Chapter 1: The Escape

"Breathe." I repeat. The scraped wooden door stands in front of me, awaiting my decision. I have to do this.  My quivering fingers stop at the cold doorknob. Will they catch me? The knot in my stomach grows tighter with the thought.

"Come on,Aurora. If it gets too late,we will be caught." Sia my wolf reminds me and I twist the knob.

The door makes a creaking noise as I slightly pull it. I hope no one hears it because of the rain outside. Darkness embraces my eyes, fervent cold wind biting at my skin.

The pitter-patter of rain and the smell of wet soil are the only elements that wrap my werewolf senses. Dad's guards must be on the front side of the mansion, protecting their costly suits from drenching.

I exhale, releasing all my tension and step outside. My black cloak protects me from drenching and rain boots make a squeaking sound as I step over the puddles. Cold dampness shrouds my body, making me grimace at the weather.

I look around me and find nothing except the silhouette of trees and the colour of the sky changing as the thunder strikes. Relief floods my mind. 

"Hey!" A vague male voice reaches my ears. Shit! 

My legs start sprinting even before I can spell out my name. Strands of my wet hair stick to my face as contour lines of small trees and grasses blur past me. Water splashes underneath my boots and all I can make out is the line of trees bordering the forest ahead of me.

The sound of footsteps gets heavier with each passing minute. They are near. Run faster! 

My legs take longer strides but something tells me to stop. I halt in my steps as small dots of light dance amidst the blurred darkness, growing bigger with each passing second towards me. 

With the lights on my face, flashes of the past flicker in front of me focusing on the day when my father decided to drop the bomb on my head. I was supposed to get married to Alpha Tristain Knight of the Knight Bloodline. 

I would have been dancing on my feet after the hearing the news only if I was one of the female werewolves who had nothing to do except about their dominating mate. 

"Hey! Stay where you are!" A familiar voice travels from those balls of light bringing back to the present and my eyes fall on the lines of the men holding the flashlights as they approach me. I'm officially caught. Superb! 

A sensation of fear and helplessness crawls up my spine, making me shiver and stare ahead in utter blankness. The group of men under black umbrellas and holding flashlights obstruct my means of escape. 

If my intentions can be put in simplw words, then this explains it best. 

I hate Alphas! Especially the royal bloodline ones. Watching the person who had done nothing but torture mother and me, I have come to realise that all of these alphas just say that dreadful word, claiming one to be their mate and do whatever they want with their, giving it the name of love. 

Power makes these arrogant dicks thing they can do wahtever they want. But no one claims me. No one! I will make sure of that. 

 I stay still, my feet rooted to the muddy, wet ground for support. "Princess! What are you doing here?" One of the guards demands. Even after living in the twenty-first century, being the blood of a Hemsworth makes these idiots treat me as some kind of royalty. 

Silence reigns over my quivering lips and the cold raindrops blur the frame of the trees waiting for me behind the cage of my father's guards. They call me. 

At this point, I have only two choices in front of me. Either I surrender and marry the ruthless Alpha or I take a chance and be free from this obligation. And I made my decision the day I thought to run away. 

"Princess Aurora! Please head back to your room!" 

I close my eyes, calling on Sia to take over me. The sound of rain overwhelms every other voice I can hear around. And it begins.

The pain of bones cracking and rejoining shoots through my spine, making me scream. I grit my teeth and bend down to ease up the agony of body reformation. Everything fades into blinding darkness and tears spill through my eyes. After what feels like an eternity, the pain slows down. Indistinct voices spring to my ears and I open my eyes to find my dad's men hovering over me. 

"Aurora! Where are you?" Tessa calls me through the telepathic link. Time to escape. 

"Coming." I convey my thoughts with a mental picture of my situation. 

The guards circle and stand in a defensive mode around me. Growling, I lunge forward crashing onto one of their bodies, resulting in his fall. My claws stay inches away from digging into his flesh. 

"Princess! Please stop! Don't do this!" The guard begs beneath me. Guards are not allowed to attack any member of the family. So all this poor man can do is defend himself. Not that I have plans on killing him. 

"Miss Aurora Hemsworth!" The heavy voice of the man I fear cuts through the sound of the rain. I turn my head to find my overly proud father standing under an umbrella held by one of his men. "Go back to your room, right now!" His loud voice shakes my determination, his figure standing tall and under the shadow on his face, i can see those black eyes staring straight at my soul. 

If he had not pushed me to a corner with his decision, I'm sure I would have bent my knees in front of this man who could even scare a beast. 

Stay or run? I look ahead me, the forest appearing like nothing more than a mist of darkness. I have always respected his decisions. But it's time...that I respect mine. 

Not wasting more time, I jump out of the circle and start sprinting towards the forest. Footsteps run behind me, voices calling me to stop and monstrous trees shade my sight as I run straight into the forest. 

I'm sorry, mom. I hope she takes care of herself. 

With every step ahead, the voices behind me get lost in the silence of the woods. Wet leaves and branches latch to my paws and the sound of my pacing heartbeat drums in my ears. Adrenaline pumps through my veins as every leap I take pushes me towards an unknown sense of danger.

The trees gradually lead to a clearing and the sound of gushing water hits my ears. It is the river! I run towards the source and find myself standing in front of the Yarra River. It was my plan to cross this river. 

But those plans included crossing it using the bridge. And where I am standing, there is no bridge at sight. Running away from the gaurds made me unaware of the track I was taking. 

Looks like I have no other choice but to cross it in my werewolf form. 

Inhaling deeply, I lunge myself forward into the revolting waves. My paws splash into the ice-cold water, sprinkling some droplets into my face and I make it up to the land before I can spell my name. 

Yay! Sia: one, River: Zero. 

"Cinn!"A familiar voice invites me and I look up to find two figures running towards me."Oh, my hams! You turned? Why?" Tessa scans Sia from head to toe.

She is my best werewolf friend from school who comes from the royal Stone bloodline like me and has the absurd habit of speaking in terms of food. Even my nickname came from the spice 'Cinnnamon'. She believes that it somehow matches my character. Sweet yet spicy. 

"Leave that, Tess. She made it! That's more important right now." Alex reminds her and smiles at my huge form which kind of intimates his whitchy self. Correction: warlocks. How he became friends with me is kind of a long story. Witches and werewolves don't usually go hand in hand.

I had told my friends to meet me across the river with Alex's car to get away from here. 

"Yup. Do you have an extra shirt and pants? I left mine." I inform Tessa through the telepathy. The change in her expressions from deep concentration to relief tell me that I am saved from travelling naked to London. 

We walk over to Alex's car and I change into her baggy shirt and pants inside the car. The otherwise loose shirt clings to my body like a second skin because of the water. 

"Yes! We finally did it, Cinn! SpellMoon academy, here we come." Tessa jumps in the passenger seat. 

I had told my friends that in order to escape from the marriage, I needed somewhere to hide. And SpellMoon Academy is the place I have chosen for certain reasons. 

"Yeah. I seriously doubted if Aurora would make it or not." Alex looks at me and I give a faint smile. My eyes dart back to the blurry image of the trees relishing under the rain. Escaping my home was never a choice.

But I cannot give myself over to some arrogant Alpha and destroy my life. In no way, am I going to be the mate of the Alpha of Knight!

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