ON THE RUN

  APRIL'S POV

   

   

   

  His words felt like a knife to my chest and I fell to the ground, with my hands clasped in front of me as I cried.

   

  "Alpha—"

   

  He kicked my sides, making me to fall over backwards, "Don't you dare mention my name again! I have nothing to do with you."

   

  His kicks became harder on my sides, sending shots of pain through my body.  In an instant, a strong pair of hands grabbed my arms, pulling me up from the dusty ground.  

   

  "Can you—" I started to say when a hand swung through the air and landed on my face, causing me to go blind for some seconds. My mouth suddenly felt wet, so I coughed and blood trickled out of my mouth, down my jaw.

   

  "Make sure she doesn't find her way to this place until the mating ceremony is over. I don't want to be interrupted by this nuisance one more time" Alpha Winston ordered, and the two guards who stood on both my sides, started to roughly drag me out of the crowd.

   

  I didn't know which was more humiliating; the mocking stares from the crowd or how I was led away from the mating grounds, shortly after being rejected.

   

  The guards held on to me firmly, despite how I struggled to break free from their grip.

   

  "You wretched omega!" One of them hissed, "You brought this upon yourself!"

   

  The other responded, tightening his grip around my arm, "Of course, she did. If only she was wiser, she would have let the Alpha get mated to his chosen mate, instead of interrupting the ceremony"

   

  They went on to joke about how it was mostly the people who had nothing to offer that often wanted to be regarded as important.

   

  My face still stung from the slap, and as I blinked back my tears, I noticed that the guards were now leading me down an unfamiliar route, far away from the pack's borders.

   

  "Please—" I whimpered as our feet plodded the wet ground of the forest. "Where are you taking me to?"

   

  Although I spent all my life, living in the rogue pack, I was sure that the unfamiliar path which the guards were taking me on, was an unsafe place.

   

  "Somewhere you will find out soon." One of them sneered.

   

  We walked on for a few more minutes until I noticed how uneasy both men seemed. They exchanged wary looks between themselves, causing me to be on alert.

   

  The moon goddess shone a ray of luck on me when both men announced that they wanted to take a break, so they tied up my hands in front of me, and made me to sit by the foot of the tree, with my legs curled under me.

   

  Then, the two men strolled a distance away, and soon engaged in a heated argument over me. I overheard them mentioning the name “Sera”. Then, it clicked in my  head. Sera was the chosen mate of Alpha Thane—the woman who had replaced me.

  I eyed both men again. They had their backs to me and it suddenly occurred to me that this could be my chance to escape.

  If they brought me here, then it meant that they wanted to kill me. Perhaps, Sera had paid them to finish me off. wore under my breath to never give them a chance to.

   

  I was barely able to breathe and fear twisted my guts as I pushed myself up from the ground.

  Then, using my teeth, I struggled to wriggle my wrists out of the rope that was used to tie it.

  My mouth dropped open with shock as the rope fell to the floor.

  I eyed both men.

  They were still engrossed in their conversation, with their heads bent over.

  I couldn't believe my luck and I broke into a quiet run, moving away from them as fast as my legs could carry me. Soon, I heard a howl behind me and I knew that they had noticed my absence. My legs grew weaker, but I pushed myself forward on the damp forest floor, ignoring the raw panic that now seized my chest.

  The men felt closer as they chased me, cursing me at the top of their voices.  My heart pounded in my ears and wet branches whipped at my face, cutting through my skin as I ran past them. Soon, my breath started to come in ragged gasps and the cold air seeped into my bones, but still I ran.

   

  Everything seemed to scare me.

  The trees stood tall in my way, their twisted trunks reaching out to grab me. I pushed harder.

  Faster.

  I was desperate. I had to get away from those men. Just then, my leg tripped over a piece of rock and I fell with my face to the ground. A sore pain stung my ankle but I ignored it and scrambled up to my feet. I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was only one of the men who was still chasing me. He waved a sharp knife in the air, as he ran towards me.

  I picked up my pace again, thumping my feet against the air.

  I was dammed!

  If I ever allowed him to catch up with me, I was sure that I would most likely not recover from the beating they would inflict on me.

  The next time I checked to see whether my pursuers were still on my heels, I saw that both men were now walking away in the opposite direction.

  They had obviously given up the chase.

  Relieved, I fell to the ground and ran my finger over my sprained ankle. I sat there for a short while, gritting my teeth as my fingers massaged the injured area.

  Then, I heard it.

  Something moved in the bushes around me. It was so quiet that I could swear I was only imagining things, but I wasn't.

  Not wanting to take any risk, I pushed myself up to my feet, and started to limp into the forest.

  What I lacked by not having a wolf, I made up for it by trusting my intuition.

  Right now, the only thing that plagued my mind was how certain I was that someone or something was watching me.

  I stopped limping and leaned on a tree, scanning my environment. Then, I slipped to the floor to massage my hurting ankle

  I was about to get up and and continue walking when my eye caught sight of a large, brown wolf which sprang out from the nearby bushes.

  A scream escaped my lips and within seconds, my knees felt like jelly and I fell limp, my vision blurring.

  Everything went silent as I slipped into darkness.