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Rain paced in her tiny bedroom and rubbed furiously at her arms, leaving tiny pink scratches. A scream of frustration threatened to leave her throat, but she held it back. The walls were thin in the pack house. Then again, it wasn’t like the rooms next to hers were occupied.
Every member of the pack was probably outside, waiting for the pack run to begin. Rain edged toward the window. The full moon hung high in the night sky, fat and bloated. Her skin felt tight, like it was stretched too much over her bones.
Her inner wolf wanted to rip out of her skin and join the others in the moonlit run. Too bad she had to remain here in her room, like a locked-up prisoner as per Felix’s orders.
She even had to eat her dinner here. Felix banned her from joining the rest of the pack and their guests at the hall. Maybe that was a good thing. She shivered, remembering Kieran’s feral gaze and the ill-contained lust there.
What frightened her even more was the way her inner wolf reacted, how it liked the attention of that particular alpha far too much. A knock on the door interrupted her musings.
“Come in,” she said unthinkingly.
Gina’s thin face peered at her from behind the door. “Rain. Felix says you can join the run tonight,” she said.
While she was once the most beautiful and sought-after omega in the pack, Felix had reduced Gina to a skeletal, bruised mess. The once-sleek black hair Gina had been so proud of now hung in frayed strands around her pale face.
Gina and Rain never got along growing up. Gina and her clique of proud omegas made Rain’s childhood hell, but Rain couldn’t help but be sorry for her right now. She was glad Felix’s hatred of her outweighed his lust. Otherwise, she would be the one in Gina’s place.
“Why has he changed his mind?” Rain asked, furrowing her brow.
Before she could ponder Felix’s sudden generosity, Gina tried ushering her out of the room. Gina looked frazzled, scared even.
“Please, Rain. He’ll kill me if you don’t come out of your room.” Gina’s whisper made her move forward.
As they moved through the maze of corridors on the second floor, Rain’s brain finally worked. This couldn’t mean anything good. Felix wasn’t inviting her to the run out of the generosity of his heart. Instinct told her to back out of this,whatever this was, right now.
Gina and Rain descended the rickety steps to the first floor. Finally, they exited the quiet hall Rain spent hours cleaning earlier, and they emerged into the grounds. Night air kissed her face, her skin. She closed her eyes for a few moments, enjoying the breeze and the familiar scents of the forest.
Her father had been an enforcer in his youth, but he took some time off, showing Rain the woods, teaching her how to hunt. It had been a long time since she shed her human skin and let loose. Gina dug her nails into her skin, drawing blood. Rain cried out.
She opened her eyes. “What the hell, Gina?” she demanded.
Gina leaned in close enough until it appeared they were almost kissing. Rain was about to tell her she didn’t swing that way, but Gina’s words stopped her cold.
“It’s a trap, Rain. Felix wants you gone. He’ll send Colin and Dale after you, so run. Run as fast as your paws can carry you.” Tears filled Gina’s eyes as she pulled away. Before Rain could question her, Gina pulled away and retreated further into the house.
Rain stared at the dark crown of ash trees up ahead of her. She expected terror to fill the pit of her belly. Gina’s words put fear into her, true, but there was something else. The thrill of the hunt, except this time, Rain was the prey.
If there was one thing Rain was good at, it was running. She stripped out of her clothes quickly, then reached for her wolf. Dark fur covered her arms and shoulders. Bones popped and organs shifted.
Her inner wolf must have sensed her urgency because she changed faster than she ever had. A tail and muzzle emerged. Once Rain’s four paws hit the earth, she sprinted into the woods. The moon and the net of silver stars above her lit the way.
She couldn’t see or smell any of her pack mates. At least not yet. As lead alpha, Felix led the run. He probably herded the rest of the pack as far away as possible so his cronies could do his dirty work for him. Where were they?
If Gina hadn’t given Rain that warning, would Rain blindly enter the forest, unaware she was being lured into a trap?
Rain heard it then, a howl up ahead of her, followed by another. Colin and Dale. Rain turned tail and switched directions. She pushed herself faster, harder, until the muscles in her legs began to scream. Once or twice, she swore she could feel Colin or Dale’s teeth on her tail.
“You were born an omega, and that immediately puts you at a disadvantage against faster and stronger betas and alphas,”Rain remembered her father telling her.“But you can do something for yourself. I’ll teach you to run, Rain. Run so you won’t tire easily. Run as if your life depended on it.”
So, she pushed herself to her limits. She sprinted until her body gave out on her and prayed Lady Luck would be on her side tonight.
Chapter Three
Kieran looked over the faces of Felix’s pack mates. Most of them seemed eager for Felix to lead the moonlit run. Rain had been noticeably absent during dinner time, which disturbed him.
He thought about sending Scarlett and Damien to discreetly ask some of Felix’s pack mates about where Rain was, then decided not to. In the end, Felix’s underlings would report to him everything they’d heard and witnessed. Not out of loyalty but out of fear, Kieran mused, but ruling through terror could only get a lead alpha so far.
