The Cliff

Scream

Sneaking in was always the tough part. With Riverside, it was going to be tougher. And this was were the little bitch Travis came in.

"You are smiling."

"No, I am not," he said.

"Then what is it that your lips are doing?" I sneered at him. He had strangely turned cheerful the minute we were dropped off.

This caused him to give me a full blown smile. "Don't enjoy this too much."

We had been dropped off outside of the forests of Riverside. This was where Travis would wait for me to come back with the Luna within 24 hours. That was the longest he would wait before ditching me. Everyone for themselves, it was what we lived by in our little community.

I pushed my backpack at him. The sun had set, it would be dark soon. "Come on, what are you waiting for." I didn't want to be in his presence any longer. There were so many missions we had been to together. Something just didn't feel right about him this time.

He gave me a smile through his teeth, dropped everything I had pushed in his hands and transform into a wolf.

My legs faltered. This was not how it always happened. Growling lowly, he advanced towards me.

"Are you out of your damn mind? Back the fuck off," I screamed.

Not caring a bit, he swiped his paws and caught my left leg with it. I ran, trying to lose him in the forest behind me. I could feel the adrenaline in my body. And I knew soon after it wore off, I would feel the burning pain in my leg.

Leaves crunched behind me. I glanced back to see him running after me. My legs pushed harder. But soon his wolf barreled into me, throwing me off the ground and into a tree. I felt the impact steal the breath from my lungs.

This little bitch would pay. He had gone too far with this. I pushed myself to sit up against the tree.

Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Was this necessary?" I whispered, still trying to breathe. He was casually leaning against the tree that supported me. He was in his skin - Vulnerable and within reach. I reached out and dug my nails into his calves. Smiling, as I felt the warm blood trickle down my hand.

He yelped and jumped away from me. "A little warning, Avery," he growled at me.

I coughed before I could say,"Right back at you."

The little fucker had the audacity to smirk. "I had to make it believable."

"You had to make it believable that I was being chased, not beaten and broken." His smile grew. "You know what, you can leave. Your work is done here."

He said nothing, just shrugged. "One last thing, Maya told me to wait no longer than 12 hours. So you better be back before sunup."

I stood up immediately, but the pain in my left leg made me grit my teeth. He had gone in deeper than I thought.

"Why even bother telling me this now? Feels like I wasn't supposed to know at all." I limped my way to him. "Was this the plan all along? To let the Riverside pack finish me off." My voice was getting louder.

He put a hand on my lips, shushing me. I snatched it away just as his other hand pulled my body to him. "They are close. Now I want you to scream."

Scream, Avery. Those words echoed in my brain and I began to thrash in his hold.

All of a sudden, he began tearing the shirt I was wearing. "Stop. What are you doing?"

"Tell them you would like to talk to their Luna about this," he whispered in my ear and all my brain could comprehend was scream for me.