(OOPS, I got distracted by two playful pups and forgot to post the third chapter, as I stated in the author's note. You can see how adorable they are and why they can be distracting.)

October 2

When I woke up, I realized I was in the prison hospital ward. I looked around to see Lily, Tanya, and Marlene standing outside the cell. "Lily? Tanya? Marlene? What happened? How did I get here?

Tanya growled, "Don't talk to us, you ingrate. Alpha Jon informed the pack about you betraying the pack and that you are creating lies about our soon-to-be new gamma. You gave him potions and made him believe you were his mate when, in fact, he was your sister's mate. Alpha Jon told us he confronted you about it; you tried attacking him. That is how you ended up hurt."

Marlene added, "What is sad is that your parents came in at the end. They did not know why you attacked Alpha Jon and tried to defend you. They are now in the ICU and not expected to live because of your deceitfulness."

I yelled, "That is a lie. It was Mitchell who attacked me. I want to see my parents."

Lily looked at her, "We cannot let you out by alpha orders. Your sister, we heard, is distraught because of your parents and you. She is on bedrest since she carries the gamma's heirs. She is his true mate. They end up postponing his gamma and mating celebration, which was supposed to have been yesterday until she is off bed rest. You did that to your sister. Rumor is she has identical twin girls and a boy inside her. They said you even attacked her when she made that announcement to the family," she growled. "You just stay there. You do not even speak to anyone unless asked a direct question."

I stood there stunned, and once it sunk in, I spoke anyway: "You are my friends. You don't even believe me? I am Mitchell's true mate; he wants my sister to be his chosen mate and has stated I will be his mistress or second mate. I turned down that offer. I did not attack them. Mitchell attacked me because I turned down that offer and then quoted the laws they were breaking."

Tonya ordered, "Shut your mouth. You are to be guarded until the alpha decides your punishment."

I had tears running down my face as I lay on the bed. My parents are in the ICU. My mate betrayed me. My sister betrayed me and is carrying what should be my pups. My packs and friends betray me.

My wolf, Siena growled to me, "No more tears. We will get our revenge."

A few hours later, the guards switched. About an hour later, a nurse came in wearing a mask. "Have you three been given the initial vaccine for Ionitus virus?"

"Never heard of it."

"The doctor ran a test, and she got it. I am giving her a shot that should help her with her symptoms and fight it. It is highly contagious and can affect wolves from having pups. Plus, it makes you weak and takes months to regain your strength. She will be as weak as a newborn kitten as this shot works to kill it. This shot will knock her out for hours as it fights the virus." She walked over to me and winked. I sniffed and realized it was Lily with a dark brown wig. She lays a clean gown, towels, and other things on the bedside medical table.

In a snarly voice, Lily said, "Dog-face, give me your arm." She grabs it and jerks it toward her. She jabs the needle into the pillow on which my arm is resting. She drops a keychain with four keys. She uses her body to block the guard's view as she turns toward the guards, "In about five minutes, she should be asleep. Once she is asleep, go down to immunization. Tell them to give you the initial vaccine." She turned and left the room.

I move the blanket and cover the keys. I pretend to fall asleep. A few minutes later, I heard the guards leave. I wait a few minutes and sit up. I grab the keys and unlock the silver handcuffs from my wrist and legs. I look at the clothes Lily left. They are nurse scrubs and not gowns, as I first thought. I put them on. I see a hair tie and a blond wig. I quickly pull my hair up and place the wig on. I grab the facemask and cover my face. I stuff my gown and the towels under the blanket and use the pillows to make it look like I am still sleeping there.

I use the key to unlock the door and walk out of the room. I turn and lock the hospital room door with another key. I start to walk toward the front exit. I have Lily join me, and she guides me another way. A couple of nurses coming on shift stop and ask, "Why the mask?"

Lily looks at them. "The doctors downstairs sent us up here to give the prisoner a shot for the Ionisius virus. Plus, tell the guards they should get a vaccine just in case."

The nurses stepped back and mentioned, "We had the vaccine already from the last outbreak, but we need to take precautions for those without. We must sterilize this floor and ensure all our patients and visitors have that inoculation.

Lily told them, "Don't start doing all that yet. The doctor wanted us to do a second test to confirm before they passed it on, "she pulled a vial from her pocket, "but us nurses need to stick together. We better get back to our stations, but we are dropping off the blood test at labs for verification before we do. We, too, started the deep clean, and the doctors decided to wait to vaccinate everyone if it was positive. Once she was given the antidote, she fell asleep. We did send the guards to get the vaccine so they would be on the safe side."

"That vaccine will knock them out," one nurse replied.

"I know, but her cure has already knocked her out. She won't stir for a few days and is locked in there. I figure everyone will be safe without the guards."

Nurse One replied, "You are correct. I was working in that room back then. That rogue was out for about two and half days."

"We'll let us head down to finish the cleaning protocol on our floor. We will see when the doctors say to start the vaccinations. Didn't a rogue expose everyone to it three years ago?"

The second nurse replied, "Yes. Thankfully, only a handful caught it. Why not give me the tube? I will head to the labs as soon as I getting a sample from another patient in a few minutes. It will save you a trip."

Lily hands her the vial, "Please don't let the doctors know I informed you. I don't want to lose my job because the doctors want to wait. Thanks for taking the vial down there for me."

The first nurse answered, "We haven't seen or heard from you. We will start the cleaning protocol for this virus on the down low until that doctors get their head out of his ass and follow proper procedures."

Lily waved at them as we started to walk off, "We all should know within a few hours. We already started the cleaning protocol on our floor, too, but then we were diverted to get her blood work for verification and give her an injection just in case.." She guided me to the steps. She stopped to tell the same story about the virus on the next few floors. When we got to the first floor, she guided me toward the back entrance.

She grabs the keys out of my hand as we reach the back door on the first floor. She unlocks it, and we exit the door. She then relocks the door. We are in the back lobby. We walk into the restroom. Tanya and Maureen come out of the bathroom stalls. Tanya is dressed just like me, wearing a blond wig. Maureen is dressed up like Lily. They ran over and gave me a hug. They both said, "we are sorry."

I look at them. "What is going on?"

Lily replies, "we don't have time to talk. We got to get you out of here. Go into that stall and put on the outfit there. I will explain later. Just know we are your friends and want to help you." I go in there and am soon dressed. When I walk out of the stall, I look into the mirror. I am about 20 pounds heavier and have a gray wig on. I see Lily standing there. She was dressed similarly to me. The other two were gone.

"Where did..." Lily put her hand over my mouth. She pulled me toward the other restroom entrance and the front hospital entrance. We walked out of the front door of the hospital. We headed toward the bus stop. We climbed on the bus, and she had us getting on and off at various stops. We finally ended up in the human city about two hours later. I just followed her. We finally reached one stop, and she whispered get off at the next stop. Walk up to the crossroad and turn left on Chambers Road. Go up two blocks to Idalia Drive and turn right. Keep walking until you see me." She stands and gets off the bus, calling, "See you tomorrow, Nadene."

I wave, "Let's meet at the coffee shop at 11:00, Edith."

"Ok," she waves and gets off the bus.

She stated to herself, "I get off the bus at the next stop." I followed her directions. I kept walking until I saw Lily standing still in front of a dark blue SUV that looked similar to mine. At some point, she had removed her disguise. She had on a ginger-colored wig cut like a bob. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with sandals.

She gets into the driver's seat as I walk up to her. I get in the passenger seat. She starts the vehicle and takes off out of the city. "Put this outfit on. We will dispose of that outfit you're wearing along the route." I start to undress and change clothes. I soon have on a long-flowing ginger wig. I am now in jeans and a boho shirt with tennis shoes.

I asked her, "Now, what the hell is this cloak and dagger about?"

Lily looked at me, "First, I want to apologize for upsetting you earlier. We had to make it look good for the cameras and others in the area. We figured out what happened when we heard the story the alpha told us. You see, Tanya, Maureen, and I lost siblings over this chosen mate vs. true mate. We decided as your friend since diaper days we had to rescue you."

"I thought Baylee found a mate in another pack?"

"That was a lie the alpha made to cover up her missing from the pack."

"Is she alive?"

"Yes, but let's get back to you." I could tell she was hurting talking about her sister, so I dropped it. Lily took a deep breath and blew it out. "Anyway, you were out for several days."

"How long was I out?"

"Today is October second. You were out for eight days."

"Eight days? I am going to knock Mitchell out next time I see that bastard. I won't give him a chance to knock me out again."

"Jules, stop. Let me finish the story."

I took a deep breath and started counting. When I was calmer, I said, " Continue."

"I heard the doctor say to the nurse it wasn't from the attack that you were still passed out, but from your wolf needing to adapt to your mate's betrayal. That confirmed what I suspected."

"What about my parents?"

"When they saw the Gamma-to-be Mitchell attacked you. They both became like momma/papa bears protecting their young. They attacked him. Alpha Jon broke it up. Your parents were hurt when that happened. I was hoping you would pick up the lie about the seriousness of the injury. I admit I did not think of the silver handcuffs blocking your wolf. I knew you would normally pick up their aura, but it was after the fact that the three of us remembered. We felt bad. That is when we decided to break you out. That is what friends do. We help each other when in need."

"My parents aren't in the ICU? You helping me can land all of us in the dungeon."

"They are now in a regular hospital room. When they were crazed like a mamma bear, they took a swing at Alpha Jon. He knocked them out. He ordered 10 days of wolfbane to subdue their wolves as punishment for not controlling their wolves. They still have their wolves, which we can feel and link as a pack, but they cannot heal. They each have a broken leg that was from Mitchell and the concussion from the Alpha knocking them out. He ordered a special tampered wolfbane, but they could not heal immediately and are still in the hospital. Alpha felt that was bad enough punishment."

"My sister?"

"She clasped when she saw you and her parents knocked out. The doctor did a test, which is how she found out she was pregnant with triplets. Mitchell marked her as soon as they found out she was pregnant."

"That marking is illegal. He isn't supposed to mark until we both accept the rejection."

"That is why I stole vita-were from the hospital. I did not want you in any pain until you were ready to reject his sorry ass."

I glanced in the backseat, then wondered, " How did all my stuff get moved to this jeep?"

Lily grinned, "I went to your house since I knew your family was all in the hospital. I used the key from when I housed sat when you went to visit your grandparents during the summer, and your parents told me to keep the key. I went up to your room. I noticed it was all empty except for one suitcase. I took it downstairs. I knew you must have placed everything in your grandfather's old SUV. I went to the garage to see if I was right. Your jeep wasn't there, and I looked for it. When I found it, I put the last suitcase in. I did find the letters, cards and cash addressed to the council. You left the keys in the ignition. I drove over several towns and dropped the letter in the mail. I arranged to paint the jeep blue and kept it hidden until today. I went out and bought a new vehicle, which I also kept hidden. By the way, I used your card for that. That vehicle has Maureen, Tanya, and my stuff in it. We will soon meet up with them."

"Lily, you can't be involved with this. If Alpha Jon catches us, he will punish you severely. It would help if you let me take off on my own. You three go to your parent's cottage and act like you've been there since you got off guard duty."

"Jules, we have been friends since we were in diapers. I know you now know the truth about our parents."

"Our parents?"

"When I visited your mom in the hospital, she said you knew the truth about our parents being each other's true mates."

"They didn't tell me who their true mates were."

"What? Your mom said you knew the truth about your parents not being true mates, and she told you about my parents."

"She did not tell me who their mates were. How long have you known about this messed up mate?"

"Alpha Jon swore us to secrecy with his command after my parents told me. I found out about chosen mates when my sister was rejected. My mom told us then. Mom also said that is why our families were so close. Our parents went about it legally since my dad was studying law back then. Over the last few years, Dad gathered evidence about the pack not choosing chosen mates legally. He could not expose it since he hadn't collaborated yet when I saw your letter. I mailed it plus went to Dad's office. I xerox two copies of Dad's files. Those files are under the driver's seat, too."

"Why two copies?"

"In case you wanted to send them to the council. You have to remember that some of his proofs are just conjectures. Dad was trying to prove the conjectures before sending them."

"That makes sense. Now, where are we going?"

"The place mine and Tanya's sister is. Plus, where Maureen's brothers are. We have about a twelve-hour drive. Why don't you sleep some? When we gas up, you can take over driving."

"One more question. What was in that vial you gave the nurse?"

"I went to the black market and got a blood sample from someone with the Pontius virus. Which you also paid for. Plus, I had them order the test, so the hospital will spend the next few days cleaning and getting everyone inoculated. With your pass out, you will remain isolated for 48 - 72 hours before anyone enters your room."

"How will you hide from not reporting to work tomorrow?"

"This is the week we have been going to the cabin in  October since we were pups. They all think we headed there after our shift ended. Some knew we were upset you were not going to be there. They will see that the yearly gathering is ongoing if they check the cabin. Dad doesn't know where I will be, but he will tell whoever goes looking for me that I went for a run. When he returns to work next month, he will tell them we did not come back. Then, show them a letter we left behind. The letter is dated three and half weeks from now."

"What does this letter state?"

"It talks about how much we miss our siblings and how much we are going in search of them. We state we will contact them about our progress."

Thank you for reading ONE YEAR. I would love to hear your input. This chapter is 3138 words.