Chapter Five

"RUNT!" The words echoed around the room, faint and distant as if they came from miles away. I tried to open my eyes. The mat I lay on felt wet and sticky.

"RUNT!" 

My body shook violently.

"RUNT!"

My hands scrambled on cold, sticky tile. I urged my feet to move, straining my legs until I was breathless and laced with a cold layer of sweat. No matter how hard I tried my body refused to move. Every inch of my body ached and burned. The pain grew with each tiny movement as if a thousand needles were driving deep into my limbs. 

"RUNT! UP NOW!"

Alpha Patrick. His snarl sounded closer. His hot breath crept over my clammy cheeks. Still, my feet refused to budge. My palms gripped at the floor, my arms ached as I tried to pull myself from the mat. Eyelids closed tight I sighed, sinking back to the mat in exhaustion.

"You dare to challenge me again?!"

I wanted to shake my head. I tried with all my might but no matter my desperation I was too broken to move. My bones crunched with every move I tried and failed to make. 

"Obey me or I will take it as a challenge to my leadership."

A challenge to the death. Sweet, sweet death, the death of pain, the death of misery, the death of me. I sank deeper into the mat and let sleep take me.

                                                             ***

"What the fuck am I to do?" Alpha Patrick's desperate tones pulled from a restless slumber. I wriggled my toes. They refused to budge. "How the fuck was I supposed to know the Alpha Regal wanted her? The fuck does he want that for anyway?"

My chest tightened. Maddox. Maddox wants me.

"The runt is dead."

"Mmmph," it's not what I wanted to say but it was a start.

"Shit!" Alpha's Patrick's putrid breath assaulted my nostrils, I felt his cheek against my chest. "It's alive but scarcely," he said. "Take it into the woods, deep into the woods. I'll deal with the Alpha Regal."

His mouth moved to my ear, "Runt," he whispered. "The Alpha Regal heard of your challenge last night. I wanted to forgive you, give you one more chance but he forbade it. He wants to kill you himself. I'm going to give you a fighting chance. I'll tell him you escaped into the woods. If you know what's good for you you'll run until your feet bleed because he will hunt you and believe me he won't show you the mercy I did."

"Take her," he bellowed. I smelled the Gamma and Beta Males. My mat started moving. My skin clung to it as if it was dried into my back as if my skin had started to grow into it. As the cool air kissed my skin I realised I was still naked. Alpha Maddox, the most beautiful man I had ever seen, wanted me dead. I guessed if I had to die his hand was as good as any to die by.

Leaves crunched under the sodden mat. The scent of congealed blood filled the air overpowering the alluring aroma of the forest. I blocked it all out. The voices of the Gamma and Beta, the scent of my blood, the call of death lingering on the horizon, all blocked from my mind as I concentrated on relishing the sounds of my beloved woodland one last time.

Songbirds filled the air with joyous twitter. Leaves rustled as they tumbled to the ground on the sweet spring breeze punctuated by the soft patter of paws as tiny forest creatures scurried about their day. I savoured every sound as if it was my first time hearing it because it would be the last. 

The sun gently warmed my tattered skin. A strange peace slowly washed over me. It was the end. The end of nothingness. The end of mundanity. It wouldn't be the peaceful end I hoped for. The Alpha Regal had a reputation for being brutal and bloody. His victims lingered on the edge of death while he relished in their suffering. But, it was an end nonetheless. 

Trees slowly blocked the comforting glow of the sun. My wolf senses told me we were nearing the edge of our teritory close to the cliff I spent my most peaceful moments on. If anyone had asked me where I'd like to die that would be the place I chose. 

"I'm going no further," the Beta said dropping the mat. My skull cracked on a large rock beneath the mat. A pitiful groan escaped my cracked lips. "If we leave her here, with any luck the rogue will get her and save all our skins."

"Fine," Gamma Graham conceded. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up."

“Why?"

"I'm gonna bury the sleeping mat and I don't know, dude, make it look like she actually ran away. If Alpha Maddox finds her like this we're all fucked."

"Whatever, man, the rogue will scent out an easy kill like her in seconds anyway."

His feet crunched away. 

"Runt," Gamma Graham whispered. "Open your eyes." 

My eyelids flickered.

The Gamma sighed. "Look," he said tersely, "I've left you a sack lunch, some water, bandages and medication. For everyone's sake, I suggest you run. Run far. Run fast. If Maddox finds you in this state you won't be the only one who suffers. All wolves will pay the price."

His heavy footsteps thudded away in the soft mud. Alone. Finally and forever alone. My body loosened. I let the sounds of the forest envelop me in peace. 

But, what the Hell did Gamma Graham mean every wolf would suffer? Why would any wolf even care? Not one of them cared about me. It would surprise me if anyone but the Alpha's family noticed I'd gone. 

Before I could ponder the riddle a strange scent crept towards me. Its owner had done his best to hide it under the scent of rotting bark and animal carcass but its stench was unmistakable. 

Alpha male. The rouge Alpha. 

I closed my eyes and awaited the sweet kiss of death. 

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