The Wolf Society

Chapter 12: If Only

"Oh little girl. Do you truly trust Sloan?" I snarled at this monster of a father.
"I do." I snapped, staring him dead in the eyes, those terrible icy blue eyes a perfect replica of my own. He smirked, allowing that ugly malicious grin to cross his face.
"We will see how that goes for you in the coming weeks." His thumb moved slowly over my cheek, and I found my muscles oddly stiff. Immobile. I could only stare as his eyes roved over me. I hated him, more than I hated any other human being in the world.
The king leaned toward my ear, and allowed his breath to tingle against my skin.
"Remember what happened to your mother. I will do exactly the same to you if I have to."

My eyes shot open, their icy blue irises staring out at the dark world. My breathing was heavy, uncontrolled, and I could feel the delicate pounding of my heart in my chest.
"Adelina?" Sloan said groggily, lifting his eyes open to see why the hell I was acting this way.
"Sorry," I replied unsteadily, my eyes adjusting to the woods around me. I was still exhausted, and was sure only around 3 hours had passed since I'd fallen into the abyss of sleep.
Sloan lay his head back onto the bark of the tree behind him, letting out a breath. "Nightmare?" He questioned, gazing over to me. I shrugged in response, as somehow it seemed somewhat embarrassing that I was being bothered by dreams like a small child.
"Was it your father again?" I could barely make out his expression in the dark light. I let out a breath I wasn't aware I was holding, and blinked.
"Who else would torment me in my dreams?" I asked sarcastically, accompanying the statement by a roll of the eyes.
Sloan chuckled before there was a small window between us of exhausted silence. ״What did he say?" He asked softly, gazing over calmly in my direction. I pondered on whether or not I should inform Sloan on the entire truth.
"He threatened to find me and have me hung." I grimaced at the thought of my skin turning that sickening, swollen blue, similar to the girl's that was found in my chambers.
                     Sloan looked to me, chocolate brown eyes meeting mine in the minimal light provided by the soaring moon above us.
                    "Your fathers a little bitch." I smirked at that, voicing my agreement.
                     It took awhile for my body to take the plunge back into the abyss of sleep. Once this occurred, I couldn't recollect one dream from the rest of the night.

My lashes fluttered, eyes cracking open. Sloan rested gently against a tree, eyes closed, breathing softly. He looked so... peaceful.
I began to sit up, hearing the crack of a twig under my weight. At the sound of this, Sloan become instantly alert, looking over in my direction. He clenched his jaw, seeing there was no danger.
I blinked, soft black hair falling in waves around me. My icy blue eyes met his intently.
"At least we'll be safe if a squirrel attacks us." My voice was sarcastic, and he humorously rolled his eyes.
"We better get moving before those squirrels come for us." I nodded in agreement, cracking a smile wondering how the hell I'd gotten this close to a seemingly emotionless general.
I brought myself to my feet, staring vividly at the great expanse of trees surrounding us on all sides. I had a bothered feeling of eyes upon me, witnessing my every move, however I pushed it away, reminding myself that we were in the middle of no where, and to anyone who didn't personally know us, we were no ones.
"Better if we move as wolves," Sloan said, voice hard and cold. I nodded in agreement, watching as he began shifting into his black, silver flecked wolf with those piercing eyes.
I took in a breath, before shifting into the white beast that had so easily harmed in a past training.
It was at this moment that we each tore off into the woods, paws pounding into the ground harshly, bringing small critters far away from us.
The wind blew through my fur, icy blue eyes piercing the forest around me. I felt overwhelmingly pleasant, muscles working beautifully, as well as swiftly, pounding the ground as if in a rage filled tantrum.
We had been running for a long while before Sloan stopped in his tracks, coming to a halt. I looked to him with icy blue eyes, wondering why he had stopped.
I paused as well, flicking my ear surveying him. Sloan blinked, looking around somewhat uneasily. Shift. His voice seemed to say in my head, and we each transformed back into humans.
"Someone's here," he said softly, and I blinked, surveying our surroundings.
A man appeared from behind a cover of plants, causing me to stop and stare intently at him. He had a long, ugly red scar slamming down through his face. He was muscular, and beheld a disheveled looking mess of a light colored hair upon his head. He looked to be about 30.
"Give me one reason not to murder you here." His voice was cold, calculating, and from the wildness in his eyes I could see he possessed a wolf form, similar to us.
"Give us one reason not to-" my harsh voice was cut off by Sloan, who to my surprise, was attempting to reason.
"We're like you," he said in a cool manner, not giving much away. I glared at him, wishing I could just ignore Sloan's tactics and tear this man to shreds. The man tilted his head and looked to me now.
"You, pretty girl, look strangely familiar." My cool eyes swept over him, and I could see he was surveying me, taking every part of me in. It wasn't just emotionless calculation in his eyes, but a hunger that made me completely ready to knock that look directly off his face.
"What are your names?" The man purred eyes gleaming in the light. I could visibly see Sloan's jaw clench, and I wondered what he was thinking at that moment. His eyes met mine, and they seemed to very clearly say lie.
"Mara." I spoke calmly, recollecting a previous false name.
"Mara," the man repeated, as if searching his brain. He appeared unsatisfied when he was not able to remember the name. He looked to Sloan, his face revealing nothing. "And you?"
Sloan tilted his head, staring coldly at the man with a hidden aggression. "Sloan Aquarius." I blinked. Sloan risked a lot speaking that name to this unfamiliar wolf. However, whatever effect Sloan wished to have on the man seemed to work brilliantly.
"General Aquarius?" He questioned, voice giving way to doubt. Sloan flashed him a cocky grin.
                    "That's me."
The man shifted uneasily, as if weighing his options. His brows furrowed. "How do I know it's you?"
                     Sloan stretched a turned arm to the man, revealing a scar I had yet to notice. The fact surprised me, because I'd thought I had taken in every clearly visible physical detail about him.
                   The scar was etched in the shape of a crescent moon, with three rectangles stretching next to it. I assumed it was showing his ranking.
                 The man suddenly held a suppressive expression, and fell to his knees before Sloan, dipping his head respectfully.
                 "What's your name?" Sloan asked questionably, cocking his head to the side as if the show of respect had meant absolutely nothing to him.
                 "Zach," he replied stiffly, and Sloan motioned for him to rise. The display of power shown brought me back to times when I had stood above numerous people, watching them beg below me, or hope for favors by expressing such gratitude for my mere existence. How foolish.
               "Well, Zach, where are we?" I watched a flicker of confusion flash across this pathetic man's face before he responded.
               "About ten miles from the base. I was sent out on patrol."
                "Where are your troops?" Sloan asked stiffly, eyes seeming to bore so harshly into this mans soul.
               "They were called off by Dr. Argun. Testing officials are looking for back up. I was ordered to keep patrolling the area." Sloan's expression remained an icy steel, not showing a hint to his thoughts.
                "Keep patrolling then," he snapped harshly, causing a cringe from Zach before he nodded respectfully, taking off in the direction of where he came from.
            Sloan titled his head in my direction, before speaking.
             "They're trying to get rid of both of us." His voice betrayed nothing, however I could see he was thinking hard.
"They'd have to have an excuse. People respect you, they couldn't just rid of you. Besides, if word spread back to Arden wolves would have a war on their hands." He nodded, gazing to me.
"Arden would jump to their throats." His jaw clenched, before he finally seemed to decide his next choice of words.
"We need to go. Now." With those simple five words, we took off running hastily into the woods.

               The Wolf Society was a heavily populated area, and considering the amount of respect Sloan received, who would dare touch us in front of a crowd of gawking wolves?
                 That question remained to be seen, as of now, the base was viewable. It stretched in all its glory, wolves working hardly at whatever their specified job was.
                We would need a plan. Both of us stepping into the hands of the officials was suicide. We would attract to much attention together, specifically Sloan in our current location.
"I'll go first." I said cooly, surveying the workings of the base. Argun was not in sight. Sloan, however, was looking to me as if I'd grown a second head.
                "Are you insane? They'll take you." His voice was impatient, and I shook my head.
                 "They'll take you to." I snapped, icy blue eyes sharp and cool. "It's better me than you. I'll attract less attention." He clenched his jaw, and I could see he knew that this was the best option. "I'll come back and let you know if it's clear. If I'm not back in half an hour, leave."
               "Leave?" He responded, seemingly finding this humorous. "I'm not fucking leaving you in there with them." I tilted my head to the side, surveying his face. Of course he would make things difficult.
             "Fine, but don't go alone." He studied me a while before nodding, seemingly coming to an agreement.
             "Don't do anything stupid." His words were forceful with a hint of... desperation? I caught his chocolate brown eyes with my own, nodding, and turned to the base of The Wolf Society. I wouldn't get captured, and if I did... I'd sooner die than be sent to redirection.
             "Adelina." Sloan's voice caused me to turn around, only a second of silence passing between us before I made my way to speak. I found myself, however, abruptly cut off.
His lips crashed into mine, hands winding around my waist, his grip sending spikes of electricity flying through me. My heart pounded in my chest, adrenaline surging through my veins. A moment of shock filled me, before my icy blue eyes fluttered closed, embracing the situation with contempt. I pressed myself into him, closing any distance between us.
Despite contradicting feelings, I slowly slid my lips away from his, gazing into those chocolate brown eyes.
            "Please be careful." He murmured as ours lips parted. He brushed a hand gently down my arm, as if this was something he'd wanted for a long while, and I lifted my eyes to his, those chocolate brown irises studying me intently.

          "I will."

I feel like this chapter was rly rushed. I tried not to rush it but it's hard when you just want to get to the good parts lol I attempted to add some extra details in but idk.  I'll just say that rly dislike it haha. That end tho😂don't get to happy shit is going down next chapter...😂😂Anyway, I hope u all enjoyed and I really appreciate every read and vote. Any feedback is rly appreciated it helps and motivates me a lot :) thx again guys