It was Monday, the 8th of March. I was ready and waiting out by the car for my father. I had been early every day since Tuesday last, just so I could keep things civil, somewhat peaceful.
He would have meetings all day and all through the night. There were threats of invasion from another enemy pack to the west so he was completely occupied with the growing concern of war.
He dropped me at the campus gates, without a single word or comment. I quickly climbed out of the car and turned to walk towards the school, listening as the distinct sound of his car faded the further he drove away.
But I stopped dead in my tracks, listening carefully as another familiar car sped towards me. It was my mother. Her face was full of fear and worry. She hit the brakes so hard, I swear the car looked like it was going to flip. She leaned over the passenger seat and shoved the car door open.
“Quickly! Get in!” she stammered. “We need to go, now!”
I didn’t ask any questions. I dove into the front seat, slamming the door behind me as she sped off and away from the school. I struggled with my belt trying to pull it on as quickly as I could, but the damned thing kept halting. Eventually, I managed to secure it, heart thundering in my ears.
“What is going on? What has happened?” Atonia questioned, worry in her voice.
“Mom? What’s going on?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
She turned the music on the radio up, to mask our voices, before she responded.
“It’s time, sweetheart. I have spoken to my friend in the other pack. He has spoken to his Alpha, who is willing to meet with us. There are no guarantees that he will take us in, but he has agreed to listen.” she rambled, “We are leaving, now, heading to the east border. Everyone is currently focused on the west, so we are taking this opportunity and running, My friend doesn’t know we are on our way yet, but he will know soon enough. I have essentials packed and a little money. We are going to try to cross the border in the car, but if we can’t we will have to leave everything and shift and run to The Oak Ridge Packs border.”
“Wait… The Oak Ridge Pack? I didn’t think you would want to go there. I would have thought you would agree to The Dark Moon Pack.” I queried.
“It’s too far to travel, we will be caught long before we get there. But my friend has reassured me that his Alpha is fiercely loyal to his pack and will protect them in any way he can. Let’s just hope he will take us in, and if not, well let us hope he will let us cross the border on the far side, so we can run.” she explained.
“I trust you mom. No matter what happens from now, no matter where we end up. As long as we are a family, you and me, I will be happy, I swear to you!” I comforted her, knowing full well that she was terrified.
It was an hour-long drive to the east border. The car was full of the scent of fear and determination.
“We are doing this. We are leaving!” I sighed, trying to ready myself for whatever comes next.
“Finally! We’ll be free, safe” Atonia agreed.
“We don’t know that yet, Atonia. I don’t want to get my hopes up until we know what is going on. I don’t want to be crushed again.” I specified.
“Killjoy!”
“Atonia, we can’t get our hopes up. You never know, we might get caught before we take one step over the border.” I asserted, “This is dangerous. We could be caught, tortured, killed. Please try to understand?” I asked her through our bond. She refused to respond, so I gave up.
I sighed out loud, not realizing I had.
“Are you alright?” my mom asked.
“I’m fine.” I breathed.
“No, you aren’t. Is Atonia causing trouble?”
“No, she’s just really excited, but she isn’t understanding my caution about getting her hopes up….” I trailed off.
“I’m sure she does understand, she is most likely trying to calm you. Tala has been trying to calm me this entire time, so I’m sure that's what Atonia is doing.” she comforted.
I sighed again. “I know, I just feel scared, mom, and worried that we will be caught.”
“I know sweet, I do too,” she confessed.
The silence became deafening as we got closer and closer to the border. My heart rate began to increase, my nerves trying to take over. I could sense that my mother was in the same state as me.
“We are almost there… but something doesn’t feel right” she whispered, her caution seeping into me.
“What do you mean?” I prodded.
“... It’s too… quiet, still…” she went silent, ears pricking at any tiny sound.
I was peering out the windows as we began to cross the border, watching for any sign of movement, when my mother slammed on the brakes, screeching to a stop.
“Shit!” she mourned. “How?”
I turned my head, searching for what she could see, and froze.
“No.” I silently wept.
My father. He was alone. But he found us.
“We need to run… and fast” my mother stressed. “Get out and run! I am right behind you, I promise!”
I threw my door open, grabbed my bag, and lurched out of the seat, turning and bolting into the forest. Running so fast, the trees were blurring and whipping ferociously at my face.
I could hear my mother behind me, I knew the sound of her steps. But my father was following, raging, and growling for us to stop. But my mother kept telling me to keep moving, to not turn around, to keep running.
How long have we been running for? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? I could feel my lungs burning, ready to explode. But I kept on going.
My mother had caught up with me, sprinting alongside me, neither of us daring to turn and see how close he was.
“We have to be close, now.” she gasped.
Just then, the clean, uninterrupted scent of the forest, shifted. I began to smell the new scent of the pack patrolling these lands. It was strong. Which meant they were not far off from us now.
I couldn’t hear them, but that did not mean they couldn’t hear us.
I careened around a large oak tree, barrelling into an unfamiliar grey wolf.
His growl was terrifying and rattled through the entirety of my body.
“P-P-Please… don’t..don’t let him.. Don’t let him catch us. P-Please?” I sobbed, stammering, my fear drowning me.
My mother came round the trunk of the oak, skidding to a stop in front of the wolf, immediately coming to protect me. Eyes scanning the trees, not worried about the wolf in front of us.
The wolf turns away from us, towards the forest we came from, sniffed the air, and released an earth-shaking growl. I heard my father stop a good distance away, the anger radiating off of him, stifling us.
“GIVE THEM BACK!” he snarled, “Give them back to me, so I can fucking kill them!”
The wolf, scoffing at my fathers' demands, shifted into his human form, bones shifting, grinding until he stood tall, towering over us. Staring my father down he chuckled darkly.
“You don’t make demands here, mutt! These are not your lands!” he seethed.
“I will take them myself then! Step out of the way!” my father retorted.
“You step one foot over this border, I will rip you to pieces where you stand!” the wolf promised, “but your pathetic dominance and anger have kept you from realizing that I am not alone here. So I suggest that you turn, tuck your tail between your legs and run home, mutt, and stay the fuck away!” he fumed.
“You will regret this! You and yours will pay for this!” my father warned, “And you,” he pointed at me, “you will fucking pay for this, and that’s a promise” he snarled, backing away, before turning and running.
I sat there, my mother covering me with her body, listening as my fathers' steps faded into the forest, waiting.
The silence became unbearable, the tension making me feel queasy.
A few minutes passed before the wolf turned and look at me, carefully, then at my mother, and froze. His grey eyes scanned us both, greying black hair swaying in the breeze.
“Leigha?” he hesitated.
“... Ma-Matthias..?” my mother quavered, hazel eyes filling with relief. “Oh, thank the Goddess!”
“Wha-...” he didn't manage to finish his question before my mother, jumped up and hugged him.
I sat on the floor, utterly confused. Watching them warily.
The wolf, Matthias, held her for a moment and then turned and looked at me with curiosity. Tilting his head to the side, he glanced at my mother then back to me.
“This must be your daughter?” he queried.
“Oh, yes! This is my Amelia,” she expressed, pride and love evident in her voice, making my throat feel constricted.
“Well, welcome Amelia, welcome both of you. I wasn’t expecting you for another few days?” he stated.
“I know, but we had the chance and we needed to take it. We could never know if we would have had the opportunity again.” she explained, “with the pack to the west testing the patrols on the border, it was the perfect opportunity. Well so I thought, anyway.” she added.
“Well let's not worry about that now, let us head to the packhouse. We will get you both a room and I’ll speak to the Alpha, let him know that you’re both here,” he stated.
I watched as he silently gave a member of the pack a silent order. They turned and retrieved some clothes for him from a pack, handed them to him, and turned and walked away. Presumably to carry on with patrolling.
Matthias dressed quickly, then beckoned for us to follow him. Nudity amongst wolves is normal, but I still feel a little uncomfortable when around naked pack members.
Following behind him and my mother, watching them chatting to each other, like old friends. My mother explained what happened last week, what followed, and our journey here. Telling Matthias how things had gotten worse over the last 6 months and how she was terrified of what would happen if she tried to take me away then.
He listened carefully, occasionally offering me a small smile of reassurance.
We walked for a few hours, darkness creeping in around us. Shadows lengthening, stars blinking into existence overhead. The quiet in these woods was nice, comfortable. Familiar, even though I had never set foot on this land.
Over the top of a small hill, I could see the glow of town lights against the skyline, shining softly.
“We are here. We made it, Atonia.” I breathed to myself.
“I wish you would listen to me every once in a while. I told you we would make it!” she pointed out.
“Seriously, an ‘I told you so’?” I teased. Chuckling to myself.
“Yup! I told you so!” Atonia retorted.
We walked to the top of the hill and glanced down at the valley sprawling below us. The town was large, clean, and it just felt safe.
“It’s beautiful,” I remarked.
Matthias turned to me, watching me. And chuckled.
“It is, isn’t it? This is Oakwood Ridge.” he professed, proudly.
Oakwood Ridge glowed below us, sprawling from one end of the forest to the other. It beckoned us.We began our descent towards the lights, the sound, the people. I took it in, listening to the sounds of laughter, children playing. Deathfall was never like this. It was quiet, there were rules, curfews, punishments for not following the rules. It was dark there, it didn’t feel like home. It was never home, not to me.We walked in silence towards the packhouse, which was situated on the edge of the town. It faced a building that looked like a typical British boarding school and was separated by a large field and what kind of looked like a well-used training arena.As the packhouse rose up in front of us, I could see it more clearly. The sandstone brick walls were full of large windows and covered in beautiful pur
The morning came too soon. I was far too comfortable, wrapped in the blankets. I listened to the sound of people rushing in and out of their rooms, getting ready for school, I guessed. I turned onto my back and lay there, staring at the ceiling, remembering the events of the day before. I was feeling more relaxed about where I was, but the wolf I saw from my window last night, the memory was playing on my mind.Why were they watching me? How long had they been there?There was a gentle knock on the door. It began to open and my mother poked her head in.“Morning sleepyhead,” she chuckled.I threw the covers over my head and groaned.“Urgh… Morning, mom,” I grumbled back, making her laugh. I pull
On Wednesday morning, my mother and I decided we should take the opportunity and go look around the town, get a few things and maybe meet a few people. My mother especially wanted to go look around the clinic, meet everyone there.So at around 10 am, we set out and began the trek through the town.It was as beautiful as I thought. The buildings were all made from the same sandstone as the packhouse, and most seemed to have this sort of organised chaos look to their gardens. Wisteria or ivy grew up the side of the buildings, giving them an overgrown look, blending them into the surrounding areas. The roads and pathways were clean and well kept, as were the little parks we strolled past. Everything was beautiful, like a town out of a book.Strolling down the path, towards the town centre, I couldn’t help but not
After the Alpha had left us, I slowly ambled through the flat, hunting for where my mother had disappeared to. I twisted as a noise came from the end of the small hallway, to the right of the living room. Turning and heading down the hall, I opened the first door, finding it empty. Carrying on, I reached the second door, opening it softly. There, sat on the edge of the large bed, was my mother, tears in her eyes, head hanging low. “Mom?” I called softly. She looked up, trying to hide her tears, but failing. “Are you okay? What happened?” I asked, concern lining my voice. “Nothing, I-... I’ve just never had such kindness shown to me, not since I was a child,” she confessed, taking a shuddering breath. “The generosity, and
I had awoken early, my dreams throwing me out of sleep. Why was I dreaming of the Alpha? Is it a side effect of drinking his blood and swearing myself to him? Confused, I threw my blankets back and stood up out of bed. I stepped towards the window, pulled the curtains back and opened the window, letting the cool morning air surround me. The early morning mist was sitting low in the air, the dew-wet grass shimmering in the light of the sunrise. The colours, pale and soothing. It had rained that night, leaving the damp earthy scent lingering in the air. Thick, dark clouds hovered in the distance, a promise of rain. I took in the air, waking myself up fully. Sifting through the view, I caught a glimpse of two figures out on the field, fighting. Focusing on them, I realised that it was Beta Matthias an
Standing outside the school, I began to feel my nerves fighting to take over. I could see a few people glancing towards me. Clearly, I was going to be the topic of conversation for some. Nothing new then. Taking a deep breath in and letting it go, I strolled into the school, aiming for the main office. The school was clean, recently redecorated, by the faint scent of pain in the air. The corridors were packed with students, all either rushing to their lockers or to their first class of the day or just gossiping. I eventually managed to find the main office, I opened the door and walked in. Glancing around I see a familiar face behind the desk. “Ah, Amelia, there you are,” Eliza motioned me over. “I was wondering if you’d gotten lost,” she said, a kind smile on her fa
My first class of the day went well. Dani helped me adjust quite quickly, and nobody paid me much mind once the class started. I hadn’t felt so relaxed in a school for some time. But I knew that it wasn’t going to always be this easy, this chilled out.Walking to our next class, Dani chatted enthusiastically, the entire way. She pointed people out to me, even introduced me to some. They all seemed quite nice to me.Entering our Math class, Dani ushered me straight to her table in the middle and we sat. Some of the people she had introduced me to, were sat nearby and had started chatting to us while we waited for the teacher to arrive. While we were chatting the rest of the students walked, taking their seats, but still no teacher. There was one girl in particular who was watching me, openly glaring.&ldq
I stood outside the changing rooms, waiting for the others to get changed, and decided to check in with my mother. She was really enjoying her work and was getting along great with her new colleagues. She wouldn’t be back until 7 pm so she asked me to make dinner. I agreed, happy to help her out, excited to tell her how things went for me. Ben was the first one out, heading straight to me. As soon as he reached me, and the moment Grace walked out of the changing rooms, I felt my hair get yanked backwards and being slammed into the ground, hard. My eyes watered from the impact, head throbbing after it connected with the hard floor. I jumped up, having to catch myself as I felt a little dizzy and spun around, and I was honestly not surprised at who I found behind me. Marissa was fuming, I could almost imagine steam coming out of her ears.