Twisted (Editing)

Chapter 29

One night went by without another battle. Then another, then another. I began to worry that there wouldn't be another one. That our window of opportunity had closed and we had missed it. Until on the fourth night, Jonah's father came into the living room with a grave look on his face. His eyes were bloodshot, his under eyes purple. Everything about it screamed he needed more sleep and that the stress was cracking him. He looked at his son whose hand dropped from my back. "It's time."

I looked at Jonah. "Time? Another battle."

He didn't look at me. "And hopefully the last." Rising and joining his father they disappeared. Lara, the Luna and I sat in a tense silence. We were all worried, all for our different reasons. The Luna must've been worried for her pack, Lara for her father and brother, and me? Well, this was my one chance.

They came back a few minutes later. "It's confirmed. We need to get men into flanks now or we're going to be overrun. There are only a few men posted at the guard posts and they're not going to hold out very long."

"How are you going to do it?" I asked, standing up. "Wolves against guns and army vehicles?"

The Alpha turned to me. "We'll lure them out. They can't bring armored trucks into the forest and we know our woods better than anybody else. But we have to move fast if we're going to have any sort of advantage."

I followed the family to the front door. Jonah's mom wrapped her arms around her husband. He smoothed her hair down. "Come back to me alive, okay?"

"I'd never dare think otherwise." I looked away from the scene. It was too personal, too intimate. I felt like I was intruding.

Lara hugged her brother and said a few words to him out of my earshot. And then he looked at me. My heart froze in my chest. Should I say something? It's not as though he would expect it. I'd been icy these last four days, keeping my distance. 'Sadness.' I'd say. Really, it was nerves. But that was the last time I would ever see him again and though I was happy, some part of me would always be here, by his side. I blame the mate bond for that and its pull that's caused me so many problems these last few weeks.

I crossed the space between us and Lara stepped back and towards her father. 'This is a final goodbye', I thought. 'Don't say enough to reveal your escape plans, but enough to get out what you need to say.' "Don't die okay?"

He wrapped his arms around me and I breathed in his scent. It was calm and relaxing and still reminded me of a warm fire on a cold winter night. "I won't." He buried his face in the crook of my shoulder. "I love you."

The words were soft, but they were there. "I love you too." He stilled, arms frozen around me. My words even surprised myself. It had been a quick, automatic answer. He pulled away from me and opened his mouth to ask a question. I waved him away. "We'll talk about it later."

As they left his presence was replaced by another one. His mother squeezed my arm gently. "What?" I asked. Did she hear me?

"I understand what it's like to be young and confused. I came here young from a pack far away. I know what you're feeling."

"I don't love him," I said, talking more to myself than anything else. "I don't think I do. That would be wrong. It's a disorder you know, to love your captor. I don't."

She smiled at me. It was sad and pitiful, full of understanding and recognition. I hated it. "Well, it's late." She flinched at the gunshots in the distance. It looked like they wouldn't have that early advantage. "We should go to bed. Close your windows and curtains just in case a bullet hits the glass."