Maybe she should've stayed in the house.
Upstairs particularly, as Deckard had suggested.
Audrey wasn't the outdoorsy type. She couldn't count on any finger the number of times she'd gone camping. Hiking, backpacking…jogging? None of those things. To her, the woods was a cold, brutal place with a high propensity for injury than anything else.
And now here she was, trying to be as fast as possible in a heavy wedding dress that wouldn't stop snagging itself on the branches of trees and thistles, running through a forest without any mapping system or destination in mind.
She would do anything to escape.
But her breath was already struggling to leave her chest. Said chest felt uncomfortably hot, a fire raging inside. Her legs would soon give up on her weight from the way they throbbed with each step she took.
Audrey wasn't going to stop, though. If she could just keep on going, surely she would end up somewhere.
On a main road maybe, where she could get a cab or street train.
She'd managed to sneak out of the house. Only the strength of her willpower would determine her freedom now.
Night was fast approaching. She could barely see her way as it was. Already she had cuts on her feet from running into fallen branches and stray rocks.
Also, she couldn't shake off the sense that there was something behind her. Hidden in the shadows of the trees. Stalking her like a tiger after its prey.
She spared a glance over her shoulders, searching through the gloom. She thought the shadows shifted behind a tree, but maybe it was just a trick of the little available light.
She hoped it was that. She prayed it wasn't some sort of wild creature bidding their time before attacking. Worst of all, it mustn't be the twins chasing after her.
All the life escaped her as something howled from somewhere. The bloodcurdling sound dragged out, increasing in tempo. The eerie cry of a wolf nearby.
Werewolves.
It was followed by prowling footsteps approaching her direction at a steady pace. With the sound of rustling leaves and trembling earth, something large and vile this way came.
Her automatic instinct of survival took over. No time to second-guess.
Throwing herself to the ground, she crawled behind a huge boulder carved against a tree. It provided a little nook just spacious enough for her to squeeze into.
Almost immediately, the huge creature broke out of the gloom. In her current position, she couldn't see it.
But her ears worked just fine.
She heard the sniffing as it hunted for her scent. She felt the shuffle of mighty paws over the ground as it tracked her footsteps.
Her spine chilled at the bone-shuddering snarl from the other side of the boulder as it drew in for the kill.
Suddenly she was in her nightmares. Four years old and cowering on the ground as the stranger that killed her father, the entire monstrosity of him, towered over her. It reached out with clawed hands to grab her….
A scream rose up her throat. She pressed a palm against her lips to stifle it, hoping that the beast hadn't heard her whimpering. Her body now shook so violently that she was afraid she'd start breaking apart.
Relief flooded her as the distant bushes rustled, the paw steps growing distant too as the beast returned back into the thickness of the woods. Somehow, it had missed her.
Audrey waited a couple of minutes before coming out of her hiding place. Better safe than sorry, right?
"Thought we would have to wait here all day."
Audrey gasped and staggered back against the rock, the rough surface stabbing into her backside.
The man who had spoken easily dropped down from the branches of a tree, revealing a sturdy frame. Naked except for a pair of dark pants, his feet bare and spiky brown hair loose. Tattoos covered a better part of his defined chest and arms. Dangerous.
Two more, another man and a woman, revealed themselves from the bushes, all of them as rough and rugged as the first. Just the barest fabric covered them.
"She's a pretty little thing." The other man whistled, licking his lips. "Unlike someone we know."
The woman glared at him, her eyes glowing. "Watch your tongue, Hugo, or you'll loose it. I'll pluck it out of your throat."
Hugo raised up his hands in mock surrender. "Just saying it as it is. Pipe your shit down, Kiera. Remember the tooth you lost the last time you attacked me?"
Kiera growled but said no more. She focused her menacing attention on Audrey.
"The woods is no place for pretty little things." She purred. "You could get lost or worse…devoured."
The first guy, the one now leaning against a tree, rumbled with laughter. "She's exactly what we are looking for. We can use her innards to send a message to those cursed Frostone wolves."
"Maybe we should take her back with us and play for a bit." Hugo suggested excitedly. "It'll be lots of fun. We could also get her to reveal their secrets."
Audrey was still trying to wrap her mind around what they were saying. To make meaning of it when Kiera appeared right in front of her.
Hugo was right. Kiera could never be called pretty with her severe features. She commanded attention all the same, what with those piercing dark eyes surrounded by thick films of mascara. Sharp nose. Strong jaw. Willowy build curled tight like a vixen.
Kiera drew in and took a long sniff. Her face twisted up into a mask of disgust and rage. "I smell him on you."
A shudder went through Audrey, her body seemingly immobile. "Who?"
"Not who…" Kiera took another sniff, this one longer. "Them. You have their cold scent on you. Tell me, pretty princess, what business do you have with the twin alphas?"
Hugo stalked closer. "Maybe she's their mate."
"The girl can speak for herself." Kiera snarled. She turned to the man by the tree. "Get this fool in line, Brad, or I will sink my claws through his empty skull."
"You've made that threat like a hundred times already. It got old at twenty." Hugo flexed the bulging muscles of his arms. "We have time for a fight right here. Come on now, Kiera. You know how you like it. Rough and hard."
Kiera looked ready to pounce on him before Brad released a thundering growl, his eyes glowing from the intensity of his inner wolf.
"Can you two hold it in until we return back to our territory before ripping at each other!"
Kiera fumed, glowered at Hugo for close to a minute, before returning her attention to Audrey. "You don't want to test me in this mood, princess."
"I don't know what you want. I'm just returning home."
"No, you're simply wandering through the woods in a wedding dress. Odd." Hugo chuckled. "You're like a runaway bride."
Brad sniffed the air. "We've wasted time enough. Grab the girl and let's go. She'll start talking once we start forcing her."
For the first time, Kiera's face blossomed with a smile. A smile that offered no warmth, but rather turned Audrey's tongue bitter.
"Torturing the truth out of pretty damsels is my specialty." She placed a long, black finger on Audrey's chin. "Most times I don't need to use any tools, but with you…I'd like to make things as exciting as possible."
She grabbed locks of golden hair into a fist and snapped Audrey's neck back. "And there would be no disgusting Alpha to save you. You thought the woods was hell? Wait till you get to the other side. You'd beg for hell to find you instead."