Chains

Chapter 9 - Running

Smart girl. She must have been prepared for something like this.

She rushes off in the direction of her parent's home while I take Jaxon to the edge of the woods. She is back sooner than I thought she would be. As I thought, she already had the gear they needed prepared. Jaxon is sitting at the foot of a tree eating a candy bar I gave him, he doesn't have much strength, as I expected so he was resting while waiting for her.

"I don't think you should head to North Winds right away". I figured that would be where she would try to take him. We're speaking softly so we don't draw any attention should anyone be out already. "They will assume that is where you're going so that's where they'll search first when they realize you're gone. I think you should head East into the No Man's lands. That direction will be unexpected and may buy you some time."

"You're right", she agreed with me. "I hope he can shift, it's been so long and he's so weak", she says looking at her brother sitting at the foot of the tree.

"It may be best for him to stay as he is and ride your wolf", I suggest. "He has enough strength to hold on, and you'll be able to move faster that way. I don't think he'd be able to run very fast or far by himself, even as a wolf."

Again, she agreed with me, taking a small bottle of perfume from her pack, which she sprayed on both of them. Good thinking girl, it was a perfume that would hide their scent from any pursuers. I should have expected her to have some of that, she's a scout after all.

"Good luck", I wish them and I turn away, walking back to the pack house. "I'm sorry, but this is all I can do for you."

"Thank you", they both whisper to my back, knowing I would hear them. 

My first action when I got back was to stash the shackle and collar away where they wouldn't be found. The longer it takes for anyone to realize they're gone the better. I head back up to my room, I plan to stay there for as long as possible this morning before I have to leave the room and go about my daily business.

Later, I keep expecting an alarm to be raised that he's missing, but all day long nothing happens. It seems that those in the barracks definitely think he's still at the house and those in the house think he's at the barracks. This worked out much better than I could have hoped. It wasn't until dinner time when alpha called to have Jaxon brought back to the house that anyone realized he was missing. The pair had an entire day's head start.

Jaxon

I saw the beta come into the pack house looking around at the filth everywhere. When he looked my way, he caught my eye and knew that I was awake. I watched him make his way over to me and he shushed me, placing his finger over his lips.

He bent down and picked me up, carrying me to the door. I expected that we we're heading back to the barracks. He surprised me when we got outside though, telling me he's removing my restraints and letting me go. I'm not sure I believed him, but he removed the collar and shackle and stuck them in his pocket.

As he turned towards the woods, someone saw us and I heard him curse under his breath. My heart began to sink. I had let my hopes up just a little and they were being dashed as we stood here waiting for whoever it was heading over to us.

It was Lucy. They spoke for a couple of minutes and then she ran off towards mom and dad's house. The Beta picked me up again and carried me to the edge of the woods, stopping just out of sight of the training grounds. He set me on my feet and gave me a candy bar. Oh goddess, I haven't had a candy bar in so long I can't even remember the last time. He told me we were going to wait for Lucy to come back so I sat down at the foot of a tree to rest and eat. I don't think I've ever tasted anything so good. At least that is how it seemed.

Lucy was back in less time than we expected carrying two small packs filled with things we would need as we fled into the forest. Each pack was just the right size for a wolf to carry tied to it's leg. She also had some clothes for me and helped me put them on. I was still filthy from last night but I didn't care, not with freedom within my reach.

Jake was ecstatic in my head. He and Blake, Beta's wolf, had spoken with each other and he told me that beta was sincere. This was real. When the beta suggested that I remain in my human form and ride Lucy, Jake agreed. He wasn't sure how long he would be able to run. We need to build our strength back up or we won't be able to get too far on our own.

Lucy

When I got back into the trees, the Beta and I talked for a few minutes. He made some suggestions that made a lot of sense to me so. I took out a small bottle of the special perfume us scouts used to hide our scent and sprayed both myself and Jax. I saw a look of approval cross the beta's face.

We finished talking and he turned back to the pack house walking away from us. Both Jax and I whispered a heartfelt "thank you" to him. We knew he would hear us. This was what I had been waiting and planning for all these years. Escape. We weren't going to waste this opportunity for freedom.

As soon as the beta was out of sight, I took off my cloths, put them in my pack and strapped it to my leg. I helped Jaxon strap the other one to his leg, even though I was going to carry him. It would be easier if he didn't have to try to hold onto it. His hands would be free to hold onto my fur.

I shifted and crouched down, telling Jax to climb onto my back and hold on through the mind link while it was still active; it would break once we crossed the pack's boundaries abandoning the pack. He straddled my back and grasped my fur. My wolf, Shannon is a pretty large wolf, I'm no small girl myself. Jaxon is small to begin with, and all these years of half starvation have left him weighing a lot less than anyone else his size, so he wasn't difficult to carry at all.

"I'm going to run now", I warned and quickly took off heading into the forest to the East. I want to get as far away as possible as fast as possible. I used every trick in the book to hide my trail. I'm a good scout and have a lot of experience doing this. Only another scout from our pack would be able to pick up my trail, and I don't think any of them would be willing to give us away easily. I know they've never liked what alpha Pete did to my brother. They were my father's friends before me, and they've been my friends ever since I started training with them when I was young.I ran all day, listening for any sign that we were being followed. My goal was to run as long as I can today. There's a small cave about a day from here and that is where I'm heading. It's defensible and I'm pretty sure that it's not well known to anyone else. I found it a few years back when I was tracking some rogues for the pack.