Outcast Alpha

I didn't have time to think. Not even a second. Trees blurred around me as I tore through the forest, my boots were slipping on wet leaves, and my lungs burned like they were scraping fire. Something snarled behind me, it felt too deep and too rough to be human. I glanced back and saw a shadow move with the precision of a predator that already knew it was going to win.

Kaelen's shout ripped through the chaos.

"Lyra!"

"Don't stop! We can't hold them off!"

I listened and pushed harder. My shoulders were still messed up from last winter, it felt really painful....., an ugly pain, but I didn't care. Because for me, pain makes me feel I'm alive from the struggles I have been through. 

I stumbled into a clearing so fast I nearly fell. Fresh blood painted the ground as something big already died here. Its smell was really awful. I was still studying it trying to figure out what killed it, then Mara screamed.

My whole chest seized because she was mine to protect. A childhood friend who is more or less like a sister to me. She is my responsibility. I sprinted towards her voice. 

"Lyra!"

She was pinned under a massive shadow, some creature with eyes like coals and teeth meant for ripping. She clawed at the ground, panic wild on her face. I didn't have time to think at that moment, I just grabbed the nearest fallen branch and swung it like my life dependeds on it.

The creature hissed, jerking back just enough for me to drag her free.

"Run," I choked out.

The forest wasn't a shelter, not tonight. My pack was scattered as they were injured, bleeding and starving. We weren't warriors anymore, we were ghosts trying to stay breathing as something bigger and smarter was hunting us. 

I sat trying to catch some breathe before I figure out where I and my pack would find shelter then a whistle blew from nowhere. I looked around and it was from Kaelen, Mara or anyone from my pack. That got me scared as we were already tired, I had less energy for a fight. My instinct screamed danger. 

A man stepped out from the shadows like he had been carved straight from the night. He was tall with broad shoulders and also had an eye color that was really attractive. Ice-blue. I observed slowly, trying to figure out if he was out for a fight or something else. He wasn't walking like a prey or like a man. He moved like the forest moved out of his way.

"Lyra," he said

"Who can that be and how does he know my name?" I whispered as I hurriedly stood, posing in fight mode. 

My stomach knotted so hard it hurt. I should've attacked him, or at least pretended I wasn't terrified. But he wasn't coming at me. I squeezed my eyes even more and my heart skipped immediately I recognized who he