On Your Knees, Omega (18+)

Scarlett Reine’s POV I was running for my life. The moon hung low above the treetops, washing the forest in silver. Thorns clawed at my bare arms. Cold earth tore beneath my bleeding feet. My lungs burned with every breath, my heart rioting, and wind whipped through my wild red curls as I sprinted, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. Behind me came the thunder of paws, wolves, his wolves. Hunters from the largest Pack Kingdom were tearing through the forest after me, following an order none of them would dare disobey. Alpha Azrael Thorne. For days, I'd been running. I'd escaped into another pack, built a quiet life, and convinced myself that perhaps, just perhaps, I had finally gotten away from him. Then he found me, and the fragile peace I'd spent years building shattered overnight. I'd barely escaped his pack now when his wolves flooded the forest, spreading through the trees like a storm, their eyes burning with the orders they would rather die than disobey. They tracked me through the darkness like I was some animal that had wandered too far from its cage, but one wolf was faster than the rest. Much faster, and I heard him before I saw him. A deep, vicious growl rolled through the trees. My stomach twisted. No. Not him, anyone but him. That monster! He wasn't going to let anyone else claim this catch so I forced my legs to move faster, but they were already trembling beneath me. My body wasn't built for this because I was half wolf, half human, and half nothing, according to those who had spent my entire life reminding me that I was defective. My wolf had disappeared the night Azrael took everything from me. She had retreated somewhere inside me and never returned, and without her, I was weak, breakable, and easy prey. My heart slammed against my ribs as a branch whipped across my face. I stumbled, caught myself against a tree, then pushed forward again. I couldn't stop, not when I knew what was waiting behind me. Another howl rose through the forest, closer this time and my heart hammered harder. How had I ended up here again? How had I allowed myself to fall back into his world? His rage, his obsession, and his darkness. My fingers instinctively went to the mark beneath my collarbone. It throbbed beneath my skin. The bond, the cursed bond he'd branded into me. Even after everything I'd done to escape him, my body still remembered its owner, and I hated that. I hated him for it, and I hated myself even more for the tiny part of me that still reacted whenever I felt his presence. I shoved through a wall of underbrush, branches lashing my arms as I plunged deeper into the forest. I didn't look back. I didn't need to. The Pack Kingdom's elite hunters were right behind me, the same hunters who had never failed to drag a runaway back to their Alpha, back to him. A low snarl cracked through the forest, powerful enough to vibrate through my bones, him. My blood ran cold as I felt his aura crawled over my skin, cold and suffocating, tugging at the bond I desperately wished I could break. The mark beneath my collarbone burned in response, as though my own body were betraying me. A curse, a chain, and one I couldn't tear myself free from. I begged the Moon Goddess silently, not him, not now, but my trembling, half-blood legs could never outrun a kingdom's Alpha. Could never outrun the monster who had ruined me. I veered sharply left, plunging deeper into the old pines. The trees grew thicker here, their roots twisting through the earth and their branches tangling overhead. If I could lose them among the trees, maybe I could buy myself a few more minutes. It was my only hope. Even the best trackers could lose a scent in these woods. At least, that was what I told myself until I heard them. Those sets of paws, heavier than the others, faster, and ruthless. It wouldn't matter if I managed to hide my scent because he had always been able to find me. The paws tore through the undergrowth behind me, crushing branches and roots as he gained on me with terrifying purpose. My calves screamed from the strain. My ankles throbbed from the stone wall I'd thrown myself over earlier to escape him. Blood trickled down my shins from cuts I didn't remember getting. Still, I ran because fear does something terrible to you. It hollows you out, it shoves you forward when your body is begging you to stop, it steals your voice, and it turns every breath into a desperate prayer you don't even believe in. Please. Moon Goddess, please. Don't let him catch me. But I wasn't fast enough, human speed wasn't enough. No wolf to call on, no claws. Worse, no strength and not even the prayers I'd been throwing at the Moon Goddess could save me now. Now I understand why they called me half-human, incomplete, and a mistake the goddess had abandoned. Though, I still didn't know why he'd called me a traitor back there, spitting the word like poison. I didn't know what had driven him so relentlessly toward revenge. I only knew one thing, if he caught me again, I wouldn't escape, not alive, not sane, and definitely not me. A roar thundered through the forest too close. I veered sharply onto a narrow, thorn-choked path, praying the dense trees would slow him down, they didn't. His massive, shadow-black form tore through the forest behind me, branches snapping beneath his weight. He was faster, so much faster, and had always been able to smell me. Another roar shook the night but this time, it was feral, guttural, and furious, as if his wolf was angry with me for refusing to stop. I whipped my head forward and forced my legs to give me one last burst of speed. Too late. A roar exploded directly behind me. So close that the sound vibrated through my bones. I spun around, desperate to see how close he was and immediately regretted it. A massive black wolf burst from the darkness. He didn't leap at me, he launched. Moonlit muscles flexed beneath his black fur. His molten-gold eyes locked onto me with the hunger of a predator that had been starving for years. He vaulted over fallen trunks and jagged rocks without slowing, his enormous paws barely making a sound against the earth. His fangs bared, eyes blazing. A predator descending on its prey. "Moon Goddess—" His body collided with mine with enough force to send me flying. The ground vanished beneath my feet as I crashed into the dirt, rolling through dead leaves and broken branches. Pain shot through my back. Before I could catch my breath, his weight came down over me, heavy and immovable. One massive forepaw pinned my shoulder to the ground, claws digging into the dirt beside my skin. The other pressed against my side, trapping me beneath the sheer weight of his enormous body. A predator's grip. I screamed. He growled. The sound vibrated through my bones. I clawed at his fur, kicked beneath him and fought with everything I had. It wasn't enough. It had never been enough. Then his enormous body shifted, bones cracked, fur rippled and folded into pale skin. Limbs twisted and reshaped. The monstrous wolf began to change. The beast became a man and somehow, that was worse. His black hair was damp and disheveled from the chase, wild strands falling across his forehead. His chiseled features were hard with fury, his jaw clenched as his chest rose and fell heavily. Then those eyes found mine, molten gold. They burned into me like they wanted to devour me whole. My breath caught. I'd spent years trying to forget those eyes. They had been the first thing I'd ever loved about him and now, they were the thing I feared most. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe and before I could take the chance to escape now that his wolf form no longer covered me, his hand closed around both my wrists and slammed them above my head against the forest floor. His chest pressed against mine, hard and unyielding, his weight anchoring me to the earth as though escape had never been an option. As though I had never been allowed to escape him. I struggled beneath him. “Get off me!” He didn't. One hand pinned both my wrists while the other planted beside my head, his claws still half-shifted, digging into the earth. He leaned closer. I froze as his scent surrounded me, dark, familiar and infuriatingly comforting. My stomach twisted at the realization. He lowered his head and inhaled slowly against my shoulder. His entire body went still. For one terrifying second, neither of us moved. Then his grip tightened. “Mate.” The word came out like a growl. My heart sank. No. I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't want to hear that word, not from him and not ever again. Then he lifted his head. His face hovered inches above mine, his lips nearly brushing mine, his chest rising and falling like a storm barely contained. His eyes were rimmed with feral red that I could feel his gaze burning into me. His lips shaped for both pain and temptation, curled into a snarl, his voice low and venomous, thick with twisted satisfaction. “Did you really think you could run from me, little mate?” That deep, too-human, too-dangerous growl made my pulse stutter. My eyes snapped open. I stared up at him, my chest heaving, tears burning behind my eyes. A small, broken sound escaped me and the tears threatened to fall, but I refused to let them. “You should have let me die.” Something flickered across his face, gone so quickly I almost convinced myself I'd imagined it. Then his expression hardened again. “You disappeared.” His voice was quiet. Somehow, that was more frightening than anger. “You vanished without a trace, and you expected me to simply forget you?” “You were supposed to.” His jaw tightened. I saw the anger return to his eyes. “You don't get to decide that.” I swallowed. “You lost that right a long time ago.” For a moment, something dangerous flashed through his eyes then he leaned closer until his face was inches from mine. His breath skimmed my mouth in slow arcs, setting my nerves ablaze, heat pressing against me. His voice sank into a dark promise as he spoke. “Run again,” he murmured, “and I'll chain you to my bed myself.” My stomach twisted. “I'm not yours and I will never be yours!.” His gaze dropped briefly to the mark beneath my collarbone before returning to mine. “You know that's a lie.” I hated that he was right. I hated the bond. I hated the way my body still recognized him. Most of all, I hated that beneath the fear, beneath the anger, beneath every reason I'd spent years convincing myself to despise him...Something inside me still reacted to him. Something I had sworn was dead. His thumb brushed against my wrist. I flinched. His eyes darkened.“You're coming home.” “No.”The answer left me before I could think. His expression changed to something more colder and determined. “You still don't understand.” He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I didn't spend all these years searching for you just to lose you again.” My chest tightened. “You should have stopped searching.” “I tried.” His answer stunned me that I looked directly into his eyes. He looked exhausted, not physically but something deeper yet broken. Then his expression hardened again, as though he'd caught me seeing too much. His fingers tightened around my wrists. His breath brushed my lips again. “But since I've finally found you, little wolf…” His voice dropped lower. “I'll drag you back bleeding if that's what it takes to keep you.” A shiver went through me. His eyes held mine, possessive and so damn certain. “I finally found you, little wolf.” His voice softened, almost gentle. “And I'm not losing you again.” I stared at the man above me, at the Alpha I had once loved, at the monster I had spent years running from and at the bond that had somehow survived everything we had done to each other. How did I end up here? How did the man I once thought would protect me become the very person I needed protection from? I'll tell you but pls beware, 18+ | Dark Romance | Explicit Content This story contains mature themes, obsession, possessive behavior, violence, domination, toxic relationships, and explicit s****l content. It is intended for mature readers.