The sudden loudness of a car door being closed roughly woke the boys to a start. Alex had tried to wake them up numerous times to no avail. She was not in a forgiving mood at the moment.

“Get inside, we’re having breakfast.”

Her crankiness isn’t nice to wake up to first thing in the morning. Noah groans from his bad position and rubs at his numb feet. It was so early in the morning and the sky was still dim. Looking through the window he realizes that they’re parked in front of a diner. He could see that Alex was already inside. It was strange how different she was compared to last night.

“It’s just the hunger talking.” Ryan says while opening the door. “Come on Noah.”

Sluggishly they walk their way into the building and slide into the booth she was in. The cold feel of the table makes the both of them unconsciously shiver.

Breakfast was bacons, eggs, pancakes and coffee but for Alex she had a giant burger all to herself. For awhile they focused on getting their fill. When all that’s left was the coffee that’s when Ryan resumed his questions from last night.

“Where are we heading to exactly?”

“Doveport Beach. It’s a small port town southwest from Fortbeck. It’ll take us two more days to get there without counting our stops and the traffic.”

Doveport Beach. Noah had never been to the beach. Back in Fortbeck, all they had were lakes and a waterfall. This would be the first time he’ll see one and that became something to look forward to. He wonders if the people are any different down there.

“About the rent, we can’t just freeload so there must be something we could offer.”

Even though Ryan seemed to be against the idea, he didn’t say it, for Noah. Might as well take it considering there was nowhere else they could go to. He was still hesitant to accept the offer at face value, not everything is free and he’d like to help some other way to balance out the favor.

“Since you asked,” she said, “you can do the cooking and cleaning, that’s fine by me.”

Basically they’re going to be her housemaids and that’s fine for Ryan if it meant having a roof over their heads. It was still too good to be true that she was this generous to a bunch of runaway orphans. It’s kinda surprising that she accepted his offer, he thought for sure she was going to brush it off and persist that it was fine if they didn’t do anything. Then it would mean that she was luring them to her place for something else.

—

That night after finding out her brother decided to get engaged, Natalia confronted their mother. It’s unbelievable how they didn’t tell her sooner before the party. Margaret wanted to rush preparations because Lucas went to her all of a sudden asking if Jone’s offer was still available. Although she was surprised, her excitement got the best of her and she didn’t have time to tell Natalia and figured she’ll have to be surprised with the rest of the crowd.

She wanted to be there when they discussed it, she would’ve persuaded him to reconsider. Even though she’s close friends with Alliah, she didn’t like how they rushed into this. Lucas just recently turned 18 and she thought he’d wait for his mate. He must have a reason and it annoyed her that he’s not saying anything. There was no one else Natalia could rant to except to Noah since he was also at the party.

He’s usually at the convenience store but when she arrived, he wasn’t there. That’s weird, I thought he had his shift at this time. She could be wrong and he’s probably at home.

But the person who answered the door was not him.

“Oh, good morning Mrs. Ferguson.”

Natalia always felt unnerved around Amanda even though she’s human. Ever since she was young, the way Noah and Ryan described her wasn’t a good impression of the older woman. She’s aware that, like Mory, they hide their true personalities when it comes to the head family. It made sense they were mates, they suited each other.

“Are they home?” She asked, pertaining to Noah and Ryan.

“They’re gone.”

“Uh did they go to Mory’s shop?”

“No, they’re Gone gone. The boys disappeared when we came home last night.”

Amanda said it so nonchalantly that Natalia didn’t grasp the serious implication from her words. Did something happen to them? She remembers what her uncle warned her about the recent Rogue sighting and instantly, she thinks of the worst case scenario. Amanda could tell what she was thinking and tried to clarify.

“The Rogues didn’t do anything. They ran away. Almost all their clothes were cleared out when we checked.”

“That can’t be true. They wouldn’t do that.”

Maybe they did and it probably had to do with her and her husband. Natalia knew about Amanda and Mory’s attitude towards Noah isn’t very kind. Towards Ryan they were at least nice to him because he was their nephew. Regardless, they weren’t very homely towards them and did the bare minimum of what foster parents do.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already notified the cops. Two men knocked on my door searching for Noah earlier so I’m sure the services are already aware of the situation. The boys will be back soon.”

If that’s the case, there’s nothing she could do. They are still minors so they’ll be sent to juvie when they’re caught. But it still didn’t make sense that Ryan and Noah ran away, especially Ryan, knowing him. They must have their own reasons and she wanted know. Stepping out of their pack territory is unlikely so they’re probably still around Fortbeck. And if she finds them first maybe she could help.

—

The day dragged on while on the road. It was the afternoon and the boys felt restless. Noah grew bored after his phone died a few hours ago and Ryan stared blankly into the window, feeling the wind. After some time, he sits up and groans loudly.

“Can we stop somewhere like, a quick grub?” He asks Alex. “I’m starving here.”

Noah noticed that the two had a weird dynamic by now. He could still sense Ryan’s rude behavior when talking to her but Alex wouldn’t let it get through her and responded calmly. She didn’t let him affect her. She wasn’t a calm person earlier in the morning though but after eating, she returned to her usual self. If the her right now is really the usual. One thing is for sure, she was definitely a food person.

“Alright. When we find a gas station.”

It was fifteen minutes before they found one. Alex pumps the truck and Ryan goes ahead into the store for the snacks. While Noah heads for the bathroom, suddenly getting the urge to need it.

Inside, Ryan picked his and Noah’s favorites which were any cheese flavored chips. He doesn’t exactly know what Alex wants so he gets an extra one for her. At checkout before he could pay for the total, Alex dumps a bunch more to the counter. There were lots of candies, more junk food and three big cups of soda.

“And these as well. I’ll pay for it.” She says smoothly and looks at him with a smile.

Ryan furrows his brows with a little nod. The gesture was kind but he still couldn’t trust her so obliviously like Noah.

“You have to know that I still don’t completely trust you right? Unlike Noah, your kindness is too suspicious for someone we just met and I only went with this because of him.”

Alex turns to him like she’s earnestly listening to him, sort of impressed that he actually confronted her. Granted it wasn’t in front of his friend.

“Yeah I know, but you don’t really have a choice.” She grabs the bags and gestures for him to take the soda and starts walking out first.

And when the both of them were outside, Ryan continued.

“I know you’re hiding something. I can smell it.” He said.

At this, Alex walks to a halt and turns to him with blank eyes. Gone was her cocky attitude. She struts to him slowly, each step increasing the tense atmosphere. She stops at arms length. Ryan realizes that she was taller than him by the way he tilted his head a little to look at her in the eyes.

“I know that you’re overprotective of him. It’s cute. I get it, he’s a little naive. But kid you’ll have to admit sometime from now that I really am just helping you guys. And for that sake, I suggest you stop being a piece of shit and maybe let’s try to get along, okay?”

She had a tone in her voice that didn’t sit right with him. Worse was that she suggested they become friends. Though he couldn’t deny that her words had convinced him that she was really just helping them at face value. Only just a little, it’s not going to be easy to accept a new face that will be in their life from now on.

Not another word was said when they got into the truck. They waited for Noah who still wasn’t done with his business for some reason. When a minute passed by, Alex starts loosing her patience and tells Ryan to check on the boy if he’s probably taking a dump. He does so quietly. Alex takes a sip from one of the cups and stares at a truck that was parked in front of them. It wasn’t there earlier and she realized that it looked familiar. That train of thought was cut by frantic footsteps heading towards the truck.

“He’s gone!” Ryan shouts at her, panting through the window of the passenger’s seat.

The bathroom is at the side of the store. Something must’ve happened to him while they were inside. Alex follows him to the area and Noah is nowhere to be seen. Ryan starts sniffing the air around them and noticed a trail.

“I can smell Rogues on the path. They must’ve taken him.”

“We have to hurry.”

She didn’t turn to the truck but ran towards the path. Ryan follows her. They weren’t gone for too long so the Rogues can’t be far off either.