Ashley's POV
I hated to admit it but last night was the best night sleep I had experienced since I got here.
By morning it seemed I had slept in, Meg had left a tray on the desk for me instead of dragging me to breakfast like usual.
Which honestly I preferred, I hated that big hall.
I hated the fact that I had slept so well, but last night was just what I needed to push and remind me of what my goal was currently.
My mission if you will.
I was going to escape this stupid place and make it back home, then I was going to make Damien ever regret even knowing I existed.
If he really expected me to roll over and submit just because we shared one dream by accident then he was dead wrong.
I felt more motivated to execute my escape now more than I have all week, after that good night sleep I was ready to fight my way out of here, I wasn't weak, I wasn't stupid and this certainly wasn't going to be the end of me.
Ghost wasn't finished, far from done.
I couldn't shower yet with my shoulder still wrapped up, but it felt like it was healing just fine.
I used some hot soapy water and a wash cloth to get myself cleaned up, being careful of my shoulder still, I wasn't sure if they could track me based on this body wash and shampoo but hopefully I could cover it.
I got to my feet and got myself dressed, as much as I hated the idea of my figure being seen here, tight clothes were more tactical than baggy ones.
Drying and brushing my hair was easy, it was the clothes that were the difficult choice, but also some deciding i made my decision.
I got myself dressed in some stretchy black workout leggings, a deep blue short sleeve top and a zip up black and white striped hoodie, some tight black socks and black trainers. I'd have to come up with something dark and tactical when I wanted to make my actual escape, moving in the dark required stealth, especially when your opponent had good night vision.
I tied my hair back into a low ponytail tail, some of the hairs framing my face weren't king enough to reach but that was fine.
Nothing a few bobby pins wouldn't fix, I'd have to ask one of the other girls if they had some.
I didn't want to look too suspicious right now, if I looked like I was about to run I'm sure that Mutt Alpha would have me watched 24/7.
Maybe I could put on an act?
Get some sympathy from Markus and the others, if I can get some alone time then that would be perfect.
And frankly a workout would be good, that little pamphlet wasn't useless after all, it had guard patrols on it as well as a map of this place, they were seriously just teasing the idea of an escape.
The workout room will be beneficial for me, not only will it be isolated during some parts of the day.
But it's also close to the training grounds outside, a perfect view too of a large portion of the pack lands that are down hill, which means I'll be down wind hopefully, which means it'll be harder to track me.
I still needed to get my hands on my blades again, I can only imagine where they were being kept right now.
My guess would be the Alphas private floor or some kind of weapons room.
But I could attempt to raid one of their weapons units myself, I'm sure they had to have some kind of silver weapons here somewhere.
If all else fails I had my necklace back, and I really didn't want to defile it with wolf blood, but I could and would use it to choke out a wolf.
Or just burn the crap out of them.
But then a thought crossed my mind that had me reconsidering that plan.
What if Jenny would try and stop me?
Could I do that to her?
We were friends, you could say at least, I didn't hate her like I did other wolves, we were teammates and I guess I did care about her deep down.
But if she went against me she threatened my entire plan, it could put the whole rebellion at risk.
I paused as I looked at the window, the thought had me stumped.
I mean I know what the leaders would ask of me, but did I have the heart to do it? It's not like I hadn't killed mated wolves before, but I've never killed a teammate.
I felt conflicted, really conflicted.
I shook my head to not let my thoughts run too wild, I'd deal with it if and when we crossed that bridge...I just hoped I wouldn't have too.
I walked over to the night stand and picked up the remote, it reminded me of a nurse call button or something, I didn't have my phone anymore and I sure wasn't giving Meg my number.
Although...having her as an Ally inside this place would be really helpful.
And she is pretty nice to me.
This is exactly why I didn't want to make friends though while I was here, why I wanted to keep everyone at arms length, I couldn't afford to be slowed down.
Trying to convince them to come with me would be hard enough, and getting this to work in an escape plan would be a nightmare. I doubted Meg had any tactical training, or even any training for anything aside from her job here.
It just complicated things, it's why I kept my identity so hidden, the more people that know the more trouble.
I decided to bite the bullet and press the call button, I just needed to keep up the act a little longer, then I would be home free, just a little longer.
Grabbing the remote I pressed the call button and within 10 minutes, creepy by the way, Meg was at my door and very eager from what I could see. I think she was just happy I was dressing nicer than a homeless bum.
"You look lovely Ash! I'm so happy to see you trying something new! How's your shoulder doing by the way?" She asked me.
Bouncing on her feet happily, she obviously thought something had happened to change my behaviour, and my guess she definitely thought it was something to do with my 'mate' situation.
She was way too hopeful and excited for this.
"Actually I wanted to do something I like to do, this place has a gym right? It's empty during routine hours, I'd like to go there" I explained simply.
Meg looked at me confused for a second, "But what about your injury? You're still healing from what Veronica did to you, are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked me, concern in her voice.
"I'm doing fine, I know my own limits, I just want to do something I like to do for a while" I explained in a tired and saddened voice.
I got a sympathetic look from Meg, at least this was working.
"Well, I suppose that would be ok as long as you aren't overdoing it too much, ok?"
I smiled at her and nodded "I can work with that" I said happily, it put a smile on her face as she opened the door for me as we walked out.
"Markus will be guarding us though, we need to stay with you"
"Do you think I could ask for some privacy? I'm not used to being around others 24/7, I miss my alone time, I know I have it in my room but it's starting to feel very stuffy in there" I explained, again with a pleading look and smile.
My voice softer, and a little hopeful.
She seemed to debate her answer for a bit "I... suppose if you can convince him, we can keep the area isolated during training hours"
I put a hand on her arm "thank you Meg"
She smiled more at me and nodded, bouncing down the halls with me.
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It didn't take long for Markus to get to us, he seemed surprised to see me up and about, maybe a little suspicious but I kept my cool and just waved.
"Are you sure you should be doing this? Were you cleared by Dr Willow?" He asked me, raised eyebrow.
I gave him that same sad look I gave Meg and sighed "Markus I'll be fine, I've dealt with worse, I just want to do something that I enjoy, besides no one should be around, training starts soon right?" I asked him, a tired tone in my voice.
He seemed hesitant at first to listen to me, but I could see him soften slightly.
I continued to look at him with pleading eyes, "please Markus? This is all I'm asking for after everything I've been through...you could give me a little bit of time? It's not like I can go anywhere"
He sighed a little and rubbed his face "fine...but I'm going to have some guards watching the area ok? You're lucky training is taking place soon, so we'll be busy" he explained crossing his arms.
The smile on my face must have been infectious as he smiled back at me, I guess I was breaking through his defences.
Wolves trusted their 'lunas' so maybe some of that was showing through.
I could definitely use that to my advantage, this was finally giving me some hope.
"Thank you Markus, I appreciate it" I said in a sweet voice.
He opened the doors to the gym and I was more than happy to run inside, now this, I'd admit I was a little excited for this place.
Professional well maintained workout equipment, weights, water fountain, benches, nice windows and a big mirror.
It was a well put together gym that looked professional and well maintained, definitely big enough to handle a large portion of people, maybe 100 people at once.
"Meg will come check on you every 20 minutes alright? Don't get yourself in trouble, Dr Willow wants you to take things easy, and Alpha Damien is rather busy so don't annoy him" he explained before closing the doors behind him.
Finally, I was alone.
And I for one, was more than ready with my own little escape plan.
First things first I wanted to appear truthful, getting on one of the treadmills, but I also wanted to use this to my advantage.
I wanted to see how fast and how far I could jog, run and sprint, this would be important to my escape. If my ankles had affected my speed I needed to know, especially if I was going to attempt to outrun a wolf.
After a 20 minute run I got off, Meg came to check on me and I told her I was fine, I'm glad I kept myself in shape the best I could, there wasn't too much of a difference in my speed.
Good, this meant I'd be at the top of my game when I needed to run.
Next step, assess my routine out of here, what I can use for a weapon and getting this damn thing off my wrist.
After some careful thinking about how to get it off, thankfully this thing had a flaw I could exploit which happened to be the strap on the back. It was the only place the tracker had a weak point, and I for one had quite the flexible wrist and fingers.
My plan was to find a sturdy machine and lodge a bar or corner into the gap between the tracker and my wrist.
I just needed to slip my hand out, I could hide the missing tracker with the sleeve of my hoodie, but I'd need to keep it on me until I made my escape. If they looked for me they'd think I was still in my room, so that should buy me some extra time too.
I moved my way over to the window, looking for some way out, and to my absolute delight there was a locked glass door, now that I could handle no problem.
That's what the bobby pin was for that I got from Meg, I knew it was possible to open a lock with a bobby pin, I just hoped this would work. It wasn't the first time I've picked a lock, I just normally did so with a better set of tools.
While looking out the window I stared carefully to see what I could spot in the distance, I knew there was a town in that direction, but I'd needed to be careful. I'd go at night to avoid being seen by as little wolves as possible, but running in the dark was often a terrible idea, you can't see and it's dangerous.
But I had a plan for that too, you really get creative when you get stuck in a room for a week with nothing to do.
I was going to steal a phone if I could, use the torch, or even better, stealing a torch from a patrol group, one of them had to keep a torch on them.
I just needed to get my hands on them, I'd watch the patrol groups and watch where they took their breaks, it would be a miracle if one of them left a torch behind. What I was actually looking for was how long they took breaks, I could use that time to get one from the storage rooms before anyone noticed me and head out into the forest.
I decided to head over to one of the other workout machines and focus on my back and shoulder blades, just thinking over my plan carefully.
I was really hoping to make this work, call Robin and make my way home, my actual home, I was actually really excited to think i would see them soon.
I planned to go at night, so I had to be incredibly quiet doing all this, I was hoping my passive and currently 0 attempts to run away would have gotten them to drop their guards a little.
This was likely my one chance I was going to get to pull this off on my own, the second I get caught if this fails I'm sure I was going to be out under much stricter security. I could just imagine I'd end up in a prison cell or something, maybe they'd finally lock me up so I couldn't run.
I really didn't want to think about what Damien might do if he caught me.
It made me shiver.
I shook my head and sighed as I got off the workout machines, time to get this damn tracker off my wrist.
I made my way over to one of the bench press weights, I got behind the rack and slipped the edge of the bar into the gap between my wrist and the tracker. It was a tight fit, but it was working, I managed to get some good leverage and pulled hard squeezing my hand tightly to get it as slim as possible.
It definitely took some elbow grease, hell I had to use some water to help slip my hand out.
But it worked!
Hurt like a bitch, my wrist was red, scratched up enough to slightly bleed and swollen, but it was off!
Oh I was so proud of myself with this one.
I walked over and picked up the tracker "game on mutt...let's see if you can catch me a second time" I muttered to myself, putting it in my pocket. I made my way over to a first aid kit they kept here for humans, I got my wrist wrapped up so the wolves didn't catch on to my blood.
I finished up my workout before walking over to the doors of the gym, knocking on the wood to let them know I was finished.
Meg swung the door open smiling, looking me up and down "you feeling better? You look quite happy Ash, did you enjoy the gym?" She rambled bouncing on the balls of her feet.
I chuckled and stepped past her putting a hand on her shoulder for a second, "yes, I feel better, thank you" I said as I walked past her.
Markus seemed happy too, maybe because I had a smile on my face, oh if he only knew.
"Good to see you enjoying yourself and loosening up, you know if this makes you feel more at home we can arrange for you to have your own gym time" he explained as he followed behind me.
"Sweet, I might take you up on that offer Markus, but for now I'd like to go back to my room and relax for a bit" I said as I kept walking.
Meg smiled and walked beside me "I can bring lunch up to your room"
"Grab yourself something too meg, I don't mind eating with you" I explained, getting a surprised look from both of them.
"Oh o-of course! I'm glad you enjoy my company!"
What could I say? I wanted to leave Meg on a good note, she was kind to me, I didn't want to threaten her or fight her, she was just very kind.
I don't know how she does it, it baffles me how she's so happy working here.
I suppose I was going to miss her, I wasn't going to tell that to anyone, my team would never let me live it down honestly, I was taking this to the grave.
The game is set now, the tracker was off, I had my escape plan, I had these two lowering their guard, I knew when the guards would take breaks.
I was ready.
If only I had a camera to see Damien's face when he realised I had slipped from his grip once again.
again.
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Sorry this took a while, ya girl came down with something and it truly refuses to let me function 😭
But hope you still enjoyed this!
Ashley is ready to run, so this will be a fun chance! I've read the couple comments I got about Damien and Ashley's situation and I do plan to make them both see eye to eye eventually.
If this chapter wasn't great my apologies, being sick has my brain on the Fritz
Anyway byeeeeeee! 💕