Carcere

Chapter 5

Photo - Sam Heughan as Red

Red's P.O.V.

I quietly watch over Mae as she sleeps, her uneven breaths and clenched hands letting me know she is once again dreaming.

This is something I have been doing since her village had been attacked, making sure she is safe.

I had been working with several other warriors, burying the dead of Mae's villages when Damon had returned from the tunnels. I had immediately known what had happened as the joy and the pain morphed into one on his face, and I could feel it as he had walked past and motioned for me to follow.

Our Alpha had found his mate, his other half.

But what was supposed to be a jovial time was complicated by the hatred the wolves and humans had for one another, from the years of war and unstable peace between our two species. The once common union had been outlawed years ago and was now the ultimate crime an Alpha could commit.

And it was punishable by death.

As I watch Mae knit her brows, I think back to the request that my young leader had asked of me all those years ago, "Promise me that you will keep watch over her Mathis. That you will provide meat when she is without food, that you will guard her when she is captured. And promise me that you will lay down your life to keep her safe.Promise me, for Goddess sake, promise me."

His whispered and heartbroken plea had my wolf shivering with both delight at being chosen for the task at hand and fearful of what would happen to us if we failed in our task. However, my wolf and I had willing promised to protect the young girl and I had offered my neck to my Alpha as a sign of loyalty to him and his human mate, my Luna.

I had stayed behind when the pack returned home, only venturing into the tunnels once Beta Thomas and the guards I had served with had left Mae's village. I had easily picked up her scent and trailed her silently day and night, staying hidden in the shadows and watching my young charge became stronger and more resilient as she found ways to survive on her own.

But, Damon and I had both known that she would eventually be caught, all humans were. The day before it happened, I had caught wind of the patrols and had alerted Damon they were close for I knew that he would want to see his young mate before she was escorted to Carcere and put on lock down. I had stayed hidden in the edge of the woods as he sent Beta Thomas and the two other warriors toward Mae's destroyed village, throwing them off of his true intentions. I had watched silently as they bantered back and fort and as Damon's changed into his wolf, catching Mae midair as she fell and then in awe at how he so tenderly and respectively helped his young mate wash away days worth of grime. 

And I could feel his overwhelming pain and heartbreak at having to leave her, knowing that she would be imprisoned later that night.

I blamed him for her capture, for allowing her to become a pawn in the Council's battle for complete control over the pure humans. I hadn't been able to understand at the time why he would not make her a part of our pack, of why he refused to hold her prisoner until she became of age. However, as I stealthily followed Mae and her guards to Carcere, I had realized the Council had always known who Mae was to become and that if Damon had taken her in, our entire pack would have succumbed to their death at the hands of our governing body.

Our Alpha had saved us by sacrificing his mate - an act I had come to understand was for the greater good.

As I pace the corridor of Carcere, I become angry with Mae as I think how she continually lays blame on herself for what had happened, for the loss of her mother, her village, and her prison mates during the Presenting. I want to comfort her and tell her that her pain and suffering is all the doings of the Council, that they, along with Paxton, are the ones responsible for the treaty being broken all those years ago, that they are the reason she is in Carcere...