Lilly Lakin's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

Lilly meant to leave the moment the pack ran into the woods. Instead, they kept her. A hunt meant a feast, and a feast meant work. She carried plates, scrubbed pots, and hauled two loads of wood while the moon climbed. Her pack for the trip sat hidden under the woodpile by the door. Every hour it waited, and every hour she stayed a girl with a rag in her hands. Near midnight, the hall emptied. Bellies full, the wolves slept where they dropped. Lilly wiped her wet hands on her shirt and moved to the door. She crouched by the woodpile and pulled her pack free. The strap caught a log. It rolled off the stack and knocked the others down with a long, hard clatter. A shape filled the doorway before the last log settled. Alpha Edward. He had run with the pack, but he did not sleep like them. Twelve years running this house had taught him to hear a stumble in the dark. He looked at the fallen wood, then at the pack in her arms. "Where?" One word. No question mark. Lilly's throat went dry. She had watched him end wolves in this hall for less. She thought of lying. She thought of the temple in the valley, north past the black pines, and the truth that waited there. The lie died before she spoke it. "I'm leaving," she said. "To find where I come from." He crossed the room. He was fast for his size, and she flinched. But his hand did not strike. He gripped her chin and turned her face to the lamp, studying her the way a man studies a mark he cannot read. "You can't shift," he said. "You'll die out there." "Then tell me why I can't. Tell me what I am." Something crossed his face. Not kindness. Closer to fear. He let go of her chin. "No," he said. "You stay. You clean. You haul. That is what you are." He reached for the pack to take it. Lilly did not think. She stepped back, swung the pack up hard, and drove it into his arm. The blow meant nothing to him. But he did not expect the servant to fight. Surprise held him for one half-second. She ran. She was through the door before he turned. Cold air hit her face. Behind her, he roared, and the sleeping pack woke. She did not stop. She ran downhill, past the last house, toward the sound of moving water. The river shone under the moon, smooth and pale, curling between wet stones. Elizabeth's words came back to her. Follow it against its current. Lilly turned north along the bank and ran, wet stones sliding under her feet. Behind her, howls rose. The pack had her scent now, and she had struck the alpha. There was no cleaning her way back into that house. Lilly ran into the dark trees, alone, and did not look back. Alpha Edward called out to her before she could make it far. He caught her before she could even make it to the river. He was so angry that he dragged her all the way back to the pack house. And locked her up in her room in the attic. Now, what was she going to do? Answer in JSON using this schema: { // The sanitized version of the input. Identical to the input if no changes were needed. text: string, // True if any part of the input was changed to meet content guidelines. was_modified: bool, }