Chapter 4

My heart began to pound as I forced myself to walk calmly, breathing deeply to stabilize my heartbeat. One of the things I'd learned by living with wolves was that if they heard or saw any sign of weakness, they pounced. A speeding heart was a dead giveaway of how scared I was, and I quickly brought it under control, maintaining my brisk pace.

I knew the nearest pack was miles away, but I was sure if I kept walking in one direction, I could meet something or someone.

After just a few minutes of carrying my light suitcase, I began to regret bringing it with me. I knew I was being stalked. And if those wolves decided to give chase, running with a suitcase wouldn't help me - not that I was even fast enough to outrun a shifted werewolf. They would be upon me in a second. My best bet was to maintain my pace and pretend I didn't know I was being followed.

I increased my pace when the first drizzles of rain hit my face and I heard the crunch of twigs being stepped on behind me.

With a feeling of dread, I slowly turned around.

A huge grey wolf was staring at me hungrily, poised to move, lips pulled back in a snarl and saliva dripping from exposed canines.

I gulped, taking a slow step back. My eyes scanned the surrounding bushes and one by one; more wolves began stalking out of the shadows.

My hands shook with fear and I dropped my suitcase.

As one, the wolves' eyes followed the bag as it hit the ground, then came back up to me. I knew the moment the alpha wolf decided to charge.

I turned and ran.

The sounds of growls and panting reached me. Just as I leaped over a low-hanging branch, praying that the wolves were in worse shape than they appeared to be, a large, heavy body plowed into me, sending me tumbling and sprawling, hitting my head on a tree root.

I spat dirt and leaves out of my mouth as I sat up, shocked to see that I'd already been surrounded.

The first wolf I had seen - the grey one - stepped forward and sniffed at me, his wet snout invasively brushing against my neck and making me shiver. I sat still, knowing that any sudden movements would leave me at his mercy - as if I wasn't already.

Finally, the wolf stepped back, and his limbs began to elongate and change shape. In seconds, a tall, dirty-looking man was standing in place of the wolf.

"What are you doing in these woods?", he asked roughly, his eyes roaming over my body.

"I..." My voice ended with a croak, and I quickly cleared my throat, licking my dry lips. "I... I'm a traveler. I..."

Something damp touched my neck behind me, and I screamed, whipping my head around to come face to face with another wolf who looked at me hastily.

When I turned back around, the first man was squatting right in front of me, unmindful of his nudity.

"Did no one tell you that these woods belong to us, little girl?"

His words brought a shiver down my spine and I shook my head quickly.

"No, Sir. I...I thought this was unclaimed territory. I'm so sorry, I..."

The man laughed, cutting me off, and his gaze flickered down, glancing at the button of my shirt.

My already rapid heartbeat increased. I hadn't thought about this, which, in hindsight, was stupid.

I'd let my pain cloud my common sense - if I'd ever had any.

Why didn't I think of what rogue men would do to a woman they found wandering the woods? A woman with no wolf or way to defend herself.

"I take it you haven't heard of me?" The man said.

I shook my head quickly, my depression pleading. A glance around at all possible escape routes revealed that I would have to get past these four men first. Three of whom were still in their wolf forms.

"I am The Rogue Alpha. The only rogue smart enough to form his only pack."

I looked around at the other men. Are these the only other members of his pack?

He must have read my expression, because he laughed.

"No, these men aren't my only pack members. We are more than you'd imagine...with only one problem."

I nodded again, even though he hadn't asked me a question.

"Do you know the problem?"

I shook my head quickly, my hand slowly snaking out to grab a fallen tree branch.

The rogue alpha snapped out his arm and grabbed my hand halfway to the branch. He pulled it to him and slowly ran his finger over it, smirking at me.

"The problem is we don't have enough women."

I gulped.

"Do you know what that means?"

"Th...that you want less men?", I rasped out.

The rogue alpha laughed evilly. "A smart one, I see. No, darling. It means we want more women, and you're coming with us."

"But I..."

"And let me warn you that if you try to escape, my men will hunt you down, drag you to me, and I will do whatever I please with you. Do you understand?"

Bullshit. Whatever I did, I was at his mercy. Still, I nodded.

He held out his hand towards me, I took it, and he pulled me up effortlessly. I realized that despite his appearance, the man was probably a trained killing machine. There was only so much one could do before being exiled from their pack.

He led me to my fallen suitcase, the other wolves behind us, and he handed it to me.

I clutched it to me with shaky hands, wondering what had given me the bright idea to leave my pack so soon. I should have waited, prepared, and maybe mapped out a safe way to another pack.

The rain had increased and the wind had picked up, rustling leaves and swaying the surrounding trees. The rogue alpha smiled at me.

"Aren't you glad you're coming with us? There's going to be a storm."

Great. That ruined whatever chances I had of making it out of this on my own.

Still, I had to try.

I waited until we fell into a comfortable pace, then suddenly shrieking to hurt the sensitive ears of the wolf, I whirled around and flung my suitcase at the head of the wolf directly behind me.

Not even turning to see if he recovered or not, I raced in the opposite direction from where we had been going, dragging a branch from a tree as I raced past.

Sharp teeth closed around my ankle, making me scream as I turned, swinging my branch wildly and hitting one of the wolves across the snout.

I swung again and a hand caught my arm, twisting it painfully. I screamed as I was roughly turned around by the rogue alpha. How he had even gotten ahead of me was beyond me.

His eyes glinted angrily as he yanked me to him by pulling at the neckline of my shirt, ripping it in two.

"I told you not to do that,” he hissed, a rough hand closing around my breast. "You will learn to submit."

I struggled against him, raising a knee with all my strength and driving it upwards. He shifted effortlessly, blocking my blow with his thigh, then slapping me across my face.

Before I could recover from the blow, he tossed me to the ground, growling lowly. His penis was engorged.

"No!" I begged. "No, please!"

He began to lower himself down onto me when loud howls came from the surrounding bushes.

The rogue alpha paused, then cursed loudly, pulling me back to my feet.

"Walk,” he hissed. "Unless you want to die."

I dug my feet into the soft dirt stubbornly, pulling myself backward.

"You..."

He cut off as wolves poured out of the shadows, going for each of his wolves. A large black one lunged for him, and he immediately let go of my arm, shifting back to his wolf form and tackling the other wolf.

Confused, I looked around, but all I saw were rogues fighting other wolves that all but came out of nowhere.

I saw my chance and I took it, ducking towards the edge of the clearing we were in, then immediately running as fast as I could.

Rain was pouring in torrents and the wind buffeted branches of trees into my way. I stumbled once, twice, but still, I kept going, pushing myself to my feet every time I fell. I could barely see where I was going, but that didn't matter as long as I put as much distance as I could between myself and the rogue alpha.

As I ran, my feet sank into dirt made soft by the rain, and as I wiped rainwater out of my face, I wondered if the visibility had been so poor before the storm. It looked like the fog was pouring into the woods - or I was walking into the fog. I had no idea.

I didn't see the gaping emptiness in front of me until I was almost falling into it. Even then, it was too late. My ankle twisted on the edge of the cliff I was standing on and the next thing I knew, I was being buffeted against rocks on the cliff side.

I cried out but couldn't hear myself over the noise of the wind.

My fingers brushed against wood just a few seconds before I fell past it, and I grabbed on for dear life, asking the moon goddess what I had done in a former life to deserve this. I had escaped from a sick rapist, just to dangle off the middle of a cliff during a bad storm. It had to have been something horrible.