Perfectly Imperfect

Chapter Four

On the fourth day, we began planning our escape.

It was that day the younger children were finding it particularly difficult. Carmine had been crying, I picked him up and tried rocking him, he was really missing his parents, "Shh, baby it's okay. You'll see them again. I promise."

That, of course, set Liam off. I gathered them both up in my arms and tried to shelter them from everything. I had done my best to keep everybody in this room, remaining in this room.  There was no need for them to experience the horrors that went on down those corridors. The tortures they made you witness. 

It was difficult to explain the weird attachment I had formed to them all. Even the quiet farmers to the side. In the past few years, I had grown reserved and content in my own company, and somehow these guys had trampled all over that without actually really doing anything. I wondered if, in part, it had anything to do with the fact they were werewolves. But then, other than that boy so long ago, I hadn't felt drawn to anybody else.

The chores were bad enough on their own. Tom was, weirdly, handling it the best. He was definitely possessive over everybody here. He made sure everybody had eaten before he did, he helped me feed the children when they wouldn't eat the disgusting food. Of course, the adults couldn't help because they were chained to the walls. They had enough leeway to feed themselves and that was all.

I had just finished giving out the food to all the rooms when I returned. The children were eating well. Tom, as always, let his remain untouched until everybody had finished and that left him with barely 2 spoon fulls. I sat down with mine, I had a normal portion today. From my delivery, I could clearly see the absent places. They had downsized prisoners, I shuddered to think of what that meant, and that meant a larger portion for me.

"Do you think your pack is coming to rescue you guys?" I asked, curious. I was wondering whether I would be killed for knowing their existence or allowed to leave. If I left I wasn't sure how I was going to survive. Now I was legally an adult but had no money, school or druggy parents to use for the pretence of shelter.
"Without a doubt," Charlie answered before whispering, "Tom is our Alpha's son."

I looked over to Tom, watching him sit there with his chest puffed out. He was rightfully proud of his title, and now that it had been made clear to me I could see it. The protective attitude, the way he ensured his pack was fed before he ate. But it often meant he ate very little, nearly as little as I.

"We need to make sure they don't find out who he is though, they won't take too kindly to having a junior Alpha under their roof," Alice whispered.
That made sense, I guess. They would probably kill him instead of toying with him like he were us.
"What do you think we're here for?" I asked, like did they have some objective for kidnapping wolves or something.
"I'm going to assume for some type of experiment, but I can't be sure. We're not really privy to any of the council discussions. Whatever it is, it can't be good if they're kidnapping packs now."

Tom's little belly rumbled hungrily. The poor boy had been sacrificing himself for his pack. I slid my tray over to him and gave him a little wink, "Eat up buddy. You need your strength."
He shook his head frantically, "You first."
I raised my eyebrow, "Don't mess with me, little Alpha, get your fill. We're going to need your strength when we find a way to alert your pack." I whispered to him.

He rolled his eyes and glared at me as he picked up a spoon and began eating the, what I think was supposed to be, sausage casserole. It looked like gravy and onion that had congealed into a paste. 
"Good boy," I jokingly patronised him, messing up his hair.
He playfully pretended to try to bite my hand in protest, but I managed to yank it away in time, I knew he enjoyed my affectionate teasing. I think it took his mind from his current situation. I also got the gist that maybe at home he wasn't allowed to be a kid the same way he could be here, without his responsibilities.

"Now, how do you think we could alert your pack?" I asked the room, and immediately ideas began forming.

*~*~
Conversing was one of the few ways we could entertain the days away and it was during one particular conversation we stumbled across a realisation. They had been tied up, drugged by silver, in the back of a van and so had no idea how to get to where we were. I, on the other hand, had travelled here when I was younger and fully able to see through the car window. I described to them everything I could possibly remember from 5 years ago.

I explained the impossibly long forest that, for the most part, was a straight road except at the beginning where it was almost mountainous in its hills and turns. It was their opinion the rogues were using magic to shield their pack house from the rest of the world. Their pack was located in the very same woods but at the other side and they had no knowledge of a pack just miles away, much less a rogue one. They also mentioned that the woods were not that dense in this part of town, not dense enough to factor in the journey I had getting here. It was, apparently, a simple spell that extended the journey in an attempt to dissuade trespassers or at least accidental ones. It also doubled as a way to suppress scents. They managed to deduce this because there was no way their pack's patrol, their current Alpha or his eldest son would have missed the scent of an entire pack of rogues. It was impossible.

And from this, we surmised a plan. There was no way of actually escaping, especially from an adult pack and even more so considering we had children and a human to account for. The plan was simple, we needed to somehow get the scent of one of the pack members outside the perimeter of the fence. If we're right, the magic stops at the fence. Which explains why I had some weird feeling the way the gate opened. It wasn't the gate itself that was magic, but rather the spell started there.

It's our hope that by leaving his scent there, his pack will pick up on it. Specifically, his family who can make their own conclusions when they feel the magic here. It was a simple plan, but simple plans were the ones that succeeded. Overly complex ones meant a lot more could go wrong. 

I was going to throw Tom's bracelet over and hope that would be sufficient, he never took it off and so his scent was deeply embedded within it. Despite the fact he was visibily upset at the thought of losing his bracelet, it was really all we could do. It had also been his suggestion in the first place.

The only thing left to do was devise a distraction or create an opportunity to throw it. I knew these guys' routine like the back of my hand but it didn't help much because regardless of the day or time there were those wolves patrolling. 

I thought that maybe tomorrow would be a good time since they played poker twice a week, and tomorrow was the next. It was at the other side of the building outside so at least that removed the main men from the equation. We weren't sure what to do about the wolves, however.

*~*~

It was done. During my stable cleaning, which I was now convinced were where some of the wolves stayed which would also explain why there were never any horses there, whilst their backs were turned I managed to throw the bracelet over the large metal fence. I through it with all the strength I possessed, straining my arm in the process. I just hoped it went far enough to work, without attracting the attention of the wolves on the other side.

An hour or two later I was back in my cell.

We were sat huddled down as if our breathing would somehow alert them, tense. We had been sat here in painful silence for a while, barely daring to hope. The rest of the pack seemed a lot calmer than I was. My heart was racing. I could hear my pulse pounding in my head as I prayed I did everything correctly.