Luna Aleksa's Escape
Luna Aleksa’s Escape Chapter 19

*Aleksa POV*

It’s been a week since Kingston appeared at my doorstep, and I haven’t seen him since that day. We are all settled into life in Denver, having been here a couple of weeks now. Liam and Layla are loving the daycare that they attend. The ladies who run it, and work there, are so kind and nurturing, the twins are really thriving there. They’ve even managed to make a few friends and have a few playdates. I’ve even made a few mom friends myself. We go for coffee on the weekend while the children play at the park. It’s a far cry from our life at Evergreen, which was so much more isolated. I didn’t have any mom friends. I mean I only had Eva and Kali, and look how Eva turned out. Kali is a keeper though, I sure miss her. I think of her often.

Mason and Kaia are enjoying working at the club, naturally they have already been promoted since starting there. Their natural leadership skills are obviously hard to ignore. Mason is now running the security team there, and has been asked to manage security for another two clubs in town. Kaia is no longer working as hostess, she is working within management. They both seem happy. We didn’t talk much about our lives before we came here, we all decided we wanted to move forward and focus on our new lives. We didn’t want the negativity of our pasts constantly hanging over us.

Recently we heard from Caleb and Kali, they had finally safely reached Crimson Moon and were greeted with open arms by Alpha Callum and his Luna Cadence. They had to lay low for a while in a human town initially as they were surrounded by the Evergreen pack warriors, but they managed to escape a week later. It sounded like things were pretty tough for them for a while. I am so happy that they are safe now. I still feel guilty that their lives were uprooted the way they were. However, they assure me that they would do it again in a heartbeat. I’m grateful for such loyal and courageous friends.

Every day I count myself lucky that Lachlan hasn’t found me or the twins, or my friends yet. We have no way of knowing where he is looking for us, although I imagine he would be looking high and low for Liam, being that he is the rightful heir to Evergreen Pack. I know the day will come when he replaces us and we will have to fight for our freedom once again. All I can do right now is make sure we are ready when that time comes. Mason, Kaia and I have been working on multiple escape plans for the twins and I, and we are almost ready for when the time comes.

Today I have the day off work. I have dropped the twins off at daycare, and Mason and Kaia are both at work, so I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve been working a lot recently. Since we left Evergreen in such a hurry, we were unprepared. We had no savings or back up plans, so I’ve been working extra shifts so that I can put some money inside for when we have to move on again.

I look around at the cabin, it’s pretty immaculate so that rules cleaning out. I look in the pantry and it’s looking a little empty so I guess I can go grocery shopping. Although I am feeling restless at the moment, so, I try to channel Amber to see if she would like to go for a run.

After a few attempts I hear no reply from her in my head, so I guess shifting is out of the question right now. I almost can’t remember the last time we shifted. Amber has been so distant since everything that went down with Lachlan, I think she misses Cyrus, Lachlan’s wolf. She has only spoken to me once since we escaped from Evergreen, and that was when we met Kingston.

A cheeky smile erupts on my face when I think of Kingston. Gosh he is divine. He’s tall, he’s tanned, he’s muscular, he has a smile that just makes me want to melt. He has a commanding no nonsense type of aura about him. But then he’s understanding and seems sincere. I feel so attracted to him. It’s so unlike me. I’m not that girl that falls all over a guy. It’s so bizarre, I should be mourning the death of my relationship with Lachlan, not getting all turned on but the hot alpha of the Rocky Mountain Pack. Get a grip Aleksa – I think to myself.

I figured that because I had rejected my fated mate I would be sick. I had always been told that rejecting or being rejected by your fated mate would make you weak and potentially kill you, but I wasn’t feeling any of that. In all honesty, I had never felt better. Maybe a little weak physically, but mentally I feel freer than I ever have.

I can’t even feel Lachlan being intimate with someone anymore. Perhaps my rejecting our bond was enough? I thought that he needed to accept my rejection though. It’s so confusing. Perhaps I needed to see someone, a witch or a healer or perhaps a shaman. I wouldn’t even know where to start come to think of it. Perhaps I would discuss this with Kaia later on tonight and see what she thinks about it all.

Thinking about Kingston had gotten me all wound up. So I decided I would go for a run, and since Amber isn’t talking to me I will just go in my human form. I look around my room to replace something acceptable to run in.

I picked up some black leggings and a black sports bra and put them on. I grab the only pair of shoes I have that would be suitable, my black converse shoes, and pull my hair into a high ponytail.

I walk through the house, shut the door, run down the stairs and start stretching. I take a deep breath in of fresh air, and decide that this is exactly what I need. So I started jogging off into the woods to relieve myself of some s****l frustration.

***

I’ve been running for about forty five minutes now and I realize I am completely lost. I thought I was following a trail but clearly I went off track at some point. I’m not worried because I am a wolf and I love the woods. So I try to communicate with Amber but she’s still not reachable. I slow down to walk a bit and take a look at my surroundings. If I could just replace some sort of landmark, or listen for some sort of sound like running water or traffic or something.

I didn’t bring anything with me so I can’t keep track of the time. Although I don’t have to pick up Liam and Layla until much later today so that doesn’t concern me.

I start to backtrack hoping that I am going back in the right direction. After a few hours I stop. Great one Aleksa. Lost in the middle of nowhere, with no wolf to rely on. My stomach starts to growl and I wish that I had some breakfast before I left, or even a drink of water.

I decide that I will keep walking straight until I replace the river or the road, or something resembling the right direction.

After some time passes, I get the feeling I am not alone. I can’t hear anything but I can sense company is near.

I start regretting this bright idea I had to go for a run in the woods without my wolf. I hear a twig snap and I look behind me. I can smell them before I see them. Rogues. There appears to be two of them. They start to snarl at me. They both look pretty mangey, and they smell terrible like rotten meat. I would imagine it has been a while since they last showered. I am fighting the urge to vomit right now. My gag reflex is going strong. They slowly start to stalk towards me, both coming towards me, one from the right and one from the left.

I start to panic and try to wake Amber up, “Come on girl I could really use your help right now, we need to shift. Amber!!! Please! Rogues! I need to shift.” I yell at her desperately in my head.

“What’s a pretty she wolf doing out here all on her lonesome?” The brown one with white stripes all around its torso says to me.

“Looking for some fun, shewolf?” The other rogue says licking it’s licks and smirking at me, it is also brown, with red stripes over it’s back and belly.

“Uh, no thank you. I was just on my way back to.. My pack.” I say.

“Liar. You have no pack. You don’t smell like a rogue.” he sniffs the air near me. “You smell so sweet, and I can sense that you are ranked, but you don’t smell like a pack wolf”. The brown and white coloured rogue says matter of factly.

“That’s right so you better back off – NOW!” I say. Hoping that will make them think twice, but deep down inside knowing that it won’t. I am well aware that I am outnumbered and out wolfed.

“Hahaha. Nice try, she wolf. You are weak. Your wolf is not with you right now!” the brown and white rogue says with a sinister smile on it’s face.

I take a defensive stance, as I am well aware that these rogues want more than a chat from me, and I am resigned to the fact that I will have to defend myself in human form.

I only wish I was trained to defend myself. I never got a chance to train at Evergreen because I had gotten pregnant straight away and then I was constantly weak from the pain of Lachlan cheating. I had done a few self defense classes back in the human town I grew up in before meeting Lachlan but that was about it. Moon goddess please protect me! I prayed silently.

The brown and white coloured rogue lunged towards me, and I was able to move out of his way just in time, only to be pounced on by the brown and red striped rogue. He furiously bit into the side of my waist, taking a chunk of skin out of my side. I could feel the excruciating, stabbing pain take over my body. “Aahhhhh!” I screamed in pain and shock. I could smell the overwhelming metallic odor of my b***d oozing out of me.

At that moment, the brown and white striped rogue got back up on it’s feet, and plunged towards me as I stood up. He knocked me hard onto the ground. I tried to push him off me but he had me pinned to the ground, and I was feeling weak from the bite on my waist. He started to snap at my neck, going for my jugular. I felt an unimaginable fear inside me at that moment. Was this it? Is this how I would die? No f#$%ing way! I will fight to my last breath for my pups, I tell myself.

I punched the rogue in the throat as hard as I could, and used all my strength to push the rogue to the side, it started to choke, and took a moment to get it’s breath back then got ready to charge me again. The other rogue was circling me with a feral and satisfied look on it’s face.

I clutched at my side trying to place pressure on my wound. I could feel that I was losing too much b***d. I started to feel dizzy. I could see the rogues smirking and mumbling something. I saw the red and white one lunge towards me, and just as it was opening its mouth to snap its teeth at my neck, I started to fall to the ground, and all I saw was darkness.