Chapter 4

Ah!!

I hated the darkness and the cold nights, as well as those lonely walls around me, sitting in a lonely basement, and this is my damn prison. I plunged into the vortex of thoughts as I remembered what I experienced during my two years of isolation after being falsely convicted and accused of theft.

My first days here seemed like eons of torture, beatings, and deprivation, with my body torn with a whip and my hands tied with iron handcuffs.

I sit alone in one corner of that cell where I was thrown without trial, as if they were waiting for such a fabricated event.

My body became so thin from hunger that my bones protruded from under my skin.

All I was eating, one meal over two or three days, wasn't enough to silence my guts, which were shrinking in pain. The guard was late in supplying me with food, and my life was hanging by a thin line.

What life is this?! I only have a lean body and an exhausted soul.

My eyes no longer shed tears. Perhaps it's because I've become accustomed to injustice and am becoming stronger.

Torture is no longer my obsession, because it seemed to me like a friend on cold nights.

I learned to endure their sadistic ways of torture.

As I was distracted by my painful memories, I heard a faint voice calling me from outside the cell.

I smiled miserably. Who could it be?

Surely he's Nikolai.

I stood up weakly, dragged my feet towards the cellar gate, and looked out from between the iron bars, and I saw him looking around as if he had just killed someone.

He's the only one who used to visit me every now and then. He always asked how I was and what I lacked, and without him, I would have ended my life with my own hands.

It was the hope that made me endure all this torment.

Nikolai approached the iron door of the cell. He leaned slightly and whispered in my ear, "Listen to me carefully; I have a plan to escape from here.

The commander went out on an expedition, taking with him a large number of members of the pack, and there was only one guard outside. Are you ready to escape?"

I looked at him eagerly and replied excitedly, "Of course, I'm ready."

"Well, here's what I'm going to do..."

Less than an hour passed, and Nikolai began to carry out his plan, Maybe placing something into the meal of the guard.

After a few seconds, I heard the sound of someone falling to the ground, coinciding with the creaking of the hinges of the old cell door. When he opened it, Nikolai turned to look behind him, urging me with a gesture of his hand to move outside.

I flinched when some garment was put on my body; it was loose with a hood, something akin to a witch's cloak, and he said, "Don't take this purdah off until you get away from here, and you're safe."

I gestured obediently to him, and we sneaked in the dusk of the night until we were out of sight of the few guards who kept guarding the pack camp on the mountain in the absence of their leader.

After a long distance of running around, avoiding the Lord so that no one would spot us, Nikolai stopped, and we were both panting with intermittent breaths.

Then he said, "Sophia, you are free now. Get as far away as you can, and don't look back."

I nodded to him in the affirmative, and as a strong wind blew from the east, I confined that cloak and my worn dress below to the middle of my thigh, and that tattoo that Nikolai glimpsed appeared.

He asked me suspiciously, "That's peculiar!! Where did you get something like that?!"

I answered his question with another, "What do you mean?!"

He did not answer me with words but raised his left and tore his garment from the top of his right shoulder, and a tattoo similar to mine occupied his arm.

To the astonishment of both of us, neither of us had an explanation nor time to find a solution to this mystery, as the sound of the trumpet was loud as a sign of the approach of those who had traveled to explore.

I hugged Nikolai tightly, thanked him from the bottom of my heart, stayed in his arms for as long as possible, shed tears, and the thought that I would never see him again made me want to cling to him and beg him not to; he is my only refuge.

I ran into the unknown with a heart that had faded from its dictionary meaning of fear.

After a few weeks, as I moved from place to place, running away, I started feeling tired and exhausted.

I used to spend the night in the wilderness or in abandoned houses.

I sneak into any of the village markets I used to pass by to buy what I eat. Sleep abandoned me. If I fell asleep, I would rise from my bed in panic whenever I had a dream that I fell into their hands again.

I spent a lot of days and nights escaping, and in the evening, as I walked around adrift, On the far horizon, I noticed a flare of light.

I followed the light with an exhausted body. And I found myself in the middle of a noisy village, and I knew from the conversations of passersby that there was a wonderful event today, everyone celebrating the marriage of the leader of their pack.

The choir plays flowery melodies on the side of the road, and there are wooden planks stacked on the ground like a dance floor in the middle of the village market. Everyone was happy, and the celebration was full of joy.

I gasped in surprise as someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me with him to the dance space, and despite my exhaustion, I found myself harmonizing with the atmosphere as I followed my strange partner and imitated his steps.

Some time passed, and then I continued walking through the crowd. As I walked around, I felt very hungry. I haven't eaten for more than three nights because my money has run out.

I walked among the people, and my sights fixed on the bread offered in front of a vendor. The bread was fresh and golden, smelling delicious.

The salesman was busy talking to a customer, so he didn't pay attention to me. I quickly stretched out my hand and, surreptitiously, took a piece of bread. Then I walked away, without anyone noticing me.

I know what I did was wrong, but I had no choice. Hunger is a breaker.

I felt sorry for myself because I eventually became a thief. A charge was falsely attached to me in the past, but now I am what they claimed.

A wry smile ran over my lips as I nibbled on the first piece of bread, and my eyes watched everything around me with fascination. The people of this village are very different from our pack; they are safe, and their faces radiate life.

I exhaled when I felt someone was watching me. My footsteps stopped, and I looked around looking for this person until my eyes fell on him. He stared at me deeply, which made me feel confused.

A profane curse came out from between my lips, and when that smell crept into my lungs, as soon as I picked it up, I recognized its owner.

Yes, he's Alpha Alexander, and I'm the one who came here. I'm now in their pack; Rogue is in the red moon pack.

Without will, I closed my eyes, inhaling as much air as possible, loaded with its smell.

And then incomprehensible words came from my wolf, Alora. I understood only one word from her.

"mate".