— • ⛓ Unknown ⛓ • —

"Did you find her?" A loud voice booms.

"N... no sir, we had her trail but-" the smaller wolves cower in surrender at this mighty being.

"Do I employ idiots?! FIND HER!" He screams.

"I want her ALIVE please Zayn. And beta, don't you dare mess this up, she is MINE." He growled.

The smaller wolves scrambled out of that room as fast as they could.

A thundering howl is heard as they run out of the main doors and back towards the border.

— •🔥 Emilia 🔥• —

"So, you're a wolf eh?" I nudge her with my arm as we walk.

She smiles. "Yeah, I'm guessing you are as well?" She replies.

I hum, "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." I shrug and try hold back the smirk.

She punches me lightly on the arm. "You can't do that. Come on." She whines.

I smile at her and grab her arm, running towards the river I know is nearby.

"Woah." She laughs as she runs.

"So you ready to shift Izzy?" I ask, slowing a little.

"Only if you are." She smiles.

I look around, the trees all stretch up to the sky, casting long shadows on the ground. Birds duck and dive, almost joining us in this moment.

I'm going to shift, in front of her, normally wolves don't do that, unless you're pack members. I mean she must feel safe around me because she shifted yesterday.

I'm not a good person, I shouldn't be protecting her. I'm only leading her to danger. Or rather, the danger to her.

"Hey Emilia, are you okay?" I hear a quite voice ask.

I just shake my head and smile.

"Always." I reply and before she can comment, I run faster and shout "Get ready, at the fallen log."

She pushes faster to copy my speed and we head for the fallen log.

Come on Brixel, you ready?

Babygirl I was born ready.

Lets do this.

I match her stride and begin the shift.

As I run faster, I can feel my bones popping like popcorn, ready to shift when I jump. It's easier in the air, you don't trip over the floor, but to do it effectively you have to time it just right, or you may fall just short and get a mouthful of dirt.

I reach the log, dig the claws that have grown from my toes into the wood and jump up.

My body twists to help with the moving bones and I let out a yelp. I quickly glance over at Izzy and notice she doesn't even look to be in pain. Wow she must be strong.

The ground gets closer towards me.

Brixel, a final push please?

I feel her seep through my bones, forcing them into place. It hurts so much, I let out a series of growls, grunts and groans, but am careful not to howl. Don't want to attract unwanted attention.

I finally land on my paws and shake my body to release some of the tension still there.

I look over to my left at Izzy. God her wolf is beautiful. She's a large grey wolf, her fur is speckled with streaks and strands of silver and gold that glow in the light. Her eyes are a similar grey colour but with a hint of blue to look like the night sky.

"Izzy, your wolf... it's beautiful." I manage to eventually say. I tried reaching her through a mind link, but I don't know if it will work.

But I smile as I sense a feeling of shock ripple through her body.

"Thank you." She smiles and I swear she's blushing, though I can't see through her fur.

"Yours is really pretty too." She says.

My wolf is smaller than Izzy's. But that benefits me. People think I'm weaker, but little do they know.

My wolf is different to the magnificent one that Izzy has. Where her fur is is a shimmering mix of gold and grey, mine is a fine coat of white fur. And where she has large dark grey paws, mine are smaller red ones.

Honestly her wolf is everything mine isn't. Her wolf is beautiful but mine is display of some sort of freak show - or at least that's what I was always told.

It's unique to me and it's taken a long time but I've eventually grown to love it. The only disadvantage other than the years or torment I received would be the fact in wolf form, I'm easily noticeable. I mean come on, how many wolves do you see with red paws? A red that is permanently stained into their DNA, unlike the blood that coats the large paws of the many wild wolves that roam this forest.

Not all wolves are shifters and not all humans are shifters. I just wish sometimes the line between them was a little more blurred.

"So, where we gonna go?" I hear Izzy's voice echo through my mind.

I still don't understand how she's able to communicate with my wolf? Usually it's only feasible when you're in a pack with the person.

I disregard her question and hit her with my own.

"Izzy, how are you able to talk to me through mind link? Usually you have to be in a pack to do that." I ask confused.

I can sense her confusion as she realises we've been talking through our minds this whole time.

I smile at her - god she's adorable.

Then the pull draws my wolf closer to hers. The invisible tendrils wrap around me dragging me to her feet.

This only means one thing...

"Uh, Em. What are you doing?" She asks in even more confusion.

Then her wolf comes out, the voice rings out clear and pure.

The presence that joins it demands uttermost respect and I find myself fighting the urge to drop to my knees in submission.

Holy shit, this is her spirit! I can't believe I'm in the presence of one of them... I almost don't believe someone as naive and lonely as her has something like that as her spirit. I'm almost jealous, but then I remember power isn't everything, my brother is a clear example of that. He had a powerful wolf but it didn't make him a nicer person.

"Don't tell her what you know about her. She isn't ready to know. But make sure she is safe for me, I can only protect her from this body."

I nod, while I try to process what is happening. Watching as the wolf spirit receded back into the body, shocking Isabella back to life as a wave of what seems like electricity jolted through her.

She blinks away the haze and shakes her thick silver fur.

"You gonna ask what just happened? Something that can't happen again. You're wolf surfaced Isabella, they know we are here now, I can sense them. They're coming." I say through the link.

Her wolf even looks dumbfounded by what I just said.

"Come on we need to go." I growl and begin running.

She trails not far behind.

Huh? She's quite fast, I mean it makes sense...

We pick up the pace when we hear a howl in the distance. Come on Brixel, we need to get Izzy out of here.

On it girl!

Glad I got you.

Oh please darling, you wouldn't survive without me.

I hear a faint bark in the back of my mind. I smile. Love you girl.

Brixel just growls.

Oh shush.

Don't waste my time with your nonsense.

Moody bitch.

I ignore her growled response and focus on running.

We head North west, charging through the woods. The woods up ahead get denser, I'll lead her there.

"Wanna race? There's an abandoned house up ahead. Beat me there and I'll do whatever you want for a day." I say.

She slows for a minute and turns to face me, cocking her eyebrow. Honestly in wolf form it looks really funny. My laughter burst through the mind link and she gently growls.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Okay on the count of three. One... three!"

I dart ahead and she's embarrassed for not anticipating my moves, whoopsies, rookie mistake.

She soon catches my stride and we run side by side for a 1/4 of a mile, then she decides to step it up a notch and increase her stride.

I smirk.

Brixel, you ready?

You're so cheeky, I love it.

I jump onto a tree and claw my way up, until I'm about halfway. Yes I am wolf in a tree, yes it looks ridiculous, so what? Brixel helps me, knowing exactly how much pressure to apply to my individual paws to spread out the weight.

I can sense Isabella up ahead, her heartbeat echoing in my ears, the pull drawing me in her general direction.

She's getting closer to the house. You ready to confuse the hell out of her?

Girl I was born ready.

We race along the trees, jumping and climbing our way ahead. You'd think that it would be slower for me to be in a tree, but no I'm an assassin, the shadows are my refugee.

I scramble back down the tree, into the shadows of the ferns and brambles that blanket the forest floor at the base of the tree.

I weave my way around the shrubs and plants until I reach the path again. Leaping out onto the dirt, giving Izzy full view of my small white tail.

I smirk as I feel her confusion levels rise, amused as it slowly changes to determination.

"Sneak! How'd you even do that?" She shouts loud through the link.

I still need to figure that out as well. How does she do that? I could ask Julia, she'll probably know.

I slow my stride a little before replying to her. "I got a couple of tricks up my sleeves darling."

She playfully growls and jumps onto my hind end, dragging me down until we are rolling and tumbling on the ground.

Yips and yelps fill the air as our wolves play rough and tumble together. It's not long before I'm laid on my back with her beautiful wolf towering over me. She's about to place her jaws over my neck to win the game but I'm not going down that easily.

I softly growl in pain and her eyes instantly glow with concern.

"Hey, are you okay? Did I hurt you? What happened? You know I was just messing and I-" she begins but before she can finish talking I push up with my hind legs and roll my weight over so I'm on top.

The look on her face is one of utter shock and a little hurt.

"You tricked me." She whined.

God she's actually cute, she reminds me of Cleo.

"I did what I had to to win girl, don't cry about it." I tease. Pulling my muzzle closer to her neck.

I slowly open my jaw and hold her neck in my mouth. She growls her submission and I release her fur.

Even her fur taste amazing - it sounds weird but it was a mixture of smoked wood and lavender and honestly - I could get high off her smell. The absence of her scent left an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. And I'm not sure I liked the way she made me feel.

I need to talk to someone about this.

You know what this means, you don't need to talk to someone to know. It's one of two options-

She's not my mate.

Okay! Okay! Chill.

She's. Not. My. Mate.

Breathe. You're scaring her.

I pull out of my own head and turn my gaze to Isabella, the look of fear is written all over her face. "God I'm so sorry."

I run behind a tree and shift back to my human. I shift fully clothed, so there's no reason for me to hide other than my own insecurities.

You see I know she's not my mate, but she's important to me somehow and I don't know why but scaring her is the last thing I ever wanted to do.

To be honest, these past few days with her have been the best. I've gotten used to being alone and it's not fun, with only my spirits for company it gets pretty lonely.

I'm constantly on the run and it's been nice to just have fun with good company and forget the demons that follow my trail.

I still don't know why she's out here in the woods, we still haven't really spoken about it, it's obvious she has no experience in living rogue, but she better get used to it cause I ain't letting her go alone unless she really doesn't want me around.

I feel like or have a responsibility to protect her. It's like she's my younger sister. She probably has a mate somewhere, what's gonna happen when we eventually meet him, by pack rules she has to stay with him and he'll become her sole protector. As she will his, mates make each other stronger, as they're perfect matches to each other - or they're supposed to be.

I've seen my mate before, he's nothing like what I expected and he won't want me, I'm a reject. Who wants a reject? A nobody? A cast away? A rogue? Who would want to spend the rest of their life with a walking curse?

Nobody. He deserves better than me and that is why I, Emilia am a wild rogue and not some sheltered pack member. Sure I would be better off in a pack, i wouldn't be alone, but no matter where I go, I bring the bad luck with me.

Thinking about it, it's probably better Isabella doesn't stay with me. But I can't deny there's a deep pull from within my soul that's begging me to stay with her and this time I can't bring myself to refuse it.

It hurt so bad to refuse the pull with my mate. I know he's alive and well, but his wolf is probably going crazy knowing I'm lost somewhere without him. Never actually seeing me in the blood- I watch from the shadows.

I sigh and stand up, deciding its time to find Isabella. I need to make sure she's alright. I spot her scanning the area.

She sees me and stands up, smiling with a hidden sadness in her eyes, as she begins to walk towards me but stops when she gets a few feet in front of me.

Following her gaze I turn and look over my shoulder.

"Mum!?"

Word count [2524]

So let me know what you think to this chapter and to Emilia's character. She's got quite a few secrets don't she? 🙃

Has ANYONE figured out her secret yet? I've left a few clues but you'll have to pay very close attention and think outside the box to figure it out.

And who's mum do you think it is? Isabella's mum or Emilia's mum? Guess you gonna have to wait to find out! 😆

- Bri xox