Beauty and the Rogue (Undergoing Editing)

Chapter 2

Audrey's POV

I woke to the loud beeping of my alarm clock, resisting the urge to take a wooden bat to it. Resorting to slamming my fist down onto the snooze button, I groaned and pulled the blankets over my head cursing everything that came to mind.

The nightmares didn't stop, they had no reason to. The reason for my nightmares was still out there, taunting me every night that I had the false notion that I could actually be safe.

Regardless of the fact that I had moved here almost a week ago, I still had boxes in the corners of my empty bedroom and living room. The majority of my clothes were in the closet, but the piles that I had been too lazy to put away sat on the floor next to the mostly empty boxes. I rummaged through the clothes that I had managed to unpack and pulled on whatever I could find that I thought was suited for going out into the public.

I brushed the tangles out of my long blonde hair, put on foundation and a coat of mascara, and tried to stall as long as I could with my breakfast before I convinced myself that I couldn't delay the inevitable forever. Eventually, I was going to have to go to this new school.

The last school I had been at, the majority of the people there were either crackheads, nerds, or the "too cool for school" type. Fortunately for me, I got along with none of the above. I was a very independent person when it came down to it, I had to be when my parents abandoned me, but now it was something completely different from the survival aspect of it. I favored being by myself over always being surrounded by people.

Giving myself a "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" speech and grabbing my bag, I took a deep sigh as I began my mile treck to the only high school in this quiet town. I had to keep reminding myself that I was almost finished with school. If I could manage to stay here long enough without them finding me, I could finish out my senior year and graduate here. Just the thought of it made my walk a little more worth it.

As I turned the corner and the school came into view, I got increasingly anxious. I had promised myself this time around that I wouldn't make any friends or get to know anyone at this school. I was bound to having to end up leaving again as I've always done before.

I never could stay in one place for very long, it was a complicated story. I didn't even know why they always followed me to where ever I ended up. All I knew was that there were these men that showed up at my apartment one day when I was 16. They came like a band of wild banshees, kicking through the front door loaded with guns and knives ready to tear into me. All I knew to do was run.

The first time they found me, I left everything except the cash that I had saved over the years, a change of clothes and a few granola bars that I had all stuffed into a bag before I escaped out of my bedroom window so I could shift in the cover of the nearby forest and somehow get away. I thought I was safe from them until they showed up a few months later at the next place I had settled down at.

Ever since that first night they came for me, I had been doing whatever I could, countless endless days of research, trying to figure out who or what they were but I never found anything. Not that I was necessarily surprised. Shifters are generally exceptional at keeping our secret from the human world and the press. If their government ever truly found out about us, we would no doubt all become lab rats and vegetables in their scientific fields.

Ever since that night, the hunters came for me. They've been following me, tracking me religiously for some unknown reason, and I wasn't about to stop and ask why. I couldn't imagine what they wanted me for. I hadn't done anything illegal, even in shifters laws. True, I was a rogue which most packs already disliked me for but I hadn't broken any shifter laws or killed anyone so they had no reason to hunt me with their weapons as I'm sure they wanted to. All I had learned was it might take them longer than other times but they always found me. Over the years I had gotten better at covering up my tracks and staying hidden for longer periods of time but it was like clockwork.