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As a little girl, I used to believe in the silly notion that when my prince would come along, I'd instinctually know. He'd just show up, sweep me off my feet, and carry me off into the rainbow sunset to begin our wonderful life together. In my mind, he was supposed to be a human who looked like a model, with a killer smile that would melt my heart like chocolate, turning my insides into mush with just the magic of his voice. However, now, I knew that that was just a silly childish notion. As I paced Jason's bedroom, I contemplated on whether Vincent really was my soulmate. Sure he claimed that I was his mate, but I had yet to feel the pull as strong as he does. That was normal though: humans didn't have the emotional capability to experience devotion that deep, I was told by teachers. Regardless of my doubts and frustrations, there was a little glimmer of something that resided in my heart for Vincent; and it was that sparkle that drove my urge to see him again so that I could apologize and hopefully stop breaking his heart.

But I couldn't ignore the annoying that fact that, technically speaking, Jason was my soulmate. Vincent was meant to be my second mate, in case Jason died or put me in danger. And I was in danger, point blank- was that why I felt some kind of need to have Vincent around? No, because I've been in danger before with the swimming pool, the vampire, and if Jason truly is crazy then I was always in danger while in his presence; with that in mind, I should've always felt that need to have Vincent here. Therefore, I could only reach one conclusion: I was starting to like my werewolf mate.

Son of a bitch!

Fine, I'll admit it.. later. Right now I needed to get out of crazy Jason's house since there was no way I'd ever spread it for him or let him kill me. There was no more escaping, I realized, which meant that my only way out of this would be fighting my way out.

"Jason!" I called, stomping over to the bed, yanking the brass standing lamp that was in the corner of the room, ripping the cord as I did so. "C'mere!"

"What is it, Mate?" he asked from the other side of the door.

"I'm going to neuter you, so get in here!" I yelled, flexing my fingers around the lamp and bracing my legs so that I could swing it with all my might as soon as he came in.

There was a sigh from the other side of the door. "Really?" he asked. "This is how you want to play?"

Play? "I'm serious, Jason," I said, stomping my foot in frustration. "I'm going to kick your ass, and then I'm going to leave and you'll never see me-"

The bedroom door flung off its hinges, crashing down to the floor, revealing a very pissed off Jason in the doorway. He had his fists balled with rage, his eyes glowing red with his alpha power. "You're not leaving me," he snarled, baring his large canines at me.

"Yes I am!" I spat. "Now get outta my way or else I'll kick your fuzzy ass!" I swung the lamp towards him.

He jerked back, narrowing his eyes at me. "So you've chosen Last Resort, I see," he growled. "Fine." He took one step forward and I lunged at him, slamming the brass rod into the side of his head. It hit with a loud clang and the rode vibrated my entire body as it made contact. Apparently Jason's head was made of solid rock because he didn't even look phased by it, instead just cocking his eyebrow at me, as if asking if that was all I had.

And no, it wasn't! I swung the rod continuously, smacking him over and over, grunting with each beat as I did so. Soon my arms grew tired, my damaged shoulder throbbing from all the movement. The rod was completely bent, looking like a boomerang, and Jason still stood there as if I had just thrown a wadded up piece of paper at him.

"Seriously!" I cried out, tossing the destroyed lamp to the floor in irritation.

Jason chuckled. "Mate, there's no way a fragile human like you can take down a full-grown, alpha male."

No! I couldn't give up! summoning all of my adrenaline-fueled energy, I scurried over the bed towards the closet. I had to ind some kind of weapon to use against Jason. I slammed the door open and just resulted in throwing whatever I could find at him: clothes, shoes, belts, whatever I could get my frantic hands on.

The entire time Jason stalked forward, batting some items out of the way while letting others hit him as if they were nothing. He turned his head to the left, popping his neck. His vein stood out on his forehead and I could tell that he was muster all of his strength to not phase on the spot and shred me to little pieces. "Mate," he cooed, holding his hands up in a non-threatening manner, "I'm just going to ask one more time before it's too late. Are you going to be a good girl and submit, yes or no?"

That asshole was totally speaking down to me as if I were just some emotionally-unstable human who was just throwing a tantrum! "No!" I screamed, running forward and thrusting my foot out to kick him right where the sun don't shine.

Jason groaned and bent over in pain. I sprinted around him, making a beeline for the door. I figured that if I made it downstairs to the kitchen, then I could grab a knife and use that defend myself. Then I could fight a much better fight and possibly even win. Jason roared with fury and I felt myself thrown off the the ground, my body being flown over the upstairs banister. My body slammed against the hardwood floor of the first story with a thud, all the air escaping out of my lungs. My head throbbed like crazy and my limbs tingled as I struggled to move them so that I could at least have some small percentage of making it out of this fight.

I looked up to see Jason sauntering down the stairs, his head high and chest puffed out, trying to look bigger and thus more intimidating. And it worked too, making my breath grow labored and a cold sweat break out on my forehead. I struggled to get to my feet, still a little disoriented from being thrown down the stairs. The entire house seemed to be spinning as I sadly attempted to run to the kitchen, having to lean up against the wall a majority of the way there. The entire time I could hear Jason's deafening footsteps behind me, taunting me as he got closer and closer.

"Just think about it, Mate," he said from behind me, "you'll be the alpha mate of this territory. I can give you anything your heart desires. I'm a very powerful man and can make anything happen for you. Just imagine it: you, by my side, waking up in my bed every morning. You, carrying our pups in your stomach, and you'll look after them and keep house while I'm out taking care of the territory. Then I'll come home and have the dinner you make me and then we'll up to our bed and fuck like animals each and every night, my precious mate. Just think about it." He was so close that I could feel his hot breath on the back of my neck, sending a shiver throughout my core.

Before I could answer, there was a noise from outside- a howl, a loud howl that I've heard before. A howl that sent a tingling sensation through me, making me perk up and find my gumption.

I spun around to face the pissed off Jason who bared his teeth in the direction of the howl. "I'm not into bestiality," I shouted at him and then hocked a huge loogie into his surprised face. Sure, without a doubt, it was perhaps the most childish and idiotic thing I could have ever done to a furious werewolf, but the look on his face as my vicious spit-snort mixture ran down his face was hilarious.

But of course, Jason didn't see it that way. I could've been the howl outside or my loogie, or both (definitely my loogie played a part though), but he phased into his wolf form, towering over me in his animalistic body, his muzzle dangerously close to my face. His teeth were long and jagged, yellow with just a hint of red to really get my terror flowing. I screamed in fear and almost as soon as I cried out, there was a loud crashing noise in one of the other rooms in the house.

Jason snarled and darted over to the source of the noise, completely forgetting about me for the moment. Yes! Ignoring the snarling and sounds of claws and fangs against body, I sprinted into the kitchen,throwing open drawer after drawer to find some kind of weapon to defend myself with. The first one had oven mitts, the second had plastic wrap, and the third had packets of ketchup from fast food restaurants. Damn it! I snatched a peppermint I found in the condiment drawer, pocketing it, and then returning on my mission to find a weapon. The noises of the werewolf fight sounded out throughout the house as I frantically looked for something sharp.

There a yelp and then silence.

I held my breath and stared towards the dark hallway, afraid of whoever would come walking in. Footsteps thudded against the hard floor and soon the silhouette of a man came into view; a buff man, but not overly huge like Jason.

"Vincent?" I whimpered, moving behind the counter in case I was wrong. My fingers grasped the tiled top as I anxiously awaited a reply.

"Nora?" I heard him croak, making me lose all composure.

I broke down, tears falling down my face like rivers. "Vincent? Is that really you?" I gasped, feeling as if we were being reunited after five years instead of just a day.

He moved further down the hallway, finally entering the kitchen, and sure enough there he was. He looked really beat up with gashes and bruises all over his body. He moved with a limp and he was hunched over, but as soon as he laid his eyes on me, his posture straightened and he dashed at an incredible speed over to me, wrapping me tightly in his arms and yanking me into his chest. He rocked us gently back and forth, his face buried in my messy hair. "It's okay, Nora," he cooed, his voice vibrating his chest, "I'm here. I got you."

I couldn't help feeling safe in Vincent's embrace. I buried myself further into his hold, my head resting on his shoulder. "How'd you find me?" I wondered.

"Your friends Jessie and Crystal helped me," he answered, looking behind him down the hallway, his hold growing tighter. "I have to get you out of here. Jason's only unconscious, so we need to leave before he wakes up."

I nodded and allowed Vincent to lead me by the hand over to the front door of Jason's house. I was tremendously obvious the change in my demeanor and attitude as soon as Vincent came to rescue me. Earlier, I had been fearful for my life, even going so far as to attempt to fight an alpha, but now, I felt (almost) relaxed and at ease. It must've been true what they say, Vincent's role as the second mate really is to help take care of the alpha mate in case the alpha grew too dangerous. I was thankful he was here, and I knew that there was something that I needed to say.

"Vincent," I said, trying to get his attention as he dragged us towards the forest near Jason's house. I struggled to keep up with him, stumbling over my feet as I followed behind. "I need to tell you something."

"Just wait," he said, his broad back to me. "Crystal and Jessie are waiting for us to help us cross the border."

"But I really need to say this," I whined, yanking my arm so that it would get him to slow down.

Vincent whimpered, looking conflicted. Obviously he wanted to continue to get me as far away from Jason as possible, but I could tell that he was interested in what I had to say. "What is it?" he finally asked, his hand still firmly planted on my arm.

I opened my mouth, but no noise came out. It was dry and I struggled to think up a way that I could apologize for being such a mean person to him...although he deserve it sometimes. But, at least thirty percent of it was my fault, and I needed to own up to it. "Sorry," I breathed, too flustered to come up with any other words. "I'm sorry Vincent."

He stood there, jaw dropped and eyes wide. "Um, well," he stammered, running his free hand threw his hair, "I wasn't expecting that."

Don't act so shocked! I scowled but bit my tongue, not wanting to regress to my past behaviors. "I just needed to say it," I spat, pursing my lips.

He nodded, turning his gaze back to the house behind us. "Look, Nora, if you really wanna make it up to me, I'll forgive everything if you just keep moving, okay?" he said, going back to leading me through the dark forest. The sun had completely set by now and it was hard to see anything out in the wilderness, but Vincent led me through, warning me whenever there was a low branch of a high root. Other than that, he was rather silent, not trying to talk me into being with him or saying any kind of lovey-dovey stuff which made me oddly uneasy. I began to wonder if I had somehow squashed all the affection that he had for me with my piss-poor attitude.

I shook that worry from my head. Now was not the time to fret over stuff like that; I had to focus on getting away from Jason. I was glad to hear that Jessie was still safe, but there was a pain in my chest over the loss of Danni. She died because of me, and without a doubt, Reed would die soon too of heartbreak if he hadn't already succumbed to the injuries he got from Jason. But, unfortunately, I couldn't dwell on that either. If I didn't want Vincent's blood to be on my hands too, then I needed to concentrate on getting out of the territory.

Vincent grunted and cleared his throat, still keeping up his fast pace. "There is one thing I need to ask you though," he said, his voice shaky and unsure.

"What is it?" I asked.

Still not looking back at me, he took a deep breath, his wide shoulders rising and falling. "I, uh, I just want to know- and you don't have to answer this right now, it can wait until we get over the border. But I wanted to know if once I rescued you, did you want to stay with me or have me escort you to Florida. Because I will if that's what you want, I'll send you to Florida for you to be free from..." He cleared his throat again. "...free from me."

If he wasn't moving us so quickly, I would've frozen in my tracks. Vincent was offering to let me go to Florida and be free of werewolves, and ultimately, free of him? The cynical part of me thought that this was test, that there was some kind of catch here. But the rational side of me told me that he was being completely honest with me, just wanting what would make me happy.

"Whatever you want," he said. "But I just won't let you stay with him." His voice morphed into an animalistic growl at the end of his statement, his hatred of the idea of me being with Jason totally obvious.

"Well, I wasn't going to stay with him, so that's not going to be an issue," I mumbled. Yet, Vincent really posed an interesting offer in front of me. Did I want to stay with him, or did I want to leave to Florida? Before all of this, I would have chosen Florida in a heartbeat, eager to live a normal, human life free from werewolves. However, now that I actually had the freedom to choose, I didn't know what I wanted exactly. Yes, I wanted to leave the territory, but at the same time, I kind of liked Vincent and didn't want to be without him. Sure he got on my nerves all the time, he was SUPER possessive, and he was a control-freak at times, and he had an authority complex, and he dictated how I was supposed to sleep, and he told me what to wear, and he wouldn't let me talk to other males, and he- Um... yeah, but still, he was growing on me for reasons unknown, expect for the main fact that he was completely, utterly, and irrevocably in love with me.

And I knew that he would do everything in his power to make sure that I was taken care of. Unlike my parents who abandoned me as soon as they found out that I was mated to a werewolf, and unlike Jason who killed Danni and wanted to kill me, Vincent had an unconditional love for me and a drive to do what was best for my well-being. And that just poses the question of whether it was best for me to stay with him or leave.

"Get behind me!" Vincent yelled, letting go of my arm and phasing into his wolf form. He crouched in front of me, growling loudly and baring his teeth, the hair on his back standing straight up.

The darkness in the forest prevented me from seeing whatever threat Vincent could sense, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that it was Jason. "Should I run?" I whimpered, my legs feeling like jelly and my chest feeling cold with anxiety. Vincent will protect me, I told myself but I couldn't help the feeling of impending doom.

Vincent turned back to me, his fangs long, but not nearly as dangerous-looking as Jason's. He nodded, giving a small growl as if he was telling me to hurry.

I spun on my heels and bolted through the forest...making it about three feet before I tripped over a tree root, stumbling onto the hard ground like a stupid person does in a horror movie whenever danger comes. I scraped my hands up pretty badly, feeling the blood drip from them as I stood back up.

Vincent must've smelt it because he turned around, nostrils flared. He let out a huff of exasperation and made his way over to me, his wolf form dwarfing me as he lumbered forward. When he was in front of me, he took a gentle hold of my cut up hands with his claws, leaning down to lap at them with his massive wolf tongue. I watched in awe as the cuts diminished to tiny scars in just a matter of seconds, recalling how the mating mark that he put on my shoulder disappeared in the car the day we met. And speaking of my shoulder, he turned to lap at my chewed up shoulder, trying to heal the gashes for me, his need to take of me taking priority over Jason.

"Vincent!" I shrieked out in horror as I saw Jason's large wolf form emerge from the shadows.

Jason lunged at us, tackling Vincent from behind, the two of them stumbling onto he forest floor. Vincent stood and slashed at Jason, whose wolf form had at least two feet on Vincent's, hitting a couple of times, actually slicing open the alpha's flesh. Jason howled in pain, chomping down on Vincent's arm and thrashing his head, making him yelp.

"Stop!" I screamed at Jason. "Let go of him!" I searched around for something to use to help save Vincent from Jason's attack, finding a fallen brach that was pretty thick and looked about three feet long. That would work! I snatched up the branch and sped forward, slamming the wood onto Jason's face, making him jerk back and snarl at me.

With a mighty swing of his arm, Jason sent Vincent flying back until his back his a tree, hard. Vincent let out a yelp that pulled at my heartstrings before he quickly stumbled back over to me, raising his claws. He glanced back at me for a moment, his eyes raking over my form to make sure I was okay.

Jason snarled at us. "This is it, Mate," he roared. "Time for the Last Resort!"

Vincent lunged from his protective stance in front of me, crashing into the other werewolf with a loud bang. Growing and yelps could be heard behind me as I ran with all my might to the safety of wherever Crystal and Jessie were, all the while he literally fought for my life against the other wolf.