Chapter 7 –  Danger Zone...

Lucy's POV

The door opens to reveal Justin standing there and a few seconds of awkward silence falls between us until he opens the door wider, effectively inviting me in.

"Dad's in the office," is all he says as he shuts the door behind me.

His scent is overpowering, making every single nerve in my body sizzle and spark as we make our way to the office.

Okay, so I'm officially nervous as hell about today. Seriously, if I screw up then I'm in deep shit, being the Omega doesn't exactly give me a lot of room for mistakes. If it turns out that I really can't help with this search, shit is really going to go down.

I'm tired as hell which really isn't helping my nerves, I had to set my alarm for five this morning just to make sure I'd get up and be here on time. As it turns out, I seem to be the first one here.

We walk into David's office, where I see him staring intently down at the map that's been spread back out on his desk. He looks up when he notices me and a bright smile appears on his face.

"Hey, Lucy! You all set for today?"

"Yeah," I reply, keeping my tone polite and putting on a friendly smile. He and Wendy seem to be okay with me but I'm not going to take any chances.

To say that the conversation last night between me and David wasn't slightly weird would be a complete lie. After he walked me to the door, we somehow got onto the conversation topic of Justin...

"So, it's been really great to have the chance to catch up with you tonight, I know that Wendy was ecstatic when she found out we'd need your help on this little rogue hunt," David said as we reached the door, opening it for me.

I smiled back before replying. "Yeah, I must admit I never expected to be stepping foot into this house again."

"It's a shame about all that's happened," he sighed. "Between you and Justin especially, you two used to be so close..."

"Yeah," I agreed with a sigh, glancing down at the floor, not really able to meet his eyes.

"He misses you," he admitted suddenly, causing my eyes to snap back to his in surprise.

I'm sorry... what?!

"I mean, he never says it but... it's pretty obvious. He's never really been the same since, well, you know..."

Yes, yes I did know. He was talking about the day Justin disowned me in front of practically the entire school in the canteen at lunch, the day my life became what it is today... complete and utter hell.

"Um, I should probably go..." I said, trying to keep my tone friendly whilst really wanting to be able to escape. I had no idea what to reply to him.

Justin doesn't miss me, there's no way in hell... He'd rather die than take me back as a friend and that I'm certain of. He doesn't miss me...

I quickly thanked David for letting me stay for dinner before saying goodbye and hurriedly heading down the steps leading up to the house.

"Lucy!" he called out to me, causing me to turn back around to face him as he still stood in the doorway watching me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Don't give up on him, okay? Not yet."

I stood there staring up at him in surprise. He was asking me to... what? Try and get close to Justin again? I can't do that, not again...

He slowly closed the door, the strip of light from the grand foyer growing thinner and thinner on the pavement at my feet before disappearing completely.

Confused, I turned back around and started walking, wondering what the hell that had all been about.

 "Are any of the others here yet?" I ask, coming back to the present and trying to fill the suffocating silence currently hovering in the office.

David's still sat at his desk looking over the map, more for something to do than for actual necessity though I think, Justin's found his way over to the sofa and is lounging on it seemingly bored, and I'm stood awkwardly a little bit away from the desk.

"Not yet-" David starts to say, but is suddenly cut off by the sound of the doorbell going.

Justin's up and out of the room in seconds, letting in the next visitor before returning with Dean and Wayne a little while later.

It looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for everyone else to show up before setting off.

***

Ten minutes later and everyone's now here.

There are ten of us in total. Me, Justin, David, Wayne, Dean, Ricky, Jack, Sam, John, and a little skinny nineteen year old called Devon. Devon, a wolf with only a slightly higher ranking than myself, has been asked to come along to carry the rucksacks with our clothes in when we're all in wolf form.

Obviously, I'm totally against the idea, but it's not like there's anything I can do about it. All I can do is silently wish him the best as I know that this is going to be an extremely long day for him.

When everyone's ready to head out we all walk out the back door and head straight for the forest. I stick to the back with Devon, not really feeling comfortable with walking up front with all the high-ranking wolves.

I don't really know Devon that well, we each keep to our own mostly, but we've spoken a couple of times and get on alright, I guess. Well, much better than I get on with Justin and his friends, anyway.

"I can't believe you got stuck with this job," I say quietly and not without sympathy as we fall back slightly from the others.

He's holding two empty rucksacks, one navy blue and one black, and there's no doubt he's going to have to carry both of them in his mouth when we all phase into wolf form.

"Nah, it's not so bad," he replies with a shrug, whilst probably silently badmouthing every single wolf here in his head. "I can't believe that you of all people have been asked to help with directions."

"I know, right?" I sigh. "It seems today might not be going so great for either of us."

"When is any day ever 'great' for us?"

"Lucy!" David calls from up ahead, and I quickly catch up to the front just as we hit the trees.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"How long will it take for you to get us to the start end of the stream from here?"

"I don't know, about two hours, I think. But it could be closer to three depending on the pace we're going at."

"Well then you'd better run fast, Omega, because you'll need to get us there as quickly as possible," Dean says, giving me a warning look as if to say 'we're only giving you one shot at this.'

I try not to roll my eyes, knowing that speed is definitely not going to be a problem for me but also knowing better than to talk back.

Everyone's here by this point, including Devon who quickly caught up with us.

"I'll get you there as quick as I can," I say, turning to look back at David.

"Okay," he replies. "Well, we all phase here and then you can lead the way."

Okay, so I'm not exactly comfortable with stripping off in front of all these guys, so I quickly head behind some trees to provide some shelter as they all start to take their shirts off.

I quickly kick off my converse, pulling my brightly coloured odd socks off with them, and drop them to the floor. My purple, pink and turquoise checked shirt and black tank top soon join my shoes on the ground along with my ripped skinny jeans. I also pull off my purple beanie and add it to the pile.

When I'm ready to phase I allow my wolf to be let out, hearing as well as feeling my bones reshape themselves into my second form.

Finally, I'm ready to re-join the others and make sure to pick up every item of clothing between my jaws before heading back and dropping the pile at Devon's feet.

The others are already in their wolf forms, and their clothes are swiftly being stuffed into the two rucksacks. Mine disappear into the navy bag along with Ricky's, Jack's, Sam's, and John's.

Devon is the last to phase, and I make sure to avert my eyes as he removes his clothes and stuffs them into the black bag before closing the bag and phasing into his black skinny wolf.

I look over from Devon to Justin, and the contrast between the two of them is striking. Whereas Devon's wolf is all dark and lanky, Justin's wolf is all muscle and power.

Justin's wolf really is a sight to see, and it's one of the many reasons for why he has every single wolf of the female gender falling at his feet wanting to become his future Luna. He has sandy coloured fur, with little white and brown specks in it here and there, with sapphire blue eyes that are enough to make any girl's heart throb. His entire wolf is ripped with muscle, easily giving him the upper hand in any fight, but he's not so huge as to intimidate you without him even trying. He's strong, but not enough to scare you senseless... well, not for the wolves he knows at least.

To say that I'm not attracted to him would be a lie but, unlike every other girl, I don't throw myself at him in the hopes of being noticed. I know exactly what he thinks of me and where I stand with him and, well, I have this little thing called self-respect that prevents me from even attempting to change his mind.

I quickly avert my eyes from the sandy-coloured wolf, not wanting to get caught staring. He's over a head taller than me in wolf form and he could easily kill me if he wanted to... and that's a fact that I can't ignore no matter how much I want to.

Now that everyone's all set to go, even Devon with the two full rucksacks clamped between his teeth, it's time for us to set off.

I take the lead, Justin falling back slightly just on my left with Dean next to him and David and Beta Wayne doing the exact same on my right. I know these forests like the back of my hand so I quickly lead them the fastest way to the stream. The other wolves all follow behind us, Devon being right at the back, but I force myself to ignore everyone and everything else but the sights and sounds and smells of the forest.

I try and keep the pace fast but steady, not wanting to go too fast as I'm very much aware of Devon at the back trying to keep up whilst burdened with all the extra weight.

I don't even pause when I reach the border and cross out into unknown territory, having done it for so many years now that I hardly even think about the danger. The forest is still the forest, whether it's been claimed or not.

The others quickly follow my lead, seemingly slightly more apprehensive than me about it but obviously putting some slight trust in the fact that I know what I'm doing.

It's weird to know that they trust me with this; that, for once, they're the ones following me and not the other way around... and I'm not sure whether I like it or not.

One slip-up from me and all ten of us could be dead.

Well, now that's a cheery thought...

It doesn't take long to get to the stream. In fact, it only takes just under two hours, and I'm pretty pleased with that.

As soon as we hit the water's edge we split up, five of us on one side of the stream and five of us on the other. We soon put our noses to work, sniffing out for any unknown scents that could indicate rogue territory.

We come across a few scents that end up being false leads, but halfway down the stream we find one that's more promising than the others. The underlying bitter smell of rotting that this scent carries indicates that the scent definitely belongs to a rogue.

We all come to a standstill, hearing nothing but the birds chirping high up in the trees, a few woodland creatures scurrying away from the big bad wolves by the stream, and the water quietly whooshing along next to us.

I'm sure the air would smell crisp and fresh if it weren't for the annoyingly irresistible apple and cinnamon scent that's currently tainting it. It's a perfect day to be out in the woods, quiet and peaceful and the weather seems to be holding up.

David gives a little command bark that tells us to start following the scent, so we do. We start to follow the scents path, leaving the stream behind as we head further and further into the unknown territory.

The trackers all take the lead now, their sense of smell being the strongest, and so I have the chance to fall back slightly. I follow just behind Justin and Dean, easily keeping up as we all run faster to reach the source of the scent quicker.

I'm not paying attention to our surroundings now as the trees all blur past, I just follow as Omega's are supposed to.

Suddenly, the scent disappears.

We've been following it for about three hours now, and I hear Justin growl in annoyance as we come to realise that the scent must've been fairly old and has now started to fade away.

Great, so now we're all stood around in the middle of unclaimed territory feeling pissed off and slightly tired, not really knowing what to do next.

A slight breeze carries a familiar scent right to my nose, causing me to stiffen automatically.

Uh, oh...

The trackers probably aren't as familiar with it as they never come out into the unclaimed parts of the forest, but it's a scent I know all too well. I must have been too caught up on the rogue scent to have noticed, but we've ran right into hunters land. As in, human hunters.

This is not good.

I glance around quickly, my ears pressing back against my head as I whine uncertainly. I don't know how long exactly it's been since we breached the border of the hunting territory, but it's been quite a while.

Dean starts to walk forward but my whine seems to have caught the attention of both Justin and David.

I need to tell them.

I quickly grab the navy bag off of Devon and race behind a tree to change, only pulling on my jeans and tank top before returning to the others.

When I reach the others I find that David, Justin, Wayne and Dean are all back in their human forms as well.

"What's wrong?" David asks as I drop the bag back at Devon's feet.

"We're in hunter territory," I say quickly. "As in of the human kind."

"How dangerous is it?" Justin asks.

"Very," I reply. "I'm talking bear traps that can snap your leg clean off dangerous."

"How long would it take to go around?" David asks.

"At least twice as long as it'd take to go through," I explain. "Hunters land can usually go on for miles, especially illegal hunters."

"We'll have to chance it," Beta Wayne says to David. "We don't have the time to go around."

David looks torn, not sure whether it's worth it to go through or not.

"Justin, what do you think?" he eventually asks, looking over at his son for his opinion.

"I think we should chance it, but stay in human form just in case there are any morons running around with guns out there," Justin replies with a shrug.

"Lucy?" David asks, seemingly wanting my opinion on this idea.

"Sounds good," I say with a shrug. "Saves us time, we'll just need to watch where we put our feet."

Out of the corner of my eye I notice Justin give me a surprised look; apparently he hadn't been expecting me to agree with him so easily.

"Right," Wayne says, "then it's settled."

Whereas Justin looks surprised, Wayne just looks annoyed. Apparently he's not too happy with David asking for my opinion so much.

Well, it's not like I can really blame him there...

***

Ten minutes pass by whilst we walk and everything seems to be going well. Everyone's now phased back to their human forms, which I'm sure Devon's glad for as it means his burden of carrying our clothes is lifted. Of course, this also means that we can't really pick up on scents properly until we're out of the hunter's territory.

I glance up from where I'm putting my own feet to see how the others are doing and freeze in horror. There's something odd about the pile of leaves a few steps ahead of Justin, they look... so unnaturally placed.

He hasn't even realised that he's about to walk straight into a bear trap!

All formalities of pack rankings completely fly out of the window as my adrenaline kicks in.

"Justin, stop walking!" I yell out, my voice sounding much sharper than intended due to my panic.

Everyone freezes then, and the sudden freeze is followed by a deathly silence, but at least it got him to stand still.

"What?" he asks incredulously, sounding extremely pissed off and disbelieving at the tone of voice I just used on him.

I don't answer, though, and simply grab a fairly thick log from the floor and drop it on the trap, watching as it snaps into action and breaks the log in half.

Another silence ensues as everyone stares at the trap.

"Okay..." David says eventually. "I think we need to be a lot more careful where we step."

"Yeah," Justin agrees, looking slightly sick at the fact that that log could've been his leg.

He looks up at me then, confusion clouding his eyes as he looks at me questioningly.

"What?" I ask quietly, his stare making me uncomfortable.

He doesn't reply, though, he just shakes his head slightly as if clearing his thoughts and continues walking, seemingly much more aware of where he puts his feet this time.

It takes us an hour before we break free of hunter territory and, luckily we escape completely unscathed. Quickly phasing back into our wolves, we see if we can pick up any other scents for a little while but, when we can't find anything, David gives the command to start making our way home.

We go around the danger zone this time, practically doubling our journey but no one seems to complain. I think chancing fate once is enough for one day.

It's around eight in the evening when we get back to Justin's house and phase back. I'm feeling tired but not nearly as much as Devon is and so David quickly sends him home.

"Right," David sighs, looking completely drained. "Let's make a plan for tomorrow and then we should all head to bed."

Making our way inside, we're soon greeted by Wendy, looking relieved to see us all back in one piece.

"You're back!" she says happily, giving her husband a quick kiss on the cheek. "Any luck?"

"Not yet," Justin says with a shrug, heading for the office. We all quickly follow and end up stood around the desk looking at the map.

All that we manage to accomplish with the discussion is deciding that we should probably follow the next river down just in case that's where the scent ended up leading to.

I don't particularly like it, it sounds like it could just lead to be another dead end but, well, who am I to argue? Besides... it's not like there's much else we can do until the rogues make another appearance.

Again, I seem to be the last one to leave, and so I say a quick 'goodbye' to David and Wendy before heading for the front door.

"Hey," a voice says from behind me and I turn around to see Justin standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey," I reply, confusion clear in my voice. Why the hell is he talking to me? "I'm just headed home..."

"Wait," he says quickly as I begin to turn once more towards the door.

"What?" I ask, spinning back to face him. I swear down if this is just him trying to mess with me...

"Why did you do it?" he eventually asks after a short pause.

"Do what?"

"Help me."

Of course.

I roll my eyes and start towards the door again as I begin to reply.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry that you had to get the help of some pathetic little Omega but-"

"No, wait, that's not what I'm saying!" he says hurriedly, grabbing me by my shoulder and turning me once more to face him.

I don't say anything, I just glance at his hand still resting on my shoulder and glare at it. He eventually gets the message and drops it back to his side.

"It's just..." he starts, sounding as though he's struggling. "I mean, I'm an ass to you."

Wait, what!?

Whatever the hell I was expecting him to say... that was most definitely not it.

"And...?" I ask, prompting him on, unsure of where this is going. I mean, him being an ass isn't exactly news...

"And, so why'd you do it? You could've easily pretended you hadn't seen the trap."

I just shrug, not really too sure myself as to why I decided to help, at the time I was just running off adrenaline.

"A friend once told me what it was like to be caught in a bear trap and I didn't much like the sound of all the blood."

Hmm... not quite a lie...

He nods to himself as if thinking that over for a second. "Fair enough," he eventually says, taking a step back and letting me leave.

I call a quick bye out over my shoulder but don't hang around to wait for a reply.

What the hell was all that about...?

(Hey guys! So here's chapter 7... FINALLY!!! I know it took forever to update and I'm sorry about that! I hopefully won't take that long to update the next chapter. Anyways, I wasn't really sure how to write this chapter but I did my best and I hope you like it anyway, thanks for reading. Sorry if there are any mistakes within this chapter, there shouldn't be too many. Next chapter's possibly going to be from Justin's POV again but I'm not sure yet. Until next time, byee!)