== James’ POV ==

I was running through the woods in my human form. Some of the other pack members told me that Simon gave chase in the woods after the new girl. Apparently, she had left the pack house unnoticed. It wasn’t a good timing. I needed to find him as soon as possible. I followed his scent downhill towards the western part of our territory. After some time, I spotted both Simon and Enna walking on the path. They looked like they were making small talk until Simon saw me. I ran to him.

“Thank the moon, you guys are all right! You closed your mind-link!” I chastised Simon. I wasn’t supposed to be rude to my Alpha but I couldn’t help it, I was worried about him like he was my brother.

“I was busy. What’s the emergency?” he asked. I saw his hand reaching for Enna’s wrist, as if he was ready to start running, pulling her behind him. They must have talked about some “stuff”.

“There was another attack and I couldn’t reach you.”

I saw Simon’s eyes turn darker, his mind was turning into Alpha mode, into wolf mode, but his heart made him look between me and Enna a few times. On one hand, he had to leave her there to attend his duties, on another, some assailants could be running in this side of the woods and he feared for her. I understood how he felt but what happened next surprised me. Enna stepped closer to him and placed her other hand on the hand he used to hold her wrist.

“You should go” she told him. He turned towards her, letting go of her wrist to caress her cheek. I felt like I was prying on a very intimate moment. “Are you…” he started but she placed her hand on his lips. “Go” she repeated.

He sighed and turned to me. “Bring her back to the pack house. Be carfeful” he ordered. I didn’t even have time to answer, he took off shifting only a few meters away from us before disappearing into the woods.

___

== Enna’s POV ==

The walk back would have been much faster if I had shifted into my raven but I didn’t want to tell James if Simon didn’t find it necessary. I liked James, he was very friendly. I could tell from the way he looked at me that he was dying inside to ask about what we were doing in the woods, but I wasn’t about to let anything go.

“So, you guys are like….together now?” he asked.

“We didn’t really discuss it…anyway, do wolves really have a choice? With the mate thing, I mean?” I answered.

He shrugged. “I didn’t find my mate yet, so I couldn’t really tell you how it feels, but mates can decide to refuse the union. Why? Do you not like our Alpha?” he asked me, looking at me sideways. I smiled at his question as the pack house was finally coming into view.

“I was just wondering. How does it work? The rejection I mean?” I teased him. I hoped he wouldn’t talk about with Simon, because I didn’t plan to reject him, but I couldn’t help myself when it came to teasing people.

“I don’t know. I never rejected anyone.” His answer was abrupt, almost severe. I smiled inside, obviously, he didn’t find it funny. “If you reject him, I’ll kill you myself.” He stated. A look into his eyes made obvious that he wasn’t joking, they had darkened and his jaw was set.

“I never said I would” I answered cautiously before entering the pack house. This place was huge. I wasn’t very familiar with houses anymore, but it was much bigger than the place I was brought up in. It had been a small two-bedroom stone cottage with a kitchen-diner and a living room. This house was like a hotel, the living room looked like a lobby but it wasn’t really busy at the moment.

James entered behind me. I could tell he was still nervous, maybe from our conversation, or the fact that a large part of his pack was out there and he was stuck here with me. He was looking ahead, his eyes lost in space.

“You should go too” I said. His eyes snapped to me, he frowned as if I was speaking another language. “Go help Simon” I added. His eyebrows relaxed before raising into surprise.

“I think I’m supposed to keep an eye on you” he answered.

“I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” I told him with a serious face. “If I had wanted to run away, I would have been long gone, believe me. I would feel more at peace if you were with him…”

His eyes analyzed my face for a second, frowning deeply again, before he gave me a nod and disappeared by the back door as fast as lightning. I sighed. I was alone.

___

== Simon’s POV ==

It was a bloody mess. Thankfully, it was mostly blood from our opponents. When I arrived on the battleground, most of them were already dead. We had upgraded the guard on the eastern side of the grounds after what happened the last time and rightfully so. One of my squad leaders came near me as I pulled its head away from a wizard.

“We have a few prisoners. The rest fled.” He mind-linked me. I growled in response, sending the head fly a few meters away. Pack doctors were coming in to take care of our casualties while some of the prisoners where kneeling, lined up in the mud. “Make sure our boys are taken care off” I told him, “I’ll take care of the prisoners”. He growled and went on his way.

Most of the prisoners were wolves, we didn’t really like to keep wizards alive and in custody, let alone vampires. They had all shifted back to their human forms. They came in all size and shape, some of them seemed to have been pretty bashed up during the fight. One of them looked around fifteen, a large cut ran from his neck to his hairline. He was leaking scarlet drops on the dead leaves.

“Bring them to the jail” I ordered the wolves around them, “I will deal with them later”.

As I turned around, I saw James’ wolf coming straight at me. “Is everything all right?” he asked me. “Where is Enna?” was my only answer to his question. I could see him almost smile. “She’s at the pack house. She said she wouldn’t run away so…”

I could tell he was hoping not to get yelled at for leaving her on her own. “It ok” I answered, although now, I wanted to get back to her to make sure nothing would happen to her. “Supervise the transfer of these prisoners” I ordered him. James went on his way as I called over the captain of the squad on patrol duty today.

“You told us to be careful so I left a few of my men on the perimeter. No running, just surveillance to make sure no one was trying to pass by us while we ran the perimeter further into our territory. They tried to sneak in but they alerted us. We were outnumbered especially with the wizards and vampires but we got them all. I have a few men running around making sure no scent leads back in land” he explained to me.

“Casualties?” I asked.

“A few are injured, no death. I’m just worried about the ones who got that weird...thing” he said.

I growled. “Take care of the cleaning with a small crew” I answered.

Once everything was taken care off, I took off for the pack house. I needed to make sure she was fine.

The smell of food greeted me as I reached the house. I dashed into my office where I kept a change of clothes, not wanting to look for her in my most simple apparel. I found her in the kitchen, she didn’t notice me at first as all of her attention was on the stove but when she turned around to put the sausages on a plate she saw me and jumped, almost dropping everything.

“You’re back” she said, putting down the pan to cover her heart with her hand.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you” I answered. I was leaning on the door frame but moved to get closer to her, leaning now against the island next to the plate of smoking sausages.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. I could see her cheeks blush and she averted her gaze to turn back to the stove. “I thought you would be…after…you know…” she said, keeping her focus on the pan. She was an arm length away so I grabbed her wrist, turning and pulling her to me. She crashed into my chest in a shower of sparks, almost hitting me with the spatula she was holding in her other hand.

____

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