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Baela truly thought she would die. It felt as though hours passed that she laid on the floor among decaying leaves, covering their autumn gold in red.
Liam had left on the back of Rogues. She failed not only Liam, but her Alpha. She hadn't expected Mira to be carrying a knife, but she had suspected something, and wished she hadn't been so scared.
She wished she had grabbed Liam and dragged him away, but knowing the Southern Alpha, Rogues had most likely always been close enough to catch them. Mira was now their Southern Alpha, and
always seemed one step ahead.
I deserve this for being so careless, she thought, thinking of Liam.
The pain in Baela's side was sharp with each inhale. She wanted the ground to swallow her when she finally heard the footprints of more wolves. She recognised the scents. A big brown wolf with black patches was first to hover over her, staring with frantic red eyes.
"I- I've failed you, Alpha," she croaked and Zayn furiously sniffed around as other wolves leaned over her, smelling her wound.
Zayn then shifted, as did a few other Omegas who could help Baela. Zayn pushed them away from Baela and cupped her face, making her open her eyes.
"Bel, look at me. You are going to be okay, yeah? Stay strong. You'll be alright. Now tell me where is he?" he demanded. "I smell his blood."
"Mira and Rogues took him-" Baela then frowned.
"You smell Liam's blood? But he wasn't hurt." Against the Omega medics orders, she struggled to prop herself up onto elbows. She sniffed the air and could indeed smell someone else's blood. Then she saw the knife. "Oh Liam, you clever boy."
"What is it?" Zayn snapped with wild red eyes.
"He must have cut his hand to leave a trail for you to follow."
Zayn breathed heavy. "How could you let this happen?."
He crouched and shifted back to his wolf form before she could reply. He sniffed the air, then pelted south and towards deeper woods. Omegas hurried after him. Zayn was too scared that the Rogues would somehow outsmart them, and he would lose Liam. He had no time to fret over Baela, all he could hope that she was still alive when they returned.
Stop thinking. Zayn stayed vigilant. Every few metres, he smelt a drop a blood and followed to the next, hating that he smelt his mate's blood, but glad he had something to follow. He could also smell the lingering stench of Rogues. For once, he would love to sink his teeth into their disgusting fur.
*******
Any minute now, they'll catch up, Liam thought, but every time he tried to look behind them, he had to grab the wolf's neck with both hands, and the blood on his cut eventually dried up. Liam had lost all sense of direction because the Rogues turned this way and that way and up hills and through streams. One by one, a wolf tapered off to run in a different direction to throw the scent.
Liam lost hope when they had been running for more than an hour. Multiple times he was tempted to roll himself off the wolf's back and down a ditch to try and escape, but he couldn't outrun them, and couldn't risk hurting himself. He also couldn't risk a punishment for trying to escape. He would have to think of something better.
But right now, Liam couldn't think. What he had done was very stupid. He had risked his life, and Zayn's life because Zayn had always said he wouldn't live in a world without Liam.
At least Baela might live. She was like a sister to him and would've done the same thing if the roles were reversed. Liam couldn't ponder on what he had done, all he could do was think about how he was
going to survive.
Soon, they arrived at huge boulders that rose all around the trees. Plants sprouted through the cracks, moss covered any overhangs, and the air hung cold as the wolves split into three groups to weave in and out of the rocks. Some rose as high as
a house, some boulders balanced oddly on others, and some were half buried into the ground; half consumed by nature.
Liam would've thought the place was beautiful if he didn't suspect a wolf den.
They passed though the rocks and down a valley.
Liam almost fell when the Rogue that carried him tumbled awkwardly over a tree stump and whimpered.
"Are you okay?" Liam asked before he could stop himself. The wolf turned its head, looking at him oddly.
The Rogue growled shortly and continued to run, most likely used to running through pain.
Liam gripped extra tight when the wolves plundered through another stream. His legs that curled around the wolf's bony sides were soaked. He tried sitting up when the wolf slowed, but it growled harshly, and he laid flat again.
Liam worried that travelling through a stream would remove their scents. He touched anything that stuck out, rocks, moss, sticks, passing debris, anything.
He hoped Omegas would catch up, but the Rogues had done all they could to throw off the scent.
Liam could only imagine the state Zayn was in. He begged that he didn't blame Baela. She had stalled after her phone call with Zayn, but what could she have done? Dragged him away kicking and screaming? The Rogues would've only moved faster. Baela wouldn't have had time to shift into
her wolf. Mira would have only taken advantage of her vulnerability.
Baela most likely stalled for our Omegas to catch up. Please be alive Baela. Without her, who would keep Zayn calm?
By nightfall, Liam was thrown off the back of the Omega. He scrambled to his feet, immediately looking for a way out. The sky was a dark blue, not yet completely night, yet the slit moon peered between branches. He could only just see around him, and all he saw were trees. Liam had no idea where he was, but he still touched grass and wildflowers by his feet, mixing scents.
Mira trembled as she climbed from her Rogue. Holding on for hours was strenuous for her starved body.
"He won't find us" she sighed, watching Liam lean against a thin tree. "They would have found us by now." The Rogue that Liam was riding shifted into a tall, yet lanky older man with dirt all over his body and clothes. His blond hair was greasy, and his eyes were a little bloodshot. He looked sick, but his grip was still very strong, and he managed to drag Liam towards a strange looking bunker behind thick bushes.
The rusted hatch was dragged open by two Omegas and Mira waited for Liam to enter first. He pitied her and wanted to ask if she had always been so emotionless. He held his tongue to stay observant. He was led down steep concrete steps and into a corridor lit with cheap lights glued every couple of metres.
"Welcome to our underground bunker." Mira guided them further and further underground. Liam wanted to keep glancing back the way they came, but he didn't want to look at the empty eyes of the Rogues following.
"H- How long has this been here?" he asked after walking in silence for two minutes. He wrapped arms around himself. The air was bitter in a place untouched by daylight.
"Since I've known about werewolves, so about twelve or eleven years. I forget." Mira glanced to him occasionally as if she waited for a breakdown.
Liam was stronger than two years ago, but he was still just as terrified, no matter how good his brave face looked.
"Where does it go?" Liam asked. His voice echoed,and that's what gave his nerves away. He heard the uncertainty and the waver of panic.
"To the south."
Liam stared into the darkness of a tunnel that never ended. If they were going to the south, they would be walking for days, and if they were so deep underground, Zayn wouldn't smell him, and Liam would look like he disappeared from the face of the
earth.
That thought cracked his composure. Liam held his own hand for comfort, and to stop him from trembling as much.
"Why did you want me?" he whispered, wondering if they would be walking all
evening. The low arched ceiling was suffocating.
"Because you're the most valuable thing to Zayn Malik. It's only fair that I have you when he had my Jaiden for so long."
Liam shuddered at the name. He eyed her, barely believing it. How was it possible?
"Jaiden was a Beta. How could he have been the Bedlam Alpha?"
"You doubt him?" Mira suddenly yelled.
Rogues cowered into the darkness when she stormed to Liam and pointed a bony finger into his chest. She changed so fast that Liam barely had the time to widen his eyes.
"Jaiden was a Beta with a mission. We didn't need a born Alpha to have a true leader! But Xavier and Zayn pushed him aside and never saw his true potential, so he started his own pack. He was so brave." Mira turned on her heels and floated down the passage, dreaming of her deceased mate.
She has lost her mind. Liam assumed the death of a mate had done that to her. Being human must have made the process ten times harder to deal with.
She wasn't only fighting grief, she was fighting to stay alive. And fought you have. Liam sighed sadly.
Mira had either never been the person he thought she was, or she had lost herself in revenge.
"Are you using me as bait?" he asked. "Is Zayn who you really want?"
"Yes. It's just unfortunate that you've gotten in the way, Liam, but at least you'll be with your parents soon."
Liam's entire body shivered. She knew his parents were dead. His heart didn't like thinking of his death. Liam could only hope he was at an advantage with his good health. He hoped all the Rogues eventually shifted to their human forms. He could outrun them then, but he could easily get lost underground.
"Where are we going in the South?" he asked, feeling as though he should keep Mira talking.
She had always been one for gossip and loved to spill her own secrets just to see other people's reactions.
Mira crossed her arms and the fabric of her white jumper pulled against her. Liam then saw how skinny she really was, like skin and bones body struggling to live without a piece of its soul.
Liam tried to remember her when she was healthy, but those memories distorted the longer he stayed with the Mira before him.
"It's a secret I think you'll like." Mira didn't turn to look at him. Her voice was sent down the endless tunnel in an eerie resonance.
Liam was suddenly not a fan of surprises.