FOUR

I smile back at Mark as my heart fills up with ease, even though I know it will be for a while, and stand up to my feet. I stretch my hand forward to his to help him up and he takes my hand. I pull him up with a grunt and he laughs to himself. I arch my eyebrow in curiosity when he wouldn't tell me what's so funny so I decide to ask.

“What's so funny? You were laughing to yourself just now” I ask him and he shakes his head in response.

I quickly reach for his head and hold it between my arm and body, trapping him beneath my armpit and he cries out in disgust while I laugh hard at him.

“Will you tell me or not?” I question again and he holds his hands up.

“Fine, fine I'll tell you” he surrenders and I smile satisfyingly before I slowly let him go but hold onto his hand so he won't run away from me.

“You grunted while helping me up so I wondered how someone stronger than me can't pull up a ten-year-old boy without grunting,” Mark says, mocking me and I laugh too.

“You're weighty that's why” I explain and I catch him rolling his eyes at me but there's still a smile on his face… that alone, knowing my little brother can still smile regardless of our situation is enough to make my night and I feel satisfied with myself.

“C'mon, it's really cold and late. Let's go back inside” I urge him as I pull him closer to myself and play with his hair and he nods in response before we slowly trudge through the snow, our feet leaving marks behind us in the puddles of snow.

We get back to the cottage that Alpha Luggard gave to us and there's a guard in front of the door. I feel Mark stiffen in my hands and I hold him to myself tighter to calm him down while I mind link with him.

‘Don't worry, you're safe’ 

I say to him through our minds and he nods slightly to let me know he got the message.

“Where did the two of you go to this late at night?” the man barks and I roll my eyes before looking back at him.

“We obviously came back on our own will, it's not like we wanted to run away. We just went for a walk, that's all” I retort and move to enter the cottage but the warrior slides his sword out of his sheath and points it under my neck. 

I stop moving immediately while Mark gasps in fear and I glare at the warrior while he smirks at me, his eyes glinting with mischief.

I'm about to retaliate when my wolf holds me back. I suddenly catch a wisp of what he's trying to do and I decide to keep my temper in check. Mark is with me and I don't want him to see anything violent… Not after the long and happy chat we just had while coming back to sleep for the night. I want him to sleep peacefully and getting into a fight won't make that possible.

I know the warrior just wants to instigate me so I'll fight him and then get into trouble with Chris, my trainer, or maybe I'll get into trouble with the Alpha too... For touching his warrior.

I scoff and put on a front of not being scared as I meet his eyes brazenly before I nod towards the sword he still had pointed underneath my neck.

“And what's this act you're pulling on us? I don't remember attacking you. I just want to get a good night great but you're pointing your sword at an unarmed person” I say and he chuckles back at me.

“Unarmed? Your body is a weapon… Princess” he replies sarcastically and I realize why he's putting up a front too. I laugh for a short while before I look at him and he looks confused, I bet he's wondering why I'm laughing.

“What's so funny?” he fires and I grin at him.

“Are you scared a princess will kill you while you're guarding me and my brother?” I ask him teasingly and he doesn't answer but I catch him gulping. He's scared. That's enough to make my night.

“Don't fool yourself, I'm the one with the sword here, one slash and you're gone” he barks at me.

I'm about to lose my temper but then I finally come to my senses and realize how tight Mark is holding onto my body. He's scared and I decide to just keep calm and let this slide between me and the guard.

“But you just said my body is a weapon. Is it because I beat spindly Stephen on my first day of training?” I reply one last time to instill fear in him before I go into the cottage.

He's speechless. Just what I expected. I push the sword he still has pointed at me down and nod at him to move from the door.

“You're in our way,” I tell him and he quickly moves for us to go in. It's my turn to smirk at him this time before I let Mark inside and I follow suit then I lock the door and hold the key tight in my possession in case anyone wants to break in at night when we are asleep.

After all, we're in the enemy's territory.

**************

I'm hot all over. Shivering hot and the flames are dancing in my sight as the sounds of people screaming fill my ears. Voices mock me in my head and their laughter echoes in my mind as I gasp in fear while watching the flame drown the bodies and faces of people I once knew.

“You did this, you should have stopped it. You killed them, you don't deserve to be a princess!” the voices of the demons haunting me in my conscience scream out loud and I cover my ears instinctively to block out the voices but it's futile.

Their laughter comes next and I can't help but feel horrible and useless as my eyes catch my parents, and they are staring at me with so much hatred in their eyes as they call for me to help them out of the fire.

I move to grab their hands and pull them out without thinking but pain and extreme heat suddenly shoot through my body and I scream out in pain as I fall to the ground and clutch my hands to my chest in pain, hoping that the bird tattoo on my wrist helps relieve the pain.

Soon I feel nothing again but when I open my eyes, I'm in an empty vast land with no end in sight. Ashes are everywhere and when I look closer, beneath those ashes are skulls and broken skeleton remains of people that burnt and I figure out that it's the remains of the place that was once my pack. The land is now empty; there's nobody or any house in sight.

I begin to wonder how I got here while walking aimlessly and I hear movements behind me. I gasp and quickly turn but there's no one. I start for a while, wondering what was that about but decided to move on, hoping I find a way out of this land of no end.

The movement resumes behind me again and I turn to check but still, there's nobody so I continue walking.

Suddenly my legs get stuck and I can't move. I struggle to move my legs but they won't budge for no reason then I feel a pull from behind me and hands grab my ankles. In horror, I look behind me and the skeletons have come back to life. I see skulls and bones rolling slowly across the ground and coming together to form horrifying hollowed-eyed skeletons that are all coming for me for reasons I can fathom.

‘Run!’ a voice whispers in my ear and I gasp again before I realize I can suddenly move so I run at my fastest. I run for my life until my lungs feel like they are about to burst from the struggle for air but I'm still stuck in the empty land filled with ashes so I stop and begin to look around, hoping for a clue to pop out of somewhere for me but there's nothing and frustration begins to go build-up inside me.

Why am I stuck here? How did I get here? Why isn't there any way out? 

All these questions jumble up in my mind and I sigh, not knowing what to do again.

Hands suddenly grab my ankles again and I feel my eyes growing wide with horror as I realize what I was running from had caught up with me. I try to run again but I can't move once again. Shrill voices scream and laugh mockingly above my head but I see nobody. 

Shivers run through my veins as I feel fear creep into the corners of my heart while I wonder what would happen to me next.

Suddenly the hands holding onto my ankles tug hard and I lose my balance, causing me to fall face flat on the floor. Then the hands begin to pull me away while I scream out for help and my fingers leave lines on the ground as I try to hold onto anything to stop me from getting pulled.

“Aaaaaaah” I scream out loud as I sit up with a gasp in my bed and look around. I'm sweating profusely and I'm back in my room. What the hell just happened?