Lone Wolf || bxb

Chapter 1

I've just got to keep going a little longer. I'm almost out of the woods that surround me and if I just keep going north, just a little longer, I think I'll reach a town with the way a mass of scents get carried through the wind from that direction. I have to be careful though. I'm sure there are still more of them behind me but the closer they get to town the more careful they have to be. If I can just get out of the woods before they get to me then I'll be okay.

I'll be okay. Just keep going.

My ear flinches and I hear twigs snapping behind me, and not even that far away. Then I can hear the drum of paws, that aren't my own, beating against the hard ground. I will my wolf to run faster, as fast as I could possibly go even if it means my legs fall off. I cannot let them capture me again but it doesn't help that the wound in my side is searing with pain and my eyes are becoming blurry.

I'm still going, but they're only getting closer. I'm terrified I'm not going to make it. Come on, I think. Come on.

Suddenly I see a clearing in the woods and the town in the distance, but the wolves I can hear behind me are closing in. They should have stopped by now. There's no way they'd allow themselves to be this open right now and I know I was doing the same, but I was acting out of desperation. They can't want me so badly they'd risk getting caught.

Then there aren't wolves just behind me but they start closing in on me from in front as well, and when I tried to take a detour to the right more of the showed up out of nowhere. I almost ran in a full circle before I stopped and realised I was surrounded.

My vision was still very much blurry but I did at last understand. These wolves weren't the same I was running from before. No, these were pack wolves.

But why would pack wolves be so abundant and with such a lack of caution of being spotted so close to a town. Unless this wasn't a regular town at all.

Now that I had stopped running, my brain had caught up with the fatigue and brokenness of my body. My legs wobbled and I could barely keep myself standing straight. With being surrounded by significantly larger and very much angry wolves and the stabbing pain in my side which only got worse with every intake of air, I knew there would be no escape.

In my delirious and panicked state, I must not have realised territory markers and ran into a pack by accident. The problem is packs are very traditional and have an extremely old-fashioned way of thinking and they get incredibly offended by any intruder that may have wondered onto their land even by mistake.

If I wasn't injured and extremely tired, even with these lot surrounding me I was so fast I could probably have made a run for it but there was no use trying now. I had to play it smart. I needed to do everything I could which wouldn't aggravate them further in the hopes that they would listen to me when I explain to them that I meant no threat or disrespect by coming here.

They were all growling aggressively, which I thought was a bit of an overkill considering there was literally no way out of my predicament right now. I saw one of them go behind a tree and start to shift, her bones making the typical snapping and cracking sounds as they rearranged and disappeared or appeared to reform the skeleton of a human body.

The brunette came back with a large shirt on covering just enough of her, I could see other pieces of clothing tied around the branches of other trees ready to be used if anyone shifted back to their human form and didn't wish to be seen naked.

"Shift," the woman said calmly. No force was used behind that command as I would have expected considering she was second in command with the Beta symbol, of a lowercase beta from the Greek alphabet, evident on her neck right above what looked like a mate mark.

I tried to move away behind a tree so I could shift as she instructed but as soon as I took a step the growls increased, and they all took a step closer, so my little circle of freedom was even smaller. "If you have the nerve to come into our territory without permission then you can shift right where you are," the Beta made clear. I didn't want to do this but what choice did I have? Pack wolves can be so impulsive they may choose to kill me right here for breathing wrongly. I hated the idea of them all seeing my body nude though. My scars weren't pleasant, and I knew they would ask questions about the symbol at the top of my spine if and when they got the chance.

With any energy I had left I willed my wolf to shift back into my human form. I stayed there on the ground cowered over so the beta knew I wasn't trying to oppose her dominance over and so I could at least hide my genitals.

The beta came right up to me and circled around me as she took me in, and I stared at the ground. Shifting only made my vision worse and I knew if I were asked to stand I could not do that right now. I felt her warm finger touch the symbol on my back and I flinched. My body started to shiver as well but I think that may have been more due to my blood loss. I started to hear a ringing in my ears and the world started spinning along with my impaired vision.

"Get up," she demanded but I could not. The ringing was only getting louder, and my wolf was whining in my head. I must look so weak to them right now but what could I do.

I think I heard her say something else, maybe to me or the other wolves but I could barely comprehend it. I think I may have heard more bones cracking but after that there was only darkness and everything was silent.

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Thank you to everyone who will be joining us on this journey, I hope you enjoy the story!

Also, there's no other author's note at the end of chapters until like chapter 7 because for some reason I just didn't write one 🤷🏻‍♀️😅

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