You Must Die!

Bella’s POV

I ran until the trees swallowed the pack house and the howls faded behind me. My legs burned and my chest heaved, but I kept going. Harrison had betrayed me and I would never forgive him. He should have known Cassandra was obsessed with him. He should have known Charles had been fascinated with me since we were kids. He knew enough to stop this, and he still did it.

I pulled off my shoes and threw them hard into different directions so my scent would not lead hunters straight to me. If I was going to cross the forest and get past the border, I had to make it hard for anyone to follow.

I stopped for a while to catch my breath, and just as I started to sprint again, a voice stopped me. I turned and saw Charles standing on the path as if he had been waiting for me. My heart dropped. I wanted to continue running, but I needed answers. I had to know why last night happened and why Cassandra had set me up.

“How dare you show your face after what you did?” I said, keeping my voice steady even though my hands shook.

Charles laughed like it was a joke. He stepped closer, and the laugh made my skin crawl. “It was too easy,” he said. “You do not have a wolf, so you cannot smell the drug. Elizabeth was wasted. One of my friends distracted you. I put a pill in your cocktail and took you to my place. I took your dress off and you were out. I did what I wanted.”

The way he said it made bile rise in my throat. “You bastard,” I spat.

He did not look ashamed. He smiled. “Do not worry. I was a gentleman. I wanted you to remember our first time. You should be grateful.”

Everything in me wanted to hit him. Instead I took a step back as he moved closer and he stopped when I did. He kept talking like he was teaching me something. “Cassandra and I agreed to break you and Harrison. Then I will leave the pack with you. Cassandra will be Luna. I have loved you for years and you never saw me. Harrison has the mate bond so he is the only reason you ever had anyone. You should be grateful someone wants you even without a wolf.”

His words were a knife. They showed how little Harrison had ever cared. They showed how fast everyone could turn on me. I wanted to vomit.

“And if Harrison hates you and wants to punish both of us, he can try,” Charles said. “Run if you want. It will not matter. You will still be mine.”

He pushed his clothes off like he was already claiming me. I thought he was going to shift and tear me apart, and for a second I could not breathe. He moved like a predator. He wanted Harrison to smell our scent together and know I was his.

I could not fight him head on. He was stronger, and he knew the forest. I could not scream because hunters would come. I had to think.

So I did the only thing I could. I smiled like I was a broken thing caught in his trap. I let him believe he had me.

When he leaned in and his lips brushed mine, I twisted my foot and kicked him hard where it would hurt most. He doubled over, cursing and falling to his knees.

I hit him again and again, kicking and pulling his hair until he grunted and tried to block my strikes. I was fighting for my life and I knew it was him or me. I raised my hand to hit his head, hoping he would black out so I could run, and he caught my wrist. His grip was like iron and he smiled with a cruel look.

“You will be mine even if you do not want to,” he said. “Even if I have to kill you afterward.”

Pain lanced across my back and I tasted metal, but fear was stronger than pain. I prayed to the moon goddess, begging her to take me now because death sounded kinder than what Charles promised. I begged for anything that would stop him. Nothing moved at first.

He pushed me down and tried to force me, and I shoved and kicked until he smacked me on the head to stop me from moving. I did not stop fighting. I kept begging the moon goddess for the power to change, for the strength to save myself.

Then the sky split with light. A flash of lightning cut across the clouds and the rain fell hard as if the sky itself had opened. Charles froze and stared up, his face losing color. The storm seemed to come from nowhere and the air around me tightened like a grip.

My body burned from the inside. Pain exploded across my skin and I screamed until the sound turned into something else. The small bits of clothing that remained tore as if by their own will. I felt heat and then a pressure that changed everything.

When the pain dropped away for a second, I lost consciousness. I woke up and I was not the same. My body felt different and I could sense something filling the space inside me. My skin was covered in short black fur and my hands were no longer just hands. I heard a voice in my head that was not mine but it felt like mine.

“You hurt my human,” the voice said. “You must die.”

The voice was everywhere in my mind. I felt its strength and I answered without thinking. “Yes,” I thought, and the wolf inside me replied, calm and sure. The wolf told me its name. Nyra.

Charles staggered to his feet, terror written across his face. He tripped over a root and fell hard, blood streaking down his temple. He begged as he crawled backward, but Nyra only circled him like a predator testing prey.

Then she lunged. Her jaws snapped around his throat before he could scream again. The struggle lasted only moments, his fists pounding weakly against her dark fur before his body went limp. Nyra shook him once, hard, and his neck broke with a sickening crack.

Silence fell except for the storm above. Charles’s body crumpled at her paws, lifeless and still. The smell of blood spread quickly, and the forest answered with howls of grief. The pack knew. They were coming.

We ran into the dark and the rain and did not stop.