Dawns POV

They got closer to me. The one in front with brown hair didn't stop until he was a foot away from me.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing down here?" He asked stumbling on a few words as he walked behind me.

"Pretty girls shouldn't be wandering down this hall," said the one with sandy blond hair. "No one ever comes down this hall."

I gulped as I realized what the burning smell was. They were all high and I could tell. The three of them had red and puffy eyes, and the one was having speech problems.

"I was just leaving, you guys seemed to be having too much fun." I said hoping they would be convinced and let me go. "I didn't want to ruin it."

The third one who had black hair got so close to me, I had backed up to the wall.

"Why would you ruin it?" the black haired one asked. "You wanna join? just ask babe."

I cringed at him calling me "babe". I was truly disgusted and really scared. I couldn't run because I didn't know how they'd react. If they had weed, who knew what else they could have? I really didn't know what to do, I just didn't want to piss any of them off.

"No I'm good thank you, I just want to go back to Ground Zero. I just accidentally walked down the wrong hall," I said while trying to keep my face away from the black haired one.

"How did you manage to do that pretty girl?" the one with blond hair asked as he got closer.

I shrugged at them. "I was just busy thinking about my friend," I explained slowly, hoping not to set them off.

The one with brown hair started laughing crazily. "A pretty girl like you must have some pretty friends! You should invite her down here!" he said giving me a wicked grin.

Shaking my head at them I frowned. "My friend is a guy," I said while hoping that my honesty would somehow get me out of this situation.

Boy was I wrong about that.

All three of them went from smiling to having a straight face full of anger. The two in front of me looked the most pissed off. I could see the anger bouncing around through the red in their eyes.

My eyes widened as I glanced around at them. Wasn't smoking weed supposed to make them happy and mellow? Was me talking about my "guy friend" some sort of trigger for anger or something?

The blond haired one grabbed my upper arm digging his nails into my skin. "Well then I guess you'll just have to stay for awhile, we're better than your guy friend."

The other two laughed and I knew this was probably the scariest situation i'd ever been in. I could feel the sting of the blond mans nails in my arm, but I didn't make a noise.

"She's a tough one Rich, she doesn't even flinch away from the pain!" said the black haired one.

So Rich was the blonde ones name.

Rich turned to the black haired man and smacked him on the side of the head. "No shit Sam, we're in a fucking gang."

Sam grumbled and rubbed the side of his head. "Don't be an ass, some girls are weak."

"You two are morons," said the brown haired man.

"Shut up Gavin!" shouted Sam. "You're no better!"

Rich smirked at me and leaned in closer so he was whispering in my ear, causing me to squirm.

"Let's see how tough you are, huh babe?" He slowly whispered. His hot breath felt foreign on my ear.

I gasped as I was suddenly thrown to the other side of the hall. My head hit the wall causing a loud bang and I landed on the floor with a thud.

Groaning as a throbbing pain erupted in my back, I tried to move so it'd go away, but no matter what way I moved it stayed.

"See guys? a little acknowledgement there, but that's just not enough for me." Rich said as he walked over to me and nudged my stomach with his foot. "You'll know pain when I'm done with you. Drag her down farther boys."

I watched as the so called Gavin and Sam grabbed my wrists, even when I was trying to flail them around and keep them away to the best of my ability. With a quick jerk, they started pulling me farther down the hall.

"Get the fuck off me!" I screeched as I tried to get a hold of the ground with my feet. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Rich chuckled as he walked behind me as I was dragged down the hall. "The pretty girl is turning kind of feisty now isn't she boys?" he said with an enormous smirk on his face.

Trying to resist them, I jerked around in spasms hoping they'd loose their grip. They eventually just dropped me, and I landed on the floor with a thud.

"Now what can we do to her?" Gavin asked enthusiastically. "What're we going to do?"

He was smacked on the side of the face by Sam. "You're supposed to act like you already know what you're doing dumbass!" he shouted at him.

"How was I supposed to know that?" Gavin questioned. "It's not like we do this all the time?"

Rich started rubbing his forehead with an annoyed look on his face. "You're not supposed to let her know that either!!" he yelled.

The three of them broke out into a little quarrel. There was shoving and pushing, and I realized they had momentarily forgotten about me.

Looking down the hall, I was practically at the end. I'd have to sprint as fast as I could to be able to make it out of here. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Now or never.

I jolted up despite the pain in my back, and took off down the hallway. There was a startled shout from Gavin and Sam, while Rich just swore loudly and took off running behind me.

The end of the hall was getting closer now, and I pushed myself to try and go faster. I could hear Rich's loud steps behind me, but they were too close for comfort.

I was about halfway down the hall, and I looked behind me to see how far Rich was behind me.

Big mistake on my part.

Looking back, It was just in time to see Rich flying towards at me. Quickly turning back around, I tried to jump forward to get out of his range, but it was too late.

I was heading for the ground.

Rich smacked into me and pushed me to the ground. He was on top of me, squishing the air out of my lungs.

"You little bitch!" He growled from above me. "Get her against the wall!"

Sam and Gavin ran forward from behind us and they grabbed my arms again. They dragged me over to the left side of the hallway as I desperately squirmed around and looked at the end of the hall.

I didn't make it.

Trying to kick at their shins, I managed to whiff Sam in the shin.

"Fuck!" Sam yelled as he lifted his foot off the ground. "Gavin grab her legs!"

"In you're fucking dreams!" I hissed at them while trying to swing my legs around and kick Sam in the shin again.

Gavin let go of one of my arms and jumped over me to grab my legs. I tried kicking him in the face, but Sam twisted my arm the wrong way making me stop kicking and instead jerk in pain. Gavin managed to grab my legs as Sam gripped tighter on my arms. Still trying to squirm my body from their grasp, they pushed me up against the base of the wall and held me there.

I was pinned.

Rich who had been laughing the whole time, walked closer and squatted down to get closer to my face.

"I'm pretty sure we're in control here babe," He said as he snickered, being rather close to my face. "And what we say goes."

I was surprised with the sudden punch he threw at my stomach. It hit me like a truck, and when I tried to curl up my body and help with the aftershock, Gavin and Sam yanked on my limbs, keeping my body straight.

Gavin and Sam broke out in hysterical laughter while I was groaning in pain.

Rich stood up with a smirk on his face. "I'd let you go, but you've seen too much of what you're not supposed to."

I watched his foot wind back and I shut my eyes bracing for the pain. How did this even happen? A short while ago I was just training with Jake like a normal trainee.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Growled and icy voice that i'd recognize anywhere.

I opened my eyes to see Kaiden standing at the beginning of the hall. Even from where I was being pinned down, I could see how enraged he was with was he saw.

"We um....." Gavin started to say but Kaiden cut him off.

"Don't even try to explain this." Kaiden growled in the most menacing voice I have ever heard. "You're as high as fuck and I know exactly what you were doing."

Kaiden locked eyes with me and I saw the rage in them, but they softened a little as he saw the way they had me pinned down.

"Let go of her Gavin, Sam," he snarled at them. "Dawn get up and come here," He commanded after.

The way he said it scared me a lot, but I knew he was the only one that wasn't going to hurt me. Gavin and Sam quickly let go of me, and I scrambled up and ran over to where Kaiden was. He pushed me behind him and continued to confront the three men.

"Where'd you get it?" Kaiden questioned, his tone still icy.

"Get what? Sorry sir, you're confusing us," said Sam trying to be innocent.

"Cut the fucking bullshit!"Kaiden screamed at them. "Where'd you get it?"

Rich was surprisingly the one to fess up. "We found a stash when we were out scouting and thought it'd be nice to go back to the old days," he tried to explain.

I knew that he was trying to make Kaiden soften up a little, but I could tell that this was over the line for him.

What he said made me wonder about "the old days" though. What did he mean by that?

"You three know that we don't allow drugs in the Midnight Mafia," Kaiden spat at them. "Three of my best scouts too, what a shame."

"We're so sorry Sir, it wont happen again," said Sam hopefully. "We didn't mean to cause any trouble. We thought we'd be alone down here."

"Its one thing about the drugs, but the fact that you were physically assaulting a trainee? That is fucking unacceptable conduct in my gang," Kaiden said after he had tensed up.

Kaiden started clenching and unclenching his fists. I didn't want him to start swinging, so without thinking I touched his back to try and get him to calm down a little.

"You will be tried by your authorities, and your punishment will be announced publicly after lunch tomorrow," Kaiden said as he visibly calmed down a little.

"Sir please..." Rich begged desperately.

"No!" Kaiden barked. "You've disobeyed rules and caused harm to one of your fellow Shadow Walkers. You will face your punishment." Kaiden commanded.

The three of them seemed to finally accept the fact that they were screwed. They all lowered their heads in defeat.

"Now go to The Reath, if you aren't there by the time Jake and Max get there, I promise you that your punishment will be a hundred times worse," Kaiden directed them.

When none of them moved Kaiden yelled at them. "What are you waiting for? Leave!"

The three of them scurried into a run down the hall. They ran around the corner into the main hall, and probably started sprinting towards whatever The Reath was.

Kaiden finally sighed and turned around to face me. I could see he was still furious about the whole ordeal.

"Dawn, are you okay?" he asked quietly while taking a step closer to me.

I didn't know how to respond to him. Was I okay? If Kaiden hadn't stopped them, who knows how far they would've gone.

"You're bleeding," Kaiden said as he gently grabbed my arm and looked down at it. I looked down at it myself and saw four cuts Rich had left in my arm after grabbing it so tightly.

"Its nothing," I said hoping Kaiden wouldn't fuss about it. "I cant even feel it."

Kaiden looked up at me and he looked worried. "What else did they do to you Dawn?" Kaiden asked while letting go of my arm, but not breaking eye contact with me.

"Rich threw me across the hall and against the wall," I explained. "Gavin and Sam grabbed my arms and dragged me farther down the hall," I said as I pointed to the end.

Kaiden turned to look where I was pointing before growling lowly and closing his eyes. "Did they do anything else?" he asked as he opened his eyes.

I nodded my head at him. "The three of them started fighting and I tried to make a break for it. Rich was too fast for me though. He tackled me and the other two grabbed my arms and legs and pinned me against the base of the wall," I explained while I looked down at the floor and examined my boots. "Rich punched me in the stomach, and he was about to kick me. That's when you showed up," I said while looking back up at him.

He held a constant stare with me, ever since I started telling the story. I watched as different emotions flashed through his eyes, and he became visibly distressed.

Giving him a small smile, I realized I needed to get him to calm down a bit. "I don't know what else would've happened if you didn't show up," I said while giving him a small nod. "Thank you Kaiden."

He gave me a small smile back. "I told you to stay out of trouble," he said jokingly.

I shrugged at him. "Not my fault it's attracted to me. I mean I'm trying to join a gang for crying out loud."

Kaiden chuckled a little at my joke but then got serious again. "What were you even doing down here Dawn? Trainees don't need to use these halls." he asked me.

I frowned a little knowing I wasn't supposed to be down here. "I was walking back to my dorm when I guess I wandered down the wrong hall. I was deep in thought about some things..." I explained while trailing off and thinking about Alyson.

Kaiden raised his brow at me and gave me a curios stare. "I thought you had more self awareness than that Dawn," he stated making me feel somewhat guilty.

Shaking my head at him I continued to frown. "I realized I was down the wrong hall after I had walked around the curve. I was just curios as to what was down the hall," I explained to him further. "I didn't think anyone would be down here."

Kaiden tensed up again and I saw the anger cloud his blue eyes. "This is the least used hallway in all of HQ, that's why they thought they could get away with getting high down here," He explained to me. "It's mostly just supply rooms and other things of the sort."

"Why were you down here then?" I asked innocently, looking down at the floor.

When I looked back up Kaiden gave me a look that told me I probably shouldn't have asked it.

"I was talking to Jake in Ground Zero, and towards the end of our conversation I thought I saw someone walk down here in the corner of my eye," Kaiden said while running a hand through his jet black hair. "We finished our business and I came down here to check it out. I heard shouting as I got closer to this hallway."

I frowned realizing that I had been so careless and gotten myself into this mess. It was my fault three of Kaiden's best scouts were going to be punished. I only I hadn't gotten distracted.

"None the less, their punishment will be announced in front of the gang tomorrow," Kaiden said cutting into my thoughts.

I thought about it and it seemed almost cruel to have it be announced publicly. "Why are they announced publicly?" I asked hoping he'd answer.

"Because the rest of the gang needs to know what they've done wrong against them." He answered simply.

Nodding at him I looked at the ground and went silent for a moment. What was the other thing I had wondered about?

"What did Rich mean about the old days?" I asked him, suddenly remembering what it was. I crossed my arms hoping I was pushing it with him.

Kaiden gave me a warning look before he shook his head. "Before I became leader drugs were allowed to be used freely." his eyes softened as he seemed to remember it. "There was an accident involving some and I decided that I never wanted that to happen again."

I nodded and took in the information. I decided that Kaiden didn't tell me what the accident was for a reason. I didn't press him on it, and decided that I would probably hear about it sometime else.

"Let's go Dawn," Kaiden said while breaking his eyes away from me and walking back towards the main hallway. Apparently he didn't want to answer any more of my questions. "We should get you out of here."

I followed him silently out of the hall, trusting wherever he was leading me.

* * * * * * * * * *

Kaiden had lead me back through Ground Zero and to my dorm. We were silent the entire way, not needing to say anything.

We stopped in front of the door to my dorm and I turned to face Kaiden. He gave me a small smile and nodded.

"If your friends are in there, don't tell them about what happened," Kaiden instructed me.

I was a little surprised that I couldn't tell my friends. "Why?" I asked.

Kaiden sighed. "They will find out tomorrow. And don't worry, I won't use your name when I explain what happened." Kaiden explained reassuringly to me.

I nodded. I didn't want the gang to know it happened to me. Just that the three scouts Rich, Gavin and Sam had gone against their gang.

"Now that you're back at your dorm relax for a bit," Kaiden instructed me with a small smile. "You've had a rough afternoon."

Kaiden turned to leave but I stopped him from getting far.

"Kaiden," I quietly called, stopping him.

He turned around to look at me again, his hands in his jeans pockets. "Yeah?" he answered.

I studied the ground before I looked up, then looked Kaiden straight in the eyes. "Thank you again for saving me," I said quietly. It was really hard for me to say it. "I really don't know what would've happened if you didn't show up."

Kaiden was silent for a moment, his blue eyes shimmering a little in the light coming down from the sun through the ceiling. "I'd save you any day Dawn," he replied confidently.

I was a little surprised by his answer. He would save me any day? Did that mean... No. I realized I was going back to the thoughts I had a few days ago. Kaiden didn't think of me as anything else other than a trainee. He'd help any of the trainees just the same if they had been in my position.

His eyes broke away from mine and he seemed to be looking at the wall. "No trainee, or any other gang member deserves to be treated like that," he said while his voice got a little icier.

I looked down and nodded at him. I was right, nothing more than a trainee.

Looking back up, Kaiden was looking at me again. He nodded and turned around and started walking away.

I sighed as I slowly turned to my door and opened it. Walking inside, no one was in the room. Sighing again I walked over and sat down on one of the empty chairs at the table. Crossing my arms I leaned back in the chair.

Definitely not the ending to the morning filled with training I wanted. I didn't know what to do with myself now. Other than wait for someone to come back to the room. Maybe when Xavier got back he would talk with me more about Alyson. Shaking my head I glanced up at the two small windows over the closet doors in the room.

Maybe I'd actually be able to start focusing after that.

*************************************

Hi everyone! Here's the next part just like I promised!

Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate the fact that you're still reading my book! It's amazing!

If you enjoyed this chapter please consider giving it a vote! That would be great!

Also don't forget that you can leave me your thoughts or even feedback in the comments for me! I'd love to hear more from you guys!

- Delaney :)