I wake up in pain.
For a moment I'm so disoriented that I don't even realise where I am. I struggle to put anything into perspective right now. Instead, my mind is overcome with my whole body aching. I feel dizzy and just trying to lift my upper body makes me feel so nauseous that the only thing I can do is let it drop to the side, lying back down. It's a few minutes after that everything comes back to me and immediately I lift my head, frantically searching for Raph. But shapes and colours just mix together in swirls, I feel the need to throw up and it's only after I do that my head begins to clear slightly. Raph is lying just a few feet away from me and I drag myself over to him, unable to stand up, but refusing to be away from him.
When I get there, he's not moving. I can see his chest rising far too little and irregularly. He's alive, but barely.
Then I notice that we're not alone. For the first time, I actually take in my surroundings properly and the immediate reaction is to cover Raph like I have done when we were escaping the rogues. All around us, partially hidden by the trees, are wolves. They are silent, unmoving and they are watching us. In my dizziness and confusion I didn't notice them, but they are here and they're many. I frantically look around for a way out but it becomes clear that there is none. They are everywhere and there is no way for us to escape. We are in a small clearing, me and Raph just on the edge and now that I know of their presence, I can feel eyes watching my back. I don't dare turn around though, because any wrong movement could be a signal for them to attack. Instead, I watch them. It's hard to even keep track of them. None of them are moving, which should make it easier to keep an eye on them, but they blend so perfectly into their surroundings that in actuality, it just makes it harder.
But it doesn't take me long to figure out one thing. These wolves are too perfectly still to be rogues. It makes much more sense now that my head is slowly clearing. This is a pack, a very well trained pack in fact, almost scarily so. They are waiting for orders and now I'm just trying to figure out from whom. But I don't have much time. There's no way to tell how severely wounded Raph really is. He took on four wolves by himself, then even a fifth one and then had to survive the unstable run on my back. I can't wait any longer.
And apparently I don't have to either. Right as I'm about to start talking to the nearest wolf, I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Across from me, a massive man emerges from he shadows of the trees. He's tall and bulky, with a fully toned body, rigid composure and cold, calculating eyes. There is no doubt that this is the Alpha.
Fighting is not an option. Even on my good days it would be a gamble to fight him. Right now, the only thing I could hope for was I to fight him was mercy. So submitting is the only option. I don't move from Raph's body, but lay flat on him. I can feel the blood sticking to me everywhere and his weak breath on my chest as I lower even my head to the ground. I would roll over to show him my belly but that would require me to move from Raph and that's the last thing I want to do right now, so I settle for this.
My nose is now pressed into Raph's hair as I am very obviously submitting to the Alpha. I wait a few minutes for the gesture to speak for itself before opening my mouth. My heart is pounding with fear. The fact that I could lose Raph so easily is making me want to give up. But every chance to save him is one I am willing to take.
'Please.' My voice comes out weak and breaks at the end, so I take a stuttering breath and try again. 'Please. He's dying. Please save him.'
It's obvious that Raph is not in good shape, but confirming it is not exactly smart when you don't know whether the wolf in front of you is on your side or not. But it is the only thing I can do right now. There's no other way.
The Alpha doesn't answer me, nor do the other wolves give any indication to have heard me. After another few minutes, I try again.
'Please! He can't die! He can't! I'll do anything, I will, I promise! Please just, just save his life!'
I am desperate. It's clear in my shaking voice, the fear as evident as if I had told them. It's clear from my shaking body and the way one of my hands is holding onto Raph. I am crying now, wide eyes not seeing anything as my head is still lowered to the ground.
And it's only when I am close to giving up, close to just rolling over and holding Raph to me for as long as I still can, that the Alpha speaks.
'Why?'
It's a simple question, asked in a voice that does not betray any emotion and I am left to wonder what he meant by it. But I don't let myself fall into my own thoughts. There is no time for that.
'I love him.'
I don't know whether this is the answer to the question he asks or just the only thing my mind can come up with right now, but I do not care, for I have no control over this situation at all. I don't understand it, nor do I know how to navigate it.
'What are you willing to give up?'
'I don't care! I will do anything! Tell me and I will do it!'
By now, I can feel my body slowly shutting down. Mentally I am now so exhausted that I can feel myself losing consciousness. I won't let it, not completely, but there is little I can do but to keep talking until someone will save Raph.
'Then fight me.' The Alpha's voice is still calm and betrays nothing, but the words alone are enough.
'Fight me and should you win, I will save your mate. Should you lose, my patrol will escort you to the border where you will be let go.'
My head slowly rises to look at the Alpha. Even from his expression I cannot decipher anything. Luckily, I don't have to. It is clear what the terms are. Fight him and succeed, Raph lives. Lose and we are both likely to die in unclaimed land. I know I don't have much left in me, but it doesn't matter. I don't matter when it comes to Raph. The fact that, for the first time, an outsider has called Raph my mate seems to also make something click. Here, no one knows of what we have done. We could both live as mates here. So I stand up. My legs are shaking and can barely hold me up, but I will my body to keep standing. I am panting and losing strength quickly, but there is no excuse. For whatever reason, this Alpha has given me a chance to save Raph. There is no way I can let this go to waste.
I cast one last look at Raph, hoping and praying that he will survive until I win this. I won't be able to make sure he is alright while I fight, I can only trust that this Alpha's promise is genuine. Because if it is not, then we have lost already anyway.
I close my eyes briefly, swallow emptily before turning back around to the Alpha.
'I will beat you.' I say, mainly to convince myself. I am weak, so I will just have to ignore the pain for now.
'We'll see.'
The Alpha stands across from me seemingly calm, but I can tell he is ready and alert. The longer I think, the quicker I weaken, so I just go for it.
I run towards him, gauging his reaction as I throw a punch at him. He sidesteps me and uses my momentum to kick me in the back, effectively landing me on the floor. I'm panting, my head is fuzzy, but I'm no stranger to fighting. I knew that punch would never land, but it gave me an idea of how he fights.
So I stand back up, taking a moment to balance myself and to let my vision clear. Why he would let me recover is beyond me, but I'm far from asking. Once I'm halfway confident I won't just fall over by myself, I run at him again, my arm high as if to try for a second hit, but once he starts sidestepping again, I follow right along, drift behind him and use my leg to swipe his own from underneath him. To my displeasure he only stumbles, rather than falls, but it gives me enough of an opening to circle back around and get him in the face with my knee.
There's only a low groan coming from him, but it is a reaction, no matter how small.
The small success doesn't last long though, as he almost immediately swirls around and backhands me. My head snaps to the side, my body quickly follows and I find myself on the ground once again. For a while, I just stare straight ahead, trying to think of a way to win this, but I can think of absolutely nothing. My mind is blank and so the only thing left to do is to just keep trying. The Alpha clearly refuses to attack me when I'm on the ground. He probably pities me and for once, I do not even mind. I'll take every advantage I can get.
I get my body to once again stand up. This time, I'm slowly circling him, trying to maybe find a weak spot, but coming up empty, just as expected. It's very clear that his pack is one of fighting and I'm fairly sure it must be our neighbours in the north west. The pack is feared for their fighting power and even though they are small, they have never even come close to being taken over.
But even figuring all of that out doesn't help me at all, if anything it makes this whole situation more desperate than it already is.
I resign myself to just keep attacking. Every time I do, however, my attacks get either evaded, blocked or retaliated. I never land a hit that actually has lasting effect on him. I, on the other hand, am already in way worse shape than when we started. My one eye is swollen shut from an elbow attack earlier on and I am pretty sure one or two of my ribs are broken as well. But then, I already was in bad shape when we went over the border of our former pack, so it's hard to say which parts of my body are still okay and which ones aren't.
Right when I'm about to hit him with another attack, I see him signalling to one of his wolves and the next thing I know, two of them emerge from their place in the trees and walk towards Raph.
I panic.
Without thinking I run straight at them, while they are already lifting Raph up.
'No!' I shout, stupidly thinking they would at least be startled and slow down, but none of that. They instead completely ignore me and keep carrying him off.
I quicken my steps, wanting more than anything to just catch up, but then all of a sudden I feel a hand grab the back of my neck and the next thing I know the Alpha's fist strikes my stomach hard.
I gasp, fall to my knees and before I can say anything at all or react, the black dots that have been trying to take over my sight do and I completely lose consciousness.