CHAPTER SIX-A SMALL WORLD

Rhett broke branches over his knee then placed them on the stack of wood that was soon to be their campfire. "Can you light those Gretchen? I bet you're a Firestarter like Tessa."

After four days of ignoring her captors, Gretchen was exhausted physically and mentally and she'd resigned to the fact that she was never getting to her family. Damien was a wrecking ball and all those doors and walls Gretchen put up against him were beginning to topple over

Pulling her legs tightly against her chest as she rested her chin against her knee, Gretchen sighed as the emptiness filled her chest. "I can't do anything anymore. I lost it all when I crossed over."

The air of sadness was heavy and Rhett was beginning to side more and more with his new Lycan companion. He'd tried to convince Damien to just tell her the truth, but it wasn't his place to interfere with another man's relationship, whether or not Gretchen knew she was in one. "Are you shitting me? That fucking sucks. I'm sorry."

Wiping the dirt off her hands, Gretchen huffed out through her nose. "You'd all be dead right now otherwise, believe that."

Damien sat down beside her and although he knew it would only agitate her, he couldn't help but want to comfort Gretchen. "It will come back to you, Gretchen, you'll see. You're just too angry right now. Your minds not right."

Rolling her eyes away from him, Gretchen started chewing nervously on her thumb. The last thing she wanted was to give Damien the satisfaction of seeing her fall apart again. "Wow, thanks Captain Obvious. I was wondering when you were going to chime in again."

Smirking to himself for is uncanny ability to always say the wrong thing, Damien leaned in closer to her. He could feel every negative emotion and the hunger pangs growing inside her. "You should eat something. You can't keep going on like this."

As his voice tore through her ears like a tidal wave of daggers, Gretchen cupped her hands over her ears as tried her best to drown out the ancient warlock. Every breath that came from his lips was like another band aid being ripped from her battered mind and she just wanted a minute of peace before the sharp pain of reality came back. "Goddamn it Damien, stop! Just stop fucking talking to me."

The always sweet and quiet Jason, put his hand on Gretchen's shoulder and it lingered there. "Hey, hey. Stop, Gretchen. He's trying to take care of you. "

Gretchen sucked back a breath through her nose and turned to Jason then put her head against his hand. Damien's eyes snapped to it and he clenched his jaw before looking away because he realized then that it wasn't that Gretchen didn't want to be comforted, she just didn't want it from him.

With the flash of a vision of Keith beside her that night in her mind, Gretchen balled her fists as the two large men pressed against her by the fire sent her senses into overload. The little hairs on her arms rose as the adrenaline started pouring into her bloodstream and panic set in. She needed to get away. She needed to shift. Danger was coming.

Pushing herself up from the embrace she found herself in, Gretchen's eyes darted around her for safe haven. "All three of you can go to hell."

Watching her stomp off into the empty cold darkness, Damien licked his lips as a feeling of dread rose in his chest. "She's starting to remember."

Rhett glanced back over his shoulder at Gretchen and saw her cross her arms and rock back and forth like she was in pain. "Is that really a bad thing, Damien? It's got to happen sometime. Just get it over with."

Damien closed his eyes and shook his head at his stupid ego. His father warned him that playing with her emotions would come back to bite him. It was best to confront it head on. Damien's attempt at being delicate with her was only feeding into her paranoia and confusion about what happened to her. "It's me. I'm doing it to her. That's why she's so angry. She keeps trying to put up more doors against what happened and I keep opening them."

"Well, just stop," said Rhett.

Wiping his hand over his mouth, Damien accepted that his plan had failed. "I can't. I shouldn't have done this to her. In the morning, the two of you can take her on to the city. I'll go back home."

Rhett was a direct kind of man. He grew up in a different kind of place with less complicated people. He didn't like the kind of games Damien was playing with Gretchen and this didn't seem to be any better. "You sure about this Dame?"

Damien scratched the stubble on his chin as he watched Gretchen in the distance. "Yes, I'm certain. She can't take much more of this."

Gretchen fell asleep against a rock away from the group. When he was sure she was really out, Damien carried her back by the fire then sat up and watched over her.

"We should take shifts," he said. "I'll go first."

In the still quiet of the night as Gretchen's mind wandered through the space around them, Damien smiled at the memories that Gretchen had long forgotten. "I knew you were still in there somewhere."

After a few hours, Rhett sat up and said through his protracted whining yawn, "Alright, I got this Dame, get some sleep."

Damien stood and stretched the hours spent on the hard ground away from his back. "Right, let me go look around the perimeter. I thought I heard some noise over past that brook."

As Damien walked off, Rhett stretched his arms and walked behind a tree to answer nature's call. Gretchen began to stir but Rhett didn't see it. Hearing Gretchen start to moan, Jason's eyes opened.

"Gretchen are you alright?" he asked as he pushed himself up on his elbow.

In her dreams, Gretchen saw the two black wolves chasing her down the path. "No."

Jason heard her heart beginning to race and smelled the hormones telling her body she was in trouble. "Oh no, Rhett!"

"Yeah," Rhett answered over his shoulder from the tree he was leaning against.

"Somethings wrong," Jason said as he crawled towards Gretchen.

As Damien started to chase after her wolf in her dream, Gretchen's panicked voice became louder. "No."

Jason leaned over Gretchen as Rhett came back to her side.

Gretchen put her hand on her head as the man in her dream grabbed her hair and ripped her from the warm bed she was lying in. "No!"

Jason put his hands on Gretchen's arms and shook her. "Wake up Gretchen, hey, wake up."

Gretchen's eyes suddenly opened as the image of Damien grabbing her by the throat came to her and she gasped for breath. "No! Oh god no!"

As she pushed out of Jason's hold, Gretchen frantically crawled backwards into the fire. Rhett lunged forward to pull her out, but she wasn't even phased by the flames that surrounded her and burned her skin. She pushed her way through the wood and flames then crawled to her hands and knees.

"No! Don't touch me!" she screamed as she pushed herself up and began to run through the woods. Jason and Rhett followed after her as she desperately tried to get away and started ripping off her clothes.

Knowing if she became her wolf there'd definitely be some kind of fight, Rhett yelled out to Jason as they closed in on her. "Fuck Jason, she's going to shift."

Just as he said those words, Gretchen dropped to her knees and was instantly thrown into her wolf form there in the clearing in the woods.

As Rhett and Jason approached her, Damien appeared from the black mist and put up his hands to the wolf. The golden brown creature growled and showed her teeth as the moonlight reflected off her green eyes. She hunched down low and prepared to attack.

Blocking his family from the wolf, Damien put his arms out so she could see he had no weapon. "Stop Gretchen. It's alright. No ones going to hurt you. I swear."

Gretchen snarled as she started creeping sideways around the three men, trying to find the easiest opening to strike.

Matching her movements as she prepared to lunge at them, the alpha Rhett came forward to take control. This farce with Gretchen had gone on long enough. "Don't you fucking do it, Gretchen. Don't think I won't knock you flat on your ass if you try that shit on me."

Damien stood in front of Jason and Rhett and tried to connect his mind with Gretchen's. Glimpses of disjointed dreams and memories flashed before his eyes. "Oh, no. No. That's not right." Damien shook the thoughts from his vision then said, "No, Gretchen. It wasn't me. I swear."

Gretchen crouched down and gnashed her teeth in warning to the monster from her dreams. The vibrations from her chest fanned out under his feet and Damien knew there was no bringing her back this time.

Crouching down to show her that he wanted no parts of the fight, Damien lifted his finger. "It's alright. You can go. You can run. It's ok, Gretchen, you're free."

Sensing her chance to free herself, Gretchen backed away slowly. Seeing they weren't trying to stop her, Gretchen quickly turned then ran off full speed North.

"You're not going after her?" asked Jason.

Standing up, Damien crossed his arms and licked his lips as he nodded. "Yes, of course, but I know where she's going." As he watched her run away from him, Damien could feel her anxiety start to disappear and he rubbed his chest as the sting of her rejection tore at him. "Go home. I'm going to get her settled then I'll be back."

"Alright man, good luck," said Rhett as he slapped Damien's back.

Jason grabbed Gretchen's bag and handed it to Damien. "Tell my parents I said hello."

"I will." Damien strapped Gretchen's bag across his back then started walking North. Gretchen already had a good lead by then and he wanted to keep up in case she ran into any trouble.

Damien shifted to a vulture and flew through the trees searching for Gretchen. When he caught up to her, he followed alongside as she wove in and out of the trees to try to lose him. The more she tried to pull away, the closer he got to her until she finally pounced on Damien and bit into him causing him to shift instantly back to man as he skidded across the ground.

He spoke into her mind as she ran away from him. He needed her to know that no matter the distance between them, he would be waiting. "Everything's going to be alright. I'll be right here."

Gretchen ran all the way to the narrow path of the North Woods. Once she splashed across the creek, she was met at the gates by Lord Nicholas.

The tall wizard with long black hair bowed his head to welcome the new city dweller. "Welcome to the North Woods Gretchen. I'm Nicholas. Your family is waiting for you."

As Nicholas watched the wolf make its way across the Great Hall, Damien walked to his side. "Hello grandfather."

Watching Gretchen sniff into the air as she tried to catch the scent, Nicholas glanced to Damien. "Nice to see you Damien. I take it she's been uncooperative."

Damien huffed through his nose and rubbed the soreness from his fall away from his arm. "You could say that."

The former Alpha of her pack, Uncle Logan, walked down the staircase and opened his arms wide as his loud booming voice echoed through the hall. "There she is! There's my little puppy dog!"

Gretchen ran to the dark blonde haired Lycan and jumped up into his muscular arms. He knelt down and let the wolf lick his bushy blonde beard. "It's ok now honey. Everything's ok. Uncle Logan's got you now."

His twin brother, Jacob, and his very pregnant mate, Tessa, walked down the stairs and Tessa's eyes filled with tears as her only niece looked over to her. "Oh Gretchen, my baby, come here." She held out her arms as Gretchen raised up on her hind legs and stood to embrace Tessa. Tessa hugged the beast close to her and rocked her in her arms. "It's alright baby. Aunt Tessa's going to take care of you."

Logan walked to Damien and put out his hand. "It's good to see you again Damien. Thanks for getting her here."

Damien shook Logan's hand then tried to explain. "She's a bit of a mess, I'm afraid. She's starting to remember what happened to her and she's confused."

Glancing back over his shoulder at his family, Logan shrugged it off. "We'll get her right."

Damien took Gretchen's bag off his shoulder then handed it to Logan. "Here's her things. I'm going to stay for a day or two and make sure she's alright."

Logan squinted and looked over Damien. It wasn't like the Darke family to care about what happened outside their little bubble and it filled Logan with suspicion. "Why? What do you care?"

Damien looked over to the wolf walking away with Tessa and Jacob. "She's my mate, Logan."

Logan smirked and crossed his arms. If there was a worse pairing for one of his family members, Logan didn't see it. He wasn't very fond of the reclusive family. "Well isn't this a small fucking world?"

It didn't take a psychic to understand that Logan didn't approve, the wolf wore his emotions on his sleeve like badge of honor. But Damien knew things that Logan didn't about the future of their families. "Yes. I guess it is."