The deeper Laura went, the darker the forest became. The Silver Moon Pack's borders faded behind her, leaving her utterly alone. With each step she took, it took her further from everything she had known, everything she had ever been. The mate bond's absence throbbed like an open wound in her chest, an ache that threatened to swallow her from within.
The trees loomed over her, looking like they were giving her a sentence. Gnarled branches reached out like bony fingers, catching at her torn dress, as if the forest itself was trying to hold her back. Twigs snapped beneath her shaky steps, but despite all these she pushed forward with grit.
"Just... keep... moving," she gasped, each word was a battle against the pain she was feeling.
The cold of the night seeped into her bones sending a numbing chill that spread through all her limbs. Her bare feet were cut and bleeding, leaving bloody footprints on the forest path. She had begun to feel tired as her body shook with the effort of each step she took. But she couldn't stop because if she did, she knew she would never get back up. Ever.
*Keep Moving Laura!*
Laura tripped over an exposed root, barely catching herself against a tree trunk. Her sight blurred, and she felt dizzy, so dizzy she almost threw up. How much further could she go before her body simply gave out?
As these thoughts went through her mind, that was when she heard it.
A low growl which came from everywhere at once.
Laura stiffened, every muscle tensing despite her weakness. The sound wasn't the friendly warning of a pack mate or the land marking of a nearby alpha. No, this was something wilder and more savage.
She squinted into the darkness, her wolf's sharp vision easily seeing through the shadows. Something moved between the trees and it was not one shape but several, slipping through the darkness with smooth grace.
Five pairs of glowing red eyes emerged from the gloom, circling her in a loose half-circle. Rogues. Wolves without a pack, driven mad by being alone or kicked out for crimes too awful to forgive. In their eyes burned a hunger that sent chills down her spine.
"No," Laura whispered, backing up until her back pressed against the tree behind her. There was nowhere to run.
The largest of them stepped forward, a huge male with dirty gray fur and scars crossing his snout. He suddenly shifted in front of her, bones cracking and reshaping until a man stood where the wolf had been, naked except for the dirt and dried blood covering his skin. His red eyes stayed the same, glowing with evil in his human face.
He breathed in deeply, nose flaring. "A lone she-wolf?" he said, voice rough from staying in wolf form for far too long. A mean smile split his face. "And a pretty one at that. Looks like the Goddess finally gave us a gift."
The others shifted too, forming a ring of leering, wild-eyed men whose human form seemed more like a badly fitting mask than their true nature.
"I smell weakness on her," said a skinny rogue with a missing ear. "She's been thrown out. Rejected."
"Even better, perfect even," the leader replied, stepping closer. "No pack will come looking for her."
Laura's heart pounded against her ribs. She'd heard stories of what happened to lone females caught by rogues. Death would be a mercy compared to what they had in mind.
"Stay back," she warned, her voice steadier than she felt. She straightened as much as her aching body would allow, as she tried to show the strength she no longer had.
The leader laughed out loud as he stared at her. "Oh, she has spirit! I like that." He sniffed the air again. "You were a Luna once, weren't you? I can smell the bits of power on you." His eyes narrowed with cruel joy. "What did you do to make your Alpha throw you away, little Luna?"
"I left him," Laura spat, anger flaring through the pain. "I rejected the bastard."
Shocked whispers rippled through the group.
"Impossible," hissed a rogue with a face covered in awful scars. "No Luna rejects her Alpha. The pain would kill her."
"Yet here she stands," the leader said, wonder mixing with the hunger in his gaze. He circled closer, like a wolf sizing up hurt prey. "Barely. You're dying anyway, aren't you? I can see it in your eyes."
Laura didn't answer. What could she say? He was right. The broken bond was killing her bit by bit.
"Maybe we should just wait," suggested a rogue with messy black hair. "Let her fall on her own."
"Where's the fun in that?" the leader growled, never taking his eyes off Laura as he circled her. "Besides, she might still have some fight left in her. Don't you, little Luna?"
Laura's fingers searched madly against the tree bark, looking for anything she could use as a weapon. Her hand closed around a broken branch, not much but better than nothing.
"My name," she said through tight teeth, "is Laura Ravenwood. And I am not your prey you piece of shit."
The leader threw back his head and laughed, a sound soon echoed by his followers. "Laura Ravenwood," he repeated, mockingly. "Well, Laura, I am Vex. These are my brothers. And you my love are very much our prey."