Healing His Mate

Chapter 1

Aaliyah POV

The scream lodges itself in my throat as I bolt upwards. I can feel the sweat roll down my neck as my heart pounds in my chest. The cot under me creaks as I try to adjust.

It was just a dream, I try to remind myself over and over again, It was just a dream

I push the memories from the last surgery deep into my mind as I focus on staying calm.

The air in the tight space is stale. I haven't left this room in weeks. Looking down at the surgical scars, they are almost healed shut.

The fear starts to creep back up as I think about my body finally healing. I glance towards the camera in the corner near the only door in the small space. They know I'm healing as well. They will be coming for me soon to start again.

It's been the same pattern since the doctors first decided to start cutting into me; since they took my voice. They cut into my body and experiment on me until I'm close to death. Then they stitch me up, stick me in this room, and allow me to heal just enough until they do it all over again.

When they first took me, I was only seventeen years old. I was about to graduate high school and I planned to go to college. I was walking home after a school football game when I got a message from my mom. I never stood a chance at getting away.

When I was brought here, I was kept in a cage with other wolf shifters. They would force us to fight in the arena to study us. When they saw me shift for the first time, they knew I wasn't a wolf. That's when they moved me into the special containment units.

They took my voice and placed me in this room until the day of the first surgery.

I used to fight.

But I don't have any fight left.

I don't remember when it happened. I couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when I finally snapped. All I know now is that they broke me beyond repair.

A loud alarm rings outside at the same moment the door clicks open. I creep towards the opening and I focus my hearing to the empty hall outside my room.

No one. No guards. No doctors. Peeling the door to open wider, I look out into the empty hall.

I'm alone. There isn't anyone waiting to hurt me. No one is there to kill me.

Is this a test? I question myself, Are they trying to see if I'm strong enough to get out?

I step out of the room and hesitate.

Is this worth what they will do to me? What if it is a test? What if I don't make it out?

A loud explosion on a floor above me shakes the building and disrupts my shakes thoughts.

The hunters are being attacked. This isn't a test. This is my chance to escape.

Moving down the hall fast, I push through the open doors until I reach the elevator banks. Knowing I won't be able to make them move without a keycard, I move to the stairwell in the area and head toward the first floor.

My muscles ache from the lack of movement over the years, but I know I can't stop. If I stop, I'll be caught and they'll take me back to be cut into again.

The flashing yellow lights strobe around the halls on the first floor. I move along the walls slowly as I watch for any guards.

I can hear fighting from another part of the building and the echoing of bullets mixed with growls from shifters. Looking towards the end of the hall from the elevators, I spot the large glowing exit sign.

I breathe out a sigh of relief at being so close to freedom. I move as quickly as I can. My hand reaches out to push the door when I hear a soft click behind me.

"Turn around slowly," a deep voice tells me, "You're out of your cell."

Turning my body, I stare back at the guard. He's large enough to be more than two of me and full of muscle. I know I won't be able to take him, even if he didn't have the gun.

I try to get my body to shift, but my animal soul won't connect. I haven't felt her in months and I'm not sure she's even there anymore.

I open my lips to speak, but a low growl to my left halts any noise from coming out. I spot the brown wolf right before he pounces on the guard.

The guard screeches loudly as the wolf clamps his jaws into the man's side. He swings his arm around as he squeezes the trigger of his gun.

I feel the burning of the bullet as it tears through my side. The wolf shifts and snaps his jaws into the guards throat.

I push against the bleeding as I try to block the pain from my side and push the exit door open.