Chapter 5
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Alessia:
The forest was colder than I expected.
You should have gotten a jacket. Sage muttered, making me roll my eyes.
“Yes, because I had time to do so given the fact that we needed to run away before anyone saw us.” I said, putting a hand on my stomach as it grumbled. Hunger was real, and when the cold weather hit harder than it had in a while, when my child was growing inside me and I was currently eating for two, minus the wolf who also consumed most of my energy… I knew that I needed to sustain myself with something.
I had slipped out only to gather herb, simple ones, harmless ones, something to calm my stomach, something to quiet Sage, something to make me feel like I had some control over my body again.
But the second I crossed the boundary of the inner woods, Sage stiffened.
Alessia… run. NOW!
I didn’t ask why.
I didn’t breathe.
I ran.
Branches whipped my arms as I sprinted through the trees, heart pounding so loudly it drowned out everything else. My lungs burned, my legs trembled, but the crashing behind me only grew louder.
Growls.
Footsteps.
Laughter.
Not pack.
Not safe.
Though I can’t really consider the pack safe given the circumstances, but they were still safer than them…
Rogues.
“Keep running, little wolf!” one of them taunted from behind. “Makes the chase more fun!”
“You know, the deeper you get, the more tired.” Another said casually. “And that would make the hunt a lot more pleasing.”
My breath hitched.
Sage snarled desperately.
Faster. Faster! They are going to kill us if they approach, and you can’t shift being pregnant.
I pushed harder, my mind spinning with panic. My body wasn’t strong enough. I hadn’t eaten enough. I hadn’t slept enough. And the dull ache in my stomach, one I tried to ignore for weeks, twisted sharply.
Not now.
Not now.
Please, not now.
I stumbled on a root, catching myself on a tree.
A rogue lunged forward, grabbing for my arm. He pulled me to him before pushing me down, expecting me to run before another stood in front of me, snarling as he looked me in the eye.
“Why hello there.”
“Let me go!”
“Now, why would I do that, wolf?” He asked, looking down at my stomach. “And it seems to me that we hit a jackpot. We have two to enjoy, it seems, not just one.”
“No, let me go.” I said, trying to fight off. I let out a growl, trying to control my fear, but I knew that these people, things, whatever one could call them… they feared nothing. And they were going to stop at nothing until they got what they wanted.
A blur of motion exploded from the trees.
Something, someone, hit the rogue so hard the sound cracked through the forest. The rogue flew backward, colliding with a trunk before collapsing.
I gasped, staggering away.
Another rogue charged me…
A snarl tore through the clearing.
Not a normal snarl.
Alpha.
Even Sage whimpered upon hearing it, her eyes searching before I could even process as my heart raced.
The rogue didn’t even reach me. He was lifted off his feet mid-leap, slammed into the dirt with a bone-crunching impact.
I froze.
Because there he was.
Alexander.
He came to us… Sage said, despite the fear that I knew she currently felt.
Moonlight cut across his form as he rose from the last rogue’s body, chest heaving, eyes burning with a ferocity I had never seen from him at the Summit. His presence suffocated the air around us, raw power radiating off him in waves.
He turned toward me.
His gaze locked on mine.
The world narrowed.
Two months collapsed into one heartbeat.
I felt the night of the party slam into me, the way his hands held my waist, the sound of his voice against my skin, the way his lips traced down my throat as if he were memorizing me.
The way he looked me in the eye as he whispered… “You’re so beautiful…”
His eyes widened slightly as if realization had hit him harder than anything else could have.
And it was not with recognition.
With something deeper.
As if he felt me.
As if he felt what I was carrying.
Sage whimpered.
Mate… He knows. He feels it.
He took one step toward me.
I took one step back, fearing that he would, like the others, end up hurting me. “No.”
“Alessia,” he breathed, my name leaving his lips like a memory he couldn’t let go of. “You are…”
I opened my mouth, to speak, to ask, to deny everything…
But then something warm trickled down my thigh.
I choked.
Alexander’s head snapped downward, scent catching the air.
Blood.
Not the rogues’.
Mine.
He stiffened, face going pale with something I had never imagined seeing on him.
Fear.
My hand flew to my stomach, gripping the small swell protectively.
“No… m-my…” My throat tightened. “My baby. Please no…”
Pain shot through my abdomen so violently my knees buckled.
Alexander caught me before I hit the ground, his arms locking around me with terrifying strength.
“Stay awake,” he commanded, voice shaking despite how he tried to steady it. “Alessia, look at me. I need you to stay with me, Alessia.”
I tried.
I really tried.
But the pain swallowed my vision, and the last thing I saw was his face, no arrogance, no mockery, no distance.
Just pure panic.
Then everything went black.
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