* * *
Sage's fists clenched to the point of her knuckles turning white, and her breath turned ragged in the cool air of this confined and enclosed section of the Packhouse.
It felt all too familiar to her.
Continuing her steps forward, she looked down at the given wolves that were imprisoned, each fueling her memories and subjecting her to another pound of suffering.
Until she stopped at the cell that held Kelly, whose own cries continued to echo throughout.
Sage touched the bars, though silver, still didn't prove to cause her any pain. It was then that the she-wolf peeked her head up as she scoffed a greeting to her visitor.
"Come down here to finish me off?" She snickered, her matted hair turned into a rat's nest after being man-handled by the Beta.
Course, her screams and threats to those walking free up above were met with brutal silence. There would be no tantrum loud enough for Remus to return to her, not until he figures out a solution for Ms.Synders.
"No cage," Sage whispers. Of all the possibilities that Kelly had thought through in terms of an escape, she took this newcomer's words by surprise. Especially when the Alpha's mate had broken the door and held it open.
Kelly didn't hesitate to scramble to her feet and almost collided with Sage. And it hardly took a moment to realize why the young she-wolf had done what she did.
Ms.Snyder had been in there for only a single solid day, in comparison to Sage's entire life.
Goddess, she couldn't understand how the black-haired girl standing in front of her even managed to seem so confident in this daunting little basement.
"Thank you." Kelly returned, and a smile appeared on Sage's face. Almost immediately had one formed on her own face as well. Perhaps she had misunderstood the female.
The female was silent, calculating.
However, it wasn't hard to figure out that she wanted to let everyone out with the way she eyed those sitting in their cells. Or serving a reduced sentence like normal humans would do, but Remus usually followed it with community service.
The rest of those imprisoned were members of the pack awaiting trial within the following week for breaking pack rules.
But usually, this is where they would hold Rogues in the off chance they were captured in an attack.
"No, they're bad. They're being punished." As far as Sage was concerned, nobody belonged down here. Although her eyes wavered in wanting to help them out of the cells, she grabbed hold of Kelly's hand and led her out of the basement and back up the stairs.
Ms.Snyders had little to no plan, and right now, it had almost instantly failed as Remus had been looking for Sage for the past few minutes.
And the second he saw the look of sheer disappointment and anger, his wolf began to howl and plead over their bond with an apology. Though it didn't seem to phase any bit of Sage's expression.
She was more than angry at this point. She was fuming mad.
As the dinner guests continued towards them, it was obvious what was happening.
"Sage, what—What are you doing?" Liam asked, confused as all hell as to why she would want to be near the she-wolf that challenged her just a few days ago.
"No cage." Remus' shoulders sagged as he realized what he had done wrong, his problem once again.
He didn't necessarily connect two and two together on how Sage would feel about someone or anyone being locked away in a basement.
And now, the true colors had shown.
"Sage, I didn't mean—" Remus had taken a step forward, but the newcomer had flinched back. The same female who could rally a tie with just about anyone in the room suddenly felt scared.
More than scared, she was shaking.
And there was only one person she felt she could go to for help.
Lu?
I missed dinner, didn't I? It's alright hun, I'll be there in twenty minutes.
The conversation was short-lived as Sage sent an image of what had happened, causing Luke to rally against Liam to demand an explanation.
Had Luke been in skin at that moment, he would've facepalmed.
Instead he called a friend to finish his rounds as he rushed in the direction of the Packhouse, hoping to calm his sister.
But he was halfway across the pack, and with how panicked she felt over their link--He needed to hurry.
"Sage, let's sit down and talk about why the Alpha put Kelly into a cage." Leo attempted to settle this, and it was meant to be a helping hand as her father figure. But it started to go in an entirely different direction as she remembered what she found.
"No. No cage." The word was a trigger, and it once again broke Leo's heart to hear how much torture came with that damn word.
"No, no cage. Come, little flower, let me get you some tea, and we'll do what Leo says and sit down." Sage was struggling against her wolf. In times of pure anxiety, she would usually shift to fur in hopes of battling out whatever else was surrounding her.
And when black eyes emitted to the audience in front of her, Leo jumped into gear.
"Everyone leave. NOW!" He ordered, thus having both Eli and Jack pull the Alpha back as Leo went and kneed down to his daughter in an attempt to settle this.
She had fallen down to her knees as she couldn't contain her wolf, her claws were gaining visibility, and her teeth were starting to peek out up and behind her lips.
"It's alright, Sage. Breathe, sweetheart. Look, Kelly's fine, isn't she?" Leo looked up to the stray she-wolf, and the woman nodded. She had been grateful to be let out, and in that instance the woman let Leo know that Sage was planning on letting everyone out.
Remus, how many are in the basement?
About fifteen waiting for trial and a few pups who lit—Oh. Shit.
The Alpha had finally understood the entire reason why Sage was starting to feel unsafe. So when he tried to speak with his mate through the bond, he was met with a block that threw him out.
More than that, actually.
It finally triggered the shift she begged her body to suppress and fight against.
Everyone in the room, minus Kelly, knew that Sage did not favor hurting anyone. Especially when she was this rallied up.
She managed to burst through one of the closest windows and darted into the direction of the woods.
"What do we do?"
"She'll be off pack territory in twenty minutes if we don't hurry." Both Liam and Caleb were forming a plan, but the Alpha took the first approach in following after his mate.
He didn't hesitate to shift and jumped through the same window in hopes of gaining some proper path that his mate had taken.
His wolf was in dire need of settling his mate, as his own heart was palpitating at an ungodly rhythm that he couldn't even imagine how hers must be feeling right now.
In an effort of luck and knowing the pack territory well enough, he managed to intercept her and tackle her to the ground. A warning growl rallied and stilled her body as she stayed pinned within the grass for a moment. Remus did not want to risk getting shut out of her brain again, so he shifted right in front of her.
"Sage, I will never put you in a cage. Never. I want to protect you. There's no need to run away from—" His voice told lies, Sage trusted people, and look how she ended up!
She always was left to watch in awe as those around her spoke fluently and with personalities such as teasing and taunts. But all she could do was smile.
She would be forever grateful for being free from the scientists, but what she saw downstairs pulled up all her insecurities and demanded a test of trust.
Her jaw unhinged and locked onto Remus' arm as he held back a painful yell. Luckily he managed to shift before too much damage was done. Though he will admit, it hurt more since it was his mate's attacking him than any other wolf.
Had it been Eli or Jack, he wondered if their bites would create the same amount of damage.
Sage, please listen to me. Those wolves downstairs aren't getting hurt. They are safe. We don't hurt our own unless they are dangerous. They didn't listen to the rules.
Her wolf continued to circle in a predatorial state as she snapped her jaw towards him, only infuriating his wolf further.
He is the Alpha, and what he says should go.
No matter if this is his Luna, he makes the final decisions.
All those at the dinner party managed to form a circle surrounding Sage, while Casey was left in the care of Gigi off in the kitchens.
Leo could already smell the anxiety and stress radiating from her body.
And the appearance of more wolves had antagonized her further.
Sweetheart, listen to Remus. He's telling the truth. Not all wolves are good, but not all of them are bad. You trust us, you're family. Please, settle down.
Leo's voice was like a soothing glass of cold water, but like most things in Sage's life.
She had never had a refreshing drink of cold water after a torturous training and testing session.
The calmness that Leo shared was infuriating.
She wants answers.
She wants to understand.
But nothing about what they're saying made any sense. All she knew was that they were trying to stop her.
And Remus would be damned if his mate managed to run away.
Sage had been the first to attack. However, in the record of defending the Alpha, Eli had met her in the air and tumbled with her to the ground.
Leo claimed that the best approach would be to tire her out, but they weren't prepared for just how much stored away rage and suffering Sage was keeping bottled up.
Wave after wave of either Elwoods or the higher tiers, and still, all they could manage was a few cuts and scrapes.
Sage was growing smart, understanding their next moves even though they had excluded her in the conversation.
Luke was still on his way, and there seemed to be no end to Sage's rage. Instead, they were met with what the scientists had trained her to do.
And now?
With a combination of everyone's blood dripping from her jaw and fangs, the eight of them realize that her eyes had turned an even darker onyx color.
A-alpha? Are you—
Call Kenzie. If we can't settle her wolf, we'll need to use darts. Something. Anything, I can't keep hurting her.
The order had gone through, and the given few that the pack Healer had rallied managed to plant themselves in positions to fire at the appropriate targets of her neck and back.
With Sage's weight, one dart should do the trick. And keyword in this way should. Yet the Healer failed to remember that Sage's tolerance to silver was above the normal average of a wolf.
And one long look at the dart sticking out of her skin caused a thunderous roar to level the playing field.
Cameron had felt the order, as did Liam and Caleb.
However, the rest were higher rank, not that they couldn't feel the same tension.
And worse of all, Remus had felt the second ounce of a betrayal.
Her target was now centered on him, as she wanted nothing more to hurt him like he had hurt her.
She managed to pin him down, and Remus allowed her to do whatever it was that she wanted in hopes that it would settle things.
But the damage that she was doing was far too much to bear on his end.
She was going for kills.
Finally, Luke had managed to arrive at the scene.
In skin form as well.
He didn't waste a minute before grabbing her by the back ends of her neck to pull her off the Alpha and look at her square in the face.
"Sage, stop this right now." He spoke, his voice flat. Not filled with anger or desperation like the others. But she was too far gone to truly find peace in his words.
She gave him a crude huff to claim her warning. Though that warning was far too unmatched as she too snapped in his direction.
Prompting Luke to return to fur and pouncing at his sister.
And for the first time, either of them began to spar.
While Leo was proud to watch his son take a stand against his sister, he never thought it would ever happen like this.
There was a reason that Luke felt adamant in sparring with her.
Because he didn't want to hurt her.
Yet now she was starting the cause of all this chaos.
The pack politics were surely going to fire up after the Luna had attacked the majority of those around her.
But her attention had darted to the open wound that she created on Luke's wolf.
It felt like her world was crumbling down. Her bloodthirsty rage was starting to cease as she whined out to her brother after getting the clean whiff of his blood.
Stand down. NOW
Sage's instincts were starting to become under her control, and she wasn't at the mercy of her emotions anymore.
It was then that she had taken a clean gaze as to all the damage she's done. Causing her to fall forward in a sign of surrender.
But it wasn't the darts that caused her exhaustion or her defeat.
It was a higher power in need of rescuing her most prized pup.
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Date: 11-22-2020
Time: 8:49
Words: 2207
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EDITED-
DATE: 09/24/2021
WORDS: 2271