Author's Note: Kaden has authority problems so her attitude towards Adam is getting a little rough the longer she goes on unmated to Ben. That will all be explained in this chapter. I just thought I'd let you know if you were thinking a wolf shouldn't do that to its Alpha.

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I wasn't allowed off the property.

Do you know how pissed off I was when Adam told me that?

I thought about destroying his dojo when I went to use it that morning after I'd been told I wasn't allowed to leave but then I'd have to clean it up. I also thought about hiding but there were wolves walking around both properties. Hiding in plain sight was probably my best option. I knew how to do it well since that's how I'd lived before joining the pack, moving from place to place to keep from being found.

Adam had the best video games I've ever seen and I was mad enough to kill zombies. After raiding the kitchen for his secret stash of cookies and chips, I took my goodies into the media room and locked the door. Getting a good look at the selection, I chose Modern Warfare 2. Instead of killing zombies I was going to kill enemy soldiers while pretending every one of them was Adam.

I ate and played video games all day long, getting rowdy while playing a couple of guys on X-box Live. They didn't think they could be beaten by a girl. A couple of the wolves who had taken the day off on Adam's command ventured in even after I had locked the blasted door. Of course Adam had spare keys. I hurried them in and told them to hold on to the keys after the locked the door back.

We got into a heated battle on the screen. The wolves, whose names were Alex and Parker, yelled as much as I did. Alex ventured into the kitchen for more snacks when we ran out. We were sprawled out in the floor with the remnants of cookies and chips and cans and bottles when Adam's car pulled up.

"Stay where you are. He said you had to make sure I didn't leave. He never said you weren't allowed to play video games with me." I said as I kept my gaze on the television.

They shrugged and sank back down to finish the game. When the lock clicked and the door opened, I felt Adam and Sam behind him. I refused to look at them as the other two stood, making certain to keep their heads down and eyes averted from Adam. I paused the game when Sam nudged me with his toes and rolled over. Adam wasn't mad, but his face was set in a deadpan that I made me want to laugh.

Then I remembered I was mad at him.

I jumped to my feet and began cleaning the mess I made, although I really wanted to make him clean it up. I took the trash to the garbage and went to turn off the system and television. I was halfway to the front door when Adam finally spoke.

"Where are you going?" he asked. I turned to find him leaning in the foyer doorway. It would have looked nonchalant if I didn't know him better.

I tugged the zipper up and looked at him squarely, too mad at him to be afraid of him. "I'm going to get tacos." I love tacos and had suddenly gotten a craving for them.

A hand caught my shoulder and wheeled me around before I could take two steps out the door. "No, you're not."

I rose on my tiptoes and got in his face, a stupid thing to do, I know, but I was that angry. "Wanna bet?"

His nostrils flared as he clenched his teeth together. He may be my Alpha but I was backing down, even if it was dangerous. I was restless and I needed to do something. He already messed with my job, meaning I didn't have one anymore. He told them I wouldn't be returning. That stuck in my craw more than him keeping me locked up. Well, granted I had had a nervous breakdown but I wasn't a child.

"I'll go with her." Warren volunteered, only to keep the peace.

"I don't need a damned babysitter." I replied hotly. He shrunk back a little but it was a lie. He just hated someone being mad at him. I made an unhappy noise as I switched directions and headed for the back door.

"Now where are you going?" Sam asked.

"I'm going home since the Great One has a stick up his ass." I let the door slam as I walked out.

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I was rearranging my bedroom when Ben ventured in. He leaned against the doorframe and simply watched as I tugged the mattress across the room. When I get mad, I change things. It's like when I get mad, my mouth gets sharp and I can't curb the words that come out. My brothers used to say I had no filter.

I flung the sheets towards the door, completely forgetting Ben was standing there in my rampage. He threw them back at me, hitting me in the back of the head. I whirled on him to find his quirky grin. That only made me angrier and I threw his clothes that I hadn't gotten around to putting up at him. He guarded his face from a pair of stray jeans and just laughed. The front door opened.

"Is she in there?" I heard Sam ask.

Ben turned his head over his shoulder. "Yeah, but you don't want to come in here."

Sam made an unhappy noise. "Is she rearranging her room again?"

The Brit laughed. "Yeah. It's quite entertaining."

"Would the two of you shut up? I'm tired of people acting like I'm not around." I replied.

"I just came to warn you that Adam's on his way over." Sam told me.

"No need. I'm going out after this."

"He'll skin you."

"I don't care. I'm tired of being here and need to get out. If he wants to talk to me, he can come to Howard Amon Park." I brushed past the guys and went to my car. As I was driving away, I saw Adam coming across the field with Darryl at his back.

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I grew up around nature so any time I got to go to a park I was happy. My first time at Howard Amon Park was when the music festival was going on. I hadn't been drawn by the music as much as the scene. It was peaceful to my restless spirit and I needed peaceful.

When I arrived, I shed my clothes and forced the Change. It wouldn't do if I couldn't run around in my other form. Lately, I had been spending a lot more time as a wolf than as a human and frankly I preferred that. I couldn't argue with anyone and could growl if I got annoyed, not to mention it kept me calm.

When wolves get to be my age, they get to be a little funny. Some of them lock themselves away from all humanity and even other wolves. Some get very angry until the point where they want to die. Some like Sam and myself decide it's easier to live outside the pack rather than in it. Even though I was a member of the pack, I still lived outside of it. I followed orders (mostly) and I didn't cause too much trouble. Well, I hadn't until recently. Now, I felt that I should just back out gracefully and form a mini pack with Sam. It still counted because Sam would be my Alpha but I didn't think the Marrok would go for it. Not like I cared.

I was lying under a bush when I heard and smelled Adam tramping this way. I should have hidden my scent but I really didn't care if he found me or not. There was no way I was talking to him anyway so he could come find me all he wanted. The other scent told me Sam was with him and Darryl. I growled when they came too close to where I was lying.

They stopped and sat down, Darryl behind and to Adam's right and Sam to his left. I stared at them from under my bush and waited. I was not happy that they had found me but I had done enough by growling at him. Adam sat very still as he looked down his nose at me. He was as unhappy as I was. I had a reason to be unhappy. He didn't. Okay, well, I guess he did.

"I told you not to leave mine or your property." He started out. I snorted. I didn't like that very much. "Yet you did. Do you like disobeying me?"

I turned my head away and tucked it under my foreleg. My telepathy was being iffy today so I couldn't talk. I let body language do that for me.

"I get you'd be mad at me for getting you fired from your job and I get that you'd hate being cooped up at home, but I did it for your own good." I cracked one eye at him to show him I was annoyed at the fact that he got me fired but I closed it again when he continued talking. "I only want what's best for my pack and you are a part of that."

"Adam," Sam's voice was a soft caress against the rough voice Adam had been using. "Have you not understood what my father has been saying about older wolves?" Adam turned his head to listen but didn't say a word. "She's old; older than all of us. She's lived over twelve hundred years without a mate and has survived. Her will is strong but it is weakening as the days go by. It's understandable that she gets angry at you. No Alpha has ever told her what to do. What's also affecting her is that her mate has been chosen but there hasn't been anything done to set them together for the rest of their lives."

Adam's attention was drawn to me as I stood, shook my fur of the brambles I had gotten tangled in, turned three times and laid back down. I wasn't interested in this conversation that they were going to have as I laid here.

"Ben can sense it, Adam. The nervous breakdown, the blaming herself for Jesse's shooting, the running away; it's all her wolf getting ready for its final days. If you don't do the mating ceremony soon, she will die."

The thought of dying hit me hard. Werewolves live very long lives, I can attest to that, but I had no idea that my sudden mood swings were that my wolf was getting ready to die. Adam and I shared the same look as the news sunk in. I whined unhappily. This was not happening. Not only had my life changed in the year I'd been here, in such a short amount of time, I had found someone who was not only my mate in wolf form but also in my human. The thought of leaving him made me very unhappy.

I stood and went to my clothes that were buried under another bush. I grabbed them in my mouth and backed out. Turning, I trotted over to Sam and dropped them in his lap. Then I took off at top speed back to the house. Ben would undoubtedly be there cleaning up the mess I had made in the bedroom.

I rarely ran wild through the streets, but when I did, there was a good reason. This was a very good reason. Since I had never grown up in a pack, I never understood what it meant to get older. While living in Shreveport, my brother had been my rock. He had kept the wolf at bay. So had another werewolf I was friends with. When I moved here, it was Adam for the most part. But now, not even the Alpha's power had the ability. It was getting down to the wire. Now I understood what Bran had gone through.

Knowing Sam would head to Adam's house for a bit gave me comfort. As I neared the house, I started changing back. It was severely painful considering I was still on the run. I had always been able to change on the fly. I never knew if it had to do with being old or being that good but I was able to do it with the least amount of pain.

I was fully human by the time I hit the porch. I was a sweaty human but I was human nonetheless. I opened the door and entered the house. Ben was on the couch when I came in and stood. He didn't have time to look me over as I crossed the distance between us and pressed against him, my mouth searching for his. He was too surprised to argue, but then need took over and he wrapped his arms around me. My hands busied themselves getting rid of his clothes as he backtracked to my room.

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A few nights later, on the night of the full moon, a ceremony took place that bonded one wolf to another. Adam performed the ceremony with a smile in his human form. The two who he bonded would be married in the human way the next day but he was taking in the wolf way happily.

After the ceremony was done and the Alpha had changed into his regal wolf form, the pack went out on a joint hunt.