What Lurks Beneath

Chapter 8

Kaida POV

    The soft chirping of birds slowly lulls me from my tranquil sleep. I stretch my arms and legs, feeling oddly refreshed and comfortable, except for the dull constant aching around my neck. Red flags instantly fly up. I never wake up feeling like this. What is going on. I’m half expecting to just be having a blissful dream but as I slowly open my eyes, I realize this is very much real. The sun is too bright and blinding for this to just be a dream. I stretch my arms up protecting my poor irises from the relentless barrage of rays. Who in their right mind would position their bed and pillows so that the sun hits you directly in the face first thing in the morning?  Finally adjusting my eyes to the brightness, I take a better look around me, trying to get my bearings. My surroundings are no longer covered in a red tint, which is slightly reassuring. It had been eerie seeing everything engulfed in red. 

    I’m lying on a large king-sized bed with black satin sheets. Naked. I pull the sheets up now feeling more vulnerable and alarmed. I search my surroundings for any signs as to where I am. The room is however borderline bare and offering little to no clues. I swallow nervously and feel the sharp sting on my neck. Memories come flashing back. Of me escaping. Of Brone finding me. Arguing with him and finally him chocking me out. Panick envelops my being. No. I take a big inhale. This is the pack house. There’re no traces of his scent though which makes me feel slightly more secure. This must be one of the many spare rooms in the pack houses. I didn't recognize it because I never cleaned the rest of the pack’s rooms. Alpha Darius and Luna Claire wanted to minimize my exposure to the rest of the pack. I’m guessing they just wanted to isolate me as much as possible, but that’s honestly just a guess. I never really stopped to ask them why they did what they did. 

    I slowly slip out of bed, my feet hitting the cold wood floor. Wrapping the blanket around my naked body, I take a few steps toward the dresser hopping there are some form of clothes. Nothing. Great. I wrap the blanket tighter around me and tuck it, in a make shift toga. It was better than nothing. Then I slowly step out the room. I’m definitely not going to just sit there like a lamb to the slaughter. I’ve been around these people long enough to know better. Nothing good come of this situation. I steadily stalked toward the lower floors keeping an eye and nose out for anyone approaching. There were a couple of times where I had to duck into an unoccupied room to hide from some random passing pack member. I was currently hiding in the game room behind a couch when a sharp pain in my gut caused me to crumple to the floor. 

    Not this again. 

    NO my wolf panted in pain as well this is different 

    I didn’t get a chance to ask her more as another wave of pain even more intense than the last hit me. I’m not one to normally cry over pain, not after everything I've been subjected to, but this was different. It hurt less yet so much more than anything I had ever felt. The physical pain was tolerable but there was another pain that didn’t feel physical. It felt spiritual and it was causing far more pain than anything else. I couldn’t comprehend it. How could something not physical ever hurt me? I was hit with wave after wave, each growing with intensity. 

    What is this? I whimpered cried, gasping for air  

    I don’t know, I wish I did. I feel like I should but I don’t. It feels like something is horribly wrong.  

    Horribly wrong was one way of putting it. I’d rather describe it as searing burning sensation in my chest and heart. Like my insides were on fire. It felt like my very soul itself was being seared by this pain. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that It felt like someone had wrapped my soul and heart in barbed wire and were trying to pull it straight out of my body, catching my organs along the way. Like I had swallowed a million little needles and then walked near a giant magnet causing them to fly out from deep inside my body. It felt like I was bleeding out, without losing any blood. My body itself was growing cold while my insides were ablaze. I don’t know how long I was lying there when the pain finally stopped, my tear streaked face finally relaxing from the simple bliss of it just being over.  

    This place is my hell. There could be not a single soul in sight and somehow, I still end up miserable and in agony. I need to leave. Again.  

    Same plan? 

    Same plan. This time don’t get caught though. Make it to Crimson Shadow and keep going. Maybe try for their closer border instead of the gardens this time though. 

    Fair enough. I was kind of just figuring it out as I was going last time. This time I know where I'm headed 

    I carefully get up and sniff. There’s no one around. They’re probably all out at the training grounds right now, which works for us because it’s the in the opposite direction of where we’re headed. My stomach is aching in pain and I ponder briefly the possibility of stopping by the kitchen for some quick nourishment, but quickly toss that idea out. I can’t risk anyone catching me there. I need to minimize the risks as much as possible, this was a sticky enough situation as it was. I’d just have to wait and hope we could find something to eat in the mountains.  

    It’s the mountains, there’s an abundance of prey for me to hunt. We will be fine. 

    It’s almost winter, I don’t know if I would quite say there is an abundance.  

    It’s there. Just harder to hunt.  

    Yeah, that’s my concern. 

    We are stronger than you realize. We will survive this, just have a little more faith. 

    I scoff but say nothing else to her. Faith wouldn’t save us if things really did go to hell but anything would be better than here so it would have to do. I make my way out the pack house, through the back door and take a long stare at the mountains. Crimson Shadow pack lay just on the other side of those peaks, the terrain was far too treacherous for anyone who wasn’t familiar with them. Luckily for me, I basically grew up on them. Whenever things used to get too bad at home I’d climb to the summit and just enjoy the solitude. I knew neither my father nor my brother could follow me up there. Jax had once tried but it faired more treacherous than he could handle. To my knowledge only one other wolf has been able to make it to the summit of Amaris. I tried to ask Alpha Darius why once, and he just got a dark look on his face before pushing me to the side and telling me had pack business to attend to.  

     It was quite beautiful and refreshing up there. The air so crisp and calming. I always felt at ease in high places, and there was nothing quite like the view below. On one side Blue moon pack and on the other Crimson Shadow. I would watch both sides as they trained. Two packs so close yet so distant and very different. The mountains themselves were neutral territory and one time I'd climbed all the way down to the other side, curiosity egging me on. I never crossed into their territory but I treaded dangerously close wanting to learn more about what made them so terrifying. Hoping that maybe by observing them I could pick up a few things. It didn’t take long before one of their wolves spotted me.  

    Luckily it was just a young man, 15, maybe 16 by the looks and he seemed just as curious about me as I was him and his pack. He just asked some questions, mainly curious as to how a 6 year old Blue Moon pup had made it all the way to his pack’s border without being noticed. When I told him I'd crossed the mountains he seemed even more intrigued and curious. He followed me up with ease and we sat at the summit talking until the sun had almost set. He taught me a few defense and offense techniques, and in exchange I taught him some herbalism I'd learned from reading my mother’s journals. He seemed mostly interested in the poisonous plants and honestly, I wasn’t surprised. Hoping to impress him I ended up elaborating more in that area, even expanding on which plants could cause severe pain and be used for torture of criminals. When the sun set we parted and promised to meet again the next day. I never saw him on that mountain again. 

    When I got home my father was furious and forbade me from ever stepping on those mountains again. Jax had been none too happy that I could go somewhere he couldn’t follow and had spun some story about how I had pushed him and hindered him in his attempt to climb the mountain. He was covered in wounds solidifying his accusation. To this day I have no clue if he did them to himself, or just used me to cover up a fight he lost. 

    “Bring back old memories?” 

    I jump, startled out of my reminiscence as two arms wraps themselves around my waist and pull me into a hard chest. The hairs on the back of my neck raise and I fight every instinct to buck and bolt. Fighting all my instincts, I try to remain as calm as possible not wanting to raise suspicion. My chance to escape has slipped.