Finding Happily Ever After

Chapter 17

I woke up to a crackling noise and the smell of burnt meat. I got up to find Ashton sitting at a fire a few feet from our shelter. It was past mid day and the bright sun made his blonde hair glow.

He looked up and smiled when he heard me approaching.

"Good morning," he said and chuckled at his own joke, to which I rolled my eyes playfully. I dug around my pack for a bottle of water and quickly chugged it down once I found one.

"I scouted the area and didn't see signs of anyone nearby. I also caught us some rabbits to eat," he told me, nodding toward a stick with skewered pieces of meat on it that had a nice singe.

Wow, Ashton must not have slept much if he had accomplished all of this already.

I picked up the stick and started to nibble on a piece of meat while Ashton prepared another rabbit to cook.

"So, I guess that we need to work on our game plan?" I said, not paying much attention to my meal now.

Ashton paused and eyed me for a second before once again focusing his attention on the rabbit in front of him. "We should stay here for a few days to let you heal."

"That's ridiculous Ashton! There will probably be soldiers out in full force looking for us by now. The alpha doesn't just let people escape, and we're sitting ducks if we stay in one place!" I exclaimed angrily.

Ashton shook his head stubbornly. "If we keep running like we did last night you're just going to hurt yourself worse. We need to wait until you're healthy."

I sighed. Ashton's concern was sweet, but he was starting to get on my nerves. Fingering the hem of my shirt, I tugged it up to my chest and peeled down my bandages.

"Look, Ashton. It has already started to heal." I pointed at the edges of my injury, which were now a soft pink instead of the angry red they had been last night. "It's nice of you to be so worried, but I won't get the chance to heal if we get caught and killed."

I stared at Ashton pointedly, hoping that he would see things my way. He chewed his lip, seeming to think it over for a few minutes before sighing and slumping his shoulders.

"Fine. I can see your point. But we're going to take it easy for a while. And you are going to let me know as soon as your wound starts to bother you," Ashton said, giving me a hard look, "And you need to eat some more." He nodded toward my mostly untouched food.

I nodded agreeably, taking a large bite and chewing. Last night's events had left me with little appetite, but I knew that I needed the food for energy and to help me heal faster. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would be able to take it easy as long as we were still in danger, but I wanted to make Ashton feel better.

"Good," I replied, "Now, do you have any idea which direction we should be heading?"

Ashton shook his head, looking defeated. "I honestly don't even have a clue about where we are."

I contemplated this for a moment, thinking back to the few world maps that I had seen in the books that Melinda had given me. I was almost certain that we were in North America, based on the headings on the covers of textbooks that I had seen. Where exactly we were, though, was a mystery.

"Did they show you any maps of the territory while you were in school?" I asked Ashton. I had spent my childhood in a sweat shop, so there was never an opportunity for me to see a map of the pack. Those that Melinda had shown me were human maps, and didn't mention werewolf territory borders.

"No. We learned combat skills and war strategies, but we never used real maps," Ashton grunted, repeatedly running his hands through his hair. He seemed angry with himself for not being able to help more.

"It's okay, Ashton. We'll figure something out. The way I see it, we have two options: make our way to a human city and hope that we can hide ourselves there, or keep running until we get out of BlackFangs territory."

He nodded, thinking for a minute, and then sighed. "Yeah, but we don't know where we are, let alone where the closest city is. We would have to have really good luck to run into one. And from what I hear, the BlackFang's pack is huge- the largest werewolf territory in the world. If we somehow miraculously went in the right direction, it could take weeks for us to get off this territory. That leaves too much time for us to be found."

Ashton's fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles were turning white. He really was beating himself up over this. 

"Ashton, it's going to be all right. We're fine."

"I feel like I'm failing you," he whispered, turning his fearful eyes toward me.

"Listen, I never thought that I would survive long enough to step foot out of the breeding sector. I'm lucky for every additional day that I'm alive and get to spend with you, so get it out of your head that you've somehow let me down. For the first time in my life, I'm free, and you gave that to me."

I stared at him intensely, needing for him to see just how grateful I was for everything he had done. I would never be able to repay him for risking his life to keep me safe.

"Our situation might not be so hopeless anyway," I continued, "If we can find a road, we could just follow it. Even if it doesn't lead us to a city, it will probably still at least lead us to a small town where we can find a map. And then we'll decide what to do from there."

We finished our food and worked out which direction to head in before packing our stuff and setting off. We ran in human form. It was less noticeable, so if we crossed paths with any soldiers, we would have a better chance at hiding.

For days we ran, only stopping to eat and sleep. My wound healed quickly and was almost gone. Everything was surprisingly uneventful, though both of us were still uneasy most of the time. Sleep was hard to come by, as we held each other late into the night listening for sounds that could signal our impending death. Yet, nothing happened, and we continued on our way.

Then, one night, as we were setting up camp, Ashton froze, his whole body going stiff in seconds. He whipped his head around toward me, his dark green eyes open wide.

"Do you hear that?"

Not sure how I feel about this chapter. What did you think?

There should be some fun chapters coming up soon though ;)

The weirdest thing happened to me last night. I was walking home and randomly happened upon a free Hunter Hayes concert. What are the chances?!

This story got ranked! Not sure how that happened... And it only lasted for like a minute. I know that #917 in werewolf doesn't seem that impressive, but I was freaking out about it! So thanks for reading :)