What was normally a several hour drive, turned into a couple days of running. The wolves were fast, but not as fast as a car. They passed a few small towns, but Natania didn't want to elicit too much attention. Besides, humans in small towns tended to shoot wolves they found wandering in their property, something she had learned the hard way. They could heal bullet wounds easily enough, small points of entry were easier for the shadows to seal over than gouges or bites, but they still hurt.

Natania might have stopped anyway if she'd scented anything suspicious, but so far their journey had been uneventful. Even Hayley and Alex had finally quit trying to bait Leah into arguments by the fourth day. It was a welcome relief to be free of their bickering, but then the complaining had started.

"How much farther?" Hayley asked, slowing to a walk and breathing hard.

"Not much," Natania replied, slowing to accommodate her. She flashed Hayley a grin. "I thought Ezra kept you more fit than this." She was tired too, but she enjoyed running, and could keep up the pace they were doing for hours.

Hayley rolled her eyes. "Fit enough. Not many situations call for multiple days of travelling on foot. Why didn't we take a car?"

Natania twitched her ears. "Can't track in a car."

"We're not tracking."

"We would have been," she replied. "And we will be soon, but if you need a break we can stop. I don't expect you all to suffer in silence."

Her companions glanced at each other. "By not much, do you mean one more day or one more hour?"

"Not more than two hours," she said, the scents of the forest were already starting to be overwhelmed by the scents of humans. "Maybe less than that."

"A short break would be nice," Alex said, and she noticed he was breathing raggedly as well. Natania huffed a laugh. She'd have to work on their endurance.

"Don't even think about it." Hayley frowned at Natania.

"What?"

"You want to torture us with expeditions like this more often. Let me remind you, cars exist. What situation could we possibly need to run for days?"

Natania snorted. "When we go looking for our own territory."

Silence fell over the group like a cloak as they stopped, frowning at each other. Natania tilted her head. "You guys know we're not living in my father's territory forever. Eventually we will need to find our own." Sooner than later, she thought. With everything going on, her father was clearly itching for her to leave.

"I guess I didn't really think about it," Avery mumbled. "Leaving our families."

"Your parents," Natania said, "Any siblings would come with us."

Alex swallowed uncomfortably. "But, my sister is going to need our parents for years yet."

Natania pinned her ears and glanced away from them. "I don't know." When she was younger, she'd always assumed she'd stay in her father's territory until she was at least twenty five, maybe older and the pack had stopped having children a few years ago, so none of them would be younger than twelve or thirteen, old enough for her to handle. But their relationship was strained, and getting worse.

Would she really be expected to leave with five and six year old kids? "I don't know," she said again. "It'd be up to your parents, if they wanted to come, or Alistair, if he would let the kids stay." She expected her father didn't particularly want to keep the children, but Alex's parents were fourth in his pack, respected by her father. He might not be willing to force them out by banishing their children. Though he probably wouldn't care about the lesser wolves in his pack.

Natania sighed deeply. "I wouldn't try to pressure or force any of you to come with me, but I can't speak for my father." Leah brushed against her side and Natania shot her a grateful glance.

Hayley shuffled her paws. "We were kind of born to be your pack. We don't really get a choice in the matter."

"You could always go look for a different pack," Leah deadpanned, earning a scowl from Hayley.

"Whose?" Hayley replied. "I've heard the horror stories of what other alphas do to their packs." Hayley hung her head. "It's not often safe, especially for women."

"I might annoy you," Natania stepped forward and put her muzzle on top of Hayley's head, "but I wouldn't let anyone touch you. Even if you're a pain in my tail," she added, trying to lighten the mood.

Hayley jerked away from her. "Maybe you won't. But eventually you're going to pick a mate."

"Ah, erm. You don't need to worry about that either." Natania resisted the urge to glance at Leah. "Anyone that would lay a hand on my pack, wouldn't be my mate for long."

"Gag," Leah said through the bond and Natania set her jaw to keep from laughing.

"Let's just keep going," Hayley muttered, refusing to meet Natania's gaze.

Natania didn't like the feeling she was getting from Hayley and blocked her path. "Take the others and go ahead for a minute," she told Leah. Confusion drifted from her mate, but Leah didn't hesitate. Natania waited until Leah signalled the others and trotted off before turning back to Hayley.

"What?" Hayley narrowed her eyes.

Natania took a moment to consider her answer, giving Hayley a once over. "Did someone hurt you?"

Hayley stiffened. "No," she said, but she was so tense about it that Natania didn't believe her.

"Hayle-"

"I said no," she snarled, and moved to shove past her. Natania put a paw on her shoulder.

"Please, I can't do anything if you don't talk to me." Natania tried to keep her voice calm, even as her mind whirled like a tornado. If someone had hurt her packmates, she was going to kill them.

Hayley eyed her warily, like she could sense the rage building in her. "It wasn't me," Hayley muttered, shrugging her off and hanging her head. "I meant Bran."

Natania froze. Of all the people Hayley could have named, that was the last one she'd been expecting.

She felt something flip in Hayley, and she was talking. "Wren told me what he did, how he," she clenched her jaw and started again, quieter. "I kept waiting for something, anything to happen to him." Hayley curled her lip. "And you did nothing. Not a single fucking thing. He violated your brother, but I was somehow the bad guy for fucking around with Leah. Alex and I were the ones you hated, and nothing ever happened to Wren. Until he died, I guess, but that wasn't your doing. So don't act like you'd actually protect us now."

Natania stared at her in horror, recalling Leah telling her she wouldn't work with Wren because of something with Bran, but Bran had refused to talk about it. Shutting her out. Natania had thought it was more bullying but... she felt sick.

"Oh my god," Natania whispered. She wanted to wretch, wanted to kill Wren, wanted to shake Bran for never telling her, wanted to-. Leah had known, but her brother had never told her.

Hayley searched her gaze, frowning. "I'm beginning to think this is news to you," Hayley said slowly, visibly deflating.

"I never knew," Natania confirmed stiffly, trying to push back the urge to rage and kill something, anything. She hadn't protected her own brother. She wanted to kill Wren, but she couldn't kill someone that was already dead.

Hayley shuddered. "How do you not know about something like that? Aren't you in all our heads?"

Natania frowned at her. "No, I only get what's on the surface, and only if I'm close and actively listening. I can dig, sort of, but you'd be able to tell if I was digging." She probed a little to demonstrate and Hayley flinched. "I can't listen in on everyone all the time, I only managed it during the battle, and only enough to tell me who needed help."

"Then why were you always pissy with me?"

Natania closed her eyes. "Because Branson and the others told me about you, and Alex, and Mia, and Rayla and Valerie. And I dug enough to know they weren't lying."

Hayley clenched her teeth. "Bran told you I was bothering him, and never said a thing about Wren?"

Natania nodded slowly. "No one said a thing about Wren until Leah told me she wouldn't work with him because of something with Bran, and Bran told me he had handled it, and to let it go. I thought it was something along the lines of, I don't know, giving him a swirly or shoving him into lockers." Natania hunched down, her rage burning out to be replaced with shame. "I never thought..."

"Well," Hayley said dryly, "that explains some things."

Natania gave a short, harsh laugh. "You must have thought I was a monster. No wonder you were such a bitch."

Hayley shook her head with exasperation. "Thought you were the fakest fucking twat around. Acting like you wanted to protect everyone, but only caring that you were fucking obeyed." She hesitated then continued, "it wasn't until the funeral that I thought maybe you weren't entirely faking it, or at least, maybe you'd changed."

"Gods," Natania muttered, "I was trying to make it better, and all I did was make all of your lives worse. I'm still making your lives worse."

"I wouldn't say that, not now" Hayley said, "at least you care about us."

Natania shuddered. "Has anyone else been..."

"Not... that I know of," Hayley replied. "I only knew about Wren because he told me." Hayley took a deep breath. "I guess that says a lot about how I was, that he thought I'd think it was something to be proud of." Hayley bared her teeth. "I clawed his ears instead. Chewed him out for being such a fucking asshole."

"Thank you," Natania said quietly. "For telling me. I wish I had known back then, but at least he's dead now. If anyone lays a hand on any of you," Natania flashed her fangs. "I don't care who it is, there will be no second chances."

"Is everything okay back there?" Leah reached out through their bond, Natania pricked her ears, glancing in the direction they had gone.

"Sorry, we'll be along shortly."

"Guess it's time to go." Hayley gave a long stretch and shook out her pelt.

Natania nodded and the two of them raced after their companions.

"So what was that about?" Leah asked when Natania and Hayley finally caught up.

"Wren," Natania replied stiffly. Understanding washed over Leah.

"Guess the cats out of the bag then."

"Someone should have told me," Natania growled back, feeling her temper rise again. It took a lot of effort to push it back. It wasn't Leah she was angry with, it was herself, for failing to realize something was wrong. She didn't even know when exactly it had happened.

"Wasn't my place to," Leah replied simply. "He didn't want you to know, didn't want Wren dead."

Natania bristled angrily. "He's dead now, but I should have been given the chance to protect him."

"It's not about you, it's about him." Leah's words felt like a slap in the face, but Natania couldn't deny she was right. What Bran needed was the important part, not that that would change the outcome in the future. She wouldn't tolerate those kinds of people in her pack.

"You will tell me if anything like that happens again," Natania ordered.

Leah curled her lip. "I will agree to encourage the victim to tell you, but it is not my place to force someone into a situation where they will feel like they got someone else murdered. At the end of the day, Wren got what he deserved, and Bran doesn't have to feel like he was the cause."

Natania took a long, angry breath. This wasn't the time for this conversation, and she was torn between the need to protect her pack at any cost, and knowing that killing a pack member was not something to be taken lightly. The very least she could tolerate would be banishment, but the only outcome she could really accept was death.

She was saved from having to continue the conversation as they crested a hill, revealing their destination.

"There she be." Natania sighed heavily. "I really don't want to do this," she sent that thought only to Leah, who pressed against her side.

"It'll be over before you know it."