More than Secrets

I Don't Want to Die

DANI'S P. O. V.

Last night's Tree-house Time did not go as planned at all.

I did not expect Jane to drop that "Liam" bombshell on us, and, of course, no one could have predicted that El would start a fight in our teeny tiny tree house.

The girls were screaming and knocking things around. It was getting pretty intense.

I eventually had to wrestle with El in order to get her off of Jane. I'd never seen the twins get into a physical fight before and, I won't lie, it really scared me.

Needless to say, El left after their altercation and went to sleep in her bed, but locked poor Jane out of their room.

I told Jane she could sleep in my bed for the night and I would stay in the tree house (since I couldn't fall asleep anyway).

As soon as I hear the birds starting to sing, I make my way back down the the makeshift ladder.

It's still very early and the sun has yet to make an appearance, but I think I could definitely go for a nice long run right now.

I make my way upstairs to my bedroom as quietly as possible.

Jane is snoring softly in my bed.

I tiptoe past her to my closet to grab a pair of leggings, a sports bra and my running shoes.

I quickly get dressed in my bathroom and brush my teeth. I tie my hair up in a ponytail and splash some cold water on my face to wake me up, then I head back downstairs.

I quickly jot down a note for mom, in case I'm not back by the time she wakes up, and leave it by the coffee pot. She'll never miss it here.

TYLER'S P. O. V.

The battle with the rogues seemed never ending. By the time it was done, we'd lost 6 of our pack members in total: 3 border patrol guards, 2 warriors and 1 child.

I was heartbroken, but I didn't have time to mourn just yet. I needed to interrogate the 2 rogues we managed to capture to ask them why such an attack was made on us and by whom.

We're a peaceful pack and this attack was very much planned out.

There were close on 400 rogues against our pack of less than 120 members and half of those members are women and children.

I'm down in the cellars now examining the rogue prisoners. They're shackled to the walls of their holding cell using silver chains. Silver weakens a wolf and is painful to the touch too.

When a werewolf is injured with a silver knife or a silver bullet, they cannot heal quickly like they usually do, the wound can also become infected, and they can even die.

I nod to Liam to wake the prisoners and watch as he injects them with wolfsbane. The toxins also weakens us and enough of it in our system can kill us.

The prisoners begin to stir then scream out in pain, looking around at the scene in front of them and tugging at their chains (did I mention that being injected with wolfsbane burns like a motherf*cker?).

One of the rogues locks eyes with me and growls angrily.

I'm standing against the cell bars opposite him with my arms folded and a devilish grin on my face.

Time to be the Big Bad Alpha.

"Before I let my Beta here have his way with you," Liam starts heating up an iron rod with a blow torch for effect, "how about we play a little game?"

They both give me seething looks and the one that growled at me, spits on the floor at my feet.

I ignore him. "The game goes like this: I ask you a question, you answer truthfully, and you won't be tortured to to death. Easy, right?"

"We're not afrai-" the growling one doesn't get to finish because I motion for Liam to put the rod on his hand. He screams and curses in pain.

"My first question is the obvious one: why did you attack my pack?" I ask the other rogue as his buddy is currently in too much pain to answer me.

His eyes go wide with fear as Liam now brings the blow torch closer to his knee. "We were only a distraction. Our master knew none of us would survive, but we cannot disobey our master's commands," he begins to cry.

I exchange looks with Liam.

A distraction for what? Liam asks me through mind-link. I shrug in reply.

"Why did your master want to cause a distraction?" though, as I'm asking them this, the realization of Dani being all alone and vulnerable suddenly crosses my mind.

No! Surely they wouldn't attack her in front of humans? We have laws for a reason!

The growling one starts to laugh. "The little she-wolf will make a fine play thing for our master... They say she's special and not too bad on the eyes either."

I don't waste another second. I'm already turning on my heel and making a run for the stairs.

I take them, two at a time, shifting as soon as I reach outside, letting Hunter have full control.

He tears through the forest faster than he's ever run before.

Come on Hunter! Our mate needs us! I yell at him.

He roars in reply and pushes on even harder, leaving a trail of torn up ground and broken branches in his wake.

Hang in there Dani, I'm coming for you.

DANI'S P. O. V.

It's early morning now and the sun is coming up. I'm running along the worn footpath through the woods behind my house.

I've been running for over an hour now. I don't want to stop until my legs feel like jelly, but, so far, they still feel pretty solid.

I slow down my pace and start to jog off the footpath through some brush in the direction of the lake.

I know there's a nice spot through here somewhere. It's like my own private beach. The water at the shallow part is covered by the branches of a willow tree, making it completely secluded to any passers-by.

I should bring Tyler here, I think absentmindedly as I sit down on the soft, cool sand.

I unlace my sneakers and take my socks off, stuffing them into my shoes, and breathe a sigh of relief at the feeling of sand between my toes. This is nice.

My moment of peace is short-lived when I here a branch snapping behind me.

That did not sound natural. I get up and turn to face the trees.

"Who's there?" I call out with as much strength as I can muster, though my heart is racing.

I feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins - my body is preparing for fight or flight mode. My brain has yet to decide on the former.

If I run along the beach I'll be slower, but there's more chance of someone seeing me, therefore, more chance of me being saved.

I start backing up, my feet now at the water's edge.

A low, menacing growl is travelling along the wind to me, and something else too... I sniff the air. Am I smelling garbage?

Just then, the biggest wolf I've ever laid eyes on, stalks towards me from between the trees. He's massive with dark eyes and shaggy brown fur. Oh God, his paw alone is 3 times bigger than my head!

Flight! Definitely flight! My minds screams at me, but I'm frozen in fear. One bite from that massive jaw and I'm a goner.

Tyler... I don't want to leave him so soon.

This is what's going through my mind as the abnormally large wolf lunges at me.

A blood curdling scream escapes my lips as the wolf pounces on me. I'm immediately crushed by his weight and fall like a ragdoll into the water now, fully-submerged.

He pins me down and it's impossible to even try to push him off of me. He's too strong.

I'm going to drown here today, never having told Tyler that I love him too, or thank mom and dad for being the best parents a girl could ever ask for...

Oh God, I don't want to die!

TYLER'S P. O. V.

Hunter gets to the woods near Dani's House at lightning speed.

I realize I have no clothes so I sneak up to her house in wolf form instead, and listen by the back door.

I can hear someone in the kitchen. It smells like Colleen. Then another pair of footsteps come into the kitchen. I smell Richard, Dani's father.

I wait for a few seconds more, wondering if I should just climb a nearby tree to see if Dani's safely in her room or not.

I'm about to do just that when I overhear Colleen telling Richard that Dani went for a run.

I start to panic. Oh Goddess, she's not here!

I sniff the air again... My mate's scent lingers on the worn footpath.

I let Hunter take over again. He races through the trees, following her scent. We need to get to Dani before it's too late...