FULL NOVELXO Chapter CAN'T SAY I DIDN'T TRY
KRISTINA, CAN’T SAY I DIDN’T TRY
Bella didn’t make it far but all things considered, she did spectacularly. I managed to get out of the hospital easily enough – they never considered my desperation and willingness to jump out of a second-storey window. Once on the ground, sticking to the shadows in the dark isn’t the issue – staying out of scent range is, especially when you stink like rogue.
For the first little bit I stayed as me but as soon as we were clear of the pavement and into the trees, I let Bella take over and we ran for our lives. Not knowing what direction to head I just ran away from the buildings and hoped it would eventually lead me to a territory border – and maybe it would have.
If I hadn’t run into that patrol.
By the time Bella scented them, it was too late and they were already onto her. Still not completely recovered and being far smaller than them, it didn’t take them long to catch up. Bella tried to stand her ground this time, taking a defensive stance but when the head warrior arrived, she immediately bowed down to him, recognizing him as a senior wolf.
Senior wolf? He’s a Beta!
How we missed it the first time I’ll never know – I guess we were distracted after being chased by rogues and being taken prisoner. And without Bella the entire time I was in the cell, I had no way of knowing. Well – I know now because after she submitted to him, we were taken prisoner again.
I do not understand this pack’s motivations.
I assumed they would kill me on sight this time – but they didn’t, once again they spared me. Why? It makes no sense. They can’t be that determined to see me returned to my home pack, they have no reason to be that invested. Their own pack seems more evolved – she-wolf warriors being the biggest indicator to me that things are different here. The females receive no training whatsoever at home, let alone have anything to do with the defence of the pack.
The Beta will give me no answer and I’m right back where I started – in a cell. Things are a little different this time, this time I can’t reach the bars as my ankle cuff chain is shorter than it was before. The Beta also had no answer for what is going to happen to me next, if I’m still going home or if I’ll be executed. Truthfully, I’ve known all along what the possible consequences of my actions were should things go badly and I still wouldn’t change a thing.
I’d still try to escape.
The one thing I absolutely do not want is to return home, even if it means execution.
So even though I’m alone again, Bella being suppressed by the silver cuff tearing my ankle re-open I’m still further ahead than I was if I had done nothing. If I hadn’t acted, I’d already be on my way home, back in Lincoln’s ‘care’ – custody is more like it. He’ll play the part of the doting partner but I dread what’ll come once we’re back with the pack – I’ll wish they’d have killed me here.
So after everything I have done, there is no way these people are going to continue to keep me around – one way or another I’ve sealed my fate. Either they’re prepping for a trip to my pack to return me or they’re readying whatever method of execution they use, one way or another it has been decided. I know I was never in control but part of me still feels like I did something and even if I end up dying, I’ll go knowing I tried.
No doubt the Beta has gone to talk to the Alpha but given the lateness of the hour, it’ll likely be morning before I hear anything. My memory isn’t so short that I’ve forgotten the last wake-up call I got here so I settle on the finally dry mattress, sitting up so I can’t get too comfortable. While I settle in for an anticipated wait, it isn’t long at all before I hear voices and footprints approach.
Time to face the reckoning.
XAVIER, INTERROGATION
The first thing I notice is the scent – rogue. All rogues have an odour – it’s overpowering, rank and extremely distracting. There is no disguising it, no matter how much a wolf washes or tries to conceal it – it is a smell unique to them that they’ll never be rid of unless they’re part of a pack again. Why anyone would willingly choose the life of a rogue is beyond my understanding, but I guess I should consider myself lucky to be able to say that.
Scott and I enter the basement where the cells are located, the one dim lightbulb barely illuminating anything, let alone the one cell we’re interested in. Inside, thanks to Gunner’s exceptional eyesight, I can make out the figure of a smaller than average she-wolf with long brown hair that I imagine is normally thick and bouncy when she is allowed to maintain and take care of it. Her eyes are a vibrant shade of green, currently dulled by her circumstances.
She’s beautiful – for a rogue.
“Something isn’t right here,” Gunner protests, feeling uneasy about the situation which puts me on edge. Gunner is never like this – off-put, unsettled, unsure of himself and it is making me feel incredibly insecure. What is going on?
“Why did you try to escape?” I ask her in a tone of incredulity. We were planning to return her to her home pack which should be a place of refuge and safety – why is she afraid? At first, she seems afraid to answer, her eyes lowered to the floor. I ask her a second time, using my Alpha voice, knowing she can’t refuse.
“You were going to send me back,” she says in a soft, timid voice. My eyes meet Scott’s, both of us silently questioning the other about what on earth could be happening in the other pack to make her so afraid to return.
“You would rather take your chances as a rogue than return to your home pack?” I ask her, complete disbelief in my voice. I practically snort at the end of my question; not sure I should believe her story when her eyes turn up to meet mine. Her gaze is steady when she responds.
“Yes. Seven days a week, yes,” she says firmly. I find it difficult to turn away from her stare, made uncomfortable by it’s intensity. I no longer doubt her conviction, even if I don’t understand the rationale.
“Are you Alpha Lincoln’s mate?” I still won’t put my own pack in jeopardy or at war over a rogue, even if she has valid reasons for running. I have to think of the good of all of my people, even if it means turning this one she-wolf away. Again, her gaze is steady when it meets mine, except there’s flint in her eyes when she answers.
“No. I’m his breeder.”