Defying Our Fate

CHAPTER 4- DEATHS DOORSTEP

One of his arms was wrapped tightly around my waist while the other was pressed against my forehead. “You made me faint”, I whispered, straightening my legs and steadying myself against his chest. He was chuckling to himself again, “I’m sorry, sweetie. I didn’t realise I had such an effect on you.” I looked up into his eyes, he had no idea just how much he was affecting my body and mind. Still, I was too proud to let him get off so easily with everything he’d put me through. I lifted my chin and straightened my back, “You don’t, I was feeling sick earlier, that must be why I fainted.” The side of his lip pulled up in a smirk, “If you say so, Greene, but I think we both know how I make you feel; how my hands on your body makes you feel.” 

I shoved his hands from me, “The only part of me that you have any effect on is my gag reflex, Myers.” His smile still didn’t falter; more proof that he didn’t believe a word I said. I stormed off towards the hall, pleased that he wouldn’t be anywhere near me in the line of graduates; I just had to figure out how to avoid him after the ceremony. I found my place in line just as the principal, Mrs Gibbs, was calling the audience of family members to attention, “I’d like to welcome you all to the graduation ceremony of the class of two-thousand and eighteen. We cannot express how proud we are of each and every student who made it here tonight and look forward to seeing where life takes them all. So, without further ado, please give a round of applause for Miss Samantha Adams.”

After ten minutes I was at the front of the line, “I am overjoyed to present the award for top of class to Miss Freya Greene.” I made my way through the door and up onto the stage; I shook the principal’s hand and took my award. Looking through the crowd I couldn’t find my parents, “They must be in the back somewhere?”, my wolf said. They wouldn’t miss my graduation, would they? I walked off the stage and headed for the back of the building, searching for them as I went. They weren’t there, my parents didn’t even come to watch me graduate. The tears began to fall then, quickly turning into a waterfall down my face. I couldn’t believe that after my fathers’ speech to me this morning, that they couldn’t even take a couple of hours away from work to see their only child get her diploma. 

I left through the emergency exit and started walking home; I couldn’t stand to be in there watching everyone else’s families clap and cheer for them, and I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. The high heels that I was wearing hindered my ability to walk faster so I kicked them off and left them behind; not caring how expensive they were. I’d had enough of being invisible to everyone around me. The concrete was cold as my feet slapped against it; I was sure that I had a fair few cuts on them but I refused to stop. Before long, I turned onto a street that didn’t have any street lights; I’d never noticed before, I guess since I wasn’t allowed to walk the streets unless I was going home from school. My parents were exceptionally strict that I wasn’t to leave the pack borders for any other reason than to attend school. I overheard my mother talking to dad, one day, about having a school built on our land so that the young wolves didn’t need to leave. It never happened so I guess it wasn’t possible, but it made me suspicious as to why they didn’t want anyone leaving the area.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t notice right away when someone started following me. When the footsteps got closer, I forced my now aching feet to speed up, knowing that I was less than five minutes away from my pack’s land, and the border patrols on the night shift. The footsteps sped up as I did but they sounded faster than mine, like they knew that I was going to escape from them. I began running; my heart nearly beating out of my chest in panic. I took a quick left turn to try and avoid them but it was useless, the small alleyway I’d gone down was a dead end. “f**k”, I whispered to myself. I looked around, frantically searching for an escape route but there was nothing, just tall brick buildings with doors that had large padlocks on them.

If they hadn’t seen me come down here, maybe I could slip back out onto the street and keep running? I spun around and realised that there was no point, whoever it was, was standing at the entrance to the alleyway. He was huge, at least six feet tall and had a menacing smile on his face, “Hello, beautiful. What’s a pretty little thing like you doing out here at this time of night?” My blood ran cold; my heart working overtime to keep itself beating. The man took a step towards me, forcing me further into the darkness, “What’s wrong darling? Wolf got your tongue?”

“Freya, listen to me, you can’t let this guy hurt us. I know you’re scared, but your father taught you how to fight for a reason. No matter what he does to you, don’t give up!”

“Stay away from me!”, I yelled as hard as I could. He laughed and took another step forward, “Aw, don’t be like that sugar, I just want to have a little fun.” I refused to move any further into the alley, determined to somehow get around him. “My father is the Beta of the Waning Moon pack, you can’t touch me”, I said back, hoping that he would stand down and let me leave. “I don’t care who your daddy is; I don’t plan on taking you home once I’m done with you.”

He kept coming closer with each word, until there was only an arm’s length between us, then lowered his voice, “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, darling, and I don’t think you want to see the hard way.” I took in a deep breath and screamed as loud as I could, praying that someone nearby would hear me and come to my rescue. The sound was cut off by his hand clamping down on my neck, crushing my throat until nothing came out. He flung me into the closest wall, my body hitting it with a force that would surely kill a human. There was a loud crack when my head hit the bricks, causing my vision to blur and black spots to appear. I tried desperately to crawl towards the street, dragging my body along the concrete as the blood flowed from my head, making my already poor vision worse. 

“Where do you think you’re going, sugar? I’m only just getting started”, he growled, grabbing my legs and dragging me back into the darkness. I tried to plead with him, but the sound that escaped my lips resembled a frog’s croak rather than words. Breathing was becoming almost impossible as he lifted my battered body from the ground and held me up against the wall. “Fight back, Freya!”, the voice shouted at me over and over, begging me not to give up, to save myself. But I couldn’t, he was so much stronger than me, throwing me around like a rag doll. His hands were all over my body, grabbing and pulling my clothes so that he could get where he wanted. My mind shut off eventually, unable to deal with the very real possibility that these were going to be my last moments on earth. 

The sound that broke through the abyss that I was slowly slipping into, was like music to my ears, giving me hope that maybe I wouldn’t die, wouldn’t lose my life before it had really even started. The man’s grip suddenly disappeared as the roar erupted, leaving my body to crumple to the ground again. 

Then his heavenly voice was there in my ear, “Freya? Freya, can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes for me, sweetie.” I forced my eyelids open, seeing nothing but blurred shapes; I would do anything for him if I could, say anything he wanted to hear if it meant he didn’t leave me here. He gasped, “I’m going to take you home, Freya. You’re going to be okay, everything’s going to be okay.” I could hear in his voice that he was trying to comfort me, that, in fact, everything wasn’t okay. I imagined the horrific scene he was seeing right now; my body covered in blood, bruises, cuts; contorted in his arms.

Knowing that I was safe with him, I let the darkness take over; I just hoped that I would wake up.