Warning: This chapter contains discussions of violence. Reader discretion is advised.

***

I thought my father believed me, but he didn’t.

“I shall deliver the judgment now!” he said as he stood at the podium.

“Dad, please. I didn’t do any of those. I didn’t know I was a rogue! I didn’t seduce Beta Erick! You have to believe me!” I kept begging him to believe me, but it was like he didn’t hear any of my words.

With those two wrongdoings, I could only think of death as the punishment. I couldn’t die today! I haven’t done anything I want to do! I haven’t experienced what I want to experience! I haven’t found love!

“Aleena, your punishment is...” Alpha Andre started saying. Please, Goddess, I don’t want to die... Please help me! I kept praying to the Moon Goddess.

“Banishment!” he announced, and I gasped. I looked at the man whom I had until just now still called ‘Father’.

“No, Alpha. You can’t banish me! Please don’t banish me!” I again pleaded, now with tears on my face. Banishment was worse than death, especially for a she-wolf. Rogue she-wolves were usually raped and then eventually killed by male werewolves. Death seemed like a better option now.

This couldn’t be happening. Why is this all happening to me? Today was supposed to be a joyful day of celebration. Why did it go wrong like this?

“Aleena, now you are no longer a member of the Black Heart Pack!” he banished me with that one last sentence, and I gasped as I felt all the ties with the pack members being snapped away.

It was like hundreds of threads being cut off.

Snapped, snapped, snapped... And SNAPPED, I felt the last tie—the one with Alpha Andre—being severed, and I felt all my strength being drained away from my body, so that I could do nothing but sit back on my heels, still with my hands tied behind my back.

It’s official now... I’m no longer a Black Heart Pack member... I am now a wolfless and weak rogue she-wolf.

I had no strength in my body and could do nothing as the two warriors yanked me up and dragged me away from the judgment room out of the pack grounds toward the pack’s border. Once I set foot across the border, there would be no turning back.

Once in front of the border, one of them cut the ropes tying my hands, and the other shoved me forward, causing me to tumble across the border. They didn’t even let me leave with dignity.

“Go now! You don’t belong here anymore,” one of them said coldly, and the two of them turned to leave.

“Wait! Please, you can’t leave me here! At least drop me off outside the forest!” I begged them, but they didn’t stop walking away from me; they didn’t even turn to look at me.

I turned toward the forest behind me, and my body shivered involuntarily at the vast expanse.

This forest was what separated the pack grounds from the nearest human civilization. If pack members’ wolves needed to run, they would use the woods on the other side.

The nearest human civilization... That’s it! Suddenly, I had a lightbulb moment. If I could get into the human town, I could get a job and live as a human! My fear of what was coming next was replaced by determination.

I entered the forest and felt chills down my spine. It was so eerily quiet and dark, even though it wasn’t even afternoon yet. The trees were old and huge, covering the sky and keeping the sun from shining through. But I would NOT give up! With the thought of living as a human, I began walking through the woods...

***

I staggered through the forest. It had been two days since I was banished and started walking, yet I was still stuck here. I had no idea where I was going; everything looked the same—only trees and nothing else. There were no paths to follow, no river to get water.

My dress was torn, my lips chapped from not having a single drop of water for two days, and I was sure I had a dragon in my stomach from the way it growled.

I slumped down at the nearest tree to rest. Leaning back, I closed my eyes, wishing for someone to come and save me.

Just as I was thinking about it, I heard a noise. I stopped breathing and tried to listen harder. Did my mind play a trick on me? But the noise kept coming closer, and I was sure it was the voices of two people talking.

I stood up with hope and began walking toward the source of the voices. I’m going to be saved!

But when I reached them, I felt dejected. Those two voices belonged to the warriors from the Black Heart Pack—the ones who left me here all alone.

“You really are STILL here,” one of them chuckled as they noticed me.

What does he mean by that? Should I be somewhere? Oh yeah... the nearest human town.

“And whose fault is THAT?” I mocked bitterly. They were the ones who left me here.

“Know your place, rogue,” one of them growled at me.

“It’s kind enough that Alpha Andre sent us here to steer you in that direction. Don’t use that tone on us,” the other growled.

Is Alpha Andre helping me? Did he actually believe me? He’s still my father, after all. I felt hope rise in my heart again.

“Don’t get your hopes up. You are still a traitor in his eyes, and you are still banished,” one of them said, and my heart fell at his words.

“Then why is he helping me?” I asked, still denying that Alpha Andre no longer cared about me.

“That’s a matter of the pack,” the other spoke.

“But before that...” the burly one said with a sly smile as he looked me up and down.

Before that?

“If you think you can satisfy the Beta, I’m sure you can satisfy us too,” he said with that same sly smile still on his face, his eyes on my exposed leg.

The right side of my dress was torn as it was caught on a bush of twigs, exposing my right leg.

I instinctively stepped back and tried to cover my leg with what was left of the bottom part of my dress.

“Come on, don’t be shy. You seduced Beta Erick; let us taste you too,” the smaller one joined in on that lewd thought.

No, no... I shook my head and took another step back. I wouldn’t let them touch me!

I turned around and began running away from them as fast as I could. But how could human-like speed compare to the speed of werewolves?

Not even ten steps away, I fell face-first to the ground, and I was pinned down from behind.

I struggled with all my might, but after walking for two days without food or water, my struggle must have felt like nothing to them.

“We have a feisty little one here,” the smaller one, the one who pinned me down, laughed lewdly.

“It’s better if they put up a little fight rather than just lie there quietly,” the burly one added.

“This is what a rogue is for—to satisfy our needs,” the smaller one said as he tore my dress in two.

I kept struggling despite knowing my strength could not compare to these two disgusting werewolves.

“Look at those tits. I’m going to have a fun time with them later, after you,” the burly one told his friend.

“No! No! No!” I screamed as I kept kicking and somehow managed to kick the smaller one on top of me in his groin.

He raised his hand.

“Noooo!!!” I closed my eyes in fear and screamed with all my might before I felt his fist connect with my cheek. The force was so strong that my mouth was instantly filled with a coppery taste of blood.

“Fucking slut!” he growled and raised his fist again.

I tried to scream again, but I couldn’t, and I felt him punch my cheek once more. This second hit felt even worse than the first. I felt like he had shattered my face. I tried to struggle again, but I began seeing stars, and then blackness descended upon me.