Torn Between Destinies

Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty

We left under a sky too silent to trust.

The wind had stilled, the trees stood like sentinels, and even the night creatures seemed to know something had shifted. Freedom was supposed to feel like open air and deep breaths—but for us, it felt like the sharp edge of a knife pressed to our backs.

We were fugitives now.

I kept close to Aira and Kiani, my senses stretched thin across the horizon. Every crack of a twig, every shadow on the path made my shoulders twitch. I walked in front, scanning for danger. Aira carried Kiani on her hip, her face pale and tight with tension.

John wasn’t dead—but he was down.

After I shifted and ran him off, he didn’t get far. He’d tried to come back with a knife, slurring threats through a bleeding lip. I stopped him—took the knife from his hand, snarled so close to his face I could feel his sweat sting my nose. He ran then. Maybe out of fear. Maybe to report us.

That’s what worried me.

"He’ll tell someone," I whispered as we walked. "The police maybe. Or his neighbors."

"We didn’t kill him," Aira said quietly.

"No, but we’re not normal either. If anyone saw me shift... if they say I attacked him... we don’t get second chances, Mama."

Aira nodded grimly, holding Kiani closer. "So where are we going?"

"There’s a train yard," I said, pointing ahead. "It’s not far. Freight trains run through it every few hours. We can hop one heading east, away from this town."

"And then?"

"And then we find the Seer. She’ll help us open the portal back to Thornridge."

Kiani stirred. "Will there be wolves there?" she asked softly.

I glanced back and smiled, though my face felt stiff. "Yes. But not like here. They’re not monsters. They’re... part of me. And they’ll protect you too."

She didn’t look afraid. Just curious.

I envied her.

---

The train yard was quiet when we arrived. Massive metal beasts slept along the rusted tracks, lined up like tombstones. We crouched behind a stack of crates, waiting. I could feel Aira’s nerves through the way her fingers twitched on her knee.

"I haven’t hopped a train since I was sixteen," she muttered.

I raised a brow. "You’ve done this before?"

"Once. When I ran away from home the first time. Before I met your father."

I chuckled. "So running’s always been in our blood."

She gave me a tired smile. "Maybe. But this time, we’re running toward something."

A distant rumble shook the ground. Aira and I locked eyes.

"It’s coming," I said.

We grabbed Kiani, still wrapped in her blanket, and ran for the tracks. I scanned the passing cars—flatbeds, boxcars, empty tankers. The speed was slower than usual. Luck, or something else.

"There!" I shouted. "That one!"

Aira didn’t hesitate. I helped her up first, shoving her from behind until she rolled into the open boxcar. Then I passed Kiani up into her arms. Finally, I ran, my boots thudding against the gravel, and leapt. My hands caught the edge. Aira reached out, grabbed my arm, and pulled.

I tumbled in, landing hard beside her, breath ragged.

The car clanged shut behind us.

And we were gone.

---

Hours passed with the steady rattle of the train beneath us. The boxcar was dark, only the moonlight seeping through a crack in the metal. Kiani slept curled in Aira’s lap, and I sat across from them, back against the wall, arms folded over my knees.

"You did that for me," Aira said quietly.

I looked up. "What?"

"Came back. Risked everything."

I shrugged, though my throat felt tight. "You’re my mother. I never stopped wanting you."

Her eyes glistened in the pale light. "And what about Thornridge? You had a life there. People who loved you."

I hesitated. Darius’s face flickered in my mind. His smile. His voice.

"I tried to love him," I said. "I tried to make it work. But something inside me kept pulling... telling me I wasn’t whole. I thought it was because I didn’t have a mate. But it was because I didn’t have you."

Aira looked down at Kiani, brushing a hand through her tangled hair.

"You saved her too," she whispered.

"She saved me," I replied. "That night in the house—when I saw you shielding her—I saw you the way I remembered you. Brave. Protective. Loving. That’s the mother I missed."

Aira wiped her cheek. "I was scared. Every day. I didn’t know if John would break me, or if I’d break first."

"You didn’t break," I said. "You’re still here."

The train kept rolling, but the silence between us was different now. It was soft. Healing.

---

We stopped the next day in a dusty town where the train idled for repairs. I led them through alleys and back roads, avoiding cameras and strangers. We had no money, no IDs. Just the clothes on our backs and each other.

That was enough.

We walked to the edge of town, toward the forest where the Seer said she’d wait. She had given me instructions when I last visited—symbols to draw, herbs to find, words to speak under a full moon.

And tonight, the moon would rise.

I found the clearing easily. It was hidden behind old trees, guarded by silence and strange stillness. I knelt and began the ritual.

Aira held Kiani close, whispering prayers. I could feel her fear building again.

"What happens now?" she asked.

"The Seer opens the gate," I said, hands steady. "We go back to Thornridge."

"And if we can’t?"

I looked her dead in the eyes.

"We will."

The wind picked up. The earth trembled slightly under my fingers. The air thickened, like breath held by the world itself.

And then—light.

A soft blue glow opened in the center of the clearing, swirling upward like smoke in reverse. The portal shimmered, bending the air around it.

The Seer stepped forward, her eyes pale as the moon.

"You bring more than yourself this time," she said, voice like sand.

"My family," I said.

She nodded, but her expression turned grim. "There is always a price for freedom."

I stood up, blood rushing through my ears. "What kind of price?"

"Your place among the clans will not be waiting. They will see your act as betrayal."

"I don’t care," I said.

She looked to Aira and Kiani. "And they will see them as outsiders. Are you willing to fight for them?"

"Yes," I said without hesitation.

"Then go," she said. "But know this—freedom is never free. What you gain now, you must defend forever."

I took Aira’s hand. She took Kiani’s. And together, we stepped through the portal, the glow wrapping around us like a cloak.

---

On the other side, Thornridge felt colder. Wilder. As if it sensed what I’d done. I led them toward the mountains, toward the sanctuary where I knew Darius would not yet search. I didn’t know what came next. The clans might reject me. Nefang might rage. Darius might turn away.

But I had my mother.

And I had her child.

And I had done what no wolf before me had dared to do—

Chose love over law.

And paid the price for our freedom.