Chapter 4

Now I don’t know much about packs or wolves but the red sun is a popular name. The kings pack.

It was distant from our village and yet we always heard terrifying stories of what happened in the pack. How they treat slaves and trespassers. How cruel the king was and how he could easily tear out the heart of a person just for looking at him the wrong way.

If I had known that something like this would happen, I would have let that man catch me. It doesn’t matter what his intentions were. Anything was better than ending up in the red sun pack.

“Are you daft?” The meaner looking guard asked, getting closer, almost in my face.

I could do nothing but stare and shake in fright. The other guard held him back.

“You’re trespassing on our land and we will be taking you. The king will decide what to do with you”

That finally snapped some sense into me. I tried to take off but I didn’t get very far unfortunately. One of the men fisted the collar of my clothes and I was slammed into the wall.

“We could have gone the easy way but I guess you like it rough” a hard voice whispered just as I was knocked out.

It felt like my head had been cracked open when I regained consciousness. I tried to sit up but every move I made worsened the feeling of the headache. I groaned and rolled into a corner.

Trying to run away like that was a stupid thing to do but my instinct to save myself kicked in when I heard they would be taking me to the king. I wouldn’t survive it. He would have me killed in an instant and I shouldn’t die, not yet. I needed to be alive to find Juliana. I think I’ve landed myself into a much bigger mess.

I finally got myself into a sitting position. I was in a dungeon. A very silent one. A girl was in the corner sobbing loudly. Whatever she must be going through must be terrible but her sniffles only worsened my headache.

I tried to click out the sound of her crying but it was impossible. Frustrated, I snapped at her.

“For the love of god, please shut the fuck up”.

The sniffle stopped and she looked at me. Her face was swollen and blotchy.

“How can you be so cold. If you know why I’m crying, what happened to me, you wouldn’t ask me to shut up”

“It doesn’t matter” I snapped again,

“Life is tough, get over it”

“How…how can you even say that. Do you know what it means to be separated from your family? To be thrown into the dunge…”

I scoffed cutting her off. “But they are still alive aren’t they? One day if you get out of this place, you can see them again. I lost my family in one day. My parents, friends and members if my village were brutally murdered. My sister was taken away and I barely got away with my life. Traveled for days looking for her and ended up trespassing on the Red sun pack lands. Knocked out and thrown in the dungeon for goddess knows how long”

I looked at her noticing the slight shock on her face and continued.

“You don’t see me wailing and disturbing everyone here, cry if you want to boy please be fucking silent. It felt like my head is splitting into two and you’re not making it any better with your damn crying”.

She was quiet after I went off on her. A struggling sound came from the outside but it disappeared as soon as it came.

“I’m sorry all that happened to you” the girl mumbled and I looked at her again. She was now drawing imaginary figures on the wall beside her.

“I really thought I had it worse. Three months ago, my father used to be a member of the kings cabinet until he was suddenly accused of treason. I know he didn’t do it. My father wasn’t that kind of person and he’s loyal to the crown. It must have been some kind of set up. But there was no way to prove his innocence. The king isn’t popularly known for forgiving. My father fled out of fear and as the oldest I was apprehended. My family is still being held somewhere until my father shows up”

“Sorry you had to go through that” i said sincerely.

Her father was selfish for running away and leaving his family, allowing them to go through all this. I get he was scared but if he was innocent as he claimed, he had no reason to abandon his family and run. Now they could be garner or worse… killed because of his selfishness.

“I’m Sheila” she said again.

“Jade”

“You are human”

“Is it that obvious?”

“I can’t smell a wolf on you, so yes it’s obvious for any wolf with good smell to instantly know that you are human”

The guards who saw me didn’t say anything about it. I know their smell was enhanced but could they really smell that I didn’t have a wolf?

“You have nothing to worry about, they won’t hurt you. They’ll send you back to the human king”

I snorted. The human king was very worthless. He wouldn’t do a thing about it. The information I had gotten from the other town proved that immensely.

“I have a question about the wolves”

“I’ll answer what I can”

“We were attacked by a pack, that's what you call a group of wolves isn’t it?”

“Similar but not quite as you think. A pack has a bond. They are all bonded to the Alpha. The leader of their pack”

“Like the head of a village?”

“Yes only that they have a deeper connection than that”

I nodded.

“The pack that attacked you, did you see a symbol on any of them?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t remember anything like that. It all happened too fast.

“Every pack has their symbol. It a way to identify them”.

I shrugged. “The human town… they were against speaking about the wolves. The human king punished them for it”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I also heard there were other attacks. Do you think the wolves are trying to get rid of the humans and the human king is forcing us to stay quiet about it?”

“That’s absurd. Why would wolves want to take out the humans?”

“Then how do you explain the attacks? I know that the king commands it all and he…”

“Be silent Jade” she looked around frantically.

“The walls have ears. How can you accuse the king of that”

Her fear was obvious as she continued looking to see if we had been heard by anyone.

“Do not speak of something like that ever. It would get you in serious trouble. The king…”

Whatever she had to say was cut off when the door was roughly pushed open and a guard entered inside. I was grabbed by my arm and taken out of the cell to a room that looks like an interrogation room.

I looked around the room frantically in panic. I was forced to sit down on an old wooden chair. The room was dimly lit and not really enough ventilation. The guard and man entered inside with a warden.

I couldn’t help but notice how tall and handsome he was. He stood directly in front of me but a few inches away. His dark golden air was laid to perfection and his ocean blue eyes stared at me intensely. I could feel myself shrinking back into the chair. He eyed me from head to toe in assessment.

The warden moved to a corner in the room and dragged a chair to him.

“Thank you Jeremy” he said to the warden and took a seat.

“Now listen, this could go smoothly or we can take it to the king” he turned towards the warden who I now know as Jeremy.

They both had a lot of questions to ask, but I kept on repeating that it had been a mistake trespassing and I was only looking for my sister.

The man whom I discovered to be the Beta of the pack, Noir, asked me the village I came from and once I gave the name, I watched his features slowly change. He knew something about my village.

Instead of questioning me further, I was taken back to my cell. His behavior was puzzling but I couldn’t ask any questions . They didn’t even take me to the king like they threatened earlier. I was kept in the dungeon for days, with only Sheila for company.

I was going insane, thinking of ways to get out and continue my search for Juliana. No one could tell what was going to happen to her, the longer I’m away.

I waited for the wolves to make a decision concerning me but nothing happened. Until one day when the guards came fit me. I recognized one of them as the men who had attacked me at the border. The meaner one. He still had an unpleasant scowl on his face as he dragged me to an unknown location.

We arrived in a room and the warden was there.

“We have orders from the king to release you from the dungeon”

I broke into a grin, excited that I could finally leave.

“Thank you so much, I’m going to just leave and I’ll never return”

“You’re not leaving”

“What? But you just said I could go”

“Out of the dungeon not the castle”

I shook my head, that couldn’t happen. I have to get out of here. Again, I took off in a sprint. Luckily, I was able to get out of the room without the men catching me.

I ran as fast as I could and they chased after me. Where was I? How do I get out?. Luck seemed to be on my side today. I found a flight of stairs and went up and just at the end of the hallway was another man. But he hasn't noticed me yet.

The men ran after me gaining momentum but I wouldn’t allow myself to get caught. I ran out into an open field. Big mistake because it caught the attention of others and in the next moment, I was tackled to the ground and pinned. A heavy knee on my back.

My hands were twisted behind my back and I was forced to my knees, coming face to face with a beautiful yet frightening man. He had a dominating aura and his presence screamed attention. I take back what I said earlier. It isn’t my lucky day and I’m so fucked.