01

CHAPTERS 01

« Run ! Sweetheart, I need you to be a good girl and listen to me, okay ? » he looked at me with pleading eyes, « You have to go ! Now ! Run !! I need you to run, Alexia ! »

« Daddy, no I can’t just leave you here ! » I sobbed.

« I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you have to go. It’s the only way, » He whispered, « You need to get yourself to safety. They want you, and I swore I’d do everything in my power to keep you safe. »

« I can stay ! I can fight ! I can help ! Please ! Daddy, I won’t leave you ! » I cried.

« Alexia, there’s no time ! I need you to listen to me ! It’s too late for us here, but you can still get away. We can hold them off for now, but not much longer. Run as far from here as you can, don’t stop until you’re at least out of the state. Please princess, do this for me, » He said, with unshed tears in his eyes.

« Daddy, no please, no don’t… »

« I love you so much Alexia. Always remember that, your mother and I love you so, so much.One day you will understand. We will all be together again someday. Please, please run. I love you, » He said pressing a kiss to my forehead, « Go. »

I watched my father turn away from me, and sprint out the door into the fight unfolding below us. I watched him shift into his huge, inky black wolf and start taking down wolves left and right. He tore out the throat of any enemy wolf, who immediately dropped, lifeless, to the ground. He looked up at me in the window, with pain in his eyes, before dashing after another enemy.

I turned from the window, and quickly grabbed a backpack, shoving a few changes of clothes, some cash, my phone and a water all in, and zippered it shut quickly. I stumbled down the stairs, into the living room, and stopped in shock at the site before me. My mother and my brother and sister, all lying in a pool of blood, their eyes open but lifeless. I choked back the bile that had risen in my throat and ran away as fast as I could. I didn’t bother with any shoes, but ran quickly out the side door of my house into the woods, my backpack bouncing as my feet pounded into the cold forest floor.

I ran and I ran, but it wasn’t too long until I heard it. A loud, long and pained howl that stopped me in my tracks. Suddenly it was cut short. It had been my father accepting his defeat, as well as his death. The silence, a telltale sign, that the last member of my family was dead.

« NO ! Daddy, no please ! NO ! NO ! DADDY ! » I screamed and choked out a sob. I stood for a moment, and took in my surroundings. Not six hours ago, my life had been completely normal. And in that short amount of time, my life had been turned upside down and ripped to shreds. I looked around the woods I had grown up in, trying to memorize it. I didn’t know when-or if I would see these woods again.

Still sobbing I sprinted, on and on until I heard them following me. Their howls ringing through the air. Their heavy steps colliding against the packed earth. Closer, and closer and closer until….

I woke up suddenly, panting and shaking. Sweat poured down my body and I tried to steady my breathing. Sitting up, I looked around and noticed the familiar surroundings. I lay in nothing but a black sports bra and black athletic shorts on a lumpy, old mattress in a small cell. The walls were made of slate gray cinderblocks, the floor and ceiling of concrete. Looking out my small window, i could see that it was still night time, as tthe moon created eerie shadows with the bars of my cell. I don’t know how long I had been here,I believe two and a half months, but I’m not sure.

I tried to recall my nightmare. My nightmare. It seemed to never end. The same dream over and over again. I had run for two days, a rogue, before they had found me. They dragged me in here. Until the Alpha returned from pack business they said. And then he would decide my fate. Honestly, I hoped it was death. I had nothing left to live for. My family was dead, my pack gone, I just wanted it to end.

I rolled over and tried to fall asleep again. I evened my breathing and cleared my mind. Soon enough I let a dreamless sleep claim me.