After Midnight

Chapter 2: Hello Darling

Two months later...

I woke up in the basement chained to silver I had taken before leaving the Shadow Pack. I removed chains and stood up, it was a rough night and I am hungry as hell.
It's been two months since I've been officially kicked from the pack. My legs had been wondering since then unsure of where exactly to go. For days, I walked in the same direction and only stopping for the occasional wild berries that I passed. It took me three days to finally find shelter. I don't even know how I survived the hellish nights.
I was at the brink of exhaustion when I gazed upon a cabin. It looked homely enough. Trees had surrounded the cabin almost as though to protect it from someone or something beyond the woods. I was grateful enough for that. My feet stumbled upon the cabin to find that the cabin was completely isolated and in fact old. No one has been here for years. There was kitchen and a living room. It was completely empty. The decaying furniture was to only company me while I lived out my days in here.
I drank the small amounts of water that I managed to somehow get and made my way out of the basement.
The cabin is far from humans and my old pack. I cannot hurt anyone. I'm completely isolated and surrounded by trees and grass. I still can't believe I lost control like that and killed someone.
I killed someone's daughter.
I knew I was capable of doing horrible acts, but I have never killed someone. I can't sleep. Instead, I could hear the screams and see the vivid images of my wolf ripping her apart.
I am a monster. I am aware of that.
I deserve everything that has happened to me. No, I thought. I deserve worse.
Even Moon Goddess knows that, and that's the reason I probably don't have a mate. I am 19, and every girl in Shadow Pack found their mates before their 18th birthday. I'm cursed in every fucking way.
I lie down in what I have called a bed for the past few weeks. I closed my eyes instantly and thought of that specific night that ruined my life.
The night I was cursed.

Flashback

"You have failed me, Agon and you shall suffer!" A woman's voice roared through the night. I cried in fear hiding behind my mother.
"Please stop, not here! Not with my child watching us." Father pleaded. However, it was too late.
"Corpus inanimatum!"- The witch yelled pointing her hands at me. I closed my eyes; ready for the impact to hit me.
Nothing came though.
I opened my eyes slowly. My eyes adjusted to the dark. There she laid, my mother's lifeless body.
I whimpered. Tears dripped onto the floor without a thought. My eyes streaming with tears as I then fell to the floor to protect my mother's body even though I knew she was dead. My father tried to fight the witch. She cackled.
With the slightly twitch in her fingers, green rays escaped her fingers and moments later, my father stopped moving.
"And you, sweet child." Her face turned to me. A smile plastered to her face and filled terror and enjoyment of what she just did to my mother.
"I curse you, wolfling. To endure the pain of turning at the stroke of midnight, starting from the age of 14. You will be unstoppable, unobtainable and stronger than some alphas but only in your wolf form. Ah and yes, the cure...." She thought. "There shall be no cure." She laughed looking into the absolute terror of my father's eyes.
"No, Melanie, please. I will do anything. Please, don't do this." He begged, attempting to move.
Her face was in uncertainty as she began to think for what seemed like an eternity in hell.
"Ah well, call me a hopeless romantic." She smiled at me.
"There shall be no other cure but mates mark, but even that's going hard to find for wolf like her," She said as the green light struck me.

End of flashback

I opened my eyes staring at the ancient wooden floors above me.
Mate's mark. Yeah right, I'm cursed forever.
I took a deep breath as I sat up looking around. I had a strange feeling inside me for a few days now. It's like i can feel someone being angry at me. I can't even describe it but it's killing me. Is that Chris? And if it is, shouldn't that mean that he's not that far away? He rarely leaves his pack, and when he does it's just when 'The Alpha' is demanding the meeting of all the other pack's Alpha's in his castle.
When I was strong enough, I headed out to the nearby town where I would gather clothes and food for myself.
Being in the town was a completely new world compared to living in that cell that I once belonged to. The smell of fresh food from the bakery was delightful and so I made it a daily routine to go the bakery and get some fresh bread and perhaps an occasional chocolate cupcake covered in Nutella. The streets were bright and filled with people on their way to whatever business they had. No one hardly took notice of me. I was able to hide within the shadows of the town and hide myself.
However, like the idiot I am, that did not completely work out.
Like any other day when I woke from chains from the night before, I untied myself and went straight to the bathroom to see the damage I had done upon myself. It was only a few scratches that could be easily healed with my healing powers of a werewolf.
Straight away, I headed out of the cabin and closed the rusty door; careful of not to break it. I walked for 30 minutes until I reached the same nearby town. I went to the bakery, brought a loaf of bread and luckily today, the chocolate cupcake before walking out and heading to a clothes store to buy some necessities.
Although, something did not feel right.
The hairs on my arm decided to stand straight. Maybe it was cold? I thought. Nevertheless, I dismissed this thought and continued walking.
After spending some money on clothes, I walked briskly out of the shop ready to go home. Again, this feeling of uneasiness filled my body. I wasn't sure of what exactly was going on.
It took me moment to realise that as I was walking back to the cabin, I felt as though someone was following me. The thought had me instantly stop.
I turned. Only to be met with no one behind and continued walking. Maybe i'm losing my mind? A Crazy, cursed rogue? Well of course, it makes sense for me to be losing my mind.
It was then when I heard it.
Footsteps. And not my own.
Maybe I was being paranoid but I decided to take a hastily turn into a corner of a building. The footsteps continued to follow me.
Without hesitation, I turned swiftly and met with a tall, hooded figure; breathing slightly heavier than normal. The figure looked to belong to a man. Completely dressed in black, he looked as though he was a spy, or even worse. An assassin.
My eyes studied this stranger from head to toe. My eyes seem to stop abruptly when they had greeted into the void of the hoodie where his face was supposed to be.
He's been following? Who is he? I can't detect his scent. Is he human? I wondered.
"Can I help you?" I said forcefully.
The hooded figure stilled completely. There was brief momentary silence before the hooded figure strolled towards me. Their arms moving with grace and speed.
The shadowed man stopped unexpectedly, inches away from me.
"Well, hello darling."
I gasped before I even heard the words that escaped the stranger's lips and before I knew it, I felt the collision of the stranger's black leathered hand striking against the side of my forehead.
And in that second, everything around me blurred. My legs, no longer able to hold me, collapsed.
My eyes hazily took a quick glance towards the attacker coming closer.
I was no longer able to see clearly and my head throbbed painfully. I closed my eyes, trying to supress the pain. However, I was never able to open them again and instead I let the darkness overcome me.

a/n
Yoooo, sup? How are y'all? What did you think about this chapter? Leave your thoughts in the comments! Also comment and vote, next chapter is coming next week if we hit 15 votes!
Stay sassy 😏🤗
P.s.- Mari (mar123400) is saying hi 😂