THE LAND BEYOND THE CLIFF

Bella’s POV

“Run, Bella. This is your end. Run!”

The strange voice continued to reverberate in my mind even when I was far away from the river.

I did not know who had spoken to me, or whether that person was trying to help me or trap me again.

However, one thing was sure.

I could not stay there anymore.

The minute I managed to climb out of the water, I forced myself to walk into the unknown forest.

With every step, it felt as though I was burning inside and my heavy clothes kept sticking to my body. My hair was dripping with water as I walked through the trees, trying to maintain my balance.

I did not have a clue where I was heading, or how much distance I had covered from the cliff.

The only thing I knew was that I could not let anyone find me.

First, my own father tried to destroy me.

Next, Peony tried to kill me.

And finally, it was Sumi.

I balled my hands into fists, thinking about my best friend.

The same one who had trusted me with her life had tried to push me off a cliff.

Had it all been nothing but a lie?

I shook my head and dismissed the thoughts.

Now was the time to survive.

I kept walking, constantly turning around to make sure nobody was following me.

The woods were silent, empty.

I had never traveled this far away from Moonstone Pack.

And there was something in the place that made my hair stand up on the back of my neck.

I wrapped my arms around my body and kept going, trying to find some way out or somewhere to hide.

It was then that a sharp pain pierced through my side.

I came to a sudden halt.

My hand went to the spot where Peony had stabbed me.

But there wasn’t any new blood on my hand.

Curious, I pulled the torn piece of fabric away from my side.

And my eyes widened.

The wound was healing.

Where the deep wound had been bleeding earlier now lay just a thin red line across my skin.

“What…?”

I touched it tentatively.

There was still a tingling sensation, but no opening of the wound.

It couldn’t be possible.

I had been beaten, stabbed, and then thrown over the edge of the cliff into the furious river.

I should have been unable to stand.

I checked the wounds I could reach.

The bruising on my arms was much less noticeable. Even the wounds from the stones where I hit them during my fall had begun fading away.

What was going on with me?

Everyone called me a weak omega, because I never awoke my wolf despite having turned eighteen.

So why did my body react in a way even I could not explain?

But before anything else entered my mind, I caught a faint noise.

I raised my head sharply.

Heavy steps.

Something moving through the bushes.

I instantly hid behind a large tree, pressing my back against its rough bark.

Soon after, voices echoed through the forest.

“Search everywhere. It’s impossible for the intruder to get very far from here.”

My blood turned cold.

Intruder?

Slowly, I tilted my head and glanced into the woods.

Several wolves were walking through the forest.

They moved in an orderly fashion, some leading, while others were on the lookout. None of them strayed or sniffed mindlessly.

The wolves in front had humans among them, humans who carried weapons and wore dark clothes with some weird insignia I had never seen before.

Those weren’t ordinary patrolling squads.

They were from a strong pack.

There were lots of legends about territories outside Moonstone Pack. Some were friendly, some were infamous for their brutality towards outsiders.

But there was one territory everyone tried to avoid.

Northern Pack.

Seeing the patrol moving through the forest, I feared I must have ended up in that territory.

“Has anyone found any trail?” asked one of the warriors.

“Not yet,” another replied. “But the Alpha wants this intruder caught before dark.”

Alpha.

I dug my nails into the bark of the tree.

What was I going to say to them? That I had been betrayed by my best friend, thrown down the cliff, and brought here by the river?

I knew from experience that sometimes even innocence could become a death sentence.

“He’s going to punish you for your failure,” said the leading warrior. “We have to keep moving.”

The wolves started to move forward.

They came very close to my hiding spot.

One of them stopped.

He sniffed the air and raised his head.

I covered my mouth with my hands, hoping he wouldn’t notice me.

Please, no.

Another wolf addressed him.

“Have you found anything?”

The wolf shook his head.

“No. Keep looking.”

He turned and moved, and the whole patrol kept moving forward.

I could not let go of my breath until their voices were faint and distant.

Only then could I finally move away from the tree.

I needed to get out of here.

I walked as silently as I could, stopping every few minutes to listen for approaching footsteps, and chose the trails which seemed to be used by fewer people.

Unfortunately, as I kept going deeper into the woods, everything around me became more strange.

The trees were becoming thicker, their branches spread across the sky, leaving almost no sunlight down below.

The air itself seemed to become colder.

Every route looked the same.

Just when I was ready to give up, I heard something behind me.

A sudden cry.

Another cry.

They had found me.

“Look over there!” someone cried.

I did not wait for an answer.

I started running.

Branches hit me as I made my way through the forest. My wet clothes stuck to my skin making every movement difficult but I kept running.

From behind me, I could hear the voices of the warriors.

“Stop!”

“Something is ahead!”

“Don’t allow the intruder to escape!”

Escape?

As if I had come here to cause some disturbance.

All that I wanted was to survive.

I forced myself further, without paying attention to the pain in my legs and the burning in my lungs.

I ran on until the trees became less dense.

Another step.

And suddenly I fell into a small clearing.

I stopped, leaning down in an attempt to catch my breath.

I turned around.

Nothing moved under the branches.

Maybe I had managed to lose the warriors.

“Thank God.”

I slowly straightened, shaking off some of the leaves from my clothes.

But this feeling did not last for long.

A strange sound came from behind the clearing.

A low growl.

I froze.

I faced the source of the sound.

A huge wolf stood between me and the trees that lined the opposite end of the meadow.

It was much bigger than any wolf I had ever seen. The dark fur covered its strong body, while its eyes seemed to glow as it looked at me.

Its lips parted and revealed terrifying fangs.

I felt like this beast could rip me to shreds without even trying.

The patrol was somewhere behind me, and this wolf had cut off my only apparent escape route.

I started to back away slowly.

Its ears laid flat.

I took another step back.

Its growl increased in volume.

“Please,” I pleaded, though I was certain it wouldn’t understand me. “I’m not here for any trouble.”

The beast lowered its head.

I turned around and ran.

I had not made more than two steps when something hit me on the back.

A scream escaped my mouth as I fell to the ground.

Before I even managed to roll over, a massive weight pressed upon me, holding me tightly on the ground.

My breath got knocked out.

Its claws held the ground on both sides of my body.

I looked up at it.

Those terrifying eyes stared right into mine.

“No!” I screamed.

I started to kick and thrash, trying to create some room to escape.

The wolf growled and shook me, throwing me to the ground again.

My head hit the ground, bringing waves of dizziness.

I needed my wolf.

Now!

I reached out for that voice of my animal within me that I had been searching for all those years.

But there was no response.

No voice.

No wolf rising to protect me.

“No… no, please.”

A wolf above me growled.

I tried to roll away, but a huge paw pushed me back to the ground.

I couldn’t move.

And I couldn’t shift.

Suddenly, the sound of the warriors’ footsteps grew louder.

Then they came out from the woods one by one, their arms full of weapons.

“Help me!” I yelled. “Please!”

But nobody ran toward the wolf.

They only stopped by the edge of the clearing.

The expression on their faces changed immediately once they saw how the monster pinned me to the ground.

Some lowered their heads.

Others slowly started to move away.

One of the warriors clutched his weapon harder as if preparing to defend himself.

“What’s wrong with you?” I cried. “Don’t you understand it’s going to kill me?”

No answer.

The leader of the warriors looked at the big wolf, his face pale.

“Back off,” he said to the others.

“But she’s—”

“I said back off!”

His words resounded in the clearing.

Without delay, everybody obeyed him.

They had followed me deep into the woods, eager to catch an intruder.

And now that I needed their help, they were too scared to come near.

I looked around frantically for any weapon to defend myself.

A branch.

A stone.

Anything.

But nothing was close enough to grab.

The animal shifted its position, and my chest started burning with agony.

The monster bent its enormous head toward me.

I felt its breath on my neck.

“Please,” I whispered once more.

Hot tears welled up in my eyes.

“I do not know who you are but I did not do anything to you.”

Its gaze did not move.

As if it was looking inside me.

The beast lowered its big head towards my neck.

I felt its claws digging into the soil next to me.

“No…”

The wolf opened its mouth.

Its fangs touched my skin.

I closed my eyes, preparing for the final bite.

I thought about my mother, and all the questions I never got to ask her.

Tears slipped down my cheeks.

I couldn’t fight anymore.

I braced for pain.

However, none of it happened.

Time froze.

There was no bite.

Confused, I opened my eyes.

It was still looking down at me, its jaws wide open, fangs inches from my neck.

However, the creature did not move.

Its eyes widened a bit.

Some strange shiver ran through the huge form.

And then slowly the wolf raised its head from my neck.

The wolf moved away from me.

For a second, I thought it was preparing another attack.

However, I dragged myself to the side until I reached the trunk of a nearby tree.

The monster did not follow me.

Instead, it bent its huge head.

Then it bent its front legs.

Right in front of my eyes, the huge beast sank to its knees.

My jaw dropped.

The warriors standing on the perimeter of the clearing were just as astonished.

Somebody gasped.

Somebody else murmured something which I could not catch.

Why was a beast, which scared off an entire team of warriors, now bowing down to me – a helpless omega?

I put a trembling hand on my racing heart.

For the first time since I had stepped inside the clearing, the beast was not trying to get to me.

As if…

As if it needed to bow to me.

“No.” I whispered. “This can’t be happening.”

But the creature didn’t move.