Chapter 3 Running

"Keep walking," she said to herself. "Just keep going."

But when she walked by an alley, she felt something on her skin that made her feel like someone was watching her. She turned back, but there was no one there. Just a few people walking by and a car horn in the distance. She shook her head and let out a breath. It was nothing at all.

Then, a low laugh came from behind her, sounding too much like something she knew. Her heart skipped a beat. She turned hastily and looked around the gloomy lane. Nothing.

Her heart raced, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

"Who's there?" she yelled, her voice shaking.

A bunch of men with dark, predatory eyes came out of the darkness. One of them went forward and looked straight at her, his eyes showing that he knew her.

"You don't belong here, Serena," he murmured in a hushed voice, nearly a whisper.

Serena's stomach turned. She stepped back. She felt panic rising in her chest. They knew her.

She ran.

Serena slammed the door behind her and leaned her back against it, panting for air. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, but it wasn't simply from sprinting. She was shaking all over, as if she couldn't shake off the weight of her own memories.

The new apartment was small and bare, with only a bed, a chair, and a lonely kitchen table. It felt like a jail. There was no pack here, no Lucien, and no one else.

But even when it was quiet, the past screamed at her.

He was there again when she closed her eyes. Lucien. His harsh words still cut through her, and every "curse" and "weakness" rang like a bell. His face was stern and icy, and everyone could see that he didn't want her.

"Everything will be ruined because of you," his voice rang in her thoughts, sharp as a dagger.

"Stop," she said softly, putting her hands over her eyes to block everything out. The ache was too much to bear.

But the truth was that she couldn't get away from him no matter how far she ran.

She shook all over when the loneliness hit her like a tsunami. She could still feel the burn of Lucien's touch and the warmth of his arms before things went wrong.

A sudden, searing ache hit her chest, making her gasp for oxygen. That was too much. Too much to hold.

The apartment was too cold and quiet. Serena covered herself with a blanket and lay down on the bed, but she couldn't stop shivering. The darkness outside seemed to crawl in, making the room feel heavy and oppressive.

Her wolf was still quiet-quiet and out of reach. She had been hoping for a sign of it for days, but there was none. Not a growl, not a change in the air. Nothing.

But then, something inside her moved.

It wasn't really her wolf. It was colder and darker, and there was an energy that hummed under her skin.

She stood up all of a sudden, her heart racing. She couldn't stay here. She had to go again, get away from whatever this was.

But she didn't know where to go.

The crack in the window let in a cold wind, which made Serena's eyes flutter shut. That tug again, the one she couldn't ignore.

It felt like the room was closing in all of a sudden. Her heart raced, and her body shook with a need she couldn't control. Her fists were tight.

She wanted to get away. As far away from Lucien, the pack, and anything else as possible.

But it wasn't simply her choice anymore.

Her wolf moved, but not in the way she had hoped. It was a dark, dangerous entity that scratched at her from the inside. A power she couldn't handle.

She gasped, and her breath came in short bursts.

It wasn't finished. Not a single thing. It had just started.

As Serena walked into the alley, her footsteps were muted by the wet ground, and her gaze went from shadow to shadow. The city felt different now: empty, heavy, and chilly. She thought she would find calm in this new existence, away from the pack and Lucien's bitter rejection.

But the quiet was scary. Her wolf, the part of her that used to growl with energy, was calm and buried deep inside her, refusing to come out. Every night, she lay awake, hoping to feel her wolf move, but every time, all she felt was silence.

"Just breathe," she said to herself, her voice shaking as she got to her new home, a little apartment hidden away in an area of the city that no one else knew about. It should have seemed like a way out, but it felt like a jail.

As she went inside, the lightest breeze touched her skin. She stopped and listened.

Her senses shouted at her that she wasn't alone.

Her heart raced. Was it just her imagination?

No. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Someone was watching her.

She reached for the door with shaking hands. And then the whisper came back, this time louder.

Serena ran through the city all night, gasping for breath. The streets turned into a tunnel, and the sounds of the city faded away behind her. She couldn't stay in one spot for long because she felt like someone or something was following her.

She stumbled into an empty park, breathing heavily. Her legs hurt, but her gut told her to keep going. Something was pushing her forward, and her body seemed heavier, as if she were carrying more than just her own weight. There was a faint stir of her wolf that pulled at her, but it was weak and far away, drowned out by an unseen force pushing on her.

Then a chill went through her and settled in her bones. There was a rogue pack nearby. Their smell made her nose sting.

A low growl came out of nowhere and resonated into the dark.

"Serena," a voice said from behind her.

Her heart stopped. The person that came out of the dark was tall and broad-shouldered, and their eyes shone with a brightness she couldn't escape.

"Riven?" she said in a voice that was both scared and shocked.

            
            

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