Escaping Death's Door

Chapter 3 – Escaping Death's Door

Liliana

The silence was deafening.

I could practically hear everyone's heartbeat. But their heartbeat isn't the loudest thing in the room. My heart was.

“What?” The assassin called Max and the one that was about to decapitate me said in unison.

“Bring her to me, Landen. In one piece,” the Alpha said to the men and immediately turned away, storming out of the shed.

Landen dropped the sword on a table, his brows furrowed in confusion.

Max gave him an equally confused look, and they both pulled me up and dragged me to the pack house. A gloomy building that was nothing like the one back at home

As they dragged me through the uneven terrain of the road, all I could think about was what the Alpha of the pack was going to do to me. Fear didn't begin to describe how I felt.

Was he going to do something evil to me? Like, force me? He stared at me like he recognised me, or was it all in my head?

Whatever it was, this was my chance to plead with him to release me.

I stumbled onto the pack house, not having time to take in the gloominess of the place.

The tall, towering man that they'd called Alpha was standing at the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring outside. His body was stiff and taut as if he'd just had the worst news of his life.

I didn't need a priest to tell me that I was the bad news.

I held my breath, my body shaking from the cold I had endured for the past five hours.

Landen walked up to him and then paused, probably afraid to approach him or maybe just wary. I wasn't sure.

“Gerald, what's going on?” Landen asked, finally gathering the courage to approach his Alpha.

That was his name?

Gerald didn't say anything and didn't even acknowledge his presence.

For a minute, I thought he was not going to say anything until he slowly turned to look at me.

My breath caught. Even though I knew he could kill me at any moment, I couldn't help but admire his physique. He was an older man. Probably in his late 30s or so.

I chastised myself. This was no time to think about stupid things. I was going to die soon, except he decided to keep me alive, which, from the look of things, seemed a little unlikely.

It was over.

Maybe if I seduced him.

I shook my head. A man like that couldn't be seduced.

He was too ruthless.

“Take her upstairs to one of the rooms for now,” he said to Landen without looking at him.

“But boss, she is supposed to be dead by now.”

“Don't make me repeat myself, Landen,” he gritted, finally tearing those stormy, unreadable eyes away from me to look at Landen, who I was starting to think was either his Beta or Gamma.

“Yes, Alpha”, With that, Landen bounced towards me menacingly and grabbed me from the ground unceremoniously.

My eyes locked with Gerald's eyes, and for a moment, I felt like I was being pulled into a whirlwind, but then Gerald turned me around to the opposite direction.

“What are you going to do to me?” I asked, but they didn't answer. It seemed like everyone here was just as confused as I was.

I was immediately thrown into a well-lit room, and the door slammed shut behind me. I scrambled to my feet and ran to try to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

I sighed, backing away from the door, my mind reeling.

Ria, my wolf, was conveniently quiet, not even panicking a little bit while I was going insane.

I knew I only had a matter of time before they came back to kill me.

One thing about the Ravagers was that you couldn't see their faces and not be dead, and I had seen all of their faces.

I was dead no matter what. And if I wasn't, I wouldn't be allowed out of here.

I had to escape. Go to Damon’s pack. My fiancée's. He would be able to clear my name, and I could return to the pack. We were supposed to be married in two weeks and ascend the throne as per tradition.

I looked around the unfamiliar room. It was surprisingly clean, nothing like the Shed.

A soft bed sat in the middle, untouched, like it had been waiting for me. My heart pounded. There was no window in the room. Which meant I was trapped.

A stream of light caught my eyes from the far right of the room, and I realised that it was a window.

I bolted towards my salvation and pulled the curtains apart only to be extremely disappointed.

The window had been barred as if it had anticipated my escape.

I shook in fear. Whatever they were talking about downstairs wouldn't last. They'd come up here and kill me soon; I could feel it in my bones.

Shit.

Shit

I tried the door again, but nothing. I was trapped.

I felt the urge to puke, so I ran to the bathroom, but as soon as I got there, a rush of hope took over me.

In the bathroom, there was a window. It was barred but broken.

I could easily escape.

I didn't waste a second.

Shoving the broken window frame open, I hoisted myself up, ignoring the sharp edges that scraped my arms. Cold air hit my face like a slap, but it smelt like freedom.

I bit back a cry as I forced my body through the narrow space, feeling metal dig into my side. My breath came in shallow gasps as I landed roughly on the damp earth behind the house.

I was out.

I scanned the darkness. These were trees. Lots of them. If I could just get into the woods, I might have a chance. I darted along the edge of the building, crouched low, listening for any sound, any shift of gravel or cracking batch.

My feet were bare, but I didn't care; I kept moving, heart thundering, chest tight with adrenaline and fear.

A side door came into view, slightly ajar, like someone had forgotten to shut it. I slipped inside, praying it would lead me towards the back exit.

But instead, I found myself in a hallway, with dim lighting and lined with doors.

I could smell the dirt and hear the hum of moving cars from a distance. I just had to come out from the hallway.

"Almost there," I whispered, forcing my legs to move even though they were already trembling.

Then I turned a corner and suddenly slammed into a wall of muscle.

My breath ceased as I slowly looked up to find Gerald.

His expression was blank. Cold. His eyes pinned me in place like a wolf watching a rabbit try to flee.

"Going somewhere?" He asked, voice deadly calm.

I froze.

My escape was over before it even began.