"You have to go?" I ask him one last time.

   "Just for a few days, three at the most."

   I nod. "Just be careful and don't do anything crazy."

   Eric and Heath both toss their bags into the back of the car. "I feel like I should be telling you that," he smiles and pulls me in for a hug. I breathe in his delicious scent.

     I smile brightly. "Well, look at the time, you two don't want to be late." Eric places his hands on my shoulders after I try to rush him in the car. "I will miss you."

   "Please," his tone turns serious, "be careful. When I come back, I do not want to see one scratch on you, okay?"

   "Okay."

   Eric's leans down and kisses me softly, sending my nerves into a frenzy. Heath hitting the car horn drives us apart, and we say our goodbyes fairly quickly, as Heath was continuously honking. Once the car takes off and disappears from my view, Caroline pokes her head out the front door. I rush up to her, and we get comfortable in the living room. "So, Eric and Heath, what exactly are they doing out at the Yurie Pack?"

  "Just border control stuff. Eric has been caught up in rogue sightings along our north borders, so he is visiting them to learn if they have had any problems."

   "And that takes three days?" I question.

   "They will probably go out searching for any camps between our two packs," Caroline explains. "If there are camps, rogues could be stealing from us, sneaking past guards, and what not."

   My mind wanders. What if they get into the house when we are sleeping? "That's unsettling."

   "I wouldn't worry too much. Most of the time they are just strays looking for a pack to join."

"Most of the time?"

Caroline shrugs. "Some of them are bad, yes, but you have to attract those kinds of wolves."

"And how do you attract them?"

"Why? Are you planning something that I should know about?" Caroline jokes.

"No, I'm just curious."

She sighs and sits up straight. "Well, if you spend too much time in the unclaimed forest, you might just run into one or two of the bad ones. That is why Eric does not like us going off pack land."

Night time comes quickly, and Caroline agrees to sleepover with me, as I am too worried to be staying at the pack house alone. All the talk about rogues has crept under my skin, making me a little paranoid. Caroline ended up passing out on the couch, and I covered her up with a blanket before heading upstairs. Sleeping in the bedroom alone was difficult, especially after getting used to Eric's company.

My mind would not stop conjuring up scenarios of Eric getting hurt or being in trouble. What if a rogue gets him? What if he stumbles into a problem while looking for camps? I was restless.

Somehow I managed to fall asleep, probably exhausting myself from all the scenarios, but now that it is morning, I feel more safe, secure. Nothing creepy happens during the daytime.

Leaning against the counter, I sip on my tea and gaze out the window. The forest always looks magical, morning, day, and night. There is something otherworldly about the thick tree trunks and branches that spurt out until they seem to touch the clouds. The leaves sway dreamily in the breeze, making soft rustling sounds, and my eyes roam down until they hit the forest floor. Even the ground holds so much life.

Sighing, I take another sip but pause when I notice something out of the ordinary.

Something black sulks stealthily in the brush. My eyes attempt to focus in on it, but it is not until the animals piercing yellow eyes catch mine that my heart comes to a sudden halt. I gasp, and my mug shatters on the floor, spraying my feet with its shards.

The eyes seem to grow as the animal creeps closer and I begin to panic. It can see me—it has seen me.

"Caroline!" I shout and dash into the living room. She springs from the couch like the living-dead.

"What—what is it?"

"There is something out there, a wolf, its eyes," I inaudibly ramble. "It was watching me, it saw me!"

"Wait, what are you talking about, Isabella?" She asks, mentally desiring for me to speak slower.

"I saw a wolf, maybe a rogue out in the forest." She sighs and sits back down, confusing me. Why is she not freaking out?

"You're probably just paranoid because we were talking about it."

   "I know what I saw," I defend myself. "It looked right at me."

   She yawns and falls back onto her side. "You need more sleep. There are no rogues this close to the pack house."

   I groan and leave her as she slowly falls back asleep. Somewhat annoyed, I nervously peek into the kitchen, but the eyes are gone. Curiously, my feet bring me inches from the glass, but no creature lurks in the brush. I place my hand on the window, not believing my eyes.

   What if Caroline is right? What if I am just seeing things?

   I glance down at the shattered mug and sigh before getting on my knees to clean it up. One by one, I pick up the shards and place them carefully in my palm. Soon enough they are all in the garbage, the place where I feel like my thoughts belong currently. What I saw could not have been my imagination.

   Peering back at the forest, I dash to the window, my nose touching the glass. My heart races as I watch carefully.

   There is another wolf, an Alpha wolf, as I can tell by their larger build. It cannot be Eric, his wolf is lighter in color, and he is at the Yurie pack, so it must be Sebastian, his father.

   The wolf seamlessly joins the forest, and I find myself reaching for the back door.

   Swiftly, I slip my way from tree to tree, staying far enough away from the wolf, so it does not catch onto my scent. Hopefully, no one catches me stalking the previous Alpha.

   The wolf moves along, not stopping once. It must know where it is going; it must be on some sort of mission. So, I continue to follow the wolf until it escapes my view. I swallow and quietly search around, trying to locate it once again.

   Maybe I should just go back. What am I getting out of this anyways?

   Turning around to head back to the house, I sigh and look up, but when I do familiar eyes meet mine. Yellow, bright, gut-wrenching, they stare at me as I stand still. It is the wolf from before, the one who was lurking.

   I take a sharp breath.

   When its eyes do not leave me, I carefully step to the side, triggering it to move closer. It's canines flash at me as a low growl erupts from its throat. "I don't want any trouble," I move my hands up and back away.

   The wolf growls again, and I begin to panic, feeling my palms grow clammy.

   Before I can register the scene before me, a blur of darkness fly's past and pounces on the yellow-eyed beast. Swiftly, I move back and notice the attacker to be the Alpha wolf I followed, Sebastian hopefully.

   My hands grip a nearby tree, the bark digging under my nails. The Alpha wolf looks to me, telling me to leave, so I do without hesitation. I sprint past the fighting pair and head for the pack house. Not bothering to look back, I trust that the Alpha wolf can handle the rogue, and I come crashing into the house. Once the backdoor is locked, I find myself searching through the trees with my eyes, searching for any sign of the Alpha wolf.

   I see none.