The Truth Will Set You Free

I stayed up the rest of the night, remembering every painful part of the dream. It felt so real like it had just happened, and I could not stop it. Maybe Fairlight was right; Emmett didn't love me, and it was all just a game. Either way, he shouldn't have done this; what could have possessed him to do this to me?

As I sat there sorting through my thoughts, the door opened, slightly casting light from the hallway into the cell, barely enough to see me sit on the floor. Nate walked into the cell with a devilish smile on his face. Emmett came dragging into the cell a few minutes later with a couple of chains dropped around his shoulders. Holding the ends in his hands, he gave me a sinister smile. Nate grabbed Fairlight roughly and pinned her against the wall before Emmett grabbed me by the arm and led me out of the cell. "No! Scarlet! You can't take her away! She hasn't done anything!" Fairlight yelled out. Nate demandingly replied, "It's not up to you, girl. You have no say in this." The doors closed on us as I heard Fairlight call out, "Scarlet!"

We walked outside, the moonlight covering us in its sheltering protection. The night sky, lit by the twinkling stars and an illuminated waxing crescent moon, shone brightly against the darkness. I stared up and felt a sense of serenity that I hadn't experienced in a while. Even the chaos and the pain seemed like a distant memory as I stood captivated by the awing beauty of the night sky. We basked in the starlight for a few moments, the only sound being the gentle sounds of the night's creatures.

The calming atmosphere was peaceful and tranquil as if it was almost healing. I drew in a deep breath and felt some of my worries loosen their grip. Under the Moon's light, we became genuinely enveloped in unbreakable safety and security. It was like nothing else in the world mattered at that very moment, and the universe was ours for the taking. The shining Moon hung high in the night sky and illuminated the world around us in a beautiful, soft silver glow. The stars glittered like colorful jewels against the dark backdrop of the night sky, seeming closer than ever before. I felt humbled by the beauty of the night; my thoughts stilled and my mind quiet. In the quiet of the night, I thought of all the possibilities that waited in the coming days. I drifted closer to the night's warmth, reveling in the serenity of the moonlit skies.

My fears returned as Emmett pushed us further away from the cells and closer to our unfortunate destiny. But there was still time, I knew, to turn this around and make something from this nightmare. I stood and looked up at the stars, finding strength in the countless points of light that filled the night sky. The light from the Moon shimmered and danced across the river's surface. I felt hope for the future, and for once, I didn't worry about our fate; instead, I allowed myself to be mesmerized. I hadn't felt this peace in a long time and was thankful for this moment, no matter how.

Brief and quiet it may be. The beauty of the night sky was astonishing, and I had never seen a night like this before. The scene was so ethereal and unique that it felt like I saw a part of time's eternity. The trees were silhouetted against the stars as if painted, and the river moved like a river of silver that seemed to sparkle and impact. It was as if the moonlit night sky illuminated nature's hidden secrets.

Nate came walking up moments late before grabbing my arm and pulling me towards a house off to the far end of the pack. He dragged me up the stairs, through the front door, and down to the basement before throwing me against the wall and enclosing metal cuffs around my wrist. I lost sight of Fairlight as Nate was leading me to the house. He left Fairlight in the care of Emmet; I hope she is ok. "Nate, please, don't do this. What have I done to you for you to hate me?" I struggled against the cuffs in hopes that I could break free. "Being born, my darling. You were never supposed to be born, and you do not need to continue living. You are an abomination to all humanity. Born to an alpha male and a human female. You are the last of your kind, and it will end with you, here and now."

Nate gave an evil laugh and turned to walk out of the room when Emmett came in with an arrangement of torture instruments—sitting them on a table to the side of me before walking over to me. Grabbing my chin, Emmett roughly turned my head to the left before roughly turning to the right and slowly running a finger down the side of my neck. "Mmm, such a shame I have to ruin such beauty, but I guess I can have a little fun while doing it. what do you say, sweetheart?" Emmett grabbed a strand of my hair and twirled it between his fingers before reaching around and grabbing a handful of my hair, pulling it back causing my head to fly backward, which caused me to gasp out of fear and pain.

He let a breathy laugh as he let go and walked over to the table,e holding the knives and torches. Taking his time to pick out his first weapon, I looked around the room, hoping I would find Fairlight lurking in the shadows with a plan to get free, but to no avail. I couldn't see her anywhere in the dank, dark basement. Emmett returned with a manic smile and a combat knife held tightly in his right hand. "Are you ready for the party to start, beauty? I'll make sure to make you feel good and maybe make you look more beautiful before I kill you." I swallowed the lump in my throat and mentally prepared myself for the pain about to engulf my body. He stepped closer to me before placing the knife against my ribs and making a long, deep gash along the bottom of my rib cage.

The torture continued for days; it felt like forever before Emmett finally got tired of the silence as he made dozens of cuts along my body. I was not going to give them the satisfaction of hearing me scream for help if they just planned to kill me in the end. As I waited for Emmett to return to finish the job, I lowered my head to close my eyes briefly, waiting for the end to come. The torture filled my body with pain the entire time, but I wasn't going to show it for Emmett or Nate to get the satisfaction of hurting me, breaking me even.

I don't know how long I had my eyes closed, but I guess I had fallen asleep due to Nate poking at me, "Wakey wakey sleepy head." I slowly opened my eyes and looked up to see Nate mere inches from my face, "What? Here to finish the job your little puppy couldn't? Just get it over with already." I tried to straighten up, but since Emmett broke most of my ribs, it was hard. "Oh, darling, poor naive little girl, if I wanted Emmett to kill you last night, then he wouldn't have had his little fun with you. You see, Emmett is a very violent wolf whenever he has a thirst for blood, and right now, it's at its highest, thanks to you." Nate replied while he walked around the room as if inspecting every little detail. Confusion took over every ounce of my mind, causing it to shut down. I'm not sure how long I had just stood there, not knowing what was happening around me, but when my mind finally started working again, Nate was sitting in a chair right in front of me. "What do you want from me exactly? I'm nothing special, just your average woman trying to live her life. Why not let me and my friend go? I'll disappear from here, never to be seen or heard again. Doesn't that sound like a much better plan than killing me?" I tried to reason with him to let Fairlight and me go, but Nate only smiled his sinister smile. "Sweetheart, could you come say hello to an old friend of ours?" He looked back towards the door as it started to open. I slowly looked over towards the door to see Fairlight walking in wearing all-black attire, her face adorned with a matching sinister smile. All of this had to be a horrible dream that I would wake up from any minute.

"Fairlight, what has he done to you? You are not like them; you're supposed to be here for me whenever I need you, like a true friend. You can't be one of them," I pleaded, hoping it was just some sick joke they thought up, but looking into her eyes, I could tell that she hated me just as much as Nate and Emmett had. They can't be how my life ends; I have no friends, no love, no family, and most importantly, no one to save me. I lost all hope in one single second of my life. I dropped my head out of defeat, for I knew that this moment in time would be the of my story, and I couldn't do anything about it. I'm only human, after all.

🌕🐺

Emmett walked in, holding a tray of food. They wanted to make this long and painful, slowly torturing me every day to the brink of death before they stopped and accelerated my healing just to do it all over again the following day. He brought the tray of food to me, and I took it out of his hand. "Eat up little slut, this might be your last meal." Emmett let out an evil laugh as he turned away and walked out of the door. I sat my tray off to the side before getting up and walking closer to the door. Nate decided to unchain me from the wall and give me only enough food to survive for the time being, something about not wanting to waste their food supply on waste. "No, I refuse to let this be my last meal; I will survive."

I placed my hand on the door before looking back at my prison. I dropped my gaze to the floor, and melancholy enveloped me. A guard came to the door to give a slight knock before opening it, letting the light shine into the room slightly. He reached through the door as if to hand me something; I reached out towards him, barely brushing against his hand accidentally. A great roar erupted in the hall, shaking the entire floor before the door began to shut right before my eyes. I put my hand up to push against the door lightly, "Please don't shut it yet; I'm enjoying the light." I looked up at the guard to notice he was staring at me intently before he grabbed my wrist, pulling it from the door. I was confident he was going to slam the door shut, but instead, he pulled me into his chest. "Mate!"

Once the shock wore off, I felt sparks traveling up my arm to settle in my chest, causing a warm feeling to engulf my body. I wanted this masked man. "Who are you?" I tried pulling away from him, but his grip tightened my wrist. "Do not be afraid of me, Scarlet; I promise I won't hurt you. My name is Asher Gray." I slowly pulled away from him to put some distance between us. "I'm sorry. I wish I had met you sooner before I was broken." Asher put his other hand around my waist to keep me from moving away again. "Porcelain statues are still beautiful with some cracks. I'll have to help fix you then. I'll grab my glue." With my free hand, I reached up to Asher's face and began to pull the mask down. He grabbed my hand and gently placed it on his cheek. Smiling up at him, I gently rubbed my thumb across his soft, tan skin.

"Scarlet, I will find a way to get you out of here, I promise." Asher took my hand from his cheek and gently kissed my knuckles before slowly pulling away to shut the door. Leaving me in the darkness of my prison, I put my hand gently on the cold wooden door before turning away. I walked back over to my tray and began to eat.

As I finished my food, Emmett walked back into the room, going over to the table and holding the weapons; he slowly ran his hand over every one of them as if trying to choose carefully. I gently pushed my tray away once I finished with the last bite and stood up, walking over to the wall where I would be chained up shortly to be tortured. "That won't be necessary today, princess." Emmett's cold voice echoed across the silent room, causing me to turn away out of curiosity. "Oh? And why not?" After everything he had done, I dared to speak to him, but my curiosity got to me again. "You'll be going with me instead. Per orders of the Alpha, of course," he gave me his signature wicked smile that I have gotten used to seeing lay across his mouth. It's nothing like the kind one he once gave me, but this is my fate now.

🌕🐺

Emmett brought a change of clothes for me to wear while he took me wherever his Alpha wanted him to take me. It had been hours since I'd met Asher; how I wish I could see him again; he brought me so much peace and joy, something I miss dearly. As Emmett led me down the halls of this mysterious place, I took in every little detail I could, just in case I ever managed to escape this hell.

After walking what felt like forever and a mile, we came to a massive wooden door that had a very unique design carved into it. Emmett pushed heavily on the door, causing it to open, giving me a perfect view of the room it hid behind it. The room had giant stone pillars lining the walls to hold the ceiling in place; the walls were adorned with various paintings of different men and women; I could only assume they were past Alphas and Lunas of this pack. Center against the back wall sat two throne-style chairs, one slightly bigger than the other, and of course, Nate sat in the biggest one. Fairlight sat in the other, giving me their wicked smiles as Emmett led me further into the room and closer to the pair.

As I grew closer to the two, my head suddenly started to hurt, causing me to fall to my knees, holding my head in pain. I fell forward with my head against the ground before screaming out in pain. Suddenly, the door jolted open, causing me to force myself to roll over to my side. As the pain continued to become more unbearable, I cried out, holding my head. Nate and Fairlight looked terrified as to what might happen.

Cracks started to sound out in the quiet air of the room before I heard the rushing sound of feet colliding with the floor. "Scarlet! Scarlet, are you alright!?" Asher listened to my screams from down the hall and came to check on me. He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, causing most of the pain to subside and relieve me. "It hurts so much; please make it stop." I whimpered into the darkness; my vision had failed to work, and I hoped for more relief. I felt a hand gently land on my side, causing the pain to subside.

Asher gently placed a hand on my forehead to calm me down. Feeling relieved, I opened my eyes to see Ashers' shocked expressions. Asher bent down and planted a soft and gentle kiss on my lips. He quickly moved over to the other side of the room. Emmett and the others are hiding behind the thrones, fear evident on their faces.

"Hello, Scarlet, my name is Sky. I've been waiting for you to let me out." There was suddenly a voice in my head, causing me to panic. "Who are you? Where are you?" Panic started rising in my chest, causing me to curl into myself while holding my head. "I'm your wolf, Scarlet; it's very nice to meet you. Hey, I smell something very delicious. What could it be." Sky asked as I could feel her prancing around in my mind. I looked over to Asher, thinking that she could have meant him. I let out a deep growl when our eyes connected, "Mate!"

Sky rushed to the front of my mind, "Mate? Have you found our mate? Oh! Having our mate makes me so happy!" Sky bounded around in my head, giving me another headache. Suddenly, I felt my bones start breaking again, and all of the pain rushed back to the surface, causing me to scream out in pain. "What is going on Sky? I don't understand." I let out a horrific cry as my back arched in pain before falling to the floor face-first. "Oh, I'm sorry, Scarlet, I'm taking over. You need to shift for the first time, and it's painful, to begin with, but as time goes on, it'll get better." Sky informed me as she pushed her way to the front of my mind, and I began to change.Asher watched on in understanding and pain, seeing me having to go through this alone. My bones continued to break and reform into new shapes and lengths before I entirely transformed into a beautiful copper-colored wolf. I looked around through my newly enhanced eyes to see Asher standing so far away. He was my mate; I needed to be near my mate now. I used my freshly formed wolf ears to listen to the quiet sounds around me. Listening intently, I heard Emmetts, Nates, and Fairlight's hearts beating rapidly, which caused me to give a little wolf smile as I stalked around the room closer to them before making my way over to Asher.

Getting closer, Asher stepped forward and placed his hand out in front of him. I stopped in my tracks and watched him for a minute to see what he would do; he slowly and carefully took another step toward me before gently placing his hand on my head. I pushed up against it before walking closer to him, rubbing my head against his leg. "Hey, baby girl, you're alright with me." I looked up to see Asher's eyes sparkling with love and admiration. I pressed myself against Asher's legs and slowly walked in a semicircle to sit at his feet before looking at the others intruding on us. "Scarlet, it's alright. They're not going to harm us, I promise." Asher placed his hand back on my head.

He walked around and knelt before placing his hand on my furry face. My mate looked deep into my eyes for a minute before turning to the others, "Could one of you get her a change of clothes, please?" With that, Fairlight ran out of the room. 'Can you hear me, Scarlet? It's Asher. If you can hear me, give me your paw.' I gently placed my paw in his hand and looked at him in confusion. I heard his voice, but his mouth didn't move. 'Good, now close your eyes and focus on being human again; this will cause you to change back.' I closed my eyes and pictured myself being a human again, wrapped in his arms. With him holding my paw, it caused the shift to be less painful than before, but I could still feel every bone break and reposition. "Where's Fairlight with the clothes?" Asher yelled out to the others as they continued to hide behind the thrones, holding me close to his chest to keep me hidden from the view of the others. Fairlight came back still looking terrified and quickly gave the clothes to Asher before returning to her hiding spot with Nate and Emmet.

Asher helped me to my feet before leading me out the door. He pulled me into his chest as the door slammed shut, giving me a long, sweet kiss. He pulled away from the kiss and rested his forehead against mine, "Scarlet, you need to know that where we are now is not your home. We are leaving here tonight; I have a few of my pack members stationed here to help us." I heard how serious this was in his voice and pulled away to look into his beautiful blue eyes. "OK, but where are we going to go? Are there more packs around here or something?" I searched his face for answers, but nothing came of it. Asher pulled me further away from any listening ears; we were now closer to the exit. "If we're lucky, we can go now, but for now, we'll have to go to a safe house until we can get to my pack."

He looked around for any sign that Nate had sent some of his warriors after us after we left the room, but there wasn't anyone around. Asher wrapped his arms around me tightly, and soon after, his eyes went a misty gray color before turning back to their natural blue. "Ok, everything is all set, but we must move before they get curious." Asher pulled me towards the door as three warriors entered the room we had just left. "Asher, what's going on? What happened to your eyes back there? They changed colors." I tried to keep up with him as he walked through the grounds. It's been days since I've been outside, and the only time I was out here was at night when they relocated me to torture me.

He looked around, surveying the area, before dashing behind a nearby building, pulling me in after him, and tucking me under his arm almost entirely under him. "Asher, please tell me what's going on." I pleaded with him before slipping out from under him slightly. He looked down at me while placing his hand at my side to keep me from moving further away. "Scarlet, right now, it's perilous for us to be out in the open like this; let me get you to safety before you start questioning me about everything. I promise I'll tell you everything you need to know." He gave me a pleading look as if to say, 'Just listen to me,' I stared at him for a second before nodding, showing him I understood and would wait. He smiled slightly before removing his arm around me and checking our surroundings. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he grabbed my hand to pull me towards the forest. He was trying to stop occasionally to hide behind the occasional house before making it to the wood line.

We made it to the forest's edge quickly, maybe too easily. We made our way further into the forest, away from my captors. Asher pulled me through the forest gently so as not to hurt me. We came to an abandoned-looking house in the middle of a meadow, the most beautiful house I had ever seen. He approached the house with me in tow, close behind him. "Asher, what is this place? It's quite beautiful." He turned to look back to look at me with a smile. "This is the safe place we'll be staying until I can get us back to my pack."

We made our way into the house and cleaned it up a bit. As I was in the kitchen finishing the dishes to start supper, I heard footsteps behind me; I grabbed a knife from the dish drainer and spun around, holding the knife out towards the person behind me. Before I could look at who it was, they grabbed my wrist so I couldn't hurt them. "Babygirl, you need to calm down; you're safe here; now put the knife down, please?" Asher slowly let go of my wrist so I could lay the knife down; once I had laid it down, he came closer to me and wrapped his arms around me. "I'm sorry, Ash, I didn't know it was you." I leaned into his embrace and inhaled his scent. "It's alright, princess, just know that with me at your side, you are always safe." He kissed my head softly before pulling me away from the kitchen and sat me on the couch in the living room.

"Asher, what are you doing? I have got to make supper for us." I looked up at him in confusion; he sat beside me and took my hand. "That can wait for a minute; we need to talk fast," Asher took on a severe look before continuing. "Some of my men, whom I had stationed with Nate, will be coming here to join us and protect their newly founded Luna. They are very eager to meet you, along with the rest of the pack, I'm sure of it." He paused for a minute to see my reaction. I nodded for him to continue, "Before we left, you saw my eyes change colors because I mind-linked all the warriors I had there. I had to get them caught up on the latest news, finding you, what you are, and who you are, and I ordered them to take care of Nate and his warriors. That includes Emmett and Fairlight as well. They were a bigger threat to you than any of the warriors Nate could handle. She, Fairlight, was not a werewolf, as you might already know. Fairlight was a witch and very powerful at that. She would have been able to track you down no matter what we hid." Asher took a moment to let me process everything that he just told me.

"Alright, so what did your warriors do to them?" I knew I shouldn't have asked, but I had to know; I had to know what I was up against, what was trying to kill me, and why. It didn't matter to me how horrible it was or even if they had destroyed them the same way Emmett was going to kill me. I needed to know everything, especially if I was to be the Luna of this pack and live in a world that was not my own. "Asher, I need to know everything; I don't care if you think I can't handle it. I have got to know if you expect me to live in a world I do not belong in." I stood up and walked over to the nearby window and peered out over the meadow, only half imagining what could have happened to the people who captured me and wanted me dead.

Asher got up and walked over to where I stood to place his hands on my shoulders and turn me towards him. "After they captured the three, my men took Nate to the room he had you locked away in and chained him up, then they took Emmett out back and chained him to a tree. As for Fairlight, they took her to the front of the house, in front of all the pack members, and burned her alive. Naturally, the pack wanted to attack my men until they showed her true self. The only way to truly kill a witch is to burn them alive; as a werewolf, they won't die from just being set on fire, so once they saw that their Luna was dead, everyone knew that she was not one of them. Most of Full Moon asked to join our pack; of course, they would have to swear never to attempt any harm on the Luna. My men proceeded to tear Emmett apart limb by limb before returning to Nate and torturing him in the same way he had you tortured, but he couldn't handle it, unlike you." Asher looked down at me with a sad smile before softly touching my cheek. "Do you know why that is?" I momentarily looked out at the meadow before returning to him and looking up into his eyes innocently. "No, I don't understand. I'm just a human, and he was an Alpha." My head started hurting, and I could feel Sky pounding at the walls of my mind. Sorry, Sky, I didn't mean it like that.

"You were able to survive all of the torture because you are stronger than any other werewolf, even myself, but being your mate makes me stronger than I was before I met you. Not everyone understands it, but it's because the moon goddess personally made you special for this reason, to lead us and make the entire existence of werewolves stronger." Asher gently ran his hand over my hair before pulling me closer to him and holding me in his warm embrace as we stood at the window looking out over the darkening meadow as his warriors came home to welcome their new Luna.