Chapter 22
1037 Words
Tears burned Sirona's eyes as she saw the red-haired temptress with her mouth on Gabriel. The b***h was touching him! And he wasn't pulling away.
Briar was growling, ready to take over if Sirona needed her to. But the only thing that was keeping that from happening was the look in Gabriel's eyes. Haunted. He looked truly haunted.
Good! And he could continue to look like that! Sirona turned and ran.
She heard Alice calling her name, followed by footsteps, too light to be Alice's alone. Multiple footsteps. Sirona didn't look back, she just kept running. With absolutley no idea where she was heading, except that she needed to be away. Out of the pack house and into the trees. Her lungs were burning, legs aching. It had been so long since she had run anywhere. She couldn't keep it up anymore. She wasn't strong enough to get away.
Howls erupted from all around her and she collapsed to the floor. She was so weak. All that time in the cell, all the injuries and illnesses she had taken. She couldn't keep going anymore. She lay down on the pine needle carpet and wept.
She was trapped.
***
Gabriel's heart plummeted when he saw the look on Sirona's face. He pulled away from Erinyes and went to take a step towards his mate. The pain on her face, the tears in her eyes. It hurt him so much. And then she ran.
He turned to Erinyes to curse her out again, but she had gone.
"Alpha?" Marco said tentatively, his eyes wide.
"After her!" Gabriel ordered and ran for the door. He needed to bring Sirona back, to explain. As much as he could anyway. Every step forward, every step she took away from him was a weight on him. He had so royally f****d everything up. There was no denying it, but he held a small flicker of hope that he could fix it.
"You had better," Shadow snapped at him, the first words his wolf had said to him all day. "Or I'm requesting a transfer to a better human!" Gabriel ignored him, and just kept running. Sirona's scent hung in the air, a beacon calling out in the dark. He followed it through the pack house and out the front door. Member's of the pack scattered as Gabriel hurtled across the gardens towards the tree line. Marco, Max and Alice were close behind him.
"I want trackers to the woods on the east side now!" Gabriel mind linked his warriors. "And a perimeter patrol on east, north and south of the border until I say otherwise."
Whether the warriors responded or not, Gabriel didn't hear or care. He rushed through the trees, following the scent. He had to find her. The scent intensified, Gabriel's heart thundered, he was closing in. He willed his feet to move faster. Shifting would have been quicker, but then he would have to shift back in front of her. The idea of her eyes on his naked body would be too much to resist. He couldn't risk it.
Bursting through the trees, Gabriel ran into a small clearing and froze. Here was where her scent had pooled. It was here she should be.
But she wasn't.
Sirona opened her eyes and the first thing she realised was she was cold.... and naked. She quickly scrambled off the floor, a freezing soft surface. Snow. Wind whipped her hair as she looked at her surroundings. She was at the top of a mountain. One of the mountains overlooking the Ebony Glade pack lands.
"Briar, how did we get up here?" Sirona asked her wolf.
"I'm sorry, I took control and shifted. You needed to get away from there and there was no time to explain."
"How? How did we shift?"
"I have been getting stronger," Briar explained. "We weren't quite ready to shift normally, but this time was an emergency. I have used so much energy and strength shifting before we were truly ready, that it will take longer to get back to that strength again. I need more time."
Sirona was amazed. She had shifted, Briar had shifted and come out when she needed her to. Her wolf truly was amazing.
"We need to find some shelter," Briar told her. "There's still about twelve hours of daylight but we'd better find it sooner rather than later."
Sirona agreed and started moving down the mountain, away from the pack lands.
"Plus it's best not to stay in one place too long." Briar added. "Gabriel will be out looking for us by now."
Sirona scoffed. "Doubtful. He has the red-head to help him now. He doesn't want or need me anymore!"
Briar couldn't answer her. She had no argument to the contrary, not one bit of evidence that could prove her human wrong. So she kept quiet. And they kept walking, Sirona's shivering getting worse with every step. But still she pressed on. Going back wasn't an option.
After all those years locked in a cell, she had tasted freedom. All that time at the mercy of a cruel Alpha, only to be thrust into the hands of another. It hurt Sirona more than the snow biting into her feet. Than the wind lashing at her skin. So she kept moving.
Snow started to turn to rock and soft grasses and the wind began to die down. Before long, Sirona stumbled across the mouth of a shallow cave and made her decision.
She quickly gathered some grasses and a few stray twigs and small branches. She needed to get warm, so a small fire would be worth it. After what felt like an eternity, rubbing sticks and knocking rocks together, Sirona had managed to make a small blaze. The heat seaped into her skin, waking her frozen skin and bones. A small pile of grass for a bed against the cave wall and Sirona finally settled watching the sun set over the horizon.
She looked out over the land sweeping below her and sighed. It was all happening.
If they were going to treat her like the dragon from her shadow stories, then here she would stay, living like the dragon.
Alone.
- Writer
