The Runaway Alpha's Feral Mate

Chapter Six

Liam pressed his back against the cabin wall, counting footsteps outside. Six—no, eight—soldiers creeping through the snow, surrounding them with practiced efficiency. He'd been an i***t to think they could outrun a government agency with unlimited resources and zero oversight.

Eleanor's breathing had become shallow and raspy, the silver poisoning creeping visibly through her veins like black lightning. Her usually vibrant face had gone ashen gray, eyes glassy with pain.

"You need to go," she whispered, grabbing Liam's wrist with surprising strength. "Both of you. Now."

"Not happening," Liam muttered, peering through a gap in the curtains. A helicopter hovered in the distance, its searchlight sweeping methodically across the forest. "They've got us surrounded. Standard containment protocol—three-layer perimeter, air support, probably thermal imaging."

Eleanor struggled to sit up, wincing as the movement pulled at her wound. "There's another way out. My grandfather... wasn't exactly a fan of the government."

Akira crouched by the window on the opposite wall, frost spiraling across the glass where her breath touched it. She tilted her head, listening to something only she could hear. "Humans with boom-sticks," she growled. "Many."

"Listen to me," Eleanor hissed urgently. "Under the rug. Trapdoor. Tunnel leads to cave system half mile east." She fumbled at her neck, pulling out a small key on a chain. "Use this at the end. Metal door."

Liam stared at her. "You're delirious. There's no way—"

"Gramps was a paranoid old bastard," Eleanor managed a ghost of a smile. "Spent thirty years digging that tunnel. Said the feds would come for him someday."

"Looks like he was right," Liam muttered, moving to the center of the room and yanking back the threadbare rug. Sure enough, a metal ring was embedded in one of the floorboards.

Outside, Commander Wright's amplified voice boomed across the clearing. "You have sixty seconds to surrender before we take action!"

Eleanor grabbed Liam's arm again. "I can buy you time."

"How?"

She pulled something from her pocket—a small remote detonator. "Cabin's rigged with enough C4 to blow it all sky-high. Gramps didn't trust anyone, especially the government."

"Jesus, Eleanor," Liam breathed. "You can't—"

"Already dying," she cut him off, the black veins now reaching her jaw. "Make it count."

Akira moved to Eleanor's side, her silver eyes fixed on the dying woman with surprising softness. She placed frost-rimmed fingers against Eleanor's forehead and murmured something in a language Liam didn't recognize—flowing syllables that sounded like ice cracking over a frozen lake.

"What was that?" he asked when she finished.

"Old words," Akira said simply. "Safe journey to ancestors." She turned to Liam, expression fierce. "Go now."

He yanked the trapdoor open, revealing a narrow set of stairs descending into darkness. The smell of damp earth and stone wafted up.

"My phone," Eleanor gasped, pressing a device into his hand. "Everything you need... Kova's location... security protocols... all there." She squeezed his fingers weakly. "Password is Marisol1992. My sister's name."

"Eleanor—" Liam began, but she shook her head.

"No time for goodbyes. Twenty seconds," she croaked, clutching the detonator. "I'll wait till you're clear, then... fireworks."

Commander Wright's voice crackled again. "Final warning! We are authorized to use lethal force!"

Akira was already halfway down the stairs, her body tense with urgency. "Come!" she barked at Liam.

With one last look at Eleanor—memorizing her face, her sacrifice—Liam descended into the tunnel. The passage was narrow, barely wide enough for his shoulders, with rough-hewn walls reinforced by timber supports. A string of ancient emergency bulbs provided dim, sporadic lighting, casting long shadows as they moved forward.

"Twenty seconds," Liam whispered to Akira once the trapdoor closed above them. "Then run like hell."

She nodded, understanding despite the language barrier. They moved as quickly as the cramped space allowed, ducking under low-hanging beams, counting seconds in their heads.

Nineteen... eighteen... seventeen...

The explosion, when it came, felt like the entire mountain had dropped on top of them. The tunnel shook violently, dirt and small rocks showering down as the support beams groaned. One of the emergency lights popped and went dark.

"Keep moving," Liam urged, pressing forward. "That won't hold them for long."

The tunnel sloped steadily downward, taking them deeper beneath the earth. The air grew colder, damper, with a mineral smell that suggested underground water nearby. After what felt like an eternity but couldn't have been more than ten minutes, they reached a heavy metal door—rusted but solid.

"The key," Liam remembered, fumbling for the chain Eleanor had given him. The tiny key looked impossibly small for such a substantial door, but when he inserted it into an almost-invisible keyhole, the lock turned with surprising ease.

The door swung outward, revealing a natural cave system dimly lit by cracks in the ceiling where moonlight filtered through. Icy stalactites hung from the roof, dripping slowly into shallow pools.

"Old man smart," Akira said quietly, touching one of the ice formations. "Walls has power."

"What do you mean?"

Akira gestured around the cave. "Good place for frost-wolf. Strong here. Earth-magic."

Liam hadn't considered that, but she was right. The cave held a strange energy—something old and quiet, like the earth itself was listening. He could feel his wolf responding to it, his senses sharpening.

"Can you tell if they're following us?" he asked, straining to hear beyond the gentle drip of water.

Akira closed her eyes, head tilted. After a moment, she shook her head. "Not in tunnel. Above ground. Looking." Her eyes snapped open. "Flying machine close."

The helicopter. Of course they'd use thermal imaging to search for escaping heat signatures.

"We need to keep moving," Liam said. "The cave should mask our body heat, but if they send dogs—"

"Dogs fear wolf," Akira interrupted with a dismissive snort. She straightened suddenly, nostrils flaring. "Wait here."

Before Liam could protest, she was moving deeper into the cave with silent grace, disappearing around a bend in the passage. He swore under his breath, torn between following her and maintaining their position. The woman was impossible—all instinct and no strategy.

Except her instincts had saved them more than once already.

With no better option, Liam took the moment to examine Eleanor's phone, powering it on and entering the password she'd given him. The screen lit up, revealing dozens of encrypted files with names like "Eclipse Facility Layout" and "Kova - Genetic Profile." His heart clenched at the thought of Eleanor meticulously gathering this intelligence, preparing for an escape she'd never complete herself.

A faint sound from outside the cave caught his attention—the whump-whump-whump of helicopter blades, circling closer. They must have found the tunnel entrance in the cabin ruins.

"Akira," he called softly, not daring to raise his voice further. "We need to go."

No response.

Swearing again, Liam shoved the phone into his pocket and moved in the direction she'd disappeared. The cave system was more extensive than he'd initially thought, branching into multiple tunnels. He followed her scent—winter and wilderness—through the largest passage.

The tunnel opened suddenly into a vast underground chamber where a frozen underground lake gleamed in the dim light filtering from fissures above. Akira stood at its edge, hands outstretched, frost flowing from her fingertips in concentrated streams. Liam followed her gaze upward and realized what she was doing—sending her frost through the ceiling cracks, up to the surface.

"What are you—" he began.

"Quiet," she growled without turning. "Need focus."

Through one of the larger fissures, Liam could see a patch of night sky—and the helicopter hovering directly overhead, its searchlight swinging back and forth. As he watched, frost began to materialize on its windshield, spreading with unnatural speed across the glass. The aircraft wobbled suddenly, its searchlight jerking wildly as the pilots presumably lost visibility.

Akira didn't stop there. Her frost continued to spread, coating the helicopter's rotors, freezing fuel lines, creeping into every vulnerable mechanical component. The aircraft jerked violently, then began to descend rapidly, pilots fighting for control as systems failed one by one.

"Jesus," Liam breathed, impressed despite himself. "Remind me never to piss you off."

Akira's mouth quirked in what might have been a smile. "More," she said, directing her frost toward a different section of the ceiling. "Hear cars. Freeze them too."

For nearly ten minutes she worked, sending her power upward through the earth's natural channels, targeting the vehicles surrounding the cabin. Occasionally they heard shouts of alarm or the stutter of an engine failing to start.

Finally, she lowered her hands, breathing hard from the effort. "Done. Humans stuck now. No chase."

"That was..." Liam struggled for words. "Incredible. I've never seen anything like it."

Akira shrugged, but he caught the flash of pride in her silver eyes. "Direwolf power. Old magic." She circled the frozen lake, examining their surroundings with predatory focus. "Need out. Find cub."

"I think there's another exit on the far side," Liam said, pointing to where the cave narrowed again. "Eleanor's grandfather wouldn't build a bolt-hole with only one way out."

They followed the chamber's perimeter, careful of the slippery ice. The passage on the far side climbed steadily upward, growing narrower until they were forced to proceed single file. After another ten minutes of climbing, Liam detected fresh air—a slight change in pressure and scent that promised the surface was near.

The tunnel ended abruptly at what appeared to be a solid rock wall. Liam pushed against it experimentally, finding no give.

"Another door?" he wondered aloud. "Maybe there's a hidden switch or—"

Akira shouldered him aside impatiently. "Not door. Faint place." She pressed her hands against the 'wall,' frost spreading outward from her palms. The rock surface crackled as ice crystals forced their way into microscopic cracks, expanding as they froze.

With a sound like breaking glass, a section of the wall crumbled—revealing it to be packed earth and stone cleverly disguised as solid rock. Cold night air rushed in, along with the scents of pine and snow.

They emerged into a small clearing surrounded by dense forest. The moon hung full and bright overhead, illuminating a pristine landscape seemingly untouched by the chaos a half-mile away. In the distance, Liam could see smoke rising from what had been Eleanor's cabin, but the sounds of emergency vehicles and shouting men were faint even to his enhanced hearing.

"Which way?" Akira asked, scanning their surroundings.

Liam pulled out Eleanor's phone, opening the map she'd marked. "Northeast. There's a town called Coldfoot about eighty miles from here. We can find transport there, continue north to Eclipse Facility where they're holding Kova."

Akira nodded, then suddenly froze, head tilted as she caught a sound Liam had missed. Her body tensed, then—unexpectedly—relaxed.

"Brothers," she murmured, a strange note of recognition in her voice.

From the trees emerged a large gray wolf, yellow eyes gleaming in the moonlight. It was followed by another, then another, until five wolves stood at the forest's edge, watching them with wary curiosity.

Liam instinctively shifted his stance, preparing for possible aggression. Wild wolves generally avoided werewolves, sensing the predator that was more than wolf, but in these numbers they might feel emboldened.

To his surprise, Akira dropped to a crouch, extending one hand palm-down toward the pack leader. A soft sound emerged from her throat—not quite a growl, not quite a whine, but something between that carried clear meaning to the wolf. The lead animal's ears pricked forward, head tilting in an almost comical mirror of Akira's own habitual gesture.

Slowly, cautiously, the wolf approached, nose outstretched to sniff Akira's offered hand. Whatever scent it detected seemed to satisfy its curiosity. The wolf moved closer, allowing Akira to touch its head in a gesture somewhere between greeting and blessing.

One by one, the other wolves approached, each receiving the same acknowledgment. Within minutes, what had begun as a potentially dangerous encounter transformed into something else entirely—recognition between distant kin, ancient bloodlines acknowledging one another.

"They know you," Liam said wonderingly.

"Know what I am," Akira corrected. "Old blood. First wolf." She stroked the alpha's head again, frost patterns briefly materializing in its fur before fading. "They help us."

"Help us how?"

As if answering his question, the lead wolf turned and trotted several paces into the forest, then looked back expectantly.

"They know safe path," Akira explained, already following. "Good hunters know territory. Know where humans can't go."

Liam hesitated only briefly before falling in step behind her. The wild wolves formed a loose escort around them, leading them deeper into the forest along game trails invisible to human eyes. Their route deliberately avoided any sign of human habitation, winding through terrain that would challenge even military-grade vehicles.

As they traveled, Liam pulled out Eleanor's phone again, digging deeper into the files she'd compiled. The Eclipse Facility was a nightmare—three times the size of the Arctic Research Center, with security that made their previous prison look like a daycare center. Kova was kept in something called "Juvenile Subject Containment," a specialized wing designed for younger Otherkind.

The images made Liam's blood boil—a child-sized containment cell with a silver-enhanced cage, restraint chair, and clinical notation about "aggressive tendencies requiring specialized containment protocols." They were treating a five-year-old like a dangerous animal.

Which, Liam supposed, they probably considered him to be.

"I found information about Kova," he told Akira, who glanced back without slowing her pace. "He's definitely at Eclipse Facility. They've got him in a special section for..." he hesitated, not wanting to use the clinical language from the file. "For kids."

Akira's silver eyes flashed in the moonlight. "Hurt him?"

"The file says he's 'resistant to standard socialization techniques,'" Liam translated, reading between the bureaucratic lines. "Basically, he won't cooperate. Won't shift to human form when ordered, won't respond to commands. They've got him listed as 'developmentally non-compliant.'"

A low growl rumbled from Akira's chest, frost momentarily crystallizing in the air around her. The wild wolves echoed her displeasure with their own soft growls, sensing her anger.

"Cub fights," she said, fierce pride evident in her voice. "Strong."

"According to this, he's never spoken," Liam continued, scanning the file. "Not in human form, anyway. They think he might not be capable of speech."

Akira snorted dismissively. "Cub speak when want. Not for humans."

"There's more," Liam said, scrolling through lab reports. "They've been testing his abilities. Freezing things, like you do. He's not as strong, but the power's definitely there."

This seemed to both please and concern Akira. "Need teach control. Young power dangerous." She hesitated, then added, "Mother teach cub. But no mother there."

The simple statement carried such grief that Liam found himself moving closer, briefly touching her shoulder in silent support. She stiffened at the contact but didn't pull away.

"We'll get him out," he promised. "Eleanor's information gives us everything we need—security rotations, facility layout, even the access codes for his section."

Akira nodded once, firmly, then continued forward. The wild wolves led them through a series of increasingly rugged ravines and narrow passes, clearly selecting a route that would be virtually impossible for humans to follow. Twice they stopped, scenting the air carefully, before changing direction to avoid what Liam later realized were motion sensors placed along more obvious game trails.

By dawn, they had covered nearly fifteen miles—impressive progress given the difficult terrain and frequent stops to check for pursuit. The wolves finally led them to a sheltered hollow beneath a rock overhang, clearly indicating this was as far as they would go.

"They've brought us to the edge of their territory," Liam realized. "This is where they turn back."

Akira crouched before the alpha wolf one last time, touching her forehead briefly to its muzzle in a gesture that seemed both greeting and farewell. Words in that same flowing, ice-cracking language spilled from her lips—a blessing or thanks, Liam couldn't tell which.

The wolves melted back into the forest as silently as they had appeared, leaving Liam and Akira alone beneath the stone overhang.

"Rest now," Akira said, settling on the ground and patting the space beside her. "Long walk still."

Liam sank down gratefully, muscles aching from the night's exertions. Despite the cold, he felt overheated—the werewolf metabolism burning hot to keep him functioning. Akira, by contrast, seemed completely comfortable, frost patterns occasionally forming around her as she breathed.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked after a moment of silence. "That thing with the wolves."

"Respect," she replied simply. "First wolves help direwolves always. Old pact."

"No, I mean the blessing, or whatever it was. The words."

Akira's expression grew distant, remembering. "Old words. Ice-speech. Thank for guidance, ask mother-moon watch over cubs and territory."

"Do all direwolves speak that language?"

Pain flickered across her face. "All dead now. Only me."

The stark loneliness of that statement hung between them. Liam tried to imagine being the last of his kind—the sole carrier of an entire culture, language, heritage. The weight of it would be crushing.

"Not all dead," he reminded her gently. "There's Kova."

Something softened in her silver eyes. "Yes. Cub lives." She turned to him fully, her gaze intense. "Teach him ways. Songs. Ice-speech. Not forget."

"I'll help," Liam found himself promising. "Whatever it takes."

She studied him for a long moment, as if judging his sincerity. Whatever she saw must have satisfied her, because she nodded once, decisively.

"Sleep now," she said, curling up on her side, catlike in her economy of movement. "Hunt later."

Liam leaned back against the rock wall, intending to stay awake and keep watch, but exhaustion pulled at him relentlessly. His last conscious thought before drifting off was that Eleanor's sacrifice couldn't be for nothing.

They would find Kova. They would free him.

And then... then they would burn the whole damn system to the ground.