Bound

Bait And Catch

Sophia's POV:

I barely slept last night, unable to close my eyes without seeing Cory's body being stabbed by a blank faced killer. I actually managed to close my eyes for like an hour or 2, but, I woke up screaming and Kai rushed into my room, calming me down and staying by my side all night.

This morning, my hair was messier than usual, and my eyes were half-closed at breakfast, too. 

"Sophia." Kai's velvety voice called my name and I opened my eyes slowly, to adjust to the light.

"Morning, Sophia." Kai said again, smiling as he moved some of my hair out of my eyes. I smiled back groggily and picked up my spoon. My vision went to Cory's spot at the table out of habit.

Only to find him not there. He could've been killed already. If there's anything I've learned from movies, it's that you should never trust a killer to do what they say they're going to do.

"You were sweating and trembling in your sleep." Kai said, taking a bite of his toast, "Did you have a nightmare?"

I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. "I'm scared.... What if he's already gone?"

Kai looked at me and reach forward, wiping the tears off of my cheeks with the back of his hand.

"I'll save him." Kai said, gently caressing my cheek, "I promise."

"Okay." I nodded, taking a little nibble of my toast. 

Kai's POV:

"Gather the hunters, and get to the address that was given. Let's go get our Beta back."

We went to the address at around 5:50, and waited. "Stay alert. They could attack from any side."

Kina came along because she was bored and needed something to do. I couldn't say no because, well, it's understandable being bored in the pack house sometimes.

"Wait.... I know this place..." Kina whispered, "Alpha, this is the place my sister and I were playing the day I lost my left eye's vision. That rabid wolf attacked us in these very woods."

I looked at Kina and she looked at me. "The house wasn't here before though.... it must've been built later; way later, after my family had moved." 

"Okay, Kina, I need you to do something, are you willing?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Anything for the pack, Alpha." She replied confidently. 

"Kina, you're going to be our bait." I told her. Her expression didn't change, instead, she simply nodded and let out a growl, turning into her white wolf form. Even though Kina was blind from one eye, her wolf, Artemis, was luckily given full vision. Which is why Kina loves her wolf so much, and would rather prefer to be in her wolf form than her human form. 

"Be careful." my lead hunter said from behind me. Luke. He's got a thing for Kina, and it's been that way for a while.

Artemis gave him a glance and then started down the hill calmly. She made her way to the entrance and backed up a few paces. Then, she huffed and rammed into the door, breaking it down. She barked at the man that came out, and then ran into the woods, him following behind her. 

I need Kina to come back safe. She's a prize possession of our pack. We lose her; we lose our best hunter and negotiator. And Sophia loses a friend. 

"She'll be fine. Kina's going to pull through. Come on." I urged my hunters on, making our way round the back entrance of the house. It was already broken, besides the tattered curtains hanging off the top. 

There lay Cory, bleeding, in pain and tied up. Standing over him, a man, looked in his late 40s.

"Tell me. Which hurts more?" the man asked Cory, hitting his ribs with a crowbar.

"A," He said, then, he hit Cory's leg with the crowbar, "Or B?"

Cory groaned due to both hits, but didn't give him an answer. He glared at the man fearlessly. 

"I'm not afraid of you." He said, blood dripping from his mouth. The man chuckled. 

"Your pack mates still haven't come to save you. What a worthless soul you are." The man sneered at my Beta. That was our cue. I growled and transformed, unable to control Arkane's anger any longer. Arkane charged at the man, closing his jaws around the man's throat as he jumped onto him. He bit in, and blood squelched around him and onto his muzzle. He then bit tighter, and ripped out the piece of flesh his jaws held. 

Cory slumped against the wall, his hands tied uncomfortably behind his back. 

"Alpha...." he mumbled, "You came."

I turned back into my human form, crouching down beside my Beta. "Of course we did."

The hunters came in, all gathering around Cory, while Luke undid the ties around his hands.

Artemis came back in, carrying a bloody lump of meat in her mouth. 

A throat. Human, judging by the smell of the blood.

"Bravo, Artemis." I told her, nodding my head as approval, "Let's get Cory back home."

Artemis spit out the piece of meat and turned back into Kina, then, she helped Cory up by slinging his arm over her shoulder. I took out my phone and called Marina.

"Get out here. We have Cory. He's fine." I told her, and she told me she'd be here soon.

Cory had a die-hard crush on her. And Marina reciprocated the feelings. How do I know? 

Just by noticing the way they look at each other. Marina arrived with her car and as soon as she saw the state Cory was in, I could tell her heart broke. 

"Cory...." she said softly. He looked up at her and smiled. 

"I'm good, M." He said, wiping the blood off of the side of his head. He then wrapped an arm around Marina's shoulder and hugged her weakly. She returned the hug, gently placing her hands on Cory's back. 

Marina then pulled away and sighed, walking beside Cory as she helped him into the back seat of the car. 

"Hunters, we walk. Cory, Marina, Kina and Luke, you go in the car." I told them, and turned back into my wolf form. The hunters did the same. And we were off.

As soon as we'd reached home, a crying Sophia ran right into Cory's open embrace, clutching him tightly as she cried. "I thought you died!" she sobbed. Cory smiled and gently patted her head as she hugged him. 

"Well, I got back okay." He said softly, "I'm glad you came to rescue me."

I nodded as Cory looked at me and placed a hand on Sophia's shoulder. "Let's go inside. We need to tend to Cory's wounds. Get him to the healers, Luke." 

"Yes, Alpha." Luke said and helped Cory inside. Sophia walked with me and I heard her gasp. 

I looked at her and tried to find the source of her gasp. She was staring at my shoulder. There was warm red liquid seeping from a gash near my neck. 

"You're hurt." She said, "and it's bad."

I scoffed and smiled at her shock. "I've taken worse. It's just a scrape."

I looked into her eyes and realised that she really was concerned. 

"Sophia, I'm fine, seriously." I said, my voice going quieter on its own. She stared right back at me with those shiny, innocent brown eyes. The wind blew her hair around in different directions and that slightly annoyed me, although I didn't know why.