3. Run

I woke up tied up at the back of a moving truck, unable to see where Damien was taking me. My body felt weak, my fingers cold and light.

I looked down at the dark bruise in the crook of my arm. The bastard hadn't just kidnapped me; he'd harvested me while I was unconscious.

I winced, leaning against the truck to steady myself. Nothing in my life ever seemed to go right. If it wasn’t my father and sister making my life miserable, it was some stranger doing nothing different. My life was already against me, and the Moon Goddess only made it harder.

The truck suddenly came to a halt and I heard footsteps approaching. He opened the back, yanking me out and I almost fell.

The cold air wrapped around me and I shivered.

Where were we?

“Damien,” I whispered. “Where are you taking me?”

I cried out and he pressed a hand over my mouth. “Shhh, shut the fuck up,” he hissed.

“I’m trying to help you, Manora. I’m saving your life,” he said, his voice close to my ear.

I struggled in his grip, but I stopped because he didn’t budge.

“I don’t want to make things hard for you. I could’ve left you with Kaven, and you would have been ripped apart tonight,” he said, his words sending shivers through me.

“But for some reason, I can’t bring myself to do that. The moment I saw you…”

Tears slipped down my face as he spoke.

“Tonight’s plan was almost perfect until your power-hungry sister decided to nearly ruin everything. Thank goodness I have it all under control,” he went on. I was trying to understand what he meant, but then his hand pressed hard against my mouth, I could barely breathe. Is Alpha Kaven going to be killed tonight?

“Manora,” he said, “when I release you, I want you to run as fast as you can. Don’t dare look back, or else…” He paused, then slowly moved his hand from my mouth.

His other hand moved to my tied hands, loosening them, freeing me.

I stumbled back immediately and heard a sharp click. I turned to see Damien, his feral gold eyes locked on me, a gun aimed straight at me.

“Run,” he snarled.

He didn’t have to say it twice. I stepped back, my heart pounding in my chest, and then I turned and ran as fast as I could into the woods.

I didn’t stop.I just ran, even as my knees grew weak. I pushed deeper into the lonely night until I tripped over a stone. My thighs scraped violently against a tree branch. I cried out in pain, quickly bringing my hands to cover my mouth.

I froze, barely able to move my leg, and fell to my knees. My shaking hands went to my thigh, and blood kept spilling out. I winced and whimpered, biting into my dress from the pain.

I had already lost blood to Damien, and now with this cut, I was going to die out here.

I stared at the pale shimmer of liquid mixed with my blood. “You heal everybody, but me… fuck you,” I whispered.

I tore the hem of my dress and used it to tie around the wound, pulling it tight to slow the bleeding.

I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn’t hold me. I sank back to the ground and just sat there in the middle of the forest, cold, shivering, and whimpering, hoping I’d survive the night.

I almost drifted off when a faint growl echoed through the darkness.

I  strained my ears to listen. The growl was followed by twigs snapping and heavy footsteps rushing toward me. My heart raced as a frightening thought hit me. I was being followed.

I scrambled to my feet, my legs shaking so badly I almost fell again. I started limping, but slowly picked up the pace, running without thinking, twisting through the trees. My bloodied thighs stung with every step, but I didn’t care.

“She’s fast!” someone snarled behind me.

Panic surged through me as I darted to the side, stumbled, and fell hard onto my hands and knees. My dress snagged on a branch and tore even more. I bit back a scream and forced myself up.

A shadow flickered between the trees behind me. I had no choice. I ran blindly deeper into the forest, praying the night would hide me.

My eyes caught a small opening, and without thinking I climbed over the rocks, barely managing to pull myself up until I reached it. I slid through it, only to find a dead end. A cliff and a massive waterfall opened beneath me. I gripped the edge to keep myself from falling.

As I tried to steady myself, my foot slipped, and I fell. I shut my eyes and wrapped my arms around myself, bracing for the worst as I plunged through the air and hit the water.

Could this really be the night it all ends?

The thought crossed my mind as the water dragged me under. My head felt heavy, and my body stopped listening to me. I tried to push back up, but the current was too strong. Everything went blurry as I fought just to breathe.

I kicked and reached upward, desperate, until my fingers finally broke through the water again.

I did not even know how I managed it, but somehow I did.

I dragged myself onto the rocks, my body trembling as I lay there for a moment, trying to catch my breath.

Maybe life wasn’t over for me after all.

I stayed longer on the rock because I could not believe that I had survived that.

My hands moved to my neck without thinking.

I froze.

My necklace was gone.

My fingers searched the skin again, slower this time, like maybe I was wrong. But there was nothing there. No chain and no lock.

My chest tightened.

It must have come off in the water.

The only thing my father never let me remove, was lost somewhere beneath the current.

And I did not even know what that meant for me yet.

Part of me wanted to go back and look for the necklace, and another part of me did not, because losing it felt like being freed from my father’s control. So I went with the later .

Slowly, I pulled myself up, limping, searching for a cave or any place I could rest.

After a while, the forest grew too quiet.

Then I heard it. A low sound almost a groan.

I stopped.

At first, I thought my head was playing tricks on me, but then it came again, rough and broken, like someone fighting for breath.

My nerves kicked out of fright.

I followed the sound without thinking, pushing through the bushes until I saw a dark shape on the ground ahead.

Someone was lying there, not moving.

My steps slowed as fear crept in.

When I got closer, I saw his whole body covered in blood, with deep marks across his skin, claw wounds and bite marks. His face was scarred with claws, and his eyes were blindfolded.

He was huge.

Even lying there, he looked powerful.

I stumbled back at the sight.

And yet, he was barely breathing.

I took one slow step closer.

And I  already knew who it was.

The Cursed Alpha.