Black Alder

I fled for my life. The forest passing by in a blur. I just needed to make it past the boarder. To safety.

"Faster...faster," I chanted, willing my legs to carry me through the trees. Random roots snagging at my bare ankles, thorns and stones digging into the soles of my feet. I could hear the warriors tracking me. They were close. Too close for comfort. If I gave up now I'd be as good as dead. My legs were burning from the energy I was exerting. Energy I didn't have. My body was running on pure adrenaline. Running so hard I could feel my heart pounding painfully against my chest. I knew there had been a chance I that I could die in my escape to freedom, but now, being so close to facing death, had I made the right choice?

I was startled awake by the booming sound of yelling close by. It only meant one thing. The alpha had returned from his journey to the Mountain Ash Pack and things hadn't gone his way.

I'd heard the maids gossiping about how Alpha Tyrion had planned for months to make a deal with the alpha of Mountain Ash in order to help Mud River Pack gain a successor, seeing as Tyrion was unmated and without so much as a bastard heir to take his place. It was rumored that Tyrion was sterile and incapable of getting it up. The thought of it being true made me giggle.

"Matilda! Bring that wretched little welp here now!" Alpha Tyrion boomed. The echo thundered to my quarters and shaking me from my train of thought. Matlida retrieved me with haste, unwilling to be on the receiving end of the alpha's temper. Alpha Tyrion was known far and wide for his short temper and harsh treatment of his pack. Treatment mostly delegated towards the orphans or unwanted members of the pack. Treatment I received on a daily, sometimes hourly basis for no rhyme or reason. I could only imagine the cruel punishment I would face this time for whatever the alpha deemed I had done wrong this time.

"Brace yourself Wren." I repeated to myself in the mirror as I took in my appearance. My hazel eyes were rimmed with dark circles, earned from recent sleepless nights. My pale skin was mottled with bruises in various stages of healing. I sighed as I hastily tied my copper ringlets in a bun on top of my head and headed carefully down the dark corridor to the alpha's meeting room.

"You requested my presence, alpha?" I muttered. Only letting fragments of sarcasm drip through.

"Guess, who just lost a deal with the alpha of the Mountain Ash Pack?" He retorted. His prominently wrinkled face contorting into a most hideous smirk. Alpha Tyrion was by no means a handsome man. He was balding in his middle age, his face lacked proper proportions, and was much too short in stature for the amount of narcissism that he radiated.

"And just who's fault do you think that is?" He sneered, grazing a claw across the soft flesh of my check. Not enough to do any major damage, but enough to draw blood.

I knew that, for some reason, this was going to somehow end up being my fault. How? No clue, but it always was. Whenever something seemed to go wrong it always turned out to be some fault of mine.

"And how do you plan on punishing me this time for your short comings?" I muttered under my breath. Realizing too late what I had done. No one dared speak back to Alpha Tyrion in such a manner.

"You insolent bitch!" He spat as the sting of his fist burned it's way across my face. "You  worthless piece of Trash! How dare you talk back to me! You're alpha!"

"You are no alpha of mine and one day I will be free of you!" My anger was getting the best of me and I knew this would only worsen my punishment.

"Take that stupid bitch to the dungeon and teach her a lesson about respect. If she loses an appendage, so be it." As Tyrion motioned for his warriors to take me away, the rage within me grew, and as they drug me away I managed to insult him further.

"You are the most cowardly alpha to ever exist and this pack will suffer under your rule!" I could see the sting in my words in his face for just a few moments but he recovered quickly as he motioned the warriors to stop.

"Why should I, alpha of Mud River Pack, care about what a useless orphan like you has to say? I mean, your own parents didn't want you." And by the look in my eyes he knew he had won. With a wave of his hand, the warriors resumed taking me back to the dungeon as I became lost in thought.

He was right. My own parents had abandoned me. They had left me helpless at the alpha's door with only a note containing my name and date of birth. What  had I done as a newborn pup that had warranted such abandonment? Was I the product of an unwanted pregnacy? Rape? An affair? I'll probably never know. It had always plagued me to know that I hadn't been wanted, but there was no use dwelling in the past. It wouldn't help my current situation and that was what I needed to focus on.

The warrior chained my hands above my head, preparing me for what was no doubt going to be hours of torture. The hard metallic clank of the handcuffs cleared my mind and I became more resolved than ever. I was going to get out of here.

Tonight.