0072
Dane
'And you are absolutely sure she is okay?' I ask Eric through mind link.
'Raven has checked her over. The pups are fine. Your sister thinks it's stress related and has put her on rest. Neah thought you were dying, she wasn't even aware she was bleeding until I tracked her down. I'm still not entirely sure what she was thinking when she ran.
' 'She wasn't. All she knew is that she needed to find me.' I mutter back.
'Keep her safe and we will keep an eye on this Mallory.'
'You are letting her live?'
'Right now, she might be the only one who can help us find Jess.'
'Will you be back tonight?'
'I will try but I can't make any promises. If I'm not, you know what to do.'
'Of course. Dane, just watch yourself around the woman. She sounds bat shit crazy and everyone is a little on edge.'
Of all the people in the world, I couldn't believe we had ran into another one of my mates abusers. We were hours away from home. Hundreds of miles away.
I look over at my brother who is half asleep. We had agreed to take it in turns resting. Keeping an eye on the Lycan we are sharing a house with. "Finished linking your pack?" Mallory asks from the stairs.
"I was just checking in with my mate." I had told Mallory that my mate was a female Alpha, did she know I was talking about Neah. She must do?
'I think she does.' Aero groans
"Is she okay?" She sounds sincere, but she also may have had a lot of practice sounding like she cared.
"Resting." I smile back. I was only going to give her the bare minimum for now.
"A long conversation for someone who is resting." Her brown eyes remain on me.
'She's suspicious.' Aero mutters
'I would be too if the role was reversed!' I tell him
I give Mallory a reassuring smile, "I checked in with my Beta too. Running a pack doesn't just disappear because I'm not there."
She nods her head at me
"Do you live on your own?" I ask curiously, looking around at the rund down house.
Mallory raises an eyebrow at me. Puffing out her cheeks like she was trying to decide how to answer me.
"Mostly."
"My brother." I mutter, "He said when we crashed, there was another. Are there more of you?"
'We are playing with fire.' Aero mutters
"There are a few," Mallory tells me
"All bitten?"
She nods her head at me and rises to her feet. "It was probably Damien that crashed into you. He doesn't like Wolves. Hell, he doesn't like anyone." "This is a neutral zone."
Her eyes remain on me as she slowly walks down the last few steps. "You all think that. You all say that when you try to pass through. Just because there is no Alpha here, it does not mean it is a neutral zone."
Her temper was growing as she slowly steps towards me. "Wolves think they know everything."
"You are right. My mistake. Have you claimed it?"
"We did! We made it a safe place for any of our kind."
"It's only this year that I have learned about your kind." I mutter, trying to distract her.
"Because of your mate?"
I nod.
"And she is a female Alpha?"
""Yes." I couldn't lie when I had already told her
She looks me directly in the eye. "The girl in the basement." Her hard face softens, "She's alive?"
I keep my mouth closed as she watches me
"I thought I killed her. Is she ... Is she really alive? You have to tell me!"
"Yes."
Mallory walks away from me. Leaning against the wall, she half smiles. "She's really alive?"
"Yes." I repeat
She sighs, "You know what I did, don't you?"
"I have been told."
"By the girl in the basement? The one who is your mate?"
"Yes."
"Then you don't know everything." she slides down the wall, landing on her ass as she scowls and picks at the hole in her worn out jeans. "I was told that she was a thief. That they were holding her prisoner until they decided what to do with her." She snorts "And of course I was stupid enough to believe them. I had met her a few times before then. She was always in the house, working. I thought she was just some kind of hired help, I didn't even know her name. And then I was bitten." She runs her hands through her dirty blonde hair and sighs.
"They put her in the basement, the day before I was bitten. Telling me this story about how she had stolen family heirlooms. I was stupid enough to believe it. Stupid enough to trust Cassandra." She shakes her head, leaning it back against the wall.
"When that btich bit me, something took over. I was so angry. I couldn't control it. I couldn't bury it deep down inside like I was used to."
"She sent me down into that basement and told me to have fun. They told me the female needed punishing."
I see a tear creep out and roll down her cheek. She wipes it away, acting like it never happened. "Her screams still haunt me."
"What did you do to her?" Jenson asks. I hadn't even noticed he had woken and wondered how much he had heard.
"She begged me. Tried to tell me that the people upstairs were lying to me. Told me it was her home. That her parents had owned the house. It's only when I look back, that I realise I didn't see how ill she looked or how thin she was. I didn't see the dark shadows under her eyes. All I saw was a 'liar' that Cassandra had described. And I believed her" Mallory drops her head forward. "She didn't even try to fight back. She was too weak."
It is horrible, listening to what she is telling me. It also showed how much Neah hadn't told me about her past. Or maybe it was one of those things that she had learned to block out.
"Even now, I hear the cracks of her skull from when I beat her against the wall."
"You shifted?" Jenson asks,
"No." She shakes her head, "I was just an angry person and suddenly had the strength of a Lycan." Her eyes settle on me again. "Is she really alive? You are not just lying to get me to talk to you?" "She's alive."
"But how? She should't have survived that."
"Because the Moon Goddess wants her to live." I mumble.
"How did you know she was an Alpha?" Jenson asks
"I overheard them talking. I never knew what the term Alpha was. Not until I broke free. Not until I met others."
"Cassandra kicked you out after?" Jenson presses.
"No. I was so disgusted with myself, I ran. I ran and didn't stop until I could no longer hear Cassandra and her demands rattling around inside my head."
"What about the others?" Jenson asks. I knew he didn't believe her story. "If you were the first one, how are there others here, in this area?"
"We found each other. Or rather, they found me."
'I call bullshit!' Aero snaps
"Were they all bitten by Cassandra?" I ask
She nods. "For someone that rarely shifted. She liked to create us." She looks over to the broken window. "The sun is rising, we should get ready to move."
Mallory disappears up the stairs. She didn't seem as concerned about being out of our sight. Maybe there was some truth to her story?
'I don't buy it.' Jenson's voice fills my head. 'She's playing the 'I didn't know what I was doing' card. I don't trust her.'
'You don't have too. She said she would help us find Jess. And all she wants is money in return. I can give her that.'
Jenson frowns at me. 'I thought you might want to kill her after what she told us.'
'I do, but that won't help us to find your mate, will it?'
"Don't call her that!" He snaps at me and Mallory sticks her head around the corner.
Eyeballing us she snaps, "What are you talking about?"
"Jess." I mutter back
She slowly nods her head, Yet I see the slight narrowing of her eyes. "Right." She didn't believe us, it was evident in her tone. Dragging a bag, she moves back down the staircase towards us. The bag heavily thumps against each step.
"What's in the bag?" Jenson questions
"Weapons." Her brown eyes move to me. "Where do you think this girl is being taken?"
"To a place called Dark Ridge."
She laughs, "Dark Ridge? You guys really need to come up with better pack names. But I know where that is."
"What do you call the pack here?" I ask, "For the ones who have escaped?"
"Rogues. And we are not a pack!"
"Rogues?" Jenson muses.
"Those of us who don't belong. Nor do we want to be a part of some pack!" She spits the words out.
"But you are willing to help us?"
"As long as you don't try anything stupid." She smirks at me.
She leads us almost a mile from the house to an old beat up car. She throws her bag in the back seat. "Get in!"
Mallory settles herself in the driver's seat. Her hands gripping the wheel as she waits for us.
"We haven't got all day!" She snaps. "The sun is already up. Don't you want to get back to your mate?"
"Get in." I mutter at Jenson.
He takes the back seat while I sit in the front, next to her. Her foot hits the pedal and she drives like there is no one else on the road.
"Will you chill?! We don't need the human police to chase us down!" I tell her
She grins and keeps her eyes on the road, "There are no police out here."
"Stop the car!" Jenson yells out after thirty minutes of driving.
"But we need..." Mallory mumbles
"I can smell her."
Mallory pulls the car over and Jenson practically throws himself out the door. His eyes are darting about.
"Tyre tracks," He mutters crouching down to the ground.
"What? That could be anyone."
He sniffs the air, "She got out. She ran!"
Jenson stares out to the cornfield in front of us. He moves forward, reaching over the fence, grabbing a stem. "What is it?"
"Dried blood." He growls.