::: TWELVE :::

The nights sleep was restless as guilt had settled in my stomach for treating Derek like I had. It was still dark outside as it cast shadows in the room, my eyes caught sight of the flickering light coming from under the bedroom door. Slowly I slipped from the bed and made my way to the source of light- it was coming from the fire place in the lounge room.

Laying on the couch, his body just managing to fit there was Derek fast asleep on his side. His face looked relaxed, the worry lines from the Edison group had disappeared showing his true beauty. I pushed back the hair from his face to get a better look, his skin was clear and pimple free and his hair soft like silk instead of greasy. Derek's hands came out and pulled me onto the couch with him, i couldn't stop the smile on my lips at his actions. I had my back pressed up against his chest with me on my side to make room fo both of us but Derek slipped hi leg between mine to make himself comfortable . Guilt sliced into me at treatment towards him, the nuzzling into my neck made me calm down as Derek took in a large breath of my scent. "I'm sorry." My voice choked out. "I don't know why I'm acting like this."

"Don't worry; I know it's not you- its the mating." His words didn't have a desiring effect as it left me feeling confused.

"Mmm..?"

"You're not a werewolf so it's not too bad. Mates get protective, they want to be close." He emphasised it by pressed up against my backside.

"What about you?" Derek kissed my neck.

"It's stronger as I'm a werewolf and I need to dominate. All the reasons I told you before also goes the same for me, so sorry if I'm more overprotective than usually." I thought back to the morning at the hotel.

"Like with James?"

"Yeah." Derek started shifting and moved me to face him.

"My final change didn't happen like we thought, it was unexpected. Samuel thinks it had to do with you been in danger that triggered it. I ran into the other wolves when I started looking for you. It happened so fast that I'm not sure what happened." He looked off into space, thinking as a line appeared between his eyebrows. "I thought of all the ways you could have been hurt and with the wolves it add to the stress, I thought maybe they had gotten to you. When I was thinking of the probabilities, I didn't released I had changed. Every thought was about my mate, you. Samuel said my brain was blocking out everything except you. It's normal for a wolf to forget his own pain when his mate could be in danger." I put my arms around him and hugged him tight. "That's why it took so long to find you." It was silent before he spoke again changing the subject from him.

"I called Simon and Tori. Samuel is going to send someone to get them; they should be here in a couple of days."

"I thought they weren't that far from us?"

"They ran into some trouble with the Edison Group."

"Trouble?"

"A couple of humans tried to catch them." I leaned up on my elbow and started playing with Derek's hair as I tried not to think of the other two in trouble.

"No one got hurt?"

"There both safe."

"I'm surprised Simon hasn't murdered Tori."

"If anyone is murdering Tori, it will be me." I smacked Derek on the shoulder.

"Tori isn't that bad anymore." Derek grunted as we took in each other presence, the crackling of the fire sounding in the room until a thought crossed my mind. "Was the wolf really Ramon?"

"Don't worry, he can't hurt you."

"What about Liam? His still out there looking for us."

"Chloe, no one will get hurt. Think of it this way, one werewolf against a Pack. Who would win?"

"Pack." Does that mean we're part of the pack? Simon, Tori, Derek and me?

"Are we staying here for good?" Derek didnt give his answer right away making me nervous.

"We are welcome here at anytime. We can stay as long as we like."

"Would you like to spend more time with other wolves?" For once, Derek should do something he wants.

"Tomorrow Samuel and some others are going running, I'm going to go with them. Samuel is going to teach me how to change on my own free will. He said it's going to hurt for a couple of changes but after that it will be natural." I smile slightly as I continued to thread my finger through his hair- i was happy for him to finally get some help, be connected with his own kind. "I talked to Samuel about the Edison Group and we're going to talk more about it after the run. We need to stay low and we'll be fine. Andrew ran off, they have no idea where to." We laid there simply enjoying each other presence as one would touch other reassuring that we were together. "We should get some sleep." Derek kissed my head as a yawn escaped my mouth and the pleasant cocoon of pine needles and safety drifted me to sleep.

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PUBLISHED: 06/10/2010

REVISED: 26/05/2013