Untamed - Wild At Heart

Chapter 1 - Hopes & Dreams

"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart."

I woke like I usually do, cheerful and happy but that feeling goes away as fast as it came. I have officially spent 10 years in this hell hole. 10 years of my life has been wasted and thrown away. The everyday scene lay ahead of me, metal bars, wooden planks and chains. I have barely seen sunlight for officially 3 days now, by now I was certain that my eyes had adapted to the usual darkness. The sound of the rickety old train was harsh and torture in itself. You would really think that a man with a lot of money could afford a better train. I argued with myself. But than again, who would want to spend a lot of money of us. I gave up. My usual quarrels between myself didn't keep me entertained for too long, like normal. I could smell the cook's food in the carriage in front of me, I could smell pancakes. But, they wouldn't be for us. In front of this old train was a million dollar train that had the whole Cellos Family on board. We would later come to a stop like we usual would so that the Cellos' could enjoy their fancy cooked meals whilst we would spend our breakfast picking at any edible leftovers from last night's dinner (if there were any). I suppose, I don't have it that bad, every morning one of the Cellos' sons would come down and sneak some dinner that he would supposedly throw away. The thing with hunters is, the werewolf has to have finished grade 12 at least, they have to be strong and powerful, for some their coats have to be the highest of quality and for others as long as they could track down what they wanted they would have a better life than this. I waited patiently, the scraps from last night's dinner came earlier than normal. I rummaged through my pile, only to find an edible chicken wing (that barely had anything on it) and a small tub of mash potato that was from previous dinners. Once I had picked out the two, I emptied my pile back into the cook's bin before tucking in. There had been no scraps for the past 5 nights and we didn't get enough time for the Cellos son to come down. I was starved. The food I had found lasted for only about a minute or 2. The chicken wing barely had anything on it so I had chewed the bone for the past 15 minutes as I waited. The mash potato was just about to go off which explained why it was in the bin. I had almost given up hope and was about to slink away into my corner before the carriage door was opened, allowing unnatural light to blind me. I raised my hand to stop the sun's rays from blinding me any further. The door was slid shut and I was able to put my hand down.
"Morning." The cheerful yet sorrowful familiar voice echoed.
I didn't reply, I knew better than.
"Come on, I won't tell anyone if you talk to me." He murmured.
I rolled my eyes, one of the top rules was 'don't trust a hunter'. But, this boy was no hunter, his father was but not him.
"Hungry?" He asked, raising an eye brow.
"Starved." I moaned, giving in.
"Well, it is only leftover pancakes." He shrugged, slipping the scraps into my cage.
I crawled along the floor, the chains rattling at every movement. I reached for the scraps only to find that they were just out of reach. The boy looked pitiful at me before placing his hand in the cage and holding the scraps in his hand for me to grab. I snatched them out of his hand before stuffing my face with the scraps.
"Thanks." I finally mumbled once I had eaten all of the scraps.
"No problem." He smiled, "What is your name?"
"That is one of the three things I know about myself." I sighed, I didn't know whether just over the years I had forgotten who I was and what I was capable of or whether I had been brain wiped and only told three things about myself. "Miranda."
"I'm Khan." He nodded, "My dad said that he'll give me the math test to give you."
"That's today?" I moaned.
Not only does Khan feed me fresh scraps but his dad put him in charge of schooling me. The funny thing is, every werewolf has some sort of secret identity and so does Khan's dad. Khan's dad is a principle at the school, every week we have to come back for the 5 days of school and then Friday night we leave for the next sale yards. It was Monday, which meant Khan would go to school do what he needed to do and than come back and teach me what he had learnt. When I was 10 Khan had started to secretly teach me what he would learn at school. When he got caught one night his dad thought that a reasonable punishment would be to make him teach me all the school work he learnt. It turns out that we are both the same age which accounts for the teaching.
"Here, you'll need to know this." He murmured to me before handing me a crumpled piece of paper.
I nodded back before hearing Khan's dad call out to him. Khan nodded goodbye before opening the carriage door. His normal excuse was "I was making sure that she had remembered what I had taught her". I unfolded the piece of paper and began to read over it, the title read, 'Trigonometry'. Below were little subtitles and ways to work out what. I had only just begun reading and already I had a headache. I shoved the paper into my pocket before holding my necklace. I couldn't remember who had given it to me or why. I held it tight and looked up at the roof of the carriage. I wanted a way out, but the only way out would be to be sold. Instead of us continuing our back to our destination, the carriage door slid open once more. Blinded once more I waited for my eyes to adapt to the darkness once again. I couldn't quite make out who had entered or what they were holding, but something told me that I was in some trouble. Once the last of the blinding subsided I could make out who was in the carriage. Brady Cellos and two other men. This did mean trouble. Normally you would be in trouble of two men came in but when Brady Cellos came in, there was no going back. The thing is, I didn't even know what I did wrong. Had Khan told them that I talked to him? No, he wouldn't do that. Would he? I shock my head, glaring at the men. I heard the door to my cage creak open, it was obvious that it doesn't get open often.
"Today is the day boys." Brady announced, a smirk on his face and greed in his eyes.
The two men chuckled at this comment, this made me wince. I was roughly grabbed and forced to my feet. The mens' hands were hot against my cold skin. I was pinned against the bars of the cage and behind me Brady tightened my chains, I was restrained and the bars were freezing.
Shivers ran down my spine and legs, numbing my back and hands. My breathe became rapid as I had no idea of what was going on. I clenched my fists tight as the two men approached, I struggled to find the strength to be able to fight back.
"Bring in the dogs." Brady called out.
The carriage door slid open, at the door was Brady Cellos' oldest son. He was just like his father. In his hands were leads which held a group of dogs back. They whimpered, some attempting to jump into the carriage. Now barks filled the train. Behind me all of the other people who had been abducted began to bark and howl. I could hear in the carriage behind me movement and then whimpers. I swallowed hard as one by one they were let off. The first dog jumped up into the carriage with no problem. The others hesitant before following. I noticed that there was one dog that was bigger than normal, its coat shaggy and unclean. Its paws large and sharp claws scratched at the ground. I watched it closely, following its every move. The dog's eyes were a murky brown with light dusts of gold. The dog's coat was complex compared to the others, black based, white tipped tail, underbelly, back paws and front paws, the base of the dog's neck is brown and then faded to a white, brown ran along its top until its shoulder which had a tuft of white, its muzzle changed from white to brown and then white again before brown ran up its forehead and into the brown that ran along its spine. Its back legs did the same as the muzzle, changing from white to brown to white and then brown, a grey crescent moon was on its left shoulder. I look at all the other dogs, a few had healed wounds and some had the odd white, brown or black spots but none as complex as this dog.
"Who's dog is that?" Brady spoke up, pointing a finger at the dog.
It lowered his head submissively, whimpering at the sudden loud tone.
"It was with the dogs, I thought that you had brought it from a previous sale." Brady's son argued, his voice shaky.
"Your lucky that this..." Brady paused, he looked at the thing with disgust. "Wolf. Is a fine hunting dog."
I looked up at what Brady had said, the word wolf made me feel dizzy. I shook my head trying to subside the feeling. Brady had now noticed, he nodded to the dogs and wolf to continue what they were doing. The first dog over to the other side of a cage was doberman. It snarled and growled at me as it approached. I winced as I could feel its breathe against my leg. I gritted my teeth as it felt it nip at my legs. At first a burning sensation then I could feel blood running down my leg. The doberman nipped at me again, this time my other leg. Before long all the dogs were behind me, biting, clawing and nipping at my legs, back, arms and shoulders. The wolf snarled and bared its teeth at me before biting down on my calf. This time I couldn't hold it in, I cried out in pain and allowed my head to hang forward. I didn't know what happened next but the dogs and wolf had stopped, they still tormented me, daring a nip or lashing out to make me wince. I heard the cage door open, I blinked slightly allowing the pain to subside. Brady's hand roughly grabbed the side of my face and held it up so that I was looking him in the eye. Why? I asked myself, I didn't know why he was doing this to me or whether this was just for fun. Why keep me alive 10 years and not harm me, but now you set dogs and a wolf on me? Why?
He let go of my head and it dropped once more, I could feel the stern gaze resting on me now. I didn't now what happened by I felt pain explode in my cheek, I spat out the taste in my mouth. Blood. I looked up, pleading would not work. I felt a knee brought up into my stomach, I coughed at the sudden impact. I felt my chains loosen, for next thing I knew, I was on the ground. My had grazed from where the dogs had scratched, my legs bled from all the bites and scratches. I could feel blood running down my back from deep clawing. The dogs were called in once more, I didn't have the strength to get back up and have a fighting chance. Everything that happened next was a blur of fur, teeth and claws. The dogs tormented me, the nipped at my ears and would lash out and land the paws beside my face. The end game, I didn't know. But obviously the end game wasn't given for the dogs were called off and Brady's son took them back. A loud bark and then a yell came from outside the carriage. Brady hurried to the carriage door, I didn't know what was happening but I heard shouting and instructions being called out. The dogs barked and growled at the sudden scene. I saw a flash of black race past with dogs right behind it. It was the wolf. Brady whistled, the dogs skidded to a halt and reappeared at the carriage door.
"Don't worry boys, we'll get him back." Brady murmured to them, patting the doberman on the back.
Brady turned and looked at me, it felt like one of my ribs had been broken, making my breathing rapid and short.
"Get the doctor. I have to go to school." Brady instructed the men, before leaving.
"She'll be right. She's an alpha. She'll heal by herself." One of the men shrugged and left.
Alpha. That one word. I suddenly took in a deep breathe, as if my rib had been put back into place. The blood that covered my body began to disappear and the wounds healed but not completely, scars still remained. I stayed on the floor, scared that if I got up something bad would happen. My chains rattled as if someone was tightening them, but instead it was just me. I sat up and studied my body, all wounds were gone and the pain in my side had disappeared. It was as if a miracle had happened. That one word echoed in my mind. Alpha. For the rest of he day no one came to my carriage, that math test I was suppose to do didn't turn up. I must have fallen asleep, I woke when I felt a drop of water land on my nose. I looked up to find that rain had begun to come through my carriage. My first thought was, fresh water. I opened my mouth and filled myself with the fresh pouring rain that leaked into my carriage. I felt refreshed and hydrated once again, I knew it wouldn't last long. I grabbed my bucket that had filthy water in it and tipped it out, setting the bucket under the leak I listened and watched the water drip in. I needed to get out of here, it was obvious that cook had no scraps and Khan wouldn't be allowed out, so no one would be coming tonight. I pulled myself up, finding my strength once more I managed to get hold of the lock that had the chains to my hands. I yanked on it, testing its strength. I remembered the paper Khan had given me, but that wouldn't unlock it. I crawled along the ground until I found a loosen nail, the dogs must have loosened earlier today. I pulled the nail out, cutting my palm in process. I fiddled with the lock for about a minute or two before I heard a click, I did the same with my legs. I was able to reach the door, my wrists were red from where the chains had been for 10 years and my ankles killed to be walked on.
It took me about 5 minutes to unlock the cage door. I was free. Well, free of my chains and cage but not free of Brady Cellos. I heard a horse snort behind my carriage, I winced hoping that the rider would not hear me. I looked through the carriage planks to find that the rider was just surveying the area. Breathing a sigh of relief, I had to find another way out other than the front entrance. Using all the strength I had left I climbed metal bars, when I reached the top the bars were slippery and wet from the rain that now pounds down once more. I lifted up one of the loosened planks, I breathed in the fresh air and allowed the rain to fall upon my skin.
"Hey!" A sudden voice from below startled me.
I had forgotten about the night time visits to check that the place was locked up. I scrambled through the tight fit. I let out a shriek as and arrow just missed my dangling feet. Once up on the roof of the carriage, the rider on the horse turned around and pursued. I ran, my heart pounding and legs aching at the sudden need. I skidded to a halt as I had to jump from my carriage to the next. I looked back, to find some hunters had climbed to the carriage top. I took a deep breathe and jumped, my whole body felt like it was flying and it was until my feet hit the other carriage. The wolf underneath me growled and snarled, I heard bang. In front of me was a plank that was about to come loose, the wolf underneath me stuck its nose out. I raced over and pulled the plank free. The wolf jumped out of the carriage, startled I stumbled back. The wolf turned to me and nodded, as if telling me to run. I nodded back and ran, jumping from carriage to carriage. I stumbled to a halt as I had reached the end of the train. At the base was hunters on their horses and hunting dogs. I sighed, I almost made. Something inside of me growled in frustration.
"Nice try. Now come down and we may go easy on you." One of the hunters said.
I rolled my eyes knowing that they wouldn't no matter what. In the corner of my eye I noticed movement. Something inside me wanted to jump for joy, but I held back.
"I could or you could leave and pretend you never saw me." I murmured, pacing.
"You know we can't do that." The hunter replied, shaking his head at the proposition.
"Well, you will be wishing that you did." I shrugged.
At that exact moment the same wolf from earlier leaped on top of the hunter and threw him of the horse. The horse reared before darting to the left side of the carriage. I took the chance and jumped hoping that I had timed it right. My bum hit that saddle before I began to bounce. I grabbed hold of the reigns and slipped my feet into the stirrups before turning the horse around. As I did the hunters had all be thrown off their horses and the wolf nodded to me. I forced the horse into a gallop, the wolf growled one last time before following me. Once we reached the forest and got a good 10 kilometres away the wolf jumped in front of the horse causing it to rear. I felt the ground as soon as it happened, moaning I tried to sit up. The horse galloped off back towards the train. I moaned and rubbed my back as I had landed on a rock. I looked around to find that the wolf had disappeared. I sighed, lying back down before sitting back up and throwing the rock.
"Hey! Watch it." A voice cried out.
I winced, scrambling back I thought that it was a hunter or someone who knew Brady Cellos. A boy about my age came out from where he was, raising his eyebrows.
He walked over and held out his hand, "Need a hand?"...