Page 4 of Knotted By the Demon

What the...

I looked past him, and that's when I saw Sara, the pretty little beta whose dormant omega gene I had activated. She smiled at me, her eyes shining with a fierceness that took my breath away. She looked ready to go to war. But war was for warriors. And we weren’t that.

"Come with me," I signed. Together, we’d taught ourselves sign language when she’d lost her ability to speak. I signed again. "We can both escape, both be free of this hellhole."

She shook her head, her smile turning sad.

"Why?" I signed, my heart clenching at the thought of leaving her behind.

“I want to kill them,” she signed back. “Even if I have to die too. I must kill Natalie and Nathan.”

Oh, no!“You can’t kill them,” I signed quickly. “Just run with me. We can be free of them.”

She gave me a gentle, resigned smile and shook her head before motioning for me to go. I started to press the matter, to beg her to come with me, but before I could, she spun around and headed back toward the compound, back toward the chaos. Tears welled in my eyes as I watched her go, a lump forming in my throat.

I didn’t blame her for wanting to kill the alphas in our bond... her bond. I’d never had the courage. She was braver than me. I stared down at the alpha she'd killed, the one who'd been moments away from dragging me back to my own personal hell. She'd saved me from being captured. She'd risked everything to give me a chance to escape. I owed her my life, and I knew I'd never get to pay her back.

The weight of that debt settled on my shoulders, mingling with the guilt of leaving her behind. But I couldn't let her efforts be in vain. I couldn't let her sacrifice mean nothing. So I turned away, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. I forced my legs to move, to carry me further into the woods, away from the compound where I’d been caged and abused since I was a kid.

I fled the people who’d killed my parents and my younger sister all because my father wouldn’t sell me to them. I fled the pack that planned to auction me off the first chance they got because I was useless. I ran away from all the hurt and thepain I’d endured for years while hoping I wasn’t heading toward something worse. I found myself praying as I ran.

If there’s a heaven, please take me or lead me somewhere safe. Please. I won’t survive another brutal pack, another abusive bond. I can’t. I refuse to.

I ran for as long as I could, only stopping when I absolutely had to and not for long. The woods stretched endlessly ahead, shadows deepening as twilight swallowed the last remnants of the day. My legs burned, each step a battle, but I couldn’t stop. I was moving off pure adrenaline and fear.

The sound of my own breathing filled my ears, ragged, desperate. Every so often, a sharp pain stabbed through my ribs, making my vision blur. I pressed a hand to my side, feeling the edges of bruises, swollen and tender under my fingertips. But pain was nothing new to me. It was almost comforting, a familiar ache.

What pushed me forward was fear – pure, gut-wrenching terror that crawled up my throat like bile. I could still hear them, phantom voices from the compound, the shouts, the gunshots. The image of Kimmy’s sneering face flashed in my mind, taunting me, reminding me that I’d never make it, that I was nothing but a waste of space.

I pushed her voice aside, gritting my teeth as I forced my legs to keep moving. Time lost all meaning, minutes bleeding into hours until I couldn't tell how long I'd been running. My body screamed for rest, for respite, but I couldn't stop. Not yet.

It was only when I stumbled upon a small creek that I finally allowed myself to pause. The water trickled softly, a gentle melody against the backdrop of my ragged breaths. I fell to my knees at the water's edge, my hands plunging into the cool stream. The icy touch shocked my system, bringing a moment of clarity to my scattered thoughts.

I cupped my hands, bringing the water to my lips. It soothed my parched throat, the chill a balm to the rawness left by my panting breaths. For a moment, I simply knelt there, letting the peace of the quiet woods wash over me. I stared into the rippling surface of the creek. My reflection stared back at me.

Haunted eyes rimmed with dark circles gazed out from a face I barely recognized. A smear of dirt marred my cheek, mingling with the mottled blues and greens of an old bruise. I looked like a ghost, a shadow of the person I once was.

The boy who'd laughed and played with his sister, who'd cuddled into his mother's warm embraces, who’d followed his father everywhere he went... That boy was gone, lost to the cruelty of the Black Fang Pack. A distant whistle pierced the air, yanking me from my spiraling thoughts. My heart lurched, a flicker of hope sparking to life.

Trains meant movement, distance.Freedom. I let the thought bloom, holding onto it like a lifeline. If I could make it to the tracks, I might have a chance to put real miles between myself and my pursuers. With renewed determination, I splashed the cold water on my face, the bite of it against my skin invigorating me.

I pushed myself to my feet, my muscles screaming in protest. Fatigue dragged at my limbs, but I couldn't give in to it. Not yet. Not when freedom was so close. I stumbled through the underbrush, branches catching at my bare skin, but I barely felt the sting or scratches. The sound of the train grew louder, a siren's song guiding me forward.

And there it was. The train tracks. Stretching out before me like a path to a new life. But the train was nowhere in sight. Not yet. I scanned the shadows, nerves prickling as the night closed in around me. I didn’t have much time. Darkness brought out the worst of this world – the rogues, the predators, the kind of alphas who wouldn’t hesitate to tear me apart if they found me.

I had a great sense of smell. Right now, I could smell their scents on the wind. They were coming. Heading my way, drawn to me by a scent that had doomed me the moment I first emitted it. A scent that I despised and would claw out of me if I could. But I couldn’t. Which only left me one option.Flee.

I refused to look back. I could smell how close they were. I had a little time before they were on me. Another whistle pierced the air, closer this time, and my heart thumped against my ribs. I stepped back, hiding just beyond the treeline, and waited. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d train-hopped, though I hadn’t done so in years.

Memories drifted back to me. Snapshots of a carefree childhood, of racing alongside trains with my best friend, the wind whipping through our hair, and laughter spilling from our lips. Back then, train hopping had been a game, a thrilling test of our youthful courage. That was before everything changed.

Before my scent marked me as different, as a target. Before the world turned on me and the warmth of my family was ripped away, leaving me with nothing but the cold, harsh reality of an omega's fate. My scent had changed early, maybe because I’m a catalyst. I don’t know.

But it was clear to everyone around me that I was an omega, even if the only trait I’d had then was my scent. So I listened to my parents when they told me that I needed to start staying closer to home.

But staying closer to home hadn’t helped. They’d found me anyway. And because of my scent, my entire family died. Now, as the train thundered past in a dizzying blur of metal, those memories felt like they belonged to someone else. A different Greek, one who still had hope, who still believed in a future beyond the confines of a cruel pack.

I sucked in a deep breath, the night air cold and biting against my face. I could still smell them out there. Alphas.Rogues. They were closer now. This was my chance. My one shot at freedom. I exhaled slowly, my body tense, every muscle poised to move. It was now or never. I mentally counted down, preparing myself for what was to come, just like I’d done as a child.

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