1.

Derek

No, no, no…. this was bad, this was very bad, I thought to myself. I was practically panicking in my seat as the bus stopped at the one place in the entire New York area I wasn't supposed to be in.

"Sorry for the inconvenience folks, but due to engine problems we are going to here in Bear Valley, Syracuse for a few days till we get the problems fixed," the bus driver said. Sorry for the inconvenience, my ass. He had no clue that this was more than an inconvenience to me.

"Calm down," my girlfriend Chloe tried to comfort me, putting one hand on my arm and giving a warm sensation to my body. "Maybe it is not that bad. It's not like they have eyes and ears everywhere in this small-town."

But at that moment I was way too agitated to even think about calming down, so I did what I always do. I lashed out at her.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I growled, harshly distanced myself from her. "This is where the Pack resides and you think they wouldn't notice when an unknown werewolf enter their territory. How stupid do you think they are?!"

I knew that the moment those words got out of my mouth it was the wrong thing to do, but I couldn't help it. I was agitated and scared out of my mind what the Pack would do to me, even more what they could possibly do to Chloe if they ever found out about us. Still that didn't justify me for lashing out my frustrations and anger towards her, but before I got the chance to apologize she interrupted and looked at me with fury. Now I was in big trouble, I thought. When she had that expression I knew that she wasn't going to put up with my crap and forgive me that easily.

"Fine," Chloe said icily. "I guess I'm just stupid and ignorant enough about the situation. Sorry for trying to actually keeping you a little sane instead of flipping out like a mad Chihuahua."

That was more than a little insulting in my opinion. Dogs in general was either scared of me or they tried to attack me whenever they got the chance. Chihuahuas was one of those dogs that attacked and wouldn't give up once they got their teeth on you, which actually happened to me once and after that incident I couldn't stand those dogs. Now she dared to compare to one of those rats. I was pissed, that's for sure.

"Anyway until you get the stick that's apparently stuck in your ass out, I'll be in the café across the street. Ordering some food and call the guys about the delay," Chloe continued without backing down despite the fact that I was scowling at her. She walked passed me and I attempted to grab her by her arm from leaving the bus, but she forced herself out of my grip and left the bus. It wasn't surprising that she got away, knowing too well that I wouldn't hold her so tight that I could hurt her, but I knew that she was right. She was right about my behavior and she wasn't going to ease up about it just because I was being an ass. I sighed for a second and felt my remorse on how I handled myself.

Sometimes it was a wonder how in the world I managed to keep our relationship together, considering how much we fight over certain matters and with certain moods, but I would never regret my relationship with Chloe nor do I ever wish to end that relationship. When we first met it certainly wasn't love at first sight and it took a while before we truly became friends and slowly fell in love with each other.

We had been through a lot since we ran away from the Lyle House and the Edison group, but right now our lives are actually very good and stable if you compared it to how it used to be two years ago. Right now Chloe and I along with the rest of the experiments live in the area around Badger Lake and are working hard to control our powers and help out Sean Nast with supernaturals that have similar background as us, meaning people who had been experimented on and later on decide if we want to work for the Cabals. Which is the reason why we were here. Chloe and I was sent to Albany to check out a potential supernatural that could have been part of the experiments, but it turned out to be a completely bust so we were on our way back till the bus stopped working.

I sighed once more before standing up from my seat and left the bus. Not that I wanted to out and be exposed to one of the Pack werewolves, but I got worried about leaving Chloe alone. And not matter how much she was angry with me; it wasn't a good idea to be separated just because I was anxious on being here. Hopefully Chloe and I could manage to stay here without catching the pack's attention.

When I entered the café I spotted her immediately. She was sitting in one of the booths with a glass of water next to her, reading in the local newspaper. She hadn't noticed me or at least didn't give signs that she did, so I strode over to the booth taking the seat on her left side. Chloe didn't stir or moved to look at me, but continued to ignore me by reading that damn newspaper. Some things never changed with her. Sure, she had grown slightly the last two years, but she was still pale skinned and short compared to me, who was at least one foot taller than her. Her blonde hair cascaded down to the waist and her blue eyes was still as doe like as when I've first met her.

After a while of silence, I figured that I better apologize for my behavior or less she would continue to ignore me for the rest of the trip back. I turned to look at her and gave her my puppy dog eyes, which I knew worked most of the time on anyone who was mad at me like Simon and Chloe.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, loud enough that she could hear me. She turned to look at me, scanning me to see if I was sincere in my apology. So when she decided that she accepted my apology, she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

"You can be the most stupidest genius with your mood swings, you know that right?" Chloe teased. She ruffled my already messy black hair in teasing matter, but I didn't mind.

"I guess you are right about that," I admitted with a low voice, so she couldn't hear it. "I'm really sorry for treating you like that. I know you only wanted to help."

"It's fine, I understand why you would worry about being here," Chloe said. "But nothing is going to happen if we keep a low profile and stay out of trouble while we are here."

I nodded and agreed about her suggestion, but the universe seemed to have different ideas. One of the college boys in the café came over to our booth, deliberately ignored the fact that I was sitting there and began flirting with her.

"Hey, I'm Tyler. I've never seen you here before. Tourist?" Tyler took the other seat next to her and leaned himself closer to her. Chloe nodded to the question, but distanced herself from him and leaned closer to me, which I couldn't help but appreciate it. However that idiot didn't seem to take the hint.

"That's nice. Do you want me to show you around?"

"No, I think we can manage just fine by ourselves," Chloe put pressure on the 'we' and looked over at me in hope that the idiot understood that she was already taken, meaning she wasn't interested in developing any connection with him.

"Are you sure? I mean I don't mind helping out, at least not without any gratitude in return," Tyler tried to grab her hand, but I finally had enough of his advances. I took his hand and began crushing it, so he yelped out in pain.

"Take the hint. She is not interested, so move away from my girlfriend," I threaten, not caring that I was currently making a big scene in front of all the locals.

"Y-yes," Tyler screeched. I let go of his hand and he began moving away from the booth, and for a moment I thought this whole incident was over until he turned around and punched me in the face. I got out of the booth and pushed him into one the tables. Chloe tried to pry me of taking revenge, but I didn't listen so when he tried to attack again I punched him in the jaw. And before I knew it what was going on, we had started a fight inside the café with the locals as the audience. Chloe begged me to stop, but I was already lost in the fight and continued to punch him. It wasn't until I smelled the scent that I stopped. Normally I wouldn't really care about unusual scents in public places since half of the time it was in fact unusual smells. However those scents definitely got me worried when I turned to look in the direction of the scent. It was two werewolves, but that wasn't the worst part. They were from the Pack, meaning that this was not good for me. I backed away from the scene and didn't look back to see if they followed after me, because I could hear and smell them coming towards me. Chloe seemed to have noticed my reaction as well and we quickly ran out of the café through the kitchen.

I had no idea or plan about what we were going to do. Chloe kept a tight grip on my hand, refusing to leave without me. Not that I wished to leave her alone while I tried to shake the werewolves of my back, but my concern was to keep her safe.

We ran uphill towards the forests, not the brightest idea considering they probably knew the town and the forest in their sleep. However if we disguised out scents, maybe then did we have a shot. We stayed of the path and tried run without giving away too much of our position. I could hear Chloe's breath shake as well feel her hand trembling in fear, but not just for herself. She was afraid for my sake as I was for hers, but I couldn't take the time to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. I didn't want to guess or assume everything was going to be fine. So instead I squeezed her hand tightly, knowing that I wasn't going to let her go.

The autumn leaves and twigs lay in a heavy pile on the ground, making hard to stay quiet along. For every sound I got more alerted and tried to steer us on a different path, but it seemed that every time I attempted to do so they either followed after or they tried to make a move from above and surround us. I didn't know what the werewolves looked like, but their scent was pretty strong and contemplated from other animal scents. We stopped in a clearing in the middle of the forest, we couldn't out run them nor could we trick them for long. I searched for safe place for Chloe to hide while I tried to distract them away from her. If there was something I was determined on, it was that they weren't going anywhere near her as long as I was there to protect her. Then I noticed an old tree, close to the stump was a small space that was small for me, but big enough for Chloe to crawl inside and hide without getting caught by the werewolves.

"Go and hide under there till it is safe," I ordered her, and attempted to push her to go down on the ground and crawl into the hiding place. She on the other hand didn't want to listen to my order.

"No!" Chloe tried to hold on to her grip around my hand, but it was a vain attempt. "I'm not going to leave you to handle them alone."

"God damn it, Chloe just get in there," I lost my patience and pushed her in there. Then I blocked the passage into her hiding place by standing in front of it, knowing far to well that she couldn't get out unless I moved away, which I had no intention of doing no matter how much she punched and begged me. That was when two figured stepped into the clearing looking at me. One of them was an older man in his mid-thirties or so with wavy dark hair and piercing brown eyes, but he was shorter and stockier than the other one as well of having broad shoulders and bulging biceps. The younger one was taller with the same piercing eyes brown eyes, olive skin and wavy hair. I assumed they were brothers, but something told me that their relationship went beyond brothers and pack members. The younger one seemed more playful in his approach of me than the older one, who kept his gaze completely focused on me. Almost like he was ready to pounce on me in case I started to run.

"Hey there," the younger werewolf said with smirk on his face. "Mutts are supposed to be in bed by now, don't you think?"

I didn't answer, but it seemed like he didn't really care if I did or not because he continued to talk.

"By the way where are you midnight snack? The human that was with you when you left the café."

I still didn't answer. I figured that they assumed I was this cocky wolf that prided in hunting humans, based on how they approached and talked to me. However I didn't see the point in explaining myself, since all that mattered to me was to keep Chloe away from them.

"It looks like he isn't much of a talker," the young werewolf said.

"Maybe we should bring him back to Stonehaven," the older werewolf said, still keeping his gaze on him. The younger one nodded and agreed with the notion.

"What about the human girl? What are we going to do with her?"

"Bring her along and let Jeremy handle the matter."

I reacted furiously to what they were planning to do with us. I would agree to go along with them as long as they left Chloe out of it. She was an innocent bystander in this; she shouldn't have to get involved in this werewolf business. Which is why when the younger werewolf began approaching me, I pounced right at him. I didn't have much experience fighting werewolves unless you count out Liam and Ramon, most of the time I had to fight humans and other kinds of supernatural beings. So I was basically in deep water since he was both stronger and more experience in fighting than me. He was quick in his movements and manage to punch and kick me places I was slightly vulnerable, but I somehow managed to stand my ground and block and throw a few punches at him. However I heard Chloe scream and I turned to see the younger werewolf pulling her out of her hiding place by dragging her leg.

"Come here little kitten," the younger werewolf tried to reassure her. It was like a player tried to reassure a girl before he was going to do her. "The big bad wolf is not going to hurt you."

I snapped and quickly removed myself from the fight and leaped towards Chloe. The younger werewolf turned to see me heading towards him and Chloe, surprised by my actions to protect her, but before I even got close enough to retrieve Chloe from their grasp I felt a sudden pain at my head. And the next thing I knew I was on the ground and heard Chloe call and scream out for me in desperation. Then I saw closed my eyes to the blackness.

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Okay, I know I told everyone that I wouldn't write on any of my other DP stories since I was going to focus on two other stories right now, but I felt sort of bad that you are waiting for chapters so I decided to write this short story. I think it is going to be six or seven chapters, but I'm already working as hard as I can completing this for you. So I hope you like it.

For those of you who haven't read Kelley Armstrong's book series Women of the Otherworld, than you should since I will bring characters from that series into the story. And FYI it is a good book series, but I loved the first book the most which is called Bitten. I really recommend it and also watch the TV series based on the book because it is very good and I can't wait for second season.

I know it is a long author's note, but bare with me here. I also want to inform you that this story is written after the Reckoning and around the time when the Atoning (online story, check Kelley Armstrong's homepage) is found place. And if you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Darkest Powers except this story.

And I hope you guys will review, favorite or following and I promise the next chapter will be out soon.

xXrebelgirl07Xx