Chapter 8 Escape - II

• He knew he deserved punishment from the goddess for what he had done in the past, but wasn't joining him to such a difficult little creature too much of a punishment?
• He moved in a second.
• The doors to the hall opened abruptly as Alaric ran down the corridor. His feet pounded against the stone floor, the shadows bouncing off the walls as he went.
• He ran down the castle steps like a beast, his eyes already glowing an intense red. When he reached the outer courtyard, he stopped for a second, sniffing the air. Her scent was there… slowly drifting away.
• “Annoying little thing…” he muttered once more.
• He ran over to where the makeshift rope was still swinging slightly in the bedroom window. Her eyes scanned the floor and found the mark of the fall, the loose sheets, and footprints in the soft earth. A deeper footprint… and a little blood.
• She was injured.
• “Where does she think she's going?” Alaric asked himself, with a snarl that locked his jaw.
• He looked at the trail left in the dirt and, in the distance, her silhouette, half staggering, disappearing between the dark trees of the forest.
• “Damn girl…” he hissed, his chest rising and falling with fury.
• He wasn't used to being challenged like that, especially by a human.
• Without hesitation, his muscles tensed, his bones crackled, and the alpha's body began to transform. The beast inside him roared to be released, and Alaric gave in to instinct. His eyes turned completely red, his hands elongated into claws, his face stretched into a menacing muzzle, and, in one violent leap, he disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
• The hunt had begun.
• And he would happily hunt his little companion through the forest.
• The trees closed in around her like walls, and the branches seemed like hands trying to grab her as she ran through the dark forest. Eulalia could barely feel her feet touching the ground. Her ankle throbbed with pain at every step, but fear was stronger than the pain. Her dress, torn by the sharp tips of the branches, clung to her legs with the icy dew of dawn. She ran without looking back, her loose hair flying like a black cloak under the silver moonlight.
• “Just keep going. Keep going,” she whispered to herself, breathless, her chest burning and her eyes brimming with tears. “It doesn’t matter where… I just need to get far away from here.”
• The cold made her cheeks sting, but it was the sound behind her that made her tremble to the bone. It started as a low noise, barely noticeable at first, and slowly took shape: growls. Heavy paws against the wet ground, branches snapping.
• “It can’t be him… He couldn’t have gotten here so fast, could he?” she thought, swallowing hard.
• In her desperation to escape, she hadn’t thought much about what might be in that forest. She believed the worst thing in those lands was Alaric and his pack—but what if there were worse monsters out here?
• What if there were other wolves?
• Eulalia looked back and saw them—or rather, she saw their eyes, gray, lifeless, and dull.
• She didn’t know enough to understand that those wolves were rogues, creatures without an alpha, who hunted and killed for sport and nothing more. But even without knowing what they were, just looking at those monsters, she could tell they weren’t like Alaric and his wolves.
• That terrified her.
• “No, no… please, no…”
• The howls tore through the silence of the woods, and Eulalia’s heart clenched tighter, despair burning in her veins like poison. Those wolves would show her no mercy; of that she was sure… They were circling her, toying with her like she was nothing but prey.
• Like she was a target.
• She tried to run faster, even with the pain ripping through her ankle like a blade. She leapt over a root, slipped on a damp stone, braced herself against a tree, and staggered forward. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the cold sweat.
• She was in pure panic.
• The ground became rougher, with sharp stones cutting into the soles of her bare feet. As she ran, Eulalia felt the eyes of the monsters on her back—furious, brutal—she knew they were ready to tear her throat out the moment she gave up.
• Suddenly, the sound changed. One of the wolves howled too loud, and she knew—they were ready.
• They were going to attack.
• “No!” she screamed, stumbling over her own feet and crashing hard onto the leaf-covered ground. She rolled down the slope, hitting dry branches until she came to a stop at the base of a twisted tree, her forehead slamming into the trunk, splitting the delicate skin and sending blood trickling down her face.
• Eulalia tried to get up, but her ankle gave out and the world spun, making her fall to her knees. She looked around, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst from her chest. She couldn’t see anything clearly—the moonlight barely pierced the thick canopy, and she could hardly see a hand in front of her face.
• Until the eyes began to appear.
• Glowing dots among the trees. One, two… five pairs of eyes. Surrounding her. The air grew heavier. Eulalia tried to back away, but could only drag herself a few inches. Her fingers dug into the damp earth, her hair falling over her face like tangled veils.
• “Please… please…” she whispered, her voice trembling and hoarse. “Gods, help me.”
• One of the wolves stepped forward. Massive, its fur matted with mud and dried blood, its teeth bared a threat as it let out a brutal growl. Another wolf approached from the left, and a third from the right. They formed an arc around her, moving in with the cruel calm of hunters who knew their prey was helpless.
• Eulalia collapsed to the ground, face down, arms over her head, her whole body shaking.
• “Please don’t kill me! I… I just want to go home! I’m nothing to you! Please have mercy!” she cried, sobbing loudly. “I beg you… I beg the gods, save me!”
• But the gods seemed silent that night, and the wolves did not know mercy.
• The first wolf howled—a howl of victory. They had claimed the night’s prey. Then, a dry snap of branches breaking.
• The sound of paws charging forward.
• Eulalia screamed.
• But then, a roar tore through the night.
• Deep.
• Savage.
• A sound that belonged to no ordinary creature.