Oh Hell No

Chapter 9

In the short time she's known him, Jamie had already learned too much about her mate. Most of the information was useless, such as his favorite color, but there was one good thing she now knew about him; he falls asleep very quickly. By the end of the second movie he appeared to be only minutes from passing out. Good.

She already had a passable knowledge of their land, so she should be able to get out on the opposite side of their territory as she had originally planned. When he got up to get changed she was, admittedly, worried that it would wake him up enough to hold a conversation. And while he did seem a bit more aware, he still looked tired enough.

With a yawn, he laid down on the bed. Ryder pat the spot next to him, "C'mere," He slurs sleepily, wrapping an arm around her waist and attempting to pull her down from his unfavorable position, "'M tired and you smell good."

She, reluctantly, laid down next to him. Agreeing would probably get him to settle down, and therefore fall asleep faster. He smiles and pulls her back to his chest, effectively spooning her. Normally she'd react by shoving him away and kicking him where the sun don't shine, but the point was to let him not know that she didn't want him until she was gone. Artemis whined at the thought, but she'd just have to get used to it lest she wants to get blocked out. They may be connected in practically every way, but that didn't mean they couldn't fight.

It didn't take long for his breathing to even out, but if she wanted to do this right she'd have to wait for everyone else to fall asleep as well. Also, there was no telling how heavy a sleeper he was so waiting until he had been out for longer would help if he was really jumpy. Once she was sure that everyone had retreated to their own rooms, a safer bet than them all happening to have normal sleep schedules, she slowly lifted his arm off her. Instead of just rolling over his other arm she pushed herself up slightly and scooted away from him.

Ryder stirred slightly, his body subconsciously taking notice of her absence. She set a pillow on the arm she had previously been laying on and silently sighed in relief when he hugged that. He looks adorable like that, the thought is unwelcome in her mind and she immediately pushes it away. It seems even her limited exposure to him had its effects. That might have to take some effort to get past, but if that meant absolute freedom then they would just have to get over it.

As she had hoped, Jamie ran into no one on the way to the door. She had noticed the back squeaked, so she chose the front door. From what she could tell, no one was out here either. It looked like she'd have a straight shot out of here to an actual town, where fingers-crossed her scent would become lost in the sea of humans. Or she would just have to find scent blockers, or perfume as humans called it, strong enough to mask her scent.

She took off into the woods, being unnecessarily quiet for the first mile or so. You never know how sensitive of hearing each and every pack member has and she was trying to get out stealthily. Once she deemed herself to be far enough away from an easy tracking distance, she shifted into her wolf. Their scents were easier to track in wolf form, but the faster travel would be worth it. She just had to hope these clothes were shifter-friendly, because she didn't have a spare pair of clothes laying around.

Aside from the occasional twig snapping or leaves rustling, it sounded as though she was alone on her run, getting to the edge of the territory uninterrupted. The border was easy enough to pick out, with a haphazard row of rocks seemingly marking it. The side she entered from had a small river that she assumed took the place of the rocks as a more natural landmark. For a second, only a second, barely a second, she hesitated. Almost immediately she started scolding herself before stepping over the tiny barrier. It was stupid to get upset over leaving, she hardly knew the guy and staying with would mean getting loaded up with tons of responsibility she didn't want. Not to mention the grudges some people might have held thus far that might actually get settled if she's easy to find. And being in a pack would make her easy to find.

Coward, Artemis accuses, and maybe she was right. Not that Jamie'd admit that. Denial was a weapon in which she had more than enough experience, and it was good that she did. She shook off any and all bad feelings about this decision, continuing on without looking back.

The further she got, the worse she felt. At first she assumed it was because of Artemis. Because of their connection, if she was upset then that would make Jamie feel upset through no fault of her own. Sometimes they couldn't help project their feelings onto each other, but this time she was sure it was intentional. Artie definitely wasn't happy about them leaving Ryder so this was probably her way of guilt-tripping Jamie.

That suspicion was blown out of the water when she was knocked to the ground by a rogue. A mean, growling rogue. Guess I shouldn't have pushed away all those bad feelings, she noted, realizing that one of them was probably her sixth sense saying that something was wrong. Little late now to focus on that when her real problem is whether or not she'll live past tonight.

She snaps at the wolf's muzzle before it can lock its jaws around her throat and snap her neck. She manages to scratch the side of its face, causing it to reel back enough for her to throw it, or rather him as she noticed, off. He recovered quicker than she would have liked, and also happened to be a fair bit bigger than her. He lunged and she hopped back, but he kept moving while she had to regain her balance after landing. Even the comparatively small mistake was enough to give the rogue time to rake its claws across her side and dig his teeth into her shoulder.

Even the strongest people Jamie had ever met probably wouldn't have been able to hold back the yelp of pain that escaped her. She shifted into her human form, which weakened the rogue's hold on her because of the change in shape and size. Immediately, she kicked at his back leg and elbowed him in the jaw. It gave her enough leeway to crawl away from him and prop herself up on a tree. She pressed a hand to her bleeding side, taking note of how bad it was and if it'd heal before she died. Her conclusion wasn't great, and she was already feeling pretty out of it, so she simply watched as the growling wolf approached. It almost seemed to be smiling, taking pride in his victory.

That grin was short-lived, just like the rogue itself. A wolf that was entirely black, except for the tip of its tail that was a pure white, tackled the wolf to the ground. It snapped the other wolf's neck without a second thought, growling at its corpse. The new wolf, that happened to look much less insane than the other, turned its attention to Jamie. It lightly nudged the hand she was covering most of the big scratch with, though she wasn't able to put as much pressure anymore. It whined sadly, but she smiled.

She half-heartedly wiped her bloodied hand on her pants before reaching up to pet the wolf with bright red eyes, "Good boy," She congratulated quietly, fighting the oh-so-tempting darkness that threatened to snatch her away, "I'm gonna call you Enzo," She slurred, falling unconscious not even a second later.

A/N: Hmm, I wonder who Enzo is?? Just kidding it's probably pretty obvious