I wake up in the closet, not sure how I got here, not sure when I got back. I remember helping Bass back to the mansion before parting ways. He left me in the empty house as he went to hunt. Not sure why he didn't do it when were in the woods but he said he would return. Well he didn't.
I left after a while. I walked all the way back. Lost in thought. After that it's all blurry.
Theo's voice telling me that Ander deserves better replayed like a broken record in my mind. I know he's right, I even told him so, doesn't make it hurt less.
I didn't want to hurt Ander. I didn't want to think what would become of him if I did ever leave him. An image of my mother pops in my mind and brush that away. I could never wish that upon anyone. Not even Theo.
Heading to my bed I come to find Mark reading. He has Bridge to Terabithia.
"Stop reading depressing books."
"Stop sleeping in the closet."
"Shut up," I weakly respond.
I go to lay next to him. Hugging his middle I lay my head on his chest, making him put the book down. He holds me as I trace circles on his arm.
"What do you want to do today?" He asks, the silence was getting to him.
"I don't know, Bass wants to train. I was thinking of just going to school but it's Friday and I rather not."
Mark snorts. "I think you've been more out of school than in it this semester."
"Not by choice." I hadn't been spending it like most would dream spending their off school days. I prefer to be sitting in a boring lecture than in agonizing pain any day.
"You really want to train? I thought we can go into the city, since it's free reign."
The cities are the only places where territories are none existent. Most of the time my parents found a place to live with in its lines but there was a few instances where we landed in the suburbs. Which was mostly wolf territory.
"I rather not, I could use his help. It also helps me with my wolf. I'm putting in more shifting time this time around. I shifted effortlessly last night."
"Last night?"
I freeze. The memory of Mark and Ander's conversation comes to mind. If he had our link open he would have known about my eavesdropping tendencies.
"Yeah, it was a short session. It was only me and Bass."
"Hmm," Mark says. He playfully pulls my hair. I look up at him and glare. His lopsided smile greets me causing me to blush.
"Then I guess I should go get ready."
To say I was scared was putting it mildly. Bass was angry. I should clarify I'm not scared for my being, I was afraid for Mark.
When I thought I had given them enough time to prepare for our training I told the Burke's I was going for a jog. Which I did. Just to the Holt's.
I arrive to an angry Bass shouting at a stunned Mark.
"You're seriously going to stand there and say I'm part of the family when I'm excluded from all the important decisions?" Bass shouts.
"Bass, listen man. You're more part of this family than I am. I was the last to join, remember?" Mark defends.
"And yet you're more reliable than I am. You didn't just keep her out in the dark, which I can understand that. What I can't understand is why me!"
"We-I thought you shouldn't be burden," Mark was grasping.
"Burden? The only burden here is clearly me," Bass sneers. He turns to me but doesn't say anything; he just dashes away.
Mark shouts for him but Bass is long gone.
"Count your blessings, he clearly wanted to rip you a part," I tell Mark. Bass was shaking with rage, something I haven't seen in a while. Whenever he got that mad all havoc broke loose. He could and would destroy a whole city by his lonesome self.
Mark sighs. He looks torn, I know he meant well by excluding Bass, but as someone on that receiving end I side with Bass.
"Keeping secrets will always cause one outcome, no matter how big or small, they will cause those you're trying to protect to distrust and loath you."
"Not now, Vee," Mark snaps at me.
"Then when, Mark? When it blows back on your face and the inevitable comes to happen? You're not doing anyone favors by withholding things that might help them and you in the end."
"You wouldn't understand, you can't even care for yourself, you're withholding the fact that you're not bonding with your mate. Don't be a hypocrite. You can talk all this talk because you don't know everything but if you did you wouldn't have done anything differently, and yes I would know that."
Mark leaves me alone, I have to admit, he's not wrong. I am a hypocrite. My lies are something I have to address. As for Mark I just hope it doesn't blow over too badly. For all of our sakes.
Ash comes outside to find me standing like an idiot staring after where Mark had left.
"I should go look for Bass," she says shamefully. She looked as if she was crying.
"Who's secret is it?" I ask her.
"What?"
"The thing you clearly kept from me and Bass, who's is it?"
Ash opens and closes her mouth. She was contemplating leaving me and going after Bass to avoid another outburst like Bass's.
"I can't say," she whispers. She looks just as torn as Mark. Unlike Mark she looks like she's carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She keeps looking for Bass. Tears form in her eyes, she was breaking.
"He went that way," I point to where Bass disappeared from.
She looks at me apologetically before dashing after her love.
"I guess there's no training today," I mumble to myself.
I jog all the way back to the Burke's. Not wanting to go back inside I head to their backyard.
I know I was playing around when Mark had come when I first explored here, I decide to give meditation a try. Maybe even dabble in some yoga, but decide against that.
I walk close to the cliff John had once told me about I look down. It was steep, not as steep as the ones I've seen.
Sitting by the edge I sit crossing my legs. I try to concentrate but my mind keeps playing Mark's words. "Hypocrite," I whisper to myself.
Sighing, I brush that out of my mind. I needed to focus on emptying my mind of all my troubles. I needed to think of nothing, I needed to become nothing.
A noise catches my attention. I open my eyes, I look towards the wooded area. Something was there. I can sense it and smell it. My heart beats faster. Something was wrong. Another sound, a branch snapping.
I slowly stand as I keep still and listen. There clearly is more than one person out there.
I concentrate on figuring out where they are. The Burke's are inside and the last thing I wanted was to put them in danger.
Slowly three wolves come out behind the trees. I stare at them as they make their approach. The first one was a grey wolf with black patches, behind it to his right was a copper haired one, the third was a dark brown one.
I stood my ground watching them advance. I don't give them a reaction.
The grey one shifts. I already knew who it was from it's green eyes.
Otto smirks at me as the copper wolf shifts as well. The brown one stays in wolf form.
I keep my eyes on Otto's, I don't let them wonder as I know his clothes are in tatters and he's mostly exposed.
"Hello, beautiful," Otto greets me.
"Hello, handsome, miss me?" I joke.
Otto snorts a laugh. Giving me a lopsided smile he steps closer to me.
"I just had to check up on my favorite person," he winks at me.
I can feel myself blushing.
"How sweet," I gush, as I roll my eyes.
"I had a feeling I wasn't clear last time we spoke. I came to clarify a few things."
I catch my breath, holding it I stand still. He had threatened me that if I didn't join him I would die. Jokes on him, well on me as well, I will still die whether or not I make a choice.
"Really? A text would have suffice," I take a step back. He was getting too close. I realize my mistake, not only did I react by stepping back, which made him smile thinking he has scared me, but because I hadn't realize the other three wolves.
While I was focused on Otto and his buddies another set had crept in. I was surrounded. The cliff was now on my back and my only way out. Unless I fought, but let's be realistic, one against six isn't fair.
"The fault with that is that I don't think you have my number."
I look at him, faking confidence I laugh. "Oh, that is a dilemma. How about I pencil you in for a millennia from now and we can discuss anything you'd like."
Otto laughs, "how about we settle on a day today. In the foreseeable future, if you don't mind."
A dark wolf growls at me. It closes in making me take another step back. "Now, now, we don't want to frighten the lady, do we?" Otto tells the wolf.
The three that I hadn't noticed seemed to be over our little tirade as they continue to come closer to me. Otto was looking annoyed as he looked at the wolves. Clearly speaking in their minds.
I take a quick glance behind me to see how much room I had to work with, I was far too close than I'd like. One wrong step and I could trip and tumble down the cliff.
Taking my nanosecond diversion the dark wolf leaps towards me. I side step it, getting a punch in its muzzle. It yelps in pain. A dark brown one, one of the ones that came sneaking in, runs to me. It was trying to tackle me to throw me off the cliff.
I do a spinning kick getting him right on his head. It goes flying into the copper haired guy.
The third one, a light haired one, it's fur almost looked yellow. It snarled before jumping as it's teeth tried to bite my face off. I was more than ready to leap and meet him mid air but before I could move I was tackled.
More like head butted. The one I had punched had been bidding his time to run to me. Using his force he swings his head connecting with my midsection, sending me flying back.
The hit and the impact of crashing down a cliff take my breath away. I tumbled down managing to hit every rock on the way down. Pain seared throughout my body. I was scrapping and colliding with everything on my way down.
I come to collapse on top of a rock. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, my vision was blinding. Something was rushing down my face making it harder to see.
I tried to sit up but a sharp pain came from my right shoulder. I wouldn't be surprised if it was dislocated or if most of my bones were broken. John was right, a fall from there would cause gnarly scars.
I just let myself lie there focusing on gaining my breathing. It was coming out shallow and my lungs were starting to burn from the lack of oxygen.
"What is wrong with you?" Otto snarls.
I look up to see him jump down. He lands on his feet just beside me. Kneeling he asses the damage I got from the fall.
A look crosses his face but my head began to spin and I missed it. I close my eyes. The world was rotating a little too fast for me.
"I said a little scare!" Otto grits out. I can't hear any other voices so my guess was he was speaking out loud while the rest mind link him. "This is not what we agreed upon!"
"No, it isn't," a deep voice responds. "She wasn't part of the plan. We are wasting time here for some bitch. If you can't handle this anymore maybe it's time for you to get out of the picture."
"You don't understand, do you? She was our way in," Otto growls.
"There's more ways to get what we want."
I hear footsteps, paw-steps? Run away from where I was laying.
Nausea was overtaking me. I was more than willing to puke all over Otto.
"We have to go, they'll be here any minute. If they find us they'll kill us," another voice pleads.
I open my eyes to see copper hair guy try to pull Otto away. Otto is lost in thought but doesn't budge from where he is. Still kneeling before me as if he cared about my wellbeing.
"It wasn't suppose to go like this," Otto looks at me. His face blank as so are his eyes. He reaches over me. Putting something cold on my hand he gets up and shifts. I hear them run leaving me alone.
After a minute I try to raise my arm up to see what he gave me but it was too painful.
I force myself to sit up. Nausea and dizziness blind me for a minute before I accomplish anything. I drag myself to the edge of the cliff. Resting my back to it I let my breathing neutralize. My right shoulder was indeed dislocated.
With my shaking left hand I asses the damage. I can pop it back with enough force. I try to move but my right ankle is clearly broken.
I move to a better position as I prepare myself for a quick repair. I was going to relocate my shoulder, Bass had shown me how before.
Prepping myself up I kept telling myself that I got this. Clearly I was delusional but I was going to help myself out of this situation. I can't always relay on being rescued.
Once I got everything aligned I got for it. I hear a crunch as I collide with the rock on the cliff. It had helped me reattach my shoulder but I think I broke a piece of the rock off. It was a price I was willing to pay but now I feel like I used a little too much force.
Nausea once again over took me but I don't vomit. Instead I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. I couldn't panic or let my judgement get impaired.
Looking down I was still holding what Otto had given me. It was my phone. It's completely shattered. The screen was covered in spiderwebbed cracks. I doubt it was functional.
What did he even think I was going to do with this? I think to myself.
After a few attempts to stand I give up. My head was spinning and throbbing and it was getting pretty late.
I didn't want to worry the Burke's more than they already are. I grab the discarded phone, trying to use it was more harder than I had anticipated.
I do manage to call Bass, my last call.
"Hello?" Bass answers. He sounded defeated. Same.
"Hey," I say cheerfully, "how are you?"
"I'm not really in the mood to talk." His words make my heart sink. I know exactly how he's feeling. Being left out is not bad but it's worse when it's from the people you love.
"I know," I whisper. "I'm-"
"Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Bass starts to panic. I flinch. I did only call him once before when I was dying.
"Ummm, yeah..." I say, trying to sound more lively.
"Vee, what's wrong?"
"I sort of fell and I sort of broke my ankle, but I'm fine," I reassure him.
"What?" Bass shouts. "Where are you?"
"On the bottom of the cliff behind the Burke's, try to be discreet. I don't want to worry them."
Bass sighs, "you're hurt but you don't want to worry them?"
"Yup," I pop the p. "Don't want to burden them with my problems."
"Trust me it's not a burden if they care for you," I stay quiet. "I'm on my way, don't move."
He hangs up, "where would I even go?" I say to myself.
He arrives a few minutes later. He must have gone far.
"Holy cow," Bass says as he reaches me.
"No, just me," I tell him.
He laughs. "You really did a number, were you trying to fly?"
"Don't be silly, I was checking if gravity was still a thing." I deadpan.
"All right, smartass. Let's get you up," he bends to carry me. Pain engulfs me from the movement making him settle me back down.
"Can't you just stick back in?" I say breathlessly.
"You want me to stick your broken ankle back in?" Bass asks me astonished.
I nod. He laughs again as I glare at him.
"Let me go get a first aid kit to clean you up, you'll have to get a cast for that, sunshine."
I stare at where I know Otto and his pack went. Bass comes back, he catches me staring into the distant. He looks around as if he's now assessing the situation.
"What really happened to you, Vee?"
I look him in the eye, "I was ambushed."
He freezes from my words, but before he can move I grab onto his arm. "I got it handled. I just took a stumble. Helping me now is all you can do. They're long gone."
Bass processes what I said before helping me. He wipes my cuts, I don't focus on the burning sensation from the rubbing alcohol. I keep staring at the woods beyond.
"I did all I can," Bass sheepishly says.
"Thank you, you've saved me," I reach for him. He bends to hug me. We hold each other for a minute before he picks me up.
"Come on, let's go see how your humans react to your gravity test."
"Gravity won, only because I wasn't ready."
Angie sees Bass carry me in and the look of panic that came to her face will forever be engraved in my mind. She looked scared.
"I'm okay, just took a stumble," I tell her. She's still speechless.
John walks in to see me, "what happened?"
He rushes to me. Bass shifts me away from him. "She might have broken her ankle, she'll need X-Rays." Bass informs them.
John tried to reach for me but Bass backs away. I was about to say something when I realize he was stepping back because my injured leg was getting a little too close to banging against the wall and John getting closer would only smother it.
John notices as well, he steps back. "We need to take her to the hospital."
Bass walks outside to position me inside Mark's car. He hands my keys to John. They talk for a minute before John gets in the driver side. Angie still looks scared. She sits on the back, when she sees me staring she tries to smile at me. I was starting to regret letting Bass take me inside.