Octavia

Octavia: Chapter Three

The wind hit my skin harshly and blew my hair fiercely causing it to whip my face every few seconds. My legs were still as I walked across the fallen tree, trying to get across the river. I had been running for hours, trying to put as much distance as I could from the Castle to me. It was almost morning.

My parents would have returned from dinner shortly after I left last night, no doubt already looking for me. My father's outrage would doom our Kingdom for weeks to come. If I wasn't so important, if he found me he would make sure to kill me in the most brutal way for betraying him.

There would be trackers out already covering every inch of our kingdom. I listened as the water flowed roughly, hitting rocks and dropping over miniature jagged waterfalls. I needed to mask my scent. I tossed my bag to the other side of the river. Once it landed on the grass I lowered myself into the cold river, hanging on to the log so that I wouldn't be swept away with the current. Once I was fully submerged I pulled myself back onto the log, quickly getting to the other side.

As I continued running I began to think about Max's mom. What would my father do to her if he found out she helped me escape. She was probably already in the dungeons, if she was even still alive. Her crimes were of treason- she betrayed her king and she would pay for it.
If my father let her continue breathing she would never live another day.

She'd be locked in a tiny cell: chained and beaten, wishing and begging to be killed, but my father wouldn't give her mercy. I know this because I've seen him do it before to the few people who dared cross their king. I know because I've punished people like this before.

If she was killed she could at least be with her son, but my father knew this is what she would want so he'd do everything to keep her from dying. He would make sure it haunted her everyday that she'd never get to be with her son. He was beyond cruel. He was more than heartless. He wasn't even a monster, they had more sanity than him. But undeniably, he is everything that I am. Whether or not I choose to admit it.

I didn't stop running until I was close enough to the border. It had been two days now since I left. There was hardly any time to rest. I ran for hours at end until my feet felt like paper. With no food or rest my body began to shut down. Tomorrow, I would make it out of our borders. I would be free.

Crashing to the ground, I rested my back against the hard oak. My stomach ached to eat but I couldn't bring myself to reach for my bag. My body sunk into the grass like concrete.

"You will regret this."

I threw myself forward fully awake now with my father's face imprinted in my mind.

"No. You will regret this." I mumbled to myself as I pushed myself off the ground. The Sun was rising in the distance. I had only been asleep for a few hours but I felt refreshed, at least enough to keep going. The borders weren't far. About two hours which I could make it in one with my speed. Once outside our kingdom my bond with our packs will break and I will officially become a rogue.

A twig breaking in the distance made my blood run old. They were catching up. I grabbed my bag and took off, running full speed to reach the border before them. My father had sent out his best trackers but even they wouldn't dare to cross the border. They were trained for battle but they knew better than to mess with a rogue outside the borders.

Rogues were insane. Most of them were wolves trapped in that state because they had been living out there so long, they lost their human side. They were wild animals. They were huge and would kill anything that they came across. They were viscous and merciful. The second a rogue lays their eyes on you, you're already dead.

My only question was who was worse?

Me or them.

My father wouldn't let it end there though. He'd force someone to come after me. He would never give up on trying to get me back even if he had to drag me back himself. How many lives would he take to get me back?

This was it.

I threw myself through the boundary. The ties to my mom and dad were ripped apart. The ties to my pack were shredded. Where my pack mark used to be was now burned off. I felt the bond of my pack members being shredded as if every single one of them had died. As if I had died. I screamed as my bones cracked.

I was turning into my wolf.

My paws hit the ground and I stumbled off in a run. Everything that my father put me through could never compare to a pack bond breaking, especially if you are an alpha and because I'm of the royal family it was more than what the average wolf would experience.

That pain could never compare to anything else. Some argue that losing a mate is far worse but to a mate-less wolf like me, I would never have to experience that because I was destined to not have a mate. The Moon Goddess was doing right when she left me by myself. Anyone that loved me would end up like Max and I couldn't go through that again especially with the one I'd call mate.

Max wasn't my mate but he believed I was his even though deep down we both knew that he had a mate out there somewhere waiting for him. Suddenly filled with remorse at the realization that his mate will never get to meet him. Maybe the Goddess will take pity on his mate and give her a second chance mate. Though most wolves knew that second chance mates were extremely rare.

Pushing Max out of my mind I focused on what was important. I was officially free of my father. For the time being. Looking back I watched as the trackers skidded to a stop just before reaching the border.

Their faces were dark as I kept running, not knowing where to go now. I guess it didn't really matter where I went as long as it was away from here. There was no where for me to go but the woods. Maybe eventually I will stumble across a human city, which wasn't easy too find. Our population was more dominant so therefor we have more jurisdiction than they do. Some packs allow humans to live on their lands in their own cities but they have to follow the same laws as wolves. To them Alpha's are like their governor. They live peacefully, coexisting.

Some packs are different. A few packs don't allow humans to cross into their lands and have borders set up so that wolves can't cross into the human cities. They believe that we should be separated. In major cities like New York and Los Angeles, wolves and humans live together. They work together and some wolves who lost their mate, was rejected or hasn't found their mate, start relationships with humans which in certain packs is forbidden.

Maybe I could go there. I'd have to live as the humans do though. I couldn't cross into whatever pack was in that area. I'd have to keep my wolf inside. Everything that made me a wolf would have to die in order for me to have a chance at life. My father would never think to look in a human city. I was taught to despise Human's. My father always said we were superior to them.

But I didn't have to live by my father's laws anymore. I was free and I was going to start over.

I kept running with my destination set in my mind, I was going to New York.