3. Forty- one

I blinked rapidly, still reeling from the dream and the revelations of it. I clenched and unclenched my bound hands to get some feeling in them. I gasped when I felt the tight bindings chafe my wrists. This was the first time I had opened my eyes since I was roughly manhandled and thrust into a truck amid severe chaos, and was drugged which had put me in a lull. 

I was in a new room and it was so dark I was hardly able to look at the wall before me. The room looked empty and for once, I was glad that I didn't have any company because I had too much on my mind and I wouldn't have been able to entertain anyone in such a state. 

My stomach growled and the sound echoed in the room and I was glad when a door behind me opened and spilled light into the room. I grew antsy as the person who had entered my room came into my view and was immediately giddy when I saw that it was Addison and she was carrying some food for me. I smiled brightly at her but frowned when she just put the tray on my lap and untied my hands without saying a word to me. 

Earlier, she would come with a soft smile on her face and start chatting as soon as she came into my field of vision. I raised my eyebrows in curiosity as I watched her drag a chair and sit on it without saying anything or looking at me. This huge change in demeanor had me feeling stumped because she was the only ally I had managed to make here and she had me feel somewhat safe in this dangerous and inhospitable environment. 

Addison sat on the chair as gracefully as she sat on the ground in my previous place of imprisonment. She watched me for a few moments and feeling unnerved by her intense stare on me, I looked down at my lap and picked up the sandwich to do something with my hands.

"You are Harper's mate and the packs' true Luna," she declared all of a sudden and I choked on the sandwich. I had not told her that information, so who did? Sure, her brothers knew about it but if they had wanted to know this, they would have told her earlier and we would have had this unsettling conversation a day ago. 

"Who told you this?", I questioned her as soon as I had stopped choking on my food. 

"Is it true?", she ignored my question and posed her own. I had no idea what would happen if I lied or if I told the truth. What was going through her mind? How did she come to know about it? What was she planning to do with all this crucial information? Several questions and thousands of scenarios were running through my mind before I could even comprehend the consequences of each one. 

I didn't know what to do, so I did the only thing I could, I nodded dumbly. She stiffened in her seat for a moment and then relaxed visibly. "Eat your dinner," she pointed to the tray full of food on my lap and I nodded. "Then I am going to help you escape." She said it so casually that it took a moment for me to process what she meant by those words and I stopped chewing the sandwich. 

"What? Why would you do that?" I whispered, still finding it hard to believe that she would want to do that, go against her brothers, and help in the rescue of their enemy's mate and an extremely valuable hostage. 

"Because it's the right thing to do," she casually shrugged and I looked at her for a moment, the food on my lap forgotten. 

"What do you mean? How do you know that Harper is my mate?" I whispered, suddenly afraid of how fast things were progressing right now. I was stumbling in the dark and had no idea what would happen. This girl had just proposed to help me escape, going against the wishes of her brothers and I had no idea why. 

"You will understand everything in time. Right now, all you need to do is eat something," she pointed toward the food and plugged in her headphones to shut me out.  She had put me on edge and was asking me to eat food like she hadn't just promised to help me escape. Did that happen or did I imagine her saying that? I knew that I wasn't going to get any answers right now, so I did the only thing I could, I tried to stop thinking about it and tried to eat as much as I could. 

Sometime after, I couldn't stomach the idea of eating anymore and when she noticed that I wasn't eating anymore, she picked up the tray and put it on the table. Instead of tying my hands like she usually did after I ate my meals, she tore open the binds around my torso and then one by one freed my legs. Blood immediately rushed to my legs and I watched as she took a step back and stood before me. 

"Why are you doing this?" I whispered because her actions stated that she was very serious about rescuing me. "And don't say that because it's the right thing to do."

Addison regarded me closely for a minute and then nodded," We wolves do everything we can for our mates."

"What? That doesn't make any sense," I cried as she walked past me and held the doorknob of the door. 

"Do you want the whole explanation now or do you want to run far away from here?" She asked and I shut my mouth. She nodded in approval and opened the door. This would be the first time in days when I would walk into the open without anyone manhandling me, provided of course, we manage to make it that far. I had no idea how much this girl had planned. I just knew that she was offering me a way out and I would be a fool to not take it. 

I followed her as she walked silently and hid behind the truck I had been forced into by Damon. I looked around and noticed that the room I had been kept in was more like a cabin and was the only concrete structure in the wilderness. I waited for someone to notice us but there was no one here. Where was everyone? Did she plan this escape so that we won't be stopped by anyone? 

She pointed towards the cover of trees and I nodded in agreement. I followed her, acutely aware of every movement in the forest, and watched her for she could detect the presence of other creatures way better than I. She shifted into an average-sized brown wolf and gestured for me to get on her. The only wolves I had ever ridden were Harper, who was my boyfriend while the other was Aiden, who was a very close friend. I trusted both of these people and I didn't exactly trust Addison, considering that I had only met her a few days ago in less-than-ideal circumstances and she was ready to betray her brothers by helping me escape. 

She growled softly at me and I jumped in nervousness. Well, I had trusted her this far and I couldn't just go back inside that room and bind myself back into the chair. So, I took a deep breath, grabber her fur, and climbed atop her wolf. She wasn't as muscular as Harpers' or Aidens' wolves but she made up for that in her speed. I grabbed onto her fur as the wind whipped us and I felt the muscles move beneath my thighs. 

After five minutes, I heard a howl and my heart stopped beating for a minute. "What was that?" I shouted. She growled back and increased her speed, which could only mean one thing. They had noticed my absence. 

She was running so fast I couldn't keep my eyes open. My heart was thundering in my chest because, unlike the two rides I had taken before, my life depended on this one. 

I heard a deep growl and I turned my head around in dread to see if we were being followed. We had a few minutes head start but that would mean anything because a fast wolf would be able to catch up to us. I waited for a few minutes to see if anyone had caught out scent and before my muscles could relax, I turned my head around and noticed a huge black wolf running towards us. 

"Someone is behind us, Addison," I yelled. I had no idea if she heard me but she tensed as the wolf got closer towards us. This huge black wolf must be Damon because Addison had described her brothers' wolves to me and he was indeed as fearful as she had mentioned to me. I turned my head the other way to watch as a brown wolf growled at me. This must be Aaron. Great, now we were followed ruthlessly by her crazy rogue brothers who would not take me as a hostage now. They would think that I was too much trouble and kill me. 

"Oh, god! I don't want to die," I whispered into Addison's fur and looked up to check if her brothers were gaining on us. I looked forward and gasped when I noticed that there was a pack of strong wolves fifty meters ahead of us. I cursed in my mind, surely these wolves were rogues, stationed to keep a perimeter check around the rogue camp. 

Addison stumbled and I nearly lost my grip on her. I turned around to look at what had happened and noticed that Damon had bit a chunk off of Addison's tail and it was leading a bloody trail behind us.

I looked forward, feeling hopeless because this attempt to run away had failed and I would be right back where I started. Maybe, even worse. I gasped when I opened my eyes against the force of the wind and noticed the white wolf standing in the middle of the wolves. 

I opened my mouth to yell something, anything that could convey my surprise to Addison. She charged forward and several thoughts ran through my mind. Did she concoct this plan with Harper to rescue me? She had mentioned something about mates, did Harper threaten her mate and she was forced to rescue me because she was blackmailed?

The well-formed line of the wolves broke apart as we neared what were the pack borders of the pack and several wolves ran past us to fight with the rogues who were chasing after us. Harper was the last to depart, his wolf gave me a long look and he ran past us only after I gave him a tiny smile. 

We entered the pack borders but Addison didn't stop. I thought she would leave me safely behind the pack border and return to fight. She navigated her way into the pack borders and I was surprised when she finally stopped in front of the pack house. She lowered herself and gestured for me to dismount. 

I reluctantly got off her. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to go back to the scene of the fight and support Harper in any way I could, At the same time I understood that my being there would be a huge distraction for him, putting both of us and the pack at risk. 

There was nothing to do but wait. Addison shifted in front of me and donned a sundress hidden in the bushes of the pack house. 

Well, I could get some answers in the meantime too.