3

When I wake up and the dogs shake my shoulders to get me to open the door, I realize I'm in the basement. I feel out of it, tired and sore from all the running and carrying the bike and the dogs on my back. When Juana yells from the other side of the door, I feel like I'm going to fall over. "Open up, chick, I have food!"

That is the thing that has pushed me the most so far. When I get up, the dogs look sad. I try to talk, but it hurts to even try. Instead, I open the door, and when I see her, I ask her to wail and take the bag she is holding. "Do you sell items for dogs?" The dogs behind me are growling at what I'm saying.

I turn around to see that they are angry about what I asked, and when I hear Juana gasp and go back to the kitchen, I raise my eyebrows and ask, "What did I say?" When I got back to the basement, I sat down on the same sofa and started to eat my whopper. Then I looked down and saw that I had broken my new nails. Juana comes with two huge bowls full of stake as she eats more. She then walks over to me and sits down next to me with her own bag of food.

"Those are black wolves, and they look like pups. It's strange that they're here because they're common in the north. Where did you find them?" I answer her as I chew my food.

"In a wired metal box with my dad's hunting gear. He's not supposed to be hunting in these woods." When Juana heard the answer, she stopped herself from taking a bite of her food.

"Going hunting on your mom's lawn? I had no idea he wanted to die so much." She says yes, and I raise my eyebrows, make a line with my lips, and take a deep breath. Yes, that's what my dad would say.

"I can't believe they're doing this to me. I've done nothing but be born, and now they're treating me like this." I start reminiscing with Juana, as I usually do in this room because I know the walls don't talk and I feel safe enough to let all my feelings out.

Juana pats and rubs my back as I cry. Ever since I woke up, I've felt like the whole world is against me and that running is the only way to save myself. I had promised my parents that I would never become their prey, but that's exactly what I've become.

As I wipe my tears away with my hands, the wolves come up to me and put their muzzles on my lap. Juana finishes eating, takes my empty bag, and gets up to put the wolves' plates away. Just then, Jose comes down the stairs to turn on the broken TV. It's broken because all you can see is black and white. It's an old, big block of a TV. When the news comes on, my parents are wearing their business suits, the ones they wear when they go out in public.

"Please, whoever has my daughter, Chamicka, wherever you are, we're sorry for anything we did wrong. All we want is for you to come home safe and sound. My mom starts to cry, but I know it's all fake because she's never cried for me, not even when she was going to shoot me.

The news kept showing pictures, and the last place they found me was in the restaurant where they showed Ulysses being taken to the police station. This made me stand up because Ulysses hadn't done anything wrong; he was just trying to help me get away from the people who were looking for me.

"That's Ulysses, right?" Juana asks, and I can't answer because I'm getting angry. This is the worst excuse my parents have ever given.

When did they start using kids? Ulysses never did anything to make an enemy. In fact, he was always kind to the people around him. Yes, he was stubborn and a bit of a joker, but he was a good kid. I grab a pillow and start yelling into it because I'm so angry.

"We are willing to pay a bounty of $50 million to anyone who brings my daughter back to either my estate or her mother's estate. If you know anything, you can contact the local police in Venezuela or here. Chamicka, we will get you back home even if it's the last thing I do in this life."

I hear my father talking, and the pillow I was holding slips out of my hands and lands on the floor. The news kept going, but I didn't hear a thing because I was falling over from feeling dizzy.

Cooper's POV

I felt terrible when I heard her scream, but I couldn't do anything because I'm pretending to be a stupid common wolf. Hearing this guy talk about how determined he is to get her back by buying her is sick. I don't know him, but I can tell he has bad news. I let out a growl because I'm getting angrier than she is. When I feel her fall, I catch her just in time. If I hadn't, her face would have hit the floor.

"Shoot Chamika, you made me feel scared!" The boy yells, "I don't know who he is, but he seems like a nice person, don't make me doubt you!"

"Talking to yourself instead of us, Cooper?" The smartest wolf comes through the link.

Juana takes her and puts her right on the sofa. Then she smacks the boy's hand, which he starts to rub. "Take her here, I'll get some clothes for her to change into, tell her mother what's been going on, and bring a fan and a sheet for her, she's had a hell of a birthday," she says.

When the boy leaves, she sits next to her head and moves Chicka's hair out of her face so she can turn back to the TV. I smile when I hear her name.

I ask my twin, "Chicka sounds catchy, and her name, Chamicka, is unique. It fits her spunky personality, but I wonder who is lying to her."

"Easy, it's clear they're not her real parents. If they are, she's much better off with them, and we need to keep her safe," Harper says, and I give him a look.

'WE? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I tell him, "As soon as we get our memories back, we're leaving." He growls at me.

"No, we're not. Have you already forgotten where she picked us up and ran with us in her backpack?' His words make me roll my eyes.

Yes, I do remember, but she is useless and we could die if we stuck with her. Maybe we could drop her off somewhere safe, away from her parents, but we also need to get the hell out of here.

Harper tells me, "We won't leave her, and she won't do that to us either, so just deal with it," and I stay quiet while I think of a way to go that won't scare her.

"Do you think we should stay here when she wakes up?" I want to know what this pair knows.

"Yes, for her safety, at least until we know for sure what the smells are, which I can't do right now, can you?" When he asks me, I get annoyed because I don't always notice what the girl is or isn't smelling. I start to smell the air again, but this time I don't smell chocolate or cotton candy.

"Okay, that's wired, but I don't smell anything. Why did that happen?" When I ask my twin what he is thinking, he tilts his head and puts one ear down.

"I think she's just out cold, but I don't know for sure because I didn't pay much attention in mating class back home." I roll my eyes because of all the classes I missed, that one was the only one I slept through.

"Okay, we'll leave that alone, but isn't that part of the mate class?" He nods once when I tell him.

"I'm not sure, but we can't leave her until we know she's safe, no matter where that is. Cooper, what do you think? I look at him with irritation, but I won't say that she doesn't need that. I'm not a babysitter, after all. I grumble because I don't like how things are going.

"It's not forever, it's just a couple of years, but you know what that means if she turns out to be our mate, right?" I agree with that.

Everyone knows that, but what worries me most is what we're not telling her, or rather, what we're already telling her. Juana gets up to help her brother, and then I see my twin go lay next to her. I move to the other side of the bed when I decide to ask him through our link.

"Will she get upset if she finds out about our half shift?" Harper's ears stand up, and he moves his eyes to look at me.

"Then we'll tell her slowly, because just hearing this made her faint, and I don't want to hurt her. Let's not think about this until we're sure she's our mate, and then we'll find a way to tell her, okay?" He asks me, and I look at her face while she's sleeping. I don't know why, but I lick her cheek.