Luna Aleksa's Escape

9. It's showtime.

Aleksa POV

I was sitting nervously in my cell, awaiting Caleb’s arrival. It felt like time had stopped. It seemed to move so slowly. Lost in my thoughts, I realized that life would not be the same without Caleb. He had been such a big part of my life. He had been my rock. I felt guilty for uprooting his and Kali’s lives like this. But I had to focus on getting the twins and myself to a safe place, so I couldn’t dwell on those thoughts.

I looked to my side. Mason was doing press-ups in his cell. I guessed that was his way of passing time. On the other side of me, Kaia was sitting against the wall of her cell, with her hands wrapped around her knees. She didn’t seem nervous, more bored.

I think I felt anxious enough for all of us. There was so much riding on all of this going to plan.

We had made small talk throughout the morning, but we were careful not to engage when the guard was present. It would definitely arouse suspicion if they were to see their Luna engaging with rogues. And we didn’t want that. We needed everything to run smoothly.

Honestly, I was surprised that Lachlan hadn’t visited me again. But I guessed he must be busy with pack business. As lousy a mate as he was, he took his alpha duties seriously. I’m glad he hadn’t come down to the dungeons yet, as it could affect our plans. I was grateful for small mercies.

I looked toward the hallway as I heard sounds, and then the natural light hit me, and I realized that the trapdoor was opening.

Please let it be Caleb.

I turned to Kaia, and she looked at me knowingly.

“Looks like it is showtime,” I said to her excitedly.

Kaia smirked and replied, “Don’t worry Aleksa, I’ve got this. Ooh! Argh! Oh! My baby! Help — Argh! The pain! Oooh!” Kaia screamed.

That was enough to get Chad’s attention. He turned to Kaia’s cell with a concerned look on his face. Chad may be a fearless warrior, but he had a soft spot for a she-wolf in distress. Even a rogue wolf and it didn’t hurt that Kaia was stunning.

Chad moved quickly to the cell and reached into his waist belt to grab the set of keys. At this time, Caleb walked with him.

“Hey Chad, how’s everything here?” he asked. Chad continued to search for the key.

“We have a bit of a problem here. Be with you in a minute,” he blurted out. Caleb positioned himself behind Chad.

Kaia amplified her moans and stepped up her performance.

“Please! My baby! I can’t lose it! Please! Ooh! Argh! I think I’m bleeding!”

Chad dropped the keys under the pressure of finding the right one, and hearing Kaia’s screams. It was at that moment that Caleb knocked Chad over the head.

“I’m sorry, friend. Please forgive me,” he said to Chad guiltily, as he guided his friend to the floor.

Kaia jumped out of her cell, grabbed the keys, and locked Chad in. She then unlocked my cell, and Caleb grabbed the keys from her and quickly unlocked Mason’s cell.

Other prisoners made a commotion, wondering what was going on, begging to be released, but no one could hear them, as the dungeons were soundproof and underground, so we continued onward.

Caleb led us down the corridor, towards the back exit. It’s darker the further we go down, but we could just make out the door at the end of the tunnel.

Caleb pulled the handle, but it didn’t budge. He used all of his werewolf strength, but it still wouldn’t budge. Mason pushed forward. “Let me help,” he said. Together, they pulled with all their strength and the door started to give way. Kaia and I looked at each other nervously. We grabbed each other’s hands and nodded to each other. It’s like we read each other’s thoughts. We’ve got this. That’s what we were thinking to each other.

The door thrust open, and for a few moments, the light blinded us. We had been in this dark dungeon with little to no natural light for days now, so we needed a few moments to adjust. We didn’t have time for this, though. Running up the rock stairway, we stopped just before reaching the top.

While everyone should be at the pack meeting, the warriors would still be around guarding the pack and the pack’s borders. That, and there would no doubt be a few stragglers hanging around.

We looked unkempt; we hadn’t showered in days, and our hair was messy and greasy. In short, we looked like we had just escaped the dungeons. So we needed to be inconspicuous.

Caleb looked around and signaled that the coast was clear. Our proximity was crucial. We ran towards the Infirmary building. We were careful not to be seen. From here, we needed to get to the training grounds. But in order to do that, we needed to make it past the packhouse.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to run past the front, we could run along the back of the packhouse. The downside was that doors and windows made us easily visible, so we could be seen. Not to mention that everyone was in the large dining hall, which we would have to get past undetected.

It took us just under a minute to get to the packhouse. Caleb and Mason strategized and decided we would have to jump up to the first level and climb across the side rail. That shouldn’t be hard. We needed to be very quiet. Werewolves had excellent hearing and would hear even the slightest of footsteps.

We all jumped up in single file and sidestepped across the railing. The meeting was still in session and I heard debating, so hopefully that would help disguise any noise we may make. In no time, we were all across and jumped back onto the grass. Now we were directly across from the training grounds, where we would meet Kali and the twins.

Caleb and Mason checked we were clear and signaled for us to run across. We would enter through the back entrance just in case anyone was lingering. We couldn’t scent anyone else, so we proceeded through to the courts.

It was at that very moment that I saw Kali rocking, Liam, and Layla in a stroller. My heart was full of joy. Seeing my pups brought such a sense of relief. I rushed up to them and kissed them both. I hugged Kali and thanked her repeatedly. Then I took a deep breath.

We weren’t free yet.

I looked around at my friends. “Aleksa, we need to move. The meeting was almost finished. Chad would wake up any minute now and alert the others. Then we will have the entire pack on our tails,” Caleb reminded me.

“Okay, let’s do this! I need someone to help me with the twins, though — I can’t carry them both,” I said.

“I’ll carry one.” Kaia smiled. Kaia grabbed Layla, and I took Liam. We wouldn’t be able to shift because we would have to carry the pups, but we could still move quickly in our human forms.

At that moment, Kali opened her backpack.

“Wait, everyone! My Aunt Meadow is a witch, a good witch, don’t worry! I told her of our plan and she agreed to help us. She made this potion. We just take a mouthful each and it should hide our scents for up to twenty-four hours. This should buy us some time,” Kali said proudly.

“That’s brilliant, Kali! Thank you so much and thank you, Aunt Meadow,” I said enthusiastically. I wouldn’t be able to give this to the twins, but Kaia and I would bundle them up in our clothes, so hopefully that will help disguise their scents.

Kali took a mouthful and then passed it on. In no time, we had all consumed some of the potion. Kali chucked the rest back in her bag and we moved towards the door.

The others shifted into their wolf forms. Caleb was a large, sandy brown-colored wolf. Mason was a little larger. He was a big black wolf with silver flecks. Kali was last to shift, and she was a beautiful red wolf with white stripes, just a little smaller than Caleb, but still an impressive size for a she-wolf.

Caleb and Mason took a quick look out the door to check if the coast was clear. It was, so we ran across the field. We would take a route that is rarely traveled by the pack. The terrain was rough, and a bit overgrown, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Plus, this way, we would avoid most of the pack warriors.

At that very moment, a mass mindlink went out. Chad had woken up and alerted everyone that we had escaped. Our time had just run out, and we were not nearly close enough to the border yet.

I told Kaia that Chad had alerted everyone of our escape, and I could because she was still in human form. But we had no way of letting Mason know, as he was not part of this pack, so we couldn’t communicate with his wolf form. Although I had no doubt he would figure it out, because of the change in pace and obvious panic that we were in.

The pack’s emergency system had been initiated, and it sounded like an air-raid siren. It was so loud and consuming. Surely, Mason would figure it out. We pushed ourselves as fast as we could move. We would have company soon. But we were getting closer to the border.

I blocked my mindlink so that Lachlan couldn’t get through to me. And I secretly prayed that the potion that Aunt Meadow made would be enough to deter Lachlan and the other pack wolves for as long as possible.

Two of the pack warriors snapped me out of my thoughts as they ran towards us from the border. It was so unusual for them to be out this way, but I guessed Lachlan told everyone to split up to cover more ground. One of them snarled at Caleb. I assumed they were mindlinking to each other as his eyes had hazed over.

The other wolf, Patrick, lunged at Mason. He was ready for him though, as he launched in the air and hit him face-on. Mason knew not to bring great harm to any of the warriors. We just needed to stop them temporarily so that we could escape.

Kali mindlinked me, “You and Kaia need to make a run for it,” she said. “We will catch up with you both.”

“Okay, see you soon. Stay safe!” I replied, and with that, we pushed on forward and ran as fast as our legs would carry us with the twins in our arms.