The Woodland Packs

They’d all turned their backs on me.

With a single word from the new Alpha, Trevor, they decided I needed to die.

I still couldn’t believe it.

So, I decided to escape, of course. What choice did I have?

They’d chosen to kill me in the morning, when they had time, so to speak.

Idiots. They hadn’t even bothered to chain me up.

They’d locked me in my room, but probably assumed I wouldn’t try to get away. That I’d just do as I was told and fall in with their plans, like I always did.

Not this time.

Not when my life, and my baby’s life, was on the line.

As soon as they were all asleep, I managed to break out of my locked bedroom. I’d done it before. It wasn’t difficult with the old locks.

I crept through the apartment, avoiding the creaking wood panels I knew by heart, and ran. Through the exit stairwell, down the many flights of stairs and out into the cold night air.

I didn’t even stop to shiver in the tank top and thin jeans I wore, I just started running. Through the city, heading for the hospital. Towards the woman who could help me.

God… please.

We were as far away from the inner city as you could get, but the streetlights lit my path, showing me the way to safety.

My heart galloped in my chest.

My throat burned as I gasped in and out.

If the bears realised I was gone, they would chase me, and I’d be done for. I had no protection, no weapon. The only thing I had were my two legs and the will of a mother fighting for her child’s life.

It had to be enough.

I kept running, city block after city block, though my tired, starving body screamed at me to stop.

Adrenaline pumped harder and I increased my pace, turning the corners as quickly as I could.

The streets were deserted. It had to be past two am.

I didn’t really know.

I kept going, pausing to breathe at an intersection to get my bearings, my chest heaving with exertion.

Which way?

They didn’t let me out very much and I wasn’t very familiar with the street signs, though I’d lived here all my life.

I looked and looked, then saw a sign I recognised.

Yes! The supermarket. It wasn’t far from the hospital.

Keep going.

I pushed off again, my legs screaming at me for those first few steps until I found my rhythm once more.

The hospital, safety, was about six blocks now. My thigh muscles burned as I tripped on some uneven pavement, but I kept running.