Chapter 1 - Running ~ Part 2

Nessa

Nessa had no idea what to do, she opened and closed her mouth begging for words to come out but even her words were terrified of this giant man. Up close she could see how handsome and lean he really was and suddenly understood why so many she-wolfs were trying to compete for his attention. Somewhere inside of her she wanted his attention too, but not his anger! Definitely not his anger!

Her silence clearly irritated him; she could see a vein beginning to pop out of his perfect head.

“Who are you!?” He demanded, even louder this time, grabbing the attention of others.

“Nessa.” She whimpered up at him, unable to escape his glower.

“Why are you here!?” He growled, even more audibly and grabbing more attention from those around them.

Nessa frantically tried to think of how to explain the truth of why she was there. She couldn’t tell him the truth, not with everyone watching them! She had to come up with some reason, before things escalated any further. But it was hard under his furious gaze and the strange sensation deep in her stomach was not helping either.

She gasped a sigh of relief as she caught site of Fidelia furiously rushing over to the scene. She stood by her brother, seething with anger as well, though her brother was still a lot more terrifying.

“What are you doing!?” She screeched at him, hands flying in the air in disbelief. “Leave Nessa alone!”

“Who is she!?” He demanded from his sister, ignoring the fact they had both now told him who she was.

“Nessa lives here dumbass! She’s the human dad let in and our guest!” Fidelia stomped her foot, and rolled her eyes had her big brother.

“A human?” He whispered, never taking his emerald eyes from her, but they did widen at this piece of information before hardening in his fury again.

Nessa gulped, something was wrong! Very, very wrong and she became even more terrified of the man before her.

“No!” He growled. “I don’t accept this! It can’t be!”

“What can’t be, dumbass?” Fidelia asked, crossing her arms. She was clearly not as afraid of her brother as Nessa. Of course, he wasn’t staring daggers at her at that moment.

“I don’t accept this!” He yelled, making even Fidelia jump. “Guards!” He roared.

Two guards were instantly on the scene; Nessa recognised them both but didn’t dare greet them at that exact moment.

“Take this human to the cells!” He commanded.

The whole place went deadly silent, no one said a word. The guards stepped forward and each took one of Nessa’s arms and pulled her silently towards the cells. She whimpered as they did so and felt a pang of hurt in her heart, she could see from their gazes that they didn’t want to be doing this but they had no choice, they couldn’t refuse their Alpha.

“What are you doing!? Release her NOW!” She could hear Fidelia screeching at their retreating backs as she screamed at her brother for having her friend dragged away.

It made her heart ache even more as she fought her own flesh and blood for her sake.

“A filthy human…” Was the last thing she heard, roared by Alpha Axel as she was led away and then taken to the cells.

The guards locked her in, what she assumed, they thought was the cleanest cell and both looked at her with sorry eyes as they left, not wanting to stay and see her pathetically locked away. As soon as they left, she let the tears that had been threatening her eyes to spill over and wept as she fell to the floor of the filthy cell.

Her chest heaved as she sobbed. She was all alone. She had never been to the cells before, but she knew it was where they kept trespassing rogues and tortured and killed them. Was that going to happen to her? Was the new Alpha going to come down and do the same to her? All because she was human? What’s wrong with humans?

‘You’re not even a bloody human!’ She thought frustratingly, as more tears stung her face.

With heavy and deep sigh, she realised something she wished would not happen. She had to leave.

With Alpha Noah no longer in power and his tyrant son’s clear hatred for her very being, she knew it was too dangerous to stick around. She had to leave Orion Valley! Leave the place she had stayed the longest, the pack that had accepted her and leave her best friend. The only friend she had ever managed to make in her lonely existence.

She sobbed again, she didn’t want to go! But, she had to, there was no other choice. She had a feeling that Alpha Axel wasn’t about to listen to her or even give her a second to explain everything. If she stayed, she knew he would end up killing her. She had to escape him!

She got back up on her shaky legs and feet. She hiked up her dress, up her leg where she was wearing a hidden, matching white garter which had strips of paper tucked underneath. She slipped out the one she needed and let her dress fall back in place.

She traced one finger along the symbols drawn on it and uttered the words she needed to draw on their power. To any onlooker, it would appear as though she was simply mumbling a string of incoherent mumbo jumbo, but she knew it was more than that. She could feel the magic dance along her tongue as she said the words.

Once she had finished and she could feel the power radiate between her fingers, she placed the paper on the faraway wall, the one she knew lead to the outside world. It hung there and she knew it would only last minutes.

She looked around her cold and empty cell; another tear sliding silently down her cheek as she silently bid Orion Valley and everyone in it; Alpha Noah, Luna Selima, Fidelia; goodbye.

She gracefully turned her back, faced the wall and slowly walked right through it; as though it had never been solid to begin with. By the time anyone noticed her missing, she knew it would be solid again and the only thing left would be a bit of paper on the cell floor, plain as the magic had disappeared from it.

She wasted no time once outside; she abandoned the heels she had been forced into by Fidelia, knowing she would be slowed down trying to run in them. She dashed to the woods, avoiding detection and raced through the wood for what felt like hours. Never stopping, until she emerged into the nearby town.

She assessed her surroundings and quickly spotted the bus by the bus stop. The engine was off, but the cabin lights were on and the door was open, waiting for any travellers who may come by. She knew her best chance of escape was on that bus and used the last of her energy to leg it over to the bus.

And that was how she had made it this far. Why she had been forced to flee this far. Over running away alive and risking death from a selfish and hate filled Alpha, Nessa chose staying alive. Even if she would miss the wolves of Orion Valley with all her heart.

She had been so lost in her thoughts and memories of the evening, that she almost didn’t catch the elderly bus driver speaking to her.

“You should try and get some sleep, it’s a long way to the next stop and you look exhausted.” He said to her kindly, watching her in his rear-view mirror again, like a worried father fussing over a hurt child.

She nodded in response, she agreed. She was exhausted and her eyes stung from crying, some sleep would actually do her some good and she knew it, especially when she knew she was going to be moving for a long time and it may be a while before she found another ‘home.’

She lay over the two bus seats she was on and curled her body, hugging herself tight. She trusted the bus driver not to do anything to her while she slept, she could sense in his aura that he was a kind and trustworthy man with good intentions and that was good enough for her.

She fell instantly into the darkness of sleep, all the running and tears had exhausted her and even her worried mind couldn’t keep her awake any longer.

While she slept and the bus trundled along the lonely road, two wolves approached. They hid in the darkness, their size much larger than your average canine. They ran alongside the bus, undetected and their eyes searched the inside of the bus to see if there were any passengers. But they could only spot the elderly bus driver from the darkness of the night. Content with him being the only one on the noisy old bus, they quickly sped ahead to continue their search, completely unaware that their target was also on the noisy bus, curled up on the chairs and invisible to them from such a distance. Safe.