Chapter 28

“Take this,” Wyatt said handing me the additional blanket from his bag.

I shook my head. “No it’s alright. This one is enough.”

Emma was next to us against the gathering of rocks already fast asleep. She was exhausted, I could tell by the look on her face as she slept. She hadn’t spoken much our entire journey either. What we’d put her through had to be a lot to process. Even though we had saved her from Axel’s pack, Wyatt and I both knew that if they ever caught us we would all be dead.

“You sure?” Wyatt asked with his arm still outstretched with the blanket. 

“I’m sure. It’s not that cold out.” I shifted my blanket over my legs and arms. It was a good thing the weather was unproblematic because even if it were any cooler, we couldn’t have built a fire. It would have drawn too much attention to us. There is nothing that sticks out more than a fire blazing in the dark of night.

Emma had consumed two apples and a granola bar right before she crashed and Wyatt and I each had one granola bar and a bottle of water. We still had enough food to last us at least two more days, if we went sparing. If worst came to worst though, one of us could hunt to keep the rest sustained until we reached our destination.

If I was right, we only had about three more days until we found the Perilous Pack Territory. Hopefully Kieran would be there waiting on me and not trying to pull off a rescue mission, risking his own life for ours.

I must have looked very concerned because Wyatt reached over and grabbed my hand to reassure me. “We’ll get there, Claire. Don’t worry about it so much. I’ll keep you safe from Daniel and Axel. Once you reach your wolf, we’ll be a lot faster and make better time.”

“It’s not happened yet. I don’t know if it ever will. It feels like I’m still trapped. I have no control over my shifting.” I picked up some dirt and threw it back to the ground.

“You will. Give it time. You’ll do it.” He pulled back his hand and lay back against his bag, using it as a pillow. “When you go to sleep,” he said, “I’ll shift. It’s easier for me to keep you safe in my wolf form, that way the slightest sound or movement will wake me up.”

“I feel like I should be helping you keep guard. I’m sorry I can’t.” I adjusted my bag and lay on it, copying Wyatt.

“Don’t be sorry for things you can’t help. There is no point,” he said gently. “I’ll take care of you. You should get some rest.”

I yawned and closed my eyes. “Alright.” I pulled the blanket up to my neck. “I’ll carry Emma tomorrow. You can take the bags. It should be easier for you to move.”

“If you think it will help,” he said. “Goodnight, Claire.”

“Good night, Wyatt.”

Emma woke up before me the next morning and shook me awake. She needed to use the bathroom and she was hungry. Wyatt was nowhere to be found by the time we were packed and ready to go. We waited for him.

He probably went to hunt something before we started our day up again. I would only become worried if he didn’t show up in the next half hour. He knew we had to start out before daybreak or our chances of being seen would be increased drastically. Axel’s wolves were probably already out searching for us as it was.

My stomach rolled and I reached into my bag for a vitamin.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked after I took it. “You look sick.”

I gave her a reassuring nod and a fake smile. “I’m fine. I just get this way sometimes.”

“Where is Wyatt?” she asked looking as far through the woods as her eyes would reach.

“He’s close.” There was a stirring inside me that told me he was. It was an instinct I thought I’d long lost since being taken. It sent a thrill through me at what that could possibly mean. Sensing Wyatt was no small thing. It meant my pack link was coming back which meant other things could come back too. Like my wolf.

“Claire,” Wyatt’s voice broke through the morning air. My eyes scanned the wakening light for him. Then he appeared next to me from the opposite direction I was looking. I jumped.

“Sorry,” he said. He looked from me to Emma then back again. “Is everyone rested and ready to go?”

“We were waiting on you,” I told him.

He picked up the bags from the ground and threw them over his shoulder. “I scouted the area. There is no one close to us. There is another river up ahead we’ll have to cross.” He paused for a moment, gazing off into the trees then back at me. “When I got there, I discovered something.”

Emma’s eyes brightened at Wyatt’s tone. She could sense something in it as I had. Whatever he had had found out there, it had to be good.

“What was it?”

“Our location,” he said a slight smile appearing on his lips. “We’re closer to Alpha Clint’s pack than we are to ours. If what I remember is correct, we can be at Clint’s by early morning if nothing slows us down. We’ll have to make a slight change in our direction, but at this point, it’s the best thing for us. The sooner we are out of these woods the better. Plus Axel is expecting us to run strait to our pack. Best to through him off a little, don’t you think?

I jumped at that and screamed with delight. “Clint is nearby? Why didn’t you say so sooner! Kieran would want us to go to him. I know Kaelyn and Clint will keep us safe.” I was shouting every word with excitement. This was much better news than I had anticipated. We just might stand a chance out here after all.

“There is too much distance between us for me to contact Kieran through our pack link. I’ll call him personally as soon as we reach Clint’s land,” he said.

I nodded. I couldn’t believe it. We were so close now. Just a one day instead of three. I couldn’t be any happier if I tried. “Good. We’re ready to go.”

He nodded and repositioned the bags on his shoulder. “I’ll lead the way.”

A few hours into our journey there was still no sign of Axel or his wolves. The closer we go to Clint’s the better I was beginning to feel. Something inside of me finally felt like it was loosening, shaking itself awake.

Since being with Daniel and Axel I felt like I was half empty inside, just barely the shell of someone I used to be. But the more distance I put between us, the more I felt myself again. The more I was becoming Claire Warren. That put a smile on my face.

“You’re looking oddly cheery considering the situation we’re in.” Wyatt said with a trace of a smile on his lips. “Like being chase by a pack of wolves, do you?”

My face grew hot. “No.” I didn’t know he had been watching me. “I’m just…hopeful.”

The sun was shining down on us giving us some warmth on the cool fall day. My shoulders were a pale pink and the tip of Emma’s nose was also the same color. I could see how tired she was getting from the walk. Wyatt and I both wanted breaks and since Wyatt hadn’t sensed any threats in the last half hour, he let her walk on her own without him carrying her.

“I’m hungry,” Emma said. “Can we stop and eat?”

I looked to Wyatt for his decision since he seemed to be the one leading this pack and he nodded. “We’ll stop just up ahead. There should be a pound around here somewhere.”

We followed him farther into the woods until finally we hit a clearing, just where he thought it should be. It was wide and mossy and beautiful. A good size pond sat right at its center. I could see the fish swimming just below the surface. There were many.

“Wow,” Emma said, wide eyed.

“The fish population is really heavy here. Not many people walk this far into the woods to fish. That probably has a lot to do with it,” Wyatt said. He lowered himself onto the ground and pulled a canteen from his bag and took a sip.

“I’m going to go scan the area,” I told him. I grabbed up Emma’s bag from Wyatt and handed it to her. “I’ll be right back. Eat something and take a rest.”

She nodded and sat down next to Wyatt before I made my way through the woods just up ahead of us. He really needed to rest and lately I felt I was pulling my own weight.

 I scanned a perimeter of about half a mile in each direction surrounding us. There was no sign of Axel or any of the wolves so far. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I’d almost expected them to find us already, or at least be close by. I had sensed nothing other than the strange, but distantly familiar stirrings of something dormant being awoken in me. It gave this odd surge of energy I hadn’t realized I’d been missing all this time.

I thought passed through my mind almost as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. It sent chills up my spine. If Axel hasn’t found us yet, that could only mean one thing. He’s planning something big. He wouldn’t remain silent otherwise.

Maybe he searched for us then returned to the pack with a bigger, more malicious plan. More than hurt us, he probably wanted to make us pay, to make us suffer the consequences of what we have done. He’ll go after Kieran or my family or even Wyatt’s family to make us pay. Then after he had ripped away the most important things in our lives, well, then he’d come for us.

I could only hope that Wyatt was right and he was still unprepared to go into war with Perilous pack so it would buy us some time and I could contact Kieran. Maybe we could form some kind of plan with the pack. If anyone could protect our pack, it was Kieran.

When I returned back to the water where Wyatt and Emma were resting the ground shook. It wasn’t an obvious earthquake shake, but more like a subtle, slight shake. For a moment I debated if it was just my imagination or maybe I was just feeling dizzy.

I looked to Wyatt for some kid of answer, but he only looked into the fish pound acting as though nothing ever happened. Maybe it hadn’t. Maybe it was just my mind after all.

I shook my head of it. I didn’t need to start showing signs of mental instability right now. I’d been through a lot, but for Emma’s sake and my own, I needed to keep it together just a little longer.

Wyatt finally noticed me and stood up. “You’re back. Fine anything?”

I shook my head. “No. All quiet on the western front.” I glanced at Emma. “Is she doing okay?”

He glanced at her and nodded. “She’s fine. But she’ll be better when we’re in the protection of allies.”

I looked past him into the woods I’d recently scanned. “How much further now?”

“The time is still the same. We’ll arrive early morning or at best… whoa. Claire, are you alright?” He was rushing to my side trying to steady me before I hit the ground. I leaned into his body as the arm around me led me over next to Emma. I felt unsteady, dizzy.

“The ground shook again,” I told him slowly. My head soon began to throb. I buried it in my hands.

“Claire, are you okay?” Emma’s small voice whispered.

“I…I don’t know. Something…something’s happening, I think.” Then like something that has been slowly chipping away inside of me, the ice barrier broke and slow warmth started spreading through my body. It began at my chest and spider webbed from there to every inch of my body until it reach the tips of my toes and fingertips. I gasped for breath. “What the…”

Air. I can’t get enough air. Where did it all go? It was as if I just got through with a ten mile race. My lungs were burning for the lack of oxygen.

Oh, God. I’m suffocating.

Wyatt placed his hands on the sides of my face. I tried to look at him, but everything was spinning. Emma whimpered next to me.

“Hey, Claire, stay with me. Look at me. Just keep your eyes on mine,” Wyatt said.

I tried. I really tried. But then the nausea came and I felt like I was going to hurl. “Oh, Go-” I couldn’t finish my sentence because that was it. There were no more words. Only vomit. And it was bad. The worst I’d felt in weeks. It splashed at the ground.

“Claire,” Wyatt sounded slightly panicked. His hands were still on my face.

“What’s happening to her?” Emma was way more panicked than Wyatt. “Is she going to die?”

“No,” Wyatt said firmly. “She’s not going to die. No one is going to die. She’s going to be fine. She just needs to cool off.”

“Wyatt…” I mumbled. The world was beginning to blur. I tried to search for his face.

“Shh… you’re fine. You’re going to be fine.” His voice was meant to reassure me, but even I could pick out the slight doubt in his voice. He had no idea what was happening to me anymore than I did.

We both needed to face the facts though. This could very well be the end for me.

“Baby, stay with me. I love you. Stay with me.” Wyatt was lightly shaking me.

“Kieran?” When did he get here? Then I was on my back with the sky high above me…and Kieran. He moved into my line of sight. He smiled weakly at me. His eyes were concerned then panicked.

My heart swelled with joy. “Kieran. You’re here. You came for me. How did you find us?”

“Shh. Just lay back. Be quiet. You’ll be okay after this passes.”

“What is it?” I asked him. “What’s happening to me?”

“You’re changing,”

I scrunched up my nose. “Changing? Into what?”

“Your wolf. It’s happening again. Just like it did the first time you changed. You’re whole again.” Kieran’s voice merged with Wyatt’s. “Just breathe through it. It will be over soon enough.”

Were they talking at the same time?

I tried to focus on Kieran again but he blurred out of sight. I couldn’t get a clear picture of him anymore. He started backing away. I immediately panicked. “No! Don’t leave me.” I reached for him. I was able to grab on to him before he made it away.

“Claire, you’re shifting. Emma and I need to move away.”

It was only then I realized how bad I was shaking. My leg snapped, then my arm, then my back. I screamed out in pain. They snapped again, transforming into something else. I screamed.

The pain. It was becoming too much. There was searing pain up and down my spine. I let go of Kieran. “I love,” I told him. “I love you.”

Just in case I didn’t make it out of this alive he needed to know. He needed to know how I felt.

“Claire, it’s okay,” Wyatt said. He sounded so far away now. Everything was going dark. It was like the sky right before a storm. Then it got even darker. More like the sky at dusk. “It’s the fever. You’re hallucinating. When you shift, it’ll break.”

“Break,” I mumbled. Snap. I screamed again.

I am breaking. I’m dying. I’m sure I’m dying.

“Kieran, come back to me,” I cried. “Please. Don’t leave me alone here.”

They say when you die that everything starts to go dark. Then all the noise begins to fade away into the night. And finally, once everything has vanished, you, your consciousness, it starts to slip away too. Then there is silence and nothingness. No sensations. Nothing to remind you that you are still alive. No beating of your heart. Nothing. Your just…gone.

I used to dream of falling through the dark night sky when I was a little girl. At first, it was like I was flying. I don’t know how I got there, or how I started flying in the first place, but I was doing it. It was only after I realized I was doing it, that I panicked and I started to fall through the air, my body falling down toward nothing. Just one big, black whole.

My stomach felt as if it were in my throat. The whole way down I worried about all the things I hadn’t done in my life. All the things I never said. All my regrets in life were on my mind. All the things I would never get to do. Cause I knew that as soon as my body found somewhere to land, that I would be no more. I would break.

That’s when I woke up. Right before I hit the ground. Right before I died. I’d sit up in my bed panting, and screaming. My mom and dad would rushing in my room and see me sitting there and they’d hold me and tell me it was okay. It was just a dream.

And that was what always calmed me. What brought me back to the edge of reality. It was the realization that they in fact were right. I was not falling, they were there holding me, I was really okay. And I always would be.

But this…this is different. I was most certainly not dreaming and I wasn’t sure if I was alright or ever would be. I didn’t even know where I was.

Claire.

A voice sounded in the back of my mind.

Claire.

Yes, I wanted to say. I didn’t have a working voice.

Claire.

Each call of my name felt it was leading me somewhere. Guiding me to the place I needed to be.

Claire.

Back to the edge of reality.

Yes. I’m here!

Claire.

It’s closer now. Almost close enough to touch.

Wake up. You’re okay.

I’m okay, I repeated to myself.

“Can you move?”

I don’t know. Can I? I tried. My arm twitched.

“Yes.” Next I tried clear out the darkness. To open my eyes. To see anything.

“Good. You’re doing well.” I recognized the voice now. It was Wyatt.

Light peeked in between my lashes. I squinted. It hurt. I felt a presence shift over me. The light darkened. It made seeing easier. I managed to open my eyes a little wider. Little by little I was able to zoom in on my surroundings.

I was outside on the ground. That much I knew. Wyatt face was in front of me, inches from mine. I struggled to get up on my elbows and he moved away. He looked relived to see me up.

“I was worried about you. How do you feel?”

“Like I was hit by a Mac Truck.” I winced as I got into a sitting position. Beside me Emma was asleep. Her eyes were tear streaked.

“They kid was worried. She thought you were dead,” he explained.

So did I. “What happened?”

The world around me was brighter, crisper, and prettier. It was a vision I recognized and had missed so much. Tears started forming in my eyes. I was back together again. I was me.

“You shifted and blacked out. I guess whatever Daniel did to you reset your body to before your first shift. It happened all over again.”

And there in the back on my mind, I felt her. She was there now. My wolf. I could feel her energy. Her smile. Her delight. Tears spilled out between my eyes. I missed her so much.

Wyatt saw me and wrapped his arms around me. “Hey. You made it. You should be happy.”

“I am happy,” I told him. “That’s why I’m crying.”

He smiled. “You’re back.”

“How long was I out?” I tried to make myself sound clearer. My voice was rough, somewhat off.

“About four hours.”

I nearly shot up to my feet. “What? Four hours? We’ve lost so much time. I’ve lost so much time.” I don’t remember any of it.

“Don’t worry. Axel or Daniel hasn’t come for us.”

That didn’t make me feel any better. “That’s exactly what worries me.” Emma shifted on her blanket. I lowered my voice. “This doesn’t seem right. This whole situation seems off.”

Wyatt frowned. “Yeah. I know what you mean.”

I got to my feet. “We should probably get going then. The longer we’re out here the more we put ourselves at risk.”

He nodded and stood with me. “Now that you can shift, we’ll run. We can get there faster. I’ll take Emma on my back and you’ll follow me. With any luck we’ll make it to Clint’s in half a day.”

That sounded like a pretty good plan. A breeze blew and I realized then that I was only wrapped in a thin blanket around me. Which meant I had been completely naked in front of Wyatt and I couldn’t even remember it. I blushed and grabbed at the makeshift covering.

“I put that on you when you returned from the woods. You took off after you shifted and when you returned Emma was asleep from crying. You went to sleep too and shifted back in your sleep. I thought it was best to cover you before the kid woke up.”

It was. But Wyatt saw every single inch of me. “Yes. Thank you.”

“It’s probably best we keep that between ourselves,” he added.

What he meant was, don’t tell Kieran. And I had to agree. Wyatt was probably in enough hot water as it was. I didn’t want him to getting killed over something that wasn’t his fault.  

“Of course.”

He glanced at Emma. “You should get her up. I’ll gather our stuff.”

I nodded. “Let’s be quick.”

I walked over next to her and dropped down in front of her. She was breathing steadily then rapidly. She was probably dreaming if I had to guess.

Placed my hand on her and gently shook her awake. When she opened her eyes she stared at me. She was clearly relived. She sat up quickly with a smile and wrapped her arms around my neck. “You’re okay. I was so scared. I thought you were gonna die. I’m glad you didn’t.”

I was taken aback back her sudden rush of words. It was the most I’d heard say at one time since I met her. I shook with silent laughter and wrapped my arms around her just as tight as she was holding me.

“Believe me, so am I.”

Wyatt picked up our things and came to stand next to us as we rose to our feet. I gathered our blankets and stuffed them into a bag.

He looked at me. “You ready for this, Claire? We have a lot of ground to cover before night settles in.”

I nodded. He didn’t even need t ask. “Of course.” Adrenalin was beginning to course through me. In less than a day I’ll be in Kieran’s arms again. For that, I’m ready for anything. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

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A/N

Don’t kill me for being late on this chapter. I somehow lost the last eight Word pages of this chapter and had to go back and rewrite everything after the first two pages. It was very frustrating. I tried to not take it out on my writing. I’m sorry it took me so long.

I’m trying to get back on track with my updates again. I’ve been working a lot and trying to read when I get time, which isn’t very much. I just started The Hunger Games though! I’m know I’m late to the game, but it’s better to read it late than never. I’m trying to finish it by Friday so on Saturday I can start Catching Fire and read during Dewey’s 24 hour readathon. I’ve never participated before so I’m really excited to do it this time.

Anyway, as far as my updates go, I’m going to try to finish this book by December and hopefully start on Leland’s story sometime in January. I’ll be updating when I’m not working which is nearly all the time. Sorry. Some people have to work for a living. I hate it, but it’s a part of life.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please vote and feel free to leave your comments below. :)

And please no hate. I said I was sorry for the late update. There is nothing more I can do.

Also as promised, I’ve listed another one of my favorite booktubers in the video to the side. Check her out. Her bookshelves are awesome and she gives great book recommendations. Seriously thinking about starting my own YouTube channel soon with book reviews and book hauls. We’ll see!

Recent reads and book recommendations:

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer 

The Evolution of Mara Dyer

The Retribution of Mara Dyer- to be released in November. (Can't wait!)