Chapter 3

Kiara

I peered my gaze at the six-foot figure that I had bumped into and failed to register what I had felt.

The figure wasn't Alpha Benna. He had dark eyes that had a faint orange glow to them. The glow wasn't that bright, and I was sure no one could see it from afar.

A frustrated voice, calling me a whore, told me I should stop whatever I was doing and jarred me from my trance.

"Hail the demon; take me with you to hell. I'm ready to burn eternally in your clutches rather than this man's." I dropped to my knees and begged the tall man, who squinted his brows in confusion.

At that moment, I didn't care if he was Lucifer himself, whom I had grown to hear, or the child's demon. I just wanted to get away from Alpha Benna and his men because I was sure if they caught me, I wouldn't survive.

"Demon?" The figure's deep voice, which could cause anyone's legs to wobble, asked in confusion.

"No, not a demon. Master Lucifer, please help me." I corrected myself, sure that he wasn't just a demon but Lucifer himself. The only thing he lacked was a pair of dark horns and a tail.

I don't know why he looked shocked and confused, but I didn't ask. Maybe he didn't expect someone to recognize him. "Please, Master Lucifer, don't leave me with them; they'll kill me."

I begged,bending much lower to kiss his feet when he turned his back on me.

Before he could respond to me or I could convince him once again to take me with him, I felt a sharp pain in my back.

I looked back only to see one of Alpha Benna's men throw the huge blade he always carried with him at me.

Its sharp blade dug deep into my shoulder, almost dislocating it. I gasped as a pool of blood formed under my knees.

This is not the way to die. No, I can't just give up. I told myself, gripped my knees, and forced them off the ground. I stumbled forward, tripping and falling, but after getting a grip on myself, I ran.

"What the hell?" I had one of my assultants cursing. I guess they thought the blade would weigh me down.

"Try running much harder, Mira. Don't look behind you; don't concentrate on the pain; just focus on your freedom and our freedom. My wolf,who hasn't conversed with me for years, encouraged me.

I ignored the idea of pulling the blade stuck on my shoulder and gripped it instead to stop more blood from oozing out.

Pushing all the pain behind me, I closed my eyes and flicked them open with determination glowing within them.

"I will get us out of here.'' I promised our freedom to my wolf, who purred in encouragement.

"Daughter of a demon!'' the man who had thrown the blade at me cursed while hurling stones at me.

One hit the back of my head, and I could feel a cold wetness dripping on my neck.

"Run, Mira, run," Alpha Benna's second-in-command's voice echoed in my head. He was among the people coming after me, but he encouraged me instead. "I won't fail you," I whispered, although I knew he wouldn't hear me.

Another stone came, but this time it didn't knock me on the back of my head but on the blade sticking out of my shoulder. The pressure increased, forcing me to the ground on my knees.

"Wake up, you asshole,'' my inner voice nudged, but I ignored it.

"For how long will I run? I can't escape him. The moon gods don't care about my existence, and neither does the demon who refused to help me, so why would I run? I'm tired. I'm really tired,'' I cried, curling myself on the ground.

"I can't run anymore; I can't," I whispered, looking at the sky above me.

It was bright blue, with no sun on it.

"Everything is at peace; expect me. I smiled bitterly, waiting for Alpha Benna's men to catch up with me.

I could feel their feet thumping closer and their sneers growing louder when they came to the realization that I had given up. The sounds of helicopters flying above echoed.

With a single glance at them, I knew whose helicopters they were. After flying for a while, they started coming down. "One, two, three, four, and five. I counted them, although weakly.

After the last came down,a tall man with a sky-blue suit and a smirk on his face walked toward me.

"Yezus, how many times should I say you are not allowed to run away from me?" He grinned while bending on one knee to rub my sunken cheeks.

"Just give up already; you are my property, Yezus, my property." He pulled me to my feet, snaking his rough hands around my neck while forcing me to look at him.

"Come home with me, my little one. I know it was a long run. Don't worry; I won't do anything to you as long as you cooperate with me. And mind you, I won't be taking no for an answer this time." His red eyes glowed with seriousness.

Pain shot through my body as he dragged me to his jet, but I didn't wince. I was so darn used to pain. I was fucking used to it.

I watched him as he took his phone from his pocket and called a number he had pinned as a favorite.

"Mariana, make sure my room is cleaned and expanded because my little Yezus has finally agreed to my proposal." He smirked at me while saying these things, his perveted red gaze glued to my almost-bare chest.

The maid's dress I was wearing was torn. How it happened, I don't know.

"Why can't you let me go?" I asked him, my voice dropping into a whisper.

He could get any woman he wanted with the snap of his finger, but why me? I wasn't beautiful; I was damaged and unwanted. I had no education and no brains, but he was after me.

So many times, I had succeeded in running away from him, but he followed me.

"Why don't you let me go? I am tired,"I closed my eyes, leaning my aching back on the seat's backrest.

I listened to my bones snapping and breaking as I leaned, wondering if someone of my age was supposed to experience this. I will be turning eighteen at midnight today, but my bones cracked like those of a ninety-year-old, as if letting the world know how tired I was.

"I can't let you go, Kia. I just can't," he murmured under his breath, but I heard him.

Of course, he can't let me go. How will he convince people to invest in his companies if I'm not there? How will he secure deals? How will he vent his anger now that I am the only punching bag he has?

"Just stop running away from me. Yezus, why don't you accept that you are forever mine? Also, don't forget who you are, who your father is, and how damaged you are. Do you think anyone will want to keep a person like you? Even if there's a will, do you think they'll still do it after knowing about you?" His question was more than a threat.

I closed my eyes, registering all that he had said. "What was I thinking?" I asked myself, a chuckle escaping my lips. "Who'll keep me? If my own father couldn't, will another person who isn't even my blood be able to?"

"I will stay with you, Alpha Benna. I won't run ever again," I found myself telling him, tears, which I don't know what triggered, dropping out of my eyes.

He gasped in shock, looked at me with confusion all over his face, and smiled, "Really?" You won't run away from home? You won't refuse me?" He asked in disbelief.

"Mmh,'' I hummed, bubbling my head up and down in agreement with my eyes still closed, ''running was of no use anyway. I can't outrun you, no matter how far I go." I chuckled, blinked my eyes open, and looked where the plane had landed.

I had reached far. Something that looked impossible even in my eyes,given that I still had a blade stuck on me.

I was just a few seconds into crossing the border. If I hadn't given up, if I hadn't curled there and waited for Alpha Benna's men, he would have never found me. But where would I have gone?

"I have never asked anything from you, Kiara, but freedom. Freedom to breathe without struggle, freedom to live without any wolfbane weakening me down, freedom to run around like every wolf When I thought I was about to reach it, you betrayed me.'' My wolf's shaky and broken voice snapped me out of my trance.

"If Alpha Benna's second in command betrayed his boss, hired men, bribed the guard on duty, and kept his own life together with his family's at risk just to help us out, why are you...?" She trailed.

My wolf's words hit me differently.

'I had promised her when we were kids that one day I would get her out of these suffocating conditions and take her to freedom. I had promised her to run in the woods and feel the cold air brushing past her furs, smell the blood of wild animals,and let her do every nice thing out there.

But what did I do? I turned out to be exactly like my father. I betrayed her, just like my father did to Mom and me, just like my relatives did to me when I ran for help. I was denying her rights just the way I was.

"I am sorry I..."

"No need to apologize, Kiara; this is the life you have chosen for us. We should embrace it,'' she said, cutting me off and then going silent.

"Is this the life I really want?" I found myself in doubt, a quandary overshadowing me. I turned to look at the man sitting beside me, who had been treating me nothing like a slave since he took me when I was ten.

"Do I wish to be his slave once again? Do I wish to be back as a punching bag? Do I wish to feel the same pain every night as he raped me again and again? Do I wish to...

"No, no, I don't want!" I found myself blurting these words out.

"What is it that you don't want? We are going home, my little Yezus. We are minutes away from beginning a new chapter of our lives. Alpha Benna grinned while reaching his hands out to me and squeezing my thighs.

Goosebumps filled my body as I realized what he meant by saying we would begin a new life. I looked outside and gasped to see that the jet was flying higher. With all the mighty force in me, I kicked the door open and jumped.

I winced when my side hit the ground. I rolled miles away, my body getting covered with the orange dust. I saw Alpha Benna's head peeping from above the plane, but I didn't wait for him or his men.

Picking myself up from the ground, I dashed forward toward my freedom. I stood to take a breath after I was sure I was far from Benna and his men.

"Look, is that a hill? We can hide there." My wolf forced me to look ahead of us.

With a slow, breaking breath, I took the small trail that I was sure would take us above the hill.

"There she is!" A voice yelled behind me, but I never looked back. Quickening my pace, I refused to prick out the thorn under my bare feet and pushed forward.

I heard voices, like many people calling out for me, saying I shouldn't climb the hill. I brushed them off, thinking it was Alpha Benna's men who were worried that once I was there, they would never be able to find me.

If that were to happen, then they would pay dearly. Everyone knew that Alpha Benna never liked it when his plans flopped. He liked everything going his way.

I never cared about that anyway. Let them face whatever consequences they have to. I said, inwardly determined, that I wouldn't let Benna's second-in-command plan fail. I was about to let him down, but not anymore.

While still sitting in the plane, I had him confess that when he heard I had reached that desert, he got scared because he knew once I had crossed its border, he would never be able to find me.

That was why he was left with no choice but to involve drones, private jets, and the pack military in coming after me.

"Goodbye Alpha Benna, goodbye slavery, welcome freedom." I felt a smile cover my face.

"We did it! We did it!" I chanted excitedly for my wolf to hear.

"Goodbye past life, welcome new life! I yelled in excitement, ignoring the pain and tiredness overpowering my body as I stepped into the white hill, which I wished I had known sooner was a landmine.

I felt my feet sinking into the hot, soily ground as the whole thing erupted around me.