1
Charlie
“Daddy, I’m scared.”
As we ran through the underbrush, Casey looked up at me with her big blue eyes. It was dark inside the thick forest and she looked especially small on this moonless night. We had been on the run for hours and she must have beenexhausted.
“I know, baby,” I reassured her. “We just have to get through this and we’ll be safesoon.”
“I hope so,” she saidquietly.
I shared her concerns. In the past few months, our lives in Scarlet Ridge pack had become a living hell. Since the death of our old top alpha, the new alpha Gunner had gone mad with power. With his youth and power he took a practically medieval stance towards the omegas in the pack, treating them like property and lower class citizens. Through forced checkups and scrutinizing alpha scouts placed around the territory, he soon had knowledge of every single omega’s heat schedule. Gunner had a plan. He wanted to create an army of alpha shifters to expand his territory, and to do that he needed to breed the strongest alphas to omegas to create morealphas.
Six years ago, my mate - a “suitable alpha” - was chosen for me.Matewasn’t the right term; he was more like semen donor. To be honest, I don’t even know who he was. Gunner implemented an artificial insemination clinic for omegas to be impregnated by alphas of his choosing. I had no say in the matter. It was a cold, clinical affair that left me alone with no support for the shortened five months of my shifterpregnancy.
That wasn’t to say I didn’t love my daughter with my whole being. She was everything to me, and heavily contributed to my decision to leave. I did not want to live in a pack that stripped away all my freedom - and more importantly, I didn’t want my daughter to grow up in a pack likethat.
So when the notice was strapped to my door stating I would soon be in season again and needed to go down to the breeding clinic, I knew it was time toleave.
But now we had an entirely different set of problems. I’d abandoned my government assigned apartment in the middle of the night and all my belongings with it, escaping the territory boundaries with nothing but the clothes on my back and my beautiful daughter. Now we were alone in the woods without the protection of an alpha and no idea of what we were going todo.
I had a vague idea of the surroundings territories and that was the only thing I had to hold on to. We lived deep in the mountains, far from any human settlements. I couldn’t count on their help. The only thing I could depend on was assistance from another shifterpack.
But I was a lone omega with a child - not exactly the most desirable individual. If a strange pack turned us away, we would have nowhere else togo.
Now in the thicket, I was on high alert. Every twig snap and strange noise made me whip around, like I was sure a Scarlet Ridge wolf was right on my tail. But so far none had showed up. Luck was on our side - fornow.
“Ah!”
My attention was wrenched away from my thoughts at the sound of Casey’s voice. She had tripped and fallen over an old tree root. I helped her to herfeet.
“Are you okay, baby?” Iasked.
“Yeah,” she said with tears in her eyes. My heart broke for her. She was trying so hard to be strong when a five year old shouldn’t have tobe.
“Change to your wolf form,” I told her. “I’ll carryyou.”
“Okay, daddy…” She did as I asked, turning into a small bundle of yellow fur. I shifted as well and picked her up gently by the scruff of the neck. Being in shifter form used more energy, but at the same time we would have better agility in the deep woods. I hoped we reached our destination before completely tiringout.
We moved slowly but surely through the woods. My ears twitched at every owl’s hoot and strange animal call. Every so often I paused to put Casey down and lift my head to smell the air. I had to make sure we weren’t being followed. Fortunately the wind flowed from behind me, making it more difficult for Scarlet Ridge shifters to find us. At the same time, it would make our scent known to anyone upwind - and I could only pray that they werefriendly.
“Are we there yet?”Casey asked through our telepathic shifterlink.
“Not yet, sweetheart. We will be soon,” I replied soothingly. This seemed to placate her for now; she sighed and didn’t ask any more questions. I just hoped I wasn’t accidentally lying to her. The clock was ticking; by sunrise, we’d be easy targets for any shifters in the area - friend orfoe.
I needed to act fast. I picked up the pace, running as fast as I could without making a large amount ofnoise.
Suddenly I sensed a strange scent. I stopped dead in my tracks, my heartracing.
“What’s wrong, daddy?” Caseyasked.
“Nothing, dear. Just be quiet and stay still a moment forme.”
I set her down carefully between my legs so that I could act as a shield just in case something went awry. I smelled the air again, concentrating on the scent I didn’t recognize; it was definitely a wolf shifter, and definitely didn’t belong to Scarlet Ridge. My pulse increased with excitement. It had to be one of the neighboring packs! Our chance hadarrived.
But then my parental instincts kicked in; what if they didn’t accept us? What would they do with Casey? I knew from experience at Scarlet Ridge that some alphas were unforgiving and ruthless. Just to be safe, I had to hide Casey until I knew it wassafe.
After placing her inside the hole in the base of a tree, I changed back to human form and whispered to her, “Stay as a wolf. Don’t move and don’t make any noise,okay?”
