Audrey stared at Nickolas, trying to gauge whether he was serious or not. She knew him enough to tell that when his eyebrows furrowed like that he was as determined as could ever be.
"I have our passports ready. We are both educated and indispensable to our fields. We can get jobs anywhere we choose to go, and live the life we dreamt of when we agreed to be together forever." He squeezed her palm ever so gently. "As long as we're together, we'll be alright."
The ache in her chest was almost unbearable at the sincerity in his words. She wanted nothing more than to throw caution to the wind and follow him to wherever the tides took them.
But she worry spiked her nerves.
"Nickolas, the alphas won't just let me go like that. They think I'm their mate."
"What we have between us goes beyond the bounds of fate and destiny. We found each other at a point in our lives where nothing beyond our control was at play. Ours is a genuine union, not a necessity. That transcends mateship."
Her hand rose up to rub his cheek, her eyes blurred by unshed tears. "They would kill you if we get caught. They can't hurt me. You're the one most at risk here. I can't live with myself if you loose your life at my expense."
He smiled wryly. "I'm being totally selfish. A world without you isn't enough for me. Your happiness matters too, but selfishness brought me here. Do you want to be with me?"
Audrey had no reason to hesitate. Nickolas was her safe place. Her surety in the disorder that was life. The one element she trusted to be constant in all things good.
"Yes, I do."
The smile spread over his face so radiant it was heartbreaking. "Then flee with me, my love."
Nickolas went over the window sill first. Audrey watched, heart in her throat, as he leaped down, dropping the over thirty feet to the ground.
He landed squarely on his feet, offered her a reassuring smile, before dissappearing through the foliage of the woods. He would scope the grounds of the house for any living hindrance to their escape.
He returned a few minutes later, and leaped from wall to bannister until he was back inside the room. He moved so fluidic and sure, limbs pumping with natural strength and grace, that Audrey could only gape at him in shock.
"I'm not your normal lawyer, am I?" He smiled as he scooped her into his sturdy arms.
Sideways, he crouched through the open window, and took a moment to steady himself.
"Do you trust me?"
"With all my heart," Audrey admitted.
"Then try not to scream." He warned before launching off the sill. Though she was nestled protectively within his arms, cold wind whipped at her hair as they fell.
She pressed her face into his chest, feeling a slight vibration tremble through his body as his feet touched down with a dull thud.
He launched into a sprint immediately, cutting a path through the surrounding woods. Trees and shrubs, dark and almost undecipherable under the night sky, blurred past as he ran full throttle. His chest thrummed steadily despite how fast and far they went.
"The car is a little farther ahead," He encouraged.
Sure enough, he tore across a vast clearing to a sleek black car idling at the mouth of a dust lane.
He settled her into the passenger side before walking around to take the wheel. Audrey watched him, the severity of what they were doing causing her adrenaline level to hike.
They were, to put it mildly, defying the wishes of the two most revered alphas in all of Europe. Alphas of the respected and wealthy Frostone wolf pack. The prospect was frightening. With Nickolas, it was a shot at eternal happiness. For that she would risk it.
He squeezed her palm reassuringly. "Thanks for choosing me, Audrey."
"You came back for me, Nick." She reached to take his hand.
He gunned the engine of the car. The tyres screached ver the sand as he tore through the lane at full speed. They were driving to freedom. To a life of happiness together.
But something nagged at the edges of Audrey's concern. The reason why all this was happening in the first place.
"Am I hollowborn?"
The road was clear under the glare of the car's headlights, affording him room to focus on her as he replied.
"No."
A weight settled in her chest. Tears pricked her eyes, but she held it off. She needed to know everything first.
"Did you know from the beginning?" Her voice quavered. "Is that why…why you approached me?"
Nick's eyes were pinned on her, so she caught the glimpse of pain that flashed over his face. His lips parted to give her a reply when a harrowing howl pierced the hushness of the night. An animal's cry so long and drawn out that it seemed almost unending.
Howls from every direction rose up to join it, creating a symphony that drew a chilled line down Audrey's spine.
"They're calling the pack together," Nick pointed out in a strangled voice, before pushing the car to its greatest speed.
Audrey's eyes passed over the blur of darkness on her side.
She didn't have enough brainpower to question how she could see despite the dense gloom, but she caught sense of a distinct motion in the shadows. A sketch of brown within the darkness of the trees, keeping up with the speed of the car.
Nickolas veered out into a much wider road, this one tarred and bordered by hoody trees, still set far away from town to be plied at this hour.
The car jostled on the tarmac as something heavy thuded against the rear. Another jammed against the other side. The car skidded to the left, almost crashing into a tree before Nick righted it with a sharp tug of the wheel.
"Watch out!"
Audrey screamed as something brown and brutish bounded out of her peripheral vision to block the road just ahead of them.
Nickolas jammed the brakes. Tyres screeched as the car fought to obey despite moving at such speed. It dragged so long Audrey feared it would never cease.
Finally it came to a stop mere inches before colliding with the massive creature there.
Nick, panicked, searched her face.
"Are you alright? Audrey?"
Audrey nodded. Sparks clouded her vision from the strain of the seatbelt around her chest, but she was fine.
Hammers crashed against her chest as she beheld the opposing party. The wall standing between her and freedom.
The headlights of the car were still going at full blast, illuminating the four wolves planted in front of it.
Normal wolves weren't this huge, though. These stood two feet taller and were much wider in gait, with deeper intelligence sparkling behind their glowering eyes. Muscles rippled over their shoulders as they growled.
They ranged in colors of brown, from beige to russet, all of them blending in to create attractive patterns of fur. Elegant but deadly. Werewolves.
"But there's no full moon," Audrey wondered.
"Myth," Nickolas clarified. "Without the full moon, we can hold the wolf state for a while before weakness sets in. For young werewolves it's unsafe to even try such shifting. Only those of greater experience can achieve it."
He unbuckled his seatbelt before helping out with hers. He craddled her face in his palms to kiss her forehead. Smiling wryly, he caressed her cheeks. "I'm sorry for the way things turned out. You don't deserve any of this. You're the purest thing, Audrey."
"Don't fight them. Please, I'll go with them. Don't give up your life for me."
He kissed her once more before pulling away to reach for the door. "I promised to be with you forever. That's a vow I'll go to war to honor."
"No, Nick!" Audrey reached for him but he was already gone.