The mating ball came to my mind again when I saw the gown. It was too beautiful for my eyes. I never saw such a gown in Eliza’s closet. I shook the thoughts away and tried to distract myself by scrubbing the Luna's house.
I wanted to attend the ball, I wanted to know what it was like. Eliza had always said a lot of things about it whenever she returned and it fascinated me the most. I wanted a different life for myself and it wasn’t going to come if I stayed here being a punching bag and a salaryless maid.
What if I had a mate? What if the Luna was wrong all along? What if I had someone waiting for me? Someone who is going to accept me just the way I am, with all of my flaws. What if that person won’t care about how broken or worthless I am and he would accept me all the same?
A lot of what-ifs came to my mind, there was a chance that I had a mate out there who was just waiting for me. I heard that some wolves would rather grow old alone than choose someone else to mate with. What if I had someone like that? If I did, then it would be wrong for me not to attend or meet him, even if it’s just once.
There is a hierarchy chart in Pack Wolves, there is the king who rules all the pack Wolves, and his mate, the Queen is the mother figure in the wolves. The Alpha is the leader of every pack with his Luna. The beta is the second in command, Gamma is the third in command, and the head of the pack warriors is the Delta. There are also pack doctors and pack members, the last are the Omegas, they are the pack runts, the illest treated in the pack but not all packs treat omegas like dirt, so I have heard.
I wasn’t wishing for a high-ranked wolf as a mate because every high-ranking wolf wanted a strong female by his side and I don’t fit in that description. All I wanted was a normal wolf who would love me for who I am, take care of me, and if possible, take me away from my pack. I don’t want to live the rest of my life here.
I made up my mind.
I was going to attend the Ball, even if it meant sneaking out of the pack while everyone was distracted and if I didn't find my mate, I would sell those treasures I found in that bag last night and run to the human world, I wasn’t going to return after tomorrow.
All that was left for me to buy was a makeup kit. I know a little when it comes to painting my face. I need to go and get some.
I tried to avoid the pack members but wasn’t so lucky and got stepped on and pushed around a few times. I remained calm and quiet, I couldn’t give them the benefit of seeing me beg or cry out for mercy. When I reached the pack boundaries, a warrior stopped me.
“Where do you think you are going?” He looked stern and it seemed like he wouldn’t hesitate to mindlink the alpha that I was trying to escape, which wasn’t good for me.
The warrior was eyeing a box of ice cream that I stole from Bren’s personal fridge. I plan to bring this as a bribe since none of us pack members has the luxury to buy and eat.
I had made plans ahead of me and I knew the warrior wouldn’t say no to this. Or even know what kind of soft cream ice cream was.
“I have to get some beauty products for Eliza,” I said.
“And what is that thing with you?”
“Oh, this?” I asked, showing him the ice cream container. “This is an ice cream. It is a sweet and flavored soft cream. It is Bren’s favorite sweet. I cleaned his fridge and told me to throw this away since it’s already expired. When I looked at the expiration date, it wasn’t expired at all,” I explained.
“Does he know about this?”
I shook my head and opened the lid of the ice cream container showing him the mouth-watering violet color hardened cream.
“No, he didn’t.”
I saw the warrior’s mouth watered. I couldn’t blame him. No one in my pack except the Alpha family tasted this sweet cream.
“If you give me that, then you can leave”
He was trying to sound tough but I knew he wanted the ice cream to himself.
I had him hooked but I still had to put up a show, I pretended to be hesitant.
“But it’s-.”
“You can either give it to me and be on your way or I can tell the alpha that you tried to escape.” He threatened.
I tried to look scared at his threat before I handed the ice cream to him. He looked very happy that his threat had worked but he had no idea that this was something I really wanted.
“You can leave, if you are caught, you never saw me. Understood?”
“Yes.” I sneered in my mind, he was trying to give me a way out for himself if I got caught. But on the bright side, I had a few hours to get what I needed and return before the Luna got back.
When I arrived in the city where the stores were, I didn’t hesitate before entering one because I couldn’t risk running into Luna and Eliza or any of my pack members. The result will be disastrous.
A saleslady smiled at me as I entered the beauty store.
“Welcome, is there anything you want that I can help you with?”
“I need a makeup kit.”
The saleslady scanned my face.
“Perfect! I have something that would be just good for you,” she said, smiling and led me to the make-up kit shelf. She let me sit on a high chair and took a couple of things from the shelf. “Would you mind if I applied these products to your face? I’m sure this tone will look good on you.”
I nodded at her. Since nobody else in the store apart from both of us, I let her do what she wanted.
I let the woman do what she wanted to do. It took a couple of minutes when she finally said I could check my face in the mirror.
Taking a deep breath, I looked at myself and gasped at the stranger who was looking back at me. She was so beautiful, the scars on his face faded as if she was really the Alpha’s daughter who lives in luxury things.
“Did you like it?” she said.
“Yes.” I forced myself to respond, I was still shocked.
“I knew that this tone would look good on you. Behind those scars on your face, there’s a beautiful face hiding behind it,” she said.
I blushed a little, I haven’t received any compliments in a very long time.
When I returned to the pack, I entered through the backdoor and hid my stuff in a nearby bush. I’ll grab it before going home tonight.
After making sure it was well hidden, I went to the kitchen to make food for the Alpha family. About an hour later, Eliza came in with her best friend Courtney and they were laughing over some gossip or whatever they were talking to.
Courtney was one of the bullies who loved watching me suffer and I hate her so much.
“Where’s my food?” Eliza yelled from the living room. I didn’t respond, I only carried a plate of brownies and a can of soda to her.
“Where is mine? Are you suddenly blind that you couldn’t notice the number of people here?” Courtney inquired rudely.
I rolled my eyes at her.
“I only serve the Alpha family and you don’t belong to it.”
“Iza, she is being rude. How do you tolerate her?”
“She’s right and stop being whiny and let’s talk about the Rogues that would be attending the ball since it's your first time attending” It was obvious that Eliza would rather tolerate me than her because she knew what kind of person Courtney was.
I glared at her before returning to the kitchen. I wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation and find out as much as possible about the Ball.
Courtney looked embarrassed and could only swallow her grievances since Eliza wasn’t going to support her.
“I heard that the demon is going to attend, I only hope that he doesn’t end up getting mated to any of us.”
The demon?
Who is that? I was confused.
“I pity the she-wolf that ends up as his mate, she would be so scared that he might murder her in her sleep someday. I heard that he is twenty-five but he is the most feared Rogue king,” Eliza chipped in.
“Yes. When he was fifteen, he single-handedly fought a group of vampires and a pack of wolves who attacked him and won, all the other alphas and the king feared him because it is said that he killed his own father to get the Rogue King position.”
“He is the most ruthless Rogue and he also gets uncontrollable bloodlust. Who knows whether he might end up killing his mate someday.”
“Even our king was so scared of him, his members respected him.”
The conversation went on and on, at some point I got so tired of listening and decided to go home. What I had heard about the Rogue King was enough to make me fascinated, how can a person make so many fear him so much? Others were scared of him but I looked forward to meeting him, I couldn’t draw a conclusion about him without first meeting him.
Darkness took me the moment I saw him. My legs gave out. My vision blurred. The last thing I saw before everything faded was the silver flame in his eyes, Seven, and then… nothing.And then warmth. That was the first thing I felt.Not the biting cold of the forest, or the damp chill of night, but a slow, steady warmth that wrapped around me like a cocoon. I shifted, confused by the softness beneath meth, e velvet-like bed, the silk brushing against my arm.And then the scent, it hit me. Lavender. Oak. Something faintly metallic.It was familiar, too familiar.My eyes shot open. The room was dim, the windows covered by long, heavy curtains that danced in a soft breeze. A candle flickered beside the bed. The walls are stone, regal, and carved with intricate patterns. And the ceiling…My breath caught.I knew this place. I had been here before. Lived here for weeks and months, disguised behind someone else’s name. Someone else’s face. This was the castle where I had pretended to be Sabrin
I don’t remember when Amber slowed down.Only that, when I opened my eyes again, we were no longer crashing through the endless forest. The air was calmer, the scent of rot and blood faded into earth and pine.We’d stopped.I blinked, disoriented, my body sore and stiff. We were tucked between a jagged outcropping of stone and the thick roots of an ancient tree, a natural hollow, hidden from all sides unless you were practically standing on top of it. The brush above masked the space like a cocoon.A safe zone.Amber had shifted back, crouched nearby, her chest rising and falling in uneven bursts. She was breathing hard, drenched in sweat and rain, but she was watching the trees like a soldier on her last thread of strength. She heard me stir and turned her head. Her eyes softened when she saw I was awake.“We’re stopping here. Just for a bit,” she said, voice hoarse.I tried to sit up, groaning as my body protested. “Where... are we?”“Still deep in the forest,” she replied, handing
The rain didn’t let up. It fell in heavy sheets, soaking the forest in silence and steam. We followed the trail from the map for hours, pushing through underbrush and ducking under fallen trees, our legs aching, our bodies barely holding on.But we didn’t stop.We couldn’t.Amber glanced back every now and then, her hand never straying far from the blade strapped to her thigh. I didn’t need to ask. I felt it too. That pull. That invisible thread tugging at my spine, warning me that something was wrong. Again.By midday, we stopped near a thicket to catch our breath, our clothes clinging to our skin, breaths misting in the cold air.That’s when Amber stiffened.She didn’t say a word. She just turned slowly toward the northeast, toward the path behind us. I followed her gaze.Nothing. Just trees and fog. And then I smelled it. Rot. Wet fur. Blood.My throat tightened.“No,” I whispered.“It’s them,” Amber said, her voice sharp with disbelief. “How? We’ve been running for days. We masked o
A soft hand shook my shoulder.“Kayah.” Amber’s voice was low, but urgent. “Wake up. They’re gone.”I blinked hard, my brain slow to catch up. The dampness of the soil, the cold seeping into my bones, the overwhelming stench, it all came rushing back.“Gone?” I croaked.Amber nodded. “They stayed a while. Sniffed around. I thought we were dead for sure. But they gave up. Probably confused by the rot or lost our scent.”She offered her hand. I took it, groaning as I pulled myself from the shallow grave.“We need to move,” she said. “Opposite direction. If they circle back, we can’t be here.”We didn’t waste time. We shifted, our tired bones snapping back into fur and muscle, and we ran. Slower than before, sore and sluggish, but we moved. The trees blurred past in streaks of green and brown, the world quieter now. Still dangerous. Still hunted. But quiet.After an hour or two, the forest thinned, and we found it, a river. The sound of rushing water was the sweetest thing I’d heard in
No man’s land stretched wide and endless before us, untamed forest, broken earth, and shadows that whispered of the past. It was wild, yes, but free.We moved cautiously for two days, always in silence. Always watching. No patrols. No signs of trackers. Just trees and wind and the echo of our own breath.And for a brief, foolish moment, I let myself believe we’d made it. That maybe Axel hadn’t noticed. That maybe, just maybe… he didn’t care. But that night shattered the illusion.We’d made a tiny camp, just enough to rest and eat. Amber built a small fire, careful to shield it with rocks and branches. It barely flickered, barely glowed. Still… it was too much.The growl ripped through the forest like thunder. Low. Deep. Wrong. My blood turned to ice. Amber froze mid-bite. Her eyes met mine. We knew that sound.Ferals.Not rogue. Not Alpha.Ferals.An abomination of wolf and rage and madness. Creatures so far gone even the moon goddess had turned her back on them. Axel’s personal dogs.
I didn’t take clothes. Just stuffed everything into a plain black backpack. Something I could throw over my shoulder and run with. Clothes didn’t matter. Freedom did.I hid the bag in a loose panel behind the dresser in my room, then cleaned everything. Every step. Every breath. Every fingerprint.By the time night fell, I almost let myself believe this might work.Until I heard the door. I froze.The scent hit first, his scent. Axel. No. No no no..He wasn’t supposed to be here. Not yet. Not tonight. I shoved the panel back into place, threw myself onto the bed, and forced my body to go limp just as the door opened. He stepped in slowly, the weight of exhaustion dragging at his frame. His shirt was dirty, blood-streaked. His hair matted from sweat. He looked like he’d been through hell. But all I felt was fear.He looked at me.I smiled. Soft. Tender. Practiced.“You’re back,” I said gently, rising to my feet. “I was worried.”His eyes softened just a little. “You stayed up?”“I always