A Wolf Scorned by Taylor Spratt

Amira

Ieyeballed the treacherous snake of a man in front of me and gritted my teeth. Man, did I want to throttle that pretty face of his. He opened the door and stepped inside smiling like he was my long last pal or something.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? I could kill you for ratting me out. What the hell were you thinking, calling those guards on me?”

“Shhh, shh we have to be quiet now, little wolf.” Syrus placed the pads of three of his fingers over my mouth taking a cautious look around my cell.

“Don’t you shush me after what you did.” Furious, I threw his hand off. “How dare you pretend to be a friend just to turn on me out of the blue. And just why did you lie to me about being from the surface world?”

“I didn’t turn on you. It only seemed that way. And I promise you I am truly from the surface, I lied to the guards but never to you.” He squeezed my chin and trained my eyes to lock on his. “Please, will you hear me out?”

His gaze was so hypnotic that I could have melted right then and there.

“Fine, get to talking. Now.” I severed his hold on me and tapped my foot on the ground.

“You were about to walk into an entire clan of vampires right outside the exit. They would have drunk you dry on sight, if I hadn’t stopped you from walking right into them.”

“Hmm, vampires huh?”

Well, I really had no clue what was on the outside, I was just hoping it would be all clear sailing once I got past the guards. Could Syrus really have saved my life?

“Okay, so if I believe you, and I mean if, just what are you doing down here now? How did you get past the dungeon guards?”

“Oh, I just drugged them.” He nonchalantly tugged a small glass vile of purple liquid from his pocket and shook it in front of my face. The smile on his face was so carefree it was as if he had just told me he’d baked cookies, and not drugged the freaking guards.

“You’ll be killed if you get caught with that. Are you crazy?” I leaned past him to take a look down the long prison hallway through the open door. Four guards laid unconscious, piled high like a sack of potatoes a few feet from my door.

“Okay, then. So you weren’t kidding.” I wiped the sweat from my forehead and turned to the mad wolf beside me.

“None of this explains why you're going to such lengths to help me. I mean, what’s in it for you?”

“Can’t I simply want to help a beautiful she-wolf in need?” He leaned down from his towering height to bring his face mere inches from mine. The warm spicy scent of his breath made goosebumps rise all over my body and my cheeks reddened from his attentions.

“Well-um, I still don’t know if I can trust you.” I held both my elbows and broke his gaze before I lost my nerve. He was as intimidating as he was handsome and that made me feel nervous just being close to him. The more I looked at this man, the more I felt myself lose all control to him and that frightened me.

“Please, little wolf. I’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to find you. Won’t you come with me?” The genuity and purity of his voice was like music to my ears, drawing me in and captivating me like no man ever had. Who was this guy?

“Wait, you mean you’ve been trying to find me? Why?”

“All will be explained to you in due time. But for now just know I am a friend.” Syrus took my hand in his and led me out of my cell and through the long prison block.

“Wait, what’s with the rush? Didn’t you already take care of all the guards?” I tiptoed behind him, trying to make as little noise as possible.

“Yes, but Nelenia, the Alpha’s woman, is coming to murder you,” he whispered calmly, not breaking stride.

“What?! How do you know that?”

“I was eavesdropping on her in the Alpha’s chambers earlier. She and her friends are on their way here right now.”

“Couldn’t you have started with that? Like maybe you could have said, ‘Hey, Amira, a psycho bitch is coming to kill you, so let’s leave A.S.A.Fucking P?”

“Would you have believed me if I hadn’t explained myself first?” He turned a corner and continued through the dungeons, passing dozens of locked metal doors on both sides of us.

“Hmm, good point.” My body crashed into Syrus’s back as he made an unexpected stop near the locked dungeon's exit.

“She’s coming. I smell her.” Syrus gripped both my arms and pushed my back against the wall near the double doors of the dungeon exit.  He hugged his firm body against mine so that I was sandwiched between the stone wall and his rock hard abs.

“Don’t move, they’re almost here.”

Not like I could move right now.

Oh my goodness. What was happening to my body? The scent of earthy, sweet testosterone filled my lungs as I inhaled his scent. My cheeks fevered and my body quaked like…. was I having a heart attack?

“Can you believe that half-breed bitch? She actually thinks I’m going to let her lay with my man? That whore’s got another thing coming.” Nelenia’s voice permeated through the double door and the sound of the lock tumblers came next.

“We’ll show her some manners, mistress. Don’t you worry,” another female voice replied, and Nelenia laughed like a drunk woman who’d been told a joke.

“Oh, she’s going to learn a lot more than manners. She’ll be in pieces when I’m done with her,” Nelenia said conspiratorially as the doors rolled open.

Syrus and I stood still, behind the door that shielded us from Nelenia and her minion’s notice.

The clack of heels on the stone floors echoed off the walls as the women entered the prison and merrily pranced down the long hallway.

“Come on, we’ve got to get some distance between us and them before they find the unconscious guards.” Syrus pushed the door away from us and took my hand again before he sprinted out of the dungeons.

We took a right that led to an old stone staircase with very little lighting. We fled up the stairs and had barely gotten to the top when a high pitch wail pierced the darkness.

“She’s gone! She’s gone! The half-breed has escaped.”

“Come on, don’t slow down.” Syrus towed me along the tunnel at the top of the stairs. The walls of this area of the hole were coated in a rug of spongy moss that  glowed an eerie green color and lit our path ahead.

At the end of the tunnel we hooked a left and climbed another flight of stairs. Two floors up we poured into an area I finally recognized.

This was North mines, second floor, the recreational area for high ranking wolves. Including Alpha Logan.

The hallway was bright with sparkling chandeliers lining the way. The concrete walls were a smooth and soothing yellow color. I’d only ever been in here because Riley would sometimes invite me over when her mom and dad were out.

“Um, Syrus. Would you mind telling me why we're in here? There could be Betas up here or even the Alpha,” I asked, as I continued running behind him down the hall.

“It’s a short cut, trust me,” he said between breaths. “This time of day they're all in the training rooms. Don’t worry.”

He really had this all figured out didn’t he? Which really only served to heighten my suspicion of the man. It was like he’d deliberately planned to help me break out. But why?

Wolfy made a strange sound just then, like a low purr.

“Pretty.”

I eyed Syrus’s wide, muscular back and immediately knew what Wolfy was talking about. Syrus was beyond massive, with a stature even more impressive than Alpha Logan. As he ran, his auburn hair blew back in a way that looked both majestic and strangely calming.

“He really is pretty. Damn pretty. But don’t go getting attached, Wolfy. I’m still not sure we can trust him yet,” I warned.

Wolfy moaned and groaned her objections.

“They went this way. I can smell them ahead,” a voice resonated from the staircase down the hall.

“They’ve found us.” I curved my head back to look at them and just then my body collided with Syrus’s back.

“Come, we're going through here.” Syrus wrenched a door open with one hand, seizing me by the waist and leading me inside.

The room we entered had colorful walls and was filled with tiny slides, swing sets, and jungle gyms. A dozen pups played, happily sliding down the slides, and hanging upside down on the jungle gyms.

Their cute little faces turned to us and they stopped their games to stare up at us in wide-eyed wonder.

“Don’t mind us, kids. We’re just passing through.” Syrus motioned a hand at the children and they giggled, evidently charmed by him.

We continued past the jungle gyms to arrive at the door at the other end of the room. Syrus twisted the doorknob.

Just then the door that we’d entered the children’s room through burst open, as four prison guards stormed the play areas like commandos on a mission.

“Hurry,” Syrus bellowed as unease mixed with his voice. We flew into the next room, smacking the door closed and I was immediately hit by the scent of cinnamon sugar.

Pots and pans stacked high enough to touch the ceiling sat upon overcrowded kitchen counters. Hundreds of cookers simmered over open flames on stoves manned by sweaty, busy handed chefs. This was the North Mines' Kitchens.

“Excuse us, coming through.” Syrus hurriedly drove us through the mess of chefs, toppling one of them onto his ass.

“Sorry about that, mister,” I murmured, as I passed him and his angry eyes met mine.

“Woah, hey. Slow down there!” a round-bellied chef holding a triple decker chocolate cake yelled from in front of us. He was blocking our path to the next door and demanded we move back so he could get around us with his cake.

Behind me the rumble of guards banging at the door trying to break it down rebounded in the kitchens.

“Uh, Syrus. We’ve really gotta get going.” I tugged at his sleeve.

“Sorry.” Having little choice, Syrus charged forward and bounced the cake right into the chef's face. He toppled over, yelling as his chocolate masterpiece painted his face and apron brown.

The door broke open behind us, and the guards rushed in like army ants ready to attack.

Having too little time to feel guilty for the chef, Syrus and I cleared the next exit and rushed out into the next tunnel. Wait, this was the South Mines tunnel. The gate to the outside was close to here.

This guy, Syrus really did know where he was going after all.

“Almost there, little wolf, don’t slow down on me now.” Syrus galloped down the dim dirt tunnel and I scurried after him.

Was he kidding? Slow down? This was incredible. I knew we were running for our lives but this was literally the most exciting day of my life.

We’d made it through the tunnel and came right back to the same exit to the outside I’d tried to leave through before. We hid around the curved wall and spied on the two guards sitting by the exit incline.

My heart sunk in my chest when I saw just who the new guards were. Beta Bradley and Beta Michael. They were both huge and almost as powerful as the Alpha himself. How was Syrus planning to get us around these guys?

“Something wrong?” Syrus asked, registering the disappointed look on my face.

“Well now we’ve got two Betas to handle, and they're the most powerful Betas in here. Is this the extent of your brilliant break out plan?”

Syrus silently studied the two Betas as they sat by the gate chatting amongst themselves. His expression was cool as a cucumber. The polar opposite of mine.

He must have had a weapon on him concealed somewhere, like a sleeping potion, a magical bow and arrow or a… before I finished that thought, Syrus jumped out from behind our hiding place to charge for Beta Bradley with nothing but his bare hands.

I covered my mouth looking on in astonishment. I knew there was something weird about this guy but I never actually thought he was really insane. At least not until now.

I’d expected to see Syrus on his ass, beaten half dead for the reckless move, but instead he landed one powerful punch after the next at Bradley’s face. Bradley went flying, as if he’d been hit by a boulder and crashed into the opposite wall.

Beta Michael came at Syrus on his left side and tackled Syrus to the ground. Then with a strength I’d only imagined possible of an alpha, Syrus grabbed Michael and threw him to the ground.

Syrus’s eyes went feral and fangs sprouted from his mouth as his wolf lended him his killer strength.

Who was this guy? How in the world did he wield so much power?

Michael and Syrus leapt to their feet and began punching each other, every one of Syrus’s blows seeming to have twice the destructive force of Michael’s.

Black, blue and bloody, Michael fell to his knees and collapsed on the floor, no match for Syrus’s blows.

Still not fully believing what I had just witnessed, I stepped out from behind the wall and approached Syrus while he wiped a drop of blood from his mouth.

“How did you do that? You do realize what you just did was impossible right?” My words were shaking as I struggled to make sense of this miracle.

“Ha, I’ve taken guys twice their size while drunk out of my mind,” Syrus laughed, raising his hands to wave inwardly, gesturing for me to come to him.

“And just what would you know about what's impossible, little wolf?” He wrapped his hands around my back and drew me in close. His lips curled up into a cheeky grin.

Was he flirting with me?

Interrupting what was otherwise a very nice moment, the frightful bellow of wolf howls rode the darkness. The ghoulish racket came from deep in the hole.

Six wolves creeped from the darkness to intercept us near the exit. Their fur was black, mixing with the darkness of the cave making them look almost invisible.

Their murderous intent was so visceral, I could almost feel my soul slowly untwine itself from my body in anticipation of their gruesome attack. Their white teeth were enormous, glowing in the dark like the harbingers of doom. Long story short, we were in trouble.

Syrus flung me behind him, using his own body as a shield as we backed away from the wolves.

“Come on, boys, you're not still angry I drugged you, are you?” Syrus shrugged and the wolves growled angrily as they slowly approached us.

These wolves must have been the prison guards fresh from sleep and out to get their revenge.

“Amira, I need you to shift and make a run for it. I’ll follow behind you after.”

“Um, well you see.” I scratched my head. “I’ve never actually shifted before.”

“You’ve never shifted?!” Syrus gripped me tighter to his back as the wolves bared down on us.

“Hey, this is your break out plan. Mine never involved shifting. Why don’t you just shift and take care of these guys like you did the Betas?” I didn’t see what the big deal was, this guy was mad powerful.

“I can’t,” Syrus blurted.

“What do you mean you can’t shift?! You just mopped the floor with two Betas.”

“It’s complicated but the short answer is ‘no’, I can’t shift.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” My back hit the wall with Syrus still shielding me.

The wolves howled a battle cry signaling they were about to make their final move.

There was nowhere to run or hide. With Syrus and I cornered like defenseless prey, the wolves charged in for the kill.