Chapter 3

When I woke up, the hardest part was slipping away from the strong arms that held me. The handsome stranger, who still looked amazing wrapped in just sheets, had a tight grip on me, like he was afraid I'd leave.

I did not know what he’d want from me after last night. Flashbacks of it still make me clench my thighs. After successfully slipping past his iron grip, I collect my clothes, putting them on in a hurry.. The soreness between my legs certainly did not help with anything. But I remembered Alpha Gale, and how he wanted to make me his slave. I need to run before the same thing happens with him. 

When I slip past the door, I tip toe slowly across the hallway, making sure that the guards who’d fallen asleep could hardly hear me. Finally, when out of the empty tarven, I make a run for it in the opposite direction I’d come from, heading into an uncharted territory of bushes and trees. 

Suddenly, a voice from behind rutles me. I turn around, only to catch a glimpse none other than Alpha Gale, heading into the tarven. What was he doing here? Was he following me. 

My determination to run stirred inside me as I increased pace. The forest was my best cover, it was the only place I could easily hide. 

I had only one thing in mind, I needed to survive. 

Hours blended into days as I lived off the food I barely hunted. I had gotten sick, now, almost a week after being at the tarven. Had I caught the flu or something. 

From time to time, I would try sneaking back into the tarven late at night and collecting some of the food I found in the trash. I had resulted in leaving a horrible life, and as days turned to weeks, it became obvious that the flu I’d caught, followed by sleepless nights of vomiting, and an extraordinary disgust for the food I had to survive on: That I was pregnant. 

How could I bring a baby into this cruel world? 

The questions swirled inside me over the next couple of days. I figured that there was only one place I could survive in: The human world. 

On the night I made the decision to try life outside of just this forest, it was the very night Alpha Gale and his men almost caught me. I run helter skelter, clutching my stomach, praying to the moon goddess to save me. Tears ran down my eyes as I continued to run. 

“There she is.’’ I heard a voice shout behind me, followed by the sound of a thousand footsteps. I had abandoned the only place I had soon started to call home. A large tree in the middle of the forest where I’d roofed with a broken umbrella. 

Now I was forced to run again. I did not understand why Alpha Gale wanted me. Or why he had the daunting desire to make my life a living hell. 

“Get her!’’ Another man shouted, causing me to turn around as I noticed they were catching up to me. I ran faster, thinking about the child in my belly and the life I’d hope for them. If I got caught, then I'd live out the rest of my life worse than this. As a slave for a man who hates me for existing. 

“ELARA!’’ Alpha Gale’s voice pierced through the woods, fueling my determination to not get caught. 

“You can’t run forever, pet.” He let out, his footsteps close behind me, his voice taunting. He saw me as his prey, a creature he could hunt down and torment just for the fun of it. 

“You’re an animal!’’ I shouted, trying to increase my pace, yet feeling my legs give out. 

“Oh come on Elara, stop fucking running.’’ His words were laced with venom. Suddenly, it was as if he came out of nowhere. He ran up ahead of me, tackling me to the ground with such force that I felt my head get dizzy. 

“See.” He spoke with a smile, “I’ll always catch you.” 

The men he had come with surrounded us, staring down at me, without helping. 

“Please…please let me go.’’ I cried out, struggling against his hold. 

“Already begging.” He ticked, “I was sure you needed me but now, I don't think you understand just how much.’’

“Please Alpha Gale, you sent me away and I obeyed your order. What more could you want from me?’’ 

He stared at me, silent for a moment, studying me as if looking for something. Feeling him touch me paralysed me with fear.. I wanted to run until I was a million miles away from him. 

“I rejected you. Alphas reject Omegas. That’s obvious.” He spoke, “But i gave you another chance when i offered you the chance of a lifetime, and you had the guts to reject me.’’

I failed to believe what I was hearing. I look at him, feeling disgust. 

“You’ve haunted me down all this time just because i refused to be your slave?’’ My voice was filled with pain, my heart was broken as I cried. He got off me, letting me stand on my feet as I struggled to keep balance. 

“All this while you’ve made me feel like I did something wrong.” 

“Don’t you get it pet,” He whispered with a smirk. 

“Don’t call me that.’’ I said through tears. 

“I’ll call you whatever I damn want.” He looked at me with disgust. “And just to answer you, you’ve not done something wrong, you are the wrong thing. You are what’s wrong with mother nature, and the moon goddess. An abomination like you does not deserve to exist.” 

His words hurt me. Just like all the other words he’s ever spoken to me before. Using all my might, I pushed him off me before I ran again. This time, I managed to slip between two of his men and I ran helter skelter. 

Alpha Gale laughed while he chased me, making me feel like this was some cruel game to him. Suddenly I could see a white life at a far distance ahead, and I knew that it represented a pack boundary. There were three figures standing across from it, talking amongst themselves. 

I knew that being a rogue omega meant that no one would ever waste their energy trying to help me, but I had to take the chance and hope that the problem I would find myself in was not as big as being Alpha Gale’s slave. 

Without reason. I ran towards the pack border and did not hesitate to cross it. I stumbled down the other side, heaving and trying to catch my breath while I stared at Alpha Gale, who disappeared back into the woods as soon as he saw me cross the boundary. 

I felt relief wash over me, standing on my feet before I was knocked back down again. 

“Het guys, look what we caught.” A masculine voice spoke from behind me. I struggled to look up, a man, seeming dressed in warrior attire called out to his friends who were only a short distance away. 

“Alpha Lucas is going to have fun killing this one.’’ They let out a laugh. Dread settled in me as I realised what I had just gotten myself into. I had heard that name before. Alpha Lucas Morretti. Lycan king, feared, dangerous, and who killed for sport. 

Even Alpha Gareth was afraid of him. Is that why Alpha Gale had not come for me as soon as I crossed the boundary?

“Why would you bring yourself to your doom, rogue.” One of them asked, gripping my hair tightly as he forced me to look at him. 

“The Alpha!’’Another let out, suddenly, tension rose among them as the man holding me let me go. “The Lycan king is here.’’ 

They all turned around, seeming afraid and tense. I kept my head bowed, reciting a silent prayer to myself, ready to die. Perhaps finally, I will get some rest when I see my parents again.  This life was already difficult, this was an easy way out. 

Much better than being kept as a slave by anyone. 

I could feel a magnetic presence in front of me, an aura of authority arrested the air as a shadow was cast before me, signalling that the great Lycan King Lucas Morretti was standing in front of me. 

Against my better judgement, I did what I hoped would get me out of this alive. I begged. 

“It was not my intention to trespass. I was running from some bad men and I saw refuge here. Please don't kill me.” 

“Look at me.’’ His voice is low, yet so mighty and full of authority. It’s like a curse on me, spelling me to do just as I'm told. I look up at him, dooming myself as I meet that intense gaze and those familiar dark eyes. 

Not only was he the man I had slept with back at the Tarven, but he… was also my mate. 

I stare at him, shocked, unable to fully form a word. The connection between us was overwhelming. Suddenly the piece of the puzzle fit in, and I figured out why I felt so pulled to him from the first moment we met. He was my mate. A second chance from the moon goddess after rejection. 

“It can’t be.’’ I let out. My face was etched with shock as I stared at him. My mystery stranger, ever so handsome. 

“Fate has brought you back to me, mate.’’ He uttered, making the warriors around him stare with shocked expressions. He wasn’t afraid of calling me his mate in front of others. 

“I am a rogue and an omega, you can reject me and I’ll be on my way.’’ I speak, bowing my head and waiting for the worst.

He laughed, scooting over to my level before bringing his fingers on my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “I’ll never reject you.’’ He lets out. I stared up at him in awe, still failing to believe what was happening. 

“So what do you want?’’ I asked, folding my fist. “Do you also want to enslave me?’’

He stares at me, a shocked expression on his face. 

“Leave us!’’ His voice spirals with authority like never before, his men, without hesitation, disperse into another direction. 

Suddenly, the look on his face changes to that of horror. He brings his hand towards my stomach, but I flinch, afraid. He looks hurt, and he shakes his head. “I don't want to hurt you.’’ 

Hesitantly, I allowed him to get closer to him. The heat from his body radiates towards me, paralysing me with an overwhelming desire to be claimed by him again. 

His eyes grow wide as he listens to the heartbeat, dread settles inside me, knowing the inevitable. I was an omega, there’s no way he’d want me now.

“You’re pregnant.’’ His tone is low, less authoritative and more surprised. “Is it mine.’’ 

“Yes.’’ I let out, dropping the bomb shell.