Chapter 6: Run

I was dragged down to the dungeons beneath the pack house. ​The underground cells were freezing cold and smelled like mold and filth. Silver-coated iron bars locked me in, and two guards stood outside the door day and night. ​I sat on the dirty floor with my knees pulled to my chest, completely numb. I had no family left. No home. I was just waiting to die. ​Late on the third night, I got a visitor. ​Ezra stared down at me through the iron bars with a dark, sickening smile. ​"Comfortable, little runt?" he sneered, leaning against the bars. "You probably thought I’d be nice and kill you, or maybe throw you out with your loser brother. But I'm never letting you go, Maya." ​"Why?" I rasped out, my throat dry and sore. "You rejected me. You marked Hope. You killed my father, drove my mother to suicide, and banished my brother. What more do you want from me?" l asked. ​"Because my wolf won't shut up about you," Ezra said, his eyes darkening with a twisted obsession. "Every time I touch Hope, my wolf growls for you. He demands your scent. He demands your proximity to keep him calm and balanced. You belong in this cage right under my feet, Maya. You'll be my dirtiest little secret, and stay right here where I can control you forever." " I want nothing to do with you you son of a b****." l spat at him but I was awarded with a slap. " you could even kill me but I still won't want anything to do with a monster like you." l said wiping away my tears because I would rather die than put up with him. "You're mine." he roughly grabbed my jaw but I pushed his hand away from me and pulled back. ​"Touch me or try to claim me, and I will rip your throat out with my teeth," I growled. ​Even locked in silver chains, weak and broken, I refused to bow to him. I was done begging. I was done submitting. ​Ezra’s arrogant smile instantly vanished, replaced by pure rage and he grabbed his whip, and approached me. ​ ​The whip tore through the air, striking my back with brutal force and pain exploded through my body, sending agony throw my entire body but I gritted my teeth and refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing me cry out. ​"You don't talk back to your Alpha" Ezra roared, swinging the whip again and again until my back was shredded and soaked with blood. "Shut the hell up and learn your place" "Never." l croaked out and luckily he was done but he made sure to speak on my broken body. ​He blew out the candle, leaving me bleeding in pitch-black darkness, and walked away with a cold laugh echoing up the stairs. He blew out the candle, leaving me in pitch-black darkness, and walked away with a cold laugh echoing up the stairs. For three more days, I laid on that cold dirty floor Hate is not a emotion that I entertained in my life even after everything people put me through I couldn't never eat them but it begin to grew in my heart and my soul. I hit my absolute rock bottom. I didn't eat the stale bread the guards threw into my cell. I didn't drink the dirty water. I just stared into the dark, wishing my heart would stop beating. If the purpose was to break me then he did a really good job because I'm completely broken and I just don't want to live anymore. I don't remember which day it was but I know that it was the early hours of the morning when a noise woke me up. I blinked in the dark, squinting my eyes and a shadowy figure slipped inside and a warm hand clamped over my mouth before I could gasp. "Shh, Maya. It's me" a voice whispered in my ear. My eyes went wide. "Aunt Clara?" It was my father's older sister. She was wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled low over her face. "Don't make a sound" she whispered, her hands shaking as she pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked my cell door. She quickly wrapped a thick, warm coat over my shoulders and handed me a small bag. "Aunt Clara, how did you get past the guards?" I whimpered because my throat was sore and my whole body just couldn't take anymore I was in pain all over. "I put sleeping herbs in their tea," she whispered, pulling me to my feet. "Maya, listen to me very carefully. You can't stay here. Ezra is going to drain the rest of your soul until you die in this dark hole." "Where can I go?" I asked, my weak legs shaking under the warm coat. "Lucas is banished, and I have nowhere left to run." "You have family left" Aunt Clara said, holding my face in her hands. "Your uncle Marcus is waiting for you you just have to run north from here and don't stop." "But he'll kill you.” I said and I couldn't have that on my conscience. I already feel like I killed my parents and this would destroy me. “ you don't have to worry about that just go.” She said but l shock my head. “No, no you have to leave before they see you I said. " I couldn't save my brother but I won't let anything happen to you."she didn't give me time to hesitate and shoved me to a narrow tunnel behind the wall. "Go, Maya. Run and don't ever look back" I didn't even have time to ask how and where she knew about this tunnel and I crawled on my hands and knees through the damp, narrow tunnel until my fingers hit soft grass. I pushed through the thick bushes and stepped out into the freezing night air and I was outside the pack house walls. I didn't waste a second. I pulled the coat tight around my body and started running north through the forest. AWOOOOOOOO A loud, furious howl suddenly tore through the quiet night sky, echoing off the trees. My heart slammed into my throat. It was Ezra’s howl. He must have found out that I escaped. Warning horns began to blow all across the Solstice territory. l heard loud barking behind me in the woods. Torchlights flickered through the distant trees. Panic flooded my veins and I ran faster than I ever have in my life. The tree branches slapped against my face, cutting my skin, and mud sucked at my boots, but I didn't stop. My lungs were burning like they were on fire, and my body was weak but I kept pushing. I can't go back to that cage. I'd rather die out here than go back to Ezra.