A/N:

This is the end of the line, folks. The next part will be the usual fun facts + closing credit :-)

IT WASN'T courage, not really. Not even bravery.

It felt like instinct; something you had to do. Something that was just right. As soon as I dusted the bullets off and the gun stowed carefully on top of an archway inside my house plucked out of its hideaway, I shouldered it and we went out on. Running through the cold squeezed my lungs, but I couldn't even feel it.

Fear crawled in my heart and decided to stay. And that fear brought so much of those kept emotions. An almost robotic instinct.

Please be safe, was a futile thought.

As we charged past the border of sector seven, the map of the forest floor etched on my mind where I know a clearing is coming - showing a false sense of security by placing two steep traps just outside its center that, by a figured weight, will open up and release a fume enough to knock an entire horse, and releasing spiked chains targeting one limb to ensure incapacity before a hunter can be alerted.

I'm coming, I promise.

Please be safe until I get there.

You have to be.

"The clearing is coming," Elise murmured and went roundabout and instead of straight on, slowing down to edge it.

As soon as we were close enough, I could smell it. It was like an assault to the senses. The fume that secretes is so vapid in odour that it wafts for a few minutes, unable to blend with the air for a while.

I stuffed my mouth and nose with my coat as soon as I saw the spray of black clothes hunters. All of them in full gear I hardly see around the diner, reminding me of the time Orion and I were in his car, faking a relationship for his life, and him acting like a sleaze.

The grip on my gun tightened as soon as I smelled blood.

We inched as close as possible through the frame of snow coated trees and frozen plants. I raised my head to look through the hunters hoping to spot a glimpse of Orion on the snow, being tied, one foot bloody gnawed by bolts through flesh, heart pounding all the while.

I didn't hear or see anything, drowned in panic, until a hand slipped over my mouth and around my stomach, tightened, and I was thrown back with hardly a thud back to the ground, only to land on soft torso and boney legs.

Elise yelped, I grabbed my gun around and a voice, warm and breathless, hissed in my ear, "Brielle Amon, what were you thinking?"

I stopped struggling. Orion raised his head from my side, warm, red-cheek and alive.

My heart exploded and I sagged in his arms, making sure to hit my head as hard as possible on his neck.

"Ow."

"Mmhmh," I mumbled through his hand, closing my eyes.

He let go off my mouth, but wound up his free hand around my stomach too. "What?"

"Fuck you is what I said."

A warm, shaking laughter vibrated underneath me and I didn't even have the strength to be shock when he pecked the side of my neck.

"If this is dirty talk, this is really the worst place to do it."

When we unwound together, both sitting close, huddled with Elise, I realized his shirt was torn through the front, his brown flesh and soft muscles exposed through the cold. My face was warm, my hold on the gun tight.

The hunters were still huddled, peering at something. Some of them were laughing.

Orion turned to me nervously, none of us laughing.

"I did not know you had a loaded gun. I knew you had a gun, but I didn't know you had bullets too."

"Kept separate so I won't actually accidentally shoot someone." I turned to him, he flinched. "You don't look hurt." He flinched again, this time with an awkward smile.

His shirt was torn, his hair mused, but he looked relatively fine. He was crouched beside me, just in that thin outfit, and he didn't even shiver.

"I'm not. I sensed it and got away just in time. But not Cob."

"Cob?"

Orion turned to Elise who stared at the ground, her fingers clenched around he own black coat.

"He's a boy, fifteen years old. When my mother was hurt... the rumors just said a werewolf came by and hurt us. That's not all true. Mom told me the truth." Elise raised her head, voice solemn. "My dad wasn't a hunter but we were short on money. He had found a werewolf. A cub. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't kill him because he transformed after passing out. So dad brought him home."

Elise stared behind her, where the hunters were. Where a fifteen year old werewolf was hurt and bleeding. "Mom raged. How could he hurt and sell a baby? Two years younger than I was, apparently still in months. He must've wandered around the woods and dad got extremely lucky... not soon after, the mother came. Once she smelled the blood, there was no reasoning when she killed dad and died herself from her own wounds. She was whining as she died. Her baby was crying. The town went into an uproar and mom didn't know what to do with a child barely a year old. She raised him in secret. He's like a brother to me."

I breathed. "So what you're telling me... you have an adopted werewolf brother kept in secret?"

Elise bowed her head. "Yes."

"I met him on one of my runs," Orion picked up. "Shocked the crap out of him and he hasn't stopped following me since. He made the wrong step just now and... he hurt his leg. He was knocked out as soon as the alarms wailed. I couldn't do anything but hide so I could find Elise to find you. Though I didn't know you'd get gun."

"What did you expect, an axe? Do you know how useless that would be against that group?"

He raised his hands.

"I need your help, Bree, please." Elise heaved and tears wept down her cheeks. "They're going to kill him, he's just a kid. He's my brother."

Attachments, human connections, they're all so weird. Make them strong enough, they would be willing to lay lives. Strong enough, they could take on armies without as much as their own fists and wits.

My gaze landed on Orion. Who am I to talk?

"I have a plan," I said. It wasn't fully formed and it was full of holes, but I had nothing better. A knocked out fifteen year old kid has a small time bomb. "It needs two distractions and one actual attack. I will need you both."

"Of course," Orion said while Elise nodded vehemently.

"First let's switch coats," I told Elise. "Once I go down there and they take notice, I want you to grab their attention. Hunter knows this coat. Some of them might've even seen it a while ago. And it's red and noticeable, that's the very basic of it."

"What do you mean go down there?" Orion demanded.

"We don't have much time to think of a better plan without putting the girl with the gun at risk," I snapped. "I'm going down there as the first distraction. I know how to hit enough to garner their attention. I'll leave Elise the gun."

I handed the heavy thing and the pack of bullets. "You know how to use this?"

It was an old shotgun my nonna taught me to use, polished a few weeks or so and heavy as it was old.

"Yes, I know how."

"Shoot above our heads, just before the top branches." At Orion's disgruntled shock, I sighed. "I can't win against twelve to fifteen trained hunters. The best I could do is knock a few up before you come in. You take the boy. Hunter is there. I can talk my way until you have an opening. We can only do this once, don't fail."

— — —

It wasn't confidence that kept me cool, tucked in Elise's black coat, hiding. Elise was somewhere on the right side of the clearing, the direction towards the town. Orion was crouched beside me.

"You're good at this, strategy planning," he said out of the blue.

"Thanks."

"I need to tell you something."

"We're already in a conversation." It was a lighthearted joke, but when our eyes met, he was somber. "Okay, what?"

Orion sighed. "That girl that you and your nonna saved, Snow... I think I know her."

This was not what I was expecting at all. "You do?"

His smile was so soft it hurt to look at it. "Around these parts was an old pack that was dying around the time you said you found Snow. My sister married into that pack and when they were gunned down, her husband killed, my sister told me she was captured to sell because of her white fur. Pure white werewolves are especially hunted. There are only three in the whole world that I know about that are still existing. My sister was one. She escaped but was badly hurt enough that she was dying on the ground when she met an old woman who was as thick as trees, wearing a black coat over a red apron, and smelled thick of spices, old books, and the lingering scent of a close child who smelled like cinnamon, sugar, and the first fall of snow."

My legs felt weak, my chest caving in.

"They took her in, she said," he continued. "She left them merely a letter when she took off. She had too. She was pregnant. The scent that was going to come off her once her months became obvious was going to become dangerous. She told me to come here when I feel ready for... ready for something. She said she had a feeling... a feeling about the kid. A girl of brown skin and cold face. Who was fierce and kind and loved to bake."

"What? What are you-" But I couldn't finish my sentence. I felt everything all at once. Not one particular emotion just the intensity. I clutched my chest, it hurt so much.

It was so loud. I know he could hear it. Boom, boom, boom.

"When I felt... ready, I drove here. I stopped at the diner. I saw you. The description, your scent... none of that came until the second time I dropped by, the very next day. But what I did find is that the world blurred and became thick. I couldn't see anything past you. You were the only clear thing. And the feeling came. Like something snapped inside me. And I knew. I knew."

He let out a sudden laugh, the sound harsh. "It was exhilarating and horrible at the same time. I could never ask you, couldn't even think about telling you. Telling you would mean getting you involve in worse ways than you could think. So I didn't. I don't know why I'm telling you know, I'm just really afraid, but I felt like I need to tell you."

"What are you saying, Orion, you're not - you're not making any sense."  I glared at him. He matched my stare with the saddest smile.

"You're my mate, Bree. I knew it the moment I saw you. My sister felt a connection." The sadness that was wafting from him felt like it grab me. My chest constricted, I could feel myself weakening. "And I can't let you be mine."

Mine. Mates.

Mine, mine, mine.

He snorted, bowing out his head to wipe his eyes. "I got too emotional sorry. I was feeling like I should really take you far away from here, even if you hate me for it. But I couldn't because I knew you would've wanted to help. So instead I'm deboning myself and handing you the most unnecessary bomb in the middle of this shit - "

He stopped. Because I wanted to shut him up and because I wanted my chest to stop hurting, so I pushed forward and wrapped my arms around him. He was so warm in the cold, and it felt right. It felt peaceful to be so close, to feel his warmth, to hear his heartbeat accelerating.

He felt like home.

When he spoke my name, he sounded in pain. "Bree..."

I let go. "We have to do this. We'll talk more later."

His sadness was still so puncturing, but he cleared his throat, nodding it away. "They're waiting for a crate to put him in just in case the toxic they used won't put him to sleep for too long."

"Then let's go."

I was scared and he was too. But I was determined. Prejudice has millions killed almost everyday simply for existing. Fear cannot overrode anger. I took Orion's hand and squeezed. When he squeezed back, I let go and walked into the clearing.

- - -

Everyone's back was turned. It was almost too easy.

I took my heart that was leaping and let it slow into an anger, raising a branch Orion snapped off, I swung it to the nearest hunter. The thud of it, his body falling, all made such a commotion. Others turned, but I had already grasped the electric baton from the first fallen and I was already swinging the branch again.

Shouts erupted. They couldn't see my face.

"Who the hell - get him!" I didn't know who he was, but as soon as they were advancing, the shots rang out.

I didn't duck but took it in stride. At their fear and shock, I swung and swung, getting as much of them as I can. Each blow was getting slower, weaker.

"Get the shooter  - on your right!"

"I can't - "

" - Watch the boy, the shooter is running!" This voice was familiar. This was Hunter. He stepped in front of me and whipped out his own baton, the electricity sparkling. "I'll deal with him, go - there might be more."

"He isn't even good," a voice spoke behind me. Before I could turn, a blow broke through the back of my legs and I buckled, gasping in pain. While whites blur, another blow took me on my back and I groaned in pain as I met snow. Hitting the ground hard, my head was swimming.

No, no. I can't fall down. Get up. Orion might get distracted. Orion has to save the boy and leave. Get up, get up!

My hood was thrown back and Hunter's shock broke through my dizzying reverie.

"Bree? Bree what the fuck were you thinking?"

I turned my body over. One, two, four hunters left. The rest went after Elise. Please let her be okay. Please. I pictured her running through the woods. They wouldn't shoot her. Not with my hood on. Just in case, she could take it off and they would see her familiar hair. Eva had lost a husband and an unborn child. She would raise hell itself if anyone of them did anything to her.

So I settled on what I was seeing, eyes watery, the pain blooming in splotches like watercolour expanding on the paper. I was clever but I was not strong.

Hunter took his own hood and mask off, ripping it away from him. His expression was priceless. I could've laughed.

"Amon?" A masked hunter asked, shocked.

"It's the waitress. At Jeff's!"

"Shut up, all of you!" Hunter growled. He turned to me. "Bree, what are you doing?"

My body ached, but my voice was resolute. "No, Hunter. What are you doing? He's just a kid."

His face masked over. This was an unspoken thing between us. I knew he was a hunter, he knew I didn't like this. We never talked it over. It was a bomb waiting to explode. We both knew we wouldn't be friends after a fight like that. "This is my job. And he's -" He turned and he was shouting. "What the fuck? Where the hell did he go? Find him!"

What was left of the trap were spikes shining with blood. The rest hurried, but one hunter hesitated, staring at me. Hunter glared at him. "What the fuck are you looking at?"

"Traitors come up for fair price," the hunter answered. The voice was female. She was hesitant, but she was looking at me.

"Touch her and I will skin you myself, Syg," Hunter growled, his tone low and dangerous.

"Yes, sir." The hunter took off, at first the steps were reluctant, but once Hunter growled again, she became faster.

"Do you know what you just did, Brielle?" He crouched, his voice wavering.

"Yes." I closed my eyes. Please let them be far. Please keep them safe.

"You're going to get tried and they're going to get execute you for treason. Or at best, lock you up."

"I know."

"Then why the hell did you do it?!"

I opened my eyes. "Because that kid was still human too. More human than who you are right now, hunter."

He flinched, rearing back.

It was over. I was going to prison, best case scenario. Orion will have to go. He must be far now. He could drop off Cob or take him. Eva will plead for Elise. And maybe for me too, but I won't fight it. Elise has still more ahead of her and I can always testify that I just used her. Scared her.

I closed my eyes again.

The plan was set.

I thought it was over.

An inhuman growl ripped through the clearing. A rumbling of a beast, holding back, and the fear that I thought was slipping away came back in full force like vines twisting in my heart, curled like snakes.

When my eyes opened, Hunter was already in front of me, blocking me like a safety net, in front of a slow, approaching Orion.

The damn fool.

I twisted over, gritting my teeth, as I saw his eyes. The green was gone replaced by an illuminated gold. His growling was getting softer, darker, and with his fangs out, Orion looked nothing else but the predator Hunter thought of.

Hunter's fingers twitched for the gun.

"I'm sorry," was all I said before I clobbered him with the wood and the baton, the electricity that shocks his body gave out and he fell like a tree, face first and painful.

Orion whined as he approached, and tried to help me as I stood up, but I glared and slapped him away. His eyes were mournful when they met mine.

"You were supposed to be gone," I said, hating how high and panicky my voice had gotten. "They're going to come back and at least I could get a trial, but they will kill you on sight and if you die in front of me, Orion Aguerra, trust me when I say your way to death will not be peaceful."

He tilted his head. Then he closed his eyes and his body began re-forming, molding around like clay, the fur disappearing to make way for bronze skin. It was a quick shift and he was in front of me, he was human Orion, on one knee, naked as the day babies are born.

I tilted my head up, shock and heating up. Of all the times. "Orion, what the hell?"

"I thought my nudity did not bother you." His voice was teasing that I threw the branch in his general direction. "Ow!"

"Stop joking around and shift! You can't run as fast in human form, you idiot."

"I have something to say."

"Goodbyes are not necessary." But the idea of it crushed my heart so hard I could feel my lungs tighten. I doubled over forward, clutching my chest. "What the hell?"

His face loomed and his hand were gentle around my shoulders. "I think your soul recognizes mine."

"What?" I gasped through the pain. "I feel like I'm dying."

"On some level, before mating - don't make that face, I know but it's more of like, accepting the mating bond - once you understand and reciprocate the feelings of your mate, it'll hurt just thinking of being away from them for even a minute."

"Huh." I met his stare. His face was gentle but I could see something. Something warm in that expression. I like him. "Does this mean I can't ever hide that I like you now?"

His smile bloomed. "On some level."

I nibbled my bottom lip, a new plan forming in my head. "Where's Cob?"

"He's safe. I got him as far as as the pit of the mountains north. He knows where to go from there and I think he'll wake up soon. Just in case, I left him a note."

"A note?"

"I carved something in a tree."

"Ingenious."

"Thank you."

I nodded. "I'm coming with you."

It was his turn to be shock. I raised an eyebrow.

"If I'm going to feel intense pains every time I can't see you, especially now that I might go on trial and you need to leave, do you really think I won't just run away with you?"

The brightness in his eyes dimmed. "This is your home. Coming with me will not be easy, Bree. I could never have a permanent home, always on the move. The fear with a werewolf, of being found out, will gnaw at you until you're nothing more than when you first saw me that day."

"What I first saw was a cocky gun in a leather jacket with messy hair. What you are is different. Now... you seem like home. And in those weeks, without even telling me about mates and stuff, I knew there was going to be some pain when you leave." I tilted my head, eyebrow raised. "And do you really want me to stay and have a trial for my execution?"

His face darkened. "Hunter will protect you. He can do as much since he likes you."

"But I don't want Hunter to protect me. I want you." I raised my hands over his face, cradling it. The simplicity of it. He didn't have sallow cheeks anymore and he wasn't pale. He looked bright. Tired, but bright and whole. "I'm coming with or without your permission, Orion."

He hung his head. "Is this selfish of me?"

"I was selfish too. Earlier today, I wanted you to stay." I raised his head and kissed him. Properly. He responded like he was waiting for it. But then I pulled a stop by pushing his chest. "Jesus, you're still naked."

He burst out laughing. "Ruined my clothes."

"Then shift back. We're going before they come back. We have to go the house first."

His face turned serious. "Are you sure about this, Bree, this won't - "

I kissed him again. He doesn't hesitate to kiss back. Interesting.

"I'm leaving with you, naked or no."

"Technically when I shift, I'm still naked."

I glared at him. He laughed and began shifting. I stared at his eyes, the only thing that won't change. Green as the forest at dawn. Green as the first spring.

I smiled and rose.

When stars rose in the sky, we were already far, far gone.

FIN

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