Perfectly Imperfect

Chapter Five

I gathered the children into the furthest corner from the door.
The reason I was so scared was because the one thing these guys hated more than anything was an escape attempt. Or, technically, they loved it. It brought out their worst sides.

"Just follow my lead but don't draw attention to yourselves, anyone. I'm human so hopefully, they'll be focused on smelling my truths." Again, a tidbit of information I had picked up from our conversations that wolves could smell lies, more so in regard to humans. Some wolves had the ability to lie efficiently.

The door opened gently. 

His silhouette filled the doorway.

He smirked. 

They were all signs that this was not going to go well. The eerie calm that he exuded gave me goosebumps. His feral grin gave me shivers.
"You thought you could escape, huh?" He smiled creepily.
"What do you mean, Alpha?" I asked innocently.

He actually looked faintly amused, "A little birdy told us something. Told us you threw something over the fence." he was mocking me.
"What- why would I do that? What would I throw?" I pleaded with him, trying to seem desperate.
He looked over to Tom.
"What do you have to say for yourself, boy?"
"I'm sorry Alpha, I don't think she threw anything." He whispered quietly.

He grabbed my arm and started walking towards the door, "I don't think I quite believe you." Those dreaded words. He seemed completely at ease and amused by this whole situation. I think that almost scared me more than if he had been angry.
"No! Take me instead, she-" Tom tried to interrupt.

"Shut up!" The Alpha growled menacingly. His teeth bared, I didn't want to ever witness what his wolf ones looked like, the human ones were threatening enough.
"You," he threw me towards the door, "I'll deal with you later." He pointed roughly at Tom's chest.

He wove his hand into my hair, but this time he didn't pull or yank. He caressed my head with my hair between his fingers. I felt the familiar spike of fear that I felt for a long time when I first came here. The empty pit in my stomach opening up. His hands got stuck in my knotty hair, since I didn't have access to a brush. He threw me into the first room he found. He slapped me hard and it sent me hurtling to the floor. One side of my entire face burned at the sting, my jaw creaked from the pressure, thankfully it hadn't broke.
"I gave you a room," he picked me up and threw me into the wall, "Shelter." He slapped me again. "I gave you food."

Did this mean he didn't believe my lie? What was he getting at here?
"Don't you think it's time you gave a little something back?" He asked thoughtfully as if the idea was only just coming to him. He gently stroked the cheek he just slapped with the back of his fingers.

"I do," I played along with the conversation, hoping to delay the inevitable, "I do chores, clean your rooms and your clothes, deliver food-"
He punched me in the stomach, more gently than he usually does. It was still enough to take my breath away but not enough to bruise, I didn't think.
"That's not what I meant, sweetie." He breathed into my face as he wrapped his hand around my neck, applying enough pressure so I was aware he was there. I felt physically sick at the use of the nickname my mum used to call me by.

Not what he meant?! Is he alluding to rape?
He placed his hand underneath his other and began to run it down my body, between the swells of my breasts and down my belly before stopping at the hem of my jeans. He tugged at them playfully as he growled in my ear, "You know exactly what I mean, I've seen the way you eye me up."
He licked the shell of my ear and I had to quash the need to vomit. I struggled to get away from him but it was useless. He ran his nose up the side of my cheek, to my hairline, and inhaled. "Since there's no pretence anymore, why don't I show you how an animal likes to f-"

He cut himself off with a growl. Now he was angry. Guards rushed in and he shoved me in their vague direction. He stormed off angrily. No, he was worried. I was thrown from guard to guard before I landed back in my cell.

What a whirlwind of a day today was turning out to be. 

Holy shit, I was seconds away from being raped.

"Alex, hunny? Are you okay?" Alice's voice sounded out from my left, I was laid on my back with my arm over my eyes. I sat up.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." I probably didn't look it but we, me in particular, were incredibly lucky to have had him have to respond to an emergency right after facilitating our escape.

"Alex?" Tom asked from behind me.
I gathered him up in my arms and squeezed gently, "Never scare me like that again, little Alpha." 
He tried to get out of my lap, complaining that I was treating him like a baby. I was treating him like a baby. I squeezed harder. "Suck it up, buttercup." I smiled into his shoulder. I was so glad he hadn't been harmed whilst I was gone. If my plan had backfired and ended up with him hurt... 
It was worse than the maid and kid combined. I felt genuine affection for this boy, like the brother I never had.

He gave up his struggling and melted into the hug, flinging his arms around my neck. He was just a worried little boy trying to grow up too quickly. My heart ached for him. I was about to let him go when I felt something wet against my neck.

He was crying.

There was absolutely nothing that gave it away, his breathing was the same, he wasn't sobbing or shaking. He wasn't even sniffling. But tears were pressed against my neck regardless. I rubbed his back gently and shifted to the side a little, pretending to get comfy, so he was further out of view, instinctively knowing he wouldn't want anybody to know that he was crying.
"I just want you to know Tom, whatever happens to me when you're rescued, I want you to know I'm so glad I met you. I'm proud of you. You saved us, and you were so damn brave doing it." I shook my head as I felt my own tears building, "I know your brother is going to be Alpha someday because he's older, and I don't know much about werewolves, but I know for an absolute fact you're one hell of an Alpha do you know that?"

"I've been here for so long, I've seen so many people being held here. And now I know they were probably werewolves. You've been the bravest and the strongest of them all. I think your pack is on the way, and I hope they'll be as proud of you as I am." I gave him a quick squeeze again. I meant what I said. I didn't consider myself the sentimental type, definitely not an affectionate type, but I had to say what I did because I wasn't convinced I was going to live through the next hour or so.

Judging by our conversations, humans often died in mysterious 'accidents' if they ever stumbled across the knowledge of werewolves, for the preservation of the race. And I was likely to die by his brother's or his father's hand. In light of my, likely, impending death I had to let him know that I could see his strength, even if I was a stranger.

Maybe I saw myself in him, a child trying to do survive in an adult world. To have adults place their lives on you, to lean on you when you were just learning to stand on your own. Maybe I was just emotional at dying, or far too tired to be logical. God knows I was acting so unlike myself lately. I had already come to expect my death, and for the sake of repeating myself, a simple death. I don't think these guys' Alpha would be sadistic, and so at least my death would be quick and maybe even painless.

It would sure be a lot easier than trying to figure out how to survive in the world I would be thrown into. I had contemplated asking the pack not to mention that I knew, so that maybe I could survive. But that would be unfair, its strongly against their nature to lie to their Alpha, even by omission. And it would be much simpler just to accept death than find my place in the world with no education, or money, friends or family and no idea of what the world was actually like.