Chapter 3

Raziela

“Enough!” A voice cut through the air like a blade and it sent a ripple through me, dousing me in cold water and giving me back control.

Zane. Thank Goddess he was here.

“What's going on here?”

“We were…” the girl had barely gotten any more words before she was interrupted.

“Leave.” Zane's voice was stern, and one glare in their direction was all it took for them to scatter.

“Thank you.” I raised my head to face him. “You have no idea how much this means….”

“No, don't do that.” Zane cut me before I could get any more words out. He helped pull me up to my feet and I ducked away from his deep amber eyes.

“Are you alright?” His tone was soft as always, and his hold on me lingered a little bit, even though I was standing on my feet now.

No, I wasn’t alright. I had lost control of my body again, just like that night. But this time it was for a different reason. It was so short lived but now that it was over, I could still feel myself trembling from it.

“No, no. Goddess, I don’t know how these kids can be so evil.” I shook my head again. “Unfortunately, Enid had to bear most of it.”

My gaze darted to my baby. Her cries had quieted down into little sobs, but it still broke my heart hearing them.

“Enid?” Zane called, catching both our attention. She looked up at him, and for a moment, I thought she was going to burst into a fresh wave of tears again. “Awww, come here.”

Enid stretched out her hands towards him and he scooped her up in his arms.

“Did they hurt you?” He asked softly, as he wiped the tears that streamed down her cheeks. She nodded, and he cooed again. “I'm sorry you had to go through that. They're bad kids, and do you know what happens to bad kids?”

“No.” She shook her head slowly.

Zane leaned into her ears. I had no idea what he was whispering into her ears, but I didn't expect her to burst into a round of laughter immediately.

“Hey, you can’t eat them!” She giggled, flashing her cute set of teeth. She still had tears in her eyes, but she wasn’t crying anymore.

“I can and I will.” Zane said, adjusting her in his arms.

I moved to gather the sheets that I had discarded moments before, sighing heavily when I realized they were stained again. Madame Helen would have my head if these sheets were not clean and dry by nightfall.

When I got to Zane, we all began heading to my house. “I'll get you some of your favorite snacks on my way back from training, okay?” I heard him say to her.

“Yayyy!” Enid threw her hands up in the air, before wrapping them tightly around his neck. “Thank youuuuuu!”

As I watched the two interact, I couldn't help but note how cute they were. I loved watching them together, it always made me happy but alongside that happiness came something else; a pang in my chest.

Enid didn't deserve any of the treatment she was getting, and maybe if she had a father figure like Zane in her life, maybe none of this would be happening right now.

Not to say that Zane had not been amazing since her birth, and even the duration of my pregnancy. But there was only so much that he could do.

We led very different lives and lived on the opposite end of each other, so we hardly ever got to see him. Plus, he was still a low ranking warrior and I was still the slut omega with a child.

The hatred that the pack had for me had now been passed to my child and everyday, we faced new horrors.

Though I would be lying if I said I wasn’t eternally grateful to Zane and the way he helped us.

“What are you doing on this side of the city? I didn’t think I would be running into you anytime soon.” I asked Zane and he gave me a small smile.

“We have a debriefing at the pack house. We just finished and I had been looking everywhere for you. I only have a few more minutes before I have to leave for training though.” He explained as we reached my apartment.

“Thank you so much, Zane.” I finally pried Enid off his body when we got to my apartment in the slave quarters. “I have no idea what I would have done without you.”

“Stop thanking me.” A sheepish smile made its way to his lips. “It's not a big deal and you know it. Have you been fine?”

“Of course.” I nodded. “I haven't seen you in a while. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He blinked. “Training has been tough. They run longer than normal now, and it's exhausting. Worth it, but exhausting.”

“I can imagine.” We both chuckled, and a wave of silence settled between us. It stretched farther than I would like, and even though I wasn't a mind reader, I could tell he had something on his mind.

“Um,...” He drawled after what seemed like forever.

Suddenly, Zane couldn't bear to look at me. His eyes darted around, and he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Actually, you see. Um….”

“Yes?”

“Uhh.” He cleared his throat. “ I was wondering if you would be free later this evening? There's something I've been meaning to tell you, I just haven’t had the right….”

“Zane!” The rest of his words came to a halt as a deep voice cut through his words.

“There he is.” Another voice cut in, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching. “We've been looking all over the place for you man.”

“We need to head back to the training ground…” one of the men trailed off the moment his gaze fell on me. His smile widened, and a shudder raced down my spine. “Well, well, well. Who do we have here?”

“Why, it's the pack whore.” The second guard chortled, and they all burst into laughter. All of them except Zane. “Are you trying to get a good time with her? I can assure you, you don't need any permission. She’ll give it to you any way you want it.” He said and the others began making loud moaning sounds, while laughing loudly.

My pulse raced as they laughed all the more. I had never been more embarrassed in my life, but I couldn’t get my lips to move, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything back. It never ended well whenever I tried.

“Raziela…”

“I'll talk to you later, Zane.” I gave him a strained smile. “Have fun training.”

He opened his mouth to speak but I didn’t wait to hear what he had to say. I slammed the door shut, blinking back the tears that were stinging at the back of my eyes.

I moved into the bathroom, grabbed a towel and wet it.

“Come here.” I cooed, when I left the bathroom and Enid waddled towards me. Carefully, I dabbed the wet cloth against her split lip.

My fingers trembled, and Enid hissed in pain at intervals. She didn't deserve any of this, none of this was her fault, but was in this mess because of me.

Enid winced and trembled as I moved the towel across her bruised body. She was still too young for her wolf to heal her, so it would take a few days before they would heal. A tear slid down my child’s face and it mirrored the wetness on my cheeks.

“I’m sorry baby, I’m so sorry.” I choked out, pulling my three year old into a hug, before letting the sob burst out.

How could I tell my child that she would never be able to play with any child her age? That the hitting and the hatred wouldn’t stop any time soon? That she would also grow up to be hated and treated like absolute shit, because of my mistake.

I had spent twenty two years of my life in this shit hole of a pack. This evil, hateful pack. Because I had survived, I convinced myself that if I hung my head low enough, I could protect my child too and they’ll let us be.

But I was wrong. Very wrong.

“No more.” I whispered, pulling Enid away from my body. “We’re leaving.”

She blinked up at me, her big baby blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

All my life, I had lived in fear and lived as small as I could. But it never helped, nothing ever changed. It only got worse, and if I didn’t leave now, my child would only share my fate.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“Where will we go mommy?” My baby asked and I pulled her into my arms.

“Anywhere.” My voice was muffled against her skin, but I knew she'd heard me. “But I'd rather be a rogue than let them hurt you again.”

I mean what could be a worse fate than this hell hole. Right?

***

The morning air was cold and nipped at my sides, but I didn't let that get to me. My eyes swept over the room, as I checked to see if we had left anything of importance behind, and a wave of emotion rippled through me as I noticed the almost bare room.

Finally, we were leaving.

I had spent the entire night packing up our little things and trying to come up with a plan. Thanks to working all those late nights and early mornings, I knew the guards rotation by heart, I knew the darkest paths to take. The ones everyone avoided during dark hours for fear of what could be lurking around.

When you spent all your life either running or hiding, these kinds of places became a favorite.

I blinked back the tears that pricked the back of my eyes, before turning to Enid. She stood by the door, clutching the worn stuffed wolf teddy I had stitched for her when she was one. It had definitely seen better days, but the fact that she never wanted to let it go warmed my heart.

“Are you ready, baby?” I whispered.

“Yes.” She nodded once, her eyes gleaming under the lights. “I'm ready.”

A small smile made its way to my lips as I crouched to her height, so I could press a kiss to her forehead. It lingered for a while, and then I took her hand in mine, before leading her out the front door.

For a second, the thought of Zane flashed through my mind. What had he wanted to tell me? Would he be sad if he found out we left?

But I pushed it to the farthest corner. He was better off without us in his life anyway.

We slipped out just before dawn, taking the dark paths and alleyways, and with each step we took, I made sure they were as silent as the shadows. After what seemed like forever, we finally reached the borders, we just had to make it into the cover of the woods and I could take off.

I held Enid tighter and took another step, but a shrill voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Stop that murderer! Guards, don’t let her escape. Raziela has killed the Alpha!”