Chapter 6

I walked towards the kitchen, the mansion oddly quiet as all the wolves prepared for the one night of the month they get off, the only one where they can shift freely and run from the acres of wood that surrounded the masters house. I open the back door, feeling the breeze wrap around me as I close my eyes, this way the only day I was allowed outside and I would always cherish it, the best day of the month was when I could sink my toes into mud and smell the scent of the forest. I pull off my tattered shoes and smiled as the cold earth greeted me. It was wrong to keep a wolf locked up indoors, but that is what Balthazar chose for me, said I would appreciate his kindness of the full moon run more if I didn’t go out any other time.

I suppose I do understand what he means because I do appreciate it more, but I also wish that I was locked away most of the month too. I hate being indoors, I have since I was a little girl, the earth always seemed to call to me, it helped me to relax and calmed Nyx. Something not even I could do with ease.

Nyx growled softly within me, wanting to shift and run to her hearts content, but we had to find a way to destroy the collar first, we couldn’t escape with it still attached. I walked in the direction of the other slaves hoping that I could find Margret, hopefully if I explain what’s happened she’ll help me. I can’t take the collar off myself but another wolf may be able to. I realised too late that Margaret wasn’t there, only the ones around my age remained in the small clearing where they shifted and ran together, kind of like a pack. One I wasn’t allowed to be a part of. I pushed my crimson hair over my shoulder and turned quickly, hoping they hadn’t noticed me.

I wasn’t that lucky. They had always seen me as Balthazar’s favourite, even when he tested me the worst, they could go out when they wished during the day, they didn’t have to stay in the basement when visitors came. How could I be the favourite when everyone barley knew that I even existed? I was shunned and tormented by all the other slaves, even though I would never wish any of them harm. I wasn’t a nasty person, shy yes; but never cruel.

“What are you doing here pet!?”

Pet, that’s what they called me the warlocks pet, his favourite toy to beat and torture, I remember all the times I came back to the basement covered in my own blood and no one but Margret had helped me, none of them cared what happened to me. So long as his attention wasn’t on them. They didn’t want what I had with him, but despised that he gave me so much of his time anyway. Regardless of how it was spent. Didn’t they know he did nothing but torment me?

Didn’t they know he forced me to watch my parents die when I was still young?

Of course they did.

The difference was that they didn’t care.

“Probably come to spy on us and report back. Isn’t that right pet?”One of them shouted, picking up a rock and throwing it at my stomach. “You just love to please him.”

They were wrong, and the worse part is they knew that they were, but again they didn’t care, they didn’t like anyone who was different. Who wasn’t treated the same. The impact of the rock hitting my stomach hurt, but not as much as their words.

“Traitor.”

“Go back pet”

“We don’t want you here vermin.”

“Go run and hide like always.”

They all began to pick up rocks and stones, and before I could even make a move to leave, they began throwing them at me, they wanted to hurt me. Perhaps it made them feel better, perhaps it made them feel powerful. I didn’t know why, but all of them hated me, that is what they had in common; and right now. They wanted me to suffer.

“She doesn’t even shift with the rest of us.”

“She’s trash.”

“She probably doesn’t even have a wolf.”

“Run back to master whore.”

Nyx growled within me, wanting me to stand up for us, to fight back; but I knew that would only make things worse. So instead, I remained mute. I took their words of hatred and their painful throws and turned away, praying that I would find a way to escape. They wouldn’t notice if I was gone anyway, no one but Balthazar would even know.

I felt a rock skim the collar around my neck, the impact nearly knocking me to the ground, a audible click echoing around me. I smiled to myself when I saw it drop to the ground, the one thing I needed to be rid of, and in their hatred, these women had given me my way out. They had unintentionally given me what I needed to escape.

I turned on my heel and ran, moving as fast as my human legs would allow as I reached the only place I was allowed to shift. Nyx was growling and purring at the same time, excited at the possibility that we might make it out, that we could be free. But we both knew we had a long way to go before that could be possible.

I shifted mid air, not caring that my only clothes were destroyed in the process, I could leave and he wouldn’t know, he would believe I was still within the boundaries of his territory. I headed in a random direction, I didn’t know why but something told me that’s the way I should go, and so I did. I used the speed and strength of my wolf to move, running faster than we had ever gone before. The wind whipped around us, spurring us on, the moon high above us, as though the goddess herself blessed me with luck.

Nyx howled, her voice carrying through the trees faster and louder than the sound of our paws hitting the muddied ground. She was ecstatic and so was I, this was our chance to have a better life, to be able to shift whenever we wanted. I could feel her excitement as much as she could feel mine, it was our dream to be free, to have nothing in our way as we run as often as we like. I would happily live secluded in the woods if that meant freedom, I knew how to hunt, I knew how to stay warm. I could do it. Their was no going back now, I had come too far, the boundaries of my master’s territory was miles behind me and still their was no sign he knew of my absence.