Permission to love - The Rogue Pack

Chapter 15

Aiden groaned as he felt his body lurch, the sudden movement jarring his knee. He had been fighting sleep the whole time he had been in the van, the pain in his leg urging him to let his mind drift into unconsciousness. It wasn't helping that his thoughts were reeling with the events of the past few days, playing them over and over as in a loop; rushing to Texas after receiving the text from Sam, following her scent through the tunnels of the compound, finding her in the cells, realising she was his mate, her immediately leaving him, being left to care for the prisoners, rushing them through the tunnels, being caught by the guards, getting pummelled by the guards, seeing Sam's face as she ran to him... Sam saving his life... Sam being left behind, pinned to the ground, left in the place of her nightmares.

Aiden forced himself to swallow the ball that had formed in the back of his throat. He had been raised in a very traditional pack, and couldn't help but feel that he had failed in his role as a male. He had let down his mate, had left her to be tortured by the most despicable people in existence. He had been unable to protect her, unable to save her. He felt small, disgusted in himself, wanting to scream at his own impotence.

He could vaguely distinguish voices chatting around him, although in his blurry pain-ridden state he couldn't make out words, only sounds. His head pounded from where he had been hit, and the pain from his knee was unbearable.

"Need... to save her," he groaned desperately. "Sam."

He didn't get the chance to find out if he had been heard before he passed out from the pain in his leg, the adrenaline no longer fuelling his body.

"AAARRRGHHHH!" He screamed in agony as something burned through his knee. Aiden's eyes shot open, and he struggled to sit up. But the sudden movement made his head spin and he crashed back onto the hard surface below him. The bright light around him forced him to squint, and it took him a couple of seconds to make out his surroundings.

He seemed to be lying on a makeshift table, in a dark room. Soft light filtered through gaps in the walls, and as his eyes grew accustomed to the light he realised that he was in a barn. The bright lights that had blinded him came from the headlights of the van, which were being used to illuminate his mangled knee. Some of the prisoners from the cells sat over him. One of them, a silver-haired old man, held a bottle of some clear liquid over his knee, and as Aiden watched, he poured the contents over the wound.

The burning sensation rushed through him again, and Aiden gritted his teeth in an effort to hold in the screams that threatened to erupt.

"Where," he gasped as soon as he had regained his breath. "Where are we?"

The old man spoke up, a slight twang colouring his words.

"A small barn, a few miles away from the compound."

Aiden craned his neck, trying to make out the view through the slits in the wooden walls of the barn. The cracks were too small to make out much but there was an unmistakable orange hue to the outside world that comforted him, reassuring his mind that they hadn't left the deserts of Texas.

"We lost a couple en route." A middle-aged female wolf leaned forward, giving him a soft smile. Only five people remained stood around the table. The old man, the middle-aged lady, the purple-eyed wolf and two younger wolves, barely through their teenage years.

"They weren't too keen on the idea of being so close to the compound. But we figured that the DIR wouldn't expect us to have stopped so near."

The woman's words made sense, but to Aiden, it still felt like he was too far away from Sam. She was near, but still just out of reach. And he knew he wouldn't rest until she was in his arms again.

As if reading his mind, one of the young boys spoke up.

"We'll get your girl back. She helped us escape so it doesn't seem right to just abandon her."

At his words, the purple-eyed wolf stiffened slightly, their eyes opening wide. But Aiden barely noticed their reaction. He grunted his approval, fearful that his voice would betray his pain.

Yet even as he watched, the wound of his knee shifted slightly, slowly starting to repair itself. In all his years he had never seen his wound repair so quickly, sure he still had werewolf healing and therefore healed faster than the average human, but it had never happened this fast. He furrowed his brows confused at the sudden change.

"You heal almost as fast as an Alpha, yet your eyes say otherwise." At the old man's comment, Aiden suddenly realised. This was Sam's doing. The mate bond has started, strengthened by their fleeting contact. Thanks to her he would heal faster. But, although the realisation made him glad as it meant he would be ready to save her that much quicker, he couldn't help but wonder whether she too was using her increased healing speed at this moment. If, because of him, she was being held captive and tortured.

Realising he had not responded to the man's comment, he gave a slight grunt, unwilling to reveal any information.

"Well, if we are going to save her we will need backup." He stated. "The six of us will be no match for the guards remaining in the compound." As he spoke he reached into his back pocket for his phone, but when he pulled it out, he realised that he would be unable to contact Liam. The screen had shattered, yet still, Aiden desperately tried to switch the phone on. But to no avail.

With an enraged roar, he threw the phone at the wall, where it broke in two before crashing to the floor, the remaining pieces looking insignificantly small. In the silence of the room, the harsh sound seemed magnified.

If only I had Sam's ability to mindlink, I would be able to contact Liam easily. But unfortunately, the mindlink only worked between Sam and the brothers, not between the brothers themselves.

"We'll have to drive to them, fetch backup ourselves." He announced. The old man acquiesced with a grunt.

"Mighty right you are, if we want to rescue your missus, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Who are we fetching?" The other boy spoke up.

"My pack, they're in Canada, at least a day's drive away. So two days before we can get anyone back here to help." As he spoke a plan formed in Aiden's mind.