The Runaway Lead Lives Next Door Novels & Stories

For the first time in years, I felt powerless, as if everything I valued was slipping through my fingers. Finally, the team managed to pinpoint Emma’s phone’s last ping just outside an abandoned cottage—the perfect hiding place. A surge of determination bolted through me. This was the closest lead I’d had. It was about to dawn, but I was desperate to reach them before the light, so I could use the darkness to camouflage myself. I started running, speeding toward the last known location. Because I knew one thing with absolute certainty: I wouldn’t stop. Not until I had Emma and James back, safe, where they belonged.

Alpha Leonardo; “What else do you think I want? What man runs away from his home when his house is on fire,” Aunt nagged. That was it. She fucking called me just to nag me. This has become her best friend and she doesn’t get tired of acting it. “I didn’t run away, Aunt. I only left to find little peace outside of the packhouse.” “So there isn’t any peace in the packhouse?”

Which success of the present, has come at the cost of all my time. “Mr. White, we have arrived!” The driver suddenly interrupted my train of thought. I nodded at him, then opened the door and walked down. Before entering the house, I said, “Come pick me up an hour earlier than usual tomorrow morning!” The driver immediately nodded in agreement, I watched him drive away and then entered the house. My house is not too spacious. But if I live alone, it is extremely cold and lonely. Before I thought about finding a friend and going through a two-person life, but then I gave up.

It has no idea how close it is to losing me. And this time, when I leave, I won’t be dragged. I’ll walk. ** Running, I learn, is not a single decision. It is a thousand small ones stacked carefully on top of each other, each chosen so quietly that no one notices the weight shifting until the floor is already gone beneath them. Emma and I do not speak of escape out loud at first. Walls listen here. Doors remember. Even shadows have loyalties. So we plan in pieces. The first piece is observation.

I didn’t stop running until I reached my tiny house. My hands shook violently as I threw clothes into a bag. The little money I has left, Documents. Everything I had. It wasn’t much. But it was enough to leave. Rina’s voice trembled. We’re really doing this. “Yes.” I zipped the bag shut. “I’m done living like prey.” Within minutes, I was sprinting toward the train station on the edge of town. The night air burned in my lungs as the sound of an approaching train echoed across the platform.

I struggled to reply, and he took a step towards me, quickly closing down and obstructing any form of escape. With a finger, he tilted my chin, and I looked into his eyes with trembling hands that desired to be left alone. “Don’t you dare think you can leave this mansion without passing through me first. Anywhere you go, no matter the distance, you are going to be found. I will find you, and I will make sure you are punished accordingly.” I nodded, eager to flee from him. “You can run, but you cannot hide. The Adams family doesn't take runaways kindly. Do you want to know what the punishment for being a runaway is?”

** "The Shack" was a rundown piece of shit that made me miss the vampire-mansion-lair-dungeon-of-doom. It was in the middle of nowhere. Literally, it was in the middle of nowhere. The only neighbors were some gators in the bayou and maybe some birds and lizards. Oh! And don't forget those crickets! The shack was nestled deep in a bayou that was probably on no map in existence. Abraham told Hezekiah to make sure that we weren't followed—that was a pretty easy task to fulfill.

When he looked over at her, he saw that she was still fast asleep. Feeling relieved, he opened the cracker package and right away started munching. Between chews, he would take bites out of the hunk of cheese. Little bits of crumbs fell from his stick of cheese and as he chewed. As he started to feel a little better, he began to think about the situation. They couldn’t stay here for long. Maybe after Allison woke up, he could suggest to her that maybe they could try and run away to the old abandoned warehouse down the highway. He had heard a lot of runaways lived there and maybe they could become one of them when all of a sudden…

Anika was already dozing when a terrible howl was heard under the window. - What the hell! - She jumped up on the bed and listened. Outside the window, the street was illuminated by a flash, and another boom was heard. The rain drummed steadily on the glass. And again the howl. The dog under the threshold began to howl piercingly, shouting above the thunderstorm. Anika was worried that he would wake up all the neighbors in the area with his terribly loud voice. Jumping out of bed, she ran downstairs and opened the door. The dog sat on the threshold, raising his head, and howled.

I heard footsteps towards the door and hid myself behind the door next to it. The door I was leaning on belonged to another Alpha. Alpha Dean of the Cristal Lake Pack. His son has also left with my brother Aston for his Alpha training. I watched as Beta Matthew shook hands with Alpha Ethan. Shit he is heading in my direction. The next thing I knew, the door flung open and I was pulled inside. "Ashleigh, ease dropping can get you into trouble." My heart was racing but I was grateful to this alpha. "Yes Alpha." "But that is why your father put my room next to Alpha Ethan."