Warriors suddenly poured into the dining room, alerted by the mind link. Twenty of them, huge and well built men.
“Find her at once!” Kai commanded them. “And make sure you do it right!”
“Yes alpha!” The collective voices of the warriors thundered. They turned and stormed out, their heavy footfalls echoing down the halls.
“How could she have escaped?!” Kai asked no one in particular.
Verena thought about what the warriors had said. If Karen truly had mind control then breaking out of prison would have been an easy task. But could she really get that far unaided?
Verena felt a crack in her perfect plan.
The good mood she has built up all day was suddenly going dark. She bit her thumb, a habit she had picked up whenever she was nervous. She slowly sat down, her mind racing.
If Karen did manged to survive…. Verena didn’t want to think of the possibilities.
Verena’s attention was drawn to Kai. His body was visibly vibrating with anger and tension. His face was stone cold, his jaw muscles twitching from how hard he had clenched his jaw. His eyes were flashing red, something that happened when he was very angry.
Verena felt a spark of fear.
“My–” she started to say but was cut off by Nicolas.
“Alpha please, she couldn’t have gone far on feet.” Nicolas said. “I’m sure the warriors will find her.”
“I don’t need your patronizing, Nicolas.” Kai said coldly.
Nicolas sighed. Sometimes Verena envied Nicolas. He and Kai had a very special kind of bond, akin to twin brothers. He was the only one who could handle Kai’s entire spectrum of emotions. And he was also the only one who could talk to Kai like an equal.
Verena would have had that chance, if she was the Luna.
“I should have had her beheaded this morning.” Kai said. “Fuck! now she’s running free!”
Verena knew the warriors to be effective. They were men handpicked and trained by Kai through a wide variety of criteria. Genetics, health, body statue, stamina, the warriors had it all.
They were his own personal army. And they didn’t ever fail him.
That however didn’t help Verena’s apprehension.
Kai started to pace. She watched him warily, noting how his hair was starting to rise and move with a life of their own.
She quickly rose to her feet and moved closer to him. She has to do something before he went all out.
“My alpha,” She said and placed a hand on his cheat. “Please, calm down. They will soon—”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence.
Kai raised a hand, about to backhand her across his face. Sh squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the brain rattling slap to hit her. Except it never came. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Nicolas holding his hand mid air. Verena quickly stepped back, her heat beating wildly.
“She’s not the cause of it.” Nicolas said in a dark voice. “You need to calm the fuck down. It’s one little slave. Why are you getting so worked up.”
Verena gasped. With the mood Kai was in she expected him to attack Nicolas. No one ever spoke to him like that. Instead Kai stared at him wordlessly. He pulled his hand back. Nicolas stepped back, giving him space.
To Verena’s surprise, Kai began to calm down. He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. His eyes reverted to their normal blue and his hair laid flat on his back.
“What has gotten into you?” He asked Nicolas, annoyance on his face. Annoyance and not anger. Verena thought she was seeing things.
“I could ask the same.” Nicolas snapped back.
“You’ll pay for that.” He said to Nicolas.
Nicolas sighed. “I know that ”
Verena couldn’t understand what had just happened, but all she knew was that Nicolas had just saved her from a world of excruciating headache.
A knock sounded on the door.
“There’s that.” Nicolas said.
“Enter.”
The door oepend to reveal a warrior. He instabelt went on one knee.
“Well?” Kai asked. “Where is the girl?!”
“My apologies, my alpha. We couldn’t find her.”
Verena gasped, nearly falling.
“Repeat that again, I didn’t get you.” Kai said mockingly.
“We couldn’t–” a kick to his gut cut him off. He groaned in pain, grabbing his mid section. Kai grabbed him by the neck and held him up with one hand.
“How could you not find one weak slave?” Kai spat, his fingers tightening around the warriors neck.
“We… re sorry!”
“I don’t need your stupid excuses.” Kai spat. He tossed the warrior aside like he was nothing. “Go out there and find that slave! How far can she get?!”
The warrior rose to his feet and quickly collected himself. “Yes, my alpha.” He said and turned to leave.
Seeing Kai lift a man twice his size like he was nothing made Verena realize just how terrifying Kai could be sometimes. She felt a spark of fear. What if he found out?! What would he do?!
Why couldn’t those warriors find that bitch sooner?!
“Verena, leave us.” Kai said.
Verena didn’t need to be told twice. She bowed and hurried out of the dining room. Once out side and far form earshot she released a shout of frustration.
Why did it have to be now?!
***
Karen’s wolf ran as fast as she could, the wind whipping through her. Her wolf Kiera was a huge silver wolf. Karen rarely ever shifted, after her father warned her against it.
It was later she understood why. Her wolf was larger than a normal wolf, faster, stronger and having more stamina than normal. She guessed it was normal as she was the only child of an alpha and therefore an alpha herself.
It had taken her less than five minutes from the pack house to the edge of the veil that shielded their world from the human world.
She didn’t stop running even after she was in the human world. Her wolf would appear to anyone that saw It as a blur of silver. She heard a noise and turned to look. In the process she crashed into a tree, the street shattering on impact form the speed at which she ran. She quickly got to her feet, shaking the splinters off her fur. She picked up the bundle that had fallen in her mouth
She resumed racing, eager to get as far as possible.
She had accepted her fate, ready to die at sundown. She heart a sound, turning she saw Elise.
***Flashback***
“What are you doing here?” She had asked.
Elise in tears hastily unlocked the cell. “I’m so sorry Karen. I… I mistakenly gave you the food! I didn’t know it was drugged!”
Karen had no idea what she was talking about. “What food?”
“The night of the blood moon. I should have known something was wrong when Daisy claimed she brought your food for you but asked me to give it to you and I…”
Karen didn’t want to hear more. “And?”
“Let’s go! Now while the guard is knocked out!” Elise reached out and grabbed her hand. “Now!”
Karen hesitated before she followed her.
“There’s a passage around here. There’s a loose tile in the wall, three feet from the ground on the left. It leads to a tunnel… you should be able to get out. Can you shift?”
“I haven’t done in years.”
“You have to ” Elise said. She thrust a bundle of clothes in her arms. “Please Karen, survive. I’m really really sorry.”
Karen didn’t say anything to her. She took the bundle and followed her instructions. The tunnel was long, cold and dark. Karen crept through it till she got to the end. The gust of wind hitting her made her exhale.
One hurdle down.
She dropped the bundle on the ground, calling forth her wolf to take form. Her bones began to crack, break and reconstruct as her wolf took form. She had forgotten how painful shifting could be. In a few seconds the pain was over and in her place was huge silver wolf. She picked up the bundle in her mouth and sprinted off, tearing through the bushes with her speed.
By the time they would find out she was gone, it would be too late.
***flashback end.***
Karen paused when she got to a road. Her heart leapt with joy, she knew she was close to humans now.
She shifted, gritting her teeth in pain. In the place of the wolf was her human form, small and naked. She took the bundle of clothes. It was a simple tee and Jeans with sneakers. Karen didn’t know how she had gotten it but she was grateful to not run around naked.
She got dressed and shook herself off. She turned and looked behind her, glad to have gotten as far away as she could from the pack.
Unless Kai himself came after her, he wouldn’t find her. Her heart ached a bit. She knew that he wouldn’t come after her. If anything he was probably glad to be rid of her.
There was nothing left for her with him anymore. Absolutely nothing. Somehow she found relief in it.
She walked by the roadside, unsure of where next to go. It dawned on her that she was all alone, with no family, no friend and no body to call home.
She had never felt so alone as she currently did. The cold wind blew through her, making her shiver. She hugged herself and rubbed her arms, trying to gather warmth for herself.
In her dazed state, she didn’t notice when she had walked into the road. She didn’t notice the blinding headlights till it was too late. The sound of the blaring horn registered before the pain did. She turned slowly the same time the car hit her body with full force.
She felt her body fly up into the air and slam into the road. The pain exploded in her body, so rapid that she passed out before she could scream.