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Jade's POV --

"Tann?"

He turned around to face me "What is it?"

"Where are we going now?" I asked wide-eyed "I actually liked our last place!"

He looked at me for a moment before placing an arm around my shoulder "Don't you have faith in your big brother?"

"It's not you I don't have faith in, it's the choices you make, I don't have faith in." I replied rolling my eyes "I just want to stay in one place for more than one month...''

His gaze softened.

Since we left the Divisions we've moved town to town, it didn't bother him as much but I actually wanted a home. A real one. "Fine. It was a surprise but I guess I'll spoil it for you now - I bought a house."

"You what!" I exclaimed "How?Where!"

He gave me a very rare genuine smile "while we were travelling I worked different jobs and started saving money, from there I heard - houses in a town called Welinson were affordable for people who were from the Divisions."

"Tann! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I hugged him tightly "We have an actual home now!"

He pulled away from the hug with a grin glued to his face "I'm not sure where the hell the house is though. I thought I knew where we were going but I think I got lost. I remember knowing we had to go through this park to find it."

"Well, do you know the address?"

He pulled out a small piece of paper "Here"

"Why don't we ask someone, it's a small town I'm sure someone is bound to know where it is"

Tanner looked around the park.

It was small and there was only one other person we could see "I'll ask," he started in the direction of a stranger sitting alone on a bench.

"No!" I took the piece of paper away from him "If we're going to stay in this town for a long time I'd like to give a good impression on the first person we're going to meet."

He only raised an eyebrow "Fine. Be quick." I stuck out my tongue and walked over to the man seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

It was the first time I met Slate.

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Jade's eyes tiredly opened. She was confused why of all memories her mind decided to rest on that one. Her eyes darted around the unfamiliar room before finally falling on Sebastian.

"Bash?" she croaked.

Sebastian snapped out of his stupor and quickly made his way over to her side "You're awake" he gave her a glass of water that sat on her bedside table.

"How long have I been out?" She asked, gratefully drinking.

He took the empty cup from her and set it on the table before placing himself on the edge of the bed "About a week.''

"A week?"

Bash nodded solemnly "You were asleep for five whole days. Have you ever heard of a being called the Inoculate?''

"Inoculate?" Jade's curious gaze followed him

He could only offer another nod "When you didn't wake up the day after you went to sleep, we started getting worried. Katherine called a Division Healer to come check on you. She ran some blood tests and it turns out you tested positive one thing" Bash sighed roughly "she said there was a chance you wouldn't even wake."

"Why?"

For a small moment his eyes hardened "You're an Inoculate Jade. Without you knowing, you pledged your life to Tanner. When you heard he died...the Healer said it would be the most painful experience. We'd be lucky if you could grit through the pain and come back to us"

"No wonder it hurt so much." She was confused and overwhelmed with the new information but glad that she had at least one answer. 

Bash didn't like it when she was in pain and when he saw her the day she found out, it hurt him to know that there wasn't a damn thing he could do to help "Are you going to stay?" Say yes.

"You know I can't"

He ripped his gaze from her — an almost impossible task "Of course."

"Don't be like that."

Bash breathed "like what?" 

"Like that" she sat up "Why?"

Bash shut his eyes, she wanted a reason? Fine. "When I was 16 I lost you and then four painstaking years later I hear I've lost my best friend. I...I lost him for good this time. And then you come back. It hasn't been an hour since you've woken and you already want to leave, just like- you know what. Forget it."

"Bash." Jade whispered as she got out of bed, ignoring the searing pain in her muscles that screamed for her to go back and lay down. Without a second thought her arms wrapped around him — embracing him in a tight hug "I'm sorry Tanner and I left. I'm sorry when we finally come back, this happens and nothings the same anymore. You waited for us...and now...Look- I don't want to leave again."

He opened his eyes, burying his head against her shoulder.

If he was being completely honest, when he couldn't wake Jade up the first time, he panicked, he had never felt that amount of fear in his life. He couldn't afford to lose Tanner and then her. 

Bash was a stoic man but constantly found his mask crumbling whenever something involved her  "... no, instead, you need to leave me..."

"That's where you are wrong." Jade pulled back slightly to look at him "I need to leave here, as in the Divisions, I need to go back outside the wall, away from everything."

"What are you saying?"

"Come with me." She said with a faint smile "Take a leap of faith"

Ask anyone what Sebastian Hajo was like and you would get the same answer.

He's an incredibly brave person, his father was the leader of the Divisions and his mother was a Healer. But at that moment — standing in front of the girl who constantly kept slipping through his fingers, he couldn't help the way he feared the unknown.

"Come with me." she said with a new found determination in her voice. 

It was gentle yet commanding. It sat in the space between them silently begging. 

Bash was about to reply when his phone rang signalling him that there was something wrong in one of the training fields. He stared at her with a conflicted expression, he wanted to go but at the same time he needed to stay.

He didn't want to leave her like she didn't want to leave him. 

"Go." She replied softly "Then...find me"

A part of him was sad to hear her say that. He wanted her to fight him to go with her. To make the decision for him, if she had said to leave now he would. But his nervous heart made him take a step back at her soft words. 

He etched her tear stained face in his memory, he'd treasure every moment he could with the girl in front of him.

"I'll keep that in mind" he whispered gruffly before turning around and exiting the room — even though every fibre in his body ordered him, no, begged him, to turn around and stay with her — he marched out that front door barely in control of his own body.

Jade slowly made her way downstairs.

Kat turned around and hugged her warmly "I'm sorry sweetie. As soon as we had word your brother had passed. We made sure you were the first person that heard of the tragic incident. We told a man named Alpha Parker-"

"Slate?" She all but hissed "how long has my brother been..." she couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

Kat gave her a sympathetic look "A week before you came. Tanner was only here for a day before he was shot."

"He knew all this time! And he didn't even tell me! All this time he'd smile and joke with me and he knew! He knew!" Jade roared

Dylan came and held her.

He's never held anyone before but something in him knew this is what she needed "Can you give us a minute, please?"

"Take all the time you need," Kat replied smiling sadly as she left the room.

Dylan held Jade as she sobbed uncontrollably against his shoulder "I hate this. I hate him, I hate him so much..." she whispered against his shirt.

She didn't know if she truly hated him or if the grief was too much and she needed something to cover her pain. 

"Who?" Dylan asked as he held her reassuringly

Jade pulled away from him slightly "Tann..."

"Tanner?"

Jade nodded her head "He promised he'd be there to protect me, promised he'd never leave me and now...he's not only left me but he's left me forever." She could feel tears gather in her eyes "and I hate him more than ever for that."

"Luna...I'm sorry, I wish I could do something to make you feel better." Dylan replied not knowing what to say.

He wanted to comfort her in any way he could but couldn't find the right words. What was he supposed to say? The most important person in her life died and not only that but her mate kept it from her.

Jade blinked her tears away "I hate being here" she exclaimed running a frustrated hand through her hair "I don't care if you want to stay here, we're leaving. Right. Now"

"Really? You still want me to come with you?" for the first time someone actually included him without him having to ask.

Jade paused.

Maybe leaving and starting new somewhere is just what she needed "Yes," Tanner used to always tell her to be strong — to always stand tall, and right now that's exactly what she was going to do.

She sat in the front seat of her car.

After saying goodbye to Kat, they were ready to leave.

He glanced in her direction "I don't really have any ideas about where we can run to," being raised in a small town of Welinson and on top of that being an Omega meant he couldn't travel much — it came no surprise that he didn't know any good places to escape to.

"That's fine" Jade shrugged as she started the engine "I know someone who will."