“Onyx,” Demitrus roared her name so loud the birds launched from the trees and into the air in a mass exodus. The smile that spread across Onyx’s face was one of pure joy.

Demitrus sounded as pissed as ever she’d heard him, more probably. Adrenaline pumped through her veins at the same time as she dropped down into the boat Demitrus had stashed in case he ever had to flee his hiding place.

“Faster, Onyx. The pack will be on the trail.” She thought as she took hold of the oars. Onyx didn’t know the first thing about boats or the sea and she didn’t care. All she knew was that this, right here, right now, was her one chance to get away from the man known as her husband.

Onyx tossed her long mane of black hair over her shoulder and began to work the oars through the water. It was awkward and much more difficult than she’d thought it would be.

Trees toppled on the mountain up above as Demitrus and his pack tore through the forest and mountainside looking for her.

“Shit,” she breathed. They were coming fast. Onyx didn’t think she’d ever seen Demitrus move that fast. Maybe it was the pack knocking down the trees in their desperation not to incur the murderous rage of Demitrus.

Either way, they were coming for her.

Finally, she got the hang of the oars moving them in a circular motion at the same time. She leaned into the push and pull of the oars with all of her might. Getting far enough into the ocean that Demitrus couldn’t see her was her best chance at escaping him.

If he got his hands on her after what she’d done to him, Onyx was certain that Demitrus would kill her at the very least. More likely there would be a lot of torture beforehand.

Demitrus wasn’t a man to cross lightly, and what she’d done before she’d left was something any man would find unforgivable.

“Damn you’re crazy,” Onyx said aloud. She still couldn’t believe she’d actually done it. After her father passed away she’d realized that the last reason she stayed, the final person Demitrus had to hold over her was gone.

Demitrus didn’t think she had the balls to escape him, in fact, those were his exact words. He was wrong and she’d proven it.

Another roar sounded, shaking the mountain. He was over halfway down the steep incline. Judging by the falling trees they were headed in her direction. They were having no trouble at all following her trail.

The muscles in her arms and legs burned as she continued pushing hard and using every ounce of strength her spirit wolf offered. Waves tipped the boat up high in the air and she was nearly dumped out into the sea.

Onyx leaned back managing to hold onto one of the oars while the other shot away in a huge dark blue wave that seemed determined to flip the boat and shove her to the ocean floor.

As soon as the boat stopped tipping upward it was tipping backward as it raced down the other side, like kids sliding down snow covered hills on snow shovels. This hill was ominous, alive with movement and loud to her sensitive ears as the water clapped down across the surface.

Onyx was soaking wet but she was still inside the boat and the wave, as scary as it was, carried her away from the drop off where she’d leaped to her freedom.

She was too afraid to celebrate. Too scared to squeal with joy that she’d finally escaped Demitrus and the Herod wolf pack.

It might have been the conditioned response he’d trained her to have over the past two years, that she would never be free of him. Or maybe it was because she knew as sure as the sun would rise in the east that she would see Demitrus again. He wasn’t just a werewolf. He was a hunter and trained killer.

She looked back toward land as the tiny row boat climbed the next wave. Sure enough, there he was.

The wind made the long locks of his greasy yellow blond hair swim in the air like snakes around his head. His blue eyes cut across the distance as if she were in his grasp and hearing with her ears what his gaze promised.

I’ll find you Onyx. When I do, you’re dead.

“You can try, asshole,” Onyx yelled even though it was doubtful he would hear her over the sound of the waves crashing.

And yet… she could almost swear that she could faintly hear his voice. “I’ll kill you, Onyx. I swear it….”

Onyx put the oar into the water steering her way to the north as the boat skidded down the watery incline like a skipping stone. Then as the boat began to climb again she paddled north, using the sun setting in the west as her guide.

The mountains were so far behind her when she dared to look back that she could only barely tell they were there at all.

Maybe she’d be dumped out of the boat and drown, or be eaten by a shark or killer whale. Maybe she’d make it to land only to be found by pack Herod.

But right now, in this moment she was free.

I really did it.