Venom and Vengeance

Chapter 3 The woods

Maya’s POV

“You bitch.” Kane said in a low voice.

The bowl lay in pieces on the hard stone floor and the wine spilling into the cracks looked exactly like fresh blood spreading under the torchlight.

No one moved.

The entire Silver Moon Pack stood completely frozen in place. Thousands of eyes stared at me in absolute shock. A lowly kitchen servant cannot reject an Alpha and it was a rule as old as the moon itself!

But yeah, I just broke it.

I kept my chin high looking right into Kane’s dark eyes… I wanted him to see my face and I wanted him to see the exact moment he lost his power over me.

The Pureblood woman stepped back and her perfect red lips parted in horror. She looked from the broken silver on the ground to Kane’s angry face and she looked lost. She was supposed to be the star tonight and I just ruined her perfect, royal moment.

And I wasn’t sorry about it.

“What did you just say to me??” Kane took a slow step forward and his heavy boots crunched loudly on the broken silver.

“You heard me.” My voice was calm. “I reject you.”

The crowd gasped and people started to whisper.

“You are a nameless stray!” Brenda yelled from somewhere in the front row of the crowd. “You cannot reject the Alpha! You are nothing!”

I ignored her completely, keeping my eyes locked on Kane.

“Kneel!” Kane roared at the top of his lungs.

He used his Alpha Command. In my past life, that voice was a terrible weapon and it used to push my knees deep into the dirt until I cried and begged. I braced myself and tightened my stomach while waiting for the terrible pressure to crush my spine.

But nothing happened.

The command hit me like a breeze. There were no chains, no weight on my shoulders. My wolf did not whine and she did not try to hide in the back of my mind in fear. The bond between us was truly dead and I killed it the moment I spoke those words of rejection.

Kane saw that I did not drop to the floor and his face turned bright red.

“I said kneel!” he shouted again, his voice cracked with rage.

“I don’t take orders from you anymore” I said

quietly.

“Guards!” Kane shouted, pointing a shaking finger right at my face. “Grab her! Break her damn legs if you have to! Do not let her stand!”

Five large men stepped out of the crowd and they bared their teeth and reached for me.

But of course I had a plan, I knew this would happen.

Right next to me was a tall iron pole that was holding a burning torch, so I kicked the bottom of the pole as hard as I could with my worn-out shoes and the heavy iron tipped over crashing directly into a large banner made of dry cloth hanging nearby.

Fire ate the fabric in less than a second.

People screamed and the crowd pushed back wildly to avoid the sudden fire. Women grabbed their children while men shouted orders.

“Don’t let her get away!” Kane’s voice echoed through the thick smoke.

But I was already moving fast. I knew this plaza better than anyone else in the pack because I had cleaned these very stones on my hands and knees for years.

A guard’s large hand grabbed empty air right where my shoulder had been a second ago. I rolled past the hot food carts, pushing one cart hard to the side and it crashed heavily into another guard while sending hot, boiling soup splashing all over his legs. He cursed and dropped to the ground, grabbing his knees.

“Get her! She is heading for the stalls!” another guard yelled, pointing through the smoke.

I ran fast without even stopping to look back, pushing hard through the outer ring of the panicked crowd. People were too busy looking at the fire and shielding their faces to stop me.

I knocked over wooden chairs, shoved past a tall stack of wooden crates and used every shortcut I learned from carrying heavy bags of flour for the kitchen.

“Block the main gate!” a voice yelled from behind me.

I smirked. Of course I was not heading for the main gate.

That was suicide.

Ahead of me was the edge of the tree line… The Dark Woods.

The place where monsters, rogue wolves, and dark magic lived. Nobody from the pack ever went inside and they were all too terrified.

But tonight, the monsters behind me were much worse than anything hiding in the dark. I knew exactly what Kane would do to me if he caught me… I knew what the blade felt like.

I crossed the border without looking back, letting the darkness swallow me whole.

It’s time.

The forest was freezing… The air changed the exact second I stepped past the trees and I ran until my chest ached. I had to put as much distance between me and the angry pack as possible. I jumped over fallen logs, pushed past thick bushes, ignored the sharp branches scratching my bare arms.

Howooool!

The sound tore through the quiet night sky as Kane’s hunters were shifting into their wolf forms to hunt me down. A human nose cannot track a girl through a dark forest, but a wolf’s nose could follow my scent anywhere!

Damn it.

It was a total nightmare for a large, heavy wolf to run through but for me? A petite girl in a torn kitchen dress? It was absolutely perfect. I could easily fit through the narrow spaces and I could quickly slip under the low, hanging branches.

I reached into the hidden pocket of my apron pulling out the stolen steak knife. I needed to slow them down if I wanted to live to see tomorrow…

I heard heavy paws hitting the dirt far behind me.

Thud. Thud. Thud. They were fast. Much too fast.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot straight through my chest, right over my heart. I gasped out loud and stumbled badly… dropping hard to one knee in the mud and my free hand flew to my chest, clutching the thin fabric of my dress tightly.

It felt exactly like the sharp blade from my first life piercing my skin. It was the phantom pain of my last death.

My vision went completely white for a second and I could not breathe.

Get up, Maya! Get up right now. You are not dying today… You promised yourself!

The further I went, the quieter the forest became.

“Almost there” I lied to myself softly in the dark. I didn’t even know where ‘there’ was but I just knew I absolutely couldn’t stop walking. I had to find a safe place to rest.

Just for one minute.

Suddenly, my toe caught hard on a hidden root buried deep under the mud and I lost my balance completely. My arms flailed out wildly, but I was way too tired to catch myself… I fell hard to the ground.