Eve had practically skipped down the street until she reached the payphone box that was situated outside of a small library. She jumped inside and pushed a bunch of coins through the coin slot before depositing the rest her pocket. Out of her other pocket she pulled out a scrap of material with her mum's number written down. She knew it from memory but had been scared she would forget it for some unknown reason – hence it was written down and shoved into her pocket.

She punched in the numbers from memory, double checking she was correct, as the phone rested between her ear and shoulder.

The dial tone rang out in her ear. Eve was terrified that no one would pick up. However, after an agonisingly long wait a voice spoke through the phone.

'Hello?' The voice said with a guarded tone.

'Joanne is that you? It's me,' Eve replied.

'Oh Evie! I am so happy to hear from you! Why haven't you called sooner? Are you at Three Mountain? Are you safe?' Joanne let out a volley of questions relieved to hear from Eve.

'I'm sorry things didn't go exactly to plan so I couldn't call earlier otherwise I would have. I have missed you so much. I'm not at Alpha Ian's pack. I... I can't tell you where I am, but I am safe. I promise,' Eve replied trying to reply to her multitude of questions.

'Oh, honey that is all I need to know. I have missed you as well. So much,' Joanne cried out through the phone bringing a tear to Eve's eye.

'Is my mum there? Can I talk to her?' Eve asked Joanne. She was met with silence.

'Joanne?' Eve asked concerned at the lack of response.

'Baby, your mum... Alpha Darren has her locked up in the cells as punishment for not telling him where you went,' Joanne slowly explained trying to gently break the news to Eve.

'Oh my god,' Eve instantly felt as though she would throw up and a hand flew to her mouth as if trying to stop the barrage of vomit that wanted to spew from her mouth.

'Evie baby it is going to be okay. I have been visiting her as often as I can and she seems to be coping. And the Alpha said that they will let her go in a few days. She's fine, I promise,' Joanne tried to comfort Eve.

'Oh my god. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have left,' Eve cried out as she was overcome with guilt.

'No. Don't you dare. Your mum and I knew what would happen. We both prepared to face this. We both wanted to protect you. So don't you dare feel guilty baby. You stay strong and live your life in order to make your mum proud. To assure her that she made the right decision,' Joanne said in a steady voice.

'Okay. I'll try to make you proud.' Eve said, her voice dripping with emotion. Still she felt sick with guilt.

'You always make me proud. I have to go now. Alpha Darren has people watching me, I have to be careful. I love you sweetie,' Joanne said.

'I love you too. Tell mum that I miss her so much. I'll talk to her soon,' Eve said.

'Goodbye my love,' Joanne said before the phone cut off. It took Eve another minute to take the phone away from her ear and to put it back on the hook.

She slowly made her way back down the street, back to where Curtis had said that they would meet back up.

She felt the chill in the air and wrapped her puffy jacket around her tighter. It was getting colder and colder - it would probably start snowing up in the mountains soon.

By the time Eve made it back to where the car was parked outside of the shopping centre, she was struggling to hold back the tears in her eyes. She took a few moments to compose herself not wanting to cry when Curtis came back. But thoughts about her mum kept racing through her mind, what was she suffering through? After all, she was sure that Joanne had sugar coated everything that she had said.

'Everything alright?' Curtis said breaking through Eve's daze.

'Um yeah all good here. Did you getting everything done that you needed to?' She replied whilst discreetly trying to wipe the corner of her eye.

'Yep. Alrighty then, jump in,' Curtis said before opening the driver's side door. Eve followed him and opened the passenger side door.

The ute rumbled to life, and they exited the carpark and headed back out of the town. The two companions stayed quiet as they passed by the blurred trees. The quietness didn't bother Eve as she was consumed by her thoughts of her conversation with Joanne.

The sun was starting to get low in the late afternoon. Eve started to dose, emotionally and mentally exhausted.

Her half-asleep mind reminisced about better times when she was little. When she would play outside with her mum when she wasn't limited by her walking stick. A small smile graced her sleeping face unencumbered by memories of the last few weeks.

But Eve's small smile began to slowly turn into a frown. She threw her head to the side and groaned out lowly in pain. Curtis glanced across to the side at the sound. Eve's face scrunched up and she suddenly jolted forward, fully awake.

A familiar pain started to build up and weight pressed down on her chest making it harder to get air into her lungs. Her hand grasped at her chest trying to push off the invisible weight sitting on her chest. She let out a harsh cough.

'Are you okay?' Curtis turned again towards Eve.

'Pull over. Please,' Eve groaned out in response as the pain intensified and a wave of nausea rolled over her. Abruptly, Curtis jerked the wheel and harshly pressed down on the brake. Just as the vehicle came to a screeching halt, Eve pushed open the door and fell out onto the ground.

Curtis raced around to pull her hair back as she wretched onto the ground. She collapsed to the side as her whole body began to spasm and shake as the intensity of pain continued to increase. Curtis grabbed her trying to prevent her from throwing her head back into the ground. Instead, he cradled her closely trying to stop her from hurting herself.

'Eve! Eve can you hear me? You have to relax!' Curtis tried to break through to her.

She could hear him - but she could not reply mor stop the jerking of her arms and legs. Her whole body was consumed in fiery pain. All she could do was look up at Curtis before the pain ceased and her eyes rolled back into her skull.

A relieved sigh left Curtis as Eve's whole body went limp as the attack seemed to subside. Carefully, he gathered her up into his arms and put her back into the vehicle. Making sure she was secure and in a comfortable position, he then returned to the driver's seat.

Eve only briefly woke back up as Curtis was carrying her up the mountain and back to the cabin. He shushed her and she closed her eyes, overcome by exhaustion.