Chapter 6:

I got home only to encounter Diana, Pa, and Crystal all seated in the living room with different emotions written all over their faces.

Diana's face was reddened with narrowed eyes, while her daughter Crystal had a splitting grin on her face and Pa could not focus on me as he evaded my gaze.

"Hey pa," my heart raced vigorously while I felt sick to my stomach. What happened here? I exhaled slowly and then plunged into the chair next to Pa.

"Get up, how dare you think you can seat in my chair, you little stinky thief." Beta Diana's sharp canine emitted from her gums.

Upon giving attention to her outburst, I instantly jerked up from the seat with my knees trembling in fear. What happened? I remembered leaving her happily planning her daughter's grand upcoming wedding to Alpha Zach. I faced Pa, and he did not dare to look back at me or stop Diana from talking down at me.

Pa had a very bad tendency not to interfere when Diana was mad at me, hence he would let her beat me or insult me however she felt like on any given day she felt like. He only attempted to interfere when it was crystal saying something bad to me in his presence. I never understood him one bit. What kind of father was he?

"What did I do?" I stuttered with my head still in submission.

"Oh shut the fuck up, little thief." Beta Diana pulled a face.

I glanced at her with my eyes widened while my mouth became dry.

But what is she talking about? I furrowed my brows.

"Where is my expensive one million Romanian New Leu pearl necklace?" She asked while folding her arms.

"What pearl necklace are you talking about?" I gasped in shock as I did not know what she was talking about. Heck, I didn't even know she had such an expensive item in the house.

"Love, you see what I was telling you? She clearly knows what I'm talking about but she is going to pretend like she doesn't know anything." Beta Diana glanced at Pa while scowling.

Pa whimpered at her statement while he swallowed hard causing his Adam's apple to visibly move up and down.

"Now listen to me you lazy puppy. I want my pearl necklace you took from my room before you left for school or else..." Diana sauntered closer to me and clasped my chin tightly in Pa's presence and he just looked down to the floor without defending his defenseless daughter.

"Beta Diana, I seriously don't know what you are talking about." My heart thumped wildly.

"oh, so you want to play the innocence game? Baby, tell me what you told me." Diana glanced at crystal with a mischievous smirk on her face.

"Ahem" Crystal fake cleared her throat with a tight-lipped smile before she could speak, "I saw Bella walking out of your room with your pearl necklace before she left for school today" she answered back with a hateful smirk on her face.

"What? I did no such thing." My books instantly glided out of my hands onto the floor while I stepped back in shock.

"You are still denying it even after crystal saw you?" Beta Diana snapped.

"Pa, you know that I can never do such a thing." My lips trembled vigorously then I knelt close to him and clasped his hand, but he pulled out from my grip.

What? Why is pa not standing up for me? Tears silently trickled down my pink cheeks as it clicked within me that this was a battle I had to face on my own.

"I want my pearl necklace back now or I take you to Alpha Zach for judgment." Beta Diana said with her eyes twinkling mischievously.

What! Alpha Zach will definitely take her side after the rejection. I bit my bottom lips with a pale look on my face.

No, I won't let her take me to him. I glanced around the room for the quickest route out and I immediately veered around and ran out of the house through the main entrance and limped off the porch, as I instantly transformed into my smaller, skittish wolf and ran as fast as my four feet could carry me into the dark forest without a care of the rogues found in there. I was so filled up with intense adrenaline that I ran without looking back home because I never had any intentions of returning.

The last thing I remembered being said was Diana shouting at the top of her voice ordering Pa to catch me and I don't know if he ever came after me or not, but I quickly disappeared into the forest and not many wandered off there because of the tales told about it. But I did not care to worry about it as my paws thudded on the ground while I snarled loudly until I came to a stop and examined the dark forest with heavy short breaths.

The trees in the forest were malady-brown. Grains of poison begrimed the bark and gleamed like witch dust. Rogues haunted the sooty coppices, salivating over their prey and smearing the blood over their heavy faces. The decaying air and stifling atmosphere provided the perfect abode for those who worshipped the darkness rather than the light. In the dense shadows, spiders clutched their snare strings. Their webs shimmered like meshed steel dipped in silver. Eyes aflame with hunger, they were hoping to dine on bloated bodies and slurp on hot blood.

My body stuttered to the eerie feeling the forest gave me as I whimpered. Oh shit, why did I come here instead of running to Ryan's house? I froze and got paralyzed with fear as I wished pa or anyone would come to my rescue.

Moon goddess please save me this one last time and I promise to never come into this forest. I cringed my eyes shut momentarily before unfurling them, but there was no one in sight to come to my rescue. My tail inclined between my hind legs in fear while I skimmed through it once again.

The forest was primordial. Centuries-old trees with sprawling limbs guarded the darkness, blotting out any sunlight. Their bark was mottled and splotched as if the bubbled soup had been frozen in time on its surface. Clumpy combs of wet moss dangled from their rotten boughs. Underneath the moss, lethal larkspur peppered the mulchy floor. A pungent tang oozed from every sentient being in the forest. Bewailing sounds ghosted through the trees. Whether it was from the victim or victor, only the forest could tell. It was truly a place to make your veins freeze over. Everything considered edible in another forest was nauseating here. It left you with the same, sickening taste of your own blood. It was a forest to be avoided.

Suddenly yellowish gleaming eyes appeared in the dark shadows and moved closer to me with snarls and growls. I knew it was the Rogues that presided over the dark forests.

'Fresh meat, and it looks tasty and tender.' one of the Rogues snarled in the dark shadows.

'Don't forget scrumptious.' another said.

'She is mine. I want her all to myself.' another growled.

Oh shit, Bella. This is it you are dead for sure. My four legs turned to jelly as I plunged into the ground and shut my eyes.

If I was going to be killed by the Rogues, I was definitely not going to witness it happen to me, then the forest became dead silent for a few seconds. All the snarls and growls disappeared only a deathly hallow could be heard.

I slowly unfurled my eyes to see what was happening…and at first, my vision was a bit blurry until it readjusted itself to the environment and the gleaned eyes vanished.

Oh, thank you, goddess. I slowly got up on all my four legs and veered around only to feel three large claws dig deep into my flesh causing tremendous pain all over my wolf, then I transformed back into my human fork and instantly passed out.