The Great Escape

IRA

I wasn’t sure how long we’d been running; it could have been a few hours. After a while, the trees started to blend together, my mind too preoccupied with racing thoughts to pay attention to where we were going.

I had betrayed them. My family. My clan. My father.

The guilt I expected to feel about my actions was curiously missing, which confused me. Those people were my family. I’d grown up with them and gone to school with them, yet all I could feel was immense relief.

“You are an abomination! A freak!”

“You are no daughter of mine!”

The words Father had spoken to me every single day when I couldn’t keep up with my peers or after I’d done something that he deemed unworthy kept ringing in my ears.

All I’d ever wanted was to make him happy and proud, but I guess I’d finally realized that was never going to happen.

I was different, always standing out in the clan like a sore thumb. As much as I tried to be normal, to blend in and like the same things that they did, I just couldn’t.

The thought of hurting those wolves like they all did and actually enjoying it was unimaginable to me.

The wolves had never done anything to me, and even though Father said repeatedly that they were freaks and monsters, that little voice inside my head refused to believe it. Truth be told, I thought they were rather beautiful.

Their ability to shift from humans to wolves in the blink of an eye always left me in awe. But I never dared to say that out loud as I couldn’t even imagine the sort of punishment that type of thinking would have brought.

***

After god knows how much time, I felt my wolf friend slow down until we stopped completely. I clumsily climbed down, falling on my butt and blushing profusely. When I looked up, I could have sworn the wolf actually chuckled.

By the time I was back on my feet, he had already shifted his form, and I was met with a naked, teenage boy, maybe a year or two younger than me.

“Oh. You…you are naked!” I squeaked as my hands flew to my eyes.

He laughed out loud, not an ounce of shame in him as he casually sat down on the ground and crossed his long legs in front of him.

“Well, of course; my clothes ripped when I shifted,” he answered matter-of-factly, making me blush deeper.

I sat a little way down from him, meticulously trying to ignore his naked state and probably failing miserably.

“So, your name is Ira, right? That’s what that crazy bastard called you.”

My eyebrows shot toward the hairline at the nickname he had given Father, not even daring to imagine how the man would have reacted if he had heard.

“Yes. And what is yours?”

“Rafael, but my friends and family call me Rafa. You can, too, if you want since I would have been dead by now if it wasn’t for you. Thank you, Ira. I am truly grateful,” Rafa said, his face showing nothing but immense gratitude.

I smiled softly and shrugged in response; I didn’t know what I could possibly say to that. I was not used to being thanked or praised for anything, so an appropriate response eluded me.

“Can I ask you something, Ira?” he asked quietly, and I nodded.

“I don’t want you to think that I am ungrateful or that I don’t trust you, but I just don’t understand why you did what you did. Why did you save me, Ira?” he finally asked.

Even though I had been expecting the question, I still wasn’t sure about the answer myself. At the end, I said the only thing that came to mind: “Because it was the right thing to do.”

And in that moment, I knew it was true. It was the right thing to do; and if that meant losing my family in the process, then so be it.

I knew if I had done what Father and the others wanted, I would have lost myself. Judging by the warm look on Rafa’s face, he thought that it was a good answer too.

“So, where are we going?” I asked him, only then remembering that I no longer had anywhere to go to.

“Home. I am taking you to meet the pack, Ira.”

***

After crossing what Rafa said was the pack line, we entered his pack’s territory. Even if Rafa hadn’t said anything, I would have known where we were since soon upon crossing that invisible line, a dozen wolves surrounded us.

I gulped and gripped Rafa’s fur tighter, my eyes widening in fear at the scene in front of me. They were freaking huge!

The biggest of them all, a big, beautiful brown wolf, stepped forward, his penetrating gaze fixed on me and a growl escaping his mouth.

I whimpered and broke our eye contact as my whole body shook in fear. In that moment, I was sure they were going to kill me.

But then his head moved to the side as if in surprise, his eyes trained intently on Rafa. The rest of the wolves soon retreated a little, their stance not as intimidating as it was before.

After a few minutes had passed, Rafa lowered to the ground and urged me to climb down. I did even though all I wanted to do was run for the hills.

Suddenly, my new friend and the big wolf shifted, and the next moment, they were embracing each other while tears ran down their faces.

They separated after some time, and the bigger man turned to me. “Rafa says that you saved his life. Why would a Huntress do that?” asked the man, suspicion clear as day in his voice.

I had expected that. I knew they couldn’t trust me, and why would they?

I had seen what my family did to the likes of them; how they hunted and killed them without mercy. If I were in their place, I wouldn’t trust me either.

I thought about my answer, and raising my eyes to his, I replied, “I am actually not a Huntress. Today was supposed to be my initiation into the clan, and they wanted me to kill Rafa, but I couldn’t.”

He looked at me, disbelief conspicuous in his eyes as his gaze appraised me, trying to find a crack in my story.

“Look, I don’t care if you believe me. You are going to either kill me or not, so just do it and get it over with. I am too tired and hungry to care anymore.

“You want to know why I saved Rafa? Because it was the fucking right thing to do. I am a lot of things, but a killer isn’t one of them. Father always said that makes me a coward, and maybe it does, but I don’t care. I just don’t care anymore.

Fuck him and his opinions. So, what’s it going to be?” I finished my heated response, surprised at having the guts to stand up for myself. Where did all that just come from?

Looking up, I saw Rafa giving me a thumbs up, and I quickly suppressed the sudden urge to giggle as I was sure that it would not be appreciated in that moment.

The big guy looked at me for a long time until he eventually sighed and nodded. “Okay, tough girl. I don’t know why, but I believe you.”

I sighed in relief and smiled.

He laughed suddenly, startling me.

“Oh, little girl, don’t look so relieved just yet. I may believe you, but that doesn’t mean you are off the hook. Now come,” he said and turned around, starting to walk away.

“Where are we going?” I asked Rafa timidly, but the big guy was the one who answered.

“To the pack house. You, little one, are going to meet the alpha. He is the one who will decide your fate.”