Freeing Starr
Chapter 4 ~ Run

I glanced around nervously at all the girls that were scattered around me. Their anxiety and fear was written all over their faces as they dreaded the upcoming hunt. I glanced down at my wedding outfit and frowned, tugging at the fabric to see if it was tough enough to survive this ordeal.

I didn’t understand why the males didn’t let us change out of our dresses. Just by looking around I could tell I was definitely not the only girl who wasn’t dressed to run around through trees and mud.

I became highly suspicious that this was what the males had intended. They wanted the dresses the females wore to slow them down while running.

Nah, I shook my head at the thought. That couldn’t possibly be it. Everyone knew that males were physically more stronger and faster than women. It wouldn’t matter if we were in dresses or not to them. It’s possible that they simply ignored it because they assumed the females would turn into their wolves to give them a better chance of escape. However, that probably wouldn’t be the case for me. Right now, my wolf was calmly relaxing within my mind, with no intention of getting up and revealing herself at all. She was extremely lazy, much to my annoyance.

I contemplated asking Zion for a change of clothing but then decided against it.

I glanced across at where he resided, talking to his first beta in hushed voices. As if he felt my stare on him, he looked up and our gazes clashed. The corners of his lips turned up slightly into a smirk as his eyes trailed suggestively down my body. His eyes clouded as they rested on my cleavage.

I blushed deeply and quickly turned away, trying to hide my anxiety for the hunt. I couldn’t show any of the females that I was afraid. I was a Luna now, and that meant that they now looked up to me.

As I thought about the events that might occur once the hunt started, I began to contemplate and surprisingly, my wolf began to transmit her emotions.

She was anxious.

She began to pace at the back of my mind, whining softly for her mate. She was conflicted. She wanted her mate and yet she wasn’t ready to become mated at the same time. She wanted her freedom and she wanted to have the option of finding her actual soulmate. She was happy that we got away from our father but sad that we ran into another obstacle.

I agreed with her wholeheartedly. We wanted to meet our true mate, we wanted to be courted by him, to make him shower us with love, have kids and grow old with him, not with some wild Alpha whose traditions made us feel so repulsed.

Then a thought occurred to me. Why not run away? While on the run, I could make a beeline towards the pack borders, it wouldn’t be that hard.

Yeah, right. It would be extremely hard. I knew my limits. I wasn’t the strongest female here, as a matter of fact I was sure most of the females here could best me. I was weak, easily terrified and clumsy. What kind of Alpha female was I?

To make it all worst the borders were always protected and my new bond to Zion would make it easy for him to find me.

I sighed and decided to just find a good place where I could hide until the hunt was over. Somewhere no one would think to look, not even Zion. It wouldn’t stop him from marking me but it would prolong the mating and give me a chance to figure out how to deal with everything.

My body stiffened at the tingles that appeared across my back, causing my wolf to purr softly in pleasure. I felt his breath fan across my neck before I felt him slide his nose across my skin, rubbing it at the junction of my neck and shoulder, where my mark would be.

I kept my body stiff and erect as I was perfectly aware of the bulge poking at me from behind. He nipped at my neck lightly, startling me and causing a yelp to escape my lips as I jumped slightly in fright. My heart pounded loudly in my chest and I was sure that he could hear it and tell how nervous I was.

I was perfectly aware of his presence as he continued rubbing up against me. In public! Where everyone could see us! I heard him chuckle slightly in amusement as he pulled away from me. I quickly took a step away from him but stopped when he growled in warning.

His first beta came up beside him. He was a scary looking guy, with muscles filled out in every crevice of his body. You’d think he was a body builder. He had tattoos spreading from across his neck and leading down under his shirt. His black hair was cropped short and his intense grey eyes scanned the people around him cautiously.

What a beta! The dude looked like he could pummel you to the ground with one hand! I thought as I eyed the Beta warily.

Zion caught me looking at his Beta and narrowed his eyes, flashing his sharp fangs in warning. I quickly averted my gaze and instead shifted it to the entrance of the forest. My wolf was yearning to go for a run but not the kind of run I was going to have right now.

“Silence!” The first Beta’s voice boomed gruffly around the clearing, causing all the nervous chatter to come to a stop as everyone immediately turned their attention to the two leading males. It was clear to everyone that the beta was indeed powerful, second to only Zion and if it came down to a fight between the two, he’d definitely be able to stand his ground.

“The hunt is about to begin in five minutes! Everyone get to your positions!” He continued.

I nervously approached the group of females that were participating in the hunt and gave them a small smile in hopes of calming them down. Some of them reluctantly returned the smile before they all formed a line behind me as I turned to face the forest. I grabbed the fabric of my skirt and raised it slightly before carefully stepping out of my heels. Those would definitely hold me back.

The females that were also wearing heels took off theirs and kicked them away.

“Females! Are you ready?” The beta asked, not waiting for a reply as he turned to the males, “Males! Are you ready?” The males growled their approval and scanned over the females wantonly.

I was sure that the males didn’t intend on doing just nothing with the females once they caught them. I knew Zion wasn’t.

“GO!” The first beta’s voice startled me out of my thoughts and I quickly dashed towards the entrance to the forest.

The sounds of our footsteps vibrated in my ear as we ran for what seemed to be our freedom. I knew I wasn’t the only one who wanted to meet my true soulmate. We were all forced to participate in this barbaric hunt and we were all being forced to mate whoever chose us. This was wrong.

Once we entered the forest, it felt as though the trees were closing in on us. I glanced back at where we came from, the trees completely blocking our view of the males. I skidded to a stop and turned towards the running females, who also stopped before me.

I made an abrupt decision.

“We split up here, rub your scents off on the trees as you pass by. That would confuse the males, especially since it’s a lot of us. Hide your scent with water or mud, whichever one works best. Do this if you don’t want to get caught, good luck.” I suggested before turning and running again deeper into the forest. I didn’t want to travel with such a large group. It was better to run alone.

I pulled my reluctant wolf forward and used her speed to run as fast as we could, to push through our limits. Since we didn’t have any extra clothing, I didn’t want to risk changing into my wolf and ending up naked in front of anyone. There was no time for delays.

Along the way, I made sure to imprint my scent on the passing trees as I ran in a zig zag style, hoping to mislead Zion for as long as I could. My stupid dress was hooking itself on anything it could hang on to and I growled in frustration. I lengthened my nails and tore off the bottom piece of my skirt to about knee length, giving myself more room to stretch my lower limbs.

My heart was racing in my chest as my wolf urged me to push harder, to run faster.

A howl suddenly echoed throughout the forest.

They were coming.

I whispered out a silent prayer to the goddess to give me strength to survive the night and nervously glanced over my shoulder.

Terrible mistake on my part.

A tree stump suddenly appeared in front of me and my foot ran right into it, causing me to topple over the tiny hill I was on. I yelped at the sharp debris and rocks that pinched away at my skin as I fell. Tumbling over my head and rolling ungracefully down the hill. I landed on my hand and twisted it, causing me to cry out sharply in pain.

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