Rouge's Trail

XLV

It wasn't actually Valentin who came to us in the small pit-like dungeon. It was someone who looked a lot like him in a way that made no sense. A relative of some kind, I'm sure.

I looked up at the young wolf with eyes of grief and mourning, silently begging for a few more minutes with the only member of my makeshift pack that never truly accepted me but all he did was look at me with an apology and come over to hoist my friend up by his shoulders and drag him to his damnation.

My legs made me stand up and move but it wasn't really me doing it. It was as if my wolf had woken up after all these years of sleeping to finally grace me with the ability to follow someone else's will.

But I checked and it was me doing it with the strength I didn't have left in me.

We turned to go around the entrance of the dungeon and I stopped to wipe away another few tears that had started to dry their paths on my cheeks and make my skin stiff with the memory of why they had been there.

The sunrise was almost discreet this morning. It seemed to know how unwanted it was and to hide behind the clouds. I watched it for a second and decided that it was more orange than pink this morning and that if I was going to be forced to remember the day Ajax Quint died then I was going to remember it the right way.

He stooped to the side a little while the wolf pulled him along, his limp more because of his wounded pride than his leg. Part of me wanted to imagine that Isabella was standing next to him with her arm on his shoulder while she laughed at something he said and that Sophia was smiling widely off to the side, but none of that was happening.

And I was looking at this the way it was happening.

And none of that is happening.

The Valentin wannabe pulled him along and we kept walking. The dungeon couldn't have been more than a hundred feet away from Cyrus's campsite, but it seemed that by the time I could fully make out every person walking around the sun had risen to the midpoint of the sky.

Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, though, because when I looked up I swore I saw a trail of blond speed into the forestry. My heart skipped a beat, hoping it would be Isabella or Sophia.

It wasn't.

A man walked up to the wolf escorting us. He was tall and lacked a Russian accent. I assumed he was from one of their American branches.

"Alpha Cyrus wants to see the rouge before the execution."

"Ridiculous," the other wolf muttered, the word itself sounding a little ridiculous with his thick accent," Beta Valentin gave me strict direction to take the girl to the execution at sun rise with the man."

"I don't know what to tell you, friend. Cyrus told me to come get her. Who would you rather face?"

He smiled at the American wolf like they were conspiring friends. He pushed Ajax over to his other side so the American would be able to have better access to me.

"Do what you need to do."

"Thank you," he paused and rubbed his neck in a bashful way," I didn't get your name."

"Oh? It is Danila. What do they call you?"

The other man simply laughed softly at him and shook his head jokingly.

"Wish I could tell you what they call me, Danny, but there are women present."

With that I could feel a hand touch my shoulder. I jumped only in my mind and waited until the person came to show themselves. It was Thomas Wright.

He put one finger to his lips to signal that we were to remain silent as we continued with this plan. I nodded with realization that that wolf talking to Danila wasn't just another one of Cyrus's men, he was a friend of Thomas's.

Or something close, judging from the worried look he cast towards Thomas while he was making conversation about the type of knife they would use for Ajax's beheading.

I focused my eyes on Ajax, hoping he would feel me looking at him and turn around but he was too worn from the wolfsbane they had been pumping into him for days. I looked up at Thomas with pleading eyes and all he did was nod.

He pulled me off to the side so we were both safely out of the way and wouldn't be caught by Danila while he continued to be distracted by Thomas's friend.

"It would be so cool if they had been able to get a guillotine."

"They have one at the Ivalo compound," Danila nodded, happy to have impressed his newfound friend," It is the same one used in Marie Antoinette's beheading. We only use it for show but it is impressive, no?"

The other wolf just nodded and looked off to the side. He seemed to be looking for something by the way he scrunched his eyebrows but there was nothing there. Danila looked over there, too, but the moment he did Thomas was behind him with one hand tightly around his throat and the other around his mouth so he could neither breath nor scream.

"It would be cool, Danny," Thomas's friend said, coming around to face the front of him," but the guillotine used to kill Marie Antoinette is currently in London at a wax museum."

"Oh, shut up, Tyler," Thomas whisper yelled to the other guy as he dropped Danila to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"Wha- What's going on," Ajax asked, stumbling to stay up.

I got up from my hiding place and ran to him, helping him to stand as Thomas and Tyler argued over who was going to stay and dispose of the body.

"Just take the damn thing to the dungeon and lock the door, Tyler."

"Why can't you do it? We both know I'm more valuable if someone comes to get them."

"More valuable? Hello," Thomas pointed at himself," Alpha."

"Hello, hybrid."

"Will you two just shut up and get rid of him before someone comes? What is wrong with you, Thomas, you guys are arguing like-"

"Brothers," Tyler interrupted me," Not our choice, of course."

I gaped at them. I didn't really think that Thomas had any siblings. I never actually gave Thomas's family much thought at all.

But Thomas's family doesn't really matter.

Not right now, at least.

"So, are we going to stay here and chit chat or are we going home?"

I stared at Thomas when he said that. 

Home?

"I opt for the second option," Tyler said, finally dragging the body away," I have a pair of mischievous kids to get back to and my mate can only distract other guards for so long."

And before I knew it, we were going home.