Chapter 23
I was pumped. My body was filled with adrenaline and it was the most alive I’d felt in weeks. My anger was driving me. I knew as soon as my training session was over with Daniel, and my body had time to relax, I’d be exhausted. I’d sleep for days if allowed.
Daniel lowered his body and came at me again. Unlike all the other times, he didn’t knock me on my but again. My body didn’t crash against the ground under all his strength. I dodged him, sending his flying past me and hit the ground in surprise. I may not have strength on my side but I had agility and speed. Those would be my weapons.
Daniel rolled over, his eyes meeting mine since his fall. Instead of being met with anger or annoyance he was smiling. Almost like a sorcerer over his apprentice or a parent over their child. Then he pushed himself up from the ground and dusted himself off.
“You’re doing better than I thought you would.”
I raised my brow to him and crossed my arms. “You didn’t think I had it in me?”
Part of me felt smug that I proved him wrong, while another part of me felt oddly offended. Not that what he thought mattered to me, but he was implying that I was weak. Something I did not want to be. Something I couldn’t afford to be. Not if I wanted to live.
“You’ve surprised me. That’s something to admire in a mate. Not many people can do that. But you…you have since I first learned you were my mate.”
I stared back at him unwilling to show him any emotion. He didn’t deserve that part of me. I could be civil, but that was all. And the only reason for that was so he’d continue training me. I hated when talked about me like I was still his mate though. Like the last couple of months never happened.
“We don’t have as many differences as you think. Actually we’re a lot alike. I know it didn’t seem like it at first, but it true. My dad was influencing me in the beginning. He doesn’t get to do that now,” he continued. “I like that you’re strong and have mind of your own. That’s what makes you different.”
I dropped my arms to my side and bent down to pick my sweater up off the ground.
“Yeah well, different isn’t always good.” I slipped the material over my tank top and turned to face him. “It can be problematic if you’re not careful.”
I was trying to discourage his enthrallment in me, though I doubt it was working. I was his mate in his eyes and nothing I could do or say could change that.
“I should probably get cleaned up,” I said feeling my clothes stick to every inch of my body. I wanted a shower. And to be anywhere else.
I turned my body away from him and took a step back toward the building my cell was in when his voice stopped me.“I think you’re ready. We’ve been training all week and you’ve showed a lot of improvement and skill. I think it’s time to let your wolf prove what she can do.”
My head snapped to him and body soon followed. “You letting me train my wolf?” I had to ask to be absolutely sure.
He smiled at my enthusiasm. “I think it’s time. How about tomorrow?”
“Yes!” I said immediately. “Tomorrow works great.”
He ran his hands through his halo covered disheveled hair and pushed his hands into the pockets of his sweats. In any other world or situation than ours I could easily love him. He was beautiful and at times seemed so angelic. I could be with him and be happy. Maybe even have pups and settle down someday.
But sadly we were not in that world, we were in this one. The one where everything was wrong and people were kidnapped. The one where mates rejected each other for other wolves and they are just supposed to smile and move on from it.
This was not the world I could love him in. It wasn’t even the world I could stand him in. He’d made his choice and I’d made mine. There was no going back from that. It was done and we were over; forever.
“You did well today. We should celebrate that,” he offered. “Let me take you somewhere.”
Let him? I doubt I’d have a say in the matter anyway. But I tried.
“I’m tired and sweaty. I’d rather get cleaned up and rest. Maybe another time.”
“Come Claire,” he pleaded, coming to stand just inched in front of me. “You’ll love it. Trust me.”
I took a cautious step back and shook my head. “No really, some other time, I promise.”
And promises were made to be broken. There would be no date. There would be nothing but training and my forced tolerance of him. That was all.
He lifted his arm with my eyes following him until his hand disappeared around behind my head. It slipped into my hair and twisted in around his finger, bringing all of it to the front of my shoulder and side of my head. His hand dropped.
“Just give me an hour. If you’re not having a good time by then you have my permission to ditch me. What do you say?”
He was persistent, I’d give him that. I just wasn’t interested in going anywhere with him. I’d much rather pull out all my teeth than sit through an hour alone with him. But if I was going to get free of him I was going to have to agree.
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll go.” I hated myself for saying it. I stepped back again putting some distance between us. “Just let me get cleaned up. I’ll see you in a couple of hours?”
He nodded and grinned. “Yes. I’ll see you to your room and I’ll be back to get you at nine.”
I frowned. “So late?”
He chuckled. “You don’t have to look so happy about it. It needs to be dark for what I have planned. It’s purely recreational, I promise.”
Alone in the dark with Daniel? That didn’t top my list of things I wanted to do in life. It sent unwelcoming shivers up my spine. And it was the bad kind.
“At nine then,” I forcefully agreed.
He walked me back to my cell where I gladly got cleaned up and dressed. By the time I was done I felt much more human than animal. The events of the day started to overcome my body with exhaustion just like all the previous days had so I settled on my tiny sofa with one of the books Daniel had brought me a couple days ago and flipped it open to my holding place.
The evening passed on peacefully and uneventfully until the knock sounded on my door. I knew it was Daniel even before the door was opened. I was expecting him.
The smile on his face told me he was much happier about tonight than I was. I stood up from the couch, placed my book down, and followed beside him out the door.
The night air was cool, but not crisp. It was comfortable. It immediately woke me up from my sleepy state.
The woods became thicker and darker the longer we walked. When the sky disappeared altogether I felt a sense or worry overcome me. What could possibly be this far out in the woods that he wanted to show me?
The owls called and the wind shook the leaves on the trees. Daniel gripped my hand and pulled me forward when my speed began to slow.
“Come on, we’re almost there,” he said. “Just a few more yards.”
My eyes began to focus on a blanket on the ground and the small outline of something standing I couldn’t quite make out at our distance.
The closer we got the easier it was to see what was waiting for us. A telescope came into full view several feet away. It was pointed up at the night sky toward the stars that I was beginning to see again.
“What’s this?” I asked coming to a full stop at an old oak tree. “We’re stargazing?”
We stopped at the edge of the picnic blanket and looked up. It was a sky full of stars in the opening above the trees. It wasn’t nearly as congested as I thought it would be out here.
“I thought it would be a nice change from all your training. You’ve done well. You deserve it.”
I reached out and placed my hand on the telescope, taking a step toward it. Leaning down slightly I pressed my eye to the scope and took a look.
The glowing lights off the stars were glowing bright, filling the sky with their brilliance. They were beautiful. I wanted to reach out and touch them so much; to be up there with them and far away from here.
My eyes began to water.
I quickly had to remind myself why I doing this; why I was still here. It wasn’t just for me. It was for Kieran and my family too. I was doing this so that I might see them again one day.
I dropped my hand from the telescope and turned my head to wipe away my unshed tears before Daniel saw them. I knew it would confuse him and raise suspicion. As far as he knew I was happy here and beginning to accept the situation I had been put in.
When my eyes felt dry again I turned to face him. “It’s beautiful. I didn’t know you liked to star gaze.”
He smiled and took a step toward me to grab the scope himself. “Yes. It’s one of my favorite past times. There is just so much history to them.”
He looked into the telescope and began to speak. “Andromeda is best seen during autumn in the northern hemisphere. It’s one of the larger constellations.” He pulled back from the scope and pushed his hands in his pockets, not taking his eyes off the sky. “Andromeda was known for her beauty and her mother’s vanity. Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the sea nymphs, provoking Poseidon in the process.”
Daniel glanced back at me over his shoulder with a wistful smile. “He sent the sea monster, Cetus to attack Andromeda as punishment. She was later saved from death by Perseus and married him. After she died she was placed in the sky by Athena next to her husband and mother.”
“Oh,” I said, looking up into the sky. I tried to avoid his eyes. “I didn’t know you know so much about constellations. You seem pretty passionate about them.”
He shrugged turning his attention back to the sky. “I found them interesting and studied them. Like I said, I liked their history.”
I followed his gaze to the stars again and pointed to another set. “What are those called?”
“Aries,” he answered quickly.
“And those?” I asked about another with an almost w shape.
“Lacerta.”
His knowledge was impressive, but in reality I couldn’t care less. I just wanted to be at home. My real home; the one I once shared with Kieran and hopefully would again.
“Do you have the time?” I asked him. I yearned to change the subject. I needed an excuse to get away.
He looked at me, taken aback. “Are you bored already?”
“No,” I said, laughing lightly in forced humor. “I just don’t want to stay out to late. I don’t want to be late to training in the morning.”
Surprised passed over his features and he chuckled. “You really do enjoy it, don’t you?”
I nodded and smiled, though it wasn’t for the reason he thought. I was enjoying it and because I knew I would use everything he taught me against him in the end. He was writing his own death certificate and he didn’t even know it. It sent a shiver of pleasure through me.
“Are you cold?” he asked. “I didn’t bring a jacket. We can go back if you want.”
“I do.”
Daniel didn’t bother hiding his disappointment at my decision. “Okay,” he nodded.
“I guess we should start walking then. It will take us a while to get back,” I stated.
Something brightened in his eyes just then. “Yeah. Or we could run,” he offered.
“Run?” I repeated, just to be sure I heard him right.
“Yeah, I mean if you’re up for it.”
“Of course I am.” He knew that I would be and that’s wanted he wanted to hear. He wanted to end our extremely short date on a good note with me. It seemed important to him.
Just after the words left my lips I felt the ties holding me down on the inside begin to loosen little by little until I felt my freewill returning to me again.
It was a feeling I couldn’t describe any better than that.
At first it was weird for me. Getting used to this new hold he had over me was hard, but I had no choice but to come around to it. I was unable to change it no matter how I felt about it. After the first couple of times I finally got over it.
Not bothering to strip out of my clothes in front of Daniel I let my wolf take over. The chills up my spin began to speared in a thrilling manner and a gleeful howl ripped through my body. I arched over and dug my extending claws into the earth and gripped it.
Daniel, beside me, did the same.
It was going to be a race back and that excited me. I was free again, even if only for a small amount of time. And I was going to live in it.
Throwing my head back on last time I let out a loud, excited howl and took off into the thick, dark, night sky. This was one race I was going to win.
-Kieran POV-
I spun around the damaged room, my head spinning, braced to attack again. The next person who approached me knew what was coming and I was not going easy on anyone.
Keely stared terrified back at me with her hands over her mouth trying to hold in her sobs. I couldn’t bother to allow myself to feel any guilt over my actions.
I’d lost it and I knew it.
“He’s flipped. He’s rabid. He won’t be the same ever again,” My aunt Maggie proclaimed. “What will we do with him? What will happen to the pack?”
Wolves of my pack bared their canines at me on Wyatt’s order. They were protecting the pack from me; preventing anyone else from getting hurt.
Colin lay at my feet whimpering, kicking his hind legs trying to move away, failing miserably. I hadn’t meant to attack him, but I wasn’t in my right mind. My wolf was out of control and felt threatened by his movements and close proximity, then it all happened so fast.
I was conflicted with feeling the guilt and making a run for it to go find Claire.
“Back up,” Wyatt ordered, “before anyone else gets hurt.”
“He’ll run again,” Uncle Roger said. “You know he’ll go straight after her!”
I bared my teeth at him. Of course I would. I would attack anyone who stopped me too.
This time was much worse than when I lost Jasmine. It nearly killed me the first time, but this time my wolf would let it losing a mate affect him that way. We both wanted her back. And once she was we’d never let her go again.
“No he won’t!” Wyatt shouted back. “Not after he hears what I have to say.”
“And what makes you think he’ll listen?” Roger asked. He pushed a hand in my direction.“You see him. He’s rabid.”
“We’ve failed him,” came Maggie again. “We promised his parents we’d take care of him and Keely and we’ve failed. Look at him now.”
“We just have to calm him down,” Wyatt said.
I shook my head. All the voices were annoying me and serving no purpose at all. I whipped my head back toward the open door I’d entered just before I was cornered, shifted and tore the place apart.
I’d come to the office to tell Wyatt of my plans to lead the pack into war after the rumor of them being holed up in the east mountains when he strongly advised against it.
How? Felix asked him through mind speak. He was standing his ground in front of me with Dorian and Leland by his sides.
I growled at him.
You! How can you stand there and face me after you let them take her?
He whimpered and bowed down in front of me. I knew the guilt of what he’d done was eating him alive and I was only making it worse.
“Stop,” Wyatt said. “It’s wasn’t his fault and you know it. He was ambushed by the underground pack. Leaving his victims alive isn’t really Axel’s MO. We were lucky they didn’t kill him.”
I didn’t let his words pierce me as they should. I remained impassive; cold.
Everyone eyed me carefully.
“We really need to talk about this, Kieran. You’re walking into a trap. They’d love to get you alone, away from your pack. You’d be weak and vulnerable. You’d make their job easy for them.”
I tore my eyes away from Dorian to glare at my beta. Have you ever had a mate? I asked him. No, you haven’t! You have no idea how hard it was for me not to go after her the second she went missing. You have no idea of the pain I’ve gone through day after day wondering what they’re doing to her. It’s tearing me apart from the inside out! I’ll tear this world apart or burn it down before I let Axel’s league of rogues keep her.
“I understand that,” Wyatt said. “I may not have a mate but if something happened to anyone that I cared about I’d do anything to get them back, but have to listen to reason. If you want to save her hearing me out is the only way to accomplish that.”
Nothing you can say will make me change my mind about this. I’m going after her with or without you.
“That’s just it, Kieran. I am with you and that’s why I’m going. Not you,” he said.
I barked out a laugh, though it held no humor. And what makes you think I’ll stay here and allow you do that? They’ll tear you apart just as easily as they will me.
He shook his head. “No, they won’t.”
How can you be so sure? Why are you so special?
He looked at me regretfully and sighed. It was almost as if he were dreading the words he was about to say next. And once he said them, I understood why.
“Because, I’m one of them. I’m part of the underground pack. And they’re expecting me there tomorrow...with Tobias.”
And that’s when I leaped. I could see nothing, but pure red. My anger had taken me over. Any humanity I had left in me was burnt out by the betrayal of a childhood best friend and fellow pack mate. That was something that could not be forgiven so easily. He would pay with is life, because when I was done with him, Wyatt would be no more.
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A/N
Hi, guys! The wait has been long, I know. I’m glad to be back from my brief hiatus. I’ve missed you guys so much. I’ve also missed Claire and Kieran. Rabid Kieran, I’m not so fond of though. I miss good and put together Kieran much better. Think you’ll see him again anytime soon? We’ll see.
What did you make of Wyatt’s betrayal? Was it shocking or did you see it coming? Could this really be the way it seems?
I’ll leave you to ponder on that one.
In the next chapter, you’ll learn where Wyatt’s loyalties truly lie. If he’s still alive that is. And if the next chapter takes me longer than two weeks to put up, I’ll make it much longer. Hopefully it won’t though.
Leave me some feedback guys! Comment, vote and follow.
P.S. This was not edited so you can kindly point out any mistakes and I’ll try to fix them. Thanks!
This is totally random, but is anyone watching American Idol? Who are your favorites? I’m torn between so many! Majesty Rose, Caleb, Jessica, MK and Ben are my top five. :)