Gift of the Goddess

The night air was heavy with the scent of pine and petrichor as she stumbled through the towering forest, her heart pounding in rhythm to her frantic footsteps. The echo of distant howls kept her sprinting, running as fast as her feet could take her. 

The full moon cast pale light through the branches, illuminating the way before her. But that meant she could also be seen. She tried once more to shift into her wolf form, but found herself unable to initiate the transformation. 

She tripped and stumbled, instinctively cradling her stomach and the new life inside, to protect it, but she did not fall. She picked up the pace one more and continued onward.

Hours earlier she had stood within the grand hall of the Duskveil estate, surrounded by strangers with cold eyes and cruel whispers. The alpha's rage had been swift and merciless, ignited by the revelation that she carried a child that was not his. His words, laced with venom, cut deep and chilled her to the very bone.

"Betrayer!" His voice thundered through the chamber, his eyes burning with fury. "You have defiled this bonding with your treachery and deceit. You are no mate of mine, your pack is no ally of mine! Be gone from here!"

He seized her by the arm and dragged her through the marble corridors, past the silent faces of those who dared not intervene. She had peered into every face, looking for the mother that had sent her to this wretched place, but she did not find her amongst the crowed. With brutal force, he cast her from the grand entrance and onto the wet, unforgiving stone of the courtyard.

"Run, my dear Selene" he spat. "Run far and fast. For the hunt begins now, and there will be no mercy for you or the abomination you carry."

As the heavy doors slammed shut behind her, the chilling sound of wolves howling pierced the night, signaling the start of the hunt.

She had fled into the darkness. An ancient forest loomed in the distance, a labyrinth of shadows and whispers she could sense, and she bolted for the tree-line. 

Now she was the hunted in a forest that was not her own. Her limbs ached, her lungs burned, but she pressed on, driven by the instinct to protect the life growing within her.

The howls grew ever closer, echoing through the trees, a terrifying chorus of vengeance. She knew his enforcers would stop at nothing to erase her from existence and from the blot of shame she had brought to their pack, to cleanse the stain of her perceived betrayal. She also knew that her own pack was now in mortal danger and she hoped that they would be able to escape his wrath.

The landscape had grown progressively more barren and sunken as she ran, the gullies cut into the land more deeply, the trees grew smaller and more sparse, vegetation less dense. She was able to make her way more easily, but so to could the hunt. She knew now that they were merely toying with her, drawing out her escape.

For a moment, a sensation of cold so intense it burned slid across her skin, all the way to her core, as if she had passed a curtain of ice and suddenly the forest completely disappeared leaving only sparse vegetation, cracked earth and fog.

A root snagged her foot, sending her tumbling down a ravine she had not seen through the fog, and she curled into a protective ball. She tumbled and slid, feeling every slice, scrape, and bump from her fall until she landed on her back with a thud that took the wind from her. She scrambled to rise, the cold mud clinging to her hands and knees. Desperation clawed at her as shadows moved in the distance and the form of the hunt emerged from the misty darkness.

"Goddess, protect me," she whispered, her voice trembling with fear. She could see the hunters move off slightly, further away, and she realized her scent had been dampened by the rain and now the fog. This was her chance.

With renewed determination, Selene surged forward, away from the hunt and deeper into the barren lands. If she could survive the night, perhaps she would find sanctuary—perhaps, she might also find hope.