Run, Little Wolf, Run!

Leaves rustled. Heavy footsteps. Distant howls.

Adeline ran while feeling the cold air burning her lungs and branches tearing at her skin. Her clothes were nothing more than tattered rags soaked with sweat and blood.

“Run, little wolf! Run for your dear life!” a voice sneered, followed by a terrifying howl.

Her heart thundered in her chest, it was so loud it drowned out the laughter and the terrifying howls that followed. She didn’t dare look back.  She pushed herself harder while ignoring the stabbing pain in her side. They were getting closer. They were enjoying this fucking chase. 

Her wolf, Avery, stirred restlessly in the back of her mind.

“Let me out,” Avery demanded with a sharp and fierce voice. “We can fight them!”

“No,” Adeline snapped, “We can’t.”

“They’ll kill us!” Avery roared, “Or worse. You know what they’ll do if they catch us! Adeline, for once, just let me please!”

Adeline clenched her jaw and swallowed the sob rising in her throat. She knew. She’d always known.

But letting Avery surface would only make things worse. If they saw her power and if they realized what she could do, they wouldn’t stop until they broke her. Until there was nothing left of her at all.

She couldn’t risk that. She wouldn’t.

Her foot snagged on something so she stumbled but managed to catch herself before falling. Her hands scraped against a tree trunk as she pushed off to propel  herself forward again.

Her vision blurred but she didn’t dare to stop. She knew what would happen if they caught her.

But luck wasn’t on her side.

Suddenly, her foot caught on a root and she fell hard. Really really hard that she felt a sharp crack echoed and searing pain shot through her leg. She cringed while clutching it with shaking hands.

She scrambled on all fours as she dragged herself behind a thick tree trunk and pressed her battered body against it. She held her breath and hoped they would lose her in the darkness.

She squeezed her eyes shut while bearing the pain and straining to hear any approaching footsteps.

She needed a plan. She needed to think.

But all she could do was sit there while shaking and bleeding as the sound of footsteps grew louder.

“Please,” she thought desperately though she wasn’t sure who she was begging. “Please, let them pass.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst from her chest. The pain in her leg was excruciating. Everything is just… too much.

Nothing came. Only eerie silence.

It seemed she had escaped.

Then, a deep, rumbling growl filled the air. Before she could move, a massive paw slammed down on her chest.

“AAAAHHHH!”

A scream tore from her lips as pain exploded through her ribs. She tried to push against the enormous wolf looming over her but it was useless.

“Get off me!” she gasped with no much strength left.

But the wolf didn’t budge.

Figures emerged from the shadows and started surrounding her. Some were in human form. Their eyes are gleaming with cruel amusement. Others remained in their wolf forms with teeth bared and snarling as if ready to attack.

A man with sharp features and a smirk that made her stomach churn crouched beside her.

“Not so tough now, huh?” he sneered while brushing a blood-matted strand of hair away from her face.

Adeline flinched because nausea churned in her gut.

Another leaned in. She could feel its nose brushing against her neck as it sniffed her.

“She reeks of fear,” it growled.

“Enough,” a cold voice interrupted.

The weight on her chest lifted slightly. 

“S-Shit…” she gasped, her pupils snapping back to normal.

She knows that voice.

Luna. The Luna.

She stepped forward. Her icy blue eyes are  filled with disdain as she looks down at Adeline like she was nothing more than dirt beneath her feet. Her platinum hair gleamed in the moonlight while her lips curled in disgust.

“You’re lucky,” she spat. “Your father wants to see you today.”

Adeline lay while still panting. Her father? Why now?

She swallowed hard as she forced herself onto her knees but her body was screaming in protest. She wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing her weak.

But her defiance only seemed to amuse the older woman. One of the wolves shoved her roughly from behind making her collapse back to the ground with a cry of pain.

She crouched beside her while gripping Adeline’s chin tightly and forcing her to look up.

“If you disobey again,” she whispered as her nails dug into her bruised skin, “I’ll make sure you suffer the same pain I once did. I’ll hurt you so bad that you’ll wish for your own death.” A smirk tugged at her lips.

A chill ran through Adeline. She knew the Luna meant every word.

With a final shove, she stood and turned away and her wolves followed closely behind.

Adeline lay there for a moment because shes still too weak to move. Hell, every inch of her body is aching.

A torn jacket was tossed at her.

“Cover yourself up, princess. Don’t want your beloved father seeing what we did to you,” one of the men sneered.

She pulled the jacket over her shoulders, but it did little to hide the bruises, the blood, the shame.

She struggled to her feet as she winced at the pain throbbing through her leg. The torn remains of her dress barely covered her as she stumbled forward, step by agonizing step toward the pack house.

Her wolf stirred inside her.

“Why aren’t we running? Do you want to wait until they actually—”

“Shut up,” Adeline snapped internally. “Just… stay quiet.”

She took a shaky breat while pushing her wolf deeper into the back of her mind.

“Stay hidden, please. Just a little longer.”

She straightened herself and wiped the blood from her face. 

Her wolf growled again, restless and frustrated, “Adeline, we should run! We’re weak like this. They’ll see. They’ll—”

“Enough,” Adeline cut her wolf off, barely able to keep the trembling out of her voice. “I told you to stay quiet.”

Avery huffed in the back of her mind while still pacing anxiously. She didn’t want this, but what choice did Adeline have? No one could know.

“I can feel the danger. Nothing good is going to happen if we go with them!”

“I know,” Adeline thought sharply, forcing herself to stay focused despite the pain threatening to consume her. “But if I run now, they’ll catch us. I need to be smart.”

Silence stretched between them but Avery’s frustration and anger were clear.

“We are smart. We’re strong too, if you’d just let me—”

“Not yet, Avery. Trust me, please. Not now,” Adeline pleaded desperately.