Chapter 5

    I stood up as quick as I could on my weak, aching legs and laid on the bed, not wanting to anger Alpha Victor further. I laid there with my face pressed downwards into the pillow, crying silently. Suddenly, I screamed as I felt the sharp, agonizing heat of a knife on my back. He was carving out new words directly into my already open, wounded back. I didn't know what he was carving; I could only cry as the pain got more and more intense, a white-hot blinding sun behind my eyelids. I couldn't even scream anymore; my throat was completely raw.

    "I see you aren't screaming in pain," he grumbled, sounding frustrated by my silence. "I guess this doesn't hurt enough."

    He stabbed the knife deep into my back, and a horrific, ragged scream tore from my throat. He pulled out the knife and repeated the act over and over again, tearing my flesh apart.

    "Just kill me already!" I yelled out in pure agony.

    "No... I have one more surprise for you."

    I heard the heavy door creak open, and someone walked into the room. I couldn't see through the fog of my tears until a familiar voice cut through the horror.

    "Fiona...?"

    It was Toby. I was instantly alarmed, a sudden surge of adrenaline overriding the pain. I raised my heavy head up from the sheets, my eyes widening in absolute terror. He had been sent up to deliver clean clothes, and now he was standing in the doorway, clutching a stack of sheets tightly against his chest. His eyes were wide with horror as he stared at my bloodied, naked body and then at the monstrous Alpha standing over me with a bloody knife.

    "What are you doing here, omega?" Victor snarled, his eyes flashing dangerously as he stalked toward Toby.

    "Get away from him!" I screamed, the panic rushing through me like wildfire. "Don't touch him!" I couldn't let him kill Toby.

    "He saw what he shouldn't have," Victor laughed, a sick, twisted gleam in his eyes as he grabbed Toby by the collar of his shirt. "I think your little friend needs to learn his place, too." Victor brought his heavy hand down, slapping Toby hard across the face.

    Toby cried out, the linens scattering as he fell backward onto the floor.

    That was the absolute breaking point. Something inside me snapped permanently. I had to act now, or we were both going to die in this room. My eyes darted to the bedside table. There, sitting on a tray, was a discarded syringe containing the leftover concentrated blend of silver and wolfsbane Lukas had used on me. I grabbed it, threw myself off the bed, and immediately moved toward the Alpha from behind, stabbing him deep in the neck with it.

    "Bitch!" he roared, turning to glare at me as he realized what I had done. He grabbed my neck, backing me violently against the wall. But the poison was already working; his grip was weak, and his Alpha aura was flickering like a dying candle. I wasn't going down without a fight.

    "Leave her alone!" Toby cried out, scrambling off the floor and running up to us, hitting Victor's leg with all his might. He was still weak from last night’s torture.

    Victor kicked him away violently and turned to face me again. Just then, I reached out blindly with my right hand, my fingers wrapping around the heavy brass base of the bedside lamp. I lifted it high and smashed it squarely onto his head.

    Alpha Victor fell to the ground with a heavy thump, completely out cold.

    I didn't waste a single second. I grabbed Toby's arm and dragged him out of the room. I limp-ran all the way back down to the sub-basement with him. I was still naked since I hadn't bothered with grabbing my clothes, and the wolves in the pack were already used to seeing me baked and the cold night air kept kissing my fresh wounds, making me hiss in pain. Once we reached the dark room.” Go to the laundry room and pack your belongings, we are running away from this horrible pack.” I said to Toby.

    

    “Where are we going to? Alpha Victor has already killed your family and I’m an orphan.” Toby said.”

    

    “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here or he will kill us once he regains consciousness.

     Without another question Toby ran to grab his belongings while  I began frantically packing my  few belongings into a burlap sack. There was no time; we needed to get out of here before Alpha Victor awoke.

    Lillian, I do not need your satire right now, I thought frantically. We need to leave as soon as possible. Can you heal?

    No! Way, I’m still too weak, she replied, her voice incredibly faint from the lingering poison. But we can manage with the wounds. Look at that, someone is finally running away! she snickered weakly.

    I finished packing our things, threw on a simple, loose gown, just then Toby ran inside his little bag hanging on his shoulder.

    "Where are we going?" he asked in a terrified whisper as we crept silently out of the pack-house.

    "We are going far away from here," I answered him as we melted into the shadow of the thick forest.

    We left the house successfully and walked for hours through the dense, unforgiving woods. My bare feet were cut and bleeding from the sharp thorns and jagged rocks, but the adrenaline kept me moving. Toby walked right beside me, his eyes darting around the dark trees. I knew we were still technically on Bloodmoon grounds, and the fear of patrol warriors kept my senses hyper-alert. We managed to carefully evade the patrol members, hiding in the thick brush until their scents faded.

    When we got really close to the borders, the trees began to thin. I stopped and set the sack down on the damp grass. I turned to Toby, looking into his anxious eyes.

    "Toby, I need you to do something very important for me now," I told him softly. "We need to shift. We need to let our wolves take over so we can run faster and cross the border."

    "Are we really running away? For good?" he asked, his voice filled with a mixture of disbelief and hope.

    "Yes. We are never coming back."

    "And we'll finally be free?"

    I nodded softly, swallowing the lump in my throat, not wanting to dull his spirits. I didn't know what the world had in store for two rogue omegas, but I knew that we had to run.

    "Focus, Toby. Let your wolf come through."

    He nodded and closed his eyes. Soon, I saw him shifting, his bones popping as his grey wolf emerged. I drew a deep, steadying breath. It was time to break the chains completely. I looked back toward the heart of the territory and spoke the ancient words aloud, letting the magic of the universe carry my voice.

    "I, Fiona Evander, an omega of the Bloodmoon pack, hereby accept your rejection, Alpha Victor, and I choose to be a rogue from this exact moment. I severe all ties with you and the bloodmoon pack, May the moon goddess be my witness."

    A sudden, sharp pain flared in my chest as the invisible pack bond violently snapped, severing my connection to the Bloodmoon pack forever, what follow after the pain was relief and pure peace. The kind I had never felt before. I shifted back into my white wolf form immediately, letting Lillian take full control. She walked up to the sack, picking it up firmly in her mouth.

    “So we are doing this? I asked Lillian.

    “Yes, there’s no turning back now, we are finally free from Alpha Victor and his wicked pack members.”

    And with that, we ran, crossing the border line and running fast into the deep forest without looking back. We were rogues.