Grounded

The night was cold, more so than usual, to the point that it took every ounce of strength that I had to move even if it was only a small step at a time. I had no idea where I was going but I knew that I had to keep going no matter what. To stop would mean death whether from the elements or from the Huntsman. All I knew was that somewhere in the darkness behind me they were there so I pushed through my pain, fatigue, and fear to keep moving. It felt like an eternity before I finally saw a glimmer of hope. In the distance I could make out some lights and the faint sounds of people. Please Goddess let this be a place of refuge. I had nothing left to give. Before I could take another step in the direction of those inviting lights a hand clamped down on my shoulder while a needle jammed its way into my neck. I didn’t even have the strength to let out a scream and my tears fell silently. All hope was lost, they had caught me. As they drug me back into the forrest I watched as the lights of what could have been my salvation slowly fade away as the tranquilizer began to take effect. Before I completely went under I caught the faintest smell of cedar and fresh summer rain. For some reason despite my situation I found myself calmed by this scent. Maybe this was Moon Goddess’ gift for my eighteenth birthday, though I would much rather of had my freedom but I guess I should take what I can get. Then everything went black.

I woke up back in my cell. This was nothing like what you imagine though. This was a room with a full sized bed, closet, and even a desk, also my very own full bathroom. The guards referred to it as my “room” but let’s be honest, fancy or not this was still a cell. The door was always locked and there were guards. This had been my home for the last six years. I hated it and I hated the Huntsman who had brought me here. Day in and day out tests had been done on me and I was beginning to think that my body if not my mind could not handle much more of this. However this wasn’t how my life always was. No before all of this I had a pretty normal and happy life.

I had lived with my family in the small but strong Titan Crescent pack. My father, Leo, the Alpha, my mother, Nova, and two older twin brothers, Helix and Orion. I wasn’t spoiled but I was well taken care of. My father and mother worked hard not only for their family but for their pack. We were one of the smaller packs in the region but what we lacked in financial wealth we more than made up for in loyalty and strength. Our pack was like a big family, everyone looked out for one another and we worked well together especially if we needed to defend ourself. Even though attacks against us were few and far between, we never let our guard down. It was important for other packs to respect us and rogues to fear us. Through my father’s leadership we had done just that. It was all going great until that one day. If only I hadn’t let my ego get the best of me, perhaps things would be different. I was twelve and my brothers fourteen when we headed to the town near our lands border called Rushing Springs. We liked to go there every now and then to hang out at the local mall.

On this particular day my brothers had been taunting me about my inability to talk to boys even human ones and that was it, the reason that had sealed my fate. I set out to prove my brothers wrong when I spotted the cutest boy sitting by the water fountain just outside the foodcourt doors. My brothers had seen him too and that’s when Orion said, “I bet you five bucks that you can’t have a conversation with that kid for one minute.”

“One minute! I bet you ten bucks that she can’t even say hi.” Helix chimed in. Fuming I jumped up from our table and ever so confidently said, “Get ready to give me your money.” And with that I made my way to the doors. I was all good until the doors slid closed behind me. It was then with less than ten feet separating me from this boy that my facade of confidence began to crumble. I could feel my brothers’ gazes boring into the back of my head and could almost hear their snickers at me. I had to do this. I had to prove them wrong otherwise they would never let me live this down. I mean it was just a kid right? A human kid no less. Yes he was cute and all but in comparison to werewolves, humans just couldn’t compete. It felt like my feet had turned to stone and I could barely get them to move but eventually I made my way to the fountain and stood directly in front of the boy. When he looked up at me and I felt my mouth go dry and the words got stuck in my throat.

“Um can I help you?” I must have looked like an idiot or creeper just standing there staring at him but I couldn’t get my voice to work for what seemed like an eternity until finally I squeaked out, “Hi.” He smiled up at me and with a small laugh said, “Hi.” I stared awkwardly at him for a minute before I found the courage to speak some more. “I’m Elysia.”

“Hi Elysia, I’m Chris. Wanna sit down?”

“Yes please.” I super unattractively plopped down next to him. We sat in awkward silence until Chris finally said, “So do you live around here?” I played with the hem of my shirt and looked around nervously, “Uh yeah. My family has some land a few miles from here. What about you? I’ve never seen you here before.”

“My family just moved to town last week from New York.”

I couldn’t believe it. I was actually having a conversation with this boy. I had never felt so accomplished and I couldn’t wait to go back inside and rub it in my brothers’ faces. Alas that moment would never come for that feeling of elation that I felt came to a screeching halt. One minute I was having a nice conversation with Chris and then the next all Hell was breaking loose. There were explosions and flashes of light all around me. I could barely even make a coherent thought. There were people screaming and running and then through the doors I could see my brothers running toward me yelling but I couldn’t hear them but I figured they were probably telling me to run. It was then that I remembered Chris and my body finally kicked back into gear. I had to get him to safety but when I turned back to face him he was already running towards the parking lot towards a group of men that were decked out in tactical gear. He stopped to talk to them and then with a sinking feeling I watched as he turned and pointed right at me. I didn’t know what was going on but I knew that it wasn’t good so I started to run to my brothers but I had waited too long. Just as I was about to reach the doors another explosion went off right in front of me sending me flying backwards in the air. I landed hard and slid across the ground until I slammed into the fountain that only mere minutes ago I had been sitting at having a good time. If I had been human I would have been dead but I wasn’t. I may not have been killed but I was hurt and fighting to not lose consciousness. I struggled to try and get up but it felt as though a building was sitting on top of me preventing me from moving. Through the haze of smoke and my own blurred vision I could barely make out my brother Helix staggering to his feet and Orion getting himself to a sitting position. Oh thank the Goddess they were alive. My relief was short lived as a pair of combat boots blocked my view and I heard an unfamiliar voice say, “Time to go mutt.” I felt my body being lifted up and as I tried to fight my way out of this man’s grip I was met with a brutal back hand across the face. The pain was intense and left my ear ringing. It was then that I felt a sharp pain in my neck as I was injected with something. Despite my best efforts my body was giving in to the injuries and the medicine that I had been given. The last thing I saw was my brothers trying to make their battered bodies give chase to save me but they were too greatly injured. I wanted to call out to them to save themselves or tell them that it was going to be okay but I had nothing left and that was the last thing I saw of the life I knew.

From that day on I had only known this horrific place. It may have been dressed up nicely but this place was a house of horrors at least to me. The tests had started simple enough but it wasn’t long before they became more intense, more invasive. There were days that I wished I would just die so that the pain would stop. But these people they were evil and smart. They knew when my body couldn’t handle any more and they would stop then let me heal for a few days before they would begin again. I came to learn that they were Huntsman, the maniacal faction of humans who sought to rid the world of Werewolves. To make matters worse was when I found out that Chris was one of them and he was the bait to trap me. When he walked into the room on my second day of captivity I had been confused as to why he was there. In my denial I had convinced myself that he was a prisoner too. That delusion took a dive off a cliff once he opened his mouth.

“Well hello there mutt. How are we feeling today, tired, confused,…scared?”

It took me only a second to determine that I hated him and that I was completely alone in this.

My days and possibly nights, because there was no way to determine the passage of time in this place; no clocks or windows, were filled with endless tests being done on me. They ranged from blood draws to pain tolerance. These people were ruthless and had no inhibitions about hurting a twelve year old girl. For six years this was my life but it felt like an eternity. I only knew how long I had been there because on my eighteenth birthday my wolf made her appearance. Her name was Zara. She struggled to even appear as my body was so weakened by this time. For an eighteen year old werewolf I was tiny and frail. I couldn’t believe it had been six years. I couldn’t help but wonder what my family was doing, if they were okay? Did they forget about me or even still look for me? Tears began to stream down my face but when I heard footsteps approaching I quickly wiped them away and feigned sleep. The guards and scientists had been keeping a really close eye on me this year and I figured it had to do with my wolf. I didn’t know what they had planned but I knew that they were waiting for her to appear. Since she was here I knew it was October 17th and I only had until the end of December to hold them off before what they called “The Excise Experiment” would take place. They didn’t know when my birthday was so they kept checking on me daily which made plotting an escape all the more difficult. It was two weeks later when by some miracle I was able to rush past one of the janitors as he was coming in from the courtyard to run into the night. It felt so refreshing to be outside again and I let myself believe that I was finally free but it was not to be. I was caught on the ridge of the hillside overlooking that palatial mansion with its bright lights and sounds of laughter and people having fun. Freedom had been so close I could taste it. I got a severe beating once they had me back and as I lay on my bed unable to move I stared at the wall thinking that this was how my life was going to end. I was never going to see my family again. I was never going to find my mate. I was going to die alone in this nightmare prison tortured by these sick and sadistic people.I thought I had experienced the worst that they could do to me but I was wrong, so very very wrong. I heard Chris and the boss man of this group talking outside my door.

“Are you sure Sir? She hasn’t shown any signs of having a wolf yet.”

“Hasn’t she?” There was a pause with what I assumed a completely confused look on Chris’s face as his boss continued to explain.

“With all that has been done to her in the last twenty-four hours there is no way that she would have been able to run like she did tonight without the assistance of her wolf. Her wolf is probably weak but its there, I know it.”

My stomach dropped. How could I have been so stupid? Now they knew that I had my wolf and whatever nasty experiment they had planned for me they were going to be able to commence with it. If I had the strength I would have kicked myself. I did what I could to tell myself that it wouldn’t be that bad but I knew that I was lying. I knew that whatever they had waiting for me it was going to make all the other things I went through look and probably feel like they were nothing.