Chapter 2

“I’m feeling under the weather, so I’m going home.” His grin turned into a smirk before he reached into his back pocket.

“Looks like we got a trespasser.” But before he reached for his gun, I kicked him in the chin and gave myself a head start.

“She’s a wolf! Get her!” Suddenly, a mob was chasing after me and I shifted to outrun them.

I was a female, but the Alpha blood made me a great runner. I knew if I ran in a straight line they would catch me. As soon as I was out of sight for just a second, I jumped up a fire escape and hopped from there, which threw them off my trail. I took a breather inside an empty church. Everyone was at the parade.

I quickly rushed down to the basement, so I could give myself a break. I knew they’d be out looking for me, so I had to make it quick and find an escape plan. I traveled down through the tunnels and continued walking in my wolf form. At least this way if I needed to attack they’d have no escape or tricks.

Something about this underground tunnel bothered me. It was so inconsistent. I used my nose to sniff out as much as I could with my bag in my hands. Something suddenly caught my attention. I smelled a strong and powerful wolf. That couldn’t be possible. I heard a growl. Only one creature could growl like that. It had to be a wolf.

I know I should probably go the other way, but I couldn’t stop moving. I found a padlock on a door. But the closer I got, the more my nose burned. The chains were drenched in newly liquid vervain. I looked around and looked for something that could help me out. I didn’t know why I was so adamant about getting into the room, but I was. I found a crowbar in another room. I stood still for a second to listen for anyone who might be within a mile, but no one was. Just normal traffic.

I used the crowbar to bang the lock as hard as I could while the vervain slowly weakened me until it finally broke. I reached inside my backpack and grabbed my sweatshirt, which I used to turn the nob and pry the metal door open. My eyes adjusted to the dark room, but there was just a hallway that I stupidly walked down.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I stopped in my tracks.

“Who are you?” I said. I kept walking closer to the voice.

“Once you come in here, you can’t get out.”

I finally found the end of the hallway and there was a man to match the voice. I looked around to find a light switch that I gladly turned on. He ducked as if he hadn’t seen daylight in forever. He was chained to the wall. Naked, skinny, and badly bruised, but he seemed to keep healing.

“They are at the hunting parade, so you don’t need to worry about that.” I walked closer to him to try to release him, but he growled, and for some reason, I submitted to him.

“You’re going to get yourself killed, little wolf. You should go while you still can.” I looked at him again and could see the defeat in his eyes. I held on to the crowbar. He flinched as I cut one of the chains.

“I’m not your little wolf.” I did the same to the chains around his other arm and his legs and he stretched out like it had been forever.

“Come on, I am going to get you out of here and onto safe land.” He seemed weak. I wrapped his arm around my shoulder and carried him out to a vervain-free place. When he was out, I reached inside my bag and quickly used the potion to spray both of us.

“What is this?” he asked, weakened.

“This is what’s going to help us get out of here.”

He didn’t object but I wrapped his arm around my shoulder again and slowly began to walk out. I took baby steps and tried to listen to everything around me. I could hear the sounds of the parade, which meant we had a chance. I slowly began to walk out of the church, which was still empty.

“Can you shift?” I asked him. When I looked at him, he just shook his head. He was heavy to carry; I would have to go around the back to hide him. When we got far enough we stopped by a stream of water where I let him down. He quickly reached for the water to clean himself, and then took a long drink.

“You never told me who you were?” I said to him. But he was too busy enjoying the fresh water.

“Alizac,” he mumbled, still engulfed by the water. He finally leaned back and just soaked in his surroundings.

“I am Ryleigh. And if someone was trying to keep you hidden, they must suck because I got in there easy,” I joked, which he didn’t find funny. He finally stood up after a few minutes and almost fell, but I caught him at the last second, and threw his arm over me again. It took about thirty more minutes to reach my car.

“How long have you been there?” I asked him. I gave him a water bottle from my car that he downed in one long gulp while trying to understand the car I was in.

“I lost count after sixty years.” I looked at him in shock.

“You’ve been held captive for over sixty years, possibly…a century?” My words didn’t surprise him.