I ran.

Trees whipped past me as I hurriedly pushed each leg in front of the other. Branches clawed at my skin, pulling my dress, slowing me down as I desperately tried to put as much space as I could between us, although he didn’t pursue.

That Alpha… Who was he?

His words haunted me. The feral look in his eyes as he spat those words at me were burned in my mind, and I ran before I even realized what my body was doing.

Why would he call me that? But more importantly, how could I throw a man that was almost three times my size that far without even touching him?

I know I didn’t have the answer, but I most definitely was not a witch. Witches were evil incarnate, soulless creatures that have been at war with my species for decades.

I continued running, darting past tree stumps as I approached a clearing up ahead, trying desperately to outrun the thought that followed me like it was my shadow, but it was impossible to run faster than my thoughts, so eventually, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

A Witch killed my mother.

I couldn’t be one. No.

Besides, I’m the daughter of an Alpha. Sure, he currently wants me off his land because I can’t shift but that doesn’t erase my legitimacy. I have werewolf blood running through my veins, nothing else.

I am not a witch.

“Stop right there!” A voice boomed suddenly stopping me in my tracks as I burst into the clearing, I stumbled from the sharp stop.

Tall trees surrounded me on all sides and I couldn’t make out any shape in the dark.

“W-who is there,” I stuttered out, unable to keep the nervousness from showing in my voice. The moon above offered me no light or solace. I struggled to find where the voice came from.

.

A low growl, sent the hair on my hands standing and slowly, bright eyes flickered around the clearing as wolves slowly came out of the shadows they were hiding in.

Patrol guards, I realized in a panic. They were hand picked wolves by Alpha’s and Beta’s for their strength. They were soldiers with the killer instincts of a wolf.

Beta Bryan—my father’s right hand man, walked into the clearing like the darkness birthed him. He had black hair and his cold black eyes stared at me in a way that made my skin prickle.

“Beta Bryan, what are you doing here?” I tried to sound more calm than I actually felt, my heart was pounding against my chest and every single nerve in my body was telling me to get out of there, but that would bring more harm than good.

There was no reason for me to be scared.

I was certain that Alpha wasn’t following me, he probably wanted to follow protocol since he was on another Alpha’s land and formally report that he found a ‘witch’. Was that why Beta Bryan was here?

I found myself taking a step back from him.

“Your father told me about the conversation he had with you after the spectacle your rejection caused, his request that you leave the pack before the party is over,” He started.

Oh. That.

I was conflicted about leaving the pack previously, but I had no choice now. It was only a matter of time until a witchhunt would begin, I had to get out of the pack territory before being a rejected non-shifter became the least of my worries.

“Yes, I just need to pack a few of my things and I’ll leave immediately.”

“It’s so incredibly brave of you to want to face the outside world on your own,” he said, walking closer to me with an almost predatory glint in his eyes. “But I’m going to tell you the same thing I told your father. In this pack, we take care of our own.”

Something about the way he stepped forward as he said those words made my stomach churn.

“I-I don’t understand,” I force out as I take another step back. “Did you help him see reason? Did you tell him that I can’t survive out there on my own? Because if you did then I’m sorry you wasted your time. I’ve made up my mind, I’m going to leave the pack tonight.”

“You will do no such thing,” he snarled at me sharply, almost lunging forward.

The sudden act made me jump backwards and I heard a low growl from behind me that made me let out a gasp I didn’t realize I was holding.

I was surrounded by wolves on all sides, each one glaring at me with a palpable amount of animosity in their eyes.

“I don’t understand, what is happening here…” I trailed off as I watched the wolves slowly start to circle me, some snapping at my ankle like they were itching to take a bite out of my flesh.

Had Alpha Kane somehow manage to reach the pack house and organize a hunt so quickly? The odds were slim that even if he did, they would have caught up to me. This felt like something different.

“It’s simple, my love. I told your father that he couldn’t let you leave the pack alive,” he said with an eerily blank expression on his face.

His words hit me like a blow in my belly.

“W-what?” I stuttered out.

“You see,” he started, “If by some miracle or just dumb sheer luck, you manage to survive on the outside, you have all sorts of information about the pack, our strengths, our weaknesses…” he trailed off, his eyes never leaving mine for a second, like he wanted to watch me break.

“We can’t have you falling into the wrong hands that might aid you in an ill-fated revenge on the pack because of how you were treated or something silly like that, this isn’t some ridiculous novel or film.” He let out a soft laugh like he just told a joke and didn’t just justify his reason to murder me.

“In this pack, we take care of our own problems with our hands, we don’t allow outside complications, how else do you think your father was able to gain control of one of the largest territories under the Alpha King?”

“Is this some kind of sick joke? Did my sister put you up to this?” There had to be some explanation, I know I wasn”t exactly loved by the pack, but surely, I wasn’t hated enough to be murdered in cold blood, right?

“A sick joke?” he spat out as he took several steps forward, closing the gap between us, making me stumble backwards, but the growl behind me reminded me of my situation once more.

I was surrounded on all sides by trained warriors that wanted to sink their canines into my flesh and rip me apart.

“The sick joke is that a scourge, a disgrace like you, has soiled the reputation of our pack for years. If your mother hadn’t died fighting witches we would have had other heirs, maybe then we would all have been able to tolerate your presence, we at least thank the goddess for granting us Sapphire.”

His comment about my mother felt like a knife in the injury that I already wore on my heart.

I couldn’t be a witch. A witch killed my mother.

I had to leave the pack before Alpha Kane talks to anyone about me. I can’t give my father anymore reason to hate me.

“Just let me go, please, I promise not to cause any trouble for you, now or in the future—”

“No. I’m certain you’re not going to cause any problems in the future,” he said with a twisted smile on his lips. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for the Alpha to come to his senses, to see you as you truly are to our pack, a weak link,” he laughed. “Your mate rejecting you tonight finally helped him see that.”

I wanted to beg, to argue, to say something in my defence, anything, to convince him that my life was worth sparing, but I had no words, just the cold realization that I was hated by every single person around me, and the truth? Their hatred was justified.

Maybe I am better off dead after all.

“Bring me her head,” Beta Bryan said to the growling wolves that surrounded me.

Four words. That was all it took to seal my fate.

This is it. This is how I die.

This is how my story ends.

I told you already. I die tonight.

Fangs flashed all around me in the dark, the wolves slowly inched towards me as Beta Bryan disappeared into the shadows he came from.

I could sense the bloodlust coming off each and every wolf. Each and every single one of them wanted to rip my flesh off my bones.

Running would be pointless, they would catch up to me in seconds.

I closed my eyes and tried to summon whatever power hand possessed me earlier. I needed it now more than ever.,

I needed something, anything, but all I felt was a biting emptiness.

My eyes fluttered open just as one of the wolves lunged at me, it’s jaw wide open revealing deadly rows of teeth.

A sharp thought flashed through me, burning me so strongly that it made my fingertips curl.

I don’t want to die.

Fangs clenched my waist as a guard bit down on me and flinged me against a tree with his jaws, like a dog playing with its favourite doll.

I slammed into the trunk with my head and black dots spotted my vision, I could feel a warm liquid slowly trickle down my back.

The rest of the wolves still circled slowly. This was a game to them.

“P-please,” I coughed weakly. “Please, you don’t have to do this.” The pain made me feel light-headed.

I could have almost sworn I heard a snicker coming from one of the wolves, but shifters couldn’t speak in their wolf form. The blood loss was making me delirious.

How many of them have waited for this? Waited to hunt me like a prey?

I was never part of the pack. I merely fooled myself all my life.

Another wolf shifted on his hind legs, preparing to lunge at me with his sharp fangs.

I closed my eyes and waited for the attack.

Blood sprayed against my face and I let out an ear-piercing scream, but there was no pain.

My eyes fluttered open.

The head of the wolf that lunged at me was between the muzzle of what was probably the largest black wolf I had ever seen. It was the size of a giant bear, but it had the features of a wolf and a fur that was as dark as midnight.

The beast-wolf charged at the wolves that surrounded me and what followed was simply a massacre. Heads and limbs went different ways, blood soaked the ground we stood on like there was a sudden burst of rain, a blood rain.

Who was this huge beast? Did a wild rogue wolf somehow make it onto our territory?

I had so many questions but they all went unanswered as I watched the black wolf tear everyone around me into mangled pieces and then, it all ended as the last wolf fell.

The black wolf turned to face me and it slowly slinked up to me.

Was it going to kill me too?

Fur slowly retracted from the wolf’s body as he transformed to his human form.

Alpha Kane stood in front of me, naked.

He stood in a pool of blood, staring at the surroundings with a horror-stricken expression on his face.

“What have you done to me?”