Under A Paper Moon

XXVIII

Elias couldn't take his eyes off his mother. He didn't know whether her heart was still beating or not, all he could focus on were the three holes in her chest and abdomen, with blood rapidly seeping out of them.

The ringing noise was echoing in his head. Getting louder and louder as each second passed. Micah was screaming his name, but his voice was lost somewhere and Elias couldn't seem to register it at all.

Micah watched as Laken shot Daisy. And then he watched as Jeremiah came and snapped Laken's neck like it was a twig.

Jeremiah took the keys from Laken's pockets and opened Micah's cell first. Micah snatched the keys from his brother, not bothering to say a single word as he rushed to open Elias' cell.

Micah unwrapped the chains that were burning Elias' body, but his mate hadn't moved an inch. He sat frozen like a statue, looking at his mother with an expression on his face that Micah couldn't decipher. Micah passed the keys to Jeremiah, motioning him to unchain Daisy as well.

Elias' eyes whipped to Micah when he saw Jeremiah unwrapping the chains around his mother's body. Micah was on his knees in front of Elias, trying to get his attention. He didn't know what to say, even if he did, no words came out of his mouth.

He hugged Micah so tight, his already aching bones felt like they just might break.

"She's still breathing," Jeremiah said, "It's faint, but she's still alive."

"How will we get her out of here?" Micah asked.

"I don't know," Jer said, biting his lower lip as Micah looked at him in disbelief, "I didn't exactly have a lot of time to think this through."

"Why did you do it? Why did you kill Laken?" Micah asked, at this Elias tilted his head to look at Laken's lifeless body lying next to the chair he was sitting on.

"I.. I heard him talking to you. When I found out about the organisation and started working with them.. up until now I didn't know it would kill every werewolf out there. I just thought it'd turn them into humans." Jeremiah looked at Micah with a guilty look on his face.

"What did you expect to happen after that? That we would just live happily ever after human lives?" Micah yelled.

"I don't know.. I'm so sorry. I know what I did is unforgivable but please, please give me a chance." Jeremiah begged but Micah just scoffed.

"I can never forgive you for any of this. For potentially killing thousands including your own family. For harming my mate! You're already dead to me, brother." Micah spat.

"Micah I—" Jeremiah was cut off by Elias finally speaking up.

"We need to find a way out of here first," Elias said, "I've already lost one mom, I'm not losing another."

Elias got up and walked to his mother. Jeremiah moved to the side as Elias bent on his knees in front of his mother. A tear slipped down his cheek as he kissed her forehead. He then picked her up, carrying her as all of them walked out of the cell.

"How many exits are there in this place?" Micah asked.

"Three. But all of them are guarded. There are about fifteen men here and all of them are armed. Many of them are ex military too." Jeremiah answered.

"So basically, what you mean to say is that we're fucked." Micah chuckled bitterly.

"We can try the front exit. There's only supposed to be one guard there. They didn't want to draw attention. I can try and clear out the way as much as I can." Jeremiah said.