Running Free

Chp 23

My heart raced for whoever this was for and I looked around in confusion, hoping I'd catch the person behind it. A twig snapping brought my attention to my left, where a boy with reddish hair and sea blue eyes had his nose to the air, taking deep breaths, like a dog searching for a scent.
"Um, hello?" I called, ducking my head as he turned his face to me and his eyes glowed a dangerous dark blue. I gulped.
"Who are you? Where is she?" He growled and walked closer, his hands clenching and unclenching.

"Where is who? What-" I paused as I remembered the photo and note.
"Is this the girl you're looking for?" I gave him the note and studied his face. He read it over after studying the picture and spun around, slamming his fist as hard as he could into a tree and leaving a massive dent covered with blood. He let out a ferocious snarl and turned on me, a growl coming from deep in his throat.
"What have you done!?"
"Nothing, I swear! I was just walking and found it."

He launched forward and gripped my shirt in his hand, getting dangerously close to my face.
"What's going on here?!" A familiar voice called out, followed by stomping footsteps. I glanced over my shoulder to see Everett coming over, his eyes glowing a strange muddy brown. The boy in front of me snarled and glared at Everett.
"Everett," He muttered.
"Sage. What are you doing in my territory?" Everett questioned, pulling us apart.

"My mate. She was taken, and I found that twerp here, where her scent trail ends. He also had this." The dude -who's name was supposedly Sage- handed Everett the note.
"This is a friend of mine, and he's human. He had nothing to do with this." Everett replied confidently, passing him the note.

Sage growled and glared at me.
"Somethings off about him, and when you find out I wanna know." He bared his teeth at my best friend before taking off into the trees, barely making a sound as he departed.
"Well, that went well."
Everett turned around without acknowledging my statement and began walking back to the hospital.
"Stay away from him if you don't wanna get hurt Raven. He can be a handful." I frowned and followed after my friend, confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?"
"His head isn't screwed on right, he spent his whole life wishing for something he should've gotten years ago, but it didn't happen. It messed him up."
"Do you mean his mate? What's that even supposed to mean? How do you know him?" I fired off questions, my curiosity killing me.
"I can't tell you."
"You told Juliet." He froze completely, not a single muscle even twitching.

"She's terrified of you. A werewolf. I hope you know that." A dark growl echoed through the trees and Everett faced me, his teeth bared.
"You know nothing Raven, and keep her out of this, unless you have a death wish."
"You may be a werewolf, but I'm not scared of you. If you want Jules on your side you're going to need me." I lied, I was terrified. I was pretty sure he could smell it rolling off of me in thick waves, but I had to be strong. I needed to get answers, for Juliet's sake.

Everett huffed and ran a hand through his hair, muttering a few things under his breath.
"As soon as werewolves are old enough to understand the importance of a soulmate we were told to always love and cherish them. I'm assuming our know what a soulmate is, but in case you don't, a soulmate is your other half. The person made specifically for you. Most wolves find their mates at or around eighteen. Sage is one of the rare few who didn't, in fact it took him two years to find her. He became emotionally unstable, as he's been waiting for his soulmate his entire life. His parents had a rough start even I'm not sure what happened, but that's not important here."

He took a deep breath, letting what he'd already told me sink in.
"Without a soulmate a wolf can go feral, it's imperative each wolf finds their mate quickly to keep that from happening. Juliet is my mate. She's mine. Which means if she's not in my life, I'll go feral. I'll hunt her down, do whatever it takes to get her back. That's just what it's like having a wolf. I will gain her trust and she will not be afraid. But, if you try to stop me by influencing her decisions I will find out and it will not be pleasant."

We began walking back towards the hospital when Everett paused, listening silently.
"What-" he cut me off with a snarl and bolted towards the hospital, literally leaving me eating his dust.
"Everett!" I ran after him, confused and worried, but at this point there was no way I was going to catch up.

*Juliet's POV*

I woke up to the irritating beeping and opened my eyes to find a man and a woman standing near my beside, flowers and cards in their hands. The woman had light brown -almost blonde- hair woke the man was the opposite with his dark brown -almost black- hair. My eyes widened in fear at the sight of the strangers and a high pitched scream tore from my throat, causing the couple to jump in surprise, dropping the flowers and cards.

"Calm down calm down!" The man practically shouted, reaching for me. I smacked his hands away and tumbled off the bed in a bundle of sheets and blankets, pain ripping through my body as I landed on the floor.
"G-get away from me!" I cried, desperately trying to untangle myself while simultaneously scooting back into a corner.
They began to approach me, causing my fear to spike tenfold, just as the door opened.