Five - Breaking Point

Althea's POV

I was packed and ready in less than an hour. Not that I had much to pack.

The borrowed clothes Marla had given me. My ruined phone with its shattered screen. My wallet with my license and one credit card. A hair tie I had found in the bathroom.

That was it. Everything else had been in the car that was now apparently destroyed beyond repair.

I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the door, waiting for Leo to come get me.

My chest still ached. That dull pressure hadn't left since I had arrived here. If anything, it was getting worse. A constant tight feeling that made it hard to take full breaths.

Maybe I really did need to see Dr. Morrison the second I got back to the city. Maybe the stress of the crash and being held prisoner had triggered something. Maybe my body was finally rejecting the transplant after one stable year.

That had to be it.

It had nothing to do with Xavier Sandalio.

One hour. Then I would be gone from this place forever.

So why did leaving feel wrong?

A knock sounded at the door.

I stood quickly, grabbing the small bag.

"Come in."

Leo stepped inside and gave me a small nod. The difference between him and Xavier struck me again. Where Xavier felt like barely controlled violence wrapped in human skin, Leo carried an easier kind of strength. Still powerful, I could see it in the way he moved but there was actual warmth in his eyes.

Like he saw me as a person instead of a problem.

"Ready?" He asked.

"More than ready." The words came out harder than I had intended.

He looked at the pathetic bag in my hands, then back at my face. Something that looked like pity crossed his expression.

"I want to say I'm sorry." He said after a pause. "For all of this. For how Xavier's been treating you."

I said nothing. What was there to say?

Leo exhaled slowly. "He's not usually like this. He's been through a lot. Loss changes people."

"Cruelty changes them too." I said quietly.

Something tight moved across his face. "Yes." He agreed. "It does."

We walked through the house in silence.

This time I paid closer attention to everything around me. This was wealth, power and control.

We passed several people in the hallway. Every single one of them looked at me. Some with curiosity, like I was an exotic animal in a zoo. Some with open distrust. A few with such clear hostility that I had to force myself not to look away.

What had I done to make them hate me? I was the victim here. I kept my chin up and followed Leo outside.

The morning sunlight made the compound look even larger than it had from my window. There were more buildings than I had first realised, all made from the same dark wood and stone. People moved between them with clear purpose. Some carried supplies. Others trained in an open field, their movements coordinated and military precise. A few worked near garden beds at the far edge of the clearing.

Everything here looked disciplined and organized.

Almost too organised for what was supposed to be just a "private estate."

"How many people live here?" I asked.

Leo glanced at me. "Around eighty.

Maybe a few more."

Eighty people.

All living under Xavier's rule.

All calling him Alpha like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"What is this place really?" I asked.

"Some kind of cult?"

Leo actually laughed at that. "No. Not a cult."

He opened the passenger door of a black SUV that probably cost more than my apartment's yearly rent.

"Think of it as a very large, very complicated family."

That didn't explain anything.

But I was leaving, and right then that was all that mattered.

I climbed into the car. The leather seats were soft and expensive. Everything in this place was expensive

.

Leo walked around to the driver's side and started the engine.

As we drove away from the compound, I stared out the window and watched the main house disappear behind the trees.

Good.

That was what I wanted.

So why did my chest feel like it was being squeezed tighter with every mile we drove?

I didn't understand it.

I didn't know Xavier. I had only met him two days ago. He had treated me with nothing but coldness and contempt. Had called me weak and pathetic and a liability.

And yet some traitorous part of me reacted like I was leaving something important behind.

Something that belonged to me.

Which was completely insane.

I looked away from the window and stared at my hands instead. I focused on the scraped knuckles that were finally starting to heal.

Forget him. Forget this place. Forget all of it.

We drove in silence for several minutes. Trees blurred past the windows. The road was empty. There were no other cars and no signs of civilization.

Just endless forest.

Then Leo's phone rang

.

He glanced at the screen and something in his expression changed immediately. His entire body went tense.

"I need to take this." He said, answering quickly. "Yeah."

I couldn't hear the other voice but I watched Leo's face grow harder with every second.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

A pause.

Then he cursed under his breath. "Fine. I'm turning back now. Tell Xavier I'll handle it."

The call ended.

My stomach dropped as he immediately turned the SUV around.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice coming out higher than I wanted.

"Change of plans." His voice was calm but his relaxed demeanor was completely gone. "We have a situation back at Redmoon."

"What kind of situation?" Panic was rising in my throat. "Just drop me somewhere. Anywhere. I'll figure it out."

"There's nowhere to drop you out here alone." He was driving faster now, his jaw set.

"I'd rather take my chances than go back there."

Leo's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "That's not happening."

He said it without anger, but there was absolutely no room for argument in his tone.

"I'll get you out as soon as I can." He added. "But right now I have to go back."

My hand shot to the door handle.

Maybe if I jumped out now, if I ran into the trees, I could get far enough before he caught me. Maybe..

The lock clicked.

I turned to stare at him in disbelief. "Did you just lock me in?"

Leo kept his eyes on the road. "Don't."

"This is insane!" My voice cracked. "You can't just lock me in like I'm a prisoner!"

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. "But I'm not going against Xavier's orders. Not about this."

My laugh came out bitter and slightly hysterical. Of course he wasn't.

I let go of the handle and leaned back against the seat, my hands shaking with anger and fear.

I was being dragged back there.

Back to Xavier and his silver eyes and his cruel words.

And this time I had no idea when or if I would ever get out.

We drove the rest of the way in tense silence. I stared out the window and tried not to think about what "situation" could possibly be serious enough to drag me back to that place.

By the time we reached the compound, chaos had already spread through it.

People were running between buildings. Women were gathering children and ushering them toward the main house with urgent voices. Men moved toward the tree line in tight groups, their faces hard with focus and something that looked like anticipation.

Whatever was happening, it was serious. And everyone here knew exactly what to do, like they had practiced this before.

Leo parked hard and immediately unfastened his seatbelt.

"Stay in the car." He ordered.

"What's going on?"

He opened the door. "Lock the doors and do not get out. I mean it, Althea."

Then he was gone, running toward a group of men gathered near the edge of the clearing.

I watched through the windshield as Xavier emerged from the main house.

Even from this distance he was impossible to miss. Everyone around him moved with urgency, but he seemed completely steady in the middle of the chaos. Calm and commanding. He spoke once. I couldn't hear the words and the men around him instantly obeyed.

That was why they called him Alpha.

It wasn't just a title. It was what he was.

Then something happened that made my blood freeze.

At first I thought I was imagining it.

The men near the forest at least a dozen of them doubled over like they were in pain. Their bodies twisted violently. I heard cracking sounds even through the closed car windows.

Sounds like bones breaking. Fur spread across skin. Faces lengthened into muzzles. Hands became paws.

In seconds, men were gone.

Massive wolves stood in their place.

I gripped the edge of my seat so hard my fingers went numb. My mind refused to accept what I was seeing.

This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening.

Werewolves didn't exist.

They were fantasy. Fiction. Stories meant to scare children. Movies with bad special effects.

But I was staring at them with my own eyes. At least a dozen massive wolves where men had been standing just seconds ago. One wolf in particular stood out from the rest.

It was huge. Easily twice the size of a normal wolf.

Black fur.

Silver eyes.

My breath caught in my throat.

Xavier.

Even in wolf form I knew it was him. Would have recognised those eyes anywhere. It was the same wolf from that night.

Our gazes locked through the windshield. And that same impossible pull hit me again. Hard and sudden and so intense it made my chest ache like someone was squeezing my heart.

Xavier's lips pulled back, exposing sharp white teeth.

He growled. The sound was low and threatening even through the closed car.

Then he turned and ran into the forest. The rest of the wolves followed behind him like soldiers following their general.

For a long moment I couldn't move.

Couldn't think.

Could barely breathe.

Werewolves.

Xavier was a werewolf.

They all were.

And I had spent two days trapped inside their territory without knowing what they really were.

The passenger door opened and I nearly screamed.

Marla stood there, her expression calm but firm. "Come on, honey."

I stared at her. My mouth opened but no words came out.

"I know." she said quietly, reading my expression. "Come inside. You'll be safe there."

Safe?

She had used that word before. Now it sounded absurd.

There was a pack of werewolves in the forest and somehow she expected me to believe I was safer inside the house?

But what choice did I have?

I couldn't drive. Couldn't outrun them especially not now that I knew what they could become. And I was very suddenly, terrifyingly aware that I had absolutely nowhere else to go.

I got out of the car on trembling legs and followed her inside.

She led me to a sitting room on the first floor where several women and children had gathered. Their faces looked worried but not shocked. Like this wasn't their first time hiding from danger. Like this was routine.

I stood near the doorway, my back against the wall, struggling to breathe normally.

"What's happening?" I asked. My voice came out shaky. "What were those…what did I just see?"

One of the women looked up at me. She looked young, maybe early twenties, with auburn hair and sharp green eyes that assessed me carefully.

"Rogues." She said simply.

The word meant nothing to me.

"I don't understand. Rogues? What does that mean?"

She exchanged a glance with Marla.

"You really didn't know?" There was surprise in her voice. "About what we are?"

"No." I said, my voice rising slightly. "I didn't know anything. I thought…I thought this was just some private estate. I thought you were all just…"

Human. The word died in my throat.

Marla sighed and guided me toward a chair. "Sit down before you fall down."

I sat, mostly because my legs felt like they might give out.

"This isn't how you were meant to find out." Marla said gently.

"Find out what?" My hands were shaking. I pressed them together in my lap. "That werewolves are real? That I've been trapped in a house full of them? That Xavier is…"

I couldn't finish the sentence. No one answered right away.

That silence frightened me more than any explanation could have.

Before anyone could speak, a long howl rose from the forest. Every woman in the room went completely still.

Another howl answered it. Then another.

The sound ran through me like ice water.

The woman with auburn hair, I still didn't know her name, moved toward the window and looked out toward the trees.

"That's not one of ours." She said quietly.

Another howl followed.

Closer this time.

Much closer.

My throat went dry.

A child whimpered somewhere in the room. Her mother immediately pulled her close and whispered something soothing.

But I could see the fear in the woman's eyes.

"What's out there?" I whispered.

"Rogues." The auburn-haired woman repeated. "That is wolves without a pack. Without rules. Without…"

Another howl cut her off.

This one was so close I could have sworn it came from just beyond the tree line.

Marla moved to the window and looked out, her expression tense.

"They're testing the borders." She said.

"Seeing how many warriors we have out."

"And if they get through?" I asked.

No one answered.

They didn't have to.

I could see it in their faces. If the rogues got through, we were all in danger.

And I had just discovered the truth about this place on possibly the worst night imaginable.