Chapter 1: Escape and Capture

Hazel Irwin

There would never be a better time than then, two hours ago, when the guards were sleepy and the other prisoners were busy eating or throwing things at one another. It was always the newest ones who bothered to interact with others. There were some down there who had been locked up since long before me or my mom were ever confined, and those were the ones we knew the least about.

I could recite anything about Lucas Fresh’s life if I wished to, from the moment he had memories to the moment he entered the dungeon. And then I could recite his death date and how he was executed.

Two hours ago, it had been the best time to finally lock-pick my cell door, tug the rusty chains that I’d slowly worn away over the past six years, and then use my skinny body to slip past the guards while they made their rounds.

No one had seen me, they’d been too busy dealing with their own problems, hiding contraband or weapons. I dreaded to think what Feces Fred would do to the guards once they reached him.

I had slipped out after the guards had already checked my cell, to give me some more time to get out - and so far, my plan had worked. But the only thing I hadn’t considered was that I wasn’t the same as those I had grown up with; I couldn't regenerate and I couldn’t survive off of nothing whilst running more than I ever had; I was human and weak. Two hours was my breaking point until I ate some food and drank some water.

So I stopped running, I lay down in the grass in the middle of the woods and let the trees swallow me whole until the darkness could.

When I went to sleep, the sun was still up - low, but still shining in the sky. Yet when I woke, the sun could only be seen in the reflection of its light on the moon’s gorgeous surface. I stared, mesmerised, at the glow as I lay there totally still. It was cold but warm enough that I could survive, even in so few clothes. 

“At least I made it,” I thought aloud, grateful that I could speak now.

No one could hear me, not the guards or my mother or my fellow prisoners. Though I knew I would miss the quiet that such a horrible place could force upon a group of people, I knew I couldn’t have stayed in that dungeon forever when there was no reason for me to be there. I hadn’t conspired alongside my father, my sister or my mother, I had simply been a part of the family of crazies, affected by every tiny move they made. It was after Dad went insane that things started to go downhill - and he’d been insane since I was born.

After Markus Irwin was executed for killing the beta of the pack, it was Grace Irwin - my sister - who killed her mate almost the same day she had a baby with him. What a shock it had been for the pack warriors to show up on our doorstep again. We thought something bad had happened to someone we loved, not that we were the ones in trouble for Grace’s wrong-doing.

They thought we had something to do with the murders, and whilst that would be reasonable in any other family, my mother and I were broken enough having two conspirators.

But that was the day I found out my mother had helped with everything, from the beta’s murder to the murders that took place before that, and then the plan to kill Grace’s mate, take the baby and live elsewhere with it away from the rumours of Markus Irwin. All they had done was make the whole thing worse, and they dragged me down with them simply by association, when really I had done absolutely nothing wrong.

So, for years after Grace was executed and the baby was given to someone who couldn’t have children themselves, Laura Irwin and I were locked up in the pack’s dungeon, forgotten aside from the regular beatings and hurtful comments about our family. 

“You look just like your daddy, Irwin.”

“If I come any closer, are you going to kill me?”

“It’s a shame you haven’t fought back yet, at least your mother has some guts on her.”

“She’s got more than just guts!”

“Stinks of a curse in here.”

The torment seemed like it would never end, so I had to do something about it myself. All it took was a little bit of observation, careful planning, and perfect execution. And suddenly, I was out, away from the torment of my captors into the free world… with no money, nowhere to go, an empty stomach, no wolf to help me…

I refused to believe that I may have made a mistake, but it lingered in the back of my mind as I pulled myself up from the bumpy forest floor. I brushed off the dirt and twigs that stuck to me, attempted to fix my hair however I could, and then started back the way I had been travelling in the first place.

Every step was like torture not knowing where I was headed or if I was going to receive nutrients soon, but at least I wasn’t running anymore. That torture was over. Although of course, it had to be replaced by something worse, something that had me hating myself more than I ever had: a lake.

If I were a wolf, swimming across this lake would be no trouble at all - running around the lake would probably be even easier - but in this weak human body, all I could do was stand at the bank and stare at the way the moon shone on the water’s surface, rippling out gently in response to an unnoticeable breeze.

As beautiful as it was, it was just another obstacle in the way of my true freedom from Alpha Kade, from the horrors of what my home pack had become because of my own family. But it was an obstacle that I could not pass in this condition, so I turned one direction and began walking, hoping that, at some point, I would find something that would save me.

Instead, halfway around the lake, I found a tuft of fur stuck on a stick pointing out of the ground, wet and the colour of sand. I didn’t dare to leave my scent on it by picking it up, but I started to search my surroundings for other signs that someone had been there recently, like prints, more fur or something more damning: clothing.

I found nothing, yet I was still terrified to continue on the same course; I turned back around to head to the other side of the lake, which would set me back another half an hour.

But when I began walking, I noticed something far off in the distance ahead of me, waiting near the water’s edge with fur that fluttered in the breeze.

The chances I had against another wolf were so slim they could have been a single strand of that sandy fur - yet my family had always been fighters, even if most of the members I knew about had chosen to wrongfully harm others with their urges. I didn’t want to just back down, to give this wolf exactly what they wished for.

When the other three wolves stalked out of the trees, however, I did not so much as try to run. It was useless, my life could derail this last bit. Perhaps it would be better to end it now than to continue living like this, starved and exhausted in the woods…

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Approximately six hours - if my estimations were correct - had passed since I was in my last cell, which had been far smaller, smellier and colder than this one.

The wolves who’d taken me from the wolves were unexpectedly part of a pack and explained begrudgingly as they escorted me without trouble back to their grounds that I’d wandered onto their territory, which meant I had to be questioned without a chance to defend myself, to begin with.

After a couple of past incidents, their alpha could not risk letting anyone go, much less someone alone hanging out at the border. But they respected that I was a human, harmless to them and completely malnourished, and figured I would be out of here in no time.

They were wrong, though; their alpha was out, so I had to wait for my interrogation. I was given enough food to survive given my current state, a bed to sleep in so that I didn’t pass out, and water just to rehydrate myself. I knew the kindness wouldn’t last very long once they learned who I was - which I planned on telling them instead of trying to keep it a secret, only putting me in more danger - but I was happy to indulge in their help for as long as they would provide it.

It was the next morning by the time someone came to collect me from the cute little cell, their face grim and hands tight on my body. I didn’t fight; even fed and rested, I didn’t have it in me just then.

He took me out from the small prison house on the packgrounds into an interrogation room, which seemed to be more secure than the cells themselves. I was sat down in a chair at the far end of the room, told they would only restrain me if I gave them a reason to.

“I doubt that’ll be necessary, though,” said the wolf, giving me a half-smile.

I nodded silently, looking away from his slight advance. The last thing I needed in my current situation was someone pawing at me.

I waited patiently in the chair, my hands placed on my lap, showing no sign of fight or rebellion until the door opened, and four people walked into the room together. Three men and a woman, all the definition of tall and muscular, all deadly serious.

My eyes naturally took in the vast chests of the shirtless men, then the hinted hourglass figure of the woman hovering on the far right, before I dared to peer into their eyes, leaving the leader for last.

Each one was beautiful, but none more than him. His hair dark, his eyes light, his skin tanned from constant exposure, his muscles shifting with every movement - even the small ones; his sharp jaw was set in place as he stared back at me for a moment, directly into my eyes.

For a brief second, I thought I felt something pass between us, and then I knew I felt something between us, when a guard reached to touch my shoulder and the man before me growled loudly, possessively.

My mouth slipped open in shock, a feeling of both horror and relief shooting through me.

At the same time, we said, “Mine.”