It didn't take long before both Alex and Marcus were sitting in my living room. Peter had already filled them in on what had happened but there was still one important question that hung in the air.
"How are you still alive?" Alex asked me, his brows knitted in confusion. "With the amount of blood we found you shouldn't even be walking around."
I shrugged. "I have no idea. I know how hurt I was and when I woke up here I was pretty much healed." I showed them the pink scar that ran across my stomach.
"Is there anything you can remember after the wolves left?" Marcus rumbled as he inspected the wound a little closer than I would have liked. I jumped back in surprise when I felt his fingers trace the newly healed scar.
I thought about it while I attempted to slow my racing heart. "Someone else was there." I closed my eyes as I tried to grab onto the fuzzy memory. "I remember smelling chocolate and I think he laughed at me."
"I mean that's not hard to do." Peter quipped with a grin.
"That scent profile doesn't match any of our wolves." Alex continued. "That could mean a rouge passed through our territory, or one of the other packs has people here. Either way it's not a great outcome. The fact that this stranger seemed to be able to heal you raises even more questions. Like why are they here? Are they a friend, foe, or even just a neutral party that was passing through?"
"I can verify that it isn't anyone from my pack either." Marcus confirmed. "That means there is a security breech here and Riley will not be safe in this region even if we do try to hide him in one of the safe houses."
This was it. Marcus was going to suggest I go with him. I knew this would have been the best option to keep me safe but I still didn't like it. "But they saved my life." I started as my hands started to shake.
The look that Marcus turned on me was gentle and patient. It made my breath hitch and my heart run laps around my chest. No one should have been allowed to look that good. "Riley I know you are scared and didn't know about the contract between myself and your family. It is not my intention to take your choice away from you. Your mother signed that contract to keep you safe after you didn't present with a wolf. She was already sick at that point and knew she wouldn't be around to help you."
I didn't know what to say as I wasn't expecting Marcus to talk to me like I was a person instead of how the rest of the pack treated me. He had shared more information in the past few minutes than I got the entire time I had lived with the pack.
"But I thought the contract was made and signed when I was born." I looked confused and my head was starting to hurt with all this new information I was finding out about my own life.
Marcus sighed. "Yes there was a contract written up for an arranged mate bond to strengthen both of our territories. I was still a child at the time so that contract would have been between my father and yours. However when I reached maturity and took over my pack as Alpha I had the contract amended with your mother. I wanted to make sure you had a choice, and no matter what you decided I wanted to make sure you had a place among my pack so that I could protect you."
"And my father just allowed that change?" I was genuinely surprised that my father would be ok with a change like that.
"He wasn't always this cold and detached Riley." Alex pointed out.
I thought about everything that I had learned and weighed all of my options. As much as I wanted to just head back to school, to try to disappear in any of the larger human cities I would be alone and defenceless if Cynthia got wind of my survival and decided to hunt me down. I took a deep breath and looked up at Marcus. "Ok I will go with you but I want my own space and I want to find out who decided I was worth saving."
Marcus nodded. "Pack a bag and be ready to move. Alex can get you off pack territory and I will rendezvous with you on neutral ground."
"When?"
"My staff and I are planning on leaving tomorrow afternoon but you will be heading out tonight under the cover of dark."
It didn't take long to come up with the plan to get me away from the pack. Alex couldn't take me in the pack vehicle, it would be too conspicuous. He also couldn't be away from his duties for that long so Peter was going to borrow Alex's bike and take me to an old safe house on neutral territory. If anyone asked about Peter's absence Alex would just inform them that he had put Peter on patrol.
There was still a chance of getting caught but it was the best plan we had in such a short amount of time.
After everyone left I went upstairs to pack my things. Peter had smuggled out any of my belongings from the pack house already so I had my sketchbook, pencils, and phone charger shoved in my bag. I rummaged around to find my toiletry bag and was relieved to find the little white bottle of suppressants still inside. I hadn't been able to take them this morning but decided to take the dose tonight before I was shoved in a car with Marcus. The last thing I needed was to go into heat while trapped inside a moving metal box with a powerful Alpha.
Peter returned a couple of hours later as he walked a sleek black motorcycle up to the front porch of the house. I was careful to make sure all of the lights were turned off in the house and everything was put back where I had gotten them from. The old ruined suit and towel I had used were shoved in the back of my closet and covered with old laundry and blankets. I was pretty sure they would not be found as no one went into the house anymore.
"Ready?" Peter asked as I slipped through the door, locked it, and placed the key back in its hiding place under one of the garden stones at the front of the house.
I nodded and hefted the bag on my shoulder.
"Good. We will need to walk until we are a good distance away from the village so no one hears the bike." Peter explained as he handed me a helmet and continued to walk down the dark street. It was around two in the morning and all the houses on this small residential street were quiet. We opted to take a less travelled route out of the village instead of going through the downtown core where all the shops were.
The ride was a quiet one as we got onto the highway and headed west, away from the glow of the city beyond the Dark Pine village where I would have been headed if I was taking the train back to the college. How quickly my life had changed.
After around half an hour Peter pulled off onto a gravel road and headed to what looked like an old farm house. From a first glance it seemed to have been abandoned but when Peter lead me to the back of the building and opened the door it revealed a space that was renovated and clean.
"This safe house doesn't get used much these days but it is kept clean and stocked."
"Thanks for helping me Peter." I looked at the friend I had grown up with, the one that protected me from school yard bullies, and wondered if I would ever see him again.
"This isn't goodbye Riley." He closed the gap between us and gave me a quick hug. "Once you are safe you are free to come home."
It was a nice thought but Dark Pine stopped feeling like home after my mom had died. I didn't want to tell that to Peter though. He already had enough to deal with so I just smiled and nodded at him.
"I would have stayed with you if I could but I can't be gone for too long without anyone questioning where I went. Marcus will be here in about ten hours, just lay low, get some rest, and stay alive." Peter smiled at me and closed the door behind him with a soft click. I heard the motorcycle head down the drive, then silence. I was alone in a strange place waiting for an Alpha I barely knew in hopes that he would be able to keep me alive until Cynthia was taken down and it was safe for me to go back to a normal life.