CHAPTER 1: Escaping The Father

My arm aches as I continue to drive down the road. Henry, my little brother, who sits beside me is still sobbing silently. The pain in my arm is nothing compared to the ache I feel inside.

"It's going to be fine. We'll figure something out," I assure him.

"He's going to kill you," he chokes out between his sobs. "I don't want to go back home. Please don't go back."

I glance at him briefly and smile at him reassuringly. "I won't go back. No one is going back. Don't worry about it. We're going somewhere far away."

We've been on the road since over an hour now and it's still not far from Ashville. We just left the town and the forest is beginning to thin around us. There is a long winding road ahead.

Henry sniffles. "He's going to find us. He always does."

"Not this time," I say, keeping my attention on the road.

There's no way he's going to find us—no way. I'll make sure of that. We're not going back, not ever. This time, it was a lot. This time, I have a very good reason to leave.

Henry is turning thirteen in a month, and his wolf is going to surface any day now. I cannot risk letting him go through the same thing I did. It's hard enough already.

My father's a werewolf hunter, yet he has two werewolves for kids. How fucked up is that? When I turned thirteen, it was bad enough. My father didn't understand what was happening to me, not until it was too late. He tried to kill me over the years, many times, or tried to suppress my wolf by injecting me with silver and locking me up in a cage. He never succeeded, though.

A couple of months ago, I tried to run, the same way I'm doing now but he caught me and Henry just near the town. He has men, many men who do his bidding. They work as mercenaries, and they hunt wolves. That's what my father is—a werewolf hunter, a killer.

This time, I'm not going back. And neither is Henry.

I take a glance at my brother. He's grown so much and when he starts turning into a werewolf, there's no way my father can control him.

"We're going to a pack. They're werewolves and they'll protect us."

Henry sniffs. "There no packs here, Aria. Dad said that."

"There is one, I'm sure." I have to believe that.

The pack is near Ashville. I have a vague idea about their location. But I have seen some pack wolves roam around the woods late in the evenings and there were times where Dad's mercenaries would return after having failed to kill them.

I'm sure if I can find the pack, they will protect us.

That's if I can find it.

My wolf isn't helping me, not at this moment. She has been quiet for a while since Dad injected me with silver earlier today. The pain I feel in my body is excruciating, and I can't wait for the silver to be gone from my system.

It will be a few days for that.

Henry keeps looking out of the window, looking for signs. He knows when Dad catches us or one of his people. He's keeping an eye out for any of their cars.

"How far are we?" Henry asks after a long moment of silence.

"I don't know," I tell him. "We'll just keep driving."

"Can you smell anything?"

I shake my head, "I can't. It's difficult—but we'll be fine. Don't worry about that. If we can't find a pack by nighttime, we'll stay at a motel and continue tomorrow."

Henry nods and says nothing more.

I keep driving, ignoring the pain in my body and my arm, which is starting to feel numb. I keep thinking about how I'm going to find a pack.

I've never known any werewolves except for my mother. But she was killed, and since then, I have lived with my father, a monster.

My father sent his people, hunters, to kill my mother on the night she ran away to be free. Henry doesn't remember any of it. He was barely three.

But before my mother died, she told me about them, about werewolves. How they run in packs, how they hunt, and how they are dangerous. But most importantly, she told me how they could help.

That's what I have been clinging onto for the past two hours, the hope of finding a pack.

As the sun begins to set, Henry grows restless. He's anxious and keeps looking around him.

"We're almost out of gas," he informs.

"It's fine, I'll find a place to stop." I look ahead and there's nothing, nothing for miles. Just the road and the darkening sky.

I'm doomed.

Taking a deep breath, I continue driving on the highway for as long as I can. There's no station ahead. Nothing at all. I begin to fear that the car is going to stop in the middle of the road.

And it does.

The car comes to a halt and I pullover to the side before stepping out. It's dark, almost night time and the sky above has stars littering the darkness.

Wind blows around me, making a hollow sound, and my hair moves. I stay on the side of the road, waiting for any cars to pass by so I can get some help if possible. I'm not sure how that will work, but it's worth a try.

But nothing does and the one car that does passes by in such a speed that I didn't have time to even raise my hands and ask for help.

I return into the car, and Henry is sitting still. He's watching me with his eyes, fear shining in them.

"We're far enough from the town—"

"What if it's not enough? We've to keep moving." Henry tells me, completely panicking.

On either side of the road, there's nothing but a forest stretching endlessly. I can't risk walking through it and getting lost in there at night, especially with Henry. And where would we go? There's nothing here.

"You can shift, can't you?"

"I can't—not now. There's silver in my blood. And the last time I shifted was over a year ago. I don't even know how to..." I trail off, not knowing what else to say to him.

"Then we can walk."

"It's too dangerous."

"We've to do something. We can't be here."

He's not wrong. We cannot stay on the road for any longer. But there's nothing I can do, and that makes me feel helpless.

I contemplate my options.

We're stuck.

Neither of us has a phone. All we have is physical copies of maps. I've some cash on me, only a little, but if I can just find a motel or a place to stay at tonight, I can figure something out by tomorrow.

Yes.

"Let's walk." I say, grabbing my things that are inside the car.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Come on," I step out of the car and wait for him to do the same. Going by his side, I take his hand in mine. "Let's go."

It's for a while that we keep walking, mostly on the road but after some time, we slip into the forest and find ourselves following a trail that's there. It has to lead to something. Anything.

I keep my eyes open and ears alert, listening to any sounds that can alert me that there's someone near us, something that will help us. My wolf has been in her slumber for a while now but she can still tell me if there's any wolf nearby.

A pack of wolves, hopefully.

For a long time, I walk with Henry and he's not complaining. He remains quiet. He starts to get sleepy, but I don't let him sit down. I make him move.

After a while, Henry stops and says, "I can't—I'm too tired. I need to rest."

There's a lake in the distance. I can smell the fresh water, the dampness of it, and I'm reminded of the time when I would go to the lake with Mom, when I was young.

"Let's go by the lake. We'll camp there for a while." I suggest.

Henry follows, dragging his feet and I pick him up when he starts to get slower. When we get to the lake, he falls asleep instantly over the ground, but I lay my jacket on it first for him.

My eyes remain open and I keep looking around, listening, and hoping to catch something that might help us. But still nothing.

Time goes by and the cold starts to seep in. I finally manage to sit beside Henry, near a rock and close my eyes.

Just for a little while.