WILD

thirty one

Lorena panted heavily as Orion dragged her up the stairs, carrying Vera in the other arm because she wasn't strong enough to run.

Lorena hated stairs. She could run on level ground for hours. Stairs? Hell no. She could hardly breathe, but luckily the building wasn't too large and they quickly reached the roof.

Orion unlocked the door and they emerged from the staircase and into the fresh air, which both her and Orion gulped in as if their lives depended on it.

"C'mon." He pulled Lorena towards the shed on the roof and crouched down inside, placing Vera on the floor and in the corner. "Get in there, Lorena."

Lorena got down and sat in the small shed next to Vera.

Orion backed up and sighed deeply, still trying to catch his breath. "Im going to shut the door. Stay here and don't move or make a sound."

Lorena nodded. In all of the panic she hadn't even gotten to ask why they were hiding, but she was sure it didn't matter at the moment. Clearly now wasn't the time to ask questions.

Orion leaned in and kissed Lorena on the forehead. Lorena could smell the fear and worry on him and worst of all, she could feel it. He pulled away and shut the door, leaving the girls cowering and shaking in the small rooftop closet.

Lorena shut her eyes and tried to calm herself. She didn't know what was going on, but she hoped that Orion and Max were going to be okay.

Vera whimpered, pulling her legs to her chest. "It's Sean. I know it is. Sean and my father."

Lorena wanted to tell Vera to shut her mouth because that's what Orion told them to do, but she was intrigued. Especially at the news that her old alpha was here.

"Alpha Warden? Why?"

Vera shook her head. "My father set Sean up to catch me before they even released us into that arena. Sean made a deal with my father if my father gave me over to him. He gets me, he helps my father get his revenge."

Lorena started to panic internally. "Revenge? On who?"

Vera shrugged, clearly anxious. "I don't know because he didn't say much more after that. Apparently it has something to do with someone here."

Lorena nodded, but said no more. Orion told them not to make any noise and whoever was out there she didn't want them to find her or Vera.

Vera shifted to get a little more comfortable and she brushed up against Lorena before jerking away. "Your skin is burning hot! Are you-?"

Lorena shut her eyes and cut her off, not really wanting to speak about it. "Yes," she snapped.

Vera held her hands up in defense. "Whoa, okay. Just asking."

Lorena sighed, annoyed at herself for reacting the way she did. "I'm sorry, okay? I just hate speaking about it."

Vera cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Why? It happens to all omega females."

Lorena growled. "That's the point. I hate the fact that I'm always going to need an alpha to fully satiate those urges. It's embarrassing."

Vera looked down at her lap and sighed. "Well, Orion seems nice. He cares about you. I wish Sean was as nice. If he cares about me at all, he has a weird way of showing it."

Lorena turned to look at her friend and pursed her lips together. Maybe she should put things into perspective. At least she didn't have a bloodthirsty mate who was hunting her down. "I'm sorry, Vera."

Vera shook her head. "This is nobody's fault but my father's. He would never have sent any of my siblings into that arena. He wanted to get rid of me and he found a way to capitalize off of it in the process. This is a win-win for him. Sean too. He gets me, and he gets to kill for sport like he says he loves to do."

Lorena cringed. "Geez."

"Yeah."

Suddenly, there was the sound of a door swinging open and hitting a wall. The girls jumped and held their palms over their mouths so that they weren't heard.

Lorena forced herself to calm down all of the way until her heartbeat was at a resting rate. Getting worked up would release hormones and werewolves could literally smell fear. Thankfully, they couldn't smell too well in their human forms.

Heavy footsteps hit the floor and slowly crept towards them. Vera whimpered and Lorena snapped her head towards her, glaring.

The footsteps advanced on their hiding spot and the two girls pushed back into the corner as tightly as they could. Lorena's eyes darted around to find something to fight back with.

Someone shook the door handle and the girls grabbed onto each other. They heard heavy breathing on the other side and right when they thought the footsteps receded, a large foot smashed through the weak wooden door.

They screamed as an arm came through the hole and grabbed onto Vera's leg. Lorena quickly threw herself onto the arm and bit down hard.

She flinched as a loud and masculine scream came from the other side of the door. Vera gave her a grateful look and pulled her legs closer to her.

The girls screamed in terror as the door was kicked all the way down. The hooded man grabbed Lorena by her hair before she could react. Vera screamed, but didn't move, frozen in fear.

He pulled Lorena up to eye level and chuckled. "You're Orion's, aren't you?"

Lorena just struggled, wincing every time the tension on her hair became too much to bear. "Fuck off."

He glared at her and wrapped a large hand around her neck, walking her to the edge of the roof. She clawed desperately at the hand cutting off her air and circulation, also focusing on not falling backwards off the roof.

Vera ran over to the man with the hood over his face, pleading with him. "Just let her go! It's me you want! I know Sean put you up to this!" She looked around frantically, figuring out a way to fight back. Lorena was nearly hanging off the edge of the roof, and one wrong move would send both him and her friend over the edge.

She could tell that Lorena's eyes were rolling back and that she would be unconscious in a few seconds if the pressure on her neck wasn't released. Vera pulled on the man's arm, but he didn't even budge.

He waited for the struggling girl in his grasp to go limp.

"Please! Let her go!"

The man remained silent and instead turned back to the limp body in his hand.

Then he let go.