I lied on the bed while Ace was out, relieving himself of stress. Danielle and Xan were watching tv, keeping a close eye on me and my injuries. They wrapped up my stomach and put numbing stuff so it wouldn't hurt, as much. They weren't as bad as Ace, or they didn't treat me like shit like he does.

They were watching SpongeBob, and, well, so was I. Hard to resist his high pitched annoyingness. If I had to relate to anyone, it'd be SquidWard, he's a realist.

"Are you hungry?" Xan turns and asks me. I shake my head no. "Oh, okay," he turns back to the tv.

The front door opened and Ace walks in, drenched in blood. I plugged my nose and closed my eyes, I didn't want to see or smell that.

I feel the bed dip besides me and I scoot away, as close as the wall I could get. Ace snickers and I presume rolls his eyes. "Did my little mate learn her lesson?" he asks in a sickly tone. A shiver runs down my spine and I don't respond. My vocal cords felt like they were frozen in fear.

I feel a fistful of my hair being grabbed from behind me and pulled, roughly, making me yap. "I guess not," Ace says, running a finger down my face. My teeth clench as I try and pull away, failing.

"Ace, stop it," Danielle says, approaching us cautiously. "You aren't going to get anywhere if you keep doing this!"

Ace growls at him, "So fuck what? Do you think I actually care-" I heard a smack and looked up to see that Danielle slapped Ace.

My eyes go wide, but he still had a tight grip on my hair. "Do I have to remind you again? Once you loose her wolf, you loose her!" Danielle shouts, punching Ace in the face. I flinch, knowing he was going to have a black eyes later. But Danielle was right, the only thing keeping me from killing my own mate is my wolf, and a little bit of guilt.

Ace lets go of my suddenly and I stay still, looking at him. He was talking to his wolf, and his face held a blank expression. Danielle looks back to me and gives me an apologetic look. "Look Ace, until you can fucking control yourself, me and Xan are taking Lillian," Danielle says.

Ace's eyes shoot up, "No!" he growls, sounding very possessive. His eyes were tinted red, a bit of his wolf was out.

"Look, Ace, she's marked. If she's in any trouble then you will know. But for the time being, just let her stay with us. She's not safe around you, her own mate," Xan steps in, sitting at the edge of the bed. I didn't know how I felt about going with these guys, but I hope they are better than Ace.

Ace grabs me and holds me in his arms, "No!" he growls, repeating it over and over. My wolf whimpered, noticing he was distressed. She wanted to pet his hair and comfort him, while I wanted to smash his head into the wall and say he deserved it.

Danielle and Xan looked down at me with sorrow. "Ace," I speak up for once. My voice wasn't pleasant and very scratchy. "Please..." I begged him with just one word. He loosened his grip on me and I wiggled free, falling into the floor next to the bed.

"Don't," he says. I look up, a bit confused, but he just let me go? I was confused. "Something's not right," his voice was plain, as if holding no emotion which made it a lot harder to believe him.

"Dude! We have known you for years, how could you think something is fishy?" Danielle questions, waving his hands in the air. I scooted against the wall, looking at the floor. If they fought I didn't want to be in the middle of it.

Ace growled, "If she wants to go, fine! But if something happens," I look up at him, knowing what he was going to say, "you owe me more than you're willing to give."

I get up, my body shaking as I nodded, slowly. I walked behind Xan and Danielle as they walked out the door, watching me closely. The last thing I saw of Ace was him looking outside the window.

My wolf whimpered as we walked outside in the twilight. "C'mon, we shifted to get here. You can ride on one of our backs or run yourself," Xan tells me, suddenly shifting into his wolf afterwards. Danielle following within seconds. I nod, shifting into mine as well.

They smiled at me, and began running into the forest. I quickly caught up and followed close behind them, but they were fast. I panted heavily within an hour.

The two of them stopped, glancing back at me, raising an eyebrow. I lied on the ground, but Xan's wolf picked me up by the crook of my neck and began running again. I was still, too tired to care.

Another hour later and we were at another apartment complex, a bit worse than Ace's. I internally cringed, but it should be better than being with Ace.

We walk in, in our wolf forms. Xan placed me down and I followed them up the stairs, my tail wagging slightly. Besides the smell, the inside wasn't so bad. We stopped on the fourth floor, all the way at the end of the hallway.

They unlocked their door and I trotted in, falling asleep on the floor in a ball.