could go after him. I can't though, because that would mean leaving Kate alone. At night. I can't and won't do that.
I strain my ears to hear something, anything, as I cradle Kate's head in my lap. Well, as much as I can with my hands bound behind my back.
"It's all gonna be okay, Kate! It’s all gonna be ok," I mumble in her ear as my eyes start to droop, the sudden coldness of the night hitting me hard.
Kate's small figure starts to shake from the cold, my body mimicking her. I need to keep her warm... I don't care what I'm feeling right now, all that matters is Kate.
As softly as I can, I remove Kate's head from my lap and lightly place it on the grass covered ground. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and jump, tucking my knees to my chest. When I open my eyes, my hands are still bound, but they're at the front instead of the back.
I quickly hug Kate's body to mine to try and keep her warm. Despite my efforts, her body continues to shake violently from the cold. I sigh as I come to the conclusion, that I may not be able to help her...
Hearing a howl in the distance makes my head snap up and my eyes widen. Someone's here. I don't know if they're good or bad, but someone's here and they can help.
I scoop Kate up bridal style the best way I can, and take off running. Please be someone good who can help us. Be someone who can help Kate and I. Please, I'm begging you Moon Goddess, please.
I don't know how long I’ve run for, maybe 20 minutes, but I almost cry out in joy when I hear the sound of wolves. I burst out from the cover of the trees and enter what could be the description... of hell on earth.
I shrink back away into the cover of the trees and lightly set down Kate near a tree. I make sure she's comfy leaning against the tree before I slyly move through the cover again.
All different colours of wolves are battling it out what seems to be a broken down pack house outside. That must be where Damon was holding me. I growl at the thought. I will get that bastard one of these days.
A light brown wolf seems to hear my growl because the next thing I know, I'm being tackled to the ground. I growl at the wolf and buck her off me. She growls back, but moves on to her next opponent.
The door of the pack house suddenly bursts off its hinges, revealing a sight I never thought I would see again. My breath catches in my throat at the sight of them. They came. They really came.
Time just seems to slow down as I look at them. There, standing just outside the door, are Celina and Axel in their wolf forms. Celina's beautiful snow white wolf looks as graceful and elegant as ever, next to Axel's pitch black wolf that looks as dominating and powerful as I remember.
I look to the left and see a sandy coloured wolf, the same sandy colour as Callum. A big grin makes its way onto my face at the sight of him. They came. They all came.
Axel lets out a howl that causes me to block my ears. All the wolves look at him, the only ones left are his pack. There's about ten of them all up.
They all shift back into human form and make their way to Axel. He starts speaking, but I don't hear a word he's saying. I just stand there with a big goofy grin on my face, one thought on my mind: I'm being rescued.
He continues talking as I look to Celina. She looks sad and defeated, but a little hope still shines in her eyes. All I want is for her to look up and see me; that's all I want. To see Celina's shining golden eyes locked with my dark ones. That would make my day, my cold, sad, and miserable day.
As if sensing me, Celina looks up. She freezes for a moment, her mouth ajar as she just looks at me. My grin becomes even wider at the sight of her tears of joy. She missed me. She actually missed me.
Her eyes suddenly fill with fear as she averts her eyes behind me. I give her a confused look and start to turn around. Before I can do that though, a sharp pain goes through my lower abdomen. I look down to see the tip of a knife just peeking through my skin.
"You can run, but you can't hide forever, Comrade. I'll find you and get you if it's the last thing I do,” a menacing voice, I can only recognise as Damon's, whispers harshly in my ear.
My vision starts to get blurry and my world starts to spin. I collapse to the ground, but not before I see Celina push everyone out of her path and scream, "Comrade!"
9
ALEX
"Damn it!" I scream as I kick the wall beside me, leaving a nice dentin on the middle of it. We failed! We freaking failed! Damon is nowhere to be found, Comrade is nowhere to be found and Damon's supposed daughter is nowhere to be found! This is ridiculous! The only bright side to this whole thing, is that no one from the group is hurt.
Celina, Axe
l, and Callum have already gone to break the news to them. I can't bear going down there knowing we've failed; it's like a punch to the ego.
I sigh as I slowly start to make my way down. I have to show up sooner or later. I lift my hanging head to see the backs of Celina and Axel standing just outside the door. Axel's going on about how we didn't find Comrade and we need to go back to work something out and yada yada yada. Honestly, I could care less.
Just as I'm about to make my way through the door, I hear Celina scream. I don't understand what she says, but I'm on full alert. Her voice is full of pain and regret, which worries me. I quickly burst through everyone to see Celina collapse to the floor next to a man.
I quickly rush to her, since everyone else seems to be in shock, and place a hand on her shoulder. She looks at me with teary eyes, her bottom lip trembling. Sometimes you can forget that, although Celina is very strong, she's still only 19 and can break down just like anyone else.
"Celina, you need to back away. I can help," I say cautiously to her. She draws in a shaky breath, but nods her head. Axel gathers her in his arms as they both watch me.
I inspect the man lying unconscious before me. He's got dark brown hair and a slight stubble covering his jawline. Muscles can clearly be seen everywhere on him, but he still looks weak in a way. Overall, this man is beautiful.
I gently cup his cheek with my hand and feel sparks shoot through me. I gasp and draw it back, looking at this man in shock. He... He can't be. Can he?
'Mate!' I hear my wolf scream in my head, itching to get out and see her mate. I stay frozen though, not believing my eyes or my feelings. This can't be happening... not now.
"Alex!" I hear Axel suddenly scream. I shake my head to get rid of those thoughts and quickly get to work. I can't let the fact that this man being my mate get in the way of me saving his life. I may not end up with a mate at all.
I turn him on his side, looking for the handle of the dagger. I saw the tip poking through, so I'm guessing it's a dagger. Easily finding it near the lower abdomen, I slowly draw it out.
I don't bother looking at it as I throw it away. This man is my main priority and that's all I'm gonna think about right now. I quickly do a brief look over of the wound. Bloods quickly escape him and since it's cut straight through him, it may have hit a major organ. I can't tell though, he needs proper medical attention to see if it's true. I hope with all my heart it isn't.
"Please help him, please help Comrade stay alive," I hear Celina whisper, causing me to freeze. Comrade? This is Comrade?
"This is Comrade?" I voice my thoughts. I look to Celina for confirmation; she only nods her head in sadness. For the love of the Moon Goddess, my mate is the long lost Comrade? This can't be happening to me...
I quickly shake my head and get back to work. Without really thinking it through, I rip off the whole bottom part of my shirt, right up under my bra line. I didn't shift for this mission, so I'm fully clothed.
I turn to Taylor, Ally, and Celina, since they seem to be wearing shirts also. "Rip your shirts! I'm using it as a bandage," I order, to which they immediately comply.
Once I have the four ripped fabrics, I tie them together to make a really dodgy bandage. I hope this works...
"Hang in there a little bit longer Comrade," I whisper in his ear as I start to wrap the bandage around his wound. Blood instantly stains the fabric, but the bandage luckily gets around him at least three times. At least the blood has to get through a few layers. Plus, I tied the pretty tight so that pressure is being applied.
"Ok, that's all I can do. The best thing for him now is to seek proper medical attention. I can't do anything more," I tell them strongly, though on the inside, I'm slowly breaking down. This is my mate we're talking about, and he's dying. The thing that angers me the most is that I can't do anything more for him.
"Group one! You will escort Comrade back to the pack house as fast as possible! Taylor!" Axel bellows. Taylor stands to attention immediately. If it wasn't in this situation, I would laugh at her face. "Carry Comrade and for the love of the Moon Goddess, don't drop him."
Taylor nods and quickly leads her group away. I go to follow them, but Celina's hand on my shoulder stops me. I look at her with pleading eyes.
"Please, Luna, I'm begging you. Just let me stay with him," I plead to her. Axel's telling group two what to do, so he isn't paying attention right now. This gives Celina the opportunity to put her stupid observing skills to the test and catch me red handed.
"He's your mate, isn't he?" she questions softly. I direct my eyes downward and nod. No point hiding it from my Luna. What will she say though? Will she accept me as Comrade's mate? I mean, he's her guardian and friend. What will she think of it?
"Hey, stop looking so down. You've found your mate, that's something to celebrate," Celina tells me with a small smile. I look into her beautiful golden eyes that seem to shine with constant happiness. She's ok with this?
"You accept me then?" I question quietly. Celina looks confused for a moment before it dawns on her about what I mean.
"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I? You're perfect for Comrade. You'll keep him in line and stop him from running off into the woods," Celina mutters with a shake of her head. I chuckle at her. I guess she's right.
"Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a better mate for Comrade. I promise he'll make you very happy and vice versa," Celina wraps up with a big smile. I smile back and wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a hug.
"Thank you, Luna,” I whisper in her ear. She hugs me back with a big squeeze as I close my eyes in content. I guess something good has come out of today then.
"Alpha! Luna!" I hear a frantic voice, sounding a lot like Ally's, suddenly yell. I rip myself from Celina's grasp and quickly run over to her. I grip her shoulders and look into her shocked eyes.
"Ally? Ally, what's wrong?" I question her calmly. All she does is raise a shaky hand and point. I follow her hand and the vision that my eyes are seeing shocks me.
I quickly rush over to the unconscious, battered, and bruised girl. She can't be older than 13. I inspect the purple bruises that seem to be all over her body and check to see if there are any broken bones.
"Alex? Is she ok?" Celina's worried voice asks me. My brows furrow as I inspect the girl more closely. These bruises are fresh.
"These bruises are fresh," I voice my thoughts to everyone as I lightly touch one on her cheek. "They can't have been done more than two hours ago," I continue to say.
Damon must have done this, that bastard. Does he have no heart? No remorse for beating an innocent child? When I get my hands on him, I'm gonna-
"Any broken bones?" Axel's question brings me out of my raging thoughts. I blink a few times to come back to the present.
I clear my throat before answering. "Uh…no. There doesn't seem to be any, but her wrist is pretty much on the verge of being broken. It's already swelling up!" I tell him as I observe her wrist more closely.
I squint my eyes as I look at the marks on her. They're... whip marks? Not massive ones like you see in movies and such, but just small ones that seem to cover her whole wrist. Then there's the imprint of a person’s fingers in the shape of a bruise. Whoever did this certainly knew what they were doing. I don't have a doubt in my mind that it was Damon.
"I think we need to get this girl to doctor Aileen. This isn't a normal wrist injury," I mumble as I continue to inspect it. It's so strange...
"What do you mean it's not normal? Like someone beat her wrist?" Ally questions with a scoff.
I draw my eyes away from the girl's wrist to look Ally in the eye. "Precisely," I tell her, no room for thinking on her part.
Her eyes widen as she rushes to the girl's side. She lightly brushes away the hairs on her forehead, before looking at me, then to Axel.
"Please, Alpha, may I take her to doctor Aileen? I want to do it myself since I found her," Ally questions while standing up.
Axel nods and tells her to take the rest of he
r group. She nods and gently scoops the girl up into her arms. She directs her attention to the woods and takes off running with her group.
I watch her go, wishing that the girl will be alright. She seems pretty beaten up for someone her age.
"We better be heading back too, the pack will be feeling antsy," I hear Axel say as he directs Celina towards the forest. They both shift and take off running. I stay where I am.
I walk to stand in front of the pack house, the place that held Comrade for so long. The place that held my mate for so long.
I can't even begin to imagine what must have gone on inside this house, but one thing's for sure... Comrade is one strong guy to have lived through it. The strength he must have used to stay alive in this hell hole is just unthinkable. He's truly brave to be able to put up with it, to put up with Damon.
"Alex?"
I jump at the unexpected voice. I thought everyone has gone. I turn around to see Callum standing there, looking at me. I turn back to the house, knowing he's not a threat.
"Are you alright?" he questions as he comes to stand next to me and stares up at the run down house. The paint on the walls is peeling off. The place looks like it's about to collapse and you don't even want to see inside.
"Just peachy," I mutter, causing Callum to chuckle at me. I sigh. Peachy is definitely not the best word to describe what I'm feeling right now.
"You know, Alex, when you first joined the group, I thought: what's a girl like you doing in a group like this? That's honestly what I thought. Well, I was certainly proven wrong. You're one of the strongest wolves I've ever trained, and that's saying a lot since I train the pack's warriors,” he tells me jokingly. I chuckle when he nudges my shoulder playfully.
"I learnt something about you though,” he continues on. "I learnt, that no matter what you were doing, you always had this look in your eye that said 'don't give up'. You showed that today, so don't beat yourself up over the fact that we didn't accomplish every single detail we intended to."