When the phone in the backpack vibrated, the shock of it nearly brought my wolf out.

“It’s Mac,” Lena said. Meeting my eyes, she reached for the pack and brought the phone out. It was just a simple black flip phone. Molly had a stash of them she got from the McGeadys. Burners, untraceable. Except, we were only supposed to use it in a dire emergency.

Lena flipped the phone open and read the message. Her nose scrunched as her expression darkened. I found myself studying every detail of her face. She had a line of faint freckles along her left cheekbone. I imagined they had been more prominent when she was a girl. What had she been like then? The second I thought it, I could almost see her. She would have been skinny, maybe even gangly, with scraped knees and wild hair. I bet she stood taller than every other girl she knew and probably most of the boys too until they caught up with her. I saw her in my mind’s eye standing on a hill with her hands on her hips, hair flying in the breeze. God, I wished I’d known her then. Would I have been strong enough to break away from the Pack before I went into service? I would have taken her with me and kept her scars away.

Lena clicked the phone shut. “He says the weather’s changing. That’s all. You know what that means?”

I took the phone from her, careful not to let my fingers brush against hers. Though I yearned for it, I didn’t want to unsettle her again. She read the message right.

“We were supposed to meet up with a family in Greenville tomorrow morning. They run a pharmacy downtown. This means a change of plans.”

“Do you think they’ve been compromised? This family?” Lena’s eyes widened. More than anything I wanted to thread my fingers through her hair and bring her close to me. Her skin would warm beneath mine. I don’t know if she saw the desire in my eyes, but the color came into her cheeks and her lips parted. How the hell I was going to stay this close to her without touching her the way I wanted to I didn’t know.

“Not sure,” I answered. I took the battery out of the phone and crushed it into powder between my fingers. “Just to be safe.”

“Shouldn’t we have answered him though? I mean...you don’t think somebody got to Mac…” Her voice cracked. Again, I had to hold back the urge to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Instead, I clenched a fist and tossed what was left of the phone into the churning river.

“No,” I said. “He never would have risked that text otherwise. It’s okay. We had a backup plan. We steer clear of Greenville and head to Reed Junction. It’s about two miles further north. There’s another family there. They’ve got a farm just outside of town. It’s risky because they’re off the main highway. But, it’s a safe house. It’ll be okay. They’ll be able to tell us what to expect in Maysville and beyond. Plus, you’ll be able to sleep with a roof over your head at least once before we attempt the border crossing.”

“I don’t need a roof over my head,” she said. Her voice took on a dreamlike quality that squeezed my heart. I knew what she was thinking of without her even having to say it. She’d spent years locked behind four walls at Birch Haven. Of course she preferred sleeping under the stars. Just like I did.

“The Millers,” I said, zipping up the backpack. “Their farm is about two miles east of here. We’ll break away from the river and follow the railroad tracks in. It’s a little rougher of a hike, not as flat as sticking to the road, but there’s less chance of running into any patrols that way.”

“Fine by me,” she said rising and dusting off her jeans. She gathered her hair in one hand and twisted it into a bun. As she turned, it gave me an unobstructed view of the scar on her cheek. If I closed my eyes, I could see exactly how it was made. One cruel slash of claws on her soft skin. The force of it would have been enough to crush the bones of her face if she’d taken it full on. She hadn’t though. This had been deliberate, calculated. Three straight lines of equal length and width starting at her brow then curving almost to her chin. It meant he’d held her still and gone slow. He hadn’t acted out of rage at all.

“Payne!”

For a moment, I didn’t know where I was. My vision clouded in an orange haze. I braced myself against a maple tree, digging my fingers into the bark. I don’t even remember moving toward it.

“Payne?” Lena said again. She was as careful not to touch me as I had been to her a moment ago.

I shook my head to clear the rage out of it. I had to figure out a way to keep my anger in check where Lena’s past was concerned. Still, I wanted to smash something. When she peered up at me, I tried to look past the scar.

“You survived,” I said, echoing my words last night.

Lena seemed to understand where my mind went. She straightened and pursed her lips. “So did you. Now, let’s get moving if we want to make this farmhouse while there’s still daylight.”

This time, I did reach for her. I put a gentle hand on her upper arm. Her sharp intake of breath told me her body yearned for it too at the same time her mind reeled. God, they’d taken so much from her. From both of us. They’d taken what should be natural and twisted it into something dark.

“Don’t!” she said, her voice breaking. “Just...don’t. The sooner we get this over with, the better it’ll be.”

I took my hand away and made a silent vow. I wouldn’t touch her again. As much as it tortured me to deny it, she’d been hurt too much by men like me. I wanted to rip the throats out of every one for her. But, I couldn’t. The knowledge of that burned in her eyes as she lifted her chin and looked north.

“Let me get ahead of you,” I said. “Stay within earshot of me, but far enough away if there are any Pack members out here, I can draw them away. If that happens, hide. Don’t run. You’ll never be fast enough. Wait for things to die down, then go to the Millers. They’ll keep you safe.”

“How will I know how to find them?” she asked; there was no fear in her voice. There was no emotion at all.

“Can't miss ‘em. They’re the only farm for miles. Ed Miller’s got two big green barns side by side. One’s for the farm equipment, the other’s for his collection of Harleys”

“No animals?”

“Nope,” I said. “Just one old as fuck mule named Gertrude. If she’s even still alive. If she is, she’ll see us first and raise a fuss.”

“Ah,” Lena said. “A guard mule. Wonderful.”

“You ready?” I asked, knowing full well she was. It was going to kill me to put any distance between us at all, but I knew it was the safest thing to do. Dammit, it would be so much easier to sense the Pack if we went through Greenville. What in God’s name had changed that Mac would send a warning? A pit of dread formed in my stomach. It could be nothing and likely was. On the other hand, we’d been seen in Shadow Springs at the McGeadys. And, the three wolves I’d killed the other night wouldn’t go unnoticed forever.

“You should shift,” she said. “You’ll be able to cover more ground faster. And, you’ll be able to sense the Pack better too. I know you want to.”

She ended the sentence with a sharp inhale like she wasn’t quite finished. I knew immediately what she left out. She knew I wanted to shift because she could sense it. With each beat of her heart, the truth of what I was became clearer. And it terrified her.

Nodding, I looked north. We had a clear path all the way to the railroad tracks. I could take the woods and circle around her as she advanced. She was right. It’s what I wanted.

“All right,” I said. I turned my hand sideways and sliced it through the air. “Straight that way. Don’t veer left or right. If there’s trouble, you’ll know.”

“And I’ll hide. Got it.”

I stepped away from her, my wolf bubbling to the surface. I barely made it to the cover of the trees before letting him out. Fur ripped along my back and I dug my paws into the ground. Lena was right behind me. Not missing a step, she leaned down and picked up the jeans I’d discarded.

Through my wolf eyes, I saw her even more clearly. Heat rushed to the surface of her skin. Her cheeks flushed and her breasts rose and fell with heavy breaths. She wanted to touch me. I could feel her fingers trembling with the need for it. As she turned, my heart slammed against my ribcage. With her hair up, I could see the mark at the base of her neck plainly. It was even crueler than the one he’d made on her face. But, it was cold. With my enhanced vision, the skin around it looked almost blue, standing out in marked contrast to the heat bubbling along her spine.

I pawed the ground and dropped my head. Lena understood. She folded my jeans and picked up the backpack I’d dropped. Hoisting it over her shoulders, she waited for me to go first. Though it tore at me to leave her, I did anyway.

Two miles. Twenty minutes. That was likely all it would take before we reached the Millers’ farm. Lena kept up a brisk pace while I darted through the trees and pricked my ears. We weren’t alone, but I sensed no danger. The Pack was out there, make no mistake, but they didn’t know we were coming.

Lena did exactly as I told her and kept to the railroad tracks. We were lucky and no trains ran through. I looped around her in wide figure eights, staying out of her line of sight. I was with her, but apart from her at the same time. If felt wrong, unnatural. If I’d marked her I could keep her safer. I could venture further away and still know if she was in danger. The instant the thought popped into my mind, it nearly drove me to my knees with wanting.

I could mark her. I was supposed to mark her. Except, I never would. They’d taken that from me too. Brushing those thoughts aside, I focused on just following her.

Lena made good time and crested the last hill before spying the farmhouse below. I could almost see it through her eyes. Just as I warned, the Millers’ mule brayed a warning as Lena got close. She turned back at the last, looking for me. Her eyes zoned in on me right away. Of course she’d been aware of my precise position the entire time. She raised a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. I stepped into the light and waited.

I gestured to her with my head. She immediately understood and waited. I headed down toward the barn.