* * *

Sage was more than disoriented when coming back too. But the given smell of food had taken her by storm. But it wasn't twelve o'clock as far as she knew—She doesn't have her clock.

She doesn't have Henry.

All she managed to understand is this new territory which was smaller and enclosed, all sectioned off by many windows on every side. Her breath started to grow unsteady until Liam gripped her hand.

"Easy hun, Luke just ran in to get some food. Don't really know what you like to eat, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't order everything off the menu." Sage did her best to try and listen, but her attention drifted out the window, behind his figure, and out into the parking lot.

But as she attempted to move forward, the seatbelt snapped back and restrained her. The surprising weight over her chest had irritated her as she began to scratch it, her claws elongated to tear at the material. But her newfound brother had unlocked it with one simple click.

"Sorry, I didn't think I'd sit back here with you..." He mumbled, his cheeks starting to glow red as he felt responsible for her second panic.

"Oh, Luke grabbed some clothes from Walmart over there. These should fit you, I mean—they're long enough at least. You're skin and bones, so maybe not." Her hand squeezed at the plastic bag, interested in the material and wanting for it to crinkle again. Her ears began to twitch at the sound of the nose as she enacted it again and again.

A smile electing on her face.

This was a red flag that Liam noted. Who watched in awe as the she-wolf in front of him was entertained by the bag.

"Sage...How long—How long were you down there for?" The question seemed important and elected her attention through her newfound interest. But as her soft grey eyes looked up and met his, shining with pure innocence for someone who killed a human not too long ago, it dawned on him that there was no remorse.

Not that the human deserved it, but still. He didn't know how Sage would respond, but this certainly wasn't what he expected.

Her silence, however, was expected as she ignored the question. Which surely meant that it was a long time—too long to count. The siblings' questions only led to more, especially with her lack of response.

Sage's attempt to get to know them never went farther than food offerings and odd mumbles here and there.

Liam brushed it off, knowing that they'd be able to address everything once they were back on pack grounds and protected. Throughout America, there were certain nature reserves invisible to the human eyes by enchantments. Usually, they were hidden away within the thick wilderness, which allowed the descendants of the wolf community to thrive in peace without any unsuspecting guests coming through.

But an annoying shout just behind the car had called Liam back into the moment—reminding him that they were deep into human civilization in a crowded human-grade shopping center.

Maybe it wasn't the best time to talk about sensitive information when they were still technically running away.

Sage watched the male offer up a tank top and a normal black zip-up jacket. Sure it was a few sizes too big, but Sage's size would bring questions if anyone saw her.

After holding the soft fabric, the female didn't need to explain what he was implying and threw off the neutral-colored scrub.

Liam huffed, looking in the opposite direction to try and give her some privacy. He shifted through another bag and felt around to find the jacket his brother mentioned, which he also passed her way.

With a satisfied hum, Liam peeked to see it was safe to turn back around and smiled as he helped her zip it up.

"There. Now you look like you're undercover or something, hun." He teased, tapping the extra fabric behind her head. It caught her interest as she turned to look behind her in confusion about what he meant, so she pulled it forward to study it. And as soon as it filled on over her head, she giggled.

It became a peaceful, enclosed space, providing warmth and a bit of cover. But more importantly, allowed her to think without getting overwhelmed with what was outside the car. Though he didn't stop there when he offered up a pair of leggings as well. Which turned into another struggle of giving her some privacy as she stripped bare, though her cotton panties were enough of a blockage for him not to have to worry too much in that regard.

She managed well enough on her own, wiggling into them as it was getting difficult considering the confinement of the car. But her attention soon returned to look outside the window, observing all that passed her viewpoint. Whether it was the flock of birds diving for scraps or the casual group of humans that walked intending to do errands.

This was the daily bustle of a human's life. Even Liam was starting to grow uncomfortable with the unnatural smell they were letting off when clustered together.

"I know it's loud, but it's the closest place to get everything we need. There's shoes in here too." When he held up the bag, her instant reaction was to squeeze it to create the sound again.

"I know they're not as long as you're used to, but I think they'll do for now. Right?" He reached in to fish out the socks. A jolt of excitement appeared on Sage's face as she traded out her clothes once again. There was dirt and gravel at the bottom of hers.

So it wasn't that much of a choice to trade them up, pulling them up to her mid-calf and begun to wiggle her toes.

"Luke got you a size eight, hope that's the right size." He said, more so to himself as Sage hasn't spoken before, and it wasn't likely she would now. However she held the pair in confusion, squeezing them like she did with the plastic bag—only no static noise followed.

Her brow soon scrunched together as she struggled to identify what she's holding. "Shoes...They're shoes. They go on your feet?" He answered, staring at her in disbelief. They were standards issue black sneakers with laces, but they might as well have been crafted by aliens themselves because she wouldn't have known what the hell do with them anyway.

"Here, watch." He suggested, unloosing the strings and bending the sides to break it in a little before she puts them on. He pulled her foot up and settled her in before retying the laces.

And Sage watched with bewildered eyes as he continued onto the next foot.

When he was finished, she looked down at them—covered by the oddities that he so kindly offered. She tapped the seat in front of her in question, but she couldn't feel through them as they blocked contact.

But she didn't like the fact that she couldn't wiggle her toes properly.

"No." She grumbled, grinding her feet into the ground as he chuckled.

"Yeah, I don't like them either. But when we're with humans, we can't walk around barefoot. Even with socks on. Alright?" Sage understood at the bare minimum that the people that held her captive weren't the same as her, though she's seen other wolves on rare occasions before.

Though Luke and Liam were the first in her cell block. Which was unfortunate for the entire building, especially for Alex and whoever's car they were currently in.

Not long after Sage had yanked off her shoes, her head swiveled around to catch Luke coming around to the front of the car. But Liam recognized the logo anywhere, sighing towards the car's ceiling after seeing the five heavy bags of McDonald's and a handful of large drinks.

Luke estimated that this would get them through the next few hours at the very least.

"Hey, feet off the seats." He ordered after setting the food onto the passenger seat. And Sage instantly threw her feet back onto the ground with her face hiding deeper into her jacket's hood. "Kidding, kidding. Get comfortable hun, we're gonna find someplace to hold up for tonight." Liam chuckled as he nicked his head off towards their feast.

"We have anything left after that?" Their money was already tight as is, and Luke didn't need a reminder as he growled in aggravation. But an equal reply hadn't been from his brother—But from Sage herself.

"Think Sagey might have a lil crush on you," It was a sibling joke, sure. But the she-wolf had been completely unaffected by the taunt as Liam grumbled under his breath with pink cheeks. And Luke gave the subtle white flag of hanging her a bag of food.

"Grab what you want. There are some chicken tenders in there for you, Sage." Out of everything they said today, she for sure knew what chicken meant as she wiggled in excitement.

She sniffed the first burger and couldn't quite place the meat, twitching her nose once she caught the sourness layered somewhere in the bundle of paper. And so she placed it off to the side and dug back into the bag.

"Oh, dibs!" Liam snatched whatever she discarded, and she smiled to see just excited he was, watching intently how he unveiled the paper to get to the meat inside. "Ah, found it." Luke had handed back a box, and she instantly took it without question.

After clawing it open, she was blessed with the familiar sight of warm breaded chicken strips. Sage grabbed one and quickly hacked a bite off of it. There was no need forks in this car, not when her stomach churned at the need for food.

A hum of delight was a shared feeling throughout the car, and there wasn't much conversation because of it. The three devoured through all the bags, and Luke watched in the rearview mirror as Sage sniffed everything before she dived in.

"W-water?" She questioned, but Luke shook his head. Grabbing one of the drinks, and checked the scent as well. "How about some lemonade?" While not knowing entirely what the word meant, but she still reached for the largest drink container she's ever seen. Granted, he wondered how she even managed to hold it by her tiny hands grasping it.

She popped open the plastic barrier and sniffed it again. Liam caught Luke's eyes in the mirror, who was already watching throughout his own meal to see how she acted.

They were still trying to understand what they were dealing with in terms of who this wolf is.

Who her family is and what pack she belongs to.

But between the two brothers, they couldn't muster any theories privately between their shared link, but their thoughts were put on hold as Sage coughed at the sweetness that was causing her to choke. Her tongue was out as she tried to wipe the intense flavor off on her jacket.

"Here, try mine." Liam offered, gesturing to his own cup and already did the job of popping off the top for her to sniff.

It wasn't much of a surprise didn't like the soda eight. And although Liam offered to run in and get her something to drink. Luke beat him to it.

The eldest male returned back into the superstore and bought a case of water right alongside a few snacks for the road.

They needed to put more distance between them and the facility, even though he didn't want to call and worry their family—The payphone had caught his eye for the second time and claimed a few coins as he dialed his house phone.

"Elwood residence..." It wasn't enough of a giveaway to know that the number was based on a supernatural reserve. Still, Luke closed his eyes and hummed in recognition of his mother's voice. Purring in delight and allowed those two simple words to comfort him.

"We're on our way home." He issued, and the sharp inhale on the other end was followed by his mother yelling out to his siblings and father.

"Luke, what in goddess name happened?"

"We were attacked just after leaving Aunt's place. Listen, we're still in the same state. We've got a car and all. Sit tight, we'll try to call you tomorrow, yeah?" He kept the details brief as he didn't want to worry his mother. Still, it didn't save him from receiving a lecture, all while his father strictly reminded him of what he needed to do to keep his brother safe—And sister—He wanted to add. Yet, he remained silent and allowed his parents to speak.

With four new plastic bags in hand, and a case of water over his shoulder, he decided this was everything they needed before setting off towards Crescent Moon. Liam jumped out and helped him get things organized in the back, while Sage watched in a curious silence, like always.

"Get some sleep. We're driving for a few days." Luke said, his voice soft as ever. And after eating all she had, she didn't think a nap would be all too bad of an idea. So she took the offered pillow and blanket, and curled up into a small ball in the back while Liam took the front passenger seat.

With soft music in the background to muffle their conversation, they were allowed to speak freely.

"Find anything out?" Luke started, following the question with a long sip of his coffee—Since he surely needed the fuel.

"Nope, other than she didn't know what shoes were? I think she was taken as a really young pup or something." It was as close to the truth as they would understand. Still, it was a reasonable assumption considering she had little knowledge or understanding of basic concepts.

*

The brothers had taken turns driving. Granted, they were running out of money and fast. Gas was their biggest struggle at the moment. If anything, they could run the remaining time, but that wasn't a good idea since they are traveling with Sage.

Whether her link was blocked by her own will or from the induced medication, neither Luke nor Liam could enter.

A wolf had access to many types of links. It could be connected through friends and the rest of the pack. But more importantly, it was strongest between family. So Luke wondered if being imprisoned for so long would make different rules apply in this case. While their relationship was growing, there still needed to be a level of trust between them.

And it was then that Luke decided to take a rest stop at a park. Since it'd give their wolves some relief and an area to unwind, he was sure Sage wanted to stretch.

Yet when Luke opened the door for Sage, she remained seated and looked up to him in question. "Hey, we're going for a little run." He was expecting excitement to get out of the car, but really any kind of run she's experienced in the past was ruined since she could walk.

They were testing her endurance, and they were never considered for pleasure.

So she took a peek out of the car and breathed in with a sigh of sweet relief. She managed to stand wide-eyed in the middle of the secluded woods. Sure it was considered an amateur walking area for the townspeople, luckily it was late in the evening, and the rest of the humans were elsewhere.

However, Sage had gotten the faint twitch of something shifting under her skin, causing her anxiety to spike up. "Beep beep." She mumbled, her nails starting to claw at her wrist in irritation. The thing inside her would sometimes respond with a sharp beep as well, though it hadn't this time.

But it did catch the attention of the brothers.

"Sage? What is it?" Liam came closer, reaching out to stop her obsessive itching. But she only yanked her arm back. The young woman knew that she was away from the facility...Far away in fact, so what was the point if they could still find her?

Still hurt her?

The air was nicer out here anyway. There was no cold room, no bars, and no hurt.

She brought her elongated teeth to her wrist and took a big bite. Digging around only to be stopped by Liam's firm grip at the back of her neck. "Beep beep!" Was her only reply, and he instantly knew what that meant.

"Luke...Fuck, we forgot the trackers." He ushered, and it issued another line of swearing as he came closer to the two. Sage managed to locate the damn metal thing, and as it retracted her jaw, she spat it back up into her hand.

Much like a child would, she offered it up in offering to show them with a bright smile. And Liam was too busy trying to locate his own while Luke took the small chip.

Once her hands were free, her mouth returned to her inner left arm to search for the second. The males doubted they had two themselves, but she managed to find another one in her body.

"Mind getting it out for me, hun?" Liam asked, gesturing up to his forearm in temptation for her to do it again. "Can't handle it yourself, brother?"

"She's two for two." The huff of confirmation that Sage would do it didn't give Liam any time to reconsider his request. And he instantly wondered how in the goddess' name she managed not to flinch at the pain.

But she had gotten the job down well enough, then moved onto Luke. Who smirked as her face was now covered in everyone's blood.

After being de-bugged, he led her back towards the car and sat her up on the hood while a freshly shifted Liam licked up his wound.

Soon after he had finished, he pranced over to the others and began to spread the slobber onto Sage, who turned into a giggling mess at the distraction. While Luke doused a bit of water onto one of the million napkins, they collected from the past three days' worth of fast food.

Her nose twitched more than his pup brother would when getting his face cleaned after dinner, though he didn't stop at her protests, not until the blood was cleaned from her cheeks.

After he finished, the she-wolf began to look off and around the area. Sage's eyes soon turned teary as her gaze attempted to capture each and every single thing in sight. Her shoes weren't on, but neither were her socks.

Sage hardly cared as she began to walk forward, her arms hugging tightly to herself as well as her hood was still up.

Either brother watched from the corner of their own tasks as they wanted her to be safe, and her innocent gaze up through the trees to embrace the sunlight wasn't doing any harm.

However, after another glance around, she began to walk forward to the closest tree she had spotted. Reaching out a hand, her grey pupils widen at how thick and full of texture the bark turned out to be.

The thing in front of her didn't register as a name, so she pointed to it and looked off behind her. Wanting an answer, she turned back around to catch Luke's eyes. Curious as to what she was doing, he began to stock forward.

Any human in his presence would feel the prowess that his wolf sent off, but even without that, he was strongly built and held a monstrous height.

He was the eldest son of Master of Arms. And that meant working with the Alpha and the higher tiers to secure the training regimens for the pack and younger pups to uphold the title of Crescent Moon amongst America.

They weren't the most friendly, given Luke's first introduction with Sage. But it was a tight nit pack, and they were surely going to respect the young she-wolf that stood before him, especially when she stood beside a tree and questioned what it was.

"It's a tree." Liam's head shot up to what his brother had said, causing a staggering breath to release from his chest. He didn't want to believe that Sage hasn't seen the outdoors for a good while, let alone not be able to identify something as simple as a tree. But after hearing Luke's voice, it made the reality of it all even more heartbreaking.

"Tree." She repeated, and with that, Liam reluctantly went off to hunt. While Luke remained by Sage's side, continuing the pattern of naming whatever Sage pointed to.

Whether it was a sign, a leaf, or even a bird, he replied. And every time, it elected a smile as she absorbed this newfound information, especially the birds.

Watching the winged animal soaring through the air above her, was addicting to say the least. And in the midst of her bird gazing, Luke caught Liam's wolfie smirk. After hearing what Liam planned, it would definitely gain another smile or even a laugh from the silent she-wolf.

Liam's soft grey wolf pranced forward, and the steps called out to Sage as her ears twitched upon his approach. His scent was a familiar one for quite a while now, but she could never get enough of this fresh air finally blessing her lungs.

A playful growl suddenly sparked, and she smiled in return. "Undress first, Sage. I think you like that jacket, and we're getting low on money." The idea of money was another foreign subject, but the word jacket was what she was wearing.

As she was starting to undress, Luke couldn't remain silent about it any longer. "Don't change in front of us." She opened her mouth in question, but it didn't follow with a verbal response.

Hadn't he just told her to undress?

There was a laughing breath coming from Liam's worth as he watched the conversation unfold, but Sage still didn't grasp what the point was.

"Hide. Hide your body." He tried to speak in short terms, but also paired it with motioning to her upper chest. He had purposely left out a bra because he didn't want to get the wrong size.

The male wasn't well versed in that type of knowledge on she-wolves.

But the jacket made it impossible to recognize whether or not she has one on or not. And after a moment of rethinking, Sage somewhat understood that using the restroom is a private practice. So she went ahead behind the tree, holding the clothes tightly to her now bare and open skin.

Luke came gently around the corner and held out a hand to grab them, even though it was only four articles of clothes. Plus the socks and shoes left in the car.

"Go easy on her." He teased, and thus it was Liam's time to distract Sage as the two managed to play for the last few hours of sunlight left for today. They tackled, chased, and nipped at one another.

It was surprising to see Sage's wolf in action. Her wolf was above average for a normal she-wolf size. Even if she appeared tiny in skin, the size she gave was confusing to the two Elwood brothers.

When the sun finally traveled the rest of the way down over the horizon, Sage refused to get back in the car and protested by curling up right beside it.

Ultimately making the decision that they'd spend the rest of the night here so they could all recharge.

Luke took the risk to build a fire, even though it wasn't allowed. The brothers couldn't care less about abiding by human laws. If anything, they were more protective of woods than the appointed park rangers.

The two could manage a fire since they were young pups and were well-versed in surviving in unpredictable situations. But this was something their father didn't account for. Nor their new companion, as either stared as the bundled up she-wolf sat across from them, her stomach rising and falling--Indicating that she was indeed asleep.

"She's strong," Liam whispered, rolling out his shoulder again as Sage was a tough tackler.

"Yeah. Yeah, she is. That day I saw her in the gym, I'll never forget that." Liam huffed at the idea and threw another twig into the fire pit.

"Don't think I'll ever forget what happened down there. To think—to think she's been there for how long—" His wolf was growing angry at the thought, growing in a defensive status to their sister.

After a moment of silence, and Liam allowed his brother to regain his composure, he nicked off to Sage. "How'd she do with the trees?" Luke groaned and traced over his tracker scar. "I doubt she's seen trees or grass before. The scientists knew her too well. She was too submissive with them." Liam swallowed at the idea of never seeing a tree, something as simple and dismissive as a tree?

A wolf protected the woods, and this she-wolf has never been near one was mind-blowing and difficult to grasp.

______

Date: 11-01-2020

Time: 10:22

Words: 3371

EDITED
DATE: 07-25-2021
WORDS: 4124