Is Saf going to hide in the dungeon, or fight her way out of the pack house? 

Saffron

I slip past the metal door and listen to it close behind me with a soft click. A part of me still wants to go out there—to fight my way out—but I know that the smarter thing to do is to hide. All I have to do is wait until it's dark out, and then I can just walk out the front door.

The problem is that I'm actually more scared of the dungeon than I am of facing POW and the other wolves. Behind the metal door, I'm engulfed in darkness, and I have no idea what lies below. My heart start to race and I stay perfectly still, not even daring to breathe, as I wait to adjust. Luckily, being a wolf has its perks, and a few seconds later I can see the staircase outlined below.

As if hearing my thoughts, my wolf wiggles in excitement, and I smile. Then, I think of how I discovered her, which makes me think of Logan, and I feel the urge to cry.

Focus, Saffron. Crying right now would be like begging to get caught. I can think about Logan later. Right now I need to focus on hiding.

The narrow staircase below seems to continue for an eternity, and I start to move when I hear something. It's faint at first, then clearer and clearer: footsteps. They don't come from behind me—from the other side of the door—but from in front of me, advancing up the stairs and getting louder with each step. Probably POW's guard—a real one this time, tasked with guarding the dungeon below—not a Rogue masquerading as one.

I move into a crouch and take slow, deep breaths, like an animals stalking her prey. Then, suddenly, my wolf joins me. She's right there with me, listening to the guard advance, heightening my senses until I can heard the guard's every breath. The sensation's so foreign that for a split second, I lose focus. I've never been able to hear, or see, so much. Never felt this strong, this ready to fight.

I can do this. I'm at the top of the stairs, so I have a clear advantage. If I can just catch the guard off guard—I almost laugh aloud at how that sounds—they don't stand a chance!

When the guard is almost within sight, I push off the top step and race down the stairs. All it should take is a quick shove, but when I'm mere feet away, I see her and freeze.

"Saffron?" she cries. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Kaitlyn?" I ask in surprise. "I was... exploring."

"Really?" Kaitlyn asks, glancing nervously back down the stairs. I wonder if she realizes that I was going to push her. Maybe I even managed to scare the usual perky, whiny cheerleader right out of her.

"I should go now," I tell her. I turn around and start back up the stairs, hoping that by the time she realizes something is up and raises the alarm, I'll be long gone. That is, until I hear footsteps coming down the hall. There aren't any other doors—no other place for those footsteps to be headed—except toward the metal door.

I start back down and meet Kaitlyn's equally panicked stare. I have no idea what she's got to be so freaked out about, but it's the least of my worries. I need to figure out how to get out of here, fast. Even if I could get past Kaitlyn, or she lets me through, there's no point going down. I can't hide in the dungeon when she already knows I'm here. I guess that leaves fighting, and now that I'm lower down on the staircase I'm at a clear disadvantage. Plus, it'll be two against one. Not that there's anything I can do about it now.

The footsteps almost reach the door and I start to crouch, prepared to shift and attack, when Kaitlyn places her hand on my arm. "Don't," she whispers. "Just follow my lead."

Before I have time to respond, the door starts to open. Light floods in from the hallway, and while it's no brighter than it was before, I have to squint as my eyes adjust. I can barely make out the man whose face is cast in shadow, but my fear that it might be POW quickly dissipates.

"Girls?" a man I'm sure I've never met asks in surprise.

"Hi, Beta," Kaitlyn squeals. She's suddenly vibrating with energy, and practically bouncing up and down with excitement. I almost expect her to clap her hands and yell 'ready, okay' but she just grins happily. Probably, because she's imagining the thrill of turning me in.

"What are you doing down here?" Beta asks suspiciously. He moves a bit to the left, and more light hits his face. My first impression is that he's the light to POW's darkness. His hair is blond, he's cleanly shaven, and even though he's frowning, it's nowhere near as intimidating as POW's scowl. He just sort of looks... disappointed?

"I was like..." Kaitlyn waves her right arm, almost hitting me in the face, "giving Saffie the grand tour."

"Of the dungeon?" Beta raises a thick, blond eyebrow. He clearly doesn't believe her, and I start to tense.

"O-M-G, Beta," Kaitlyn cries, spelling out each letter like she's mid-cheer. "You are like, so funny." I wait for her to yell out f-u-n-n-y and rhyme it with 'Saf ain't got no alibi,' and a nervous giggle escapes.

"You know you shouldn't be here," Beta reprimands, frowning at us, and my smile falls.

"I'm like, so sorry," Kaitlyn whines, "Saffie just wanted to see the stairs. We didn't go down far. I swear. Definitely not anywhere dangerous."

I feel a wave of nausea at the way she says 'dangerous.' I'm not sure why she emphasizes it like that, or why shes covering for me, but I figure this is my best shot at getting out of here. "We didn't." I quickly nod. "Logan had a meeting with," I almost say POW, "Alpha Patton and he was gone for a while so..."

"So she found me," Kaitlyn finishes my sentence and throws her arm around my shoulder like we're suddenly besties.

"Alright, girls," Beta smiles, "but please take your tour to another part of the house?"

"Of course." Kaitlyn claps her hands. "Come on, Saffie. Next stop is the kitchen."

"Hasn't Saffron seen the kitchen already?" Beta blocks our way.

"But not my secret candy stash." Kaitlyn giggles, grabs my hand, and pulls me past him and into the hall.

A part of me expects Beta to stop us, to realize something isn't right and yell for us to stop, but he doesn't do any of that. I hear the door to the dungeon click shut behind him and then his footsteps fade away.

"You have a secret candy stash?" I ask Kaitlyn nervously as we head back toward the foyer. Now that we're out in the open, and anyone can see us, I keep expecting for POW to pop out of nowhere and drag me back down those stairs to the dungeon.

"Of course not, dumbass" Kaitlyn snaps, "I don't eat sugar."

"Right," I hesitate just outside the kitchen, but Kaitlyn grabs my arm and drags me past it and toward the front door. "Hey, where are we going?"

"We need to talk, and we can't do that here." All of her pep or cheer or whatever she usually has is gone, and Kaitlyn sounds very serious, and very normal. Kind of like her body has suddenly been possessed by a spirit... or like the cheer spirit that's been possessing her all this whole time has finally been exorcised and set her free.

Kaitlyn drags me out the front door, down the driveway, and then across the front lawn, toward the trees. I don't actually struggle, just let her pull me, since the further we get from the house, the closer I get to escape. When we enter the cover of trees, I start to relax, and Kaitlyn's shoulders visibly sag.

"Why—" I start to ask, but Kaitlyn brings a finger up to her lips, warning me to stay quiet. I instantly freeze, and the two of us listen until we're sure the coast is clear. I don't hear anyone, and my wolf joins in, heightening my senses, but there isn't a soul around.

Kaitlyn seems to come to the same conclusion, because she finally nods. "As long as we stick with our story about the tour, no one will suspect a thing."

1. What did you think of this chapter? Did you like it? Hate it? Was it awesome? Or just meh? 

2. Why is Kaitlyn suddenly helping Saf?

3. Anyone want to guess what will happen next? 

4. Did you guys love Corrupt a Wish in the last chapter as much as I did? I want to share what is hands down my favorite corruption: I said "I wish Saffron was my real life bestie" and Alice_Petal_2016 totally crushed it with "Granted, but then one day at school she's gone because she was SOLD TO A WOLF PACK." Like... I'm still dying! 

5. Wolf Pack Game: Describe yourself using only emoji. Who knows, maybe we can even have entire emoji conversations! (If you don't have a Wattpad account, you can now also play these wolf pack games on my Instagram and Facebook Group--links in the picture below)