Freedom

ADORA’s POV….

I fell to the ground weakly as I panted, my will for survival and freedom could no longer help me move. I gasped for air as I held on to my throat, looking at the sky as I wished the moon goddess would come help me.

I had been on the run for so long, and there was no one to help me, and it was all because of that woman, Dawn. I hated her so much, and as I looked at my hands, my injuries, and my sores, I couldn’t help but hate her even more!

"Mom, please come save me!" I muttered in tears as I stared at my wounds, and the moment I called out to my mom, that painful scene replayed itself. The scene I'd been trying to forget for six years resurfaced, and tears streamed down my cheeks.

It hurt so much, that horrible scene still hurt, and it was all because of that woman, Dawn. She was such a heartless soul, and I wished she would be treated the exact way she had treated people her whole life.

"Adora!!!" I recalled how my mom had screamed out my name the moment Dawn had sent that silver sword into her throat and then taken it out before sending it into her chest, and I closed my eyes as I let the tears stream down my cheeks.

As if that was not enough, taking the life of my innocent mother, she came to me, and locked me in that dungeon for six years. I sniffled. For six years, I had been locked in the forest dungeon for a crime I hadn’t committed.

If I had even been framed, I would have understood, but nothing of the sort happened. The door of my house had been broken down, and I was taken away while my mother came after those men.

We had gotten to the forest, and that was where it all happened—my mother being murdered in cold blood and my freedom being taken away by that ruthless woman, Dawn.

I sighed as I winced in pain, my whole body hurt so much, especially with all the torture I had to go through in the last six years—waking up so early to clean the dungeon, getting beaten up mercilessly, and then, after all this, getting little or no food for the day.

I arched my back on the floor slightly, hoping it would ease the pain I was feeling, but it did no such thing for me as it only seemed to increase the pain, and I pressed my lips against each other.

It was now that I had escaped that all those things I had to go through in the past started hurting even more. For six years, I didn’t shed a tear. I was only broken and slightly depressed, but now that I was out, all the tears poured out, and since I had a very weak wolf, my injuries took even longer to heal.

I sighed as I took one of the leaves that lay beside me on the floor and began slowly tending to my wounds; hopefully, I had gotten far enough away from the dungeon that no one would be able to find me here.

I was still tending to my wounds when I started hearing horses approach. They were coming at great speed, and I gulped. Had the people in charge of the dungeon realized that I had gone missing and hence come to find me?

I swallowed, and before I knew it, I got strength from nowhere, and I immediately rushed to a corner, looking for possible means of escape, when I realized something, the approaching horses weren’t black but white, which only meant they didn’t belong to the dungeon officers.

I heaved a sigh of relief, but then, I recalled something. It was a conversation I overheard between Dawn and one of the prison wardens.

"Don’t you think what you did was very risky, ma'am?" The officer had asked her, and she sighed.

"What could I have done? I had no other choice," she told the officer.

"Please, ma’am, it doesn’t matter how urgent it is, don’t bring royal horses here again. The royals are the only ones permitted to use white horses, and your bringing them here would make people suspicious."

The moment I recalled this conversation, my jaw dropped. This was a royal horse, so could it be that Dawn was on it? If yes, it meant I wasn’t safe yet, and just as I was about to make a run for it, I tripped, and on raising my head, I saw someone dangling from a horse that was moving so fast.

I squinted as I got a closer look, and that was when I realized that whoever was on the horse was really injured, and the moment I realized that, I felt unexplainable pain in my wolf, and I looked even closer, but even with all of my squinting, I couldn’t see who it was, and it made me curious.

I got on my feet, and I could feel even worse pain than I had earlier felt when I had come here. I cursed the moon goddess in tears as I limped in the direction where the horses had gone, curious; I had to know who it was that could make my wolf feel pain the moment I saw them in pain, and I stopped at the side of a tree near a cliff and I saw some men holding the same injured man, and the more I saw him, the more pain my wolf was in.

"I wish we didn’t have to kill our alpha. He had done nothing evil to us, but then we had to kill him," I heard one of the men say, and my eyes widened in shock.

At this moment of shock, I almost let out a gasp, but I was quick to cover my mouth, preventing any sound from making its way out of it.

"I also wish we didn’t have to buy it, but we have been paid for it. Dawn had given us money to kill him and make sure no one knows where he is, so here it is, we have to kill him," they said, and I clenched my fists at the mention of Dawn’s name, she had to be the most heartless woman in the world because how could she even want to kill the alpha? What had he done to her?

I wouldn’t let this happen. I needed answers to my questions, so I rushed to the men who were holding the alpha, and just as I was about to reach them, I saw his half-opened eyes, and the moment my eyes made contact with his, my wolf spoke.

"Mate!" I stopped in my tracks at this,

Was—was I the alpha’s mate?