Chapter 2– Escape

CHAPTER 2

The Alpha King stormed his way to his chambers, his eyes darkened with rage. He thought back to nine months ago, when he had agreed to the idea his brother had implanted into his head.

"So stupid of me," he thought. He took a pause as he noticed a guard who was standing just outside his chambers.

"Don't you know how to greet your Alpha?" He growled, and the guard was down to his knees. "Did you not see the others? Or should I show you?" His voice was lower this time, and the guard was already peeing in his pants.

The Alpha King noticed that too, and he motions for the guard to get up. Heaving a sigh of relief and exhaling what seemed to be muffled sobs, the guard rushed to open the door to the King's chambers. The guard turns back to thank his stars, but the sound of crunching flesh would end it all; the King smashes the guard's head into the wall.

"Learn to greet the goddess in the afterlife." He purred and walked further into his chamber, not minding the bloodstain on his royal regal.

Just before he turned for his closet, a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"I heard what you did to that maiden," a voice just as cold as the Alpha King's roared from behind him.

It was his brother, Oswald.

"Get out of here now if you don't want me taking your head off your neck. You caused all this mess. You brought her to me. You told me having a son would make me appear to be a greater leader to my people and to the Packs beyond! What did she give me? I'm sure the child isn't mine."

Oswald stepped back like he wanted to take a wider view of his brother's body, disbelief clouding his eyes. He stared at the cold, marble floor, and the surge of anger that washed over him made him do the unthinkable.

The Alpha King stared at his brother, unfazed, even when Oswald had just punched him. "That's it?" He asked mockingly, heading for the closet, "Last warning. Get out of my chambers. Take that bastard with you. I know you like her for yourself anyway —"

"How can you even say that?!" Oswald asked angrily.

"Keep quiet!" The Alpha King thundered back. "Don't think my spies don't report back to me out of fear. I know everything. What you two do together …"

Oswald's reaction seems to have given him away. He could tell there was no use hiding it anymore. His brother, the Alpha, was aware, and though this was punishable to the extent of getting murdered, he knew to keep quiet and accept whatever came his way.

He couldn't get that day off his mind. How he had been shattered. He had approached Luna's chambers and barged in, uninvited. She was half-clad, but if at that moment she was mad at Oswald for stepping in the way he did, she didn't show it. She was six months gone, her protruding belly looking more alive than the last time he had taken time to notice.

He had remembered sitting her down and initiating a conversation with her, asking her how she was doing with the baby. How he had proceeded to comfort her by hugging her and caressing her lips. He believed her silence confirmed his thoughts. He believed she liked him too; not until she had jolted and smacked him hard across the cheek.

"Leave my room", he remembered her yelling with glistening eyes filled with tears. It was the last word she had said to him ever since, and only he had to relive that painful moment everyday.

Oswald snapped himself out of his thoughts. The Alpha King wasn't in the room anymore. Oswald gathered what was left of his anger and marched down to the room where Myra was taken to by the midwives. The path to the room was quiet. Chilly.

"Haven't the midwives returned to help Myra? Why would they leave her there all alone?" These questions flooded Oswald's mind as he increased his pace. He was surprised by the huge hole in the stone wall which gave room for more chilly air to be let in.

It explained the cold.

"Myra?"

He barged in, scanning the room for Myra. The trails of blood smelt fresh still, and he could tell it wasn't too long she had put to bed. He recognised the scent of the newborn too, and he smiled weakly.

"Myra?!"

His roar was met with the whistling of the morning wind. There was no sign of Myra. Nor the cries of the baby.

Myra had absconded.

* * *

Myra clenched her baby tighter. She seemed quieter, her large, dark eyes staring back at Myra with curiosity. The Alpha King's eyes. She felt her heart sink for a millionth time. She had been so stupid to believe the Alpha King would change for her. She had been so delusional to think he would come to love her. Even if it was in the slightest, she would show him how much she would appreciate it. Her sobriety slowly morphed into anger, and she begged her wobbly legs to carry her further from the harsh ice-cursed universe.

She had heard there was a world beyond hers. Beyond the other wolf Packs. A world filled with humans. She knew the Alpha King had met with some in the past. So that meant they were real.

As she approached the border that lined the walls of her Pack territory, she muttered prayers as quickly as she could, begging the Moon Goddess to spare her child's life.

"What business do you have at the borders, young woman?" A guard had begun marching towards her already. She scanned the gates. He seemed to be the only one in sight. She prepared herself, willing her body to muster every bit of strength left in her.

Just a little closer.

"Answer me, maiden!"

A little closer.

In an instant, Myra drops her baby gingerly on the ice floor and morphs into her wolf form, taking a quick advantage of time. She skillfully and stealthily sunk her canines into the guard's neck,snapping his bones almost instantly. She ran back just as quickly to retrieve her child and broke through the gates, running out into the wilderness.

She muttered silent prayers as she ran faster into nothingness, praying she found land inhabited by humans.