"What in the hell were you thinking, Phoebe?" he growls. His hold on my upper arm releases as he all but throws me into his office. With this other hand, he slammed the door closed. "Her only purpose in life is to harm you, and you willingly put yourself within arm's length of her. Have you completely lost your senses?"

"She was in a cage, Alpha Alexander!" I shouted back. I moved to his desk and sat down in his big, comfy chair, mumbling, "It's not like she was gonna go anywhere anytime soon."

"She could have—"

"She couldn't have done anything in her condition. When was the last time you fed her, anyway?" I asked suspiciously.

"We are not discussing prisoner living conditions, Phoebe. That is not your concern."

"Right, 'cause I'm just an itty bitty female who needs to be coddled," I snarled with heavy sarcasm. "Even better, I'm a human female, so I should just butt out of werewolf politics, huh?"

He approached the desk silently and full of anger. His fingertips pressed into the tabletop. "Goddess, Phoebe, what has gotten in to you?"

The opportunity for a completely inappropriate joke was on the horizon, but it was quickly erased as the white hot anger boiling inside of a barely contained emotional box inside of my chest suddenly overflowed and exploded.

I stood and slammed my palms onto the desk. I heard a satisfying groan from the wood beneath my palms.

"My baby brother was kidnapped because some psychopath werewolf had a fatal crush on your sister. He could be doing God knows what to my brother, and you want to know why I'm a little pissed off? Really?"

I stepped around the desk and moved toward the door. As expected, he grabbed my wrist and refused to release me when I tried to yank myself free.

"Phoebe . . ."

My voice was flat as I said, "Let me go, Alpha. I need to hurt something, and I don't want it to be you."

He pulled me toward him. I shoved against him, trying to force his hold on me to loosen. He wrapped his other arm around my torso and locked me against his chest. He released my wrist and moved it to hold my head against his chest. I continued to fight his embrace, even though I knew it was pointless by now. The hoodie I wore had risen slightly over my hips, allowing him to slide his hand from the small of my back down to the waistband of my jeans and back up under my shirt. The skin-to-skin contact electrified my heart, sending it racing into an erratic beat. I tried to control my breathing like Sarah taught me, but his hand rubbing small circles just below my bra strap distracted me. His chin rested on top of my head and his fingers curled into my hair. I stood motionless, my arms hanging lamely at my sides.

"We will find him, Phoebe," he whispered into my hair.

"How?" I said with a broken voice.

"Trust me."

I took a shaky breath as I wrapped my small arms around his thick frame. I relaxed against him and his hold tightened. I sighed heavily, "I do."

He held me for a while, until the adrenaline drained from my body and my heartbeat calmed to the semi-normal pace that it fell into whenever Alpha Alexander and I touched. He held me until Seth softly knocked on the door and calmly asked to talk to Alpha Alexander on the training yard. With a soft kiss to my head, Alpha Alexander left the office, but not before asking me to wait for him to come back.

The door barely closed before I lunged for the desktop computer. I had used the computer once before for online shopping—which I unashamedly charged to one of the seven different credit cards Alpha Alexander had in his name. To be fair, he was sitting on the couch ten feet from me, flipping through and signing dozens of papers, and he had practically slapped my own debit card out of my hand when I whipped it out once my Sephora basket was ready to go. So, naturally, I visited a few other shopping websites that I had a wishlist basket for. He didn't like the little black dress I ordered off Forever21 or the bathing suit I ordered off Victoria Secret . . . or the lacy bralettes I ordered off American Eagle, but I assured him they would be worn under tops, not as tops.

I entered the log-in password and fired up the internet. The search engine launched and I quickly typed in "Where do three rivers meet?"

An hour later, I learned what it's called when three rivers meet (confluence), where the top 10 confluences occur around the world (Geneva, Switzerland was number 1), and other irrelevant facts about geology. Nothing gave me any indication about where Leo could be hiding Tommy.

I hit the tabletop again, screaming in frustration before swallowing my anger and dissecting the conversation I had with the rogue, Cassie. I held my head in my hands, massaging my temples.

"That's where you can find him—at three rivers."

That was all she said. I had Googled every damn thing about three rivers meeting and I still hadn't . . .

My head lifted, my eyes widened. She wasn't talking about where three rivers meet, she was talking about a place actually called Three Rivers. I quickly typed "Three Rivers" into the Google Maps search engine. Ironically, three locations popped up in the United States—a lone pin dropped in California, Michigan, and Oregon. No packs lived in the Golden State because it was too populated. Even in forested areas there was the risk of humans coming across a shifted werewolf roaming through the trees. Even after the federal government went to extreme measures to re-draw forest boundaries and re-directed hiking trails and banned shifted werewolves from specific protected national parks, some humans were dumb enough to sneak off the beaten path in hopes to find werewolves, especially in California. The thought lingered in my mind: Leo could find the perfect place to lay low in California considering there wasn't a nearby pack to detect or threaten him, but with a growing pack of rogues, who were all dangers to themselves and those around them, Leo would need some place to allow them to roam. Michigan was scratched off the list because the nearest forest was over 100 miles away. That left Oregon, I zoomed in on the map and stilled when I noticed the surrounding area.

The town of Three Rivers sat smack dab in the middle of Oregon, at the center of several forested areas within a mile of one another. My throat tightened and I felt my stomach curl in on itself. I quickly mapped the directions to Three Rivers, Oregon—it would take nine hours to get there by car.

A plan quickly formed in my mind—the books I had skimmed through in the library the day after Alpha Alexander marked me were streaming through my thoughts.

I printed the directions, deleted all the recent history from the web browser and shut down the computer. I folded the directions and tucked them into my bra before sprinting up the stairs and into the bedroom. I traded my jeans for leggings and slipped on a thin tank top under my hoodie. I tucked all my cash and my driver's license from my wallet into the small pocket in the waistband of my leggings.

My cell phone remained in my purse on the floor next to the bed, along with my credit cards and anything else that might be traceable.

Jogging into the kitchen, I grabbed a banana off the counter and nearly swallowed it whole. With a water bottle in my hand, I made for the front door. I grabbed the doorknob, taking a deep breath before swinging the door open and marching purposefully out of the house and toward the training field.

More than a dozen men and women were scattered around the training yard, sparring with one another. Some stood off to the side, chatting in small groups, their smiles and laughter wrapping around me and settling my nerves as I strode across the field and toward a neighboring building less than a quarter of the size of the pack house. As I passed, those who weren't sparring bowed their heads, which I acknowledged with a tight smile and dip of my chin. I stepped into the building, closing the door behind me. Rows of tables and cases mounted on every wall displayed a wide range of weapons. Only one other person was in the armory—a timid male named Carter. He was a few years older than me and was one of the wolves sent to train with us from a pack in New York. While he was quiet, he was deadly with every weapon we had. He was particularly fond of knives, which should have frightened me, but his shy personality erased all thoughts of thinking him a danger. As I stepped up to a case of handguns, Carter grinned at me. He slid the last of the daggers he was most likely practicing with back into its sheath.

"Hey, Carter," I said with a gentle smile.

"Alpha Regina," he said softly, bowing his head. "How are you?"

"Bored." I sighed for effect. "Thought I'd shoot a few rounds before dinner."

"How can I assist you?"

I waved my hand, my eyes trained on the Colt automatic I had used during self-defense lessons with Sarah. "Nah, I'm okay, Carter. Thanks, though." I made sure to look up at him and smiled as I said, "I'll see you at dinner?"

He nodded and quickly backed out of the armory, leaving me alone.

I grabbed the Colt and a Taurus 140G2 pistol, placing them both on top of the case and making sure they were loaded before grabbing an extra magazine for each. I took off my over-sized hoodie and quickly slid on a holster around my torso. I packed both guns and tugged my hoodie back on. After I adjusted them around my stomach and the small of my back so their outlines weren't clearly visible, I grabbed a long dagger from the set Carter had put away. I tucked it into the sleeve of my hoodie. I let my arm hang at my side as I left the armory. I forced myself to keep an even, slowly pace as I approached the garage. Once out of sight, I grabbed a set of keys off the peg wall that was covered with them and unlocked an SUV. I dove into the driver's seat and started it up. I leaned the seat back, buckled myself in an eased the car out of the multi-car garage and down the driveway. The sun was already starting to set behind the pack house, the direct sunlight blinding anyone who tried to look too closely at who was driving the car. I drove off the compound almost as easily as I did when I first ran away, which made me more nervous. I didn't release the breath I was holding until I reached the city. I pulled the directions from my bra before I merged onto the freeway.

My body hummed with a mess of emotions—fear, anxiety, anger. But the most overwhelming emotion surprised me: sadness. As the SUV carried me further and further away from my mate, my heart clenched with pain and I felt the faded mark on my neck burn sorrowfully. It had been days since Alpha Alexander and I had last been intimate, something that saddened me but also assisted me in running off on my own. His scent on me wasn't as strong and our mating bond, while still present, was dull, which would make it only slightly harder for him to track me. However, even though his mark wasn't fresh, our bond was still strong. I forced my foot down on the gas pedal as something pushed against the back of my brain. After three minutes, a mental barrier broke and the pain and sadness I was already feeling doubled. It flooded my insides, drowning me in sorrow and uncontrollable fear.

PHOEBE!

My name rattled against my skull, echoing painfully in my mind as Alpha Alexander's sudden voice nearly had me swerving off the road. The car in the next lane honked angrily as I swayed a little too close to it.

Turn around! Now! His dominance pushed against my mental barriers, forcing my fingers to tighten on the steering wheel.

"I'm so sorry," I said softly, tears falling from my eyes. "I just c-can't let this go on anymore. He wants me. I won't let another member of our pack put their own lives on the line. Not because of me; not if I can put an end to this."

Phoebe!

A sob came from my lips. I continued to talk, somehow knowing he could hear me, even though I wasn't mindlinking him. "I never told you something, and I'm sorry for the circumstance, but I have to say it now."

Phoebe, please . . . His voice was desperate—it tore me apart hearing him sound so broken.

A laugh spilled from my lips, but it mingled with a sob and it sounded like a strangled animal. "You are the most headstrong . . . and selfless . . . and gentle, and above all, the most difficult man I have ever met, you know. I . . ." Another hybrid laugh escaped. "I love you, Gabriel Alexander, difficulties and all. And if I can put an end to this, I will. Because I refuse to let anyone else get hurt because of me." I mentally placed a brick in front of the flooding emotions that were being unleashed on me through Alpha Alexander. I added another brick and another until a wall was built, with only one brick left to be placed.

Gabriel hollered through the void, God, no. NO! Please . . . Please, Phoebe. Just tell me where you are.

"Don't come after me, Gabriel. I can't let him take you, too," I said in a low voice. "I love you . . . I'm sorry."

PHOEBE!

I shoved my warring emotions behind the wall and placed the last brick into place, sealing the wall completely with my own determination to keep those I loved alive.

"I'm coming, Tommy," I whispered to the setting sun. "I'm coming."

___

Author's Note:

HI! Long time, no author's note. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK? Lemme know in the comments. Hit me with a vote if ya liked it!

SHIT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN SO STAY TUNED!

Love you all!

xo -Willow