Into the Arena

Chapter 14

Kaden hadn't tried to get into his room at all since I shut him out, which I found slightly surprising, if not a little annoying. I mean, I'm supposed to be his mate, he's been literally obsessed with finding me; sure though, just let me lock myself away without a fight...fine.

Paige, you need to stop getting passive aggressive, and upset over a wolf who you have every intention of ditching at first light. Honestly, if you could get your shit together, that would be fantastic.

I laid down in the bed, letting the sheets keep me warm from the inevitable cold that I would have to face in just hours. I scanned my eyes across the room, I'd have to lay and wait for an hour or two at the very least, but the minute I suspected the Alpha had fallen asleep, I would be searching through the rest of his belongings for anything I can use for survival once I ran.

I huffed and rolled onto my left die, facing his nightstand and the closet that lined the wall. The dresser had a classic alarm clock on it but was otherwise unadorned. Not surprising, since we've only been here a matter of days. I slowed my breathing and tried to hear and scuffling coming from outside, but I couldn't hear anything to alert me he might be near. I tried as quietly as I could to open the dressers two drawers.

I stared blankly at the two completely empty dresser drawers. Not sure what I had really expected to find, a knife or something. We can literally transform into wolves, we wouldn't need something like that.

If you wouldn't need a knife, why are you so disappointed that you didn't find one?

I rolled my eyes at myself, but I made a good point. What am I even looking for? Maybe he had some sort of snack food stashed in here, that would seem like a boy thing to do. But there's a perfectly good kitchen, fully loaded with snacks, a few steps away. I can't imagine he's that lazy.

I reached down and swiped my hand underneath the bed, hoping for a stashed suitcase, the men were allowed so many amenities it made me want to vomit. However, the only things I found under the bed were some fluffy dust bunnies. Sure, the counsel can send a group of young wolves to claim and murder each other in this death trap, but they couldn't be bothered to vacuum. My mother would have words about this if she knew.

I flopped onto my back, exasperated. There was a dresser at the wall opposite of the bed, but that wasn't likely to have much in it, especially if the nightstand was barren. What I really wanted to do was go through his closet, if there was anything here that might be of use I suspected it would be in there. Most likely, I wouldn't find anything here that could really be used as a weapon, but I was hopeful there might be some extra blankets or jackets in the closet. And I knew for a fact he had my backpack in there, I had scoped that out when first entering the room.

How long has it been anyways, he should 100% be asleep by now... I should 100% be asleep by now.

I looked over to the clock and saw that it was around 1:13 in the morning, a normal person would be asleep by now, but it had only been around 45 minutes since I had left him scowling in the kitchen. I'm not sure how confident I am with the fact that's he's taken care of the pack and gone to bed in the span of 45 minutes.

I stood up quietly from the bed and go into the bathroom, remembering there has been a small window near the ceiling in the shower, for ventilation. Not that it was any huge window, but if I needed to get through, I'd get through. The room was still a little foggy from when I had taken my shower a bit ago, I guess I hadn't thought to actually open that before.

Being extremely careful not to slip, I tried my best to stand on the edges of the tub and peek through the now opened window. It was lightly snowing outside, and with the fresh snow, I couldn't scent any wolves patrolling outside, but I knew there had to be some. Kaden wouldn't be so foolish to assume that I wasn't going to try and run.

I keep the window open, one less thing to do when I go to leave in a few hours. But now, the fun part...going through his toiletries. Was Kaden the type of guy to wear cologne? Or Have special hair mousse?

Oh yeah, that's the good stuff. I noticed a bottle of cologne in the medicine cabinet. Easily an expensive cologne, and even if it's not, who cares?

"Hope you didn't enjoy smelling good, Kaden." I whisper to myself, as I pour the contents of his cologne down the drain.

A slight pang of guilt hit me after the last drop had leaked down the sink. He's really been nice this whole time, he probably didn't deserve that. But also he's chased me and probably had his pack members chase other women through the freezing snow for days now...I proceeded to pour the rest of his toiletries down the drain.

Despite his basic necessities, the bathroom didn't really have much I deemed worthy of taking. Though if I didn't find any blankets I might be tempted to at least take one of his towels. So, keeping my options open. The only other places I haven't checked were the other bedside table and the dresser, and I needed to do a thorough check of the closet, aside from my backpack which was tucked into a corner.

The other nightstand was vacant, like the first, but the dresser held something I found to be quite odd. It was a large, black, leather bound book. No title, and no inscription was on the cover, but it looked new. Opening the first page, I gasped.

"The Females of the Tournament"

What the FUCK is this?

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I flipped through page after page on repeat, looking at all the girls faces. They contained photos of us, each of the girls. Pictures they had taken right before entering the Arena, probably used to identify each of us. But along with the pictures was information, our lineage, which pack we came from, and other more vague details.

Maisie Shanna, she comes from the Highland pack, her father was the Beta of the pack, and her mom had been of regular stature before she met her mate and also became a Beta. Her favorite flower was a daisy. There was a line that mentioned a mate, but there was a blank space for a name to be written in that hadn't been filled in yet.

"Why do they even need to know whether or not she picks daisies, it's sub-zero outside. There aren't any freaking daisies..." I mutter to myself.

25 women were described in this book, I only wonder how many will be left by the time this thing was over. My page was just like the others, but it felt more eerie reading about myself.

Paige Reynolds, comes from the Warriors pack, daughter to two Alphas; Alpha Chloe and Alpha Cooper. Last surviving child of the famous pair, likely to run. Her favorite food is Italian. Mate: Kaden Rowe, Alpha of the Eastwood Pack.

So, he'd had time to fill out my mate section, and turn out our territory was meant to be Eastwood. I'd been there a number of times as a child, a beautiful area, but abandoned for a great while. Kaden would have so much fun running the rogues out of that area. And I would have so much fun being as far away from that territory as physically possible.

I turned and checked the clock, seeing its illuminated face flashing 3:00am. He'd surely be asleep right now, and I needed to get a move on. I snatched my pack from the closet, as well as a small blanket that had been laying on the top shelf as I had suspected. Before entering the bathroom, I grabbed the book and shoved it into my pack.

They had the upper hand with everything else, they didn't need to know who they were looking for too, time to level the playing field.

I shimmied my way through the bathroom window, earning me some scrapes on my arms from where it was a tight squeeze. Hitting the ground, I shed my clothes and packed them away and shifted. I bounded off into the early morning, If I was to survive the next few days without being found again, I'd need some backup, and now I have an idea of who I'm looking for.

1 point Paige, 0 points Kaden.