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When I caught up with Jake and the rest of the pack we were just past the Quillete border. I didn't know how much time we would have before my family came looking for me so my plan was to run as far as we could then get on a plane.
"Jake! Wait!" I called after him. When he saw me he seemed confused, then overjoyed.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, waving the others on.
"We have to go! Now! We don't have much time and we're running away!"
"What! We can't! What about your Mom and my pack and everything?" He appeared to be having an internal struggle with the reality of what I was asking him to do.
"Please Jake, I have to go. I can't stand to be there like that. I'm not saying we wont come back...someday." I didn't want to stay gone forever but I had to teach my Dad a lesson. Was his anger for Jake worth losing me? "If we don't hurry they are going to realize that I'm gone and come after us. We have to run, then we'll get on a plane. I don't know where to, we'll figure it out on the way."
"Okay. Just get on my back, I have to inform Sam on the way." I stepped back and he started to quiver, his form shimmering on the edges. A split second later a huge, russet wolf stood before me, pieces of cloth falling all around. I wasted no time jumping up on his back and he took off like a bolt, flying through the trees until they became a blur.
We ran like this for hours until we were sure that we had avoided being pursued. I thought about where we could go the entire time. I wanted some place safe, somewhere off the beaten path. Finally we stopped to rest by a small stream. I wanted Jake to phase back but then I remembered his shredded clothes.
"Just nod yes or no, okay. We need to figure out where we are going. I have some money. We can stop at the next town and get you some clothes. I know of a place we can go, but I'm not sure exactly where it is, just the general area. Are you up for some tracking?" He nodded his head yes and walked over to the stream for a drink.
"I think we're already in Alaska so lets get to the nearest town and buy you something to wear, then we can go to the airport in Anchorage. We should hunt first though, it's probably going to be a long plane ride."
He gave a sharp bark in approval and started sniffing the air for caribou or moose nearby. I closed my eyes and let my senses take over, the tingle of thirst tickling my throat. I could hear every sound, from the tiniest bug walking along a leaf to the thick, wet drumming sound of large hearts in warm blooded creatures. I began to move toward them unconsciously with only my sense of smell and thirst pulling me forward. When I felt I was close enough I opened my eyes and found a heard of moose grazing in a clearing about a mile away. Jake was nearby circling around for a better point of attack. Then as if synchronized in our instincts we sprung. My muscles took on a life of their own guided by a primal need for nourishment. Without the slightest thought I was running through the open grass in leaps and bounds and closed the gap within seconds of Jake. I took down a large female, my teeth cutting easily through her flesh. She writhed and jerked in my grasp until her heart began to slow, the blood running dry as it soothed the ache in my throat. Jake had subdued an even larger male and was still busy tearing thick slabs of sinew from it's bones. I wiped my mouth and waited for him to finish. When he had cleaned his muzzle in the grass I sprung onto his back ready to continue on our journey.
We made our way up through the wildlife preserves avoiding notice at all costs. I tried to enjoy the rough foliage around me, to burn a picture of it in my mind. It was the last I would see of the familiar, deep, dark earthy green of the forest and the gray of the sky, like a lush protective blanket now tearing away as we sped on toward the unknown.
The first town we came to was called Seward. It was a very small place but I left Jake, and the bag, slightly out of town, stuffed a few thousand dollars in a small clutch, and ventured off in search of clothing. There was only one store in town for men, besides the ones that sold hunting and fishing gear. It was a quaint little suit shop that smelled faintly of mothballs, the air inside was thick with swirling dust. The shop keeper was an older man with white hair and a matching mustache that seemed it was balanced on his upper lip rather than attached. He was sorting through a rack of jackets when a little bell on the door announced my arrival and he turned to look at me with an astonished expression. At first I thought he had the same impression that other people had when seeing me for the first time. My nearly perfect features and the faint luminescence of my skin tended to give me an alluring facade. Then I remembered that I was still wearing the ridiculous dress that Alice had put me in for the party.
"Special Occasion?" He asked. He must have wondered why I was so dressed up in a town like Seward. I decided to use his assumption to my advantage.
"Actually...yes. I need a suit for my...husband, on very short notice. He wont be able to come in for a fitting so there'll be no need for tailoring. I'm very good with measurements so with your help I'm sure I can find something appropriate. Oh, and a pair of shoes." I had never directly lied to anyone before, let alone interacted so closely with a stranger, and it felt sort of mischievous. I felt like one of the actors I had seen in countless movies, pretending to be some one else. This must have been what life was like for the rest of my family on a daily basis.
"Well, let's see what we can find," he said beckoning me forward.
When I started to explain Jake's measurements he seemed slightly bewildered, his thin eyebrows pulling up into little Vs above his eyes.
"Hmm," he said thoughtfully, "This could be a little difficult. Let me go and see what we have in the back."
When he returned he held a simple black suit, a gray shirt, a pair of black patten leather shoes and a pair of scissors.
"This is the biggest we have, it was already tailored for some one but he canceled on us and we haven't had any customers that size since. I think if we take the hem out it just might fit."
He expertly worked the scissors and even though the edges were rough it looked like the pants might actually fit Jake. I thanked him profusely and said I was in a hurry so he wasted no time wrapping the garments for me. We went back to the counter and I continued to shock him by pulling out a large wad of hundred dollar bills. I had probably given him the biggest tip of his life but I was in a rush so I told him to keep the change and slipped out the door faster than any normal human could have. On my way back to Jake I thought about how flustered the old man must have been and it made me smile. Maybe running away could be fun. Maybe it didn't have to be a bad thing.
When I got back to Jake he was waiting patiently for me, lying on the ground, his tail curled up around him. He stood and shook the leaves and grass from his fur then nuzzled his nose up against my cheek. I ran my hand through his soft fur then stepping back, held the package out for him. He gingerly took it in his mouth and scampered off into the trees to phase.
"Now we can have a real conversation," I said with relief when he had reappeared.
"I don't know, it felt kind of good to go all wolf for a while." He smiled at me and took my hand, planting a few soft kisses on my wrist.
"Are you ready to run?" He asked, looking positively eager to get going.
"Actually, I thought we could walk for just a little while. There are some things I wanted to talk to you about."
"Okay, like what?" He agreed as we walked hand in hand. There were a lot of things we needed to talk about and I didn't know where to start. There was something that had been bothering me ever since my argument with Dad.
"What was Dad talking about when he said he could hear the things you think about me?" I had had an inkling that it was something to do with sex but I was too embarrassed to admit it to myself and I half hoped Jake would deny my suspicions. I knew that it was something we would have to talk about eventually, after all it wasn't as if I hadn't thought about it myself, and now that we were going to be alone together it seemed to pop into my head more often.
"I..." He trailed off. Jake was always very sure of himself. I had hardly ever seen him unsure of what to say.
"You know I love you," He continued cautiously, "and I try not to, I really do, but sometimes I just can't help it. I think about being alone with you and....kissing you and...touching you. Do you know what I mean?"
"Of course I do, Jake. I'm not a baby. I've had the "talk" with Mom." I was blushing like crazy now. Sometimes I wished that Jake wouldn't be so brutally honest with me, but I knew it was hard for him. It must have been torture waiting for me all those years.
"Oh, yeah. Sure. I figured that." He had let go of my hand now and was fidgeting nervously. I could tell he was worried about what I thought. I hated to see him like that.
"I've thought about it too," I said softly, feeling the blood raging in my cheeks.
"You have?" He seemed genuinely surprised.
"I...sometimes I feel like I want to. I'm not saying that I want to do something about it now, but someday...I do want to...with you." I couldn't believe what I was saying. It was like I could hear myself saying the words but I wasn't the one actually saying them.
He stopped and put his hands on my shoulders so that he could look into my eyes.
"I want you to know that I will never force you. If you feel like it's going too far just tell me, okay. You don't have to. I was afraid of telling you that I imprinted on you because I don't want you to feel like you owe me something."
"I don't want to do it because I owe you, I want to because I love you. " I wanted to say more but I couldn't put it into words. I knew that I could never explain myself in such a way to make Jake stop beating himself up so there was only one thing I could do.
I placed the palm of my hand on his cheek and showed him. I showed him how his touches sent shivers up my spine. How kissing him made me warm and made the tips of my fingers and toes tingle. I showed him how I had thought of running my hands over his smooth skin, of taking off his clothes. Then I stopped and withdrew my hand. I could have gone farther but I wasn't ready for him to see everything.
It took a moment for him to process everything I had shown him and when he was done he took my hand again with more confidence than before.
"Don't worry, Nessie. We've got time to figure it out. All I care about is being with you, and obviously we've got plenty of time for that."
"Alright." I felt better now that we had talked about it. Things would happen when they were supposed to. Why worry about it?
"We should probably get back to running," Jake suggested. He seemed to have his self assuredness back. "We don't want to get caught and they may be trying to track. I just have one question before we do. Where are we going?"
"Rio De Janeiro."