Page 7

I can do this. It’s moving slowly enough for me to make it. I just have to time it right.

With the rest of my strength, I sprint, grabbing the handle of the door and hauling myself up and into the car, crashing to the floor. The pain is so blinding that it takes me a second to catch my breath.

The train car I’ve found myself in isn’t empty. There are big pillars of chain fencing lying on pallets.

Now that I’m not running anymore, I feel the throbbing stings of the open wounds on my feet from running over those rocks so carelessly. When I manage to drag myself up, I see my blood leaving streaks along the metal floor. My lungs are starting to sting with how cold I am.

I drag the door closed to try and get rid of some of the wind. It feels like the heaviest thing I’ve ever moved. I fall to my hands and knees after, my vision growing hazy. I have to crawl to the corner of the train car, sobbing when I see a thick moving blanket lying crumpled in the corner. It smells like dust and metal, but I’m just grateful I have something to keep me warm.

My thin blanket feels rough against my skin as I try to wrap the cuts on my feet as tightly as I can in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

I curl into a ball, insulating myself from the rest of the world, and let myself fall into the dark.

I’m usuallythe kind of person who can wake up really quickly unless something’s wrong with my body. It’s a skill I’ve had to develop. Sleeping makes me vulnerable and not paying attention to people who want attention is dangerous.

There’s something seriously wrong with my body right now because everything feels hazy as I struggle to wake up. It’s not even the pain this time. The cold makes it difficult for me to feel anything at all.

I thought that the cellar I stayed in during my heats was freezing, but that was a warm desert in comparison to the cold I can feel in my heart right now.

I force my eyes open slowly, feeling like they weigh two tons. There was obviously a reason my body woke me up.

As I blink away the haze of sleep, the eery silence surrounding me sets in. The consistent sound of the train moving along its tracks must have lulled me to sleep. We’re not moving anymore.

I shrink back into the corner of the train car when I hear the voices outside.

“Let’s get these fences to the trucks as soon as we can, it’s fucking freezing out here,” A voice calls.

The sound of other train car doors being wrenched open has my heart jumping to my throat. They sound like the whoosh of an executioner’s blade. The sounds banish all lingering feelings of sleep.

There are fences in this train car. It’s only a matter of time until they find me. How stupid was I to fall asleep? The moment the train stopped moving I should have started running again. I need to get as far away as possible from anyone that could hurt me.

Light from floodlights in the train yard shines into the train car as the door is opened.

Chilly fresh air flows through from the outside. I would be grateful for it since it’s gotten pretty stuffy during my time here if it didn’t carry with it the potent scent of alphas. They’re not as unpleasant as Alpha Niall’s, but they’re still obviously alpha scents.

“Holy fuck, what’s that smell?” One voice asks.

“Is that peppermint?” Another adds.

I’m going to die. There’s nowhere to run. They’re going to tear me apart when they do. They can already scent me.

My perfume twists in the air, turning sour with my terror. My heart is pounding so hard that my vision starts to grow hazy.

Boots sound against the metal flooring as someone climbs into the train car.

“Is that blood?” The first voice asks.

“I think that is. Shit, is someone hurt in here?” The second voice adds.

“Let me check.”

They’re going to find me. They’re going to humiliate me. They’re going to hurt me. They’re going to make me wish for death. They’re alphas, after all. It’s in their nature to dominate.

There’s no point in hiding. There’s nowhere to hide here.

I catch the eye of the first alpha and his shock is evident.

“Oh my god,” he says. “Call the bosses right now, there’s an omega here.”