The journey to the cave was longer than thirty minutes. Zayn grew impatient and ran ahead of the Beta who guided the way. He stopped her with a low snarl as if to say, what is taking so long?
The Beta lowered her head. Zayn wasn't her Alpha, but he was an Alpha and Zayn Malik was highly intimidating. She whined, short and quickly, nudging her head South.
We better be almost there, Zayn thought to himself and grudgingly followed, close enough to her back legs to make her run faster. Zayn growled whenever she slowed down. He wanted to run at full speed, but not every Omega could run that fast. Still, the woods seemed to never end.
Then it did, suddenly and sharply that the group skidded to a halt a few metres from the edge of a cliff. Zayn peered down. Huge rocks sat below, sprayed by the rough sea. A grey sky travelled miles and miles to the horizon. Zayn looked around, scanning the sea and sniffing the cold sea air. All he smelt was salt and the wolves around him.
Zayn shifted and stretched his arms, a lot of running was starting to ache, but he would run until he collapsed if it meant getting closer to Liam.
Thea's Beta led them to a part of the cliff that sank away. It was steep to the rocks below, and slippery, and Zayn kept thinking that Liam would struggle to climb up. He couldn't smell him, but his heart thumped warmly, the way it did when Liam sometimes hurried past his office on the way to his library.
Zayn felt as though Liam was close, though his senses were all over the place with the scents of so many Rogues, and so many other werewolves prickling the hairs on the back of his neck. He didn't quite know what he was feeling, and that was more concerning than not feeling anything at all
Once at the bottom, Zayn wiped sand from his hands and looked back the way he came.
Steep was an understatement.
They'd have to climb to get back up.
"No wonder there's a cave full of Rogues. They're probably too weak to get out," one of his Omegas observed, also looking up at the steep route.
He had a point, and Zayn's gut stirred. Something wasn't right. He hovered impatiently as the Beta waited for all the Omega's to circle them before continuing. They walked feebly along the sandy stones. One slip and the wolves would plop into the restless waves below.
The cave mouth was a big dark gaping hole on the side of the cliff. The closer they got, the more Zayn felt something in his chest.
"Liam's close by" he murmured to one of his Omega wolves. "I don't smell him, but I think he's here."
Thea's Beta wolf entered the cave with her head held high, peering down her nose at the dirty Rogues. Zayn entered with desperate eyes scanning every face.
"I don't see him, Alpha," his Omega commented, frantically looking around too.
But... Zayn gripped his chest. What is this feeling? He stormed to the nearest Rogue, leaning over her with dark ferocious eyes. "Where is Liam Payne?"
Zayn didn't ask nicely, he demanded a response, and was too close for the Rogue to avoid him.
"W-Who?" she stammered.
"You know who!" Zayn growled, but his Omega's quickly stepped in before he lost his temper.
"Where is your leader, Mira?"
The Rogue shrank back into the rock. She was so pale, she almost blended into it. Zayn turned to the next Rogue, and the next, and the next. Each one couldn't find their tongues.
"Where is he?" Zayn yelled. The Rogues dared to look, but not speak.
Thea's wolves stood silent. Zayn was annoyed by everything, especially his heart telling him that Liam might be close, but not knowing where to look.
Then Zayn spotted the rusted door at the back of the cave, hiding in the shadows. He pointed to it immediately. "Where does that lead?"
"To the North," mumbled a guy with greasy hair and hollow sunken eyes, earning him dirty looks from other Rogues.
"Liam has been here, hasn't he?" Zayn shouted, eyes wide and mad.
The guy nervously glanced to Thea's Beta. She stood with arms crossed and a hard glare, waiting for his answer. The guy shrugged and scurried through the Omegas with his head down.
Zayn sniffed the air. He only smelt, fish, salt, body odour and musty unhygienic wolves. Some clearly washed in the sea, but they were still greasy and malnourished. He couldn't smell Liam, though his heart still thumped for him.
"Where's Liam?" he suddenly bellowed. His booming voice echoed around the cave. Rogues pinned their backs the walls as though he had breathed fire through the middle of their hideout.
"Right, that's it," Zayn grumbled, rolling up the sleeves of his long-sleeved top. The black material was covered in sandy dirt from the route into the cave.
Omegas watched as Zayn stormed to Rogue after Rogue, trying to intimidate them into answering.
His Omega's followed his example and moved through the crowd of Rogues with no luck. Nobody answered them, and Zayn soon started to doubt his feelings that Liam was close. If it wasn't for the vast sea clouding scents, he might have been able to-
"Alpha, I smell Liam on these chains!" his Omega yelled.
Zayn snatched the rusted chain and sniffed it. Faint, but the sweet scent of Liam lingered.
"Where is he?" he asked through gritted teeth, glaring at the nearest wolves. He slammed the chains down.
Rogues flinched at the noise of metal on hard stone. "Where has Mira taken him?"
*****
In the darkness, Liam scurried on his elbows until he reached a wall. He pinned his back to it and brought his knees to his chest. He couldn't see anything; he could only hear Mira's weak breathing close by.
I'm in a nightmare. This can't be real. Liam scratched the cold cave wall, wet and slimy. He scanned the uneven floor from years of
water wearing it thin.
Liam needed a rock, or a stick. He wanted something in his hands that could protect him. His fists were not enough.
Countless times, Zayn had tried to drag his mate to his rigorous training sessions. Liam always made excuses.
Now Liam wished he had a bit of muscle and some skill to bring Mira down.
Sudden light from a flame hurt his eyes. Liam hid behind his hands until the light softened. Slowly, he peeked through his fingers and to Mira a few metres away. She slotted a metal tube into a metal holder screwed to the cave wall. The fire was controlled, but the flickering light sent shivers through Liam's crouching body.
The cave was narrow with low curved ceilings, like it had been made by the Rogues themselves.
Though Liam was small in the wolf world and his hair skimmed the ceiling after making himself stand. He didn't want to look like a coward, despite his brain screeching to find a dark corner and cry until his head hurt.
Mira lit another torch and marched down the tunnel.
"Follow," she demanded, stopping when Liam was too scared to peel himself from the wall.
"Now."
Liam gulped and did as he was told. The tunnel went deeper than he expected, and Mira moved quicker than she had when they ventured from the North to the South. Liam tripped and slipped in the cracks and on the seaweed. A dull dripping sound protruded from the darkness, but the floor was dry, and Liam tried not to think about whether the sea entered the cave on a high tide.
Mira stopped abruptly by a round hole in the wall. Light flared from it, and Liam peered inside out of curiosity, and because Mira grabbed the back of his t-shirt to make him look. The room beyond the hall was large and taller than the passage they stood in. Multiple torches latched onto every wall,
flickering and warming the room in a soft orange light.
On the left wall, three people were chained by the floor. The positioning of the torches cast them in gloomy shadows, but they looked like Rogues, skinny and dirty and sad.
Mira shoved Liam through the hole and some of the chained people peered through greasy hair to see what was going on. Rogues emerged from dark corners of the room, three in wolf forms and two as humans.
Liam was chained opposite the three captors, who all had moved a little, acknowledging his presence.
Mira crouched by him with an odd smile. Her tired eyes gleamed in the flickering light.
"You'll never be found here" she said softly, but that creeped Liam out even more.
"I will" he dared to whisper back. "He will find me."
"No." Mira's smile turned into a toothy grin. Her eyes didn't smile with her, they only widened with madness. "Not if he thinks you're dead."
"T-Thinks?"
Mira ran a finger down one of the chains he was tied too, chuckling as though she was playing a game. "You know what I discovered by accident? Well, what Jaiden discovered by accident?"
Liam really didn't want to know. He tried to scurry away from her. The chains were long enough that he could still wrap arms around himself, but not escape Mira's company.
"Well, Jaiden and I discovered that if a wolf is killed and brought back to life further enough away from their mate, the bond won't reform."
Liam's heart stumbled in his chest. An icy trickle of nervous sweat ran down his temple. Suddenly, Liam felt as though he would vomit. His stomach churned painfully, and his bottom lip quivered. He caught onto what Mira meant rather quickly, and she knew that, but she still wanted to tell him aloud.
"So, all we have to do," she whispered, scooting close enough to touch him. "All we have to do is wait for Zayn to go back to the North, and then I'll kill you."
Liam covered his mouth witha hand, not wanting to whimper with dread. He trembled from head to toe, and Mira found his crumbling stability amusing.
"But don't worry" she reassured, "I'll bring you back to life. Well, if you're strong enough to wake up... you know, after I pretend you were eaten by wolves."