Ariadne: Almost an Alpha | ✓

Chapter 58 - Stop Running for Once

Chapter 58 - Stop Running for Once 

The closer I get to the prison, the more the commotion sounds like fighting rather than an angry search party. Confused, I stop in the trees to observe. 

I don't recognize any of the wolves, and Cain is nowhere in sight.

I've started to turn away when I see him step out of the prison door. 

Mateus. 

My heart lurches; I don't have time to dwell on all the questions, the hows and whys, because he joins the fight, and I don't hesitate in leaving my spot in the woods to go help him.

The wolves with him aren't his pack, and with the mix of packless and pack people following Cain, it's hard to tell who is friend and who is foe. Mateus is so focused on the fight that he doesn't notice me, and I have to fight my way over to him under the assumption that any wolf that attacks me along the way is a foe.

Finally, when one wolf runs away from the fight, fleeing into the woods, he looks up, and his attention snaps to me. His whole body freezes. He opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, he has to look away to fight off another attack.

Eventually, I get to his side, but the fighting doesn't stop. Together, we fight like a machine, disabling attacker after attacker until finally there's none left.

I'd like to say the fight didn't faze me, that I had enough energy left in me to not break a sweat through the exchange, but I didn't. After Mateus kills the last enemy wolf, I'm so out of breath that I'm panting when I turn to face him.

Thanks to adrenaline, the pain hasn't set in yet, but it's only a matter of time.

The wolves around us stare at him, waiting for direction.

"Ariadne," Mateus says. His hands come up as if he's trying to reach for me, but they go back down to his sides just as quickly. Within a moment, his features harden. He sighs, turning to the wolves around us. "We're done here. Help your alpha with the lockdown procedures."

My heart crumbles as he returns to an emotionless block, but I don't have time to explain myself, to apologize and try and make him understand. "Mateus, I need to finish what I came here to do."

He tenses up, making his back even straighter. His voice is cold when he says, "Alpha Addison and his men will handle it."

"I need to do it myself."

"The council wants to question him and put him on trial."

"He murdered my entire family, Mateus. I can't sit and do nothing while he still lives. You can't ask that of me." I try to make eye contact, but he avoids it. "He didn't leave any evidence or any witnesses alive. He's cunning, so cunning. What if they let him free?"

"They won't. I won't let that happen."

There's rage in his voice. It simmers just below the surface of his skin, almost at a boil. He wants revenge too, I can tell, but his sense of duty overrides that. There's a struggle there, one not visible through his features, a battle between wanting to obey the council and wanting revenge for my capture.

I don't have time to convince him otherwise. I start backing away, preparing to make a run for it.

I don't fool him.

"Ariadne, don't."

I run straight for the woods.

Before I can make it to the tree line, Mateus catches up with me and tackles me to the ground. Instead of me getting a face full of dirt, however, he twists us so his back takes the brunt of the fall.

"Goddamnit, Ariadne," he exclaims as I push against his chest to try and wrestle out of his hold around my back. "Stop running away from me for once."

"Look at you," he continues, and I pause at the brush of his thumb against my cheek, reminding me of the layers of dried and fresh blood between his skin and mine. "It doesn't look like there should be anything left in you, and still, you're trying to run off on some suicide mission. Alpha Addison will find him, and he'll be put on trial. You don't have to do everything yourself, not anymore. Please, don't go against the council's wishes."

"They'll put me on trial too, don't you realize?" I ask, standing up and voicing aloud the things Cain has whispered in my head all these years. "I ran away without telling the council what happened, and I've been keeping his secrets for four years now. I'm his accomplice!"

"They won't. Just trust me." He rises after me, and although he appears calm in order to try and talk me down, I can tell by the lack of space he leaves between us that he's ready to stop me if I try to leave again.

If you tell anyone, you'll be killed too, he used to say. You helped me. You gave the pack to me willingly. You have just as much of the blame as me. You're an accomplice.

Trying to get the echoes out of my head, I shut my eyes tightly.

Interpreting my reaction wrong, Mateus quietly murmurs, "Do you still not trust me at all?"

"Alpha Jackson," a man calls out, appearing out of the woods and interrupting us. He continues as if I am not right in front of him. "The council has some questions for the supposed Lucia heir. They request you bring her to Alpha Addison's territory."

"Has Alpha Addison found Caine Lucia?" I ask the man before Mateus can respond.

The man looks at me now, taking a second to deliberate if he should answer my question, before he responds. "No, he has not."

Mateus grabs my arm, preparing for me to run.

"Are you a part of Alpha Addison's pack?" I ask the man, sensing an opportunity and forming a plan quickly.

"Yes." His tone is confused.

"Tell Alpha Addison I can help find him." I motion to my head with my free hand. I had never tried to use the connection in the same manner as Cain, but I should be able to, especially now that I've reinstated my claim to the alpha title. "We're linked."

Mateus' expressions don't betray him, but his hand on my forearm flinches, tightening for a second with my words. He would rather me anywhere but in this territory.

Meanwhile, the man appears to be staring up at the sky as he mentally converses with his alpha, Alpha Addison, the warrior alpha of the region outside of this pack.

Because of the large size of this pack, my grandfather opted not to join the warrior region when it was created. That decision turned out to be a bad one.

"They've lost his scent at a river near the eastern boundary of this territory," the man finally says. "Alpha Addison will wait for you there."

Mateus lets go of my arm only to say, "I'm coming with you."

~~~~~~~~~~

Question of the week: Mateus is once again struggling with his sense of duty, letting Ariadne make her own decisions, and his own wishes. How do you think this will play out in the coming chapters?

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