Chapter 1

The colorful shops, the bursting-to-the-brim coffee shops, the cars that hurriedly pass the avenue, and even the people themselves are fascinating. Everything feels so strange, so intense. It's tremendously hard to get used to seeing so many people. For years, all I could do was imagine the outside world, and now that I'm finally here, I can never let go. I'm mesmerized by the sky, how the clouds chase each other in a never-ending race, and how the sun displays itself so proudly.

These people have the most magnificent miracle above their heads and do not glance up. They take these mundane things for granted, unaware of the unfortunate ones that would give anything to be this free. Instead, they look at the ground or their phones. Some are in such a rush that they don't see anything at all. So many saddened faces pass through me, and no one bothers to slow down.

As I absorb the world around me, I vow that if I ever find myself safe, I'll stare at the sun every single day because every gaze means freedom, and every second is a gift.

When you're on the run, you have to keep moving. Seeking refuge would make me an easy target, and sprinting without a destiny would only slow me down. So, I linger in the same area a few blocks from the gym and just keep walking.

I didn't spot any hybrid, but I'm not naive enough to believe they aren't out there. They're possessive creatures, and they just lost one of their best creations. 

They're behind the origin of the moon myths about werewolves, the fear that was drilled into humans. The hybrids are stuck between human and wolf, forever unable to completely belong to any kind. Their destiny is cruel, they can't change, and yet, with every full moon, the pain of the shift crawls into their bodies. It's horrifying to watch. 

Alpha Martin didn't think twice about helping me, either out of his goodwill or my status on the pack. He told me that his men would find me so, I swallow the lump of doubt stuck in my throat. He's the only chance I have of living.

I feel, rather than see someone on my trail. Every single muscle on my body tightens with anticipation, and my heart pumps blood at a faster pace, but I do not turn around. I search the street. There are so many humans here. We can't fight in front of them, not when the police could very well arrest me. I sense a drop of sweat clearing a path on my lower back; I don't know how to get out of this one.

Discretely, I sniff the air and come back empty-handed. it's a hybrid. My heart sinks in my chest. I can't return to that prison, not when I had a taste of sweet freedom. It's one thing to be captive without knowing the wonders that awaited me just a few feet above the ground, but to go back after this? I wouldn't last a day.

I quicken my pace. At this point, if I have to kill him with all these witnesses, I will. Anything to keep me out of that dungeon.

He'll be armed, not with a gun because that would bring unwanted attention, but with a knife, ready to strike and wound.

A car speeds incredibly fast down the road, and I envy him. It can escape, and I can't. The vehicle suddenly stops and reverses back to me. I stare wide-eyed. The driver has a death wish. Horns fill the air, and it creates enough chaos that I manage to put more distance between the man chasing me.

The car stops right by my side. I feel my heart crawling its way to my mouth. Alpha Martin said someone would pick me up. Could this be it?

The driver's side window lowers, and a man in his thirties stares at me.

"Get in." I don't recognize him from the gym, but he could very well be a hunter. I rarely met those humans.

I keep walking. If he is one of Alpha Martin's subordinates, he'll know what to say.

He follows me along, and the hybrid closes in on me.

"The cat speaks blue. Now, get in."

As quickly as I can, I open the back door and close it brutally as the hybrid starts to run.

"Go, go, go," I order in fear.

The car lurches forward. I keep looking back as two men close in on the hybrid. This won't end well.

"Are those your men?" I ask the driver.

He barely nods. I stare out of the window as the buildings seem to disappear in the distance.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Tyler," he replies curtly.

I narrow my eyes. He doesn't trust me in the slightest and doesn't even make an effort.

"What's your rank?" I press on.

"I'm Alpha Jason's warrior."

I frown. "Alpha Jason? Where's Alpha Martin?" I grab the door handle. If this is a trap, then I'm getting out of here, even if I have to jump out of a moving car.

"We're too far away from his territory."

"Where are you taking me, then?"

I receive no answer. After a few more tries, I give up and slump back on the seat.

I clutch the necklace in a tight fist. Natalie is dead by now, gone to join Adrian. I feel my insides twitching. Without the motion of escape, I'm finally allowed to mourn. They're my world, and they gave everything they had to protect me. Even their life.

I miss them like a drowning person longs for air, frantically and maddening. I remember Adrian's comforting voice telling me stories about the outside whenever the screams got too loud to ignore; Natalie dutifully cleaning my wounds, barely containing her tears. They shaped me into who I am today, and now, they're just gone. Because of me, because I was weak, because I couldn't hold on.

Tears prickle my eyes. I wanted to run away so badly that I never considered what came after that. Still, I always imagined them next to me. Nothing else made sense. They would have known what to do, where to go, and who to talk to. I'm no one. I've been missing for so many years that I'm dead to the world.

For the first time in a long time, I allow myself to think about my parents and the pain they must have endured all these years. It's been so long since their faces faded from my memory. I can no longer hear their voices or feel them with me. I wonder if they'll recognize me, and I dread the moment they find out how deadly I became. I'm no longer the daughter they created.

******

After an hour of pure silence, the car stops in front of a little garage on a narrow road. Tiny houses rise from the ground, firmly clutched together; most look abandoned. There's no one in sight, and I immediately tense. This is a dodgy neighborhood, and this can only mean trouble.

"Why are we stopping?"

I'm met with silence. I huff in annoyance.

I see a man strolling into the silent street, slowly approaching the car. He's tall and broad-shouldered and seems to be about Tyler's age. I sniff the air and grit my teeth. Werewolf. He must be a fighter from Alpha Jason's pack. I should have known they wouldn't believe me.

I clench my fists, preparing to break the glass and get a weapon to defend myself.

"This is as far as we can go by car. We'll have to walk the rest of the way."

This does nothing to relieve my panic. Tyler steps outside and stares at me expectantly as the man draws closer. Hesitantly, I open the door and get out of the car.

I analyze my competition in a matter of seconds. I don't like my odds. Tyler is well-built and towers over me by a few inches. A small layer of hair rests on his scalp. He's a warrior, and he certainly looks the part. His eyes are set on the man approaching, and I repeat the action. Everything in him screams fighter, and I'm instantly on alert.

"So, this is the gold digger? I was expecting more," he snickers. His raspy voice claws at my ears before the words even reach my tired brain.

"Eliot," Tyler warns with authority.

The tall man, Eliot, snorts and shakes his head. He has a nasty scar that peeks out of the collar of his shirt. It looks recent and badly healed. I recognize it immediately. He was hit with a poisoned blade- a hunter's or hybrid’s way to kill.

"You better take care of that wound." The words escape me before I can control them.

Eliot's eyes harden, and he steps forward.

"You're associated with hunters, aren't you? They're slaughtering us, and you joined with the enemy." He looks over at Tyler. "If we take her to our pack, she'll kill us all."

"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead by now," I snap.

I can practically feel the anger that rolls off him in waves. I see Natalie's disapproving eyes, and I rush to close that recollection. She always said I was too impulsive and that I should calm down before speaking. I never listened.

Eliot snarls and moves towards me, a wolf eyeing prey. As I prepare myself for battle, the sound of a car door opening cuts into the tense silence.

Eliot's first mistake is taking his eyes off me. I could easily overthrow him, now. From my peripheral vision, I see the hybrid who was following me, beaten into a pulp, getting out of the car. His face is nothing but a swelling mess. He's being carried by a guy about my age as he stumbles every few steps.

Instantly, I forget about Eliot and sprint to the hybrid. Richard. He's one of the best fighters in the compound. He's in charge of training the recruits. He tortured me so many times that if my scars could speak, they would curse his name.

The boy grabs me by the arm as soon as I get near them. I hate to be touched. I loathe it, even more so when I'm not expecting it. Only Natalie and Adrian had that privilege, and it took a long time for me to allow it.

So, when I feel his hand constricting me, I instinctively send a powerful punch to the stomach that has him doubling over.

I grab Richard by the neck and squeeze. The blonde guy reaches back for me but stops when he sees my menacing glare.

Richard laughs. "You stupid mutt."

I hold his neck tighter. "Doesn't feel too good to be on the other side, does it, Richard?"

His head starts getting red, and he starts beating my arm.

"That's enough," Tyler commands.

He deserves nothing more than a slow, agonizing death for all of his crimes, but I grit my teeth and relent. Until I'm safe and sound, I'll have to abide by their rules.

Richard coughs violently. "Your daddy would have been proud."

Without a thought, my fist falls brutally on his battered face, and he's out in a second. His body falls and nobody bothers to pick him up. He has no right to talk about Adrian, and I won't tolerate that disrespect to his memory.

"That's just great," the blonde boy whines.

Alan composes himself and scowls at me. Tyler steps forward. I'm close enough that I can see his sharp jaw ticking and the well-kept beard. He eyes me with cold indifference, yet he doesn't comment on my outburst. I suppose he just wants to get this obligation off his shoulders as soon as possible.

"Alan, Eliot, grab him."

The younger boy, Alan, seizes Richard as Eliot shoulders me to do the same. I can barely contain the part of me that wants to attack. I was created to destroy and kill, I'm a weapon born and raised, and I'm not accustomed to such a lack of fear from my opponents. They don't believe me.

"Let's do this nice and easy. I don't want any surprises," Tyler commands.

Alan and Eliot stride to the edge of the forest, and I wait for them all to pass before I continue. I'm not letting anyone get the leverage and striking from behind. All my nerves are hyperactive, and adrenaline prevents me from letting my guard down.

For the next few minutes, we delve deep into the woods in profound silence. Tyler keeps my pace steadily, never missing a step as I try to absorb my surroundings. This is surreal: the gigantic trees, the leaves that crunch underneath our shoes, the wind softly brushing my cheek... this quiet, it all seems like heaven.

I'd give anything to spend a day here to feel this light. I could forget everything, free myself from the chains the memories created, and erase the fear that plagues me and the agony that consumes me.

This liberty is short-lived, though, as Richard opens his mouth to ruin the moment, as usual.

"When they get their hands on you, you're dead."

The funny thing about threats is: if you hear the same one over and over, it loses its meaning. They don't scare me, not really. I could murder them in a matter of minutes without flinching. It's the captivity that terrifies me, the absence of choice, the empty life, the same old torture day after day.

"Dead like your precious wolves."

My blood runs cold, but I refuse to stoop so low as to let him goad me into attack once more. Tyler stares at me, and I promptly ignore it.

"By your hands too. Do they know you killed your own kind?"

Alan turns to glare at me. I do not meet his eyes. It's the truth. I've lost count of how many lives passed through my hands and how many I took to end their suffering and prevent mine.

"I didn't see him die. But she, oh, it was a pleasure to stab her."

I growl, the inhuman sound escaping my throat in a low warning. I don't know how much longer I can hold on.

"Keep the hybrid in line, or I will."

Alan hits the back of his head, and he quiets.

"We're leading a hunter right into our pack, of course," Eliot bickers.

We're all silent for a while. When I see blue paint on one of the trees, I know we're close to the pack.

Every pack has a color attributed to them. It helps distinguish which territory you're in. My pack is grey, and I dread the moment I see that shade.

My heart drums inside my chest, wanting to explode right out of my chest.

Before we pass the invisible barrier, Tyler stops me. "I hope you're telling the truth. Gabriel doesn't need another disappointment."

I paralyze for a second. They have labeled me as an impostor and refuse to even give me the benefit of the doubt. As I set foot on Alpha Jason's territory, uneasiness and doubt settle deep within my system. Have I traded a cage for another?