Some two hours to the west, Sophie sat in her small cabin as night began to fall around her. Her mind had been a jumbled mess since Zack's visit yesterday. How dare he show up, expecting her just to come back to that place. Even the thought of going back there made her feel physically sick. And as for Zack. Well she had hoped that he would have just forgotten all about her in the two years since he had last saw her.

If she admitted it to herself or not, she knew deep down that she would have had to deal with him at some point. When Rose had contacted her three months after she had helped her leave, saying that Zack had been to see her and demanded to be told where she was, she knew the kind healer would only be able to hold out giving him the information for so long. The fact that she had held out for nearly two years was a feat in itself.

It didn't stop Sophie being pissed off. She had made a life for herself here. Oh it might not be perfect, but it was hers. She had worked damn hard to get to where was was now, both physically and emotionally, and there was no way she was letting anyone take that away from her.

Getting a job in those first few months had proved almost impossible. Being around other people, especially men, was difficult to say the least. But she knew she would have to find a way to deal with those fears. It was after meeting Charlotte, her first human friend, that she finally found a job. She had met the kind woman while in the small store closest to her home. She had spent the last hour or so walking through the town asking in the shops and diner to see if they had any job vacancies. There were none.

As she was speaking to the owner and being told once more they were not needing any staff she felt a tap on her shoulder. Sophie quickly turned and looked at the pretty face smiling at her. Charlotte had told her about her job that she did from her home. All she would need was an internet connection. The job was proofreading academic books and articles and was easy money, she had always been good at English and had a good eye for mistakes. Now she was quite sought after by doctors and professors to check their work before submitting it for publication.

But getting a job only solved one of her many problems. Even after she had killed her torturer and left the pack, she found it difficult to cope. Those first terrible few months found her jumping out of her skin at the slightest noise, and only able to go out to the store late in the evening when she knew it would be at its quietest, because she couldn't stand being around people. Almost every night ended with her sitting by the fire in the small hours, after the nightmares made it impossible for her to stay in bed.

One of the first things she had did was buy a gun and teach herself how to shoot. She now had two shotguns and a hand gun, always loaded and always within easy reach. But even that did little to alleviate the niggling fear that just never seemed to go away. And with Zack's return, that fear had multiplied exponentially.

She now had to deal with the guilt that Zack had tried to lay on her. It wasn't her problem the wolf council was looking into what went on within the Hollow Ridge pack, she told herself. Again!

She knew that with the motion going through the courts just now on shifter rights, meant that the council was keeping a closer eye on all the packs. Trying to ensure that in the eyes of the humans, the packs could conduct themselves appropriately and so their behaviour had to be above reproach.

So if it were to become common knowledge what had happened to her, it would go against what they were trying to achieve. But as she had no interest in pack politics she only gave it a passing thought.

She would admit however, to being curious as to how the council had found out about her. There was no way Zack's parents had told anyone outside the pack. And pack business was always kept as pack business. All members knew that they were not to discuss it with outsiders. But it was the only explanation. Someone from within the pack had spoke to the council. Such a breach in protocol was not common and would not be forgiven or forgotten.

The council, though, did not usually involve itself in the day to day runnings of packs. Squabble's between pack mates, local land disputes and all the small matters of pack life were handled within the pack by the alpha and his inner circle. It meant the council were left to deal with important matters of wolf law and such.

Which was why it was now involved with her situation. The mating law was one of the most sacred laws they had. The law says that no one, be them family, friend, lover or indeed Alpha could interfere and come between fated mates. The mate bond was essential to their continued existence, for only a fated mate pair could conceive a child. The misconception that a wolf shifter could be "made" by being bitten and infected was straight out of a Hollywood B movie. A wolf shifter was born of two wolf shifter parents.

Because of this, their population numbers were very low. Especially considering they had been on this earth as long as humans.

The existence of shifters had only been revealed just under two years ago, mere weeks after Sophie had left Hollow Ridge, after a group of hunters had came across a male in the woods mid shift, and of course, with everyone carrying smart phones nowadays it had been all caught on camera.

They might still have gotten away with claiming it was a hoax but one of those hunters had been a congressman, and a highly respected one at that. So the decision was made to come out, so to speak.

One of the things that humans found so fascinating about wolf shifter culture was the concept of fated mates. To them it all sounded so romantic. To have someone who loved you unconditionally and who would never leave you or cheat on you, was apparently something humans envied more than any of their other traits. So for her situation to become known to the humans, would not show the shifter world in a good light.

When she had been a child, before her parents had died, she had dreamed of meeting her fated mate. What he would look like, how he would love her, how many young they would have. Even their names had been picked out before her tenth birthday.

Her childish fantasies had him resembling a dashing prince from the fairytale books she had loved so much. And in those first few minutes on that fateful day of her eighteenth birthday, most of those dreams had almost become reality. Zack had at least resembled her dream man physically. Mr Tall Dark and Handsome. She scoffed quietly to herself. Pity the rest of the fantasy fell well short in reality.

With that thought front and centre in her mind, she wondered how he was going to take the news that no matter what he said, she was not returning with him. Not well, she imagined. But determination thrummed through her veins, she had one more day before he would be back. And she would be damned if she let him blackmail her just so he could protect his parents for their crimes. They should be made to pay for what they had done. But Sophie wanted nothing to do with it. She was done with them, and done with pack life.