Bloody and Wild

Lovely Apple

The prison was dank and dark. The stench of piss and human waste assaulted Dona's nostrils and her eyes snapped open. Her cheek was pressed up against rough straw that littered the floor. She jolted up and scrambled quickly to her feet. Her small slanted brown eyes darted about. The walls and ceiling were made of earth and Dona's werewolf made out tree roots creeping out high above her head. She was deep underground. Her breath started to come out fast, it felt like a tight band was being pulled across her chest and she couldn't breathe...she needed air...she couldn't-

"Calm down Apples, just breathe." A familiar voice instructed in a soft tone. Dona whipped round to face the speaker. She clutched at her chest, her eyes were streaming now and her throat burnt. She concentrated on him. His amber eyes locked with hers and he took an exaggerated deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. She mirrored his actions. The imaginary band around her chest loosened. "That's it," he encouraged. After a couple of minutes Dona let out a sigh of relief. He smiled but Dona noticed that it didn't reach his eyes.

"Taylor, is that really you?" She closed the gap between them. Taylor reached out for her but his muscular arms struggled to ease past the iron bars. Their fingers interlaced and Dona beamed at the warrior she knew so well. He looked so different. It couldn't have been more than a week since he'd gone but he wasn't the same man who had left. There was an aged appearance about the eyes, a wisdom that hadn't been there before. There was also something gentler about the way he relaxed his features, gone was the burning fire whether in raucous laughter or a determined scowl. Dona examined his cell. It was the same size as hers with the same filthy straw bedding. Looking passed him she saw another cell but this one's occupant was sprawled on the floor.

"Perhaps not," Taylor replied in a low voice, "I'm not sure who I am really now." Dona nodded her head in understanding. Her eyes were adjusting fast to the lack of light and Dona could make out now the cells opposite hers. The cells were all barred, all occupied and set on the edge of the circular prison. But it was what was in the centre of the prison that engrossed her. Her brain rebelled for as long as possible refusing to believe what was right in front of it.

Hot bile rose up her throat and Dona leant forward and wretched. Her gut hurt at the action, a pain gripped her similar to a knife being twisted in her stomach. "Apples?" Taylor asked in concern. He managed to squeeze a hand through the gap and stroked her back. Dona turned away from the ghastly sight but she couldn't forget the image. She swore that she never would be able to forget it. When the heaving subsided she leant back against her prison cell panting for breath.

"Who was she?" She asked, her voice quavering. Taylor didn't have to ask who she was on about.

"The Alpha's daughter, her name was Hermione." Taylor sank down to the floor and rested his back against the bars. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "She was fourteen years old." Dona let out a small broken sob. "She fought alongside us. She wasn't afraid of anything, not even dying. But she was screaming before the end." Dona slid down the floor, mirroring Taylor but she brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them close to her. Tears splashed on her exposed knees.

"Where are we?" She dreaded the answer but then again she was under no illusion that this was a holiday camp.

"Mort Pack territory, we're in the pack prison." That meant that Alpha Zeke's pack had fallen then. She shivered thinking of her family and Immy back home unprotected.   

"How come I can't mind link with anyone?" Mind linking was a werewolf thing, where werewolves of the same pack could create a mental bridge between themselves enabling them to speak into each other's minds. The Alpha wolf was able to open a mind link with the entire pack in moments of crisis. Now however, it felt like there was a wall up in her mind hemming her in.