Heart of the Auburn Wolf

Don't hurt Aiden

POV: Freya

I ran. My legs hurt, but I did not think of the pain. I did not think of what will happen to my mother, either. I took the shortest path I knew towards my secret place at the lake, which thankfully is outside the border. Since I don't have any wolven abilities, they cannot talk to me or smell me from far away. It's around 10 or 11 PM now and it has gotten pretty dark outside. Luckily, I manage to avoid any patrols. They might be hearing about the commotion at the Pack house and heading towards there, explaining why it was so easy for me to get through.

Only Aiden knows about my secret spot, so I consider myself safe, for the moment. I realize that I must think of the next steps, so I crouch near the lakeside and breathe deeply a few times. My attempt to calm my nerves fails miserably, as rivers of tears flood my face.

"No, no, stop, we don't have time for this" I whisper to myself while I try my hardest to wipe away the rebel tears with both my forearms. But they don't stop. The truth is, I don't know what to do. All my money is in my room, the Pack house’s basement, and there's no way I can go back. The only other person I know is Lindsey, and I don't even know her address.

"Where do I go from here?" Clouds my mind but I have no answer.

After this thought, I decide to let my tears flow freely. Anyone that suddenly finds themselves without a place to call home is allowed to cry. And so I do... I sit on the stones near the lake and I cry for all the things that I left uncried for 5 years. There's a tear for every time a pack member bullied me, a tear for never having felt my father's love, a tear for my mother and the consequences she is to suffer for assaulting her Alpha and a tear for my wolf, whom I never met.

My father was always disappointed that I had been born a girl. No matter how much I trained, no matter how many pack members I would beat during classes, no matter how sharp my senses were, the truth is, I was never going to be enough. Not like Aiden is. Even so, I could never envy or hate my brother. Reaching my father's expectations is certainly much more difficult than accepting that he has none from you.

After draining my supply of tears in front of the Moon Goddess, I begin skipping stones. It helps me think when I'm stuck. As I do so, it reminds me of the attack at the river, where Clare and Hilda beat me, where I was also skipping stones. My father said that a hunter killed Hilda... It must be Clare that went back and told my parents what happened, so she can't really be far from the truth. But who...

"Sh*t" I muster when I realize that the hunter in question is none other than Nicholas. It's the only way it makes sense. Of course, he believes I'm a normal human, that's why he saved me. All the pestering questions he had for me make sense. Even so, despite knowing I am involved with werewolves in some way, he wants to protect me. I must admit this thought makes me feel all warm inside.

"However, why was he even there in the first pla- "And my thought is interrupted by... Aiden's little finger poking my cheek. My heart pacing increases. I look around quickly but I only see him.

"Aiden, what are you doing here?!" I stand up and grab his little cheeks in my palms, asking. Aiden looks at me with a saddened face:

"Frey-Frey, you were sad and you left. I knew you would be here." He replies with a smug expression, very pleased with himself that he would figure me out. I cannot control myself and I hug him tightly. Then I look at him again and ask a very important question:

"My little fire, did you tell anyone you were coming?"

But Aiden shook his head proudly and said: "Everyone is busy, mom and dad are fighting. Nobody saw me leave."

His reply makes me calm down a bit, but there's still the question of what am I going to do with him. He is most likely going to be mind-linked and traced, and there's always the scenario where someone actually saw him leave. I hug him tightly again, like there's no tomorrow. Somewhere in my heart, I felt like I should have hated him for stealing all the love and time of my parents, but I couldn't bring myself to. Aiden had always come to play with me, when others would avoid me. He would always search for me, cherish me, regardless of how much training he's going through at his fragile age. Usually, Alpha-blooded children go through a lot of training from an early age to be able to control their emotions and their strength. There are also classes of werewolf history, politics, territory placements, hundreds of important names that they must know and many other. I would know, since I've also undergone them for 14 years.

I try my best to hold back my tears as I whisper to him, looking in his gorgeous hazel eyes, the only characteristic we had in common:

"Little fire, you must go back home, alright?"

"No, I'm coming with Frey-Frey." He replies, as he tears up. "I don't want to be there if you’re not there." He leans on to cover his face on my shoulder, but I straighten him up:

"Aiden." I speak his name so that he understands the seriousness of the situation. He quickly straightens up. I arrange a lock on his face as I say: "I love you very, very, very much. But so do your mother and father. You are a courageous boy that is someday going to become a respected and fearsome Alpha. And when you do, we'll see each other again, alright?" His face is betraying his attempt to not cry, so he just nods. I smile back and usher him: "Come on now, I will walk you closer to the border and then you can mind-link someone to come and get you."

Aiden wipes his tears with his wrists and nods. I grab his tiny hand, get up and turn towards the Pack territory. However, in front of us stood a pale, tall and slender man, with a hand on his chin, looking thoughtful. My body froze. Not surprisingly, I didn't hear any steps. But Aiden should have, yet he didn't. There's only one being that can move as silent as a feline, and look as pale as a corpse: vampire. I try to control my heartbeat so as not to scare Aiden.

"Oh, you're finally finished." He says, as he bends his mouth in a smug expression.

Aiden tightens his hold on my hand. I look at him and grab his face to make him watch me as I gesture with my lips: Mind-link. Father.

Then I swiftly hide Aiden behind me and turn towards the man: "What do you want?" Trying to distract his attention until I figure out a way for us to escape.

The man replies, with the same smirk, as he begins pacing left and right: "Well, you see, me and my pals here were getting a little bored."

"There are more of them?!" I think, as the control over my heartbeat falters. My feet begin trembling as I see the vampire walking, yet there's no sound. It's as if he's floating.

The vampire goes on: "We were sent here near this werewolf pack territory by our employer to watch out for any werewolves and there were none, you see? Then suddenly my dull night brightens when I see this tiny mutt that is now behind you running by himself. I chose to follow him for the fun of it and then he meets with this young, beauty like you." He stops and leans a bit closer, wearing a sketchy smile: "A human to that."

Another voice is heard from behind us: "Sin, stop playing around." When I look, it's another one of them. "Silent f*ckers" I mutter through my teeth.

"Tch" The vampire in front of us spits "In any case, long story short, I hit the jackpot. The offspring of the dogs' leader and a beauty all in one place, what else can a vampire ask for?" Then he begins getting closer, as I also take a few steps back. However, I soon realize that Aiden's feet behind me had already reached the lake water, so I stopped and prepared to say something, but I was interrupted.

Aiden suddenly leaps in front of me and roars using a low voice: "You stink! Leave us alone!" and I heard a threatening growl leave his tiny chest. A part of me felt proud that at such a young age he can muster up a protective growl, but another part of me felt ashamed that I have to be protected by my 5 years old brother. His courage gave me strength. Aiden must have mind-linked someone, so we just have to hold them off for a bit, until reinforcements come. It should be any minute now.

"Hahaha" both the vampires start laughing out loud for a few seconds. Then the one in front of us says: "Such a funny little guy, our employer will be very happy. Get him." As he does so, I only blink once before Aiden disappears from my sight and reappears 50m away, screaming in pain. I instantly start running towards him.

"Let him watch." I hear from around me.

"Aide-" I manage to scream, before my mouth gets muffled by a vampire's hand. I can feel one of them holding me from behind, with one hand on my mouth and another on my waist, locking both my hands. He is too powerful for me to break through. "Damn this!!! Damn this!! Father is right, I'm a worthless scum, I can't even save my own brother" I thought, as I regretted my powerlessness and struggled to get free. Meanwhile, Aiden's cries become quieter and quieter.

Then, in front of my eyes, the slender man seemingly teleports right in front of me and begins slowly tracing my body with his finger, starting from my waist and going upwards, to the neck. My whole body cringed at his touch.

"Hmm, now let's give this mutt a show he will remember his whole life."

"Don't make this long, Sin. I'm sure the little mutt called someone. But also, leave me a piece." The vampire holding me said, licking his lips.

Sin looked in my eyes and with a crooked smile, ripped off my shirt, leaving me with only the bra on.

The vampire stops his gaze on my pendant, which was now visible: "What do we have here?" He says, as he touched it.

"What's that?" says the one holding me, struggling to see.

Sin takes a second to inspect my pendant and then replies excitedly: "Hell take me, Val! This is the Legendary Ruby Talisman!"

"What?! That cannot be! Are you sure, Sin?!"

"I'm certain, just look at this magical aura, it must be hosting a very powerful spell... We must take it to Simon. He will be very pleased with us." Sin says with enthusiasm, then he closes his hand on the pendant. As I realize he is intending to pull it off my neck, I feel tears coming down my cheek and I begin fighting chaotically, trying to scream:

"No no no no no, please don't!!" but it all comes out muffled.

"Shut up, b*tch. You must have stolen it from somewhere, didn't you?"

The vampire doesn't seem to stop and I can only pray that history won't repeat itself. After only one strong tug, the whole necklace comes off with a ting. The shine of the ruby in the middle slowly goes dull.

I close my eyes and brace for whatever is to come, chanting the only thought that I can think of:

"Please don't hurt Aiden. Please don't hurt Aiden. Please don't hurt Aiden."

But nothing seemingly happens.

As the vampires admire their newly found treasure, I come to realize that by just whiffing the air, I can tell that Aiden is hanging on to his consciousness. He was probably thrown to that side and broke one or both of his legs, but he began healing himself. I listen closely for his steady breathing and I make out his sobbing voice encouraging himself: "Hurts... Must save... Frey-Frey..."

However, it looks like the vampires also heard him, as Sin turned his head towards Aiden.

"He's going to heal soon. Should I just go and break more of his limbs? He's a feisty one, no wonder, considering he has Alpha blood in him." Val, the other vampire said.

Sin's crooked smile appeared on his face: "No, let's just kill him and bring his body back. That must be enough proof of our job. This woman is more important now, we have to find out where she has the pendant from."

The vampire holding me nodded and for a second, I felt him release me.

Just as fear took over me, I hear a clear voice in my head, like a stone hitting the water: "No, you won't."

And then, a shooting pain followed.