GIFTED RILEY by Lacy Mierr

Chapter 2: A Desperate Escape

*Riley*

The world tilted. My head spun, and a suffocating tightness constricted my throat. This was it; this was my breaking point.

My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs, threatening to burst free and escape the crushing reality before me. Tears blurred my vision, and I could hardly make out the handsome face I had come to know and love. My breath hitched, and my knees buckled, sending me crashing to the ground.

Ava’s voice, laced with disdain, washed over me like a distant echo. “Honestly, Riley, when would the theatrics stop? It was a doomed relationship from the start.”

But my world had narrowed to one agonizing point: Noah. Shame coiled in his posture, his gaze downcast, refusing to meet mine.

Why the guilt then, if he could inflict this pain so easily? It was a sickening puzzle.

After all the things Noah had said about Ava, I just can’t believe… no, I can’t accept that he’d abandon me just like that. This wasn’t the ending I envisioned for us. It couldn’t be our ending… it just couldn’t be.

“Noah,” I rasped, a desperate plea for acknowledgment. Still, his eyes remained stubbornly fixed on the ground.

“Please, Noah,” I choked out, voice thick with unshed tears. “Tell me what’s happening. I need to understand. Please help me understand.”

Ava, a cruel smile twisting her lips, chimed in, “Of course you wouldn’t, wolfless Riley. You’ll never know the power of a mate bond, the ecstasy I feel with a single touch.” Her hand glided down Noah’s torso, a sickeningly intimate gesture.

The image was branded into my memory, a twisted mockery of everything we once had. But something else flickered within me – a spark of defiance. How dare they treat me like this? How dare Noah, after everything, stand there silent?

Anger, hot and unexpected, flared within me, pushing back the feeling of despair for a moment. “You call this a mate bond?” I spat, my voice surprisingly strong. “This pathetic display of dominance? Don’t you remember us, Noah? Our dreams, the promises you made to me? This is nothing but a cheap substitute for real love, and you both know it!”

Ava recoiled, her smile faltering for a brief moment. But before she could retort, Noah finally lifted his head. A flicker of pain crossed his features, but it was quickly replaced by a cold indifference.

“You wouldn’t understand, Riley,” he said, his voice flat and emotionless. “This is just the way things are.”

His words were the final blow. The anger that had buoyed me for a moment dissipated, leaving behind a crushing emptiness. There was nothing left to say, no fight left in me.

With a defeated sigh, I turned away from them, the image of their intertwined figures seared into my brain. I knew then that I had lost him forever, and there was no one else for me.

I had to get out of there, away from the pack, away from the memories, and most importantly, away from the pain.

The primal urge to escape overwhelmed me. With a surge of adrenaline, I did what any cornered animal would do. I ran.

I flung the door open and bolted, but regret slammed into me the second I stepped outside. The entire pack was there, a sea of eyes fixed on me. They weren’t just watching, they were enjoying the show – the humiliation of Riley, the girl without a wolf.

They probably all knew about Ava and Noah. I could see it in their smirks. Once again, I was the last to know anything. Just a joke, that’s all I was to them.

I pushed past them ignoring their snickering. I just wanted to disappear from here, from everyone. The Unity Hall, a giant building for fancy pack meetings, seemed like the only escape. It was usually empty, except for the Choosing Ceremony – that big event where the Lycan King picks his Luna.

The heavy doors groaned open, revealing something I didn’t expect. My father, Oscar, the pack’s beta was there, along with Liam, my brother. Liam’s eyes were locked on me, almost as if he was trying to tell me something important.

Then came the booming voice that chilled me to the bone. My father’s scary black eyes were fixed on me as he yelled, “Riley! What are you doing here? You should know better than to be this foolish.”

I realized now that Liam had been trying to warn me. But it didn’t really matter now.

My mouth went dry. “I…”

“The Choosing Ceremony!” my father roared, his voice dripping with a venomous mix of anger and disgust. “It’s been every five years, Riley! Five years! And you, in your usual clueless way, haven’t a single clue about the most basic pack traditions. What a waste of your mother’s time all these years.”

Tears welled in my eyes again, blurring the already hostile scene before me. “Father…” I tried to interject, but he wasn’t listening.

“What a colossal disappointment you are. You think you can just waltz in here and mess everything up?”

“But father, I…”

He cut me off, his voice turning icy. “You didn’t even know women aren’t allowed here except for the ceremony? Do you know anything at all?”

Shame enveloped me like a constricting serpent, its grip tighter and more suffocating than any deadly embrace. In my father’s eyes, I was not merely ignorant, but a blight upon the celebrated Evermane pack, a stain marring their prestigious reputation.

“Father…” Liam’s voice, laced with a hesitant concern, cut through the tense silence as he took a step forward in my defense.

A dark cloud seemed to descend upon my father’s face as he whipped his gaze towards Liam. “Liam,” he growled, the word a low rumble that sent shivers down my spine. “Do you think this is the time or place for your feeble attempts at intervention?”

Liam flinched, his previous defiance withering under father’s icy glare. “N-no, father,” he stammered, his voice barely a whisper.

“As for you, we both know you won’t be chosen as the Kings’s Luna tomorrow,” my father spat, his voice laced with a disgust that turned my stomach. “Frankly, Riley, I don’t even know what to do with you. You’re about as useful as a broken fang.”

“Father…” Liam’s voice filled the room again.

“Liam, whatever you were about to say, swallow it. Disrespect won’t be tolerated,” father cut him off again.

Liam, ever the obedient son, silently moved back, bowing his head in defeat.

“Consider yourself lucky if the King even takes you as a slave,” my father continued, his words a hammer blow to my already fractured spirit. “You’re so worthless, even that might be a stretch.”

I knew my father wasn’t known for empty threats. He wanted me gone, discarded like yesterday’s garbage. To the Lycan King, a monster whispered about in hushed tones. A man known for his cruelty and insatiable desires. Death seemed preferable to such a fate.

Escape.

That was the only answer. There was no love here, no compassion, there was nothing. Tears streamed down my face now, unchecked and raw. They wouldn’t miss me at the ceremony, not really. It would be the perfect opportunity to vanish.

Tomorrow, I’m going to escape.