My eyes fluttered open and my head throbbed like crazy. Almost immediately, my shoulder screamed agony and I winced at the slightest movement in my torso, my bloodied shirt sticking to my skin. "What the hell?" I gasped, looking around, quickly noticing that I was back in Jason's room. Luckily, he was nowhere to be seen. I struggled to sit up, but my left arm was practically useless. Below the elbow it felt numb and above that t felt as if it were on fire. Yeah, there was serious damage done to me.

With a low grunt, I turned onto my side, eager to try to escape again. I couldn't give up. Vincent needed me and I needed to get back to him to make sure that he didn't die of heartbreak like his father had. I mean, I wasn't dead yet so in a way I was trying to prevent him from dying by trying to prevent myself from dying- like a two for one special for lifesaving. I rolled out of the bed, my entire body sore from the whole ordeal earlier. Trudging across the hardwood floor, I reached out for the doorknob to exit the room, only to find that the door wouldn't push out. It was almost as if something was up against it.

"C'mon!" I shouted, pounding against it with my good arm in frustration.

"It's no use, Mate," I heard Jason's low voice from the other side. That douche must've been sitting on the other side, using his immense bulk to trap me in his bedroom.

"Jason!" I pleaded, tears welling up in eyes. "Please, Jason, please! Just let me go and I swear I won't tell anyone! Just let me go and I won't even go to Vincent, I'll just be on my own way-"

"To Florida?" he scoffed. How did he know that? "I read your file and it wasn't hard to see that Florida would be where you'd flee since you used to have family there. So you wanna go to Florida, a human colony? A colony where I'll have no right to my mate and she can just up and leave me whenever she pleases?" He began to raise his voice until he was practically screaming through the door.

"Well, yeah."

"Fuck that, Nora!" he shouted. "You're not leaving that room until you promise you'll submit completely to me."

"Completely?" I asked. "You mean, like-?" My face grew flushed when I thought about submitting to Jason. I was under the impression that he just wanted me to bare my neck or something to show that I was submissive.

"Either you mate with me or we'll do the Last Resort," he snarled, slamming a hard fist on the door, making me jump back in shock. "I expect an answer by nightfall, which gives you about three hours."

Three hours?! How long was I out? And why the hell were doing Jason or having him kill me my only options? This sucked! Obviously I didn't want to give myself to that creepy wolf, but I wasn't prepared to die in rebellion.

"Um," I droned. "Can't we just be friends?"

There was silence and no doubt Jason was giving me a look that said to stop being an idiot.

"Best friends?"

"Mate," he snarled, "you heard what I said. Now think it over. Oh, and in the meantime, I'm going to stay right here in this spot, just to make sure that you don't do something foolish, like try to escape again. Got it?"

I yanked at my hair in frustration, pacing around the room. What was there I could do? I could just submit, close my eyes and get it over it. Worse case scenario: I hit myself over the head to knock myself out so that I could be unconscious during the entire thing. I never took werewolf sex ed, so I had no idea what to expect, but judging from Jason's demeanor, he'd probably pound me (literally) into smithereens. The other option was that I let him kill me. I glanced down at my shoulder, my shirt shredded at it, the dried blood still a little wet and sticky. He'd done some extensive damage to me, a huge chunk of skin missing, showing off some of the muscle underneath...so I guess it's no more bikinis for me.

Or maybe there was a third option: go out on my own terms.

The window drew in my attention. Maybe if jumped out and tried to land on my thick head, then I could die. That thought sent a ripple of fear through me. Was death really the only way out of this miserable situation that Jason put me in? I never even considered it when I was just stuck with Vincent, so maybe if I did somehow live, I should just shack up with Vincent. Sure he was possessive and annoying as crap, but at least he never tried to turn me into an amputee.

But do I deserve him?

I froze instantly at that thought. No, I didn't do anything to deserve Vincent. I had allowed my parents to poison my mind with lies about werewolves, almost to the point of being a blatant racist to their kind. It was sometimes embarrassing to think about it when I remembered how I'd yell at Vincent or how I shouted that I hated him. And still, he had bought me mushroom pizza (my favorite food on the planet), he wanted to provide for me, he bought me clothes, stole me food, and never threatened to Last Resort me. And I called him some profanity at least every hour on the hour. Damn it, I don't deserve Vincent. Sometimes I wished that he could just have Jessie as a mate. She's nice and deserves to be happy and she actually appreciates werewolves, seeing them as her equal and not as a rabid animal.

Out of nowhere, I collapsed on the floor, pulling my legs into my torso. I sobbed uncontrollably at everything: how I was about to die; being abandoned by my family; Danni's death; and most of all, how horrible I was to Vincent. Tears blinded me as I pathetically lied on the ground, desperate to at least see Vincent one more time to apologize. I didn't care if he didn't want me to be his mate, but I needed to say sorry, if anything. I couldn't die, I couldn't allow Jason to kill me because I needed to see my mate one last time so that he wouldn't just see me as some ungrateful bitch. But I couldn't let Jason have me sexually, because I knew deep down that if he did, then I'd be officially his forever and that would wreck Vincent; and I couldn't allow him to get hurt because of me anymore.

I was so confused and lost, so I just continued to sob on the floor, wishing that Vincent was here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vincent's POV

It took several hours for my wounds to heal. Just focus on anything, anything but Nora, I thought to myself as I lied on my back in the pathetic shack that I was now forced to call my home thanks to that asshole, Jason. With every breath I took, I could slowly feel my bones snapping back into place, my skin sealing back together- it was as if my body knew that I had to go protect and win back my mate. I had to get better, had to get her back.

Regardless, I tried everything not to focus on the thought of her being dragged away from me by my ex-alpha. The way she looked back at me in pity, almost as if she felt sorry for me. It was a semi-comforting thought that she was concerned for my well-being, but I didn't want my mate to feel bad at all, even if it was for me. I promised myself that I would destroy Jason for making Nora feel even an ounce of negative emotions.

After, begrudgingly, getting my ass handed to me, I had to howl out for help and partially because my wolf was shouting at me to get Nora's attention so that she'd come back. If she sees us in pain, then she'll come back, he reasoned.

"No she won't," I had sputtered through gritted teeth, wincing whenever I tried to move a muscle, my body feeling as if each bone was shattered glass. I knew she wouldn't come back, knew that she didn't really want me. My wolf whimpered in depressed agreement, understanding perfectly well that our mate wanted nothing to do with us. Even if I did manage to get her away from Jason, she wouldn't want to live her life as an omega with me. A life where I had to fight other wolves just to get her an apple, where I wouldn't be able to help her go to college, where I wouldn't be able to buy her whatever her heart desired. The look of disgust and disappointment that was on Nora's face when she first saw the inside of our new home was stuck in my mind, and it tore me apart because I knew that I had failed her- that I was unable to provide for my mate.

Nora deserved a mate who could take care of her, a mate who could make her happy. come to think of it, one of my favorite phenomena was when ever I'd see her smile. The way her left cheek had a dimple, but the right one didn't. Her gleaming teeth always reflected the sunlight and whenever she'd let out a chuckle, it was like the most beautiful hymn that I'd heard. Unfortunately, when she was with me, it was such a rare sight. That had to mean something, right?

And now, back in my house/shack, I was faced with the loneliness again. Such a familiar scene: me without my mate, sad and just wanting nothing more in the world than to have her here in my arms. But maybe she would be happier in Florida where she would be free from werewolves, and ultimately, me.

My inner wolf yelped in pain at that thought. But we want her, he pleaded with me. We need her!

I ignored him. He was right, one-hundred percent. It was impossible for me to envision a future without her that wouldn't involve me completely depressed for the rest of my life. But what kind of man would I be if I didn't put the needs of my love before my own?

Whimpering, my wolf let in. Fine, he huffed. Maybe Jason can take better care of her.

I didn't want to admit it, but there was so much more that he could give her than I could. For one, he was the alpha of the next territory over. That right there gave him power, wealth, undying-respect, and the loyalty from the entire pack. And through extension, all of that was given to Nora as well. Plus, he had the capability of allowing her to visit Florida, even move there. After all, even if she was with me and I was still the beta-to-be, then I would still need to get Jason's permission to have Nora go to Florida seeing as he's the alpha and has final say on who comes and goes.

Too busy wallowing in self-pity, I almost didn't register it when there was a loud banging on my front door.

"Huh?" I asked, leaning up with a wince, one of my ribs still setting itself.

"Vincent! Open up!" came a female's voice from the other side.

Who could this be? "Just open the door," I huffed, not caring if it were someone here to kill me or steal from me. Nora was gone, so there was nothing left to protect.

The door slammed open, banging loudly into the wall behind it. In the doorway stood a tall, blonde werewolf who glared down at me with disgust. "What are you doing here, just sulking?" she spat at he, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Who are you?" I grunted, struggling to sit up. I held my hand to my side to help my rib stay in place so that it mended correctly.

Jessie, Nora's best friend fro school, poked her head out from behind the werewolf. "Mr. Abin!" she gasped. "We need your help! Please!"

The werewolf glanced back at her, shifting her stance so that her body blocked the human from my view. I cocked my eyebrow at her and she just threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Now's not the time to talk about that," she stated. "Jessie asked me to sneak her here so that she could get you to save her friend, your mate."

Jessie poked her head threw again, a wide smile on her face. "Yeah!" she said. "Totally, and guess what? I walked up to Crystal as she was kicking Kyle's ass- Kyle from school, remember him? Anyway, I asked her for her help, and she just stared at me with this look, and I knew it! I knew that I was destined to be a werewolf's mate!"

The werewolf, Crystal supposedly, pinched the skin above her nose. "There were tons of humans around at the pool party, and of course, I get stuck with the loud one," she grimaced, but she blushed nonetheless at the way Jessie happily declared that she was her mate. "I didn't even see her there since I was busy talking to Nora, but once we met in the forest... something clicked."

Instantaneously I felt jealous. There was Crystal and Jessie, two people who have never met before in their lives. Yet, in just a short matter of time, Jessie was already head over heels with the idea of being mated to someone of the rest of her life. She understood that it wasn't about being a dog's property, but more about finding that other being who will love her unconditionally.

"But Mr. Abin!" Jessie whined, and I couldn't help but notice how calm Crystal was even with her mate speaking to me, another werewolf. "Nora's in danger! We need your help, please!"

In a flash, I was on my feet, claws out and fangs bared, my instincts screaming at me to find my mate. It was difficult to even focus my sight on anything, red clouded my vision and my limbs ached to tear apart whatever threat my Nora was facing. "Where?" I growled, my voice deep and animalistic. Fuck what I mentioned earlier about letting Nora go on her merry own little way. No, she was mine, and mine only. Mine to protect, mine to hold, mine to love, mine- just mine.

Crystal bared her teeth at me, pushing Jessie out of the way of the doorframe. "She's with Jason, at his house," she said. "Follow me. I have a secret trail that I use to go between territories."

"And we need to hurry!" Jessie piped in. "Jason said he's going to use the Last Resort on Nora!"

There was nothing else in the world that I could focus on now. All I needed to do was get to my mate. Find her! my wolf demanded. Get her back!

I plan on it.

Crystal phased, throwing Jessie on her back to carry her as she led me back to the territory. My eyes stayed fixed on her figure, knowing full well that she would lead me down the fastest route to my mate. The sun was slowly getting lower and I sprinted at full speed, dirt flying high behind me as I bolted. Surprisingly, Crystal's path did lead us back to the old territory rather quickly, and it was pretty well hidden. She led us down close to a river where there were scores of granite rocks that created a sort of natural maze as they jutted out from the earth. Through various twists and turns that even a werewolf would have trouble navigating through, we made it through the border and onto the other side of the old territory.

Mate, mate, mate, my wolf chanted, eager to rescue her. There was no way I could allow Jason to take her away from me forever. It was one thing to take her momentarily while she was still alive; that gave me a small percentage of stealing/winning her back eventually. But if she was dead, I might as well kill myself shortly after seeing as how my light in the world would be gone.

Eventually Jason's house came into view, the sun completely set.

Unable to help myself, I unleashed an earsplitting howl to let Nora know that I was here to save her, that her mate was here to take her back.