Betrayed by the Alpha, Redeemed by the moon

Chapter 4

Aria

The land before me stretched out like a wasteland, bleak and dead. The trees stood bent and knotted, their branches reaching upwards like bony fingers reaching for the darkening sky.

I had never seen a forest look so dead. As dead as I felt inside.

I took a step forward, and with every step I made, the ground would crunch underneath my feet like the world itself was brittle and could break at any minute.

The gusty wind screamed among the lifeless trees, causing a chill to run down my spine. It was frightening, weird, that kind of silence that rings louder than any noise.

I looked up, to see the sky had turned very ominous, almost like a dark blanket had been spread over the earth.

The Deadlands. I’d heard the stories. Few survived venturing into these parts. Yet here I was, trudging through it, broken and bruised, still running from my past.

My ribs throbbed with every breath, a reminder of my earlier tumble, and my muscles ached with exhaustion. Still, I forced my legs to keep moving. Stopping meant death, or worse.

As I continued forward, something caught my attention up ahead. A clearing—a man-made one, perhaps?

The wind rustled through the dead branches, creating a low, mournful whistle that sent a shiver down my spine.

Every instinct screamed at me to turn back, to run away, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Suddenly, two figures emerged from the trees ahead of me. Rogues. And they appeared from nowhere with tattered clothing and hair that hadn't been combed for months, no sign of civilization for a long time.

My heart pounded in my chest as they moved towards me, their eyes gleaming with hunger—not for food, but for something far worse.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” One of them sneered, his voice rough and low. He was tall and skinny, with brown, oily hair flopping in his face. His companion, just as gangly, smirked, flashing yellowed teeth.

“What’s a girl like you doing in the Deadlands?” The second rogue asked, his voice mocking as he looked me up and down. “You lost, sweetheart?”

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t afford to. Any hint of weakness would be an invitation, and I wasn’t about to give them that satisfaction.

Instead, I kept my focus forward, disregarding their words as I clenched my fists, preparing for whatever came next.

The brown-haired scoundrel narrowed his eyes and made a step forward as he extended his hand in my way. “Hey, I’m talking to you,” he hissed. “Don’t you know it’s rude to ignore people?”

I cringed, and my arm muscles tensed as his hand approached them. My heart hammered in my chest, but I refused to show any fear.

I could take them, two skinny rogues who presumably hadn’t seen a woman in months.

I knew what they wanted, but they weren’t going to get it. Not from me.

I sized them up quickly. They were malnourished, with their clothes baggy on them. Whatever strength they had came from desperation, not power. I could use that against them.

The first rogue’s fingers grazed my arm, and without thinking, I threw a punch. My fist connected with his jaw, hard enough that I felt the sting shoot up my knuckles.

His facial expression was almost worth the pain that followed. The brown-haired scoundrel, narrowed his eyes and made a step forward as he extended his hand in my way. “Hey, I’m talking to you,” he snarled. “Don’t you know it’s rude to ignore people?”

He staggered back, cursing as he grasped his face.

“You little b**ch! He spat, wrath blazing in his eyes.

Before I could respond, the second rogue sprang for me, but I was ready. I lifted my knee and drove it straight into his groin, the words of Shelly the Shadow Moon Pack’s chef resonating in my mind, “When in doubt, kick the balls."

He doubled over suddenly, gasping for breath, and I didn’t wait for him to recover.

But the first rogue wasn’t done with me yet. He snarled and grabbed my arm, dragged me back, and threw me into a tree.

I felt the blow, the wind got knocked out of me, and I heard a sickening c***k, and pain erupted in my side. My sight kind of fuzzed out and I knew that I had broken a rib.

I fell to the floor in a ball and groaned. The rogue stood above me, snarling, and he kicked me in the stomach as hard as he could.

I instead took a sharp gasp of breath, which I choked on because a pain shot all the way down my body.

“Stupid b***ch,” he muttered, kicking me again. “You think you’re tough? Think you can take us on?”

So I closed my eyes and balled up to shield my body from the attack. My thoughts raced.

Was this how I was going to die? Beaten to death by two filthy rogues in the middle of nowhere?

But then, something shifted inside me. A rush of strength I did not know I still possessed flowed through my body.

Before I could second-guess it, I reached out and grabbed the leg of the rogue, kicking me, twisting it sharply.

The disgusting sound of breaking bones echoed through the air and his cry of pain as he hit the floor.

So without even thinking, I got up and roundhoused the second one who was still recovering right in the face.

The force of it caused him to fly backward, and his body landed flat on the ground.

I didn't even wait to see if he was knocked out. I ran.

My legs were jelly but I made them move, as fast as possible through the dead forest.

My side hurt like hell and every breath brought a sharp pain from my broken rib, but I couldn't stop. I wouldn’t stop. Not until I was far away from them.

The brown-haired scoundrel narrowed his eyes and made a step forward as he extended his hand in my way. “Hey, I’m talking to you,” he snarled. “Don’t you know it’s rude to ignore people?”

Branches broke beneath my feet, and the wind roared in my ears as I fled. I didn’t know where I was heading, only that I needed to get away.

My legs burned, and my lungs begged for air, but I continued running, refusing to give in to the tiredness threatening to draw me under.

Then, out of nowhere, the ground disappeared beneath me.

I fell forward and rolled down like a hill, bouncing off of rocks and dirt and just rolling and rolling and rolling.

Everything started spinning, and all I could do was grip the handles and prepare for impact.

I landed flat on the ground with a thud, and another pain shot through my body. My eyes went all fuzzy, and I just stayed there, too weak to get up, too spent to bother.

Was this it? Was this how it ended?

As the darkness crept in, I heard something…voices. Faint, distant, but unmistakable.

"She's alive," the voice said, disbelief and relief mixed into one.

I hardly noticed the words when this, sweet, and almost intoxicating scent wafted into my nose.

My eyes fluttered shut as the scent washed over me, comforting me in a way I couldn’t explain.

"What is that scent? This I thought right before the blackness overtook me.