Wild and Free

Chapter 27: Broken Glass and Broken People

(Auden's POV)

I don't know what I was thinking.

My plan had been to leave the boys because they were safe. But I didn't. I waited, and Mason being Mason spotted me. And even then I didn't leave. What was wrong with me? I knew better than that.

Just that split second he saw me, could've given me away. Alphas have even more heightened senses than the average wolf, I know that. Even something as simple as a scent lingering on my coat could lead him straight back to me.

I shouldn't have even gone as close to the pack grounds as I did. They would eventually catch some kind of scent of a patrol or something and they could follow it back. Oh god that could not happen. There was a mile long list of terrible things that would follow if that did.

What was wrong with me? It wasn't like me to get so attached or be so reckless. Even that day on the rocks, I had been careless just because I was curious. And with Ben and Chris, I shouldn't have kept them for so long, even if it was the right thing to do.

I was just glad that no one else saw me because now even Mason probably thought that I kidnapped the boys. I would be a prime suspect. Now I could only hope that he'd keep his mouth shut about it and not follow me.

When I saw him, after a split second hesitation, I jumped out of there so he couldn't track my scent. My mind was completely blank the whole way back to my apartment.

I had to stop thinking about the boys and the Royal pack for a second, just long enough to think of a good excuse for when Cassie came and busted down my door.

Pacing in the forest in the early hours of the following morning, I thought hard. Cassie Carlyle was my best friend, she and Holden would know for sure if I was lying or not. It was inevitable.

They totally wouldn't believe me if I told her I was sick and stayed home or that when she showed up to see where I was, that I was out running or something. I had to think of something that would excuse the fact that I hadn't answered my phone or come to school. That was mission impossible.

Perhaps she'd believe me if I told her that I went to the city for a college interview. Cassie and Holden both had always been hopeful about me going to college with them and I didn't have the heart to tell them that I didn't have that future. I might be intelligent and good at art but White Chapel was the only future I had and nothing was going to change that. Maybe if they thought that I was really "researching options" they would be excited rather than worried.

As for the others, hopefully if they saw that Cassie and Holden believed my story than they would do the same. Even if they thought it was a load of bullshit. Which it was.

I wanted to believe that the plan would work but it seemed too far fetched and something told me even if they did believe it, someone with Mason and Kenzie's skills would see right through me as if I was clean glass.

God, I just needed to get home and clear my head. Nothing good would come to me if I just sat there and stress over everything.

The trek to my apartment was longer than I expected. I guess I hadn't realized how far I had jumped to get away from Mason and his Royal pack members. Even then I hadn't gone home straight away. I needed time to cool off and had been pretty much wandering aimlessly around the forest all night.

When I got home, I climbed the rickety stairs to the third floor and pulled my key from my pocket. But the very first thing that caught my eye when I stepped toward my apartment door was the the lock was broken. And I didn't mean it was old and dirty, even though it kind of was, but it looked like someone had repeatedly beat it with a hammer until the weak mechanism seemingly fell apart.