3

Elaine

“When did he find out?” I asked as I stepped on the gas pedal out of fear.

I couldn't help the feeling of unease and revulsion I felt at that moment, but I had to get as far away from my tormentor as I could.

“About an hour ago,” Kris said seriously. “Your mother called the orphanage asking about you. She wanted to know if you had gone to visit the children, but the social workers on duty said they hadn't seen you in weeks, that you had distanced yourself. Your mother was surprised, and as a result, the director of the orphanage called me to find out what was going on. I told her I hadn't seen you, that I hadn't heard from you in weeks, and that's why I called your mother, to cover everything up.”

“Shit,” I said. “Do you know anything else?”

“I dared to ask the workers at your house to see if any of them could tell me anything, and according to what they heard, Maxon came home early, didn't see you, and went crazy. He's sent a lot of people to look for you everywhere,” Kris explained, sounding a little scared.

I sighed and felt like throwing up.

“He doesn't know where I went, so let's keep it that way. That’s why I recommend you leave as soon as possible,” I said fearfully. “Maxon won't hesitate to ask you or investigate, so you have to be careful.”

“I'm traveling tomorrow morning. I have a conference in another city, and the university has known about it for months, so I have a solid alibi. Plus, I have witnesses who saw me at the university today finalizing the last details for the conference,” Kris said, and I calmed down a little for her. “Anyway, I'll be careful and cover your tracks.”

“Thank you,” I said sincerely.

Kris had become a guardian angel to me.

"Be careful, Elaine. I don't know if it's true or not, but another one of the girls who works at your house said she heard Maxon say he was going to call a sorcerer or something like that. Your father seems to have tried to dissuade him, but honestly, I don't know what to expect or what to think of him. I don't know if it's true or not, but an obsessed man like him is capable of doing something crazy, so you have to be very careful and keep a low profile."

What Kris was saying didn't make sense.

Maxon hated supernatural beings with a passion.

Calling a sorcerer was unnatural for him, but he wasn't a sane man, and if there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that Maxon wouldn't sit idly by and do nothing about it.

“Thanks for letting me know,” I said calmly. “Don't contact me again until it's really necessary. I'll turn off my phone and turn it back on once I'm in a safe area. Wait until I contact you.”

I hung up and had to take a deep breath.

I didn't expect Maxon to discover my absence so quickly.

I drove a few more miles with a bad feeling in my stomach.

I didn't know if it was the fact that Maxon already knew I had run away or if it was something else, but I began to feel my heart beating faster and faster. Fear tangled in my throat, and I had to cough hard because of the discomfort.

Of all the things that could happen, him finding me wasn't even in my mind.

I forbade myself from thinking about it; I wasn't going to let him win the battle.

Not this time.

I kept driving, but I started to feel very tired and had to stop in the middle of that desolate highway.

“God or gods, if you exist, help me continue, take me to the best place I can be,” I begged with tears in my eyes and my heart in my throat. “I am a lost daughter searching for her way.”

I put my last ounce of faith in those words.

I had grown up as a secular person, without any spiritual training or beliefs. The reality of the facts was my life itself, but I was at a point where I had to believe in something or I would be lost.

I wiped away my tears and calmly continued down the road, which was getting darker and darker. Before I knew it, dusk had fallen, and an icy chill crept into my bones. I turned on the car heater and continued aimlessly toward the end of the road.

I tried once again to check the map, but I couldn't see a thing.

“I'll have to trust my instincts,” I whispered painfully. “This road must lead somewhere; I know it.”

I put the map in the glove compartment and kept driving for what seemed like hours.

Night fell and the temperature dropped sharply.

That change caused my car to skid a little on the road, and I got scared, but I kept driving calmly and reached a hill. Once I climbed it, I tried to see over the edge, but my car lights were the only thing illuminating my surroundings, so I couldn't see as much as I wanted to.

I decided to grab a flashlight and get out of the car.

When I did, I couldn't see much, just gloomy forest on all sides, so I walked to the other edge and realized that I couldn't see the end of the road.

“I'm going to have to turn around and take the other route,” I said wearily and got back in the car.

When I got in and turned around, the moon began to appear and illuminate everything. I looked up at the sky and was grateful for that and then drove back the way I had come.

Everything was fine until I started to hear howling.

My skin immediately bristled.

What I knew about werewolves wasn't good, but I knew very well that much of that information was biased. There were many good stories about werewolves, about how close-knit they were and at the same time how closed the inner circle of a pack could be.

But fear of the powerful and unknown was unfounded and natural.

In reality, you don't want to mess with anything supernatural if you're human.

Humans were the weakest link.

I trusted in actions, but not in what I didn't know.

So I calmed down and drove back, but the fuel light came on, and I knew I wouldn't get very far.

“Shit,” I said, and the howls began to sound closer.

Out of nowhere, my body went numb, and I felt hundreds of spasms on my skin.

A horrendous pain shot through my body, and I screamed so loud I couldn't control myself; I lost control of the vehicle, and my eyes began to blur. Then, out of nowhere, a giant gray wolf was in the middle of the road, and its golden eyes stared intently at me.

My heart began to race, and I froze, but with all my strength, I maneuvered to avoid hitting the wolf, only to veer off the road and drive the car over the cliff.

My life flashed before my eyes.

I knew I was going to die, and I was scared because I hadn't lived.

I hadn't experienced anything I wanted to.

I hadn't even loved.

And it was depressing to think about it just before the car spun out.

I was thrown around everywhere, and my head went from side to side until the airbag shot out and I felt a very strong blow to the back of my neck. I groaned in pain, but my ordeal didn't end there. The car fell onto the top of a large tree before finally crashing to the ground.

I groaned from the abrupt impact.

I heard howling everywhere and then a man's voice giving instructions.

“We have to break the car door open to get the driver out,” said a man with a hoarse voice that made my skin crawl. “We have to do it before the damn fuel tank explodes.”

My head began to throb violently, and my body went completely numb to the point where I began to feel cold.

“It's a woman!” said another man beside me, but I couldn't open my eyes. “It’s a woman, and she’s badly injured, Alpha.”

The word Alpha made me groan.

I had accidentally wandered into werewolf territory.

And that was more than complicated.

I didn't know them, I didn't know anything about their rules, and I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would mean to seek refuge in a pack, so I tried to speak, but I couldn't. I opened my eyes with great difficulty and couldn't make out anything in the light.

“Cut down the tree and get help!” shouted the first voice I heard.

Out of nowhere, the moonlight illuminated me, and I closed my eyes tightly. Then, when I opened them, I saw the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life.

His green eyes looked at me with surprise, with total bewilderment.

“Mate,” he whispered with such devotion that I was surprised.

Out of nowhere, the car jerked violently, the airbag burst, and my head shook so violently that I screamed in pain.

“Be careful!” the man shouted desperately before finally breaking the door on my side in an attempt to get you out. “By the Goddess, you're all hurt.”

His concerned voice warmed my heart, and I looked at the man sadly.

He used his strength to break the seatbelt that had jammed and then helped me out, but one of my feet was stuck, and another man pulled it out.

“I—”

“Don't talk,” said the man who carried me fearfully, and I felt my energy draining away. “You're very weak.”

He brought his nose close to my neck and sniffed in a way that made my skin crawl.

Then came the vomiting.

I vomited quickly, violently, and without permission, and the man helped me do so without choking. Then I felt blood dripping from my nose, and my vision finally clouded over.

“Don't give up, beautiful,” the man said fervently before I lost consciousness.

My life had a before and after right at that moment.

I had no idea what fate had in store for me.