Claire’s POV:
After watching the wolf walk away from me, I sniffled, bringing my hand up to my face.My fingers touched wetness and I felt stunned.Why was I crying?I didn’t know. Maybe it was the fact that I had nothing else to do, or no one else - be it a human or a wolf or an inanimate object - to talk to. I sniffled again, feeling bereft. Even if it was merely for a day, I found a kindred spirit in that injured wolf.I looked at the edge of the forest, half-hoping to hear a few sounds. Maybe a sound that would show that the wolf hadn’t left yet?But there was nothing.With a shake of my head - Claire, you’re being too sentimental for a reason, I tried to chide myself. I turned and began my slow walk back to the house. As soon as I entered the backyard, my hackles rose and I froze as my ears picked up a voice.It was my father.He was up. I crouched low, hearing him talking.“Is it enough time to still get some? I can hunt some game tomorrow…” my father’s voice trailed off and my heart clenched. He sounded so weary like he was bone tired. Of course, he had a reason to be tired. He rarely stayed home late in the morning and he would always come back late.But what was he talking about? And who was he talking to? Just then, I heard someone else’s voice just as there was the ring of the microwave having warmed the food. I recognized it to be one of my father’s friends.Apparently, the man had come inside the house while I was in the backyard. Had they heard me? I doubted that. Maybe they thought that I was asleep.“Well, Samuel,” he was saying, mentioning my father’s name. “If you cannot get enough, then we have to think. There must be other ways of getting this money quickly. If you don’t, the debt collectors will…”The voice faded in the background as my mind processed the words I had just heard. I covered my mouth as I wanted to gasp out loud and didn’t want anyone to hear.Debt?I had no idea about any sort of debt. When did this happen? Did that mean that..? That we were bankrupt? My father’s voice began speaking again and I zeroed in on his words.“Look, Stephan,” he was saying and I heard the clink of plates in the background. “What you’re going to have to do is find me a way. I don’t have many people who can help me right now. I need to get this debt sorted pronto. Before tomorrow night. I need…” his voice trailed off, and I pressed my ear to the wooden part of the door to hear what else he was murmuring. But I got nothing.What was it that he was saying?I fell silent, crouched in that position until my feet started to hurt, waiting for the moment when my father and his friend would leave the kitchen and I’d be free to enter. While I waited, my mind ran wild. And I didn’t like what my brain was thinking up.The facts were clear: my father was in debt. His friend had mentioned debt collectors too. So that would mean that there were people who were going to come for everything my father had if he didn’t pay up.How much did he owe in the first place? And how did he plan on paying them back?I bit my lip, wondering if it would affect my life very much. I doubted it. My father barely remembered I existed, not to mention that I managed well enough without him, or rather, despite him and the rest of this freaking family.********I woke up the next day and quickly got to my bathroom to have a shower. The time flew quickly but just as I was brushing my hair, already fully dressed, a knock came on the door.Immediately my door opened, without a preamble. My father walked in, and I gaped at him. His eyes were blank until they rested upon me, which was when they lit up with glee.“You,” he pointed at me. “Get dressed. There will be someone to take you from here.”What?“What happened?” I asked him, standing up. “Where am I going?”My hopes to leave this place however were immediately dashed with the next words out of his mouth.“You will finally be going to your new home. I have sold you to someone. You probably know him,” his eyes twinkled with malice and greed I recognized. My eyes widened out of my socket. Sold? What did he mean by that?“What?” My outrage was clear. “But father, cant-““You have no choice. Mr. Ralph has bought you, girl! He wants a new slave, and you’ll do. You will be going to him!” With that my father walked out, shutting the door with a loud slam.I stared blankly at the door, panicked as hell. I moved to grip the door handle and pull the door open but it didn’t budge. It had been locked from the other side.“Hey!” I screamed, banging my hands on the door. “Don’t do this, father! Please! I don’t want to be a slave!”I didn’t want to be a slave!Tears spilled out of my eyes and I couldn’t help it. I placed my head on the door as my body shook. Slowly, I slid down to the floor, feeling like the world, my world, had just come crashing down on me. It was coming to an end.Why? Why did father decide that I was worth getting rid of like this? That I was worth selling off to a man, an ugly horrible man who wanted me to be his slave? Why the hell was life unfair?I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of all the things I wanted. I wanted to work for myself, leave this house of my own free will and live freely. I wanted to have no one to serve, and only to be happy by myself. Yet in all these, I couldn’t have this.I whimpered, putting my arms around my knees and curling up in a fetal position.This was so unfair. I didn’t want this. So why should you accept it, a voice chimed in my head. I sniffled, swallowing and raising my head to stare blankly at the wall.What could I do but accept this? I asked myself.But then the voice rang within me once again.You could run, the rebellious part of my mind stated. You could go down the forest and make sure no one ever found you.I was considering this slowly, raising my hand to wipe the tears from my cheek. Could I really do it? Could I run? Maybe it would be better to be out there than ever being in here, trapped forever, with no destiny but what others made for me.I stood up, moving towards the open window. I looked down, noting how the space of the window was enough for me to fit through.I’d have to take my chances, to jump and escape. And I would run far away until this house was nothing but a horrible memoryClaire’s POV:It only took me an hour to conduct my plan.I had no choice but to make do. I didn’t even bother to pack anything. I simply didn’t want to let anyone know that I was on the move.I bit my lips, beginning to put my legs over the windowsill. I needed to make a swift drop, and though the height was slightly dizzying, I knew that I had no choice. I needed to leave before anyone would come.With a quick push from where I was seated on the window, I dropped down on the floor with a huff. I kept my knees bent, waiting until I felt stable enough to straighten up. I looked back at the window from which I had jumped.I was successful.Joy filled my heart and I sniped. The sun had risen fully and I was free. I turned towards the direction of the forelegs, on my way towards my new life when I heard a titter.“So you want to escape?” It was the voice of my dreadful stepmother. I froze, horror filling my being.No. No, no please not this.Before I could even stop her from doing anythi
ALEXAKIS POV When I was younger, I'd wondered how it'd feel like if one day, I'd finally be able to morph into a human, claiming my werewolf gene and finally belonging with my true family. I'd always thought it'd be a smooth transition, almost like a sensual dance - with ease and a flow, forgetting that my body was made of bones and muscles, blood. Reality slammed into me just as I was shifting. I let out a loud howl as my bones broke - or felt like they were breaking, but then I felt them stretching, readjusting themselves to take the form of a human. My torso stretched as well, my ribs shifted and that pain was so excruciating that I growled loudly, my head bowed. It was my face that hurt the most though, because my snout retracted, my eyes reformed and my mouth and jaw feels changed. Completely altered. I blinked furiously, my vision getting smaller till all I could see was the man directly in front of me. I stared up at him, hunched over, even though I knew that I should proba
ALEXAKIS POV As I watched the girl lying on the floor, I was forced to do the next best thing I could think of...I transformed back into my wolf form.The first person I came across, I tore him to pieces with my sharp fangs. The howling of pain that the man let out gave me little satisfaction from all the anger blazing within me. I released him and grabbed the next person I could lay my hands on, I clawed him and heard him gasp for breath. By the time I looked at the wound I gave him, I saw it was a cut to his stomach. The wound was so wide, I doubted the man would survive it, but I didn't care.A bullet wheezed past my ears and I trained my eyes on the person that I knew who shot it. The moment my eyes settled on the man, he took a step back and another and another. I stalked toward him and refused to back down. I got to him and jumped on him. My fang sank into his face and I bit off a chunk of flesh from it. Another heart-shattering scream rented the air.By the time I jumped down
9Alexakis POV Where was she? Where could she have gone with that much of an injury that she suffered from?My mind whirled over so many questions at the same time but I suppressed them. I knew that my first and foremost action should be to look for the girl and make sure she was alright. That brought my mind back to her parents. Could they have followed our trails and kidnapped the girl back when they realized that I was fast asleep? If by the moon goddess that was them, I would make sure that they didn't live to see the next sunrise. How could they have kidnapped the girl they wanted dead?The question brought me the answer I needed. Those hunters couldn't have done it. The fact that I was alive was proof of that. If they were the ones who really stole the girl from me, then I would either be dead or in a cage by now, given how serious they were about making me lose my life.If it wasn't them though, who else could have done such a thing?I knew that the more time I wasted broodi
10.Alexakis povAs I carried the girl in my arms, I was reminded of the fact that I had no real home to take the girl over to. I never had any home, to begin with. Except with the wolves I live with. And when I say wolves, I meant the real ones. I never knew what my identity was. I didn't know if I belonged together with the wolves or with the humans. All I knew was that I grew up with the wolves. They were the only family I had. It wasn't until recently that I found out that I was even a human myself.The change had happened even very rapidly, and that too in the camp of hunters. One of them spotted me and that was how I sustained all the injuries that I did. It was while I was escaping from the humans that I ventured into the territory of the human girl and she helped treat my sustained wounds.Now that I have to take the girl somewhere to recuperate, I didn't know if I should do it with the wolves or take her to an actual hospital. Do I even know how these places work? Decidin
11.Evie's POV For five days after I had that awful encounter with those evil people who tied me up and asked men to fight over me to gain ownership of me, I battled with either staying alive or giving in to the pain and just dying. Perhaps I would have chosen to die since that would just end everything, but I could see the struggle the wolf, I mean man, had to make sure I stayed alive. The least I could do was not disappoint him. And even though it seemed very hard like something I would not be able to do, I kept pushing through and through with everything that I faced. I didn't know what the man kept feeding me but at least they kept me alive.Like always, I flicked my eyes open and blinked at how dark the room I was in was. I coughed and coughed when some kind of smoke got into my lungs until I could calm down. I blinked again, trying to adjust my sight to see in the dark. Soon, I looked to the side and saw that there was some kind of fire burning wherever I was in.I saw the ma
CLAIRE’S POVMy father dragged me out of the cave and I turned back to look at the man who fell to the ground as the pain of his injuries overwhelmed him and made him weak. I swallowed the sob that threatened to leave me when I saw the bodies of some wolves that my father's men had killed. I hated my father now more than ever but knew that I'd have to stay with him if I wanted to make sure that the man and the other wolves were safe. I looked up at my father, not failing to see the sneer he had on his face, his features contorted with disgust and anger.He glanced down at me then, his face darkening with unbridled rage. We'd be walking for a while now, out of sight from the cave, when he suddenly thrust me into the arms of one of his men. Strong hands gripped my arms tight and pulled me roughly along them. The walk from the cave back to our home was long and tiring and my arm got sprained along the way because the man, Rufus, kept squeezing my hand and jerking me around, walking fast
CLAIRE’S POV The next morning, I was awoken by Evie who stormed into my room to inform me that the bus would soon arrive. She was incensed since my Father had forced her to come up and pass along the information. I didn't let her see that I was disgusted by the fact that she's in my personal space and even though she was currently poking through my things and cussing out at them, I held my tongue. The quieter I am, the quicker she would leave me alone. And sure enough, she gave me a long annoyed look and walked out of my room, banging my door behind her hard. I got up and immediately prepared myself for school. I'd dropped out because Becky had convinced my Father that it'd be more lucrative for them to not waste their money on me when I could be more helpful at home. I hadn't understood it then but knowing father's current money problems, I knew now that it had to be the reason he eagerly agreed to Becky's manipulation. The only reason I'd pushed to resume school again was because