The Art Of Sneezing

Chapter 51

I open the bathroom door as Taylor's incessant knocking continues. "Okay, okay I'm out." He's given me another shirt of Alexander's to wear and I feel cacooned in chocloate covered strawberries.

        "What took you so long," He snaps as I walk past him to lie on the bed.

        "I was taking a shower, Taylor."

        "You were in there forever!" I close my eyes as he continues to yell.  The conversation with Alexander left me slightly at peace and ready to sleep. I drift off, making Taylor yell in frustration and stalk out of the room.

        Yelling wakes me up. I can't possibly imagine that Taylor is still upset about the long shower. I blink, realizing I've had a great nights sleep and the sun is rising in the sky. His shouts hit my ears.

        "What did you do?!" He's pulling me out of the bed by my arms, squeezing tightly. "They're attacking!" Taylor's growl rumbles through the room as he throws tights at me. "Put these on. We're leaving."

        I quickly do as he says, sliding the tights on under the long shirt. He grabs my arm roughly and pulls me out of the silent house.

        The clearing outside is anything but silent. Wolves and people fight against each other and the grass is already red with blood. Fallen warriors lie unnoticed on  the ground as other's fight on them.

        Brown fur dashes across my vision.

        "Zach!"

        The wolf turns, his eyes widening when he sees me. He starts towards me, but Taylor pulls me away. I'm shoved into the building I woke up in on my first day here. The heavy door slams before Zach can enter.

        "Where are you taking me," I demand. We turn a couple of corners and walk down a set of stairs. There aren't anymore cells, but a large room resembling a torture room looms before me.

        I smell coppery blood and chocolate strawberries.

        "Alexander,"  I gasp.

        

Alexander's POV

We crouch at the edge of the border as the midnight patrol passes. As soon as Derek beat Josh, we gathered our packs and prepared to attack.

        The patrol disappears and we wait twenty minutes before I give the signal. We run into the forest. There's a howl from a Rogue, alerting them that we are coming.

        Our wolves burst into a clearing where the Rogues are preparing to fight. The two sides collide in growls and snarls. I immediately search for Taylor, barking in annoyance when I don't see him.

        There's a sudden nip at my hind leg and I turn to see Taylor's wolf. I let out a menacing growl. He starts to back away to the woods and, like an idiot, I follow him. I pass the tree line where I'm immediately jumped by many of Taylor's wolves.

        He watches as I fight them off, rage driving my wolf to attack feriously. They bite my legs as I kill them off one by one. Eventually, my knees crumble from the blood loss. I've accumulated a pile of Rogues - at least twenty - however, they've finally got me down. I see Taylor's wolfy smirk as he stalks towards my still body.

        I feel him grab the scruff of my neck and pull me somewhere. He shifts as we reach a door and continues to carry me down many hallways. Taylor drops me before sending a kick to my ribs that makes me tumble down a set of stairs. I shift as I land on the cold, hard floor and cough up blood.

        "Where is she?" I yell breathlessly.

        He kickes me once again. "Sleeping. I'll bring her down here in a minute." This time, he grabs my neck and sends me flying into the wall.

        Breathing heavily, I watch from the floor as he walks to a cabinet and pulls out clothes. As he changes, I study the room. It seems to be a torture room full of knives, chains and weapons.

        "Here," Taylor throws a pair of jeans at me. My body feels like lead as I stifly move to put the pants on. I stand, bracing my back on the wall as my wounds continue to bleed. My growl is cut off when he pins me to the wall by my neck.

        Something scrapes my back. I quickly realize it's chains connected to the wall when he snaps them on my wrists. Snarling, I jump forward with my canines as I try to bite him. He jumps back and my teeth make a loud click as they snap air.

        Taylor holds my hair to the wall, forcing me to lean back. "I'll be right back with Riley." I growl and show my teeth.

        "I'm going to kill you."

        He steps back and begins to walk away.

        "I'm going to sink my teeth into your neck, making sure to scrape your trachea -"

        I see his back tense and his steps almost faulter.

        "I'll make sure to just barely scrape it, so that the blood slowly leaks down your throat -" My voice raises so he can hear me. I hear his steps quicken up the stairs as he tries to run away.

        "-Straight into your lungs. You'll cough, but it will keep filling your lungs until you slowly suffocate in your own blood!"

       The first door we entered slams.

        I'm left with only the sound of my heavy breathing. My knees bend and land on the floor. My arms are pulled tight at my back and I flex my shoulders, tugging at the chains. A smirk makes it's way onto my face. The chains are weak and I can easily break them.

        I'll wait for my moment.

        Now, I lower my head and focus on letting my body heal itself.

        My head snaps up when I hear my mates melodic voice. "Where are you taking me?"

        I rock back onto the balls of my feet and stand, using the chains to help pull me up. Her presence in the room somehow brightens it. I growl as I see his grip on her arm  tighten.

        She whispers my name.

        "Let her go," I half growl, half speak to Taylor. Suddenly, Riley gasps as he puts something to her throat.

        I feel my blood run cold.