Twenty minutes later, I was at the Windcrest mansion, waiting for Natalia to join me. It looked somewhat different without all the fancy decoration, but it was still imposing nonetheless.

"Hi Riley. Ready to go?" Natalia said as she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"You have no idea. Where should we go?"

As we stood there thinking of which route to take, I saw a familiar busty blonde eagerly make her way to us.

"Natalia! So happy to see you, dear. Have you seen Rafe anywhere? I've looked for him all over the pack's grounds and I can't find him." She was all smiles and innocence, yet I couldn't help but get the feeling that she was acting overly friendly with Natalia. I saw Nat's body stiffen a bit as the busty blonde tried to hug her. Clearly this was not their usual dynamic.

"Oh, hey Amy. No sorry, Rafe has been keeping to himself lately, so I have no clue where he is." It sounded like Nat was covering for her brother but her lie was so subtle that I only picked up on it because of my professional background.

The other girl finally decided to acknowledge my presence as well and I was happy that I had my scent still masked. Definitely didn't want her to be nosy about me. I don't know what it was but I just didn't like her. She was one of those people that you had the feeling that she was not being genuine, especially when you have Natalia, one of the sweetest and most sincere people ever, standing right next to her. Perhaps I had an issue with how desperate she was in her attempts to go after the idiot Rafe Macalister- I was just not a fan of girls who threw themselves so eagerly at men. Or maybe she just had one of those bitchy faces that you just ended up disliking someone for. Okay, I was being a bit judgemental here but whatever the reason, I did not have a good feeling about this girl.

"I see. Oh, you have a friend with you. Sorry, hun, I didn't see you there." Seriously?! Was she in kindergarten still? "Amy Spade."

"It's okay. I'm sure you must have something urgent on your mind, seeing how desperately you are trying to get hold of the future Alpha." I said, ignoring her introduction. Her eyes flashed with annoyance. Good, I hit a nerve!

Blondie turned her back to me and continued talking to Natalia. "Are you going for a walk? I heard that the Culag Woods trail was perfect today. There is no one around so if you two", she looked at Nat before glaring at me, "want to shift, it would be perfect. And it's a beautiful trail."

"Thanks, Amy, I was thinking about taking Riley to Inveruglas."

"No, no, no, hun. Why go so far? Culag Woods is closer. And I am sure that you and your friend will be surprised by the trail."

Amy seemed to be pretty insistent on the Culag Woods and eventually left after Nat promised her that we would check it out.

"I don't like this girl at all, Nat." I shared as Amy finally disappeared.

"I know. Me neither. I know that my brother is just messing around with her, as he does with many others, but Amy seems to be more set on becoming the next Luna than any of my brother's other dalliances. Sometimes I wonder how far she would go in order to make that happen. Rafe doesn't really believe in the concept of mates but when he takes over, he will need a Luna and I really hope, for everyone's sake, that she doesn't somehow convince him to take her on."

I thought about Rafe Macalister. The guy was a prick but he didn't strike me as stupid so I would have expected him to see through Amy's desperate advances. Then again, how often were men blinded by their lust, thinking with the wrong head when making decisions.

"I have to admit that it was really odd to have her come talk to me. We barely speak normally. She did have a point though- the Culag Woods trail is beautiful and way closer, so maybe we should follow her advice," Natalia said as we got into the car. I still had a bad feeling about listening to Amy but reluctantly I agreed.

Once we started exploring the trail though, I had to admit that it was indeed beautiful. The landscape was so varied within the woodland area, with small hills, rocky outcrops and little streams. In many parts it was fairylike. It was so quiet and peaceful that all could hear were the chatter of the squirrels and the bird songs around us. I let the sharp, invigorating, minty smell of the birch trees fill up my lungs. It was so refreshing that I could practically taste it in my mouth, like a mint that I had just popped in.

I looked up and I could feel the warm rays of light gently caress my face.Small patches of the clear blue were peaking in between the tall trees that were towering above us like skyscrapers. The more time I spent in Scotland, the more I was falling in love with its natural beauty. Every corner of its beautiful land was so unique and special.

We made our way down the beaten paths, laughing and joking along the way. At that moment in time, neither of us had a single care in the world. No killers or mates to think about, or how crazy my world had become recently.

Suddenly I saw Nat freeze and she turned her head left and right. I had been around wolf shifters enough lately to know that her wolf was coming to the surface and imagined her perking up her ears right now, as both of them were clearly listening out for something. Soon enough I also heard the creaking of branches- we had company. I heard a few short rapid audible inhalations come from Natalia as she sniffed the air, trying to identify who was near.

"Humans." She paused. It was not strange to have humans around though- she just needed to be careful not to shift. But then she took another whiff of the air and I saw worry appear on her face. "It's the same ones, Riley- the ones that set up those traps." Shit! This was not good.

Instinctively, I pulled Natalia behind a big rock that gave us both some cover. These guys were clearly not here looking for company, so I couldn't have us exposed.

"Here, wolfy, come out to play!" I heard a rough male voice say mockingly.

I carefully peaked around the corner and I saw three muscly guys in the distance, walking fast in our direction. A low growl escaped from Natalia and I knew that her wolf wanted to come out and attack. Before I could stop her though, I heard the now familiar sound of bones cracking and the gentle, innocent teen next to me was replaced by the beautiful young black wolf that I had first seen weeks ago.

The moment she shifted though, she bolted from our hiding spot. She did get far though as I saw a ball of energy hit her. Natalia's wolf whimpered when she fell on the ground and I saw her shift back to her naked human form. For a second I stood there horrified, wondering if they had injured or killed her. Then I saw her hand move- barely but it still moved- telling me that she was still alive.

"Vance, we are going to look for the other one. You go and grab this one and load her in the car. We need to make it back to London as soon as possible."

The other two walked in the other direction, slowly disappearing behind the trees, while their companion made his way to Natalia. He kneeled down to check on her, turning his back to where I was standing. That was all I needed to attack.

I stealthily made my way to him, knocking him out cold before he even realised that I was there.

"Nat, are you okay? Please talk to me!" I whispered as I took her in my arms. She was too young to lose her life or to lose her wolf like I had done.

"Riley! They blasted my wofl!" Natalia said as she regained consciousness and grasped for air. "She is there but I will need a bit of time to be able to shift again. Whatever they used against me was some powerful magic."

We didn't have time to analyse what had happened though. I helped her up and pulled her arm over my shoulder so that I could support her as we started walking. She was feeling weak though so we couldn't really move very fast.

We had barely made it far when I heard a noise, resembling the energy ball that had hit Natalia earlier. I turned around to have a look and I saw it coming right at us. I stepped in front of Natalia, bracing myself for the impact. The energy ball was just about to hit us when it just dissipated. Confused, I tried to figure out what caused it to disappear. I stretched my hand out and I realised that there was a bubble of vibrating energy around us, protecting us from whatever the energy ball was.

Natalia looked just as surprised as I was. "Riley, you bracelet!"

I looked down and the bracelet that my parents had given me was glowing in a warm blue colour, clearly having been activated. "The bracelet we gave you- please always keep it on you! It can protect you, although it's protection is limited", my dad's words rang in my mind. I was extremely happy at that moment that my mum and dad had turned out to be warlocks.

"Damn it, boss, the energy ball didn't blast them! The witches never told us that this could happen."

Damn it, the other two guys were back. We had to get out of there and we had to do it quickly before they made use of another magic trick.

Natalia must have read my mind because she squeezed my hand, drawing my attention back to her. "I need to shift, Riley. It's the only way to get us out of here before they can get to us. You are a fast runner but I will only slow you down in my human form."

"It's too dangerous, Nat. What if your wolf is not fully recovered?" I didn't want to risk her life. If those bastards came at us, I was ready for them and I could take them on without any problems, especially now that their energy ball was unable to hurt us. I just prayed that they didn't have any guns with them as I couldn't really protect us much against the bullets.

"I have to do it, Riley. And I will heal faster in my wolf form anyway. Trust me on this- just get on my back and I will take us to safety."

I didn't really have a choice, so I nodded silently. As she shifted, I heard the unmistakable noise of riffles being loaded. It was as if they were the hunters on a safari and we were their prey.

I jumped on the back of the beautiful black wolf in front of me and she ran like the wind.

Bam!

Bam!

Bam!

Fuck, gunshots. I ducked my head, trying to avoid the bullets.

My face made contact with the ground, as I was thrown off Natalia's back. I rolled over on impact and my momentum was only stopped by the big tree trunk that I crashed in. My body hurt from the fall but I found the strength to open my eyes and stand up. I wiped away the dirt that had gotten inside my mouth as I fell, as well as the debris on my face. Then I saw Nat, still in her wolf form, lying motionless on the ground. For the second time today by heart ached like someone had squeezed it violently.

As I ran over to her I saw three red colour darts sticking out amongst her jet black fur. Shit, they tranquilized her! As strong as I was, I would not be able to move her anywhere. But I had to try.

Bam!

Another gunshot sounded and I felt pain in my shoulder, as something sharp lodged itself in there. I looked down and I was the same red dart in my shoulder as the ones that I had discovered on Natalia's body. I knew I only had minutes before the sedative kicked in but I had to try to save her. I grabbed her front paws and I started pulling her away from the enemy. It felt like I was doing that for eternity as my body became more and more sluggish, and my mind became all muddled. Next thing I know, darkness enveloped me.