Chapter 2: Running from Shadows

10 years later…

It’s early, far too early for anyone to be up in the Winter Hill estate. The sun hasn’t risen yet, and the chill in the air is sharp, biting at my skin as I slip out of the back door. It’s quiet—the kind of quiet that presses down on you, heavy and cold. The wind whistles through the trees, but it’s nothing compared to the storm swirling inside me.

So I run.

Running is the only thing that keeps me sane. When I’m running, I don’t have to think. I don’t have to feel. My feet hit the ground with a rhythm that drowns out everything else. The pain in my muscles is a welcome distraction from the memories clawing at the back of my mind.

I don’t have a wolf yet, so I don’t shift like the others. Most people my age are already well into their prime, their wolves guiding them, strengthening them. But I’m different. I’ve always been different. Lycans get their wolves at thirteen, but here I am at twenty, still waiting for mine. It's not like I haven’t tried. I’ve run miles, pushing my body to its limits, hoping, praying that one day I’ll feel that spark inside, the pull of a wolf waiting to merge with me. But every morning, I wake up alone in my mind.

My breath comes in short bursts, visible in the freezing air as I push myself harder. I slip through the dense trees surrounding the estate, the underbrush crunching beneath my shoes. The forest here feels alive, old, like it’s watching me, and sometimes I swear I can hear whispers carried on the wind. But today, I don’t care. I just need to run.

I try to ignore the pain radiating from my ribs, where Nick’s fist landed last night. It throbs with each step, a constant reminder of what I’m running from. But no matter how far I go, I can’t outrun the truth. I can’t outrun my past. The cold morning air stings my lungs, but I keep going, letting the burn push me further.

As I run, the memories come rushing back, uninvited and unwanted.

I didn’t always live like this.

Once, I was happy. My dad was a werewolf, not a Lycan, but he was kind, and he loved us more than anything. My mother came from a prestigious Lycan bloodline, powerful and wealthy, but when she fell in love with my father, she gave it all up. They were happy, despite the struggles. We didn’t have much, but we had each other. And then, when I was ten years old, it all fell apart.

I don’t remember much about that night—at least, not in any way that makes sense. It’s all flashes, fragments of a nightmare I can never escape. My father’s screams. The blood. those green eyes, The werewolves, with their glowing eyes, tearing him apart and that voice. I remember the cold, and the way my body wouldn’t move, no matter how much I wanted to run to him.

And then… nothing.

I don’t remember how I got home. I just remember the emptiness that followed. The silence that settled over our lives like a suffocating blanket. We had no money, no one to turn to. My mother, desperate and broken, finally reached out to her parents. And to my surprise, they welcomed us back—but not without conditions. My mother was to marry a Lycan, someone from a powerful house. Someone who would restore her status and their reputation.

That someone was Nick.

I stumble slightly on the uneven path, the memory of Nick’s cruel, twisted smile flashing in my mind. The first time I met him, I thought he was cold, detached. But I had no idea how much worse it would get. He married my mother, and from that moment on, my life became a nightmare. Nick is everything my father wasn’t—violent, controlling, and cruel.

I push harder, my legs screaming in protest as I pick up speed. The trees blur past me, but no matter how fast I go, I can’t escape the suffocating weight of it all. I wasn’t strong enough to fight back then, and I’m not strong enough now. But maybe if I run far enough, I can at least forget for a little while.

I don’t stop until I’m deep in the woods, far away from the estate. My breath comes in ragged gasps, and my heart pounds so hard it feels like it might burst. I lean against a tree, my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath. The cold air stings my lungs, but it’s nothing compared to the pain in my chest.

I don’t know how long I stand there, but eventually, I hear the soft buzz of my phone vibrating in my pocket. For a moment, I consider ignoring it, but curiosity gets the better of me. I pull it out and see my mother’s name flash across the screen.

I hesitate.

It’s been a long time since she’s called me. After Dad died, we barely spoke. After she married Nick, it was like she became a ghost in my life, a silent figure who watched from the sidelines but never stepped in to help. I’d long since stopped hoping she would protect me.

Reluctantly, I press the phone to my ear. “Hello?” My voice is hoarse from the cold and the exertion.

“Agatha,” my mother’s voice comes through, soft and distant. She never sounds like she used to—never warm or full of life. Just tired. “You need to come home.”

Home.

The word feels like a joke. That house has never felt like home. Not since Nick moved in.

“Why?” I ask, my voice clipped.

“Your sister is getting married in three weeks,” she says, and for a moment, the words don’t register. Lilly, getting married? “She’s marrying the new Alpha of the Vanderwilson pack, and we’re all expected to attend.”

I’m stunned into silence.

Lilly.

My sister, the only person who ever truly understood what I went through with Nick. She’s getting married to an Alpha. And no one thought to tell me until now?

The last time I saw Lilly was the day she turned twenty-one and shifted into her Lycan for the first time. She left that same night, running off to a university in another pack, far away from Winter Hill and far away from me. That was 5 years ago. And although I don’t blame her for leaving since she was finally free; she still left me behind, alone with Nick.

I realize my mother is still talking, but her words blur together, lost in the rising tide of emotions crashing through me. Anger. Hurt. Confusion. How could Lilly not tell me herself? How could she just move on with her life like nothing ever happened?

“Agatha?” My mother’s voice pulls me back to the present. “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “I heard you.”

“Be home by noon,” she says, her tone flat, like she’s giving me an order, not an invitation.

I don’t respond.

I hang up, staring at the phone in my hand for a long moment before shoving it back in my pocket.

Lilly. My perfect older sister. The one who escaped. The one who left me to deal with Nick on my own. I know she had to get away—I know that. But it doesn’t make it hurt any less. It doesn’t make the loneliness and betrayal any easier to swallow.

I start walking again, slower this time, my mind racing with thoughts I can’t control. Lilly’s getting married to an Alpha, and I’m supposed to just show up and pretend everything is fine. Pretend I’m not the girl who was left behind. Pretend I’m not the one who’s still Lycanless at twenty, trapped in a pack that treats me like I’m broken.

I don’t know how I’m going to face her. I don’t know how I’m going to face any of them. But I have no choice. If I don’t go, it’ll just make things worse. And right now, I can’t afford to make things worse. Not with Nick watching my every move.

By the time I make it back to the estate, the sun has started to rise, casting a faint, golden glow over the trees. The estate looms ahead, cold and imposing, like a prison I can never escape. I stand at the edge of the forest for a long time, staring at the house, dreading the moment I have to step inside.

But I can’t stay out here forever.

With a deep breath, I wipe the sweat from my forehead and start walking toward the house. My chest tightens as I get closer, and the memories of last night flash through my mind again, unwanted and painful.

Nick.

I pause at the back door, my hand hovering over the handle. I take a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves, and then push the door open.

The house is quiet, but it’s never peaceful. There’s always an undercurrent of tension, like the air is charged with something dangerous, waiting to snap. I make my way to my room as quietly as I can, hoping to avoid Nick, hoping to avoid everything for just a little while longer.

I’ll pack, like my mother said. I’ll go to the wedding. But I won’t pretend.