The rogue princess

Blood moon pack

 Freya POV

We had been running from town to town for two weeks now, I didn’t even know why we were running, when my father could have just killed Alex then and there, although I was more than happy that he hadn’t.

We had travelled through sixteen towns, staying in the cheapest hotels and eating in the cheapest cafes. Sometimes my father would buy me a pot of tea, other times he would make me watch as he stuffed himself silly with greasy food and deserts. These days it didn’t even get to me, I had been rationed to so little food over the years, my appetite was practically non-existent.

My teeth chattered as I tried hugging myself tighter, instead of staying in a hotel tonight, my father had decided to stay in an old abandoned cabin he had come across, to save money. It did indeed save money, but it also lacked a lot of amenities, one of them being electricity. I sat on the floor in complete darkness, reminded of the temperature by the misty air that I exhaled every time I took a breath.

I trembled in my thin cotton shirt and leggings as the iciness worked its way into my bones as I tried to ignore my father, who was sitting in a tatty old chair on the other side of the room, layered with the two blankets and a thick, winter jacket, slurping down his third can of lager.

After an hour of lying on the floor, trying and failing miserably to catch an hour or twos worth of sleep, I had finally stopped with the shaking, instead the numbness had taken over, my whole body felt stiff and my muscles were tense. I wondered, yet again whether I would make it through this night alive, and if I didn’t, what would my father do with my body, would he at least give me some sort of burial or would he just leave me here to rot into the dusty floor. I really didn’t need to ask the question, I knew it would be the latter, burying me would be too much like hard work to a man as bone idle as him.

My first question was answered as I was awoken by a sharp sting across my cheek, followed immediately after by another on the other side. I placed my hands up to my cheeks and at last I felt some warmth, albeit accompanied by the sting of the slaps, but to me it was warmth all the same, as my icy hands brought some relief to the immediate bruises that were now appearing.

“Get up we’re going.” He shouted at me.

Without a word, I was up on my feet, rubbing my itchy, sleep deprived eyes. He handed me one of the blankets, maybe I could finally feel a bit of warmth today. Following him out of the door, we walked through the woods. The deeper we got into the woods, the more he became agitated. His head was shooting in all directions, the slightest noise would put him on the defence.

An hours’ worth of walking through the forest and I finally found out the reason why he was so on edge. Rustling from a nearby bush caught my attention, not a second later a large mud coloured wolf pounced on my father, sending him to the floor. The wolf towered above him, snarling as my father lay on his back looking up in fear, holding his hands up in surrender.

“I mean no harm, we are just travelling through.”

The wolf walked back towards the bush with what I can only describe as an annoyed growl. Before he had reached the bush, we were surrounded by a dark brown wolf, two sandy wolves and a grey wolf, all snarling at us to keep us from running, which I had no intention of doing in any case.

A couple of minutes passed and a tall, muscular man with black hair and light brown eyes emerged from behind the bush, wearing only a pair of dusty jogging bottoms and a frown.

“Who are you, and what are you doing on Blood moon’s territory?” He asked with a raised voice.

My father stood tall, a difference from the coward he had been not five minutes ago.

“My name is Jeff and this is my daughter Freya.”

My father indicated towards me with his hand, while the tall man looked me up and down, disgust written all over his face.   

“From the smell of you, I can tell you’re rogues. So what brings you into our territory?”

“Like I said, just passing through.” My father’s patience was thinning as he almost growled the last few words.

“And what urgent business brings you through our territory without permission?” The man growled back.

“We…We’re running from a man that attacked my daughter. He portrayed himself as a friend for months before he beat the poor thing senseless.”

My father wrapped his arm around my shoulder as I stared at him, silently with an open mouth in disbelief.

“And where were you when this beating was happening?” The man squinted, not believing a word my father had told him.

“Well, I just walked through the door after returning from work and there he was, straddling her as he rained punch after punch. It took all my self-control not to kill the bastard.” For someone so manipulative, you would think he would be a much more convincing liar.

I watched as the two men sized each other up, staring from one to the other I noticed the stranger’s eyes begin to glaze over. Must be some sort of wolfie thing I thought, but being a recluse all my life, I only knew whatever my father told me when it came to werewolves, which is not a lot.

“My name is Si, I am the beta here and my alpha is very eager to meet you both. Now follow me.” He said before turning and walking further into the woods.

We walked through the woods, Si in front leading us, a wolf either side and the other two bringing up the rear, boxing us in, in case we decide to try to escape. I took in our surroundings as we walked through the trees and wondered how he didn’t get lost in the dense foliage, each tree looked like the next. After ten minutes of walking through the thick forestry we came upon a glade. I looked at it in awe, rarely did I get to go out, so seeing beauty like this was a real gift. The green grass was dewy and overrun with huge patches of bluebells.

The man stopped abruptly, causing me to almost smash into his massive back. As he turned, I could hear the two wolves behind turn and retreat to a couple of nearby trees, returning only moments later wearing the same type of black joggers that the beta was wearing. Si gestured to a boulder next to me while nodding.

“You should rest for a few, before you collapse.” His words almost sounded sympathetic, but soon changed when my father began to walk towards the large rock. “Not you. Her.” He snarled at my father, stopping him mid step.

I looked between the rock and my father, before shifting my eyes to Si who was nodding at me.

“Sit. When was the last time you even ate anything?” He waited for a few seconds for a reply, but when he got nothing he turned to my father. “Can she speak?” He genuinely queried.

“Yes. She’s just shy. Answer him Freya.” He looked at me with a glare as he spoke.

“Um…” I didn’t know what to say. Do I tell him the truth or tell them that I ate a three course meal with a cheese board for dinner last night? I went with honesty. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” I jumped at the volume of Si’s reaction. “It’s quite simple, did you eat this morning?” I shook my head. “Last night?” I shook my head again. “Yesterday Lunchtime?” Again no. “Breakfast?” His voice began to trail off.

“I had a cup of tea yesterday morning.” I whispered.

One of the men who stood behind us came and knelt beside the rock I was perched on. His cropped sandy hair waved slightly in the soft breeze as he smiled up at me.

“Hey sweetheart. My name’s Nick. You’re Freya right?” I nodded and he gave me a warm smile. “When was the last time you had a proper meal?” He glared at my father.

“I don’t know, I had a biscuit a few days ago?”

“But a meal, when was your last meal? A week.” I shook my head. “A month.” I shook again and he inhaled deeply. “Six months?” I looked at the bluebells that were hanging over my battered cheap plimsolls. “A year?” He said through gritted teeth.

When he again got no reply, he glared at my father, shooting daggers, silver daggers, silver daggers coated in wolfsbane.

“Tell me Freya, how old are you? Twelve? Thirteen?” He urged me to tell him when I frowned at him.

“I’m twenty.” I heard the three men inhale deeply and the two wolves that remain growled, all paying special attention to my father.

“Are you quite sure?” I nodded and he looked at my father. “She’s twenty?”

“She’s petite, that’s all. Her mother was the same.”

“What you mean you starved her too?” Si chimed in through gritted teeth. “Tell me, this man you are running from. What’s his name?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Alexander. Alexander Duncan.” My father said proudly, although his pride soon simmered away as the three other men choked out laughs.

“Alex? You are kidding me? That boy wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Si said between breaths. “That boy couldn’t hurt a fly.” He corrected himself.

“He would cower in the corner at the very sight of a fly.” The unknown third man laughed.

“So not only do you starve and beat your own daughter, you also lie through your stinking, rotten teeth?” Si began to stalk towards my father as the other man stepped behind him.

“Will you be alright to carry on? The alpha would really like to meet your father, Freya.” I nodded silently to Si.   

Nick rose to his feet and offered me his hand to aide me to stand, I placed my hand in his and stood with a polite smile. He placed a comforting hand on my shoulder as we began towards the pack house and turned to me.

“Don’t worry. Everything will turn out fine.”

For the first time in forever, I finally felt safe. For the first time in forever, I finally felt like I might just get away from this cruel hell I had been living in the past twenty years.