Fated is overrated

Lola POV

Yugh. The trees in Red Dagger were a piece of cake compared to this. They were mostly lower trees and with many more branches throughout the tree to hold onto.

This tree is very tall, and it took ages for me to reach any decent branches to hold onto at all. Finally, I have reached what I believe is to be far enough off the ground to not be heard or smelled. I settle myself on the thickest branch I can find, swooping a leg on either side. I don't know how I am going to get any sleep done here though.

It's a long way down if I happen to fall down somehow. I need to find a way to steady myself, because I desperately need some sleep. I rifle through my bag and an idea starts to come alive in my mind. I grab the lengthiest garment I can find, an old sweater from Nadia.

This should do! I wrap the sweater around the tree and myself, tying a steady knot. I breathe a sigh of relief when I finally feel steady enough. For the first time since being on the run, I feel somewhat safe. I decide to grab some food and water from my bag as I am still starving.

Looking at my rations, I need to find water tomorrow and I will have to start hunting for food soon as well. If I can spread out the food, I can last a few more days, but I'd rather not take any chances. Munching on my bars and sipping my water, I let out a deep breath I didn't realize I was holding.

I am starting to wonder if I made the right choice here. Not that I could ever go back, that ship has sailed. Returning to your old pack is highly punishable, sometimes even by death.

Although I don't believe Alpha Culio would be so cruel, I can imagine the pack pressuring him into doing so, since most members avoided me like I was the plague.

But I have to admit, between fantasizing about living out in the wilderness and actually doing so is a large expectation gap. Even though I am a wolf and in harmony with nature, I may have underestimated the severity of being out here all alone.

Especially as a female, as I have been on the run for a day and I have encountered 6 rogues already, of which only 1 didn't seem to have immediate sinister intentions towards me.

I never knew there were so many rogues out there. Naive, I know, but I really didn't. Where do they all come from, and what has happened to them to become rogue? Or what have they done?

I also need to figure out where I am tomorrow and which way to go. It is kind of hard to figure out my location when the only thing I have seen for hours are trees.

I memorized the maps surrounding Red Dagger up to where I want to go months ago, but memorizing a map or actually being out here with no sense of where you are is very different.

All I know is I need to keep heading up north in unclaimed land, where, after a few weeks, human territory should be reached. On the east side of the unclaimed lands are several pack territories though, of which we really need to stay clear as rogues are often killed upon sight.

On the west side resides the Royal Kingdom. Now there, I definitely do not want to go. Luckily, the Royal Kingdom territory is marked very well with signs and scents warning any trespassers of the border.

Unless one has a death wish, nobody dares trespassing the border there. Not even the fiercest of rogues as they are no match for the Lycan royals. Pondering on all my thoughts, I feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, before I am off to a blissful sleep. Nick POV

After having disposed of the bodies - without being caught, luckily I can't seem to have any luck finding the girl. I followed her scent for hours, but it suddenly vanished into thin air at the base of a tree.

She couldn't be in there, could she? I don't want to startle her and have her fall out, or make her scared of me, so I decide to put some distance between that tree and myself and stake out from there. It doesn't take long for 3 other rogues to approach the tree, they must have also picked up her scent.

It isn't every day (well actually, it never happens) that a female is out here on her own and the mere smell can drive the more feral rogues mad. I recognize the 3 as part of the rogue King's army.

Unlike the other 2 this afternoon, these wolves aren't that feral, they are some of his more prestigious wolves (as prestigious as it gets of course - they are still rogues). Which can only mean one thing unfortunately, the rogue King has gotten word of the girl being out here.

Sh*t. I really don't want her to get captured, she will be abused endlessly by that ferocious beast and used as a breading machine.

Perhaps I won't see her again which will make it easier for me, but if I do, I will have a tough choice to make between my life or hers. But I can't help but feel a need to protect her, even if it'll cost me my life. What do I have left to live for anyway? 1

I am broken from my train of thoughts when the 3 wolves shift back and start discussing among themselves. Of course they have noticed her scent leads up the tree.

Once they are discussing which of them is going to climb up there, I stand up behind the tree I am at, out of sight, on high alert and ready to pounce when needed. One of the men starts trying to climb up the tree to no avail as he keeps landing on his *ss, clearly unable to climb the thing. Instead of the man trying again, one of the others now attempts to climb.

This one manages to actually get towards the first branches. My heart is pounding in my chest as I am anxiously awaiting what is going to happen. After what seemed like decades having passed, the man drops down, alone.

I release the breath I was holding. I hear the men discussing how she isn't up in the tree and I see them heading off into the direction that lead to the tree. Where I am sure she isn't headed, because that is the direction I also came from.

I wonder where she went though, as her scent definitely stops by the tree.

Could she have jumped from tree to tree? The branches don't seem stable nor close enough to do so, so I highly doubt that. But then how come her scent ends there? I also doubt she had some form of masking spray, she seemed very inexperienced with being out here all alone.

I hope I can still find her somehow, before she lands in trouble again. With no way of knowing which direction she took, I guess I will continue in a straight line from where I came from and hope for the best.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.