LUX

13. Cage of Silver

~**~

I wake up in the all too familiar cell of silver. The guard right outside my cell notifies the other guards of my consciousness – probably to get my father. The more I look on to this pack, the more I see how he's created a pack full of cowards. No one has any ambition to succeed, to push farther, and to be better.

"Didn't your mother teach you not to stare, pup?" The beast in me doesn't like this lower wolf starring at her. She doesn't like the challenge. The growl that is released scares the guard and he takes a step back.

"It's my job?" He says but there is no power behind his words, he phrases it like a question.

"I'm in a cell made of silver, where am I going to go?" I ask him. He takes a step back towards the cell, like he thinks he's more. Does he not remember getting scared moments ago? This pup starts with the eyes again, staring into mine like he can hold a challenge.

"Is the big bad alpha, stuck in a cage? Aren't you supposed to be this big and strong future? You look like a little pup to me." This pup is taunting the beast and I don't think he knows what he's gotten himself into. The beast doesn't like the pup, she needs to make an example and I can't hold her back as she takes control. It's my arm but her claw that brings him flat against the cell wall. Her claws squeezing into his throat hard enough to pierce right through. He chokes on his own blood as his face burns against the silver rods. My arm burns along the silver too but the beast wants to put down the pup and ignores it.

The guard's gurgling noises stop and he goes limp in the beast's paw. She drops him like it's nothing. Only when she is satisfied with her work does she return the control to me. I stare down at the lifeless body and can't help the pain I feel for taking a life. To win a war I will have to take many more, and a war is what is going to happen.

Slowly, while I sit in the cell all day, I start to think of a plan to destroy my father. I will challenge him for what is rightfully mine. There has to be a crowed there so he is forced to accept the challenge not to look weak. But I can't do it in front of all his warriors because they will back him up. My father I could take but a whole army of wolves that are professionally trained isn't possible – yet.

They leave me in this cell for three weeks. It wasn't until the next morning that the guards realized what I did. They cleaned up the body but not before the smell of death made itself known. A new guard comes in daily to drop off whatever slop is whipped up, with a pitcher of water. They keep me separated but can't starve me, no one wants to kill my brother.

During my time on my own, I try to train as much as I can. I do exercises that don't require much movement, I practice the motions of attacks. While I spend this time, I realize that I can't so this all on my own. I'm too cocky for my own good. My skills don't amount anything to warriors who have trained their entire lives. I might be naturally stronger but they have the knowledge of what they are doing. And when I fight my father, I can't fend off everyone on my own. I'll need an army to back me up.

It's not until then that I think of Emmett and the phone he gave me. I reach through my pile of clothing that another female in the pack had brought me to change and feel the phone in my pocket. My father may think he's smart, but to not check a prisoner before you lock them up? He must be new at this.

There's only one number programed into the phone and I dial it right away. I wanted to do this all my own but I can't. I need help. I need an army.

"Lux." He sounds breathless.

"Emmett." I sound the same. "I need your help."

~**~