My senses came back slowly. First, it was the burning of my side. Then, it was a soft hand running up and down my back. Lastly, it was Raven's voice, small and tense, whispering lies of encouragement. I tried to dwell on those lies. I tried to believe them. But, I couldn't. No matter how desperately my heart pined for encouragement, I couldn't believe that Will would survive.
When the tears fell silently, Raven pulled back to look me in the eyes. She was silent for a few long moments before she bowed her head and dropped her hand from my back.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. When I didn't respond, she looked up, watching me carefully. "Do you need anything? Water?" Her voice was barely a whisper of the wind. It was as if even talking too loud would cause me to break once more. To her, I was nothing more than a house of cards precariously balancing on my tears.
Slowly, I nodded. It took her only seconds to leave me and return with a glass. I pressed it to my lips, not really feeling the cold liquid enter my system. When the water was gone, Raven took the glass and set it on the ground beside us. I could tell she wasn't comfortable with silence, because, after a tense, silent moment, she asked, "Are you alright?"
"No," my voice cracked.
"Sorry, stupid question," she trailed off. "It's going to be okay, though. It's going to be okay."
I didn't respond.
Raven continued, filling the silence. She rambled on and half the things she said I didn't hear. Whether the nonsensical talking was for her benefit or my own, I couldn't tell. Maybe she knew that it was better to fill the silence with useless words rather than allow memories of Will's screams. Maybe she just didn't want me to break again.
"Hey," she eventually paused, rubbing a hand up my back again. "I know I said humans don't often survive, but he's in good hands. I can promise you that."
Had it been any other situation, I would have rolled my eyes. I didn't even have to think before I croaked, "Riley's not good hands."
"I was talking about the Beta."
I shook my head slowly, my voice as dead as I felt. "Neither of them are good hands."
Raven shifted her weight. I knew it wasn't in her nature to talk down about the 'leadership' of her pack; it was like that for any werewolf. But, I didn't care. Not that I was making her uncomfortable, not that I was showing my hatred for her kind. None of it mattered anymore.
I was going to lose everything.
The thought struck me harder than a bullet piercing my skin. For the next few moments, it was all I could think of. My mother was gone. Will would soon be dead. And what was I doing? What had I been doing all week?
Sitting in an apartment waiting for something to happen.
A new feeling rushed through me. Initially, it was shame at my cowardice and refusal to act. It wasn't that I hadn't tried to escape. The first day had consisted of nothing but me searching Samuel's apartment for any openings that weren't guarded. But, after that, I'd given up. When I saw that there were too many werewolves, too many odds stacked against me, I'd sat down in my bedroom and brooded, resigning myself to the fact my life was no longer my own. I accepted that my existence was only to make Samuel happy.
Next, I felt contempt. Contempt, and anger. However, it wasn't outwardly focused, anymore. This anger was directed at me. The entire week I'd been too involved in my own self-pity to even realize what was happening. I was too scared and defeated to fight as I normally would. The girl that had run, the girl that had risked everything to save her and her family's lives, was pushed behind a wall I hadn't even consciously built. And now, it took the last bit of what meant something in my life to finally wake me up.
"Raven," I started, my voice shaking. I turned to face her as I spoke, initiating eye contact. My hands twisted forward, catching her wrist as it once again started to smooth over my back. I stopped her from further movement, and she looked at me, confused. "Stop."
She immediately stiffened. Her expression grew guarded and she looked at me warily. I didn't allow her expression to linger before I was speaking again. This time, my voice held a small amount of strength.
"Do you have a family?"
Raven looked me, bewildered. I could tell she was trying to follow my thought process, but in that moment, even I was having a tough time keeping up with it. I was purely following the new feeling rising in my chest, pushing me forward to do what I feared most.
Risk everything.
"Yes," Raven eventually whispered, uncertainty tainting her soothing tone.
"What would you do if they were in trouble?"
Again, she hesitated. "I'd help them."
Slowly, I nodded. "Of course, you would. They're your family. That's what I would do."
She leaned away from me, her wavy hair falling on her face. It covered her features, masking the cautious expression I knew she'd adopted.
"My family is in trouble," I started, slowly. Each syllable that left my mouth, however, added to the new feeling rising in my chest. It caused my heart to quicken, my lungs to ache. "My mother is missing and could already be dead. If I don't do something, then my brother will be, too."
"You can't leave," Raven quickly shook her head. She was pleading, now. "The Alpha will kill me."
I hesitated. There it was again, the one obstacle between me and that door. My heart tugged one way in my chest, while the other half was already sprinting out of the apartment.
"I can protect you."
The words left my mouth before I knew what I was saying. But, when they did, I didn't take them back. For once, I was letting my body run on instinct. I wasn't holding back. There would be no more caution; not if I wanted to save Will.
She looked at me, dubiously. "How can you do that? No offense, but that's one of the reasons the Beta wanted me here. To protect you."
"Samuel is on my side," I told her with as much force as I could muster. "If I tell him to protect you, he will."
I didn't know if it was true. I didn't know if I'd be able to protect Raven at all. But, in this moment, I didn't care. For the time being, we both had one common enemy. One common threat. If I had any chances of getting this woman to listen to me, I had to use that and whatever other means I could. Unfortunately, the only resource I believably had was the mate bond with Samuel.
So, I exploited it.
"Samuel is my mate." I tried not to cringe as I said the words aloud. "If keeping you safe means that much to me, he'll make sure it happens."
Her breathing quickened. "I don't know. The Alpha," she trailed off.
Raven inched further away from me. I could tell I was quickly losing her, so I did the only thing I could think of. I played further on the common ground between us, revealing the one thing I swore I would never speak of. I didn't know what was coming over me, and I knew that when I came to my senses I would probably regret every word that left my mouth, but I didn't stop.
"Riley's threatened me, too." My voice was small, betraying the fact I was wrestling with my own emotions. However, I paused before continuing, waiting for Raven's reaction. Her body stilled again, and she ceased her inconspicuous movements. When I knew I had her attention, I sighed, heavily. "He's threatened me and my family. If I don't let Samuel change me, if I don't make him happy, he'll kill them."
She cast her eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry."
"Stop saying that," I snapped. My eyes darted to the window, watching the full moon for the briefest of moments. "If you're really sorry, then help me." I reached my hand for hers, squeezing it tightly. Her palm was limp in mine, and I knew her resolve was failing. After a moment, I gave her a small smile. "I can't do this without you."
Raven took her hand from mine and rubbed it on her leg, slowly. Her brow furrowed, and she refused to meet my eyes. "I can't just disobey my Alpha's orders."
"You're not disobeying him. You're following the Beta's order to keep me safe. I'm leaving, one way or another, and having you there would lower the risk of me getting killed."
Again, I didn't know if I was telling the truth. Maybe that's why Raven so easily bought it.
"I don't even know how to get out of here," she half-cried. "You saw the door." Her hand no longer ran up her leg but rested firmly on her hip.
I tried to hold back a smile, though my heart leaped at her words. It wasn't an outright agreement to my proposal, but it was close enough.
"We can figure it out."
I rose to my feet, almost too quickly. My body swayed, threatening my balance. I reached my hand out to steady myself against the chair, and Raven was at my side in an instant.
"I don't think you understand," she huffed as she released me. "It's locked from the outside. I saw it. There's a bar across the door."
It was hard to ignore that knowledge, even as my hopes were rising. We were too high up to attempt an escape from the window, and there weren't any other ways to leave the apartment. When Samuel first dumped me here, I checked for air vents, attics, trap doors, extra rooms, everything. There was an old stairwell a few stories outside the main window, but even that was too far to reach. The only way in or out was through the front door.
"You're strong, right?" I questioned as I made my way to the front of the apartment.
Raven followed close behind, holding her hands out in exasperation. "Yes, but I don't know if I could break it. They made it to keep us in, you know."
I stopped beside the red wood, tracing my fingers around the doorknob. "They made it to keep me in."
Raven stopped behind me. I could practically feel the doubt and fear rolling off her shoulders, but I let it do just that. It rolled off of her and melted into the ground, unable to break through my newfound determination to get us both killed.
She sighed. "The Beta's not going to like it if I break his door."
With my back facing Raven, I rolled my eyes and ignored her statement. Though I knew it was futile, I gripped the metal doorknob and pulled. Like before, the door didn't budge. The handle twisted, but the wood stayed firmly in place. I bit my lip as the gears turned in my mind. Each thought that passed caused me to pull harder at the door.
After a while, Raven huffed and shouldered me aside, rolling her eyes. "You're not doing anything."
She pushed me back further, and it didn't take long for me to interpret her intentions. My feet carried me the small distance to the kitchen, and I watched as Raven pushed against the door in various places. From my viewpoint, each one was as strong as the last. After a moment though, she smirked and turned to me.
"The bottom half gives way a bit. I'm going to try there, but I don't know if it will work." She hesitated then, her eyes growing wide. "If there's someone outside this door, they're going to know what we're doing."
Her last thought hadn't even occurred to me, but now that it had, I realized why there was a sudden fear in her voice. If Riley or Samuel placed someone outside this apartment to guard me, we were both dead before we even left.
"There won't be anyone," I spoke firmly, trying to convince myself. "Samuel told me the pack was out looking for the humans."
Raven readied herself to charge the door, but she abruptly stopped. "The humans? As in the humans? The rebellion humans?"
I shrugged. "I guess?"
Her arms fell to her side, swaying with the motion. If possible, her brown eyes grew even wider. "You didn't tell me that. If they're out there and we get caught then our Alpha is the least of our worries."
"Your Alpha isn't a worry at all," I stressed. "And, we won't get caught. Payton got a team together and was going after them."
She nodded, but it didn't soften the lines creasing her forehead. "He is our best hunter," she thought out loud, trailing off. "And our best tracker."
"Exactly. We'll be fine."
Raven shook her head, giving me one last glance as she tensed her body like before. She crouched, positioning her shoulder towards the door, then tucked her arms into her chest. Her back leg braced, and in that moment, I swore she was more intimidating than I ever gave her credit for. Before I could dwell on the thought, she simply took in a large breath and charged the door.
Her shoulder hit the door, right on the mark. A loud splintering exploded through the air, and when Raven pulled back, there was a small hole in the otherwise perfect wood. We both stared at it, in shock. My feet carried me forward, but my eyes never left the hole. It was small, but we could easily peel back pieces of the door until it was large enough to fit through.
"That was too easy," Raven mumbled.
I nodded, but I didn't let myself think about it. "Riley underestimated you."
She scoffed. "More like he didn't think I was stupid enough to disobey him."
I crouched down, ignoring the pull of my side. "I'd call it bold, not stupid."
Raven followed my movements, reaching to pull back the largest piece of wood. "Is there a difference?"
I didn't answer but instead began helping Raven pull back the pieces of splintered wood. It was messy and time-consuming, but eventually, we created a hole large enough for someone to crawl through. I didn't hesitate in doing so, but Raven did.
"Maybe I should just stay here," she began. "Have you knock me out or something."
I was outside the door now, but I stayed crouched down. My eyes scanned the hallway before us, but it was as if the entire building was abandoned. There were no other werewolves guarding us, no indications that anyone had even heard the door breaking. When I was satisfied it would stay that way, I turned to look at Raven through the hole in the door.
"You know I could never knock you out."
"You're strong for a human," she stated, hopefully.
I rolled my eyes. "You can stay if you want, but believe it or not, I need you."
Raven tilted her head, condescendingly. "You need me?" She scoffed. "Right."
She began to disappear from the doorway, and as she did, a small sliver of panic once again entered my heart.
"Raven," I called out. She appeared a moment later, skepticism lacing her eyes. "I do need you. I told you, I can't do this without you. I don't know this part of town. I don't know the forest. I can't smell things, or sense when people are coming. You can," I stressed.
She shook her head and disappeared again. I was about to crawl back through the door and drag her out into the hallway until her head poked through the opening. She quickly crawled out, and we both stood outside the door, scanning the hallway once again.
"You're going to get us both killed. I don't know why I'm doing this."
I smiled. In that moment, I decided that I liked Raven. Though I was using her and had no idea if I'd actually be able to keep her safe, for the time being, it was nice to be in the company of someone who understood. If only but a little.
"You're doing it because you know what it's like to have a family."
She shook her head, following me as we slowly began our way out of the building. "I know what it's like to have them taken away."
***
Yuuuuup that happened.
Thoughts!!???!!
What do y'all think is going to happen next? (I'm willing to bet not a one of you is going to get it right.) I can tell you one thing. If everything goes according to plan...
Please let me know if something didn't make sense, if you have questions, or if I missed something!! Grammar and words are hard, guys. xD
Love you all <3 Thanks for being so amazing!!!
mquistey