— •🔥 Emilia 🔥• —

I don't know exactly how long I've been in this cell. It feels like I've been here three seconds and then the next minute feel like three months. I mean, there is no real way to track the time down here. Minutes blend into hours, night into day. That's another valid point, I don't even know what day it is, or if it's even daytime. There's a window at the back of the cell but it must be artificial light as it never changes hue, brightness, anything.

The consistency of everything in this cell; in my life right now is starting to drive me mad. The simplicity is starting to break me; the routine; the never-ending darkness; the loneliness. I need a little chaos right about now.

As if on cue I hear a sharp click, as the door swings open and shuffled feet and muffled voices walk in my direction.

Assuming it was a guard I snarled angrily. "You come any closer and I'll bite you."

I was not in the mood to deal with the incompetent members of this pack. Quite often, a few wolves come down here to mock me as I lie on the cold concrete floor. That alone was enough to put me in a bad mood for months.

They taunt me. Telling me about the outside, about what is going on in the pack, how I'm never getting out of this dammed cell.

Another distinct click is heard, and it's not until I hear a very familiar voice that I realise the sound is my cell door unlocking.

What are they doing?

Are they letting me out only to torture me further? Maybe they'll parade me around the grounds like some sort of criminal trophy.

All of my fears and worries crumble at the sound of Isabella's voice. "I missed you too." She muses. I zoom across the cell, using every ounce of my Fox speed.

"Izzy? Is it really you?" I question. Still not too sure this is all real, I shake my head. I have to be imagining her.

But she never fades. She's here. She's saved me.

The metal door scrapes its bottom bar along the floor as it opens, and as soon as it does, I leap forwards into Izzy.

I hug her so tight. I was terrified.

Terrified, I would never see her again, I would never get to explain, I would never get a chance to apologise.

Trying not to cry, I inhale her beautiful scent and calm my trembling body. I manage to hold my tears back enough to get a sentence out.

"Thank you so much." I mutter into her shoulder, before straightening myself up- but not letting go- and turning my head to face Claire, who I am so glad helped her get me out.

The revelation it was Claire shocked me at first, she always seemed like the type to stick to the rules, but maybe like me, she's had enough of the rules.

I say a quick thank you to Claire as well, I can't be rude to the people that got me out of that caged hell. "and thank you, I know how risky this is for you."

Claire returns a warm look, "don't worry, you're my friend just as much as her." She says, nodding her head in Isabella's direction. "Besides, " she laughed, "I was making sure this one didn't get into any trouble."

Entirely enthralled by my saviours, I completely forgot about the short woman, who I share a cell with, and who I have grown quite attached to.

I'm not usually one for trusting people too quickly- I can thank my past for that- so the fact I trusted this woman, who I barely know, shocked me.

Turning around, I stare into the darkness of the cell, until my eyes lock on a shifting shadow in the corner. "Are you coming? We're free." I call out.

I focus my eyes on the woman as she shuffles out of the cell. Anxiety rolls off her in waves. I try calm her the best I can with my emotions, generating a relaxed and comforting environment that swirls around her like wind.

Throwing me a grateful smile, she speaks, "I'm okay darling, besides there's no way I'll be able to keep up with you youngsters."

I feel the fear that lingers around her words, despite her joke. The poor woman is petrified, and from the few times I've had conversation with her, she doesn't even know how long she's been here.

She's not a wolf like the pack; she does however, have some sort of power that is outside of the packs abilities, it scares them. Anything outside their abilities is seen as a threat. That's why I'm in here.

And without practise of her abilities, she's weaker than possible to win a fight. All it would take is a couple of wolves to tag team the poor woman and she'd be down. I can practically feel her energy drain every second she spends rotting in this dammed dungeon.

I'm not surprised she's scared, any sane person would be. There is always a fear rooted within a person when they do something unlawful, often this fear transitions into excitement, adrenaline, a rush of butterflies, you know it's wrong, but you do it anyway.

"No. You're coming with me." I demand. There is no way I'm leaving her to die here, she deserves the freedom just as much as me.

I don't know the full extent of why she's in here, but if I were to guess, I would say she did something bad with good intentions. To me, there is nothing wrong with that, it's one of the many reasons I'm here. I was just doing what I had to, to survive. I shouldn't be stripped of my freedom because of it.

I send her a look of pure determination, daring her to fight me, to argue. She knows she has no choice in the matter. She can fight and kick and scream, but at the end of it all, I will get her out of here.

Almost as if she read my mind, she doesn't bother fighting, instead just quietly walks towards me, standing at my side. The action spoke enough of its own, no words required. She would stay with me. Beside me. We would get through this together.

I watch her as she looks around, scanning the room, trying to make out her saviours among the dark and dingy lighting of the room.

She glances over Claire and let's a loose smile play on her lips as she recognises the kind omega wolf that helped free her.

Then, her eyes move over to Isabella, and lock on like a predator to their prey, or like a defenceless animal caught in headlights. It wasn't until she started shaking, I realised it was the latter.

The fear radiating from her clogs my pores and makes me feel sick. I can't think of any rationale reason to be scared of Izzy, she probably sensed her power but surely that would have the opposite effect? Make her feel protected, safe.

Before I can ask her, the door swings open, almost knocking Izzy over, in the process of her trying to open the door herself.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Nathan stalks in, with an aura of confidence. He must feel like a king among thieves.

I mean technically, it almost is correct, he's a beta, second in command, among a thief and murder, a 'witch', and two young girls who just helped break us out of our prison.

The room turns thick with a tension and dread that hangs heavy.

As much as I like having this ability to detect emotions, right now I feel like I'm suffocating. All the negative emotions weighing down, pushing on my lungs as I try to breath.

Too enthralled by the viscous emotions that submerge my body, I didn't realise Isabella had spoken.

"What does it look like?" She counters sacastically.

Good a joke, lighten the load of this consistent pressure I feel on my body. Someone laugh, anyone? Not even a snicker.

The pressure that hangs in the room doesn't fade, but also doesn't increase, which I'm grateful for. It gives me time to adjust to the feeling.

He practically snarls at the disrespect, "You really think you can escape? You're human." he scoffs. "Emilia is weak from the sedative, Claire is a lower rank and thus weaker, and she, " he says, signaling to the woman "well, I could take her down in three seconds." He states smugly.

Isabella growls lowly and the sound makes me uncomfortable, as it should. Nathan, can't seem to grasp the fact it came from the woman before him, because he whips his head around trying to depict who challenged him.

His eyes land on me accusingly, but before he can speak, Isabella steps in.

"First of all, Claire may be an omega, but she managed to take down that blonde bitch who apparently is one of your best fighters, in a matter of minutes." Her voice rang out clear, hatred laced in between every word. He had pissed her off, and she wasn't afraid of showing it.

She lets a smirk play on her lips and I narrow my eyes, curious as to what she has in store for him. "Besides," she says before pausing, making sure she had his attention. "You wouldn't hurt your mate."

A rainbow of emotions fly across his face, but when his eyes land on Claire, there is only one I see. Anxiety.

As if on cue, Claire takes a step forwards and too begins to return the previous threats. "but don't think for a minute, I wouldn't try to hurt you. Mate or not, you threatened my friends." She stands tall, opposing the way her words sounded. I'm sure she meant it to come across as threatening, but you could hear the strain she breathed out with every syllable. It pained her to speak poorly to her mate, whether their wolves had officially realised it or not.

Continuing on her rant, Isabella's voice filled the small, cold room. "Emilia may be weaker than previous, due to whatever the fuck you gave her, but she is still the strongest person I know, do not underestimate her." She states.

"As with the woman, you do not know of her abilities and talents, how silly of a Beta to underestimate others, especially when outnumbered."

The gravity of the situation he was in, seemed to dawn on him, as his face dropped a few shades lighter.

"As for myself." She says, almost cackling with excitement.

A gasp is heard as I watch Isabella shift into her beautiful grey wolf, right before us. Her coat was glittered with what looked like stars, lighting up the darkness we were submerged in.

Her presence was both beautiful and deadly. The crack of bones and, scrapes and clicks were heard as her bones broke, moved and reformed, transforming her into her beast in a matter of seconds, with no sign of discomfort.

I still don't know how she does it.

Quickly scanning Nathan's facial expressions as she shifted, I could make out both fear and amazement. They quickly morphed into realisation at the sight of her fully formed wolf. I'm guessing she's run into him in the woods, probably before I found her.

His face turns drip white, and breathes one heavy breath after the other. He stumbles against the wall and I feel Claire shift uneasy next to me.

"He's called for backup." Isabella says.

Throwing my head to the side I assess Claire's face and from the unchanging state, I can tell she already knew. It makes sense, she's in his pack.

"How do you know?" I say casually through the link, completely believing her, but curious all the same.

She nods at Claire, "she told me." Before adding "Telepathically."

I send her a questioning look.

I thought only me and Isabella could communicate telepathically because we were mates.

Before I could question her or ask what the plan of action is, Isabella makes up for wasted time and lunges forwards, knocking an already dazed Nathan back against the wall, before shifting back so she can communicate with everyone.

"Go!" She demands, in a slightly raised voice.

When nobody moves, she slams Nathan's head into the wall in an attempt to knock him out, whilst repeating herself. "I said go!" She shouts, this time.

Claire and the older woman, who's name I still don't know, jumped at the command and darted towards the door.

Claire throws Nathan an apologetic look, which I'm not sure he picked up on. As his mate she's going to fill conflicted on the situation, with her mate being pinned up against the wall.

If Claire and Nathan were confirmed mates, which they both need to be 18 to confirm, Claire would not allow the sight before her. She would physically claw Isabella off her mate, whether he deserves the treatment or not, a mates instinct usually always rules when in situations like this.

I hesitate, which earns me a glare. "I'm not leaving you here, with him." I state.

Isabella is angered by my statement and I can read it on her face before she even speaks. "I'm very capable of dealing with one man on my own." She snarls, which hurts, but I rationalise that she's probably on edge with this whole ordeal.

"You're wasting time, go help the other two, they'll need all the help they can. There's probably a ton of guards on their way as we speak." She speaks in a slightly more gentle tone, as she tries to reason with me.

Realising she was right, and I was letting my emotions rule me, I slip out of the door. "Be careful." I say, my voice full of emotion, before finally shutting them out and sprinting down the hallway.

I stop halfway down, Claire and the woman noticing my hesitation. "What are you waiting for? The longer we wait, the less chance we have of escaping." Claire questions.

I shake my head in response, "Im not leaving without Bella." I retort.

"We don't have time!! Besides we need to help you're friend out," she says and nods her towards the short anxious woman at the side of her. "and I'm sure Isabella is quite capable of taking care of Nathan on her own." She reasons.

Realising she's right, I nod my head, in silent agreement and follow her down the hallway.

As we turn the corner at the bottom of the stairwell, and approach the front hall, I step in front of Claire who was before, in front. I'm not distrusting of her judgement or leadership, rather the opposite, shes very collected and intelligent. I mean she even withstood watching her mate get pushed up against a wall. I know I wouldn't stand for that. But no, I stood in front so I could take the forefront of any oncoming, extremely angry wolves.

Maybe it would make more sense for Claire to be in front, because we have the excuse of Claire escorting prisoners, however, we already know guards are coming and they'll figure it out. I definitely wouldn't follow Claire if she wasn't on my side. Yes we're friends but at the end of the day, I do what I do to survive.

Turning the corner, we were met headfirst with 3 guards. Most of them look somewhat bored as if victory for them will come easy. They've obviously never seen me fight before. I show no mercy. Mercy is for the weak. That sentence was drilled into my brain since I was a child. Since running away, it's been a daily mantra to keep me alive.

The fact I saved Isabella was always a mystery to me. There was something about her that clicked. My whole body called her safety and trusted her on first sight.

Beside me, Claire stiffened slightly at the sight of recognition in the guards eyes. She's knows she's screwed. If we loose this fight, she's going to end up in the cells with us, pack member or not.

"It will be fine." I assure her, before charging for the guard in the centre.

Taken aback by my speed of attack, he stumbles back as my full weight hits him. I quickly shift into my fox form, I would have shifted into my wolf but my body is still dosed up on wolfsbane, I'm relying solely on my fox right now.

Noticing my shift, he too shifts. His wolf is much bigger than me, but my smaller agile frame makes up for lack of strength. Whilst my weakness is size and strength, I have speed and stamina. Wearing down my opponents is my best bet, especially when they're double the size of me, and could literally sit on me to win.

My red and black fox contrasts his sandy yellow wolf, but our eyes are the similarity. The familiarity of the sandy shades throws me off. Dominic. My childhood bestfriend, now look at us, I'm fighting against my childhood to regain freedom. How many people can say that. I hope he shows mercy on me, because I definitely won't show him any.

All the times I stuck up for him replay in my mind. I always took the blame for him, despite already being the most hated person in the pack. So much for best friend forever.

He told me we were gonna be mates. And if we weren't that he would always protect me. Always be there. So much for potential mate and caring best friend. Where was he when I needed him? When I was on the verge of death, leaving my only option to flee the only home I'd ever known.

He was the only one that ever made it worth it.

I let out a ear splitting cry and lunge for his neck. My claws sink into his chest, piercing the skin, and sinking between each individual rib. He lets out a cry but quickly swallows it. It's a taught move, push down the pain and focus on the opponent. Hear the way their breath moves, are they struggling? Or is each breath a powerful one? Focus on their eyes, where are they looking? That could be the next target. His eyes reach mine and I see my furious gaze reflecting back at myself in those gorgeous green eyes I used to love so much.

My jaws lunged for his neck, but snap the air as he moved his head out of the way. I should have seen that move but my vision is clouded with hate and an unnatural amount of pain.

He uses his back legs to kick me off, scratching my front in the process. Through my peripheral vision I see Claire trying to fend off the other guard. Noticing there are only two guards, I swing my head desperately trying to find where the third guard is.

Spotting him creeping towards the hallway we just ran down, I chuff in annoyance. Isabella will be fine with him, but I need to make sure no more get past. I can't let her get hurt.

I should have been more focused. I let out an angry and agitated growl. And flick my attention back to Dominic, just in time to see him lunge for me. I duck and roll sideways and he dived in my previous spot, colliding with the floor. He noticed my move midair but had already committed.

I dive on him quickly, holding him down with my weight, claws between each shoulder blade. At this point he could very easily throw me off. I could tire him more for an easier and safer end but I don't want to risk any more guards getting through.

There are two more heading towards us from the field out front. Another 5 minutes and they'll be here.

I wrap my jaws around his neck and bite hard. The nostalgic taste of metal fills my mouth as I bite and I swallow it easily. I'm not spitting it out, there's no way I'm releasing my grip. He lets out a cry at the feeling, and doesn't bother to stop it. He knows this is his end. I lock my jaw in place so that even if he moves, he won't get me off.

He does try, he squirms with the pain, kicking and clawing to get away, but I dig my claws in his back deeper with every movement.

His movements lessen as time goes on, and I'm just about ready to end him when a deathly terrifying cry fills the air, sweeping into every cell of my body.

Isabella.

My past or my future? I don't know why I asked myself the question when I know the answer. I release my jaw and shake my claws loose.

I let out a howl and launch myself across the room and down the hallway.

[Word count: 3549]

Ohhhh it's getting exciting now. Hehe.

See you in the next chapter to see what happens next.

- Bri xox