The Gift chronicles

Book 1 Chapter 16

Alpha Cain's eyes were overran with darkness, and he gave a sinister smile. "Run, pup. You know I love a good chase. I'll even give you a head start because of your convincing display of affection."

I scrambled out from underneath him and sprinted into the forest, confused on how he was so prepared for my assault. I really need to stop underestimating the goddamn Blood Alpha. Having to run from that beast truly was a punishment from the Moon Goddess herself.

I made the executive decision to shift into my wolf. If I shifted, I could cover more ground faster, and time was of the essence. I wasn't sure what he considered a head start, but I planned on making the most of it.

Not wasting any time getting undressed, I shifted directly into my wolf, tearing all of my clothes into shreds. My wolf was grey with one white paw, and bigger than the average she—wolf. I dug my paws deeper and deeper into the soil as I ran, trying to use anything I could to push me further, faster.

I had no doubt in my mind that if the Alpha caught me, he would Mark me. I had tricked him too many times for him to trust me, and the deal was that he would wait to Mark me if I behaved. I'm not sure what he counted as behaving, but I was pretty sure that stabbing his collarbone was not exactly making me look like Mother Theresa. In my defense, he shouldn't have brought a knife if he didn't want to get stabbed with it. It's like putting a slice of cake in front of a fat boy.

I continued running for about a minute before I could hear footfall (pawfall?) behind me. Some head start that was. Although I suppose I should be lucky he gave me one at all, considering I certainly didn't give him a warning before plunging a knife into him.

I pushed myself to go even faster, and I'm not sure I've ever ran so fast in my life. I loathed being in wolf form, but I will admit, it was pretty useful when escaping your kidnapper.

PR, I could hear his paws thudding against the ground, not too far behind me. I knew he would catch up to me any second. Making a split second decision, I decided to shift back into human form for Plan B. If I'm being honest with myself though, this was really

high concentration of adrenaline running through me, and climbed up a tree. No, I did not have clothes to put on and yes, it was uncomfortable. Luckily, the trees in the forest were excessively tall, so

and lowering my heart rate, so that by the time Alpha Cain ran by, he hopefully would not

the leaves did not provide ample coverage, especially factoring

closer, and I peeked out at him in between the leaves. I was surprised to see that he was in human form, and not wolf form. I had assumed that he had shifted, since he was so close behind me. If he could almost outrun me

doing a bad job at slowing my heartbeat. He turned around slowly, and I was horrified when I saw that his eyes were

a mile away. You really thought that you could trick me?" He shouted wildly, every bit the formidable Alpha I had grown up

met him, I was genuinely afraid of him. Not slightly scared or intimidated, but flat out horrified. One of the reasons why I am so against letting my wolf have control is because they are impossible to reign back in, and I don't like not being in control. However, my mate seemed to

directly underneath the tree I was using for cover. "I know you climbed this tree, mate." F*ck. I didn't speak, not because I wasn't trying to blow my cover (because he had already located me) but because I was genuinely scared of what he would do when I came down. Even though he said he wouldn't, I didn't want him to burn me with his fire again. My hands still hadn't recovered

you down. And if I have to climb a tree to get my mate, I

looked down through the leaves, and sure enough, he was staring up at me, with his arms out in front of him expectantly. A new feeling washed over me. Failure. The feeling

he caught me and he takes me back to being his prisoner, or he doesn't catch me and I fall to my death and

me fall, I could have gone into a coma for a few months, and then by the

position he always carried me in, and I knew I would never escape. The realization hit me