Caged

Chapter 17

This chapter is for Paula! Happy birthday! (And sorry, I don't know your WP handle.) Enjoy and have a beautiful day.

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All I had to do was glance at Silas for him to understand I was done. There wasn't much of the body left, the air thick with the scent of dead meat.

"Can I go see Luke?" I asked, worried about how he was doing. Nathan said he was doing fine but I wanted to see for myself. Since he told me what happened, I had wanted to check on Luke.

"Of course, Aggele," Silas responded right away. "Want me to come with you?"

He glanced at his brothers, who were now either cleaning up the mess of dead bodies, or pointing out to the surrounding forest. My hearing told me they were discussing needing to do a sweep for more rogues. Silas followed their movements and I could feel his need to help them.

I didn't want to hold him back from that and I knew where the pack house was.

"No, I can go on my own."

Silas looked back at me and his frown deepened, making me frown. I lifted my hand up and tapped my pointer finger against his forehead. "Stop that. I'll be fine. Help your brothers. And I'll go make sure Luke is okay."

He didn't respond for the longest moment before nodding. "If you find any of those fuckers, howl and then tear their asses apart."

I smiled. "Of course." I carefully took off my clothes and shifted into my wolf. I picked up the clothes with my teeth and took off, heading toward Luke. My senses stayed on high alert, even as I approached the massive cabin. The boys' scents drenched this area since they lived here. I separated each scent, drawing some comfort from them. It was amazing that since they helped Silas and I escape, I healed enough to be able to trust others as much as I did them. I didn't have absolute trust with them, but my instincts told me it was getting there.

I didn't know how to feel about that. It had been just me for so long and then just Silas and me for a bit. Now my wolf and I were slowly letting in eight others, and they all had different personalities. It was hard, really hard.

When I shifted back to human, I threw on the clothes, and then knocked on the door. I listened carefully but didn't hear anything, not a single movement.

I drew in another breath just to double check. No scents out of the norm.

I knocked again, a little louder, and when I didn't hear a response, my fears came out to play. I moved away from the building, looking around, trying to find life inside.

Nothing moved.

I bit my lip and eyed the windows before going over to one and looking inside.

Dark and shadowy.

I backed away, eyeing the slightly opened window on the second level. Taking in a deep breath, I harden my nerves. Something was wrong. Why wasn't Luke responding? Did he go out when the rogues attacked? What if he was hurt again?

"Hold on," I mumbled, my brain forming an image of Luke hurt and dying on the floor, blood fanning out around him as he bled out.

I ran and jumped, putting everything I had into it. My muscles screamed at the movement, not used to it. I didn't go as high as a shifter should be able to but I was able to latch onto some grooves on the outside and then pull myself up the rest of the way, my muscles hating me. After the sparring, the running, and then the fighting, my body was exhausted.

When I got to the ledge, I pushed the window up the rest of the way, popped out the screen and then pulled myself inside.

I rolled, landing softly onto the carpeted floor, popping up onto my feet in a room filled with black. Black bedding, black carpet, dark walls. The musk in the room told me I was in North's room. I wanted to get a better look at his space but Luke was priority first.