CHAPTER SIX

The gate slammed shut right in my face and I knew that sound would haunt me forever. Not only because of its loudness or finality, but because it meant no one, not even a single person had stopped it.

They all believed. Every single one of them, they’d ignored all the bullying and my existence but after one bad thing they recognized me and didn’t wait a second to hear what I had to say. But really it didn't matter, they wouldn’t believe anyways and now it was all over. I took a shaky breath, turning to the world in front of me. Long, vast and endless walls of shadows that swallowed the light of the forest.

The order was that I leave and never come back but they hadn’t said anything about where I was supposed to go. If I felt lost even in my pack, how would I face the world outside it?

My legs shook as I walked deeper between the trees, dead leaves, worms and soil clinging to my clothes. The deeper I went forward the less I could hear anything from the world I’d just left.

And I didn’t want to turn back. Even if I could. It wasn’t long before the cold sank deep  into my bones.

I didn’t have a coat. Just my hoodie that did little to nothing to warm the cold from the freezing breeze.

The path was uneven to wherever I was headed with roots twisted in the way. I stumbled.

Once.

Twice. I lost count .

Minutes or hours later, my energy failed and my body felt numb and heavy. Everything ached, my body and soul.

I  sank to my knees beneath an old tree, pressing my palms into the cold dirt. The world blurred in front of me. I was alone, I’d always been alone but this felt like solitary. If this  was the moon goddess' way of punishing me then it should have ended already.

“I didn’t kill her,” I whispered with a broken voice.

Only cold silence followed.  But I couldn’t stop. I needed to be heard.

“I get it! I’m useless! Worthless! But I didn’t kill her.” I screamed through the trees, hitting it with all my might.

Eventually, my legs gave out and I fell, my face hitting  the ground as tears finally spilled uncontrollably. I curled in on myself. Shivering. Alone.

“I didn’t… I didn’t…”

I don’t know how long I stayed like that. The sun dipped lower and just when I thought nothing worse could happen, a growl came from the forest. Too close to where I stood.

My eyes snapped open. I sat up slowly, heart pounding. “Hello?” I called, hoarsely.

Another growl shot through the trees, more guttural now. I turned my head just in time to see glowing yellow eyes emerge from between the trees.

A rogue wolf. I’d never seen them beyond what I read in the history book but now standing in front of me looked twice the size it was described to be.

It snarled at me but didn’t attack immediately. Instead, he circled around me slowly like a predator sizing it’s next meal. His glowing yellow eyes never left mine, saliva dripping from its jagged teeth followed by a silent snarl.  It was in no rush to attack,  just enjoyed my weak and helpless state. I could see it in the way his claws dragged slowly through the dirt. He was enjoying every second of it.

I was bleeding, broken, too slow to run, too weak to fight, and he knew it. He wanted me to know it too. There was no honor in rogues, we’d always been thought. They were savage corrupted instinct of a creature that had chosen death over pack.

It leapt forward to attack but I gripped a cracked left by my side waving it with all my might. With one attack from his claws the stick fell, claws tearing the skin on my wrist.

“Arghhhh.”

I fell back, holding the hand as pain shot through it down to my entire body.

My heart pounded like war drums inside me, but there was nothing I could do. I could barely stand, let alone defend myself. My vision blurred at the edges, the pain from my side pulsing in sharp, nauseating waves.

Tears stung my eyes, hot and helpless. “I didn’t kill her,” I whispered again, but this time it was less of a declaration and more of a plea—to the Moon Goddess, to fate, to whoever might be watching from above and still had a sliver of mercy left for me. “Please…”

I closed my eyes ready for the impact. But it never came, instead it was the sound of crushing bones and body  slamming against a tree.

A second growl followed, a different one. I opened my eyes to find the rogue wolf, wounded and barely managed to stand but now his head snapped to another direction looking for exactly what hit it.

I, on the other hand, didn't dare move. I couldn’t, still crouched on the ground trying not to collapse from both the pain in my soul and body.

And then she appeared.

A blur of red fur burst from the trees, moving with such speed I barely had time to gasp. In the next second it  struck the rogue, like lightning with so much force knocking him off his feet. The sound of their bodies colliding was brutal, bones hitting earth.

The rogue tried to fight back, snapping and thrashing, but she was faster. Her green eyes blazed with fury as she pinned him down with ease, her jaws snapping dangerously close to his throat. It only took seconds for the rogue to realize he’d lost. With a pitiful whimper, he tore himself free and limped off into the woods, disappearing into the dark.

Silence returned, except for my ragged breathing.

The red wolf turned to me, approaching slowly. I stood still, shaking and too stunned to speak. Then, right in front of me, she shifted. A woman stood where the wolf had been, her red hair dangling down her bare back.

“You’re lucky I got here when I did,” she hurried to me

I blinked, shifting uncomfortably away from her.

“Who… who are you?” I managed.

She smiled, crouching so we were at  eye-level.

“My name’s Anya.  And I won’t hurt you.”