Werewolf High School

Part 11: Behind the Bars (Saturday)

When I woke up, everything was blurry. At first, I didn't know where I was or what day was it, then the memories of last night slowly started coming back to me. I reached with my hand to the mark on my neck, which still felt sore. I smiled at that, happy to know it wasn't only a dream. I tried to sit up, but my head was still spinning, so I had to lie back down. 

"Julianna, it's ok, rest now. Don't try to get up," said my mom, who was sitting next to my bed. She had a worried expression on her face. "Mom, where's Adam? What did they do to him?" I yelled while trying to get up again. "It's all right. You don't have to worry about him for now. He is fine. But please lie down. You need to take a rest," she answered. 

I was forcing myself to sit up, propping my body up with my arms. "I need to see him, mom!" I was suddenly missing him terribly. It must have been because of the marking. I've heard that the marking makes the mate bond stronger, so the need to be with your mate, especially the first twenty-four hours. 

"Where is dad? I need to talk to him!" I was also afraid they would hurt Adam, and I had to do all in my power to prevent that. "Sweetie, lie down, please. Adam is fine, he is in pack prison. Your dad is furious because he broke in our house and even dared to mark you forcingly. He is not hurt, your dad called his father to come to pick him up. Alpha Christian was mad about it too and said he will pick Adam up tomorrow to teach him a lesson. He should have known better than trespassing to our territory. He could have been killed just for that by pack law." I shook just by the thought of that. "Mom, I need to go see him right now!" I said as I was trying to get on my feet. I could see my mom panicking as she didn't know what to do. "Please just lay down; I will go get your dad," she said and quickly left my room. 

As I looked around, I remembered the fight that took place right next to my bed. The fierceness of a fight was such a big contrast to the gentle moments Adam and I had shared not long before it happened. I felt guilty for what had happened to him. If I hadn't asked to mark me, maybe they wouldn't have treated him so roughly. Even though I knew my dad would still have been furious because Adam came to our territory and even got into my room. I hope my mom was right, and he wasn't hurt. I just wanted to see him to make sure he really was ok.

My dad came in about half an hour later. "Julie, I hope you are feeling better now. Your mom told me you were still dizzy when you woke up," he said. "Why did I get a shot anyway?" "We needed to give you tranquilizer. You just wouldn't stop fighting our own men," my dad explained. Then he continued: "Why you didn't shout when he got into your room? Someone would have heard. He didn't have to mark you like that!" "Dad... I didn't shout because I was happy to see him. He is my mate. And it was me who asked him to mark me. He didn't force me. He wouldn't do that. You would see that if you had given him a chance," I tried to explain.

My dad was taken aback by my words. When he recovered, he said angrily: "You asked him to mark you? Why did you do that?" "We are mates. I wanted everyone to be clear that we are not letting go of each other!" I tried to prove my point, but my dad would have none of it: "I should have thrown you in jail too in the first place! You should learn your place in the pack! I am still your father and your Alpha!"

When I saw I was getting nowhere with shouting, I gave him my best attempt of puppy eyes and said sadly: "Dad, please, I just really need to see him." I had to beg for a while until he gave in under the condition I ate something first.

When I finally made it to the pack prison, it was already five in the afternoon. My dad escorted me to the floor Adam was in, then he left me with words: "Just don't do anything stupid this time. I will wait for you on the ground floor." I nodded and started walking towards cells. 

Despite the fact that no other prisoners were on that level, about five or six guards were standing around. I wasn't sure if that was for my safety or were they really thinking Adam could escape. When I came close to his cell and saw him sitting on a bed, I almost cried. His face was still bruised in several places, one eye blue and half-closed, and there was a cut on his cheekbone. I ran towards the bars of his cells, and he hurried towards me too as soon as he saw me. 

"Julianna, are you ok? I saw them take you down!" he said with a worried expression. I almost laughed at how he thought about me, even if he was the one who obviously got hurt. I tried to touch his face through rails and said: "I'm ok, I just slept for a very long time. They got you pretty bad, didn't they? I'm so sorry, it's all my fault." I did my best to hug him through the bars. "No, it was me who came to you, remember?" he said in an attempt to make me feel better.

I didn't know if he knew what was going on, so I told him: "My dad called your father to come to pick you up. He is coming tomorrow." "Tomorrow? Why not today?" Adam looked surprised. "I heard he wants to teach you a lesson. Something about trespassing, I think." I tried to explain. Adam just chuckled at that: "Yeah, that sounds like my dad. He is serious and pretty strict."

After a while, I asked: "So, do you still think it's all worth it?" I meant it as kind of a joke since he was beaten up pretty badly. But his answer was completely different from what I thought it would be. He said softly: "Absolutely, every single minute with you is worth it all."

I stayed with him for a long time until my dad came to get me. He glared angrily at Adam, and I knew nothing I could have said at that point would've helped. At first, I said I wasn't going, but after some convincing from Adam and my dad promising I could come back in the morning, I finally gave in. I hugged Adam for the last time that day and walked away, looking back several times before reaching the elevator.

"Dad, someone is bringing him food too, right?" I said as we walked toward my dad's car. "Yes, of course," he chuckled. "We are just restraining him, not trying to starve him or hurt him in any other way. Even if he wasn't your mate, I would not escalate relations with Knight's Blood to that level," he explained. That calmed me down a bit.

"Why are our packs fighting anyway?" I suddenly remembered what I wanted to ask for the whole week. My dad was quiet for a while. Then he answered: "Noone remembers what the start of it was, but there were hostilities going on for centuries. They did some bad things, then we did some bad things back and it has just been dragging on." "Well, then it is maybe a good time to stop now," I said with a hopeful smile on my face. "Maybe it is. But I can't say anything before I talk to Christian about it," my dad added.

I went to sleep that night thinking about his words. Maybe there was hope after all.

*Thank you so much for reading my story! What do you think about the main characters?

**Here's Between the Bars by Elliott Smith, just because it the titles sound similar :)