Elena.
"Run, keep running, you can do this. Don't look back, just keep running." I told myself repeatedly.
Escaping wasn't easy. I had planned it for years but never had I found the courage to actually do it. But tonight I had to escape from the nightmare I'd been born into. I had had enough, I wanted to be free from the shackles, I needed some hope.
My father never cared. He knows all that I go through and always turned a blind eye, he was never a loving father, he had always allowed the family to treat me like I was nothing even though I was his daughter. Family didn't matter to him not my mom, not me. My father only cared about profits, it didn't matter that I begged him to listen.
Despite being the leader, the Alpha of the Amato Pack, despite being the feared leader that he was, I was always nothing, I was just a pawn in the cruel game. I had no choice, no will. No respect. No love. I had nothing.
My engagement to his beta hadn't been my choice either, neither was the marriage that happened today, none of it got my permission, they didn't think any of it needed my addition. For years, I wished my father would put a stop to the violence against me, but it never happened. He watched and allowed Salvatore to do whatever he wanted with me. I was just a toy for pleasure and for pain.
I ran as fast as I could, despite knowing that they would soon catch up with me, I tried to summon my wolf, if I had any but I had never shifted, not even once in my whole life even when I had a powerful alpha as a father and a great late Luna as a mother so I had no choice but to run as fast as my human legs could take me. I had to escape at any cost. I had to focus. I'll deal with the trauma and pain later.
Survival comes first.
The floor was constantly attacked underneath my feet, dry leaves crunched under my feet and big trees, leaves and logs seemed to appear out of nowhere as if to try and stop me. But I could still hear them. I had to stop to catch my breath before my lungs gave out on me.
My rough hair was matted with some dirty liquid, my arms and legs all bruised and cut and my clothes already looked like rags, dirty and tattered. I knew I definitely looked like a leaking pipe but I had to keep running. After running for more minutes, I wiped the sweat from my forehead, exhausted. My long legs gave up from beneath me and collapsed.
My heart started racing and I knew I had to keep going so I started to run again.
I needed to run for my life. I needed to survive, my life depended on it.
"Stop!" I heard a voice yell behind me before I then heard the sound of gunshots in the air followed by loud growls from shifted werewolves, a way to scare and threaten me which meant that I now had a lesser chance of survival but that didn't stop me, I just kept going.
Going deeper into the woods, I forced myself to move quicker as I kept taking different turns hoping to confuse the people chasing after me. I pushed harder, running until my body felt like it was breaking. After a while, I bumped into a tree that had some thorns and I was soon bleeding. It cut into my stomach and started to hurt so badly, but I kept going. Only my escape mattered at the moment, not the blood, nor the pain.
I kept running into the darkness until the screams of the men and gunshots faded away. When I was sure that I couldn't hear them anymore, I stopped and leaned against a tree, although my senses were still heightened in case of any impromptu danger.
I knew I had to rest even though my safety wasn't guaranteed yet. My heart was pounding so hard and my legs were shaking too much for me to continue.
But as soon as I saw a street light almost close to me, I was immediately gingered and so I began to run towards the main road feeling hopeful. I soon got to the road and started to walk by the sidewalks down the roads, houses began to come into view.
