Rejected Runt, Alpha King’s Luna

Chapter 3

Mira's POV

Tonight. I have to leave tonight.

I sat on my stone bed, thinking over my life so far. Juniper had been holding on for far too long; I couldn't let her suffer this any longer. Until Mom and Dad passed, I used to be almost everyone's favorite in the pack. I don't know what came over Aunt Marianne and Uncle Harold, Garrett's mom and dad. It's as if they'd been waiting for the chance to make me worthless. They used to be very kind, until they weren't. People who joined the pack after that incident didn't know I'm the daughter of the last Alpha and Luna. From what I've heard, the whole wolf world believes I'm dead.

I can't be r***d. I can't have my innocence taken from me, and certainly not by that vile bastard. I have to come up with a plan. I don't care if I die running; I have to leave this f****d-up pack before I'm humiliated. I need to eat this afternoon, because I'll need the energy if I'm going to run. That bastard is definitely going to send people after me, so I have to be in my wolf form.

"Juniper, are you there?" I mindlinked Juni, and she whimpered in reply in my head.

"I'll need you tonight, girl. I'll need you if I'm ever going to get out of here alive. I can't let him do this to me, to us. We have to fight our way out of this bondage. We waited because we thought we might find love, but that's over now, Juni. We need to run," I pleaded with her.

"I don't know if I can do it for us, Mira. What if we're killed on sight because of my fur color? What if he catches up to us? What if we don't make it out alive? I'm so weak, and I've only ever shifted once. I don't want to let you down, Mira," Juniper said weakly in my head, and fresh tears rolled down my cheeks. We don't deserve any of this.

"Juni, we have to try, girl. There's a full moon tonight. I've heard we get stronger under a full moon. Maybe that will give us the strength to push forward, but we can't stay here tonight. We might find help in another pack. Anything but here, Juniper," I told her.

"You're right. We've put up with this for too long. It's time we break free and start over. We run tonight," Juniper said in my head with fresh determination.

Her words gave me a glimmer of hope and a renewed sense of resolve. I stood and headed to the pack kitchen to see if there was any food I could get by on until evening. I needed to eat, if only to have enough energy to run.

When I got to the kitchen, slaves were rushing around, cooking a feast for Tessa and Garrett's coronation. Disappointed, I was about to leave when I spotted Agnes. Agnes is an elderly woman who used to be our head cook. She's the only one in the pack who doesn't treat me as though I'm beneath her, though she can't be kind to me in public or she'd be punished. She noticed me just as I was about to leave and came to meet me in the hallway. She hugged me with tears in her eyes, and I hugged her back. She has always been like a grandmother to me.