by G. Bailey
My mum knew.
I wonder if my brother and Aurelia were aware, too.
The thought twists my stomach into a pile of knots, and a rush of anxiety trickles down my spine. This can’t really be happening. It’s like I’ve fallen through a portal to an alternative universe where my own family would betray me. I glance at my mum, searching for something, anything, that will tell me the alpha is lying. But she only looks away as her lower lip trembles. She really did do it.
My mum promised me to an alpha when I was just a baby.
I snap my head to the alpha in question and glare at him. He just fucking smirks at me like this is an amusing game to him. But then something changes. His lips thin, and he sniffs the air. His prior amusement melts from his countenance like wet snow, and he rises from the table. Slowly, he comes towards me, and I struggle to hold his gaze this time. There’s something darker about it, something primal and deadly. Power radiates off him like an all-encompassing shadow. His presence alone swallows up everything in the room, and despite my best efforts, I shrink a little in my chair.
He stops beside me and picks up a strand of my long, auburn hair. A muscle ticks in his jaw, and a crease forms between his brows when he lifts the strand to smell it. His eyes darken into a deeper onyx. Faster than I can blink, he leans forward and brushes his fangs along my neck. I grip my thighs and close my eyes. I know what he’s doing. He’s taking in my scent to see whether or not I’m ‘worthy’ of him. From the way my palms turn sweaty and my heart convulses, he can no doubt smell the whirlwind of emotions wreaking havoc within me.
“You smell of weakness,” he breathes, the tip of his fangs sweeping over the pulse in the side of my throat. “Weak wolves do not belong in my pack.”
“My daughter is a lot of things, Rizer. A half-breed and nuisance, sure, but no wolf of my line has ever been weak,” my dad says.
In my shock, I open my eyes to gawk at him. I’ve never heard him defend me like this before. Even when our own pack ridiculed me, he said nothing.
Did nothing.
A foolish part of me actually hopes to find compassion when I face him, but there’s only that same old, familiar coldness. I wish I knew what I did to make him despise me so much. The fact that he just said I’m part of ‘his’ line means he does see me as part of the Valerio family, so it can’t be that I’m not his biological kid.
“Your line is also descended from cowards and liars,” Rizer growls, moving behind me.
Again he sniffs my hair, and I dig my fingernails into my jeans. My mother holds my gaze, but ever so quickly, she glances at the front door.
“That I could ignore. But weakness? That is disgusting and cannot be tolerated. You should not be allowed to exist.”
I swallow the nervous lump in my throat and watch my mother drape her free hand over the alpha’s knife. Her glancing at the front door was a signal for me to run. But I can’t just run while she’s chained to the table. However, before I can so much as protest, she throws the wine glass onto the table. The glass smashing against the wooden floor rouses the alpha’s attention, if just for a second. That’s all I need to jump up from the table and out of the way, moments before the knife whistles through the air towards the alpha.
The blade pierces him in the chest, and for a second, he just stands next to me, his eyes wide.
“What have you done?” My dad’s chair falls over and he shoots up from his chair. He rushes over to the alpha and stumbles to his knees beside him. Shaking hands hover over the dead body, but they can’t quite bring themselves to touch the bloodstains on his chest. Unfortunately, the alpha won’t remain dead for long; alphas always regenerate, usually once the source of their death has been removed from their body, but there’s rumours that alphas don’t require that.
I doubt a knife to the heart will keep Rizer dead for long.
“He’ll kill us,” my dad chokes out, his hands trembling so violently his whole upper body shakes. “He’ll kill us all!”
My mum doesn’t even glance at him. “Lilith, go. We don’t have long.”
Blood pounds in my head and I shake it in disbelief. “The chain—”
“Go without me!”
I flinch at the volume of her tone but keep shaking my head. “N-no, I can’t. I’m not leaving you here, Mum!”
As I rush over to her side, my dad continues muttering about how the alpha will kill us—him—once he wakes up. He really is a coward. I’m glad he’s not my real dad. Once I reach my mum and look down at the chain cutting into her skin, the tears I’ve been struggling to hold back finally fall from my lashes. She follows my gaze, and instead of being scared or upset, she just smiles at me. Slowly, she tucks my hair behind my ear and pats my head like she’s done since I was a kid.
“Don’t worry, sweetie, I’ll be right behind you.” And with that, she pushes me towards the front door, her chain scraping the table. “Take the backpack hanging by the door and go. Don’t turn back. I love you, baby.”
A sob bursts from my trembling lips. “I love you, too, Mum.”
I quickly hug her, grab the bag, and then I’m taking off through the front door without so much as a glance at my dad.
My boots barely hit the ground when I shift into my wolf, take the bag into my mouth, and run. I never feel the cold, but right now I’m as cold as the snow crunching beneath my paws. My breath streams out in harsh, rapid puffs but I head into the trees as fast I’ve ever ran in my life, not even bothering to bring my clothes. I keep going until a deafening howl cuts through the air in the distance and my fur instantly stands on end.
Rizer.
His burning-leaves scent carries on the downwind, and my stomach roils with a mixture of fear and anger. I pause by a frozen creek and stare down at my reflection on the icy surface. My wolf looks as dejected as I feel. Did my mum even make it like she said she would? A small part of me hopes she did and that I’ll see her soon, that she will catch up with me. But the rest of me, no matter how much I want to refute it, shatters as if I knew all along: my mum was never getting out of that house alive.
A sick, twisted piece of me hopes my dad never made it out. He’d been perfectly willing to hand me over to the alpha like a bit of discarded meat. My mum had been nothing but terrified from the moment I entered the kitchen. My eyes water at the thought of her, but I quickly push them aside and continue. There will be time to mourn for her later. I need to get out of here before the alpha catches up with me.
With this shadowing over me, I run faster through the forest. It’s a little ironic that I’ve spent my childhood exploring these woods. I know every tree, every creek and clearing, and yet I don’t know where to go. I could go back to the party and get Aurelia, then come up with a plan. But I don’t want to drag her into this. My best option would be to seek refuge in the academy. That means going east.
Another howl echoes in the near distance, followed by another. Their cadence is so different to what I’m used to hearing amongst Caeli wolves, which means these ones aren’t part of my pack. They must be from Stormfire. Damn it! They’ve blocked out the academy. West will just take me to Aurelia, and I don’t want to endanger her. All I can do is head north in hopes that I find a place good enough to hide.
After hours of running, my limbs ache from exertion, and I have no choice but to stop to rest. The Stormfire howls stopped about a mile back. I’m not stupid enough to think they’ve given up hunting me. Leaning against a tree, I glance up at the bloodstained moon, and a powerful urge to howl at her fullness consumes me. My mum used to say that the Crescent Mother was more likely to bless her wolves on the night of a full moon. It’s a slim chance, but right now, I’ll do anything to get out of here.
I need your help. Please tell me where I should go. Give me a sign. Please. Something. Crescent Mother, help me.
In answer to my prayer is the cloying smell of more burning leaves, and the low grumble of a howl rumbling in the back of a wolf’s throat. I whip my head around in search of t
he wolf. Through the shadowy trees, I’m able to decipher an enormous red wolf surrounded in tendrils of smoke. The medallion around its powerful neck gleams in the moonlight.
Uhh, Crescent Mother… This isn’t what I quite had in mind.
Rizer snaps his bloody jaw at me and takes a step. The blood on his lips carries my mum’s scent. A low whimper escapes me, and I instinctively back away from him. I lower my head and press my tail tightly between my hind legs. More howls resonate close by. There’s no way I’ll be able to fight off Rizer let alone the others.
In the corner of my eye, a light flickers in the darkness around me. The bright glow pulls me towards it like gravity. I turn my head ever so slightly, and relief washes over me. A huge staircase stands proudly on the forest floor, and right at the top is a bright orange light.
A portal.
I don’t even stop to question where it might lead me.
I charge up the stairs and dive head-first into the blinding, beautiful light.
Chapter 4
Lilith Thornblood
I really hate portals.
I stumble through the light, my stomach feeling like a thousand bees are bouncing around in it, and smack hard into the stairs on the other side. I stand, my wolf shaking our head, just as the edge of the old, cracked steps to the portal gives way under my feet.
My wolf whines as we fall down the steps, right off a damn cliff of all things. My body smacks across the rock side, sharp pebbles digging into my calves. My wolf tries to dig its claws into the cliffside to stop us. Roots and branches snag in my fur and against my legs as I keep falling, unable to find anything to stop us. I briefly see everything is red and burning right before I crash into something that instantly burns my back.
Standing quickly, I move off the tiny pool of lava under me, letting my wolf heal the brief burns. Breathlessly, I take a second to glance around me and I freeze. My blood runs cold when I realise exactly where I am.
The Stormfire pack.
Also known as—Hell itself.
What the hell? I’m not even on Earth anymore.
In my horror, I look up at the portal on top of the mountain, wondering why the alpha isn’t right on my heels. He should be able to follow me.
This is his frigging pack, after all.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
My brother once told me Hell was a really beautiful place, but I never quite believed him. How could a place where demons and wolves live be beautiful? Until this second when I’m staring at all of Hell right in front of me, I never once imagined it was like this. A giant tree has grown from below the city and its entangled roots stretched everywhere they could. I remember the tree being called The Tree of Ignis. The tree has made winding paths that swirl around the main trunk, lit up with red fire on its edges. Pack homes are also woven into the branches and roots, almost like they are part of the tree. Sharp and steep rocky mountain walls make a circle around the outskirts of the city, one of them I’ve just fallen down, which must have one of many portals to Hell on it.
No wonder that hurt like a bitch. The fall must be about thirty feet.
I didn’t even know there was a portal to Stormfire near my home. In fact, it should be impossible for that portal to even exist. Problem for another time. The Stormfire city surrounds the major part of the ancient and wondrous tree. The looping roots and gnarled vines hold much of the city together. There are tall towers of apartments wrapped in vines and red flowers, that are like flames, on the edges of the city. Closer to the middle are large stone buildings that seem untouched by the tree themselves, and perhaps newer.
The tree isn’t the most beautiful and fascinating part of the city.
No, it’s the leaves.
Burning leaves constantly fall off the branches at the top of the tree. They flutter down and then disappear into nothing but embers before they hit the ground. I stare around in awe at the place I’ve always wanted to come to see.
Terrified awe.
What the hell am I going to do? I bite my backpack in my mouth a little tighter, wondering what Mum packed inside it for me and if she is still alive. My wolf whines softly, our pain shared between us, threatening to take over the fear we need to focus on. It isn’t safe here. I glance back up at the portal at the top of the massive hill that I’ve just fallen down. Rizer is going to follow me here soon. He is too powerful for me to fight head-on, and there’s no way I’m going to get away from him in his pack’s territory if he spots me now. I glance back at the tree and Stormfire city resting around it.
There’s only really one thing I can do to survive: hide in Rizer’s pack of millions of Stormfire wolves and make sure he doesn’t find me.
He won’t think I’m brave enough to hide in his own pack. Hopefully.
At least I won’t stand out in Stormfire, not with my red fur wolf, as they all appear the same as me, something I’ve always wanted. Just not like this. Except for the white streak of hair, but I can disguise that with a hat or something in human form. Not so much as a wolf. I lean back on my heels and tighten my grip on the backpack before I break out into a run. My wolf bolts across the rocky terrain that seems like it’s on fire, but it does nothing but heat my paws. In fact, I feel warm but not on fire like I should do.
“Outside the gates of Hell’s city burn all those who flee and do not belong.”
My academy teachers’ words come back to haunt me as I keep running and come to a large river made of clear, crimson water. Sharp rocks sit at the bottom, and a few strange fish swim around them. Let’s hope none of them bite. The current of the river flows fast, and I don’t see a bridge in sight or anywhere I can cross.
We’ll have to swim.
Feeling my wolf’s reluctance to go into it, and I’m completely in agreement with her, I figure we don’t have a choice. We’re not great at swimming. It was never one of our bonus points at the academy, but there’s no way around it. I pull the backpack tightly into my mouth, knowing I need to hold on firmly to it in the river.
We can do this!
I dive into the water, and my wolf uses all our strength to swim to the other side. We try not to get pushed too far down by the current, but the river is deeper and bigger than we thought. The water is warm, almost painfully warm, but I try not to focus on it as we swim as fast as we can to the other side. Soon we realise the current is much wilder than we predicted, and suddenly we are being pushed harshly around. My wolf dives underwater, and we bare our teeth, holding the backpack to push through the current. It directs our path. I know I need to let the current take me and not fight it, even as I can’t see or hear anything but red water.
It’s official. Hell sucks, and they even ruined water.
My wolf pulls free of the current eventually, and we break out of the top of the river, gasping for air around the backpack. We end up just being pulled and pulled farther down the river, not able to get out of the current to either side. My legs ache, and tiredness takes over with every brush of a wave of water against us. The only good thing is that Rizor is unlikely to find me now. The dreadful thing is that rivers like this can only end in two ways. One could be a pretty lake and the other a deadly waterfall.
With my luck, it is definitely going to be a waterfall.
No sooner do I think that than the rushing of a waterfall in the distance carries to my ears, and pure panic makes me struggle around in the water. I want to shift back, but I know it’s not a good idea. My wolf is stronger than I am. She goes back underwater with the current, and we try swimming tougher when we come back up, but it doesn’t get us anywhere. I glance around as quickly as possible, looking for anything to help us get out of this damn river. That’s when I see it, a big rock ledge on the left side, next to the edge of the waterfall cliff. If I could just land on to that, I can climb out and be on the right side for the city.
I swim as hard as I can towards it, pushing my wolf to her limits, begging our body not to give our tiredness.
We really need to work on our c
ardio and swimming skills if we survive this.
We just about slam our body into it, my lungs gasping from the impact, and I nearly drop the backpack out of my mouth. Pulling myself up onto the ledge, I reel my weak legs across to the side of the rocky pathway and finding a hidden space between a few roots of a stray tree that will hide me for a bit.
Fucking hell, I think to myself, letting out a small, frustrated whine.
I shift back, needing to be human for a moment, and take a deep breath before breaking down in sobs as the pain of everything that has happened catches up with me. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I don’t know how long I cry for. Knowing that my mum’s gone, knowing my dad is most likely gone, too, and I’m the alpha’s intended mate.
And he rejected me.
Being rejected by someone who you’re meant to mate with is unheard of in the pack world. At least I’ve never heard of it. But then it’s also unheard of for the Stormfire alpha to take a mate. I know he has one son whose mother he murdered, but she was never his mate. Just his breeder.
How he ever thought I could be his mate is insane to think about. I’m no alpha female and I never want to take a mate. I don’t want to love someone because magic forces me to. Too many times I saw my mum resist her mating bond because her mate was an asshole.
Sorry, Dad, but you were one. RIP. Hopefully.
I grit my teeth, and my wolf lets out a growl that echoes in my chest when I think of Rizor calling me weak. I am not weak. Taking a deep breath, I try to control my emotions, try to push down my urge to shift back. To run and run until we get out of this world, to somewhere safe from him. But I know we need to be smarter than that right now. I don’t have anywhere to go back to. The alpha of Caeli won’t fight the Stormfire pack for me, which he would have to do if he protected me. Rizor will never stop until he kills me…even I don’t understand what he wants with my death. I can’t go straight to my brother because that’s exactly where he’d think I’d go. Watching my brother is going to be his first move, no doubt. I search my brain for an answer for a long time before I come up with the perfect (ish) idea.
