Aida POV

We are up before anyone else in the house. It has to be this way, I know, but why does it feel bad? Maybe because the sense of impending doom is chasing me like a negative cloud of energy. Again. I've had too many of these feelings in my life to know that whatever is coming isn't good.

The quiet knock at my door tells me my escape accomplice is here. I shuffle about my room in the dim light of the bedside lamp as I switch it on and grab my small bag of belongings.

This sucks. I was just beginning to feel at home here. Just starting to feel more okay with the idea that I have a wolf hiding somewhere inside me. Starting to feel like I finally fit in here.

I sigh and open the door. Argent stands there looking dishevelled, a small backpack over his shoulder and a concerned look on his face.

It occurs to me that he's leaving the only home he's ever known, leaving the comfort and protection of his pack and his father under extreme circumstances, and I feel for him. Leaving somewhere is something I do well.

I drop my bag and fold into his arms. He squeezes me lightly and kisses the top of my head.

"Ready, babe?"

"No, but let's do it anyway, just for fun," I say into his chest. His coffee and cinnamon bun smell eases my nervousness a little, though. And makes me hungry.

He picks up my bag and leads the way in the opposite direction of the stairs. I pause but, noticing my confusion, he merely smiles and nods his head in the direction we're going.

I follow. Argent must know something I don't. We get to the end of the hall where a tall shelf stands full of books and pictures. I've seen it a few times, as there is a spare smaller bathroom down here, but I'm not sure whether this now means we're going to try to squeeze our bodies out of the tiny rectangle window in said bathroom.

He switches to hold the bags in one arm and with his spare hand he pulls down the spine of one of the books on the second shelf. I hear a small creaking noise and then, as if out of some sort of spy movie, the bookcase breaks open a little.

"Seriously?" I exclaim, shaking my head.

"A wolf has to be prepared," he replies with a wink, opening the small doorway for me to step through.

I shake my head. "Ah, hell no. After you buddy."

Argent nods and steps in. He next takes a small flashlight out of his backpack and turns it on, showing a small staircase leading down a darkened tunnel.

What doesn't this place have? I step in after him, and he gestures for me to pull the door closed behind us.

Here goes nothing.

I walk down the steps close to Argent's back. It's a tight squeeze, but it's obvious it's been thought about in termsof construction . It has rails on each side to hold onto, and the stairs are concrete covered so it's not unstable.

We descend for a few minutes, and then the tunnel takes a sudden turn to the left and starts a much steeper decline. Argent slows our pace, and we make our way slowly down until a small light source can be seen up ahead, one growing gradually as a door comes into view.

Argent brushes his hands around on the door in front of him until he finds a lever and carefully pulls it down. It makes a loud bang and then releases the hatch of the door.

I cover my face as the door opens completely to the outside, not knowing what to expect. He assists me in stepping out, closing the door behind us. We've ended up at the back of the house, though we are beyond the back door. We're further into the wooded area that extends behind the grounds of the property.

Argent digs around in his bag and for what, I have no idea.

"Um, how are we escaping? On foot? On wolf back?" I ask, glancing around the trees surrounding us.

"Yes, or we could take that," he says, pointing to the motorbike concealed in the bushes to our left. "I snuck it out here last night."

I laugh and slap him on the shoulder,

Argent puts our two bags under the seat and hands me a helmet and jacket. He helps me clip the straps of the helmet up and stands back. "How cute do you look? Bad ass."

I roll my eyes and put my hand out for him to help me get on this thing . He is so the kind of guy that would look amazing on this bike while I will be the typical screaming girl on the back. Man, we are so cliché. I freaking love it.

He pushes my hand away and lifts me onto the bike before straddling it himself in front me. He takes a look at the house and speaks over his shoulder to me, "Ready, then?"

"As I'll ever be" I say and hold onto him tight. Before the bike kicks to a start I ask, "Where to first?"

"We're going to see James at Strand."

And then there is nothing but noise. The bike roars to life, and we jolt forward as I hold onto his waist. This bike thing isn't so bad if I get to hug him for hours on end.

We take off through the woods, and I give one last look at the house as we leave.

It's really too bad. I kind of like this place.

***After a few hours of non-stop hair in my face and constant noise, we pull over to call James. I get my phone of out my pocket and press on his number. It's easy as I literally have four numbers total: James, Argent, the house, and my own.

It rings four times, but there's no answer. I repeat the process but again, no answer. "That's weird. Maybe they're at a meeting or something?" I look at Arge for a response, but he merely shrugs. I catch a quick look of concern in his eyes before he shakes it off.

"I'll try Jemma," he offers, getting his phone out.

We're pulled over at a pit stop on the major highway between our pack house and Strand. Argent wanted to give them a heads up because we've basically skipped out on his father and the council guards who came early to use me and Amalie as lab rats again. He hasn't said anything, but I know he feels pretty bad for having to leave her there.

The only good part of that is that Emerson is still there, and I have complete faith that she won't let anything bad happen to Amalie. Plus, with the way Amalie has been acting, she'll be too aggressive to test when awake anyway, and that might halt their testing a little. I hope she gets a few hits in on those giant guards, if anything.

Jemma's phone rings out too. Argent starts to look worried.

"Maybe we should try Strand house?" I ask, but he shakes his head.

"If they've already spoken to father, which chances are they have or he has called James, they will expect us, and they will turn us away."

Pack loyalty. Each pack deals with their own house. Werewolf 101.

"So, what do we do?"

Argent lifts me back on the bike, kicks the stand-off, and swings his leg back over. He turns the ignition, and the bike roars to life once more. "We just go and hope they don't know anything yet or that they at least allow us a chance to explain."

"Are you sure that's going to be okay?"

He shakes his head. "Not at all. But if we can try to get to James first, we have some hope of convincing Strand to let us stay for now until we have time to talk to Father properly without the guards present."

I feel his torso tense up at the mention of his father. I know it's extremely hard for Arge to disobey him like this. I also know he's doing what he thinks is right, luckily for me.

What a guy.

Shit. I hope this random road trip pays off.

We hit the highway once more, and I feel Argent's tension rising the entire way. As we take a turn off to the right, we start on an entrance to a long, winding dirt road concealed from the highway.

As a huge looming house comes into view, I start to feel nerves rise too. Something feels weird. Call it my new wolf sense, but I feel like we should just turn away now.

Argent must feel it too. He slows the bike just as we see two gates come into view. He keeps looking side to side, like he's expecting someone. He stops and helps me off, then walks the bike in behind some small trees to the left of the gate.

"Something is off," he says, and I nod. I don't know what it is, but I can literally feel hostility and tension all around us.

He leaves our bags, coats and helmets with the bike and pulls some branches on the ground around the tree to cover it all as best he can.

"I think we need to go on foot and stake the place out first. Maybe there are guards here too? Something isn't right. Usually, there would be a border patrol who meet us here. They have surveillance everywhere."

He takes my hand, and we make our way around the bike and head away from the gate. We walk quickly and quietly into a small forest area, towards the west side of the grounds.

Soon, we reach a large fence surrounding the edge of a clearing, and Argent stops as we reach the edge.

There is a large crowd of people gathering. Someone is speaking at the front.

"This isn't good. That's Elroy, I think. He is a complete douche. Jemma and Kane hate him, and Kane told father at a meeting once that he's a troublemaker. I've seen him around. He's old school; believes in the old rules where Alphas don't get passed down but fight to the death and traitors are cast out, things like that. Some of the older packs work like that, punishments and fighting to decide things, but we haven't for years."

We peer over the fence and watch as Elroy speaks to the crowd. He's using aggressive hand gestures, and the group of people clap and cheer.

It feels like a mob of some sort, and not in a good way.

Argent all of a sudden stiffens and yanks at me to stand behind him. A noise to our left makes him tense up even more, and he begins to shake violently, pushing me back on the ground behind him.

Before he has time to shift, Kane comes out of the bushes, his hands up in a surrendering gesture. Argent immediately calms down. "Kane, what the hell is going on?"

"I saw you on the surveillance on my office screens. I turned all the other house screens off so it's just me and George that know you're here."

"Why? What the hell is happening? Where are James and Jemma?" Argent is speaking louder now, and Kane makes a motion up and down with his arms in an attempt to quiet him.

Kane scowls. "Argent, stop shouting. Do you want to be killed? Can't you see what that dick Elroy is doing? He is pledging, gaining followers. He made a challenge against the leadership of the pack today. He is set to fight George in the morning." Argent takes this in, his eyes wide open. He is just about to speak when Kane interrupts, "It's literally the one old time rule that we still adhere to, and he knows that."

He shakes his head and sighs.

"James and Jemma have gone. Elroy threatened them, called Jemma a traitor of all things. He said they were bringing danger to Strand, and he used them as bait for his challenge."

Argent stiffens beside me. "Kane, where are they?"

"I don't know. They left a few hours ago."

"We've been trying to call them."

Kane reaches into his pocket and pulls out two phones. "I found these in Jemma's room. They were on charge, so they must have forgotten them. Your father has been calling James' phone nonstop."

Argent takes a hold of the phones and looks at Kane.

Kane narrows his eyes. "What's going on Argent? Why are you here?"

"Guards turned up early and wanted to do their own tests on the girls. Father and I were blindsided. I had to make a choice, and I did. We left. Father doesn't know. I will call him. I just needed to get Aida safe first so we can make a plan."

Kane nods. "The council help always comes with a price. I knew what they offered was too good to be true." He looks down sadly. We all hear a loud cheer and look over at the growing crowd.

"Can George win?" Argent asks Kane, his voice low.

Kane lets out a deep, disheartening sigh. "I don't know. He's getting older, and Elroy is strong. This could go badly, Argent. You cannot stay any longer. He will use you as more bait for his pledge to the group. He means war."

He looks at me as he says this, and a chill runs down my spine.

"What about you? Come with us?" Argent sounds pleading as he stares at Kane.

Kane shakes his head sadly. "I can't. The elderly members need me here. George needs me. They have no chance against Elroy if it turns bad. I have to stay. I know the risk. Please, just go and find James and Jemma and get somewhere safe."

Argent shakes his hand, and Kane nods and gives me a small, sad smile. He watches us return to the bike and as we put our helmets and coats on, we see him start to trudge back into the forest. Argent wastes no time throwing me on the bike. He jumps back on, and we screech out of the grounds and on to the dirt road back to the highway.

"Arge!" I yell into his ear, holding him tight. He's silent, but I feel him searching over the link. Nothing. James must be too far away. "What do we do now?"

"We head to Lunar. I hope James will too," he hollers out, and we race onwards. We'll have to hope there isn't an uprising there too.