6; Red Eyes.

Camila Castello.

“Shift back,” My wolf, Maya, said in my head as I ran as fast as I can away from the Pack, my paws digging deep into the soil, before I leaped and ran further. She’s been prodding the back of my mind, trying to get through to me since I shifted a few minutes back but I’d put up a mental block, keeping her out.

Somehow, she managed to get past it, the desperation behind her intention giving her the power to get rid of my mental block. And the minute she did so, those two words were the first thing she said.

Even in my hazy state of mind, and although I was fully planning on tuning her out, her words still registered I my mind. “Why?” I asked, with a sniff. My heart burns, it hurts so much that I feel a though I should pull it out. The last thing I wanted was to interact with her, or anyone else for that matter.

It was taking everything in me to not fall and cry my heart out, because I was in too much pain. I’m in pain for losing my parents, my pack, and my life as a whole. Even the man I nearly married, it turned out I was nothing but a pawn to him and his family. They wanted to use me to get my baby and use it as sacrifice for crying out loud. An innocent child? Just how heartless can they be?

It’s been about thirty minutes since I ran away from the Pack, and I’m guessing they’ve realized by now that I’ve gone missing and have probably sent out a search party for me. Perhaps, they are even nearing me and the moment I stop, they would get to me.

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach at the thought, uneasiness filling me almost instantly. No, I can’t let that happen. I’d rather die than to end up in the holds of Adrian again, or worse, the King and the Vizier. No, I’d rather die before I allow that to happen.

Those thoughts however got wiped from my mind momentarily when Maya’s next words came.

“It’s harmful to the baby!” She shrieked, in a scolding manner. The desperation in her tone was hard to miss, she was panicking by the sound of it. “I know you want to run, I do too but shifting will harm the baby. What you’re doing is causing more harm to your baby than good.”

The minute those words registered in my mind, I found myself coming to an instant halt, my eyes wide and my lips parted. Mentally, my hand went to caress my belly, where the little source of life keeping me afloat lays. I could hear its heartbeat, and truth be told, that’s the only thing keeping me going.

“Shift back, Camilla.” Maya’s voice came again, reminding me of the potential danger I’d put my child in if I resist.

I didn’t need her to tell me twice. I shifted back almost immediately, landing on my arms and knees, now naked from the shift. I released a deep breath, falling behind as my hand went to my belly, splaying my palm on it. Upon hearing the heartbeat again, tears glossed my eyes, a sigh of relief escaping my lips.

My baby is fine. It’s okay. It’s not harmed.

After a few seconds of trying to catch my breath and get a hold of my emotion, I blinked my eyes repeatedly to get rid of the tears there. I took in a deep breath, pushed myself up on my feet, fully intending to continue with my sprint. However, the sight of something behind one of the trees caught my attention.

Carefully padding my way over to it, my gaze fell on the folded clothes there. Packs are known to stuff clothes here and there in the woods in case one shifts and is in need of clothing—which I desperately need at the moment.

I picked up the shirt and shorts, donning it on almost immediately, relieved that it has a different scent. Perhaps, the new scent will mask mine even if it’s for a short while. In the distance, I heard the sound of wolves howling, making my heart rate spike. It sounds close to where I am, and I know if I stand there any longer, I’d end up getting caught.

With that thought in mind, I took off again, this time in human form. I’m not as fast as I am in my wolf form, but I pushed myself as far as I can, running nonstop. The tiring training, I undergo these past few weeks for the Princess role came to help then, because it kept me in shape even more.

Even back at my old Pack, I was part of the warriors, regardless of being the Alpha’s daughter and contrary to the traditional thought that female wolves are supposed to stay home, breed, and take care of pups. I never thought the nonstop exercise will be of use, until at this very moment.

 I have no idea how long I ran for, but judging from how the moon was already up, I knew it’s been longer than a few hours, and I must’ve put a reasonable distance from the pack because I could no longer hear the wolves howling, nor the sound of them padding on the ground heavily.

I was simply alone with the dark forest and the creatures of the dark, but weirdly enough, I wasn’t even scared of that. Rather, I was more scared of ending up in the hands of those monsters.

At one point though, my sore limbs could no longer continue, especially not when my stomach was growling, reminding me that I’m in need of food in my system. If not for me, then at least, for my baby.

I fell on my knees, breathing heavily. Looking around, I realized I have no idea where I am, but I’m certain of one thing, I’m no longer on the royal pack’s land, that’s for sure. There’s no nearby pack beside it though, only a no man’s land so that’s probably where I am. And instead of that to scare me of the potential dangers that lurks in the area, I wasn’t scared in the slightest.

I groveled around, looking for something to eat. There were no trees in sight that yields any fruit, nor any plant of such. However, as I sat there in the middle of nowhere, exhausted to the core and in need of desperate salvation, the sound of something stepping on a tree branch caught my attention.

My ears perked, and my eyes narrowed in the direction I heard the sound. The trees made the area look darker than it actually is, but I could still make out what’s in the dark. From my side, I curled my hand into a fist, using my other hide to move aside the messy curls sticking to the side of my face, getting in defense mode. Given how exhausted I am, I probably won’t last long even if I’m to get in a fight, but there’s no way I’m backing down easily.

There isn’t a she-wolf scarier than that carrying a child, she would do anything to protect her child. I’d do anything to protect my child even if I’d put my life on it.

My thoughts were halted though when I spotted a small, furry being hopping around—a rabbit. Instinctively, I found myself swallowing, already salivating at the thought of finding a prey to feed on. I hid in the shadows so as to not scare it, then waited for the perfect chance before making a move and capturing what ended up being the only source of food I had.

I wasn’t fully sated by the time I was done with it, but I had regained a little bit of energy that allowed me to get on my feet, preparing to carry on with my run. I have one destination in mind, and that’s my Pack. I needed to see for myself whether what I heard was true, I needed to see whether my whole pack, my family, are gone.

It’s a long way, and it’d take me months to get there in my human form, especially not while pregnant but I didn’t care. Exhaustion threatened to catch up with me from my lack of sleep and little energy but I didn’t care. I still attempted to push myself.

However, I could only make it a few steps before my head began to pound, my eyes suddenly becoming blurry. I no longer had control of my body as I collapsed on the floor, black dots covering my vision.

As I laid on the ground, just as I was about to fully slip out of consciousness, I saw a figure made their way towards me casually. I blinked through my blurry gaze and tried to settle my gaze on the figure, I couldn’t make out the face or anything except one very thing that stood out stark even in the dark forest.

Red eyes. Those red eyes stared back at my collapsed figure, as I lost consciousness.