2

Eliane POV

The sound of the pouring rain and the loud thunder were nothing compared to my pounding heart. I was still laying on the couch trying to make sense of what happened last night, I still can't believe it.

Maya was sitting on the kitchen stool talking on the phone with our landlord informing him about our abrupt departure. She had the same phone conversation with her boss early this morning, she told him about some family emergency and he didn't complain about her quitting, guess he's glad to get rid of her. She had that kind of effect on people sometimes, intimidating and scary but I learned with time that she's more than that.

I finally gather my strength to stand up and walk to the bathroom, took a quick shower and brushed my teeth without looking once at the mirror, I cried myself to sleep last night and I don't want to see the state of my face. I walk out wrapped in my fluffy pink towel and go to my room. I put on some comfy clothes and let my hair air dry then head back to kitchen, I pass by Maya still sitting there and open the fridge to get some apple juice.

"Morning gorgeous, feeling better?" Maya asks me while sipping her coffee, her dark brown hair framing her round face with fluffy wave, I smile at her endearment knowing very well that right now I'm far from being gorgeous but she always calls me that no matter what, even when I was bruised, bloodied and caked in mud years ago, "I'm fine now, what about you? you've been on the phone since dawn", I stare at her chocolate eyes and I can see how tired she is, "How about you lay down for few hours" I say in a pleading voice, "I'll wake you up when lunch is done and you can start packing after that".

She stand up, walk up to me then bend a bit to press a light kiss on my forehead, "Everything will be fine, I promise" she gives me a tight hug, one of those hugs that makes me want to cry my heart out, "you'll love the town, the house I rented for us is nice, you'll have a big room with your own in-suite bathroom" I hug her back taking in her sent, lemon and vervain, the smell I grew accustomed to, the smell of warmth and safety, it never fails to calm me down.

Caught in the moment, I forgot about my super human strength and 'squeezed' her a bit too much causing her back to make little cracking sounds. I let go of her embarrassed and open my mouth to apologize but she laugh it out "That was good, I needed that" she says while stretching her arms up then gave me another kiss on my head and walked to her room.

I stood there taking my time drinking my juice and thinking of an alternative solution to this mess but nothing came to my mind. One thing is sure I couldn't just stay here and wait for the rogues to come back and confirm their suspicions, I couldn't risk our safety. Lone she wolf or rogue ones are very rare, no pack exiles females, they are precious, in worst case scenario when there is a kind of problem involving the female, they are sent to another pack for discipline or for second chances but never thrown away. Rogue life in worst than torture or even death for she wolfs.

It makes them fair-game for the other rogues. The moment rogues catch the scent of a female under the protection of no pack, the primal instinct to mate takes over the rogues and their wolves get dangerously wild. The worst part is that contrary to pack wolfs, rogues are not territorial when it comes to their females, they don't mind sharing them among themselves.

Luckily I was never captured during my short rogue life, almost got caught several times but I managed to escape somehow. The last time I barely made it alive, I was lucky Maya found me, I was lucky she decided to take me in. She never told me why she made that decision, I was twelve back then and I had no control over my shifting but she wasn't scared of me and she didn't care about the consequences, she said we'll face them together. sometimes I wonder what would've happened to me if I didn't meet her. I shake my head to get rid of the negative thoughts and start counting my blessings, the ones I gained during the last six years, it always helps me to get over any depressive moments.

Once I'm done with my juice, I grab an apple and nibble it while I think of a menu. Cooking is somehow my favorite pass-time, It's something I love doing and since I'm home-schooled, I have a lot of free time to kill and messing around the kitchen keeps me busy when Maya is working. At first I just wanted to help out since I was the freeloader, so when my body started healing and I could move on my own around her place, I begin setting and cleaning the table, washing the dishes. As I watched her cooking, I realized that she was struggling to make a proper meal for me and just knew it wasn't her thing. Then little by little I started helping with the cooking, and since she's not a picky eater I could enjoy experimenting with various ingredients, it became my favorite activity. Then little by little I took over the kitchen as my own, now she's only allowed in when preparing her coffee.

When I'm done with the apple I already have the menu on my head, I take out all the ingredients we have and start sorting the perishable ones to cook for our meals for the week-end and put the ones I wouldn't need in a box to take with us. then start cooking and baking. I dance and sing my way between the fridge, the stove an the oven. I'm having so much fun that I forgot all about the rogues and the moving.

Few hours later, I'm done, the kitchen is a complete mess, eggshells and flour everywhere, sink full of dirty dishes and slippy floor but I don't really care this is our goodbye party, my tiny kitchen and me. I take out the last tray from the oven and let everything cool down. I take our late lunch, vegetarian lasagna and Cesar salad than set it on the coffee table with two water bottles, I thought a movie could cool things out. I change my clothes then knock on Maya door and get in to wake her up, but she was not sleeping.

"Are you kidding me? you were supposed to sleep a bit", she is on her laptop typing and doesn't answer right away, when she lift her head, the dark circles under her eyes are obvious,

"Sorry mommy" she says with a lazy smile. She gets up from her bed and get out from the room, I follow her to the kitchen.

"I'm serious Maya, you look tired",

"Waoow, Are you feeding an army?"

she looks at the trays of Muffins, Pies, Brownies, Quiches, mini-Sandwiches and all the snacks I prepared for the trip.

"You said that it's going to be a long ride, now tell me is it your migraine?", I ask while sitting on the rug, she always do that, ignoring my question and I have to ask twice sometimes three times in order to get an answer.

"No, thankfully no, I just couldn't sleep" she sits down and turn the TV on and start looking for a good movie to watch "thought that I could look for a job in the meanwhile" she chose 'Underworld' and start eating happily.

"And did you find anything interesting, I don't know this movie, is it and old one?" I start eating too focusing on the TV.

"Got a couple of interviews for next week, this one gorgeous is as old as you, I thought we could watch it and you could point out what's true and what's wrong, like the twilight saga". We watch the the first three movies of the saga, and it's not bad. Maya is interested in the lycans existence and I explain to her that the few remaining ones are within the royal family. The way she asks questions and get excited by any new information about the supernatural is quite cute. Sometimes she asks me about things in order to have a better knowledge about my world and about me, and sometimes it's just out of pure curiosity. By the end of the third movie we are both exhausted and we go straight to bed, too tired to clean up the mess.

The next day I woke up early and started packing my things. I walk around my small room, it has enough space for a single bed and a small desk. I start with my books and put then in one of my backpacks then open my closet and start packing my clothes in vacuum bags, to whomever invented it, thank you. I'm done in less than two hours and head to the kitchen. I start cleaning up first than pack the food in different containers than add the drinks. finally I collect my kitchen utilities, they are my treasure. I don't care for cosmetics or high tech but a dough maker can make my day.

I finish packing and call Maya for another late lunch/early dinner. Like me she's already done packing, she even had time to shower and dry her hair. We eat in silent, this is our last meal in here and we are both nervous, we have no idea when we'll be able to have a normal and safe moment like this one. When we are done, Maya put the boxes next to the apartment door "I'm going to bring the car around and start loading the luggage, we have to leave early tomorrow" she says while taking out her car keys. "Could you please check out the rooms and make sure we didn't forget anything important". She puts her coat on and grab her phone then walk out with one of the boxes.

I'm the werewolf with the superpower and speed but she never makes me do any labor, she still treats me like a kid. I do as I'm told and when I find no forgotten items, I take a long shower, dry my hair and moisturize my body.I heard Maya coming in and out so many times that I lost count. She took almost everything down leaving just our backpacks in the living room, It contained our laptops, chargers, wallets and all the staff we need to have close by during the ride. I checked on the food containers chilling in the fridge than sat on the kitchen stool.

I sat there in lost in my thoughts, wondering when will all this end, when will I finally be able to feel safe, I want to stop running, stop felling guilty about all the dangers and risks I'm exposing Maya to. At some point I thought that finding my mate would end my torments but now I'm just scared to meet him. We ran across a few pack members during our moving around and the more I saw the disgusted and repulsed look in their eyes, the more I realized that it would be probably the same reaction my mate would have. The idea of being rejected by my mate made me loose sleep for months, now I just pray to never meet him, I'm not strong enough to survive it.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize that Maya was back holding the last two bags staring at me. "Are you OK there gorgeous?". I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "I am now", she smiles softly at me, "How about I grab two smoothies from downstairs and watch the rest of the 'Underworld saga'?", I nod and she leaves. I bring the only comforter left unpacked to the living room then turn the TV on and start watching some cartoons waiting for her return, few minutes later I hear the buzzing of my phone announcing a text message. I grab it, unlock it and freeze,it was a text from Maya; "GET IN THE CAR NOW, THEY'RE HERE"