Chapter 22

Forest's POV

I saw Aria talking to one of the warriors who guarded her cell, I guess he wanted to apologise but I was too far away to hear what they were saying. I walked over to the head guard, I had to explain why the girl from the cells was out running with me.

I didn't want to tell him she was my mate, because then they would expect her to join the pack and take an active role in the paper work and pack stuff that she isn't ready for.

How did I let this happen? At night she was plagued with nightmares of her time in the cells, she wouldn't kick or scream, she would just hunch up, very still and shake, tears streaming down her face, I tried asking her what her dream was about but she wouldn't tell me, only that it was about the cells, and that it didn't matter, she was home again.

I sighed and turned to the guard in front of me, deciding how best to word it, "She's a newly shifted were, her family didn't want her, so she's staying with us." Me and dad had decided that telling them the truth, but missing out the facts that she's my mate, would probably be the best way to go about answering the questions.

"So how did she end up in our cells?" The guard asked looking confused, I looked over at Aria, she was still with the guard, "We didn't know she had shifted, she shifted in the woods, no one was around, so we didn't realise it was her." I hung my head in shame, she shouldn't have had to go through all that.

Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw Aria, she was breathing heavily with her hands over her ears and her eyes darting around as if she was on drugs.

I had heard about this, but never seen it personally. It only ever happens in newly shifted werewolves, and very rarely at that. Their senses go into over drive and they need to be sedated until it stops, otherwise they could get hurt, or worse.

I slowly walked over to her, knowing she couldn't see me properly, talking to her so as not to spook her.

"Hey Aria, it's ok, it will stop soon, just come here and I'll get it to stop." I could see by her face that she could hear me, but she didn't recognise my voice, and couldn't understand what I was saying.

I started to walk quicker, she didn't know it was me, I needed to get to her before she got hurt. But before I got there she did the worse thing possible. She ran.

I ran after her, but she was running in blind panic, she was fast and not planning on stopping anytime soon. She was running into to tree branches and tripping over roots, but she didn't feel it, she just continued running.

I kept running after her, faster and faster, I was gaining on her, but then I tripped on a tree branch, twisting my ankle as I fell. I hit the ground with a thud and groaned out in pain but didn't stop. I continued running after her, as fast as my bust ankle would allow.

I was losing her, she was getting too far ahead, there was too much distance for me to catch up. I could see her disappear into the horizon, I could no longer see her, but I didn't give up, I wouldn't stop until she was safe, and at the moment she was far from safe.

I heard Aria growl from up ahead and sped up, I had to find her.

As I broke through the treeline and saw why she growled, I almost fell to the floor in relief. Ash was sitting on her back, keeping her pinned to the floor, while Skye had her phone out, calling someone.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Ash called out as I limped closer. Aria thrashed from side to side but Ash was stronger and kept her pinned to the ground, "We were just walking back, thinking that w e should come and visit you soon, when Aria burst through the trees, she looked drunk or drugged or something and she tried to attack me, hence why she's pinned to the floor, what on earth happened?"

"I'll tell you soon, first we need to call the pack doctor," I said, wincing as Aria hit her head off the floor, trying to escape.

"I've already done it, I called your parents as well," Skye said, holding up her phone, "She's on her way," I walked over to Aria, with Ash still restraining her on the floor, "It'll be ok, I promise."

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After what felt like hours, although it can't have been more than a few minutes, the pack doctor arrived. She was a tall, middle aged woman who had seen too much grief in her life.

"What seems to be the problem," She said to me with a smile.

"I need you to sedate the girl on the floor." I said, not wanting to but knowing the other options were much worse.

I heard Ash growl at my words, his wolf not liking me sedating my mate, my wolf agreed but what else could I do?

"Just trust me, I'll explain later." He nodded as the doctor, Nat, sedated Aria. I watch as she stopped fighting and her eyes closed, she was asleep, she would be ok soon.

I scooped her up, holding her close to me as my parents arrived with their car so we could get her home.

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My parents had guessed what had happened when Skye called them, so they already had everything we needed sent up.

I gently placed Aria under the covers of our bed as it would be a few hours until she woke up and walked downstairs, where Ash and Skye were waiting for an explanation.

"What the hell just happened, how could you so easily sedate your mate, she's human for god sake, that sedative could kill her." Ash exploded as soon as I walked into the sitting room.

"Not quite," I answered quietly, I looked over at Ash's confused expression, "You said she's human, but she's not, not quite."

I sighed as I looked at Ash and Skye, they were on the edge of their seats, wanting to know what had happened while they'd been away, "A few days after you left Aria went missing. She was missing for weeks until she turned up, she was a rogue we had been holding in our cells, she had been in our cells the whole time."

Skye looked up, her head cocked to the side as she thought, "How on earth didn't you recognise her and tell them she wasn't a rogue, why was she there for weeks?"

I shrugged, "Because, well, you see, we didn't recognise her," I looked over to where they sat, glaring at me.

Ash looked like he was about to explode, "What on earth happened to stop you from recognising your mate! That's impossible, unless you had amnesia, but we would have been told."

"Well no not quite, it's a much simpler explanation then that, you see, she, well, she had shifted." I looked over at them as they looked at me like I was mad, shock evident on their faces.

"So, she has shifting senses?" Skye asked, piecing the puzzle together, I nodded, "and that's why you sedated her, not to be mean but because you had to." I nodded again and shrugged, "There was no other option."

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We continued to sit on the sofa, I caught them up on what they missed as my parents cooked tea while we waited for Aria to wake up. There was no way of knowing how it would affect her as it affected everyone differently.

Shifting senses, the technical name for when newly shifted werewolves' senses get too strong for them to cope, starts off with slightly heightened senses, they grow and grow until they are noticeable and the wolf starts to react, like Aria did, if they aren't sedated it gets worse and worse until they black out, go into a coma or, worst case scenario, die.

Some wolves only get one sense enhanced, that is easier to treat and doesn't always need sedatives, usually only pain killer to dull it down a bit. Two or three enhanced senses are where it starts to get dangerous, the wolf gets confused and disorientated and usually needs to be sedated.

Aria on the other hand, had a very rare case of all five senses. Even just four senses are very dangerous and if it isn't treated quickly the wolf may die, even once sedated it is very hit or miss.

The one thing I do know is that Aria is strong, she won't give up without a fight and she will survive, she has too.

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I was sitting at the kitchen doing homework to take my mind of Aria when my mum walked in with a troubled look on her face. "Forest, you might want to come and see this." I followed her upstairs to my room, over to where Aria lay, "Look at her back."

I looked at her back and nearly lost control of my wolf. Her beautiful skin was littered with scars. Some looked years old, faded white lines, a permanent memory of him, some of them though looked a lot newer, some even looked just a few days to a few weeks old. She wasn't with her dad a few week ago, she was in the cells.

I put my head in my hands, "They're new." I said, raising my head to look my mum in the eye, "Who was it, who attacked my mate." My voice was dripping with cold fury, matched by the murderous look in my mum's eye.

"I don't know," She said, moving to the stairs, "But I will find out." With that she went downstairs, going to try to find out who thought it was a good idea to hurt a member of an Alpha family, because after all this time, my parents loved her like a daughter.

I grabbed some bandages from the cupboard and wrapped her back up, careful not to do it too tight. I was worried about her, there was always something wrong and I didn't know how to break the cycle.

But I will, I will break the cycle if it's the last thing I do in this world. No one will touch her again. I promise.