Chapter : 3 The rogue Territory
580 Words
The sun was rising by the time I collapsed.
Three days. Three days of walking, running, hiding.
My feet were bleeding. My stomach was empty. The rejection pain had dulled to a constant ache.
I had crossed out of Blackwood territory last night.
Now I was in rogue lands. No pack laws. No protection.
Dangerous. But also... free.
I leaned against a tree and tried to catch my breath. Every part of me hurt. The mate bond might be broken, but I could still feel the ghost of it. Like an itch under my skin.
"Well, well. What do we have here?"
I froze.
A man stepped out from behind the trees. Tall. Scarred. Eyes like a predator.
Rogue.
My wolf whimpered inside me. We were weak. Injured. An easy target.
"An Omega," he said, licking his lips. "All alone? That’s very stupid, little girl."
I stood up, forcing my shaking legs to hold me.
"Leave me alone."
He laughed. "Or what? You gonna cry to your Alpha?"
The word Alpha hit me like a slap.
Carter.
Rage flooded through me, hot and sudden.
I wasn’t that girl anymore. The girl who begged. The girl who waited.
"No," I said quietly. "I’m not going to cry."
The rogue lunged.
I moved without thinking. My wolf surged forward.
Claws out. Teeth bared.
We fought. It was messy and desperate and I was outmatched.
But I had something he didn’t.
I had nothing left to lose.
When it was over, he was on the ground and I was bleeding from a cut on my arm.
But I was alive.
I stared at my hands. They were shaking.
I had just killed someone.
A sound made me turn.
Another rogue. Female. Older. Watching me from the trees.
She didn’t look scared. She looked... impressed.
"You’ve got fight in you," she said. "Name?"
I swallowed. "Luna."
"Luna," she repeated. "You can’t stay here alone. They’ll tear you apart. Come with me."
I should have said no. I should have run.
But I was tired. And hungry. And so, so alone.
"Where?" I asked.
"My camp. We take in strays. Rogues, outcasts, rejects." She smiled, but it wasn’t cruel. "Sounds like you fit right in."
I looked back in the direction of Blackwood. Of Carter. Of everything I lost.
Then I looked forward.
"Okay," I whispered. "I’ll come."
---
The camp was hidden deep in the mountains. Tents. Fires. Wolves of all shapes and sizes.
None of them looked like the perfect, polished wolves from my old pack.
These wolves were scarred. Broken. Like me.
The woman, her name was Mara, gave me food. Real food. And bandages for my arm.
"Eat," she said. "Then sleep. Tomorrow we start training."
"Training?"
Mara’s eyes glinted. "You want to survive out here? You need to be stronger than the wolves who hurt you. Faster. Smarter. Meaner."
I nodded, shoving bread into my mouth.
That night, I slept on the ground for the first time in my life.
No soft bed. No silk sheets.
But for the first time in years... I felt safe.
Because no one here knew I was rejected.
No one here cared that I was an Omega.
Here, I was just Luna.
And that was enough.
As I closed my eyes, I made another promise.
I would learn.
I would get stronger.
And when I was ready... I would go back.
Not as the girl they threw away.
But as someone they would fear.
- Writer
