Wanted by the Wolves

K A R A ′ S P O V :

I knew that running would get me nowhere. I just knew it.

So here I am, locked in a cell. I know I have probably driven my aunt crazy with worry, but it wasn’t like I could lead the pack back to her house. She may have been able to brush off the accusations of helping the wanted wolf last time, but second time round wasn’t looking good.

I had been running when I noticed it was getting dark, so I decided to find shelter. I had been more focused on a suitable temporary home rather than any wolves. So, here I am, in a cell. A dark, lonely cell. Not how I expected today to go.

They had thrown me in here without so much as a word except “filthy rogue” and left. I’m guessing a few hours had passed, because there aren’t any windows. It honestly looks like what you would expect from the dungeons in a medieval castle.

I haven’t shifted yet, because I am afraid who I will appear as. Will I look like Amy, my original appearance with brown hair and green eyes, Kara, with blonde hair and purple highlights, or Sabrina, the “rogue” with red hair and hazel eyes? Footsteps can be heard down the steps to the dungeon.

My wolf tensed, waiting to hear Jason’s dreamy voice (her words, not mine!). But instead, we get an earful of screeching from the last person I want to see.

Evelyn. “Guards, let me through. As future Luna, I demand to see the newly captured prisoner.”

“But miss-”

“Do you want to answer to Alpha Carl & Jason? Because I am sure I can set up a meeting with them that won’t be particularly nice...”

“Okay, okay. Let her through.”

Although I can only hear her voice, I know she has a large smirk spread across her face. “Please clear all the guards from the cells. I just need keys to the closet of wolfs-bane and you can be on your way. I’ll take it from here.”

Rachel now only saw red. Wolfs-bane and silver are some of the only things that can injure werewolves, and I wasn’t about to let her hurt me after all I had been through today. Rachel snapped her jaw, letting out a feral growl. Off in the distance, I heard Evelyn evilly squeal, “Well, shouldn’t this be fun?” What a sadist.

Before I knew it, all the guards had cleared out, and it was just me and Evelyn. She slowly sauntered down the hall towards my cell, taking her sweet time. “Why, what do we have here? A little rogue that decided to hide out in the woods? You know, my mate Jason will have your head for-” At this statement, Rachel lunged at the bars only to fall back with a whimper. Silver coated them. Of course.

“Oh, you think Jason’s yours? Well, that isn’t true. And this collar is going to be your punishment now for interrupting me.” She was now in front of my cage, and walked towards me. Rachel growled and stuck her paws between the bars in an effort to hurt her in some way. She side stepped our attempt, and laughed out loud. “You must really hate me, huh?” Realization crossed her face. “You don’t even know me.... who are you? Shift! I demand it!”

Rachel sat back on her haunches and sent Evelyn a challenging look. Not only did Evelyn have no power, but I was an alpha’s daughter, so any power she possessed had absolutely no effect on me. Evelyn stomped towards us in her high heels, screeching for me to obey. Rachel and I watched amused. This was quite the show.

The tables quickly turned, however, when Evelyn screamed, “GUARDS! I NEED YOU! THIS FERAL ANIMAL IS TRYING TO KILL ME! HELP!!!” She sent me an all too innocent look as the guards rushed down hurriedly.

“Chain that mutt up and put it in a muzzle like it belongs,” one shouted while two guards approached me. I lifted my lip aggressively to reveal my large canines, but both kept advancing. We circled each other before I snapped at one of the guard’s back legs. He quickly moved out of the way and attached the weapon of a collar to my neck.

I shook my head vigorously but to no avail. I tried taking a bite out of the second guard, but the chain that was attached to the vile thing around my neck was tethered short. I barked and growled, but it was soon silenced by the muzzle that was painfully clamped on my jaw.

“You will pay, rogue! And when I find out who you really are-” By this point, I had already zoned Evelyn’s rant out. The pain was strong at first, but it soon left. Wasn’t this supposed to strip me of my power and strength, not act as a regular piece of metal? For heaven’s sake, it was a silver collar and muzzle coated in wolfs-bane!

A wave of tiredness swept over me, and I slowly lowered to the floor. My eyes fluttered closed before I could stop them, and before I knew it, I was submerged into a deep sleep...

I entered the pack house with my father at my side. Pack members were hurrying around, looking like they were preparing for a natural disaster or war.

“Oh, Alpha, Future Alpha, it’s good to see you!” One of the warrior wolves greeted us as we made our way down the main hall.

“We heard you had found a wolf....” My father said, looking at the man questioningly.

“Oh, yes sir. I will alert future Luna of your arrival. Right this way.” He said. Ethan let out a ferocious growl at the sound of Evelyn being referred to as “future Luna”.

“That is reserved for our mate, and our mate only. Not some phony!” Ethan spat through mind-link, and honestly, I couldn’t help but agree.

When we arrived outside of the steps down to the dungeon, we found all of the guards hanging around. “What is going on here?!” I couldn’t help but growl this out, getting fearful looks from all of them.

“S-sir, Alpha, Evelyn - I mean future Luna - ordered us out of there. ’Said she wanted to deal with the nasty rogue herself.”

“Don’t call her anything but her actual name next time. And what do you mean, leave her alone down there?”

The warrior that had led us down opened the door to the dungeon. “See for yourself.” I sent my dad a look telling him to stay behind as I made my way down the stairs. Nothing could be heard, which worried me greatly.

Just as my foot touched the last step, I was pulled in a bone-crushing hug. Looking down, I saw Evelyn wrapped tightly around my torso, but there were no sparks. Looks like I could confirm she wasn’t my mate once and for all.

“Oh, sweety! I was wondering when you would return! I missed you soo much!!!” I winced at her squeal but she continued, oblivious to my discomfort. “Don’t worry about that nasty rogue. I took care of it once and for all. It won’t be bothering you for a long while.”

I knew that wasting the rest of my night dealing with a random rogue was not on my agenda, so I asked Evelyn a question to narrow down if this rogue could be my mate. “Evelyn, who is the rogue?”

“Oh, you know, some dude who was passing through the territory.”

“A guy?”

“Yep.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

This cleared up that this couldn’t be my mate, but Ethan couldn’t help but want to see it. “She could be lying! You’ve seen how dead set she is on getting the Luna position!” When his whines never ceased, I found myself agreeing to coming down around midnight to interrogate that rogue alone. And this time, I was going to get answers.

(S T I L L K A R A ′ S P O V : )

I woke up drenched in a cold sweat. What was that?! I had had one of those before, the other day in fact, but what was it? Recounting the events of the dream, my face went pale with realization.

I had been seeing through Jason’s eyes.

But why? Yeah, I know I’m his mate, but I have never heard of connections being that strong, or any werewolf for that matter even having that power.

I tried to sit up, and find that I have a new burst of energy. Wait, I thought wolfs-bane and silver were supposed to do the opposite to me? Anyway, we could make an escape if someone came. We would act tired and powerless to get them to let their guard down, and then - BAM! We would make our escape, just me, my wolf, and I.

The clicking of heels across the stairs brought me out of my thoughts, and I quickly whimpered like I was in pain. I kept my head down so my eyes didn’t reveal that no pain had been felt. “Oh, you poor little thing.” The sickly sweet voice made me internally cringe and my stomach roll uncomfortably. “I know you’re in pain, and I wanted to let you know that more will come until you accept the fact that Jason is mine only, and that this is just your punishment. You still have to go through the interrogation, which will most likely be run by that dreamy alpha and his father. I will be there too, don’t forget, so if I catch you looking at Jason in any way I don’t like, I won’t think twice about punishing you like this again.”

Was this “punishment” actually supposed to be pure torture, because I was fine? I was better than fine actually. I was feeling great!

Seeming pleased with her speech, Evelyn spun on her heel and strutted out of the dungeon. Thinking back to the dream, if that had been Jason’s perspective I had been seeing from, then I was correct in saying that he hated her as much as I did.

But that also meant that he was coming down to check on me late tonight. I had to get out, now, while I still had a chance!

I wanted to stay, I really did, but it would end in flames!

I was the most wanted wolf in the nation, I would surely attract unwanted attention to the Silver Crescent Pack!

Me not paying for my father’s action could potentially lead to the outbreak of war!

And, what if he didn’t accept me? What if he didn’t accept my past, so he rejected me? The pain would eat me alive before I was 20! This was not going to happen!

So no matter what happened, I was going to get out of here before Jason could. I was going to run until my scent was lost and then head back to my Aunt’s place.

My aunt! I realized I could still mind-link! Usually, being in a silver barred cage with silver and wolfs-bane coated collar and muzzle would keep a wolf from mind-linking, and long distance mind-links were out of the question!

I instead felt powerful, like I could take anything that came at me. “Martha, Aunt Martha! It’s me, Kara, Amy, whatever you want to call me! I can still mind-link!”

“Oh, my little niece, you don’t realize how happy I am to hear your voice! And you can spend the night at Jason’s place.”

“What?!” I asked, in complete shock. What lead her to think that of all things I wanted to do that?!

“Oh, well where are you?”

“You know, locked in a 5-star dungeon with a wolfs-bane coated silver collar and muzzle on while stuck in a silver cage. The usual.”

“What?! How are you able to mind-link?”

“Um, I am not exactly sure... For some reason all of this just makes me feel stronger...”

“Oh my god, I thought it was a myth. I thought... Wait, where is Jason?”

Her previous statement let me a little bewildered, so I took a minute to answer her question. “Wh- oh, Jason? Well, I had this dream that I was seeing through his eyes, and it seems he is going to interrogate me later tonight after mostly everyone is asleep.”

“That little..... Don’t worry Kara, it won’t be long.”

“What, is he going to come down and let me go free?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I am going to come. And I am breaking you out.”

“You’re - wait, what?!”

“You heard me - I am busting you out of that nasty cell. Oh, I’ve always wanted to do this!”

“You’ve never done this before?! What makes you think I’ll travel with you?!”

“You don’t really have any other choice.”

She was right. How else was I going to successfully get out? Not that this ludicrous plan was necessarily successful, but... you get the point.

“Oh yeah, and I have a cloaking potion that will allow us to sneak by those mutts’ noses.”

Okay, so now we had somewhat of a plan.

I was going to break out of the Alpha’s dungeon.

The same Alpha I am falling for.

The same Alpha that just so happens to be my mate.

The same Alpha I am going to keep running from until the world practically ends.

Wish me luck, was all I could say before I jumped into action.