A flood of echoes following Eli's breaking voice, sent chills down my spine. The guard's torch flashed past his face, and his eyes were filled with fear, or perhaps something I recognized from Tessa's gaze before Kade’s kick busted the door.My heart drops, I lunge at the statuette, its frayed edges grazing my palm, its map to the man in the hill's hut now a mockery behind doubled guards. But I was ready to risk everything, what the worst to happen? Getting caught or betrayed? It's nothing I haven't felt.So I insisted “We still attempt it,” my tone a steady, fierce sword, cutting through the night's cold air. Eli wavers, his slim figure taut, his generosity, the bread, now a doubt written across my faith. His fingers trembled, nothing like Tessa’s guilty cringe but laden with a silent weight, and I clutch the statuette more firmly, its wood heated from my incessant carving, my swollen hand aching beneath dried blood. The hills are calling, the man's figure a phantom in my thought
His footsteps pounded like my heartbeat, keys twirled around his fingers sent sharp clinking waves to my ears.“....from the first day you stepped your foot here” he continued, his smile stretched from ear to ear, freezing me to the core like a frozen lake as he opened the cage.His teeth shining in the starlight, the molded wolf statuette in my hand, a heavy burden. His hold, made of steel shoves me through the Sun Pack's camp for the third time, on the third day. My heavy boots landed with a shaky gait. I staggered on the frost heaved ground, chains rattling like a funeral dirge. The glade unveils, a circle of torches spattering blazes, and Jason stands at its center, his slate-gray eyes cut across the gloom of the forest. His right hand raises “someone’s prying,” he breaks the silence, his tone carrying a quiet growl, as his fingers pointed to the hill where that same man stands, motionless and alone, a dark shade against the early morning’s light. My heart races, hope surging
Tessa's face, a stream of emotions I couldn't feel “They'll kill me if I didn't”, her confession cracks through me, deeper than the shack’s fractured walls, her statement a dagger turning in my heart as Kade’s silhouette hovers, the door still vibrating from his forceful kick. My heart shatters, Tessa’s warmth from our apple was just a deception, her remorseful gaze flickering away as guards grab my arms, their holds bruising through my cloak. Kade raises the journal, its aged leather shining in the torchlight, taken from my sleeve, by her? “Jason will adore this,” he scoffs, his marked face curving into a smile, the Sun Pack tattoo throbbing like a battle drum on his neck. I lunge, chains rattling, my strong hand grasping at the air, yet they tug me across the camp, boots soaking in mud, the carved wolf statuette, placed from Tessa’s quaking hands, searing in my grip. My inflamed hand aches, tender and ineffective, yet I grasp the statuette, its sharp corners stinging, a delicate
Kade’s growl shoves me from the shack, his hold, a clamp on my arm, chains rattling as he pulls me through the Sun Pack’s camp. My boots slip on cold lifeless stones just as many as the questions I want to ask, the truth to the lies I've been told, the things I've lost; father's pendant has fallen between cracks again, its absence a void in my heart, but I promise to get it back. Torchlight flashes over the rocky hills, the Sun Pack’s growling, wolf gates sinking into the fog, behind us as we arrive at Jason’s hall, its stone walls towering like a monument. My puffy hand aches, sore from the cuffs hold, my bruised cheek numb from the night's sting, yet the fear in my gut burns wild, one day earlier than Gabriel said, and I’m already given away. Jason reclines on a throne carved from bone, his gray eyes, dark and sharp, cutting the moon light as he raises a letter, its my Pack’s seal shining red in the firelight. I recognize the slanted scrawls like shadows on a wall, it's Gabri
Even the air feels the weight of Jason's voice, a frigid order that sends a shiver through my veins as Kade’s firm hold drags me from the cart, my feet tripping over sharp stones. The gates of the Sun Pack stand imposing in front, etched with fierce wolf faces, their stony eyes shimmering in the torchlight as if they are sentient, ravenous. My wrists feel crushed, cord digging into the skin, sore from holding out against kade in the forest, something I regret, what did it lead to.....a reality of nightmares.I startled, on the qui vive when the caravan stops, and wolves encircle, their taunts a tempest, “Behold the Moon traitor’s offspring!” their tones jagged like the broken tree branches spread across the camp borders. Against my ribs, my heart pounded, like a hammer to the head of a nail; I had envisioned freedom, of escaping from the strong hands of cruelty and slavery to a place of safety, yet this is a prison, filled with iron bars and sneering faces. I search high and low
My swollen hand is a painful mess as I struggle, nails scraping his wrist, spilling blood that shines darkly under the stars. "Jason's fed up with waiting," he snarls, his scarred visage a contorted mask.His power surges like a tide I cannot resist, my boots slip in the mire, thorns piercing my skin as I was hauled through the mud, yelling, desperate to stop him. The torchlight of the Moon Pack dwindles behind us, a faint brightness engulfed by the darkness, and fear consumes me. They're taking me now, a day ahead, tearing me away from my plans, my evidence, my struggle. Kade's hold constricts painfully, leaving marks, and his pale eye sparkles sadistically as he pulls me toward an unknown destiny. A hill rises amid the trees, and I catch sight of them, Gabriel, outlined against the dimming Moon Pack flames, his grin a victorious cut, and Evelyn next to him, motionless, her blonde hair shimmering in the light like a spirit’s shroud. My heart races, anger spilling out. "You convi