Bound by Pride Ch. 06

Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone,

Here is the new chapter and I know I'm going to get pleased comments about this one... but I won't spoil it. As you know all feedback is welcomed.

Also big thanks goes to my editor who has been working diligently to iron out the creases.

Have fun

Chapter 6

Madeline sat patiently as the healer checked her leg, making sure the cast was doing its job and that her leg hadn't swollen up in the night. When he finished he picked up a syringe, she flinched as syringes in her past often went with pain and fury she wanted nothing to do with it.

"Nothing to worry about, this is just filled with all things your body is craving. This is going to sting but it won't make you sleepy nor will it make you angry. See." He injected himself first and they waited but when nothing happened, he grabbed a new syringe, filled it from the same vial and prepped her arm. She shook her head and leant back into Electra's body.

Electra sighed. "Fill two." She told him and he nodded filling the two new syringes. "Pick one." She encouraged her charge who thought about it for several moments before pointing to the one furthest from her. The healer picked it up and moved, he injected Electra then sat back and waited. When after five minutes nothing had happened Electra smiled. "See... I'm normal... now it's your turn."

Madeline took a deep breath, held out her arm and closed her eyes turning her head away so that she didn't have to watch. He was quick with the injection and put a novelty bandaid over the site.

"All done now." He stood and went to leave the room.

"Are you nearly done with the body?" Electra asked.

He nodded, "just about to start wrapping her."

"Can you take us to her?" Electra asked then lifted Madeline to her hip.

He nodded and walked them out of the room and down the hall and through double doors into a pale white room with a silver table, upon the table was a body covered with a piece of undyed linen. He left them alone.

Little Madeline turned inquisitive eyes to Electra.

"You have to meet someone." Electra walked her up to the table and carefully pulled the linen back exposing the face of the woman beneath it. "This is the woman you're named after." Electra explained.

Madeline jerked startled eyes to Electra then back to the stranger before her. When Electra told her that her name was Madeline, she also told her that she was named after the woman who gave birth to her. Several tears slid down her face as she saw the brand on the woman's face, the same brand she knew was in the small of her back. This woman had given birth to her and had died just as she was tasting freedom all these years later.

"I want to tell you what I experienced when I met your mother. She was holding onto her life with every ounce of strength she could muster, the healers didn't know why she clung so fiercely. But I knew... I knew she clung for you. Just to know that you were safe, that you were free before she let the fates have their way."

Madeline pressed her face to Electra's neck and cried for the loss of the woman who had given birth to her, had given her life. For the life, they could have had together but were denied. Electra felt her eyes tear up as she listened to her small charge's sobs, she could remember her own mother's death as if it was yesterday, she had managed to be strong after her mother's death but that night as she lay in the bed Amy had given her she had succumbed to her grief and cried. She had thought she had been quiet but Amy had found her, held her, giving her comfort, and had stayed with her for the entire night.

"Cry all you want." Electra told her, the same words Amy had whispered into her ear when she had tried to stem her tears. She held Madeline firmly to her chest and stroked her back, as she leant down and pressed her face to Madeline's shoulder giving her all the comfort she could. Madeline cried until she had no more tears to shed. Electra gently stroked the tears from her face.

When she was ready, Electra went to tell her more about her mother. "And when she knew you were here, after I told her you were safe, you could see the relief in her eyes... she entrusted you to me and she clung long enough to tell us who did this to you... who did this to her." Electra kissed her forehead. "She... she was a very special person. I want you to know that and know her, my ma is getting more information for you and what personal items she can for you."

Electra replaced the piece of linen, covering Maddie's mother. "We have to leave now Maddie, they have to finish preparing her." Electra carried her from the room and outside. Rhiannon was sitting beneath a tree watching Lupa as he stretched in his wolf form then rolled around on his back.

Electra sat Madeline down and sighed as Madeline looked wistfully at Lupa. Madeline knew her beast was within her, she had felt it for as long as she could remember, but she had never had a chance to let it out, to let it come to the surface. Just letting her eyes shift colour was enough to get her beaten to within an inch of her life.

"Not yet, your leg has to heal." Electra told her.

Lupa approached, he used a claw to cut through the cast, he had been itching to do this all day, and used his teeth to gently tear the cast off, he was so gentle that he barely jostled her. No one tried to stop him although some gave him disapproving looks. He opened his mouth wide and blew silver breath onto her healing limb. He moved his jaws up blowing more breath onto her healing bruises, scrapes and cuts. When he was done he washed her face,Come. He told her and he backed away.

She turned to Electra who grinned and nodded, "go on."

Madeline got up carefully and took a few steps testing her leg. She then tugged off her clothes as she felt her beast rushing forward egger for freedom, eager to taste the world and experience it for the first time all by itself and unburdened with it's human's frail sense of smell and hearing.

"Probably not such a smart idea." Amy said as she stepped up to join them having just appeared to see how preparations were going.

"Why?" Rhiannon asked.

"Rufus will be here soon for the funeral and she will be weak when she shifts back." She explained.

"Damn... didn't think of that, maybe Lupa will just use that mist thing he did before to heal her leg." Electra turned back to witness a little snow leopard stretching, her paws were large for her body indicating that she was still growing.

Lupa played with her being gentle, as he knew she would be weak. Others soon joined them letting their beasts out for the first time in ages, some chose to just lay in the sun, others played, some were sniffing around, a few were digging, a lone bear was sniffing around for grubs and one was setting themself up in the branch of a tree.

A man in a crisp suit walked up escorted by several enforcers who lost their gruffness as they watched the freed Were in their beast form enjoying the afternoon sun. His hair was white with age, which matched his well-trimmed beard. He was round around the middle and walked with a slight limp as his left knee had been reconstructed recently.

Amy turned and frowned wondering what had brought him here, "Steven."

He loosened his tie, "I really wish you had let me in, instead I get side swiped in a press conference."

Amy sighed, she missed Bob, who had been a far better president who accepted everything she did because he knew she did it for a reason, but bad health meant that he had to stand down. Steven was his replacement and questioned everything she did or tried to do, untrusting of everything new. "We kept this entire thing quiet because four senators, one supreme court judge and several prominent business men, all of which you have intimate contact with, were caught in that raid." She faced him completely, "Not forgetting the police chief and many others picked up in the later raids. If we hadn't kept this quiet people would have slipped through the cracks." She turned back around, placed a hand on his shoulder, and pointed to Madeline.

"The snow leopard, she's eleven-ish, she was born in captivity, this is the first time she's ever been allowed to let her beast out, to experience what most Were take for granted. Her mother is the woman we are going to burn soon. She lived just long enough to know her daughter was safe before dying from malnutrition and a serious infection." She explained.

She turned to Electra, "She needs to shift back now; the funeral starts in a little while."

"Who's keeping an eye on Mayhem?" Electra asked.

"She's asleep with Serenity; Anna is keeping an eye on her." Amy answered.

Electra nodded, "Madeline... come on you need to shift back for a little while." The little snow leopard turned and gave her pleading eyes to stay and play.

"You need to be human for a little while then you can shift and play all you want."

Madeline gave her a look of disappointment and dragged her paws as she approached, she didn't want to go back to being a human, but she knew Electra wouldn't be spoiling her fun if there wasn't a reason.

****

Electra lifted her visor to rub tired eyes as she leant back in her seat the day after they had set Madeline's body on fire. Jeff popped his head in. "Electra one more." He told her.

"You said that the last time," she whined.

"I promise this one is the last one, sorry to push you but Joel is letting the enforcers arrive tomorrow to take their people home. Having all these preliminary interviews done now will make things easier for the other agents to get more details." He reminded her.

"I'm just lucky I don't have to type them." She muttered to herself as Jeff went to get the last person. There was in fact a person behind the two-way mirror typing out the interviews as they happened, which was saving Electra a lot of time later.

She sighed and sat back in her chair, Joel was giving a big concession to the other Alphas allowing their enforcers to come and collect their people. Back before the borders were made permanent it was the job of the enforcers not only to enforce the law but it was also their job to raid neighbouring packs and prides, to expand their Alpha's borders. That was the reason why enforcers were not allowed to enter another territory without either a guard or express permission and even then it was not for long. Joel wasn't going to put guards on the enforcers coming, they were not coming for any other reason other then to reclaim their members and take them home. The Alphas would have completely understood if he had but Joel knew that such action was unnecessary, as Amy would go mental if someone tried to take advantage of the situation, and no one wanted to see that side up close.

Jeff gently guided a woman who moved stiffly into the room, he helped her sit and arrange the drip so that it was out of the way. He then left the room. Electra had sat up stunned; she had not expected to see a patient that only yesterday been in critical condition, walks into the room.

"Lupa blew on me, he blew on the others, he sped up their healing but it will still be until tomorrow before they wake." She explained having correctly interpreted Electra's stunned look.

Electra smiled, "I'm glad he's happy helping out."

"Who is the girl shadowing him around?" She asked.

"My fosterling, Maddie, she's not comfortable with many people but she seems okay with Lupa and I am trying to encourage that." Electra told her. "Okay... this is just a preliminary interview, I just would like to know your name, age, pack of origin, how long you have been captive, who has owned you. Everything else can come out when you are ready and can be told to the FBI case worker assigned to your pack or whatever."

She nodded, "Pride." She informed Electra, "I am Sasha, Sasha Owen, I don't know how old I am, time just kind of blurred for me, I was born in 92, and was taken in 08. I've had only one owner, Tyson Sheppard. I am a member of Moon Thane pride." She paused. "How long... how long have I been caged?"

Electra took a deep breath knowing the number would crush this woman but that she had the right to know, "Ten years, it's 2018."

She was stunned; ten years... she had lost ten years. She rested her elbows on the table before covering her face. Electra reached across the table, took a hand from her face, and held it to offer her comfort.

"Don't be sad, I lived that life as well for a little longer then yours, Maddie was born into that life and I interviewed a woman who lived that life for nearly twenty years. Don't think about the years that were stolen, trust me, it won't help you recover, just take a deep breath and look around, for you are free and your life as a free woman stretches before you."

She watched Electra for long moments, "How... how can you just brush off that part of your life?"

Electra sighed, "I'm immortal... I have no choice but to accept that my father thought of me as nothing more then a treat he could offer his loyal men, to do with what they pleased, to win bets when he threw me into a fight pit and pitted me against dozens of other Were. I wake constantly to the taste of blood in my mouth of all the poor people who died because men wanted to see how much damage I could take. If I don't let it go I'll go mad, I'll become like Ghost, and I don't want that."

Sasha shivered, glad that she was not in Electra's shoes. Humans viewed immortality as the greatest of all treasures; it was desired and coveted. Were knew differently, immortality was not an easy path, in fact most immortals histories were plagued with disasters and personal tragedies, forever watching those they love die only to watch them be reborn with no knowledge of them, of building a new relationship only to have them die again. An endless cycle of getting close to people only to watch them die, it was why some refused to get to know people, to distance themselves from the constant cycle of pain. A cycle that would continue until all were immortal.

Immortals quickly learnt to wire their brains differently; they wouldn't have been able to remain sane if they didn't. They learnt not to allow all their failures and the failures of the world around them weigh them down, they brushed it off and forged ahead, knowing they had to take the good times when they were there and do their best with the bad times.

However, they had a reason to heed this wisdom, to take the good with the bad, not letting it affect them, and that reason was summed up in a single name, an immortal by the name of Ghost. He had come to the Americas back before they even were called the Americas, in a Viking long boat in the early tenth century. When he came here, he decided to leave his people, to stop being the pet monster of a deranged glory seeking Warlord. Therefore, when he fled he shed his name, Ulfr-gunnar, his name literally meaning Wolf warrior, shed his identity and wondered the land as both a man and a wolf. No one knew how long he wandered or how he came to be adopted into an Indian tribe and it was they who gave him his new name. Ghost, for his pale skin and silent ability to come and go as he wished.

They quickly realised that he didn't age, on the day that he saw the passing of the chief, the same man who had brought him into the tribe and did not look a day older then he did when he joined them. When confronted he showed them what he was, instead of treating him like a freak they treated him with respect, they classed the wolf to be their brother and that Ghost had a wolf spirit he was as close as sacred to them. And so he lived with them, protecting them from other Indians and the occasional Viking raider.

One day after fighting off Viking raiders, he was returning to the tribe when he heard a scream. He recognised the voice as a young woman called Snow, named after the snowstorm she was born in. A woman he admired and who his wolf was eager to mate. He tore off after her, another scream closer to him had him veering off, he took out the man who was trying to cart off with another young woman from his tribe. After he took that man out and raced off heading in the direction Snow's voice had come from. His muscles burned with exhaustion but he pushed on.

Just as he broke out of the tree line, a man slid his sword though Snow's neck, her head falling free of her body. Ghost stopped as he watched his beloved Snow slump to the ground, rage like he had never felt before consumed him and he tore the men apart. When he was done, he lay beside her and stared off into space. He kept thinking over what he had done, if he had ignored the other scream he may have been able to save her, this thought kept going over and over in his head... if only. When dark came he carried the body back to the camp, the keening cries quickly went up and soon the camp was filled with anguish.

He turned to Snow's father and knelt at his feet silently waiting for the condemnation he felt he deserved. Her father however rested a hand on his shoulder and said three words, 'not your fault.' As he went to shake his head, the chief came forward, 'you did your best Ghost, you saved many.'

No one blamed him, no one got angry, and they just went on. His guilt and self-loathing eventually led him to leave the tribe, he starting trying to find ways to kill himself. Throwing his body off cliffs, tying a bolder around his body and levering it into a lake trying to drown himself, nothing worked. His depression grew and the only way he could deal with it was to shift and completely immerse himself in his beast as it felt no guilt, to stay away from all humans and Were... and he had been that way ever since.

****

Electra watched as the last person was bundled into a car to be taken home early in the evening the day after she had interviewed them all. Rhiannon, Lupa, Maddie and Dave walked up. "That was the last one." Dave stated.

Electra nodded.

He sighed, pleased that he could go home and sleep in his own bed next to his girlfriend after being apart from her for a month.

"I'll get your bags and take us home." Rhiannon offered.

Dave jerked to her in surprise, "Are you going to..." he made a waving motion with his hand, "make us appear home?" He asked, he had never travelled by way of Ancient but had seen Electra appear out of thin air before him many times.

Rhiannon's lipped twitched as she tried not to smile, "Physical teleportation, that's what we call it and yes, I don't like airports."

Electra turned to Maddie, Maddie hadn't quite liked her name, for some reason not feeling worthy of her mother's name, and Rhiannon had come up with Maddie, as it was a good alternative. "Ready to go home?"

Maddie frowned uncertain; she didn't know... she had only just gotten comfortable here... kind of.

Electra hugged her and tilted her head up, "Once we get there that's it, no more moving around." She said trying to encourage her fosterling. Maddie perked up and nodded.

"Alright." Rhiannon made their things appear. "Dave you first, picture your lounge room for me." He nodded and closed his eyes focusing on his lounge room. In moments, they were there. "Here we are." She told him, his eyes snapped open and glanced around, there was a crash as his girlfriend dropped the plate she had been holding.

"Marissa." Dave moved to her and hugged her, kissing her deeply.