Chapter 6: Rejection and running

The hands of the guards who were dragging me out stilled, everywhere went silent as I stood up and dusted myself before facing Alpha Cassius. My heart was pounding in my chest, more workers and some members of the pack trooped into the room but I didn't pay them much attention as I focused on the Alpha's angry expression. The silence in the room was loud, a heavy blanket that tried to smother me. Alpha Cassius' voice cut through the silence like a sharp knife. His words were like a punch to my gut. "You begged me to keep you as my mate," he spat, his eyes full of disgust.

"You were never and will never be worthy of being my mate, I choose Selene as my mate. She is the one I love, she is the one bearing my mark and she will be the one to rule the pack with me." He slowly walked over to me and stopped when he was just a few feet away from me. "Now, in front of everyone present here, I Alpha Cassius of the Wolfram pack, reject you Althea, a lowly omega as my mate." Mumbles of whispers started emanating from the people present in the room but that was none of my concern, my head was occupied with the numbing pain that tore through my body.

I opened my mouth to speak, to at least defend myself but no words came out. Alpha Cassius turned to the guards, his voice cold and hard, "Take her away and lock her up, I do not want to ever see her face around here." The guards moved to me and gripped me tight, their hands feeling like shackles around my arms. I attempted to fight them off but they were too powerful for me. They dragged me away, leaving Alpha Cassius, Selene, and the others behind. The dungeons were cold and dark, filled with the thick scent of blood and decay. I was thrown into a stone cell; the door slammed shut after me.

I fell onto the floor, pain wracking through my spirit, soul, and bones. The rejection of my mate was like a physical blow, leaving me in pain and distress both physically and emotionally. Time passed, maybe days or weeks, I couldn't exactly tell. Time was irrelevant in the blackness of the dungeons. I had been given very little food and water just enough to keep me going, just enough to sustain the vital processes but not the quality of my life, only I was not living. I simply existed. A shadow of my former self. I thought about how my foster family treated me. I thought about the way Alpha Cassius used me for his sexual desires and then rejected me. I thought about how nobody stood up for me. I felt like I was about to drown in a sea of despair, without any lifeline to hold onto. One night, I heard the soft sound of footsteps outside my cell; the door opened, and a figure slipped inside quickly. It was Teagan, her eyes full of pity and determination. "Althea, you have to get out of here," she whispered in an urgent tone. "Now!"

I came to my feet quickly, the will to live suddenly coming back to me; Tegan explained to me how she had added sleeping pills into the food of the guards so I had to move fast before the pills wear up, and I needed to be long gone before my absence would be discovered. Teagan grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the cell. "Run as fast as you can, and never ever look back."

I took off immediately, my feet hit the stone floor as I ran through cold, damp corridors of the dungeons. The exit led me out into the cold night, the cool breeze a welcomed change from the suffocating smell of the dungeons. I did not look back, fearing what my eyes might behold.

I ran through the forest, the trees a total blur as I fled from the pack and the Alpha who rejected me.

I heard the sound of wolves howling in the distance but I didn't dare stop, I kept running, my heart attempting to come out of my chest by pounding furiously.

I couldn't afford to stop, I had to keep moving to be finally free. The trees seemed taller, the shadows deeper than ever as I ran. I stumbled-my foot catching against something but caught myself in a flash and kept running, not waiting to see what tripped me. My heart was racing with fear because I knew I couldn't run forever, that I would have to find a place to hide eventually. But there was nowhere for me to hide so I kept moving, I ran with all my might.

As I exited the forest, I saw a vast expanse of open space, stretching ahead of me. It would be easier to get caught in an open space so I resumed running, I was getting exhausted but I did not stop running. As I ran, I couldn't shake off the feeling that someone was watching me. I felt eyes on my skin, and it gave me the creeps. As time wore on, it started to get darker and darker, and I knew I needed to stop and look for a safe place to rest my legs and also hide. Luck was on my side because just as I had reached a point whereby I was going to stop running and give up, I saw a small cave in the distance, towards which I ran, stumbling inside with my heart racing with fear. The darkness closed in around me, but I did not let that get to me; instead, I held on to the hope that I could make it out of my current situation.

I had in mind, as I drifted to sleep, that I was determined to wake up fully ready to face whatever lay ahead. I would fight for my freedom and for my life.