7
1298 Words
SORA
There are moments when waking up feels like rising from death. This was one of them.
My eyes opened to darkness, thick, heavy darkness that felt like a black blanket was covering my face. For a second, I wondered if I was still alive or trapped somewhere between darkness.
But something warm dripped down my side, stopping my thoughts.
Blood.
My blood.
I should be dead from everything that happened. So why was I still breathing?
I tried to move. My body felt heavy, like wet sand. When I shifted, a sharp sting shot up my spine, but it didn’t reach my mind the way it should have.
Instead of pain, there was… numbness.
Complete numbness.
My back felt like it had vanished.
That scared me more than the beating, more than the rejection, more than being thrown into the forest like trash.
Why can’t I feel anything? Why am I not screaming?
A soft yet familiar movement echoed inside my head. It was weak, shaky, but mine.
My wolf.
“Sora…” Her voice trembled like a wounded child trying to stand.
“You’re here,” I whispered with relief. “I thought I lost you.”
“You almost did.” Her tone was faint. “He poisoned us. The beating pushed our body close to shutting down. I’m trying to heal you… but it’s slow. It is too slow.”
I swallowed hard. I could tell I wasn't healing well, even breathing made my chest hurt.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“The Black Forest.”
My stomach tightened.
Of course. Lucien had kept his promise.
If the flogging didn’t kill me… the rogues would.
I looked around. Night surrounded me. The trees stood tall and crowded, their shadows stretching like claws across the forest floor. I could hear distant growls, leaves crunching, branches creaking in the cold wind.
I shouldn’t have been alive. Nobody should be able to survive what happened to me. Not after fifty strokes from the man who vowed to protect me.
I shifted slightly, trying to understand why I could even move my legs. My foot brushed something. A foreign shape beside me. I reached down with trembling fingers and touched…
A bag.
I froze.
Who would leave a bag with me?
Was Lucien watching me? Planning something else?
Suspicion curled in my mind, but the cold air hit the open wounds on my back, and pain instinctively won over fear.
I dragged the bag closer and opened it. Inside were snacks… a small bottle of water… and a folded note.
My hands trembled as I unfolded it. I ignored how bloody the note suddenly turned. I was still bleeding.
The handwriting was rushed and shaky.
“Luna, I am sorry. I deserve death and not your forgiveness. It was Alpha that threatened to hurt my mate and children, so I had to lie.
I gave you a numbing medicine to reduce the pain, but it will only last ten hours.
I managed to hide one more dose for you in the bag. Check the bag, use the injection when the pain returns.
The only person you can go to is the man your mate fears and hates.
He can save you… or kill you.
But I hope you live.
I'm so sorry, Luna. I hope you one day forgive me.”
Pack Doctor Leron
My chest tightened. Tears rushed to my eyes. At least I had someone, even though he was one of those who ruined me.
It wasn't his fault. It was all Lucien’s fault. I was not capable of forgiveness. I didn't know if I would survive.
Ten hours.
One extra dose.
Two days of travel to HIS pack with a dying body and a pregnancy.
And to a man who might kill me on sight.
I closed my eyes and breathed slowly.
“How many hours have I been here?” I asked my wolf.
“I do not know,” she answered weakly. “But the numbness is fading… slowly.”
I flexed my fingers, they moved. I moved my legs, they trembled. Panic crawled up my throat.
If the medicine wore off, I wouldn’t even be able to stand. The pain alone would knock me unconscious… or kill me.
“How am I supposed to survive two days like this?” I whispered.
Silence answered me.
My wolf didn’t have a solution.
Neither did I.
A part of me wanted to lie back down and let the forest swallow me. I wanted to just close my eyes and let the world fade into black because the fight felt too big and I felt too small.
But another part of me, the part that still believed my pup deserved at least one chance strongly refused.
I couldn’t die here.
Not like this. Not while Lucien and Cecily smiled somewhere, thinking they won.
I forced myself to sit up. A dizzy spell hit my head. The forest spun for a moment before it slowly settled. The cold air hurt my lungs, but I sucked in the breath anyway.
“What do we do?” I asked my wolf.
For a moment, she was quiet.
“We run.”
“We don’t know the path to HIS pack.”
“We run anyway.”
“According to the rumors, it’s two days ahead.”
“Then we run for two days.”
“I’m barely alive.”
“More reason to start running now. We will run until life leaves.”
Despite everything, a small, broken laugh escaped me not from joy, I was far from joy. But disbelief at how stubborn even my half-dead wolf could be.
I wiped my face with a shaking hand, pushed the bag under my arm, and held the injection vial in my palm tightly.
My wolf whispered, “The moon… follow the moon. That’s the only rumor we have heard about HIS pack.”
I looked up.
Through the branches, the moon sat full and bright in the sky, almost like it was watching me, guiding me, pulling me somewhere I didn’t understand yet.
A cold wind brushed across my wounds, making me gasp. The numbness was fading. I didn’t have much time.
I pushed myself onto shaky feet. My legs nearly gave out, but I caught myself on a tree trunk, breathing hard.
I couldn’t stay in human form. I wouldn’t survive.
My ribcage throbbed as I let my body shift. My bones rearranged, muscles stretched, and fur grew in patches. My wolf form was as huge as usual, but still trembling and fragile.
It didn’t matter.
I grabbed the bag with my teeth, braced myself, and pushed forward.
One step.
Two steps.
A stumble.
A slow rise again.
And I ran.
My body hurt with every movement, each breath burned like fire. The numbness was fading faster than I expected. Fear scraped at my throat, but I pushed through it.
My paws hit the earth with uneven rhythm.
The moon shone above me, a faint guide in the dark. The branches snapped under my weight. And distant howls echoed far behind me.
I didn’t know if they were rogues, wolves from my old pack, or the sound of death following my trail.
I didn’t look back.
I just ran.
I ran because stopping meant death.
I ran because my pup deserved more than a grave in a forest.
I ran because my story wasn’t ending where Lucien wanted it to end.
I ran even though every step felt like a countdown.
Pain waited for me.
Time hunted me.
Danger surrounded me.
And the moon was my only map.
But I ran anyway.
With the last shred of life in me, I ran towards the moon.
- Writer
