Marked For The Alpha

3

Selene

I didn't know how long I hid behind that platform but I knew it was long enough for my knees to stop shaking. Long enough for the guard's threat to carve itself into my bones.

If I find you, I'll kill you.

He meant it. I just knew he did. No one would come looking for an Omega. No one would ask questions if I disappeared. No one would care. Not even Darius. The realisation broke me.

I pushed myself up and turned toward the stables. I had always wanted to run away from Blackthorn but still stayed for Darius so now that Darius wanted nothing to do with me, I had no reason to stay.

The pack grounds outside were quiet. Through the windows I saw wolves laughing, drinking, celebrating. No one looked out. No one saw me limp past, bleeding from my palms and knees.

Darius sat at the head of the long table in the main hall. Vanessa was whispering in his ear. His arm rested along the back of her chair like he'd done with me a thousand times.

I forced myself to look away and kept walking. At least if I left, Darius would finally be free to live happily with his real love and not be bothered by me who he was just fooling.

---

The stables were dark and warm. Hay, horse and leather. A grey mare lifted her head when I entered—the one no one else wanted. Too skittish. Too difficult. But she let me braid her mane when I was sad. She rested her head on my shoulder when I cried.

"Hey, girl," I whispered. "It's just us now."

She snuffled my hair, and I almost broke down right there.

I found a saddle and fumbled with the straps. Every small sound made me freeze. The mare stood still. Like she knew.

I led her to the stable door. My torn knees screamed. I ignored it.

We walked at first. Past the kitchen gardens. Past the servant's entrance. The pack gates loomed ahead. Two guards stood on either side, half-asleep. They barely glanced at me.

I nudged the mare past them. Then we were out.

I climbed onto her and almost immediately, she broke into a gallop.

I turned around and watched Blackthorn pack shrink behind me until the gates were nothing but a speck. The pack of my parents. The pack that I was born into. The pack that treated me like trash. I turned back around and noticed a tear streaming down my cheek. I knew that I shouldn’t be crying but the thought of leaving everything that reminded me of my parents behind still felt sad. I wiped the tear and faced onward. I knew I had to leave. It’s what they would have wanted.

---

When I broke out of the Blackthorn territory, a forest appeared on the horizon like a wall of black teeth.

Everyone in Blackthorn Pack knew the warnings. Do not enter the separating forest. It belongs to no pack. It belongs to the wild. Wolves who went in never came out.

But the pack was behind me now, and the guard would eventually notice I was gone. The forest was the only direction that wasn't certain death. Besides, I wasn’t one to believe stories that were told to scare children into not straying far away.

The mare slowed at the tree line. She snorted and backed up a step.

"I know," I whispered, patting her neck. My hand was shaking. "I'm scared too but I have to risk it if I want a chance at surviving."

I nudged her forward. She resisted for a moment, then stepped inside.

The change was immediate. The forest swallowed every sound. No birds. No insects. No wind. Just the soft thud of hooves on earth. The trees grew so tall that they blocked most of the sky. Their roots twisted across the ground like sleeping snakes.

I kept riding, one hand pressed to my chest where my wolf should have been.

— — —

We rode deeper. Glowing mushrooms pulsed on the forest floor, fat and blue. Thick fog curled between the trunks. A massive owl watched me from a branch—black wings, white eyes—then glided away without a sound.

A vine snapped around the mare's hoof. She stumbled with a panicked neigh. I jumped down and yanked the vine loose. It writhed in my grip like it didn't want to let go.

I pulled myself back onto the saddle and kept going.

---

Then I saw them. Red dots. Glowing in the darkness ahead.

My heart stopped.

’Please be fireflies.’ I prayed.

The creatures stepped out slowly.

They were not fireflies. They were wolves—but wrong. Their bodies stretched too long. Their jaws dripped with saliva that smelled like rot. Corrupted. Feral. The kind the elders warned us about.

The mare trembled beneath me.

They circled us. One lunged for the horse.

I threw myself sideways off the saddle. I hit the ground hard, rolled, and scrambled to my feet. The mare screamed behind me—a horrible sound that shattered something in my chest but I didn’t wait to see what happened so I ran.

Branches whipped my face. Roots grabbed at my boots. My lungs burned. The wolves shrieked behind me. The mare's screams stopped, and the silence that followed was worse.

A branch caught my ankle and I went down. I pushed myself up and limped forward. My leg was bleeding. I didn't care.

Then I saw a wall of fallen trees. Massive trunks piled high, stretching in both directions. A dead end.

"No." My voice broke.

I turned around.

Dozens of red eyes stared back at me.

They stepped closer. I backed up until my spine pressed against the fallen trunks.

This can’t be how I die. I said to myself, moving backwards, hoping for a miracle.

One wolf crept forward. Then another. Their bodies lowered. Muscles coiling.

The wolf lunged and then I closed my eyes, bracing myself.

A heavy thud hit the ground in front of me. I waited for pain that never came.

Seconds passed before I opened my eyes.

A man stood between me and the wolves.

His back faced me. Broad shoulders. Dark, messy hair. Claws extended from his fingers—long and curved. His eyes glowed faint gold. His teeth were sharper than any wolf I had ever seen.

He moved. Fast. Brutal.

Claws slashed. Bone cracked. Wolves yelped and fled, tails tucked, whining into the darkness.

Then he turned.

His eyes met mine. Half-wolf. Half-man. Glowing.

He took a step toward me. I tried to stand, but pain exploded up my leg. I looked down. A thick twig was lodged deep in my calf, blood pooling around it.

"Oh," I whispered as the world tilted. "That's not good."

The man rushed forward, but I was already falling as darkness flooded my vision.