Runa's eyes were closed but she could smell something that was absolutely putrid. She wrinkled her nose against the assault before raising her hand to rub the sleep away from her eyes. She sat up and realized she was in her own bed at her mother's. Opening her eyes immediately, remembering pieces of what had happened the night before until she had blacked out. She looked down at her clothes and held back a scream that threatened to break the silence.
She was covered in blood, from head to toe. From the smell she could tell it was human. Her hair was matted, her once white blouse now crimson. She threw the comforter off her body to run to the bathroom with the full length mirror. When her eyes feasted on her reflection she finally let out the blood curtailing scream that had welled up, no longer strangling her vocal cords. She had blood smeared across her face over the backs of her hands, and down her chest and legs. She had a little dirt under her nails too. What the hell happened?
She ran down the stairs to find her mother and demand answers. What in the goddess's name was going on? What was happening to her? Only her questions would remain unanswered, for when Runa rounded the corner to the living room she saw her. Kyia was in that same lounge chair she always sat in, in the mornings. Her gaze was fixed out the window and her body was limp. The gold picture frame with the man Runa thought to be her father lay face down against Kyia's chest. One arm hung to the floor with a puddle of blood surrounding it, and her other hand lay across her lap gripping a sheet of paper, also covered in her mother's blood. Runa did not know what to do so she just knelt by the woman who never wanted to be her mother and cried.
"Alpha? I need your help, please! It's Kyia, my mother. She's slit her wrists, please help me!" Runa mind linked with the alpha then quickly grabbed the paper Kyia was holding and ran to change her clothes as quickly as she could.
When Alpha Mike arrived at her mother's home, Runa was just finishing the bandages around her mother's wrists, a poor attempt to stop what little blood flow she had left. Alpha Mike put his hand on Runa's shoulder to push her aside and examine Kyia further. She stood and backed into the beta, she forgot what his name was. When she looked up into his brown eyes with her grey gaze, she could no longer hold back her tears. The male was taller than she was and much older than she was. Runa wrapped her arms around the male before thinking and buried her face into his chest then let her tears stain his shirt. She did not care, though she was a little surprised when he put a heavy arm around her shoulders returning her embrace and whispered into her hair that it was not her fault.
"Runa, I am sorry but there is nothing I can do. Even you were too late to save her." Alpha Mike stood and pat her on the back gently.
"Why would she do this? Why did she not want me?" Runa sobbed.
"Sometimes these things just happen. The loss of a mate is a very hard thing to overcome, even if you have children. I guess losing Remie was too much for her to bare any longer. You'll understand when you find your mate." He replied before he and his beta picked up Kyia's lifeless body and carried her out.
Runa sat in the middle of the living room floor and held her head in her hands letting the tears flow freely. Her whole body began to shake with each sob that left her mouth. She was finally able to stand and she walked back upstairs to her room, remembering the paper she had grabbed out of her mother's hand. She grabbed it from her dresser and turned over the blood stained sheet and found that it was a letter, addressed to her from her mother. Runa hesitated before reading, both curious and terrified of what more cruel words her mother had to say before she killed herself. Her heart felt a little hopeful though, that Kyia, her mother, had thought enough about her to leave her one small thing to remember her by. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and opened them with her sigh and began to read.
"Runa, you asked once about your father. Now I am going to tell you the truth. It is time for you to carry your own burden and try to live with it. The night you were conceived, my mate, my beloved Remie was murdered by a vampire. The repulsive creature chased us. We were almost back within the border when it caught up to us. I ended up with four broken ribs. My Remie had his heart ripped from his chest. The blood sucker had then turned his attention towards me. He raped me when I was overwhelmed by pain that I had no other choice than to shift back into my human form. I wanted to kill myself as soon as I woke up and found that I had not been dreaming and my mate was truly gone. I woke in the pack hospital with the Alpha and Luna by my side. They told me that I was with child and that due to my serious injuries that were not healing properly I had to stay in the hospital for the remaining two months of my pregnancy. I had been in a coma for six months. I then decided since they would not allow me to rid myself of the heartaching agony of losing my mate I would make my little secret's life a living hell.You are my secret, Runa. For you are not my beloved's daughter. You are the retched offspring of that cold creature who killed my Remie. You are a hybrid, a repulsive half breed of a vampire, and now you will live on the run from every pack and every vampire coven. Hybrids are a crime against nature. An abomination that needs to be eradicated. The Alpha will put you to death for being what you are. And now I will die happy knowing I will be reunited once more with my Remie and that you will soon meet a most tragic and painful end. Farewell Runa, run as far and as long as you like. You will not be safe anywhere you go."
A stream of fresh hot tears slid down Runa's face. Why would Kyia say that she was the spoun of a vampire? This could not be true, she thought. Kyia hated Runa since the day she was born, she could not be telling the truth. If it were true, why did she not just tell the Alpha to start with? Why let her live for eighteen years before telling her? Runa then thought and reread the hate filled words again, she would have to leave.
She did not want to leave her pack, but a hybrid is forbidden and she would be put to death. Runa was not ready to die. Though if she did not say anything, how would the pack find out? She decided not to say anything but to disappear without an explanation. She would stay here for as long as she could. She did not know where she would go if she did run. So for now she was safe.
"Pack meeting. I want every wolf at the pack house by sun fall. No exceptions!" Alpha Mike's voice echoed loudly in Runa's mind.
"Yes, Alpha." She replied, as always with respect.
Runa folded the paper into a neat square and grabbed up another set of clothes then headed to her bathroom. She had an overwhelming need to scrub her body, the stench of death was heavily polluting the air.
After her shower, Runa decided to go for a walk. She could no longer stay in that house. The square piece of paper in her pocket felt so much heavier than it really was. What did Kyia mean? Why had she said Runa was a hybrid? She had to go see Becky. She always knew how to make Runa feel better about the things her mother said to her.
Only when Runa finally reached Becky's house, she did not answer the door. She tried again and again no answer. She decided to go to Becky's mother's.
"She must be there."Runa thought to her self.
She slowly walked up the steps to Jackie's home and knocked on the white door with a shaky hand. Jackie opened it immediately.
"Hi Ms Jackie, is Becky here?"Runa asked looking into her green eyes.
"No. I was hoping she was with you. She didn't answer her phone this morning, and I can't mind link her." She replied, panicked.
"She wasn't at her house either. I'll see if I can find her." Runa said before giving Jackie a hug and running off towards the clearing her and Becky had gone the night before to see the blood moon.
She decided to shift so she could get there quicker. The scene that greeted her, she was not expecting. Her big paws came to an instant stop as her eyes fell upon the small meadow. The once green grass was now red, stained with blood. Body parts lay scattered across small flowers and tree trunks. The smell of death was hanging strongly to the area, making Runa gag.
What happened last night? Runa thought to her self and then became more terrified of the words her mother had written. Had she done this to her best friend? Runa began to sniff around, the only scents she could smell were her's and Becky's. She found the pendant Becky was wearing around her neck Runa had given her when they were kids and picked up the blood covered butterfly charm.
Runa could no longer stand the sight that befell her, that she was the cause of, and ran towards the river. Carefully holding the chain in her mouth, she let the water wash away the odor of death, from her self as well she stepped through the water. Runa did not know what to do now. If she ran, the alpha would wonder why she had not been at the pack meeting. If she stayed, there was a chance that who ever was patrolling this area of the border would find Becky's dismembered body and alert the Alpha. Runa would then be sentenced to death for being the only other scent around.
Runa could not chance anything, she decided. She ran back to Kyia's house to pack some supplies for a few days. She shifted outside the back door and grabbed the spare cloths that were laying under the steps, putting them on quickly before going inside. She ran to her room and grabbed the pack that was custom fitted for her wolf and began packing. Cloths, food, and her stash of money she made working a weekend job in the nearby village. She also grabbed the cash Kyia had put up.
Loosening the chain of Becky's necklace, she slipped in around her neck and hid it under her shirt before heading back towards the back door. Only just as she reached for the knob there was a knock on the front door. Runa was thinking of ignoring whom ever was on the other side when the person mind linked her.
It was Tristan, the beta's son. He was the only other person who would talk to her willingly. She thought he was a little cute but she knew he only felt sorry for her and was always kind.
"Runa, I know you're here. Please open the door. There is something you need to know." His voice sounded sad, which made Runa set her bag down by the back door and walk towards the front.
She opened the door to see a disturbed looking Tristan standing on the porch. When his brown eyes meet her's, she could not read him like she usually could. He was shirtless which meant he was just running.
"What's up? " She asked as he stepped through the door.
"I was on border patrol this morning." His words made Runa's stomach tighten up and start flipping.
"Where at? What did you find?" She asked, hoping he had not found Becky's mutilated body.
"Down by the human village. It's usually quite busy in the mornings, but today it was like a ghost town." He answered, Runa looked at him puzzled.
"Why are you telling me this?" She began to get a lump in her throat she could not swallow down.
"Runa, your scent is the only one I picked up on. What were you doing in town in the middle of the night? You didn't have to work last night did you?" He and Becky were the only ones who knew of her job.
"Who have you told about this?"
"No one, but I did have to tell the Alpha that the town was empty that's the reason for the meeting tonight. Runa what's going on?" He said, placing his hands on her shoulders and meeting her grey eyes with concern.
"I don't know, Tristan. I don't remember going into town last night. I don't even remember coming home." She began to sob uncontrollably before he wrapped her in his arms.
"I can only cover for you for so long." He sighed before pulling away to look at her.
"What?" She could not believe what she was hearing, he was going to risk his life for her?
"You need to go. Once the alpha figures out that yours is the only scent in the town, your not going to be safe. I can keep that information from him for a little while but you only have until the meeting before he'll be on your heels." Runa wiped away the tears from her face and hugged him tightly.
"I'm going to miss you Tristan. Thank you." She said as he pushed her towards the back door.
"Good luck. I hope we see each other again, under better circumstances anyway." He told her with a sad smile and turned away from her to disappear through the front door.
Runa left the house at a dead run. When she reached the tree line, she shifted. She had no idea of where she was going, she only knew she had to get there fast. Her paws kicked up chunks of earth as she flashed through the trees and out of her pack's territory. She was now a rogue. The very thing she helped her pack destroy when they enter their border. She was on her own, no one but her wolf to talk to and she did not talk much as it was. What was she going to do now?