I keep running, even after I’ve crossed the border. A howl echoes in the distance behind me, a signal to my father that I’ve escaped.
Somewhere in the chaos of my flight through the Bloodnight Pack, I’ve lost Luke’s keycard. It’s no longer in my grasp.
This isn’t good. They’ll be on my tail soon.
You see, it’s against pack laws to abuse a fellow pack member, human or not.
If a wolf is found guilty of abusing or torturing another wolf in their pack, the punishment is death.
I know they’ll hunt me down because if I spill the beans about what they did to me, the whole pack will face the council of werewolves’ death sentence.
If I spill the beans, they’ll definitely kill me themselves.
I shove those grim thoughts to the back of my mind and keep running. After a while, I crumple to the ground, panting heavily.
I try to fight the urge to sleep, but I’m worn out. My body isn’t used to this much movement. I’m used to a tiny cell, not this vast open space.
Despite my internal screams to stay awake, my eyes close on their own.
I wake up to the sound of birds chirping. I try to open my eyes, but the bright sun makes it difficult. I keep one eye closed while I survey my surroundings with the other.
I’m lying in the middle of a forest, surrounded by trees. I open my other eye and clumsily get up.
Feeling dizzy, I lose my balance and crash into a nearby tree, scraping my head and arms. Blood seeps out of the wounds.
It takes me a few minutes to regain my senses, but the burning pain from my wounds persists.
You’d think I could handle this pain, given the torment I’ve endured; my scars are proof of that.
I press my hand against my head wound, a trick I learned in my cell to save some of the pain for later.
I start walking in the opposite direction I came from, cradling my injured arm. It hits me that I’m in rogue territory, not another pack’s, as there are no buildings or guards around.
This is bad. I’m in danger.
Rogues are ruthless and kill without a second thought. They only care about themselves. They’re insane.
My pace quickens as my mind races. When I was younger, before I was locked away, I used to read about the territories surrounding my now former pack.
I read about wolf laws because I have alpha blood in me and I thought it would impress my dad to know this stuff.
If I remember correctly, there’s a small rogue territory, but it’s flanked by other packs’ lands on either side.
The books I read said that rogues are deranged and psychotic, but I’ve never seen one in person, so I’m not sure if it’s true or not.
People say that once someone becomes a rogue, they lose their humanity.
My thoughts drift to my mom. I can never tell anyone what happened. If they find out I was born a monster and that I’m capable of killing my mother, they’ll know I can kill anyone.
They’ll lock me up and torture me all over again, for years on end.
My thoughts are interrupted when a white wolf, its fur matted with mud, emerges from behind a tree on my right. I freeze in sheer terror. It’s a rogue. It’s going to kill me.
The wolf crouches and bares its teeth. Turns out, rogues are as crazy as the books said they were.
Most people would scream, but I’ve been beaten into submission, so I just turn and sprint to my left. I run as fast as I can.
It doesn’t take long for the rogue to catch up to me.
I don’t know where I’m going, but I have to keep running. I’ve just escaped from my personal hell. I’m not about to die at the hands of a rogue on my first day of freedom.
I push myself to run faster, using all the anger I have towards my dad, even if it feels like my lungs are about to burst. Behind me, I can hear teeth snapping together, which only fuels my adrenaline.
The rogue is gaining on me.
The snapping gets closer with each step I take, and it doesn’t stop until it grabs my oversized (supposed to be white) T-shirt, which belongs to Luke, and yanks me back.
I land upright with a thud, a set of teeth looming over me. Drool drips onto my face, but I don’t have time to wipe it away as the rogue grabs my shirt and starts shaking me like a rag doll.
Grass sticks to my hair, clinging to the dirt like glue. Tears stream down my gaunt face in panic.
I start thrashing around, and I manage to hit the rogue in the snout with my foot. Even though I’m barefoot, the kick distracts him long enough for me to clumsily get up and start running again.
My breath comes in short gasps, and I feel like my lungs are about to burst.
I run away from the rogue, hoping to somehow outrun the maniac.
While I’m running, I don’t realize that I’ve entered another pack’s territory.
It’s only when a massive, jet-black wolf radiating power comes into my line of sight that I collapse from relief and exhaustion.
“Help me, Alpha,” I mutter, and then everything goes black…
