"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality." - Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

It has been quite a while so here is a brief recap for those who need their memories refreshed.

I had absolutely no idea what to do or what to think. A part of me believed that he would fail at locating me, or he would give up after a while but to no avail. Fear engulfed my conscience, knocking all other thoughts aside. I felt my blood humming, the rejection from my part made the pull towards him weak, but it was, nonetheless, present - especially because it was coming from his side. A slight urge beckoning me towards him. He was here.

Fear consumed every inch of my body. I could taste the saliva thickening in my throat and the beads of sweat trickling down my brow. There was no chance in hell that I could let him come near me, in fear of knowing that he would permanently make me his by putting his mark on me.

His wolf has definitely become restless and certainly won't wait for either my wolf or my consent. Nobody wants to accept the loss of a mate, especially an Alpha who needs their mate to reach their full potential to make them reach the pinnacle of power and strength. Without a Luna, others would soon start to doubt the Alpha's capabilities of living up to the reputation of a leader and protector, rendering him weak and making him prone to more attacks.

My only choice would be to hurry and run away if I did not wish to be marked by him. Would he hurt me? I wasn't sure, but I couldn't rule out the possibility. I knew it was best to run fast for the safety of the hills but instead I remained where I was.

My eyes flickered toward his wolf's unnerving, grey eyes which were challenging me to a staredown; assessing every slight movement I made, waiting for me to make a pivotal move. His angry and desperate low growls surrounded the entire premises, inching toward eruption. I needed to come up with a plan but those intense eyes, god those eyes, wouldn't let me decipher one coherent thought.

A little part of me wanted to run towards him. My legs twitched, fighting the impulse to whirl around and sprint outside, take the leap of faith and join ourselves by giving to the mate bond, however, I knew I couldn't. Too much has happened between us. We could never have what others had, we could never be normal mates.

As if he could read my mind and the current dilemma I was facing, a loud growl escaped him, full of power and desire.

His wolf kept on calling out to my wolf. A clever strategy, I had to give him that. The human side of me had already picked a side - to run. But that was not the case with my wolf, which lowly whined, struggling to choose a side. To run away or not? And the overprotective and desperate growls of our mate wasn't helping the case either.

No. This is too much. I could not let him win. Feeling my anxiety and distress, my wolf decided to step down and let me take the reins.

"He is here, Josh...help me. What do I do?" Watching my lips move, his wolf slowly extended one of his legs forward - a warning. A warning that he would chase me if I tried to run. I could feel the sweat drench my skin, the throbbing of my own eyes, the ringing growls vibrating in my ears and the thumping of my heart against my chest. My fingers were curled into a fist, nails digging into my palm.

"Shit, I gave Tyler one freaking job and that bastard could not even do that!" I broke my eye contact with his wolf and saw Josh dash for the door and lock it. He even managed to pick up an entire lounge table without any difficulty all by himself and placed it against the door to block it.

"That should buy us some time," he ran his fingers through his hair making them stick in different directions, "Now, what are you waiting for? Run!"

I turned my face back towards the window to see Ethan had moved closer now. My heart slammed in my chest as I looked at him.

"Josh, he will find you and then smell me on you. You do realize his wolf is in control - he will kill you for hiding his mate. And your position of an Alpha won't be of any help. In fact, it will be quite the opposite!"

Taking a deep breath, I gradually walked away from the window, left foot, then right foot, but came to an abrupt stop when I heard a loud, ferocious growl. Josh and I both jumped back a bit. The power and strength of a pissed off Alpha resonated in it. The previous growls were nothing compared to this. My heart leaped into my throat as I glimpsed at the window and saw a flash of black fur, snarling and growling towards us and then disappearing the last second.

A loud bang at the door was heard. Ethan was pounding at the door in his wolf form which meant-

"He will get inside any minute."

I cursed inwardly.

Josh went to the other side of the room and picked up another coffee table. I thought he was going to place it against the door, but he crashed it against his head. The table shattering into pieces. Blood began to run down his forehead.

"What the fuvk?" I rushed towards him but he stopped me.

"I'll say you attacked me when I tried to stop you." Another bang was heard, a cracking noise preceded it, "Go! I don't know if we can hold him outside for any longer." He slightly rubbed his forehead, the blood getting on his fingers.

Another loud bang threatened to expose us. I looked towards the door, then at Josh who had a look of concern plastered on his face. Running towards him, I leaped in his open arms.

"Thank you." My tears began to soak his shirt.

"No problem, little one." he rubbed my head, "You're soaking my favourite shirt," he pulled me back from the shoulders and cupped my cheeks.

I looked at him, and I knew my eyes said everything I couldn't say - how gracious and grateful I was for his help, how much I will miss him even though we became friends a few days ago.

He gave me a smile, a sign that proved he understood everything I wanted to say but couldn't.

Leaning forward, he planted a kiss on my head, "Stay safe, Vivian...go."

He didn't have to tell me twice.

It took me three tries to break into the house. The door broke at the first try, but there was a hindrance which prevented me from opening it. From the tiny gap, I could see a block of wood against the door which I reckon was some piece of furniture to keep me from entering.

As if.

I could easily smell the familiar and heavenly scent of my mate. However, that was not all. A disgusting and pungent smell of another Alpha male was mingled with the scent of my Vivian which further fueled my drive to slam the door open, claim my mate and rip the fuvking excuse of an Alpha to pieces.

Fucking traitor.

A loud growl escaped me involuntarily. She was my Vivian. No one else's. Mine.

The door broke open when I slammed it the third time. The splintered pieces flying throughout the room. The first person my eyes connected was with the bloody traitor, Josh. I fuvking knew it. He knew her whereabouts from the start but never told us.

Without even thinking for a second, I slammed my entire self into him and on impact, shifted to my human self. He stumbled onto the ground, groaning as he placed his arm to rub at the spot where my body directly slammed into him.

"Are you insan-" I didn't let him complete his sentence and rained down a series of blows to his face. I was intoxicated with emotion I had no intention of ever feeling, the acidity of it was residing in my stomach waiting to be spat out in the form of aggressive kicks and blows.

I growled and threw myself at him again, changing direction at the last minute. My blood hummed in my veins as determination and anger took over. The sudden shift of direction once again knocked him down on the floor.

He stood up, preparing himself, but was too slow as I stepped between his legs from behind to trip him while shoving him directly back to the ground. I was about to break his back by using full force, but he immediately brought his elbow and punched me hard in the jaw. I stumbled back, which gave him time to recover. He delivered a hard punch to my face, then again drew his fist back and plowed into my stomach, it was like hitting a train head-on. My guts smashed together, blood vessels bursting. I repaid this by punching his jaw, my fist collided with all my body weight. I continued this battering until he fell to the floor.

"Goddess, not the face you asshole!" he shouted, using his arms as a shield.

My senses were on high alert, the absence of my mate was noticed as soon I entered the room. Her scent was still present in the room, strengthening my anger which was being directed at Josh's face. He reeked of my mate. Every cell in my body ached with anger and violence. I needed a victim to unleash it on, and this filthy Alpha was the closest thing to me therefore, I swung with all I had and landed more and more blows to his face. He grunted and slacked against a sofa nearby for a split second before regaining composure and spitting blood on the floor.

"Where is Vivian? Where the fuvk did she go?"

I could not lose her once again. Living a few days without her was torture. And I cannot fathom what would happen to me if I completely lose her.

She belonged to me. Lycans be damned.

"Took you this long to figure it out, you jerk." My wolf snarled back at me.

A groan brought me back to reality.

"Listen to me you 6-foot long wooden stic-" I punched him again and again. Relentless in effort and full of power.

The poor excuse of an Alpha finally got angry and allowed his wolf to take part in the fight. His canines extended, and his eyes darkened, vengeance clear in them.

A strong push managed to drop me off of him. Following that came a strong punch to my jaw.

"Instead of attacking me like a madman, let me talk Ethan!"

"Let the pup speak. Vivian's more important. We need to find her," my wolf ordered.

I closed my eyes and breathed in her scent to calm my human side.

"And for goddess sake, cover yourself!" he added.

"You were a part of this, right? You knew where she was, and you didn't tell us!" I clenched my fist and aimed for his face again but was stopped centimeters away from his face. He lowered my fist; his face supported an angry look now. A sign that his wolf has completely taken over his senses.

"Just because I am letting you hit me doesn't mean I am weak. I can rip you apart in seconds. I have countless reasons to kill you whereas you have a single futile one. But I am not a pathetic, sore loser like you. I know how to control my impulses and I surely know who my real enemies are. Fighting is not always the answer. I thought you would know it by it now, but that was a fail bet," he paused, waves of anger floating off of him. He rubbed his head and brought a bloody hand forward, "Do you see this? Your mate did that. Why would she do it if I was a 'part of it'?"

A sense of pride filled me. My mate successfully managed to attack an Alpha. Cute.

But despite that, I could not fully trust this traitor. What if he was lying and helped her escape?

"I have no reason to trust you. What makes you think I can believe this?"

He huffed, "Do you think I care? Do what you want. But for goddess sake, you and your mate need to stop destroying this house, my house." He walked towards the sofa and picked up a cushion which lay flat on the ground. He dusted it against his legs and placed it back on the sofa, adjusting it so it resembled the remaining pillows, "All I want is for this house to survive long enough to meet my mate."

I looked around and saw the havoc we had created which reminded me of her. Her fierce eyes, never backing down to any challenges.

Vivian. We need to find her.

"She won't be far, I am taking over." I felt my bones cracking and deforming and soon, I was standing tall on four paws.

Time for another chase.