Nate and Caleb watched Bianca disappear down the concrete slab of a drive way, and even Miranda who lacked their enhanced senses could feel the stress coming off the other woman. She hid the worry in her eyes terribly and instinctively Nate reached out and grabbed Caleb's arm, just before he took a step after their mother.

"Just, give her a minute." He told him softly, and Caleb felt the shake of his grip.

"Fine. A minute." Caleb reluctantly agreed, turning to face his brother he gave him another hug. "I've missed you."

Nate didn't answer. He simply tightened his hold and neither stopped the few tears that followed. After a few minutes they parted, self consciously wiping eyes and daring a smile as the relief that they were back together and it was over, started to sink in. Of course it wasn't that simple, and Caleb wasn't naive enough to think life could just pick up where he had left it - neither was Nate but the comfort and security they found in each other's presence gave them hope that might actually be possible one day.

"How are the others?" Caleb asked hesitantly, knowing a little from what May had told him when she arrived.

"Ah, well Henry is a tough little guy. He's been helping keep the kids amused, helping out where he can. They're all at May's grandparents now, Leanna too. She's ah, well, she'll be happy to see you." Nate told him with a forced smile.

Caleb looked at Miranda who still stared where Bianca had disappeared. The urge to tell her something reassuring was there, but he couldn't find it in himself to say the words they both wanted to hear. It was hard to focus on even trying to come up with a comforting lie, Nate's words falling on deaf ears as the internal struggle with his wolf flared back to life.

"I'm going in." Caleb told the pair, barely managed to avoid nate's hold as he once again went to stop him.

"Just, wait." Nate begged.

"She'll be back, with May and Braydon." Miranda said instantly; her voice too high pitched to sound certain. "They're okay."

"Yeah. They're probably just getting fed or checked out. The doctor to shifter ratio is a bit out." Nate nervously began to ramble. "Have you eaten? You should. I mean you're looking better than I was expecting, not that that means anything, it's gotta be like hell in there. Should you even be out here or do you need a doctor? Did they clear you, not that you shouldn't be outside after being inside, but I - Sorry, I mean, I just, are you hungry?"

Caleb glanced his way briefly. "I'm not hungry."

All around people were moving. A helicopter landed a few meters away distracting them for a moment as two stretchers were loaded in. Caleb shuddered as his mind tricked him, his fears growing as he thought of those survivors being taken to another facility where their suffering wouldn't end. Of course that wasn't happening, but he struggled to fight the urge to go over there and save them before they were taken away.

'Stop standing here! You need to go!' The impatient growl echoed louder in Caleb's head than the sound of the retreating helicopter and closing his eyes, he tried to calm himself down before he lost his mind. 'Something is wrong. Don't you feel it?'

He did. It was more than the makeshift camp behind them, the unease of having the soldiers around and the sick, confused and crying wandering around in a daze as they were directed to sleeping quarters, or more medical. Some were passed phones to speak to their loved ones, but there was something else happening. Something important and Caleb couldn't fight the wolf anymore. It was right - he had to go. But where?

"Caleb? Hello?" Nate's hand on his shoulder made Caleb growl and moving away, he felt like he was about to be sick. "What's wrong?"

"Caleb." Miranda stopped him now, her presence the calm he needed for those few brief seconds to try and work out what was going on. "Go."

Opening his eyes, he looked into hers and he knew she felt something too.

"Miranda, you can't-" Nate started to process, but Caleb simply nodded and started to run back inside despite his brothers protests following him.

"I'm sorry Nate, but something is wrong. I can feel it. He can too, and Braydon isn't here. It's May. It has to be and only he can go because they won't let me in there." Miranda told him.

"Yeah, but-" His argument paused as he saw the way a few shifters began to huddle together on the other side of the clearing. A few more began to come out of the tent they were in and breathing in, the air seemed to crackle with energy. No wonder everyone was feeling so tense. "Okay. There is something else though, but I don't think it's May."

Miranda frowned, looking around and seeing what Nate saw she held onto his arm. It was then they all heard the howl, a call to the to the hunt that had Caleb stopping and Nate's stomach dropping.

"That's Bianca." Miranda said what they were both thinking.

"Stay here, or go find Jason. It might not be as over as we had hoped." Nate told her, already hurrying towards Caleb and as he reached him, the pair ran together in the direction it had come from.

No one else left the campsite, some too busy tending to the injured, and the others too scared. The twins left the cleared land, running through the forest before another clearing was found. Looking around, Caleb shivered at the sight of the facility and breathing in, he found May, Braydon and his mother's scent fresh. Checking their tracks, there were only wolf prints and forgetting his fears, he ran back to the building first. Had someone taken May - it wasn't likely. He smelt no humans or the fumes from a car. They definitely hadn't taken her on foot.

"Let's go, we'll follow them and hopefully be able to catch up if we-" Nate started, yet Caleb stopped him and held up his hand.

Another howl, this one different - confused, sad... searching. Definitely not his mother, but the most worrying part of it was the feeling it was goodbye.

'May.' He thought, both wolf and human knowing.

Caleb took off at a sprint with Nate right behind him as they ended up going back to the main area just in time to see a pale shadow of a wolf vanishing back between the trees. Seconds later, he saw his mother and Braydon come charging in and seeing Miranda running after them had the twins pushing themselves in harder.

It was Bianca who shifted, while Braydon disappeared behind the other wolf and Caleb knew exactly what was going on.

"It's May, Miranda. She's changed and I don't think she's the one in control right now." Bianca told her crying friend breathlessly. "We'll get her back."

"Go, just go." Miranda told them, looking up in time to see the twins.

Instantly Caleb shifted, charging past the women as the wolf was finally free. The sound of Braydon running up ahead gave him a starting point and meeting up with the older wolf, there was no greeting or socialising; they were on a hunt and it was the most important one they had ever had. Without a plan, they split up slightly - each one taking a slightly different path as they struggled to keep May in sight. She was scared, the smell dominated her scent and her fear made her blind. A few times both males tried to call out to her, but not once she did stop. Not even when the alpha demanded it of them did it slow her down.

Finally Braydon and Caleb stopped. They're legs shook as their breathing was so desperate and fast neither could change for a few minutes as they needed a moment to try and recover. They'd lost May. The land was unfamiliar to them and no matter how many times they ran up and down the treeline, she could not be seen in the clearing and her scent was nowhere to be found which meant they lost her in the trees.

"We have to find her!" Caleb managed to get out between breaths. The wolf wanted to keep going, unable to sense her close by, the animal was frenzied in its search. This stop, was wasting time, but they couldn't keep going at the fast pace.

"We will." Braydon swore, pacing up and down with hands on his hips. He was exhausted. From barely sleeping the night before, the raid and all that entailed, he needed to stop. Sleep. Eat. It wasn't an option of course, but the quick break now was needed.

"When did she shift? How did she get out?" A million questions were ready to pour from Caleb, but he barely managed the two."

"I don't know. I sent her out when the last resistance came in, told her to go. When we left, I presumed she made it out, but she wasn't there. I came back in and caught her scent going further into the building and instead of finding her, I found her wolf. She got scared and ran, and I managed to get her into one room, was trying to calm her down, talk her through it and unfortunately your Mum opened the door and she got out." Instantly Caleb growled. "She didn't know. How could she?"

"Enough, we need to keep moving." Caleb ordered, shifting just as Bianca and Cody joined them.

Cody changed instantly, his face dark and serious, with the same look of tiredness they all had. "Where is she?"

"We lost her." Braydon sighed angrily.

Bianca nudged Caleb who again, only growled and pacing restlessly, wanted to keep going.

"Bianca has Caprice and her pack out here too. They headed North a few miles back, with another group going southwards. We can backtrack and see if we can find her scent again. We will get her back." Cody slapped a hand on Braydons shoulder and gave a squeeze.

"Hopefully before dark." Braydon rubbed his eyes wearily and the group shifted with Caleb leading them as he gave the wolf full control.

They had to find her.

________________

May lay trembling a tree log, her new legs ached and her chest vibrated like a tractor as her breathing was strained and erratic. She had to run from her Dad, and then Bianca. The shifter who never shifted now has and her reasoning? She was too weak as a human to keep going. It didn't mean the wolf didn't instinctively seek out her kind, running in a big loop to the main campsite where everyone had gathered. Seeing her mum had broken May all over again and as she felt Caleb approaching, fear kept her moving.

How she had managed to actually lose them was beyond her, but she had and slowly the wolf left its hiding spot and looked around. The forest was alive and oblivious to one lone wolf slinking around in the shadows. Birds that dared to face the winter sang happily from the treetops and smaller species that didn't get the luxury of avoiding the cold used the last hours of daylight to forage and prepare for the night ahead. Apart from them, May was alone. Every now and then she'd pause and listen, then keep moving as she certain she had avoided the pack.

'It's not too late. We can go back.' The voice in her mind offered with some kind of urgency. Of course now May knew she wasn't just going crazy, despite knowing all along it had been her wolf. It had always been there, she just needed to accept it and when it had been her time to change, it wasn't the wolf that had rejected her, or as he saw it - Caleb. It had been May. She was too scared, and not ready for the change. The wolf had come, but never been allowed to exist. It didn't vanish, it was just trapped until May had been able to open herself up to the creature. Now she had - completely.

'No. I can't.'

May felt herself slipping further and further away from the world. The darkness was welcoming and quiet - safe. The embarrassment she felt at not being able to accept the wolf when it had been time wasn't there in this new place of nothingness she found herself in. She wouldn't have to admit to Caleb that it was her who had hurt him, hurt them, for so long. May wouldn't have to face her family as the weakling runt; there wouldn't be any who didn't think her worthy of being able to shift out here. Most of all, there wasn't any pain here. No fear of nurses and doctors, of guards and routine. There wasn't a need to wonder if this trip down the corridor of abused and sick shifters would be her last. There was no need to count footsteps to see if this guard would be the one who beat you or slipped you an extra painkiller. No one was trying to shoot or kill her. There was no senseless death or torture, she didn't have to fake how brave she was to help Caleb. Here, she was free - just like the wolf she held back for so long.

The wolf whined, pausing to look around as the prickly sensation had the hair on the back of neck rising. It was time to go, and moving slowly as to avoid making too much noise, the animal adjusted quickly to its new habitat. Breaking free of the trees, she paused again. Ears up, nose to the breeze, she moved further along until the scent of her family, of her mate was found. Pack. The animal looked back into the trees, to the winter world bathed in the soft golden light of the afternoon before turning and sprinting across the clearing, through the icy water that still babbled along and then up further into the mountains.

By nightfall, the land was filled the chorus of wolves, all searching and calling their lost member home. Some were filled with sadness, desperation and an emptiness that almost lured the one they wanted to answer them. Others simply told their own story of pain and misery, the relief and happiness at leaving it behind not hidden. Having found an abandoned den, the wolf dug out what snow and debris filled the entrance and yet before settling for night, she sat on a rocky outcrop and listened to them all. Sounds came from above and below, the wind carried other's west, making it easier to plan her next move come the morning.

'Do you hate me for running away?' May thought.

'It is me doing the running.' The wolf told her.

'I'm sorry, for everything.' May looked through new eyes at the dark world and saw the beauty in the wilderness. Could she really do this, just let go and live wild? Her father had, Bianca too - yet the problem with that was, they had both been found.

'They wanted to be found.' The animal told her. 'It was their time.'

'And what about us?' She asked.

'Our time to be wild has just begun.'

__________________

Caleb woke from an uneasy sleep, and looking around the small cave, the familiar shapes of his brother, parents, Chad and Braydon were motionless - still lost to their own dreams. May's brother had joined them a week before, and he half expected Miranda to turn up eventually despite her inability to run as a wolf as they all did. He was hungry, but rarely ate enough. Tired, but his dreams were more like nightmares and slipping away from the warmth of the pack, the outside world was silent and dark. There was no moon tonight, heavy dark clouds had come in earlier promising snow and it hadn't disappointed as a fresh, soft layer of the white stuff greeted him.

It felt as though they'd gone over every mountain by now, three weeks of constantly searching without a scent or track of May. Not once she did answer his call and the sting of rejection was like a familiar wound that would never heal. No one was willing to stop until she was found, but both wolf and man were growing impatient. Why had she run from them?

'May wasn't in control.' His wolf reminded him, like that made some kind of difference.

It was a lie. They both knew it. A wolf would have responded to the pack, it's instinct and it's what drove them after changing. May rejected them all and ran. Maybe the wolf was in control now, maybe it was heading back to the facility to find them and that's why they hadn't found her yet. The thought of something bad happening wasn't an option. All their winter coats were coming in at a supernatural rate and surely the wolf would have enough instinct to hunt. Survive.

'We can find her.' The wolf assured Caleb and this time, he followed his instincts - not the plans of the others and took off in the night knowing come morning his tracks would be covered.

Both Braydon and Bianca reasoned she would stick near water. Water drew in prey, gave you direction and this theory had proven right four days ago when they found evidence of her track and scent. There hadn't been anything since then, and Caleb went to higher ground. A native pack had territory behind the crest, the night before they had all sat and listened to their stories. Perhaps May was more like Bianca and would run with the wild wolves, rather than lone like her father and take up their company only when it suited either side. The animals hadn't given anything away, about trouble or intruders, but Caleb went in their direction anyway. Come dawn he was even more exhausted and as fresh snow fell, he dared to rest in a dug out tree hollow. When he woke, he'd hunt and hopefully there was enough distance between the the pack and him so that he could find her on his own.

He wasn't quite so lucky as a pack did find him after he unsuccessfully lost the hare he'd been tracking. It wasn't the shifters though, and the three yearlings approached him with caution and interest. As with most of their wild counterparts, there was an easy understanding between the species and as the alpha's gave him a show of who the boss was, they left him alone and even dared to share their kill, treating him more like a visiting friend than anything else. He'd ran with the wolf pack near the farm his parents once lived at before he was born, it wasn't strange to him to be around the animals, and hiding with them, he hoped May would be nearby or even among them. Two days later, he had no idea how far he'd actually gone. He had expected the howls of the pack to follow him, but he hadn't heard a sound.

While the wild wolves rested, Caleb kept moving. One of the older wolves followed him, the distrust was easily felt between the pair and yet he was glad of the company too. It was nearly night when the rest of the pack rejoined them and their calls to the moon echoed about the land in that eerily haunting way that made what herds lingered nearby nervous. The lines of this pack's territory were becoming more clear and as night fell, their neighbours answered with warning. Unable to stop himself Caleb joined in, finding comfort in being part of something once more. The wolf thrived yet as the songs weakened and quietened, a lone call had him paying attention.

'It's her.' Both human and wolf knew instantly - answering May eagerly. To their surprise and delight, a reply came back, yet then the silence stretched too long. 'She's near.'

The pack was left behind as he journeyed into new territory. With fine days and freezing nights, there had been no weather to weaken her scent or hide her tracks and adrenaline fueled his journey until he was positive he had found her dwelling. Scents of other wolves were nearby, but did not mix with hers and being so close yet still not finding May was maddening.

'She's here.' His wolf assured him and Caleb knew she was too. He could feel her, May's presence was like a magnet only he couldn't quite manage to make contact.

Caleb shifted, instantly regretting his decision as the cold bit at his warm skin like the touch of a whip. "May! I know you're here, show yourself!"

There was no hiding his frustration or the tremor of desperation in his voice. Again, and again he screamed her name, begging her to come to him and when he could handle the cold no more he shifted back again, prepared to wait. Luckily he didn't have to wait long, the pale figure appearing on the rocks above him. She was lighter than he was, her chest, legs, sides and belly a darker cream while a dark line ran down her back, up to her ears. Caleb froze, blinking only to try and work out if he was actually seeing her or just imagining it. The wolf stood poised and alert, cautious but unafraid as she simply stared down at him with that silent judgment all wolves seem to possess.

Neither of them moved, then ever so slowly Caleb's tail swayed as it stayed low against his rump. One step, then two was taken towards her as he wondered if she'd run and if she did - what would be the quickest path to get up there and after her. May was found and he wasn't about to lose her again, so he took a chance and changed again. She growled slightly, before taking a hesitant step back.

"May, please-" He started, yet as he expected, the wolf turned and ran.

Caleb chased. They went up the hill, down the other side - over slippery boulders and through semi-frozen streams. Snow was thick in some parts, slowing them down as the bounded along like rabbits. Over clearer sections they ran as fast as the wind, looking more like two pups playing chase than how serious the situation was. In a bold move, Caleb sought to tackle her and leaping forward, his front legs hit her hips as his weight dragged her back end down and turning to snarl at him, the wrestling that followed wasn't exactly friendly. It was May who got up first, facing him her head went down as she was tensed and ready to fight. Saliva dripped from sharp fangs, as her tongue danced around her lips in anticipation of a bite to come. There was little recognition in her eyes now as she looked more like a crazed beast that had been too tightly cornered.

The wolf and Caleb tried to come up with a plan as the pair faced off, while he was glad she wasn't running anymore, he was also worried she was too far gone and he might not have any other choice other than to fight.

'I could try talking to her again.' He wondered, trying to change but the wolf wouldn't budge.

'No. That won't help right now.' A growl left him as he dared to pace - cold, calculating eyes watching his every move.

'Let me try, then you can this your way.'

With a groan, Caleb shifted and the growls from May only intensified as she backed up slightly - but she didn't run.

"Can you change, May? Just imagine you as a human again, it's all you need to do." It did occur to him that without the guidance of an alpha, she hadn't known or been able to change back. "You can do it, you're strong enough to-"

A flurry of teeth and spit came charging his way, and falling backwards she never bit him, but the warning was obvious.

"You don't scare me. Change back, now, talk to me. I'm not leaving until you do." Caleb challenged. "I will chase you as far as you can run. I found you once, I'll find you again."

Everything he said, everything he tried only seemed to make her angrier until her attack wasn't a warning anymore and shifting at the last possible second, saw her jaws meet the scruff of his neck. It surprised her for a second, enough time for him to get his back legs up, and under her stomach. Kicking, he was gentle yet forceful enough for her to have to let him go and scrambling to his feet, the fight he hadn't wanted begun. Despite her nips, he knew she was holding back - just as he was. He'd been nastier to Nate when they'd fought and it turned into something else as she pinned him again only to have him knock her legs off balance so he was able to pin her this time. He was more experienced than May and as she tried his own moved against him, they didn't work and she was left stuck underneath him.

To his surprise, she suddenly shifted and a furious May now stared up at him as her hands slapped and hit at him to let her up. He didn't, instead he shifted too and let her scream at him. It felt like a lifetime since he had seen her, an eternity as even this version of her didn't match the May in his mind. She had started to gain some weight from the skinnier girl he last saw at the facility. Her face was bruise and mark free, with dirt instead taking the place of blood. Golden hair was more brown, clumped in messy strands that were damp from the snow, but it was her eyes that startled him the most. They weren't May's eyes; so blue and calm, there was none of the fondness she usually had in them when she looked at him. They were just, empty.

"Please, let me go. Just let me go!" She begged, the anger breaking away into something much more desperate. "You can't, you're ruining everything!"

"What?" Slowly Caleb let her up and she scrambled away from him as if he was poison.

"Why are you here?"

"To find you!" He yelled exasperated as he threw his hands into the air. "Why do you think?"

"But why?" She mumbled something under her breath he didn't hear. "You need to go."

"No. May, it's over. We can go home, together. Your parents-"

"They don't need to know." Her head snapped up to look at him as she stood. Her whole body trembled, with cold or something else he wasn't sure and the feral look in her eyes had him swallowing hard. Looking more possessed than anything else, her hair fell over one side of her face and she gave a little shake of her head. "It's over. This didn't happen. Go Caleb."

She turned to leave and instantly he ran in front of her. "Why are you doing this? If you stay out here, I stay out here. Get it?"

"You won't stay if you knew."

"If I knew what?" He asked, tilting her chin up so she was forced to look at him. "May, it's me. What's going on?"

Instead of answering, she pushed his hand away and turned around. This time when her shoulders shook, it was from her crying and again, he was there - an arm around her shoulders as he turned her towards him and held her close as she cried.

"It was me, I didn't change when it was my birthday because I wasn't able to. I didn't want to. All this time, I've hid the wolf." She told him. "I rejected her, and the pack, and you. Me. Not her. I am not strong, or brave or anything that you all think about me. I am pathetic, and useless and-"

"No. You're not. We're all scared May, and it's okay."

"No it's' not! How can you say that?" She looked up at him instantly furious. "And you don't even know about how much I wanted to die in that place. I used to pray that each beating would be the last, I wasn't being strong, I was being weak. If they did it, I wouldn't have to. My parents wouldn't know how scared I had been, how I gave up and didn't keep fighting. You wouldn't know that you had been right about me when you said all that stuff, when the pack looks at me in disgust because of what I am. Shifter or not, they already knew I was a weakling, a runt who wanted the easy way out."

Before she could say anything else Caleb stopped her. "Do you think I didn't have those thoughts? That I thought it would so much easier just to die from one of their injections than to have to face everyone afterwards?"

"But-"

"No. That place, that-" He paused, his own face darkening at the memories. "No May. We were both weak, but we have survived. We're together right, and we're better that way. Right?"

"No. We're not. Forget me Caleb. It'll be better for everyone."

"Better for who? You? It sure as hell isn't better for me!" He snapped. "Now you're being selfish. I can't go back without you. I can't forget you. We'll stay out here if we have to, but I'm not letting you go. Don't you get it? I fucking need you!"

May frowned. "You have to! I'm not worth-"

"I love you. You are mine and I am yours. Whether you want me or not, it's how it's always been. Nothing you say, or do, will change my mind. You know I'm right."

She did and gods knew she needed him too. 

'We have been found.' The wolf piped up in May's head. 'As we knew we would be. It is our time.'

Two humans as broken as each other stood apart, yet both were desperate to close the distance between them. There were too many things to say, the future so unclear due to a past that wasn't willing to stay behind them. In time, they could silence their demons together - they both knew they were better together. Caleb and May. It had always been that way and through the haze of pain that would haunt them for a long time yet, they each found a memory - a time and place that would get them through.

For Caleb, his young and uncomprehending mind was too excited about visiting their friends, of being turned into Superman by Chad who would whiz him around through the air as though he really could fly. Everyone went outside, and the smell of the barbecue made him hungry despite having eaten a snack in the car on the way over. He was about to find his mum to complain about how completely starving he was when the baby crying sound distracted him. She pink and red, tears wet those swollen cheeks and the grown ups were fussing over the little baby, but Caleb took her tiny hand in his and gave it a kiss better, and she didn't cry so much. She liked him and whenever she cried, he would kiss her better. That is until he turned six and girls don't get kisses better because they have girl germs. Except for sometimes, but only if it was really necessary.

May instead looked around them in the frozen forest that made the pair of them seem so small and insignificant. She had no idea how far they had come, or how many days had passed since she had escaped, but Caleb was here with her. May didn't doubt he wouldn't follow her if she ran now, that he would ever stop chasing her. He never had before, their time apart was always unbearable and even as a twelve year old when she'd gone to spend some of the summer break at her grandparents, he'd snuck away from home and managed to catch two buses and walk three kilometers on his own to visit her. Of course he'd been in a lot of trouble for his efforts, but he figured she'd get bored without him around and it had been worth it. If Nate hadn't dobbed him in, he had planned on getting home again before anyone finding out.

This time when their eyes met, Caleb saw May returning and she saw everything she had been aching for since the day she had run. Gods she had been stupid, it wouldn't matter where she had gone or what she had done, nothing would ever be okay if he wasn't with her.

"I'm so stupid." May sobbed, as her arms went out, Caleb's were there around her as they held onto each other. "I'm so sorry Caleb. What am I doing?"

Guilt hit her then.

Her parents. Chad. What were they all doing, thinking, feeling? She didn't want to know, because she knew she had just put them all through a fresh new kind of hell. Caleb was right she was selfish and as if he could read her mind he shook his head before placing a kiss on the top of hers.

"Don't worry about it right now." He told May, slowly feeling her coming back to him piece by piece as she began to relax against him.

This time when they looked at each other, it wasn't just their eyes that met, but their lips too. The all too familiar thrill of being close to Caleb, of having him hold her, touch her - kiss her had Mays' cheeks burning as she realised the state they were both in, but it was something so much more than that. They survived. They were here, together. Together. There wasn't anything holding them back now, no hesitations or doubts or reasons why not. He wasn't going to turn from her at the last minute; there wouldn't be an argument and neither one of them would leave confused, frustrated and desperate to fix 'them' so it could be how it used to be. Only it was then that Caleb did let her go and the cold their bodies had been fighting quickly took his place making her shiver.

"May, I-" He paused, trying to make sense of everything while May sucked in a sharp breath as her stomach sunk. Surely he wasn't- "Oh to hell with it."

This was their time. They earned this. Deserved it. He didn't kiss her gently this time, there wasn't any hesitation or carefully placed hands either. There was no reason as to why they wouldn't, or why they couldn't and her scent changed to something completely intoxicating. Caleb kissed May hard, raw and with a desperate need that mirrored her own desire. Hands were tangled into hair as two managed to merge into one. No matter how close they were, it never seemed to be enough until suddenly it was all there was. The damp smell of the earth mingled with their scents as sweat dampened the rock surface against May's back, while the heat between them was enough to ward off the cold, not that the elements in all their rage and beauty could stop the couple now.

How they found themselves back at this point was something neither of them thought about as they just went with it while they could, too scared to think that perhaps none of it was real. Maybe it was just one big dream thanks to whatever drug had been pumped into their bodies or could it be there hadn't been a rescue and this was their eternal reward for trying so damn hard to survive despite failing. Maybe they were lost to the wilderness, feral and delirious - lost to a primal cause. Maybe the pack and their parents were somewhere looking for them, that none of it was just a figment of their imagination, but the start of a new reality.

Maybe, just maybe, they didn't have the strength to care about anything else in the entire world right now except for each other and it would be sometime before they did again.