3

Maya POV

I put the last two bags in the back seats then closed the door and leaned on it. I can't get the sight of Eliane sitting in the empty apartment lost in her thoughts out of my mind. I close my eyes and take deep breathes to calm myself, I need to be strong for this.

After few minutes I get inside the coffee shop and walk to the counter. I order our smoothies then pull out my phone to check my emails, half way through it I felt eyes on me but I didn't give it much importance until I felt a presence behind me. I turn around abruptly to be greeted by a big buff guy in his mid twenties, blond messy hair and green eyes, his clothes were kind of ragged. He was standing too close to me so I took a step back without breaking eye contact, something about him and the way he was staring at me gave me goosebumps.

"What's your order sir?" the barista asked him. "Black coffee for my friends and I" he gave me a creepy smile, I looked behind him and saw at the way back table two equally ragged and scary guys looking back at me, but what made my heart skip a beat was the sight of one of them sniffing around. I looked back at the one standing by my side and found him breathing in the air around me with eyes closed, It's a thing I saw Eliane and some werewolf we met before do.

I took another step back and the guy opened his eyes, the green in them turned black. 'it can't be, how did they get so close to us'. I took a deep breath and started tapping on my phone pretending to be busy. I tried to look calm but I'm sure he could hear the erratic beating of my heart. "Have we met before?" he asked me with a smirk, I looked at him, his eyes were back to their original color, I ignored his question and went back on my phone 'Are they the one I saw the other day?no no no'.

He took a step closer to me and sniffed me one more time, "You smell very nice" his voice got deeper giving me a shill. I glared at him pretending to be offended, I'm not supposed to know what he and his friends are so I have to act as clueless as possible. He chuckled amused by my reaction, the green in his eyes was getting darker, "Sorry I didn't want to offend you lady, it's just that after a few weeks with just my friends and I, your smell....I mean your perfume is quite refreshing, is it lavender?", I swallowed hard, I don't wear perfume and Eliane said I smell like lemon..... he was smelling her on me.

"How about you join us for the night?", he took another step toward me. Now I'm way beyond scared, I've never been this terrorized before in my life, my feet are cold and my hands started shaking. "Sorry, younger guys are not my type" I don't know how I managed to reply without stuttering. I turned my attention back on my phone hoping he would take the hint and get back to his friends, but he took another step closer and leaned down and whispered in my ear "We'll make it worth it" his friends started laughing, 'of course they heard him, they've been listening in the whole time'. By now I could feel my heart beating in my throat, he leaned back with a smirk.

"Your drinks are ready" the barista put my drinks on the counter then turned back the coffee machine to prepare his order. I couldn't move and kept staring at him, what if I walk out and they follow me, what if they find Eliane, what can I do to keep them away? Nothing, I can't do anything at all. Should I follow them and lead them away from her? I kept staring not out of courage but because I couldn't feel my body anymore. I was frozen in my place waiting for him to grab me and drag me out.

I don't know how much time passed while we were staring at each-other, seconds or minutes, but to my utter surprise he took one step back and laughed at my despair, "Guess not tonight heh, too bad I like the fire in your eyes" he took another step back, grabbed the tray with three cups of coffee then winked at me, "We'll be here for a while......and next time.... I wont take a NO as an answer" his voice held a dangerous promise, then walked back to his snickering friends.

I waited for him to sit down then took my drinks and walked out of the shop. Once the door was closed, I ran to the side alley and unlocked the car, texted Eliane and started the engine. Eliane came running down with bags and her comforter that she threw at the back seats with no words. The moment she closed her door, I drove away without waiting for her to fasten her seat belt or doing mine.

"Where are they? how did you recognize them? Did they hurt you?" her voice was small, too scared to know the answer. "One of them said I smell like lavender, I think he scented you and his eyes turned black. they were downstairs getting coffee, downstairs!!!!" I said in a single breath without taking my eyes off the road, thankfully the rain was lighter now. "How fast can they run? can they follow us on the road?", Eliane took a deep breath and didn't answer right away, "They can keep up with a car speed but once we hit the highway they won't be able to follow, they would be too exposed" I nodded then looked in the rear mirror for the tenth time trying to make sure we're not being followed.

They seemed settled in the coffee shop not in the mood for a chase, That's what I hoped anyway. How did they get so close? was it a coincidence or are they good trackers? We need to get faraway as soon as possible. It took us two hours to reach the highway and to finally breath, no words were exchanged during all that time.

We drove through the night in silent, all we could think about was getting away from the town and from those rogues. I couldn't tell her about the part where they invited me to join them for the night, she's already scared as It is and I couldn't make her feel guilty about putting me in danger too. Someone as young and sweet as her shouldn't have to go through this much just to survive. It makes me feel powerless, It makes me want to cry but it's not the time for that now.

The moving to Northwood is something that I always kept in mind as a last resort, according to Eliane the Northmoon pack is a very old pack. As strict and unbending on their rules as old packs are supposed to be, I don't thing they will harm her. From all the information I collected from her, and I'm not saying that I'm an expert now, werewolves are overprotective when it comes to their females, so discovering a lone she-wolf should shock them more than anything. They would be unwelcoming, probably, but I don't thing that they'll rush to kill her on sight especially because of the way she looks, she may be turning eighteen in few weeks but she looks so small and fragile. I makes anyone wants to protect her.

She often describe herself as a runt, but I think that she's the cutest thing I've ever seen. The image of her fluffy brown wolf makes me smile. I look at her sleeping leaning against her window and as if she felt my gaze on her she opened her eyes, "What's wrong?" she ask in panic, "Nothing gorgeous, how about you move to the backseat, push away the bags and lay down, it'll be more comfortable". She does without complaining but every time the car slows down or stops, she lift her head in panic .

With the first ray of sun, we stopped for our first gas and bathroom break. We hit the road again once I got my coffee and Eliane her apple juice. We ate the food she prepared, somehow during last night rush, she didn't forget to bring it down with her. When she gave me the muffins, I couldn't help it and started laughing like a mad woman. She was startled at first but soon joined me in my hysterical laughter. Despite the fright I felt a couple of time, we were lucky to find out about the rogues in time and to get away from them unharmed. So we decided to focus on that.

After that episode our respective mood got lighter, we started talking again and most of all we enjoyed the long ride. We passed different scenery, hustling cities, old towns, deserted roads but somehow both our hearts felt at peace only when passing through woods or mountains. Nature Always had this calming effect on me.

We made a couple of short stops, when it felt safe, for Eliane to shift and to shake the stress away . After running, playing and sometimes hunting, her wolf loves to snuggle with me and act spoiled. I, of course, would take my time to rub her fur and hug her to my heart content, how can I not like it when she's so soft and warm, it became my way of distressing and forgetting the dire situation we're in.

What was supposed to be a four days drive to get to Nothwood on Friday morning ended up being shorter then that since we left early and we took turns driving to avoid spending the night anywhere. So here we are, Wednesday afternoon, officially on pack lands parked in front of the real estate agency. I already informed them of our early arrival and wired the needed money to seal the deal, so all I have to do is to get inside, get the keys and the directions to our new place. I took a couple of deep breaths, something I've been doing quite often this days, and walked inside leaving Eliane in the car. Ten minutes later I'm out driving away.

"So.." Eliane ask curious,

"Well, now they know you're here" I tell her with a sly smile.

"How did it go?" she wants details and I'm too tired too tease her,

"One of the employees is a werewolf for sure, he got tense the moment I walked in and started sniffing around and it was really cute the way he tried to be discrete about it" I smiled remembering him blushing when I caught him smelling my hair, somehow it wasn't scary or creepy like the other time with the rogues,

"And...." she's getting impatient,

"He kept asking questions to know why I choose this town and who's coming with me so I told him that we came because the crime rate here is very low",

"And he believed you?", she asks in low voice still tense. "He asked why and I told him that my niece and I almost got assaulted in our old town and when he looked at you in the car from the glass door he just knew,",

"That's it, he didn't ask anything else or kicked you out?", she can't believe that it was that easy to get in, well me in the other hand kind of predict it.

"Yeah, after that he was in some kind of a daze until I left" I turn to her and hold her hand.

"He was mind-linking his pack for sure, now what?", I can feel her panic building up.

"Now gorgeous, we unpack" and I nodded behind her, she was so focused on me, that she didn't realize that we stopped in front of our new house. She followed my gaze and gasped, It was a beautiful two story cottage-style like house with an equally beautiful garden, we always lived in small apartments before so this place seems like a mansion to her. She looks back at me still not believing her eyes so I show her the key.

We walked out of the car and to the front door, I unlock it and let her in before me. The inside was beautiful too, It had an open layouts, the living area was big and well illuminated, Eliane started giggling like a little girl the moment she saw the open kitchen; slab granite, solid wood cabinets, full height back-splash and stainless appliances. I had to drag her to the the second floor to our new rooms. Each came with it's own bathroom, walk in closet and two big windows on each side, one giving a nice view of the main street and the other a breath taking view of the woods behind the house. At this point she started crying and it took me twenty minute to calm her down and start unpacking.

It was quite late when we were finally done organizing our things. I was lying on the hard floor of the living room trying to ease my back pain while Eliane was rummaging in her new kitchen preparing dinner when she stopped and came lying down next to me with a stern look and said "Stop lazying around, I'm tired too", then she took her phone out and started typing 'they are here', I nodded my head and mouthed 'everything will be fine'. Somehow I was confident and I'm not sure why. "How about we order some pizza then?" I said as I was getting up, she helped me up "No need, I'm almost done, I'm making scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit, It's light and good for fatigue". We walked to the kitchen with her holding my hand tight. She finished plating everything and came sitting next to me on the small dinning table. We had small conversations while eating about groceries shopping, about my coming job interviews and making plans to explore the town.

We went upstairs when we were done, Eliane decided to spend the night in my room so we lay down in silence. 'Are they still here?' I typed on my phone, 'Yes, four of them' she types back, 'looks like they're just observing us' she nods and I smile. If they're not attacking that means that they're still undecided. She smiles back and closed her eyes, I closed mine too full of hope that things will really be fine.