Chains of Fate

7

Aiden

I ran my hand through the mess of my hair, being no closer to finding Kain and his followers were taking their toll. I felt ridiculed, a simple Alpha managed to evade my attention for so long and then escaped my grasp, it was laughable. The other Alpha Kings and packs no doubt judging my ability to rule.

Now I was drowning in paperwork, working tirelessly to keep my head above water. People clawing at my legs dragging me further under, tethering me to my responsibilities. The girl I found is one of those hands. Her lack of personal belongings and response forcing my head back down, providing for her was weighing me down. She wasn't really of any use to me as she didn't know anything about Kain and was too scared to do so even if she did. It was clear that she had been through abuse, the marrings on her skin and silver on her body strong evidence of that.

Doubtless say I had been avoiding her, forcing her care upon Ryan and Sarah. Not only to escape yet another grasping hand but to also escape her. She scared me, her eyes never focused on anything, it was like she was looking through me. Like I were glass, ever-present but never acknowledged. She felt like a wandering ghoul, drifting wherever someone moved her.

I was selfish I know, but looking at her was like looking in a mirror. She reminded me of my guilt, every time I saw her broken form I saw my failure to protect an innocent girl. Who knows how long I had neglected to save her, how long she was exposed to this abuse, and it was my fault. She lived on my territory and I didn't know she existed. She was a rogue and yet was treated as a prisoner. I felt responsible for what had happened right under my nose. Just think, if I hadn't leaned on that wall she could be dead, if I hadn't felt so depressed about my mate she would have been beaten. 

Even though she was a rogue she still fell under my responsibility and Abelard hated me for neglecting her. He wanted to be near the girl at all times, maybe it was guilt, maybe to make up for a lost time. But either way, it was getting in the way of my job. She was a guest here, nothing more, nothing less.

She is no longer a prisoner, and yet I am treating her like one. Locking her in a room, neglected, ignored, forgotten. But I just could care for her right now. My mind was swimming with thoughts, swirling around drowning my consciousness. Maintaining an Alpha position, maintaining a King position, hunting down Kain, caring for my pack, caring for my territory, and keeping myself sane.

The work was piling up, I couldn't see the end anymore, it was just too much. Maybe if I had my Luna I could cope, but time and time again has proven she doesn't exist, that I was destined to die alone. To live alone.

I was spitballing, piling the list of things up, procrastinating. Abelard made that very clear. He was always calm, always prepared, and sadly always right. I just needed to focus, get the job done, and live the rest of my life.

But one factor kept nagging me, the she-wolf didn't have a scent. I guess in the chaos of the situation everyone overlooked the fact she wasn't quite normal. I could tell she was rogue, but by feeling not smell. But like everyone else, I too will ignore the abnormality, because what is one broken wolf compared to our selfish desires?

I do not know why I hate this girl, nor why Abelard cares for her so. But as the weeks go by I feel a part of me grow affectionate of this stranger, but the other wants to further push her away. I want to ask her about the documents and if she knows if any women signed off on them, but that question seemed so pitiful. To bother a broken girl about someone in her old life. But I had to know, there was no point in waiting, delaying the enviable, so I put aside all self-pride and went to go bother an abused girl late at night.

As I approached her door, the thoughts kept piling up. I don't even know her name, nor has she moved or spoken much since I found her. Would she laugh in my face? Look at me how Abelard surely is right now? All these symphonies of paranoia halted as I opened the door.

Laying on the ground was the mystery rogue, vials of stench surrounded her as she injected a syringe into her neck, she hasn't yet noticed me as whatever she was taking dulled her senses. The smell was familiar and made my nose turn as I kept inhaling. My memory kept shuffling until it identified the liquid, wolfsbane. The very thing wolves feared, it muted all senses and blocked out the wolf counterpart. Leaving you weak, vulnerable, and alone.

The wolf let out a hiss and small cries as she injected more into her system, Abelard whimpered in my mind, knowing just how painful it must be. I watched on in shock and horror, as though looking through a fogged screen until finally the glass shattered and my senses returned to me.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled.

The girl turned around in shock, her big doe eyes scared and afraid for the first time showing emotion on her porcelain face. As soon as she assessed the situation she returned to a statue, void of feeling, and simply stared at me. She was returned to a world where she sat behind a veil of glass. Untouchable and fragile. But in my moment of rage, I failed to protect the shield between us, I may have fractured it more.