The Defiant Luna
Chapter 51

Jay-la POV

Jay-la found herself standing in the middle of a ravine, in knee-deep snow, turned and looked about her. She had no idea where she was. In the mountains somewhere was all she could tell from the terrain around her. The trees were all tall and covered in snow, as much as the ground was.

Looked up at the sky, to try and gauge what time it was, how long she’d been out here? Was anyone’s guess. It was late afternoon and the sun, though partially hidden behind the trees, was in the western sky. She could see its glare low on the horizon through the trees and knew it was going to be dark soon.

Stood there alone in an unknown location, it was already cold here at the bottom of the ravine she now stood in, and it was only going to get colder, she could imagine, with every passing minute as night fell. Turned about her, didn’t know what to do right this very second, looked down at herself as she and Kora returned to their normal state of being, and registered the scent of b***d. She was covered in it, and not just her own, but many others.

She was also hot and sweaty from all their running. Neither she nor Kora had any idea how long they had been running for, only that shed been practically blinded by the brilliance of the sun at one point. So it had to have been close to mid morning or lunch time when she had escaped her captors. That she was now covered in sweat from it and not knowing what time it had been when she’d fled, couldn’t even gauge how long she had felt, it was not a nice feeling. could only presume many hours.

‘Kora?’

Yes?’ Kora sounded tired to her, their fighting and running had tired her out. It had not just been Jay-la fighting or running, it was like they were of one mind, everything that had happened they’d done together to save themselves.

‘Our pup?’ she asked, placing a hand on her stomach nOW.

‘Safe. Kora told her We protected our pup, like we did before.’

Jay-la closed her eyes for a moment and just breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t even know how far along they were. Didn’t even know if Nathan and Havoc knew about it.

It was unlikely, she thought, they’d not know about the triplets. Kora knew about it first the last time. It was probably going to be the same this time as well.

Opened her eyes and sighed heavily, as she realised that her affliction had caused her to fight and flee, but they had not had the presence of mind to save Stephen. They didn’t even know if the man was alright back there. Had Sophia hurt him, had those men hurt him because she had gotten away? We left Stephen back there. She murmured as she bit her l*p worriedly. ‘Just left him.” felt tears brim, what it those horrid people killed him? She tried to reach out for him but got nothing, was hoping that she was just too far away to feel him. That not feeling him or being able to connect with him meant the worst.

“No choice.’ Kora huffed inside her mind

They were at the bottom of a ravine of some sort. She didn’t even know which way she’d come from, how far they had run, how fast they had been, knew nothing at all.

Rubbed a hand over her face and took a long steadying breath in. ‘think Jay-la. she told herself, what was the first thing you saw, when you came around and stopped running.

Looked around her, it all looked the same, everything was just covered in snow, she was standing knee deep in snow right now. Turned her eyes to the ground, looked for her foot prints or track through the snow, to see which way she had come from. She was going to have to track her own prints if she wanted to get back to where she had come from. Thankfully, she was more acclimatised to the cold nowadays. Being back in the pack had helped with that.

But she also didn’t know just how cold it was going to get out here in the mountains at night, or if more snow was going to fall either.

She picked her way back through the ravine, following her own tracks, there were deep pockets of snow and shallow snow covered ground, before long night started to fall, and the sky darkened around her.

‘Kora, keep yourself open for Havoc or anyone.’

1 am.’ She replied, though still sounded tired and Jay-la knew why, could feel her healing the wounds that they had sustained. To much adrenaline and now the healing as well, Kora was working harder than she likely ever had right this minute. She recalled how very tired she had felt the last time they had fled, exhausted completely, even Nate had looked at her worriedly when he woke her up that next day.

Jay-la continued to track her own foot prints back the way she had come, she was more than tired but had to keep moving. It appeared that she had not fled in a straight line, crossed that ravine three times before she was making her way up to the top of it. But had no choice other than to track her prints, or she could get lost out here even more so than she already was.

It was completely dark, within minutes of the sun dropping below the horizon, not a skerrick of light shone by the time she got to the top. She stood and looked around using all of Kora’s senses, to see anything at all, hear anything at all, or smell, for anyone out here looking for her, friend or foe.

She could only smell herself and the b***d on her clothes, the forest around her and the crisp smell of snow. Likely she was the only one out here deep in the woods.

Jay-la could only hope that there were no rogue wolves roaming about out here, where they could smell her, smell the b***d that she was covered in and start tracking and hunting it. She didn’t need that either, had just fled her enemy, didn’t need to flee rogues as well. Sighed heavily as she realised that her enemies could well be using that smell of b***d to hunt her as well.

But there was not much that she could do about it at that point. She needed the clothes that she had on for some protection against the cold, would any other time just shift into Kora and be warm under her thick coat of fur. It would also allow them to blend in with the snow as well and keep them hidden from those that would hunt them.

I was always a much harder thing to do, track Kora in the snow, due to her colouring, but they couldn’t do that right now, not without risking their pups life. They hadn’t shifted to flee for that very reason. To protect their pup. They weren’t about to go risking its life now either.

She rubbed her arms with her hands as a breeze passed through the trees and a chill hit her “We’ve been colder! She told herself, and they had, that escape, from the Luna suite down the drain pipe had been colder than it was out here, she’d been but a*s naked for that and the winter was much colder in the pack than here.

She was still standing at the top of the ravine, she had come to a stand still, trying to decide if tracking her own footprints back was actually a good idea or not. What if doing that just puts them back in the hands of the enemy, back in danger once more? She did not want that. She was healed up now but every fight they were to get into would put their pup at risk. She didn’t want that and neither did

But the more she just stood there indecisive, the more she worried about not just herself, but Stephen weighed on her mind as well. Shed abandoned him back there to those wolves, to fend for himself. That wasn’t right. He had a Mate waiting on him, not that she knew what she was to him yet.

But Suzy really did like him and was open to coming to stay in the pack for a month to trial living there. Jay-la just knew deep down that she would fall in love with Stephen Ch 5)

and, quickly so, the man was the perfect gentleman, sweet and kind, never rushed Suzy into anything, had the palience of the Goddess, as hed told her he had

She thought about him and sighed, as she recalled he’d been encouraging her fear, telling her things to set off her Night and fight responses. The man was crazy, completely crazy it seemed. Thank the Goddess, he’d been in another cell altogether or he could well have ended up dead at her hands.

“He saved us. Kora huffed now, as Jay-la stood really thinking about it, and felt Kora’s unease at leaving him behind now 1Qo.

He’d not been able to physically help them, being in another cell, but he had told her he would do everything he could to help her. He had gone out of his way to trigger her affliction on purpose, said only things that would increase her fear, not calm her down. Not once did she recall feeling his Gamma Charm either.

He had used her affliction to help her, to save herself, to make her scared and feel overwhelmed, and then fight like a demon under the control of her adrenalised fight response, before fleeing the moment she was clear of the fighting.

‘Our Gamma is smart.’ Kora told her, a little pride in her voice.

‘I have to agree with you on that, Jay-la nodded her head, they were all in agreement that they didn’t want to set it off, needed her to be calm and happy, feel safe, so that she could reduce the adrenalin in her body and get rid of the affliction. He’d done the complete opposite, activated it onpurpose

At the time, though, she didn’t think it was a smart thing, she didn’t like feeling scared and overwhelmed. She didn’t really recall much once the fighting started though, had become a mindless fighting machine. Tried to remember it as she stood there and recalled only that shed been in a frenzied blur of claws, all fury and rage.

“Do we go back or stay put?’ she wondered aloud to herself.

“Havoc is coming for us! Kora piped up ‘Make our way back.’

“I guess so.’ Jay-la nodded, though who knew what they would find back there? The worst case scenario, Nathan had yet to find out where they were and they would have to fight again, though something was ticking inside her brain, itching at her like she’d seen something but couldn’t recall it.

Headed off as she thought about it, come to a halt at one point, as Kora snorted, as they finally recalled what it was, seeing a half-shifted wolf, fighting that Alpha they had been fighting, had to have been Havoc.’

‘Havoc is a beast of

a Mate. Good and strong, I’m gonna mate him good in his half-shifted form.’

Jay-la shook her head, why did that not surprise her with her wolf? You’re crazy! She told Kora.

Continued on, though now they felt better knowing that Nathan had been there, had found them and come for them. Knew he would be out looking for them, hed made her promise to always return to him, when he’d told her they would let her flee if her affliction was activated. He’d likely done that after the fight had stopped. Reached up and touched her mark spot, it was still there. Shed not been severed from him, he’d not lost that fight. Kora was right.

Havoc was a beast of a Mate, but he loved Kora with all he had, was never not coming for her.

She had no idea where this mountain range was, how long it was or how wide for that matter, but surely there had to be a road somewhere back the way they came. They would have had to have been brought here in a vehicle of some sort. If she couldn’t find her way back, the next best option was to find a road and a pay phone to call Nathan. Two plans of action she now had.

Although it would be nice if she could feel a tether to anyone in her pack while she was out here lost in the mountains, if she got that, she’d be able to mind-link to them and tell them that she was okay.

Use that tether to whoever it was, to track them back to their location and then knew Nathan would be on his way right to her, everyone would link right to their Alpha, to tell him they had her or could feel her. He’d come for her, and she knew it, he love her and wanted her, he would never leave her, and she would never leave him. Loved him.