I'm gonna keep this short. This chapter moves very quickly between Avery's and Rick's POVs so just pay a little more attention. And for this special chapter I have put off to the side a picture and the song Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift and Civil Wars. I love this song! Please comment cause a LOT is about to happen...

please enjoy

Avery's POV

The first snow of the season.

White, fat, fluffy flakes falling lazily through the air from the soft gray sky above.

I have always enjoyed the snow. Each individual flake is different. Unique. I used to, and still do sometimes, spend hours staring up into the sky trying to see each beautiful unique pattern. I would wear black clothes just so I could study them. For hours on end I would sit outside until I was piled with snow, my nose and cheeks would be tinged pink, and the light would have long ago faded, then and only then would I make the trek home to the Pack house.

But this wasn't today.

Today I lay, sullenly, under a tall evergreen. The sky had slowly turned a dark, foggy grey over the hours I had lain there, immobile. Not even paying attention as the fat flakes collected on my crossed fore paws. I don't know how long I had been laying under this tree. Honestly I didn't even know where I was. It just had simply been so long since I had allowed myself to shift that my body seemed to ache in need for the freedom the shift would allow.

...and maybe it would help me forget...

But even after I discarded my clothes and ran deep into the light snowfall the ache did not stop. It remained deep inside my chest. Like cement had been poured into my heart and now grew hard and cold. My limbs felt heavy and my brain was fogged. After running for the gods know how long I had simply collapsed under the first tree I saw and have stayed here since.

The soft snowfall had slowly over the hours piled upon my snout and shoulders. The large fan-like branches above helped to keep most of the snow away but around the edges snow fell through.

But I did not care. For I was numb. Not from the cold, but from something deep inside of me. For the second time in my entire life I felt alone.

I had always preferred my privacy and liked to spend hours alone. But never once living with the pack or afterwards had I felt the icy claws of emptiness such as I felt now. They burned as they dug deep into my soul and I wished only to cry out for it to stop. But no matter how much I cried or begged this loneliness did not leave. And although I wished to leave its source unknown, a piece of me knew...

Rick Kodiak.

After I had shut the door on him THAT day it had seemed as if he had taken a piece of me with him. I had lain there crying in pain until suddenly I had arisen and raced down the hallways yelling for Rick.

How hypocritical of me to slam the door in his face only to run after him minutes later? But by the time I had left my sanctuary... he was already gone. Leaving behind this emptiness within me.

I don't know if I forgive him, for I don't know if I blame him.

Everything happened so fast that day. So fast I could not fully comprehend it all. But when I found myself at my cabin, alone. I reflected. I thought of everything. Not as bits and pieces but as a whole. From the first moment I laid eyes on those warm honey orbs to the moment he looked up at me from the floor of my office with confusion and hurt.

The tingles.

The warmth.

The emotions.

The next day I had called Blake to tell him I could not come in. I was taking a vacation. A much needed vacation.

I still felt hurt. But not for what Rick did. But how it all happened.

I felt like we needed to talk but didn't know what to say. So when the calls started I didn't answer. I had stared at my phone the first time he had called, cried the second, and had thrown the phone out the window the fifth. Then I searched for it for three hours until I found it shattered on a rock.

So I cried.

I cried until there were no more tears to be shed. I cried for Rick. I cried for me. I cried for the happiness he brought me. And I cried for the pain it all inflicted. And in the end I cried because I was afraid.

I had always been more of a loner. I can always blame it on me being a bear but I was. I was never outspoken or drew any attention to myself. I was the person people knew 'of' but no one really got to know. Then here comes this giant grizzly that throws a wrecking ball into all of this. I was content with my life until Rick Kodiak showed me everything I was missing.

He stole my first kiss.

He made me blush.

He took me on my first date.

He made me laugh until I cried.

He made me feel like I was loved for just being me.

And all of this made me scared. Because if I let him in my life... what would happen if he's taken away? What if I lost him? I couldn't take it. Not again.

...i love him...

My ears pricked up as my eyes opened wide.

I love him?

My curved claws dug deep into the cool earth.

I love him...

I shook my large frame of the clinging snow.

God Dammit I love him!

I chuffed and swung my head because I knew what I had to do. Even with a phone I wouldn't call him. I needed to talk to him; face to face. I need to tell him.

I arose from the frozen ground and jumped out from under the tree. I raised my maw to the grey murky sky and let loose a ferocious roar shaking the very tree tops and sending the inhabitants of the forest scurrying for cover.

"RRRIIIIIIIICKKK!!!!"

Rick's POV

I had broken every driving law there is as my truck crashed through the dirt roads. I had a lead foot as the engine roared with power and the scenery around me turned to a blurry grey and white haze. The truck slipped and skidded at every sharp turn almost swerving off the road but I couldn't have cared less. I could hear him.

Deep inside I could hear his voice.

Screaming for me.

I had to get to him.

I had to get to my mate!

"Avery."

Avery's POV

My large paws scattered the fallen snow in every direction as I ran through the woods. My nostrils flared as I tracked the scent.

HIS scent.

Apples mixed with his natural dark woodsy musk. Steam floated up into my face as my deep pants created puffs of hot air. As my foot met air instead of snow I let out a surprised whine as I tumbled forward into a small ditch. But I quickly rose and continued on my way.

It was close.

I was so close.

There was something inside of me like a thread, no more like a rope, which was pulling me closer and closer. It was dragging me breathlessly through the forest as the snow began to pelt down upon me, crusting over my eyes and nose with flakes of ice.

As my feet carried me faster and faster through the white blanketed underbrush I began to see something in the distance. A black shadowy shape... It was blurry because of the flurries of snow. But it was there. And it smelled like...

Rick.

Rick's POV

The snow began to fall more forcefully as I cranked up the windshield wipers to their max and tried to squint through the haze, trying to keep an eye on the dirt road in front of me. Every so often I would glance down at the small sheet of paper with the address scrawled across it.

It should be just around here.

I turned down my lights and tried to pear through the snow as I could hear in the background mumbling below my rampant thoughts the radio scratchily repeating, "... blizzard warning... stay indoors... freezing temperatures... ice..."

My brain couldn't comprehend these words as my eyes saw something. I slammed on the brake as I tried to get a better look through the windshield wipers at the shadowy form in front of me.

I couldn't see.

I growled as I yanked the door open and held a hand in front of my eyes.

There was a shadow in the distance. A blurry shadow because of the snow but it was there. My nostrils flared as I could barely catch his scent, "Avery..."

I started to walk towards the form and soon I found myself running and yelling at the top of my lungs,

"AVERY!!!"

Avery's POV

I slid to a stop as my eyes beheld a cabin.

A cabin covered over in snow. It reeked of Rick. I bounded around its side trying to find the front door. When I did I rammed myself into it snapping the thick wood door in half and tumbling into the cold cabin. I shook myself off quickly and looked left and right trying to find him.

It smelled like him. But he wasn't here... I ran throughout the small abode, first his bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, living room... nothing.

He wasn't here.

I shook my head in anger as I turned and ran back out into the snow looking frantically left and right trying to think of where I could find him.

He HAD to be here. Where else could he be?

Rick's POV

Where is he?

I pounded on the front door of the cabin but I couldn't hear a reply. There was nothing but the roaring of the blizzard coming from all around me. Soon I just got so frustrated I punched through the door and ran into the cabin. It smelled just like him but all the lights were off.

"Avery!?" I turned and ran into the room I thought to be his bedroom but he wasn't there. I searched through the whole cabin, but he wasn't there.

He was gone.

My breathing started to become ragged as my frantics thoughts kept repeating, 'Where is he!?'

I quickly turned and ran back outside looking in all directions, not believing that he couldn't be here. He had to be here. Where else could he be?!

"AVERY!!!"

Avery's POV

My head snapped to look in the direction of the sound. I didn't exactly know what it was.

Then it came again. I raised my head high pushing back up onto my hind legs and pricking up my ears.

It was a howl. A wolf howl. But something about it was familiar. I tried to shake it off and go back to searching for Rick. But then the howl came again, this time it was more urgent, more painful. And as I listened to the painful note carry through the blizzard the haze in my head cleared.

Jessie McConnell.

My feet moved before I could register what was happening. My paws digging into the deepening snow as I ran at top speed. The howl repeated, this time more strained. She was giving her location and I followed it. She was close. I brought my head down to try and face off against the freezing wind as I began to blindly run forward.

I came to a deep ridge and looked out ahead as I saw her.

She was struggling against something as her twin brother Jess and Taylor stood protectively around her. Their ears lay flat against their heads as their tails were raised in a show of aggression.

I didn't wonder why. Even from the height of the ridge I could smell it, the metallic scent of blood. Jessie was injured. As this realization came to me I heard a thunderclap ring out through the blizzard. I watched in horror as Jess was blasted back by the force and landed sprawling across the snow along with his twin who whined and cried out for her brother.

My head whipped to the cause of this and saw a lone figure crouching behind a tree, reloading. In this moment every thought left me and pure primordial instinct coursed through my veins.

I didn't think and I didn't feel as I ran down the ridge roaring at the top of my lungs bringing the figure's attention to me. I watched as he froze in fear and blindly brought the gun to face me.

Then the shot rang out.

Rick's POV

I felt more than heard the gunshot. It rang through the forest with a harsh clarity against the crying of the wind and snow. I shook at the sound, not liking it one bit but felt I had more important things to concern myself with.

That is until I heard the vicious roar that accompanied the shot mere moments after. It seemed louder than the gunshot and held so much more power to hit.

I knew that sound...

"...avery?... AVERY!?!!"

Before I could blink my clothes were shredded on the ground as I leapt off into the blizzard.

My only compass was my instinct.

Avery's POV

I knew there was blood.

I could smell it. But I could not feel it. My body was numb as I continued to charge blindly forward as the human hunter frantically reloaded his shotgun. His movements became more desperate as the distance between us diminished quickly to only a few feet away.

Even as I bared my fangs and reached out my deadly claws to strike this human there was a voice. A voice deep in the back of my mind speaking softly.

Begging. Begging me to stop. To turn and run. To live.

For a moment I thought I recognized the voice. It sounded so familiar. So warm.

Like rolling thunder.

"AVERY!!!"

I didn't feel the second shot.

Like I didn't feel the first.

But I heard the crack. The sound it made when my body shattered from the bullet entering my chest. I saw the flash of gunpowder. It blinded me for a moment and the next thing I could remember is me laying in the snow. My body limp and pulsating with pain as the world around me went silent.

And in that moment of watching the snow beneath me turn red I couldn't help but to think,

'Wow the snowflakes look so beautiful.'

Rick's POV

AVERY!!!

I was frozen.

I watched in horror as the one person I loved with all of my being crumpled to the ground, broken. It was as if the bullet had entered me instead as I felt the pain explode within my chest.

Before I could think I found myself running to him. As I came to his side I watched as his body slowly cracked and melted back into his human form.

He was so desperately injured he must have subconsciously shifted back.

As I skidded to his side I quickly shifted back so I could more closely inspect his injuries. I gently pulled him onto his back and gasped as I looked down at the hole in his chest pulsing with blood.

My hands shook uncontrollably as I helplessly sat there. I heard something move next to me and my eyes flashed to see the pathetic excuse for a living being crawling desperately away. A vicious growl left me as I used my claws to grab his foot and viciously dragged him back to me cutting my claws deep into his ankle to which he screamed in pain.

I crawled onto his maniacally thrashing body and held him in place. I grabbed his throat, and squeezed.

He clawed pathetically at my hand as I simply applied more pressure. Watching his face slowly go a sickly color of red as his eyes started to bulge and his mouth start to foam.

He deserved this. He might be a weak pathetic human. But he had hurt my mate and now he must pay the price.

"...r...rick..."

I turned quickly to find Avery coughing up blood as his eyes looked to me. I quickly forgot about the piece of shit and hurried to his side.

"I'm here Avery... I'm here. Everything's going to be alright. I'm here."

His once beautiful bright ice blue eyes were now dulled by pain and... and...

"...rick... I..."

"Shhh... Don't talk..."

Avery coughed again. The sound was wretched. It sounded as if there were gravel in his lungs. Blood slowly bubbled at the corner of his mouth as I carefully brought his head to lay on my lap.

Whines started up from my left and I turned to see three wolves coming towards me. Two of which were bleeding from slight wounds but seemed to be healthy. They looked young by their small size as they all had their ears laid back in fear as they peered sadly at my hurt mate.

"Find help... Please..."

They all looked up at me with frightened eyes.

"Find HELP!!! HURRY!!!"

They flinched at my command and the dominance that filtered through my rough voice ,but quickly one after the other, they ran off into the blizzard.

"...i'm... sorry..."

I looked back down to my beautiful mate and growled sadly, "You have nothing to apologize for... I should be sorry. What I did... it wasn't... I didn't mean..."

A slender, quivering finger pressed gently against my lips as I looked wide eyed down at Avery's face. Just looking at him. Feeling his cold skin against mine made my eyes start to water. I gently kissed his finger and watched as he gave a soft smile.

He opened his mouth as if to say something else but then, suddenly, his hand fell from my lips and in one painful sound all of his breath left him...

"Avery?"

His eyes were closed and his lips were turning purple.

"Avery? C'mon don't do this to me..."

I gently shook his shoulder and his head limply flopped to the side.

"...no... NO! AVERY! Listen to me! Avery wake UP!"

I put my hands on either cheek and smacked him gently bringing my face closer to his.

"You can't leave me like this Avery! I still have so much to tell you!"

I felt cold harsh tears start to fall and drip silently onto his blue face.

"I LOVE YOU!!! Damn you I love YOU! Can't you hear me?!"

He was limp, cold, and there was no pulse.

"... you're my mate Avery... you're my mate... my one and only... a-avery..."

I leaned my head down onto his forehead as my breathing came out in gasps trying to drag air into my lungs.

"... don't leave me avery... I have so much I need to show you... so much I wanted to tell you... to do with you... not now... please not now..."

There was only silence in answer.

"please wake up... I can't live without you Avery... I love you..."

I took a deep, shaking breath, "...please don't leave me..."