p class="MsoNormal"It's my first day in the wild. I packed every important thing of mine into a rucksack and ran. Last night was difficult, and I wasn't going to stick around just for a plethora of difficult days to follow. I knew it would be hard once I did it, but I didn't think I would be leaving so soon. I was going to have a plan, a real future for myself. But now I'm a lone wolf traipsing through the forest in the dead of night trying to decipher whether it's safer for me to turn back or keep going. I take a seat on a boulder and begin to weigh out the pros and cons. If I return, I'll most likely end up imprisoned for the rest of my life, whereas out here alone I can be free for as long as I desire. But being alone is almost like a prison itself. The only conclusion I ever manage to reach is that either option is bad, but at least on my own, I can make the rules for myself, which I have never been able to do./p
p class="MsoNormal" As the sun begins to rise, I continue my journey, a journey with no destination other than to get as far away from emthere/em as possible. I imagine myself back at my so-called home, by now I'd be in handcuffs in the back of police car on my way to be questioned. I wonder if in that scenario I would even bother lying. There must be a warrant out for me by now. The way I did things was by no means gentle, they must be considering me a danger to society./p
p class="MsoNormal" I stop at a river to have a drink when a strong scent is wafted up my nose. There's another Wolfblood nearby. I've been walking for almost 8 hours, I'm definitely not close enough to civilisation for any tames to find me, this must be a wild one. I don't bother running, or hiding, wild Wolfbloods are known for being a lot faster and stronger than us. I simply stand by the river waiting for them to appear. I start to hear running and soon enough I see someone running in my direction, she has long red hair and a terrified look on her face./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Who are you? I-" Before I finish she grabs my arm./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Run!" She yells. That terrified look is getting stronger and the only thing I can think to do is follow the girl. She's obviously running from some kind of danger and I'm not looking to get myself killed. The girl is fast, but I don't struggle to keep up with her. I can faintly smell the scent of someone else, whoever is chasing her, they are human. There's another scent though, not a person, but something far more dangerous. Gun powder. She's being hunted./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Who's after you? And why?" I say to the girl as we run down a hill towards another stream. Suddenly we're shot at, we duck as we continue to run./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Hunters, they saw me transform," She's in a very panicked state, and now so am I. The fear of the secret coming out has always been my worst fear, regardless of everything else I've endured in this life, "Come on, I know how we can get to safety," The hunters fire more bullets as us, missing every time./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Why bother bringing me?" I ask, "They won't know I'm one too?" I continue following her and eventually we start to hear the sound of cars, we're near a main road./p
p class="MsoNormal" "They're not just any hunters, they're far worse," She looks back and so do I, they're getting closer, how is it possible that they're almost as fast as us? "There's no time to explain," We reach the main road and a big black four by four pulls up in front of us./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Get in!" A woman, another Wolfblood, shouts at us through the open window. I don't hesitate to follow the red-head into the back seat. The woman in the driver's seat speeds away and as we look back, we see the armed men reach the road side, they both stop as they see us, and one man shoves the other and it's clear they're both very annoyed. My first thought when the girl ran to me was that they were just hunters, looking for deer and things like that, but looking at them now, in their swat suits and carrying rifles, I know that there is something very wrong happening./p
p class="MsoNormal" "What's going on?" I ask the girl in breathless disarray. Now that we're no longer running, I notice she's filthy, but not in the way you'd expect a wild Wolfblood to be. She's wearing normal, tame clothing, and she smells tame./p
p class="MsoNormal" "What happened?" The driver says to her, and the red head climbs into the front seat, ignoring me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I don't know, I was being careful I swear, I was running and I changed and then I heard the shouting and I turned around and there they were, they started shooting at me so I ran, they're human but they've taken Kincaid's serum, they kept up with me for almost an hour," She pulls her phone from her pocket./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Can someone please explain to me why two humans have the ability to run like that?" They both ignore me. "Hey!" I grab the girl's shoulder./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Sorry, we'll drop you off somewhere safe," The driver answers me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Are you joking, Imara? They have her scent now, she's not safe," She turns to me, "I'm Jana, this is Imara," She extends her hand to me and I reluctantly shake it./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Gwen, please explain to me why I am now on the run from those people," Like I needed to be hunted by more people./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's a long story, but there's a man, a very dangerous man who wants all Wolfbloods to be human, and he wants all humans to have the abilities we have, I thought we had dealt with him but he's back and he's trying to capture us again. I'm sorry I've gotten you involved in this but if I had left you there they would probably have shot you, those men, they work for him, the man Kincaid, he's called, he created this stuff, serum, it gives humans all the powers we have, but there's another one that takes our wolf away," She can tell by the look on my face that I'm finding it very hard to take all of this in, "I'm sorry, I have to make a call," She turns back to her phone. Humans, this is why I never made friends with any of them, not because they're bad or anything, because they fear everything that isn't normal, and some of them would want to hurt us, but I never thought someone would want to take our wolf away and use it for their own benefit, but then again, that's what humans do, they can be very selfish./p
p class="MsoNormal" Jana makes her phone call to a boy, I can hear the conversation though I don't pay much attention, I'm in shock and I'm scared, not only for the secret anymore but for my own safety. I ran away so I could vanish, but now I'm all tangled up in this mess. There are two men out there with my scent and they'll track me down if I'm not careful. They'll take away my wolf or worse, they could kill me. My only option now is to stay with Jana and Imara until this is over, I can never catch a break./p
p class="MsoNormal" Imara pulls up outside of a large corporate building, the huge sign outside says Segolia. They work for the company that had me out on the run in the first place. If I go in to that building, I'm bound to be caught. But if I run, those men could find me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Come on," Jana opens the back-seat door for me, "We're safe here," She extends her hand to me again. I put my hood up and go with her and Imara inside, making sure to keep my head down. She pulls an ID out of her back pocket and uses it to get us into the building, we then make our way towards a lift./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Where are we going?" I ask./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's probably better if you don't ask to many questions," Imara says as she exits the lift into a big underground tunnel. I hesitate./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's okay, I promise you it's safe,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "How can I trust you, I've only just met you,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I'm a Wolfblood, just like you, our fears are the same," She tugs at my hand, it's only then I realise I was still squeezing hers. I gently release it and follow her and Imara down the tunnel./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Who are you?" I ask as we walk./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I work for Segolia, I don't really have a job title but I just lookout for the Wolfblood's in the area, I'm here to help, the humans call it human resources," She walks with confidence, she's no longer scared, she seems angry more than anything, "I basically try to stop things like what just happened to us, are you alright? Sorry, I didn't even ask,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I'm fine, just confused, how could this happen? Why does this 'Kincaid' man even know we exist?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "He was fostered by a Wolfblood family as a child, and the son of that family attacked him, since then he's had a vendetta against all of us," She looks so young, but she has all of this knowledge and it seems she also has authority at Segolia./p
p class="MsoNormal" "How old are you?" I step in front of her, crossing my arms. She laughs./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Eighteen," So am I./p
p class="MsoNormal" "How did you get into all of this? Shouldn't you still be in school or something?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Shouldn't you?" She walks past me, "Maybe Imara's right, maybe you shouldn't ask questions," She seems cocky, but I think it works for her. I step in front of her again/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I think I deserve answers, I was minding my own business when suddenly I'm being shot at, I could have died," Maybe I'm being dramatic, but it's not just the Wolfblood secret that's at stake here, it's my life./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I already apologized for getting you involved in this, and I am, but it's for your own safety that you stay with us, we'll explain things along the way, but I can't explain my whole life story to you, not right now," She pushes past me and turns to look at me, "Are you coming?" It was more of a demand than a question, so I continue following her. We reach a set of doors at the end of this tunnel and Imara uses her ID to access it, everything here is very highly secured. It seems odd that they're letting a stray wolf follow them around, but then again, I don't think I have much of choice. Maybe they don't either./p
p class="MsoNormal" The double doors are swung open and we enter some kind of lab, everything is clean and white almost like a hospital. It smells like a hospital too. Admittedly, I haven't been in many hospitals before, but it's a smell I could never forget. There are a lot of people in here too, all wearing white lab coats, some human, some Wolfblood./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Come with me," Imara leads Jana and I into another, smaller room, this one is an office, there's a TV screen on the wall along with whiteboards full of data and information about Wolfbloods. The TV is muted but my eye is immediately caught by the images of flashing blue lights. The reporter is stood outside of a house surrounded by police cars, ambulances, it's clear it's a crime scene. But it takes me a moment to realise that it's my house on screen. My old home. The home I left less than twenty-four hours ago. I can't let on to Jana and Imara that I was involved. So, I reach to turn the screen off as subtly as I can. Jana sits down on a sofa and asks me to join her./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I've never been around this many Wolfbloods before," I admit./p
p class="MsoNormal" "So where did you come from? Why were you out there?" She sniffs me, "You're not wild," Now's my chance to come up with a cover story./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I ran away from home, I wasn't getting along with my parents and I just had to get out, I've always wanted to see what it's like to live wild, so that's what I did," She seems to be buying it./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I was the same, only, the other way around, I left the wild to live like a human," She tells me, though when she speaks of her life, she seems… far away, almost like she's placing herself in the memory./p
p class="MsoNormal" "You're wild?" I say in a surprised way./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Yeah," She laughs, "Well I was, for most of my life actually, but I love the human world, it's where I belong," I can't imagine ever trading living wild for being tame. There's no freedom./p
p class="MsoNormal" "So, can you explain now? Why did you bring me here? Surely this is the first place that Kincaid man will look for us,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Yeah you're right, he will probably come here but he doesn't know about this lab, and it's not just the lab either, there's a whole network of tunnels down here, there's sleeping quarters, kitchens, even a gym," She seems disbelieving of it herself./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Like a Wolfblood safe house?" She nods, "Well, I want to help," I decide, "If there's a man out there looking for us, I can help," The sooner we get rid of this man, the sooner I can get back out to the wild and I can keep running./p
p class="MsoNormal" "No," She stands up, "It's not safe, he has an army, with weapons and every intent to hurt us," She's protecting me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Well, you have all of these wolves down here, not to mention the rest of Wolfbloodkind across the world, if you got the message out, they'd all be willing to fight," I stand to face her./p
p class="MsoNormal" "We're not looking for a war, Gwen, this is why you're not getting any further involved, you could get yourself killed," She says harshly./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Well then what do you propose we do?" I cross my arms./p
p class="MsoNormal" "We? We don't do anything, emyou/em stay here until all of this is over, I will do my job and do everything I can to protect all of us and the secret," She's not going to let up on this anytime soon, "There's a spare bed in my quarters, someone will be by soon to take you there, for now, you don't move," She leaves the room, slamming the door behind her. I'm left in confusion, anger and fear, but mostly, I'm just curious. I want to understand this girl, why she's so protective of a stranger, and how she started working for this corporation in the first place. I've never heard of a wild Wolfblood starting a new life in the human world, let alone in the city./p
p class="MsoNormal" Now that I'm alone I switch the TV back on and turn the volume up a little bit. The reporter has all the details of my life out on the news for everyone to see. There's no picture though, I suppose they haven't found one yet. As soon as they do, I'll be plastered everywhere, nowhere will be safe for me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Earlier this morning, a family friend of Gwen Bailey's appeared at her public appeal, here's that footage now," The reporter says, and suddenly I'm watching my next-door neighbour, Sally, sat at some kind of press conference in tears as press snap photos of him./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Gwen, this isn't you, I know something's not right, please come home so we can sort all of this out!" Sally pleas. She goes on to say more but I can't watch, she doesn't understand, no one does. I switch the TV back off and at that moment a girl comes into the room with a pile of clothes and a pair of shoes in her hand./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Gwen?" She says, I nod, "I'm Selina, a friend of Jana's," She approaches me cautiously, "She asked me to take you to your room," The dark-haired Wolfblood looks kind, but I can tell she's scared too. I doubt anyone's as scare as I am. I follow the girl back through the lab and through another set of doors, lo and behold we're met with another tunnel. This one has doors all the way down, we walk for a short time until she opens one of the doors and ushers me inside. I'm faced with some kind of apartment situation./p
p class="MsoNormal" "This is the only spare bed down here," She takes me inside and leads me to a bedroom, with two twin beds and very bland furnishings. It seems they didn't stray far from the hospital vibe they're going for here./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I don't understand," I turn to her as she places the pile of clothing on the unmade bed./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's to keep us safe, all the Wolfbloods here are in danger, Kincaid's men has all of our scents and this is the only place we could come without being detected," She sits down./p
p class="MsoNormal" "No, I get that, but what I don't get is how this has all been built, without him knowing, it doesn't add up, and there's humans out there in the lab, I could smell them," I stay stood up, not willing to submit to this life that is being laid out in front of me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "There's trustworthy, I promise, they wouldn't be here if we thought they were a danger to the secret. They're scientists, willing to help us,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "What are all those experiments they're doing?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "The serum that Kincaid created has been used on some of our people, they stopped changing, became human, the scientists are trying to find a way for them to get their wolf back," It's only now I really feel the threat, I can't imagine being without my wolf./p
p class="MsoNormal" "He made them human?" Selina nods, "That's heinous, inhumane, how could anyone do that to another living creature?" My voice gets quieter, I feel sick at the thought of it all./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Everyone can be guilty of doing something awful when they're scared," She stands, putting her hand on mine, "I'll let you settle in," She leaves the flat./p
p class="MsoNormal" I feel sicker thinking about what I've done in fear, is it possible that this evil Kincaid man has me feeling sorry for him?/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"I lay on my new unmade bed thinking about the past few days, before all of this Kincaid stuff. Things were awful, I know it's not great now, but I honestly think I was worse off before I left home. Maybe I was meant to meet Jana, maybe it's my destiny to be here, with this pack, if you can call them a pack. My old pack was broken, there was no trust, no loyalty, not towards me anyway. There wasn't even love. And from the stories my Grandmother used to tell me before she died, a pack can't survive without those things, and she was right. It's just me now, a lone wolf. If I had stayed, I would have been the one lying on those floor boards covered in blood. But I can't think about that. Survival is all I've been in search of for the past ten years, I can't put myself in a place of darkness. Not when all of Wolfbloodkind is at risk too. I'm no longer looking out for just me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Sorry," The light turns on and Jana is stood in the doorway, "I didn't think you'd be sleeping," She makes her over to the other bed and takes her shoes off./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Oh, I wasn't, I was just, thinking," She gives me a half-hearted smile and sits down./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Listen," She looks up at me, "I know it may look like I have authority around here, but it's not that simple," I sit up to face her, "I'm not Alpha, there's no Alpha here, just people in charge, and most of them human,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "You answer to humans?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "No, it's not like that, they're allies, but they happen to have more knowledge than we do, most of the wolves here are scientists or civilians, there's only a few left from the old pack who knew what to do, how to fight this,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I thought you said it wasn't a war," I question the girl./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's not, I just mean that we can't let them wipe us out," She looks like she's holding back tears, "Kincaid wants war," She gets quieter, "He's already killed hundreds of our people, people he had in captivity, they wouldn't cooperate, and he had them executed, they died for the rest of us,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "That's awful, I'm sorry about your pack,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's okay, packs grow and change, but we always stay loyal to each other and to ourselves, and if you're going to stay here, which you have to if you want to keep everyone safe, not just yourself, then you're going to have to show your allegiance," She comes and sits beside me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "What, like work for you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Not for us, Gwen, with us," I furrow my brow in confusion, "Every Wolfblood has something they're good at, a talent, you must have something," I think about her words, I do have something I'm good at but if Jana doesn't want a war then my services are useless, so I lie./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I haven't found it yet, my talent or whatever, but I will do what I can to help save us, but you need to answer a question first," I've been wondering this since the second we met./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Jana," Another Wolfblood appears at the door, this time a teenage boy./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Matei, this is Gwen," She stands./p
p class="MsoNormal" "There's something you need to see," He walks away, and Jana immediately follows, so do I. We go back through the lab and into the office we were sat in. The TV is turned back on and for a split second I'm terrified this is about me, but when I look closer, I see that it's showing live footage of the outside of the Segolia building. I recognise the two men that were chasing me and Jana, but this time they're with dozens of other men and women, Jana wasn't joking when she said Kincaid had an army./p
p class="MsoNormal" "He's found us," Jana says, her fear kicks back in, "How?" She turns to Imara./p
p class="MsoNormal" "We don't for certain that Kincaid knows we're in here, there's no need to panic yet," I look around at the other people in the room, they're all Wolfbloods, and all of them are teenagers apart from Imara, and all of their eyes are glowing yellow./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Mum, he knows something, or he wouldn't have his people standing outside with guns!" A boy shouts back./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Calm down, TJ," Jana pulls him back, "There's no use fighting over this, we need a plan, they can't smell us from out there, so they can't know we're in here, all we can do is sit tight and wait for something to happen, either they leave, or we prepare to reason with him,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "You said there was no reasoning with him!" A younger girl growls at Jana. I notice the scarring on the side of her face, as soon as she sees me looking, she lets her hair drop down to cover it./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I have an idea," I reply, they all turn to me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Who's this?" The boy called TJ asks Jana./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Her name's Gwen," TJ walks over and growls at me but Jana yanks him back, "I ran into her when I was running from Kincaid's men and they have her scent now, she's with us, okay?" Jana growls back at her pack, forcing them all to calm down. They're yellow eyes return back to their usual colours, "Go on, Gwen," She lets me speak./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Have you ever tried just… I don't know, going with them?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "And why would we do that?" The small girl approaches me, but yet again Jana pulls her back./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Well if you had someone on the inside maybe they could feed you information, like a mole or something," At first, I thought they would all start growling but they don't. They just look at me, some confused, others contemplating the idea, "I just want to help,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Imara, what do you think?" Jana speaks to the older woman sat at her desk./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's risky," She looks over to me, "But I think it could work,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Mum, you've got to be joking!" TJ yells at his mum but she hushes him./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I'll talk about it with the rest of the pack," She says, "You should all get some sleep," She begins ushering us out of the room. The pack look at me, I don't think I'm very well-liked. With the exception of Jana./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Sorry about the pack," She says as we walk back to our flat, "They don't always take well to newcomers./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's okay, my old pack was the same," I try to shake off the memory of home./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It was a good idea though, I think Imara's going to go through with it, thank you Gwen," She puts her hand on my arm before opening our front door and going straight through to the bedroom./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I've never had to share a room before," I try to make conversation because it seems like we're going to be spending a lot of time together, "I don't know if I snore or anything, so, sorry in advance," She laughs./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's okay, I don't mind snoring," She has a captivating smile, making it difficult to look anywhere else. We sit facing each other on our beds, "Before Matei came in, you wanted to ask me something,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Oh, yeah, I did," I hesitate, after what just happened, I feel nervous talking to her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Well, go on," She crosses her legs and takes off her brown leather jacket, tossing it aside, she's not making this any easier./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I was just wondering why you're so… protective, at first I thought maybe it's just the way you are but-" I look at her face, "Something's going on, isn't it? Something else,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I wasn't supposed to tell you yet,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""You know something, I thought I was just overthinking it," I stand up, "But my instincts were right," She sighs, "Jana," I raise my voice, "You owe me the truth!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""The truth is, I didn't come across you in the woods by chance, I was following your scent," I take a step back, "No, there's no need to be scared," She comes over and takes my arms in her hands, "I have this friend, she sent me to look for you once she found out-" She pauses and drops her arms by her sides./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Found out what? Who is this 'friend'?" I'm angry now, my eyes turn yellow and my black veins become prominent against my bright pale skin./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Once she found out what you did," I step back again, she knows./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""You know," She nods, a tear glides down my cheek and I don't feel so angry anymore. I'm petrified./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""It's okay, you're safe here, I never lied about that,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I don't believe you!" I shove her away from me and bolt out of the room as fast as I can. I only make as far down the tunnel as the double doors when I find that they're locked./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Gwen!" Jana shouts after me and follows me./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Open the doors," I challenge her, "Now," I feel my teeth turn to fangs and my nails stretch out to claws./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I can't do that, we go into lockdown every night, for our safety, just come back to our room, let me talk to you,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Tell me who sent you after me," She doesn't reply, "Now Jana!" Her eyes start to glow and suddenly she's gone full wolf, she barks at me and backs me into the corner. I back off, her wolf is bigger than mine, I could never defeat her. She returns back to her human form./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I'll tell you, if you calm down and come back to our room," She says calmly. I comply with her order, and follow her back, she stands by the sofa in the tiny excuse we have for a living room, "Sit down," I don't want her to change again so I do as she says./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Sorry," I say as she sits next to me./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""It's okay, I understand why you're scared, that's what I've been trying to say, I know what you did, and I can help you, what you did wasn't wrong,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Please, Jana, just tell me who this woman is," I plead with her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""You have to promise not to wolf-out again, okay?" I reluctantly nod my head in agreement, "Her name's Ceri, she's your mother,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" As the sun begins to rise, I continue my journey, a journey with no destination other than to get as far away from emthere/em as possible. I imagine myself back at my so-called home, by now I'd be in handcuffs in the back of police car on my way to be questioned. I wonder if in that scenario I would even bother lying. There must be a warrant out for me by now. The way I did things was by no means gentle, they must be considering me a danger to society./p
p class="MsoNormal" I stop at a river to have a drink when a strong scent is wafted up my nose. There's another Wolfblood nearby. I've been walking for almost 8 hours, I'm definitely not close enough to civilisation for any tames to find me, this must be a wild one. I don't bother running, or hiding, wild Wolfbloods are known for being a lot faster and stronger than us. I simply stand by the river waiting for them to appear. I start to hear running and soon enough I see someone running in my direction, she has long red hair and a terrified look on her face./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Who are you? I-" Before I finish she grabs my arm./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Run!" She yells. That terrified look is getting stronger and the only thing I can think to do is follow the girl. She's obviously running from some kind of danger and I'm not looking to get myself killed. The girl is fast, but I don't struggle to keep up with her. I can faintly smell the scent of someone else, whoever is chasing her, they are human. There's another scent though, not a person, but something far more dangerous. Gun powder. She's being hunted./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Who's after you? And why?" I say to the girl as we run down a hill towards another stream. Suddenly we're shot at, we duck as we continue to run./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Hunters, they saw me transform," She's in a very panicked state, and now so am I. The fear of the secret coming out has always been my worst fear, regardless of everything else I've endured in this life, "Come on, I know how we can get to safety," The hunters fire more bullets as us, missing every time./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Why bother bringing me?" I ask, "They won't know I'm one too?" I continue following her and eventually we start to hear the sound of cars, we're near a main road./p
p class="MsoNormal" "They're not just any hunters, they're far worse," She looks back and so do I, they're getting closer, how is it possible that they're almost as fast as us? "There's no time to explain," We reach the main road and a big black four by four pulls up in front of us./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Get in!" A woman, another Wolfblood, shouts at us through the open window. I don't hesitate to follow the red-head into the back seat. The woman in the driver's seat speeds away and as we look back, we see the armed men reach the road side, they both stop as they see us, and one man shoves the other and it's clear they're both very annoyed. My first thought when the girl ran to me was that they were just hunters, looking for deer and things like that, but looking at them now, in their swat suits and carrying rifles, I know that there is something very wrong happening./p
p class="MsoNormal" "What's going on?" I ask the girl in breathless disarray. Now that we're no longer running, I notice she's filthy, but not in the way you'd expect a wild Wolfblood to be. She's wearing normal, tame clothing, and she smells tame./p
p class="MsoNormal" "What happened?" The driver says to her, and the red head climbs into the front seat, ignoring me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I don't know, I was being careful I swear, I was running and I changed and then I heard the shouting and I turned around and there they were, they started shooting at me so I ran, they're human but they've taken Kincaid's serum, they kept up with me for almost an hour," She pulls her phone from her pocket./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Can someone please explain to me why two humans have the ability to run like that?" They both ignore me. "Hey!" I grab the girl's shoulder./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Sorry, we'll drop you off somewhere safe," The driver answers me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Are you joking, Imara? They have her scent now, she's not safe," She turns to me, "I'm Jana, this is Imara," She extends her hand to me and I reluctantly shake it./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Gwen, please explain to me why I am now on the run from those people," Like I needed to be hunted by more people./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's a long story, but there's a man, a very dangerous man who wants all Wolfbloods to be human, and he wants all humans to have the abilities we have, I thought we had dealt with him but he's back and he's trying to capture us again. I'm sorry I've gotten you involved in this but if I had left you there they would probably have shot you, those men, they work for him, the man Kincaid, he's called, he created this stuff, serum, it gives humans all the powers we have, but there's another one that takes our wolf away," She can tell by the look on my face that I'm finding it very hard to take all of this in, "I'm sorry, I have to make a call," She turns back to her phone. Humans, this is why I never made friends with any of them, not because they're bad or anything, because they fear everything that isn't normal, and some of them would want to hurt us, but I never thought someone would want to take our wolf away and use it for their own benefit, but then again, that's what humans do, they can be very selfish./p
p class="MsoNormal" Jana makes her phone call to a boy, I can hear the conversation though I don't pay much attention, I'm in shock and I'm scared, not only for the secret anymore but for my own safety. I ran away so I could vanish, but now I'm all tangled up in this mess. There are two men out there with my scent and they'll track me down if I'm not careful. They'll take away my wolf or worse, they could kill me. My only option now is to stay with Jana and Imara until this is over, I can never catch a break./p
p class="MsoNormal" Imara pulls up outside of a large corporate building, the huge sign outside says Segolia. They work for the company that had me out on the run in the first place. If I go in to that building, I'm bound to be caught. But if I run, those men could find me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Come on," Jana opens the back-seat door for me, "We're safe here," She extends her hand to me again. I put my hood up and go with her and Imara inside, making sure to keep my head down. She pulls an ID out of her back pocket and uses it to get us into the building, we then make our way towards a lift./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Where are we going?" I ask./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's probably better if you don't ask to many questions," Imara says as she exits the lift into a big underground tunnel. I hesitate./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's okay, I promise you it's safe,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "How can I trust you, I've only just met you,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I'm a Wolfblood, just like you, our fears are the same," She tugs at my hand, it's only then I realise I was still squeezing hers. I gently release it and follow her and Imara down the tunnel./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Who are you?" I ask as we walk./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I work for Segolia, I don't really have a job title but I just lookout for the Wolfblood's in the area, I'm here to help, the humans call it human resources," She walks with confidence, she's no longer scared, she seems angry more than anything, "I basically try to stop things like what just happened to us, are you alright? Sorry, I didn't even ask,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I'm fine, just confused, how could this happen? Why does this 'Kincaid' man even know we exist?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "He was fostered by a Wolfblood family as a child, and the son of that family attacked him, since then he's had a vendetta against all of us," She looks so young, but she has all of this knowledge and it seems she also has authority at Segolia./p
p class="MsoNormal" "How old are you?" I step in front of her, crossing my arms. She laughs./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Eighteen," So am I./p
p class="MsoNormal" "How did you get into all of this? Shouldn't you still be in school or something?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Shouldn't you?" She walks past me, "Maybe Imara's right, maybe you shouldn't ask questions," She seems cocky, but I think it works for her. I step in front of her again/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I think I deserve answers, I was minding my own business when suddenly I'm being shot at, I could have died," Maybe I'm being dramatic, but it's not just the Wolfblood secret that's at stake here, it's my life./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I already apologized for getting you involved in this, and I am, but it's for your own safety that you stay with us, we'll explain things along the way, but I can't explain my whole life story to you, not right now," She pushes past me and turns to look at me, "Are you coming?" It was more of a demand than a question, so I continue following her. We reach a set of doors at the end of this tunnel and Imara uses her ID to access it, everything here is very highly secured. It seems odd that they're letting a stray wolf follow them around, but then again, I don't think I have much of choice. Maybe they don't either./p
p class="MsoNormal" The double doors are swung open and we enter some kind of lab, everything is clean and white almost like a hospital. It smells like a hospital too. Admittedly, I haven't been in many hospitals before, but it's a smell I could never forget. There are a lot of people in here too, all wearing white lab coats, some human, some Wolfblood./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Come with me," Imara leads Jana and I into another, smaller room, this one is an office, there's a TV screen on the wall along with whiteboards full of data and information about Wolfbloods. The TV is muted but my eye is immediately caught by the images of flashing blue lights. The reporter is stood outside of a house surrounded by police cars, ambulances, it's clear it's a crime scene. But it takes me a moment to realise that it's my house on screen. My old home. The home I left less than twenty-four hours ago. I can't let on to Jana and Imara that I was involved. So, I reach to turn the screen off as subtly as I can. Jana sits down on a sofa and asks me to join her./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I've never been around this many Wolfbloods before," I admit./p
p class="MsoNormal" "So where did you come from? Why were you out there?" She sniffs me, "You're not wild," Now's my chance to come up with a cover story./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I ran away from home, I wasn't getting along with my parents and I just had to get out, I've always wanted to see what it's like to live wild, so that's what I did," She seems to be buying it./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I was the same, only, the other way around, I left the wild to live like a human," She tells me, though when she speaks of her life, she seems… far away, almost like she's placing herself in the memory./p
p class="MsoNormal" "You're wild?" I say in a surprised way./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Yeah," She laughs, "Well I was, for most of my life actually, but I love the human world, it's where I belong," I can't imagine ever trading living wild for being tame. There's no freedom./p
p class="MsoNormal" "So, can you explain now? Why did you bring me here? Surely this is the first place that Kincaid man will look for us,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Yeah you're right, he will probably come here but he doesn't know about this lab, and it's not just the lab either, there's a whole network of tunnels down here, there's sleeping quarters, kitchens, even a gym," She seems disbelieving of it herself./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Like a Wolfblood safe house?" She nods, "Well, I want to help," I decide, "If there's a man out there looking for us, I can help," The sooner we get rid of this man, the sooner I can get back out to the wild and I can keep running./p
p class="MsoNormal" "No," She stands up, "It's not safe, he has an army, with weapons and every intent to hurt us," She's protecting me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Well, you have all of these wolves down here, not to mention the rest of Wolfbloodkind across the world, if you got the message out, they'd all be willing to fight," I stand to face her./p
p class="MsoNormal" "We're not looking for a war, Gwen, this is why you're not getting any further involved, you could get yourself killed," She says harshly./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Well then what do you propose we do?" I cross my arms./p
p class="MsoNormal" "We? We don't do anything, emyou/em stay here until all of this is over, I will do my job and do everything I can to protect all of us and the secret," She's not going to let up on this anytime soon, "There's a spare bed in my quarters, someone will be by soon to take you there, for now, you don't move," She leaves the room, slamming the door behind her. I'm left in confusion, anger and fear, but mostly, I'm just curious. I want to understand this girl, why she's so protective of a stranger, and how she started working for this corporation in the first place. I've never heard of a wild Wolfblood starting a new life in the human world, let alone in the city./p
p class="MsoNormal" Now that I'm alone I switch the TV back on and turn the volume up a little bit. The reporter has all the details of my life out on the news for everyone to see. There's no picture though, I suppose they haven't found one yet. As soon as they do, I'll be plastered everywhere, nowhere will be safe for me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Earlier this morning, a family friend of Gwen Bailey's appeared at her public appeal, here's that footage now," The reporter says, and suddenly I'm watching my next-door neighbour, Sally, sat at some kind of press conference in tears as press snap photos of him./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Gwen, this isn't you, I know something's not right, please come home so we can sort all of this out!" Sally pleas. She goes on to say more but I can't watch, she doesn't understand, no one does. I switch the TV back off and at that moment a girl comes into the room with a pile of clothes and a pair of shoes in her hand./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Gwen?" She says, I nod, "I'm Selina, a friend of Jana's," She approaches me cautiously, "She asked me to take you to your room," The dark-haired Wolfblood looks kind, but I can tell she's scared too. I doubt anyone's as scare as I am. I follow the girl back through the lab and through another set of doors, lo and behold we're met with another tunnel. This one has doors all the way down, we walk for a short time until she opens one of the doors and ushers me inside. I'm faced with some kind of apartment situation./p
p class="MsoNormal" "This is the only spare bed down here," She takes me inside and leads me to a bedroom, with two twin beds and very bland furnishings. It seems they didn't stray far from the hospital vibe they're going for here./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I don't understand," I turn to her as she places the pile of clothing on the unmade bed./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's to keep us safe, all the Wolfbloods here are in danger, Kincaid's men has all of our scents and this is the only place we could come without being detected," She sits down./p
p class="MsoNormal" "No, I get that, but what I don't get is how this has all been built, without him knowing, it doesn't add up, and there's humans out there in the lab, I could smell them," I stay stood up, not willing to submit to this life that is being laid out in front of me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "There's trustworthy, I promise, they wouldn't be here if we thought they were a danger to the secret. They're scientists, willing to help us,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "What are all those experiments they're doing?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "The serum that Kincaid created has been used on some of our people, they stopped changing, became human, the scientists are trying to find a way for them to get their wolf back," It's only now I really feel the threat, I can't imagine being without my wolf./p
p class="MsoNormal" "He made them human?" Selina nods, "That's heinous, inhumane, how could anyone do that to another living creature?" My voice gets quieter, I feel sick at the thought of it all./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Everyone can be guilty of doing something awful when they're scared," She stands, putting her hand on mine, "I'll let you settle in," She leaves the flat./p
p class="MsoNormal" I feel sicker thinking about what I've done in fear, is it possible that this evil Kincaid man has me feeling sorry for him?/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"I lay on my new unmade bed thinking about the past few days, before all of this Kincaid stuff. Things were awful, I know it's not great now, but I honestly think I was worse off before I left home. Maybe I was meant to meet Jana, maybe it's my destiny to be here, with this pack, if you can call them a pack. My old pack was broken, there was no trust, no loyalty, not towards me anyway. There wasn't even love. And from the stories my Grandmother used to tell me before she died, a pack can't survive without those things, and she was right. It's just me now, a lone wolf. If I had stayed, I would have been the one lying on those floor boards covered in blood. But I can't think about that. Survival is all I've been in search of for the past ten years, I can't put myself in a place of darkness. Not when all of Wolfbloodkind is at risk too. I'm no longer looking out for just me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Sorry," The light turns on and Jana is stood in the doorway, "I didn't think you'd be sleeping," She makes her over to the other bed and takes her shoes off./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Oh, I wasn't, I was just, thinking," She gives me a half-hearted smile and sits down./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Listen," She looks up at me, "I know it may look like I have authority around here, but it's not that simple," I sit up to face her, "I'm not Alpha, there's no Alpha here, just people in charge, and most of them human,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "You answer to humans?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "No, it's not like that, they're allies, but they happen to have more knowledge than we do, most of the wolves here are scientists or civilians, there's only a few left from the old pack who knew what to do, how to fight this,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I thought you said it wasn't a war," I question the girl./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's not, I just mean that we can't let them wipe us out," She looks like she's holding back tears, "Kincaid wants war," She gets quieter, "He's already killed hundreds of our people, people he had in captivity, they wouldn't cooperate, and he had them executed, they died for the rest of us,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "That's awful, I'm sorry about your pack,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's okay, packs grow and change, but we always stay loyal to each other and to ourselves, and if you're going to stay here, which you have to if you want to keep everyone safe, not just yourself, then you're going to have to show your allegiance," She comes and sits beside me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "What, like work for you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Not for us, Gwen, with us," I furrow my brow in confusion, "Every Wolfblood has something they're good at, a talent, you must have something," I think about her words, I do have something I'm good at but if Jana doesn't want a war then my services are useless, so I lie./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I haven't found it yet, my talent or whatever, but I will do what I can to help save us, but you need to answer a question first," I've been wondering this since the second we met./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Jana," Another Wolfblood appears at the door, this time a teenage boy./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Matei, this is Gwen," She stands./p
p class="MsoNormal" "There's something you need to see," He walks away, and Jana immediately follows, so do I. We go back through the lab and into the office we were sat in. The TV is turned back on and for a split second I'm terrified this is about me, but when I look closer, I see that it's showing live footage of the outside of the Segolia building. I recognise the two men that were chasing me and Jana, but this time they're with dozens of other men and women, Jana wasn't joking when she said Kincaid had an army./p
p class="MsoNormal" "He's found us," Jana says, her fear kicks back in, "How?" She turns to Imara./p
p class="MsoNormal" "We don't for certain that Kincaid knows we're in here, there's no need to panic yet," I look around at the other people in the room, they're all Wolfbloods, and all of them are teenagers apart from Imara, and all of their eyes are glowing yellow./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Mum, he knows something, or he wouldn't have his people standing outside with guns!" A boy shouts back./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Calm down, TJ," Jana pulls him back, "There's no use fighting over this, we need a plan, they can't smell us from out there, so they can't know we're in here, all we can do is sit tight and wait for something to happen, either they leave, or we prepare to reason with him,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "You said there was no reasoning with him!" A younger girl growls at Jana. I notice the scarring on the side of her face, as soon as she sees me looking, she lets her hair drop down to cover it./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I have an idea," I reply, they all turn to me./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Who's this?" The boy called TJ asks Jana./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Her name's Gwen," TJ walks over and growls at me but Jana yanks him back, "I ran into her when I was running from Kincaid's men and they have her scent now, she's with us, okay?" Jana growls back at her pack, forcing them all to calm down. They're yellow eyes return back to their usual colours, "Go on, Gwen," She lets me speak./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Have you ever tried just… I don't know, going with them?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "And why would we do that?" The small girl approaches me, but yet again Jana pulls her back./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Well if you had someone on the inside maybe they could feed you information, like a mole or something," At first, I thought they would all start growling but they don't. They just look at me, some confused, others contemplating the idea, "I just want to help,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Imara, what do you think?" Jana speaks to the older woman sat at her desk./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's risky," She looks over to me, "But I think it could work,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Mum, you've got to be joking!" TJ yells at his mum but she hushes him./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I'll talk about it with the rest of the pack," She says, "You should all get some sleep," She begins ushering us out of the room. The pack look at me, I don't think I'm very well-liked. With the exception of Jana./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Sorry about the pack," She says as we walk back to our flat, "They don't always take well to newcomers./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's okay, my old pack was the same," I try to shake off the memory of home./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It was a good idea though, I think Imara's going to go through with it, thank you Gwen," She puts her hand on my arm before opening our front door and going straight through to the bedroom./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I've never had to share a room before," I try to make conversation because it seems like we're going to be spending a lot of time together, "I don't know if I snore or anything, so, sorry in advance," She laughs./p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's okay, I don't mind snoring," She has a captivating smile, making it difficult to look anywhere else. We sit facing each other on our beds, "Before Matei came in, you wanted to ask me something,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Oh, yeah, I did," I hesitate, after what just happened, I feel nervous talking to her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Well, go on," She crosses her legs and takes off her brown leather jacket, tossing it aside, she's not making this any easier./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I was just wondering why you're so… protective, at first I thought maybe it's just the way you are but-" I look at her face, "Something's going on, isn't it? Something else,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I wasn't supposed to tell you yet,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""You know something, I thought I was just overthinking it," I stand up, "But my instincts were right," She sighs, "Jana," I raise my voice, "You owe me the truth!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""The truth is, I didn't come across you in the woods by chance, I was following your scent," I take a step back, "No, there's no need to be scared," She comes over and takes my arms in her hands, "I have this friend, she sent me to look for you once she found out-" She pauses and drops her arms by her sides./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Found out what? Who is this 'friend'?" I'm angry now, my eyes turn yellow and my black veins become prominent against my bright pale skin./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Once she found out what you did," I step back again, she knows./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""You know," She nods, a tear glides down my cheek and I don't feel so angry anymore. I'm petrified./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""It's okay, you're safe here, I never lied about that,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I don't believe you!" I shove her away from me and bolt out of the room as fast as I can. I only make as far down the tunnel as the double doors when I find that they're locked./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Gwen!" Jana shouts after me and follows me./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Open the doors," I challenge her, "Now," I feel my teeth turn to fangs and my nails stretch out to claws./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I can't do that, we go into lockdown every night, for our safety, just come back to our room, let me talk to you,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Tell me who sent you after me," She doesn't reply, "Now Jana!" Her eyes start to glow and suddenly she's gone full wolf, she barks at me and backs me into the corner. I back off, her wolf is bigger than mine, I could never defeat her. She returns back to her human form./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""I'll tell you, if you calm down and come back to our room," She says calmly. I comply with her order, and follow her back, she stands by the sofa in the tiny excuse we have for a living room, "Sit down," I don't want her to change again so I do as she says./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Sorry," I say as she sits next to me./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""It's okay, I understand why you're scared, that's what I've been trying to say, I know what you did, and I can help you, what you did wasn't wrong,"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""Please, Jana, just tell me who this woman is," I plead with her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;""You have to promise not to wolf-out again, okay?" I reluctantly nod my head in agreement, "Her name's Ceri, she's your mother,"/p