Criminal Heart and her Fated Mates

Trapped

Lyla was sitting behind a building catching her breath, her heart racing at this stage. The envelope had managed to stay mostly intact, a little wet from the river splashing against the grate but other than that it was fine. Little torn here and there but hey still enough to get paid. She sighed, I should be safe she thought to herself, she had gone through the city in various forms to make sure that anyone following her had lost her. She even went through the tavern to make sure that her smell got disbursed by all the drunken patrons, shake off any angry wolves on her tail at least.

Her ankle was sore, she must have twisted it before turning into the mouse during the getaway. Her leg was also grazed, the larger form of the guard was no help to her in vaulting over the wall, but she was at least in one piece. Getting up she went to the church within the city. The church here was open for people to come pray throughout the night. Not a very popular place at this time, but the priests felt there should be no time they should turn away lost souls or whatever. She walked into the church, bowing to the priest as she walked through, walking to the far-left cue of seats, and moving into the second last pew and sitting next to the person already there.

She placed the envelope in the middle of them as she took a seat. Which the figure grabbed it and placed it within their coat, they were wearing a mask as they normally were, this time it was a fox mask, it was normally a different one each time.

Without a word he got up and left a coin purse where he was sitting, paying his respects to the church and then left. She grabbed up the purse and shoved it into her pocket, she stayed for the next fifteen minutes and then took her leave.

She took the long walk up to the orphanage, it was in the slums of the city, the houses here barely standing. Windows with broken glass, or no glass at all only covered with wooden planks and cloth. Some people were still out, huddled around small fires, her walking around at this time was nothing new.

She walked to the familiar large building; I believe it was an old warehouse that was abandoned long ago that was converted into an orphanage. By converted, they pretty much shoved a bunch of barely functioning basic needs in there and called it a day. We have a barely functioning stove with thirteen leaks in the roof which keeps rising. Hoping to avoid the head caretaker, Lyla creeped into the back door, taking off her boots and holding them in her hand to avoid as much noise as possible. She moved through the kitchen quietly and then into the main room, where she met the eyes of none other than Beatrice.

“You were out late,” she said with an eyebrow raised. She was a plain woman in her forties, her blond hair hanging down, out of its usual bun, she was starting to have a few gray hairs now, though they blended in well with her light hair. She was wearing a sleeping gown, wrapped around trying to keep warm in this place.

“Hey Beatrice, I was just working, I brought some money for the place,” Lyla said awkwardly, walking to her, grabbing one of her hands and placing the coin purse in it. “But I sure am pretty tired, you know how it is, so I’m just going to head up...” Lyla moved towards the stairs as Beatrice cut her off.

“Do I want to know how you got this money,” Beatrice questioned, her dark eyes studying Lyla. “Your limping as well,” she pointed out. She was the head caregiver and worked with a lot of kids, nothing really gets passed her. “Carion used to come home limping a lot too,” she added.

“Carion was the only reason this place stayed up and running when I was growing up,” Lyla pointed out, as she took a seat in one of the empty chairs, wanting to take the weight off her ankle.

“Carion also wasn’t around to watch you all grow up; the guards made sure of that. I had to console you kids for weeks after what you all saw,” she hissed out, trying to keep her voice down. I remember that, I don’t need reminding Lyla thought to herself. Carion was one of the older orphans here. He was fourteen when he started stealing for us. Times were rough back then, we never knew when our next meal was coming, then Carion came in one day with a large turkey for us all to eat. He looked after us for the next eight years, but he finally got caught. It was a robbery gone wrong where one of the noble’s daughters was killed, next we saw him he was hanging from the end of a rope, made an example of.

“So how are we going to get the money then, I mean I’m sure Darion and his wooden figures are going to take off right. He barely has enough money to support himself, let alone us. I mean there is good old Madison with her dream to be a big-time doctor. Except now to gain experience she is working basically for free under the great Dr. Barlow who would rather stare at her chest then teach her anything. Then there is golden boy himself Sean, he sends us money when he can from his guard wages, its barely enough to put food on the table let alone the repairs and the rent. But I’m sure he will get his big promotion soon right,” Lyla sarcastically spit out. The kids she grew up with all cared about this place and wanted to help, but it wasn’t enough, Lyla knew it wasn’t enough, and she knew that deep down Beatrice knew it too.

“At least they will be here in the years to come with the children, I can’t say the same about you.” Beatrice sighed, she was worried, I knew it was just because she cared, but there wasn’t an alternative. No one wants to hire some girl from the slums for any reputable work, the only way into that is working your way up like Madison and Sean. We don’t have that kind of time for me to do that.

“I’ll stop when there is another option for us,” Lyla sighed and got up to go up the stairs. “That should cover the cost for a new roof and some food to last us, probably put the rest away in case of an emergency. I’m tired of the kids playing ‘What random object can function as a bucket’ last time it was my shoe. The oven is on its last legs but should hold out until my next pay check,” Lyla made her way up the stairs.

“Hold it,” Beatrice said, then left for a moment. Coming back shortly after with some bandages. “Use that to put some pressure on that, you should probably get that checked though” she said handing them to her.

“Thanks” Lyla said before making her way up. She quietly made her way to her bed, she made sure that it was close to the stairs, so she didn’t have to walk through everyone in the night. This large upstairs area that was currently home for twenty-three kids with us. Most of them were on floor with thin blankets but from my pay we managed to get them all beds fitted with matrices, thick blankets and pillows which always made me happy to see. I quickly bandaged up my ankle, trying to give it some support at least, hopefully it feels better in the morning. I lied down, not bothering to get changed and quickly fell asleep.

…

Lyla awoke the next morning, hearing the sound of loud voices in the distance. She sat up quickly, seeing three of the kids huddled on the bed.

“What’s going on?” Lyla asked.

“There are a bunch of people downstairs,” Daniel replied. He was young, around six or seven. He often asked her to play knights with him where he would get a big stick and learn swordplay.

“A lot of them are wearing the same clothes as Uncle Sean,” Fiona said. She was a sweet girl, same age as Daniel she wanted to be a knight too, she was a quick learner too and not as brash as Daniel in her strikes.

“They wanted to see everyone in the house, Ms Beatrice is using her mean look on them now,” Bradly was a timid boy, he was very skilled with a needle and thread, always patching up the clothes of the kids when they weren’t looking.

Suddenly someone came up the stairs, Lyla jumped up at first and then saw it was just Nia, she was the oldest here. She was twelve now, she had dreams to be writer she enjoyed making stories for the younger kids. Though she had said that she didn’t want to leave the house, like me she didn’t want leave the kids, even if that meant she didn’t get to pursue her dreams. She had ebon skin with her dark hair tied back, “They are here for you, you need to go now,” she quietly said to Lyla. Lyla quickly moved across the room to the back windows, opening the latch. She went to transform, but a voice called out behind her.

“Stop,” a voice carried from the stairs, Lyla turned making eye contact with the owner of the voice. The first thing she noticed was he was big, a lot bigger than her, he seemed to have dark hair that was tied back. He honestly looked like he could break me in half. She made a move to leave, “I wouldn’t if I was you, I mean we managed to find you here, we will find you no matter where you go. Save us both the trouble,” he rested himself against the staircase. I weighed my options, how did they find me, I wasn’t followed, and it was too late in the day for the smell to still be in the city. “We’ll make sure to send some supplies here if you come quietly,” he countered, balls, I can’t say no to that, he knows I can’t say no to that, and he’s smug about it.

“Is that true?” Lyla said, not moving from her position, the figure nodded at her. Crap. She pulled away from the window, walking towards the figure. You know if I’m going to go be killed for my crimes, at least the jailer is good looking. His blue eyes studying her, he went to reach out to her but seemed to stop himself, instead gesturing for her to follow him as he turned and walked down the stairs.

“Under my bed Nia, there is a loose floorboard there, make sure you give it to Beatrice, okay?” Lyla said to Nia, who nodded at her, holding back some tears. The kids seemed to be confused, “It’s okay, I’m just going to stay with your uncle for a while, make sure you keep practicing alright?” the kids gave her a hug before she headed down the stairs.

As she came down the stairs one of the nearby guards went to grab her arm, which she heard a loud growl emanate from the large figure in front of her. Oh, that’s why he’s so big he’s a werewolf, should have called that one. He wasn’t the guard she saw last night, he wasn’t this tall, so maybe he just wanted the credit for bringing me in, some big promotion on the line or something. The guard backed off; I continued following after the large figure.

I caught the eye of Beatrice as I was being led out, one of the small kids clutching her skirts hiding behind her, “You’ll be okay. Don’t do anything stupid,” Beatrice called out to her as she walked out of the building.

There was a carriage outside the house which looked out of place in the slums. “Get in,” he said to her.

“Fancy ride to the dungeons, I guess,” Lyla responded.

The figure chuckled, “No, you’re going straight to the king.”