Hide and Seek

| 6 |

Twigs needle into the bottoms of my feet but I run harder. Choppy breaths of air burn my lungs but I keep sucking it in. The feeling of betrayal leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I don't dare look back, mindlessly zigging left and right. Every time a branch scrapes past me, I feel his hands touch me, grab me, dig into my skin. I won't stop. I can't stop or they'll catch me. Hell, they may catch me anyway but it won't be because I didn't try. I know there's pack land up ahead and all I have to do is make it across the border. They can't get to me there. Anything on the other side has to be better than what's behind me.

My muscles ache in protest but I just keep running. Running from my past. Run from the future I never wanted and didn't ask for. They didn't give me a choice but I made one anyway.

Run.

"Jamie?"

Oh no they're getting closer! I can hear their heavy breathing and his taunting laughter as they gain on me. "Run all you want little wolf, but you will be mine."

"Jamie?"

I'm not gonna make it.

"Jamie? Hello?!"

I blink. Once. Twice. My bedroom at the pack house comes into focus. First the gauzy white curtains and yellow buttercream walls. Then Sarah, who moves to sit on the edge of the bed.

"You were yelling in your sleep." Her face is full of concern and confusion. "Wanna tell me what that dream was about? It seemed pretty bad."

"Ah, yeah..." My voice sounds scratchy from sleep and slightly shaky but I force out a laugh, eager to brush this off. Instead of mentioning that it's the third time I've had this dream since the wedding, I tell her it was just a run of the mill nightmare.

A nightmare. Well, being traded by your stepfather for a political position can hardly be compared to a monster under the bed, but its definitely something that haunts you at night. It's a nightmare that I can't escape by waking up. In my dream I refuse to look over my shoulder but I can't say the same about real life. I ran but I wish that's where it ended. The man my stepfather promised me to, looked for me. When I alluded him that night he hired people to find me. They almost did once, but I thought after all these years I was in the clear.

"Jamie, that was more than a bad dream. You sounded terrified and you were somewhere so far away it took a long time to bring you back." Sarah hesitantly places her hand on my knee over the comforter.

"No I'm just exhausted from the wedding and my breakup with Kyle so it must've manifested into a bad dream, that's all." I reach down to put my hand over hers, hoping my smile is convincing. "Don't worry about me, okay?"

"Breakup? I didn't know you two broke up? When did that happen?" Her brows furrow almost humorously and I let out a relieved breath that she fell right into my distraction trap.

"He left this morning." I look off to the side half grateful for the change in topic but also not really wanting to rehash my breakup.

"Does this have anything to do with all that Jeff drama the other day?" Sarah asks skeptically.

"What? No." I push a hand through my hair. "We talked yesterday and agreed that we're just looking for different things right now."

"Right." Sarah sighs. "Well, when you want to tell me what actually happened let me know because you two were fine before the kitchen throw down with Jeff."

"I'm telling you the truth! He had to get back to his pack, I mean he can't stay here forever and so I thought it best to just end things now. Besides, I was getting fidgety and didn't want to promise him long-distance when when I knew it wouldn't be fair to either of us."