Darkest Before the Dawn (Sample)

Chapter 3

Darkest Before the Dawn

Chapter 3

Turns out Joey was indeed the father of Patrick but his mate and the remains of his pack are still out in no mans land. They got separated during a run in with other rogues and haven't seen each other since. I could relate to the feeling of missing loved ones, not knowing if they were okay or even alive. It was a concerning thought that never seems to go away, just slightly fades over the many months.

Sarah was older than me by around two years, she has found her mate but is not currently mated. His name is Chandler I can tell she misses him by the way her eyes cloud over when she thinks about him. Her longing is not as strong as Joey's, as Joey has probably been mated for quite a few years the bond is stronger but I guess the presence of his child kept him sane.

It was the early hours of the morning, the light was slipping through the iron bared windows and cascading over the dark room encasing it in light. Breakfast should be arriving shortly, it always came early in the morning just after sun rise. As expected the basement doors swung open and the guards started walking down the stairs carrying the bowls of slop they try and pass of as oatmeal. Normally I'd be allowed to have breakfast with Zack and Rosella, but with more than one rogue here (me) it meant the pack had to feed breakfast to the prisoners.

They slid the bowls of slop through the small mall slot sized hole at the bottom of the bars. They gave us a hateful glare before leaving the basement. I watch almost amused as the rouges approached the barely edible food and their faces screw up in horror at just the smell of it.

"What is that daddy?"

Patrick asks scared hiding behind his father's legs, staring at the bowls in horror. I chuckled slapping my knees just cracking up in my cell. They turned to look at me like I was crazy and I stopped laughing.

"How do you eat this?"

Sarah asks puzzled, as if she couldn't apprehend how a human being could even touch it let alone digest it.

"You don't"

I tell her walking up to the bars and pressing myself up against the bars. I reach down grabbing my plate and bringing it back up, so they could see what I am doing. I grab one of the old blankets off the bed, the one that's falling apart. I grab an older bowl I've stored away from another meal and poured the oatmeal through the blanket like a sieve and drain the water into the extra bowl. Putting the dried up oatmeal back into the bowl, it looked a lot less sloppy.

"Every second morning they serve honey on toast. I normally save some honey from my toast to flavour my oatmeal with, it's actually not that bad as long as you keep your 'sieve' fairly clean"

I explain grabbing half a slice of honey on toast and scrape the honey into the bowl sticking the bread in the mouth sucking on the remaining honey. I position the bowl of honey oatmeal carefully and slid it under my bars all the way to theirs. They smile in appreciation and start to eat the oatmeal I prepared for them, Patrick happy chewing away at the oatmeal I made and Joey sent me a smile silently thanking me for providing his son an edible meal.

It was in this moment as the trio ate their breakfast, trapped behind bars treated like criminals for something that wasn't their fault made me extremely mad. I used to believe that rogues got what they deserved, imprisoned and often killed, but none of these people deserved it. I didn't deserve this, I knew very well I could leave whenever I want because I'm a minor in the eye of the law but they aren't and even Patrick is still legally a rogue because he's under the care of his rogue father and mother.

As much as I respected and cared about Rosella and Zack, I was going to organise a prison break. I've been here long enough I may be able to pull it off, what happens after might actually be harder.