Crown of Blood

3 | leave me lonely

is it love when we've given up

before we tried?

I took one last look at their bodies, before pulling my mask back up and sheathing Hellper.

"Hey! What are you doing?" someone yelled. I looked over my shoulder to see four bulky Reds walking my way.

One of them whistled. "Looks like we found ourselves a nice little doll to play with," he said.

Doll? Was there a single rogue in the Red pack with manners?

"Hey, isn't that Charlie and Seth?" another questioned, looking at the two dead bodies behind me.

"Well, well, well. I guess our doll is going to die tonight," the first one grinned.

I had to get out of there. Judging by their build, these men were trained in fighting so I knew I wouldn't easily win in a fight against all four of them.

But I could still run like hell.

And I did.

Within seconds they were sprinting after me. I didn't shift into my wolf because it was a dead giveaway that I was of royal blood, but that didn't matter because I had trained my human form to be just as fast as my wolf.

I tore through the forest, not really knowing where I was running. I glanced over my shoulder to see that all four had shifted into their wolves and were starting to gain on me. I started to run faster, pumping my legs as hard as I could. The trees blurred as I flew by. I could hear the vicious snarls of the rogues that were hot on my trail and the wind rushing past my ears.

I needed to lose them.

I veered right and ran in that direction for a few minutes until I switched to running left. I zig-zagged for a while until there was only one rogue left in my pursuit.

I willed myself to go faster.

Within another minute, I had lost the last rogue. I kept running even then, to make sure I had completely lost them all. Once I was sure I was alone, I slowed to a stop.

I took a look at my surroundings and sharply inhaled when I realized I had crossed into a different pack territory.

Shit.

I needed to figure out how to get home and fast. If one of the pack members caught me, I was going to be in a lot of trouble.

I was pretty sure I ran from the rogues in the opposite direction of where my pack was in relation to Crescent Moon. My pack lied on the east side of Crescent Moon, meaning I ran west.

The only pack to the west of Crescent Moon was ...

My gut dropped.

The Shadow Pack.

The Shadow Pack was the most ruthless pack of all. Alpha Rowan was notoriously known for being cruel, unforgiving, and heartless. He took over as Alpha at the mere age of 16 and became the youngest, but most impressive, Alpha in history. He ruled the only pack that the Reds were not in control of; all others had given in to the Reds within the first year of their rule, but Alpha Rowan had stood his ground.

And he still held it.

Terrible rumors were spoken about him.

He killed his father.

He imprisoned his mother.

He abuses his pack members.

He slaughters everyone that comes on his territory - even kids.