Chapter 4

Jenna's POV

I don't know how long I'd lain on the forest ground, but as I slowly come back to myself, I realise that I might have been there for far too long, long enough to attract prey.

As I crack one eye open and look around, the still midnight air alerts me to the dangers that lurk in these forests. And for a moment, I regret leaving the pack.

However, now is not the moment to scrutinise hastily made decisions. Now is the time to get up as stealthily as I can and get the hell away from here.

I can't help but remember the tales that Papa had told me about avoiding the forest as a younger child. I had first learned about rogues and shapeshifters from Papa, who had told me that they would never come into the pack to cause trouble, but getting lost in the forest could mean being harmed by them.

I get up slowly, wincing when pain shoots through my ankle. I must have sprained something when I fell over the shrubs.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, I begin to limp towards where I'd come from but halt when the memories from earlier slam through me.

“Tonight, I, Jack, chose Violet as my mate, to remain mine in all seasons, across multiverses, realms and time.”

I shut my eyes as that familiar pain courses through me again. I had been rejected by my own mate.

I had been seen as weak and unfit. Unsuitable to be the alpha's met. Incapable of being taught and trained. He hadn't even tried to take a chance on me because I was never the woman he wanted. He had always had eyes on Violet from the beginning.

I try to take a forceful step forward, despite the pain of that rejection, the pain that came with realising that I wasn't good enough for someone the gods had destined me for...

But my legs refuse to move because the second the alpha had publicly announced his new mate, rejecting me in secret, the pack had ceased to become home.

How would I go about my day every day knowing what had happened? How would my wolf cope with the loss of her mate? Was I always going to fight for control whenever the alpha was near? And continue to question my worth each time the memories of that rejection come back?

“No.” I say out loud as a swivle around. I refused to live that way.

I wasn't going to live like that. I wasn't going to wallow in pain and watch someone who was supposed to be mine frolic with someone else.

I was not going to live a lie and pretend to be happy just so Jack could have his wishes. If he didn't want me as his mate, it meant that he didn't want me in the pack. And I refused to go back where I wasn't wanted. Or needed.

I begin a slow trudge further into the forest, already on the lookout for dried woods I could use to make fire. Tonight, I was going to rest, and tomorrow morning, I was going to search for a new pack. A pack that was going to be accepting of me, and one that would train me.

I needed to be trained. I didn't wish to be like Violet, but I needed to learn to stand up for myself.

Happy with the internal decision I have just taken, I gather a few dried woods and settle under a large maple tree. Even though my appetite is still nonexistent, I am lucky enough to come across a few fruit trees, taking a handful of pineapple and raspberries to stuff myself for the night.

Tonight isn't the time to try to hunt. I need all the rest I can get and proper time to restrategize and plan my life from here on out.

I have managed to light the fire, just as Papa taught me. I am a little proud of myself for doing this all on my own, without his aid.

I can't help but recall those happier times with Papa. And more than once, I had wished that he was still alive. Maybe, if he were, this would not have happened.

He would have trained me, and maybe if I had been trained, I would not have been considered unfit to be the alpha's mate.

I bit into the juicy pineapple, quickly filling my stomach with all the fruits that I had gathered. My wolf was starving and needed more than what I was having. But this was going to have to do for now.

The wood is eerily quiet, so the only noise that permeates the still air is the crackling of the fire as its bright embers continue to lick up the dried leaves and hard wood I'd piled.

When my wolf stirs and suddenly becomes alert, I pause, my heightened senses catching onto the definite snap of a dead wood from about a mile away, which causes me to become tense.

My wolf suddenly becomes restless, and I know what that means. We need to get out of here.

I get up very quickly, filled with sudden strength from the meal I'd just had. I look down at the dress I still have on and slide my fingers between the satin, ripping off the hems and throwing it into the dying fire.

There's no time to cover my tracks, no time to put out the fire; they'd still track me through my foot imprint on the forest ground. There are people headed this way, and their unfamiliar scent lets me know that none of them are from my pack.

Without wasting any more time, I break into a quick run, feeling the midnight wind against my face as I continue to run, not caring where I go, so far as I am as far away as possible from my potential assailants.

I am filled with terror as two indistinctive bodies emerge behind me, their much bigger and longer legs covering more ground than mine.

“There she is!” An unfamiliar voice growls. “Get her!”