Chapter 2: Run, Baby Girl, RUN!

Thora POV

Thora returned from her light jog to find Penny sitting in her room, next to an ivory gown that was studded with gemstones. Her surprise was replaced with shock on seeing the suitcase by Penny’s feet.

“You’re going to look fire in this wedding dress.” Penny chuckled with misty eyes.

Thora edged closer. “What’s going on? Why the suitcase?”

Penny sighed and stood up. “I messed up my lines. I can’t seem to get the language pronunciations for the vows but you are a natural, they said. I got cut.”

Something tightened in Thora’s chest.

“Don’t give me that look. It was always going to be YOU.” Penny hugged her tightly. “You deserve to win. You’re the strongest one I met in here.”

The instructor appeared at the doorway to escort Penny out. Thora struggled to find the right words to say goodbye until Penny left. Angrily, she kicked the foot of her bed and winced as pain exploded up her thigh.

“Call time is in one hour, Ms. Storm.” The instructor informed her. “Get to the dressing room as soon as you can.”

Exactly one hour later, Thora stood in a narrow hallway, robed in the ivory wedding gown. The gem stones caught the light of the beautiful chandelier above her head.

Beyond the doors, classical music hummed. Any minute now, the doors would open and she would walk down the aisle and say “I do”. It was all scripted, yet her hands trembled slightly as it clutched a bouquet.

She couldn’t stop thinking about Penny and what she could have said to the friend she had made there. A knot unfurled in her belly.

If she was being frank, she never thought she had a shot at being picked for the role. She didn’t understand how she made the cut even after messing up some of her lines a couple times like Penny but somehow, she never got cut.

She chose to give herself some grace. Maybe she did deserve it. She had passed most of their tests to be fair. It had been hard, uncomfortable and baffling but she made it through.

Now, she was one scene away from her account being credited with thirty grand. One more scene and she could go home, chuck her rent in her annoying landlord’s face before moving to a bigger space.

The doors finally swung open. An overhead light beamed on the aisle, lighting her path to the groom. A soft, melodious tune kicked off as the curtains divided to reveal standing guests.

Thora’s breath hitched at the sight of the packed hall. She had been in the mansion for almost two weeks and all the people she met were mostly domestic staff. But the congregation right now was filled with fresh faces and they seemed like professional actors. They were dressed impeccably and she silently wondered, for the umpteenth time, what the budget of this movie was.

On cue, she began to walk, smiling as naturally as she could as she advanced to the altar. She kept memorizing the strange phonetic words of her vow in her mind.

Her heart thudded in her chest. Everything felt real. Everyone was looking at her with mixed expressions of awe and wonder. She thought she saw some persons sneering and dismissed it, blaming her overthinking brain. It shouldn’t matter anyway. All she needed to do was focus on delivering her part.

When she approached the male lead, she realized this was their first scene together. She didn’t even know what he looked like but from his form, he was built like a warrior.

Standing at nothing less than 6 feet, he had a mane of jungle-wild hair that caressed his shoulders. Even if it was a wig, it was beautifully laid. When he turned to her, she almost gasped. The sharp angles of his jaw, the sexual allure in his hazel eyes. This man was handsome in a gruff, edgy way that made her swallow hard. She had to tear her eyes off him to focus before she forgot her lines.

Then came the vows and she was forced to look back into his eyes. Against their pull, Thora sounded her vows in an ancient tongue that took her four days to master. A cold silence followed as she slipped the wedding band around his finger, leaving her wondering how everyone forgot to clap.

She felt a tingle the second their hands touched, and when she looked at him to know if he got the same shock, his eyes betrayed nothing.

He took her hand in turn, echoing similar words in the ancient tongue with more inflection, before slipping the ring around her finger. Again, the cold, awkward silence wore on. Thora felt a little faint, struggling to catch her breath. Something in the air felt overpowering and if she could hazard a guess, she swore it had something to do with the male lead.

Before she could think fast, he drew close enough for their bellies to touch. Cradling her head with one hand, he tipped her backwards and smashed his lips into hers.

Thora felt the breath knocked out of her lungs instantaneously as his tongue pried open her mouth. As it teased and probed, a breathless moan escaped her lips.

When he ended it, she almost staggered backwards, panting and woozy. Her lips felt moist and swollen, and she embarrassingly felt hot all over. Gosh, she hadn’t expected the kiss to feel that good.

When she turned, the guests were all on their feet.

“Congratulations.” Came the deep, booming voice of the wedding official. “You're now married. This union is binding under Lycan law. You’re officially Mrs. Thora Valcourt.”

The guests wore long faces, then lowered their heads and hooted three times. Thora was confused. She waited for the filming to end so she could get out of the corset that made every effort to breathe a painful one. That was when she realized there were no visible cameras, no director in sight.

The hall grew eerily silent. The first thing she heard was the sound of something snapping. A guest in the front row hunched forward, gnashing as the shirt on his back ripped open.

Thora’s bouquet hit the ground as his spine protruded sharply from his back. Next to him, fur twined around the porcelain skin of a lady till it was completely covered like a rug.

Thora’s blood ran cold. No matter the budget of this movie, everything she was witnessing right now was so unbelievably convincing, it couldn’t be a costume.

“W-What is…happening?” She stammered.

She stole a glance at the male lead. He was still calm, still poised while she was an inch away from letting out a blood-curdling scream.

“What scene is this? What’s going on?”

She screamed when she stared back at the congregation to find huge, black wolves instead of the humans that had just witnessed their wedding scene.

Trembling, she fell on her ass, terror shimmering in her eyes. Her groom still hadn’t moved. He finally turned to her, a hand stretched out.

Thora was too frozen to register anything. Her vision swam. Her head ached. He crouched next to her.

“Mrs. Valcourt, you have a twenty minutes head-start and it started the second you said your vows. In fifteen minutes, these wolves will haunt you down. Escape is not an option here but if you manage to hide or avoid being injured, then maybe you’ll be able to survive your fate in this marriage.”

He glanced at his wrist watch. “Fourteen minutes left. If I were you, I’d get moving.” He straightened and adjusted his tie. “As custom demands, I’ll be waiting for what’s left in our bedchamber.”

With that, he sauntered away.

Heart hammering, Thora managed to pull herself up. She didn’t have time to process anything. She just knew she needed to RUN, and RUN she did.