Run, if you can

Ava POV

The air inside the pack house felt stiff, suffocating. It always did. I stood just inside the doorway, staring at the place I once called home. The familiar scent of the packhouse clung to me like a shadow I couldn’t shake off. But this place, it had never really felt like home. Not anymore. Not for a long time.

I barely took a step before Annabelle’s voice cut through my thoughts like a sharp blade. "Look who finally dragged herself back." Her tone was biting, her lips curling into a cruel smirk as she crossed her arms. Her eyes looked me over, lingering on the bruises that marred my skin from the earlier assault. "What happened, Ava? Did they rough you up a little too much? Poor thing. You’d have healed by now if you could shift."

Her words felt like a whip, but I swallowed the knot in my throat, refusing to let her see the hurt. "I just… need to talk to Mom," I muttered, keeping my voice low, trying to avoid her sharp gaze. Don’t break. Not in front of her.

Annabelle’s laugh was sharp and cold, bitting me like the cold wind. " Mom doesn’t want to talk to you. Haven't you embarrassed this family enough. Why don’t you just leave, Ava? No one wants you here."

Her words hit me hard, she was right. But, I have nowhere else to turn to. Nothing will ever change. Annabelle will always find ways to cut me down, to make sure I felt every bit of my fall from grace. But now, the cruelty in her voice was sharper, more pointed, as if she has been waiting for an opportunity. As she was enjoying my suffering.

I took a shaky breath and stepped deeper into the house, my voice quiet and unsure. "I just want to see Mom…" I don’t even know why I was here, seeking comfort from the very people who seemed to despise me. But I needed someone to talk to.

A door creaked open at the end of the hall, and there she stood, my mother, staring at me from the shadows with that same familiar look of disgust in her eyes.

"Annabelle’s right," my mother said, her voice cold and detached. "You shouldn’t have come back, Ava. This isn’t your home anymore."

Her words struck me like a punch to the gut, knocking the air from my lungs and knees almost giving out. I stared at her, the woman who had given me life, but all I saw was resentment. Why? Why had she grown to hate me so much? Was it the way I looked? The whispers that followed me through the pack, rumors that I wasn’t really my father’s daughter, that my mother had strayed.

But those were just lies. They had to be.

"Mom, please," I choked out, my voice trembling. I was desperate. "I don’t know where else to go."

Her gaze hardened, her eyes cold and unforgiving. "You’re not welcome here."

My legs finally give out beneath me, but I forced myself to stay upright, holding onto a post. My heart pounded furiously in my chest, my throat tight with unshed tears. How had it come to this? I had nowhere else to turn. No one else to seek comfort from.

Not even my mother.

My chest tightened painfully as her words echoed in my mind. She had rejected me, just like everyone else.

"Why do you hate me so much?" I whispered, barely able to get the words out.

Her eyes flickered with something dark, something that made my blood run cold. "Because you remind me every day of what I lost."

My heart thudded heavily in my chest, confusion swirling in my mind. "What do you mean?"

But she didn’t answer. She turned away, her voice like ice. "You’re nothing but a disgrace, Ava. The pack whispers behind your back. They think you’re not even your father’s child. Why don’t you just die? You’re worthless without a wolf. A waste."

I staggered back, each word hitting me like a blow. My stomach twisted painfully, my chest heavy with the crushing weight of her rejection. This can’t be real. This can’t be happening.

I had no one. No one left to turn to.

I don’t know how I made it out of the house. My legs felt weak, my body trembling with the burden of everything that had just happened. My own mother didn’t want me. My family had turned their backs on me. My mate had rejected me but wouldn’t let me go.

The cold wind whipped through the trees as I stumbled blindly toward the woods, desperate to get away. From everything. From everyone.

I felt like I was suffocating, trapped in a nightmare I couldn’t escape. Why couldn’t I just disappear?

But before I could even make it past the first row of trees, I saw him.

Bastard Landon. My heart twist from despair to anger, to hate.

He stepped out of the shadows, blocking my path. His eyes gleamed in the dim light, his lips curving into that cruel smile I had come to fear. "Going somewhere?"

My heart dropped in my chest. I was scared he would do something stupid. I wanted to run, but my feet wouldn’t move. "Leave me alone, Alpha."

He didn’t move. He stepped closer, his voice low and filled with the darkness I had felt so many times before. "You don’t get to tell me what to do, Ava. You’re my mate, and you will do as I say."

I felt my body tense as he reached out, his hand brushing a strand of hair from my face. I wanted to scream, to push him away, but the bond, the damn mate bond, kept me rooted in place, even though it was the last thing I wanted.

"Please," I whispered, finally breaking and unable to hold onto my emotions. My voice shook. "Just let me go. You never see me. You even sell me."

His eyes darkened, his grip on my arm instantly tightened painfully. "You don’t get to leave, Ava. You belong to me. And I’ll never let you go."

My breath caught in my throat as I felt his fingers dig into my skin. I felt trapped, bound to him by the bond and my fear of the unknown that I couldn’t break.

"You can try to run," he hissed, his lips brushing against my ear as he spoke. "You can run as far as you want, but I’ll find you. And when I do, I’ll remind you who you belong to."

Panic and fear surged through me, wrapping itself around my heart. I couldn’t escape him. I was his prisoner, he is using the bond to hold me captive, no matter how much I wanted to break free, I couldn't.

"Run if you want," he whispered, his voice a soft threat. "But remember this, I’ll always find you. And when I do, I’ll make sure you never forget who owns you."