I hear shuffling in the room, and I open my eyes to see a boy slip out of the room. From Natasha’s side.

I close my eyes again and just lay in bed. After leaving Cole’s office, I headed straight to the kitchen where I found Beta Liam eating cake. He looked a little surprised to see me and even shocked when I asked him where I'll be staying. In the biggest room they had in the pack house. All of the Omegas shared the room. It seemed like it was a whole floor, without the walls and doors. That's how big the room was, and it was all for four Omegas. There was a huge bathroom too, and three walk in closets as well. Four beds were placed in a row, a small bedside table in between them all.

I had asked Liam where Scarlet was staying since I was so used to seeing her in the mornings. He said that she was given her own flat outside of the pack house. I was happy for her. She was getting what she always wanted.  

“I haven't told anyone that you're the Alpha’s mate, so don't tell anyone about him,” Natasha says. I open my eyes to see her opening the curtains. Hannah and Molly aren't in the room. My eyes wander towards the huge clock placed on the wall to see its six am.

“Who is him?” I ask and she smiles at me, and walks towards the bathroom.  

“Hey Natasha!” I call her before she closes the door. She turns to look at me, raising her eyebrow in question. “Can I borrow some clothes please? I don't have any,” I ask and she nods.

“Knock yourselves out. Third closest is mine,” She replies and closes the door behind herself.  

I get out of bed and walk towards the closet. I'm a little surprised when I open the door. In the Crystal Pack, we weren't given the luxury to have so many clothes as an Omega. In this pack, the closet is full of clothes. Are they even Omegas?

I look through her clothes to find something suitable to run away in.

Ninja clothes! Kira exclaims and I laugh a little. I wish.

All of Natasha’s clothes seem a little too small for me. I turn to the dress section when I have no look in the jeans and shirt section. Section. It's like I'm in a shop.

I pick out a black flowy long sleeve dress that reaches my knees.

Black is as close as I can get to a Ninja outfit, I tell Kira who wiggles her tail at me.

I step out of the closet and close the door as Natasha walks back out with a towel wrapped around her body.

“We're going to go shopping today, so you can buy more clothes there,” She says and I nod a little confused.

“Omegas are allowed to go shopping?” I ask her and place the dress on the bed, thanking her for it as well.

“Yes. Alpha pays us every month. Even every week. He allows us to work if we want or not, but he'll always pay us for looking after the pack. So we go shopping, or take a day off and enjoy it. Just because we're Omegas doesn't mean we can't enjoy life,” She shrugs and walks into her closet.  

Being an Omega isn't a nightmare here. It's life.

***

“Skylar!” I hear Scarlet’s voice behind me and I turn around to see her running towards me.

“I missed you!” she wraps her arms around me tightly and I laugh.

“I thought you forgot about me,” I joke but hug her back.

“Oh shut up,” she says letting me go and looking at the other Omegas.  

“Oh. Hi,” she mutters shyly at them. Scarlet was always the shy girl in the pack.

“Hey. We're about to go shopping now. Do you want to come? We've been waiting ages to shift so we can run. Our wolves need it,” Hannah says groaning a little excitedly.

“Yes! I'd love too!” Scarlet says and I smile.

“Okay girls. We'll shift first and then head to the closest mall because then we've got to come back to make dinner,” Hannah explains and everyone nods.

“I can't shift,” I mutter quietly.

They look a little surprised. A 19 year old who can't shift is a little surprising.

“Oh...We'll take one of the cars then,” Hannah says.

“No it's okay honestly. You guys can shift and go. I'll just come by car,” I say, not wanting to be the disappointment of the group.

I can go by car and then leave the car and I can run. This is good.

“Are you sure?” Scarlet asks and I nod.

“Beta Liam will give you keys to a car,” Hannah says and I nod, telling them to go.

I watch them as they run off into the forest, knowing they'll be shifting.

“So what was that about Beta Liam?” I hear a voice behind me. I turn around to see Beta Liam standing there, a smirk on his face. Blondie.  

….And now I won't be able to run.

“Nothing,” I reply back.

“Come on, Skylar. You need a ride to the mall,” he says, and pulls out a key from his pocket.

“And I ain't letting anyone drive my baby, so you're stuck with me. Plus, I've got to protect the Luna of the pack right?” He chuckles walking past me.

I follow him quickly.  

“You can't tell anyone. He doesn't want me anyway,” I say and Liam rolls his eyes.

“Doesn't everyone like to play hard to get?” he shrugs and I roll my eyes now.

“Hard to get? That's a really good excuse,” I scoff and he looks at me, a smile on his face now instead of a smirk.

“What's your excuse?” he asks, raising his eyebrow a little and then turns back, facing a black car.

Kill him. Kira mutters in my mind and I stifle a laugh.

“Come on now. We haven't got all day, ” He opens the door for me and I sit inside not answering his question.

Ignore and conquer the freaking world.

We sit in silence as he drives the car. I watch the roads, a few cars on it only. Cole’s pack land is huge. It just seems like it'll never end.

Liam drives faster until we get to the end of the road, noticing a few girls standing there. I see Hannah’s hair as Liam slows down the car.

“Jump in,” he says unlocking the doors. They all sit inside quickly.  

“Beta Liam,” they bow their heads slightly and he nods at them.

I roll my eyes, and face the front again, seeing a smirk on Liam’s face at my reaction.

“Thank you for taking Skylar, Beta,” Hannah says and his smirk widens a little.

“No problem,” He replies back and she nods. An awkward silence follows us to the mall.

Liam parks the car, and turns to everyone in the back.

“I'll wait here, and you guys can all go inside,” he says and all of them nod, “And look after Skylar over here. We don't want her to get hurt now,” He smirks at them and they laugh a little.

I know we can't shift but I would love to kick his ass one day, Kira mutters.

Me too girl. Me too.

**

“I'm tired,” I place my arm on Scarlet’s shoulder, putting half of my weight on her.

“You're so heavy,” she bends down, moving her body away from me. I stand up straighter quickly, glaring at her.

“I could have fallen,” I say rolling my eyes at her.

“We can't let you get hurt now, can we? Beta Liam wouldn't want that,” Hannah adds on, sending a cheeky smile at me.

“Does he like her?” Molly asks and I scoff.

“He doesn't like me,” I reply and they nod slowly. Weird.

“Let's head quickly to one last store and then we'll be gone,” Natasha says and I groan.

My feet.

“You guys go ahead, and I'm going to sit right here,” I walk towards a bench in the middle of the mall and sit down, leaning back.

“Stay here, okay? We're going to come back in about 10 minutes,” Scarlet says and I nod, grateful that they're all going.

Finally I get some alone time. They walk away, chatting to themselves as I wait for them to get into the elevator that will take them to the third floor.

When I see them gone, I let out a deep breath and walk towards the stairs. I left my bags with Scarlet since I didn't really buy much.

I quickly run down the stairs, people looking at me confused. Thankfully  I didn't wear heels. Flat shoes all the way.

When I come to the exit, I don't wait to see if anyone sees me or anything, I just walk out. I know Liam’s car is on the other side of the parking lot.

I run in and out of the cars, not waiting to see if anyone is staring at me weirdly. I just run. When I run out of the car park, I come towards a two way road. Left or right. Left leads to the forest, whereas right leads to more shops.

Forest will give us more of a chance to run out of his territory, Kira says and I nod, taking a left and running.

It would look a little strange to see a woman full on bolting down a road, but I don't care. I need to go. A few minutes later, I come to the place where we picked up Hannah and the other girls. I run inside the forest not looking back.

Free. That's what I'm going to be.

**

I've been running through the forest for about 20 minutes and I could feel the end of the border. The invisible line that separates Cole’s territory to a No Man’s Land. Where anyone is allowed to be.

Leaning against the tree to catch my breath, I close my eyes for a couple of seconds.

“There you are. I loved the chase,” I hear someone whisper in my ear. I open my eyes quickly, and see Cole standing in front of me.

How did I not hear him? Or smell his scent?

I was tired okay! Kira exclaims in my mind and I mentally roll my eyes. Of course she was.

“You look beautiful,” He steps closer, placing his hands against the tree, blocking me in.

“Cole, let me go,” I mumble, turning my head to side so I don't have to look at him.

He leans down towards my neck, and places a soft kiss on it. I close my eyes.  

“My name is Alex, darling. I'm this dumbasses wolf,” he whispers against my neck, his breath tickling it.

Alex.. Kira sighs dreamily.

“Why were you trying to run away from me?” He asks, his black eyes looking at me.

His lips form a small pout.

“Don't you ever run away from me again, okay? I'll always chase you,” He smirks and I nod.

Let him mark you, Kira exclaims giddly in my mind.

That pulls me out of this stupid trance that I was in and I push him away from me.

“You said you didn't want me, okay? I don't really want to be here,” I try to explain to him.

I just don't want to be trapped again.

“I want you, and the dumbass wants you too.” He says closing his eyes quickly.

“Fuck,” I hear him say and when he opens his eyes, they're brown.

Cole.

“Skylar, what the fuck?  Where's Liam? I sent him to look after you. Why did you run?" he looks around confused for a second when he looks at me again.  

“What are you doing out here? Don't even bother answering that. Let's go,” He grabs a hold of my hand, the sparks coming to life. He drops my hand quickly.

It's okay, Kira mumbles.

Cole sighs, and grabs my hand again, intertwining our fingers together as he walks ahead, pulling me behind him.

Sparks.

“This doesn't mean anything,” He mumbles as he glances towards our joined hands.

Yes it does. It means everything and nothing.

I stay silent as he starts walking along a pathway.

“Are you not going to shift? It's a long way back,” I say to fill in the silence. The comfortable silence. It's weirdly nice.

“No. We'll walk,” he says, his hand tightening a little on mine.

I try to hide the smile.

Sparks.

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Question- favourite published book?

[Pack house without the snow]