Run for Your Life
four
*ROSEA*
Jordan points an accusing finger at me, his eyes cold, his expression angry. “I could feel it,” he snarls. “I felt her betraying the bond.”
“That’s why the goddess is punishing her by not giving her a pup,” Elder Frank exclaims.
I cast a secret gaze at Elder Arthur, noting how he looks like he is at a loss for words. He just keeps shaking his head and muttering something.
“With these new developments, I demand to be freed of my bond to her,” Jordan hisses.
“What?!” Arthur exclaims. “There is no way we could—“
“She betrayed him,” Elder Frank snarls. “And her position. She is not worthy to be called the luna of this pack and the alpha’s mate.”
“What do you have to say in your defense?” Jordan snarls.
For a moment, I stay silent, then I straighten my back. “We all know there is literally nothing I could say. This is pointless.”
I thought Jordan would look annoyed, but Elder Frank’s eyebrow is ticking as well. What’s his problem with me? I have no idea. I didn’t know the man before he came to this pack.
Jordan casts a disgusted gaze at the warrior, his personal scapegoat, it seems. I am not sure how they bribed him in the first place, but I certainly hope it was worth the money for the humiliation he is going to face now. “Be glad we are short on men, or I would have killed you on the spot.”
“The man was honest,” Elder Frank says. “He fell into the trap of the luna. He had no chance.”
“Maybe,” Jordan snarls. “I will keep an eye on you. Now get lost.”
He doesn’t need to repeat his words, as the guy basically scrambles out of the room, his eyes wide with fear.
“I have everything we need,” the third elder says. He brings a bowl with a silver knife, handing it to Jordan first, waiting for him to cut his palm. Drops of red blood drip down into it. Then, Frank pours the contents of a vial into it.
“What’s this?” Arthur asks.
“A witch’s potion mixed with the alpha’s blood. It will break the bond between him and his mate,” Frank sneers. Once done, he hands Jordan the bowl. “It’s on you, Alpha.”
Jordan just smirks when he looks at me. “Hold her in place, Clemmens,” he commands.
Clemmens’ hands tremble when he presses me down onto my knees.
Jordan steps closer, grabbing me by my hair and pulling my head back.
I am certainly not going to help him in any way, but he is strong enough not to need any help. “Hold her head,” he snarls.
Clemmens obliges, casting his eyes away from me while he does so.
Meanwhile, Jordan clasps my face, his fingers digging into either side of my cheeks until my jaw is forced open.
“Finally,” he whispers while he starts pouring the liquid into my mouth.
Then he clasps his hand over my nose, forcing me to swallow it all.
He smiles down at me. It’s a happy smile, but equal parts cold and vile.
For a moment, nothing happens, then slowly I feel something churn inside me. It’s like my insides are set on fire, as if I am burned from the inside out. Jordan lets go of me, his face grimacing in pain as well. “I reject you, Rosea Hall, as my mate and luna.”
He says more, his voice mixing with other voices, but I can’t tell what’s being said. My body is shaking and trembling. Whatever they fed me can’t be legal. I don’t know how it works, but I know one thing for certain: it’s eating and burning up my bond to Jordan.
In a peculiar, twisted way, I am finally set free from him. I just don’t know if I will survive this.
Distantly, I can hear a knocking sound against the door. Between the waves of nausea and pain, I can make out the door opening slightly.
“Come in, child.” Elder Frank says, now sounding gentle all of a sudden.
Clara enters the room, and one look at her face tells me this poor kid is terrified. “I am here. I have heard… but…”
“Don’t worry, dear,” Elder Frank says, his voice sickly sweet. “We are not expecting a child from you immediately.”
By the goddess! What is wrong with this guy?
Clara is barely legal, yet they want Jordan to have his way with her?
Clara herself looks white like a sheet. It’s one thing to be subtly courted and praised by the alpha, but an entirely different thing to suddenly be forced to become his chosen mate. To become his breeding machine.
She is a na?ve child who has no idea what is going on.
Clara’s gaze wanders towards me, and I must truly look horrible for the way her eyes widen in horror.
Jordan frowns. “Take her away, Clemmens!”
Clemmens nods, hurrying to pull me up to my feet and dragging me out of my room. He keeps saying something, but I can’t make out any words. I barely notice where we are walking and who else we meet. Only when I fall into the comfort of my bed do I realize I am back in my room.
The noises from outside keep getting louder and then quieter again. Sometimes it feels like someone is screaming right next to me, while at other times everything sounds so far away. How much time has passed?
… sea!
There is something warm reaching out towards me. And then something cold.
“Luna,” a voice whispers. A sharp smell enters my nostrils, startling me. My stomach revolts, but before I can throw up all over myself, there is a bucket in front of me, and someone moves my head over it. “Finally, out with it,” the voice mutters.
I know that voice. It’s… “Marie?” I whisper.
“One of the omegas alerted me,” she mutters.
“But how…”
“I have my ways to sneak around,” she says, before a second wave of nausea hits me.
Marie keeps holding the bucket and pulls my hair to the side.
She rubs my back gently. “I don’t know what they gave you.
I thought something to help you throw up could be beneficial now. I am sorry for the discomfort, though.”
“Don’t be,” I mutter. “For all I know, you might have just saved my life.”
Rosea! Alora appears in my mind, her posture graceful, but her eyes angry. Finally. I thought they cut our connection for real.
“Maybe that’s what the potion was supposed to do,” I mutter. At the mere thought of it, my stomach revolts again.
“Do what?” Marie asks.
“Cut me from my wolf forever,” I say.
She stares at me, her eyes wide in horror. “By the goddess! It’s bad enough that they cut your connection to Jordan, but that… that’s… unbelievable. It’s horrendous, it’s—“
“You know my mate bond was cut?”
“Yes,” she says. “Everyone in the pack knows, by now. The word about your so-called betrayal has spread.”
Finally, my senses are returning, and with them I am starting to put the puzzle pieces together, not that it’s particularly difficult to do so now that everything that went down. Jordan got what he wanted. He got rid of me, he kept his reputation and has a new, innocent toy at his side.
“I need to leave,” I whisper. “I am sure Jordan will have me killed if I stay.”
“Absolutely!” Marie agrees. “You need to leave immediately. Come.” She helps me up.
“I just need to get rid of my ties—” I pause, surprised when I see my hands free. The cuffs Clemmens put on me are lying on the ground, with a hairpin next to them. “How did you do that, Marie?”
“That wasn’t me,” she says.
“But who—”
“Does it matter right now?”
“No, you are right.” With her help, I manage to get to my feet. “I have everything I need,” I tell her.
“What about money and documents?“
“If I make it out of here alive, I have something prepared.”
Noises seem to be coming closer, male voices. That’s the warriors, Alora says.
They might be checking on me!
“Quick,” I whisper. “Someone is coming.”
I don’t need to tell Marie twice. With her help, I make it to the window and out of it. To my surprise, there is no one guarding it from outside. “How?” I mutter.
“I told you, I have my ways,” she says. “Don’t ask too many questions. I won’t ask any either.”
“I am not going to ask anything. I am just glad you were here when I needed you.” I can feel the cold night air on my skin, sharpening my senses again. Above us, I can hear noises. I grab Marie and pull her into the darkness of the night, hiding out of sight.
Someone yells. “She is gone!”
“How can that be?” Clemmens asks. “Fuck!”
“Damn it. What do we do now, Beta?”
“The alpha is relying on us,” Clemmens commands. “He had to leave for this alpha gala. It’s on us to make sure his orders are followed. Alert the elders immediately. The luna is on the run!”
“We are already here,” I hear Elder Frank’s voice, his voice trembling in anger. “How is that possible?!”
“Here, she must have opened her cuffs with a hairpin,” someone else says.
“She can’t have gone far,” Frank snarls. “Find her and kill her, like Alpha Jordan demanded!”
Marie squeezes my hand and tugs me away from the window, silently making her way away from the pack house. When we are far enough away, I stop. “You need to leave,” I whisper.
“No way, I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. If they find us, you will be dead. I could not forgive myself if you lost your life now.”
“I covered my scent,” she points out.
I shake my head. “Maybe, but they will be able to sense me nevertheless. Either I make it, or I don’t. If I do, it’s only thanks to you, and I won’t forget. If I don’t, it’s not your fault, but theirs.”
“But—“
“Like I said, they will be able to track me,” I reason. “Realistically, we are both safer on our own.”
Marie looks at me, then squeezes my hand. “Don’t die, Luna,” she whispers.
I nod at her, waiting for her to disappear into the darkness of the night. With newfound resolve, I make my own way through the pack, relieved that it’s a dark, cloudy night and that the pack itself is still buzzing. All those scents and voices will make it difficult to track me.
Once past the pack houses, the forest opens up, giving me more room to run, but also more danger to be detected. Now I’ll need to be quick. Alora, they will soon catch up on our scent. Now it’s on you.
Finally! she snarls.
Remember, our goal is to survive. Only shift when we absolutely have to, so we won’t lose our clothes and the small bag.
With that, I hand over the reins to my body. Alora takes over with ease, her presence filling me as she pushes my body forward. There are voices behind me. Someone must have detected us, as expected. I can make out the warriors’, but most prominent of all is Clemmens’ voice.
As the beta, he is a strong and fast wolf.
I will have to shift! Alora warns.
Do it, I say. Clemmens is dangerous. We’ll find some clothes somewhere else.
With that, Alora shifts into our wolf form, dashing through the darkness of the night with newfound strength and power. We might have just lost our mate, and she should be weakened, but I believe part of her is finally feeling liberated. The rush of endorphins pushes her forward now.
“There she is!” someone yells.
“Luna, stop running!”
I can hear their bones crack while they shift into their own wolf forms, but none of them are strong enough to keep up with us, none but one. Suddenly, it’s only Clemmens and me, with me running through the night to reach the pack borders, and him chasing me to kill me.
The path to the pack borders is blocked by more warriors, so Alora and I have to take a swift detour to where a torrential river splits the pack.
It’s our only chance. Before we can make it, though, Clemmens finally catches up to us, his wolf ramming its head into our side and knocking us over.
Alora scrambles to her feet again, panting while she stares at Clemmens’ wolf angrily.
Let me handle this, I say.
But—
You can still fight if it doesn’t work, I say.
Reluctantly, she hands me back the reins, and I shift back, not minding that I am standing in front of Clemmens all naked now. “And now?” I ask him coldly. “You were Rory’s best friend and his closest ally. He trusted you.”
Through his wolf’s eyes, Clemmens keeps staring at me.
“I am your luna,” I say, staring at his wolf. “Alora and I are your luna.”
At that, his wolf tilts his head slightly, but it’s not proof enough that he is giving up.
“So, tell me, Clemmens, are you finally getting rid of me and the last part of your conscience?”
For a moment, it’s eerily quiet around us.
I can feel Alora tensing up again, ready to take over, but then Clemmens’ wolf lowers his head slightly.
It’s just one small moment, and I am not even sure if it was truly Clemmens or the deep loyalty of his wolf spirit, but it’s enough for me to act.
Without thinking twice, I turn around, sprint past him and jump into the coldness of the river.
The stream is strong and dangerous. Wolves don’t come here to swim; we don’t even cross the river here.
So, either I will drown here, or I will survive.
And if I do, I will make sure to haunt Jordan for the rest of his life.