The Escape

LORELAI

I was shaken awake from another moment of weakness by the gentle rousing of the nice guard who had been feeding me.

Vaughn smiled down at me as I sat up, groggy with nausea and weakness that I had to fight to get my connection back with my wolves.

But I couldn’t feel it. I was too spent, the connection too far away, and yet they felt closer, closer than they had been.

“Vaughn?” I asked, and he helped me to my feet.

“C’mon. We have to go,” he said, and I frowned, planting my feet so he couldn’t move me, eyeing the open door to my cell warily.

I had no idea if this was a trap or not, and I was too tired to walk into any more of those.

“Why? Where are we going?” I demanded, pulling my arm back.

He looked over his shoulder at the open tunnel, then back at me with wide eyes.

“Because your wolves are here, and I’m pretty sure they’re about to go on a killing spree to find you, so I’m taking you to them instead,” he said, and my heart leapt into my throat.

My wolves were here? Then he was right, they were definitely about to murder their way to me. Good.

Maybe the humans deserved it. But whether they did or not, I wanted my alphas more than the humans’ demise, so I moved fast from the cell.

Vaughn helped me get through the tunnel, practically lifting me up the stairs so I didn’t collapse.

We stepped into a hut that used to be my father’s but now was filled with chairs, with a war table at the front.

That didn’t look good. I tried to peer over it, getting a quick glimpse as my strength returned.

It was fresher, less suffocating in my veins the longer I was out from underground. Something was definitely going on here, and I was going to help my alphas figure it out, but for now, I just wanted to see them.

The link connected then, strong and sure, like whatever had suffocated it was gone, and I sucked in a breath, smiling as their essence filled me.

They were outside.

I took off toward the door, Vaughn following behind as I threw the door to the hut open, tears springing to my eyes as through the misting rain I saw my three alphas.

Kai. Derik. Brax.

All with thundering glares and huge, intimidating bodies. Kai’s claws were out, all of them had red eyes, and I knew I had only just made it in time.

I met their eyes, ignoring the presence of my father, who I would deal with in a minute.

And then Kai was there in front of me, scooping me up in his arms, inhaling my scent, which was probably so foul by now, but I didn’t care.

I wanted his too. I buried my face in his neck as he hauled me off the ground, wrapping his arms around my waist, his hand pinning my head against him.

I clutched him so hard, gripping his skin as tight as I could before he pulled my head back and covered my mouth with his.

I kissed him back, the feeling filling my body so fast, like we’d never had any time apart.

I sighed against him, cupping the back of his neck as my body sparked with the dormant pleasure that had hidden so deep while I had been captive.

He growled against me before letting me go, and then Derik was pulling me into him, holding me just as tight as Kai had. He kissed me softly, not as desperate as Kai, but just as deep.

His eyes met mine as I rubbed my thumb down his face, needing to feel it, to savor it. I hadn’t been sure if I’d see him again, and that pain was still so raw. As it was in his eyes.

“Did they hurt you? Are you and our child okay?”

I nodded, hugging him again. “We’re alive.”

I gave him the general overview because the details of how I was treated might push him over the edge. But I forgot about the link. His body shook, and he pulled me back, pinching my chin between his fingers.

“How bad was it?” he demanded, and I shook my head.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m out now,” I breathed, then hugged him again before turning to Brax.

He smirked and came forward, pulling me in for a searing kiss that brought our shadows fully together again.

It was so intense and beautiful, the way his entwined with mine, inside me, curling around our child, inspecting every part of my pregnancy before he deepened the kiss.

I melted into it, his taste driving me wild like it always did, our connection making everything clearer.

I pulled away, breathing deeply, then turned to my father, who was scowling, rigid, but still a coward, refusing to move and interrupt something he detested because he knew it would get him killed.

“Beautiful,” Derik said, and I glanced his way.

He held up a bottle of potion, which I took and swallowed quickly, the instantaneous relief in my body making my eyes flutter closed.

When I opened them, I met my father’s gaze and handed the bottle back to Derik.

“You kidnapped me. Held me hostage. And treated me worse than the wolves ever have. Why? I’m your daughter,” I snapped, and he paled at the word.

His lips pursed. “You are no daughter of mine. You are a traitor to your own kind.”

“Then why keep me?” I demanded, stepping forward.

The potion made me feel strong, but I also felt the fragility of it. I needed the bite, and soon, but I wanted to deal with my asshole of a father first because I wasn’t letting him get away with what he had done to me.

“Because you have power, and we need that if we are ever to get out from under the thumb of your precious wolves,” he spat, and I scoffed, finally in front of him.

I punched him. Hard. His jaw cracked and my fist ached, but the way his head snapped to the side, his hand coming to hold it, his whimper at the punch, made the pain worth it.

I shoved my fist into his gut so he dropped to his knees.

He didn’t fight back, but that wasn’t surprising. For all his talk, he was still scared of the alphas that flanked me and were letting me take control of my well-deserved confrontation.

“I would never use my power against them.”

“That is why I didn’t kill that mutt inside you. It was going to be leverage,” he snarled, spitting at me.

I slapped him, my handprint marking his cheek, but it was barely a dent in the pain I felt inside me.

My own father being so cold and full of hatred toward me and his grandchild pierced some shell I didn’t realize I had. I refused to cry in front of him, but the tears still pricked my eyes at his words.

I grabbed his throat, drawing on the link, borrowing strength from my alphas as I squeezed. His eyes bugged and he clawed at my arm, but I wasn’t done.

“Threaten me or my child again and I won’t let you survive the time it takes to say the words,” I bit, then threw him to the ground.

I stepped back and let him scramble back to his feet, his hand on the hilt of his sword. I narrowed my eyes on the movement as Kai snarled, daring him to do it.

He glared at Kai, then let the sword go.

“I was with Mom when you took me. What’d you do to her?” I demanded, and he smirked.

“A simple herb that kept her asleep. I would never harm your mother, Lorelai. She is human, and unlike you, I am no traitor to my own kind,” he sneered.

I ignored the gibe because relief filled me at my mother being okay. I turned to my alphas, mostly addressing Derik, since I knew he would make the final decision.

“I want to see my mom,” I said, and Derik nodded.

He came forward and kissed the top of my head, pulling me in against him.

“Of course, beautiful. I’ll watch your father while Brax and the pack investigate where you were being kept, why we couldn’t sense you. Kai will go with you. Stay with him,” he ordered, and I nodded.

Kai came over then, picking me up in his arms. I went easily, wrapping my arms around his neck before looking over to Brax and Derik.

“There’s an entire network of tunnels and rooms down there. They’ve been growing wolfsbane and gardenia too, that’s why everything was dulled,” I said, then turned to my father.

“Destroy those plants,” I ordered, and my father scowled, his chest puffing out.

“No. You do not tell me what to do.”

That had me laughing. He had no idea. I was going to give him one chance to figure it out.

“Yes I can, Father. You have a contract with the alphas, and the alphas are mine.

“You’re going to do what I’ve asked if you want to survive because right now, I am the only thing stopping my alphas from ending your life,” I warned.

His eyes narrowed. I didn’t care. He could get angry all he wanted, but I was one wrong move away from saying “Fuck it, kill him.”

Maybe Derik would hesitate because of a contract, but Kai wouldn’t.

~“Neither would I, beautiful,”~ Derik said in my mind, and I smiled, warmth filling me as their protection made me feel full again.

~“Good,”~ I said back to him, and felt how happy that made him. I turned to Kai then. “Take me to see my mom?” I said, and he nodded.

“A quick visit, Little Human. Then I want you home where I can sink my teeth—and my cock—into you,” he whispered against my ear, and I shivered, biting my lip as heat filled me.

A searing liquid heat that I had missed so fucking much.

“Excuse me, Alpha, Lorelai. May I please join your trip to the women’s village? I also have to check on someone after I went against orders,” Vaughn interrupted sheepishly.

I grinned and nodded, making Kai growl roughly, walking past him toward the villages.

“Kai, he can come. He helped me.”

“He’s human.”

“And so am I. Please?” I asked, and Kai rolled his eyes, nuzzling into my neck, kissing over the flesh, and I knew that was a yes.

“Vaughn, you coming?” I asked, and Vaughn smiled warily before following along toward my mother’s hut.

I just had to check she really was okay. I didn’t trust my father, and I had to tell her what was going on, maybe convince her to leave the village.

Maybe she wasn’t in immediate danger since she was human, but I doubted my alphas would let me come back and visit anytime soon, if ever, so I at least had to say goodbye.

Then I was heading back home with my alphas and losing myself in every single one of them.