Ch. 1

ASTRA

I've never run this hard in all my life. Even worse, the sky is pouring rain on me like it has malice with me. Mud stains my white ceremonial dress as I run through Silver wood's forests, the branches making deep gashes on my face and scratches on my dress. Behind me, Alpha Remus Caine's howl of rage splits the night. I have three minutes before the hunting party catches my scent.

My bare feet slip on wet leaves, pain shooting through my soles as I step on sharp stones. But I don't slow down, even though parts of my dress are tearing on the branches. Better to run naked through these woods than wear the chains waiting at that altar.

Better death than that bond.

The thought propels me forward as my lungs burn. My wolf pushes strength into my limbs, wild with the same panic thrumming through my veins. We agree on this, at least. We've never agreed on anything so completely.

I hear paws beating the ground at my back and I realize that slowly the search party will catch up with me and drag me back there against my will. I realize that the heavy jewellery I'm wearing is what is slowing me down. I rip the diamond collar from my throat, my father's gift, worth more than most wolves see in a lifetime, and hurl it into the darkness. The sapphire bracelet follows. Then the ruby pins from my hair. Each piece of jewelry is a shackle I refuse to wear, a price paid for my body, my bloodline, my future.

My wolf snarls at me to shift, but I can't. The dress would tear away completely, and I don't want to arrive at the border naked.

If I want to be a rogue, I have to do it with dignity. The border patrols may not let me pass but if I have to fight it, I guess I will. 

And before I know it, I'm taken back to the ceremonial ground, an hour back, where everyone's head was down, silently weeping for me. It was my marriage and they supposed to be happy for me but nobody was.

The only unsympathetic person was my dad. His jaw was set and he couldn't look at me as he sold me before everyone so shamelessly.

I tried to keep my head high, hiding all my pain and tears behind a composed mask like my dad taught me but Remus Caine beside me gripped my hand possessively. "Almost time, little Gamma." His voice sounded like a threat. My wolf inside me clawed at me to run, fight, so anything but stand there and be sold like cattle.

Remus leaned closer, his voice dangerous."You'll learn obedience in my bed," he whispers, soft enough that only I can hear. "I'll breed that defiance right out of you. Your bloodline is wasted on independence. You were made to bear strong sons. My sons."

His thumb pressed into the pulse point of my wrist, and I felt bone grind against bone. He wanted me to flinch, to whimper, to show submission.

I meet his eyes instead.

They're cold and empty. The eyes of a predator who's already won, who's just toying with his prey before the kill.

In that moment, I remember the breeders my father kept in his harem.

I was just another breeder to him too. I'll always be pregnant, locked in his harem. 

My children will be raken from me the moment they're weaned, raised to be weapons, soldiers and heirs. I'll have nonsay over their training and I may never see daylight. My rare Gamma bloodline will bediluted and I'll fade into nothing.

A breeder who'll probably dos in childbirth, unable to take it anymore. 

The Elder raised his hands to begin the ceremony.

My wolf screamed and I listen.

The memory shatters as I burst through a thicket and stumble into a clearing. I'm nearing the border and for once I'm having cold feet. After here, I'm a rogue and the order is to kill or be killed by other rogues. 

Behind me, the hunting party explodes into the clearing. They are all big bad scary wolves and they are loyal to Remus. My father's Beta leads them. He was the who taught me to secretly fight. He's the one who'll drag me back now.

I face the border, my heart hammering against my ribs. Isolation usually makes most Rogues mad, but at least I'll be free to go mad on my own terms.

"Astra, stop!" Marcus's voice cuts through the rain. He's shifted back to human form, standing naked at the tree line. "Don't do this. You'll die out there."

"Then I'll die free," I say.

"Your father—"

"My father sold me!" The words rip from me. "He sold me to save his position, his reputation, and his precious alliance with that monster. Well, I'm not paying his debts."

"Think about Silverwood. We need this alliance. Without Ironmaw's protection—"

"Find another way." My voice hardens. "Sacrifice someone else's daughter. I'm done being the solution to everyone else's problems."

"Alpha Remus will hunt you," Marcus says quietly. "He'll never stop. You know that."

"Let him try."

Stepping away from Silver wood's border and into the rogue lands, they can't follow me out here because of pack laws. Not until Remus formally declares me a rogue and puts a bounty on my head which should take about twenty minutes.

"Astra." Marcus's voice is tired. "Come back. Please. It won't be as bad as you think."

I meet his eyes across the border. "Yes, it will. And you know it."

Wolves howl travels for a number of miles and I hear Remus' own. 

"MINE!" he howls. "She is MINE! Find her. Bring her back alive."

The next millisecond I'm sprinting away, shifting completely.

Alive doesn't mean unharmed. It just means breathing.

I sprint until I am exhausted. I know I'm completely unprepared on surviving in the wild but I cannot go back.

My legs finally give out and I collapse in a small cave and try as I might, I can't stop the tears running down my cheeks. I cry myself to sleep.

A scent trails down my nose and jolts me up. It's the scent of a predator. Wolves are apex predators but they are still a lot of things that can kill us down especially if we are unguarded.

My night vision looks around the small, dark cave but I see nothing. However, I have this prickly feeling that someone is watching me. 

I force my breathing to remain steady, even though my mind is spiralling. For all I know, this could be someone from the search party. 

My wolf bristle uncomfortably under my skin. I finally see golden eyes gleam at me from a distance..

I stand up immediately, my back hitting the back of the cave. This wasn't just any predator, this was a bounty hunter.

A male voice cuts through the silence.

"Hello, little runaway." He speaks quietly but there is power in every word. "You've led me on quite the chase."

He steps into the moonlight filtering through the cave entrance.

My breath catches.

He's massive with scars crossing his face and bare arms. A wolf, yes, but he moves with feline grace. And a naughty thought that comes through my mind is that if I die at least I was killed by a beautiful wolf. I've never seen anyone with so much gold in their eyes, another thing that make him irresistibly good-looking. 

This is the male every rogue fears. The hunter mothers use to scare their pups into obedience.

And he's found me.

"Time to go home," he says, his voice final.

I reach for the knife I stole two weeks ago. My wolf surges forward, ready to fight even though we both know it's hopeless.

"I have no home," I growl.

His smile is empty, it does not reach his eyes. 

"Then I suppose you're coming with me anyway."