Athena

Chapter 1

        I sat down on my bed once again, curled myself up in a little ball and stared blankly forward. I had to make my breath regular again, I had to make my vision clear again. And once again, the same question – or rather scream – took over most of my thoughts. I had to get out of here, I had to get out of this pack. There was too much nostalgia of my happy youth, too much memories of the miserable last years. I lived seventeen years, and I have never felt this lonely. My best, and only, friend had found her mate; her destined beloved, her other half – apparently. Their love was true, the most truest, as she described. And that was the last I heard from her. Because that’s what happens when you find your mate. You leave. She left the pack and went along with this man, who was probably already twenty-six, while she wasn’t even seventeen years old.

        She wasn’t the only one to leave. Three years ago my parents left permanently. They both died in a fight with another pack, Midnight Fall. And I was very angry about it. I have never been able to say it out loud, but I was very angry about it. Because the fight was pointless, stupid, reckless and more importantly: we lost so many lives for nothing.  Yet our Alpha chose to fight, even though Midnight Fall was probably one of the strongest packs in the whole country and we didn’t even had a chance.

        And since everything, my favourite place to be was alway from everyone else. Most of the times that was my room or the woods. I wanted to avoid our Alpha as much as possible, because my hatred towards him was undeniable.

        So on this day in september I decided to leave, too. I decided to run away, to leave my pack – but I didn’t feel like leaving something behind anyway. I felt like I freed myself, while I stepped outside with a just a bag and some money in the early morning. I was scared, though, because I had no idea what I was about to face. I just decided to walk east, since I never really been out of my pack territory and had no idea where to find anything at all. East seemed nice, or interesting, or it was just the first direction I looked at as I stepped out of our packhouse.

        But after three hours of walking, I still was in the woods. It all looked the same, as if I was walking in circles, but that couldn’t be. I was walking on a hill, when I looked around me and actually saw a house – a maison rather. The place was beautiful, and very big. I wasn’t thinking straight at first, but eventually it hit me. I was in another territory. I should have noticed the minute I walked into it, but I really hadn’t thought about anything like that. I was just looking for a city or even road or something.

        And there was only one territory close to my own pack: Midnight Fall. A shiver went down my spine when I realised that this house belonged to that aggressive, and truculent pack.

        I turned around and started running; I had to get off their ground as fast as I could. But Midnight Fall’s territory was enormous, and that realisation made me run even faster. Yet after a few minutes of running, I smelled someone – another werewolf. I felt a certain amount of power radiating off him.

        Even his voice was intimidating as he spoke. ‘Stop right there,’ he told me and I somehow obeyed, yet it was clear that he wasn’t an Alpha.

        ‘You trespassed.’

        That was all he needed to say. I directly knew that I wasn’t going to leave this place alive.

        ‘I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to. I was lost,’ I actually tried, but I knew it was no use.

        He huffed, as if he didn’t believe a word I said. ‘They all say that when they get caught. But no rogues are allowed on our grounds. You should have known.’

        He got a hold on my arm and tugged me along with him. I shivered and tried to free myself out of his grip, knowing that this was probably the last chance to escape, since when I was dragged inside of the packhouse, I would be killed immediately. So with desperation, I struggled and kicked, only making him more angry. The guy seemed extremely strong, because even though I caught him by suprise, he directly got a hold on me again. He pushed me against a nearby tree, holding my hands above my head. His body was so close to mine, that I was imprisoned against the tree. I tensed and looked at him with wide eyes. I was definetely not the worst fighter in my past pack, so it suprised me to be overruled this fast. I couldn’t say I was the best either, but I was not that bad.

        ‘No more playing tricks, am I clear?’

        I wanted to answer him with ‘Yes sir!’, but his eyes held so much seriousness, and he looked very pissed, so I just nodded and dropped my head. I felt so weak under his grip and that feeling made me angry and annoyed.

        Then he continued walking, not even bothering dragging me with him. It was like he thought that I was so scared of him, or impressed, that I would just run along. Like he had just proven himself and that I would just follow him like a puppy. He acted like I wasn’t even a challenge, just another weak, stupid girl, who made a very big mistake by walking on their grounds.

        I wanted so bad to prove him wrong, but I knew I couldn’t, so I sighed as I followed him, stamping a bit too loud like a little child, and eyebrows furrowed. I couldn’t even be scared at this point, yet I should be, but I was just to angry at this stupid guy.

        As we approached the packhouse, my anxiety began to grow again and I halted my steps.

        The stupid, strong, annoying guy did the same and turned to face me. ‘Oh no, you were doing so well the whole time,’ he said mockingly. ‘You don’t want to ruin that in the last minute, do you?’

        I glared in response. I wanted to slap the smirk off his face.

        ‘You really want to make a fight out of this?’ He was approaching me until he was so close that I had to look up to see his face. His frame was a lot taller than mine, but I was, unfortunately, very tiny. I looked up at him angrily and he seemed to have lost his patience, since his eyes turned darker and he grabbed my arm roughly. He started walking, faster than before, making me stumble over my own feet. I had to try very hard to keep up with him as he was pacing towards that huge building in front of us and my heartrating quickened and I wished I hadn’t made that little fight at the end. He seemed pretty pleased before that and maybe I had odds to survive.  Yet now, the odds didn’t seem in my favor.

        I started to panic and I felt my eyes water, my heart was beating in my throat, my body was a bit trembling and when his eyes found mine, I looked at him pleadingly. He just turned his face around in a cold expression and opened the great door in front of us. Then he dragged me through a hallway, and he took me downstairs, which seemed like a sort of basement.

        He pushed me inside a cell with an angry movement and locked me up right after. I stumbled because of his harsh move and I fell down on my butt. Luckily, he had already turned around and walked away, so he didn’t witnessed I fell embarrassingly. He didn’t stop and look over his shoulder to see what had happened –  though he must have heard it – but I heard him talk to someone a second later.

        ‘Who is that girl? Where did you find her?’ a voice I didn’t recognize said.

        ‘In the woods. She trespassed. I’m going to get the Alpha, he has to decide what we’ll do with her,’ answered the guy who caught me.

        'We both know what he’s going to do with her,’ he laughed viciously and all I could think of was a weird bad-guy Disney role. ‘Yet she is pretty, so she might have a chance.’

        After that he laughed even more, as if he didn’t believe a word of what he had just said. And his stupid way of acting made me more conscious about my situation and the very big chance that I was going to die. The other guy, the one who got me here in the first place, ignored him and walked off.

        And I promised myself to not even beg him to keep me alive, knowing that it wouldn’t have use and I would only embarrass myself – and that was something I wanted to avoid. I wouldn’t let a tear fall.