The Banished Werecat Princess

4 - Alana Strikes

Alana

     On my way to the castle, I made it a point to stop by the river, where I rolled around in the mud both in my human form and in my cat form.  It was the only way that I could mask my scent.

    When I reached the castle, I stayed out of sight and waited until nobody was around to see me slip inside.  I felt like one of those spies in the movies with the way I was sneaking around and staying against the walls to keep hidden from anybody’s prying eyes.

     After I made my way to the floor where the Beta’s living quarters were located, I remained hidden in the shadows for what felt like an eternity.  Any time somebody left, I would check the doorknob, but every time it remained locked.

    I waited more than a full day for the perfect opportunity to arise.  First, Lizzie left followed by Dane, but they both locked the door on their way out.  However, it wasn’t long before Lizzie returned looking flustered and rushed.  She was clearly in a hurry, and she made the grave mistake of not locking the door when she left again.

    Without a shred of hesitation, I quietly slipped into the Beta’s living quarters.  I knew exactly which bedroom was Dane’s, because of the times that I had spent the night with Lizzie, so I was able to easily sneak down the hall.

    Surprisingly, the bedroom door was also left unlocked, and I was quick to open the door just enough to slip into the bedroom.  I could see Tamara sleeping on the bed, and I thought about ripping her throat out right then while I had the chance, but one of the cubs started to stir, so I knew there wasn’t enough time.

    I snatched the cubs out of the crib and tucked them under each of my underarms, just like the football players do during a football game.  After that, I rushed out of the bedroom and hastily made my way back to the hall, then I sprinted as fast as I could through the castle.

    Just as I reached the front door, it opened and one of the warriors from the other pack tried to step inside, but I shoulder blasted him, causing the guy to stumble backwards.  I didn’t even attempt to slow down or apologize.  Instead, I kept my speed and ran towards the jungle in the direction of the Midnight Pack’s territory where Jax was sure to be waiting for me.

    However, it wasn’t long before Tamara was chasing me through the jungle, and she was catching up to me incredibly fast.  Due to the lack of sleep, I wasn’t running at my top speed and holding onto the cubs was not helping.  In an attempt to both distract Tamara and increase my running speed, I tossed both of the cubs over a cluster of bushes and continued to run at my top speed.

    Unfortunately for me, Tamara had that damn ability that helped her run incredibly fast, and she didn’t take a stop to go to her cubs.  Instead, Tamara stayed on my heels and soon tackled me to the ground.  

    There were some words exchanged, and I thought about trying to escape, but I knew it was pointless.  She would just chase me and catch up again.

    With that thought in mind, I decided my only option was to attack Tamara.  If I couldn’t get away from her, I was determined to at least inflict some harm to her.  Of course, I was no match for her in that regard either.  

    Just when she was about to end my life, Dane yelled to her that their cub needed her help.  A second later, my father and my stupid brother pounced on me to keep me down, so Tamara could run over to Dane.

    I could see that something was wrong with one of the cubs, and I should have felt bad about that, but I didn’t.  In fact, I felt triumphant, because I was able to cause both of them to feel grief and sadness, just like they had done to me over the last several months.

    Holding onto the sadness in their eyes was the only thing that gave me the strength to not give up and force all of them to kill me.  I knew the ramifications of my actions, and I knew that I was sure to face the harshest of punishments, but Dane and Tamara’s grief at that moment made it all worthwhile.

Jax

    Over those next few days, I guess you could say that I fell in love with the elusive she-cat princess.  I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that, and it almost killed me to watch Alana walk away, but I had high hopes of her returning.

    Once she had been out of my sight for almost twenty minutes, I finally walked back to my tent.  As soon as I stepped inside, I was engulfed by the smell of her amazing scent.   Jasmine and cocoa… it was a scent that I would never forget no matter what.

    When I walked over to the cot and laid down, Alana’s scent was the strongest there.  In an attempt to keep her scent with me, I tore off the corner of my sheet and brought it up to my nose.  After taking a big, enjoyable whiff of it, I put the piece of torn fabric in the pocket of my jeans, then I left my tent and walked back to the border.

    I spent the following two days pacing the edge of the tree line along the border, while waiting for Alana to return.  As time dragged by, I got a sinking feeling in my gut that our plan didn’t go as well as we had hoped.  I felt like Alana should have been back by then, and I was quickly losing hope.

    With exhaustion setting into my bones, I sat down with my back against the trunk of a large tree and dozed off.  I was awakened a little while later by the sound of a twig snapping in the distance.  

    Right away, my eyelids sprang open, and my ears went on high alert for any other sounds.  A minute or so later, I heard two male voices coming from the other side of the border.  

    Curious to know what they were saying, I army crawled across the open area and stayed hidden in the tall grass on my side of the border.  It was then that I learned Alana had been captured and imprisoned at the Jungle Pack’s dungeon.  

    My first instinct was to sprint to the men and demand they take me to Alana, then I remembered that damn Protection Spell.  I couldn’t risk killing myself in the process of freeing Alana, so I was left with no choice but to seek help from a witch.  I knew the only option was to reverse the Protection Spell, but I didn’t have the powers to do that.