Prisoner Food

I leaned against the cold grey walls for hours. The breakfast on the floor had gone cold. I stayed up until my legs threatened to die on me. I settled on the damp floor littered with rat droppings and fluids I couldn’t identify. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged my legs.
“Killian was right. I’m not a princess, I’ve never been.”
Dean was right I was connected to something neither of us knew about. The feminine voice that wouldn’t leave me alone. It manifested every time a Locus Lake appeared and when the Dare pack arrived and killed Ash.
I remembered my entire life expect the point when I could have lost my memories. I never had an encounter with a mental feminine voice there had to be something I was missing. Then there was Eight… Eight, I hadn’t heard from him since the Dare pack attacked.
I nibbled on my thumbnail. What if he was killed? The attack had less than five casualties, Ash being one of them. Eight wasn’t on the list but Eight probably wasn’t his real name.
I stood and paced the cell again. My legs ached but I had to come up with a plan. I couldn’t come up with one sat on the damp stinking floor.
“I have to get out of here,” I whispered. “I’ll prove my own innocence.”
The hinges of the door leading to the dungeon groaned. My heart slammed forward. Were they taking me out already? I wouldn’t survive a death pool. A pack shouldn’t have such a thing nowhere should! The beta wolf that brought my breakfast hours ago returned with another tray of meats and potatoes. For a prisoner they were feeding me pretty well. The beta looked at my cold food on the floor.
“You should eat up. You’ll need your strength for the death pool tomorrow.”
“What?” I darted forward and gripped the metal bars. “Why tomorrow? I thought the trial was tonight.”
The brunet beta shrugged his right shoulder, “The King changed the date of your trial.”
“Why?” I demanded.
“No one questions the King.”
The beta pulled out a set of keys from his back pocket. Dean expected me to wait another day in this rotten cell? So much for his promises. My limbs trembled and my palms sweat. I needed to get out of here. I was encased in a brick room with a single window big enough for a kitten to crawl out of.
The beta opened the door. He dumped my food on the floor. Potatoes rolled off the plate. My heart slammed forward. The door was open. My body trembled with anticipation and fear.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
The beta had bent to pick up my breakfast. He raised his head. “What?”
My bones cracked. My hands turned to paws as I dropped down to all fours. The beta jumped to his feet. White fur covered my skin at the same time my human features vanished replaced by a giant white wolf. I didn’t want to hurt him but I was going to get out of here.
“Stop!”
I jumped on the beta and slammed him against the wall. I abandoned him and ran out the open cellar door.
“The prisoner’s escaped!” The beta cried behind me.
I raced up the stairs. Paws hitting the ground behind me told me the beta shifted too. Half way up the stairs the beta howled. Damn it. A distress call. I pushed myself faster and darted out the door into the castle’s ground floor where they kept the extra food.
Now what? That dumb beta used the distress call. There had to be dozens of wolves coming after me. Before the beta emerged from the dungeon I slipped into a room with bottles and barrels of wine. I sneezed as the scent of fermented grapes crawled into my nose.
I curled near a barrel and slowed my breathing. If the beta sniffed out my scent he would easily find me and send me back to the cage.
*“Always remember what I taught you Layla. A wolf has a wide reach. Don’t limit your wolf and she can help you get out of anything.”
“Like what Dad?”
“Connect to your environment and scatter your scent. Your enemy won’t know where to go. You have to fight smart as well as hard.”*
Thank you Dad. With a stab of fear, I pushed my wolf to expose herself to her environment, the entire ground floor. She pushed out her scent and scattered it throughout all the rooms.
I bowed my head between my front legs and waited. If that didn’t work, then I faced battle. Wolf legs appeared under the door. I held my breath. He bellowed another howl for help. Darn him.
“Where is she?” Killian demanded after a set of heavy footsteps came down the stairs.
“She got away man. She—” the beta slammed against the wall.
“I don’t give a damn what she did. She’s a prisoner. Find her and lock her ass in solitary.”
“Hey!” Bane barked. “She’s the King’s mate you can’t do that.”
“The King’s mate is accused of murder and conspiring against two packs. She’s a damn bitch. Get all the wolves out she couldn’t have gone far.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Bane asked.
“I outrank you Bane. That bitch’s a spy that’s why she ran. This should prove her guilt better than any trial.”
“You better hope they don’t hurt her. You don’t want to know what Dean’s capable of.”
The voices disappeared. I swallowed and crawled out of my hiding space. Killian wouldn’t mind if I was killed in pursuit. If my father taught me anything it was never go down without a fight. I made myself small, I opened my senses to track my enemies.
I made it out of the castle without getting spotted. When I made it to the sun I froze. Where would I go? I had nothing with me not even a pair of underwear. Cora was dead so was my last link to my pack. How would I prove my innocence?
I whimpered and pressed my wolf against the side of the house. Killian was right again now people would think I ran because I’m guilty. My wolf whimpered. What about Dean? If I left, I wouldn’t see him again.
“Little Wolf, don’t move,” Lyle ordered.
I turned around and backed up. I bore my teeth and growled. Lyle kept his hand out, his brows knitted together.
“Why’d you run? If you’re innocent, you have nothing to fear.”
He wasn’t the one going into a death pool!
“Let me help you,” he said.
I shook my head. I’m sorry Lyle.
I barked and leapt on him. I tackled Lyle to the ground. He held my legs and grunted. I barked to make him release me. I wouldn’t bite him.
“You’re not going anywhere Little Wolf. We can help you.”
My bark echoed for miles. Lyle’s superhuman strength held me in place for a minute before I jumped on his chest and darted across the green lawn and into the trees.
“Layla!” Lyle yelled.
I had no choice. I bumped into trees and jumped over rocks. Barks and howled sounded behind me. I was the rabbit running from hunter dogs. I dunked under branches and sunk into mud. I was focused on getting to a road though I heard paws hit the ground closely behind.
I turned my head and a brownish crimson wolf was hot on my tail. Dean.
I veered to the right and darted through bushes and lowered branches. I was one of the fastest wolves in my pack I could out run him.
“Stop,” Dean said through our link.
“I can’t,” I replied.
I lost concentration I burst through knotted weeds and branches. I rolled in the dirt and landed on my side. Dean broke through the barrier next he stood on two feet and stretched out his arms as his fur retreated back into his skin. I got up quickly and backed up.
“Layla, stop,” he demanded.
I froze only because rocks rolled off the cliff inches behind me. Trapped. He stood tall and naked.
“Shift,” Dean growled.
A violent current went through me. I resisted Dean’s order and winced.
“I said shift!”
The current zapped my wolf but I wouldn’t give in. His command drew out my human form. He couldn’t do this he wasn’t my Alpha. I didn’t swear my allegiance to him.
“Shift, now!”
My wolf form retreated, leaving me a naked mess on the ground. Dean stalked forward.
“Stay back.” I held my hand up.
“Why would you do this? Why?” He barked.
“I’m trying to save my life!”
“Didn’t I tell you I would take care of things! Huh!”
“It’s not your life on the line. You didn’t tell me about the death pool.”
“You should have just trusted me damn it. Running makes things complicated.”
I shook my head and the rest of me quaked. “You promised me no one would ever lock me up again.”
“Things got complicated. But I wasn’t going to abandon you. I had a plan.”
“No, you were probably with Lexi. She told me you would be busy with her.”
“What the hell?”
“She told me you would be together the night I was accused.” I shook my head. “It didn’t take you long to go back to her huh?”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.”
I looked behind me. Bellow was a ghastly blend of thorns, weeds and rocks. Beyond that was a rapid river.
“Where were you going, huh?” Dean’s muscles flexed with each word. He took a step forward.
I stretched out my hand. “I said stay back—”
“Layla!”
My grip on the ground failed. The edge crumbled. I clawed at the ground but it wasn’t enough as I fell backward. My eyes widened on Dean. My body rolled down the rocky hill. I reached out but grabbed air instead as thorns cut into my skin. Pain attacked me at every angle with anything to hold onto I rolled until my back smashed into a log and bashed my head against something sharp.