Chapter 4

VIOLET

“Fuck my life.”

I cursed underneath my breath, scrambling to my feet. If it was truly rogues, then staying there would spell my doom. I didn’t waste any time and began running in the opposite direction from the howls.

The cold wind whipped past my face but I didn’t care all too much. All that mattered to me was escaping from them with my life. That was all that was important to me. That was all I cared about. That was all I wanted.

My legs ached with each step I took but I knew I couldn’t dare slow down my pace. Any false step would mean my death. I’d suffered and endured so much these past few days. I couldn’t let it all end here. My fingers were clinging hard onto my bag as I sought to quicken my pace.

My heart began thumping faster as the howls began getting closer. They’d taken notice of me. It would be better if I could transform now and run but it would only slow me down and give them an advantage over me.

I could hear the sound of their growls getting closer and closer. The thud of their feet hitting the ground filled my ears. They were right behind me and I could feel the bloodlust emanating from there. They were definitely after my blood.

I increased my speed and began running faster, picking up the pace as best as I could. I was so engulfed in getting away from them, I didn’t bother taking note of where I was running to. All I could think of was getting away from them.

After some time of running, I noticed I couldn’t hear the sound of their growls. There were no thuds coming from behind me. I slowed down to a stop and looked behind me. They were gone.

“Fucking idiots.” I clicked my tongue, trying to catch my breath.

My chest hurt so bad from running so fast. On the bright side, at least I had managed to escape them. I still didn’t understand why they’d stopped chasing me all of a sudden. Rogues were known to chase down their prey to the ends of the earth.

I pushed away the weird feeling gnawing at my chest and tightened my grip on the bag. I had no idea where I was at all. Just as I was about to bring out the map and try to decipher my whereabouts, my whole body froze.

It was pure primal instinct for an animal to know when it was being watched. I could feel it deep in my bones and didn’t even need anyone to spell it out for me. I wasn’t alone. A low guttural sound made me snap my head to a nearby bush. More growls sounded from all around me.

A small gasp escaped my lips as I watched a number of wolves walk out from different directions. Soon enough, I was surrounded by all of them. I tried to step back but there was one behind me.

I was really in for it now.

The biggest of them, a big black wolf walked up to her and stopped just a little away from her. She felt the urge to flinch back in fear but held her ground. She hadn’t done anything wrong. If it came to it, she would not be going down without a fight.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?” She yelled out to them.

The black wolf growled in response, its eyes glaring at her intently. For a second, she was sure it would definitely attack. What she didn’t expect was for it to slowly shift back into human form. The tall man walked closer to her, eyeing her up and down with a look of suspicion in his eyes.

“I think we’re the ones who should be asking you that.”

The other wolves shifted into a group of men, all of them watching her intently. She had to resist the urge to squirm under their intense gaze. The man in front of her was probably contemplating if he should just kill her off. Her heart sped up at that thought.

“Check her bag.” He said to one of the other men.

The blonde hair man grabbed her bag forcefully and emptied out its contents on the floor. They probably had no interest in what they saw and turned back to her, annoyance reading all over their facial expressions.

“Who do you work for? What allegiance do you serve?” He threw a barrel of questions at her, not giving her the chance to muster a single answer.

“I-

“You’ll be coming with us.”

Without giving me a chance to defend myself, the others grabbed me and began dragging me with them.

“Hey. Wait one second. This isn’t what you think. Who are you? And where the hell am I?”

They didn’t bother answering any of my questions and just dragged me along with them. My heart beat sped up as various scenarios ran through my head. Where were they taking me to? Who were they? I’d heard of people getting kidnapped this way. Was the same thing happening to me? Would I be whisked off to heaven knows where? My body parts sold off?

I tried fighting out of their grip once again and the black hair man turned to glare at me.

“Do that again, and I’ll cut your legs off.” He threatened.

His threat was crystal clear. Obey or suffer the consequences. Shit. Everything was happening so quick, I barely even had any chance to react. I couldn’t ask anything else. Who knew what they would do if provoked to anger.

Right. The best thing to do would be to just cooperate with them and give them what they wanted. Maybe they’d let me go if I did that. It was naïve to think that way but I didn’t have much of a choice. I remained quiet and let them place a bag over my head.

I didn’t expect the painful blow to my head before everything went black.