CHAPTER FIVE

No matter how hard I try to get answers, my mother won't tell me anything else. She's just as determined as everyone else is to keep me from the truth it seems. And I feel betrayed by her. I feel betrayed by my best friend. I feel betrayed by everyone.

Eventually, she leaves and I'm on my own. I take some time to read and I watch some TV. I try to do everything I can to distract myself.

Then, I walk around the room. I try to look for an escape. I look for any possible way out or any explanation.

As expected, I find nothing. They're too smart to make it easy for me to escape or find information. There's no way I'm fighting my way out of here. I'm stuck until someone tells me the truth or until they finally believe that I'm loyal.

I don't understand it at all. I have always been nothing but loyal to the alpha of my pack. I've never even thought of going against him until now.

I don't know what they're seeing in me, but it's not true. I am loyal. They have no reason to do this to me.

Eventually, someone comes in and brings me food. I try to get answers out of them, but they're just as tight lipped as everyone else is. So, I give up. I stay up for a little longer, and then I try to get some rest. There doesn't seem to be any point in me being awake anymore.

It takes a while for me to fall asleep under the weight of all this stress. And then it seems like I'm woken up far too quickly.

A clattering fills the space near me, and I wonder what could be going on. Everything keeps happening so quickly and in the most confusing ways possible. I don't know how to make sense of anything. I don't know whether to be scared or excited.

Before I can figure out how to feel about anything, a group of three strangers comes to the front of my cell. One of the guys and the only female both have red hair, freckles, blue eyes, and pale skin. They both look incredibly strong, fast, and lean.

The other man with them has dark hair and gray eyes. He looks stronger than them, meaner than them. When he sees me, he gives me a kind smile though.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“I'm Alyssa,” the woman says. “This is my brother, Connor in my mate, Lucas. We're friends of Gavin. And we're here to break you out of here.

“Gavin would have come to get you himself, but he's too recognizable. So, he sent his three best friends instead. He knew we’d do just fine.”

I'm shocked that Gavin would know where I was. I'm shocked that he would come rescue me. I'm too baffled to make sense of any of this.

Mostly though, I'm glad that someone's getting me out of here. I don't feel comfortable here of course. And I just want to leave. I just want to go home.

As Alyssa unlocks the door, I realize something though. I don't have a home to go to.

“I appreciate you so much,” I say. “But even once I'm released, I don't have anywhere to go. My mom agrees with them. She thinks I should be locked up. She'll send me straight back here.”

“That's why you're coming with us, of course,” Alyssa says. “You didn't really think we'd leave you here, do you?

“You're coming back to our pack with us. We will keep you safe from them there.”

That's a lot to take in. Coming back to their pack means betraying my alpha in a way. It's the very thing he wanted me not to do. But he forced this on me by trapping me like this. I would never have done so otherwise. He's the one who sealed my fate as a betrayer.

“Thank you,” I say as I follow them out of the cell.

“Don't thank us yet,” Connor said. “We're still trapped here. Wait until we get out.”

“What if they catch us?” I whisper.

Connor is right. We haven't escaped yet. And they seem pretty determined to keep me trapped. I don't think they would have hurt me if I stayed in the cell. With me escaping...

“Don't you even worry about that,” Alyssa says. “Just stick by me. I'll take care of you.”

As I look at Alyssa, I can already tell we will be friends. She seems like the kind of person I'd love to be friends with.

Then, I think of Shelby. Shelby and I were good friends too. I would have never thought she'd betray me. But she did. What if Alyssa does the same thing? What if I can't trust anyone?

I don't really have time to consider it because then we're creeping through the building, hiding in whatever shadows we can find. We don't want to go up above where people are waiting, so we go through a dark passageway that I can tell hasn't been used in a long time.

Cobwebs clutter the shadows, our footsteps echo in the darkness. It's cold down here. It's terrifying. It feels like anything could happen to us.

“Just stay calm,” Alyssa says. “We have a car parked about a mile away from here. We just have to get to there and take off. Then, we'll go back to our pack. And they won't be able to touch us there.”

Usually, I would think that mile isn't far at all. Especially in my wolf form. I run that for fun every day.

Now though, a mile seems so far away. It seems like it's impossible that we could ever reach that before getting caught.

We're going to get caught, I know it. And I'm terrified about what will happen to us all when we do.

Then, up ahead I see a light. It looks like we'll be leaving this passageway soon. But what's on the other end for us? Capture or safety? There's only one way to find out.