LANA'S POV
"Get the others!"
"We're under attack from rogues, Carl!" Alpha Ken yelled from a distance.
The hallway lights suddenly went dead, as did any hope they would let the night's transgression slide. I had a sinking feeling that come 8:00 on Monday morning I'd be dead.
"We're outnumbered,"
Two words, three syllables. I'd mentally prepared myself for them since the previous night's fiasco, but they still hit me like a punch in the gut.
Breathe in, 123, out 123, it didn't work. Oxygen couldn't bypass the knot in my throat, and tiny pinpricks of black swam across my vision as I stared at Alpha Ken's figure as he fought through the crowd.
He had his claws right into the flesh of the rogue men that attacked, like he hadn't been this close to reducing my life to rubble in the space of ten seconds. I struggled to cut loose from the tied rope wrapped tightly around me. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth from how hard I bit my tongue in trying to escape as the attack went on.
Panic squeezed my lungs at the prospect of not being able to cut loose from the ropes wrapped around or of probably getting stabbed or killed during the attack. Being mistaken as a member of the attacked pack.
My hands shook before I caught myself and steadied them. In less than a couple of minutes, the ropes which I'd been struggling with, finally budged as I fell to the cold floor, which was now covered in blood from the attack.
I took to the stairs, ignoring all of the attacks on the members, most especially that of my mate. The disappointment, judgement, and worse, the persistent protest of my escape from my wolf.
Pressure ballooned in my chest, but I managed to make it out to the woods before I collapsed. A tree branch which I'd grabbed a couple of minutes ago, landed next to me with a thud as I sank onto the cold forest floor and closed my eyes.
Everything is fine!
Everything is fine!
The silent mantra succeeded in calming my shallow breaths. Luckily it wasn't the end of the world. The familiar rustling of the bushes around me, dragged me out of my thoughts before I slipped too far down my spiral.
I forced my eyes open and checked my surroundings. I was tempted to voice out a question wondering who it was, but I could tell from the sudden silence that whoever it was didn't want to be seen either.
"Who's there?"
My voice came out scratchy and hoarse, but at least I wasn't scared. Just as I'd spoken, a foul pungent smell wafted over me, and in that moment, I could already tell who it was.
Rogues…
"Why are they after me?" I questioned myself running off as fast as I could. A migraine blossomed behind my temple, searching through the woods or some sort of a shelter for escape or---
A short pause followed my thoughts before the cave in front of me came into full sight.
"Finally!" I mumbled and then crouched to the floor crawling swiftly into the cave. Then again, I no longer had rogues or men from the Alpha's pack chasing after me, so there was that. I laid still, panting like I'd been running for hours, and turning over to the side, the slight glow from the end of the cave caught my attention.
A quick check told me that wasn't the case. I was about to look away when I finally got a better glimpse of what it was. Surprisingly, it turned out to be the missing Amulet of Time as described by the Alpha.
"how did this get here?"
I laid still on the cold floor of the cave; a bit exhausted from all the running a couple of minutes ago. And in silence, I slowly drifted off into great slumber with the amulet wrapped tightly around my wrist.
*******************
My eyes fluttered open a couple of hours later, and to my surprise, I wasn't alone. Instead, I met eyes with a familiar pair of eyes. My jaw nearly dropped as I took in sight of the man in front of me. Straight, styled hair with the exact familiar pair of eyes. he stood surprisingly tall, but unfortunately this time, he was covered in blood and multiple scars. At that moment, I soon realized the rogues had probably succeeded in having most of them killed.
"Shit, I caused this," I grumbled to myself with one hand over my mouth as I watched him crouch to the floor in defeat.
I reached for the amulet and then handed it over when the realization of why it was called the Amulet of Time and Protection sunk in.
"You have to believe me when I say, I found it in here," I said, wondering whether or not he'd believe. Instead, the expression on his face said otherwise.
"Go away, or I could get tempted to have you killed!" Alpha Ken growled; his eyes glazed with anger.
"Don't make me repeat myself, Lana!"
Tingles of alarm cascaded down my spine seeing that he was hurt, and even worse bleeding profusely. And then I forced myself to hold my ground even as every self-preservation instinct screamed at me to run.
Ignoring his persistent growls, I reached for his wounded arm, tearing off a piece of my dress as I had it wrapped tightly around his wounded wrist trying to stop the bleeding. I hurried to the cave entrance where I found a few medicinal herbs and then I had them applied over the surface of the cut, ignoring the fact that the once cold Alpha from a couple of hours was suddenly whimpering like a wounded animal in front of me.
"I never imagined myself ever having to prefer being falsely accused by strangers to getting betrayed by my ex-mate Ethan," I grumbled subconsciously as I tended to his wounds.
"What I'm trying to understand is why I feel different around you and----" I continued but was cut off by loud snores from Alpha Ken in front of me. Who had zoned out, probably exhausted from all the attacks?
"Good thing he wasn't listening," I said, but paused when I caught sight of a note from the side of his pocket. I looked closely with curiosity and realized it turned out to be a note about the one person I never imagined I'd get to see again.
Ethan…