Declan stared at the calendar behind the cashier and blinked as if the date was playing tricks on him. Could five months have passed since he’d set out on this journey? Could five months have passed since he’d last seen Noelle?

He shook the thought of her out of his mind almost as soon as it had entered. He’d been doing such an excellent job not thinking about her all this time. Although, he had to admit, there were times when he’d let his guard down, and she’d come traipsing back in. Declan handed the cashier the plastic card and waited patiently.

“I’m sorry Sir,” the man whispered swiping the card, “it's been declined.”

Declan stared at the man behind the counter. “What?” The man shrugged his shoulders as though he’d nothing more to add to his previous comment.

“Do you have another way to pay?” he asked, almost as an afterthought. Declan shook his head and peered behind as the line started to grow, like it always seemed to do when you were in an uncomfortable situation such as this.

“Do you have a phone I can borrow?” Declan asked the man. The man pointed at the back of the store and Declan noticed a pay phone hanging on the wall.

People still have these? He made his way through the aisles toward the phone. He began lifting it off the cradle and realizing he didn’t have a quarter.

“Here, you can borrow mine.” Declan looked up seeing an attractive woman speaking to him. Her hand was outstretched with an expensive looking phone.

“Thanks,” Declan said as he smiled. He took the phone and dialed Maria’s number.

As the phone rang, Declan ran his eyes over the woman. He took in her strawberry-colored hair and her pale blue eyes (which sat a tiny bit too close together). Her lips were full and covered in a dark red lipstick which only made him feel even more…

“Hello?” The voice brought him back, and he had to turn a little, enough to hide his excitement from the woman who now curiously looked at him.

“Maria! Hi, it’s Declan.” Silence fell on the other end, but Declan could make out faint breathing, so he knew there was a connection. “Maria?” he repeated.

“Where the hell have you been?” she asked. The tone of her voice suggested she was as angry as hell, and Declan couldn’t blame her.

When he'd started this journey, he'd checked in with her at least once a day, and then it became once a week. Now thinking back, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d called. It had been a long while.

“I’m sorry I haven’t called, Maria. Things haven’t exactly been going as planned on my end, and I figured I’d call when I had news.”

“You know, Declan, that’s pretty fucking selfish of you if you take a second to think about it, because guess what, you aren’t the only one who’s trying to figure shit out. I hate to break this to you like this, but remember Gabriel? That guy that you used to be friends with —and the one you very, very, very, foolishly appointed alpha of your pack? Yeah, that one? He’s completely lost his shit, Declan. Completely.”

She was breathing hard after she finished her rant, and Declan fell into silence. Of course, he'd known Gabriel was teetering on the edge, but he hadn’t known how terrible things had become. And how could he know when he never called and there was no way for Maria to reach out to him? His cell phone broke a few months back, and that’s really when their communication became so limited. Still, he needed to try harder.

“Maria, I promise you that I’ll figure this out, and when I get back, we can fix this together. Okay?”

“Fine. Whatever,” she said, sighing heavily into the phone. Declan closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the brilliant smile Maria had on her face, almost always. He wondered how long it’d been since she’d smiled like that.

“Hey, I hate to bring this up now but I’m borrowing someone’s phone, and well, your card was declined.”

“Fuck,” she whispered under her breath. Declan could hear a voice in the background, and as it grew louder, he could tell it was Gabriel. “Declan, I have to go. I’ll make a payment today, so you should be able to use it in a day or two, okay? Good luck. And buy yourself a damn phone.” And with that, she ended the call.

Declan stared at the phone briefly before handing it back to the woman who was pretending to browse through different chip flavors. She smiled at him and said, “Girl troubles?”

After the conversation with Maria, the charms the woman had on Declan had disappeared, and frowning he said, “Not exactly. Thanks for helping me out.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Declan left the store, and the woman stared at him as he made his way to his car.

As he got into the driver’s seat, he slammed his hands against the steering wheel. Why was this happening to him? He had started his journey so hopeful, but he had no idea how stressful the entire process would be. Trying to find an old witch who apparently didn’t want to be located, in a state with a million people. Geez, that was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Declan groaned as he leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes. When was the last time he’d actually eaten a full meal or taken a hot shower, or slept in a real bed? He was living like he was homeless and that only made him miss his pack even more. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep going on like this, or even worse, he didn’t know if he could ever return home if he wasn't a wolf again.

Declan heard a light tap on his window, and turned. He saw the woman standing there wearing a nervous expression. He opened his car door as she took a few small steps back to avoid being hit.

“Hi again,” she said quietly. “I don’t mean to intrude, but it seems you’re having a rough time and I was gonna say, well, here.” She handed him a plastic bag with all the items Declan tried to purchase earlier. He looked from the bag to the woman and smiled gratefully.

“Thanks so much,” Declan said. He was slightly shocked by her kindness, and in another part of his mind, his guard went straight up. Why was this stranger so helpful to him? Did she know something about him, or was she expecting something in return?

“Yeah, it’s no problem,” she said smiling. “I, umm, well, I don’t want you to think this is weird of me and I totally don’t want you thinking I do this for every random person I meet, but there’s just something…” she trailed off laughing nervously. “Oh, hell, I’m gonna say it. If you need a place to get cleaned up and have a bite to eat, you’re more than welcome to come to my place.”

Declan stared at the woman, and red flags seemed to spring up all around her. He couldn’t tell if she was sincere, or if there was something more behind her offer which unsettled him. Declan realized that he was slowly becoming more and more out of touch with his alpha —usually, his inner wolf would be a better judge of character because his instincts were much stronger.

The woman shifted uncomfortably in front of him, and her smile slipped. “Sorry,” she said quietly. “I know, it was way weird of me to say that. Anyway, I wish you good luck and umm, yeah. Bye!” She turned on her heels and walked away from him, and Declan could see her shaking her head slightly as she made her way to her car sitting by the gas pump.

“Hey,” Declan called out. The woman turned as Declan got up and walked toward her slowly. He reached out his hand to her and said, “I don’t usually take strangers up on offers like that.” He smiled and continued, “I’m Declan.”

She nodded warily and took his hand in hers and said, “I’m Lindsey.”

“Well,” Declan said, “I guess we aren’t strangers anymore.” Declan watched as Lindsey caught onto his meaning and she blushed fiercely.

“Umm, so I guess you can follow me?” It was more of a question than a statement, but Declan nodded and walked back to his car and turned it on.

He pulled out of the parking lot and moved his car so that it was behind hers. As she pulled out of the gas station and turned right, Declan prayed quietly to himself that he’d made the right choice. He really couldn’t afford to trust the wrong people; not anymore.

* * *

Noelle stumbled against the roots of the tree and fell to her knees. She hadn’t been able to find water for almost two days and was feeling the effects of dehydration. Her muscles were sore and tired, and she felt lethargic —all she wanted, was to sleep. Noelle knew she couldn’t give into it because she had no way of knowing if she’d be able to wake up.

“I’ve got to keep going,” Noelle mumbled.

She’d lost track of time since she’d woken in up in the woods —some days she traveled through sections so dark, that she felt the sun had forgotten to rise. Days and nights intermingled so casually for her, and the delirium set in so quickly that she started talking out loud to herself as a reminder that she was still alive.

She put her hands on the ground, pushing herself up with all the strength she had left. As she stood, she was overcome by dizziness, and she stumbled forward to lean against a tree for support. Finally, she was able to refocus her vision, and she pulled away, but a stray branch had gotten ahold of her shirt and ripped a hole right through it.

Noelle craned her head to get a better look at the damage and then laughed out loud when she saw that the rip extended from beneath the armpit, and then right to the middle of her back.

“Why even bother wearing a shirt?” she asked out loud, continuing to laugh. She started walking forward and was careful with her steps this time. She was afraid that if she fell again, she wouldn’t be able to stand back up. “You know, all that time and money spent in hunting school and you’d think they might spend a little more time on surviving in the wilderness. I mean, one class, that’s all I got. What? Did they never think of the possibility that one of their hunters might turn out to be a hybrid wolf who then gets forced into being a human and dumped into the middle of the woods by some insecure little prick who can’t stand the fact that she’d rather be with a wolf than him?”

Noelle stopped walking and started laughing hysterically at her own joke. Then, she started laughing even harder as she realized that her joke was her own life story. She was laughing so hard her stomach cramped and she could feel the overwhelming emptiness.

She wiped away the imaginary tears from her eyes as she said, “I’m sure if I were hydrated, I would’ve been crying from laughing so hard.” She paused a moment and then added more, quietly and in a serious tone. She said, “I think I might be going insane.” She nodded to herself as if she agreed with her own assessment and then started to move forward once again.

The trees thinned slightly as she continued forward, and Noelle caught stray rays of sunlight making their way to the ground. She smiled as she stood beneath one, soaking in as much vitamin D as she could. She looked around to see if there might be anything edible in the area, but there was nothing other than dead leaves and dirt.

Noelle curled her fists and raised her arms. “I’m not giving up!” she screamed into the sky.

She wanted to believe someone —anyone, would be able to hear her and find her, but she knew that if she was gonna survive this, it’d be entirely up to her. She continued to march forward and noticed a small deer in the distance. Noelle froze. She watched the deer walk along carefully as he bent down to smell different plants. As soon as he’d moved a little further away from her, Noelle took a few steps toward it, taking care not to make too much noise and not to lose him from her sight.

He took his time traveling in whatever direction he was going, but Noelle clung to the hope that he’d lead her to water. In her (one) survival class, she recalled the biggest trick to surviving would be to track an animal because they’d almost-always, lead you to water.

Noelle couldn’t tell how long they walked like this —her staying far enough behind to avoid scaring him off. She was so focused on the animal that she hadn’t noticed the slight change of scenery around her. The trees had started looking greener, and the foliage was beginning to be lusher. Noelle pulled up short and strained her ears to pick up on a new sound in the distance. She stepped forward and “Crack!” The sound of a branch snapped beneath her feet.

She looked up, the deer now staring at her with wide eyes before he took off running. Noelle tried to race after him, but it was becoming more and more difficult to move her legs. She slowed to a walk and then put her hands on her knees, struggling to catch her breath. The noise had become louder, and Noelle was afraid to believe what she thought it was, just in case her imagination had begun playing tricks on her again.

She walked forward and pushed aside branches of the trees, and then she saw it. A small river —water gently flowing past her. Again, Noelle realized that if she could, she’d be crying right now. She knelt down next to the river, and all fear of water contamination flew from her mind as she cupped the water and brought it to her wanting lips.

The water was so cold that her stomach grumbled and tightened in protest, but she didn’t care. She drank it slowly, and with each sip, she felt as if she was being restored. Noelle looked up and saw the blue sky stretching above her, and although she couldn’t see the sun, it was still one of the most beautiful sights she’d ever seen. She closed her eyes and pretended that the sun was basking her in a healing light.

She sat down on the ground and took off her shoes and put her feet into the water. Noelle wanted to take off her clothes and dive in headfirst, but she didn’t know how long it’d be until night fell, and she knew how cold it would be when it did. She relished the feeling of the fresh water as it ran through her toes and over her feet. Her body felt relaxed, and she decided that this was where she’d camp out for the night.

She pulled her feet out of the water and tore the sleeve from the side of her ripped shirt. She used that to dry off her feet. She pulled her socks back on (which were practically stiff from sweat and dirt). As she tied the laces of her shoes, she heard a few branches move from behind her. She jumped to her feet and watched carefully to see if she noticed anyone or anything there, but she saw nothing.

“It’s probably the wind,” Noelle said.

She finished tying her shoes and searched the embankment for twigs and branches, and then started collecting a pile of debris. She collected dead leaves and threw them on top, as well. Then she sat next to her large pile and struck two stones together, praying that a fire would catch. She lost count of how many times she tried, and as she was about to give up, a spark caught in the leaves, and a small flame slowly emerged.

Noelle laughed out loud and clapped her hands together. She was starting to get the hang of things out in the wilderness. With one of the stones still in hand, she walked back over to the river and waited for an unsuspecting fish to come close. She stood there, staring into the water, unmoving. Finally, a small, silver fish swam over to a large rock in the river, and without hesitation, Noelle hit it and pulled it from the water.

With one of her sticks, she skewered the fish and held it over the open flame waiting for it to cook. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine that she was out there, just camping. She tried to relax and find some enjoyment, but there was only so far that she could stretch her imagination.

Once again, she heard rustling behind her. She turned to look but didn’t see anything. Noelle pulled her fish from the flame and started picking it apart, making sure only to eat the meat inside. Her stomach grumbled loudly, and she ate very slowly. As she finished her meal, she looked up and noticed that the night sky had begun to descend upon her. She picked out more twigs, branches and leaves, and threw them all onto the fire to keep the flames going.

Noelle curled up next to the fire as close as she could, and she stared dreamily into the starry night sky. She closed her eyes and made a silent wish that she’d be able to make her way out of this. Desire quickly turned into a dream as Noelle fell fast asleep. She was alone in the woods next to the fire she’d started. She thought of Declan.

“He couldn’t afford to trust the wrong people anymore.”