The darkness seemed to press down on Ember, suffocating her with its emptiness. She had been thrown by her own father into this cold, dark room without any explanation, and the silence was deafening. She felt small and insignificant in the face of her own fear.
She did not know which one annoyed her the most. If it was the fact that she had rushed head first into a situation which she totally had no idea about or how her dad had turned her in like she was nothing but a stranger to him.
Ember's stomach growled with hunger, and her throat was parched with thirst. The only sound she could hear was the echo of her own ragged breathing and the faint rustle of her clothes as she moved.
With her supernatural sight, she inspected the cell room where she was being held. It was damp and musty. There were scratches on several parts of the walls. These scratches were etched deep into the walls that they could only have been made by werewolves.
This room was not only meant as a holding cell, it also doubled as a torture room. The realization of this spiked up Ember's anxiety.
With a surge of adrenaline, Ember began to bang on the door, her fists pounding against the cold metal. "Hey, let me out of here!" she screamed, her voice hoarse from the dryness of her throat. "I've done nothing!" The words echoed through the empty room, but there was no response. The silence was oppressive, and Ember's anger and frustration boiled over.
As she pounded on the door, tears of frustration and fear streamed down her face. She had come back home to feel safe, to find refuge, but instead, she was trapped and alone.
Her parents, who were the people she trusted most in the world, had abandoned her. The thought was like a knife to her heart, twisting and turning with every beat.
Finally, exhausted and defeated, Ember collapsed to the floor, her back against the wall. She wrapped her arms around her knees and let the tears flow, her body shaking with sobs. The darkness seemed to close in around her, suffocating her.
Meanwhile, her parents were engaged in a heated argument in another part of the pack's den. Mrs. Doyle's eyes were puffy from crying, but her voice was firm and resolute. "You shouldn't have brought her in," she said, her words laced with accusation. "What else should I have done?" Mr. Doyle asked, his voice rising in anger. "It's my duty to bring criminals before the law. I am the chief of warriors."
"Criminal?" Mrs. Doyle's voice was incredulous. "It's your daughter we're talking about here. Your only daughter! She's not a criminal," she screamed, her emotions raw and exposed. "She ran away," Mr. Doyle snapped. "She embarrassed us. She disobeyed the rules. What would you have me do?"
Mrs. Doyle's voice dropped to a whisper, but the intensity remained. "Protect her. That's what a father does, he protects his child." Mr. Doyle's face twisted in anger. "I was doing my duty!" he shouted.
"You're always doing your duty," his wife snapped back. "You always put the pack before your family."
"The pack is my family!" Mr Doyle barked, his eyes brimming with anger. He was a head strong man, but he was also just as loyal as he was stubborn.
The argument ended abruptly as Mr. Doyle turned and walked away, leaving his wife standing alone, her eyes brimming with tears. Mrs. Doyle took a deep breath and composed herself before storming out too, her chest puffing with all the anger she felt.
She grabbed a pack of chocolate and a bottle of clear water from the vending machine. Mrs Doyle marched to the cell room where Ember was being held. She stopped to gather her nerves before heading into the room.
As she entered the room, Ember looked up, hope flickering in her eyes. "Mom," she said, jumping to her feet. "What's happening?" she questioned, her voice shaking. But Mrs. Doyle ignored her question, instead placing the pack of chocolate and a bottle of water on the table.
"Eat," she told Ember gently. "You'll need your strength. You have to eat." Ember's laughter was bitter. There was no way her mom was telling her to eat when her whole life had been uprooted and turned inside out.
What her mom was asking of Ember was impossible. Eating in this situation would be like taking a nap in the middle of a high storm.
"Tell me what's happening. What are they saying?" she demanded. Mrs. Doyle's expression was sympathetic, but her words were carefully chosen. "We have it under control," she lied. "Nothing will happen to you. This is just a silly misunderstanding."
Ember's eyes narrowed. "Dad said I did something. What did I do?" Mrs. Doyle's voice was soft. "You'll learn all about that later. For now, tell me all you remember." Ember's frustration boiled over. How could her mother expect her to remember anything when she didn't even know what was going on?
"Come on, sit down. Tell me what happened to you", Mrs Doyle urged. If her husband wanted to act like a brain warped soldier, she couldn't do that. Ember was her child. Her only child!
Ember plopped down into the chair. "What do you want me to say?", she asked. She couldn't say much because she was trying to wrap her head around the strange series of events that her life had become.
"Everything. Tell me everything, Em", her mother told her with a quiet urgency.
Ember took a deep breath, trying to coordinate her thoughts. "The last thing I remember was being at the bayou with the rest of the pack. It was supposed to be Pete and I's mating ritual, right?"
Mrs Doyle nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, you were both excited about it", she said.
Ember continued "Next thing I know, I woke up by the side of the road in the middle of a forest eight hours from here. I remember being so alone and scared"
Hearing this sent shivers down Mrs Doyle's spine. "You ran away, Ember", she whispered to Ember's hearing.
"What?", Ember asked, shocked by that new piece of information. Mrs Doyle nodded her answer and said, "You got cold feet during the mating and you ran away. From Pete. From the pack. From all of us."
Ember's temperature dropped as her mom spoke. "Something must have happened to you while you ran. Maybe you bumped your head against a tree and that knocked you out clean"
The severity of Ember's situation started to dawn on her. "What are they going to do to me, mom?", she asked, hysterical. "I ran away. That's a grave crime"
Mrs. Doyle held Ember's hands in hers, squeezing lightly. "Nothing. They'll do nothing to you as long as I'm here", she whispered, trying to convince both Ember and herself.
Ember felt a surge of emotion. She wanted to believe her mother, to trust that everything would be okay. But the uncertainty and fear were overwhelming, and she couldn't shake the feeling that things were about to change for her.
The darkness of the cell room seemed to mirror the darkness Ember felt inside. She lowered her head and a tear slipped from her right eye.
She said, "I really want to believe you mom, but I don't. I know I'm in trouble"