I always hated alarm clocks.
At the orphanage, I had one. It was this annoying, purple, little piece of plastic that rang every morning at seven am. I really, really hated it. I genuinely wanted to smash it against the wall every single day. The darn purple box never failed to get on my nerves. Once I was moved to Braxford, I pledged to never again have an alarm clock. I refused to ever hear that annoying beep, beep, beeping again.
Hence why my groggy self refused to leave my bed due to a constant beep, beep, beeping.
"Why," I groaned into my pillow as I used my other pillow to cover my ears. "It's like four am-wait, what?" My head shot up as I glanced over at my small clock.
3:34 am
My brows knit together in confusion as I stared at the clock. What the heck? I never turned on an alarm, and I definitely would not have set it for 3:34 in the morning.
"Go, go, go!" A shout from the hallway said startling me. I jumped what felt like three feet out of my bed as my heart raced wildly.
"What the-?" That's when it all sunk in. I looked around my room feeling my heart beating wildly against my ribcage.
It wasn't my freaking alarm clock.
It was a freaking siren.
I hurriedly ripped the duvet off of my body. I honestly wasn't even thinking of the psychotic nest of hair on my head or the spaghetti stained sweatpants I had on. I was sprinting to my door. As soon as I opened the wooden door, the siren got about three times louder. People were running down the hallway not even bothering to spare me a glance.
"Hey! What's happening?" I shouted trying to get the attention of someone. No one listened. They were all too busy shouting themselves. "Hey!" I shouted again. Still, no one answered me.
"Run!" A girl with light brown hair shouted as she latched her hand onto my arm. She tugged me down the hallways and stairs as our bodies meshed with people surrounding us.
"What's going on?" I asked again. She didn't answer. Instead, she let my arm go and ran into the embrace of a boy who looked about my age.
Mates.
Typical.
"Grey!" Eli? Eli! It was Eli! God bless!
"Eli! Where are you? Eli! Eli!" I hollered over top of the loud cries of distressed pack members and the loud beeping of the alarm. My head whipped around frantically in search of my brother. He's like a freaking giant! Why can't I see him?
"Grey!" He shouted again. I turned to the right as I pushed past people trying to get to him. Can these people not exit the house single file? Will they just chill? It's just an alarm going off at 3:30 in the morning. Right? "Grey!" Eli's voice shouted directly into my ear as a large hand gripped my forearm spinning me around. His eyes stared at me widely. Fear swam at the surface of the blue pools. He seemed extremely tired, and he looked like he was having a hard time standing up as people pushed past the two of us.
"Eli, what's going on?" I asked loudly, but in the moment it was practically a whisper. I could barely hear anything over the siren. Eli ran a hand through his brown hair that was already extremely messy. I could only assume he had been nervously running his hand through it as he was trying to find me.
"They're here, Grey. There's so many of them." Eli looked close to tears. His cheeks were very pale.
"Who's here, Eli?"
"The shredders. They're all through the pack house. They're outside. They're everywhere!" He rambled in a panic as he began dragging me. "Come on!"
"Where are we going?" I asked as my feet stumbled over one another. Now was really not the time to be a klutz.
"Far, far away from here!" I froze and planted my feet to the ground.
"No!" I shouted back at him. His eyes turned to meet mine. I saw the familiar look of betrayal flash through his eyes just like I had the first day I met him. "Kieran might still be down there! I can't let him die down there!"
"Grey," Eli yelled back in exasperation, "we don't have time for this! Do you want to die?" He asked tugging on my arm in an attempt to get me to move.
"No, but I don't want him to either!" I countered just as a large boom sounded through the house literally shaking the floor. What floor were we even on? I couldn't even tell what room we were in thanks to the amount of people hurriedly trying to make their way out of the house. Eli's eyes scanned over my body as he gulped.
"Please, Grey, please. Let's go," he begged tugging me again which made me stumble forward a bit.
"No, stop!" I hollered planting my feet back onto the floor. His icy, blue eyes bored into my grey ones silently pleading for me to follow him. I couldn't. "Go! I'll find you, I swear!" Eli looked hesitant as his face scrunched up in worry.
"I don't know. I can't risk losing you, again. You may be all that I have left after today," he said sadly as a lone tear ran down his cheek. No, no, no. Don't do this to me, Eli. Don't do it!
"I'll be fine! You-holy shit!" I shouted as another boom sounded causing the floor to shake once again. Only this time, the floor shook much more than before. It was like a mini earthquake. "Eli! Go! Now!" I basically ordered.
"Fine!" Eli shouted finally giving up. "I'll meet you five miles west of the border! Don't get yourself killed, please?"
"I'll be fine! Go!" My hands shoved roughly on his chest as I pushed him in the direction of everyone else. I didn't waste time watching him run off as I took off toward the nearest set of stairs.
I needed to get down to those cellars.
Smoke wafted through the hallways. I noticed it as well as many others. I could tell by the constant hacking that sounded around me. I tried ignoring the smoke, but it was hard. It made it very, very hard to breathe. It didn't help that I was full-on sprinting, either. I was in a rush to hurriedly squeeze past all of the people in an attempt to escape the-what I'm guessing was-burning pack house. The place that so many called home.
I eventually pushed past everyone to find the stairs.
"First floor," I coughed out taking in the fact that everyone was trying to escape through the front, back, and side doors rather than run down another flight of stairs. No one was stupid enough to go into the cellars. Well, no one but me. Who ever said stupidity was a bad thing, though?
I pretty much bounced down the stairs taking two steps at a time. My lungs were burning from the smoke, but the farther down I went, the less smoke there was. Thank God!
I slammed my hands onto the unguarded door of the cellar. It didn't surprise me that all of the guards would have fled. I sure as hell would have! The house is on fire!
"Kieran!" I shouted running down the hallway of the cellar. "Kieran! Bolton!" I shouted again.
No answer.
"Marilyn!"
Not a single reply.
I froze in my place as I took in the scene in front of me.
Kieran's cell, Marilyn's cell, and Bolton's cell were all opened. The shackles that had bound them to the cement walls for so long now just hung lazily.
They weren't here.
A part of me was happy. I was thanking the good Lord that my mate and pack were okay-that they weren't still chained to the walls of their cells. Even if I did come down here and they were in their cells, how was I going to get them out? I wasn't. It was the ugly truth. I wouldn't have been able to do anything, but watch them as they attempted to break free from their restraints.
Thank the lord that was not the case.
On the other hand, I had no clue where my mate was!
I was absolutely oblivious to the whereabouts of my own mate. Was he in the house? Was he outside. Was he okay? Wounded? Dead?
Not dead. Thanks for that, I thought to my wolf. She sure did have a way with words.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by another boom from upstairs which sent dust falling from the ceiling. I almost wanted to laugh at how comical it all looked. Next thing I knew, the cellar was going to cave in on me. I would suffocate, and in the best possible ending, I would die. Yay.
I made a mad dash for the cellar door slamming it behind me as I exited the cellar.
"The stairs, the stairs, the stairs," I chanted to myself running for the stairs. I needed to find Kieran. I needed to find him before-oh God.
I needed to find Kieran before he killed Jale.
Yes, I did tell my mate (who happens to be a literal psychopath) to kill my brother, but I didn't mean it! I was mad! He tried to kill me, I think, but he didn't! Jale didn't deserve to die! Well, at least not in my book. He had a mate who obviously loved him (even if she didn't in the beginning), an unborn child, a family, me! Kieran can't kill Jale because I decided to be a little punk and wish him death upon him out of anger! This isn't just some sappy television series where people can savagely kill other people for no good reason!
I said it before, and I'll say it again.
I'm a lunatic.
My calves burned as I bounded back up the stairs taking two steps at a time-sometimes even three. The air began growing thicker as more smoke built up the farther up I went. I opened the door to the first floor. This led me to be met by a face full of smoke.
Yummy.
I coughed crazily for a good minute. My body doubled over as my lungs just could not seem take in any oxygen. It was all smoke. My eyes watered and burned. I rubbed away the tears and pushed myself to let out a yell.
"Kieran!" I shouted praying that he would hear me. I doubted it, though. The alarm was still blaring quite loudly, and my voice was pretty jacked up from the smoke. "Kieran! Kieran!" I continued to shout. I squinted my eyes trying to see through the curtain of smoke in front of me. I could see the flames of burning objects in the house, but that was pretty much it. Everyone had already fled the house. "Kieran!"
"Arden!" A familiar voice called out making me freeze.
No.
What the heck is she doing in here?
"Marilyn!" I hollered realizing her voice was coming from somewhere on the first floor. I squinted my eyes even harder if that were possible. I was practically swimming in the smoke trying to find my blonde-haired best friend.
"Arden!" She yelled just as a familiar image of blonde hair flashed through my vision.
"Marilyn!" I full force launched myself at her. My arms wrapped her into a hug as her arms wound around me, as well.
Wow, never took Marilyn as a hugger.
I pulled away taking in her dirty, smoke covered face. Her dark, brown eyes were dull as they looked at me almost lifelessly.
"Come on!" I hollered pulling on her small hands. She refused to move, though. "Marilyn we have to go!"
"No! He said he would meet me here!" She argued before busting out into a fit of coughs.
"We'll find Kieran and Bolton! Don't worry! Come on!" I ushered trying to pull her again. Instead, she yanked her arms away from me.
"Not them, you idiot! I know where they are-kinda," she muttered as her hand rubbed a spot on her stomach that was exposed by her torn shirt.
"Then who?" I asked impatiently. I was like two seconds from carrying her out by myself. Her eyes softened as she bit her lip. She looked-do I dare say it-scared? "Marilyn, who are you looking for?" I pressed.
"Trevor," she breathed out.
"What?" No. It couldn't be. I must have heard her wrong. My ears must be acting funny due to the siren and all of the smoke inhalation which was no doubt bad for my brain. She did not just say she was waiting for Trevor-as in the beta. Jale's beta.
"Arden, you need to go find Kieran," she said trying to avoid my question.
"Marilyn, why are you waiting for Trevor? Did he know about this?" She looked down at my question. "The beta knew you guys were planning an attack today!" I hollered waving my hands around. I didn't even know the attack was today. Kieran told me it was in a week. He lied to me. "Why did he know and not me! You guys said a week! That meant I had seven days, seven, to go down and tell Kieran that I didn't mean what I said! I didn't want him to kill Jale! Seven days! Not one! Seven!" I ranted angrily.
Woah, my head was feeling pretty heavy at the moment.
"Arden, please! Okay! You don't understand! I love him!" The amount of vulnerability in Marilyn's voice had me frozen in my spot. Love? Marilyn doesn't love anybody.
"You don't even know him!"
"Arden, it's a long story! Just go find Kieran!" Marilyn pleaded.
"No! I want to know!"
"Ugh!" Marilyn groaned loudly as she ran her filthy hand through her blonde hair which looked a few shades darker now due to all of the dirt in it. She squeezed her eyes shut before reopening them and staring directly at me. "We slept together, okay? A lot! I did it for you! He knew from the first time you snuck down into the cells, Arden! He knew you were visiting us, but I promised that if he never said anything that I'd let him have his way with me. I did it for you-for all of us! Then, f------ went from just talking, and then bam! He says he loves me! He told me everything! He told me about his parents dying and his mate rejecting him! He told me everything, and I'm completely in love with the asshole!" My mouth literally just hung open. That's where she had been all those times. Not in questioning, but with Trevor.
What do you even say to that?
Congrats?
"Marilyn, I-"
"Arden, I'm pregnant," she interrupted me which completely threw me off. She just threw me a complete curve ball. No, she just hit me in the head with the freaking bat-twice.
"You're-that's-pregnant-Trevor's?" I choked out feeling especially woozy. I really needed to get out of here. This smoke was going to end up killing me.
"Yes!" Marilyn growled out in exasperation. "I refuse to leave here until I find him!"
"Marilyn, you're going to end up killing yourself and the baby!" I argued.
"No I won't!" Boom. The floor shook again which caused Marilyn's flawless face to pale. "Fine! I'll go if he doesn't come in like five minutes! Now, go! Get out!" Hesitantly, I ran out of the house.
Marilyn would be fine, right? She's been doing stuff like this for how long? She knows what she's doing...I hope.
Finally, you make a smart decision. Okay, rude. When did you start speaking in whole sentences? Find mate. Of course you'd say that.
As soon as I stepped foot outside, I wished I hadn't. Blood. It was everywhere. The sight of it had be taking a step back. Wolves were running frantically around the pack grounds. Flashes of red blurred my vision as wolves ran straight past me at lightning fast speed.
One, my wolf counted as we watched a shredder devour a small pack wolf in front of us.
"No! Stop!" I cried out feeling an ache in my chest. This wasn't supposed to happen! Sure, I wanted Kieran out of his cell, but not like this! These people didn't have much of a say in what happened to him. It was pretty much just Jale. No one else deserved to die. "Stop! Oh my god! Stop it!" I shouted frantically from the doorstep. I was still too terrified to even step onto the grass. My feet were glued to the ground.
Two. Another pack wolf down in seconds.
"Don't! Stop killing them!"
Arden, move your feet.
"Stop! Please!"
Pick your left foot up and move it.
"No! No! No!"
Three. With that, I was off into a dead sprint through everyone. Was I committing my own suicide? Not entirely by choice. Was I literally insane for doing this? I already said I was a lunatic. What more can I say?
I don't think I'd ever purposely ran this fast in my life. I'd managed to get pretty close to this speed with my wolf's help, but I was doing this strictly on my own. This wasn't like the Pacer test I had to take in gym class in like the third grade. No, this was something entirely different. I wasn't just running, I was hauling ass. My arms pumped at my sides as my legs moved faster than I thought they ever could. I couldn't even feel them moving at this point. They were moving at their own accord almost as if it were natural. My body leaned and twisted itself in order to avoid the dead or fighting wolves and people. It was quite literally a blood bath.
"Kieran!" I shouted earning the attention from others around me. I needed to find him. I needed to tell him to make them stop seeing as how they won't listen to me. Shredders and pack wolves both looked over me quickly. Was it wrong of me to say that I think they were more worried about making sure I was safe than ripping me apart?
You are Alpha. Right, this is my pack-wait. Both of these are my packs, I guess. Naturally, it would be an instinct for both of them to protect me. I'm the alpha's sister and the alpha's mate. I relate pretty greatly on both sides.
Well, they don't listen to me very well seeing that I'm their luna.
"Kieran!" I hollered again in a hopeless attempt to find my mate. Where the heck is he?
"Arden?" My body skidded to a sudden halt. I turned to my right to meet a familiar pair of baby blues. "Arden, why are you out here? It's dangerous, you know," Bolton lectured as he sauntered over to me. Yes, I said sauntered. Bolton was taking his good'ole time walking over to me as his own pack was tearing people apart just to the right of him.
"What are you doing?" I retorted in a panic. Just because no pack wolves were attacking me didn't mean they weren't going to attack Bolton. As highly as he likes to think of himself, he's not God.
"I'm supervising," he stated simply looking around at the crime scene surrounding us. "Seems like they have it under control." I let out a frustrated groan.
Four.
"Bolton, people are dying-!"
"How's Kieran?" Bolton interrupted me. I'm pretty sure my eye twitched. Did he just ask me that?
"How would I know? I've been trying to find him for the past twenty minutes!" I shouted growing quite annoyed.
"Do you feel okay? Like you feel any sort of pain?" Another eye twitch.
"Yes! I feel fine! How are you?" I shouted back. Twitch.
Five.
"Oh my god!" I screamed jumping backward as a wolf legitimately flew just feet beside us. It flew. Bolton began to laugh at my expression before sending an nod to the shredder who had just managed to launch the pack wolf across the ground like a rag doll.
"Calm down, would you? You're going to worry them," Bolton stated. Twitch.
"I'm going to worry them? Me? Wow! Wow, Bolton!"
"You're going to worry Kieran. He can feel your emotions, Princess," he advised. I'm pretty sure he's going to think I have a condition due to all of my eye twitching. Kieran shouldn't even be out here murdering people! Kieran should be here with me-wait. I still have no clue where he even is!
"Where is he? I need to tell him to stop! I need to make sure he doesn't kill Jale!" I shouted in panic once again as I turned around to shout for him again. Bolton's hands gripping my own were what stopped me from bolting through the pack grounds again.
"Arden," Bolton said quietly meeting my gaze with sad eyes, "Jale's dead. Kieran killed him first." No. Kieran wouldn't actually do that. Right? "He only did what you wanted."
I wanted to doubt him, but I knew Kieran probably did it and most likely had fun doing it.
"I know, but-but I-oh my god. I need to find him," I stuttered moving away from Bolton. I need to find Kieran. Jale's dead. No one can change that, but I need to find him even if I was feeling a large amount of hate towards him, and I'm almost positive that I was three seconds away from breaking down into a fit of tears.
"Arden, Kieran didn't know-"
It all happened so fast. Neither of us saw it coming. Bolton definitely did not see it coming. Bolton didn't even flinch as the wolf was launched at his back. Not only did the wolf smack Bolton to the ground, but me too. If it wasn't bad enough being crushed under a horse-sized wolf, my head managed to bash quite violently against a rock that was conveniently placed behind me.
My ears rang, and my head began pounding immediately. Dark spots blotted my vision as I could barely make out what was happening in front of me.
"Bolton?" I slurred seeing a man strangle the wolf that had launched itself at Bolton in front of me with his bare hands. No? Bolton was still laying next to me. My hands reached back to touch the hurting area of my head. Why does my head feel like four-hundred pounds? Bringing my hand in front of my face, I then saw it. The blood that coated my pale palm. Darn it. I let out a strangled groan.
I can't pass out on a battle field! I can't die today! I refuse to have 'Death by rock' on my tombstone!
The wolf went limp in the man's grasp before he dropped it to the ground.
Six.
He crouched down just close enough to my face so that I could make out his facial features.
"Everything's going to be okay, Luna," he said trying to sound calm, but I could tell he was panicking.
His eyes stared at me worriedly. I knew those grey eyes. They're so pretty, so beautiful. I knew that tousled dark, brown hair, that well-built body, that face that seemed so familiar even if I'd only had the chance to see it when he was younger from old videos, that voice. I knew him.
Then, just like his hair-everything went dark. I only had that one thought left on my mind as my thoughts drifted to a close with the sound of the beep, beep, beeping in the background.
Seven.
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You guys are gonna hate me lol
Quick updates because I literally had all of these chapters planned since the beginning of the book so yw
lol gonna miss this and don't forget to vote much love
Stay awesome Gotham 9/19/16