Uncaged

Internal Bleeding

Mature themes ahead that may be triggering for some humans, viewing discretion is advised.

My left heel tapped against the tile incessantly with little regard to patience. Which the little of I had wore ice thin in Jocelyn's absence. I knew she was in desperate need of space and the longer I occupied our guests the longer she'd have to herself to basque in the fresh winter snow she seems to love so much.

I felt a twinge of guilt, that I hadn't cancelled the pack treaty knowing full well she wasn't comfortable in with crowds or strangers in general. I did my utmost at retaining my stoic constitution as Felix droned on and on about his pack's newest rogue conquest. While Daniel and Liv stole glances at one another with shadowy humour behind their subtle smiles.

The wiry alpha's overdramatic tale was abruptly cut short when I stumbled backwards into the buffet table, overcome by a dull pain that was seeping into the very marrow of my bones and smothering me from the inside. My hand flew to my nose, rubbing the aching bridge instinctively. I frowned in confusion, at the sharp pain that took harboured there. I was distantly aware of the rooms' curious eyes and the cautious steps they took away from me.

Without warning my knees buckled unceremoniously out from under me, crashing to the floor and shattering the tiles beneath my knee caps. A wave of searing pain cascaded through me. Jasper haunches raised and chest heaved, his steady building rage slowly clouding my senses. I had to force myself to a deep breath and not lose control.

I raised my bowed head to see the entire room occupants on its knees, muscles twitching and limbs akimbo. I found some sick satisfaction in their pain, knowing that their presence had resulted in our mates upset.

I whipped my narrowed eyes to the opened doors but found it void of her. I peeled my aching self off the floor and stumbled through the exit, crashing into several confused, temperamental alphas. I forced my screaming muscles to cooperate as I sprinted through the woods as fast as my trembling legs would carry me.

Before I could call out to her, her voice, more frantic than I'd ever heard screamed into my mind, "Alex! Hel-,"  Her raspy cry was cut short abruptly, leaving my mind silently numb. I frantically called after her, only to find the mind link muddled and distorted.

A drowsy fog covered our connection like dust across the surface of an out abandoned home, so thick and dry it made me choke. A blur of green and white painted my visions peripheral as I weaved my way through the towering trees in my frantic search of her. Jasper's loud over-bearing voice boomed at me like God from the heavens, threatening to take full unyielding possession of me if I failed to find her.

I nearly keeled over at the sight of a figure sprawled in a limp heap on the ground but breathed out a sigh of relief at the lack of her distinctive features. The shifting winds sent Dylan's cinnamon scent wafting in our direction. The smell, once comforting and familiar smelt off, tainted with something so sickeningly sweet it caught in the back of my throat.

I hurriedly knelt beside him, turning him unto his back as gently as my shaking hands would allow. His face and neck were peppered with the signs of early bruising, blotchy red prints bloomed in the dimples of his cheeks. Fear crept through my veins, I yelled out to him, swatting the sides of his face with the back of my hand. His brown eyes were void of their usual warmth and swam in an unfocused and daze, drooping mostly closed looking intoxicated. The only comfort that combated my rising hysteria was the heavy rise and fall of his chest that moved to the steady rhythm of his heart.

Jasper rage all at once became unbearable, he growled of his disdain at my lollygagging and charged through the barrier of my consciousness, ripping through the thin curtain of privacy I slaved for years to build. Claiming my body as his own and merging our minds as one. My head bent to the sky and administered a resounding howl, signalling Collin to tend to our fallen clan warrior.