One night went by without another battle. Then another, then another. I began to worry that there wouldn't be another one. That our window of opportunity had closed and we had missed it. Until on the fourth night, Jonah's father came into the living room with a grave look on his face. His eyes were bloodshot, his under eyes purple. Everything about it screamed he needed more sleep and that the stress was cracking him. He looked at his son whose hand dropped from my back. "It's time."
I looked at Jonah. "Time? Another battle."
He didn't look at me. "And hopefully the last." Rising and joining his father they disappeared. Lara, the Luna and I sat in a tense silence. We were all worried, all for our different reasons. The Luna must've been worried for her pack, Lara for her father and brother, and me? Well, this was my one chance.
They came back a few minutes later. "It's confirmed. We need to get men into flanks now or we're going to be overrun. There are only a few men posted at the guard posts and they're not going to hold out very long."
"How are you going to do it?" I asked, standing up. "Wolves against guns and army vehicles?"
The Alpha turned to me. "We'll lure them out. They can't bring armored trucks into the forest and we know our woods better than anybody else. But we have to move fast if we're going to have any sort of advantage."
I followed the family to the front door. Jonah's mom wrapped her arms around her husband. He smoothed her hair down. "Come back to me alive, okay?"
"I'd never dare think otherwise." I looked away from the scene. It was too personal, too intimate. I felt like I was intruding.
Lara hugged her brother and said a few words to him out of my earshot. And then he looked at me. My heart froze in my chest. Should I say something? It's not as though he would expect it. I'd been icy these last four days, keeping my distance. 'Sadness.' I'd say. Really, it was nerves. But that was the last time I would ever see him again and though I was happy, some part of me would always be here, by his side. I blame the mate bond for that and its pull that's caused me so many problems these last few weeks.
I crossed the space between us and Lara stepped back and towards her father. 'This is a final goodbye', I thought. 'Don't say enough to reveal your escape plans, but enough to get out what you need to say.' "Don't die okay?"
He wrapped his arms around me and I breathed in his scent. It was calm and relaxing and still reminded me of a warm fire on a cold winter night. "I won't." He buried his face in the crook of my shoulder. "I love you."
The words were soft, but they were there. "I love you too." He stilled, arms frozen around me. My words even surprised myself. It had been a quick, automatic answer. He pulled away from me and opened his mouth to ask a question. I waved him away. "We'll talk about it later."
As they left his presence was replaced by another one. His mother squeezed my arm gently. "What?" I asked. Did she hear me?
"I understand what it's like to be young and confused. I came here young from a pack far away. I know what you're feeling."
"I don't love him," I said, talking more to myself than anything else. "I don't think I do. That would be wrong. It's a disorder you know, to love your captor. I don't."
She smiled at me. It was sad and pitiful, full of understanding and recognition. I hated it. "Well, it's late." She flinched at the gunshots in the distance. It looked like they wouldn't have that early advantage. "We should go to bed. Close your windows and curtains just in case a bullet hits the glass."
Lara hugged her arms to her body as if cradling herself. "Mom, do you mind if I sleep in your room tonight?" Another gunshot went off in the distance, its noise a sharp crack followed by hollow silence.
"If it helps you sleep better. Imani will you be okay on your own?"
"I'll be fine. Goodnight."
I went into my room. I hoped I wouldn't be discovered until morning, but if someone walked by my door, it was locked. I flung my closet open and shoved clothing into a duffel bag provided by Iris. Peeking out my window, I checked for a signal. The leaves rustled and between the burst of rapid fire and the screams that came from just by the fence, it was calm. It was the moments of calm that were the worst because then the only thing I could hear was the beat of my heart racing like a drum in my chest. I laid in bed, eyes towards the window.
I turned onto my side. Worry tugged at my stomach, my heartstrings. I let my mind wander. Jonah....was he alright? Was he hurt? Was he dead? I hugged my pillow to my chest. The only explanation for these thoughts was their moon goddess. 'She doesn't make mistakes.' The thought of a person that could never stop loving you no matter what you did was appealing, but after living through the concept of it, I would never wish it upon anyone else. It was being forced to feel, to love, against your will. I sucked my teeth. For someone born into a werewolf community, there was no escape at all. To them, that was just how it was and to fight it was wrong, not only wrong but impossible. How many men and women had to push their dreams aside because the moon goddess is 'never wrong'? I didn't want to think about it.
Light flickered outside my window, telling me it was time to get out of my thoughts. I opened it, grabbed my bag and looked down. Iris and Nia waved me down, occasionally looking over their shoulders. They were dressed in dark greys and blacks, their faces and hands covered. I dangled my bag out the window. "Catch it." It hit the ground with a thud as they failed to get under it in time. It didn't matter. There were only clothes in there. All my valuables were either with my parents or left in that house. All my memories, my keepsakes, my....No. I had to stay focused. I should've cried for the life I left behind weeks ago when I was first ripped from it.
My room was high up in this giant thing they called a house. I closed my eyes. Don't look down, don't look down. I put my foot on the next window ledge. As a child, I had climbed trees with friends and I'd done rock climbing for fun when we lived in New York, but I'd never climbed anything so tall with no restraints. If I fell now, I'd break something. My foot found the next window ledge. I held my breath as I climbed down. Hands wrapped around my legs and I was pulled down to the ground.
I grasped the yellow grass with my hands and held back a choke of relief. "Scared of heights?" Iris asked.
I took a deep, shaky breath. "A little bit yeah." I stood up. "The Wolfsbane?"
Nia reacher her hand into a bag draped across her shoulder. "Here."
Uncorking the glass bottle, I gulped the bitter liquid until there wasn't a drop left. The effect was already setting it. It was like the world was getting dull, the colors less vibrant, the smells less intense. I had gotten used to how everything felt as a werewolf and now that I was seeing the world as a human again, it would take more adjusting. The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't see anything. It was pitch dark.
Nia placed the bottle back in her satchel. "Better?"
"Better." We crept through the darkness, going past trees and bushes, walking low to the ground until the sounds of guns and growls got loud. We dropped to our hands and knees then and began to crawl. A bullet seemed to whizz above my head, the sound so loud that if I were standing I would've certainly jumped back. I dropped to lay on my belly. "Once we get to the American soldiers they'll stop shooting and pull away from the town." Hopefully.
"So everyone will be safe," Iris said. "They should've given you up earlier." Nia shot her sister a glare.
"Then we'd be stuck here for life."
I interrupted their small argument with a suck on my teeth. "They haven't breached this part yet. There's only going to be openings where there's fighting."
"What does that mean?" I could make out Nia's scared face in the dark.
"That you should be prepared to run. Follow me." I did a hunched run along the fence and crouched when I could see the silhouettes of wolves and people. It was a savage sight. In the dark, everyone looked like a shadow. A wolf jumped on a soldier and bit into his neck. Blood squirted out from his neck as he crumpled to the ground, the whole time screaming. The wolf that had done it would soon be shot in the head. It lay on the ground, whimpering until it stopped moving.
"It's a bloodbath," Iris whispered. "It was stupid to come out tonight."
"Give me the flashlight."
"Why?" Nia asked.
"To attract someone attention. Hand it over." I turned on the light and flashed it in the face of the nearest soldier. Bringing my face a little above the bush line, he caught sight of me. I turned off the light and handed it back to Nia. The same soldier sprayed bullets into the crowd, pushing the wolves back. They growled, snarled and snapped, preparing for another forward drive. I wondered what the soldiers made of all these wolves? Did they know what we were? Did the government know werewolves existed the whole time? The thought brought up too many unanswered questions.
"Push forward!" The soldier shouted. He must've been a field commander or maybe the soldiers were getting so desperate they'd take orders from anybody.
He waved us over. I didn't bother crouching--I ran as fast as my feet would carry me towards those vehicles. Free, free at last. My lungs begged for oxygen but I couldn't stop. Not when I was so close. I could see my parents again should I choose to. But I didn't think I could go back with them. Not when none of this would've happened if they told me the truth, if I had known what I was from a young age.
I ran into a soldier arms, out of breath, knees weak. "You're fine, you're fine." She whispered.
"Get me out of here."
"Are you hurt? Did they touch you." She examined my face.
"No, I'm fine. Please, just get me out of here."
"They're waiting at a nearby hotel."
I looked around for Nia and Iris. "My friends, they were pledged to the service of the cult. They helped me escape and they ask in turn to be educated and provided help going onto college."
"It can be discussed."
"Thank you so much." My head felt faint and my vision began to go spotty. "Thank you."
"Don't fall, don't fall." The soldier commanded. My vision went black and I don't remember what happened after.