The Rogue Prince and His Human Mate

The Runaway

About 2 days ago…

Damian’s POV:

This was the day I crushed both my parents, well on the inside.

I had always said yes to my parents since the day I was born. Being a Lycan and my father being the alpha of our clan I guess it should be expected. My father was a disciplined man but sometimes he could be a bit extreme. He was a good leader but not a good father. Ever since I was little I had to be the perfect man for him. I wasn’t allowed to live like other children and even after doing everything he wanted he never failed to remind me I was not a man fit to take over his throne.

I stared through the castle window as I watched the younger Lycans play at a distance. Their furry brown coats stained but their faces shined bright as they ran around the market. I wish I experienced that; childhood. Ever since I was little boy it had always been training, my father was a hard man so he never tolerated weakness or failure and he certainly wouldn’t allow me to have fun.

One of my father’s wolf guard barged into my room.

‘Your highness demands to see you’, he said.

It was Sir Albert, my father’s second in command, he and my father shared a similar mindset. Sir Albert trained me when I was little and he made my life a living hell. He would whip me whenever I made even the slightest mistake. I have scars on my back from when he and some other guards flogged me, my father had ordered them to do it because I left the palace to play with my friend.

He immediately turned back to leave and I followed him, we proceeded to the court room. We walked through the huge corridor that lead to the courtroom, flamed torches revealed the faces of all the previous alphas drawn on a portrait as we walked by, we finally got to my father’s and then reached the entrance to the courtroom. Two guards standing right in front opened the huge door.

The court room contained sculptures of all the previous alpha of our clan by the side. Seated at the other end of the room was my father and mother. Sir Albert walked forward to meet them and I followed right behind him.

‘Your highness, Lord Damian’, he said as he knelt down.

My father raised his hand signaling for him to leave, he got up and left the courtroom.

‘Good morning Damian’, my father said as he stood up from his giant chair.

‘Good morning father’, I said back.

He walked towards me, ‘Good news Damian, we received a crow saying the daughter of Lord Xavier is finally old enough for marriage’, he said.

I’ve always feared this day would come and it finally did. I did not want to marry, and certainly not Lord Xavier’s daughter; someone I had no feeling towards.

‘Father’, I said, thinking of what I could possibly say that wouldn’t disappoint him. I finally summoned up enough courage and said, ‘I don’t want to get married to Lord Xavier’s daughter’. I could see the anger in his face.

‘What did you say?’, he asked sounding very angry.

‘Father, I have no feeling towards her’, I said with a worried look, I knew this would only make him angrier.

‘Damian, this isn’t about feelings, it’s about our clan. You marrying the daughter of the biggest and strongest clan will be very good for us’.

‘But I don’t want to’, I shouted. I couldn’t believe I said this to him, I waited for his reply but he didn’t give one.

He went back to his throne and sat down, ‘It’s your responsibility, and if you’ve forgotten that I guess I need to remind you’. He looked towards the door, ‘Albert!’

Sir Albert came back in with two other guards, ‘Yes sire!’

‘Take Damian to a cell so he could do a little thinking’

The two guards grabbed me and dragged me away, I struggled but it was futile. I stared at my mother who turned her face away the moment our eyes met. I could not believe this. They threw me into a cell and locked me up. I spent the night there.

The next day they released me and took me back to my room. I laid on my bed and buried my face in my pillow, I screamed and I began crying. I hate this place. Why would they do this to me? I get it’s the best for the clan. Our clan, the Phrenic clan has always been one of the low ranked of the seven clans in Venula. Venula is a town of Lycans and it consists of seven clans, Lord Xavier’s Atria clan being the strongest and ours the fourth, after my father heroically dragged us from sixth. Marrying Layla, Lord Xavier’s daughter would mean forming an alliance with them which could increase our rank. I get that would be great but I don’t to marry someone I have no feelings for. At least not like this. I’m tired of this restricted and hellish life.

I heard a knock on my door.

‘Can I come in?’, the person at the back of the door asked. It was my mother.

‘Come in mother’

She came in with a guard and sat close to me on my bed. She signaled to the guard for him to wait outside.

‘I know you’re angry about what happened earlier’, she said as she moved closer to me. I knew she would understand, she was the only one who understood me in Venula, I became a little relieved.

‘So you understand?’, I said, wiped the tears off my face and felt happy she might help convince my father.

‘Yes, I do’. she took a deep breath, ‘But it’ll be for the benefit of the whole clan’.

Immediately she said this my happy smile turned upside down.

‘Are you saying I should go along with it?’, I asked without hiding any irritation. ‘I can’t believe this.’

‘This isn’t just about us Damian, it’s for the whole clan’, she said with a raised voice. She calmed down and continued, ‘An alliance with the Atria clan would really help the clan right now and would help increase the rank’.

‘Is this all about the rank to you guys?’, I asked still not believing my mom was really on board with this.

She looked at me with tears in her eyes, ‘I’m sorry dear but you’ll understand when you’re older’. She stood up from my bed, went out and closed the door.

I couldn’t believe this, my mom was the only one I thought could help me, but she just tried to convince me, I was sure my father sent her to do this, it meant I really didn’t have a choice. I gave the matter a lot of thought, but I still couldn’t bring myself to agree to it. Sir Albert came in to my room shortly after.

‘Foolish boy. I always knew you weren’t fit to be a leader’, he said looking at me with disgust.

I looked at him and I was enraged.

He continued, ‘after all your father has done for you, you disgrace him. You’re a failure and a disgrace to the Phrenic Clan’.

My eyes were red, I bit my lips, I started breathing heavily, I clenched my fist and pounced to attack him. He grabbed me and slammed me to the ground.

‘You can’t even do that right’, he said then he left my room.

I couldn’t move, I laid on the floor crying. I hate him, I hate my father, I hate Venula.

And that’s when it hit me, the only thing I could do; run away.

That was the only solution I could think of, I knew it was a bad idea but I also knew my father and as long as I stayed in Venula he was going to force me to marry Layla. So I made up my mind. I was going to run away, cross the barrier and leave Venula. Venula is separated from the human world by a barrier which can only be crossed easily by royals. As kids we heard bad stories about the human world and we were told the humans are bad people but I don’t think anything could be worse than this. So I decided, by midnight I would leave Venula. I packed a few things I would need and waited.

When it was dark and everyone had gone in for the night I opened my door gently so it wouldn’t make any noise. I went out and walked gently. I had to hide and dodge from a few of the guards. As I passed my parent’s room I began feeling a little guilty. I’m sorry mom.

I finally got out. The night was dark. I looked to the horse ranch and judging by the amount of flamed torches, that was enough to say it was heavily guarded. I moved further away from the castle and from the huts so I wouldn’t be seen, then I transformed into a wolf.

I hooked the bag I had packed on my tooth and began running. I ran as fast I could. The barrier out of Venula was closest to the Phrenic clan so it only took a few minutes of running to get to it. I stood on the top of a hill and the gate was in sight. I jumped down and headed for the gate.

I reached the gate, the gate was opened so I knew it was an invincible barrier. I transformed back to normal and looked back. I was naked so I put on one of the coat I had packed in my bag. I couldn’t believe what I was about to do. I looked back trying to decide whether or not I should do it.

I finally gave it enough thought and decided I was going to do it, anything would be better than this hell I was living in. I threw my bag through the invincible barrier and followed right after.

I appeared at the middle of nowhere. But now it was day. About a second ago it was night in Venula. It was so strange and I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around it. I turned back quickly and something almost hit me, it moved away to avoid hitting me. I stared in shock at the... thing that nearly hit me. I had seen carriages back in Venula and this thing was similar, though it looked a thousand times more refined than any carriage I've ever seen. What nearly made my eyes pop out of my head was the carriage was moving without any horses!

A man seated inside the carriage shouted something as the carriage rode on down the road. The carriage was out of sight before I realized my mouth was still ajar.

I finally got up, grabbed my bag and began walking. After walking for a bit I saw a huge signboard before me that read ‘Welcome to California’. I had no idea where this was, but I kept walking anyway. I couldn’t go back now, I’ll have to survive here somehow. I grabbed onto my bag tight and kept walking. After walking for a while a few other horseless carriage passed by, each one being different from the last. I left the road, and transformed into a wolf. I ran through the field to avoid seeing another carriage and soon after I appeared deep into the woods. After running for a while I finally stopped and transformed back.

‘Oh my God!’, someone behind me screamed. He saw me transform back.

I turned back and tried to introduce myself but before I could he ran away screaming I shouldn’t hurt him, and that he had children. I wondered why on earth he thought I’d want to hurt him and that’s when it clicked to me. I was no longer in Venula, I was in the human world. Humans can’t turn into the werewolves. I must have frightened him. I put on another coat from my bag and decided I wasn’t going to transform into a wolf so I wouldn’t frighten anyone. I walked through the woods for a while but I couldn’t get anywhere because I didn’t even have a destination. I finally stopped, then sat down to rest. I brought out my dinner from my last night in Venula that I had wrapped and began eating. After eating the sun was beginning to set so I began looking for wood so I could make a fire.

I was holding a bunch of woods when a white bright light shined on my face.

‘Don’t move!’, a very loud voice said. It was really loud. I squinted my eyes to see clearly. It was a group of men dressed in black with more of those horseless carriage behind them, only these ones were much bigger. Lights began to shine from what seemed like the eyes of the carriages. One of the men in black was holding something shaped like a cone, that was what made his voice really loud.

‘I repeat, don’t move!’, the loud voice said again.

They were all holding something they pointed towards me. I tried dropping the woods but then I heard a loud bang. I moved my head to avoid the tiny piece of metal that came towards me. It was almost like an arrowhead. I turned back and looked at the tree behind me, there was a hole in it. Whatever that was, it made a hole through the tree. I immediately knew it was trouble and I knew they were not ready to listen to anything I was going to say.

‘Slowly drop the wood and turn back’, the loud voice said again. Green dots began appearing on my body. ‘If you move, we will shoot! I repeat if you move, we will shoot.’, the guy said again.

I slowly bent down to drop the woods, but I knew if I turned back they would probably kill me. As I dropped the woods on the floor I partially transformed, I closed my eyes really tight and after I opened it, they were now the eyes of a wolf and my claws came out. Each clan in Venula has a unique power, for the phrenic clan it was partial transformation. We’d still regain our normal bodies but our strength, speed and flexibility would increase. Immediately I dropped the wood. I dashed forward really fast and appeared in their midst.

‘Fire!’

I began hitting their weapons off of them. They started shooting towards me and I dashed away quickly to avoid the arrowheads.

I had to fight them. I appeared in front of them and hit them. Loud sounds from all over and arrowheads flew around. I avoided the arrowheads and continued attacking. I held on to one of them weapons and squeezed it so tight till it broke.

Bang.

That was it. One of the men behind me had shot me. My knee hit the floor. I could feel my insides burning, only one thing could hurt like this. It was silver. I wondered how they could have known. They slowly began to surround me. Could this be it? I began thinking about my parents but I still didn’t regret leaving Venula. I was slowly losing consciousness. Was this it?

No. I couldn’t go out like this. With my last strength I ran fast and hit a lot of them. I quickly took cover behind one of the carriages. They began shooting again. I wanted to runaway but the silver inside of me was burning me from inside. I knew what I had to do. I looked at my claw and took a deep breath. I punctured my stomach so I could remove the silver inside me. I had to cover my mouth with my hand so I wouldn’t scream. It was really painful. I finally found the arrowhead, removed it and threw it away. I began panting, hard. I stood by the carriage and used all my strength to turn it over. The men ran away to avoid being hit by it. I transformed fully into a wolf and began running. I paced as fast as I could causing the trees to flash by, but I was slowly losing consciousness. I could hear them shouting behind me so I knew I had to keep running. I was seriously injured so I had to get as far away as possible from them .

I couldn’t hear or sense them again but I kept running, soon I couldn’t run anymore. My body couldn’t take it.

I hit a rock and landed on a pile of shrubs. I could not move and I was about to pass out. I looked beside me and noticed another horseless carriage beside me. Someone was inside it. I felt lightheaded and everything was blurry. The person inside came out, it was dark and everything was blurry but I could see that it was a girl. I stared at her and tried not to pass out. I moved a bit, this startled her, she moved back and fell. I couldn’t regain my werewolf form any longer so I transformed into a human. I stretched my hands slowly towards her and with my last breath I managed to say, ‘Help’, then I blacked out.