Her Shadow Rogue Mate

BRIAR'S POV -- My legs were burning, every muscle contracting with each powerful, needy stride I took. Locks of blonde whipped across my face as I pushed forward, running. I didn’t know where I was going. All I knew was where and what I was running from, but not from who. The ringing in my ears was caused by the explosion before it all went to hell, and the thrum of my heart beating violently against my rib cage was enough to make me want to just stop and dive into the ground, to disappear, but how can I do that when she sacrificed herself? How can I just give up when I had clear orders? “You run, Briar. Run!” My mother demanded as she pushed me out of the back door that was close enough to the woods for me to escape into when someone broke down our front door as the smoke filled the space of the only home I’ve ever known. It was a demand I couldn’t fight even if I wanted to, because as my Luna, I obliged her— and I ran. I ran because my mother demanded it of me, and I ran alone. I had inhaled enough smoke when I woke my parents up to alert them…and my lungs were burning, burning with rage and hatred and smoke, smoke of the house that I grew up in as the fire ate at it just like the little sharp rocks, thorns and twigs were biting at my bare feet, slicing and causing pain as I bolted through the trees. “Coward,” Cora, my silver coated wolf, growled in my head, disgust lacing her voice. “Shut up, Cora.” I hiss out loud, knowing that I could’ve just thought it. I shouldn’t be wasting the energy I already don’t have on words I don’t need to speak. ‘They were our pack, and you ran like a coward.’ Cora sneered, her hatred weakening me as she fought every muscle of my moving body, trying to take control, trying to shift to go back and fight, but I push against her will. I know the odds…I know that my mother won’t be there if we returned. Her tug was hard, and my hand on the reins slipped, and I yanked back hard as anger warped something inside of me, “You are going to get us killed!” I shouted, my voice coming out louder than intended, and birds flee from their nests in the trees, the sound of soft flapping wings flying overhead making me pause. “You could have saved her, we could have saved her.” Cora continues, her voice filled with lethal rage. Cora is a stubborn, wild beast that fears nothing. She’s strong and powerful, but also blind. We would have died if we stayed, and she doesn’t see that..She doesn’t see the bigger picture. My mom told me to run because I was the only one who could rebuild when it was safe. I am the only one who can carry on our line. “And you’re too young and stupid to understand that there is power in numbers,” Cora sneered, still fighting me for that control, still trying to turn back to the inferno that I ran from. It’s all probably ashes by now. “And you’re blind with rage and don’t understand that we would have died.” I argue. Exhausting hits me like a freight train, and I stop and turn around, staring at the woods as smoke filled the air about a mile back, the top of the trees reflecting red, orange light from the fire. My home is gone. My family…they’re gone. Exhaustion and sadness pours into me as that adrenaline is snatched from me, and my legs wobble before they completely give out. Sitting on my knees, I stare back at the path I ran, hopeless and tired. “Get up,” Cora demands, her energy bouncing around like a rabbit. The disastrous moments replay in my head. Waking up to smoke. Running through the heavy dark clouds filling the house. The bright red and orange colors of the flames as it ate through everything we’ve built and had. My parent’s faces when they realized, and mom…sweet, loving, beautiful mom who stared at me with the same dark oceanic eyes I have, and the picture of her crumbling face as she demanded me to run, ordered me to flee and survive as she ushered me out, and the horrible noise of shouts right before our front door was kicked in, pushing the flames to move faster with the boost of oxygen as mom pushed me through the back door. “Up!” Cora demanded, her will strong and fierce. So I stood, and turned away from the path home, turning my back, as Cora said I had, and I continued to limp and walk to the only place I could go to, to the only pack that was miles away. Shivering, exhausted and sore, I walked underneath the gray sky as the sun started to push the moon away into the Greenvale pack. Walked, because I couldn’t trust Cora not to turn back, and as I limped to the largest house, feeling eyes on me as the early day started, I stopped and knocked on the door of the only people I had left to trust. Someone tapped my shoulder, and my head felt so heavy as I turned and stared at a girl, her beautiful chocolate locks rich with warmth, but her eyes were as cold as ice, “Who the hell are you?” She asked, standing with her shoulders squared back, the perfect posture, and she was so clean, so, so clean that the sliver of energy I had left went to jealousy because I was so dirty, so uncomfortable. “Briar Valewyn,” I rasped out, my breath catching in my throat before the edges of my vision started to become black, and everything vanished after that.