18

At first I wasn't sure if I was still asleep or had already woken up. My body felt like it was floating on a cloud and it was eerily still. Bit by bit the past events hit me. I remembered the two children again. Joffrey and Nero. You had lured me into a trap. But why? and where was I now?

The feeling of lightness slowly disappeared from my body and left only cold pain. My back hurt and my head was pounding too. I waited a moment longer, listening to find out if I was alone, before opening my eyes.

However, that didn't change much. Wherever I was, it was extremely dark. I lay on the ground, which was nothing but cold, slightly wet earth. I tried to sit up and after a few tries my aching bones and numb muscles obeyed.

It was terribly cold here. I tried to feel something with my hand and a little later I found such a stony wall. I had to be in some kind of cave.

My eyes were slowly getting used to the darkness. I realized that there were cave walls to my right and left, but thick metal bars were anchored in the rock in front of me.

A sharp but familiar smell hit my nostrils. I tried hard to remember where I knew the smell from. Then I remember it again. Those were esters. I used the small yellowish flowers to cover my smell when I went to Undervillage.

The smell was not only in the air, but also me and my clothes smelled of it. A tremor went through my body as I realized what that meant.

The wolves would not be able to smell and find me.

Cyrian wouldn't be able to smell and find me.

I leaned helplessly against the cave wall and tried to get my breathing and heartbeat under control. Once again I realized what an anxious person I was. I had no idea how I even endured the fighters. I've always been a scaredy-cat inside. I'd only ever been brave in the fights because I had no other choice.

But now I sat here, alone, in a stinking, dark cave and fought back the tears. I hated myself for my fear, after all I had managed to lock it away deep inside me for the last few years.

The darkness gave me no clue as to where I might be and apparently no one else was there. However, I could already guess who had kidnapped me. That rebellious pack Cyrian was talking about.

I didn't stand a chance of surviving this.

Somehow I was helped by the thought that the situation was hopeless anyway. Then it didn't matter whether I cried or screamed. It no longer mattered whether I was brave or fearful. For the first time in years, I felt like I was really me. Not the girl who learned to fight in disguise as Jung, nor the girl who was the Alpha's mate. I was just me, Alexandra Cleeves. No more and no less,

I sat there for a while. Just lost in thought and forgetting the world around me. But then I suddenly heard voices.

I snapped out of my reverie and listened intently. There were footsteps that probably came from several people.

I pressed myself even closer to the wall and would have liked to disappear into it. Then I heard voices again. They were dark and male. One of them sounded upset and angry, but unfortunately I couldn't make out the exact words.

They kept getting closer.

I started running my hands over the dirty ground hoping to find a sharp rock or something that I could use as a weapon. But of course I was unsuccessful.

The voices grew noticeably louder and I would certainly have understood the words they said to each other if my heart hadn't been beating so loudly.

They seemed to stop for a moment and I exhaled. Maybe they didn't want to see me at all. There was a soft clatter, then one of them spoke again.

"Go away now and do what I told you to do." the voice, while definitely male, sounded much younger than I would have thought.

There was a steady sound of retreating footsteps. I exhaled in relief. I might be able to take on one of them, right? If he was in human form and I was lucky? But what good would that do? The other wolves would come here immediately and I would be finished.

Then I felt a movement on the bars. A torch was lit and I had to look away because the light burned my eyes.

There was another rustling followed by a squeaking noise. The stranger had opened the door.

He slowly approached me. He somehow hung the glowing torch on the wall. Presumably there was an anchor for it.

Although I could look at him now, I didn't. I didn't want to see my killer's face.

But he stopped a little in front of me.

"Lexa?" he whispered softly.

Startled, I sat up and saw familiar blue eyes that resembled mine.

"Thomas" I whispered, startled. Without thinking further, I jumped up and hugged my brother. My hug was returned just as happily.

Eventually I let go of him and stared at him in disbelief.

"But... the rebellious wolf pack?" I asked breathlessly and completely confused.

A mischievous grin appeared on my brother's face. A grin I knew very well.

"There is no such thing as a rebellious wolf pack. We're just pretending. If they then attack us, we can easily attack them with Wolfsbane. They don't expect it and in a few minutes they'll all be dead."

Murder lust flashed in my brother's eyes and suddenly I was sure that he had not only voluntarily but also gladly helped with the wolf extermination in my village.

"I'm really sorry, the idiots don't seem to know the difference between a rescue operation and a kidnapping." My brother explained to me as he led me through the dark corridors.

I didn't know what to say to that, so we were silent. Thomas had put his arm protectively around me and supported me while walking because I was still a bit dizzy.

After a while it slowly got lighter in the tunnel and a pleasant breeze announced the exit.

The bright sunlight blinded my eyes and it took me a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness. What I saw then blindfolded me.

We stood on a small ledge from which we had a good view of a clearing. There must have been hundreds of people scurrying around below us, many of them children. Simple log cabins were lined up to the right and left. In the middle I recognized a small lake whose water shimmered crystal clear. Even in the tops of the trees that fenced the clearing were small tree houses. It was impressive and seemed so peaceful.

A soft melody reached my ear and rounded off the sight. There was a group of about 15 children walking alongside each other singing. It was such a harmonious sight, at least until they were close enough that I could understand what they were singing.

"... the wolf's head as a trophy on his spear,

high, high, high.

cheering through the crowds, finally he's dead.

His fur warms us in the deepest night,

Reminiscent of the battle.

Man wins through his courage,

he drenches the ground with wolf blood,

blood blood blood.

His flesh nourishes us,..."

Eventually the children were out of reach and I could no longer see or hear them. Still, I stared at the place where they had disappeared between the trees.

I only noticed that I was shaking when Thomas put a jacket around my shoulders. He eyed me worriedly.

"Everything okay?" he asked, and there was genuine concern in his voice.

I just nod because I don't know what else to do.

Now I realized that some of the people had spotted us both. They kept looking up and whispering. Some even pointed at us.

"Are you ready to meet her?" Thomas' voice was now completely serious and cold again.

I shook my head frantically and backed up a few steps into the shadows of the cave where the other humans couldn't see me.

"I can't do this, Thomas," I tried to explain desperately. The thought of even being around people singing such songs made my stomach ache.

"You need to." Thomas explained to me energetically. His hand gripped my upper arm and pressed so hard that it almost hurt.

"Look, it's important that you listen to me carefully right now, okay?!" Thomas looked me in the eye, challenging and resolute.

Again, all I could do was nod.

"Your life depends on what happens next. I can't protect you from everyone. You're the Alpha's mate, which means if they kill you, they'll be rid of the Alpha. He would perish from the loss. That would be her chance."

I noticed that my brother didn't speak in the we form, but differentiated himself from the others. Kind of a comforting thought.

"Then why haven't they killed me yet? Because you're their leader?" Kind of crazy that my brother was still protecting me after all this time, but blood is thicker than water.

"No, I'm not their leader, I sit on the council. There is no one here who decides everything alone. Not yet. They let you live because of your rank."

"My rank?" Thomas' explanations only confused me more.

"You haven't been to Undervillage? Have you been to City Hall? Have you seen IT?" my brother ignored my question.

Another nod from me. I tried to suppress memories of the day at City Hall and to my surprise it worked somewhat.

"So you know we've been hunting wolves for a long time. Our organization called itself the Argenti. That's Latin for silver. Our ancestors thought silver would kill the wolves. But that's all bullshit. Anyway, the leader of the Argenti since the founding of the Organization always a Cleeves, respectively,..."

I interrupted him. "So I'm the second heir to the organization, so to speak?"

"No, let me finish." my brother grabbed the floor again. " The founder was our ancestor Enzio. But it quickly became clear that while he was a good hunter, he was not a good leader. He was strong, but also stubborn and headless. So someone else took over the leadership role. His wife Alicia. Since then, this position has always been passed on to the next girl in our family. Lastly, to our mother."

I looked at him speechless. I had assumed that my mother had nothing to do with it, but apparently I hadn't even really known her.

"You have to take your position as our leader, Lexa. But it won't be easy. Everyone who comes from our village is behind you 100%, but the others are more critical. They don't know you and our way of life is also new to them. Many will not like the fact that you are now taking the lead. They are suspicious after all, you were among wolves for a long time. That means you have to be strong now and assert yourself. Accept your inheritance, your family's inheritance, your mother's inheritance. Lead them new and better organization Aurum in the victory against the wolves and help us to exterminate them to the last wolf. Save humanity".