Page 36 of Alpha's Runaway Mate

I straightened up instantly. I had long dispelled any thought of escaping after my thirteen failed attempts, which always ended poorly for me.

“Escape?” The word suddenly sounded foreign to me. “How?”

She offered a half smile and rose to her feet. “I’ll come find you in twenty-one days. But you need to eat—for yourself and for your unborn child.” She gestured to the tray of food on the bedside table. Then she turned to leave, but I stopped her with a question.

“Why? Why are you helping me?”

She paused, looking over her shoulder at me. “Leo would be disappointed if he saw the things I did to you.” She glanced back to the door and added, “And I know you’re a good person. Good people don’t deserve to suffer.”

With that, she exited the room, leaving me with a glimmer of hope—something I hadn’t felt in months.

Day 242 of 242

I had no faith in today. I didn’t know the plan, if there even was one. All I had clung to for the past three weeks were Meredith’s words. Sitting on the bed, waiting for her to burst through it and help me escape, I began to wonder if this was just another one of Hecate’s ways of torturing me psychologically. I knew there was a party, but I hadn’t heard from Meredith since that day. Morning turned into afternoon, afternoon into evening, and evening into night. Yet, no sign of her. I was just on the verge of breaking down in tears, having drawn the mark for the two hundred and forty-second day, when the door flew open. Meredith rushed in carrying a bag, and a pair of boots.

“Here, put these on,” she said, throwing the boots to the ground. “We don’t have much time.”

Without hesitation, I quickly laced the boots and slipped on the knitted cardigan she gave me. But when she pulled out a knife, I instinctively stepped back, holding my hand up.

Fear assailed me, but I was mostly distraught. “What are you doing?”

She looked confused as she answered, “Helping you escape. Give me your hand.”

I was wary but desperate, so I extended an arm and barely flinched when she carved a circle into my wrist. I was already accustomed to the pain of getting my wrist cut. As she chanted some spells, I watched the circle glow for a few seconds.

“That’s a cloaking spell my mother taught me. I’ve bound it to my life, so the Blackwoods will never find you with whatever spell they cast. But if I die, the mark will fade, and you’ll become vulnerable. They’ll be able to track you to any corner of this earth. Do you understand?”

I nodded my head in affirmation.

“Come on,” she grabbed my arm. “We better leave before the guards return from the party.”

Meredith guided me through the dark, dense woods, and I followed her, trusting her completely despite the uncertainty of our destination. She urged me to run faster, but I couldn’t. I had to be careful because of the baby. We continued running, until we reached the riverbank—the very place I’d been captured.

“You’re on your own now,” she said, turning to leave.

I grabbed her wrist, stopping her. “Wait, please.”

She hesitated but eventually halted. I wasn’t thinking, the only way I could express my gratitude was by wrapping my arms around her in a hug. “Thank you, Meredith.”

She shrugged her shoulders, pulling away. “Leo would have wanted me to do the right thing.”

“Leo?” I asked in confusion. This was the second time she mentioned that name.

“My father,” she replied softly. “Now go. Don’t stop running until your instincts tell you to.”

She cast me one final glance before disappearing into the night.

Chapter Sixteen — Kaine’s POV

The sight of her tears shattered something inside of me.

Lyra sat there, trembling as she recounted the horrors—the torture, the dark magic they’d forced on her; how it ripped her wolf apart, severing from a part of herself. Each word hit me like a blow, harder than any I’d ever taken. She had been alone. And she had endured what no one should ever have to go through.

At first, my fists clenched and my jaw locked, the fury built inside as she told me about all the awful things they’d done to her. But as she continued, the anger gave way to something far worse—guilt. It was a heavy, suffocating guilt that gnawed at me from the inside because I knew, deep down, everything was my fault. The “what if’s” flooded my mind.

What if I hadn’t listened to my father? What if I hadn’t betrayed her that night? Everything would have been so much different. Lyra would have been my Luna, and we would have been raising Leo together. Most importantly, she wouldn’t have had to suffer. She wouldn’t have been captured and subjected to hell.

I couldn’t imagine the kind of torment she’d gone through. I’d have lost my mind. But she went through all that and survived, raising our son alone, and giving him the love and protection I had failed to provide. As I sat there, staring at the woman in front of me, I felt an overwhelming respect. For her strength. For her resilience.

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