‘We need to find an Alpha and a pack, Andreas. I can’t continue to be a rogue. We’re pack animals. This is killing me,’ Ares says dejectedly, as we run through the trees at the back of the Moonstone pack territory.

‘I know, buddy. But it’s not safe. We can’t return home, and joining a pack puts them in danger. So instead, we need to concentrate on finding out who attacked our pack and why. And we need to find the other lycans that are like us.’

‘I know,’ he sighs. ‘Do you think Athena is still here?’

‘Noah said that she left the motel with the pack Beta, so I assume they came back here. Hopefully, the old man at reception gave her our number.’

‘Do you think she’ll call?’

‘I probably wouldn’t with what’s been happening.’

Ares stops suddenly, his hackles raised. ‘Someone is coming. If their warriors see us coming this way, they will attack,’ Ares warns.

‘We need to get off their territory. Over there, up the hill a bit,’ I instruct Ares. He turns in that direction, running back through the river to lose our scent. He makes his way up the hill and ducks down behind a large bush as we see two giant wolves run through the trees’ opening.

‘Andreas! Look! They have crescent moons like us!’ Ares hums excitedly.

He is about to jump out of the bushes, but I pull him back in. ‘We don’t know who they are, Ares. Patience, buddy.’

The female lycan has me completely mesmerized. Silver speckles thread across her jet-black fur. I’ve never seen a wolf as massive as her. I can’t keep my eyes off her, and I feel compelled to get closer to her. We hear the male shift and ask the female what’s going on. She sniffs around a little more before shifting.

‘Wait, that’s Athena,’ I gasp as the wind picks up and a sweet citrus scent hits us hard, and it takes all of my strength to hold Ares back.

‘Mate!’ Ares says excitedly, prancing up and down. ‘We have to go to her!’ Ares says, trying to move, but I force the shift to take control so he can’t give our position away.

‘We can’t, Ares. Not yet!’

‘But she’s our mate!’ He whimpers.

‘We can’t just run to her, Ares. She doesn’t know us, and we don’t know who that male is.’ I continue to watch them as Athena and the male look around as if trying to find something.

‘But he has a moon marking like us. So, he’s one of us!’

‘That doesn’t mean he can be trusted. We need to find out more,’ I try soothing him.

We watch Athena and the male shift back into their wolf form and run back into the Moonstone territory.

‘We have to go after her!’ Ares growls.

‘We need to find out what’s happening first, Ares. They’re here for a reason. We need to get the files that Doctor Shields has. Please trust me,’ I plead with him.

He whimpers but stands down.

‘We need to shift and see if we can get to the doctor’s office,’ I say. ‘We will be with our mate soon, Ares. I promise.’

We shift, and we make our way back into the territory.

‘Where are all of their patrols?’ Ares asks with concern as we come to the edge of the trees in the packs’ neighbourhood. ‘We should have at least seen some of them.’

‘I don’t know. Something seems off,’ I say. We shift, and I look up and down the street, seeing no one around. I can’t even hear any training happening on the oval.

‘Do they not train today? That was supposed to be our cover.’ Ares focuses our hearing, but it’s quiet.

Suddenly, we hear a commotion coming from the pack hall.

‘They must be having a pack meeting. This is our chance,’ I say and run up the street to the building we’ve been scouting for the last few days, the doctor’s office.

I go to the back of the office and find a window open. I climb in, then kneel quietly to ensure no one else is in the building. When I know it’s clear, I go over to the filing cabinet and look for the files on all the chosen lycans.

I start pulling files out and going through them, but I can’t find the ones I’m looking for. ‘Shit! Where are they?!’

I throw files on the floor in a panic, trying to find the files Alpha Peter told me about. I move to the second and third draws, but the files are not there either, so I slam the draw closed, frustrated.

‘It sounds like that commotion is heading this way, Andreas. We need to go,’ Ares warns me.

‘But the files! We need them to find the others!’ I yell at him.

‘There’s two of them here! We’ll keep an eye on them!’ He yells and forces the shift.

We jump out the window and run back into the tree line.

After running for about half an hour, we find our way back to the small cave we found a few days ago after scouting the territory. It looks over part of the Moonstone territory and gives us a clear view of the pack house and main street, and none of their warriors seem to come up this way. ‘We can’t keep doing this, Andreas. You have to let people in, eventually. We’ve been on the run for too long,’ Ares pleads with me.

‘That’s how we’ve stayed alive, Ares. Those bastards nearly killed our entire pack because of us,’ I say as pain squeezes my chest and sorrow washes over me like a tidal wave.

‘We can’t stay in hiding forever. I know we left the pack to protect the remaining members, but we’ve been a rogue for nearly five years now. It’s taking its toll on both of us. And now we know we have a mate out there.’ Hope fills his voice for the first time in a long time.

‘It could put her in more danger having us as her mate. You know they’re still looking for us.’

‘Or we could be the ones to save her, Andreas. What if she’s in more danger not having us by her side?’ He tries to reason with me.

‘We’ll keep an eye on her. But, either way, we have to be cautious exposing that we’re alive.’

Ares whimpers and settles in the back of my mind, leaving me with my thoughts. I lean against the cave wall and look over the pack house, hoping to catch a glimpse of Athena, but she’s nowhere to be seen. I hope she’s safe.