Her Daughter

HD ~ Chapter Seventeen

I motioned for Garrett to follow me as I silently crept down the hallway towards the kitchen and let out a deep breath when I found that there was no one in there. I looked out the window that faced the backyard and saw that Oliver was walking the perimeter of the house. I waited for him to make his way to the front yard before I ushered Garrett out the door.

We took off in a sprint across the lawn to the trees. "Don't phase. It'll be easier for them to catch our scent," I said as we ran through the trees.

"If we don't it'll be easier for them to catch us!" Garrett exclaimed as he dodged a tree to his left, but he stayed on two legs anyway.

We ran for another five minutes until I began to sense a wolf closing in a half a mile to my left. I could hear his paws beating down against the forest floor. In the distance, I heard a low howl and then more paws following the first set. They found us and they were coming.

I started to slow down. I could by Garrett some time so he could get home. If he made it home, he could be safe. Even if I stayed behind, Cole wouldn't let me get hurt. He was my mate and even though after today he might hate me, he wouldn't let me get hurt. Right?

There was only one way to find out.

I slowed to a stop and Garrett stopped short, looking at me with wild eyes. "Are you out of your goddamn mind?" he asked. "They're less than half a mile away!"

"Go," I urged him. "I'll distract them and you run. Get home!"

Garrett shook his head. "I'm not leaving without you," he said, looking around frantically. Despite his words, I could tell he was already regretting staying back to see why I stopped.

"You need to get home, Garrett. Tell my family I'm safe and tell my mother not to start a war over this. I left on my own, remember?" I said as I pushed him towards our borders. "Phase and go."

Garrett backed away slowly. "Your mom won't listen to that and you know it."

I bit out a laugh. "Clarity might not bother to come after me once she finds out her daughter is mated to the biggest threat to her pack. She'll hate me then," I said.

With a sympathetic look, Garrett turned and ran towards the border. I watch him phase into his dusty, brown wolf form a few yards out. Once I was sure he was going to make it, I turned and braced myself for what was to come.

It only took about thirty seconds for a few snarling wolves and couple of angry looking men to emerge from the trees. One man, I vaguely knew him as Christopher was coming right up to me. "You little, lying bitch," he snarled at me and lashed out. I let out a surprised yelp as I stumbled back and tripped backwards one a protruding branch. I fell backwards, landed hard on my bottom, and braced myself back on my hands.

Christopher just continued to growl at me. "You let him go and worst of all, you lied to all of us! You're her daughter. You're fucking Clarity Ordain's daughter!" I didn't know what to say. I just stared up at the man unleashing his wrath on me, very aware of the others around us. "Our leader might be bewitched by you, but I see right through you. Now I'm going to kill you like he should have when you first got here," he sneered as he started towards me.

I scrambled back until I hit a tree. I slowly inched up into standing position using the trunk as support as Christopher stalked towards me. No one else moved. I didn't know if they didn't believe Christopher would actually hurt me or they simply didn't care. Since no one was coming to help me, I guess I knew my answer.

I felt my airway close off as Christopher held me hard against the tree by my throat with his right hand. Instinctively, both my hands started to claw at his to get him to release me as I gasped for breath. My eyes started to water and I could feel myself panicking. I couldn't die. Not like this.