<h4>Chapter 2: The End of Everything</h4>


    <strong>Evaline:</strong>


    The forest was stretched endlessly before me, shrouded in an eerie silence. My breaths wereing in shallow gasps as I pushed forward even though my legs had started to tremble from exhaustion.


    I was on my way to pack house. It might be a stupid idea knowing Damian would be there, but I couldn’t run away on empty hands. I just wanted to sneak in and grab some clothes and the little saving I had been secretly keeping. It might not be a lot, but it could earn me bread for a few days.


    The night air was damp against my skin, but I barely noticed. My mind was consumed by a single thought.


    <i>I have to get away. </i>


    Ethan had rejected me.


    The man I had loved... the only hope in my life... had shattered me without a second thought. Just hours ago, he had held me, made me believe I was wanted. And then, in front of everyone, he had cast me aside like I was nothing.


    <i>"You mean nothing to me."</i>


    His voice echoed in my head, sounding venomous and final.


    And Lillian - my perfect, cruel stepsister - had stood by his side with a victorious smirk on her lips as if mocking me - <i>"Ethan was always mine, Eva. Did you really think he would choose you?" </i>


    I clenched my fists, digging my fingernails into my palms as I ran. I had spent my whole life enduring torment at the hands of my stepmother, my stepsiblings, even my own father. But this? This was the final betrayal.


    I had nothing left.


    No home. No mate. No future.


    But at least I was free.


    The thought barely had time to settle before a sharp, metallic scent invaded my senses. My steps faltered as dread coiled in my stomach.


    <i>Blood</i>.


    The air was thick with it.


    I swallowed hard. My heart was hammering against my ribs as I forced myself forward. The trees thinned ahead, opening into the clearing where the pack was located. And that’s when I saw it.


    Bodies.


    I stopped breathing as I took in the scene.


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    Dozens of bodies were scattered across the ground like discarded puppets. The warriors, the elders, the pack members who had once sneered at me, tormented me... were now nothing more than lifeless corpses.


    The pack was in ruins. Someone had set the houses on fire, including the pack house.


    I stumbled forward as my mind struggled to process what I was seeing.


    Shadowfang Pack was gone. It was annihted.


    A numb sort of disbelief settled over me as I took another shaky step. My father... where was he? Step mother? Lillian? Damian?


    I turned my head, searching for their faces among the dead, but it was hard. And that’s when I saw it - a symbol, carved deep into the bark of a charred tree.


    A crescent moon, shed through by three w marks. It was the mark of the <i>Rogue Kings</i>.


    A shudder wracked my body as I realized who had done this - the four Alpha Kings who ruled the roguends. The ones whispered about in hushed voices, feared by every pack.


    River. Kieran. Draven. Oscar.


    I had heard the stories. How they had once belonged to a noble pack, only for my father to attack them, ughtering their people and seizing theirnds. And how the four brothers had survived against all odds, vowing vengeance.


    This was their revenge.


    And I was the only one left alive.


    A choked sob wed its way up my throat, but I swallowed it down. There was only one thought in my head - I had to run.


    If the Rogue Kings had wiped out my pack, they wouldn’t leave loose ends. And I was thest one.


    Panic surged through me as I turned and fled into the darkness, leaving the ruins of my past behind.


    * * *


    <i>One Month Later~</i>


    The cold seeped into my bones as I crouched behind the abandoned shack. My heart was mming against my ribs crazily. The night was thick with the scent of pine and damp earth, but beneath it, something more dangerous was lingering.


    Wolves.


    And these were not just any wolves, but rogues.


    I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to remain still. I had been running for weeks, barely stopping to rest, never staying in one ce long enough to be found. But it had been getting harder.


    I had no money. No change of clothes. No food. And no shelter. And no matter how far I ran, they were always behind me.


    I had managed to stay ahead of them... until now.


    A low growl rumbled through the air, sending a shiver down my spine.


    They were close.


    I pressed my back against the wooden wall while my mind raced. My body was aching with exhaustion, my limbs were weak from weeks of starvation, but I couldn’t let them catch me.


    I sucked in a sharp breath and prepared to run. But at that very moment, a voice cut through the silence.


    "Enough."


    The single word was calm, yet it carried a weight that sent an icy chill through my veins.


    Slowly, I turned my head.


    A man was standing just beyond the trees, mostly hidden in the shadows which made it hard for me to see his face. But even then, he looked - tall, powerful, and lethal.


    I took a step back as my instincts screamed at me to run. But before I could, the man stepped forward and his dark gaze pinned me in ce.


    "You are a hard one to catch, Ms. Greystone."


    They had found me.


    My chest tightened and my mind scrambled for a way out. "Let me go," I forced out, though my voice was barely above a whisper.


    He showed no change in his expression. "You need toe with us."


    My heart raced. "I’m not part of Shadowfang anymore. The pack is gone."


    His expression didn’t change. "I know."


    The weight of his words pressed down on me. He wasn’t here for my pack. He was here for me.


    Before I could react, he moved. And he was fast. Too fast.


    I barely had time to gasp before his hand wrapped around my wrist, grounding me in ce. I twisted, trying to break free, but it was all in vain.


    "Let me go!" I struggled, but he didn’t even flinch.


    "The Rogue Kings are waiting for you. It’s time you stop running." He said, once again barely showing any change in his expression.


    And then everything went ck.