Dominic's Pov
My near-white hair drew too much attention wherever I went; I would be an easy target to capture if I fled with my current appearance. I needed to camouflage myself and look ordinary—so I dyed my hair and eyebrows black while planning my escape tonight. My name is Dominic, but everyone calls me Nic. I'm 20 years old and 5'3" (1.60m) tall, with the golden skin I inherited from my mother and the ashen hair and honey-colored eyes of my father. It wasn't easy not to stand out with this look, which I've always hated. I hated everyone staring at me; I hated how men always treated me; but the worst part was Nate.
I am an orphaned, wolf-less werewolf in a pack ruled by a sadistic Alpha, Nate. While his father was alive and ruling, I grew up leading a quiet, calm life. Many didn't like me and saw me as a burden; the most grueling jobs were always given to me, and thanks to that, I had muscles and was strong enough to fend for myself.
Despite all this, the former Alpha, Hédgar, always treated me with respect. When he found out about something done against me, he punished those involved. He used to say a pack is measured by how they treat their weakest wolf—and that was me, the weakest wolf, or so everyone thought.
In the current state of affairs, Alpha Hédgar was killed under suspicious circumstances—poisoned by wolfsbane and his throat slit in his own room. The work of a coward who needed to weaken him to win the battle. Nate had surely either ordered it or done it himself, but that didn't matter anymore; now I was at risk with no one to stop Nate from taking me.
His madness reached the level of killing his own father just to have me. I didn't want to wait and see what would happen to me. Nate had been a crazy jerk since we were kids; we trained together at the warrior school, but I was always superior to him, which crushed his ego as a future Alpha and shamed his father. I think that's where his hatred for me began.
But when we reached the age to shift into our wolf forms for the first time and find our mates, everything changed. Nate's obsession shifted from hatred to a need to possess me, and he tried a few times. As long as I was stronger than him, I could stop him, but now I was no longer the stronger one. He was an Alpha with incomparable power and strength. So, I had to flee from him tonight, during his inauguration as Alpha, when all the guards would be too busy to notice my escape.
I packed my bag with only the essentials and left my dingy room, which consisted of nothing more than a mattress on the floor of the pack house basement. I slipped out through the side of the house without being seen and ran into the forest. Even in my human form, as a werewolf, I was more agile, strong, and resilient than any human, and even more so than some werewolves, because since I couldn't rely on a wolf, I had to train twice as hard to hunt and fight.
From the forest, I could hear the drums and laughter of the festivities beginning, and with that, my heartbeat calmed. I was close to the border when I heard his howl, and every hair on my body stood on end as his voice invaded my mind, loud and clear.
'Where are you, my little lamb? The big bad wolf wants to play before his meal,' he said in his usual melodic and sarcastic tone, making me tremble. I ran faster, ignoring the collective howls echoing through the forest as Nathaniel gave the order to hunt me down.
'Dominic, I thought you'd be smarter than this. I'm disappointed by how easy this is going to be.' His voice sounded more distant in my mind now, which was good; it meant I was too far for the mental link to be precise. He tried to say something else, but I couldn't make out anything except the word 'father.'
The trackers were gaining on me. I might be a fast human, but they were wolves and much faster. They would catch me soon. I rolled my body in the mud, dirtying my clothes in an attempt to mask my scent, and then climbed a tree. I would have to fight; staying up there until Nate arrived wasn't an option. But with a trap and the dagger in my boot, I had a better chance against the two trackers closing in.
They reached the clearing where I was and sniffed around like mad searching for me. When one of them reached my tree, I jumped.
The fight was a blur of blood and teeth as I clung to the brown wolf's fur to stay latched onto him. The other brown and black wolf, seeing the struggle, ran toward us and grabbed me by my loose leg while the first wolf lunged, trying to knock me down.
I let out a loud howl of pain as the flesh of my leg was torn, but I didn't have time to truly feel it. When I saw my face was level with the first wolf's jaws, I didn't think; with the hand still gripping the fur of his neck, I pulled myself forward, and the hand holding the dagger found his jugular, taking him down before he could bite me.
The other tracker, still clamped onto my leg, shook me, and I hit the ground hard as I let go of the first wolf. I lost my breath for seconds from the impact, but it was enough for him to release my leg and bite into my unprotected flank.
This time, the pain blinded me, and for moments, black spots danced in my vision. But I didn't give up. I brought the dagger down with force and stabbed him several times until he let go and fell to the side, letting out whimpering howls. He would survive, but he wouldn't be able to follow me.
Blood dripped from my wounds, slow to heal due to my colossal weakness of being unable to shift. But I ran as best I could, dragging my leg and stanching the bleeding in my ribs with scraps of my shirt, which was now practically non-existent, leaving my bra exposed.
I knew the only possible way to escape this situation without being captured. I could end up dead with this choice, but right now, that seemed better.
There was only one place they wouldn't follow me: the Black Moon territory. Known as scavengers and pitiless killers, savages led by an insane Alpha. Entering there was a death sentence, but there are things worse than death.