The Aurelia⎪✓

{01}

Cimmerian

(adj.) very dark; gloomy

♡

I could hear his heart beating irregularly, it made me blood thirsty as my paws ran faster through the dense woods. I wouldn't have known that I could run so fast 7 years ago when my parents threw me out, but I'd taught myself some tricks now when I lived as an official rogue. My golden fur on my legs was blown all over the place, and my ears were perched ready for the smallest indicator of him running in another direction. He wouldn't get away with it, not because I wanted to kill him, but I surely had to scare him the just smallest bit.

A snarl left my mouth as I saw him fall in the distance, two seconds later I'd caught up to him and my huge paw held him down against the ground as he shifted into his human form. His blonde hair was sticky with sweat and the pure fright in his green eyes could be recognized by almost anyone. My parents would be so proud to see the monster their daughter had become, this was my type of survival and I damn well hoped they wanted me to stay alive.

"Don't kill me, Aurelia. I won't tell anyone." He pleaded with his hands in front of his head, the tears started streaming down his face and I tried not to show any signs of weakness. It was a common misconception that Aurelia was one wolf and not an entire species, he apparently hadn't caught on either.

'My name is Aspen' I wanted to say but settled on growling him straight into his pathetic face. His fright growing by the second, as his heart started beating even faster. It was quite impressive that he hadn't gotten some sort of heart failure yet. When he finally looked at me, he saw that I'd backed down slightly, his green eyes meeting my pure white ones. It was probably weird for him to see a wolf like this, it was rumored that all of us had been killed anyway, hence the misconception with one Aurelia named Aurelia left alive, but unfortunately for him, I was Aspen and a very alive one at that.

"You're exactly as I pictured you to be, cold, calculated, spiteful. Truly living up to the rumors." He said to me, the wonder heavy on his tongue. If that was what they taught werewolves, then I finally got the hatred they had for us.

Feeling annoyed by him I bit down on my teeth in front of his face, with a growl coming from the back of my throat, making him crawl backwards, away from me. As he scurried to his feet and ran away the scoff left my lips by instinct. They were pathetic and it was getting more and more boring to play with them. I wasn't a bad person, I was a person placed in a bad situation. If they heard a rumor about a scary monster out here, then they wouldn't dare attack me, which made living easier for me.

This was my way of dealing with the situation I was in. I wasn't blaming my parents anymore, they probably thought I'd met my mate already and was living happily ever after. Only that wasn't exactly the case, I'd been running from killers and hunters through the 7 years I'd had to survive out here. By now I had no idea where I was at, I had no idea where my childhood home was. But for some reason, it felt far away, like really far away.

It still pained me to relive the memories from that night, how my parents had talked about it beforehand, how it was an agreement they were in. It was my ass that had to leave and somehow I understood where they were coming from, but I definitely wouldn't have done anything like that to a daughter of mine, not that I'll ever have one.

The rain started pouring on my way to the one spot I held dear in these godforsaken woods. It was drenching my fur and cooling down my heated body, which honestly felt amazing. The adrenaline had been pumping through my veins for the last hour and this was my way of relaxing.

Finally reaching the area filled with dense trees, I crawled under the branches and shifted into my human form again, grabbing some of my dirty clothes to wear. They didn't really fit on my body anymore, my ass had grown bigger as had my boobs. But I had to get by with the little I had, it reminded me of my family anyway, knowing that they'd touched it and been near it was comforting to me. I really shouldn't be so hung up on them anymore, and usually, I wasn't, but the pity party had decided to stop by today of all days.

It hadn't been the easiest 7 years of my life, as I'd tried to survive everything the Moon Goddess threw at me. I trusted her though, she had a plan for me and everything she was serving me right now, I would get back tenfolds, only positives this time. This was my rough path in life and everyone had those. I didn't believe that my mate was out there anymore, I believed that he was killed during the slaughter of my pack, but I trusted that I could be happy even without a mate. I just had to find my own way in life, even though that was much easier said than done.

Tucking myself under the leaves, I enjoyed the feeling of my bare feet on the cold ground. For some twisted reason, this had become my home now. There was a time where I had no place to go, no place to call home, but my desperation forced me to create a new reality for myself. I deserved more from life than wandering alone in the woods constantly, a lost girl with tears streaming down her face, as the greedy rogues approached and tried to assault me.

I wasn't afraid, because I knew I could take them, but I'd gained some scars along the way, like the huge slash across my stomach from a man who wanted to touch me more than I'd like. Or from the woman who thought I had money on me, this was at the beginning, where I had no idea what had just happened. She stabbed me in the thigh and I had to shift, even though the pain of shifting with a knife in your thigh was horrible. It made the gash way worse. I had to kill both of them, my first killings, but definitely not my last.

The scars on my body told a story of where I'd been and how much I'd fought even from the start, losing myself little by little with every hit and bite. I'd lost the innocent girl my parents had created, molding myself into the indifferent, dangerous monster I now was. Abusing the power the Moon Goddess had gifted me with, but I knew it was only temporarily, this wasn't my reality. I knew I deserved more from life.