shades of SUMMER

8|PRISONER OF SOUTH|

Aura

This place didn't come close to the resemblance of the north and everything reminded me of the stark difference of where I was. And I believed it was for the good. Wasn't it what I had wanted while I was getting far away from the north. Not to have anything related to my past I had left behind. Alpha Demetrius and his northern rules. Volkov wolves and highborn northerners.

Here, in the South, there was no King. Everyone had an Alpha in their packs. Whether it was a bad or good thing, I didn't know. And how this worked, I had no clue. But one thing I was sure I wouldn't let another alpha dominate me and put me down. I didn't come this far to get tossed under another's rule. No, I was here to live through my freedom and finally breathe. For now, survival was the key.

"Get in." The southerner named Rowan opened a heavy door and then directed his head towards the dark hallway for me to step in. I hesitated and looked back. Nothing seemed unordinary for the people doing their daily chores. They were busy and hardly paying attention to me after the initial shock and confusion settled in.

I turned back and tried to peer through the dark of what was lay ahead. But it was no help, it was like the light was sucked in and all I could see was an impenetrable darkness.

Rowan entered through the door and after a few seconds, the dark passage came alive. He might have flipped some switches which made me surprised by his small yet thoughtful gesture. So, I took this as a small step and uttered thanks.

"Never known the northerners are such pussies." He snorted and started walking. I wanted to argue then I remembered I wasn't here to take the side of my pack no matter how much I didn't agree with everything being said. I was a northerner and I would always be no matter how much I disagreed with certain laws of Volkov. I shook my head and followed him without making a fuss.

The hallway was narrow, hardly it could fit two people to walk side by side, with a low ceiling and few doors on one side and at the end of it, there was another door where we were headed. He unlocked the heavy metal door and urged me to enter, this time I didn't show him how much the unfamiliar, dimly lit place bothered me. I knew he was right behind me so there was no need for me to worry besides I was being taken to put in a cell somewhere in this dark, dank place.

I climbed down the stairs and plunged more into pitch-black darkness. A sudden damp, stale smell assaulted my nose and I cringed but I didn't loosen my grip on the stairwell as I descended.

"Move."

I sidestepped and pushed myself into the wall. Rowan leapt down the last few steps and landed with a thud. I saw nothing, it was like I was stuffed into a box, locked it and then shoved it under a bed.

"I don't have all day to babysit you. Better move your ass. You're a wolf. Use your skills. Then you've no problem with your vision. You'll see as clear as a day."

Easy to be said than done. I couldn't reveal to him how weak my vision and my skillsets had got that came with the added advantage of being a wolf. Not being able to get transformed into my wilderness under strict Alpha Demetrius's authority, my wolf howled, cried and after a while stopped responding altogether as if she felt rejected. Head downcast, she tucked her tail between her legs and then confined herself into her den and resisted coming out.

I didn't have to venture long into the dark, there was adequate light streaming through the windows tucked up high in the walls, creating a narrow path in the hallway with darkness in between gaps where there were no windows.