The next few days are spent in fear of the heat.

However, when two days have passed and it still hasn't come, I start to relax. By the time a two more days have passed, I'm no longer sure if it's coming at all. All she-wolves experience it when they find their mate usually in the week or two weeks after meeting them but the way I'm going, I'm going to skip out entirely.

You're lying to yourself, Jack says, sighing in annoyance.

But what if there's something wrong with me and I can't have a heat?

There is nothing wrong with you. You're deceiving yourself. It's impossible for you not to have it. It's never happened in history, don't think you'll be the first.

Jack -

No, lying to yourself is only going to get up your hopes which will make it so much worse when it does come. I am only trying to help you.

By getting rid of all hope?

What hope? I see only lies. Isaac thinks the same as me.

Isaac has visited me diligently everyday, both of us enjoying each other's company. We learn a great deal about one another, like favourite foods and about his family, of which he has a large one. He has 3 siblings, two younger brothers, one older sister, and more cousins than he count on both hands. His parents sound like the ideal parents, caring for him and his siblings without regrets or cruelty. My heart aches for the childhood I never had, for what he had. I haven't told him what my father did to me, although both him and Jack have pushed me to. He has no idea.

"There's another problem coming up Iz - other than your heat I mean," he starts.

"What is it?" I snap.

"I have to leave the pack, starting tomorrow, for a couple of days to ... fulfil Alpha duties."

"Right." My thoughts drift to the only issue my mind is preoccupied with. "But what about my heat?"

"Um ... If necessary I can have you sedated or something while I'm away. That will delay the heat." He seems very unsure of his words, stumbling through the sentence and not meeting my eyes.

"Fine. Whatever." 

After he leaves, me and Jack discuss the prospect of his leaving.

He's lying Isobel.

But it could be our only chance to escape if he's not.

I'm still not convinced Iz. If it goes wrong ...

We have nothing to lose if we fail.

And you lose a chance at a new life if you leave.

A new life?What sort of life is this? I state, my voice full of bitterness.

Then let's do it. I have no intention of saying her any longer than absolutely necessary if you don't want to. We do it tomorrow. And let me handle it. 

Alright.

The silver chains chafe my skin, breaking it so my wrists are constantly bleeding until Isaac visits, always bringing bandages to bind up my cuts and burns. Despite his pleas, I refuse to give up fighting them, hoping if I try for long enough, they will break and I can escape. I need to feel the fresh air on my face again, the wind in my fur, the grass under our paws; I hate being chained up, trapped here, no matter that this is the only way to see Isaac. If I get the chance to flee, I'm taking it.

The sense of betrayal has not faded but remains an open wound, one that will keep bleeding and getting deeper the longer I remain here. Jack will help me escape, she too wants to leave, more than I do. She feels much less connection to him than I do and I'm worried about her; I don't want her to hate him forever.

A slam of a door alerts me to the approach of, presumably, Isaac.

I'm wrong.

A guard enters the cell and chucks me some food disinterestedly. Something about the nature of the way he does it triggers Jack's creative streak and she snaps into command, shoving me away. She backs into a wall and snarls at him and he growls back, his eyes clearly showing his wolf is also rising.

She snaps at him, continuing to bait him into her trap and he obliges, shifting. Smirking to herself, she too shifts, ignoring how the cuffs prevent us walking. She keeps provoking him making him eventually leap at us. She presses herself against the side wall and he crashes into the back one, knocking himself unconscious.

Retrieving his torn clothes, Jack rifles through the remnants of the pockets, searching for the keys. She finds them and shifts back to human form. Using the keys, she unlocks our cuffs, freeing us from the restraints, the cool air soothing on our open wounds.

Shifting back into a wolf, she pads out the open cell door and, testing the air, inches out into a large hallway. We must be below ground as there are no windows. Loping down the hall silently, she climbs the stairs, ever wary for the approach of guards.

We are well rewarded for this caution; we have time to dart behind a corner before two guards round a corner up ahead, chatting quietly to each other. We can't sneak past them, leaving only one option other than turning ourselves in, something which neither of us are willing to do. Jack prepares to strike as they near, crouching low, her back legs tensed to spring.

One comes into view and she jumps, landing on his chest, and a snap to the throat ends him. The other one is finished off just as quickly. However, his eyes glaze over moments before he dies: he's warned someone we've escaped. Running faster, Jack follows her nose, following the scent of grass and trees.

We encounter several people but manage to pass ourselves off as another pack member and getting out of their sight before they realise. However, some aren't fooled, noticing our unfamiliar scent and the red tinge to our canines, and pursue us, meaning that when we finally make it out of the packhouse, we have a large amount of wolves streaming out behind us. Thankfully, Isaac is nowhere to be seen, apparently having vanished off the face of the earth - for the moment. The relief I have at not having to face him is massive; I'm not sure if we can resist him.

Jack keeps running, her aim to get to the pack border where we are at the advantage; we know how to evade them in the forest, having had a lot of practice with both our old pack and with hunting prey - We understand how a predator's mind works. A tremendous growl shakes the air, making all the packwolves freeze. Jack ignores it, her gait more frantic and desperate.

We both know it's Isaac.

I thought he left already. Why would he come back?

That or he really was lying. He probably never left. This was all likely a demented test, to see if we'd run if given the opportunity. Which means he's going to be angry that we tried to leave.

His footsteps are heavy behind us and I can tell he's gaining. We have barely reached the border when he soars over us, landing directly in front of us, much like when we first met him. I internally  begin to panic; he's going to be furious. I doubt it matters to him that we're his mate: that never mattered before when he imprisoned us - why would it now?

No, he's our mate, he promised he would never hurt us. I have to be brave. I have to give him a chance to stick to that promise. If I don't I'll never know if he would.

Jack, let me talk to him.

No. I'm not letting him get away for betraying and lying to us.

But I thought-

You thought wrong.

She snarls and blocks me out, her eyes never leaving his. He growls back and starts to shift but stops and remains in wolf form when Jack continues to snarl at him and doesn't retreat. She leaps for him, despite my protests, and he dodges. Not hesitating for a moment, she spins round and snaps at his leg, her teeth clacking together inches from his throat instead, a move that is completely unintentional.

He stares at us in shock. We nearly killed him. We nearly killed our mate. Using his surprise to her advantage, she whisks around and dashes deep into the forest, heading to our old valley.

What the hell are you doing? You could have killed him!

I was getting us the freedom you wanted. We don't need a mate.

What about our heat?

We can deal with it.

How?

We just will.

An earth shattering howl pierces the air behind us, spurring us on, driving Jack to go faster, until miles have passed by in minutes, the ache in my heart amplified by the miles separating us from Isaac. 

At last we reach the edge of our valley home but we keep running, using old tricks to confuse our trackers and grant us time. Isaac is hunting us without a doubt and if I understand him correctly, he is persistent.

The trees streak past, the landscape falling away under our paws. I vaguely recognise the landscape: she's attempting to climb the largest hill in the valley side, the incline steepening quickly, our legs aching. We rarely come this way due to the lack of food.

How is this helping us?

It will be colder the higher we are above sea level. It will help when the heat comes.

And? I doubt any sensible animal lives up here.

Hunting is like asking for Isaac to catch us.

What don't you understand about 'I can't hate him'? I want him to catch us. Despite the fact he'll be really angry with us. Give me control.

And get caught? No thanks.

She shuts me out again and slows to a jog, breathing hard, yet refusing to stop because he won't stop either. A large tree stands to our left and she shifts, beginning to climb it.

Why are we climbing a tree? Surely it would be safer to find a cave or something.

He will not miss a cave. However, he probably won't immediately look up a tree, giving us chance to pounce and get away. It also prevents him reaching us if we climb high enough. Even in human form, we're a lot lighter than he is and so can climb higher while the branches beneath him break.

Why do you hate him so much?

He put rules before his mate. I have no respect for a man like that.

He's the example. He has to obey them.

I see he was successful in brainwashing you into believing that crap.

He did not brainwash me! He simply showed me it from his perspective and while I may not agree, at least I have the brains to accept it. 

Have you forgotten how he lied to us? He has no excuse for that.

I have no answer to that and she knows it.

Please Iz, you were the one who suggested we escape.

You think I don't know that?! I can't believe I'm regretting it already.

It's the mate bond, it's not like you have much of a say in how you feel about him. Try to take comfort in that.

Thanks Jack. 

The tree is difficult to scale due to our limited experience climbing but she somehow manages it while still arguing with me all the way up. The sky is dark and the stars are shining, the moon bright. We sit and admire them from our perch, treasuring the view we haven't seen in weeks and Jack shifts to wolf form, curling around a branch to sleep, ignoring my comments. Our eyelids droop, then we are both lost to the sleep which overwhelms and consumes us, leaving us defenceless against the night.

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Another chapter in one day! I didn't know I was actually capable of doing that but I guess I am. I know my chapters are only like 1400 words but I feel if I did more then they would get boring or finish at an odd place. Anyway, hope you liked it.
WORxxx

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Editing note (07/08): I will be publishing the chapters up to C12 today. I'll publish the next ones tomorrow when I'm sure there's nothing else to add. :)