Ronan's POV
5 Hours. That's how long I had been unconscious. Dr. Madman added sleeping drugs into the witch blood especially for me. By the time I got up to breathe in the bloody damp air, my arms were unstrapped from the side of the bed and Aleister was sitting in a chair pulled up by my bed. He slept slouching his onto the bed. He almost looks innocent while he's sleeping.
It's like he wants you to murder him... Maybe you should Ronan.. No- no it would complicate the plan more. Resist the urge to bite his pulsating.. warm, savory neck.. What were we talking about?
Sorry, the voices I have are tempting me to kill him, but I have to be trained.. so maybe another day. I kicked him as hard as I could in the head and he flashed out. A hologram... this was a test.. The intercom connecting communication from Aleister to my cell crackled to life with that man's voice.
"Rise and shine Ronan! We have a full day of experiments ahead of us. First, eyeball extraction. You should grow another one back immediately.. as long as there were no failures in the procedure. Then I will start to train you, as long as you aren't dead by then. Let's get to it!"
You know, for a sadistic bad guy he's got a serious energy for messing with people's lives.
24 Hours Later
Ta-da! Still alive and most of my limbs are in tact. I'm supposed to be completely healed in a few hours. Tonight is the night I run for my life.
Change of plans Ronan, you run at dawn. It's not as creepy at the crack at dawn.
Hey, if that's what I hear I do it. I can't argue with myself.
Aleister came in an hour later and injected me with "morphine". He also tried kissing my head and tucking me in bed but I swung at him. He had to be trained because he dodged my arm like it was a thin branch. I heard a bolted chuck and footsteps down a hallway after Aleister had left. I pretended to sleep for a few hours. The sicko has nothing else better to do so he watches me sleep for three hours every night through a looking-back glass and then goes back to his own room.
Now.
The door unbolted and quietly creaked open. Just like the voice said, a grimoire was placed on a metal table on one side of a lime green hallway. I sniffed around for an exit and all I could smell was metal and rust.
Down the hallway, 2nd left then take a right.
I ran past large transparent glass panels in the wall. Apparently I wasn't Aleister's only project. Some werewolves were being extracted for their organs. Others were either busy ripping each other apart or killing themselves by trying to rip free the same kind of bolted door I tried breaking down when I first got here. I passed for a moment, starring at those wolves. Should I help them? I mean, they are the same as me. I started reaching for a door when I shrill whistle was set off in my mind.
Get moving! They are already goners. One touch of that door and an alarm will go off.
I just had to speak back to myself this time.
"I was a goner. Yet here I am, about to run with my life back to my family. If I go you have to promise and come back for these wolves."
The voice sighed reluctantly.
You've always had a determination to save others, Ronan. Very well. I will come back to retrieve them after I have known you're safe with Miss Bella.
The shrill whistle in my mind dimmed until all I could here were howls of pain and ripping of flesh. I continued down the murky hallway. Aleister's compound was just ahead. I could smell the aroma of a psychopath and his doors were doubled and incrested with wolf heads. Taking the left, I saw something I shouldn't have. A wall mounted with werewolves' heads.
His trophy case, I presume. At least he cleaned it up nicely. No blood seems to be dripping from the wall.
At least 20 wolf heads were counted. All had labels of their pack. In the center of it all was a large white wolf head almost the size of Lady Liberty's.
Ronan Swan
Swan Pack Alpha
1996-2014
My name.. That's my name.. But, I'm not dead. Am I? I'm not a white wolf, definitely not a pack Alpha, right? This doesn't make any sense.
You're not dead, Ronan. If you sniff that head closer, you can tell its not you. Its a different wolf. Ronan mixed up your head with another's.
Or maybe the person who hunted "me" gave him the wrong person. Everyone knows Aleister does his own dirty work but he never actually hunts the wolves himself. But the alpha part? I'm no Alpha. The Swan Family isn't a bunch of werewolves. How could that be possible?
There is something I've never told you Ronan. The Swan's do have a pack. It is one of the founding groups of the pack establishment but has always been covered up by shadows. Your many-greats grandpappy was the 3rd founder of packs. It was at first decided one alpha gets one country. Soon after enemies started surfacing, wanting to replace the pack leaders. The alphas fought off most of the outcast population. Too much blood had been shed by the end of the war. Each family went into hiding. Charlie, your father, was the last generation of Swan to know about this. He is human so there isn't much he can do about, neither can he take over the Swan pack. Many of the founding packs were disband but the descendants of those packs will always come running to their leader's howls, whether they know about this story or not and whether they know of their true origin.
"So, this means I'm the living heir to the Swan pack? You know, voice, that's the most you've ever said before turning silent."
Turning left at Aleister's achievements, a door flashing EXIT was right in front of me. Taking in a deep breathe, I readied for my first whiff of fresh air.
A strong gust of wind from behind me made the door fly open and I made a run for the opening.
Apparently, Aleister's compound was in Washington, thank goodness we didn't leave the state. He had taken me to a place with lavender fields and moist dirt. The air felt refreshing compared to the musky blood I breathed in every day for the last 5 years. I could hear footsteps coming from the other hallway. The familiar sound of my door opening could be heard.
Aleister has discovered your escape. Quickly. Run east and keep going for those trees across the clearing!
I stripped down naked and shifted into wolf form. My bones breaking and changing didn't hurt as much as it used to. To be fair, 5 years of torture can really make a guy adapt. I shook my fur out and picked up the grimoire with my jaws. I made a break as quickly as a starving wolf could. The feeling of safety on the shadows was returning. My mind literally told me to keep running, but my wolf wanted something to eat. It hasn't fed in over 5 years. I snuff while running to the trees.
Deer. Deer. Deer.
That was all I could think about. Deeper into the trees was a female deer, 90 pounds, 3 feet high, 4 feet in length, twitching while feeding on some leafy thing about 50 wolf paces ahead of me.
Aleister's POV
Ronan had escaped. That little rebel managed to run free. I could smell his scent wafering down the hallway to my trophy case. I petted a few of the heads as I followed.
"Such pretty things. You all had the honor to be apart of the history I'm making.. yet none of you deserved so for breaking so easily~ I have a new test subject now. My Ronan shows so much promise. Much more than any of you incompetents ever had." All of the wolf heads growled at me. The dead wolves' spirits are still lingering around on my compound and can speak, most of them anyways- I cut out some of their tongues.
The exit door on the right was wide open. Ronan obviously thought he could escape at 4 in the morning without me knowing. What's more, he took my grimoire- and after I pumped him with my blood you'd think he would've been a little more appreciative. Standing with my back pressed against the door's hinges, I saw Ronan's wolf form making a run for the trees.
"His wolf for is truly magnificent. Almost as magnificent as the white wolf head that hunter brought to me and told me was Ronan."
I flashed out my cell and dialed a number. The line rung and clicked as someone picked up.
"This is Aleister. Tell him the real Ronan Swan has escaped and that I know the other was a fake. I want him back alive. Don't discipline him, I'd like to do that myself."
The voice on the other line breathily replied.
"We expect double payment this time."
"Deal. I want Hunter Number V- Roman."
I hung up the phone and watched Ronan run off into the light. Ironic isn't it? That was me just years ago, yet here I am. On the side that tried to take my life.
Ronan's POV
The panting of my breathe rang through my ears. 17 more paces. I could hear the deer rustling the ferns around looking for food. It's sense could tell something was approaching. To make this good, I had to ease it into death. Adrenaline-marinated meat doesn't taste good. The female was surrounded by rocky ledges and was standing in a pit with overgrowing greens. I left the grimoire tucked into a bush and snuck around it onto the side of a large rock overshadowing the deer that was standing in shade. No one likes luke-warm meat. I pounced on the deer and sinked my claws into it's tough skin. My fangs sank into her neck as she continues to struggle and wriggle free from my mouth. My fangs sunk in deeper and I could hear the crunching of bones. 30 seconds later her body went limp. Tearing the skin away, I dove into the stomach and fed the inner wolf. Exhausted from the hunt, I shifted back and sat next to the deer butt-naked- which probably isn't the best idea because I was in the free-ranged wilderness. Half of me was screaming to drain her dry of blood. A result of Aleister's success.
We can get there in the afternoon. Open the grimoire and practicing something.
"No. I have to keep moving. The bugs out here are carnivorous."
I shifted back into wolf form and kept running east, tearing the ground as I went.
After running for what seemed like minutes, I saw a house.
Bella's POV
Edward was getting ready to take Renesmee out to a park. She told her father that a boy tried holding her hand and I have the feeling Edward was going to teach the boy a lesson. I was gong to stay behind with Jacob, Sam, and Paul. Apparently, the two packs had sniffed out a new wolf in their territories.
"His scent lingers with blood. Lots of it. Not just wolf blood."
"He's a wolf pureblood. Was, anyways. He's mixed with taint."
"And what taint would make you come to me and Edward?"
"Vampire blood. We think you might happen to know since your family are the ruling vampires in the area."
Jacob took a seat next to me on the couch. He took my hand and looked at me with his puppy dog eyes.
"He also smells like you before you were turned. He could be Ronan."
"That's impossible! Ronan was kidnapped five years ago. And there's no way that he could be a wolf or a vampire. We were a mundane family! He wouldn't keep a secret from me."
"He was 13 when he was kidnapped, I don't think he had ever gone through a wolf change before then."
Paul looked at me annoyingly.
"Whoever this Ronan is- he's definitely no mundane. Someone could have turned him. If it jus so happens to be one of the Cullens-"
I jumped up and snarled in Paul's face.
"Don't make accusations you can't back-up, dog. We know better than to go messing with mundanes. I can't say the same for you."
"We also know better than to start a fight with pack, don't we Bella?"
Carlisle came in from the kitchen. He always manages to come between feuds just in time. He slowly moved me back away from Paul.
"Look, we didn't come here for any battle. There is a hybrid out there running feral. Jacob's pack and mine don't have time to deal with him. Paul doesn't either because he will be assisting some other wolves clean up the deer."
Loud footsteps thudded down the floor. Renesmee was running to me with Edward close behind.
"Mom!"
I held Renesmee in my hand.
"What's wrong, sweetie?"
Renesemme snuff the air and looked at Jacob, Sam, and Paul.
"Can't any of you smell that?"
Paul took a closer step towards Renesmee and looked her in the eye.
"Is that a challenge?"
Jacob pushed him back and growled. Sam kept Paul behind him.
"No, there's something wrong with the air."
I looked at Edward worried.
"Is something wrong?"
Edward had that look in his eyes like he was ready to fight.
"Renesmee snuff out an intruder. Said he smells like blood. Tons of it. Really close to the house."
Sam walked closer to a window and took in a deep breathe.
"She's right. The intruder must be here. I can't believe a little girl beat me to sniffing out someone."
