Chapter 3 Being chased

His eyes were cold and hollow. Revealing no emotion behind them.

"A bond I intend to break"

The statement plays over in my head. Maybe I heard wrong, or I'm confused, or he misspoke, but he clearly did not just say he wanted to break our bond.

Right?

"What did you say, Exol?" I ask for clarification because clearly, I heard wrong.

His stance doesn't break, his gaze doesn't falter, and his speech is clear when he repeats himself, " I intend to break this bond".

No. No. No.

He goes to sit on his bed just at the corner of the room by the window, the only source of light here. He's casual in his actions...too casual.

"Why?" I ask softly, not understanding what's happening.

He turns to me, the look in his eyes bare, hardened and for a second flashed to red before returning to grey. "I don't want you," he says, his voice sharp.

"Why?" I ask again, the strings of my heart slowly detaching.

"Are you dumb?" He asks before laughing maniacally. He moves suddenly, closing the space between us in a second. The only barrier between us was the metal bars. His presence is overwhelming, and I feel Rudina retreat slightly, cowering in what felt dangerously close to fear. "I knew who you were the moment I turned twenty; why do you think I never bothered to come to find you?".

I remain silent, searching his face with my eyes. I try to find a facade somewhere within his expression. A giveaway that maybe he was pulling my legs for good measure.

But I don't.

"I am an alpha!" He says sternly, his eyes piercing into mine. "I cannot be the mate to an omega! I refuse it!" He shouts sneering at me with so much hatred.

An omega?

"I didn't know, I..." I try to speak but he cuts me off.

"No mate of mine will be an omega!" He says in a final tone.

The words sting. My eyes water and it blurs my vision, but I don't blink. My heart physically aches and I feel it everywhere.

In my eyes that slowly throb, in my hands that begin to shake, in my knees that buckle, and suddenly, I can't hold up my weight.

I can feel Rudina tremble. I reach for her to comfort her but she rejects my touch and fades away in embarrassment.

It's not her fault she's an omega. The moon goddess assigns these ranks not us.

I'm forced to the ground by the sudden weakness that takes over me. I use my hands and knees to break my fall and, in the process, scrape them. But I can't feel them. The pain I feel is far worse. It's heart-wrenching.

I can't move. I can't breathe; my lungs close up and refuse air from penetrating. I keep my eyes on the floor below me, trained on the splatters of blood from my wounded limbs.

It's all too much. I struggle with my weight lifting myself off the ground.

I need to get out of here!

I stagger as I move, my knees barely keeping me above, but I move. I needed to leave; the pain was too much. I take the path I came from using my wounded hands on the wall as my guide.

Most of the lanterns were burnt out and I could barely see. I take a turn to my right but bump into a hard wall instead.

The impact forces me to the ground on my buttons. That hurt. I lift off once more to continue my exit when I hear a low growl.

What could that be?

I stop in my tracks praying silently to the moon goddess that my mind was playing tricks on me, but I hear it again. Slightly louder.

Closer.

My survival instincts kick in, and I ignore the weakness in my bones and the pain in my heart forcing my legs to move faster. My walking turns to a slow jog when I hear the sound growing closer and closer with every step I take.

I take to running, and I can hear the footsteps in my tracks. Whatever was after me was fast. Really fast.

Fear quickly rises in me. One minute, I'm meeting my mate, and he's rejecting me, and the next, I'm running for my life from a creature I know not the status of in a hallway that is strongly longer than before, one I can barely see in.

I see a corridor up ahead, one that light emanates from, and I speed for it, hoping for some leverage in this chase. Once I reach it, I'm met with a door that I don't think twice of before opening and shutting the door behind me.

I rush to the corner of the room and crunch down in a panic position facing the door, my knees to my chest with my hands encircling my body.

I hear the footsteps stop just in front of the door, and I hold my breath, scared that whatever was out there could hear me.

Dear moon goddess save me!

I could hear the heavy breathing and slow rustly growling coming from the creature but that wasn't the sound of a werewolf. I've lived around many enough to know what one sounded like.

A werewolf was a more unstable version of a dog; we pant when in wolf form, and we growl but never this deep, never this guttural.

This. Was. Not. A. Werewolf.

This was more primal and dark. Something of a greater stature, I could see from the little space at the end of the door...big, black bumpy...feet.

Feet? Werewolves had paws!

The door handle starts to rattle, and it slowly starts to twist to the side. I shut my eyes, Praying and wishing and begging that the creature doesn't come in.

The movement stops abruptly, and I hear no sound coming from the other side; the heavy breathing vanishes, and the growling stops.

The silence threatened to swallow me whole; all I could hear was the sound of my heartbeat, frantic, and the walls started to seem like they were closing in on me, trapping me in this little room.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open.