Chapter 27

Song: Leave The Light On by Zero

[Chapter 27 - The Mute Alpha]

Kira_t10 made me some character collages a while ago and I forgot to show you guys, so here they are!!! I love them, and they definitely fit the characters.

Since Kian wasn't introduced at the time she created these, I decided to make one of him since he is also an important character. I also wanted it to match the ones she made.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter! And don't forget to comment your feedback and vote!

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My body jolted awake and my eyes flew open due to the sudden movement of the plane. My eyesight slowly adjusted to the change of light. All of the dust covers for the windows were down, effectively blocking all of the sunlight out, and the vibrant, blue lights above the aisle were dim. I yawned and sat up straighter in my seat, glancing around the cabin. The seat Theo occupied earlier was completely empty. I checked the time on my phone, which read three o'clock. I smiled, because we were almost there. Maybe another hour or so left. I definitely slept soundly for several hours, and I was thankful for that. No longer was I nodding off. Now my body felt rejuvenated.

Yawning again, I twisted in the seat to check on Kian. Surprised, I bit back a gasp when I saw he wasn't alone. Theo sat next to him, looking rather comfortable with his head propped on his mate's shoulder, who, by the way, had his arm slung over Theo's body. Kian also used the top of Theo's head as a pillow. Both of them appeared to be sleeping peacefully. I cooed out loud and quickly picked up my phone to snap a photo, cackling evilly. Teasing them later about it would definitely be the highlight of my day.

I smacked my lips, trying to moisturize them, which became dry during my sleep. Parched, I slid out of my seat and staggered towards the back of the cabin, passing the snoozing men. "Flight attendant, sir, can I have some water?" I asked, poking my head behind the curtain. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion when I heard no response or saw a deserted room.

Maybe he was up front.

I turned around and marched in the opposite direction. When I reached the front of the plane, it was empty as well. Bewildered, I knocked on the door to the cockpit and waited for someone to answer. Nothing. Panicking, I banged even harder. Silence.

I gripped the handle and shoved the door open, revealing an empty flight deck. A shriek of terror escaped my lips as I stumbled backwards, by back bumping into the wall. Where did they go? Did they leave us stranded?

"Shit!" I cried out, spinning on my heels and racing down the aisle.

"Guys!" I shouted, shaking them violently.

Grumbling and groaning, their eyes fluttered open and met with intensity. They immediately straightened themselves as they sat up and awkwardly looked away, blushing profusely. It took them a few moments to compose themselves and come up with an explanation for their current situation. Eventually, they noticed my alarmed state.

"What's wrong?" Theo asked, once he cleared his throat.

I gripped his arm and yanked him up from his seat. He stumbled and bumped into my body, but my balance didn't falter. Instead, I tugged him towards the flight deck and shoved him inside. "We have no pilot!" I cried.

The sleep in Theo's eyes vanished and was replaced with terror. "What the fuck?" he exclaimed, moving towards the control panel. He placed his hand on the cushion of the seat, I guess checking to see if it was still warm. "Those little shits abandoned us! Why? How did they even leave without us knowing?"

I tried to steady my breathing, having no clue at all. "W-What are we going to do?" I questioned, voice shaking. "Do you even know how to fly a plane?"

"I do," a voice behind me spoke up. He pushed past me and situated himself in front of the controls. "My dad taught me how when I was a kid. Before my....rebellious phase. So I have flown before, but I may be a little rusty." He slid some headphones with a little mic over his head and spoke into it. When no one answered on the other end, he repeated and called multiple times. He cursed under his breath in frustration.

Then he began messing with the controls, pushing buttons and flipping switches. "Shit, we're almost out of fuel," he said, noticing the red light for the fuel tank. "Those bastards must have sabotaged our flight, knowing full well what we were doing. So I'm going to have to try and land this thing safely before we can crash, because no one is picking up. I don't know if there is an airport nearby."

I peered out the large window, nothing but blue skies surrounding us and fluffy, white clouds lying beneath the plane like a giant blanket of snow. "Where are we exactly?" I asked. The guys shrugged in response, Kian too concentrated with the panel and Theo too busy observing him.

"You guys might want to buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy ride," Kian told us as he flipped another switch on, probably the switch for the auto and manual pilot options. "Autumn go find a seat and prepare yourself, preferably a middle seat towards the back. Theo you should probably go with-"

"No," Theo cut him off. "I'm staying here."

The two stared intensely at each other, a mental battle going on. I, on the other hand, listened to his orders and ran out of the cockpit, buckling myself tightly to the plush chair towards the back of the cabin. My fingers gripped onto the arm rests as I felt the plane jolt down, lowering in elevation.

Hopefully Kian knew what he was doing, because our fate was in the palm of his hand. One wrong move and we could possibly die. And I wanted to see my mate before that happened.

My heart rate picked up as I felt my stomach drop with the plane, my anxiety levels rising by the second. I placed my earbuds in my ears and selected a song to calm my nerves and distract me from reality. I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing, ignoring the shaking of the cabin and the loud roaring from the engines. Every so often the plane jerked to the side, causing my fingers to clench my surroundings even tighter.

Several minutes later, the wheels of the plane not-so-gracefully grazed the ground, causing me to bounce in my seat  with a yelp. The plane skidded to a stop with a loud screech, the seatbelt protecting me from flinging forward. Everything happened so suddenly. When I sat still in the chair, I released a shuddering breath I didn't know I was holding. Slowly, I pulled the little speakers away from my ears. Silence.

Theo appeared in the room, a frown on his face. "Well, we landed," he announced, running his hand through his disheveled hair.

I sighed in relief. "Great! We're alive!" I exclaimed, quickly unbuckling and throwing myself onto the floor to kiss it.

"Don't get too happy," he grumbled and nodded his head in the direction of the window. "Look outside."

Hesitantly, I got back up and slowly slid the window's dust cover and gaped at our surroundings.

White.

Glistening, white powder. Everywhere. That was it.

"Well," I chuckled nervously. "It looks like we made it to Canada..."

Theo gave me a piercing regard, placing his hands on his hips with a frown. "We are in the middle of nowhere, Autumn. And my phone has no signal. There isn't an ounce of civilization anywhere. We are stranded."

I thought for a moment, everything settling in my mind as I tried to come up with a solution. Nothing came. "Maybe we should take a look around," I suggested.

"It's probably freezing out there," he said. "It's best to stay put. Maybe someone will find us."

Now it was my turn to shake my head. "We are wolves, Theo. We have the ability to withstand extremely low temperatures. And besides, like you said, we are in the middle of nowhere. It's highly unlikely someone will find us here. Plus, we won't find my mate, and your best friend, if we don't try."

"I'm not used to the cold weather," was his excuse.

"It's not that bad." Where I lived, it got cold during the winter and even snowed. It may not have been this intense, but I was somewhat familiar with it. But since I moved, I definitely adapted to the warmer temperatures and scorching sun rays.

"There might be a village on the other side of the mountain located northeast of us. We would have to be careful though, just in case we encounter humans," Kian hollered from the front of the private jet. "It might be worth a shot."

Theo exhaled loudly, finally giving. "Alright, but we should check for supplies. I guess it's a good thing we brought backpacks instead of suitcases, isn't it?" Kian and I nodded in agreement as we began to search and collect resources, anything that could aid us in our small journey. Once we found supplies and shoved them in our bags, we decided that it was time to depart the warmth and safety of the plane.

The three of us slipped out of our clothing and shoved them in our bags to use later, giving each other privacy in the process. Of course I knew it was difficult for Kian and Theo to not sneak a peek at each other due to the mate bond, but I did not say anything. Instead, I allowed my body to shift as the bones separated and rearranged themselves to the form of my wolf, dusty and dark brown fur poking from my skin. I heard cracking from the other side of the cabin as the others shifted as well.

My eyes met Theo's orange-eyed, inky wolf and Kian's silvery wolf. Kian's vibrant eyes caught me off guard. They were still their emerald green, just brighter and more intense. I blinked away my shock and noticed Theo having the same thoughts as me, staring in awe.

Fortunately, since I became Luna of the pack, I had the ability to mind-link Theo. I wasn't sure if we could communicate with Kian, however, because he wasn't an actual member of the pack yet. I guessed he would just have to follow us.

Theo came over to me and picked up my bag with his teeth. He motioned for me to step into the ring the strap made and slung the bag over my back. Then I stuck my thick leg through the other strap, and Theo pulled the adjustment straps on both sides to make sure the bag wouldn't slide off my back. He did the same for Kian, and we helped him get situated. Soon we were all ready to leave and headed for the exit.

After a few attempts, the hatch unlocked, allowing the door to swing open after a shove from me. The icy air greeted us like a slap in the face, making me suddenly thankful for the thick fur protecting my entire body. Theo, on the other hand, released a growl.

'So fucking cold,' he complained with a whimper.

I rolled my eyes at him. 'Shut up you big baby,' I remarked, leaping down from the ledge, which was pretty high. But, it wasn't anything a wolf couldn't handle. My legs sunk into the snow about a couple inches, but I didn't really care. The guys copied my actions, landing on either side of me with a soft thud.

The snow glistened under the sunlight, and the cool, soft powder melted under my paws and clung to my fur. Even though the air was a bit nippy, more than I was familiar with, I sucked in a deep breath, enjoying how refreshing it felt. I motioned the other two to follow me with a jerk of my head, and the three of us took off in a fast sprint in the direction of the jagged, snow-capped mountains, our paws thumping against the ground.

As we ran across the tundra, I allowed my eyes to wander around, taking in the beautiful scenery. The sky seemed so blue, compared to the unpigmented ground. Not to mention the snow had a glittery appearance. The breeze weaved through my fir and nipped at my nose, but I loved every moment. It made me feel alive. It made me feel determined.

By the time we neared the mountains, which took a few hours because it was farther than we anticipated, the sun began to set, meaning the warmth the sun provided vanished as darkness arose. We decided to take a little break because our stomachs growled in hunger. Theo moved towards me, because I had the bag filled with our food. He dug through it with his snout and pulled out three bags of jerky. Fortunately, the private jet had a lot of decent food, so we didn't hesitate to stuff as much as we could in the bag, even stuffing some in the others. He tossed one of the bags over towards Kian, who tore it open with his claws and dug his nose inside, devouring the meat within it. I laid down on the snow, feeling a tiny bit exhausted from that mini marathon. I was definitely somewhat out of shape.

After our little break, we continued on, moving towards the foot of the mountain and began our hike up the side. It wasn't very steep, more gradual than anything, but I could tell it was not going to be as quick as I hoped.

***

*Grins evilly* I have things planned...