Page 32 of Claiming Xan
I ran wildlythrough the woods, fueled by anger and dark thoughts. I wanted to tear that Alpha bitch apart, to rip her limb from limb and bathe in her blood—but then, wasn’t that exactly what she thought I was? A monster?
I thought of Xan. His soft brown eyes and those pouty lips, begging me for more. His lithe, lean body writhing beneath me as I claimed him, marked him, took him. I gave him all of me. Everything I had to give—and he gave it back. The bite mark on my own neck was proof of that.
My chest ached. Not only had I lost my brother, but now I’d lost Xan too.
I lurked in the woods, straying to the outskirts of Rubydawn territory, but never actually leaving the sanctity of the pack. I was afraid that if I did, Dr. Thompson and his men would track me down and drag me back to hell. I wouldn’t put it past them to have injected trackers beneath our skin—property of Thompson & Co Labs.
So I remained, a ghost in the forest, my anger making way to sorrow and pain and longing. At any sound of movement in theunderbrush, I fled in the opposite direction, terrified that Gracie had sent enforcers after me to finish the job.
Day bled into night, the sun rising and falling, over and over again. My stomach twisted and growled, hunger pangs setting in. I tried to hunt, but every attempt was a miserable failure. The squirrels even laughed at me from the safety of the treetops. I’d never been taught to catch prey. Our mother wasn’t part of a pack; we were loners, on our own. Just the three of us—me, her and Sky.
As the rabbit sprinted off into the underbrush, I snarled and lashed out at the nearest tree. I raked my claws down the trunk, tearing bark loose before I wheeled away and took off into the woods.
Goddamnit! Life wasn’t fair! But then, it’d never been fair, had it? I’d always gotten the short end of the stick. I was the kid who struggled to focus in school. Struggled to keep my temper in control. Always getting into arguments with my classmates, getting into scraps at recess.
When Sky started getting bullied, I addressed the group of boys personally with a warning. Stop, or else. But they didn’t stop and after one too many tears from my twin, I put an end to it; I sent that boy to the hospital with a broken jaw and a fractured skull.
Of course, I got suspended, and our mother cried. Said she couldn’t do this anymore. That’s when she started seeking alternative places to send me. Sendus.Because we were two halves of a flawed whole. Broken dolls.
The day Mom took us to the rehab center, we ate peanut butter toast and eggs for breakfast. It was a good morning. Later, we sat together on plush leather couches in the white-walled room with the large resin-topped desk while Mom spoke with the administrator. The woman explained how the rehab system worked and how it would benefit me and Sky both.
All it would take was a signature, and we’d be enrolled. So Mom signed off on us…and after teary hugs and goodbyes, we never saw her again.
Of course, there was never any rehab behavioral center to begin with, just a facility that pumped us full of drugs and hormones, testing our limits and forcing us to breed “for science”—and we weren’t the only ones in that hellhole. So many other dull-eyed, listless Alpha-Omega twins haunted the halls of that place.
Just thinking about it made my hackles rise. I never wanted to go back there. I would rather die…and I might just get my wish.
It’d been what felt like weeks out here on my own. I was starving. I was weak. My body felt cold despite the hot July sun. Out of desperation, I dared leave Rubydawn territory and go dumpster diving in neighboring trash bins. I didn’t care what I ate, at this point, so long as it filled my aching stomach.
Once I’d eaten my fill, I retreated back to the woods near a small creek and curled up in a ball, making myself as small as possible. I was too weak to keep running. If someone found me now, so be it.
Maybe I deserved death.
The worst part was… I never stopped thinking about Xan. The mark on my neck twinged some nights, and I wondered if he thought about me. How we could go from friends to lovers to mates in a matter of days was beyond me, but I yearned to see him again. Just to hold him again.
Creeping closer to a metal trash can near the front porch of a small blue trailer, I carefully nosed the lid off. It landed on the ground with a thud and I froze, listening for any sound of footsteps. None came. Was the coast clear?
Hunger driving me, I began rooting through the trash, finding a half-eaten hamburger and cold, soggy French fries thattasted like heaven. My stomach clenched and my throat worked as I gulped it down and sniffed around for more.
“HEY!”
My head snapped up so fast, I might’ve gotten whiplash. In the process, I knocked the entire trash can over, spilling the contents all over the grass. A man with sleep-rumpled clothes and matted blond hair stood on the porch—and in his hands glinted the cold steel of a shotgun.
BANG! I jumped as the first bullet whizzed past too close for comfort. I felt the breeze of it against my cheek. Fuck! I sprang away from the man with the shotgun as he aimed it at me again.
This time, I wasn’t so lucky. Another loud crack split the air, and a fiery hot pain lanced through my leg. I stumbled, crying out, but I knew if I stopped, if I faltered, he’d kill me.
So with my heart in my throat, I tucked my wounded leg close to my body and ran for cover as the human shouted obscenities behind me.
I didn’t stop when I reached the safety of the woods. Overhead, explosions sounded, making my heart slam into my ribcage like a panicked hare. I ran wildly, unable to breathe or think straight, until finally, I collapsed.
I lay there, panting, blood leaking from my throbbing thigh. The bullet had clipped me, but a wound was a wound. Frustration built up inside of me, a bubble in my chest. Why me? Did the fates just want me to roll over and die?
I forced myself to my feet once more and limped deeper into the woods, but I didn’t get far before my shaky legs folded. I landed in a heap with a soft whine. Damn it…
That’s when I heard something—no, someone. I lifted my head and peered through the foliage to see a wolf pup bouncing around, chasing a butterfly, her ears flopping and tail wagging. She was getting closer and closer.
Suddenly, she stopped, her eyes locked on me. She cocked her head, and my body tensed up.Go away…
