Chapter 4

KEIRA

"I'll help you," she said, cupping my back like it would help.

I looked at her, eyes sore from crying. "Help me with what?" I asked softly, voice dull like wet ash.

She turned, her long black hair swinging behind her. "Cross the border."

"What?" 

Alia was astute, but I never imagined she would be this clever even at my expense. She was doing this to remove me as a threat to her being the Luna, but was disguising it as wanting to help me cross the border. Also, crossing the border was very dangerous. If caught, the punishment was several months in the Pack dungeon. But it scared me that she was right about what would happen if the Alpha found out.

"I am doing this for your safety. Listen, Kiki, there is no other way to say this okay. I know it sounds so sudden but he's going to kill you. Hell, even if Kai doesn't tell the Alpha, someone else will."

I wanted to argue, hit her across the face, because none of this should've happened to me. But I was so tired. Tired of being hurt. Tired of being used. Tired of hoping. Tired of being fucking disappointed every time. And Alphas would do anything to sever a bond with someone they didn't like. Being an Omega, Kai's father wouldn't mind killing me to break the bond. The possibilities stood out in its stark enormity now, and for the first time since Kai's rejection, true fear gripped me. Accepting his rejection might be even worse. Omegas have been known to die from rejection because the pain was too cumbersome for their body to bear.

"Where am I gonna go?" I asked. "I don't know anybody out there. What if I don't make it past the boundary? Rogues might kill me!"

"Hey, hey. Take a deep breath." she said, before cupping my cheeks with her palms. "Don't think too much about it. I'll give you some money. It should be enough to start a new life and I'll arrange for someone to wait outside the boundary, they will help you get to other Packs."

"Okay." I nodded, only because I had no other option.

That night, once it was past curfew time, we slipped out of the estate. She walked me to a narrow, rocky path and handed me a bag that contained some food, water and money. "This should be enough to get you started. Keep to this path until you get past the boundary, okay?"

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. I wasn't going to miss her, because she was manipulating me and thought I was so stupid to not see through her disguise. "See you, Alia."

She nodded and scurried back home while I was left to face the towering trees and thick vegetation before me. 

The air was cool, thick with the smell of pine, dew and damp soil. I moved quietly until I finally began to approach the boundary line which was marked by several tree stumps and a large signboard. And that's when things started to fall apart, because this was one of the most guarded parts of the Pack. I didn't see them at first. I only heard them, the snapping of branches and the muffled voices but then-

SNAP!

I stepped on a dry stick, and the silhouettes in the distance turned towards my direction. 

"Hey! Over there!" Someone shouted.

That was the only cue I needed before showing a clean pair of heels. My breath hitched in my throat as I tore and crashed through the brush, heart thudding so loud it drowned out everything else.

"It's a rogue. Get her!" I heard another voice yell.

Fuck! That made things worse, because if they caught me, they'd kill me. Rogues that encroached Pack boundaries were killed on sight.

And that, coupled with the adrenaline, pushed me past my limits, forcing me to keep going even as thorns scratched at my legs and leaves slapped my face. I glanced back at a point and saw at least four of them, closing in fast. I realised, with chilling certainty, that I was never going to outrun them.

Think, Keira. THINK.

I darted to the left suddenly, then to the right, leading them in circles, backtracking over a small stream to mask my scent before tearing off a piece of my sleeve and hanging it on a branch in the opposite direction. Then I hid, and waited.

"Her scent ends here!" One of them yelled after they were done searching the perimeter.

"Don't stop searching. Surround the area as far as you can without losing communication. We have to find her."

They went off to surround the opposite side, taking the bait.

I took a huge sigh of relief and slipped away quietly, heart still throbbing like a war drum. My lungs burned and my feet hurt, but I didn't stop. If I walked all night, I knew I should find my way out of this thick forest before dawn. I crossed another part of the stream and started to descend a rocky decline, but I stumbled, tripping over a root.

I felt myself falling, not along the supposedly jagged surface of the decline, but in the air. And then-

THUD!

I crashed on the ground. But it was painless. It took a moment to realise I'd landed on a sandy surface. But it led right into a dark cave. Just then I heard the shout of the boundary guards somewhere above in the distance. With no time to think, I ran into the cave. It was pitch black, but my wolf helped direct me most of the way. It was cool and damp, and had this weird smell of earth and burnt herbs. But as I took another turn inside, fear gripped me as I saw light reflecting off the wall.

It dawned on me that leaving the Pack was the worst decision I could have made.

Apprehensive, about whoever or whatever might be in here, I turned around to leave but slammed face first into a wall, a wall of muscle.

The moment I collected my senses, looked up and saw the hulking figure before me, I shot up and ran deeper into the cave. But I found myself inside a room with no way out. I gasped when I saw the circle. There was a huge, glowing ritual circle carved into the ground. Symbols I didn't understand pulsed red and gold, and in the center were lines of chalk and ash created strange patterns that looked like wolves.

I turned around quickly the moment I heard the footsteps of my assailant, my heart frantically beating in my chest now. And my whole body went cold when I saw three figures standing there.

They all had the same face, same sharp jaw, and the same black hair that always looked like it needed a comb but somehow still looked hot as hell-

Kai.

I recognised Kai instantly. Or rather, Kais. Because there were three of them, staring at me like they'd just seen a ghost and I stared back like I was losing my damn mind. As if that wasn't enough, my wolf began to howl inside me. "Mate! Mate! Mine!" 

All three of them were my mates. But the fear that had engulfed me was so intense that the realisation barely registered. "Th- this isn't real, right? Please tell me this isn't real"

Was this some sort of joke? Or was the cave some kind of fantasy world construct I'd walked into?

I thought I was seeing things, until one of them spoke. "What are you doing here, Keira?"

"W-what the fuck?" I stammered.

"Answer the damn question! What are you doing out here?" one of the Kais stepped towards me, jaw clenched in anger. 

But the other Kai stopped him by holding him back. "Don't."

"Let go of me, Dax." He growled. "We need to get her to start talking, or we are screwed."

Dax growled at him. "You are not going to hurt her under my watch!" He cast a familiar affectionate glance at me then he turned to the third guy. "Aren't you going to do something about this, Riven?"

Riven. Dax. Kai.

I had to be in a dream.

Kai finally stepped back and the one called Dax stepped towards me and asked again, in the affectionate tone of the Kai that gave me the daisy flower. "What are you doing here, Keira?”