Chapter 2: The Hunt

It all felt like a painful nightmare except it wasn't she was being dragged to the dungeon by her people, by her guards. They people who once respected her watched her with frowns on their faces, she had failed her father.

And she brought the devil himself into her home, the guards strolled through her cell making side mockery at her.

Sypha sat on the cold floor of the dungeon, her heart racing and her eyes damp with tears, it was her people who she protected and cared for, for years he mocked and dragged her to the dungeon. She was going to be banished by sundown and her wolf bounded it was a full moon, a dangerous time to be out of her pack, especially if she was going to be without her wolf. She wouldn't survive in the world without her wolf.

She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to make herself smaller she had to escape. The doors were sealed shut and the tiny window wouldn't even fit her head. Just when she was out of options, she heard keys dangling as someone strolled towards the cell.

It was Hector, he had a mischievous grin plastered on his face. She was sure he had come to glot and mock her, she turned away, facing her gaze at the empty wall.

"I'm here to collect you for the bounding ritual I can't have you making my plan fail," he said, unlocking the steel door.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she turned to look at him, the pain of him rejecting her resurfacing,

"You tricked me and betrayed my trust all for what power?" he did it's effortlessly just like he had betrayed her.

Hector's gaze darkened. "You were never fit to rule, Sypha. You were a means to an end." 

this was going to be her chance to escape, she had to, if she wasted any more time they would have the upper hand against her.

She stepped out of the cell, following him after they tied her hands. The mage and few elders came into view, ready to bound her wolf.

"Why don't we just banish her alone leave the goddess to determine her fate, bounding her—- bounding her meant death out there." one of the elders said to another.

She recognized him, he was friends with her father but now he looked scared and timid. He looked at her his eyes filled with pity.

"We don't know what she can do the moment we untie her better to be safe than sorry." 

They started the ritual, Sypha felt her wolf scream within her as she fell to the floor, her eyes rolling to the back of her head, she felt her soul was being ripped from her and she couldn't stop it they recited strange languages as they placed her in the middle of a carving. 

The pain continued even after the ritual ended all she felt was the cold air on her skin, she felt strong hands grabbing her arms pulling her up. 

It was Hector he was close, too closer than she wanted she could feel his breath on her neck.

Her legs wobble and she fell back to the floor, "not so strong and powerful now?" he mocked. 

She was going to rid him from the surface of the earth she looked up at him, preparing to lunge at him, but her body gave up having no strength left, she laid on the floor face flat.

Her uncle ran towards them lunging forward, but the guards blocked him. Hector's next words sealed her fate

"Sypha Belandes is no longer one of us, from today she is not to be seen or communicate with anyone of you, if found the person would be executed for aiding a traitor," he declared.

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Sypha's heart pounded in her chest as the realization set in. 

The man she had loved had orchestrated her downfall. 

Hector stepped close, his lips curling in a cruel smile. "Run Sypha run like hell and pray I never find you." 

They shoved her into the darkness. 

She stumbled into the darkness the grasses and hard leaves willing at her feet and face, her dress was torn in all places as she tried to walk. She had to before the rogue wolves find her.

She heard footsteps behind her fast and she ducked behind a tree, she was just setting foot into the wolf territory it had been to soon for them to come hunting her. 

"She couldn't have gone far we can't let her get away."

"Hector will have our heads," she heard two warriors say, she placed her hands on her mouth trying to silence the sob that she was making, she couldn't fight them off if they found her. She was too weak.

She laid there as she waited for time to pass trying to make as little noise as possible, then she heard voices coming from deep within the forest, rogues her stomach dropped she couldn't stay there any longer.

They were nowhere in sight when she emerged from the bushes where she hid, she made a run for it using every strength she had left she could not let Hector win, she kept repeating it like a chant.

She heard their heavy footsteps behind her, She was breathing heavily as she ran, her bare feet slapping against the cold and rough floor. Branch scratched her skin, but she didn't mind. The agony was a minor price to pay for freedom. 

She was at the boundary the deadly pack everyone avoided, the pack who housed a beast unlike any other. No one who entered was heard from again, but she ran into it praying they wouldn't follow her.

The rogue territories were death itself. No wolf dared to enter the cursed lands, not unless they had nothing left to lose. 

Sypha stumbled through the thick trees, her breath ragged. Hector's warriors weren't far behind. She could hear their snarls, smell their bloodlust. 

She had been running for hours, her strength fading. But she refused to die here. 

A howl ripped through the night—a sound so deep, so primal, that it made her blood freeze. The warriors chasing her stopped. 

Trevor sat in his throne his thick black hair hanging from his face, it was yet another day for him to live his cursed life, he strolled through the halls of his pack greeted by few of his members he grunted in response. 

He sensed her immediately he was out of the door her string scent hitting him," something was wrong."

He called on two guards with him and the ran to towards where he smelled her, it could be another tressoadsr, and he would lay waste to their lives.

When he got there, he saw a fragile woman running like she had no strength left as her head was turned to her pursuers she collided into him, her face hitting his broad chest.

Trevor was sure it was the same scent he smelled when they ran into his pack it had been a while since he had intruders no one dared step foot in his pack uninvited, so whatever she didn't have to be damn serious.

"It's him," one of them whispered. 

A tall, shadowed figure stepped into view, his crimson eyes glowing in the darkness. He was taller than any man she'd seen, his broad frame wrapped in a dark cloak.

"The Lycan King," someone gasped. 

Trevor Belmont. 

The cursed king who ruled the land where no one survived. 

The warriors hesitated planning their next move, but Trevor's voice was low and lethal. "You dare cross my land. That was a mistake." 

That was all Sypha heard as her vision began to blur she collapsed to the floor, exhaustion taking over her completely.