Two weeks have passed since we escaped the human fight ring. We finally entered vampire territory a few days ago. We waited a week after we escaped because Ekaterina fell sick. The silver protecting spell took an enormous toll on her body. Luckily for us, she recovered well and was able to cast a strong spell to help us enter vampire territory without raising suspicion.

Things between Nate and I are the same. He treats me with respect, but other than that, nothing has changed. I wish it would because with him treating me with care, I find it hard not to have feelings for him. Sometimes I think about initiating something between us but don't ever follow through with it. I'm too shy, and I don't want to face rejection if I'm misreading his signs.

Nate, Ekaterina, and I are on the streets in vampire territory, asking around for my Mom. I've asked more than a hundred people today, and none of them have seen her or know her whereabouts. I'm starting to worry that I'm too late in finding her.

"Hey," Nate says, waving his hands in front of my face.

I didn't know I'd gotten lost in my thoughts. As I come back to earth, I see the sun is setting which means another week has ended, and we still haven't found her or heard anything about her whereabouts. I don't know when I started crying until I feel Nate's warm hands touching my face.

"Why are you crying?" he asks, wiping away my tears.

"Nate...Mom..." I say, bursting out in tears as I think about the possibility of Mom no longer being alive. I don't want to consider that being true. It'll kill me if I've lost her. Nate doesn't say anything to me. He just pulls me closer to him and wraps his arms around me. I bury my head in his chest and cry my heart out.

I don't know how long we stayed that way, but by the time I stopped crying the sky was filled with stars, and the moon was out. I try to take a step but almost fall. I quickly hold on to Nate, who sweeps me off the ground and into his arms. I don't complain and enjoy being held. Nate walks us to the car we rented when we entered the city. We're staying at a hotel in vampire territory.

As we walk to the car, I think about what Nate did for me today. He stood with me while I cried for hours. He didn't have to, but he did, and now he's carrying me to the car when I'm sure his legs are tired from standing so long. This is nice Nate. He treats me so well, but other than that, nothing.

***

The next day, I sat in the living room after another unsuccessful search. Nate walks out of his bedroom in the hotel suite we're sharing. Nate refused to let me to have my own suite. I wasn't surprised because of his possessiveness.

"Are you hungry?" he asks, walking over to sit beside me.

"Yes, I am. Did you order room service?"

"No. I thought we could go out for dinner tonight?"

"Alright, let me go and get ready," I say.

I walk out of my room once I'm done changing my outfit. Nate and I walk out of our suite together. The spell Ekaterina cast that afternoon still has its effect on, so we don't need her to create a new one.

Nate and I walk into a nice restaurant around the corner. We take our seats on the first empty ones we come across.

"So, I was thinking we should start searching at night. We'll be able to meet vampires, and maybe they've seen her," Nate says while checking the menu in front of him.

We've been asking only humans in the city, not vampires as there are a lot of humans living in their territory. It's basically a normal human area, just with a lot of blood-sucking monsters at night. They allow so many humans to live here, so they have easier access to their food.

I don't know if the humans know about the vampires, though, but I doubt it. Most vampires drain all the blood when they feed off a human. So, there wouldn't be anyone going back to tell the tale of how a vampire took their blood.

"That's what I was thinking we should do," I say while looking at the menu too.

"We can start tomorrow night," Nate says after he finishes telling the waiter his order.

"Seems like a plan, but we'll have to be extra careful," I say, ordering my food too.

"Yes, we will. We'll have Ekaterina with us at all times."

"I hope we find my mother soon," I say, my voice sad.

"Don't worry, we will."

Halfway through dinner, I excuse myself and walk to the restroom. As I'm walking out, I bump into someone. I quickly apologize to the human for hitting him but stop once I see who it is.

"Liz," Matt says, shocked to see me.

I don't say anything to him and walk away. He stops me by grabbing my hand.

"Liz, please let me to apologize for what happened that night."

"I don't need your apology, Matt."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. It's not like me to do something like that to you. I'm truly sorry I hurt you."

"As I said, Matt, I don't need your apology. Let go of my hand."

"Please, forgive me. I miss you, Liz, come back to me. I need you," he says, pulling me close to him.

"Are you crazy? I'll never get back together with you! Now let go of me," I say and forcefully remove my hand from his grip. I may be too late once because I hear that familiar earth-shattering growl.

I look across the room, and there stands a fuming Alpha King about to tell every vampire here that he's a werewolf by ripping off Matt's head. Nate takes dangerous steps toward us, and as he's about to touch Matt, I place my hand on his chest to calm him down.

"Please calm down. He's only a stupid human. We can't afford to expose ourselves because of him," I try to reason with Nate, who's locked in on Matt behind me. I place my hand on his face and move it toward me. I lock eyes with him and plead with him to calm down using my eyes. After what feels like forever, Nate says the words I long to hear.

"You're fortunate tonight, human. I'll spare your life even though you touched what's mine," Nate, says and takes my hand.

"Thank you for not killing him," I say, as Nate pulls me outside.

"Why did you allow the human to touch you? You know how much it upsets me when males touch you," Nate says, sounding angry.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I tried to stop him," I say, trying to calm him down.

"Make sure it never happens again," Nate says, walking us to the car.

"I promise."

On our way to the car, I see someone sitting on the hood of the vehicle. Why would someone sit on the car? I'm about to mention it to Nate when he suddenly says the words I fears the most.

"They know. Run," Nate says, pulling me with him.

"How," I ask, running beside him.

"They must've heard my growl in the restaurant and realized we're werewolves," Nate says, running into the woods close to the restaurant.

Vampire territory is surrounded by trees everywhere. I suspect it's designed that way to avoid too much sunlight around the area.

"Should we shift?"

"No, they'll find us faster if they can smell us. We still smell like them. We don't shift until it's necessary."

We continue running. I'm about to tell Nate that I think we outran the vampires when one catches up to us.

"Hello, werewolves," a young vampire says, running up beside Nate.

"Mind if we join the party?" an older one says, smirking. 

Nate stops running, grabs the first one by his side by the neck, and flings him deeper into the woods. The one by my side tries to grab me, but I dodge him. Nate quickly comes to help and throws him.

"I think more are coming?" I say, feeling out of breath because of the running.

"Yes, I can smell them. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, I do. Why?" I ask, confused. Nate and I have been through hell together in the hands of human hunters, so of course, I trust him. And he's helping me immensely with finding my Mom.

"Good. Because I need you to trust me and do what I'm about to ask without questioning me."

"Okay," I agree, nervously.

"We need to split up."

"No, we shouldn't. Why?" I disagree.

"Do you trust me?" he asks again.

"I already answered that, so answer my question. Why should we split up?"

"Just do as I ask since you trust me. The exit to vampire territory isn't far from here. Once you're outside, wait for me at the cabin," Nate says, walking away from me.

"No! I don't want to be separated from you," I say, stopping him in my panic.

"Trust me, it's the best way to get both of us out of here alive," he says and kisses my forehead before he running again.

I think about disobeying him for a moment but decide to trust Nate and follow his plan. I run in the opposite direction, away from him.

I run as fast as my human legs can take me. I only stop when I hear a howl in the woods. I immediately understand why Nate wanted us to separate. I concentrate and try to hear if anyone is running toward me but hear none coming in my direction. I only hear them going toward the direction of the howl. I can't believe Nate would risk his life for me like this.

I continue running to not make Nate's sacrifice be in vain but stop when I hear a wolf whimpering in pain. They're hurting Nate. I have to go and save him. I run toward the direction I can hear the whimpering coming from. I also try to sniff Nate's scent in the woods to help me get there faster. I even think about shifting because, in wolf form, I'm faster, but I decide to wait till I get there.

I sniff Nate's scent closer as I run, and I change my mind and shift. I can smell his scent mixed with blood. I hope I don't get there too late. I can smell the vampire close too. My paws hit the ground hard as I increase my speed.

I arrive where Nate's scent and the vampires are coming from, but I can't see them. What if I'm too late and they've already torn his body to pieces? I change to human form and walk closer to the blood in the middle of the field. From here, the blood smells a lot of vampire smell. I crunch down and place my hands on the blood. I bring my fingers close to my nose and sniff to see if it has Nate's scent. The second the blood smell registers in my brain, I cry out. It's Nate's blood, and I can't find his body.