But they wouldn’t be that close, Hope had assured her. The Continental Trail was over thirty miles away from the closest boundary line. The only things they'd have to worry about were mosquito bites and raccoons stealing their food while they slept.
And Hope was right. Those were the only issues they encountered at first. For three days, they hadn’t even seen another beta on the trail.
But it wasn't other hikers they finally ran into.
The men who had walked into their camp three evenings ago were monsters—growers of illegal marijuana and poppy crops who didn't like how close Hope and her friends had come to their hidden fields.
So they shot Dave and Sandra in the back of the head. Just like that—it was over in seconds. No thought, no mercy, just blood and death.
And Hope would be lying right beside her friends in their shallow grave if she hadn't been off gathering firewood. She'd made it back to the edge of the clearing just in time to see her friends be executed.
She'd tried to stay quiet—she really had—but it just wasn't possible in the midst of such horror. She'd covered her mouth, but the scream leaked out.
So, she'd done the only thing that she could. She turned and ran.
And she'd been running ever since.
For three whole days.
Hope knew she couldn't go back to the trail. She'd be an open target. So she'd run headlong into the trees, but without her pack and supplies, she had no idea where she was going. She had no gear to make shelter. No food to eat.
Somehow, Hope had made it this far—surviving on spring water and foraged fruit, sleeping under the cover of fern fronds, hiding when the bastards tracking her came too close, and running like hell when the coast was clear.
But her luck had finally run out.
They'd finally found her. Surprising her as she stole a moment to rest—her legs tucked in close, her back propped against the surprisingly soft trunk of a redwood.
The only reason she was still alive was that one of her tormentors had been too eager to finish her off. He'd fired his gun from too far away, and the shot had missed—burying itself in the tree’s bark an inch above her head.
Now Hope really was running for her life, not knowing if she would survive long enough to take the next breath.
She crested the top of the hill and started down. The slope was steep and covered with thick brush. If she fell here—if she sprained an ankle or broke a leg or even stumbled on a root—she was as good as dead. So Hope kept her eyes focused on her feet, desperate to keep up with the force of gravity pulling her faster and faster.
That's why she didn't see him until it was almost too late.
Sunlight cut through a gap in the tree line, and Hope came to a hard stop as a massive shadow fell over her. She threw out her arms in a frantic attempt to keep her balance. Though now she wasn't sure which was the greater danger, breaking her neck tumbling down the hill or crashing into hulking creature before her.
Dear God above, the man was huge—over seven feet tall, three feet across, his bulging muscles taut with pure rage.
An alpha.
Hope's mind reeled. She'd been so concerned with escaping the betas hunting her down that she'd forgotten about the Boundarylands. At some point in the last days, she must have accidentally crossed the invisible line that separated the beta world from alpha territory.
And now she was going to pay the price.
Hope didn't know much about alphas. Just what she'd heard in school and on television. They were wild. Quick to anger. Fiercely territorial.
Seeing the terrifying scowl etched deep in the face of the one in front of her, Hope knew it was all true.
Pure fury, like nothing she'd ever witnessed before, poured off him. The anger in his eyes—dark, hooded eyes the color of coal—burned with an intensity that shook Hope to her core.
Even though she knew the gesture was futile, she raised her shaking hands and pleaded for her life.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't know where I was. I didn't have a choice. I—"
Red hot pain ripped through Hope's shoulder before she could get the next word out.
A quarter-second later, the crack of the gunshot caught up to her ears.
So, this is how I die, she thought. Shot in the back instead of ripped to pieces by an angry alpha.
Maybe it was a mercy.
Maybe...
That was Hope’s last thought before she fell face first onto the soft forest floor.
Preorder Maddox Now
The Boundarylands Omegaverse Series
Book 1: KIAN: Available Now
Book 2: TY: Available Now
Book 3: SAMSON: Available Now
Book 4: MADDOX: Available Now
Book 5: TROY: Available May 26th, 2020
Book 6: ZEKE: Available June 23rd, 2020
Book 7: ARIC: Available Soon
About the Author
Ever since she was little, Callie Rhodes’ imagination has been landing her in trouble. From daydreaming about far off worlds in class, to escaping into the made up stories of her mind in the meeting room, she’s been creating tales to take her away from the real world for as long as she can remember. Now she lives among the tall trees of Northern California, and has found a way to make a living off her fantasies.
