Forsaken (Book 3 of the Zara's Wolf Trilogy) BWWM - ON HOLD

5. Break Away

I don't know what time it is when I come around again, but it's dark and the only light comes from the glow of a campfire outside my tent.

Again, I see the silhouette of the young man outside, but my immediate attention is drawn to the girl sitting cross legged in front of me, staring directly at me through the faint light.

My eyes bug out in surprise by how intently she's staring at me and how still she's sitting. Like a statute, I can't even tell if she's breathing or not.

It's not until her head begins to tilt slightly that I know she's real and not some hallucination caused by the wolfsbane.

I can't see her face clearly in the shadows, but I feel her eyes still staring unblinkingly at me from her position three feet away.

In the faint orange glow, I make out the bronze tint in her dark skin and her size suggests that she's either eleven or twelve years old. Her hair is about two inches long and resembles a frizzy pom-pom—an afro that I once supported in my childhood as well, although I had been half her age at the time.

But it's the intensity of her gaze that I can't shake and makes me shiver.

Slowly, she slips backward on her bum to the opening of the tent, where she opens it and tugs on the hem of the young man's T-shirt.

Peering in, he whispers something to her before she nods and he gets up.

I attempt to swallow, but my mouth and throat burn. There's no moisture on my tongue when I lick my dirt-laden lips. It's rough and dry like fine sandpaper and I flinch from the texture of it. Opening my mouth, I try to ask for water, but no sound comes out.

My eyelids droop with a groan as I give into the darkness. I strain my ears to pick up anything around me, and aside from the crackling of the campfire, everything is quiet.

The faint sizzle and pop of the burning wood is somehow soothing to my ears, and I remember a time when Evan held me as we sat before a similar campfire. Sitting behind me, his arms were wrapped around my middle as I leaned against him, hypnotized as we watched the flames dance before us. The warmth of the fire radiated against our skin after an eventful day outdoors together. The whisper of his breath tickled the curve of my neck as he trailed butterfly kisses across my shoulder...

Choking back a sob, I allow my thoughts to linger a moment longer on the memory before I push it from my mind. As much as the recollection comforted me, it twisted my heart painfully to think that I may never see him or feel his touch again.

Intruding in my moment of quiet suffering, the young man shuffles into the tent again and presses something to my lips.

Flinching, I pull away, not wanting anymore wolfsbane to enter my body.

Sighing, he tries again. "Girl, it's only water. You're dehydrated now. Drink from the straw. Don't make me tell Father that you're misbehaving. You don't want that. Trust me."

I open my eyes and see his dark form leaning over me and the clear plastic bottle in his hand. Raising my head and parting my lips, I let him slip the straw into my mouth and take a few awkward sips.

I know that I can't deny my body what it needs. I need all the strength I can get.

Sucking up my pride, I obey without further protest.

My throat feels raw from the lack of moisture and the wolfsbane, and the water eases away some of the discomfort, but my heart still aches from the feeling of betrayal. This is partly his fault. He shouldn't have given me wolfsbane in the first place. Brothers, even half-brothers, shouldn't do that to their sisters.

Sipping slowly through the straw for a few minutes, relief seeps into my body and I pull back when I've had enough.

"Eyr, I'mma need those crackers now," he says over his shoulder in a low voice to the young girl still peering at me from the front of the tent.

She nods before stepping out.

As he turns his attention back to me, I croak out, "Who are you?"

"Anton," he says. "That's Eyrica. She don't talk. Dunno if she's mute or not, but she just don't say a word. We're all half-siblings. Same daddy, just different mamas."

He puts the water bottle down and sighs. "If you be a good girl, you can meet the others tomorrow."

My eyes widen. "Others?"

"Yeah. There's Muse, he's the oldest. Then there's me. Malkom is fifteen, and Jamal is fourteen. Eyrica is twelve, and Benjamin is the youngest. We found him a few weeks ago in Wisconsin after his first shift."

I can't help but stare at him. I have six freaking half-siblings?

"And trust me, Zara," he says, lowering his voice to a whisper. "You need to be a good girl. There ain't no messing around here. You're the alpha's daughter, so no one's allowed to touch you, but that doesn't mean you can pull some bullshit drama here. You gotta watch your back all the time, ya hear? Until you bear Father's mark, you're still an outsider and will be treated as such."

"Bear his mark?" I ask. "You mean, like, join you guys?"

When he nods, I shake my head, my dreads rubbing into the dirt. "Not happening. I have a mate and pack. I'm not leaving them."

"Don't get your hopes up," he says.

Eyrica comes back then and hands him a package of crackers.

I don't feel hungry at all. If anything, I feel worse.

"How? How can you say that?" I ask as tears begin to well.

As he opens the plastic wrapper, he says, "I overheard some of their plans. We're safe where we're hiding, but the White Peak will fall. Everything's going to explode like a volcano. They will take no captives, no survivors. They can't be trusted."

He pulls out a cracker and breaks off a bite-sized piece. "I'm sorry," he says as he lifts it to my lips, "but this is how things work around here."

I turn away as tears begin to fall down my cheeks. I know he's only answering my questions, but the betrayal hits me even harder now. He's supposed to be my brother, but even he's supporting the man who has kidnapped me and is plotting the death of my mate and pack.

"Zara, I'm serious," he says sternly. "Do not rebel. There is no escaping the Shadow Rogues. If you do not submit willingly, Father will use force. He will break you until you submit, understand? Now, eat."

Lifting my head, I do as I'm told and open my mouth. Pieces of my heart break apart as he feeds me. It's more than the fact that I may never see Evan and the others again, and while that's the biggest part of my heart to break, it's not the only piece.

It's the fact that in order to escape, in order to be reunited with Evan again, I have to betray those I'm supposed to love. Those I am bound to by blood.

I have to turn against my own father and siblings.

---- Author's Note ----

Eyrica is pronounced like the name "Erica". Muse is a Somali name pronounced like "Moo-say". Don't worry about all the names, Anton and Eyrica have bigger parts in the story than the others.