Chapter 5 Scolded

• The night air stung my lungs as I tried hard to remember the path to the Moonbeam Pack. Running away from an enemy while not knowing your path is more dangerous than outright facing your enemy in a fight.
• I hope my savior has contained him within his grip. Or killed him.
• I paused for a heartbeat, each step a struggle against the sharp pain radiating from my wounds. I almost forget about the pain that the thorns that shredded my clothes and skin has lingered, my broken back was still aching.
• “Fuck,” I uttered, my breath came in ragged gasps, the rusty scent of my blood might have attracted other Rogues already. I just hope they don’t come right away for me.
• Just as I was about to rest on a rock, a series of growls and snarling echoed. I’m pretty sure it came from the two Rogues still fighting. I’m pretty sure...that my father will scrutinize me and scold me for the danger I put myself into, and the dangers it meant for the pack.
• I inhaled a sharp breath and told myself that resting for one more second will just allow me to be captured by that vicious Rogue again. Even when every step forward felt harder, the thought of home kept me moving.
• I want to lie down in my bed now. I want to sink down in a delicious warm bath and clear my head from the dilemma currently swarming my mind, including Lazel and Homer and my father’s demands.
• And as soon as I got up, I latched onto a sprint.
• The thick trees thinned as the familiar scent of my packlands filled my lungs. The smell of honeydews and jasmine invaded my senses. Just a mile from where I halted, the towering ivory statues that marks my pack’s borders loomed in the distance. Calling me. Beckoning me to run faster.
• My vision blurred, but I still pushed forward. “Just a little more,” I whispered to myself. “I almost there—”
• I stumbled into a clearing. No, not just a clearing. I collided with someone!
• My heart beats faster as my eyes slowly go up, up, and into this someone’s face. ‘Please don’t let it be another Rogue,’ I prayed. ‘Please, please, please.’
• "Rhiannon?" It was Rowan’s smooth but deep voice that wake me up from my worrying, his tone was sharp with concern. My brother, rhe Alpha’s heir who always seemed calm and composed, now looked shaken as he took in my bloodied face and torn clothing and that foul scent that clinged around.
• “You’re hurt,” he growled and then looked around. “Did a Rogue did this to you?” His golden eyes darkened as he surveyed my arms, my neck, and my abdomen. His jaw clenched. “What happened to you? Who did this to you?!”
• My brother had always been protective of me. But today...he seemed far more concerned. Probably because it will him who father will scold the most for me being in this beaten.
• My father’s bride-for-sale to Alpha Azriel, beaten by black and blue by a Rogue, all because her older brother haven’t keep a tight watch on her.
• I shook my head. This is all my fault.
• “I’ve been looking for you. You run away and—you’ve been gone for a fucking hour.” He exhaled an exasperated breath as he wrapped an arm around me and helped me walked faster. “Father has been immensely worried about you. Homer and Lazel too.”
• I almost choked on a laugh. “Oh? I never thought that Homer and Lazel can be worry about someone else. All they worry are themselves.”
• Rowan paused to look at me. “They are Betas, your friends. Are you still angry at them? At father? At...at me?” his voice become low as he uttered the last few words.
• “Rowan...” I looked at him in the eyes. “You are my brother, and perhaps the only one that really, really cared about me.” I shook my head and sighed. “No, I am not angry with you. Though I’m not sure if I can say the same with the others.”
• As if it’s the only words he’d been waiting, he smiled. Then, he gripped me tightly and we run towards the packhouse and away from the forest.
• ***
• “Where’s father?” I asked my brother as he put me down a long chair. The infirmary, though quite creepy in the dark and lit with a single light source, was enough to let me sigh in relief.
• “I am here.” Before he could answer, our father, Alpha Dorian of the Moonbeam Pack, strode in. He took one look on my overall appearance and winced. “Why is the Healer taking so long?!” he demanded.
• Just then, the female Healer that I’ve known since I was young rushed towards me with supplies in hand.
• “Be quick,” he whispered. As the Healer worked on me, I began to cringe and embarassed at myself. But his face looks neutral, though his presence was commanding and unyielding.
• His gaze swept over me again, his narrowing at the sight of my grave wounds as the healer began to clean them and stitch them.
• Rowan is silent again beside our father, but he smiled weakly at me.
• Our father noticed it and side-glanced him. His gaze returned to me a heartbeat later. “Who did this?” he asked to none of us in particular, his voice low and dangerous. But I can feel that the question is directly pointed at me.
• “Father,” I began. “It’s just an accident—”
• “Rogues,” Rowan blurted. I watched him swallow hard, forcing himself to stand tall despite the agony coursing through his body. The agony of the sight of me and the agony of our father’s fearful presence behind him. “Rogues,” he repeated.
• “Father, I fought one,” I added even with a broken voice. “He nearly killed me—until another Rogue appeared and drove him off.”
• The Alpha looked at both of us, his eyes studying me and then my brother and then back to me. His fists clenched at his sides. “So a Rogue attacked you and then another Rogue saved you?”
• Sharp incredulity reverberated in his tone, and I can’t blame him. That was my reaction when my savior Rogue appeared out of nowhere.
• Alpha Dorian’s expression darkened in a blink of an eye. “And why are you out there alone in the first place?”
• “I...” Remembering the reason why I run away, remembering the argument that I had with him before everything went forest-deep shit, I lowered my eyes. “I went out for fresh air, for a place to think. For a place to be alone.”
• “And yet, look at you now?!” My father scolded, his tone rising. But when he see me grimaced and bit my lip strongly as the healer stitched my wounds, his voice become soft again. “You could have died, Rhiannon!”
• “I almost did, Father,” I choked.