He chases me.

I feel him coming after me for days. There is no time for sleep, no time for rest. I continue to move forward, running nowhere.

I had no destination.

Just a place I knew I could never go back to.

The image in my mind that had come to me so suddenly and terribly of him holding me had sent fear through me.

The connection of an Alum was one I had underestimated and never thought of. I had been too focused on my goal and the things that stood right in front of me to think of abstract things such as that.

I continued to run. To move forward. I could hear him. Coming closer. Coming nearer.

Panic would rise in me at the thought of what would happen if he caught me. If he managed to bring me back to that hell.

I would fall so easily. I would toss aside the words I had built up so hard these past five years. Those words that I so easily was running away from now.

But given the two options, I would rather fall at the monster's feet dead rather than alive and breathing.

A week passes. I am still running. I know he is not tired. I know it is any time now that he will catch me.

The only reason why he is still behind is because I had a day advantage over him. He had not immediately followed. Maybe it was because he had not thought I was really running away.

He had thought that just for the moment I wanted to be out of sight.

But away? Forever?

He couldn't accept that.

Not now that he knew who I was.

I can feel my paws split underneath. I was still new to this body. The soul pressed on, it sensed the urgency, knowing we did not have the time to become accustomed to each other and one as how others before us did.

I am smaller than him. I attribute this to cause me to be faster. I had always been a fast runner.

His strides are longer though, I know it is only a matter of time before he catches us.

Nearing the second week I can feel him. I can hear him.

I hear his snarls, him reaching out with his power in an attempt to make me stop. Him trying to extend some form of control to make me slip for just a second so that he can gain the advantage.

No.

I couldn't stop.

All that training amounted to this moment of my life- this moment that allowed me to have the strength to continue on.

I see it then.

Something I had only heard of in legends.

The edge of the forest.

The nearing of the end of woods.

It was real, father.

My steps stumble and it's that stumble that causes me to fall.

I fly through the air, hitting the ground and rolling violently against it.

Just a few more feet.

Just a few more feet and I would be past the edge of the only place I had ever known.

I feel his teeth clamp on my back foot.

I howl at the pain, turning around to snap at him and make him let go.

He pulls me back, trying to take me with him.

I struggle, kicking away, trying to stop.

He lets go for a second and I bolt. But he uses that second to shift and change back. I feel his arms grab me, wrapping fully around my wolf as he brings me up to slam me back down on the ground.

I am struggling in his arms. He tosses me, and I see what he is trying to do. He wants to knock me out. To make me go down so that the journey will be easy when he brings me back.

My snarl becomes more vicious as I try to lash out at him.

"Vera, stop!"

His plea falls on deaf ears as I struggle to fight around him- to get around him.

I leap forward, clearing the edge of the woods and emerging from the lining of the trees. I turn back, snarling, and ready to face him without the obstruction of branches and roots but-

He has stopped.

He is staring at me wide eyed as he presses his hands against the air and pushes.

I look at him in confusion, waiting for him to advance.

He looks just as confused as me as he hits nothing. There is nothing stopping him from coming. His gaze meets mine and a startling truth comes over me.

They were not legends.

Hesitantly, slowly, I shift back. His eyes do not leave me as I stand and stare at him.

I shiver at the connection his gaze creates. The heat his eyes leave from where they travel.

"Vera?"

He pushes against the invisible wall, frustration showing clearly on his face.

"There's a barrier," I whisper.

He looks back down at me, panic, and confusion seeping into his features as he takes in the growing grin that is coming to me.

"There's a barrier at the edge of the woods. Monsters cannot cross it. Nightmares have been locked in these trees, trapped and contained in the forest."

"How are you on the other side?"

"When I was young I saved a witch from drowning."

His whole body is frozen as understanding hits him.

"She looked into my eyes and saw my future. As thanks she said she would give me the one thing I wanted most in this world," I hold up my wrist, letting him see the mark fully, "with this I can cross any barriers. With this nothing can hold me back."

I can see the horror in his eyes as he stares at my wrist. I can read the realization as his gaze goes up to meet mine.

"Vera." The word is choked out. He presses against the wall, unable to cross it. Unable to reach me.

A thrill runs through me when I watch his struggle.

"The witch was right," I whisper, stepping back, away from him. "She had been right."

"No...no Vera...don't go...Vera..." his voice rises in panic as he begins to beat against that which held him back.

"You haven't killed me," I can hear the desperation in his words as he presses both his hands against the barrier, his gaze locking onto me, willing me to continue to look at him, "you haven't killed me Vera. Come to me. I'll let you. I'll let you have what you want."

"What...." my voice sounds far away as I process his words. And then I smile.

His breathing becomes more rapid, his hands turning into fists as he leans as close as he can to me.

"I don't need to kill you though."

I take a step towards him, confidence coming to me now that I knew he would never be able to touch me again.

I lean as close as I am able to, as close as I can towards him, taking in his scent. It hits me and makes my knees grow weak. I see it have the same effect on him as he presses himself against the barrier, desperately trying to reach me.

"I don't need to kill you. I will never be yours and that is punishment enough."

"What about your goal?"

"Don't you feel dead inside," I whisper to him. Our lips almost touch. They are almost grazing against each other, barely touching. All I had to do was rise to meet him. Even with the barrier in place to stop him I can still feel his breath on me. Still feel his warmth from how close he is.

"Don't do this, Vera," he warns me.

"You did this to yourself," I tell him, "think of what would have happened, Kaseem, if you had not let your greed get the better of you. Think of what could have taken place if you had come to my father, after waiting, after being satisfied with what you had. You could have seen me. We would have known who we were to each other. I could have been yours."

Every word I speak strips him of the very thing he has created himself to be.

"You let your greed ruin you. You let your thirst for power ruin me. You took what I loved away."

I don't feel tears come to my eyes as I look up at him. I don't feel anything. He was not there to fill that void, but that was okay. It would go away soon.

He reads this in my gaze.

"Where are you going, Vera?"

I shrug, "I've completed my goal. In the end, I guess I did kill you. Now it's time for me to achieve my dream."

"Your dream-," his words are strangled out of his throat. He presses harder against the barrier, his fist suddenly colliding with the invisible wall that separates us.

"Don't you dare. Don't you fucking dare."

I laugh at the hopeless expression that has filled his face. I turn to walk away. His words are shouted, choked out and gutted in the way they sound, "Vera. Come back. Come back to me, Vera. No. No. Don't walk away. Vera!"

His screamed words make me pause as he yells suddenly, "I love you!"

I lurch forward, feeling my eyes close and head tilt to process the unexplainable sentence. I turn around to see him.

His face is tear stained. I take in the sight of the leader, crying for me.

"Don't lie," I tell him. 

"I'm not. I'm not lying. I really do. I didn't think it was true. I didn't think it was right- for me to feel that way about you. Because of your age, because of what I did to you but- but since I first saw you, you captured me, Vera. I knew you were somebody. I knew you would be somebody to me. I couldn't stay away from you. I couldn't resist you. You made me feel more than anything else in this world could."

He sees that his words have caused me to fully turn around as he presses on, "come back. Come back with me. I can give you whatever you want. I can love you. I can make you feel safe. I will become your world, Vera. Your Alum. That is how it is supposed to be. That is what we are to each other."

I look at him and his words and the future he has created flashes before my eyes.

A part of me did want that.

But another part.

A larger part.

Was tired.

I was tired and worn thin. I was ready to rest. To lay down. To sleep.

"Goodbye Kaseem," I whisper to him.

I turn back and walk away.

I heard his screams thrown at me. His pleads for me to stop. To look at him. To come back. To not leave.

I only raise my hand and wave it, feeling laughter come over me that for once, I was finally free. 

This is the end of the story. I have a feeling some of you are have very mixed emotions right now (others may be just fist pumping away *hell ya, females whoop (and males- I mean gender equality people, come on*) But seriously, this is the end. 

I said it would be a short story! 

HOWEVER! 

I am still debating on making a part two of the story (most likely picking off from this last scene and switching it to be told from Kaseem's POV). I have a plot in my head. But honestly, at this point in time I am in the middle of three other stories so this was a side feature that is not my main focus right now. 

If you are interested in reading more to the story when I have time to write out the second part (if it ever happens hahaha) then please add this story to your private library in order to be notified of any updates that occur. 

Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you who took the time to read. Thank you. It means a lot to me, and I appreciate all the read, votes and comments. 

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. 

Until next time, 

Loves, 

/////WORLD_JOY_/////