My Rejected Heart by Soccerluv4 * (epub e reader TXT) 📖

I tried my best to follow the bastard into the forest. He took an old, rocky path towards the underbrush. I saw him open a latch that was hidden underneath a pile of leaves and dirt and climb inside. I wanted to sneak further and see where he’d gone, but I knew it would be too dangerous. Instead, I just retracted back, and memorized the address. I knew it had to be where they were staying. The location was very remote, far from any public roads. The nearest road was Blueridge lane, in the forest adjacent to it. I left scratched markings into the trees near it so that I could find my way back again, to finally expose them.  The marks were subtle enough to not be noticed by any of the men, but I would still be able to see them. I would finally get those bastards. I know where they are, and they won’t be safe for long.

I turned to the next page, but it was blank. So were the rest of them. Shaking my head, I flipped back over to the passage. Blueridge Lane was a quarter of a mile away from the pack house. I’d been over there a few times, when I wanted to get a quick run in before anyone could notice. I never went into the forest adjacent to it though, I always stayed on the left side of the road, in pack territory. The opposite side was free land.

I shut the book abruptly and placed it back into the drawer. A defiant smirk appeared on my face. I knew what I had to do. No longer would I be the defenseless little luna that would put my pack in danger. Hell no. I was going to save this pack, even if it meant risking my life. Mom would be proud.

By no means was this gonna be easy, I thought, looking at the guards patrolling around the house. Along with protecting the house from intruders, the guards were also keeping people inside, including me. How was I ever going to get out?

I paced the room angrily, thinking of ways to escape without being detected.

“Wait,” I said to myself, “I’m the LUNA, I can say anything I want and the guards have to obey, right?” Smirking, I grabbed my backpack filled with a change of clothes and a survival kit. If I was going to find my mom, it would best to be prepared for anything.

I snuck down the stairs and to the door as quietly as possible. Stepping outside, I was immediately met with a pair of guards on either side of the door.

“Hi guys. I just wanted to tell you that Alpha Drew needs you to switch with the guards in the back immediately. He thinks there’s a better chance that if anyone comes to attack us, it’ll be from the forest in the backyard, since that’s where, you know, Zane disappeared. He wants his two best guards on duty back there.” I smiled at them, hoping they couldn’t detect my lie.

“Uh, are you sure Luna? Maybe I should confirm with Alpha Drew-“

“No!” I said a little too forcefully. I coughed nervously, “no, I mean, he’s very busy and really stressed right now with all this. He just told me to tell you guys to switch, no questions asked. You don’t want to upset Alpha Drew at a time like this, do you?” I prompted.

“N-no luna. Okay we’ll rotate positions, effective immediately.” He saluted me, to which I nodded and stepped back inside the door.

I watched them leave their positions by the door and walk around the house towards the backyard. When the coast seemed clear, I grabbed the backpack I’d hidden behind the plants and sprinted out the door.

When it seemed I was far enough from the house, I hid behind a tree in the forest and stripped. Transforming into my wolf, I hitched my backpack on, with much difficulty might I add, and sprinted in the direction of the woods my mom had written about.

It’d been so long since I’d transformed into my wolf. My paws padded against the forest floor, kicking back dirt with each leap. My fur could feel the wind pass through, and my body felt alive with adrenaline. This feeling was something I dearly missed ever since the whole incident and being unfortunately trapped in the house. I needed to get this all sorted out, for the sake of my Mom, Zane, and my sanity.

I slowed to a stop when I reached the street my mom had written in the book: Blue Ridge Lane. I looked across it, to the forest on the other side.

My fur stood on end as I stared at the swirls of branches, vines, and leaves. Somewhere, in that mess of the woods, could possibly hold my mother after all these years.

I decided it was best to stay in wolf form than to shift. If someone were to come out of the woods and see me there, at least my wolf would be strong enough to fight them off, not to mention the fact that I’d be able to sense them better in wolf form than to be vulnerable in human form.

Looking both ways to check for cars, I ran across the street and into the forest. I felt the bond of pack line travel across my body, almost like I was exiting out of a bubble; a bubble that could keep me safe from whatever was beyond.

I snuffed my snout, which was equivalent to me scoffing at myself if I were in human form. Now was not the time to chicken out. I was so close to finding my mom, getting Zane, and putting this dangerous business down once and for all. It really was not the time to back down.

Continuing on, I padded my paws slowly on the dirt, hoping to keep a low profile as I searched the trees for the markings my mom had put up. Smart one, she was. If it weren’t for these markings, who knows how long it would take for me to find her!

I found the first marking a little ways off from where I entered the forest. It was on a relatively old looking tree. The mark had some horizontal scratched lines with a single diagonal line slashing through. It looked a lot like a group of tally marks. Clever, since nobody would really notice a bunch of random scratches unless they looked real close. Looking further, I spotted the same marking on another tree.

Continuing forward, I passed tree by tree, all with the same markings, until I found a slightly different version of the marking. On this mark, there were two diagonal lines running through the horizontal ones. I looked around, trying to see if there were any other trees in the vicinity that had the same marks, but there were none.

This must be it, I thought. The hideout must be around here somewhere.

Taking a quick look around me, I tried to focus on any disturbed terrain. Several feet to my left, I noticed that the dirt looked more like mud, a sure sign that it’d been kicked up by the traffic of feet. Their constant movements allowed moistened, fresh dirt underneath to rise up.

I approached the area slowly, looking for a sign of a trap door or something. Getting closer, I noticed a steel handle peaking up from underneath some leaves. Luckily for me, it seemed like it wasn’t locked. I shifted back into my human form, grabbing some clothes from my backpack to clothe myself. Standing back up on two feet, I walked over to the door and reached for the handle.

With a hard yank, the entrance opened, revealing a dark, dusty hole with a ladder against one of the walls.

I turned around, and descended into the hole, dropping my right leg onto a rung, then the left, then the right again till I was down enough to grab the rungs with my hands. I continued my descent, until I hung my leg down to touch the floor rather than another rung.

I turned around, inspecting the tunnel before me. It was completely dark, so I fished out my flashlight from my backpack. The light exposed the concrete walls and an endless tunnel before me.

My footsteps echoed as they hit the concrete floor beneath me. I continued on, in search for some sort of exit.

Finally I reached a dead end, with a ladder against the wall. This must be the exit, I thought.

I turned off the flashlight and tucked it back in my bag. After climbing the ladder slowly, I reached the door above me. I opened the latch quietly, and it gave away with a click.

Pushing the door open a crack, I surveyed the surroundings. As I peeked my eyes out, I saw that I was in some clearing, with a wooden lodge several feet away from me. Nobody seemed to be outside, so I took the initiative to open the door further and climb out. I sneaked around, using trees to cover myself as I inched closer to the house.

Just as I was a few feet away, I felt the barrel of a gun against my head. My eyes went wide and my body turned stiff.

“Don’t move,” came a gravelly voice. One I recognized. One I’d grown to love.

“Zane?”

Of all the times I’ve wanted my life to be over, this had to be the worst.

My knees were scraped up, and my ankle felt like it was twisted. My wrists were handcuffed to a steel rod of the metal cage I was in at the moment, and my head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.

I surveyed my surroundings with as much accuracy as I could, considering the only light came from a small old fashioned oil lantern that stood several feet away on a wooden crate.

The place I was in was dark and damp. There was a strong smell of earth, which confirmed my theory about this being a basement or cellar of some sort. It was relatively empty, except for the cage I was in. To my left, were a few more similar cages, though these were empty, and a shiver went up my spine. I really hoped that they were empty because of a lack of prisoners, not that they’d finished them off or something.

Gulping, I looked over to my right. I noticed a staircase a few feet away, facing towards me.

Just then,