L
Roddy and I didn't speak the hours prior to the execution of our escape plan. We didn't need to, and if Cole stayed fast asleep our plan was flawless. I watched Roddy from one side of the large cage; he sat with his back to the fence on one far side while I stayed on the other. My knees were up to my chest with my chin resting on the caps while I waited for noise in the distance to cue our escape plan. The pain in my jaw was there, buzzing every so often as a reminder of my body's limits. The air around us swirled in warm waves, the embrace of satin on skin with the peach fuzz on my arms tickling into the fabric of my shirt. My hair fell from behind my ears to curtain off my peripheral vision but I didn't bother fixing it. It didn't matter, anyway. I would hear anything before seeing a signature in the distance. My pants felt loose around my legs, but they were a covering I couldn't afford to lose twice. I scratched at the denim and stared forward at Roddy who sat near Cole's body. He spoke with him in hushed tones, innocent words of endearment. After a while he stopped and got up from his place, but didn't come any further away from the fence on his side.
"You look better with short hair," Roddy called as if filling a silent void between the two of us. I perked up. "It didn't happen on the best of terms but it does suit you," he shrugged and went quiet, waiting for my answer perhaps but I didn't have anything to give. The long hair I had been growing for twelve years – minus the haircut Peter gave me halfway through my stay with him – acted as a security blanket in a world full of ice that worked to dig into old wounds of mine. With waist length hair, I hid, burrowed in on myself and disappeared, but without it I felt exposed in a way I had never experienced before. Even while sitting in a cage surrounded by a vast forest I couldn't help but sense eyes on me through the trees.
"I haven't thought much about my looks since I lost my vision," I muttered loud enough for my companion to hear across the yard. He stifled a laugh, shaking his head.
"Figures you wouldn't but for someone who's been through as much shit as you have you don't look half like a corpse. I expected worse."
My tongue rolled over my top teeth and I grinned with one side of my mouth only. My looks probably scared children but I didn't care either way. I had nothing else to give. Everything else was taken from me.
"A shower and a couple bars of soap and you'll be good as new," he said after a moment. I couldn't help the smile growing on my face. His gentle words of encouragement stuck in my brain like gum on the sidewalk. I gathered them in my hand and smothered them with my palms, rolling the doughy compliments into a ball.
"I'd like a toothbrush while we're at it," I said, laughing. "I haven't brushed my teeth since the night before the trial and I'm really starting to feel the gunk."
"Ew," he responded shortly. "I mean at least you've still got all your teeth," he started. "Some prisoners come away from their mercenaries with a significant number less teeth than when they went in."
"But is that because of poor hygiene or beatings? Because I've seen both sides of the story," I countered. "As much as I hate to say it, I was lucky with Peter. He valued hygiene and wanted me to look my best in case they pushed my trial up. Said something about how he wanted my face to look pretty mounted on the wall." I shuddered at the thought of my decapitated head dripping with blood and loose veins, strung up on a plaque with a shiny gold plaque underneath reading: Eleanor Bates, Mass Murderer. The thought of my full name, Eleanor Bates, sent more shivers through my spine than the idea of my decapitated head.
"Well since most of said prisoners ended up losing their heads in the end I guess we can't ask," Roddy sighed, defeated that he'd never find out the truth but in honesty I knew our conversation meant absolutely nothing to either of us. I saw his hands trembling across the yard and it wasn't because of the chill that sliced through the gaps between trees. He scratched behind his ear with a couple fingers every minute or so, and rubbed his eyes with the sides of his knuckles.
"Too bad," I added, catching his attention again. "I would've loved to kno-," I stopped as Cole started to stir. "No," I whispered and pushed forward onto my knees while he slowly woke. Cole stretched his arms out and shoved them into the ground to heave himself into a sitting position but he struggled, arms shaking from weakness.
"Cole," Roddy bolted toward him and helped him up, casting me a glance with wide eyes. I returned the look and bit my bottom lip enough to pull a shred of loose skin from the edge. "Hey, Cole," Roddy eased as his mate rubbed his eyes and looked at his surroundings.
"What happened?" Cole asked after a minute.
"Do you not remember anything?" I asked and got to my feet and walked over to him but I kept my distance like before. He lost it once, I wasn't positive he wouldn't go berserk again. "You attacked me and then blacked out." I left out the first part. If he really didn't remember, I wasn't going to be the one to remind him of my sacrifice.
"I'm sorry," Cole looked up at me, sad eyes burning a hole into my brain. I couldn't see the color or the shakiness of his bottom eyelid but I knew the look anywhere even if all I could see was a faint outline of vaguely almond-shaped eyes. "I-,"
"Don't apologize," I raised a hand to stop him, and it worked. "It's the drugs."
"That doesn't excuse," he paused and put a palm to the side of his forehead, wincing at a hidden pain neither I or Roddy could see. "Violence," he finished shortly after the pain in his head settled. He removed his hand from his forehead and went to stand. Roddy hovered nearby while Cole stood up, only wavering on his feet once before getting his footing.
"It's nothing," I assured him with a nod, yet something inside me burned at the idea of forgiveness. A set of footsteps forced my head to whip around far enough to make my whole body turn. My hair whipped into my cheek as I watched in the distance through the trees as a faded, blurred shape approached. I gulped and waved a hand low to signal Roddy.
"He's coming," I muttered, and my companion stepped up, leaving his mate behind us. Roddy stood beside me, much taller than I was but in the moment as I could see our visitor and he couldn't, I felt so much larger. Not just the thumps of his feet hitting the ground, but the change of air quality around us. My nose not only sucked up the sweet smells of summer leaves and trees but a stench worse than rotting corpse mixed in the pot. Rogues had a specific smell. The kind that lingered in your nose and stuck in your memory. It made your eyes go wide, teeth clench and blood turn to ice.
"How far?"
"Two hundred yards, through the trees. You should be able to see him in a moment," I slowed my speech and kept it low as to not signal Cole but he stepped up on my other side before I could finish my thought.
"Is that?"
"Yes," I turned my attention to Roddy, eyes wide hoping to draw his attention but he ignored me and kept his eyes on the tree line.
"I see him," Roddy said after a minute. "Stick to the original plan," he whispered, hand hovering over my forearm.
"How?" I mumbled. "He's awake," I glanced to my other side. Cole kept his focus on the forest and the man who emerged from the depths, his figure an opaque, bright red form amongst a sea of blurred black.
"Just stick to the plan," Roddy sneered, an elbow into my ribs. I rocked onto my right foot but steadied myself before Cole noticed my sudden movement. I nodded and moved away from Roddy and Cole as to not signal our approaching rogue leader of any inside planning between the three of us. Roddy followed my lead and went back to one corner of the cage where he went to lean on the fence. Cole didn't move from his place where we left him. Tantalized with the approaching figure, he stood as a statue in the middle of the cage with his hands at his sides. I watched, but cast my gaze to Roddy several times in an attempt to catch his attention but he kept his eyes trained on Cole.
"You know, L, I don't appreciate having my head kicked in with a boot." Graphite's leader laughed as he came into full view and approached the cage with his arms outstretched as if he wished to embrace us, but we knew better. He dug in his pocket for the key to the cage, the sound of jangling metal inside his deep jacket pocket made my eyebrow raise until he pulled out a large key and stuck it into the lock on the outside of the door.
"If you're looking for an apology, you've come to the wrong cage." My eyes flickered to Roddy who motioned and approached the door from the side the rogue leader wasn't facing. He pawed quietly at the ground, careful to stop softly and without sound. The door swung open quickly, clattering into the fence at the end of its turn, a sharp and loud pang that rang through our ears. Just as the door hit the fence Roddy sprung from his place like a rabbit escaping the grips of its predator. Roddy's hands wrapped around the leader's throat just as the man turned at the notice of movement behind him. Cole broke through the imagined stone holding him in place and went for Roddy and the rogue leader.
"Roddy no!" Cole yelled. Just as Cole got to the front of the cage Roddy let go of the man's neck, freeing the man to leap forward at the second attacker. Without time to react, Cole's collision blundered as the rogue grabbed a hold of him and pulled something else from his pocket. Roddy ducked out from behind the rogue just as I started from my side of the cage.
"Neither of you move," the rogue leader warned and pressed a needle to the side of Cole's neck, his finger on the plunger ready to sink the tip into his flesh. I froze in place and watched as Roddy did the same. Our plan was falling apart. Cole's life hung between me and Roddy's next movements. "I figured at least one of you would try this," he laughed and heaved a struggling Cole to face both of us, using the large man as a shield. Cole fought the rogue's grip, his fingers clamping down onto the man's hand but it did nothing but use up Cole's already dwindling strength.
The rogue leader's attention wavered for just a moment as he managed to control the flailing former alpha in his grasp, and for that moment I shot Roddy a look of desperation just as he did the same to me. Our eyes met for just a second and that alone was enough to realize we only had one chance to get out of the cage alive and that was to leave Cole behind. Roddy swallowed hard and turned back to the rogue and Cole who were further away from the wide open cage door.
"You two are just going to leave your friend here with me?" The rogue leader turned his mouth in toward Cole's face and grinned, heaving his arm up to get a better grip on Cole.
"Roddy don't do this," Cole begged. "Please, I'm sorry!"
"Shut up," the leader elbowed Cole in his ribs hard enough to make him keel over as a bout of pain overwhelmed his middle.
"Now Roddy!" I made the decision for us and bolted toward the open door. Roddy perked up and followed close behind, his feet only steps behind mine. Just as we made it out the door it slammed, the rogue leader on the other side with a hand wrapped around one of the bars. He didn't flinch at the splinters sticking out of the wood. I winced for him. Just the sound of wood grating on flesh made my ears curl.
"If you think you can outrun my men you're both idiots," he spat and pushed Cole into the fence. The former Alpha bounced off the wooden fence, but a large gash down the left side of his face was enough for him to scream. Cole yelled out, agony riddled in his voice. Roddy went to jerk at the cage door but I grabbed a hold of him before he could get a step away from me.
"Stop," I pulled him back with every ounce of muscle I had in me. "Roddy we can't, we have to leave!" I pulled harder but Roddy fought my grip and pulled out of it just as the rogue forced Cole's body away from the fence. Roddy's front slammed into splintered wood, searing the undersides of his arms and palms of his hands.
"No!" Roddy yelled into the cage. "Cole!" He reached through the bars.
"Roddy we have to go!" I pulled on his one arm not stretched past the bars. "We will come back for him, I promise!" I begged for him to give up his fight to get back into the cage.
"Roddy please don't go!" Cole yelled. The rogue dropped Cole from his grip. He plunged onto the earth faster than a falling rock. The blood in his open wounds shone deftly in my vision, brighter than any heat source imaginable. They were bright and long, speckled marks on his cheek and neck. The same kind that forever marked Allison. My eyes widened at the sudden realization and I pulled harder on Roddy. "Please don't leave me here!" Cole sobbed with cold wet tears laden in his voice.
"Please," Cole begged with his arm outstretched toward Roddy at the fence. He cried, jaw quivering. Roddy started to back away from the fence toward where I stood a couple yards away.
"Come on Roddy, we have to go!" I said, sniffing. Leaving Cole behind in a cage with someone intent on destroying his sanity proved much easier in thought, but I forced my emotions back into the pit of my stomach where they wouldn't interfere with the current situation no matter how much they scratched at the surface. "We have to go," footsteps and the moving of branches in the distance forced my attention from Roddy. Blurred, distant red shadows moved in through the trees. My eyes widened and I turned back to Roddy.
"They're coming!" I reached out and grabbed a hold of his arm before he could change his mind and stay with Cole. The rogue leader laughed and pulled Cole to his feet again.
"Run all you want but you can't outrun my men!" He laughed and jabbed the needle into Cole's neck before he could struggle and get away from him. Cole yelled out at the intrusion but as the rogue pressed the plunger in and allowed the drugs to stream into his system he quieted. His limbs loosened and Cole slumped forward. The rogue leader let him drop and Cole fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Roddy growled, lunging but I pulled him back, my hands wrapped around his arm. Forcing a much heavier man to stay planted in his spot instead of going after his drugged mate proved difficult especially since I weighed half of what Roddy did and had little to no muscle on my bones besides what I gained while in Peter's custody. But even those were few and far between.
"Roddy we have to go!" I yelled and started to back up, my feet dug into the loose dirt as I attempted to move him. "Come on they're coming!" I could feel the pricks of jagged stones dig into my heels but I ignored the jabs of broken skin as I pulled on Roddy's middle to get him to start moving.
In the second the words left my mouth Roddy turned on me, my grip on his waist failing. He looked up and out at the trees and, as if realizing we were being closed in on, grabbed my hand and took off the opposite way from where the red shadows were coming from. I struggled to keep up. Our feet pounded into the ground. Roddy led us through the forest, tugging at my hand whenever I slowed. With his clear vision and my heat sensing we navigated the forests easier than if he wasn't there.
"They're coming from the left!" I said, and Roddy changed our direction in accordance to my warning. He pulled me closer to him and heaved me up off the ground as if I weighed no more than a marshmallow dipped in milk. I yelped as I lost touch with the ground, and I clung onto my companion. He jumped, landing shortly after leaving the ground and my feet touched the forest floor. I looked behind us. The red shadows faded from view the further we traveled away from the cage. Soon their footsteps were echoes that bounced off trees leaving me no idea where their origin came from. I pulled on Roddy's hand to slow him and he followed my lead. With his pounding footsteps and my own under me it made it difficult to narrow which steps were ours and whose ragged breathing reached my ears. As Roddy slowed and eventually came to a stop he heaved in a large breath and bent over, his hands clasped to his knees while he took in deep gulps of air. I slid to a stop next to him and did the same. I blocked out mine and Roddy's heavy gasps for air and focused on everything else around us.
I listened, my nose turned up toward the canopies in the trees. The air around us swirled, the scents of the forest combining in my nose into a blend of summer leaves and nearby water. Rain and muddy sticks with layers of bark peeled off. But no rogues. Their foul, vomit-inducing scents were nowhere near where we stopped. The air was clean, a slate so fresh not even an animal had trodden through it.
"We're safe," I declared once I knew for certain the air wasn't playing tricks. "At least for now. We need to keep moving and find a water source to wipe our scents off so we're not tracked."
"Let's get out of the area first and then figure out the rest," Roddy said through gritted teeth. I knew just by the strain in his voice as it struggled through the gap between his bottom and top teeth that he struggled with leaving Cole behind. If it weren't for the battling noises in my ears I would've sworn I heard his cries for help through the trees. But I knew better.
******
We traveled for another hour or so on foot. Roddy declined shifting into his other form solely because of his lack of a change of clothing but I refused to back down on my suggesting that he changed anyway. We would cover more ground, plus our human scents would stop abruptly and the rogues, if they were still tracking us, weren't smart enough to pick back up on a single wolf scent.
"You should have seen the look on his face when he realized we were leaving him there," Roddy said after a half hour of silent walking. With nothing but the cracking of twigs and leaves underneath my feet, I resorted to subtle humming with my mouth shut. It passed the time and Roddy didn't make any noises for me to stop. I figured he didn't mind the noise either and for a while I was certain he started humming as well. My bare feet were blood-soaked and cut up from our run. Adrenaline pumped through the nerves in my toes to keep moving. I knew as soon as we stopped the pain would rush up through my legs and strike at my core.
"I know," I said, unsure what else to say. I didn't see his face but I felt the pain and contradictory feelings waft off him like a foul odor. Roddy fiddled with his fingers at his sides and kept his eyes on the path ahead, alerting me via touch of any obstacles in the way I couldn't see. I followed carefully and kept a hand loosely on his forearm just in case I lost balance. "I'm sorry we left him like that," I added after realizing my initial response was less than extraordinary.
"It's what we had to do," Roddy said, nearly quoting me. I frowned and nudged him with my shoulder.
"He'll be fine, I promise." I reassured him but it flew over his head without skimming the tip of his hair.
"How do you know?"
"I just know, OK? They're not going to kill him. He's worth too much to the Council."
"That's not helping much," Roddy scoffed and picked up the pace nearly leaving me in the dirt behind him. My arm virtually pulled out of the socket at the sudden jerk. I adjusted my pace and caught up with him before he strayed too far ahead.
"Look, I know I'm not much help right now but I'm doing my best," I said flatly. "Like you said we did what we had to do but I swear to you he will survive and we will go back for him."
Roddy turned on me, halting in the middle of our makeshift path. He stared holes into the back of my head, a mental slap in the face for what I just said.
"I-I'm sorry," I muttered.
Roddy opened his mouth, about to speak but he shut it and continued walking again without another glance my way. I went to say something but I followed in his footsteps and ignored the urge to continue the already beaten-dead-horse of a conversation we were webbed in the middle of. I jogged to keep up with him. We matched pace later down the path but he still refused to say anything to me. I didn't blame him. I definitely wasn't the best person to go to for empathetic remarks. I lost a lot of those emotions with Peter, and digging them out from their graves in my brain wasn't the easiest task, nor a desired one.
Another hour or so later Roddy announced we needed to stop and get some rest. I sniffed out a creek nearby and led us toward it with but a couple words shared between us. Roddy followed close but quietly. I used my hands as leverage, catching them on low-hanging tree branches as I navigated a dark world. The smell of fresh water got stronger the further from the path I walked. Swimming fish, the occasional bout of moss near the water's edge, and slick, wet stones filled my nose in a rush of smells I hadn't experienced since childhood. We reached the riverbank shortly after edging off the trail. Soon enough the tips of my toes touched shallow water, and I knelt down and scooped a handful of water up to splash my face. The cool sensation sunk into my pores as I scrubbed. My toes wiggled in the water, a hundred stones under my weight massaged the bottoms of my feet while I rocked on my weight. I hadn't cleaned since the night before my trial and there was no telling what I looked like. I rubbed at my face to scrub several days' worth of dirt and sweat from my brow and cheeks. Roddy did the same next to me and even went so far as to clean off his arms and lower legs.
"We need to get rid of our scents, at least temporarily," Roddy's voice had switched from the easy-going brother-like tone to authoritative and stale. I gulped and scratched at my hands underneath the shallow water to clean underneath my fingernails. It wasn't thorough but it had to do for now. We had a long way to go and a pack of unsanctioned rogues from Graphite were right on our tails.