Brother.

Chapter XXXIII

Running. Always running. I spent more time tripping over than I did moving, but eventually I was at the top of the cliff. Scott was behind me, I could hear his claws scraping against the wooden stairs as he got closer. He wasn’t supposed to come up here; this wasn’t somewhere he was allowed to be.

“Bright Eyes!” Michael called and turning around, the wolf called to me again. “Come on!”

I followed him blindly, because I trusted him. He promised to take care of everything and so the fact I was now running on nothing other than air as the ocean swirled and splashed below me didn’t matter; until I started to fall.

“Come on Sarah, wake up!” Danny whined impatiently.

Opening my eyes, I awoke with a jump as instead of hitting the water, where I would drown to only then start running, again - I was on a bed. It wasn’t mine, and breathing in, none of the smells around here offered any kind of familiarity. Except for Danny.

 “She’s awake!” He called out, crushing me in a hug as I felt completely bewildered as to what was going on.

 The rush of footsteps on the wooden floor allowed me to track the movement in the house. Closing my eyes, a rush of memories from last night came back to me; running from Scott, the pack, being hunted. I growled.

 “Sarah, you’re safe now.” Danny told me. I trusted him, but as the door opened and the werewolves came in, nothing he said would have mattered.

 With strength I didn’t know I had, I pushed Danny away from the bed, and swiftly stood semi-crouched in front of him. Growling again, this time I didn’t hold back. Karen instantly dropped her gaze, holding her hands up innocently and stepped back, while the other two with her did the same thing.

 “Stop!” Danny growled, just as Mum and Dad took the others place in the doorway.

 Mum and Dad.

 I didn’t relax, not even as Danny grabbed my shoulders and forced me to sit back on the bed. I could smell the ocean, if I listened hard enough, I could hear the waves too. The kettle was boiling and someone was humming nearby and as the smells from the people gathered outside my room stopped moving, their scents all came to me.

 “Danny?” Mum asked softly.

 “Just give us a sec, I didn’t mean for everyone to come running in!” He scolded them.

 Fear tainted the air, only stirring the hunger that decided to flare up. Finally dropping my gaze from them, I saw the cut on Danny’s leg that disappeared under his shorts and then the bruises and marks on his arms as he took my hands. Looking at myself, I wasn't much better.

 “I mean it Sarah, you’re safe now. Try and stay calm. I know what you’re going through, okay? I know how scary it is and how overwhelming all this new stuff you’re dealing with is. I’m going to help you, Jake’s here, he can help you too. We’re okay. We don’t have to worry about Scott anymore.”

 “Michael?” I coughed as my throat felt like I’d been eating sand.

Danny shook his head. “We’re done with the Blakes now Sar. It’s better this way.”

 Eventually he guided me out of the room, explaining how I’d been out for a couple of days and that we were now in Broome. I had woken up twice, yet had no recollection of swapping cars or being force fed food and water. Danny said it had been the wolf in me taking over, but I hadn’t had the energy to shift back, which made it easier to move me around. We arrived at the rented beach house this morning and Dad had told Jake’s Dad about what was going on. They’d made a few minor changes to their own holiday plans and had arrived last night.