10. Keep Calm

Sona’s smile faded. “What did you say, Pa?”
“Vinna. Temple hurts real bad. Remember what happened?”
“Pa…it’s Sona,” she said slowly, rising to her feet with the chains rattling too loud in her ears. “Your granddaughter.”
“Hm? Oh. Oh right. My little healer. What’re we doing in this damn prison?”
*Keep calm, keep calm*, she instructed herself. *You’ve dealt with amnesia before*.
“It’s a long story, Pa. Can you tell me what you’re feeling?”
His breathing was raspy, heartbeat unstable…and he didn’t answer right away. “The gut hurts, too. Punched, was I?”
“Yes,” Sona said carefully. “We...got into some trouble. Just stay awake for me, okay, Pa? I need you here with me.”
“Always.”
“Del?” Sona called, pressing her face between the bars, eyes straining to see in the dark. “Lycus? Please, at least bring him in here with me.”
The young male entered her sight. He looked so innocent. “Mistress, I’m not supposed to…”
“I promise,” she whispered, “I won’t do anything. Just… I need him with me. Please.”
Del hesitated, looking between her and in Auryn’s direction. Then he sighed. “I obey every order, Mistress.”
Sona watched him move a foot over, heard him unlock the cell doors with and grunts and groans before he reappeared supporting her grandfather. She gasped and backed up so Del could unlock her cell. Fighting back tears, she sank to her knees, supporting his frail, bloodied body, as Del closed the cell door.
Her mind flew through all the things she could try to do to save him, not wanting to accept what she already knows: there’s nothing she could do trapped in here except hope he was as strong as he’d always boasted.
Before she could say a word, Auryn told her, strict and lucid, “Don’t let death stop you, Sona, nor these bloody hands. When I see the shadow…I’ll tell him you said to fuck off.”
Sona laughed breathlessly, smoothing his wispy hair out of his hazy blue eyes. She doubted he could see her; if the last thing he saw before he died was just the barest sliver of his granddaughter’s face…
“Just don’t tell him yet, alright?” she whispered brokenly. “Not today.”
“Not today,” he agreed. Relief started to flood her veins, but she couldn’t let herself be too hopeful. “I’m dying in my home, on my bed. You hear that? Nowhere else.”
“Of course, Pa.”
Sona looked up when Del inched forward. “H-how is—”
The young male’s question was cut off when he was hit over the head. His body collapsed in front of her.
Standing over him was Arden with the remains of a glass vase.
“Stop with the hitting heads!” she shrieked in a rasp. “Arden, what—”
“I’m getting you out of here, Sona. Auryn—”
“I’m still alive!” snapped Auryn. “Just get us out of here, whelp.”
Arden laughed nervously. “In a heartbeat, Master Auryn.” 
He held up a ring of keys and Sona allowed a breath of relief. Unlocking the cell door with ease, getting her ankle and wrist cuffs was quick, and Auryn was placed safely on Arden’s back. 
“This way,” the Beta said. “Stay close.”
Around the corner of the cells was a door only meant for guards, but Arden’s keys got them in. Sona had no idea where it led, much less hazard a guess when it was completely dark. She *could* guess there were stairs, because she tripped on them.
“Don’t be so clumsy,” her grandfather told her.
“My mistake.”
Sona lost track of time in the silence. She gave Arden exceptional credit for making turn after turn, somehow knowing where he was leading them. 
“Escape tunnels,” said Arden before she could ask. “For moments like this—kind of—when the Alpha family is in danger. One branch leads to my room, where I’m being guarded. Most of the Epsilon are unaware of them except the Alpha’s closest circle, who taught me to learn every branch when I was younger. I’m taking us to an empty room. Here.”
The passageway shrunk until they were on their hands and knees. Sona’s werewolf eyesight failed in seeing what Arden was doing until suddenly light blinded her. When she adjusted, she found them looking out into one of the manor’s spare bedrooms. 
Arden helped them climb out of the secret tunnel hidden by a portrait of the Mira Sea. Sona knelt and cradled Auryn’s head in her lap. He still wasn’t breathing well. Then her friend knelt, too, and she realized he could get a better look at her face—though not completely, considering it was the dead of night and there were only enough candles for sufficient light.
His brows knit deeply over his deep green eyes that were clearly observing her brutalized face—and checking to see how sane she was.  
Sona didn’t like that the roles had been suddenly reversed. She was the healer, not the patient. “I know what I need to do.”
“I do, too, Sona,” Arden said in a low, hurried voice, “and that is *waiting* to do those things.”
“Excuse me?”
“Get Raff and go to your shop with Master Auryn.”
Of course she didn’t need to say it. Was it too obvious or did he know her to well?
“But once Del wakes up,” he continued, “he’ll notify the entire Epsilon you’ve escaped and come after you. Those things you need—that’s where they’ll find you.”
“But your scent—”
He smiled grimly. “Looks like we’re on the run together, Sona.”
*On the run*. They were wanted criminals.
Sona was starting to feel delirious. “So what do we do, fellow fugitive?” she asked without humor.
“My experience is little. But we’re on our own.”
She narrowed her eyes when he looked away. “Why does that sound like you know something else…”
Arden was quiet a moment. Then, “My father’s dead, Sona.”
When someone died, the last thing the loved ones wanted to hear was pity or sympathy. Sona learned it best for them that actions more than sufficed. Even though it was sticky with blood and dirt, she gripped his hand that was braced on the marble floor. 
He swallowed hard. “We need to live, Sona.”
“I know. But where the fuck do we go?”
“Language,” admonished Auryn.
“Where the *hell* do we go, Arden?”
He was chewing the inside of his cheek. She likely looked much worse, but her friend was far from the neat prince he’d been at dinner. Ruffled, dirty, exhausted—grieving. 
Artem Roshan was dead.
Arden was an orphan now.
“I—I don’t…I don’t know.” His voice cracked. “I don’t know. Sona…”
*Keep calm, keep calm*. Though she knew just as little about survival instincts in this situation, she had to keep a level head for them all. “It was Vallea, Arden. She put something in my tea that I served.”
He was quiet for a moment before finally meeting her gaze. “Are you sure?”
“More than anything. I also know that they’re fucking.”
Shock made his eyes go wide—and then he looked guilty. “You both were unfaithful at the same time. I thought I knew him almost as much as you. Goddess, Sona, this is so fucked up.” He ran his hands through his mussed hair. “We—”
Shouting had Arden crouching in front of her, facing the double doors. Heavy footfalls raced down the hallways until they stopped nearby. 
“Update from the Gamma. We’re to find Sona and the Beta—”
Sona’s teeth clenched when she recognized Lycus’s voice.
“Is he?” another male asked under his breath. “Still the Beta? Wouldn’t he be the Alpha now?”
“We can’t grieve yet,” said a third harshly. “He hasn’t been initiated. Conri’s in charge for now. Personally, I hope Arden doesn’t accept the position.”
Arden stiffened.
“You think Conri makes a better Alpha?”
“Absolutely,” Lycus said. “He’s more sure than Artem ever was. Redbone is pressing in on us! Words of peace aren’t going to keep them from launching a full attack like they did Leto.”
The second male gasped. “Conri’s trying to prevent that.”
“Duh,” Lycus mocked, and it sounded like he slapped the second upside the head. “He said Sona and Arden are going to try and stop him. So we have to bring them to him chained up enough Sona can’t gut any of us.” 
“This feels like treason,” mumbled the second. He sounded so young, similar to Del. Wolves could join the Epsilon as young as seventeen, when they were still impressionable. And still valued loyalty to who he swore to, apparently. 
Another smack. “Fealty changes, whelp. Just do as your superiors tell you and you won’t get your ass kicked. Check every room on every floor. Chains are kept in the jail. Go there first. No mercy. If you have to knock them out, do it. Remember, Sona’s a traitor to Moonvalley now, so forget how pretty she is.”
The last thing Sona heard from their fading voices was, “I doubt she’s very attractive with that broken nose.”
Sona’s hand automatically went to her nose. Oh. It was still broken. She took it between her fingers and snapped it into place with a stifled cry of pain. 
Arden flinched. “That’s never not disturbing,” he whispered.
She blinked away the ache as it faded with the aid of their supernatural healing. Then she cradled her grandfather’s head. Auryn’s eyes were closed now, breathing steady but still weak. She knew he didn’t have any wounds that would take his life today, but their healing couldn’t fix the degradation of a frail body.
The thought of leaving him so she and Arden could escape made her stomach clench—leaving him alone on a marble floor in the house of a new enemy—dare she call Conri that—and hurt her more than any physical blow. Because if they were going to live another day…Auryn would only hold them back.
Because Arden was right. She wouldn’t let herself be captured, much less let herself die in any way or another. Not until her son was safe. Conri would never harm Raff or let any harm come to him, but now he wouldn’t let Sona even come close to him. Which meant he was hiding him somewhere she wouldn’t be able to reach without running into a trap—forget the chance he was in their room or the nursery.
So…what could she do? What *would* she do to save Raff?
Arden’s hand rested atop hers, startling her. “Sorry. Sona, we’re fugitives now. Do you want to run and come up with a plan later or let Conri capture us and…do whatever he wants.”
It shouldn’t have been a difficult decision. She didn’t want to run anywhere; it took her away from Raff. But neither did she want to be a prisoner. Conri, whether Gamma or Alpha, would have to set her up for trial for murder. His decision held sway, but it was up to the Alpha’s council to seal the sentence, who took into consideration the majority vote by the denizens of Moonvalley. Her packmates could love or hate her, but killing the Luna—whether or not it was true—was unforgivable, and ould likely not listen to reason. Especially once the news of Artem’s death and Arden under house arrest traveled. They would all look to Conri for guidance.
She shook her head, still gently brushing back his wisps of hair with her palm. “I don’t know. I can’t think straight.”
“I didn’t teach you to be indecisive,” Auryn barked, shaking a finger up at her. “Sit me on that couch and go.”
Sona wanted to argue even though they both knew what path she was going to follow. “But—”
“I can hear them coming. Do it now, Sona.”
She bit her lip to keep from crying. With Arden’s help, they guided him to the small couch in front of the fireplace. He exhaled with a faint smile. “Ah, that’s it. Now go find that grass-eating whelp.”
“His name is Raff, Pa.”
“Then I’ll call him that when I see him.”
The double doors slammed open. An Epsilon with iron chains stood on the threshold. *“They’re here!”*
“Now’s the time to choose,” Arden croaked.
Sona didn’t recognize the Epsilon. He was burly and looked like he enjoyed pushing around those weaker than him. And his grin suggested he would very much like to show no mercy. “Did you hear?” he chuckled. “You’re not getting a trial. You’re getting death right away.”
*Fuck*. 
Sona staggered to her feet and grabbed Arden’s hand. “Run.”