34 | Run

"I don't wanna talk about things we've gone through. Though it's hurting me, now it's history."

~ ABBA, The Winner Takes It All

(what I've been doing this whole time to poor Cillian lol)

Blow up this chapter with comments and I'll post the next one early 😉

"Your parents and brother are already under surveillance from other packs in that area. So far, there's been no sightings we need to be concerned about." Sully told Sophie before turning to face Darcy. "Do you have any close relatives we should be concerned about looking out for?"

Darcy shook her head. "No, not really... no boyfriend or husband either." She hinted making him smirk.

"Is that right?" He wondered with a raised brow. Sophie cleared her throat, snapping him back into reality. "I've contacted God knows how many packs and there's only a few that are willing to fight with us. They're too concerned about making themselves known and vulnerable. Still, with the few that agreed to help us, with all of our combined packs, we may outnumber them. Unfortunately they might outgun us."

"So then what's the plan?" Sophie asked with furrowed brows.

He shrugged. "Try to not get shot."

Sophie facepalmed.

"Majority of the packs will be here by tomorrow morning. By then, I'll meet with the alphas, make a game plan, and roll out." He further explained.

"Alpha!" Michael, the beta, jogged into the room, a panicked expression on his face. "I have heat signatures on the north end of our border."

"How many?"

Staring wide eyed at the screen, Michael turned the tablet around, showing him just how many.

Everyone's heart sunk. The plan had been to ambush them, not the other way around.

"The other packs aren't even here yet." Sophie gasped, meaning they were now severely outnumbered. On top of that, Lycanthropes owned guns and knifes, but not tanks and bombs.

"Get everyone on that now," he ordered to his Beta, before turning to face his sister in-law. "I'm splitting you, Cillian, and Darcy up. They're going to want all three of you, especially you and Cillian. It will be harder for them to find you if you're not together. Find a room at the hospital and lock yourselves in it. It's the most secure. I'm sending several of my men with you to ensure it stays that way."

"Wait, what about Cillian?" Sophie questioned, urgently.

"What about Cillian?" He resorted.

"He's chained to his bed. God forbid someone breaks in-"

"That won't happen."

"Sully, he won't be able to defend himself."

Sully paused his actions and released an exasperated breath. He fished a key out of his pocket and handed it to Sophie. "Get in, uncuff him, and leave. Do you understand?"

She nodded and thanked him.

Both of the women were escorted to the hospital, several lycanthropes standing guard at every entry point. Sophie found a secure room for Darcy, prayed she would be safe, and took off to Cillian's room.

"Cillian!" She breathed in relief, rushing to his side. Her hands were immediately on his handcuffs to unlock them.

"What are you doing?" He exasperated, pulling away.

"I don't have a lot of time, but I'm going to uncuff you and go take cover. Sully wants us separate so they can't potentially get us together."

"Then who's going to protect you?"

"The whole building is being guarded, I'll be okay." She reassured him, unlocking his right hand.

Before she could unlock the left handcuff, the entire building shook. Both froze their actions and turned to face each other in fear.

"They were just at the edge of our boarder." Sophie whispered, horrified, eyes wide. "How did they get so close?"

With his hearing, Cillian was able to pick up on something she couldn't. "It sounds like helicopters." He responded, equally as terrified.

Gunfire and heavy footsteps sounded from the hallways, sending a shiver down Sophie's spine. A hand snatched her arm, making her flinch.

"Sophie, get under the bed." Cillian ordered, releasing her.

"Your cuff-"

He cut her off by taking the keys himself. "I got it, go."

She couldn't even crouch before the door was blown open, a dart hit each of the sides of their necks, and they were out cold.

•••

Cillian's eyes snapped open, his entire body in a cold sweat. He jerked in attempt to stand, only to go no where. Ropes on his arms, legs, and torso kept him confined to a chair.

Wait... Ropes? Anyone with half a brain knew he could get out of those. There's no way Rumlow would make a simple mistake like that. Something was wrong- very wrong.

"Cillian?" A terrified voice whispered from behind him.

"Sophie," he panted, craning his neck the most he could to see her. They were both on chairs, back to back, and she was tied up just like him. From what he could tell, she blindfolded as well. "Are you okay-"

"Look who finally decided to wake up," a deep voice chuckled darkly, the owner of the voice eyeing the trembling lycanthrope.

Rumlow...

While Rumlow was older, nearing his fifties, he was a big guy for a human, towering over most. In fact, if it wasn't for Cillian's supernatural abilities, they were nearly the same size in muscle and build. For a moment, Cillian was relived Sophie couldn't see the human. Rumlow was the same face visited Cillian in his nightmares every night. He prayed Sophie didn't have to have the same fate. Rumlow had this look in his eyes that made you wonder how many people he's killed. And this grin that made you realize he's probably lost count.

No matter how much he tried to hide it, Cillian knew Rumlow could sense his fear. He knew that he had the upper hand. He knew he had that power over Cillian.

"You have me now, so let her go." Cillian spoke as calmly and coolly as he could, reaching behind him to take Sophie's hand in his.

Rumlow hummed lowly, twirling a blade between his fingers as he took slow, menacing steps towards him. "You've gotten quite bold... I thought I beat that out of you. Do you need me to do it again?"

While Cillian's expression remained stone cold, the fear that gripped his heart said otherwise. "She did nothing to you. If you're going to hurt someone, hurt me."

"Is that what you think is gonna go down?" He cocked a brow, a twisted grin on his lips. "I was always going to hurt both of you.... I just planned to hurt you worse."

Cillian's jaw clenched. "You keep pointing that knife at me and blabbing on about how much you're going to hurt me." He stated, rather calmly. "I'm beginning to doubt your commitment."

Rumlow's grin widened. Then, he snickered. A small laugh at first, and then a full on maniacal laugh. He doubled over from laughing so hard and wiped a tear from his eye as he backed away towards the door.

The door clicked shut behind him and Cillian immediately checked on his mate. "Soph, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. But are you okay?" Was the shaky reply.

"I'm fine. Don't worry, okay? Everything's going to be fine."

The ropes had to be a trap for something else. There was something so wrong about it, but Cillian didn't see any other way out.

Sophie felt the ropes that were once digging into her wrists give away, onto the floor beneath her feet. She kept her wrists together so the guards remaining in the room wouldn't notice. "What-"

"Leave your blindfold on for me, okay?" His hushed voice came from where he was tied up behind her.

"What do you mean?"

"Promise me you won't take it off."

"W...What are you going to do?"

"Just promise me, sweetheart." He whispered with a shaky sigh. This was the side of him he never wanted to share with Sophie. He never wanted her to see the monster he was.

"Cillian-"

"Promise me."

After taking a few rigid breaths, she took in one long one, as an attempt to get her breathing in control. "I... I promise."

There was a pop of the ropes being effortlessly ripped off and the horrid, stomach churning sound of bones being popped out of place.

Then? Utter chaos.

There was screaming, shouting, gunfire, the sound of flesh ripping as one by one, Cillian single handedly took down each of the soldiers in the room. Sophie clamped her hands over her ears to drown out the noise, her body trembling with adrenaline.

She startled as she felt a large presence in front of her and let out an ear piercing scream. Fur brushed against the side of her face and canines carefully tugged the blindfold off her eyes.

Her eyes sprung open, her back flush to the chair, coming face to face with the largest wolf she had ever seen. The wolf's golden eyes softened and head tilted and that was all it took to realize she knew this wolf.

She released a shuddering breath and ran her fingers down his fuzzy head. "Cillian?"

At the sound of his name, Sophie understood where the phrase, "wolfish grin," came from.

He closed his eyes, nodding his head at her. It took her a moment, but she copied his actions. Once her eyes were shut, the horrible sound of bones shifting caught her attention again, but she knew better than to look just yet.

There was some shuffling, perhaps the sound of him tugging on some pants. The moment it stopped, strong arms pulled her into a firm chest. "It's okay. You can look now. Everything is okay." He whispered into her ear as she struggled to fight back the tears.

She melted into Cillian's embrace, and he was quick to pick her up and turn them around so she was facing the wall instead of the many dead bodies around the room.

He pulled back enough to scan down her body in search of any injures. Finding none, he gently took her face in his hands, the pads of his thumbs brushing away all of the tears that trickled down her face.

A high pitched ringing only a canine could hear caught Cillian's attention. The quiet sound sent a shiver down his spine. He wasn't sure why it startled him, but he brushed the feeling away, prioritizing Sophie for now.

He smiled at her, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. His expression almost seemed apologetic. That's when she realized he was trembling. Something was very wrong.

Before she could say anything, he quietly spoke, "you promise you're not hurt?"

"I'm okay," she nodded, trembling in his hold, turning to look behind her.

He gently turned her face back to him and softly told her, "just look at me. It's okay. We're going to get you out of here, okay?"

"Okay," she whispered, shakily, clearly in shock. "Okay."

"Just look at me, don't look at anything else." He encouraged, moving them to the door, careful of where his body was to block the rest of the room from her view.

They got to the door, the pitch of the ringing only getting higher, setting all the warning alarms in his body off. It clicked for him in that moment what was happening. He didn't have much time.

Sad, tired eyed scanned her over, admiring every detail. After a beat of silence, he rushed out, "I don't have time to explain, but you need to run away, as fast as you can from me."

She leaned back, gawking up at him. "What did you say?"

His hands engulfed hers, pleading. "If you or- or someone needs to take me out, you need to tell them to do it before I hurt someone."

The ringing got higher and louder, making him wince. She couldn't hear it, but she noticed his pained expression and cupped his face. "What!? What do you mean? What's wrong?"

"It's the only way." He ignored her question.

"The only way for what?" She pushed back.

"To keep you safe."

"Don't be absurd!" She whisper shouted, holding her own.

Cillian's eyes were pleading, expression composing, but it wasn't enough to completely hide the fear. "It will be okay. Everything will be okay."

She shook her head, her whole body trembling as countless tears poured down her cheeks. "You can't just say that." She rasped out.

"You're brave enough and smart enough," he softly assured her. "You're going to survive this just fine. Okay?"

She reached out to grab his arms. "But what about you-"

"This is the plan," He interrupted her, his voice more panicked then it was previously. "You're going to run, and if you need to, you're going to use this." He told her, handing her a gun he must have taken from one of the fallen soldiers.

"No!"

"This isn't up for discussion." His voice brooked for no room for argument. "You do whatever you need to do to survive me. If God forbid they get you, you will give them whatever information by any means necessary if it gets you a better deal out of this."

"Cillian, I'm not going to betray you, let alone kill you."

"It's not betrayal if I'm asking you to do it."

"You can't just go down without a fight! You always have a plan. You always have an out."

"And I do this time." He promised, meeting her gaze. "For you. They don't get to hurt you, that is the most important thing. If you really trust me like you say you do, you have to understand that this is the best plan I could come up with. Do you understand me?"

"Please, I..."

"Do you understand?" He repeated, putting emphasis on each syllable. His heart lurched sickeningly in his chest, his stomach squeezing. His rough hands lightly stroked her tear stained cheeks. Her eyes met his and he tried his hardest to memorize them- for after today, he might never see them again.

A sob broke past her lips. "There has to be another way."

"I love you so much." He whispered, brokenly. "But you need to go."

The ringing got higher.

Cillian suddenly had a look in his eyes that Sophie had never seen before. He wasn't sad, he wasn't mad, he wasn't worried, not even scared... he was completely and utterly terrified.

"Go!" He exclaimed and clamped his hands over his ears.

Oblivious with what was going on, she grabbed his arm. "No, not without you!" She cried and tugged on him.

He roughly shook off her grip. He could feel the sweat begin to drench his skin, the throbbing of his own eyes, the ringing screams vibrating in his ears, and the thumping of his heart against his chest.

"Please, Sophie! You need to run!" His pleaded, his voice mixed between a growl and a yell. His fingers curled into a fist, his nails digging into his own palms. He couldn't hear his rapid breathing, but he could feel the oxygen flooding in and out of his lungs. Fear tortured his guts, churning his stomach in tense cramps. It engulfed his conscience, knocking all other thoughts aside. He yelled out as he clutched onto his head. "I don't want to hurt you, run!"

She looked at him with a conflicted look in her eyes. What did he mean by that? "I can't leave you! I won't!"

Fear overwhelmed his body, making it drastically exhausted. However, most of all, the fear made him calm and that was what scared him the most. With the little ounce of control he had over his own mind left, he grabbed her shoulders so tightly, she was sure there would be bruising later. "Run."

She looked into the eyes that no longer looked like her husband's eyes. No, this man was much colder and scarier. She's only ever heard about this man. About this soldier. This weapon.

He pushed her, hoping she would run out the door.

Sophie took the hint and ran as fast as she could, out several doors, and outside. She was too panicked to realize she didn't bump into a single soldier on the way. She whirled around, scanning the area around her, nothing but trees in sight.

She didn't have the time to choose a direction, so she just ran. She only made it ten feet before she was knocked to the ground. She scrambled to get up, only to be shoved back down, a pair of hands on each of her arms.

Instantly, she was surrounded.

"He fought it longer than he did last time, but he finally arrived." Rumlow chuckled with a sinister smile.

She made a move to stand, but was ultimately shoved back to her knees. She bit her already bloodied lip, holding back a cry. She wouldn't give them that satisfaction.

He prowled closer and crouched to be eye level with her. Then? She spat on his face.

Seemingly unaffected, he released an exasperated breath, stood up straight, and wiped her saliva off his face. "If that's how you wanna play, fine." His voice came out eerily calm.

He smiled sickenly sweet and placed a gun to her temple.

Her eyes snapped up to meet his gaze. "Do it. It's what we've both been waiting for, isn't it? So go on and pull the trigger."

He let out a quiet chuckle.

She quirked an eyebrow at him.

That made him laugh even more. A laugh that would haunt her for the rest of her life, even if her life lasted just a few minutes more.

"You think I'm gonna do it? You poor little gullible child."

She was going to reply, but a new, dark presence made her stop.

"Cillian!" She exclaimed, pausing to keep her voice from cracking. "I- why are you looking at me like that? Baby, please! Cillian, listen to me! This isn't you!"

She didn't care about showing weakness now as she sobbed and pleaded to him. She made a move to stand up but the soldiers pushed her back down. "I love you! Please don't do this. Please put it down."

Slowly, so eerily slow, the lycanthrope stalked his way over to her.

"I know you're still in there somewhere! You're not in your right state of mind. They're controlling you! I love you! Please, Cillian, please!" She screamed through her sobs as she tried to scramble away from the him.

Her attempts were in vain, his strong hand wrapping around her neck, effortlessly lifting her off the ground.

She frantically clawed at his hand, gasping for air. Mustering as much confidence and bravery as she could, she managed to wheeze out, "you don't have to do this."

Something in his eyes flickered, but his eyes clouded back over in a matter of seconds. Still, that was enough to prove to her that he was fighting whatever was controlling him.

His eyes locked onto hers. His voice creaked out of him, rusty with disguise. "I wish that were true."

•••

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Thank you so much for over 140,000 reads!! I used to have a Winter Soldier fanfic yeeears ago and the second half of this chapter was all from it lol! Just changed a few things to make it fit for this book.

Important author's note: I wasn't going to address this, but some of the comments are getting out of hand. This is not directed at one specific individual because it's happened quite a few times now. I just thought I'd finally address it. I hope this doesn't come across as mean, because it's truly not my intention at all 🩷

If you've been a follower of mine for a while, you know I don't write smut. Now, before some of you go off huffing and puffing, announcing that I'm terrible, that you're not going to finish reading this book now, or ever read one of my books again (yes, I've been told this before), please consider finishing reading my note first.

I am a Christian. Always have been, always will be. Because of my faith, morals, and who I am as a person, I will never write smut. Now, if you read or write smut, I'm not saying I'm better than you or think any less than you. I'm not telling you you're wrong. Everyone has their own beliefs and morals, and that's okay! I'm not judging anyone for doing it at all! That's none of my business. However, it is my business when I am ridiculed for not writing it.

There is so much more to romance and intimacy than sex. There is so much more to a good book or an exciting read than sex. There is so much more to write about that I am comfortable with.

To clarify, if you've asked me if I will write smut, I'm not upset with that question at all. You can ask me whatever you want! I'm happy to answer any and all questions. And if you're disappointed there will be no smut, that's okay too. I'm not mad at you. This note is directed at those who absolutely bash me for not writing it.

Now, if you decide to stop reading my books, that's fine! I won't be offended. Just don't tell me, please. There's no need. You can just leave. Not every book of mine is going to be everyone's cup of tea. However, if I get ridiculed for my decision, any hate, or if you make a big theatric deal about deciding to stop reading, you will immediately be blocked.

Sigh. I hate writing notes like this. The majority of you are absolutely amazing and I love you all so so much! I'm so thankful for you. Your comments absolutely make my day. I just had to address some of the hate since it was getting out of hand.

Anyways, thank you for reading! I hope you all understand. I'm happy to answer any questions related or unrelated you may have 🩷