Under The Alpha's Claws

Chapter 6

Coldness. It surrounds me. As if I've been picked up and placed in Antarctica in the clothes I'm in. It washes over my head, down my back, across my shoulders, through my chest, down my legs, and ends at my bare feet. It fills me entirely. Seeping into my lungs, shooting through every bone, leaking into all my nerves and veins.

His words float around in my head, never coming together, never making sense.

"Emery?"

With his soft voice pulling me back into reality, his words jump into the right order, and I'm able to understand them. "How do you know?"

"He spoke to me." He gestures to his head.

Us wolves can talk to each other in our heads but only from a certain distance. The same way people can can only speak out loud to each other while their within earshot. If Cassian has said something to Luca, he's definitely close by.

What do I do? What do I do? If Luca found me, Cassian will find me faster. He knows me better. He'll find me. I could be living on the Moon and he would be able to locate me. He'll find me everywhere.

I shouldn't—I shouldn't have stayed in the same place for four months. I should have been constantly moving. Always moving. That way he couldn't narrow down his search and I wouldn't be cornered.

"We have to go," Luca says, breaking me from my frantic thoughts.

He's right, but where could we—I have a place. How could I forget?

"I know where we can go," I say. "Come on." I rush into my bedroom to throw some clothes into a bag, tossing in the rest of Cassian's clothes I accidentally stole during my rush to leave him.

"Where are we going?" Luca asks, watching me from the doorway.

"I have a place. A sort-of safe house. I decided it would be the place I would go if Cassian ever found this place." I zip up the bag so fast the zipper gets stuck over and over, frustrating me. "We'll go there." My hands shake and slip off the zipper. A few more attempts and I scream out in frustration. We need to leave now and this dumb bag is wasting precious time!

Luca walks over. "Here." He takes the bag from me and zips it up without a struggle.

"Thanks." My cheeks heat up and I turn away from him, knowing I will be glowing red. What a ridiculous thing to get angry at. Why didn't I just take a breath and do it slow? Instead, I throw a tantrum like a child. In front of Luca.

"We'll be alright," he reassures me. "I'll have your back if you need it. And I know you'll have mine."

"I will."

"Then, we'll be just fine."

"Cassian is bigger than both of us," I explain. "He's stronger. He's braver. He's four years older than me and five more years than you." My voice grows louder despite me trying to keep it steady and quiet. "He's been a wolf since he was fourteen. That's nine—no—ten years. Two years longer than me, and five—four—no, five years more than you."

Anger and fear strikes me like a lightning bolt. "He has more experience. More knowledge. More... We—we could never stand a chance against him. No one would."

I turn away from him and begin to pace the small room. Realising I'm no longer talking to Luca, my voice lowers itself. "I never should have left. I should—I would have been safer if I stayed and took the beatings."

"Emery," Luca says, but I ignore him.

"Now, he'll find us and—and he won't hesitate to kill us." I push my hands through my shoulder length hair, pulling at the roots.