One night had turned into six and on the seventh I left back 'home'.

Staying in the house was exhausting. Every sound was new and distracting, so I'd spend the nights awake in case anyone came into my room and I'd sleep during the day while they were out doing their work.

We rarely spoke to one another.

I didn't like Taylor or Adam, the urge to rip them apart was mutual between my wolf and I, so it was just easier to avoid them. Jay was persistent, constantly asking if I needed anything and willing to wait me out, presuming soon I'd break and we'd end up as best friends or something just as stupid.

Connor was the only one I spoke to. He'd be the first home for lunch and in the afternoon. He was also the first one up in the morning and it was while everyone slept we'd talk. Maybe because he had only just turned eighteen or because of his quiet and calm nature, I found something in him I could trust.

That said, I never told him much about myself while he was happy to pour out his life story. It helped me understand Cody a little more too. I understood what he meant when he said he felt broken; it wasn't just their parents that had been killed but his mate as well.

I didn't ask anything else after that, and I couldn't look at him the same way either.

Connor also filled me in on what was popular now in music, even lending me an iPod to listen to while I was alone. The more he told me about movies, celebrity gossip and world events the more I felt like an alien. Everything was foreign to me and he'd stop if he thought I was becoming overwhelmed.

Eating their food had made me sick for the first few days, and on the day I left it was the first time I hadn't had to throw up or wait for it to painfully go through my system. My wolf thought this was a good sign, that I was adapting and maybe I was.

"I've been talking to her Cody, she doesn't say much about where she comes from, but I think she trusts me."

"That's good Connor, be careful though. She clearly has a past and I've seen the way she watches Adam and Tay. Don't go anywhere alone with her, if she thinks like a wolf she might be waiting for us to seperate to take us down."

"I don't think she will hurt us, Taylor shot her and Adam was a dickhead — I wouldn't like them very much either."

Cody sighed, getting up from the dining table.

"I'm going to go downstairs for a bit, I'll leave the door open so if anything happens just yell."

"Ok, I'm going to check the missing person's database and see if I can match anything to her. There aren't any Daisy's and I think that was a fake name."

"Careful with all that hacking computer stuff Connor."

"It's totally untraceable, don't worry!"

Cody left him and I headed into the kitchen where he sat with a laptop in front of him. He jumped, unaware I had walked in and I looked at him suspiciously.

"You need to wear a bell, you're too quiet." He scolded, slamming down the screen.

"Maybe you need to learn how to use your senses better." I snapped, feeling guilty as he looked hurt at my harsh tone. That was saved for the others, not him.

"What's your name?"

"Daisy."

"I'm using my senses now and I know that's a lie." He challenged and I had to smile a little. His fear of me was starting to weaken, but I didn't mind. I don't want people to fear me, just the ones who should.

"Senses? Using your computer is a sense?"

"You heard?"

"Good hearing is one of our senses." I sat down beside him, listening to the other three in the living room and the grunts and thuds from downstairs where Cody was taking out his frustrations on a punching bag. I couldn't stop being on constant alert, it was hard to turn off. In the wild anything or anyone may sneak up on you and that happened to me once before. I'm not going to make the same mistakes again.

"What are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything." Except myself, I thought staring him down.

"Then what's your name. How about I try and guess it? Will you tell me then?"

Bianca wasn't a common name and I liked my chances so nodded, sitting back in the chair I was looking forward to this.

"Hannah?"

I shook my head, unable to stop from looking amused.

"Sarah?"

And so his list of names started, opening up his laptop he went onto a name site and while I declared that was cheating, he started reading out the most popular names of the year I was born.

"You could be here a while." I teased, but he didn't give up.

"Jessica, Emily, Stephanie, Chloe, Amy, Ruby, Alice...."

"You're reading a list. Let me look and I'll see if it's there." He moved it over and after I remembered how to use the flat mouse, I smiled victoriously. "It's not."

"Well cuts out 100 names."

"Loser."

He grinned, and I had a feeling he wasn't as cut out for this farm work as the others. He carried on saying names, so much so that I tuned out and listened to whatever was on the TV. I didn't know the show they were watching, but they all seemed to like it.

Maybe I would be like them if things hadn't happened, in fact by now I would have finished college and be starting my life.

"Leah, Leanne, Leanna..."

I gave away too much and my head snapped up to look at him. He grinned yet the look on my face had him stopping.

"Leanna? Is that your name?"

"No. She was just someone important to me."

Again he proved my decision about liking him a wise one and he dropped it, daring to reach out and touch my hand, ignoring how I cringed at the contact. I didn't like people touching me, but there was something comforting about it too and I didn't pull away.

"Ok, did you want to see a cat getting a bath?"

Confused I didn't give myself time to dwell on my past and nodded. Sure enough you tube appeared on his screen and we were both in tears from laughing from what we saw. I hadn't laughed like that in a long time and decided I really did like Connor.

By eleven everyone was in bed, or so I thought and as I restlessly moved around the house. I stopped at the top of the stairs as I heard voices from the living room. Creeping closer my wolf was getting anxious and it didn't help my own nerves.

"I got the name Leanna so I tapped into the police database and did a search for anything in 2006 with that name and I found this." Connor went quiet and I wondered what he had found.

"Shit. I remember this, the police kept it quiet because they're all shifters. Some random attack wiped out half the pack. That must be where she's from!"  Cody practically yelled and quickly went quiet again. "Are there pictures of them? Of her?"

Pictures?

I moved through the shadows of the lower level, pausing by the doorway to see the pair of them sitting on the sofa with the laptop between them. A few clicks had a picture of my old house on the screen and worse, to the side in the picture finder crime scene photos.

"Does it mention a Daisy?" Cody asked softly, back to whispering.

"No. The daughter of one of the deceased was never found, though there were signs of a struggle nearby in the forest."

Sure enough pictures of blood on the grass and sand came up on the screen and I knew exactly where that spot was. That path had been the one my mate had walked down when he left me to die, behind me my parents and family laid dead already and the small cliff drop had been marked with a yellow flag where more blood had been found.

"What happened there?" Cody asked, pointing.

"In the report it was suspected her body was dropped down the ravine, only police searches found nothing."

I looked again and a picture of me from school appeared on the screen along with the missing persons report.

"Do you think that's her?"

Connor nodded, "It has to be, she's younger there though."

"Does it have her name?"

"Bianca."

That was all I needed to hear and in seconds I was out the front door, shifted and running back into a place where it didn't matter who I was.

-

The pack welcomed me back as if no time had passed and I was treated to a sneak peak at the pups that were nothing more than fat little balls of perfection. A day later I blocked out my time in civilization and instead focused on the hunt. My wolf wasn't talking to me like she normally did, everything we did in her body was at my control and if I didn't know better — I'd say she was sulking.

It had been her idea to come out here, to live as one of them and now she only offered me memories of a shower and pancakes. Considering I was staring down the furry hide of a rather large, old stag — maple syrup and strawberries didn't exactly pump up my appetite for the raw bloody mess I was working on making into dinner.

A few of the pack kept in sight of the herd, acting like they didn't care they were all there while the fawns and mothers kept knitted together and the defenders lingered around them. The rest of us spread out, ready to get them running and break him away from the safety in numbers routine.

It was basic and obvious, yet these animals never saw it coming. They knew to stay together, but never saw beyond that. I crouched down low, waiting for him to come a little too close to the bushes when the piercing howl shattered the otherwise peaceful dusk and the herd stampeded before we were ready for them.

The pack gave chase only I didn't move with them, knowing all too well that howl was not from one of them and as the wolves regrouped unsuccessful, it was new kind of blood I wanted.

Breaking away from my pack, I headed south and it didn't take me long to find them. The five wolves didn't walk with the same care as their wild cousins, feeling superior to nature. I had my anger at a failed hunt to get rid of so I was curious to see how long their air of invincibility would last. Connor stuck close to Cody, the black wolf walking in front of the others while Taylor, Adam and Jay mucked around behind them.

Cody stopped; growling and the trio split up and kept walking.

My packs calls soon sounded, sharing the disappointment although I knew they'd try again. These things could take days and it wasn't like they needed the kill desperately. The five shifters stopped and carried on, Adam falling behind as the sounds of the wild ones got them nervous.

Just like I had stalked the stag, Adam was now in my sights.

He knew he was being watched, constantly looking around unnerved and as he started to trot to catch up, I pounced. He yelped in shock, and I leant over his body, careful of his claws as he squirmed beneath me and gripping onto his neck, his lack of fight should have told me to back off, that I'd won and he had submitted.

I wasn't in the mood for being nice.

He yelped and whined again, if he was human he'd probably be peeing his pants in fear and maybe from that smell, it wasn't just something he'd do in human form. I went to make the final shake, aching to feel the tear of his flesh beneath my jaws when instead I was knocked backwards.

Cody was snarling over his cousin, and the other three ran to stand behind them. Taylor shifted and ran over to her brother, crying as I realized he had passed out — she thought he was dead.

"I told you we should've killed her!"

This had a whole new wave of anger flowing through me, and Cody lunged towards me. I readied myself, set on taking him on again with no fear of the red headed bitch cheating only he never reached me as Connor took the force of his hit.

The smaller and weaker wolf yelped as Cody landed on him, releasing him instantly. Part of me wanted to make sure Connor was ok, protect him while another part was glad to see them falling apart. Connor had used something I'd told him in trust, to look for information behind my back and remembering that I turned and ran back to my pack.

We moved on after the herd, and in the early hours of the morning we nested. It was nice to be back amongst them, the sounds of the forest more familiar to me now than that of the house. The snores, whines and growls from dreams were like a lullaby and I decided the shifters would have gone back to their home.

"Just leave her out here to die!" Taylor hissed. Her whisper was barely audible over the sleeping pack, but my wolf wanted me to hear them. The stupid creature wanted me to go back with them.

"She's been through a lot Tay, she needs help!" Connor defended.

"I don't know why we have to be the ones to do it. She nearly killed me, again!" Adam whined.

I left the pack, walking down towards the water were they sat on the rocks and Adam was washing his cuts before they healed.

"Why are you here?" All of them jumped and Connor fell backwards into the water with a loud splash. Adam helped him up and the inched closer to together like the deer herd when they knew there was danger.

"To bring you back, we know what happened and you can't hide out here anymore." Jay spoke first while Cody and I entered another staring match.

"You know what happened?" I laughed; a bitter twisted sound I didn't know I was capable of. "Enlighten me Jay."

"Your pack was attacked, like ours and you were lucky enough to get away."

It sounded so simple and clapping I walked closer.

"Yes, just like you."

"No need to be a bitch about it." Taylor snapped and growling she cowered down by her brother.

"Tell us what really happened then, we know there was an attack and you clearly got away." Connor stepped forward, not scared like the others.

"No, the wolf got away. Bianca died with her family."

They didn't know what to say to that and shifting I went back to where I belonged.

Only Cody did the same, following after me so I ran faster; so did he. We ran for miles until I had no choice other than stopping as my legs were shaking with exhaustion and my tongue rolled out the side of my mouth. He was in worse shape than I was; the second I stopped he collapsed. His panting was like a tractor; mine the same and a fell down a little distance from him.

It took some time before we could get the energy to shift; still spread out on the grass of the meadow we had pushed ourselves to hard.

"Seriously, stop running!" He gasped, and I managed to sit up thankful that in that week I hadn't lost too much of my fitness.

"Stop following!"

"Tell me what happened that night." He was using his alpha voice, the same one my Dad always threatened Leanna and me with when we were in deep trouble.

"Why? Why do you want to know?" I growled back.

Groaning he managed to sit up, the sweat was pouring off him and I saw him look at me confused. I wasn't looking as much of a wreck as he was.

"It helps to talk, you've got it bottled up inside you and you need to get it out. It helps, a bit."

"But you know the story. Pack attacked, pack killed — I survived."

"How?"

"They thought I was dead and they threw me over the cliff."

"Who are they?"

"The pack that attacked us."

I could see him getting frustrated, I wasn't giving him anything.

"We have as long as it takes. I sent the others home." He fell back onto the grass, his chest still frantically moving up and down.

Three days he followed me, the pack wary of the new wolf and the majority picked on him a lot. He held his ground though and none of us let him near the den.

Tell him.

Staying out here with us made my wolf trust him and I hated how quickly she was willing to let them in. We'd been on our own for her whole existence and it confused me no end.

I headed down the river with the yearling girl, one of my favorites of the pack. Maybe because I had always favored her our bond was closer, like normal humans do with their dogs.

Not willing to stay on his own, Cody followed us and even joined in our play as we headed down there. He watched curiously as I shifted, with the warm night I headed into the water and the yearling ran in after me. She didn't stay in long, running back to the shore she instead climbed up onto the rocks and after shaking her coat, laid down yawning.

"Do you have names for them?" I turned around to see Cody walking into the water, looking away to give him some kind of privacy and as he sunk lower into the water I couldn't help turn around to admire his chest.

"No, they're wild animals not pets."

He said nothing, swimming out near me with long graceful strokes and instinctively a made sure to put a little more distance between us.

"The attack happened on the night of my first shift."

He stopped swimming, moving so he was floating and those blue eyes seemed to glow under the moonlight, distracting me.

"You were lucky to get out alive."

"I don't know if luck had much to do with it. We were attacked by my mate."

I ducked under the water and let the darkness consume me. Despite the moon light outside, it didn't penetrate the water's surface and movement in front of me had me going back to the surface to find Cody much, much to close.

"I don't understand, your mate was the one who attacked your pack? Had you not shifted yet? Did he not know who you were?"

The truth hurt, even now. My wolfs anger stopped the tears, but not the pain inside. I left the water and in seconds the yearling was back at my side before sounds of the pack had her running back.

"Where is she off to?"

"Dinner. Hungry?"

"Starving, but I'll wait till I can go home."

I smiled, ignoring the look of pity that had taken over his features.

"Bianca, did he know who you were when he attacked?"

With no help from my wolf, I was left open and weak. Tears ran down my face as I managed to nod and everything I had kept locked away was out on display. Cody came to my side; pulling me against him I couldn't fight his touch. To be held with care had me completely sobbing and my tears mixed with the fresh river water already covering his body.

After I finally managed to calm down, I looked around and realized we weren't standing anymore. We sat on the rock where the yearling had been earlier and I was still being cradled in his arms. He didn't have to ask any more questions, I poured it all now.

My birthday party, my parents, the shifting or lack of and everything up until I was lured to his brothers campsite because of something as stupid as chocolate.

"Thank you for telling me."

He was wrong though, I didn't feel better getting it all out. Instead my eyes hurt and I felt like I had just been torn apart inside all over again.

"He can't know I'm alive."

"I agree. You'll be safe with us."

"You can't make promises like that. It's better that I stay out here."

He shook his head, wiping the wet strands of my hair away from my face.

"It's not. You're human, not wolf. Despite the last few years — you need to be amongst your own kind."

He's right.

'Traitor.' I snapped back at her, not sure how I could actually live with them all again.

"You have all the time in the world to adjust, we've all lost people we love Bianca. You're strong, a survivor. Don't let this be the end of your story; we can help you." I couldn't help but lean against him, hearing his heart beat under my ear — things the wolf and the human enjoyed.

If I could have stayed in this moment forever, I would have.

"Are we friends?" I finally asked as we stood up.

"If you want to be?"

I nodded and we started walking towards his home.

"I could do with a friend."

We shifted then and before we started the journey home, I sent my pack a message that I was going and just maybe, one day I'd be back. Their chorus erupted behind us, and I knew they were saying goodbye.

-

I was welcomed back into the human world with fake smiles and caution. Despite the fact Cody knew the truth, the next morning the routine was much the same as it had been before we'd left.

"Bianca, come with me." Cody headed downstairs like he did every night and I lingered at the top, not willing to let myself be trapped down there again. "Trust me."

Two words; two impossible words.

Connor sat on his laptop in the living room, Jay was watching TV beside him and the other two had gone out into the small town nearby to meet up with some friends. Reluctantly I started down the stairs, pausing half way and demanding he stand where I could see him.

He obliged, the dynamics between us had changed now. While we still sought to challenge each other, the respect towards the other had finally been established.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

I came down, still keeping distance between us.

"When I'm mad, or get the urge to just run away — I come down here." He moved down past the room I had been kept in and into another on the opposite side. Curiously I followed and found him in a gym. I never worked out in my old life, Leanna and I used to avoid them like a plague and the scent of sweat wasn't inviting.

"You're strong, but you do better with endurance. How are you're one on one skills?"

"Lets find out?"

He grinned, clearly liking my answer.

He threw me some gloves and I slipped them on, moving to the red mat we began to circle each other. He started prattling on about defense being important, but I had already tuned out.

"Ok, well let's see what you got."

I fake charged, my wolf coming to the front as she was keen to learn more. He stepped back and I kept my distance. He went to mirror my actions, only I didn't step back like he did and took a swing. Everything was by memory, movies, tv and school yard rumbles, my wolf invaded my mind trying to work out what she should do. Sure it was based on fiction, but it was practically the same thing.

I kept my hands up, defending my face and as I swung, he went for my stomach. Instead I kicked at his side and he bent down to dodge it, forgetting his own attack.

"Enough playing hey?" Our competitive streaks, otherwise known as wolves came to play and it was now a matter of trying to out maneuver each other. We punched, dodged, kicked and in the end, I was pinned underneath him, furious.

"Let me up!" I snapped.

"Admit I won."

"No."

"It's training, fun. Just admit it."

"I know you wouldn't, let me up!"

He applied further pressure on my arms, and no matter how I struggled I couldn't get up. Oddly, my wolf loved it.

"Fine, you won this training."

He let me up, rocking back so he was kneeling and as I got up I kicked out and knocked him backwards, leaping over and now I was pinning him.

"Say I win."

"Really?" He muttered, not impressed before he grabbed my waist and stood up, holding me against him.

"That is cheating!"

"No its not, it's called knowing your opponents weaknesses." He looked triumphant and the fact he was double my size didn't help.

"Put me down." I growled, ready to rip his eyes out if he didn't let me go.

"You're holding onto me she-wolf."

His words took a second to register and sure enough his hands left my waist, appearing either side of his head as he wiggled his fingers looking more than happy with himself. Rather than fall on my back as he stood, I had my legs gripping his waist and my arms were around his neck. Only now he was standing, I still held on.

I let go and stumbled backwards, glaring though it lacked conviction as my wolf was just as amused as Cody. Some help she was!

"Now, shall we get into some training?" He mocked, heading over to the punching bag he stood behind it and waved me over.

Furious I went and stood where he instructed and I don't think that bag had ever been hit that hard.

—-

Adam, Taylor, Connor >>>>>

(left to right)

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