A Prisoner No Longer

Chapter 2

I ran home from the cliffs faster than I knew I could run. I was terrified that Bruxum would catch my scent. Goddess only knew what torment he would cause me if he found me.

I had managed to avoid him for years when he would come back to the pack for a visitation. Each time he visited, the kitchen staff would take over my duties and I would stay in my room. At first, it was just because he was a mean kid, who was cruel and loved to show others that they were below his station as the future Alpha.

As I got older, my hair became an untamed fire, my breasts a target to any wandering male, and my legs a long highway to my curvy bottom. The others knew it before I did, but eventually I realized that Bruxum hurt whatever he wanted. He had no control. Ever since my body peaked, I had been hidden away in my room with a pile of books anytime he visited.

It seemed that all that care, all that sacrifice the others had made to keep me safe, was now wasted.

I shifted out of wolf form and found my clothes. Racing to dress, I pulled on each of my shoes as I fled back to the keep, eyes wide waiting for any sign of him.

Just as I opened the front door, that scent was back: Cedar and firewood. This was not the scent of Bruxum. He always smelled like decay and a wet dog. Forcing myself to forget the smell, I ducked inside the keep heading straight for the kitchen to see what needed to be done for the celebration to come.

Thankfully, Bruxom did not continue his pursuit after the cliffs. I was able to finish up the work in the kitchens and then head straight for my room. I had never been so glad to be in the musty cellar. Here, there were so many smells from the items stored here, tracking me would be very difficult.

I laid down on my cot and grabbed a book, the same one I had read countless times. While I almost new the story by heart, I couldn't keep my mind on the words. Sleep was non-existent. I worried about being on Bruxum's radar and what kind of mess that would turn into. Then I thought of that wondrous smell I had gotten a taste of in the forest and again in the hall. It was such a soothing scent. The memory of it relaxed my thinking and I drifted off into sleep.

I woke early and was in the kitchen before any of the other staff. Tomorrow was the celebration of the Lunar New Year. Our entire pack would be present for a huge feast, and we would even have some honored guests from some other packs.

The day was spent preparing. In the afternoon, I went outside to the orchard to pick apples for the desserts I had to bake. Apple pies were in high demand at these functions. In our pack, the apple was the fruit of the earth and therefore, of rebirth, The Lunar New Year signified a new beginning, and a re-birth to all things.

I had picked several baskets full of apples and had just settled myself in the kitchen to begin the arduous task of peeling.

I was so deep in thought about removing the skins of the apples that I didn't hear the door.

Hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me tight to a squishy body behind me. One hand relaxed its grip and grazed up toward my breasts. I tried to scream, but he was quicker.

Bruxum found me.

He released my breasts and reached up to cover my mouth.

I felt a small rod being poked into my lower back and only then realized that it was his manhood. The panic and bile rose at the same time. I knew what would come next. I had heard of the girls he had forced himself on, and how broken they had become.

I would not be one of the broken. I would not succumb.

I fought him with every muscle. I kicked and bit, flailed and squirmed. He squeezed his hand around my face, trapping all the air in my lungs. Just as I began to see the blackness, I knew I was about to pass out. The tendrils of unconsciousness lapped at my brain and I awoke with a fuzzy recognition of voices.

"Just hurry up and finish your game,"The Luna said to her son. "We have visitors arriving that you need to prepare for. And for goodness’s sake don't kill this one. Your father feels a certain attachment to this mouse."

"I won't kill her", Bruxum promised. "I will need a new plaything when I come home."

"And when might that be, sweetheart? I miss having my son home."

"Killian says I am almost ready." He turned toward me and I snapped my eyes shut, so he wouldn't notice I was awake.

As he turned back to his mother, I clasped my fingers around the pairing knife I had been using on the apples and stuffed it up my sleeve. "He says there is one final task I need to pass to be ready to be a true Alpha."

"Hurry along." She said as she kissed his cheek and closed the door.

I made my body perfectly still awaiting the right time to strike. He walked toward me like a child giddy for a new toy.

As soon as he lifted my skirts I became lightning.

My hand slashed toward his head, a surprised yowl escaping his lips as my apple knife scored across his cheek, blood oozing from his now imperfect face.

"You b***h!" He screamed as he backed away from the table. "You are going to pay for that!"

"Don't touch me again" I cried. "Or next time I won't miss."

It was then that he reached up and touched his face, realizing how close I had come to gouging out his eye. A terrifying smile crept across his lips as he licked his own blood from his fingertips.

I held the knife out in front of me and screamed.

Suddenly, people burst into the kitchen from every direction. Maids, guards, the gardeners - they all came to see what had happened.

Bruxum's smile faded once he saw his incoming audience was growing larger by the moment. He knew his place, and even as the Alpha's son, beating a helpless woman was not something he wanted witnesses to.

With one last snarl in my direction, he turned and ran out of the kitchen.