Bella: The Beta's Daughter

5. Just call me Sara.

The earthy smell of leather invaded my senses, and I felt a rocking sensation. I opened my eyes to find myself lying across the back of a car seat. I was in the SUV and Ben was driving the car. As I started to orientate myself to my current surroundings, Ben looked at me with relief through the rearview mirror.

“Michael!” I yelled in horror, realizing he wasn’t in the car with us. I started to panic, my heart racing and a sense of urgency overwhelming my entire being.

“He’s ok!” Ben replied calmly.

“What, How?” I blurted out frantically.

“When you foolishly ran out of the car as you did, you distracted one of the wolves, when it took off after you, Michael was able to concentrate on the one he was fighting. It didn’t take him long to gain the upper hand.” Ben replied.

“And the other wolf?” I questioned. Trying to figure out how he got to me so fast.

“I followed you out,” Ben replied. I looked at him in shock. I was pretty sure Ben was human.

“Yes, I am human.” I looked at him, raising a brow.

“It was written all over your face, didn’t take much to realize what you were thinking,” Ben said.

“I acquainted him with my friend Betty here,” He said picking up his tranquilizer gun with one hand.

“Ah, that makes sense,” I said in reply to Ben’s admission.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry for putting you at risk. It’s just, Uncle Michael is the only family I have ever known. I couldn’t just watch helplessly.” I said apologetically.

“I understand. Just don’t do it again, please. Michael will kill me if anything happens to you on my watch,”

“So where is Michael then, he was bleeding profusely, is he ok, is he safe?” I rapidly fired questions at him.

“Michael was hurt yes, but as you know his wolf will heal him. He refused to come with us. They will know he helped you leave against your alpha’s wishes, so he can’t go back. He said he will lead them in the opposite direction so that I can get you away safely. He has a head start on them Bella, he will be ok.” Ben tried to reassure me.

“But he will become rogue! And it’s all my fault!” I blurted out. I felt so bad.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret Bella, Michael would have left years ago, but he stayed for you,” Ben admitted to me.

“Wait what? But why?” I asked Ben, confused that Michael would want to leave the pack he was a ranking member of.

“After the rogue attacks, his mate dying, and his best friend leaving, Michael said the pack was never the same. He was planning to leave and then you showed up. He couldn’t leave you. You had already been adopted by the Beta family and for the most part, you seemed to have a good life until the cracks started to show later on, and he realized he needed to stay there to keep an eye on you,” Ben declared.

“Wow, I never realized. He was so selfless. I have always known Michael cared for me, he was one of the few that did, other than Mabel the head omega cook. She’s like the Grandma I never had,” I said chuckling. Until I grimaced in pain. My head hurt, and so did my ribs. I pressed down on the right side of my rib cage and moaned in pain.

“Yeah that wolf fell on you pretty hard, it’s possible you have some broken ribs, not much we can do about it, other than some pain relief,” Ben responded.

I looked out the window we had been driving on a deserted forest road for quite some time, and now we were entering the city boundaries, I could see the houses increasing in number, and the streets appeared to be lined with huge green trees.

“Where are we? Where are you taking me?” I asked Ben.

“We have a few more small towns to drive through yet. We will get some proper distance between us and Blood Moon, and then I will get you to the central bus station.” Ben stated.

“Bella, Michael asked me to grab a few things so that we could change your appearance a little,” Ben said chucking a backpack into the space next to me.

“ Have a look in here, there’s a wig, a basketball cap, and some sunglasses, let’s get you looking a little more incognito before we arrive at the station. As we know there are cameras everywhere these days. Let’s at least make it a little harder for them to track you.”

“There’s a burner phone, but don’t call anyone, use it only for emergencies. Also some cash, Bella you will need to stay off the grid, don’t use your real name anywhere, you will need to think of a new name for now. Keep it simple, so that you can remember and respond to it.” Ben said firmly to me.

“Ok, thank you, I really appreciate all of this. Can I ask why you are helping me, and putting yourself at risk for me?” I questioned Ben.

“I owe Michael my life. You are important to him. So that makes you important to me. Bella my number is saved to that phone. Call me if you need me.” Ben replied.

“Michael said he would make his way to Rocky Mountain. He told me to remind you that you needed to head there,” Ben said as if he had just remembered.

“Rocky Mountain?” I repeated. Come to think of it, he had mentioned it back at Blood Moon.

“As in Colorado? I remember learning about it in Geography class. It’s beautiful there!” I replied.

“Yes, It’s in Colorado, according to my quick Google search,” Ben replied.

“That’s got to be a couple of days' travel in a bus,” I declared, trying to remember the exact distance from my last geography assignment.

“Yep, it would be about that,” Ben responded.

“Hey. you’re gonna need to clean yourself up a bit, people are gonna be asking questions if you show up around town with blood splatter all over you and a big gash on your forehead. Hold on, I’ve got a first aid kit in the back of the car.” Ben said as he pulled over to the side of the road. He walked to the back of the car, opened the door, and pulled a box out. He opened my door and passed it to me. It was a white box with a red cross on the front.

“Thank you,” I said gratefully to Ben, who smiled and said, “You’re welcome,” as he jumped back in the driver's seat, and started driving once more.

After about five minutes, I peeked in the rearview mirror at myself. The blood was gone. I had a medium-sized dressing on my forehead, and I managed to tidy my hair with my fingers. Some of it was a little drenched in blood, but I would sort that out once I was able to use a bathroom. I would be putting on a wig, so no one would know it was there anyway. I quickly inspected my arms and legs, there were no other signs of what had happened except for my top which had blood splatter on it from when I hit my head. I had a singlet on underneath so I just pulled my top off. I had a pullover in my backpack I could put on if I felt cold. Other than that you would never know that I had just been in a fight with a wolf. Well not that it was a fight, more like me getting knocked on my arse.

I pressed the button to bring the window down and leaned my head on my arm and gazed out the window, feeling the breeze brush past my face, and closed my eyes. We still had some time before we got to the bus stop and there didn’t seem to be any obvious threats, so I thought I would just close my eyes for a moment.

***

I felt a tugging sensation on my arm. I opened my eyes and looked up at Ben still half asleep, “Time to wake up Bella, we are here, at the bus terminal,” Ben said with a worried expression on his face.

“Sorry, I must have drifted off, I was so tired,” I reply, as I stretch my arms out, stifling my yawn.

“Time to change things up a bit Bella,” Ben reminded me, glancing at the backpack he had handed me earlier. I grabbed the brunette-colored wig and placed it over my head, I looked in the rearview mirror, this will work I thought to myself. I then grabbed the black cap pulled it over top of the wig, and grabbed the aviator sunglasses.

“That’ll work,” Ben said nodding in agreeance.

Ben opened my door for me, and I stepped out. I stood against the car door for a moment, as I gained my composure, I felt a little dizzy, perhaps I had a concussion, I would have to watch myself for now. Ben grabbed my backpack, and I opened it and pulled out a bottle of water. I greedily drank it all. I didn’t realize how thirsty I was. I would have to fill it back up in the bathroom I thought to myself.

“Let’s get you on a bus shall we?” Ben asked me.

“Uh, I have to use the bathroom first,” I said sheepishly to Ben.

“Oh, right, of course, I’ll ah leave you to it then,” Ben replied awkwardly.

The signs for the bathroom were right at the entrance, near the main reception. I walked in and used the facilities, I then washed my face with some cold water, and then dried it with the paper towels supplied, then quickly filled up my water bottle. I then looked in the mirror. You’ve got this Bella, I thought to myself. Just get on the bus and figure it all out from there. At that moment a woman walked in, and looked at me smiling, she walked into the cubicle and I took that as my cue to leave the restroom.

Ben was eagerly waiting outside for me. “Bella, we need to book your ticket under a name, did you come up with one?” Ben asked me.

“Uh, Sara, just call me Sara,” I said assuredly.

“Sara it is,” Ben replied.

“I’ll just go sort your ticket out.” Ben declared.

I stood there, looking around the busy bus terminal, watching everyone rush around me. I walked over to an information stand, I found some leaflets on bus timetables and grabbed a few.

“All sorted. It will take about two days, to travel directly to Denver. Once you get there I suggest you start making your way to Rocky Mountain National Park. I’m afraid I can’t help you much from here, but if you get into any trouble, call me on the phone. You can do this Bella, you just need to keep your wits about you. Watch your back. Michael will try to find you when he gets there.” Ben tried to reassure me.

“It’s ok. I will be fine. Thank you for all of your help, and for getting me this far, I’ll never forget your kindness,” I tell Ben.

“I can see why you mean so much to Michael, you’re a special girl, take care ok kiddo, your itinerary is there too, take a look at it and keep an eye on how you are tracking. Trust your instincts. And good luck.” Ben replied.

“Sorry Miss, but you aren’t going anywhere!” A burly man stepped in my path, grabbing my arm firmly. And at that moment, another muscular and intimidating man stood behind Ben. The only thing was they weren’t exactly men. They were warriors from Blood Moon.

“How? How did you know to find me here?” I asked nervously.

“Come on Bella, it was pretty obvious that the only way you were getting out of here was via public transport, thank you for making it easy for us though, looks like I’ll be making that date tonight after all,” He said to his friend with a sinister laugh.

“Bella, you need to run!” Ben ordered me.

I stood there conflicted. I couldn’t just leave him here, after all, he had done to help me leave.

“Please, don’t hurt him. It is me that you are after.” I pleaded with the two goons.

“Oh don’t worry, he’s coming too, the alpha will be dealing with him personally,” the other one uttered.

“You wouldn’t want to cause a scene now would you fellas?” Ben said to the two thugs standing near us.

They both looked at each other, and appeared to be mind-linking one another, we took that moment to silently communicate with one another. Ben motioned for me to run to my left, pleadingly. I nodded in agreeance. Ben mouthed "Now!" to me.

A few seconds later, I started screaming as loud as I could, “Help, these men are trying to kidnap me!” I screamed, as I managed to get out of the grip of the thug that was holding my arm, while he was dumbfounded by the scene I was causing. That seemed to get everyone's attention. They froze in their tracks, all eyes on them, while I took this as my cue to run as fast as I could. As I headed towards the main entrance I said a silent prayer that Ben would manage to get free of them also.

I stopped in my tracks when I heard a gun go off. I slowly turned around and watched in horror as I saw Ben fall to the ground.