They all left her alone after that. There was nothing else that they could do. Layla paced the room like a wolf. The room they had put her in was mostly a highly decorated bedroom.
There was a bed, couch, and even a closet that she wasn't sure what it would contain.
But there were no windows at all. Layla had tried throwing herself against the door a few times already, but it wouldn't budge. It was probably metal and bolted into the wall on the other side from both ends.
They came in to give her food, but three guards came in at once, two in wolf form. They had learned not to underestimate her.
Or, Burn had, at least. There was no way that she was going to be able to fight her way past them, not two wolves in form as strong as her own.
They brought her food, things that a wolf would eat. After a while, they started bringing her human food. She had to shift back to eat everything and give it some time to digest before she could shift again into wolf form.
She made sure that whenever they came to bring her food, she was a wolf. She couldn't risk them chaining her with wolfsbane and silver while in human form. She would never be able to shift like that.
There was something in the silver and wolfsbane when mixed that could stop a wolf from transforming.
Her father had explained to her how to make the mixture, and how it could be applied. He had used it in his interrogations when he could. Often, if he couldn't get it on the wolf fast enough, they just shifted out of caution. She knew the trick was not to let them grab a hold of her in human form, so she made sure to be a wolf whenever they came.
Time passed very slowly. She was a wolf, but like almost every other animal in the world, she had an innate sense of time passing and weather changing. They were made from this world, this soil. It flowed through them, and they knew it better than they knew themselves.
As the time passed, she knew that she had to escape. She couldn't stay there. Only Henry would know that she was missing, and she had no idea where he was.
Did they have him here too? That didn't make any sense since they had asked her questions about him like they were planning on ambushing him at home. But where was he? Would he be home soon?
Would he know that she was gone immediately, or would he just think she was sleeping in her room?
She knew that she couldn't rely on anyone, not even Henry, to find her. And she knew that she had to get out of here herself.
She started memorizing the guards' schedule. They opened the door to her room wide when she came, knowing she would never get past the wolves like that, so they weren't too careful about it.
One guard would come in, leading the two wolves, and he would place the tray of food down on the table for her. The two wolves stuck a part of themselves into the room, but not much. Once the food was down, they all retreated.
Layla knew roughly how many hours they gave her between each meal since they'd fed her three times already so far. She also
knew how long she had before they came again.
She glanced at the cupboard on the one side of the room and then glanced to the door again. A plan formed in her mind quietly.
The next time the guard brought her food, he found her curled up on the bed, firmly in wolf form. He placed the tray down, and two wolves sniffed the room. Everything was just like they'd been doing before.
Once they left, Layla shifted back into human form and made her way over to the cupboard. It was empty, but she didn't have any need for anything. She carefully lifted the cupboard, knowing that would make less noise, and placed it down beside the door. When the door opened again, the cupboard would be slightly behind it.
She had only moved the cupboard from one wall to the other. She knew that they wouldn't notice it, but they would notice her scent.
She glanced at the food they had brought her. Though her stomach needed nutrients, she didn't eat. She took the food off the tray and placed it all in the cupboard. She climbed up to the top of the cupboard and sat next to the food.
It took all of her strength not to eat it. She knew that she needed the scent of the food to cover her scent up there. Now, she just had to wait.
Sure enough, within the allotted time, the door opened again. She focused her mind to be sharp. She had to be quick. She knew that the inside of her room was soundproof.
Once the door was closed, that would help with her plan the most.
The guard carrying the tray opened her door wide. Layla felt their confusion tinge in the air. Seeing the seemingly empty room, the wolves rushed in ahead of the guard carrying the food. Layla jumped off the cupboard and out the door before the wolves could even turn around, kicking the guard carrying the tray outside the door with her.
She ignored him and quickly pulled the door shut, slamming the deadlock and locking the two wolves inside. She knew they had to be howling and scratching, but she couldn't hear anything. The guard outside of the room with her regained his senses and attacked her, but he was far too slow.
Layla side-stepped him and grabbed the back of his head as the momentum pushed him forward, crashing his head against the deadbolt.
He collapsed to the ground, knocked out cold.
Layla didn't have much time. Someone would come looking for the wolves who had been sent to bring her food. Soon, the wolf she had knocked out would recover and sound the alarm.
She needed to get out, and she needed to get out fast.
She ran through the building, searching for an exit. She tried to follow the scents, where the freshest air was coming from, but it was
very difficult. There were so many conflicting scents in the air, and some smelled terrible. She tried not to think about all the blood she smelled.
Wherever she smelled wolfsbane or silver, she turned in the other direction.
She knew it was taking too long. She felt like she was going in circles and was never going to find her way out. She forced herself to keep moving. She couldn't allow her mind to lose focus, not now, or she never would find her way out of the place.
She refocused her thoughts, kept calm, and kept searching.
She caught a hint of air smelling just a bit cleaner than the others, and then she caught the scent of pine. There was no way that scent could come from anywhere but the outside. Turning quickly toward it, she ran in that direction.
The scent of pine and clean air grew stronger the more she ran in that direction. She knew she was going the right way. The light around her changed to more natural lighting than fluorescent lightbulbs, and Layla knew she was almost free.
She saw a door made of wood ahead of her and put on speed. She would crash right through it if she had to. She knew her escape was just behind that door.
Layla ran faster and jumped, bracing herself for the impact of the door.
It never came. She collided against a warm body. Arms went around her waist, trapping her in a vice-like grip. She sensed him immediately, even without opening her eyes.
Auburn. She knew that it was useless to even struggle in his grasp. This was an Alpha, and she was an Omega. She might still have a chance against a Beta, but there was no way that she could fight off another Alpha. It was just impossible.
Layla felt shackles go around her neck and hands. Silver and wolfsbane burned into her skin. She knew her wolf was beyond her reach now.
"You're stuck in human form now, Little Omega," Burn told her. "And all that for trying an escape that failed. No matter, you'll work just fine as live bait, bringing Henry straight to us."
Layla felt deflated in his arms as he dragged her back to the room she had come from.