Rogue: a novella

1

Sweat and blood drips into my eyes, tinting the forest around me red. My movements less of a run and more like a pathetic attempt at a jog. Every step on my left ankle sends a jolt of pain through my body, but I can't stop. 

If I could shift, I would. But the injuries I sustained are too much. My wolf is working to heal me as quickly as possible and my job is to keep us moving and get us to safety. 

But where is safety?

When everything that you spent your entire life working towards is ripped away from you in a split second decision and you're given nothing more than a forty-five minute head start for your life... Where do you go?

But the question that haunts me the most as I continue to limp further and further from the only home I knew - if I'm found before I get far enough away - which of my former friends or family will carry out the Alpha's order to kill me on sight? 

Who will look into my eyes and carry out his command whether they believe it the right call or not because no one questions the Alpha. 

My chest feels heavy and tightens with every ragged breath I pull. No doubt I've broken a couple of ribs and as I release a wheeze, my body collapses under me in exhaustion. Small pebbles dig into my hands as I land with a thud on the cold ground. 

I look around me frantically, terrified that they're only a breath behind me. But the woods are silent around me. 

I wipe at the blood and sweat. My wheezing filling the silence that has found me. I don't know how long I've been hobbling in the trees or even how much more I have in me to go. 

Am I even on pack territory still? 

The sun is getting ready to set and in my state, the darkness will be unforgiving. I have no choice but to stop for the night. To hope that with the rest, my wolf can finish healing me enough that at first light I can shift and run. 

I look around me, silently praying for a secret cave or large, hollow log that I can use for shelter, but my pleas go unanswered. The best I can find is a large boulder resting near a large tree. 

They're pressed close enough tighter that no one should be able to attack me from behind, but I'm still exposed enough to be seen. 

I pull at the last of my strength to stand and hobble over to the tree. The groan that leaves my lips as I slide down the boulder to my butt is not manly but I am in too much pain at the moment to care. It's not like there is anyone around me anyway.

I watch as the sun depends behind the trees, using this time to think of a better plan. Creating distance between Alpha Adrian and the rest of the Silver pack is a start, but I can't be expected to run forever? How far will they go to chase after me? 

Perhaps I could find refuge in another pack. Then again, I'd have to get them to listen to my story first instead of just killing the rogue. And that is the new obstacle that I face.

Most packs don't tolerate anything to do with rogues. Just the name itself instills fear into almost all pack members. We're taught as young pups to never trust a rogue. 

They're liars, thieves, and criminals, who if given the chance - will strike like a cobra and kill anyone in their way. 

But I am none of those things. I committed no murder. I didn't randomly attack my pack mates or plot treason against my Alpha. 

I was living happily in the pack that my entire family had been born into. I was training to be a pack doctor just as my father and his father before him had been. 

I was nearly done and graduated when I questioned an Alpha's decision. 

Alpha's are supposed to lead their packs. Every soul within the borders lay on his shoulders and it's a heavy head that wears the crown. I never meant to show disrespect, but when the Luna tripped over a tree root while walking outside, why was her personal guard punished?