Escaping Wildfire
Chapter 25: Fear

Alpha Marek

“Oh, Alpha, harder!” I pounded into the redhead bent over my desk and finished up as she called out to me. I had grown bored with her over the last few weeks as she was a little too vocal for my tastes. She gave good head, so I kept her in my rotation as she couldn't annoy me with her voice while my cock was in her mouth.

The women always stuck around, hoping I would eventually replace my Luna in favor of one of them, but that was never going to happen. Not because I loved Clarissa, but because I knew I was stronger with her here as my wolf had chosen to mark her. Clarissa was weak, but she was pretty and looked good on my arm for formal events.

There was a knock at the door, and I could smell that it was my Beta Griffin. He wasn’t the brightest Beta I could have chosen, but he followed orders well and wasn’t afraid to do my dirty work for me. He had a sadistic streak that I used to my advantage whenever needed.

“Open the door for Griffin and head out. We’re finished here...Don’t forget to close the door when you leave.” Heather slipped her shirt back on before heading to the door. “Thank you, Alpha.” She always thanked me, hoping it would keep her in my good graces, but just looking at her was starting to annoy me. That meant it was time to cut her off.

“Griffin…did you find her?”

“No, Alpha. I asked around, and no one had seen the omega since yesterday afternoon. One of the other omega girls said she hadn’t seen her since she left to go take out some trash yesterday.”

“What about Gema?”

“She said she hadn’t seen her today, that she sent her out to take out some trash and dismissed her after that, but the omega hadn’t shown up to bring her breakfast this morning.”

I had called Nora to my office this morning to give her a special job, but the other omegas were unable to find her, so I sent Griffin to look for her. I had a feeling the girl would eventually run, but I didn’t think it would be this soon. Either way, she’d be lucky if she lasted the night out there with the rogues and the actual bears that roamed around the pack borders. Her grandfathers had both been Gammas, but her parents died together in one of my raids. They were weak, and so was Nora. She was unfit to be my son’s mate.

If she left with no one noticing, especially the guards, then the only explanation for that was that she must have had help…and I could easily guess exactly who had helped her escape.

“Bring me my daughter.

“Yes, Alpha.

If that no good son of mine wanted to do things the hard way, then I would happily oblige. He knew better than to try and cross me.

Rory

I woke up happier than I had felt in a long time. We had somehow managed to get Nora out safely, and Gema let us know that her brother had sent a message around 6 am that she had made it to Harvest Moon.

‘We’ll get out of here, too, someday.’ My wolf, Phoenix, had always been the more hopeful of the two of us. She kept me sane in this prison of a house, though, and having Gema in the house this summer had also helped. She was my first real friend if I didn’t count Larkin. Father had let me finish school through high school by homeschooling but said I didn’t need college as he would show me how to be a good Luna. So far, that meant helping with the pack paperwork, planning dinners, and making sure I didn’t talk back to the Alpha. I could only imagine what kind of Alpha he would marry me off to. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

‘We’ll find our mate, and he’ll take us far away from here.’

‘Come on, Phoenix, Larkin and Flint couldn’t keep Nora and Lily, what makes you think we’ll fare any better?’

‘Our mate will be strong, I know it, and he’ll take us with him to his pack, and we’ll never have to step foot here again.’

’But I don’t want to be a Luna.”

‘Come on, Rory, we have to trust in the Moon Goddess. She’ll bring us the perfect wolf. He’ll be strong and won’t be afraid of your father.’

‘You’re too much of a romantic, Fi.’ I shook my head at my wolf. I loved her, but she always seemed to have her head in the clouds.

There was a knock at my door, even though I wasn’t expecting anyone.

“Beta Griffin, how can I help you?” I hated my father’s Beta. Being around him always put me on high alert and made my skin crawl.

“Your father sent me to come get you. He wants to see you in his office.”

I nodded, but a part of me was scared. Did he find out about Nora? I had to keep my nerves down, they’d be able to sense my heart rate. Luckily, Larkin had given both me and Gema an Alpha command to not say anything. He also forbade us to answer questions even from my father. We weren’t certain the command would work against my father, but we had to try.

The Beta and I walked silently to my father’s office, and Beta Griffin ushered me inside as he opened the door.

“Aurora. I assume you know why you’re here.”

“No, Father, Beta Griffin only said you wanted to see me but not why.” I feigned complete innocence.

My father scoffed and cocked his head to the side.

“Let me put this another way. I know you know about your brother’s mate, and I know your brother helped her escape.”

“She escaped?”

My father laughed mirthlessly. “You really expect me to believe you know nothing about this.” He came over and sat at the edge of his desk as he looked me in the eye.

“You know, I promised your brother I wouldn’t touch you if he went to boarding school, and like the good little son he is, he went off to school. Then, I promised him I wouldn’t hurt his little bitch, if he married Gema.”

My eyes started to water as I sensed what my father was getting at.

“We both know I’m not good at keeping promises…” He stood up and came closer, towering over me. “and now your brother is going to find out just what it means to cross me.”

He suddenly reached out and slapped me hard. My ears rang and my head exploded with pain as I was knocked to the floor. Before, I could really register what was happening, he kicked me hard in the stomach knocking the wind out of me. I saw spots before my eyes as I tried to calm the pain.

It wasn't the first time he’d hit me, but I had never seen him this angry before. I saw as his wolf came out through his eyes. He was as ruthless as my father, and I tried crawling away from him.

Before I could get away, I felt several more hard kicks to my side. I didn’t want to cry, but the hot tears poured from my eyes involuntarily. He crouched down in front of me and lifted my face squeezing my cheeks hard between his hand.

“You’re just as weak as your mother, pathetic…and if your brother thinks he can get away with this, he’s going to learn the hard way that he can’t cross me.” He tossed me aside and slapped me again, harder than the first time. I could feel the blood pounding in my head from the pain.

“Take her.” He walked back to his desk not looking at anyone as he spoke. “Finish teaching my son his lesson. Do what you want with her, but don’t kill her. Now get her out of my sight.” He spits out those last words as if disgusted. If I ever thought he cared even just a tiny bit for me, that thought was extinguished today.

Beta Griffin yanked me up by my arm and tossed me over his shoulder. My side hurt, and each step he took was torture as I bounced around. He put his hand firmly on my bottom, and I felt disgusted by his touch. Would my father really let him do anything to me? I wanted it to not be true, but I knew better. I had to find a way out of this.

‘Larkin! Larkin!’

I called out to my brother through the mind-link, but for some reason, he wasn’t answering. Was he off territory…or had my father already gotten to him, too? I couldn’t think straight, and Beta Griffin kept walking away from the packhouse.

He threw me down, and I realized we were in the forest behind the packhouse. I tried to catch myself but landed on my wrist, and I cried out as I felt something snap.

“I’m gonna have fun with you.” He licked his lips as he bent down in front of me. He grabbed my neck as he pushed me on my back and slammed his lips against mine. I clawed at his hand in an attempt to get him off of me. I always imagined my first kiss would be a magical moment, not whatever this was that made bile rise to my throat.

‘Phoenix, how do we get out of this? Help me, please.’ I cried out desperately to my wolf not knowing what else to do. Beta Griffin put his weight on me and started pushing my dress up. At that moment, I hated myself for choosing to wear a dress today instead of jeans.

I clawed at him again, but this time I caught him on the cheek. He hissed out in pain and punched me in the face. “Fucking bitch, you’ll pay for that.” He ripped at the strap of my dress and started undoing his belt. Just as I felt myself shutting down and giving up, Phoenix surprised me by taking over. She pushed me to the back of my mind as she pushed forward and shifted.

Beta Griffin was so shocked that he stumbled back, and Phoenix pounced at him with bared teeth. She clawed at his chest and clamped down on his thigh. He was strong, though, and flung Phoenix off before she could do more damage. He shifted into his wolf, and Phoenix stood up. I was glad we were smaller as she was able to evade him and run back in the direction of the packhouse. He snapped at us as we ran and managed to clamp down on our hip. Phoenix yelped out in pain but found the strength to kick him off and run faster.

I could see the training grounds up ahead where some of the warriors were sparring, and Phoenix ran her hardest to get to them. If we could get to them, maybe they’d take pity and keep me safe.

‘You can do this Phoenix, just a bit further.’ I cheered her on as I could feel how exhausted she was. She somehow found the energy to push through the pain and ran until she noticed some of the warriors looking our way. I felt the exhaustion and pain kick back in in full force, and I crashed to the floor. The last thing I remember was someone calling out my name as they lifted me off the ground.

Larkin

I had spent most of the day off territory in business meetings. While my father didn’t want to hand over the Alpha title, he was more than happy to let me handle the financial aspects of our pack businesses. I had always had a good head for numbers, so I actually enjoyed this part of my work.

I headed back home and went up to my room to change, hoping to get a workout in before dinner. I had felt more calm today as I knew Nora was safe now. Flint had been a little whiny as he missed his mate, but he knew we needed to separate for the time being to keep her safe.

I wasn’t prepared for what awaited me upstairs though. Gema was pacing the living room as James, one of our warriors, stood beside her.

“Larkin, thank Goddess, you’re home. We tried linking you, but you weren’t answering.”

“What’s wrong?” My heart dropped to my stomach as I imagined the worst. “Is it Nora?”

Gema shook her head, “No, Nora’s safe…it’s Rory.”

“What happened? Where is she?” I felt sick at the thought of something happening to my sister.

“Larkin, don’t panic, she’s here in our room, but she’s…she’s been attacked. James just brought her in, she’s still unconscious, and we’re waiting for the doctor to arrive.”

“Attacked? How? Who? I…” A million different thoughts ran through my mind, and I felt like I couldn’t think straight. “What happened?”

“We don’t know.” James clarified. “A few of us were out back sparring, and she stumbled out of the woods in wolf form, dirty and bleeding from her side. I picked her up and started to head to the clinic when I ran into Miss Gema, and she directed me to bring her to your room instead.”

I nodded my head, “Thank you, James.” I walked over to the bedroom and looked in on my sister. She was lying in bed with the sheet pulled up to her neck, but I could see that her face was bruised and swollen. It looked a lot like my face had looked just a few days ago after Griffin attacked me.

“Larkin, the doctor is here, she’d like to examine Rory now. Let’s wait outside.”

I nodded as I headed back out and sat on the couch. James was nowhere in sight, so I guess he must have left when the doctor arrived. I rubbed at my face wondering how this could have happened. I felt like I was in shock, unable to believe that anyone would attack my baby sister.

“No, no, get off me, no!” Rory’s screams startled me, and I rushed back into the room, not caring to knock before entering.

“Larkin!” She yelled out in relief.

“Shh…it’s okay, I’m here. You’re safe.”

“Larkin.” She sobbed out my name and reached out to me. I sat down next to her on the bed and cradled her head. “You’re safe now, Rory.”

I let her cry for a few more minutes. “Is it okay if the doctor checks you out?”

She nodded at me, and I stayed in the room but stepped back and faced away to let the doctor finish. Rory had a cracked rib and a sprained wrist. She also had a large gash on her hip that the doctor stitched up and bandaged.

“I’m sorry to ask,” The doctor paused, “but were you—”

“No…no, he didn’t…I wasn’t raped.” She cut off the doctor, and I breathed a sigh of relief at her words. I hated that she was hurt at all, but it gave me some form of relief to know she hadn’t experienced that.

“Alright then, I’ll leave you with these pills for the pain, and I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow. Get plenty of sleep, and your wolf healing should have you back on your feet in no time.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” I held open the door for her but stayed with Rory as the doctor walked out.

“Rory, do you know who attacked you?” I sat back down next to her, and she looked down avoiding eye contact.

Gema walked into the room and sat down in one of the armchairs. Rory looked back up and shifted her gaze between the two of us.

“Father called me to his office. He found out about Nora leaving. He was mad, so he…he said he was going to show you that you couldn’t cross him.” She was sobbing, and I wrapped my arms around her again. “He hit me a few times…but then…then he told Beta Griffin to finish me off…he…he.” By this point, she was sobbing too hard to finish.

I smoothed down her hair and rubbed at her back. “Don’t worry, Rory. We have you now. You’re safe. Just lay down and try to get some sleep. Gema and I will be here the whole time. I promise I won’t leave your side.”

Rory nodded and lay down. It wasn’t long before she fell back asleep, likely still exhausted from her ordeal.

“Your father did this,” Gema said as her voice hitched in pain for my sister.

“This is my punishment for getting Nora out.” I slowly nodded in realization.

Gema scoffed in disgust as she wiped at her face. “We have to get Rory out. We have to get everyone out…Jasmine, Jade, the twins...He won’t stop, will he?!” Her voice rose at the end, and she sounded almost hysterical.

“No…he won’t stop.” I looked down at my sister and then back up at Gema. “He won’t stop unless we stop him…so we need to find a way to stop him before this happens again.”

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