"Shit, it's cold," I mumble through chattering teeth. We have been on the run for weeks now. If I had to take a guess, I would say it has been about a month since our pack lands were overrun. We've been surviving out in the woods, trying to find Liam before the Warriors do, but it is a hard task to do when we are trying to survive a harsh winter with barely any supplies.

"What did you expect? It's the middle of January," Erik says, throwing another piece of wood on the fire.

The fire and the thin blankets we had managed to find in an abandoned car are the only things keeping us from freezing. With every breath I let out, a white mist leaves my mouth. My hands ache from the cold, never warm enough to be comfortable and never cold enough to be numb. No matter how tight I pull the blanket around me, it is no use against the bitter cold of the wind. It is starting to seem plausible that I will never be warm again.

"Never expected to be out here like this," I say quietly.

The infected have been roaming around, both the werewolves and humans. They look more and more disgusting every time we encounter them. Probably because they are slowly rotting away. Their flesh is often ripped and their limbs are mangled, blood seeping from every cut and orifice. Just thinking about them makes my skin crawl and my stomach turn in disgust.

"Nobody did," my brother says, rubbing his hands together and then holding them out in front of the fire. We stay silent for a few seconds, listening for any strange noises around us. The moon above us shines just enough light for us to be able to see our immediate surroundings, but we are always on high alert.

I swallow, my mind thinking about our mate. "Do you think Liam's okay?"

My heart clenches every time I think about him out here all alone. He is pregnant and almost half way through. We need to find him and soon.

Erik finally looks over at me, breaking his gaze from the orange flames dancing through the dark night. He scoots over to me, opening his arm so that he can wrap his own blanket around me. I look into the flames, hoping he does not see my tears, clear signs of my distress.

"We'll find him. At least we have caught his scent now. We'll be seeing him soon," Erik says. Every thing he says is true. We caught his scent yesterday when we were backtracking towards our pack lands, knowing Liam had run in the opposite direction as us.

I let out a shaky sigh and nod my head, leaning on my brother's shoulder. "We just have to find some supplies in that store we saw this afternoon. Enough to get us to the next one."

The only noise to be heard is the chirping of crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl. Somehow, we fall asleep on the blanket we had laid down earlier in the night. The ground is hard and the blankets are too thin to keep us properly warm, but the exhaustion from our constant running makes it easy to drift off to sleep.

*****

"Do you think anyone is in there?" I whisper.

We are hiding in the forest that surrounds the store we found yesterday. It is a small convenience store, the windows covered with pieces of plywood. A few infected roam around the building, oblivious to us hiding from their view.

"Why would the windows be boarded up if no one is living there?" Erik says, peeking through the tree branches obscuring us from the infected's view. He has a point, meaning that we will most likely encounter others if we go in there.

Looking over at my brother, I can see that he is just as cold as I am, body trembling from the harsh licks of icy wind. "We have to try. We're nearly out of food, and I don't think I can survive another night with those shitty blankets we have."

I can tell Erik agrees with me, but he knows the risks of entering that store. Peeking through the branches, I see the few infected that had been roaming the streets have wandered away. This is our chance, and we have to take it.

"Come on," I say, grabbing his arm and pulling him behind me. He does not hesitate, just follows behind me as we silently run towards the store. I reach for the door knob, praying for it to be unlocked, but it does not seem like this is going to be an easy trip. The doorknob does not twist, signaling that it is locked. I jiggle it, hoping to break the lock. It does not take long for the lock to snap, and the door swings open, revealing a dark and moldy smelling room.

The light peeking in from the edges of the windows barely illuminates the room. Everything is quiet, almost too silent. Turning to look at Erik, I see that I am not the only one who is suspicious. He raises the baseball bat we found a couple of weeks ago and moves towards the back of the store, while I close the door. After making sure that it is firmly shut behind us, I follow behind him, our footsteps silent.

A small cry can be heard from the back of the room. My eyes widen and I look at my brother. It sounded like a baby or at least a small toddler. Erik slowly lowers the bat, and our steps quicken as we head towards the back of the store. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart.

That is when I catch the scent. The scent of another wolf. I grab Erik's arm, preventing him from moving any closer towards the source of the scent.

"Ethan, what is it?" he whispers, quiet enough that only I can hear him. We are standing only about ten feet away from the bundle of blankets in the corner of the room. My eyes never leave them as I answer his question.

"It's a wolf. There is a wolf in here," I whisper. My gaze breaks from the blankets and I look around the dark room, trying to find the smell.

"What?" Erik says. He takes a deep breath and his eyes widen, indicating that he smells it too.

"But, that child sounds too small to have a rank."

I nod my head. The scent identifies the wolf as a beta, a rather common ranking, but they are still dangerous. Together, we quickly make our way to the blanket. There, hiding under warm blankets, is a toddler, probably a little over two years old.

"Hey, you're okay. We won't hurt you," Erik says with a soft voice. We are both crouching next to the boy. He is surprisingly clean, considering what is going on outside this store. His big brown eyes flick in between Erik and me, and his knees are pulled up to his chest, showing how frightened he is.

"Get away from my brother," a voice says from behind us, causing our heads to snap up and away from the small boy. There, standing only a few feet behind us is the beta we had smelled earlier. I guess we were too focused on the boy to notice him coming over to us.

"We mean no harm," I say, my arms raised in a placating manner. I stand up, noticing that Erik is doing the same. The wolf standing in front of us is about average size, his dark curly hair surprisingly neat. His blue eyes are piercing, but it is easy to see that he is scared of us.

"What do you want?" he says, eyes never leaving us as he reaches around our bodies so that he can pick up his little brother. The little boy curls into the beta's chest, his face buried in his neck.

"We're just looking for some food. We have been running low for a couple of days, and we need some before we start looking for our... friend," I say. Erik moves over to me, standing by my side as we stare at the beta.

The beta's eyes narrow and his gaze drops to our necks, taking in our mating marks. His eyebrows raise and gaze flicks between us. "You two are mates?"

A blush spreads across Erik's face, something I have not seen in a long time. I start laughing, so hard that I can barely breathe. Somehow, I mange to speak through my breaks in laughter. "No no... we're... brothers."

"Well..." Erik says, looking over at me. "I mean technically, we could be considered mates, but we have a third mate." My laughter stops abruptly and I look over at my brother.

"What?" I question, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Erik just shrugs his shoulders and goes on to explain how we are considered mates. Apparently, all mates in a pair or trio are considered mates, no matter their relation.

"But... but that's incest," I exclaim. Erik just rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

"It's not like we fuck each other, Ethan," my brother says. I guess he has a point. A cough comes from in front of us. Turning, we see that the beta is standing there with a small smile on his face.

"So, now that we have that all cleared up, you can answer my other question. Is the friend you're looking for your other mate?" he says. The little boy is peeking at us, his head still lying on his brother's shoulder.

"Yeah," Erik says hesitantly. "We got separated when another pack attacked us."

"What pack?" he questions, the curiosity showing on his face. Erik and I look at each other, but he just shrugs his shoulders.

"The Warriors," I say, turning back to look at the beta. He gets a dark look on his face and his body tenses up.

"The Omega stealers? They're the ones who attacked your camp?" His arms tighten around the little boy as if he is trying to protect him as much as he can from any possible threat. I nod my head, and Erik crosses his arms and squints his eyes, assessing the wolf in front of us.

"How do you know about the Warriors?" he questions. "We only heard about them a few weeks before they attacked us."

The beta stays silent for a couple seconds, his jaw tightening. It looks as if he is deciding whether or not to tell us what he is thinking, but his shoulders finally slump in defeat.

"They overran my camp. Took some of my pack members with them and attempted to kill the rest of us. My father was slaughtered trying to get us away from the attack. My mom, she...." He sniffles and buries his head in the blonde hair of his little brother. His eyes connect with mine, tears threatening to spill over.

"My little sister was bitten by one of the infected. She was only seven, and my mom refused to leave her. She handed me Elliot," he looks down at the little boy, indicating that his little brother is the Elliot he is talking about, "and told me to run. I didn't have a choice, the infected were coming quick, and I had to try and protect Elliot."

He walks away from us, going to sit on the layers of blankets on the ground. Erik and I stay silent, trying to give him the time he needs to calm down. The tears stop after about ten minutes, and my brother and I sit down on the blankets.

"We're sorry for your loss," I say, and Erik nods his head. "Have you been on your own since then?"

The beta nods his head, finally looking up at us. Erik and I exchange looks before turning to look back at him.

"You could come with us if you want to..." I wait for him to tell us his name.

"Tatum," he says softly, his eyes widening at our proposition. "I- I would like that. We haven't seen other wolves in a while, and I don't think I can take on the Warriors if they happen to wander in here."

"Good. We need to stick together. The rogue wolves out there are too dangerous to face alone," Erik says. "We'll rest here for a couple days and then start the hunt for our mate."

We all nod our heads, ready to be out of here and hopefully with others soon.