Calm Before The Storm

ELEA

(5 years later)

I ran as fast as I could, as fast as Liam could. 

My little son, the reason for my existence, was no less than four years old and there was no way I could leave him behind to die at the hands of these hunters. Rogues, like us, were often hunted and executed by the territorial Alphas, and given the way these soldiers were hounding us, I knew it would be no different. 

“To the left, to the left!” Someone shouted behind me as footsteps pounded closer and closer.

These were no men; they were shifter werewolves. Speed, agility and scent tracking were built within them and thus, besting them in a hunt with a child on the run would be next to impossible.

But giving up was not an option for me, for us. 

I kept running, hoping against hope for a miracle, sprinting into the depths of the forests.

As the thick canopy of the forest overhead dimmed the light of the sun, my heart pounded against my chest, each beat echoing in my ears. 

“Mama…I…can’t…” Liam panted as I held his tiny hand tightly in mine.

I found a thick bush of shrubs and quickly dragged him down to catch a breath.

“Baby, I need you to be strong, okay?” I whispered, taking his face in my hands. 

“But why are we running, mama?” 

“Liam, it’s a game, you know? And we have to win this game. If we get caught, we lose. Do you want to lose the game?”

The sound of heavy footfalls of the pursuers drew nearer as the raging voice of their commands reverberated through the trees. They were close, I could feel it. 

“I will try, mama.” My heart broke at his words. But what choice did I have? 

The more I ran, it appeared that the forest seemed to swallow me whole as the dense foliage obscured the path and made it difficult to see more than a few feet ahead. 

“There! We got another!” Hollered a male voice as another howl echoed.

“Mama!” Liam lost his balance and fell forward as I quickly picked him up. 

“It’s okay, I got you,” I said. I scooped him up in my arms and started running. 

The fear of getting caught by the werewolves was so terrifying that it drove me forward even though every fibre of my being screamed for rest. Thankfully, the adrenaline coursing through my veins was still heightened as I kept running. 

Soon, my legs were beginning to burn with exhaustion. 

“Moon Goddess, please give me the strength!” I prayed. 

Without sparing a glance at the back, I dashed ahead when a sudden break in the trees offered a glimpse of a clear sky. Maybe, we were finally getting out of the forest. With renewed determination, I pushed myself harder, bursting through the trees and into a small clearing, gasping for breath and finally skidded to a halt.  

As desperate as I was to escape, I stumbled upon a layer of thick root and paid the price. I fell face first, but somehow managed to save Liam from the fall. 

“Mama, are you okay?” Liam panicked, crawling to sit by my side as I whimpered through the gasps of pain. The ache throbbed with each heartbeat while I struggled to get onto my feet. 

But it was a little too late.

Raging footsteps approached like thunderstorms and in an instant, the rogue hunters surrounded us like predators ready to pounce on the prey. My blood rocketed with adrenaline anew as I struggled to kick free from the hold. 

“We have got another one!” shouted the bearded one. 

“Liam!” I screamed, watching helplessly as the other one got to my son.

“Mama!” 

Rage, passion and horror exploded, and I tried to bite on my captor’s arm, tasting rust from breaking flesh. 

"Quiet, bitch!” He cursed and then slapped me so hard that I almost lost my vision for a couple of seconds. 

“Let him go, please! I beg you! Please!” I cried. There was no way I could outnumber these hunters and my pride was not above my son’s life. 

“Mama!” Liam screamed from that man’s hold, crying and terrified.  

“Five rogues in one day,” grinned one of them. “Alpha will be delighted.”  

“Who knows, he might even award us,” added another one. 

Another heavy footstep stomped closer as these men turned around in unison. When the figure came into view, he looked much more formidable than all these men combined. For a second I thought he was the alpha until I heard them addressing him.

“Chief Alex,” nodded one of the hunters.  

“What is going on here?” He demanded, his eyes scanning from Liam to the rest. 

"We caught the last rogue bitch escaping,” said the bearded one. 

“What happened to the other rogues?”

“Well, three of them died fighting while the other one is badly injured and won't survive long. We only managed to get this bitch on time.” 

He swept a glance at me, almost impassive, and then jerked his chin at Liam. “Who is this?”

“It’s hers. What do we do with him?”

“We have no use for this child, chief,” interrupted the hunter holding Liam hostage. “Let him be abandoned in the forest and the wild animals can take care of the rest.”

I struggled frantically in my captor’s hold at the proposition but before I could act on it, the Chief took the call. 

“Take the boy along with her,” he ordered.  

“But chief—”

He silenced the man with a hard look. “The alpha will make the call and not us. Put the blindfold on and bring them along—unharmed.”  

“Yes, Chief.”  

For the briefest moment, I sighed in relief before they slapped a blindfold on me. My hands were tied in front but at least they had given Liam to me, who was by now so terrified that he could barely speak a word and sniffled silently, burying his head into my lap. 

“Shh. It’s okay, It’s okay,” I cajoled him as we were bundled into a vehicle and transported down the rough terrain. 

I did not know what awaited me and my son, but for the time being, I was glad to live to fight for the next day. I had never been the one to back out from a fight, to do whatever it takes to survive any adversity, and I have had my fair share since the day I came to know that I had conceived. 

It was never meant to be. 

But the day Liam was born, I knew that he was everything that I ever loved and that has ever been mine. And thus, there was no looking back. I could die for my son, and I could kill for him too. 

XXX

Almost half an hour later, the vehicle screeched to a halt. Deprived of my vision, my ears strained to filter out the various sounds, trying to gauge my predicament. The Westbrook forest was one of the largest ones, and the Alphas of the adjoining lands were quite wary of the rogue wolves. While I had never been part of the notorious band, I was still a ‘rogue’ given the way my pack cast me out into the wild, my father being the orchestrator of my fate.

Someone yanked us roughly out of the vehicle, herding us like wild animals. “C’mon, bitch, move it!” Liam held onto me tightly and I put up a brave demeanour for my son. It was only when we were thrown into some place, with damp walls and rough floor, that the men were kind enough to take off my blindfold and cut off the ties. 

The iron bars were slammed shut, leaving us. I quickly scrambled to my son, embracing him. “Liam, Liam, are you okay?” I asked, checking if he was hurt. 

“Mama, I am scared,” he whimpered, looking around.

“It’s okay, my boy. It’s alright,” I soothed. 

His innocent blue eyes looked up into my face. “Did we lose the game, mama?” 

I managed to smile. “No, dear. It’s…just a different game. But don’t you worry, sweetheart.”  

“Who are those people? Are they bad?”  

I took his face in my hands, cradling those soft cheeks in my palms. “Liam, just know this—no matter what happens, I will be by your side, okay? Whether we win or we lose. You don’t have to be scared at all.” 

He absorbed my words, nodding a little. “But I don’t like this place, mama.”  

“It’s just temporary, Liam. I will find a way out of here. Soon.”  

I did not know what time of the day it was, or how many hours had ticked since we were taken, but the sudden sound of footsteps alerted my senses. Even though I had lost my wolf all those years ago, I could still hear better than most humans. 

Two men from earlier stomped inside, ordering, “Get up, bitch!”

“What’s happening?” I asked. 

“Our Alpha is here.”  

When my eyes darted behind them, I felt as if the world had stopped moving on its axis and time stood still. A face so familiar yet a stranger. If it were not for those blue eyes and golden hair, I would have been convinced that he was someone else and not the man I knew from the night all those years ago. 

The fated mate I rejected without so much a thought.

The man whose genes my son shared so accurately that even his narrowed eyes saw the similarity as soon as he spotted Liam who was trying to hide behind me. 

Landon Knox.

He was then looking at me with an expression so intense that I nearly recoiled. The light in his blue eyes was quickly replaced by something dark, something lethal. The boyish charm of his ‘Casanova’ days was all gone, replaced by the ruthlessness of his formidable demeanour. 

“This is the bitch we caught alive, Alpha,” the man behind him informed. “I am sure she has the whereabouts of—”

“Leave.” His voice was calm, the kind of calm before a storm that is meant to destroy everything in its wake while his raging sight was trained on me. 

The soldier was confused, looking between us. “But Alpha—”

“I said, leave!” The force of his words was so powerful, so lethal, the roar echoed around the walls like a warning, making the soldiers jump a few steps back and scurry away. 

And then it was just us.

Landon, I and the son he never knew existed.