The Alpha's Witch |18+|

Chapter Thirty Seven

ADELINE

"You're free."

Those words didn't feel real—they still don't, but I can't help but repeat them to myself. It's like I'm forcing myself to believe it.

I'm free.

I'm finally free.

The instant sense of relief that flooded my veins when Silas spoke those two words was quickly replaced with an unwavering anxiety. I didn't look back after I turned my back to Silas and left the castle. My feet took me far away, miles away, until the forest thinned and a windy road emerged.

I've been walking it for what feels like forever. My body aches and my throat dries, craving rest and food. But my mind is set on one thing.

Braxton.

I don't worry about Ember, I have no doubt she's been kept fed and safe, unknowing of what has happened to me. Ignorance truly is bliss.

But Braxton—he believes I'm dead. And that thought alone creates an ache under my ribs. One that I know won't go away until he knows I'm alive and close enough to touch him once again.

The distance between us is vast though.
With no phone and clothes that do little of hiding the fact that I had drug myself from six feet below the earth's surface only hours ago, it seems impossible to get there as quickly as I want to.

I'm running on pure adrenaline, but with each car that passes without so much as a glance in my thumb's direction, I'm growing tired. My spells are seemingly useless, I can't conjure up a vehicle to drive or food to eat.

I go on like that for hours longer. My feet feel terribly heavy and I almost believe it to be some figment of my imagination when I see a rusty motel sign appear in my vision.

Only, luck appears to be on my side when I get closer and realize it is real.

Well, luck is at least somewhat on my side.

The outside looks questionable, with the faded blue walls slightly deteriorating and a brown roof that seems in desperate need of attention. Only two cars, in equally distressing states, sit in the parking lot.

It surprises me when my eyes settle on the flickering open sign, but it only quickens my steps. I'm pulling open the door moments later and stepping into a cigarette smoke filled room. I'm half tempted to call it a lobby, but it's far too small and much too unwelcoming.

A woman, in a plaid shirt with cutoff sleeves and a cigarette dangling from between her lips sits behind the single desk that occupies the space. She gives me a look, one that tells me she thinks I'm much too dirty to be in here, but she says nothing.

So I speak first, "I would like a room."

"That'll be two hundred for the night," she replies, keeping the cigarette in between her teeth while doing so.

It's far too overpriced, clearly. But with not other choice, I whisper a spell under my breath and pull the amount from my pocket, handing it over. She takes it between two fingers, hastily snatching it from my grasp.

The morality of what I just did is questionable, and not typically in my nature. The money isn't real, it only lasts a few hours until it evaporates into thin air.

But, my desperation far overrules any sense of morality right now.

I watch as the woman opens one of the desk drawers, it resists with a screeching sound but she forces it open anyways. She then pulls a key from inside and shoves it in my direction. "Room fifteen. Pool's closed, and the hot water only lasts five minutes, so be quick."