Chapter 3 Escaping Death's Door

• Chapter 3 – Escaping Death's Door
• Liliana
• The silence was deafening.
• I could practically hear everyone's heartbeat. But their heartbeat isn't the loudest thing in the room. My heart was.
• “What?” The assassin called Max and the one that was about to decapitate me said in unison.
• “Bring her to me, Landen. In one piece,” the Alpha said to the men and immediately turned away, storming out of the shed.
• Landen dropped the sword on a table, his brows furrowed in confusion.
• Max gave him an equally confused look, and they both pulled me up and dragged me to the pack house. A gloomy building that was nothing like the one back at home
• As they dragged me through the uneven terrain of the road, all I could think about was what the Alpha of the pack was going to do to me. Fear didn't begin to describe how I felt.
• Was he going to do something evil to me? Like, force me? He stared at me like he recognised me, or was it all in my head?
• Whatever it was, this was my chance to plead with him to release me.
• I stumbled onto the pack house, not having time to take in the gloominess of the place.
• The tall, towering man that they'd called Alpha was standing at the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring outside. His body was stiff and taut as if he'd just had the worst news of his life.
• I didn't need a priest to tell me that I was the bad news.
• I held my breath, my body shaking from the cold I had endured for the past five hours.
• Landen walked up to him and then paused, probably afraid to approach him or maybe just wary. I wasn't sure.
• “Gerald, what's going on?” Landen asked, finally gathering the courage to approach his Alpha.
• That was his name?
• Gerald didn't say anything and didn't even acknowledge his presence.
• For a minute, I thought he was not going to say anything until he slowly turned to look at me.
• My breath caught. Even though I knew he could kill me at any moment, I couldn't help but admire his physique. He was an older man. Probably in his late 30s or so.
• I chastised myself. This was no time to think about stupid things. I was going to die soon, except he decided to keep me alive, which, from the look of things, seemed a little unlikely.
• It was over.
• Maybe if I seduced him.
• I shook my head. A man like that couldn't be seduced.
• He was too ruthless.
• “Take her upstairs to one of the rooms for now,” he said to Landen without looking at him.
• “But boss, she is supposed to be dead by now.”
• “Don't make me repeat myself, Landen,” he gritted, finally tearing those stormy, unreadable eyes away from me to look at Landen, who I was starting to think was either his Beta or Gamma.
• “Yes, Alpha”, With that, Landen bounced towards me menacingly and grabbed me from the ground unceremoniously.
• My eyes locked with Gerald's eyes, and for a moment, I felt like I was being pulled into a whirlwind, but then Gerald turned me around to the opposite direction.
• “What are you going to do to me?” I asked, but they didn't answer. It seemed like everyone here was just as confused as I was.
• I was immediately thrown into a well-lit room, and the door slammed shut behind me. I scrambled to my feet and ran to try to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.
• I sighed, backing away from the door, my mind reeling.
• Ria, my wolf, was conveniently quiet, not even panicking a little bit while I was going insane.
• I knew I only had a matter of time before they came back to kill me.
• One thing about the Ravagers was that you couldn't see their faces and not be dead, and I had seen all of their faces.
• I was dead no matter what. And if I wasn't, I wouldn't be allowed out of here.
• I had to escape. Go to Damon’s pack. My fiancée's. He would be able to clear my name, and I could return to the pack. We were supposed to be married in two weeks and ascend the throne as per tradition.
• I looked around the unfamiliar room. It was surprisingly clean, nothing like the Shed.
• A soft bed sat in the middle, untouched, like it had been waiting for me. My heart pounded. There was no window in the room. Which meant I was trapped.
• A stream of light caught my eyes from the far right of the room, and I realised that it was a window.
• I bolted towards my salvation and pulled the curtains apart only to be extremely disappointed.
• The window had been barred as if it had anticipated my escape.
• I shook in fear. Whatever they were talking about downstairs wouldn't last. They'd come up here and kill me soon; I could feel it in my bones.
• Shit.
• Shit
• I tried the door again, but nothing. I was trapped.
• I felt the urge to puke, so I ran to the bathroom, but as soon as I got there, a rush of hope took over me.
• In the bathroom, there was a window. It was barred but broken.
• I could easily escape.
• I didn't waste a second.
• Shoving the broken window frame open, I hoisted myself up, ignoring the sharp edges that scraped my arms. Cold air hit my face like a slap, but it smelt like freedom.
• I bit back a cry as I forced my body through the narrow space, feeling metal dig into my side. My breath came in shallow gasps as I landed roughly on the damp earth behind the house.
• I was out.
• I scanned the darkness. These were trees. Lots of them. If I could just get into the woods, I might have a chance. I darted along the edge of the building, crouched low, listening for any sound, any shift of gravel or cracking batch.
• My feet were bare, but I didn't care; I kept moving, heart thundering, chest tight with adrenaline and fear.
• A side door came into view, slightly ajar, like someone had forgotten to shut it. I slipped inside, praying it would lead me towards the back exit.
• But instead, I found myself in a hallway, with dim lighting and lined with doors.
• I could smell the dirt and hear the hum of moving cars from a distance. I just had to come out from the hallway.
• "Almost there," I whispered, forcing my legs to move even though they were already trembling.
• Then I turned a corner and suddenly slammed into a wall of muscle.
• My breath ceased as I slowly looked up to find Gerald.
• His expression was blank. Cold. His eyes pinned me in place like a wolf watching a rabbit try to flee.
• "Going somewhere?" He asked, voice deadly calm.
• I froze.
• My escape was over before it even began.