Kiss of Thorns

Chapter One (Picture of Isabel)

Isabel-

I'm running. As fast as I possibly can. My feet ache. My head spins. My face feels numb from tears. But I can't stop. I can't stop, in fear that he'll get me. He'll get me and he'll lock me away forever, never let me go. I shudder at the thought. I shudder so badly that suddenly I'm on the ground, and his boot lays on my stomach, trapping me there.

"You really think you'll survive out there?" He asks.

I spit on him. I'd taken it from him for far too long. For fifteen years. I was tired of it.

"Fine then, good luck dying. You're no daughter of mine, so don't even think of coming back." Then he's gone, even though I doubted that would be the last time I saw him.

The first night in those woods is brutal. I know that he doesn't want me to live. At first, I think he might just let me starve to death, which would have been way easier. But easy has never been his taste. Flames surround me, swirling up the trees and into the soles of my shoes. I rip them off, looking for somewhere to turn. But there's nowhere to run. And fire spreads across my face. Pain fills my senses. I scream.

The nightmares haven't stopped.

Ever since that night. Ever since I ran away. The fight. The run. The fire that should have left half of my face burned. The boy who recused me, Myles, whom I lived with for nearly two years. The boy who was now dead. Me and him started a pack together, just a small one, of fifteen, not the normal pack size. He left me in charge when he died. I couldn't have been more proud when he told me. Our other pack members were stronger than me, or at least I thought.

"Is?" One of my betas, Clove asks. Her and her mate, Francis always had my back. Not only were they my betas, but they were my best friends too.

"Yah?" I turn around, facing her.

"We've gathered everyone." She tells me, nodding.

I swallow. "Good." I say, even though I'm incredibly nervous. We were going to attack my old pack. The pack that had hurt me so badly. We were going to end it, once and for all. Or at least, we'd change some things. It'd been four years since I'd last been there.

"Let's go girls, we gotta tight schedule." Francis says, wrapping an arm around Clove's waist and pulling her into the meeting room.

Even though we were rogues, we still had a moderately sized pack house, which we called the Thorn, built in the space between 5 different packs, a pentagon shape, the Thorn being in the middle. The Thorn, though considered small in pack house standards, compared to most houses, it was huge. It had twenty three rooms, including bedrooms, a kitchen, a few bathrooms, a living room a meeting room, and a gym. It seemed like a lot, but there were fifteen of us, and not everyone had a mate to share a room. Any more people and I'd be sleeping on the couch.

The meeting room had a round table, with enough of those spinning chairs to go around. I take my place at the end of the table, the other end left open, for whenever I found my mate, who would be the alpha of the pack. Then, on my sides, sat my two betas. On the other end of the table in the two spots next to my mate's place, were the two omegas, or the weakest ones, of the pack. Then, on each side, sat two healers, and in between them, all the warriors. We might not have been as big as most packs, but we did have the necessities.

"Alpha Isabel." Everyone greets me, heads around the room bowing down.

"Hello everyone." I say back, as it always went every meeting. "As you already know, tonight we will be attacking the Moonlit Furry pack."

They all nodded, waiting.

"And that being said, I want every warrior to be scattered around, at different entrances of the pack forcefield, and all the healers to do the same, and since there's only four of you, don't stand next to each other. If someone gets hurt, they'll need healing right away. Now, as soon as Francis, Clove and I take down the barrier, I want you all to wait for a few minutes. I know it sounds silly, but I don't want us all going in after that. Francis will make sure it stays down, but we want to give them that surprised feeling. They're one of the top five packs, so they wouldn't expect to get attacked. When you hear Clove howl, that's when you go. Attack as much of the pack as you can, but leave the alphas and betas to me. Anyone who tries to do otherwise, will be forced to return to their old pack. Am I clear?"

The whole pack as a whole share a shudder. "Crystal."

My first attempt. Tell me what you thought.

-I put the A in Adela