Silenced

Chapter 56

I could smell them before I could see them. The scent of blood and filth turned my stomach. I raised my head slowly to observe my surroundings. I'd hoped that I would see them before they saw me so that I could hide but I was not so lucky. When my eyes found the rogues, they were already looking at me. It was a small group. Two of the rogues were in wolf form and two were still human. I didn't move as they spread out around me. They readied to attack but I didn't feel even a flicker of fear. I didn't care. The nagging thought that Silas knew and hated me was my only concern. If these rogues wanted blood they could have mine.

"You can come with us quietly or my friends can rip you apart. The choice is yours." One of the rogues spoke.

My brow furrowed. It wasn't characteristic of rogues to give their victims any kind of choice. I glanced at the other three. They looked nervous. I turned back to the rogue that had spoken. He was waiting for my response. He hadn't realized that not moving had been my response. I wasn't going anywhere with them.

"Don't be stupid Allie." The rogue growled. My breath caught. This situation had just gone from a welcome escape to my worst possible scenario. The numbness I had felt moments ago gave way to a flood of panic. I fumbled around in my pockets, searching for my phone. My hands came up empty. I'd forgotten it or dropped it. I closed my eyes. I had to think of a way out of this. I couldn't go back to Wolfsbane and I wouldn't be welcome in Willow pack now that they knew. If these rogues knew who I was there was no way they would actually kill me which meant I only had two options: 1.) I could pretend to go willingly or 2.) I could fight them and hope like hell they killed me on accident instead of knocking me out. If I tried option number two and I did end up unconscious it was game over. I'd never get a second chance. At least with option number one I could resort back to option two if a better opportunity didn't present itself.

I took a slow breath and forced myself to my feet. My legs shook with the effort already. I'd run too far too fast and now I was paying the price. The rogue that had spoken nodded and before I could react a sharp pain resounded through the side of my head.

My wrists and mouth burned. The vile taste of wolfsbane was prominent on the cloth over my mouth. I had to fight back the urge to vomit. Puking with a gag on was an easy way to choke. A least I knew I wasn't back in the hospital. If I had been the bindings would've been different and they would know that I couldn't speak.

I opened my eyes a sliver. I needed to see where the rogues were. Two of them had their backs two me as they spoke quietly. I couldn't hear what they were discussing and I didn't care. I opened my eyes a little more. There was still no sign of the other two rogues. I did a quick sweep over the ground with my eyes. There was a fallen branch only a couple feet away. My feet weren't tied. If I was fast I could reach it and use it to disable the rogues before they'd have time to shift.

I moved quickly to avoid talking myself out of it. As I'd hoped I was able to get to the branch before the rogues could stop me. I swung out with the branch as hard as I could. It caught both of them off guard. The force of the branch knocked them off their feet and I took off as fast as I could into the woods.

I didn't make it very far. My legs flew out from under me and I crashed into the ground hard. The force of the fall knocked the air out of me. I covered my head and waited for the pain of teeth ripping into my flesh. Instead the sound of a low, vicious, growl echoed off the trees. I peeked out from under my arms. A monstrous brown wolf stood only a foot away from me. It was baring its teeth with its hackles raised as it glared at the other wolves in the forest. I didn't dare move or even breath. The wolf stepped forward so that it stood over me. I closed my eyes and waited. There were a couple of yelps and then everything was quiet.