Thank you to hw6404 for reading and voting ヾ(≧▽≦*)o

No, no, no. Malik was coming here? Tomorrow? There was no possible way. Mikhail is just baiting you into reacting. Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him-

"Isn't it going to be a perfect family reunion?" Mikhail giggled. The bed creaked slightly as he leant back against the headboard next to my still body. "I mean, how often does one experience their lover mating with their brother?"

He picked up a loose curl, gently twisting it around his finger and then suddenly tugged it. A small sharp sting followed and he chuckled at my lack of response.

"Make sure you dress up very pretty", he whispered conspiratorially in my ear. "He needs to see what he will be missing".

I felt my pulse rise in anger and tried to fight it back. I needed to feign sleep to make him lower his guard. Today was my last chance. My only chance.

Mikhail's head lowered from next to my ear to just hovering above my chest where he cocked his head and inhaled deeply. "You know the human heart is very fickle. It beats faster by the littlest of simulation", he continued in a sing-song voice. "I can hear it right now. Thump. Thump. Thump. My, my, why is it beating so fast?"

As those words left his lips, my heart began to race uncontrollably faster despite begging for my anxious heart to slow.

"It is funny how desperately you humans rely on your weak heart to keep beating. One small mistake", Mikhail said, his hand trailing to the middle of my chest. "And you're dead". His index finger dug in lightly, right where my heart would be, driving his point home.

"It reminds me of a very special moment you and I share. A story for the ages. It was the time when you tried to kill me. When you - so lovingly - slit my throat with a serrated blade". He grabbed a hand of mine and placed it on his throat, forcing it against his skin. I could faintly feel his skin pulsate as my finger touched the area above his artery. "I have a small scar there now. Very small but oh, it angers me so. You have done what no one has ever dared to do, you know that?"

Silence.

"No one has ever managed to harm me like this, not even that bastard. I guess it's my fault. I assumed all humans were pathetically useless which makes you all the more interesting. All the more... alluring". His face hovered dangerously close to mine, his breath hitting my closed eyelids. "I'm sure you are familiar with Stockholm syndrome, yes? You may have to diagnose yourself with it in the future".

I resisted the urge to spit in his face. Over my dead body. I would rather die than even have any romantic feelings for him.

"Ooh, that makes you soo mad, doesn't it?" He whispered smugly. "I can feel your rage simmering. Just open those beautiful eyes of yours and stop pretending-"

Suddenly there were the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching my room and some people burst in, out of breath.

"Who said you could come in here without my permission?" Mikhail snarled, dropping my lifeless hand.

"Alpha, we are sorry for intruding". That was Jacob. "Something has come up - you must come right now!"

"If you cannot see", Mikhail growled. "I am busy right now".

"Alpha!" Another man urgently said. There was a moment of silence as they presumably communicated using their 'pack link' as Amara had called it. "You must come!"

Mikhail snarled again and then turned back to me. "You're lucky. Very lucky. I'll let this fake sleeping go for now since we have forever for you to be punished. Let's go".

He stormed out of the room, the two men hot on his heels and the door was slammed shut and locked.

The moment I heard his footsteps retreat into the distance, my body slumped back in relief. Even though my body was racked with fear, my stupid heart sang with apprehension because of what Mikhail said about Malik coming. I shook myself out of it. Malik was not coming to save me. He was being forced to watch. I had to save myself.

I glanced outside and saw the sky beginning to darken. I would wait for midnight to make my move. As soon as Mikhail was no longer in a picture, I would have a slightly better chance at being successful in my escape.

I got up from the bed and took a deep breath. It was time to think. I had to follow my brains not my heart and emotions to get out of this. I sat on the bed, legs spread slightly and winced as a sharp sting followed the removal of the catheter's needle. I tossed that aside and pulled the blanket from the bed and folded it into a neat square.

As I stood, there was a slight discomfort because of the catheter but I shrugged it off. This was my last opportunity, there was no time to moan about a little pain. Reaching under the bed, my fingers closed over the wooden handle of the basket and I pulled it out gently, not wanting to make too much noise from the wood scraping against the floorboards and placed the blanket on top. I tore off the flimsy nightgown and wore the trousers and jumper I laid out earlier on top of my vest and leggings.

I was ready.

My door was obviously locked, so I knocked on the door nervously waiting for whoever was guarding me today to come.

Please don't be Jacob. Please do not be Jacob.

"Yes?" A surprised voice called.

Dammit, it was Jacob.

I gathered all my tears and made my voice thick with emotion before calling out. "I need help, I'm in so much pain, I can't even move and my throat is burning. Please, help me?" I waited with bated breath and my grip on the bedside lamp tightened. He had to fall for it.

I heard him swear under his breath and the key turning in the lock and then the door swung open silently and he stepped in, confused.

"Arya?" He asked, looking around the room.

I stepped out from behind the door and swung as hard as I could, the lamp connecting with the back of his head and bulb cracking under pressure. He stumbled back, stunned and with all my strength, I used one of the deadliest moves I was ever taught; a knee strike.

There was a sickening crunch as my knee connected with his face and I could feel his nose give away from the pressure I exerted. His head snapped awkwardly and he fell back, blood spurting from his nose and mouth before landing on the ground in a crumpled heap.

I stared at the body, slightly in shock. That was... easier than expected. I could have done this so much earlier but for some reason, I was much too scared.

Sighing, I tied his wrists together tightly with a neck scarf and dragged his heavy body to the walk-in wardrobe, leaving a trail of blood against the white carpet. As I was about to leave, a sickening squelching noise filled the air and I turned with horror to see his skin knitting together in messy, bloodied, moving mass and slowly healing.

"Fuck", I swore quietly. I glanced at him again and after searching for an ounce of remorse and not finding any, I stomped on the side of his face with all my strength, causing his neck to crack and more blood to seep out of his mouth and nose. Then for good measure, I kicked his face with a strong sense of satisfaction.

It wouldn't kill him. If anything, I was buying myself more time. I closed the door to the wardrobe after admiring the messy red art I left behind against the white interior and moved the chest of drawers against the doors.

I had to move quickly now. If Mikhail tried to contact Jacob through that pack link, he would know something's wrong if Jacob didn't answer.

Slinging the basket over my shoulders, I wiped my hands on the blanket, ignoring the blood on my clothes and opened my room door.

The passage was eerily quiet and dark. Every step I took seemed to echo loudly, a stark contrast to the ominous background. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be asleep or elsewhere. As I descended the stairs to the kitchen and made my way to the side door, I froze upon noticing Amara standing by the stove in the kitchen, illuminated by a small warm overhead light casting a yellow glow. Her head snapped up to look at me and we both stared at each other in shock.

I must have been a sight to see with all the blood of my clothes and the heavy backpack on my shoulders. It was very clear that I was trying to run away and had probably murdered someone in the process.

Could I take her on? I could only take Jacob because I had the element of surprise. No one knew I was familiar with Muay Thai and he was expecting some weak, frail women in bed. Even though Amara was old, she was still stronger than me as she was a werewolf.

I opened my mouth to bullshit an excuse when she chuckled.

"Dear me, it appears I am getting quite old", she hummed to herself, turning back to whatever was on the stove. "I am now seeing things that really aren't there".

I heaved a sigh of relief and gratefully opened the side door. Amara was on my side. I smiled, appreciably, before shutting the door behind me and turning around to face the outside.

It was dark, the moonlight feeble and weak and as I stood, surveying the woods, I noticed that the usual patrol was missing. Maybe there was a shift change or something. Whatever the reason was, luck was strangely on my side tonight.

This time I wouldn't follow the road which led North, I would delve into the woods that led South but I would have to make a diversion. I picked my way through all the leaves and twigs carefully, trying to avoid making any loud noises to alert any nearby wolves. They wouldn't be as considerate as Amara, I noted grimly.

I walked towards the roads anyway, making sure to rub my clothes against the fence, the trees, anything to show I was there - to mark my presence. I walked for about ten minutes or so and then quickly stripped off the clothes I was wearing and chucked them both into the nearest tree.

Wolves were like dogs. They could use scent to track me down. I had to set a false trap to buy me more time and I did it following the most obvious way anyone would try to run away. I quickly doubled back, stepping in the same places I did before. It was cold and I was only wearing leggings and a vest but I couldn't spare any clothes until I was actually clean and free of any scents.

The woods loomed over me, an ever-present reminder about how weakly human I was. If I got lost, there was no going back. I only had enough supplies for only a few days at most.

Taking a deep breath, I took my first step in, wincing as the leaves shifted slightly under my pressure. Then I took another. The darkness seemed to envelop on all sides with only small patches of light reaching the ground where there were small breaks in the overhead canopy.

I turned around. The house I stayed in stood in the distance, not too close but not too far. If I stayed, I would be forced to mate with Mikhail. If I carried on, I could die, get recaptured again or maybe, just maybe survive.

I hoisted the basket over my shoulders tightly and kept on walking.

Stray dark thoughts flew across my mind constantly, badgering me from every direction.

What if I don't make it? Will they ever find my body?

What if everyone already thought I was dead?

Why didn't Malik do anything about this? Did he even care? Did he even notice I was gone?

Were the people I left behind even alive?

I gasped silently to myself. It felt like a whole other world. The life I had at Colsens seemed light-years away, the faces of people blurry. God, I would be happy even seeing Karl's face again no matter how infuriating he was.

Life would never go back to normal after this. I wouldn't be able to stay in Colsens nor keep my jobs at Holston's. I wouldn't be able to look at Luka again knowing that whatever happened to him was my fault. I would happily just give up Malik just for a chance to be normal again. Connection or not, mate or not, I didn't want this kind of life.

I sighed and gripped onto the handles tightly, the woven threads cutting into my skin. The house was long gone now and I was deep into the woods. So deep that it was pitch black and all I could feel was the constant brush of leaves and twigs against my bare skin. It was hard trying to walk in a straight line when you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face at certain points.

The sweet sound of a trickling stream greeted my ears and I managed to make out a small body of water gently flowing. Finally, water. The water was cold as it splashed on my face and arms but I gritted my teeth and scrubbed my skin as hard as possible, even washing my hair because Mikhail had touched it. Then I dried myself using the small hand towel and threw on a thick jumper and trousers to help with the bone-deep shivering.

I was as scent-free as I could be. I scattered the vest and shorts in two different locations and then jumped over the small stream, wincing at the splatter of mud against my fresh clothes and kept on walking.

I had maybe another ten minutes at least before anybody noticed that I was gone. Mikhail was dragged to some important meeting and hopefully, that should take a while and if I was extremely lucky, Amara might stall people for a bit.

Huddling in my jumper, I watched happily as the trees started to thin out slowly and the moonlight became more prominent. I was making progress.

No more than fifteen minutes had passed of me trudging begrudgingly into the woods when the first howl permeated through the air. It was angry, raw with emotion, loud enough that the faint vibrations made my hairs stand up on one end. The trees shook slightly even as far away as I was and the wind was knocked out of me in a single blow.

Jacob had been found. My disappearance had been found. That howl was Mikhail's, I was sure of it. Smaller howls echoed through the air, each as angry as the other, sending the birds screeching from their nests and the animals scuttling in fear. Then all went silent. The hunt had begun.

👀

Hello people.

Some of you may claim that I haven't updated since the fourth of April. That's a lie since time is very relative. Don't listen to those people. 

It has been a while though so I'm not sure what I used to write in the authors note anymore.

[Insert the usual babble I do].

Question of the day:

What is your favourite tree?

And last first was... _lushcupid  Do not let that username fool you though. Luckycharm tried to change her username to trick everyone ಠಿ_ಠ.

Today's first comment here --->

Okay, that's it from me. Next update, next week :)

AND YES, my title is Untitled Part (the wattpad default). I haven't thought of a chapter name yet and I might never do. Don't judge me 🔪.

Update: The title is now The Extraction. Check the comments to see why 😂