After Hunter left, a familiar silence surrounded me. Wrapping my arms around my torso, I stood by the window and pressed my forehead against the cold glass. We were high, but I could still easily jump out and run away. Every cell in my body screamed to run because I fear the future. I was on my guard against everything nice. Accepting this means that I allowed myself to become vulnerable.

My skin pebbled with goosebumps, and the hair on my body stood up. Unconsciously, I rubbed my hands up and down my arm. This was the longest I have ever been in my human skin.

I don't know how long I stood there, but I took the time to plan. Judging by how far the open landscape was from the packhouse, I will have to shift to escape. Liam was still sleeping. I'll have to carry him on my back.

The sun began setting. I could hear more commotion outside. Pack members were gathering inside. It would be louder and busier in the packhouse.

As soon as the sun disappeared over the horizon, I opened the window and looked down below me. No one was guarding the window. I turned to Liam and gathered his sleeping form in my arms.

Slowly, I slipped both of us out of the window. I landed with a thump on my feet. Liam stirred slightly in my arms. I settled him onto the soft bed of grass gently before I shifted and moved him back onto my back. He wrapped his arms around my neck and snuggled closer.

My paws dug into the dirt, and before I could muster any second thoughts, I broke into a whipping run. The wind blew against fur and I felt the power of my wolf rippled through my veins and muscles. She pumped adrenaline through my entire body.

One-third of the way.

My wolf fought to take control. She wanted to run wild. Her emotions were so strong, it made my heart and head ache at once. It took everything in me to keep her at bay, to allow me to control.

Two-third of the way.

I pumped my legs harder. My breath coming in large pants. Seconds, it was second only.

Then I entered the woods, and darkness surrounded me. I made it this far. Now, I just needed to make it off his territory with none of his patrol catching me. My heart was pounding in my ribcage.

Oddly enough, I expected my wolf to cry and whimper at the thought of separating from our mate. However, she remained oddly calm. Only a small presence in the back of my mind now. As if she was waiting and watching to see what I would do.

Although we don't agree on everything together, we both felt the feral need to protect Liam. It was a permanent mark in our hearts and mind. After promising our mom that we would protect and keep him safe. It has always been this way, and maybe that was why she didn't fight me. My need to protect Liam was greater than my mate...at least that was what I reasoned.

I walked stealthily in the woods past a few patrols without getting notice. I was making my way down a small valley in the woods when I heard dead branches snapping. I stopped moving and held my breath. Liam stirred slightly on my back, burying his face in my fur.

Please don't wake up.

Voices.

There were two voices.

I waited until they walked further away from me before I began moving again. Just as I was about to make it across the border, I heard it.

The unified howls that echoed through the woods. They were warning howls—not howls of a threat, but howls to stay on guard.

My body muscles clenched when one particular howl reached my ears. It was louder than the others and had my wolf's ears perking up. She heard it and she knew who it was. Our mate was calling out to us.

I dug my claws into the moist dirt and growled, warning my wolf that we had an objective in mind. We were about to escape.

She whimpered.

My body was split in half. A part of me ached to run and a part of me ached to stay. I couldn't move.

Then there was the sound of loud thudding. The ground was shaking. Wolves were running. I only had seconds left before they found me and with the surge of fear, I was able to control my body.

I broke into a run and flew past the border. I escaped their territory, but I didn't stop, nor did the loud thudding behind me.

Suddenly, the amount of wolves chasing after me lessened. They had fallen back. Only one wolf was chasing me now and I knew who it was without looking behind me. Stupidly, I turned to look behind me and saw Hunter. He was hot on my tail!

I whipped my head back to look at what's in front of me. My eyes widened when I saw a large fallen log in front of me. I tried to jump over it, but ended up stumbling, and both Liam and I went tumbling down onto the ground.

Liam woke up. His eyes moved to me first before he looked around him. Confusion filled his dark eyes.

Quickly, I moved to stand in front of Liam. Hunter caught up seconds later. He paced in front of me. I lunged at him and pushed him onto the ground before biting his neck. He growled and pushed me off with his hind legs. I rolled on the ground before standing on my legs again.

When he approached me, I swung my paw at him. It hit him across his face, and my wolf physically recoiled. In a frenzy and out of desperation, I pawed him again. He made no move to retaliate. Instead, he tried to control me.

Blood dripped down his wound and wet his fur on his face.

Mate.

The word kept repeating in my head like a freaking cycle.

I lifted my paws again to swipe at his chest, to tear out his heart—only I stopped before I could do it. My eyes met his eyes under the moon and I couldn't breathe. Pain reflected in his light blue eyes.

He shifted in front of me naked and I saw the damage I had done. His face had a huge scar on his left cheek.

"Will running away save you?" he asked harshly.

His eyes were wet with pain and I felt like I had sliced my heart open. I don't understand this feeling and it makes me feel like I'm cornered and drowning. I wanted to throw my arms around and apologize.

"Will running away protect your brother?" he continued.

Hunter pointed at Liam.

"Look at him, little wolf. Look at you. Even if you deny it, you and I both know that you can't go on living out there. It is driving you two mad. You are losing whatever you left of humanity out there. If you continue at this rate, you won't be able to save Liam or yourself."

I knew he was right, but the fear of staying...it scared me.

I growled angrily and turned my head away. His palm came out to touch the side of my face before he turned me to look back at him.

"Is this what you want?" He sounded angrier, frustrated, and hurt.

I clenched my teeth, baring them at him.

"If you can't think for yourself, think for your brother's sake. He needs this. I promise you, I will protect you. I would do everything I can to keep you two safe and if I fail, you can leave me at any time. I won't stop you. If at any time you feel that living out there is safer than living with me, I will let you go."

Liam moved closer, and I felt his hand on my fur. My mom's words echoed in my head like it happened yesterday. I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw a tantrum and tell him I could make it, but Liam came first.

"Come back with me."

He chased me across his border and into unknown territory. It was dangerous straying from your pack. I probably knew these woods better than he did. Yet, he chased me.

I thought back to what he had said. He'll let me go if I decide it was enough. He would not force me to stay.

With that in mind, whatever waywardness inside of me fell away. Hunter noticed the change in my behavior because he shifted back into his wolf. I went back down on my knees and waited for Liam to climb on.

Slowly, we walked through the unknown territory back to the pack. With each step, I felt something inside of me changing and my heart beat faster as I watched Hunter walk alongside me. He was bigger, but my strength almost matched his.

By the time we made it back to the packhouse and to the room that I escaped from, it was dark. Liam had fallen asleep once again. Hunter shifted outside of the packhouse and grabbed some unused clothing at the entrance.

He allowed me to walk inside the packhouse in wolf form. Once I was inside the room again, Hunter helped remove Liam's sleeping form from my body and put him back on the bed.

I sat next to the bed on the floor and watched as Hunter walked into a connecting room. When he came back, he had a pair of clothes with him. He handed them to me. He stepped outside the bedroom to give me some privacy, but as soon as I pulled on the shirt, he walked inside.

He didn't even bother cleaning up his wound, but it didn't look so bad now. The wound was healing.

He stopped in the middle of the room while I sat on the end of the bed. We stared into each other's eyes for a long while.

I wanted to read his mind. I don't understand him. Why was he trying so hard when we barely knew each other? Other packs had discarded us quicker than they could blink. No one wanted to hear our stories. Rogues bring more trouble than a pack needed.

Before I could drown myself further in his eyes, I looked away first. Wanting to end our interaction for tonight, I crawled into bed next to Liam. I could feel his eyes on me. A million questions floated in the air and I could feel the tension, yet I've always been good at ignoring things like this. I buried my face deeper into the pillow and tried to even my breathing.

And like this, I continued to pretend to sleep while he continued to watch over us. I don't know how long he stood there, but I ended up falling asleep.

When I woke up, it was in an empty room. Liam was still sound asleep by my side. I'm surprised that he was still sleeping, but we have been running for days, fearing for our lives. Sleeping was good for him. I pushed myself up into a sitting position. A little light filtered into the room as the sun was peeking over the horizon again.

I looked around and found the room empty. The window remained unlocked. Getting out of bed, I walked to the door and turned the door knob it was unlocked.

I'm not a prisoner here, I chanted in my head.