Picture// Rylie and Alex
Song// Sweet Creature Harry Styles
I wake with a start, my entire body covered in the warm scent of my mate.
Groaning loudly, I flip onto my back painfully.
"Riley, thank god you're awake." Kodys voice echoes from behind me.
I blink my eyes open, but only my right one becomes clear enough to see through.
My left eyes refuses to open, the trauma too much for it to heal without my wolf.
The first thing I see is a black wolf, cuddling my sore body into his.
I gasp, sitting upright with a groan. The wolf growls lowly at me for moving too fast.
"Alex?" I question, scrunching my eyebrows together tightly.
I had so many questions my head was spinning.
How was Alex a wolf? Why did I not know he was a wolf? We're his parents wolves? How did he contact his wolf within the cells?
Reaching my hands up, I run my temples slowly. Alex nuzzles his head in my lap, glancing at me under thick lashes.
"Kody, how is this possible." I mumble, not looking at my best friend but at my mates beautiful coat.
"I'm just as confused as you." He says simply, offering no explanation.
I try to swallow my surprise and look on the bright side. Now, my mate was a full wolf and could protect himself better.
The cell door opens, making me stiffen.
Instead of Alpha Martinez, a skinny boy around my age walks in with a handful of clothes and a worried expression.
"Casper." Kody sighs, moving towards the boy in relief.
How did Kody know this boy?
"I retrieved some clothes, and a spare key from one of the guards." He says, blue eyes washing over me.
"Oh, I'm glad you're awake- Alpha." He smiles lightly.
"Thanks." I say slowly, confused about this entire situation.
The boy slides the spare clothes through the small gap until the cells, to which my mate stands up and moves towards them.
I frown as cool air hits my legs.
Alex turns around with the clothes in his mouth, looking at me in questioning.
It takes me a moment to realize he has no clue how to turn back into a human.
"Imagine your human body, your hair, eyes, feet- just focus on that and it will come back." I inform him, prodding a large cut on my cheek with a wince.
Alex growls at me to stop poking at my injuries.
Placing my hands in my lap, I try to focus on my breathing rather than the pain.
As Alex turns back into himself, I look down out of respect for him.
I see his tan skin out of the corner of my eye, and I blush darkly.
"I didn't know I could do that." He says with a chuckle, standing in a pair of jeans.
He still looked like a model, however. Even now, in a dimly lit dungeon with borrowed clothing.
"Me either." I shrug, not understanding it myself.
Alex immediately scoops me up, holding me to his bare chest. I ignore the pain from my body and focus on my mates warmth and comfort.
He pulls back, placing a small kiss on my forehead.
"We can figure it out later, we have to get out of here." Kody states, as Casper begins unlocking his cell.
As soon as his cell door was open, Casper fell into the arms of Kody.
I wondered if they were old friends or knew each other from a camp- they're now kissing.
I tilt my head, my jaw hanging open.
How long had I been asleep?
Alex chuckles, his body blocking my view of my Beta.
"He found his mate." Alex says quietly to me, his caramel eyes shining brightly despite our situation.
"I see that," I smile.
His eyes turn more serious, as he frowns.
"Riley- seeing you like that- I...I never want to see you hurt like that again." He sighs, placing my hand on his warm cheek.
I bite my lip, nodding. Alpha Martinez was a powerful creature- but he wasn't this cunning. He had help and I think I knew who is the culprit.
"He caught me off guard, Alex. It won't happen again." I assure him, my throbbing eye enough to make me never want to be whipped again.
Alex closes his eyes, nestling into my open palm.
"Okay, love birds, lets get you both out." Kody stands with Casper under his arm, smirking at me from the other side of the cell.
Alex helps me get up, my legs feeling like jelly under me.
Casper unlocks the cell door, and lets us free.
It all seemed so easy. Escaping should be harder than this- but it wasn't.
It was almost like they wanted us to escape.
I limp behind Casper and Kody, my arm secured around my mates neck as I limp down the dark vacant hallways.
This isn't right. Where are the guards?
"Hurry, I know a back exit that leads straight towards the mountains." Casper whispers back at us.
I clench my jaw as pain spirals down my face to my chest and stomach.
Alex looks down at me worriedly, "Are you okay?"
I nod my head, closing my one good eye as flashes of hot red pain spiral through me.
Suddenly, I'm lifted off the ground and placed into two strong arms of my mate.
He smiles down at me, fear and worry in his eyes.
"I can walk-" I begin.
"Don't start that shit with me, Riles- you cant walk." He cuts me off, making me frown and loop my hands around his neck.
I nuzzle myself deeper into his chest, the closeness easing the pain only momentarily.
"Here it is, quickly." Casper says from up ahead, opening a small, wooden door that we all had to duck through.
The smell of fresh pine and snow coats my senses, and I relish in the scent. It had been days since I had seen the outdoors.
I couldn't help the biting feeling that something wasn't right.
We had escaped way too easy and nobody seemed to notice the destroyed cell wall between Alex and I. Before Martinez took me from the cells, a guard would stroll through every ten minutes.
It was odd.
"I have a bad feeling." I whisper to Alex, watching as Casper and Kody cut through the heavy trees ahead of us.
Alex nods, his warm chest pressed against my body tightly as he holds me to him.
"I feel it too." He says, keeping his jaw clenched and his eyes forward.
We continue for a few minutes until the mountains come into view. I almost cry at the sight of my pack just over the side of the mountain.
It would be a long journey back home, even longer now that I am injured and my wolf had yet to make a reappearance.
As we step over the boundary of Blood Moon, I hear a chorus of howls from behind us.
We all turn to stare into the eyes of fifty warriors, Alpha Martinez standing proud in front of them.
I feel my heart drop, knowing we could never win against this many wolves.
I was weak, Casper looked to have no muscle, Alex didn't know how to control his wolf in a fight, and Kody couldn't take all of them.
Staring into the dark eyes of Martinez, he doesn't move a muscle. None of them do.
He stares through my soul, a small smirk on his face.
I clench my jaw, Alex holding me even tighter.
Then they all turn around, one by one until every wolf was gone. Martinez gave me one last mocking smirk, before turning back to his pack lands and disappearing.
He wanted me to know that we did not escape by chance.
He wanted me to know that he allowed me to escape.