Chapter One

“Rest Morana. I will take care of us.” Those words from her wolf were the most comforting words she had heard in a while. Her voice was so familiar as she took over their shared body and did something Morana had only dreamt of doing. She escaped the Black Moon pack. She got them both out of the cell, into the summer air, and they walked as far away from the Black Moon's pack territory as their legs could take them.

Morana was moved to tears, all she wanted was to cry and scream and for once maybe smile. But, her wolf ignored her antics and continued to run. They ran in no-man lands for days in end. Only rouge wolves resided in the woods they passed, and the wolf tread lightly on her trail. Most of the journey was spent resting and healing. Her wolf who constantly reminded her that she named Hontas, killed rabbits and found shelter for them. She ran in the warm breeze and enjoyed the feel of being a real wolf. The more they traveled in that form, the more she realized that being a rogue wasn't so bad.

She had freedom, meaning she wouldn't starve, or get hurt, and wasn't confined in a box. In that moment the two agreed to never wanting to go into a cell like that ever again. They stayed in Hontas' form for weeks until she finally allowed Morana back in charge.

It was mid-day when she was able to shift back to human form. Her body ached as she stretched her limbs for the first time in months, needing to cool the ache in her back and neck she waked towards the lake she had seen some days ago, her legs trembled as she made her way to the edge of the lake not being used to walking on her two feet. Morana had never felt better as she submerged her body into the lake, her hands coming up to make splashes in the river, she took a deep breath of air as she swam naked in the cool water.

Not being experienced with holding her breath she quickly opened her mouth, desperate to allow air into her lungs but instead the water filled her lungs almost drowning her fragile body. She stayed in the water cleaning her hair and body till her skin began to wrinkle and her hands began to shake, the cold water finally beginning to seep into her bones.

Slowly she looked to her back seeing deep red welts decorating the whole surface, some looked to be deeper than others. It was a miracle she didn't feel the pain before now. The hideous sight almost brought tears to her eyes, she knew these marks would not heal as fast as the others, especially because it was inflicted by silver, it would take months until the welts were gone, maybe even longer, now seeing that some silver pieces still remained in the wounds.

Her muscles were sore, ‘how had Hontas run for so long with felling this immense pain in her back?’ she wondered as she stretched to touch the tender flesh, and how didn't she falter in her pace due to the pain the way Morana was. Once she completed washing her body in the now freezing water, she swam out of the lake to rest on a tree, her legs stretched out on the green grass.

In her human form she became very aware of her surroundings, she found herself looking up at the blue sky, her damp hair rested over her naked body. Enchanted by the clouds, she watched as they slowly moved through the sky as if they weren't bound to no rules. She rolled on her stomach till she got on her knees and then walked to the very top of a hill she'd been resting at for a while.

The grass blades brushed against her feet as she reached the flat top. she could see treetops that stretched for miles, and hear birds chirping their different tunes as they flew above her head. Finally, she felt content and at peace, this was where they belonged.

‘Yes Morana. We don't need anyone but each other.' The quiet voice of her wolf was soothing, she nodded slowly in agreement, people tended to hurt her at every opportunity that was presented. This, right in this moment, she knew was where she wanted to be, she wanted to stay on this hill forever, looking at the beautiful clouds and blue skies, climbing trees and playing in the lake, that was all she wanted.

Her toes scrunched up the grass as she let out a relaxing sigh and stretched her arms up, imagining she was touching the clouds, they looked so comfortable and soft. With the scent of the cell now off her skin she felt completely safe, comfortable and relaxed.

The clouds continued to move fast and soon she watched the sky turn the prettiest shade of pink she has ever seen as the sun started to fall. From observing Hontas Morana knew it meant it was time to sleep. In the cell, there was no sense of time, without a window in sight because they feared she could escape easily that way, she barely knew what time was what.

Walking through the forest full of huge, thick trees she finally found a low hanging tree, strong enough for her to sleep in. It took four times, but on the fifth time she knew where to place her hand to get up from the ground. The first branch was the hardest since she had to get her leg up to high, but once she was up the branches seemed to be closer. Finding a thick one that was certain will hold her, she sat against the truck.

She watched the sun slowly set, pulling her legs close to her chest and used another branch to rest on. Hontas and Morana survived on the land for so long they had lost count, we continued to move, never staying in one place for long, we experienced moving metal on hard ground, it was so fascinating to see how fast it went. she'd watched as the strange objects ran away quickly, some were larger and longer than others. It looked to hold people, it was strange to Hontas and herself as we sat behind the fence and watched them for a few hours, though when the moving metals started to make noise Hontas became agitated and ran away from the noises.

She ran that night getting as far away as she could from the fence, from the metal and the noises they made. Hontas had the role of steering Morana away from trouble. The human was easily fascinated about everything around her, from the flowers to the bugs, the trees, the animals and fire, fire was the most fascinating. She wondered how something so beautiful could be so hot. She remembered how she had first seen black smoke and against Honats’ words had rushed to see what it was.

Throwing caution into the wind, she had walked out to a group of older women who were surrounding a large pit of flames that had caused the black smoke. The women offered her food and clothes, one had offered her to come with her. But once her stomach was fed with cooked meat she escaped through the back in the forest while they slept, without ever saying a word to them.

Both creature and human were proud to have gotten clothes and food, but Hontas was on edge, not fully trusting the women and ran again for the whole night, this time holding the clothes in her mouth as she ran away from what the women had called a campsite. It took awhile until Hontas let Morana in charge again, but when she did, she realized that the clothes were too loose and felt stranger than they did before. She enjoyed being naked but was worried someone would see her.

A few days before stumbling across the campsite she had caught sight of a pair of black eyes watching her every movement. She was in her human form at that time and acted as if she didn't see them as she left and went on with her day. Since then, Hontas had been on edge, worried about her surroundings, but black smoke? She’d never seen black smoke!

Even though they had been gone for months, she still found herself fearful that her Uncle's rage would find and take Hontas and Morana. That was all it took to motivate them to continue their journey even though they often found themselves lost. But it haunted the back of their head, the welts were still a bright red and Hontas had assured her human it would take a while for them to heal. Some days they ached worse than others, it was a reminder of what would happen if they ever stopped or got too curious.

It was a long hot day when Hontas grew weak and let Morana take over in her human form. she walked up hills and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible, panting for water. The sun beat down harshly on her skin and her stomach growled, indicating her growing hunger. As she looked around the forest, she found an apple tree and grabbed the biggest one her little hands could reach. She walked towards a lake and sat down by the water and ate the fruit without any worries.

Once done, she threw the core on the ground and took the clothes off before going into the water. She tried to copy Hontas' way of swimming which involved pushing her feet and hands in the water. She made sure to stay close to the shore as she did the quick movements never going beyond the point where she couldn't stand. Truthfully, the water frightened her, if it wasn't such a hot day she probably wouldn't be in the water. But the blazing sun still found a way to shine over her body causing sweat to form on her forehead.

she shook her hair out and looked at the long strands as it wrapped around her wet skin. Morana pushed the light brown strands away from her face standing up and stared at her reflection in the water. Her eyes were a dark blue and heart shaped face looked so small. she touched her cheek letting her finger slowly fall from her cheek down to her shoulder.

She pushed her hair away and looked at the strange round scar that rested at the back of her shoulder. Touching the skin, she could feel heat radiating from it, remembering the burning pain, it was scorching hot like silver against my skin. She cried against it, though her cries were never heard. The guard was the one who did it. That was the first time she saw her uncle upset about them hurting her, he was definitely not happy when he realized what had happened.

"What the fuck did you do Rick?" he growled outside her cell. It was the year she had just turned seventeen years old; he had come to see her get her punishment like he always did, but seeing the burning mark stopped him in his tracks. Rick looked at her with knowing eyes and tilted his head.

Her uncle growled louder this time, "Do you believe she belongs to you?" He asked and grabbed Rick by his shirt, but Rick was unable to give a reply "She doesn't, she belongs to me." Alpha Kevin said through his teeth.

"If that is the case, then wły are you only now saying something about it?" Rick, the guard replied, "For years I've been coming down here spending my sweet time with your niece. You told me to make her suffer." The man replied and turned to my Uncle with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't mean-" Her uncle stopped his words as he looked at her skinny frame and then to the man. His mouth twisted in disgust, "So you made her a fucking whore?" he asked growling.

"No other man has touched her because of me, I did you a favour if you ask me." Rick said and smirked down at her, "She's just my little whore, mine alone."

"You've grown fond of her?" the Alpha demanded and turned towards him. "She has been mine for quite a while, what has it been Morana seven? Maybe eight years?" He asked. The child watched as tears began to fill in her uncle’s eyes before his face filled with disgust as she tried to hide against the wooden post she was latched to.

"And the other men?" The Alpha asked desperately. "They never touched her, just hit her a little.” Rick said quickly too quickly for her uncle’s liking. He let out a growl and turned towards Rick.

"Then this year, you will be sharing her punishment." He said, Morana watched as Rick's eyes grew wide with dread, "You're 25 right Rick?"

"Yes Alpha. " Rick said. Her uncle grinned as he turned towards him. "Then I want you to bring 25 men here to fuck your whore. And you will watch, and not say a damn thing.” Her uncle said using his Alpha command.

He then walked towards Morana and shoved something in her arm, she winced as the burning pinch, "You will be the only one to feel the pain.” Her uncle said to Rick as everything slowly started to numb and her eyes started to fall. Till date Morana couldn't remember that night, all she knew was Rick didn't return to her cell for a year after that day. And when he returned, it was only to beat her and leave.

She had a broken arm, shattered wrists and a broken leg by the next morning. Grace had to help for an entire week as her body slowly tried to heal.

Morana turned in the lake and walked back to the shore twisting her hair, trying to get all the water out of it before getting her clothes on. she stretched her arms out and ran away from the lake, slowly, she turned her race into a jog taking in the beauty surrounding her. She pushed her hair back and twirled for a moment raising her head to have a look at the sky, her arms swinging by her side.

The memories of that night, forever burned in her head until the day she died, she was sure of it, but at this moment she didn't care about the past. She wanted what was offered now, doing things she remembered doing as a child, like rolling down a hill and picking flowers to make crowns. She placed the crown on her hair as she thought aimlessly.

It was so silent, Hontas softly purred in her feeling content and happy. "We should keep going." Hontas urged, slowly Morana stood back up and continued walking. They needed to find a warm safe spot to sleep. The heat was dreadful through the day, but at night it was freezing. She rubbed her hands as she looked down at her fingers. Swollen from the heat she remembered the time when they had turned purple from the cold that lingered in the cell. Remembered the cold breath that escaped her lungs when she laid on the freezing dirty floor. Even on the best of days she still had haunting memories.

Shaking her head to rid herself of the memory she continued to walk. Shelter, shelter, shelter that was she allowed herself to think about. She turned her nose in the air and smelled, trying to see if she could smell any wolf scent before finding a large tree to rest in.

The sun was slowly setting as she curled into a ball, pulling her knees inside her oversized shirt as she laid on a branch. The cool shade was refreshing and with a small sigh she could feel an exhausting weight creep through her bones. How long had it been since she slept? A few days? Morana let out a small yawn closing her eyes she allowed her body to wrap in the darkness.

“Wake up!” Hontas ordered. Morana felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured on her, quickly she opened her eyes and rose quickly to her feet, feeling the cool air of night. The moon made the forest into a blue haze slowly she lifted her hands to rub my eyes. Small ants fell from her forehead and onto her cheeks as she blinked a few times. Her body softly shook as she leaned against her hand dumbfounded for a moment until she caught a scent, taking in another whiff, she realized it wasn’t just one wolf she could detect, her eyes widened as she laid eyes on the four wolves in front of her. All baring their canines as they looked at her.

The one on the far left shifted into a human and crossed his arms and glaring down her small frame. "What are you doing here? You are in our territory!" He said with a growl. Morana’s mouth opened to speak but no words came out. She tried again to form words but nothing would fall from moving her tongue and lips. She tapped her hands and pointed out to the forest showing her neck as a sign of submission.

The man looked at me confused, "You can't speak?" He asked, she opened her mouth in an attempt to give talking another try but she couldn't. It was strange, she couldn't seem remember how to talk, from how to move her tongue to controlling her lips to form words, all she could do was grunt noises from the back of her throat. For the first time in her life Morana felt embarrassed, wanted to smack herself but couldn't show weakness around these strange wolves. She straightened her back and lifted her chin standing tall when she nodded a reply to the man who asked her a question.

All the other wolves changed back to their human form, two looking skeptically, the other looked at her hand and smirked at her. “What do you think, Beta Jon?” One of the men asked, ‘We just lost our last rouge.” He continued “You know damn well if Alpha finds out, he will kill us.” The one who first shifted said as he then turned facing her. He crouched down, placing a finger on her chin, “she looks much better than the last one, that's for sure."

"Alpha has been away for two weeks, you are in charge." The other man said. The Beta, the first one who shifted slowly licked his lips as he looked down at her once more. A strange look passed across his face, it was between pity and disgust, "Lucky for you little rouge, you won't be dying today. But you sure as hell are going to wish you did, what these sick bastards will do to you will more pain than death.” He said with a shake of his head. Morana watched as the other two came to grab her by the arms lifting her off of the ground.

She stumbled on her feet as they dragged her to walk at their speed as she looked around as they walked around the dark forest. They went further into a territory she had never seen before and Hontas was not happy in this situation.

“I’m so sorry Morana. I should have been up. I am sorry I failed you.” Morana couldn't understand why her wolf chose to blame herself for the situation they had found themselves, there was no reason for getting upset getting upset. The men who had caught her where the real problem, Morana was sure she had not trespassed into an already taken territory and knew that was just an excuse the men were using to capture her. She couldn’t help but think of where they were taking her, what was going to happen to her once she got there and if they will spare her life. Trying not to anger them she didn't make a single sound or give any problems as she walked in the middle of two of the men them.

Hontas couldn’t take on three adult male wolves, Morana wasn’t even sure if they could even take on one. The men walked her to an open area before going towards a brown shed that looked as if it was about to fall apart. This was definitely not the pack house or even a holding cell, it looked to be worse than the cell she was put in back at her former pack. They opened the wooden door and pushed her inside. One could smell the rotting wood as she fumbled in the darkness, they opened another wooden door and she could see a set of stairs. They closed the door tightly behind them as they pushed down the stairs and lit a candle. ‘Small black box’ she thought to myself as I started to resist against them. ‘No! I just escaped!’ she so desperately wanted to scream as her feet touched a smooth cold floor.

she could feel tears threatening to spill from her eyes as the men restrained her and yanked her body to the middle. Only then did she see a familiar wooden post. It wasn't like the one her uncle had, no, this one held her body up as it encasing her in wood. her breathing picked up as she laid against the wood and looked around the darkness.

The Beta turned on a light and walked in front of her. His bottom lip pouted out as his finger slowly fell down her cheek, catching a tear that had escaped, “Shhh, don't worry, when the Alpha returns you will be gone. We wouldn't want to get in trouble, now would we?” The man said and smirked. Morana looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he meant, was he going to let her go once the Alpha retuned? She wondered as he turned towards the other man, "Get the others." He said in a cold tone. His voice sending shivers down her spine, fear consumed her as she thought of what these men would do to her, for the first time since they had captured her, she let out a deafening scream.