All Chapters of Run.: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I run. It’s just who I am. Whenever things get tough, I bail. Every new situation I find myself in, I have an exit strategy. Because I know what could happen if I don’t. Things are about to get bad, and I don’t understand how or why. I’m in a new place, with no pre-existing connections. I’ve developed a life for myself where no one could suspect a thing out of the ordinary. I fit in - or at least try to. But here I am, ready to run. Let’s just hope I do so in time. *** I didn’t ask to be in these shoes. In fact, I was thoroughly looking forward to a life of little more than personal responsibility. I never saw my future tied to this place, no matter how much this place is a part of me. The position was thrust upon me, though, and with no one else left to step up, I had no choice. At the end of the day, I do love it here. These are my people - my family - and this is my home. I couldn’t turn my back, even if I wanted to. That’s a type of betrayal I would never be able to stoma

Oliver I blinked sleep out of my eyes as I rolled over in bed, grabbing for my phone that would not stop ringing. One missed call isn’t such a huge deal - repeated calls in the middle of the night start to become worrisome. The caller ID showed a name from the past - someone I hadn’t spoken to in a very long time. He was one of us, but very much on the periphery, really only calling when he needed help. Against my better judgment, I accepted the call. “What?” I barked out. “Good evening to you, too.” He was much too perky for this time of night. “It’s 3 am. Not my definition of evening anymore.” He chuckled. “Well someone isn’t having much fun with their life, then.” I groaned, ready to end the call. “What do you need?” There was a pause, and I could tell the upbeat demeanor vanished. “I need to report a rogue.” That caused me to sit up. Rogues weren’t uncommon - hell, my own brother would now be considered a rogue - but ones worth reporting were. Rogues worth rep

Oliver It had been four hours. I really hoped he had a handle on where she was by this point. For the first time in a long time, I actually called Trevor. The phone barely had a chance to ring before it connected. “Yeah?” His voice was gruff. “Update?” “Oh, y’know, pulled an all-nighter. Not the fun kind, either.” I waited for him to continue. This wasn’t exactly a joking matter. “It’s bad, and we will be headed to you as soon as we can.” “We knew it was bad,” I pointed out. “What other information do you have?” He sighed. “Do you want to know now, or wait for her to tell you?” “Now.” “Well, her mom at least clearly had no idea what she could be. I don’t know if it was a one night stand or she was adopted, but clearly her dad isn’t in the picture, because the wolfiness could have come from him and he wasn’t around to help her.” That bombshell caused pause. Werewolves don’t let humans adopt their pups for this very reason. It’s too dangerous to go through a first sh

Oliver I hadn’t even been thinking twice before answering phone calls today. Already, I had sent out my best three scouts to check out the area surrounding the girl’s former home. I had an analyst digging up what he could about the hunter family she was enmeshed with, and had calls out to packs anywhere within 500 miles asking about hunter activity. So far, the consensus had been that hunters had been quiet recently, almost worryingly so. There were only a few primary factions of hunters throughout the country. They tended to work together, forming their own pack of sorts. It was usually a side gig for them while they maintained otherwise normal lives as well. Years ago, they tried to make noise about the things that went bump in the night humans should be scared of, but they were quickly written off as mentally unhinged. That served us well, resulting in a large number of our threats being locked away and dubbed insane. In a roundabout way, it also secured the idea that we were j

Oliver I pulled into the gas station parking lot, next to Trevor’s car. Rose was standing with him, leaning against the trunk. They were somber. I was sure Trevor had filled her in on the recent happenings. Rose had already gotten the rundown of who Lya was, why things needed to be followed up, but I don’t think she expected the girl to truly be as resistant to everything as she was. “Any leads?” I asked while getting out of the car. “North, along the river,” Trevor said. “I made it a good three or four miles, but turned back when Rose got here.” I nodded. “Let’s go. Get out of town and then we will shift. It’ll be faster that way.” They were quick to follow, and soon enough, we were shucking our clothes and shifting. Wolves tended to mimic the appearance of their human counterparts, resulting in some very interesting wolf colors. We can’t gain or lose weight when we shift, so our wolf weight corresponds with the human weight. Adair was on the small side for an Alpha wol