Third Person POV
The wolf named Christopher paced. He was getting antsy. His current line of actions felt repetitive and performative. Performative for an applause he would never receive. Of course, Christopher didn't want applause. He wanted his mate and his child back with him; his child, he realized, more than his mate. After months without her, he wasn't sure if he ever really loved her or merely the power her position in the pack allowed him. He still felt vast promise in his child. To love or to merely raise in his image, he wasn't quite sure. More so than a reflection of past love, he felt hatred. Hatred for a woman who so easily rejected him. Hatred for her brother, the Alpha of the Paramount Pack who was ready to kill him on words of a bitch. Hatred for that bitch who he ultimately felt ruined the life he had so carefully crafted for himself.
When he asked Malum when he intended to retrieve his mate, having now retrieved the girl with the information he gave, the man's response was less than satisfactory.
"I have no need to go back to the Paramount Pack at this moment in time," the man had said.
"What about my wife? My child?"
"Your ex wife? She carries no value to me. I am busy, leave me."
Christopher was under the impression that he would have his mate back after the girl was retrieved. For months, he had provided Malum the information he needed to infiltrate the Paramount Pack. And as of recent, he had drugged the abducted girl time and time again under his orders. It did give him some satisfaction to see the girl in pain. She had caused him much trouble and he felt it a fitting fate for her. Eventually, she would die in the cavernous maze, be it by his hand or the mans. So he felt it necessary to take action now, before it was too late. Not to save the girl, no. She didn't deserve saving, he felt. No. To use the girl to his advantage.
"Christopher!" His head snapped towards the hallway, down which Malum was stomping his way to his room. Room, if you could call it that. It was more like a cupboard with a bed, carved into the caves. He supposed he could be grateful that he wasn't in a shared dormitory like the experiments and other rogues here. But he wouldn't be, for he was sure he deserved better.
He opened the door before Malum could storm in, making the small space feel even smaller. "What?" There was almost a sneer in the word.
The man glared. "Watch your tone. You forget that I saved you from death itself." Did he? Perhaps without him, Christopher would have found a way out. Would have talked his way out. Would have escaped on his own. "Come, it's time."
Christopher knew Malum only took him to do this task because it made the girl uncomfortable and, in turn, made the boy angry. Malum liked to make the boy angry.
Outside the cell block, Christopher was handed the vial of wolfsbane and a single packaged needle. He pocketed them and grabbed the keys to the cells.
All of these items were limited in his hold. The wolfsbane was brought from Malum's lab when it ran out, the small vial having done so once already while being used for the girl. The keys were a hesitant hold outside the cell block. Just recently, one of the experiments was beaten to a severe point. He had taken the keys and allowed the boys cot to be placed in the girls cell. The keys were not there for such a reason; Malum was furious.
Such punishment made Malum almost hesitant in his next actions.
He strode through the cell block with purpose, Malum close behind. Malum always watched the boy as Christopher did his task. Through the two weeks, the boy's reaction had lessened to not much of anything. This irritated Malum. Christopher was more or less unbothered. The attention on the boy made Malum extracting extra wolfsbane easy. The girl pleaded, as was her usual response. He was sure she was more scared of the needle itself rather than the wolfsbane and its effects.
"Shut up," Christopher hisses to her, his irritation already high today.
"Did I say to talk to her?" Malum barked. "Do your job." The two glare at each other before returning to their respective focuses.
The girl cries as the wolfsbane is injected. And then she drops to the ground, the needle ripping from her skin. Christopher's eyes widen. He hadn't expected that.
"What did you do?" There's almost a panic in Malum's words. He pulls Christopher away from the girl as she begins to twitch. She begins to choke. "You fucker," the man hisses. "You gave her too much."
Christopher backs away, action in mind. "I didn't - I don't -" He lies. "No, I didn't mean to."
"Celestial?" The boy's, Lycer's, voice comes from his cell. It was his first response with the duo in a week. "Celestial?" His voice grows in panic and volume.
Malum turns the girl on her side as saliva foams out of her mouth. His hand finds her pulse point and he goes quiet for a minute. "I never said to increase the dosage."
"I didn't mean-"
"Shut up!"
"Celestial!" The boy was in a panic now. "What's happening?" The bars on his cell rattled.
Malum picked up the girl as the foam from her mouth slowed to a stop. The boy continued to rattle the bars on his cell, demanding to know what happened. He would receive no answer from the duo.
"Malum-" Christopher feigned.
"Get out of my sight before I throw you out in a body bag." Christopher had no doubt Malum would try but gladly listened, having counted on it in the first place. The boy's screams stopped as the cell block door closed with a slam. Malum trudged his way towards his laboratory with the girl in his arms. She was limp but her chest still moved.
Christopher moved the opposite direction, feigning going to his room. He glanced at the experiments loitering the cave halls, waiting for one to pass him by before he quickly changed direction, going towards his true goal. Malum's office is meticulously organized. Christopher headed for the desk. Somewhere, he'd have to have an assignment list. Half of the experiments can't mind link even if they can still shift to wolf form and he knew that Malum wasn't speaking to them personally every day.
Opening several drawers, Christopher hesitated. Everything was meticulously organized and he hesitated to disrupt it, thinking there would be an error in returning it all. The nagging voice of his wolf urged him forward, 'Mate. Child.' His wolf was right. This is more important than his worries and hesitations. He was careful, never bending a page nor moving the stacks from their original order. If Malum were to find out about this endeavor, then surely Christopher would die.
A piece of paper caught his eye. Not the assignment list he was looking for. 'Conclusions may arise in which the expiration of Christopher Vedette (Aluns) may come forth. The price on the head of Celestial Jacobs far outweighs his need, especially now that the girl has been retrieved. He shows little use and promise beyond what was already achieved. Unsure if the risk of experimentation is worth the trouble he may bring. Execution is more likely.' Christopher crumpled the paper in his hand.
After all he had done for Malum, the man planned to kill him? He found a pathetic girl more valuable than all the help he had given him? Christopher was useful. He was strong, from an Alpha bloodline! He had intel on one of the strongest and biggest packs on this side of the country!
Forgetting his initial task at hand, Christopher stormed from the office, paper still in his hand.
First, he ran to his excuse for a room. He paced for what he felt was hours. What to do? How does one run from death from such a man? When would this execution happen? Could he prove himself useful? Should he? What good would it do? To grovel, to beg. It all felt not only useless but below him by measures far too wide. He was the son of an Alpha! Far too proud to submit to a man who was never much in his pack, whatever his role may be now.
"The girl is recovering in the lab," he heard drifting through his door, he only now realized he had left open a crack.
"How could he be so stupid? To give a wrong dosage of wolfsbane could have killed her."
"I don't know but Boss is mad; thinks it was done intentionally."
"I give him no more than a week. Boss always stews if he doesn't act right away."
Christopher would have to act, and fast it seemed. He thought. And thought.
Malum mentioned the girl having a price on her head. Was it true? Surely, it would have to be. He was sure Xavier would give anything to have his mate back. But would he return the safety of Christopher's life to him? To shield him from Malum until Malum's end was met, surely executed by Xavier himself. Perhaps Christopher could feign mental disruption. Perhaps he could even work his way back into the life of his mate. And when the time came for his child to be born, perhaps he could take the pup and run.
These plans were ludicrous.
But what else was he to do? Wait for death?
Would it be worth it? To risk potential death to save him from a sure death?
What option did he have?
None. He stilled, stupefied. He had no option. He had dug himself into a hole; no, a cave. And it was a maze to get out. A maze he would have to brain.
He continued pacing.
Perhaps he could get word to Xavier, somehow. There was a town not terribly far away. Christopher had gone a few times under Malum's order. Previously, he'd retrieved supplies from both the local human market and also the darker of the market that hid in the shadows of the town. A market for those of supernatural beings; not exactly a legal operation. There, he could hire someone to bring word of the girl to Xavier. That itself would be a risk. People there could easily take his money and run. It was a risk he would have to take.
How he could have been so foolish to catch himself in this situation, he didn't understand. He always pictured himself as wise and powerful. Someone who could rise to the top when need be. Now, look at him. Running back to where he ran from, all because every other road pointed to death.
His mind swirled.
And he thought some more.
The girl had a necklace, a nice one. It could be noticed if it was missing but just as easily noticed if given to Xavier. Christopher wasn't so foolish as to not notice how it matched his mates eyes, and likewise the eyes of her brother. Surely, that was why it was bought.
Christopher had little money on him. Money he had won from some of the experiments in nights of betting and gambling, activity done when Malum left them alone. His winnings wouldn't be enough.
He thought further.
If he could get the right person, a position of power down the road could go a long way. Or even a way into the links of The Paramount Pack. He could guarantee a trade agreement and even that should be enough to barter with the right person.
His mission in mind, he waited for the voices to fade into the distance of the caves. And he set off for the lab.