I emotionlessly washed the dishes, feeling blank and used to the sad whimpers coming from my wolf. She had been like this since yesterday, refusing to stop whimpering and calling out to our mate.
‘I miss mate. I bet he is very kind and caring, not to mention; handsome.’ She said for the umpteenth time and I let out another sigh.
‘Shut up, Elizabeth, will you?!’ I said to her, getting annoyed at her because I knew how she was feeling.
Lost in thought, I accidently cut myself. I winced before sighing as I watched the cut heal.
I smelt the same scent I smelt yesterday coming closer. I slightly panicked before making a beeline for my room.
I locked myself in there, not caring about the beatings I would have to endure for slacking off. I just needed to stay away from my mate.
People usually ran towards their mates but I was running away from him. How messed up could I possibly get?
Though, I did believe that he would eventually find someone better than me and wouldn’t need to waste his breathe rejecting me and I wouldn’t need to go through the pain of getting rejected.
It was a win-win situation.
‘Aunty, I am coming. Just you wait.’ I thought with determination and felt Liz feel a little better which in turn made me feel better.
Knock knock
I flinched at the sudden sound and quickly got up from my bed I was sitting on and ran to the door.
I opened it to reveal none other than the Alpha himself. He invited himself in as I took a couple of steps back to give him space to enter.
He glared at me with his menacing eyes and I cowered back, my hands trembling. He must be here to punish me for slacking off.
He snarled angrily before pushing me down the stairs and it was like everything happened in slow motion as I rolled down the stairs, my head hitting forcefully at every step.
My body felt heavy as I fell to the ground at last. I heard him make his way downstairs but I didn’t dare look up at him.
“It’s entirely your fault, you worthless girl!” he yelled at me and slapped me. I felt dizzy after his slap but refused to show it.
He started repeatedly kicking me as I rolled myself into a small ball in a futile attempt to protect my body.
He kept saying that it was my fault why ‘the guest’ refused his offer to become allies.
After a while, he stopped and I looked up to see him taking out his favorite knife with a sinister smile adorning his features. All color left my face and a pout took its place on my lips.
“Why are you such a disappointment?” said the Alpha, his harsh words hitting my heart and piercing it.
He slid the knife against my cheek and I squeezed my eyes shut, hating the stinging sensation from the silver and wolfs bane.
Then, without a warning, he stabbed me in the stomach and I cried out before he covered my mouth with his hand.
He kept the knife in my stomach and harshly made me look up at him by my chin. His eyes shone with amusement as tears fell from my eyes.
He again placed his hand on my mouth before twisting the knife. My eyes widened and a muffled scream left my mouth. He took the knife out and I started coughing up blood.
“Ugh, my hand! You got your blood all over me, you trash!” he spat in my face and punched me square in the jaw.
He made me look at the small blood stain on his shoe and then pushed me away like I was made of filth.
“You are going to clean this off by the time I return from my meeting.” he ordered before leaving the room. I fell backwards, coughing and feeling light-headed.
‘Can we leave today instead?’ I asked Liz, knowing full well that she couldn’t answer.
I made up my mind before bandaging myself and changing my clothes before leaving the room, going straight to the Alpha’s room to see his shoes placed outside his door.
I took the shoes and went to the laundry room to do the laundry as well as cleaning his shoes because I learnt a long time ago that if I didn’t complete a task that would mean that I was dead.
***
I breathed out a sigh as I closed my door, locking it. Today was a very tiring day as I had to do my chores as well as avoid my mate who was apparently looking for me which warmed my heart.
My mate was a very tall guy with chocolate brown hair and sparkling yellow eyes which shined beautifully in the light.
As you could probably tell, I took my time admiring him, while hiding in the closet almost no one knew existed.
He looked intimidating but still managed to lure me in. Was this what they called ‘The Mate Bond’?
‘Indeed it is,’ Liz spoke up and I rolled my eyes. Now that I had eaten something, she had come out.
‘Are we ready to leave? Did you pack everything we would need?’ she asked me and I replied with a nod.
‘Now all we need to do is form a plan on how we are going to get past all the security,’ I told her and saw her nod.
We discussed for 30 minutes or so before finally leaving the room. Our plan was to run in human form through the woods before reaching the river nearby and getting ourselves wet to get rid of our scent for a while.
Then, shifting and making a run for it towards the border. Once across the border, just keep running without looking back, no matter what.
I filled my bag with some food and then left the house, feeling myself getting nervous but soon felt better.
After running for what felt like an eternity, I finally reached the river and dived into it head first before shifting into my wolf.
I wet my fur before giving control to Liz who took our bag in her mouth and made a run for it. I hadn’t let her out in forever so now that she was free, she felt amazing as she zoomed through the forest and towards our freedom.
After running for half an hour, we finally made it near the border where we saw several guards on patrol. It was going to be a challenge getting past them.
We decided that it was best to wait for a while and hid in the bushes before shifting back into human form.
After about 15 minutes of waiting, it was time for the patrol swap. That was the perfect opportunity for us to make a beeline for the border.
I shifted into my wolf before running towards the border and crossing it as fast as I could. I felt all the ties I had with the pack, break and it honestly felt refreshing.
I felt like all my worries had faded away and I let a small smile break out onto my face.
I ran and ran and ran without sparing a glance behind me.
This was a new beginning for me. I was leaving behind the life I had always known.
Then, it finally set in, ‘I escaped. Oh god, I really escaped! I can’t believe it!’
‘Yeah, yeah, I get it. Now stop shouting and find a place to stay for the night,’ Liz said which made me stop, even though I wanted to shout some more.
I looked around, noticing tall trees with owls sitting on them, hooting away but still looking like they knew all the secrets of the world.
The chirps of the grasshoppers filled my ears as I also heard the barking of a dog and the darkness made me shiver. My hands started sweating and my fingers wringed together on instinct.
‘Let’s get a move on, Iz,’ Liz’s voice cut through the silence like a knife and I finally snapped back to the world full of misery, a.k.a. the real world.
‘Right, okay. Let’s go, then,’ I said and started our journey to find a place to rest.
***
After a couple hours of getting lost and gathering whatever I thought I could eat or use, I found a dark cave hidden by the trees surrounding it.
I took shelter in it and laid back to rest for a while, especially since I had been running for a long time and I had to figure out which way to go.
If I remembered correctly, her house was in the mountains near a lake which was towards East from my ex-pack house, but the problem was that I had left in such a hurry that I didn’t remember which way I went.
‘Argh, I can be such a nut-head sometimes!’ I thought as I internally screamed.
‘‘Sometimes’, are you sure about that?’ Liz said and I scoffed.
‘This is no time to joke around, Liz! We are lost, for god’s sake! And now, because of you, I have even forgotten from which way we came from!’ I yelled in my head. Ok, that came out weird.
Anyways, was I really that much of a forgetful person, or was this happening just because I was in such a tight situation?
‘I just wanna go home,’ I thought to myself as tears welled up in my eyes but this was no time to cry.
‘Yeah, so stop being a baby and figure out how we are supposed to survive out here first,’ said Liz and I had to admit that she had a point.
It’s true that the Alpha used to be abusive, but he still provided me with a roof over my head and food, however small amount it used to be and not to mention, I had zero survival skills.
‘Then, shall we use our wolf instincts?’ Liz asked as she gave me her best puppy eyes.
‘You mean your instincts ‘cause you know, I ain’t a wolf,’ I corrected her with a straight face which made her look at me with no amusement in her eyes whatsoever.
'Whatever, just shift and give me control,' she said and I complied with a roll of my eyes.
She first took the bag with our supplies into her mouth and then, sniffed around before following our scent towards whatever direction that was.
Everything looked the same to me so I didn't know where exactly we were going but I hoped for the best.
'So, what exactly is the plan, Liz?' I asked when I got bored.
'Shut your mouth and wait, will you?'
'Ok, jeez. No need to get mad,'
She didn't answer after that and just kept following our scent which hopefully led back to the pack house so we could go East from there.
***
After an hour or so of walking, we finally reached near the border from where she hid behind a bush and gave me control.
I shifted back before getting dressed and then stepped out from behind the bush.
I got a little closer to the border and tried to spot our ex-pack house. When I saw it and figured out that it's front door was facing right, I went back behind the bush.
Sitting down, I opened my bag and took out a few berries. It looked like my mate was gone because there were the usual cars parked in the driveway.
My shoulders slumped at the thought that my mate didn't even try to look for me but I willed myself not to think about that.
I needed to focus and I shouldn't care about whatever he does. This was just proof that he didn't want anything to do with me.
'That's not true! He loves us! Something must've happened and he had to go back,' Liz tried to reassure me but it didn't quite work.
I looked up at the starry night sky which calmed my racing thoughts and relaxed my tense muscles.
'Let's get going, Liz,' I said as I took off my clothes, putting them in my bag and shifted.
I gave control to Liz and she quietly moved out from behind the bush. She stepped closer to the border and started running forward, in the direction the house was facing.
We needed to get around the territory in the direction which was East.