I had no choice but to give into the chase. It seemed Vincent never made my life easy.

"Vincent!" I called out his name again, my hands cuffed around my mouth.

I'd run off as soon as Amaury finished telling me of the events from Vincent's childhood; with a cloak in hand just in case. Mariah told me Vincent still hadn't come back from his run but I knew he was nearby in the area. The very faint smell of him was still fused along this path.

That meant he could hear me. If he could hear me, that meant he was ignoring me. I couldn't have been too sure. But I couldn't put anything past him when he'd been avoiding me, and was making it obvious that he was.

I placed my hands on my hips, a growl slipping through my lips before I could stop it. "Where the hell is he? He couldn't have gone that far," I muttered. Was he really going to make me chase after him? That damned alpha. He was probably getting a kick out of this.

"Damnit, stop being like this already and talk to me!" I shouted.

When I, again, received no answer I pulled at my hair and let loose what sounded like a banshee scream. It may not have been the brightest idea for me to have been screaming in the middle of the forest like I'd lost my damn mind, however, I didn't know any better right now.

My ache to talk to him was at an all-time new high. Dare I'd even say . . . I missed him? No, I missed his company. And I only missed it because I'd gotten used to it. Either way, it didn't change the fact that there was a part of me that craved his presence.

"Fine. Okay. I'll just fuck off then." I puffed out my cheeks, exhaling the air I'd inflated.

The moment I had turned back in the direction I'd been walking; a crack reached my ears. I froze. A few more noises, similar to that of leaves crunching into bits, projected from the same direction. Whoever was there was in hot pursuit of my trail.

My ears began twitching, my nose doing the same. My legs were ready to take off if I needed to. But I waited a few more heartbeats. I waited until the noises came to a complete stop and I felt a presence lingering behind me.

"So, you were hiding from me. Seems like you even went as far as to hide your scent too." I folded my arms, my eyebrow shooting up in the process as I turned to the culprit. "Didn't want to see me that badly?"

"It's not like that . . . exactly." Vincent shrugged. There were casual clothes for outdoors hugging his body. A folded cloak rested on his shoulders. He must not have been running in wolf form anymore. Was he just wandering around out here then? Seemed like it.

"Yeah. Uh-huh." I nodded along.

He walked forward and stopped at a safe distance across from me. "I'm surprised you found me this quickly," he said, changing the subject.

"I learned from some of the best, didn't I?" My nonchalant attitude matched his own.

That brought a chuckle out of him. "That is true."

"Vincent," I started with a sigh, "I wanted to talk. For real. You can't keep running and hiding from me forever. I live with you as your hostage, remember?" I joked in hopes of lifting some of the awkward tension. It didn't do what I'd intended for it to do, but he rolled his eyes, so that was as much of a win in my book. It was pretty obvious he wasn't going to give me more than that. So, I decided to skip over the small talk.

Jumping straight to the point, I asked, "What happened three nights ago?"

He decided to play dumb. "What are you talking about?"

I scoffed. "You ran. As soon as the night was over. And now, well, look at you. Still avoiding me, like we never even sat together and shared a conversation that night."

"Genesis, you're overthinking things again—"

"Bullshit," I cut him off with a snarl. His jaw clenched tight, his eyes dropping to the ground.

"You won't look me in the eyes as I'm talking. All of a sudden, you're the busiest alpha on the planet too. Ha! Give me a break, Vincent. Don't forget how much time we've spent with each other. It's safe to say I know you. Maybe even better than you know yourself sometimes."

Vincent scoffed. "You keep living in that fantasy land of yours."

"Tch." I sucked my teeth. "You're as stubborn as always!"

"I beg to differ," he bickered back.

"Okay then, tell me I'm wrong. You can't stop thinking about that night either, can you? Or else you wouldn't be out here, instead of in Calamitous where you belong. Just admit it! What's going on with you? What is this!?" I gestured between us when I emphasized the word this.

He massaged the side of his head, muttering under his breath, in a tone so low I almost hadn't heard him, "I can't think straight with you hanging around."

"Why is that then? It's not like I've invaded your personal space," I challenged, "my presence isn't something new. Am I in your head? Is that it?"

"Genesis," he growled, "drop it."

"How am I supposed to drop it when you keep acting like—?"

I'd barely gotten the rest of my sentence out when the next set of events felt like it'd flashed by in the matter of a second. Vincent was no longer standing a safe distance away from me, but in my face. "Hush." His voice grew stern.

I was too focused on his hand flattened over my mouth to comprehend what was happening around us. My chest tightened at the gesture. All I could do was inhale his scent—an aroma so sweet I could taste it on the tip of my tongue. I'd noticed his nose flare while he bared his canines, a low growl easing from between his lips. This was giving me deja vu.

I tried to whisper, "V-Vincent—"

"Shh." He used his other hand to press a finger to his lips. The look in his eyes was pleading with me to follow his instructions. So, I did so with no hesitation. No questions asked. That's when I felt it. Something was lurking.

"Here's what's going to happen." His breath fanned against my ear as he leaned over to whisper to me. "You're going to follow my lead. Okay?" I wasted no time nodding in agreement.

My chest tightened even more. This time, in fear of the threat closing in on us. I knew my senses weren't as good as Vincent's were. But I could at least sense a threat. This wasn't a threat I was able to detect without Vincent bringing it to my attention. Somehow, he was able to sense it though. At first glance too. And if he was this alarmed, that could only mean one thing.

This was something that wasn't meant to be taken lightly.

My eyes darted around. Over his shoulders. Backwards, behind me. I saw nothing. Nothing that was obvious enough to scream danger. That was my initial thought. However, the portion of black sticking out from in between the trees behind him was enough to have me gasping for air.

I felt warmth in my hand. It hadn't hit me until I realized my hand had shot out and grabbed something—something that turned out to be Vincent's hand. I thought he'd have been quick to let go but I was given the opposite reaction.

He allowed me to hold his hand in a firm grip, even though it was clear he was fighting with himself on the inside. But he saved us the bickering. More than likely because our lives were on the line here, and one wrong move would have fucked us both.

"Relax, Gen. You have to relax"—he squeezed my hand—"tell me where it is."

Gen? Since when were we comfortable enough to use shortened versions of our names as nicknames when referring to each other? Not to mention, this was possibly the softest tone Vincent had ever used when addressing me. I didn't have a chance to put much thought into his weird change of behavior though because he was squeezing my hand again; harder this time.

"Where. Is. It?" he snapped.

I shook myself out of my daze and used my eyes to point him in the direction of it. Pure darkness—a solid shape that was made up of nothing but a black mist. But the dark blur outlined something almost similar to that of a dark figure. It wasn't a figure though. I knew that much.

"There's more than one now. . ." I replied.

On cue, Vincent threw a glance back over his shoulder. I could tell when he spotted them because his grip on me tightened. The shadows weren't very discrete in their stalking. They might not have been trying to be discrete at all. I found it strange that they weren't attacking us.

Could they have been waiting on us to make the first move?

"One. . . Two. . . Three. . ." Vincent counted.

There were four of them. Each creeping around in between the trees. Two of which were easing around to the side I was standing on. We were surrounded. An ambush. Was that what this was? But for this to have been an ambush, someone needed to know we were here. Shit, it was too much of a coincidence.

"It's them," I whispered, my voice shaky, "it's them. It's the shadows."

"We've got to go. . ." he warned.

I couldn't move.

"Genesis," he seethed. "It's time to move."

I was stuck in my spot. My legs wouldn't work.

"Fuck it," was what it sounded like he muttered under his breath. I squeaked in surprise at the strength in his grip, as he practically snatched my body behind his. If not for our threaded hands, I wouldn't have been able to keep up with his movements.

The feeling in the air grew heavier with every step we took. Could it have been our adrenaline? A dose of fear? No, I was wrong. None of this was our doing. What we were feeling was coming from the blurs of darkness chasing us. Whispers. I could hear all kinds of whispers.

The whispers weren't very different from the whispers I'd been hearing in my nightmares most nights. My breath was out of control. Shit, no. No, no, no. I couldn't go into a panic attack right now. Fuck, this couldn't be happening.

"Genesis, I'm going to need you to pick up the pace!" Vincent yelled back.

"I c-can't breathe," I panicked.

His eyes were wide with fear when he looked back at me again. "Shit," he cussed under his breath. "We need to shift."

"What!? I can't!"

"You can," he stated. "Breathe. In and out. Remember what I taught you."

"I-I. . ." I closed my eyes and tried. I tried to breathe. No matter how much effort I put into it, it was useless. My thoughts were too heavy to focus on shifting into a wolf. My body was too busy trying to fight off the panic attack that wanted control of my lungs.

"I'm sorry, Vincent. I can't do it. I-I. . ." I was on the verge of tears.

"Son of a bitch," he cussed under his breath again. "It's okay, it's okay," he murmured.

"You can," another voice cut in.

I looked around in a frenzy, my eyebrows drawn together.

"Follow Vincent's directions. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat. Imagine yourself running as my wolf. You don't need the full moon to do this. The longer you have it set in your mind that you must depend on it, the more you set yourself up for failure.

"You need to become dependent on yourself and your abilities as a wolf. You are capable of doing this on your own. Focus, Genesis. Just breathe. In and out. Nature is your ally. Use it to your advantage." Amaury's voice lit a fuse in my mind.

I couldn't remember much else of what happened after that. My eyes fell shut again. I relaxed and breathed, just like the day Vincent and I were driving up the mountain after meeting with my mom. All the times I could recall seeing Amaury's wolf—imagining Amaury's wolf—toyed with my mind from our first encounter, to my first shift, to everything else.

I focused on the warmth of Vincent's hand in mine as we ran, replacing it as the warmth of Amaury's wolf heating up my body. My fingers began to slip from Vincent's grasp as I tried to imagine myself in a state of a hunger, prey running in front of me, full moon out above.

Before I knew it, I couldn't stop the transition even if I wanted to. The feeling in my bones was similar to the aching feeling I'd felt during the first time I'd ever shifted under the full moon; an overall less painful experience than the first time, but more uncomfortable.

I could feel my blood pumping, my mind spiraling, and finally, my eyes opened.

There was a sense of pride thumping in my chest as I realized what I'd done. Despite our life-or-death situation, Vincent's face broke out into a goofy, boyish grin at the sight of me shifting. I would have returned his joyful expression if not for the threat behind us, and the fact that I wasn't in human form. The emotions didn't last long anyways though.

I'd noticed the cloak I'd brought with me, dropped to the ground. I quickly bit into the fabric to hold it in between my jaw, prepared to run again. When I'd looked back up, I fully expected Vincent to have shifted as well. But there was something wrong. He was no longer grinning.

His eyebrows were pulled together as if he was lost deep in thought, his eyes rushing over me a couple times. After all that motivating, he did for me, he was frozen stiff now. Shit, we were going to get killed if he didn't shift. What the hell was he doing?

I attempted to growl to get his attention. He didn't budge. Only stared. I howled this time. He just stood there. I rotated my head around, eyeing the shadows quickly closing in on us in the distance. Damnit, Vincent! I couldn't figure out what the hell he was thinking.

I resorted to my last option; which was to whimper. When he'd heard the soft cries from my mouth, he instantly snapped out of it. "Oh fuck," he spat under his breath.

I whimpered again and tossed my head back, gesturing towards the creatures gaining on us. That's when I'd spotted my glasses on the ground in front of me as well. How could I forget about my glasses!? I used the tip of my nose to try and lift them, but to no avail.

"Shit." Vincent shot me a side-eyed glance, then looked down to see what I was doing. He grabbed my glasses for me and slipped them into one of the pockets of his cloak. He then threw his cloak forward, his body following behind the article of clothing as he shifted in mid-air, catching the cloak with his teeth before it hit the ground.

Our paws began thumping against the ground at full-speed. Vincent's wolf's muscles were tense. Not from our sprinting either. He knew like I knew that we weren't going to make it. Calamitous' entrance was too far, and the shadows were already too close. That didn't stop us from running though.

Fucking hell, I couldn't die. Not like this. Not now.

My heart picked up speed.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Was another panic attack starting up?

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out.

A growl of frustration slipped through my teeth.

My coping methods weren't bringing me comfort anymore. Damnit, I was slowing down.

"Find your way to the tunnel. Now. Hurry, Genesis." Amaury's voice dripped with urgence. I didn't bother questioning him or trying to argue with his choice of hiding place.

I kicked my hind legs back with more force, helping myself run faster, and take the lead ahead of Vincent. Vincent made a noise behind me, but I just shot him a look to follow me, hoping he'd catch on. At first, it looked as though he was going to be stubborn. But I sighed in relief when he chose to listen to me.

A few feet ahead, I could spot the dark tunnel entrance. I dared to look behind us, almost screeching in terror when I saw just how less space there now was between us and the four different blobs of darkness speeding up.

Just a few more steps, my mind was yelling.

There were too many thoughts running through my head that I couldn't focus on one. Why would Amaury instruct us to head for the tunnel? Would we really be safe? I didn't understand a single thing, including how the tunnel would keep the shadows at bay.

It wasn't like we had much of a choice though, because the next thing I knew, Vincent and I were bolting into the tunnel, our bodies collapsing beneath us as we rolled across the ground from being unable to stop soon enough.

I could feel my body regressing back into human form, my breathing just as fast as my racing heart. My eyes immediately found the entrance again. To my surprise, the outside was clear. It was so clear; it was almost as if we'd never been chased.

"Holy shit. . . They actually stopped. . . I can't believe that worked. . ." I panted, laughing.

The exhaustion kicked in, leaving us as two heavily breathing, naked bodies, lying on the cold, hard tunnel floors. Vincent didn't say a word. He instead tried to catch his breath as he turned to lay flat on his back. I avoided my gaze dropping anywhere below his waist.

As I sat up and grabbed my cloak, I turned my back to Vincent to cover myself. "Do you want to explain to me what the hell happened back there?" I had just finished pulling my cloak over my head when I spoke.

"You. . . Y-you smell like him. . ." was all he said.

I froze.

"You even look like him . . . like his wolf," Vincent said, more sternly this time.

I knew where this was going. I should have realized why he was startled sooner.

I slowly turned back around to face him. By now, his cloak was covering his body. But he was staring directly at my face. I sucked in a deep breath, gulping. "W-what are you—?"

"My brother, Genesis. I could smell him all over you." Vincent snarled and stood to his feet. He took a step back from me, as if he couldn't believe he knew the person standing in front of him. "T-that's his wolf. I know Amaury's wolf, Genesis. I-I can't believe it. . ."

"Hey, hey. Vincent. Look at me." I hurried to my feet, taking a step towards him. "I can explain. Okay? I can explain. J-just give me a chance."

His eyes were wide, still reeling in the discovery. "Why? I don't . . . I don't understand." He took another step back.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no. This was all wrong. Vincent wasn't supposed to find out this way. If I'd known Amaury's wolf was still carrying his scent, I'd have thought this out better. I might've even had time to prepare an explanation beforehand. I guess I should have expected his scent to linger, considering the circumstances. But I didn't.

"I-it's still me, Vincent. It's still me. Let me explain. . ." I prevented myself from taking another step towards him when I'd noticed his hands were now trembling, curling at his sides. I couldn't tell if he was pissed, frightened, or confused. He might've been a mix of all three.

"Vincent. . . Hear me out. Please?" We had just started talking again. I'd found a chance to try and clear things up between us but it appeared this was another issue that was going to put another damper on those plans.

"Stop. I-I need a moment. . . To think." He cleared his throat and turned his back to me, walking further down the tunnel until I could hardly make him out in the darkness.