02

Peyton

"Speak!" Lancelot's dad roars, slamming his fist against the desk in front of him that it makes a cracking sound.

"Lancelot got killed by a vampire." I croak out, with my voice sounding as if I am making use of it for the first time.

"What?" The crowd chorus, with confusion evident on their faces.

Raising my chained hand to push a strand of hair away from my face and tucking it behind my ear, I let out a low breath and then tip my head up to face everyone at this point because I am innocent. 

"I didn't kill Lancelot. He got killed by a vampire on the night we went to a mall for grocery shopping." I explain, feeling a tad thankful that I can talk, and then keeping my expectations high on them believing me.

Silence relapses in the air as everyone tries to process this.

"Bullshit, she's lying!" Someone hollers from the crowd and everyone starts talking at once.

"Why then did you choose to remain mute while being interrogated on that night?" Alpha Ronan questions as he raises his fingers to his face while shooting me a look that I cannot describe, though his eyes give out that he doesn't believe me.

Raising my fisted hand to my chest, I provide.

"I wanted to speak but I couldn't because I was still in shock despite the heartache. The words always died out in my throat before I could open my mouth."

"And the bad handwriting?" He uplifts a brow.

"I've always been left-handed, but no one knows this because they barely pay attention to me."

Alpha Ronan shifts his gaze to my family, but the looks on their faces explain that they were clueless all this while.

"How did Lancelot get killed?" He draws his gaze back to me.

"He informed me about the Vampire lord's plot to kill you and take over the Crimson pack. The vampires figured he knew about this and came for him when we were outside the mall on that night." 

"Unbelievable." Alpha Ronan snorts, stroking the beard on his chin.

"So you mean you were with my son when they killed him?" Lancelot's dad's voice is full of pain when he asks.

With tears welling up in my eyes, I give him a firm nod, hoping they'll believe me. 

But the next words that proceed from Alpha Ronan ruins everything.

"We know vampires are our enemies and they look for ways to easily pick up fights with our kind due to rivalry in business and practically everything. Judging from your answers and your behavior these two days, it's obvious you aren't telling the truth." 

There are grunts and murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

My mouth parts in shock because no one believes me, including Alpha Ronan himself whose life is in danger.

Even Lancelot's parents believe I killed him, and I am trying to cover up. When the simple truth is that they aren't even safe. The vampires are smart and cunning, they know how to carry out their plans smoothly.

Because I am nobody here. They never saw me as one of them even after I got adopted into the Omega family. Even when Lancelot announced that I was his mate. They are so full of hate instead, and still treat me like an outcast.

"For the time being, you can stay with your family. Afterward, we'll decide what to do regarding this matter." These are Alpha Ronan's last words before he calls the meeting to an end, then orders his guards to set me free.

***

You have to leave. Freya, my wolf tells me when I am alone in my room.

I blow out a big puff of breath and turn to face the other side of my bed.

I am at this point thinking of a way out of this situation because even though there's no evidence of me killing Lancelot, they still don't believe I am telling the truth. I am practically being falsely accused of my mate's death.

Come to think of it, Alvin, the Vampire lord's brother purposely left me alive to suffer. He had it planned all along to kill Lancelot and let me live to bear the consequences when I am innocent.

It feels so sad and heartbreaking that no one believes me. 

At this point, I realize that staying here is of no benefit to me. I might even get killed for something I am innocent of. 

You have to leave, Pey. The voice of Lancelot plays in my head, and I know this is something he'd have advised me to do if he was alive.

 Wiping the tears off my cheeks with the back of my palm, I decided to go to a new town, with a change of name, and to keep my background a secret from any wolf I'll come across.

I blow out a big puff of breath, knowing fully well that I have to conceive my escape right now. Because I was locked up in Alpha Ronan's dungeon like a traitor when an alarm was raised after a crying naked me pulled the dead body of Lancelot from the rooftop of the mall that night.

The wolves held me captive on seeing I was naked and parts of my exposed body were coated in blood. They concluded I killed him.

I get out of the bed, change into a gray sweatshirt and jeans, then put on a baseball cap to cover my shock of blonde hair.

At first, I thought about shifting into my wolf so I can run out of here as fast as possible, but then I don't know where to go. So I decided to head to the train station in my human form. The train station will probably stop at a city forty-five hours from here. Chicago.

Grabbing hold of my bag, I stuff a few clothes in it, leaving my phone and gadgets. Certainly, my purse has a few bucks, I put it in my bag because I need money to survive amongst humans. 

When it's time to head out, I casually walk out of my room to make use of the main doors, but with the help of my wolf, I hear voices coming from the first hallway which makes me rush back into my room and I sneak out through the window, because I don't even have the energy to face my insensitive family right now.

I can feel my heart slamming through my ribcage as I walk down the streets and head to the train station.

Thankfully I have the baseball cap to cover my face so no one will recognize me, but I am still scared of getting caught as the urge to leave is overwhelming.

It's late in the afternoon, but there's a train that people are currently hopping into.

Opening my purse to fish out the required 200 dollars, a wave of shock washes through me when I see that it's just 500 dollars I have with me, meaning Edgar, my brother stole the rest 800 dollars.

Wondering how the hell I will survive when I get to Chicago, the ticket seller frowns at me.

"Are you paying for the ticket or not, miss?" He gestures at the people behind me in the queue.

"Hurry or step aside, there are people behind you." He almost yells.

I exhale with my shoulders rising and falling.

 You have two choices, Peyton.

Head home to face your insensitive Alpha and his pack, or go to Chicago and start life from scratch. Freya tells me.

"Here," I hand over the 200 dollars to the guy and grab the ticket on the table because as much as it hurts with all my memories of Lancelot here, I have to leave and never look back.

I hand over my ticket to a man who turns out to be a wolf and was at the courtroom this morning.

Quickly, I hop onto the train to Chicago and find a place where I can settle because the man's wolf must have perceived my scent.

And just as the train roars to life, my vision starts blurring with tears because I can't believe I am actually doing this. Running away from my life here in Seattle after the death of Lancelot. Everything feels so fresh and it's just as if it was an hour ago we went to the mall, and he got killed.

I bite down on my bottom lip to keep from sobbing and the sounds that erupt from me are loud and quite amusing like I am giving chokeholds.

The woman opposite me who's a human shoots me a weird look like I am a dummy, but I don't even care when my heart is sick and full of pain.