It was the next day, Cole and I having spent the evening like a regular couple. It was nice pretending that there wasn't a sword hanging above our heads. It made me feel somewhat normal.

Cole had already gone about doing everything for me, and I was barely even into my pregnancy. My breakfast had been made and a luke-warm morning bath had been run for me. Cole fawning over me was funny.

"Are you finished?" Cole asked as I dropped my knife and fork down onto my empty plate, patting my full belly and nodding.

It made him chuckle, and he began to wash up the dishes while I pulled on my shoes, a frown appearing on my face as I began to run through the questions I was going to ask the humans at the apartment complex. I didn't want it to seem like I was snooping, and there was no way that I was going to bring up what my Father had told us. We needed to play it cool and gain their trust. Bombarding them with demands wasn't going to help any of us.

"I'm ready," I said, pulling my long dark hair into a messy bun at the back of my head, smiling as Cole pulled on his own shoes. He settled himself down on the couch as he he did so, his eyes travelling down, narrowing as his foot hit something sticking out from under it.

It confused me as he leaned down to pick it up, and I immediately turned red once I spotted the book that I had hidden before the evacuation had happened. I had been wanting to find out more about werewolf and human mates and how the wolves would react around me once they weakened. I didn't gather much information though, but I hadn't wanted Cole to find the book and know what I was up to.

"What's this?" Cole questioned with a confused expression as he began to flick through the pages, and I rushed up to him, taking it.

"It's mine," I stated. "I mean, it's not really. I took it from the library, but I promise I'll give it back. I just wanted to find out more information on the wolves and what happens when they weaken."

Cole sighed, nodding once. "Why didn't you just ask me for the information that you wanted to know?"

I shrugged. "You didn't seem to have the answers either. I wanted to see if your wolves would want to kill me even with me being your mate, but all I found was something saying that you needed to claim me in front of them to stop their urges. I don't know it it's true though."

Cole nodded, cocking his head. "Okay, well, that's interesting information to have. We can look into that another time, but why did you hide the book?"

I clicked my tongue. I didn't want to lie to him. "Um, I was planning on turning around and heading back to pack after being evacuated. I wanted to find my Father and prove to everyone that I wasn't being held captive, but I get now that that wouldn't have even mattered. They wanted you dead whether I was alive or not."

Cole didn't speak, and he balled his fists up as he almost looked through me, his eyes snapping shut as he took in a deep breath. "You were what?"

I gulped, taking a step back. I knew he wasn't going to hurt me, but I still didn't enjoy seeing him seething.

"Reya," he grunted, opening his eyes up again and shaking his head at me, his pupils fully dialled and his voice husky. "Tell me you're not being serious right now. You were going to turn back and risk your life? Do you understand how stupid that is?"

I scowled. Yes, I did, but at the time, I felt helpless. I wanted to do something.

"I honestly thought that-"

"Well I guess it's a relief that Finn found you and took you, otherwise you probably would have been killed and got others killed in the process," Cole said, huffing and moving over to the door. "I don't want to talk about this right now. We're already late for the humans. Let's go."

"I don't know if it's such a good idea for you to speak with them when you're so angry," I told him, walking over and placing my hands on his chest. However, he dropped eye contact, taking my wrists and prying my hands off of him, moving out of the door.

I sighed, grinding my teeth together, following him.

We walked in silence, the air thick and awkward, and I looked up at Cole a few times to see his eyes trained on the path ahead of us. He refused to look at me, his jaw taut as he moved ahead of me.

"Cole," I spoke quietly, knowing that he would hear me. "Please, I'm sorry. You have to understand that I thought it was the right thing to do at the time."

Cole stopped in his tracks, taking a deep breath and turning towards me. "What am I supposed to think, Reya? I now don't know when you're planning on doing something without telling me. It's unnerving and the pack needs to be taken into consideration."

"I know," I said, dropping my head. "But it didn't even happen."

"It could have though," Cole responded, his teeth gritted. "I could have lost you and lots of other pack members."

He continued to walk, and I trudged after him, wanting to speak about this. I hated leaving things awkward, but Cole didn't seem in the right head space to talk, so I had to wait until he was ready. I pushed through the bushes, and even when pissed, Cole held them back for me, nodding at me to move past so that the branches didn't smack me in the face. I blinked back a few tears, fiddling with my hands nervously.

We rounded the corner, Rowan coming into view, his brows arched as he took in Cole's disappointed face and my solemn one. I shook my head at him, urging him not to ask. However, I gathered that he had learned his lesson after outing my pregnancy.

Cole and Rowan muttered a few things to each other about the humans at the complex, and as much as I attempted to listen in, my human ears couldn't pick up on what they were saying. After a little while, I gave up, walking just behind them in silence, but I did notice Cole continuously looking back, making sure that I was still behind him.

I knew that he could hear me though, my feet dragging across the forest floor, thick mud sticking to the bottom of my shoes.

Ew.

My mind was running wild, trying to remember everything that I wanted to explain to the humans, but I was in a sour mood, and I knew that plastering a fake smile onto my face was going to be a challenge. Cole didn't need to worry about that. He wanted to come across as intimidating so that the humans felt a little bit uneasy about what they were planning.

We walked for what felt like years, but it couldn't have been more than two hours. The journey had taken longer since Cole and Rowan had had to slow their pace down to match mine, and towards the end, they had begun to walk next to me. Cole would side-eye me, silently checking how I was doing, but he would look away before I could make eye contact with him.

"Okay," Rowan spoke quietly. "Let's not mention what we know."

I nodded.

"The aim here is to be casual and polite," Cole said, gaining him an arched brow from Rowan.

"What's your version of casual and polite?" he questioned comedically, a small smile reaching his face before it dropped.

He was in a good mood. Usually Rowan was moody and up-tight. It was strange.

"We want the humans to believe that this is just a casual visit," Cole continued as we gazed up at the large complex. It looked pristine, as if it had been built yesterday. It looked to be about three stories high, the windows delicately placed upon the white bricks.

It was a hell of a lot nicer than anything we had had back at the colony, and I knew that deep down, the humans would be impressed by their accommodation. Perhaps it would help with convincing them that the wolves weren't as bad as they believed.

"Please don't touch your stomach," Cole whispered to me as he placed his hand on the small of my back, encouraging me to step into the lobby of the apartment.

I nodded, gulping, anxiety racing through me. I hadn't been this nervous this morning, but it was now hitting me full force. What if the humans saw straight through me and began to berate us? I wouldn't know how to handle them yelling and accusing me of being a traitor. I would want to scream back, but I understood that that wouldn't help the situation.

"They know we're coming," Rowan said, gazing at the clock on the wall. "They should be down any second."

I leaned against the desk in the corner of the room, taking deep breaths and watching the iron spiral stairs, longing for the humans to come down them. The sooner they did, the sooner we could leave. I felt sick.

Rowan and Cole continued to chat, but this time, they sounded less tense, and the subject seemed unimportant, losing my interest. I tapped my fingers against my legs as I counted the seconds that passed by, my ears perking up once I heard footsteps echo through the large lobby.

The small group of humans rounded the corner, all of their expressions blank as they gazed at Cole and Rowan, then at me. Kassandra was among them, and she smiled awkwardly at us as she stood at the back of the group.

"We take it you've come to talk?" stated one of the men at the front, his muscles bulging out his shirt that looked freshly washed and un-creased. It appeared that the wolves had provided them with clothing, another incentive for the humans to leave us be.

"We haven't come to talk exactly," Cole said, shrugging. "We just wanted to ensure that you were all settling in nicely."

"We take it that you are all satisfied with your room?" Rowan chimed in.

"They're beautiful," one of the older ladies spoke, nodding once, her tone slightly cold, but I could tell that she was trying to remain polite.

"I'm glad to hear it," Cole said, moving over to the couch in the corner of the room and settling down, picking up a book from a large pile of them on the wooden table, humming as he skimmed through it. The humans had been provided with entertainment, books and cooking instruments having been given to them.

Rowan had explained how they had even been given some old-fashioned game that the wolves enjoyed playing, but the humans had expressed their confusion with it.

One of the men made his way over to the couch also, settling on the other side of it to Cole, beginning to engage in conversation. I turned my attention towards Kassandra, and she made her way over to me and nodded as a greeting.

"How is Finn?" she asked impatiently, cracking her knuckles with anticipation.

My eyes scanned the room, and I noticed the way Cole cocked his head at Kassandra, watching her intently to ensure that she wasn't going to do anything. But, I knew that even if she did attempt to, Rowan and Cole could have her in a head-lock before she could.

"He's doing better," I told her. "He's been asking about you."

Kassandra smiled sadly and sighed, turning to watch one of the other humans shuffle awkwardly, leaning back against the wall as he refused to engage in conversation with us. I smiled at him, but he dropped his gaze, shaking his head and mumbling to himself.

Rowan moved over to us, a subtle order that Cole had probably given him, raising his brows at Kassandra. "I've heard there's some confusion with the game that I provided you with. Perhaps we could explain it and you could teach Reya how to play?"

"We aren't here to play games," snapped the man leaning up against the wall, his body moving stealthily over to Rowan. He was almost a foot smaller than him, but he glared up at the wolf as if he was a beast himself, his eyes dark and hostile.

"As we've said, you are welcome to leave if you would like," Rowan explained, crossing his arms over his chest. "We are trying to help you here by giving you somewhere to live while you decide what you want to do."

"We don't want your help."

"Christopher, stop," muttered the human man from the couch near Cole, shaking his head. "Don't start anything that you don't intend to finish."

"Oh," chuckled Christopher as he continued to glare up at Rowan. "I intend to finish it."

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