Chapter 2

-Ciara

Dawn didn’t come fast enough. Not that I could tell, trapped in the pitch-black prison cell with only mosquitoes and rats for company. Their bites on my bare arms and legs were unrelenting, their presence a constant torment. 

Despair had sapped my will to fight back. I couldn't muster the energy to swat them away, let alone unsheathe my claws to kill them. After all, this was their home, and I was just a temporary guest.

I never got to know who my mother was. All I knew about her was that she had been a palace maid with no family. She had concealed her pregnancy so well that no one found out that she was pregnant until the day of my delivery, in which she had died shortly after giving me my name. No one knew who had gotten her pregnant either. In fact, they could have sworn that they had never seen her with anyone of the opposite gender.

From the onset, my life had been nothing but a tragic tale, but I had held onto a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe somehow, like in fairytales, a happy ending laid ahead of my misery. How wrong I had been!

Tears clouded my eyes again, and despite my efforts to hold them back, they flowed freely down my cheeks. People always said we were all created for a reason, but apparently, I didn’t belong on that list.

Why had I been created? What was the reason behind my existence? To suffer all my life and meet a miserable end? For goodness sake, I should have at least met my mate. I didn’t deserve this. This was so unfair. I didn’t deserve to suffer this much. Maybe I was being punished for a wrong I did in my past life, but still, wasn’t this way too extreme?

I buried my head in my hands, feeling incredibly weak and tired as I cried my heart out. I only stopped when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching the prison cell. I looked up, wondering if dawn had already come or if I had simply imagined the sound.

There was silence for a while, then suddenly a flash of light and the jiggling of keys. The prison gate was unlocked, and my heart began to beat fast. My end had come.

I had been expecting this, but I still hadn’t accepted it. I knew nothing about the Alpha’s death, so why did I have to be punished for a crime I didn’t commit?

“Is it time already? Please, I’m innocent. I didn’t kill the Alpha King,” I pleaded, my voice cracking with desperation.

“I know,” a deep male voice replied.

My eyes met cold blue ones, and I recognized him almost immediately. His name was Josiah, a palace guard who had been very close to the late Alpha.

“Wh… what are you doing here?” I asked, confused.

“I’m here to save you. We need to leave now,” he urged, eyes darting nervously.

“Leave to where? I… I don’t understand,” I said.

“I’ll answer all your questions, but not now. If you want to live, don’t make a sound and come with me quietly,” he said, stretching out his hand.

I was uncertain as to whether I could trust him or not, but one thing I knew for sure was that he wouldn’t be here unless he wanted my life to be spared, and with that, I didn’t need any further convincing to take his hand, clinging to the possibility of survival.

Grabbing his hand firmly, I followed him silently out of the prison cell. Once outside, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I saw the guards lying in a pool of their own blood.

“Did… did you do this?” I asked, horrified.

He ignored me, continuing down the hallway and dragging me through a series of corridors I had never known existed in the palace. The path seemed never-ending until we reached an old wooden door, which he opened, leading us out of the palace and straight into the forest.

We had barely taken a step when the alarm went off, accompanied by loud voices and the howling of tracker-wolves.

“Your escape has been discovered. I tried masking our scents, but the army is experienced. If we don’t make haste, they’ll detect us in no time,” Josiah said, slamming the door behind us as he led me through the forest, dodging and jumping over bushes, trees, and rocks.

I ran alongside him, but as the howls of the tracker-wolves kept getting louder, the hope I had began to die slowly. Soon, we weren’t alone. Dozens of warriors came running, and I feared they would catch up to us.

“Spread out. They couldn’t have gotten far,” I heard the Beta yell, and soon the whole army was surrounding us, trapping us.

We couldn’t go east, west, north, or south. They were everywhere, so we hid in the bushes, hoping they would pass us by.

I was trembling with fear and anxiety. My body ached with each breath I took, and my heart threatened to explode out of my chest. I heard Josiah wince in pain softly, and when I looked at him, I saw he was bleeding from his shoulder, which I hadn’t noticed before.

“What happened to you? Did you get this from fighting the guards?” I asked in a hushed tone.

He swallowed. “Shh. It’s nothing,” he said.

“Sooner or later, they’ll pick up our scent, and the smell of your blood will make it easier. Let me help you,” I said, tearing a piece of my dress and tying it around his wound.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

“You’re welcome.”

“Listen carefully. If you go west, you’ll find the road that leads to the Silver Crest Pack. They are good people, and you’ll be safe there until I can come for you,” he said.

“What do you mean? Aren’t you coming with me?” I asked.

“That would be suicide. Here, take this,” he said, handing over a blue silk dress befitting of a princess to me.

I admired it in the dim moonlight, trailing my fingers all over the perfect embroidery. “What is this for?” I asked.

“Put it on when you know you are safe. If anyone finds out who you truly are, they might not be willing to open their doors. The warriors won’t leave anytime soon, and we’ll be discovered. The only way you can be safe is if I distract them,” he said.

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me, Lady Ciara. Just survive at all costs. It’s what your mother would have wanted,” he said, and before I could protest, he stood up and dashed off, making a loud noise to draw the army away.

I was shocked by what he had said.. He had referred to me as a lady, he had known who my mother was; and I began to wonder if perhaps, there was more to my story than I had imagined.

With no other choice, I said a silent prayer for Josiah’s safety, crawled out of the bushes, and with every last bit of strength I possessed, began making my way west.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, not stopping to catch my breath even when the pain in my lungs became unbearable.

Hours seemed to stretch endlessly, and there was still no sign of pursuit. Relief washed over me as the first light of dawn broke through the clouds, making me believe I had finally left the Moonstone Pack and its horrors behind. I immediately took off my servant girl’s clothes and wore the blue dress Josiah had given to me, then slowed down to a walk trying to make my way to the Silver Crest Pack.

Not long after, my ears pitched and I heard a rustle in the bushes. I didn’t think much of it at first, until a fierce black wolf with grey, bloodshot eyes appeared out of nowhere, baring its teeth and snarling menacingly at me.

I stumbled back, scared to death, and bumped into something. Slowly turning around, I saw another wolf, golden with hazel eyes, watching me with an amused expression, licking its lips.

My heart skipped a beat as another wolf emerged from the bushes, white as snow with green eyes. It appeared calm, unlike the others, but as they all closed in on me, I felt a shiver travel up my spine and Josiah’s words echoed in my head – I had to survive no matter what.

With that, I took to my heels as quickly as I could, and as expected, the wolves followed, chasing after me ruthlessly and howling loudly.

I reached a cliff and looked down to find nothing but darkness. It was either the cliff or the wolves, and I believed I had a better chance of surviving if I tried negotiating with the wolves that had circled around me, compared to jumping off the cliff.

They were different from the wolves in the Moonstone Pack, so it was apparent that they weren’t in league with them.

“Listen, my name is Ciara, and I haven’t done anything wrong. All I want is to survive. Please, let me go,” I pleaded, panting heavily.

The black wolf, closest to me, growled and snapped at me aggressively, coming even closer towards me till it was right in front of me.

Instinctively, I backed away, terrified, until I tripped over the edge of the cliff and fell with a loud scream, landing hard on a large rock at the bottom.

A sharp pain coursed through my whole body, but it ended swiftly as my eyes shut, leaving only darkness.