CHAPTER 5 Runaway

　　Mia's POV

Panic rages through my body as I leave my father's office. There is no way that I will be mated to Alpha Richard. The thought alone is enough to turn my stomach. But I refuse to let my father see the panic that he caused. I would never give him or Madison the satisfaction of knowing that they elicited any emotion from me.

Racing through the Omega's corridors, I run into my little room and slam the door behind me. I feel like I cannot breathe. This ugly yellow dress feels too tight.

Finally, I cannot take it any longer and I rip the dress from my body. The sound of fabric tearing cuts through the silence in my room and I am finally able to breathe. I know that Madison will have something to say about me ruining the perfect party dress that she purchased. But at this moment I don't care. She can kiss my ass.

"I need to leave. I need to leave right now," I say. Hoping that saying it, hearing my own voice, will build the courage in me to flee. What was really stopping me? Except for the need to do.

I want nothing more than to slink to the ground and hide my hands in my head and wallow in self-pity. But there isn't time for that. While tears stream down my face, I pull an empty trash bag out of my closet. I am getting out of here.

A gentle knock on my door pulls me out of my tears. I know by the sound of the knock on the door that it is Maggie on the other side. Quickly I shove the trash bag under my bed and sit quietly on the end of the bed.

"Yeah," I yell out as I wipe the tears that are streaming down my cheeks.

Slowly, Maggie opens my door and slips inside. As soon as she sees the tears streaming down my cheeks she knows that tonight did not go well.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asks.

"What is there to say? Every man that was there was old enough to be my grandfather." I cannot stop the tears that keep falling from my eyes. Maggie is the only one that I would dare to cry around.

A concerned look spreads across Maggie's face. "All of them?"

"All expect for someone named Alpha Thomas," I say.

"Alpha Thomas?" Maggie cocks her head to the side. "Isn't he the Alpha of the Red Moon Pack?"

"I think so," I mutter. What does it matter now? I wasted my opportunity.

Thinking back on Alpha Thomas and my conversation, I feel so stupid now. If I would have said yes to his offer I would not be promised to Alpha Richard right now.

"Rumor has it, he is heartbroken," Maggie says thoughtfully. "He gave his heart to Emma Paxton and she rejected him."

A snort of laughter escapes my lips. "THE Emma Paxton, of the Paxton Pack."

"The very one," Maggie says with a smile on her lips. She lives for gossip. "He had chosen her as his second chance mate but she was drawn to Alpha Ethan. They are fated mates after all. They say he walked away because he loved her and just wanted her to be happy."

"Maggie," I sigh. "Why are you telling me this?"

Maggie gives me a little wink. "Just letting you know that there may have been at least one gem at your party tonight. All you had to do was look."

Throwing myself back on my bed dramatically, I wait for Maggie to leave but she doesn't. She is waiting for me to tell her more about the party tonight.

"I messed things up big time, this time," I begin.

"It couldn't have been that bad," Maggie laughs.

But the smile that she wore on her face soon faded when I explained to her what I did. When I told her how I grabbed Alpha Thomas and kissed him, in hopes of scaring off Alpha Richard, she gasped and covered her mouth in shock. Though, that was nothing compared to her reaction when I told her that my father plans to mate me to Alpha Richard anyway. Maggie clutched her heart and just about fell onto the bed beside me.

"Do you think that Alpha Thomas will come for you?" Maggie asks me with a worried look on his face.

"It won't matter," I tell her. "Father has already started negotiating with Alpha Richard."

Maggie grabs my chin and forces me to look into her pale blue eyes. "You can't let your father send you with Alpha Richard," Maggie says nervously. "He is a monster."

"Not to mention repulsive," I mumble under my breath with a chuckle.

"This isn't a laughing matter," Maggie says harshly. "If you go to the Night Moon Pack you won't come out alive."

"What do you mean?" I ask as the panic from earlier begins to bubble in my stomach once again.

"I mean that there is a reason that he is constantly looking for another mate," Maggie whispers. "They say that he kills his mates when they are unable to give him an heir. He is too stubborn to believe that the problem lies with him."

"I thought that he was looking for his second mate?" I say as I swallow the lump that is forming in the back of my throat.

"He is looking for his second chosen mate," Maggie says. "He has had a fated mate and one chosen mate already."

"So, I would be the third mate?" I say aloud to no one.

Jumping off my bed, I drag the trash bag out from under my bed. Racing around my room I begin to toss what little clothes I have from my dresser into the bag.

"Where are you going?" Maggie says with a scared look on her face.

"I am not staying around here to let my father send me off to my death," I say as I throw the trash bag over my shoulder. "I am leaving."

"I cannot just let you leave," she says in a shrill voice.

"Maggie, what else would you have me do?" I cry. "I cannot stay here and be ushered off to my death."

Maggie chews on her bottom lip before placing a kiss on my forehead. "You will have to harm me."

"What? No! I would never," I say in horror.

"You don't have a choice. They will never believe that I didn't help you leave. You have to," Maggie says. She looks around my depressing room and finds a glass. Maggie slams it against the wall, it shatters enough for her to hold a piece like a dagger. She places it in my hand. "Now, stab me. Don't hesitate. Just do it."

"I can't!" I say, shaking my head and drop the glass on the floor. Maggie pulls me into hug before releasing me.

"Then, I will keep watch," she tells me before she pulls something out of her apron. "This will mask your scent. You will only have a few hours before I raise the alarm that you have fled. It will give you a head start."

I hold the bottle in my hand and look at Maggie in confusion. "How?"

"I have always known that this day would come and I wanted you to be prepared." Maggie has tears streaming down her face.

I tip the bottle to my lips and it burns on the way down. Not wanting to waste any more time, I hug Maggie and slip out of my bedroom door. Looking both ways down the hall I make sure that the coast is clear. When I don't hear or see anyone coming I slip out of the Omega entrance to the pack house.

As soon as my feet reach the grass I take off running into the forest that borders the pack house. Once I am under the cover of the tree canopy, I am tempted to look back at the pack house but I don't let myself. I don't need the memories of that place.

Slinging my trash bag of clothes over my shoulder I make my way through the woods, toward the main road. Maybe if I am lucky someone will pick me up and take me away from this place.