Six

I return to the room and re-examine everything; the only door I haven’t tried must go to a corridor within the building; approaching the door, I lay my hand on the handle and attempt to open it. I repress a chuckle when I discover the door is locked, but I didn’t really expect it to be unlocked, so I groan in disgust and return to the balcony. I know I did a lot of fighting yesterday, and my muscles are quite sore as a result, but I’m not going to sit here and wait for Zachariah to determine what he’ll do to me. 

Shifting to the side where the railing meets the side of the house... or whatever place I’m in. I lean over the edge, look down, and shudder; I’ve never been a big fan of heights, but I’m not going to let it get the best of me and prevent me from getting away from here. There aren’t many places to hold, but that hasn’t stopped me before, and it won’t this time either. I take a big breath and climb over the railing, gently making my way down the side of the building, discovering the little holes as I go.

My foot slips a number of times, and I have to grab it with my fingers as tightly as I can so I don't fall, pausing to regain my balance on more before continuing. As soon as I’m near enough to the ground, I leap the rest of the way, landing quietly in the bushes. I squat down, take a quick glance around, and grin. I crawl through the bushes until I reach the edge, then pause, glance around, then climb to my feet and only run when I don’t see anyone. 

I don’t go very far before I have to evade someone approaching from the side; I duck and then roll across the ground, returning to my feet in my combat position, facing them.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks, surprising me.

“Anywhere but here!” I say, adjusting my position slightly.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that... Hey! What happened to your collar, human?”

I shuffle my shoulders and turn to escape again, but I’m caught by a man that I hadn’t seen and had approached from behind, so I utilize what Elder Miles taught me to surprise him and break free. Except, this time they don’t hold back, and they both strike me at the same moment, but I’m prepared for it and can protect myself reasonably well. As I get one to the ground, another comes at me, and then another.

I slide out of the way as a beast attempts to grab me, and then I get back to my feet. I tense up when I realize I’m now encircled by at least twelve of these beasts. The sheer number of them, on the other hand, doesn’t bother me since Elder Miles used to have all the boys attack me at the same time, forcing me to show to him that, he wasn’t wasting his time training me like the others. What concerns me is that they are not the same as the men in the village.

I engage them and quickly learn not to let them make contact with their strikes, and that my hits hardly make them flinch, so I protect myself as best I can and search for any and every opening I can to get away from them; I do, however, manage to knock a couple of them down. We’re all jolted to a halt as we hear a terrifying growl coming from above us, just as one of the beasts makes contact with my cheek.

Glancing up towards the balcony, I see Zachariah standing with his hands on the railing; gently lifting my hand up and placing it over where he bit me, I shiver, which snaps me out of my shock; I then look around at the beasts encircling me, smiling and taking advantage of their attention. I then carefully make my way out of the circle. 

I glance back up at Zachariah as I make it out of the circle of beasts. I then turn and run into the trees; it isn’t long before I hear a loud howl followed by a lot of lower howls in return. This makes me run faster, but it doesn’t seem long before I hear a growl, first on one side of me and then from the other, I slide to a stop as I see a large wolf standing with another beast in front of me. The wolf growls and takes a step forward as I take a step back; I continue to step back until I come up flush against what I first thought was a tree. I then feel whatever I am up against vibrate as he says,

“Shall we show this human what we do to the ones that don’t do as they are told?” 

"But the Alpha said not to touch her!" 

"The Alpha is not here is he, so let's have some fun before we take her back!" 

He laughs, then slides one arm around my waist and wraps his other hand around my throat. I smile as I may be human as he says, but I am not like all the other girls he is used to pushing around. I watch as the other beast in front of me takes a few steps closer and the wolves that seemed to be standing guard disappear, but then three more guys come back, just as the one in front stops within a foot of me. Hiding my slight smile, then kick out my feet, using the guy’s hold on me as leverage, knocking him to the ground.

Unfortunately, this only makes him tighten his hand around my throat slowly, making it harder and harder for me to breathe. I struggle to start with, but then I force myself to relax. It works. He then relaxes his hold just a little as he leans his head into my neck and takes a deep breath, but he then freezes and with the arm around my waist he pulls on my blouse, tearing it just a little. I don’t know what he is doing or why, but I use this distraction to my advantage. Grabbing hold of his hand that is around my neck, I manage to move it enough to sink my teeth into the side of his hand.

He growls as I struggle but doesn’t let me go as I was hoping; it is then that there is another deeper growl from behind the one holding me; he turns, taking me with him to face the one responsible for the growl. As soon as he turns I stop struggling and glimpse two guys I recognize from the raid on the village, but I am drawn to and lock eyes with Zachariah, who is standing with his hands on his hips.

He growls low, “Release her!”

“But Alpha...”

He growls again, breaking the connection with my eyes to shift his attention to the beast holding me. The beast sighs and reluctantly releases me, pushing me towards Zachariah, who doesn’t look at me again as he then seems to pass me to one of the other guys with him.

“Don’t let her go...” he growls.