Andrei waits by the door while I quietly walk down the stairs. He isn’t paying much attention to me as he is busy talking to Zane.
I stop next to him, and he looks down at me and nods. I force away the insane need to tell him I don’t need his approval and simply bite the inside of my cheek to stay quiet. Andrei places his hand on the door panel. That’s a necessary element of my freedom. Almost there.
The locks groan, and he pushes the door open. Zane slips out, but Andrei doesn’t move. To my great disappointment, he blocks the door and glares down at me. “I am trusting you not to run from me. If you do, I will bring you back and leave you with Zane,” Andrei warns me, to which I just nod. “Sage, do you understand I will do exactly what I say? I will drag you back and lock you in this house,” he explains as if I’m nothing but a child, and can’t understand his words. Of course, I understand the risk I am about to take and how severe the consequences will be. But I need to get out of here, away from him!
“Yes, I heard you. I am not deaf,” I grumble under my breath, and his eyebrows raise.
I mentally question if I have overstepped and let myself get too comfortable. Was it the wrong thing to say? Will he turn on me and show me his anger over my slip? As I fight the inner turmoil, Andrei remains silent and pushes the door open wider. I step outside into the cold night air and wait for him as he locks the door.
“How far away is her pack?” I ask him, and he turns around.
Andrei places his hand on my back and pushes me toward a car that wasn’t there when I arrived here. The car is already running, and I have no idea what sort of car it is, just that it is loud and a dark color.
“About forty minutes, but probably only half that with the way he drives,” Zane answers, winking at Andrei as he climbs out of the driver’s seat.
I assume that is supposed to be taken as teasing? Or I would think so as Andrei doesn’t show any reaction to his Beta’s words.
Zane tosses the keys to Andrei, who catches them before opening the passenger door. “In,” Andrei grumbles, nodding to the open door.
“You will need to get fuel on the way there. I forgot to fill her up for you.” Zane warns.
Andrei nods, and I slide onto the leather seat. My so-called mate shuts the door as soon as my butt settles. He exchanges some words with Zane at the front of the car. I can’t hear what they are saying, but Andrei hands his Beta some keys, and Zane walks off toward the side of the house. As my mind comes up with some guesses about what those two might be planning, Andrei hops in the car.
A sinking feeling settles in my gut as I recall the stench of rogues. I am a rogue.
Is he planning…? No, I can’t focus on that. I need to keep my eyes on the surroundings and look out for any chance to escape this man.
The drive is silent, but Andrei is tense, probably worried about his sister. He pulls up at a gas station along the highway not far from his pack. I remain in the car, staring out the windshield.
“Wait here,” he instructs, opening the car door. He moves to the back of the car and pops the fuel cap open and fills it up.
If I didn’t suspect anything about his vile hobby and didn’t know about the blood that soaks his basement floors, I would almost assume that he could be ok mate material.
He walks into the service station. My hand trembles as it reaches for the door handle. As soon as I see the sliding door open… I wait for him to turn his back to me, and I shove the door open, jump out of the car and take off.
My heart thunders against my rib cage and my knees shake as adrenaline surges through my veins as I dart across the road.
Luckily for me, it’s nighttime, so there are no cars that can slow me down.
I sniff the air as I try to catch a whiff of any scent nearby that could be familiar, hoping that it can help me understand which way to go. But since I have no time at all to second guess, I dart straight into the cover of the trees.
Sierra is nervous and wants to go back. She doesn’t want to upset him, but I can tell it’s mostly out of fear of upsetting an Alpha male. Hierarchy tells us to obey those in ranks above ours, and she doesn’t like going against it, even if we are rogue.
“Which way?” I ask her, terrified of making the wrong decision on my own. For as long as I can remember since my mom died, my wolf has been the only support system I had. There is no one I can ever trust more than I do Sierra.
We are not all that familiar with this side of the mountain. She hesitates to peer through my eyes. “Keep going straight,” she suggests, also unsure.
Now that I have her support and a direction pointed, I keep running, thankful I’m wearing long pants and a hoodie. The number of branches scraping my arms would have hurt if I had worn anything else.
This forest is incredibly dense, trees grow into each other. If I weren’t a werewolf, it would be pitch black and impossible to see at night. As soon as my hearing picks up a sound of a road nearby, I pause.
“We can’t stop now. He will be pissed! You will have to run across to the other side,” Sierra snaps at me. She’s right, we are too far gone to stop now. That is if we don’t want to be caught.
Running down a hill, I wonder if the roads weave around the mountain at the back of Andrei’s pack. “Shit!” I think to myself. I should have tried to escape on the way home, at least I would know what is around the area.