HUNTED

Although Aila felt nothing but fear from the intimidating man in front of her, with his menacing gaze and overly muscular stature. She still felt confident that Silas would not kill her. He needed her for his little experimental wolves that were raising havoc. If they were created from her blood, were they technically like her babies? She dismissed the idea immediately and refocused her attention on the here and now. 

Aila kept her eyes level with the man who could be the ultimate undoing of the world of creatures. She was staring death in the eyes, and with her own determination, she made sure not to show him the dread that dispersed from the centre of her being by merely looking at him. His dashingly handsome face, which was hardened by the malice and evil behind his hazel eyes, would even cause a stranger to only glance at him and run in the opposite direction. He reeked of death, destruction, and evil schemes. 

Aila swallowed gently, pushing past the dry lump in her throat. "You won't kill me," She spoke calmly, without any trace of fear quivering in her voice. Malia hummed proudly by the strength Aila was portraying in front of their enemy.

Silas pulled at the slide of the gun, clicking it in place as his steady hand stayed pointed at her, "No, but I can always empty these bullets in you. Injuring you to the point you would wish for death. But I am asking you politely.." Aila looked down the barrel of the gun, remembering the last time she faced such a dilemma. She wanted to scoff in his face but thought it better to keep herself composed in front of such a temperamental man. 

He came closer to her with his cruel smile sliding up his face as his other hand moved a strand of her wet hair from her face; she felt a tremble ripple through her by his touch as his minty breath tickled her skin, turning her blood cold. "Now, come along, and nobody else will get hurt like this poor wolf here," Silas mocked as he looked down at Nairi and moved his foot forwards as if to kick her. 

Aila snapped at the sight, her eyes glowed, and she acted out of reaction to her now unconscious friend. She knocked the gun sideways with her hand and punched him in the face before kicking him in his gut. She put so much power and rage into her kick that Silas flew back, landing into a few hunters behind him.

Malia resurfaced, holding the reins along with Aila as though they had merged into one. Aila's skin began to rip away from her spine, her white fur sprouting out, "Let's end him," Malia growled, and as she took her first step forwards, her body still trembling, her focus on Silas snapped to the side.

Another man walked around the corner of the building near Finn; he was dragging a handcuffed Chase by the bicep, his face black and blue, full of bruises and dried blood from a cut on his forehead. This made part of his golden hair dark and dirty. Aila halted her step, her shift stopping immediately. The man was holding a gun behind Chase's back. She felt her complexion pale from the sight. 

"Ajax, are there any other wolves nearby?" She mind-linked him. If there were, maybe they could do a sneak attack on them. There was no way she was returning to live out her days as nothing more than a blood bag. 

Aila envisioned the cell she stayed in before; how the hunters would just keep her alive and locked away, taking her blood to create those beasts. 

"They are all busy!" Ajax cried; his voice was filled with terror. 

Shit. Aila's mind went blank from ideas of how to save herself and the people around her. She glanced back at Chase with furrowed brows. He was now in this mess because he helped her. Aila turned her head back to the man Chase called his father. Silas. 

He now stood, his eyes locked with Aila's and a sneer forming on his wretched face. "Oh, how your heart bleeds for the people you love. You attacked me, risking yourself to be tortured, only to stop from getting your ultimate revenge when someone else's life is in the balance. And not just anyone's…" 

Silas stepped back towards Chase and grabbed his son by the back of his hair, accepting the gun passed to him by the other hunter. Silas dragged him forwards and threw him against the damp ground, only to pull him back up, so Chase was on his knees facing Aila. He pointed the gun at the back of his head.

"You won't kill your own son.." Aila trailed off, uncertain with her words. 

Silas laughed, "And why wouldn't I? He is nothing more than a treacherous snake helping out the likes of your kind." He spat on the floor and smacked Chase with the back of his gun, causing the skin at his eyebrow to split and blood trickle down his face. He winced but didn't look at Silas; his gaze was fixed on Aila, as though he was trying to tell her something with his eyes. But she didn't know what. 

Aila was also stunned by the violent action; even if Chase did help her, she couldn't believe Silas would beat his own son.. yet, he did. Did he have it in him to kill Chase? 

Chase shook his head when Aila took a step forwards; she halted her footing as her gaze locked with his hazel eyes once more. Was Chase shaking his head because it was all a ruse? Would Silas really kill his son?

"No, surely not," Malia said with a lace of ambivalence in her voice.

Silas sighed, pointed his gun at Chase's foot and pulled the trigger. The gunshot fired with a loud bang. Aila yelped and covered her mouth with her hands while Chase made a low hissing sound. She watched as his chest heaved from breathing heavily, as though he was breathing through the pain of a bullet lodged in his foot.

"Now, do you believe me?" Silas tilted his head and pointed the gun back at Chase's head. 

Aila's heart twisted at the sight. Her brows drew together, and her thoughts reached out to Damon. She knew already what decision she was going to make, and it brought tears to her eyes, and her heart ached by the idea of never seeing her mate again. 

No, he would find her. 

He did last time..

Aila inhaled sharply and stepped forwards, "Please, leave my pack alone. Leave Chase alone. I will come with you." She showed her hands as a sign of surrender.

"Aila! What are you doing!?" Ajax barked through the mind-link. She heard an eagle's high-pitched cry from above, and she knew it was him. 

"Ajax, look around you. Finn, Nairi.. the number of pack members fighting rogues and those beasts. How many have fallen today? All because of me?" Aila lowered her gaze from the clouds that had stopped its unrelenting downpour. 

Silas laughed, but there was no humour in it. The chilling sound from the deep rumbling in his chest petrified her, along with the glint in his eyes. His form suddenly stopped shaking from his laugh as his face once again became serious.

"You have my word, Aila. I will leave Chase alone," Silas raised his other hand towards her expectantly. Aila frowned at his words as she began walking towards him. He didn't promise to leave the pack alone. But what could she do? She couldn't let Chase die.

"Send a pack mind-link. More reinforcements will come. We can still take them," Malia sputtered in a panic. Aila could feel her wolf's anxiety creeping into her own, yet she was still able to focus on the issue at hand. At least when Aila was at a loss, her wolf could help figure a way out of this mess. 

"Would they make it in time?" Aila asked for fear of being taken away and never able to see the light of day again.

"You're wasting any time we have right now. Do it!" Malia barked.

Before she could send out a pack mind-link. Another one came through from an unexpected voice, Darren's, "If there is anyone free. I need you to come to Silver Thorn town centre. Our Luna is in danger and in the hands of the hunters! COME, QUICKLY!"

Aila glanced at the grey wolf, whose amber eyes had never left her, her own conflicted with mixed feelings about the Delta. But she returned her gaze back to Silas, who had not lowered his gun from Chase. The distance between them was closing. Her heart thrashed against her chest, and her hands became clammy at the fear of once again being taken.

But she couldn't do anything other than taking her final steps to the hunter's outstretched hand. What else could she do? What else..

As Aila took another step, her eyes widened in shock. She suddenly felt arms wrap around her, lifting her up, and within a second, she had been whizzed past the street she had been standing on. Her feet found the ground again, and she stared, disorientated and dizzy by the change in scenery. Before her was the outskirts of the forest.

Aila placed her hand on her temple, rubbing at it and blinking, trying to regain her balance. It was then, she realised the solid and cold hands that were still placed on her hips, keeping her steady. Aila's breath hitched as she turned her head around and looked directly into crystal blue eyes with flecks of red in them.