Permission to love - The Rogue Pack

Chapter 16

In the end, only the two girls set off towards Canada. The middle-aged woman, Anne, claimed she had been a truck driver before and was used to the long roads. The older woman, Maggie, went because, as the weakest member, she needed desperate help, the kind of care that could only be provided by the pack. To Aiden's surprise, the purple-eyed wolf refused to leave. Tay, as he later learnt, adamantly putting their foot down and claiming that the only way they would get into the van was if someone carried them in and tied them down. He couldn't help but smile at their willingness to remain and admired their resolution.

Before they left, Anne took the young wolves to the nearest shop, getting the group some desperately needed provisions. Although none of the prisoners were in such bad shape as Maggie, they were still extremely weak, and in desperate need of care. Yet they all decided to stay, to help Aiden recover Sam. He was so grateful to them all, recognising the sacrifice they were making for his mate.

It was only after the van had left, as the sun was setting and the excitement of escape had started to wear off, that Aiden realised how weak the group was. The older man, Bas, had collapsed onto the floor in a corner of the barn and was muttering to himself. The young boys huddled together on a bale of hay, clinging to each other. They didn't look related, but Aiden assumed that whatever they had been through in those cells would have bonded them in a way that blood alone could not. Tay was sat with their knees tucked in, wide eyes starring aimlessly at the floor. Even Aiden wasn't doing much better, despite his fast healing, his knee was still looking slightly mangled although the bullet had fallen out of the wound a few hours earlier. But what hurt the most was the memory of Sam lying on the floor as he had been carried away. Away from the girl he loved.

As soon as his head cleared enough from the pain, he opened up his mindlink to Sam, terror gripping his insides at what he might discover.

"Sam?" His mind probed. At once a blinding pain seared through Aiden's head, a sharp burn that threatened to burst his head apart. As if on instinct, he gripped his head, holding on to the sides as if through sheer force alone he would be able to keep his skull intact. It felt like his mind was shaking, he couldn't think, couldn't focus on anything aside from the torture inside his brain. Then, almost as suddenly, the pain stopped. The mind link with Sam abruptly cut off, as she pushed him out of her brain. And Aiden knew that Sam had shut off his access, locked him out of his head to prevent him from feeling that pain that she herself was experiencing.

"GO! NOW!" Brae howled in his ear, his wolf pacing in his mind, terror and stress etched into his every movement. And Aiden couldn't help but agree, he had to go, he had to save her. But with what? What did he have that would allow him to break into the DIR, make it through the guards, to Sam. But he knew he had to. He moved to stand, desperation clouding his judgment, using the wall to help his ascent, but he only made it half way before the pain in his knee drove him down again, a hiss escaping through his clenched teeth. He roared internally, desperate to be close to his mate. Yet now he realised that it wasn't only the experience of her pain that drove him. He had found his mate, he was meant to be with her, and every minute away from her was pure agony.

Almost as if they had read his thoughts, at that exact moment Tay let out a little whimper.

***

It took two and a half days for the van to return. In the time, Aiden got to know the remaining prisoners a little better. Bas, or Sebastian, was originally from Texas and used to be part of the 'Dallas Fighters' pack. He had been captured whilst visiting a friend in Austin, and away from the security of his pack he had been an easy target. Bas had already made it clear that as soon as he'd helped in the rescue mission, he intended to return to Dallas, where his mate was waiting for him. As Aiden had assumed, the two younger boys, Eduardo and Chén, hadn't known each other before the DIR. Eduardo was from Chile, whilst Chén was from China. Both had been sold into the DIR by their families, who desperately needed the money, and had already been reassured by Aiden that there would be a pack for them in Canada should they want it. When he'd offered, both the boy's faces had lit up, obviously comforted to know that there was somewhere they could belong.