Page 58 of Escaping Wildfire
He threw me down, and I realized we were in the forest behind the pack house. I tried to catch myself but landed on my wrist, and I cried out as I felt something snap.
“I’m gonna have fun with you.” He licked his lips as he bent down in front of me. He grabbed my neck as he pushed me onto my back and slammed his lips against mine. I clawed at his hand in an attempt to get him off of me. I always imagined my first kiss would be a magical moment, not whatever this was that made bile rise to my throat.
‘Phoenix, how do we get out of this? Help me, please.’ I cried out desperately to my wolf, not knowing what else to do. Beta Griffin put his weight on me and started pushing my dress up. At that moment, I hated myself for choosing to wear a dress today instead of jeans.
I clawed at him again, but this time I caught him on the cheek. He hissed out in pain and punched me in the face. “Fucking bitch, you’ll pay for that.” He ripped at the strap of my dress and started undoing his belt. Just as I felt myself shutting down and giving up, Phoenix surprised me by taking over. She pushed me to the back of my mind as she pushed forward and shifted.
Beta Griffin was so shocked that he stumbled back, and Phoenix pounced at him with bared teeth. She clawed at his chest and clamped down on his thigh. He was strong, though, and flung Phoenix off before she could do more damage. He shifted into his wolf, and Phoenix stood up. I was glad we were smaller as she was able to evade him and run back in the direction of the pack house. He snapped at us as we ran and managed to clamp down on our left hip. Phoenix yelped out in pain but found the strength to kick him off and run faster.
I could see the training grounds up ahead where some of the warriors were sparring, and Phoenix ran her hardest to get to them. If we could get to them, maybe they’d take pity and keep me safe.
‘You can do this Phoenix, just a bit further.’ I cheered her on as I could feel how exhausted she was. She somehow found the energy to push through the pain and ran until she noticed some of the warriors looking our way. I felt the exhaustion and pain kick back in in full force, and I crashed to the floor. The last thing I remember was someone calling out my name as they lifted me off the ground.
LARKIN
I had spent most of the day off territory in business meetings. While my father didn’t want to hand over the Alpha title, he was more than happy to let me handle the financial aspects of our pack businesses. I had always had a good head for numbers, so I actually enjoyed this part of my work.
I headed back home and went up to my room to change, hoping to get a workout in before dinner. I had felt calmer today as I knew Nora was safe now. Flint had been a little whiny as he missed his mate, but he knew we needed to separate for the time being to keep her safe.
I wasn’t prepared for what awaited me upstairs though. Gema was pacing the living room as James, one of our warriors, stood beside her.
“Larkin, thank Goddess, you’re home. We tried linking you, but you weren’t answering.”
“What’s wrong?” My heart dropped to my stomach as I imagined the worst. “Is it Nora?”
Gema shook her head, “No, Nora’s safe…it’s Rory.”
“What happened? Where is she?” I felt sick at the thought of something happening to my sister.
“Larkin, don’t panic, she’s here in our room, but she’s…she’s been attacked. James just brought her in, she’s still unconscious, and we’re waiting for the doctor to arrive.”
“Attacked? How? Who? I…” A million different thoughts ran through my mind, and I felt like I couldn’t think straight. “What happened?”
“We don’t know.” James clarified. “A few of us were out back sparring, and she stumbled out of the woods in wolf form, dirty and bleeding from her side. I picked her up and started to head to the clinic when I ran into Miss Gema, and she directed me to bring her to your room instead.”
I nodded my head, “Thank you, James.” I walked over to the bedroom and looked in on my sister. She was lying in bed with the sheet pulled up to her neck, but I could see that her face was bruised and swollen. It looked a lot like my face had looked just a few days ago after Griffin attacked me.
“Larkin, the doctor is here, she’d like to examine Rory now. Let’s wait outside.”
I nodded as I headed back out and sat on the couch. James was nowhere in sight, so I guess he must have left when the doctor arrived. I rubbed my face wondering how this could have happened. I felt like I was in shock, unable to believe that anyone would attack my baby sister.
“No, no, get off me, no!” Rory’s screams startled me, and I rushed back into the room, not caring to knock before entering.
“Larkin!” She yelled out in relief.
“Shh…it’s okay, I’m here. You’re safe.”
“Larkin.” She sobbed out my name and reached out to me. I sat down next to her on the bed and cradled her head. “You’re safe now, Rory.”
I let her cry for a few more minutes. “Is it okay if the doctor checks you out?”
She nodded at me, and I stayed in the room but stepped back and faced away to let the doctor finish. Rory had a cracked rib and a sprained wrist. She also had a large gash on her hip that the doctor stitched up and bandaged.
“I’m sorry to ask,” The doctor paused, “but were you—”
“No…no, he didn’t…I wasn’t raped.” She cut off the doctor, and I breathed a sigh of relief at her words. I hated that she was hurt at all, but it gave me some form of relief to know she hadn’t experienced that.
“Alright then, I’ll leave you with these pills for the pain, and I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow. Get plenty of sleep, and your wolf healing should have you back on your feet in no time.”