Page 3 of Starting a New Life

A collar.

My blood ran cold. I couldn’t look away, my eyes fixated on the heavy-looking piece of metal that could be my future. My worst nightmare coming true.

“You see,” Amanda said in a sickly-sweet voice. “Since one stream of revenue inevitably dries up tonight, we thought we’d get money off you one last time. Alpha Knox has wanted you for years. He’s been pestering me to sell you ever since you recharged his pack’s barrier five years ago.”

I shivered, vividly remembering. It was the first time the coven had sent me to a pack on my own. It was the reason I’d started keeping a go-bag. That visit had taught me that all the bullying and torment in the coven wasn’t that bad compared to what a pack could do to me.

Alpha Knox stepped up next to the giant holding the collar. The Alpha was in animal form, as were the rest of his wolves. He snarled, baring his fangs at me, daring me to run.

“Be a good boy and don’t make a scene, Alexander. Alpha Knox told me you’ll have a good life by his side.”

Even without Eloise’s cackling, I’d have known that was bullshit. After all, I’d already visited Alpha Knox’s pack. I knew how bad it was. I knew the conditions most of the regular wolves lived in. I knew about the forced fights. Knew about the Alpha picking random pack members to warm his bed, whether they wanted to or not. Hell, I’d heard he preferred it if his playthings didn’t want to.

I shuddered.

Oh, I knew exactly what kind of life was awaiting me if they managed to get that fucking collar around my neck—I’d rather die than live like that.

Taking a deep breath, I braced myself. It was a good thing I’d finished the real work on the barrier a week ago, so my magic had had time to replenish. And it was a good thing no one in the coven knew exactly how much magic I possessed. They couldn’t be bothered to learn about our differences, deeming my magic unworthy and primitive.

I reached for my magic and sent it through my skin, enforcing it, creating a shield in the shape of my body. Then I sent it out, feeling for the wolves, and for coven members possibly hiding in the trees.

There were none.

I couldn’t hide a smirk as I realized they thought they had me cornered.

“This was fun,” I said, reaching for the deep well of energy in the middle of my chest, right next to my heart. “But I’m afraid it’s time for me to go.”

On the last word, I pushed a wad of energy into the ground beneath my feet, catapulting myself thirty feet into the air.

I heard screams.

Angry snarls.

Paws on the forest floor.

Drawing all the light inside me, I cast the air surrounding me into darkness, then used the time the wolves needed for their eyes to adjust to the lack of light to reform my shield, forcing it to project what was on the opposite side of it, rendering me invisible to them.

I couldn’t silence the dull thud my body made as I hit the forest floor several feet past the tree line, and neither could I suppress a pained grunt, but I could keep my scent within the constraints of my shield.

Now the wolves could neither scent nor see me.

But they could still hear me.

Without wasting another second, I started running, using tiny bits of magic to propel my body forward with every step. It felt as if springs were attached to my shoes, and it took all my concentration not to lose balance.

Behind me, the sound of paws came closer. There was a lot of snarling, a lot of howling, a lot of shouting.

But I drowned it all out.

I ran and ran and ran.

Until my lungs were burning.

Until my legs were giving out under me.

Until my magic was the only thing keeping me upright.

Until I reached the edge of the forest.