MARIA.
I kept running non-stop. I was tired both physically, emotionally and mentally. I wandered about borders for days, slept on thongs and fed on dirts. I left the pack with nothing, not even a dress. The chill from the air sunk deep into my bones.
Being a rogue means that you can be attacked or killed by any pack, monsters or hunters or other rogues. Every pack thinks every rogue is bad. That is basically because before you will get banned from your pack you must have committed an unforgivable sin. I used to think that way too but I guess there is something wrong just like me.
As for monsters and Vampires, those blood suckers use rogues as their prey and witches use them for experiments. The hunters, because they know that they cannot attack a wolf pack without asking for war, settle on hunting rogues. Although they sometimes make attacks on packs.
Being a new rogue means that you can be easily attacked by the older rogues.
My legs finally gave in, the burning ache in my muscles forcing me to stop. I was tired of running, tired of always fleeing, always enduring. I sank down beneath a wide, silent tree, its rough bark pressing against my back as I struggled to catch my breath. For a moment, the world felt unbearably still, and in that stillness, my thoughts turned inward.
I reflected on my life from the very moment I understood what it meant to exist. There had never been warmth, never a place where I truly belonged. Love was something I only heard about, something meant for other people. Even my parents had never seen me, not really. Their eyes had always passed over me, fixed on Patricia, as if she were the only child that mattered. I was a shadow in my own home, forgotten and unseen.
A heavy uncertainty settled in my chest. I didn't know how much longer I could survive like this, how long my body or my spirit could endure. Death felt frighteningly close, as though it could reach out and claim me at any moment.
Still lost in those dark thoughts, I failed to notice the four figures quietly approaching me, unaware that I was no longer alone.
"Well! Well! What do we have here!"
I slowly raised my head, and the sight before me made my blood run cold. Four dirty men stood over me, their unkempt appearance and ragged clothes giving them a wild, dangerous look. Their eyes roamed over me with a disturbing hunger that sent a shiver down my spine. Dirt smeared their skin, and the stench of the forest clung to them like a warning. I didn't need anyone to tell me what they were. One look was enough to know these men were rogues.
They had probably been a rogue for a long time, long enough for the wildness in their eyes to feel permanent, carved into them by years of survival without a pack.
Well… this is it, I thought numbly. I suddenly felt the need to cover my b**bs with my hands. This is how I'm going to die. The realization hit me like a crushing weight. I hadn't even been given the chance to…
My chest tightened and the tears came, hot and unstoppable. I cried for my unfortunate life, a very unfortunate one, for every loss and every silent wound I had carried alone. Oh, Moon Goddess, where had I gone wrong? I searched my memories desperately. I couldn't remember ever offending her, not once. So why, then, did my fate feel so cruel, so unbearably unlucky?
Shortly after I was born, my mother died and then I grew up without a father's love. Even my mate denied our bond for my step sister, and now I am about to die after being a rogue for just a few days.
The men kept coming closer to me. I know in my heart that I can't fight them after all there was no single strength in me.
But I decided that I wasn't going down without a fight. I looked around me and saw a stick lying close to me and I decided to use it as my weapon. As soon as one of the men got to me, with the little strength I had left me I took the stick and struck him with it and then I stood up to run.
I barely managed a few unsteady steps before a rough hand seized me from behind. In the next second, my body was flung through the air and slammed hard against the trees. Pain exploded through me, stealing the air from my lungs. I had forgotten—too late—that the rogues were four, not one.
A sharp, unbearable agony tore through my back, so intense it felt as though something had snapped. I couldn't move. I couldn't even try. My body refused to obey me. Everything and everyone had a limit, and I knew, with bleak certainty, that I had reached mine. So I lay there, broken and helpless, staring into nothingness as I waited for my fate to claim me.
"You bitch you think you can get away from us, by the time we are done with you, then you will know".
The rogues closed in on me, their presence heavy and suffocating. One of them reached out, and just as their hands were about to touch me, a deep, menacing growl rolled through the air behind us. It was low and powerful, vibrating through the ground beneath us.
They froze. Slowly, we all turned to look. Four mighty wolves emerged from the shadows, moving toward us with lethal grace. The confidence of my attackers vanished instantly, replaced by visible fear as their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.
The last thing I remember before going unconscious was someone whispering into my eyes.
"We got you, don't worry" and in a split second, there seemed to be an argument or sort.
"No wait! Isn't she…"