It was dark outside, the sun had disappeared and the stars were shining. She was hiding behind the rose bushes. Myra didn't care that the thorns were cutting into her bare arms or the wet grass felt gross under her hands.
She waited. She listened. She did not breathe.
"Where the fuck is she?" Her dad growled as she heard him run past her. "The Alpha will kill us if she has run away."
Myra begged the Moon Goddess in her mind to not let them find her as she let out a soft breath.
"Spread out! She's here somewhere!" Her mom shouted to the pack members.
No-no-no.
Myra could hear them standing beside the bushes.
She didn't breathe. She didn't move a finger. She didn't squint her eyes as her mom flashed a light on the bush.
"There you are." Myra heard her voice as her mom pulled the bush apart into two.
"No!" She screamed at her and Myra crawled out of the bush. She lifted herself up and the long nightgown she was wearing, and she ran.
Myra didn't look back as she ran ahead, trying to dodge the pack members and her parents screaming and shouting at everyone to grab her.
She was not going to let them catch her.
"Fucking grab her!" Her dad shouted somewhere far away as she held the bottom of the nightgown tightly in her hand and ran.
The pain of the stones and twigs did not register in her mind as Myra stared straight ahead at her goal.
She needed to cross the border to get out and into No Man's Land. A line which no pack member crossed alone in fear of getting attacked by rogues that waited in the darkness, ready to kill their own kind.
She needed to cross it.
Myra sprinted ahead, in and around the trees and a few feet away from the border of her pack. She smiled to herself as she ran faster.
It was right there in front of her. The white line is drawn onto the ground to split the territory up.
She ran faster, the adrenaline blocking out every sound around her as she went to cross the border. Myra placed her foot out just as someone tackled her into the ground.
A scream left her lips as she was tackled back into her own territory again.
"You're not leaving." The man hissed in her ear.
Myra froze.
Alpha Tom.
"Get off me!" Myra screamed at him as he held her in place. She didn't want him to touch her.
The adrenaline in her body was pushing away the fear inside of her. She could feel it as she tried to pull away from Alpha Tom. He held on to her tightly as if he was afraid she would run. She would.
"You are not going anywhere." Alpha Tom growled into her ear. "You are getting married tomorrow and if I have to tie you to that bed for Alpha Jackson, I will." He tightened his hand around her waist and dug his fingers in.
Myra hissed at the pain and the blood dripping through from a previous cut. He opened her stitches.
"Do not fuck with me." Alpha Tom stood up.
Myra laid on the ground, praying and begging the Moon Goddess to rip apart the world so it could swallow her up.
"You have embarrassed us." Her mom whispered harshly into her ear as Myra felt a hand wrap around her bruised-up arms. She was dragged up but she didn't look at her mom.
"I think she deserves to be punished." One of the pack members scoffed as they stood around her.
No-no-no. No more.
"Take her down to the basement." Alpha Tom ordered.
"No! Please!" Myra begged them as her parents dragged her back through the forest. "No!" She pleaded as she dug her feet into the grass and tried to pull away with every ounce of strength she could muster.
"Shut the fuck up." Her dad growled at her and she watched as his hand came up and he slapped her across the face. A scream left her lips as she fell to the ground. A kick followed the slap.
Every inch of her body was already in pain. She couldn't take any more.
"Stop please." She cried out as she felt someone fist her hair and pull her up.
Her dad glared at her. "If you don't shut your mouth, I will rip out your tongue." He warned her as he started dragging her back.
Myra had run too far. For the first time in years, she had run further than before, and she was inches away from her death which she would accept happily.
She stayed quiet as silent tears fell down her face. Her parents dragged her through the forest.
She knew what was coming. A night full of torture and pain as she hung in the basement with rope coated in wolfsbane.
She would accept death any second but death did not want her.
Myra shut out the world around her. She shut out her mom complaining to her dad about the embarrassment she brought to the world and this family. She was better off dead. Myra shut it all out as she was dragged silently by the arm. Every step was closer to a painful night.
She looked up as she heard laughter behind her. Myra saw the pack members laughing at her dirty gown and the blood trailing down from her open stitches. She ignored them.
Myra was beautiful once upon a time. She was six years old when Alpha Tom took a liking to her. She remembered him coming to her house and she was sitting on the stairs starving for food. Her parents had gone out, leaving her alone, completely and utterly forgetting they had a daughter. Alpha Tom had knocked on the door and she had walked downstairs with Mr. Cuddles in her arms and said she couldn't open the door. The people on the TV had always said not to open the door to strangers. Alpha Tom had told her it was the Alpha and she had opened the door when she smelt food. He had walked inside and asked where her parents were. She didn't want to get them into trouble because the Alpha had never visited, so she at the age of six had lied and said they were out getting her food.
He didn't believe it but he picked her up and took her into the kitchen. He gave her food and washed the plates and cleaned the dirty house with her as well. He put her to bed and said he would wait for her parents downstairs. It went on for the next few years, every day he would come to give her food and put her to bed until she was ten years old and she heard them one day.
"Alpha Tom, do you really think they would want her?" Mom asked him as she sat on the couch with dad. Alpha Tom was standing in front of them in the living room.
Myra listened on the stairs, Mr. Cuddles in her arms tightly.
"Susan, your daughter is beautiful. When she turns 17, I'll talk to Alpha Jackson and see what he thinks. If we can get her married to him, we can join our packs. We'll be the biggest pack in the world then." Alpha Tom explained. "We'll get her married on her 18th birthday and a day later we will join the packs. Your daughter is beautiful. Take care of her." Alpha Tom told them.
"We never wanted her anyway." Dad scoffed to himself.
Myra frowned. It was the first time she was hearing this. Her parents never really stayed home. She did everything for herself. She would iron her own clothes and go to school. She would come back hungry because she didn't have any money for food. She would go on YouTube and learn how to make the easiest food with stuff she had at home. Sometimes she didn't have anything unless her parents did the shopping which was months later. They didn't read her any bedtime stories like the other parents did with their kids but she didn't mind. She would read them to herself and Mr. Cuddles.
"How old is Alpha Jackson?" Mom asked Alpha Tom.
"He is 29 now but his mate is dead. He has been seen with other girls but Myra can charm him, he will want to meet her." Alpha Tom said.
"No," Myra said from the stairs.
They all whipped their heads and stared at her.
"I don't want to get married, Alpha Tom. I want to go and see the world." She told him because her parents weren't even looking at her.
Myra had made a plan for herself. She was too young to work now but she was very very clever so she would leave school at the age of 14. She would finish high school early and then she could work. Myra didn't have any money for college so she was going to work for 20 hours per day. She was ten years old and it seemed like the perfect idea because when she turned 16, she could leave and travel the world. Then she would meet a nice guy in some random city and marry him as they did in the movies but she wanted to see the world first.
"See the world?" Her mom chuckled. "How old are you? Seven?" She looked Myra up and down.
"I'm ten, mom. It was my birthday yesterday." Myra told her and her mom shrugged her shoulders.
"Good. Another eight years and then you're out." Her mom said to her.
Myra frowned. She never knew why they hated her so much. Why bring her into the world if she was going to be hated this much?
"Myra, you're too young yet. We can talk about this later." Alpha Tom walked towards her.
"No!" She stomped her foot on the ground. "I'm not marrying someone ugly!" She shouted loudly as Alpha Tom walked up the stairs.
"He's an Alpha. Show some respect." Alpha Tom growled at her.
She glared at him. "No. I'm not marrying someone ugly." Myra crossed her arms with Mr. Cuddles tightly in her hands.
She didn't see it coming. She didn't hear her parents laughing or the growl from Alpha Tom as he slapped her across the face. She screamed and she fell to the ground.
"Don't you dare disrespect an Alpha!!"
"Get in." Her dad growled at her as he pushed her down the stairs to the basement.
Myra quickly held onto the railing so she wouldn't fall down the stairs and into the darkness.
"Walk." Her dad growled behind her as he kicked her in the back.
Myra let go of the railing and she walked downstairs into the darkness.
The darkness was what made it fun for her parents. Myra silently walked up to the chain in the corner. She knew where everything was, she had been down here a thousand times.
She took a deep breath and let it out as she wiped her tears.
Ready to heal me? She asked softly in her mind.