~ Chapter Twenty ~
Red was unrecognizable.
Nothing but an anonymous body sagged against the wall, he remained restless. His muscles were fatigued, his lips cracked, but his eyes glowered at the space between his knees. A few minor puddles had formed, each consistent of blood derived from his wounds. Most of them had healed by then but the Daltons were merciless and the torture had at times become unstandable. The stench, too. Blood — it was allover him.
He'd remembered the smell of artificial coconut, tried to strengthen his resolve with the memory. But it hadn't strengthened him. To his utmost horror the thought of his mate made his shoulders slump further, his brilliant blue eyes glum. It didn't harden him. It cradled him, softly lowered his guard like a mother soothing its pup over a scraped knee.
And as soon as the Daltons rushed out of the torture chamber — hearing some orders he clearly hadn't — he finally allowed it to.
After a while his recollection had become so strong he was convinced he smelled her there with him. Of course the thought was ludacris — she'd never venture into the Dalton hideout and for good reason — but he couldn't let it go.
Wasn't the scent of her becoming stronger?
Couldn't he hear her voice echo outside the chamber?
No, he decided, and let his head lull tiredly; if he wanted to get out he needed to let himself heal.
He forced his eyes closed.
Then the door exploded.
Red managed to look up just in time to see his mate come shooting through the hole where the door had just been. She had blood running from her scalp down to her chin in a thin trickle and she spun around so that her attention was on the opening — she looked like a proper warrior.
His jaw slackened as he watched her raise her arm, now a weapon, and aim at whomever was outside.
Could it really be her?
"TRY THIS, FUCKERS!"
Red shrunk back as a hail of bullets exited her rifle. She kept a broad stance and yet attempting to control the recoil was straining her too much. Red could see it, he had to help — but his window of opportunity was closing quick. Almost immediately Liz had stopped her firing and motioned for someone to enter.
"C'mon," she called, out of breath. "There might be more coming."
Not waiting to see if her order would be obeyed, she finally looked around the room. Her eyes squinted through the darkness, traveled along the walls, the chains, the bloodied tools.
Red waited until they settled on him and flashed with recognition — then fear.
In less than a second, Liz was by his side, fluttering her hands over his body, unsure what to do.
"Oh my god," she cried. "You look awful. What happened to you? What should I do?" Her eyes glazed with tears as he couldn't find the strength to answer. In lack of better things to do she screamed, "Chris!"
Her partner finally entered, looking just as shaken when taking in his brother's appearance. He hurried to Liz's side, bent over the beaten remains of Red with a nauseated expression. "In the name of the Goddess..."
Red's bloodshot eyes momentarily widened. "You..."
Liz put a hand to her mouth. "Why would... Who would ever— Chris, I don't know what to do, I don't—"
"Alright," he interrupted as he came to terms with the fact that he'd have to be the rational one. "Alright, we need to remove the chains. I have a tool for that."
Liz jumped to her feet as screams began echoing down the hall. A part of her was grateful for the distraction as she wiped her eyes, motioned for Chris to help Red and then got in front of the door. Whilst she took care of the Daltons, Chris managed to break the chains. His brother, who'd been hoisted up by the shackles, fell forward. Chris dove for his torso, held him upright.
"Can you stand, brother?" he urged. "You need to stand."
"Liz..."
He followed Red's gaze to the human girl and quickly steadied his grip. "She's the best person for the job. If she gets distracted, we're all dead. You don't want her distracted, do you?"
Just as the words had fallen from his mouth, Red watched a Dalton guard come barreling in, head for Liz with a ferocious roar. The wolf just managed to grab ahold of her shoulder before she fired two rounds into his stomach.
"No," he groaned, taking his eyes off of Liz. "No, I don't."
"Then fucking heal."
Chris got under his arm, used the wall as support while getting him to his feet. He didn't want to admit it but seeing his brother in such a state horrified him.
"Guys, where are Pontus and the others?" Liz asked.
They looked to Red.
"I sent them off," he said, voice like gravel, whilst slowly regaining strength. "It wouldn't be practical if they died here, too."
He realized his mistake as a sob raked through the air. Liz quickly composed herself, wiped her tears and swallowed the stone in her throat. "I'll scout ahead," she got out and, before anyone could say anything, sprung out of the chamber with her rifle raised.
Left were the two brothers.
"Hey," Chris warned as Red tried to hurry after her. "That isn't a good idea."
"I hurt her."
He scoffed. "That girl just killed a dozen wolves, you're gonna need a lot more than that to hurt her. No, that wasn't hurt."
Red huffed. "And how do you know her so well?"
He decided to ignore that and instead continued. "She's scared. You're scaring her — this whole world is — and the sooner you realize that she's human, the sooner you both can continue on."
"I know she's human," he growled. "I treat her like a human."
"That's false." Chris felt for the knife in his pocket with the hand not holding his brother up, figuring that in case Liz got killed and didn't come back it was all they had. He didn't share the thought with Red, though. "Humans don't show affection like we do. She doesn't want you to leave dead mice by her doorstep, she wants you to ask her about her hobbies."
"Hobbies...?"
"Or family, or future plans. It doesn't matter. My point is that what you're doing now is going to get her killed. And while you think death is a risk worth taking for you two to be together, she might not, and it isn't solely your sacrifice to make."
"Brother," Red said quietly. "When did you learn to be this wise?"
Chris darkened. He detached himself from his brother so fast Red struggled to keep his balance. "About three years after you left me to die."
"Easy, pup."
"I'm not here because I want to help you," he spat. "I'm here because of a deal I made with your mate."
He crossed his arms just as Liz returned. She threw the rifle onto the ground, avoided looking at Red. "It's broken," she explained. "One of the Daltons landed quite the hit, dented the metal—"
Red's arms came around her, pressed her against him. His nose nuzzled into her hair.
Synthetic coconut.
"I'm so... Thank you, Liz. You saved my life."
She remained still and as he remembered his brother's words, Red tried to pull back. Two much weaker arms then quickly pushed him back in place. Squeezed.
Liz sobbed against his chest.
"I thought— I thought for sure that..."
"I know. You shouldn't have had to do what you've done."
She shook her head, looked up at him for a second. "No, Red, I thought you were dead. I thought you... I thought I was going to come in here and find you dead and I just— I just lost it. Don't ever do that again. Never."
Red didn't respond. He bent his head further down, hugged her tighter as if wanting to enclose her completely, isolate her from the dank torture chamber.
"We'll leave," he assured. "We'll head back to the pack and—"
"No," Chris interrupted harshly. "We had a deal, Liz, and I'm not going anywhere until you honor that."
"How dare you? After all you've done." Red's voice changed in an instant. "I should have you whipped."
"Red, I've found out some things," Liz interjected. "And you have to know a few things too. Is there anywhere around here that's safe?"
"A human town," Chris said, keeping an eye on his brother. "Just south of here. It's really small, I doubt many know of it. It should be safe."
"Alright then." Liz detached herself from Red but they kept no more than an arm's length between them. "We'll go there. You can walk, Red?"
"Yes."
"Good." Her eyes went to Chris. "Now try not to kill eachother on the way over."
This story was #1 in Werewolf (I'm not sure when bc my phone has trouble updating Wattpad in real-time but whatevs)!! That's so cool and it reminded me to thank you, the reader, for — well, maybe this is obvious — reading. I want you to know I read every comment and appreciate every vote and I just... aaah! I love writing and having someone read what I write is amazing, one of the coolest feelings in the world. So thank you.
Bye!