Broken Chains

Chapter 4

“Jessie Jessie JESSIE.” Carl’s insistent shouts woke me with a start from my blood drenched dreams. I sat upright panting heavily, “Are you alright?” Carl said placing a hot hand on my cheek. I shook my head.

“No.” I said brushing the film of sweat off my forehead I could feel myself trembling,” I don’t think so.”

“Bad dreams?” he asked gently,

“Aren’t they all?” I said in a whisper,

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked innocently I averted my eyes,

“No.” I said still in a whisper as I rubbed a hand over my forehead across my forehead trying to rub away the lingering images of my dream.

“You should try and get some more sleep.” He said kissing the top of my head platonically “it’s only been a few hours. “I nodded it was still dark and had clearly not been long. We had left the bungalow and simply spent hours wandering Carl patiently and persistently seeking some sort of trail while I tried desperately to find dome sort of hint as to where they were. I had never truly understood the bond that had existed between me and Derek and nobody else had seemed to know enough to care to explain it to me, but right now I was desperate for it. I needed that sense of where my Derek was but there it was completely elusive I had no clue where he was. But I didn’t know one thing he wasn’t here anymore. But that wasn't through my bond that was through the knowledge that Derek wasn’t suicidal and he knew the pack he knew if he stayed here we would find him so he was gone. I could tell Carl knew this too but we weren’t mentioning this and I knew why we didn’t know where else to go.it was late afternoon before we finally gave up and Carl suggested we ‘Acquired’ a car. This wasn’t a problem but deciding where to go had been more of a problem. Carl had asked if I had any idea where to go. When I had just shook my head, Carl had nodded placidly accepting this but I could see a quickly stifled look of disappointment cross his face. He just smiled at me,

“I guess we head out of our territory huh?” he asked I smiled at him

“Seems like as gooda plan as any other.” Which he had accepted and so that gave us a direction which was enough. By nightfall we were just beyond the fringes of pack land and stupid as I knew it was considering everything I had seen and done recently the thought of again heading out of pack land terrified me. We had found a roadside motel and our combined cash hoard would have easily paid for two rooms but since we didn’t know how long it would have to last we went for economy and just got one room. chivalry won out to the point that Carl insisted I took the bed while he slept on the sofa even though one eye always seemed to be locked on the door just in case. I actually began to suspect that our combined room was more due to Carl’s nervousness for my safety than being completely about economy.

“What time is it?” I asked rubbing a hand across my sweaty forehead,

“2:32 am.” Carl said consulting his watch. I smiled

“So too early to get any early start then.”

“Just a little.” he said echoing my smile. “Get some sleep.” He said flicking my nose and pushing himself up away from me.

“Carl.” I said gently he looked across at me, “could you stay with me.” He frowned averting his eyes looking anywhere but at me as though embarrassed by the question.

“I …I really don’t think that’s a good idea jess.”

“Why? I mean we always did on film nights and me and Ash and Jamie we did it all the time. I’m not looking for an opportunity to come on you you or anything like that.”

“I know but that’s different.” I frowned at him “anyway your all mated up now… Derek catches us cuddling up in my bed he’ll rip my arms off and you know he will.”

“Carl.” I said gently “I not mated up with Derek because he’s run and is f*****g my sister.” I said keeping my voice as Calm and level as I could but clearly not controlled enough as Carl reached over and brushed his thumbs across my cheeks gently rubbing away a single tear. Before he eased himself onto the bed wrapping his arms around me gently I laid myself down next to him resting my head on his shoulder. Carl leaned over and kissed the top of my head and leaned over pulling the extra blanket over the both of us. I settled into him calmly breathing in the sent that wafted from his shoulder he may not be Derek but he smelled a lot like his brother and anyway the simple scents of my brothers would have soothed me now as they smelled like home. So his warm tender scent lured me placidly to sleep.

I awoke slowly to the sounds of Carls shower, when he emerged dressed in just a pair of Jeans he looked shockingly embarrassed the blush seemed to spread from his face to down his chest. I quickly showered and dressed in my previous day’s clothes not much liking the scent of death that still lingered upon the fabric. We left mere minutes after I emerged from the bathroom, Carl going to get breakfast whilst I acquired us another car. It wasn't a problem breaking in and hotwiring cars may seem like an unusual skill to have but my education in the pack had been wide ranging. Roger had taught me about engines, all about cars mainly how they worked how to fix them how to break them how to hotwire them. They were supposedly useful life skills to have. I made quick work picking out a midrange normal sort of car so I arrived at McDonalds before Carl had even been served at the counter. I allowed the car to idle until he came out three brown bags in hand and frowned clearly not liking my choice of car I don’t have a clue why in my mind a bright pink convertible achieved just the tone we were looking for.

“You expect me to drive this?” he asked opening the passenger door,

“No I expect you to refuse to drive this so I’ll get to drive.” Carl sighed and swung himself in the car,

“You lost your licence for speeding.”

“Really in this situation you have a problem with the fact that my licence is suspended.” Carl laughed, “You need to get some rest you didn’t seem to sleep at all.”

“I’m fine.” He said,

“Well still your not driving my pink convertible. It’s every little girls dream to have one.” I said playfully kicking it into gear and pulling out of the parking lot.

“What do you want for breakfast?” he asked opening the bags. The smell was enticing but even the thought of eating made my stomach clench in protest.

“Ah I’m not hungry” I said dismissively.

“And you are not driving if you under threat of passing out behind the wheel” he said plainly flipping hash brown at me which I caught from pure instinct. “We’re always hungry.” I smiled and bit the hash brown in half, it was warm and greasy and exactly what I wanted right now.

“So where are we even going?” I asked as Carl passed me another hash brown he shrugged. “I was hoping for something a little more informative.” I said taking the second exit of the roundabout simply as it seemed like a route to the most major road.

“Well sorry but I don’t know where the f**k he is. “ Carl said pulling a neatly folded map out of his pocket he began attempting to spread it out on the dashboard.

“Where did that come from?”

“Motel.” He said calmly “I worked on it last night when I wasn’t sleeping. Now I’m guessing brother will have sense to stay out of pack territory and we know Bethany and Christian are rogues as for Daniel he’s most likely a rogue but anyway whether they have anymore who belong to the next pack well we have to hope not and assume they are staying in neutral territory as such there really isn’t anywhere much for them to hide. I’m guessing right now they want to hide I mean they know were pissed and in neutral territory or not they’ll need to hide and lick their wounds.”

“They’re not the pack Carl.” I said taking a left hand turn on pure instinct Carl seemed to be getting around to telling me where to head to but was certainly taking his time over it so I had to direct myself for a while yet.

“They may not be the pack but they are a pack do you know why we always triumph over rogues?”

“Their stupid.” I sad harshly.

“In a way.” Carl said “they don’t understand where our strength comes from that it’s us our devotion to each other that’s where our strength is. Their alone we can just pick them off. If they are in a group they just squabble over everything and destroy themselves. But Bethany she understands and she commands some bizarre type of loyalty from those guys, who follow her, but now they have Derek and he’s a f*****g Alpha he’ll band them together and make them do what is necessary to keep their ridiculous concept of a pack together but he knows how to do it.”

“Why would he even want to keep them together?” I asked gently.

“He’s always been in a pack he would be terrified of being alone. It’s not the pack but it’s something.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know him.” Carl said certainly. “He’d take them to a major city.” Carl said folding over the map, “so it seems logical to head here. And keep our eyes open for their noise. Rogues always make noise.”

“It’s a f*****g guess. It’s all a guess we don’t have a f*****g clue where we’re heading in a f*****g pink convertible with piss poor acceleration and handling.”

“Yeah Jess it’s a guess but I think a pretty good one.”

“Really what makes you say that?”

“The fact that you’ve been heading towards the very city I just pointed out and have been since we left this morning.”

“You really believe that I know where he is don’t you. “ I said quietly “but I don’t.”

“I believe there is a lot more between you than even the two of you know or understand.” I smiled,

“You should get some rest I’ll need directions a little later.” I said gently “and a new car of course but for now I’ll just trust my instincts.” Carl smiled and handed me another hash brown.

“We’ll get him back you know.” Carl said gently “I know him the best in this world and you love him the best what more does he need?”

“A pardon from the alpha.” Carl flipped his hand that seemingly irrelevant fact.