Put everything in the bag, and hurry your ass up. We have no time!” My father, Daren’s face looked panicked. He was usually a man of patience, but these were desperate times, and he had none to spare.

The idea that we might have to leave our home never quite registered. We were the last of the gray wolves, the brave ones who never ran from a fight. We were the ones who had dignity. The humans on the outside of the border zones were prejudiced scumbags, and they wanted us dead.

“I said, get to it!” my father, Daren screamed.

I grabbed the red bag from his hand and felt my heart race. I knew what to do. My father trained me for that exact scenario. A pair of pants, a single shirt, socks, and the emergency kit was all that was necessary for now. We could grab all the water we needed from the creek.

I zipped up the bag and felt my dad’s hands clutch around my shoulder. “I sense them. Fuck! They’re closer than I thought,” he muttered.

I caught a glimpse of my point and shoot Canon camera, the one my omega father gave me just before he passed. I couldn’t leave that behind. I quickly grabbed it and threw it into the bag.

“Dad, where are they? What happened?” I asked him, heart pounding painfully.

But I knew what happened. Dad finally got caught. He was an illegal now, according to the law. Many years ago, all gray wolves over the age of thirty had to report to their local police station. They had to register their name, property, and family count. My father was one of the ones that didn’t. He just had too much pride in him. I couldn’t blame him. I would have done the same thing.

“We knew this day would come,” Daren said, glancing out the front door. “Now, come on, boy. We need to move!”

The footsteps of the rogue soldiers could be heard from a mile away. The “Cross Militia.” Those were the ones that represented the border hunters, but they were essentially underpaid soldiers without the complete representation.

The humans were on the north side. Us “Halflings” were moved to the south of the new border zones. The militia was a volunteer group of wolf shifters, and they worked for the new representative government. They were fucking traitors.

Their boots stomped across the mud, foolishly giving away their exact location. I was prone to get stuck in my keen ability to hear. Sometimes, I’d listen to a sound and fixate on it for minutes. My father grabbed my arm to snap me out of my trance.

“Get going!” This time, he wasn’t playing around. I watched his fist slam into the door. He pulled it out and shook the pain away. He was never a man to threaten violence, but this was life or death.

He ran out the front door and headed toward the trail in the woods. The creek was about a mile south and led toward another camp of gray wolves. It was our family safe spot, the place where we’d go on picnics together. That was back when things were mildly okay still. Mildly.

There were other safe spots in the world for wolves like us. The Sanctuary. That was one of them, but it was a rumor that the island even existed. We used to laugh about it in class, but secretly, I dreamt about going there someday.

Growing up, my dad told me all sorts of stories about the place. It was an island, south of our country, made for the grey wolves. Omegas ran freely there. No one was subject to arrest. Humans and shifters co-existed. I still thought of it as a fairy tale.

I followed my father through the trees. I ran as fast as I could. The militia was getting closer, and they most likely heard my dad’s outbursts. They were blessed with a lot of the same abilities as us.

Some of them were coyotes from the desert, but they were mostly gray wolves. Because the packs had primarily disbanded, this gave them the feeling of being “together” again. I just wished they could see their error in judgment. But… I was a naïve dreamer who thought it might be possible to get them to listen to reason. My father begged to differ.

I wondered how the soldiers ever got along like that. They were going after their own kind. It felt counterintuitive, but I knew there were incentives. If they helped out the humans on the other side, they were granted certain conveniences. Their homes would remain untouched. They could shop at various supermarkets that had been “cleared” for access. Enlisting gave these wolves some dignity they couldn’t otherwise have.

My father didn’t believe in that kind of dignity. Neither did I. I knew it was a bad game. In the end, those in the militia would all be sectioned further away, or, worst-case scenario, they would be killed. That’s how the humans in power played the game. Conquest was always a bitch.

Daren slowed down his pace. He found a large tree trunk and hid behind it, holding his hand up in the air for me to stay silent.

My dad was a natural leader. Even though I was twenty-six, I felt like I never got the chance to lead. I had been treated like a child all my life. It wasn’t my dad’s fault. It was merely the world we lived in. “Do you remember what I told you to do?” he asked.

I stayed silent. Daren’s dark brown eyes were full of worry. His face had aged considerably that year. The sides of his short beard had turned grey. He was getting older and the days were hazardous.

“I asked you a question. Do you remember?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. I remember, dad. You’ll create a distraction. I’ll run to the nearest exile camp.”

“Good man,” he said, nodding to himself.

He looked past the tree’s bark. The group of militia soldiers had also slowed down. They had their AR-15’s ready, and their body armor covered nearly all of their bodies. They looked crueler than ever before.

I tried to remain calm by focusing on my breathing. It was all I could do. As an alpha, I knew I had to keep my emotions in check, but I hated doing it, regardless. When I was younger, everything was more comfortable. We had a lovely home. I had a future. I had another father to help out.

We were a humble people, and we kept to ourselves, despite stemming from our proud pack’s bloodline. None of that mattered to my father. What mattered to him was showing others respect, even if they didn’t necessarily deserve it.

My other father, his omega Garreon, was the sweetest man on the planet. He was an artist, having traveled the world before meeting Daren. He taught me to see the earth differently than the rest of the gray wolves. He taught me how to be creative and loving.

I remembered sitting in the living room, years ago. On the television was our president. He addressed each and every one of us. Only, he wasn’t talking to us, the gray wolf shifters. He was speaking to his voter base.

“As the threat of violence increases, so does our responsibility to take definitive action. I have received your words with an open heart, in alignment with our Congress’s wishes. With careful consideration, I have decided to issue martial law in the following counties…”

My father turned off the TV and sat in silence. We were stunned. Everything my dad had warned us about had come true.

“That’s what they do. They start small. They take away your rights in exchange for the feeling of safety. Someday, they’ll physically come after us. They’ll march up to our door and take us to prison. Then, we’ll be their enemy. We’ll have to come up with a strict set of rules around the house to protect ourselves from that type of intrusion,” he said.

I thought about those days every chance that I got. Our world felt so wrong to me now. The colors had changed in town. The shops’ signs faded over two years ago. They stopped paving the roads. We didn’t even have a safe water source anymore. We lived in a prison.

“Dad, I know we have a strict plan, but I can’t leave you here alone. These bastards are ruthless. They’ll send you away, dammit,” I said.

The militia was getting closer and closer toward us. I knew I had to act fast. My dad grabbed my hand and forced me close to him. He pushed my forehead against his and muttered through his clenched teeth, “Don’t you argue with me, son. This is what has to be done. We are surviving. You got that?”

“Yeah. I got it,” I said. There was no time for arguing. Those guns were loaded with a high-powered caliber. All of this could end with a simple pull of the trigger.

“Now, in about five seconds, I’m going to come out with my hands up. Do not worry about your old man. They won’t take a shot at me. I’m a community figure. I was half of these guys’ preacher back in the day. When I walk forward, you need to crawl through the grass as best you can. Make your way down the hill, toward the camp near the bitter lake,” Daren said.

I had to make a choice, but I was paralyzed with fear. I moved my leg against the dry brush below me. A stick cracked loudly. The militia stopped and aimed their weapons. “Hey!” One of the soldiers pointed our direction. “Over there! I saw something move.”

“Go,” my dad whispered with intensity.

Nothing could prepare someone for days like these. I just felt my body carry me away from everything I had ever loved. I watched as my father slowly lifts his arms into the air, consenting to the bad guys. And everything faded to black.

The soldiers screamed at my father, as I crawled through the tall, dry grass. “On your fucking knees! Hands behind your head!”

My father complied, but he never gave into fear. That wasn’t his style. The men kept antagonizing him, but he remained silent. A soldier pointed his rifle at the middle of his forehead. “Another low life, gray wolf, avoiding consequences and responsibility. What else is new? Where are your papers?”

“I don’t have my papers on me. We’ll have to go back to the house to get them,” he said, calmly. I kept moving, horrified.

Tears were trailing down my cheeks. My chest felt ready to burst open. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. Oh, god, why the fuck did it have to be my father? Why couldn’t they just let the man go? He gave back to his community whenever he could. He was a decent man.

“Bullshit. The old man is lying to us,” the soldier said. “Shoot him in the foot. Maybe then he’ll tell us what we need to know.”

The soldiers laughed manically. It was a disgusting show of arrogance, but that always came when the power went unchecked. Those men talking to my father were gray wolves. Fuck them. They were hunting their own kind.

So much rage was inside of me now. I couldn’t stomp out the fire. Every day, I received new ammunition. I was done with this city, with this country. I was done with this world.

When I heard the round fire off, I knew what I had to do. I had to find those men and destroy them.

My father’s screams echoed throughout the forest. My home was nowhere now. I couldn’t go back there. For when I looked into the distance, I saw a plume of smoke and the flames’ tail was whipping below it. My house was on fire.

“No,” I whispered. “Not my house. Please, not my house.”

Everything was back there. All of our family pictures, home movies, and memories were destroyed. For what? The safety of our country? Had it ever been safe for the wolves to live in this area of the country? Hell no.

At the bottom of the hill, I made a run for it. If the other soldiers heard the gunshot, they were sure to comb the woods in every direction possible.

I got to the familiar clearing, near the old, abandoned elementary school. Children used to play outside here. The sounds of laughter and happiness once filled these woods. Gunshots and screams replaced those sounds.

“This is it,” I whispered.

The river was directly in front of me, and I was dry-mouthed and thirsty. I ran forward until my legs collapsed near the water. I eagerly drank the ice-cold liquid and ran my head through the stream.

“They got papa,” I muttered. I wanted to go back there and save him more than anything. I felt helpless. I was supposed to be a man. I was in my late twenties, but during this moment of vulnerability, I felt like was a child.

I was just a boy, not the alpha I should have been.

The sirens finally started, alerting the soldiers that the hunt was on. I heard the sounds of hungry shifters, gasping for air as they ran through the trees. “Dammit!”

I stumbled through the ice cold water, holding my red bag over my head. I made my way toward the camp, though it was still a few miles away.

The cold air gnawed through my bones, and the sirens grew closer. I heard the sounds of heavy boots smashing the earth’s floor. Nearby, the metal clicking noises from a rifle triggered my senses.

I instantly turned my head to see him. The soldier was alone, and his rifle was pointed directly at me.

Our eyes met. I wanted to shout, “Don’t do this,” but I knew it wouldn’t change anything. I froze.

The man walked carefully out from the trees. I prepared to run. “Halt,” he said.

He wore a balaclava over his face, but I could instantly sense that he was a gray wolf. “You don’t want to do this,” I said.

The water over my body was now beyond freezing. I started to shiver, which annoyed me because I didn’t want to give this guy an ounce of satisfaction.

“Get on the ground,” he said.

“Come on, man. Lower the gun. We’re the same,” I argued.

His pupils dilated to a noticeable degree. Rage filled his body. I watched as his fingers shook the trigger. “I’m nothing like you, boy,” he said. “Now, get on the fucking ground and put your hands behind your head. I want to see your papers.” The words came out with desperation as if he was trying to hold back his own fear. It felt like he was playing a role he didn’t belong in.

I lowered my body to the ground and put my hands behind my back. Fighting was useless, and I was sure that I could find another way out. This man was alone, and my father taught me how to get out of a pair of handcuffs.

I felt his heavy, steel-toed boots press against my shoulder blade. He was strong. There wasn’t any doubting that. I noticed his body first thing. He had that toned look going on, and his outfit shaped tightly around his rippled muscles.

I hated guys like him because I was so different from that world. I went to school, I got a job, and I thought I could just live life without having to face these people. But, here I was.

The searing pain shot through my bones, but I did my best not to scream. I didn’t want to alert any more militia members. I stayed still and did what I was told.

“You gave us quite a chase,” he said. He chuckled and spat onto the dirt, next to my face.

“Just take me in. I don’t have any papers,” I said.

He grinned and lifted up his balaclava. I noticed a scar on the right side of his chin. His eyes were yellow, which was pretty rare for a gray wolf. I couldn’t understand why someone like him would do this.

“Take you in? Now, where’s the fun in that?” He laughed while pressing his boot harder against my back. I felt my spine bend under the weight, but I still held back my anguished yells.

“So what do you want? Money? Is that it? You’re in this for the financial gain?” I asked him.

He stepped off of me. He raised his foot in my direction, so I spun around quickly. I waited for him to kick my teeth in, but he managed to stop himself. It was unlike most of the soldiers to stop themselves.

“I don’t give a shit about money. I only care about one thing. My freedom. My safety. My survival,” he said.

I tried not to laugh at his cliché action movie line. Life had turned into a cruel joke in these parts. It was apparent he had no idea what he was saying. He was on autopilot mode.

“You just named three things,” I said.

He leaned down and grabbed my shirt with his fist. He lifted me up. Somehow, his rage didn’t seem as much of a threat as it once did. His breathing had calmed down at least.

I noticed that the scar ran across to the beginnings of his cheek. His yellow eyes were captivating, in that they had a lot of pain buried in them. The rest of his skin was soft, and his cheeks radiated pink. He was actually quite handsome.

“You want to keep talking back to me, boy?” he asked. I didn’t say anything back to him. I wanted him to know that I was stronger than any of the soldiers combined. He could kill me, but I would never give up fighting.

“I could put a bullet through your chest. All it takes is a slight push against the trigger,” he said.

The taunts did not effect me. He had to take me in. He couldn’t just shoot me. Besides, I had no weapons on me. Sure, he could set me up. But it would be a lot of extra trouble just to bag the son of an undocumented wolf.

I took a deep breath in and noticed the musky scent emanating from the soldier. His eyes shifted with a slight panic. He knew that I could smell him, so he dropped me.

“You’re an omega!” I cried out.

“Quit talking!” His voice grew weary. He looked from side to side, erratically. His radio talkie suddenly went off, causing him to jump backward. “Liam, come in. We’ve got the guy. He’s compliant. We’re having him register downtown. Did you find the kid? Over.”

“You’re an omega. You can’t hide that from me. You’re in heat. I can smell you,” I said.

He aimed his gun back at my forehead. “I said shut up.”

“Go ahead and shoot me. You might be able to cover up the crime. That is, unless you make a mistake. In the end, they’ll catch you. They’ll put you away forever. You’re just another gray wolf, like me,” I said.

His lips quivered with worry. He was weighing his options as fast as he could. In the near distance, I could hear his companions’ movements.

“I have special treatment,” he said. “That’s what they give you when you comply. Your daddy might find that out when they take him in.”

I laughed at him, picking up my body from the ground. “They outlawed omegas over a year ago. They’ll sniff you out, man. I can tell that you tried to cover up your scent, but it’s stronger than you think. What are you going to do when they find out who you really are?”

He took a step back and lowered his gun. “You son of a bitch,” he whispered, shaking.

He grabbed his radio-talkie with irrational strength. “I had Carter Thompson in my sight, but he got away. I’m sorry, sir. Permission to rejoin the team? Over.”

My eyes widened. “You won’t regret this,” I said.

“Like hell I won’t, scum,” he muttered. “Now get the fuck out of my sight.”

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. My mind had wandered away from the bitter cold. I looked back at the soldier one more time. He was just standing there with his scope on me. Despite the animosity I felt for him, I also felt bad for the guy.

But as soon as I was out of sight, I heard him scream with rage and fire his gun into the air. “Halfling!” In the end, he was just another soldier, hell-bent on destroying his own kind.