For once, Ayla didn't know what to do. Normally, at the first sign of trouble, she would take off running instantly, but she wasn't alone anymore.
Was this Alexander character going to be worth more trouble than he was worth?
Now, not only did she have to worry about herself, but she also had to worry about him.
Maybe she was better off never meeting him to begin with.
Was that it? Were the pheromones of the cave finally airing out? Was she able to think clearly again?
He had to have put some kind of spell on her at some point to make her act the way she had the last few hours, because she felt more like herself now than she had since they started this whole mess at the edge of the town, nearly, wait, how long ago was that?
Her mind started racing in panic. Her eyes started darting from side to side as she made her best attempt to see if anything was within her visual field.
Ayla didn't know how long she had even been in the cave with him. Her head went to peer toward him in confusion, and he knew something wasn't right instantly.
He gently shook his head and placed his free hand in front of his face, pulling his index finger to his lips in an effort to ensure she knew that it was not the time. She needed to keep quiet so as not to give their location away.
He wasn't sure what was running through her mind, but he knew whatever it was, it wasn't to his benefit.
Unsure as to whether she was going to follow his lead or not, he took a deep breath and prayed for the best while looking back at the beautiful woman barely holding on to his hand now.
It was obvious she was in a state of fight or flight, and she was afraid of him, too.
She was about to flee.
The conflict was clear on her face for him to see, and he felt he didn't have much choice when it came to what he needed to do.
He had a feeling that at any moment, she was about to break free and make a run for it, but there was a sliver of guilt behind the thought of letting him go to do so.
No clue where she was going to go, he had to trust their instincts.
They hadn't been wrong so far.
All he could do was accept the fact that he didn't really know anything about her except that she was a runner, and he couldn't hold her hostage, so he let her hand go. It was the only thing he could do. In order to ensure she was safe, he had to let her go.
For years, she protected herself and managed to stay safe, and it was what she knew to do.
She only knew how to run.
Self-preservation.
If he insisted on holding her hand and making her stay by his side, it would cause a ruckus, and they would be found.
Instead, to best help her, he quickly decided to distract whoever it was to give her the best chance at escape.
As he let go of her hand, he gestured for her to run in the opposite direction.
She stood there for a moment, cocking her head to the side, confused and unsure of what the hell he was doing.
As he started to walk away from her in the opposite direction, the idea of what he was doing crossed her mind, but her legs didn't want to carry her away.
She paused, looking at him for just a moment longer before he looked back, and shooed her away again.
Slowly, she started to back away, getting lost behind a tree.
Out of nowhere, there was a loud commotion, and Alexander could be heard yelling, and he sounded like a one-man army in the forest.
Even though he was one man, he was loud as each foot landed with a domineering sound, one after another, running toward whoever lay hiding in the brush they were headed for.
Ayla held her breath as she concealed herself behind a tree and watched without him realizing her eyes never left him.
She wanted to make sure he was okay.
Yes. Her body refused to leave the area without making sure that the man standing there didn't harm himself or get captured in order to save her.
She was worried about him.
Did she just jeopardize her safety for once because of someone else?
She would have never done that before. What was happening to her?
In addition, she wanted to make sure that he wasn't setting her up or working with anyone.
That made more sense to her; she worried about her safety in that aspect.
If she couldn't trust him, she would find out shortly.
He came out of nowhere, and trust didn't come easily to her. Things were not adding up for some reason.
Not just that, what if he got captured?
Her eyes widened when the thought crossed her mind.
'Oh no, what have I told him'?
Alexander would be tortured. He didn't know much about her, but he knew enough that it could help the bounty hunters catch her more easily.
Now she was really panicking.
She didn't know what to do. Should she just accept that he told her to run and just keep going and trust that he knows what he is doing? Then there was option two: she could wait and see what happened. There was also a third option, "AHHHH" she yelled.
Suddenly, a large deer with a beautiful, full rack of antlers on top of its head came jumping past her without warning. As its two front hooves landed beside her.
Ayla's heart nearly exploded.
Just as quickly, its back hooves landed, and she could see its white tail flipping behind him as he fled the unsettling scene.
"I thought I told you to be quiet and run" a familiar voice came from behind the tree.
She would look around it, but she was currently sitting on her behind as the deer almost scared the life out of her, causing her to fall there.
"Yeah, you did. Thankfully, I didn't listen. If I had, I wouldn't have gotten to see you charge a fully grown, majestic deer" she sneered.
"Well, that goes both ways, you know. If you had listened" he said, coming around the tree at that point, "I wouldn't be picking you up after you had the living day lights scared out of you from said deer".
She rolled her eyes and mimicked him before deciding to take his extended hand for help.
"We really should not dilly-dally. After that scream, if any of those men are out here looking for you, they will be on their way here. I don't want to stick around and find out. It gives us an advantage if we are quick enough. What do you say? Let's get out of here before they come" he said in an asking tone.
Ayla nodded in agreement.
He was right, too.
Not long before they decided to leave the cave, Alpha Theo's guards informed him that they were headed out to sweep the area and look for signs of the Alpha's daughter. They weren't hopeful, but their alpha still carried some.
With that in mind, they were taking their time and looking everything over, making sure not to miss anything.
At that point, they had essentially accepted that Ayla was either not going to be found or didn't want to be found.
They couldn't find a single sign of her after the dramatic show at the top of the waterfall.
They knew either she perished at the bottom and never came back up, or she knew what she was doing. Either way, her scent hadn't caught them again yet.
Without the hint of a scent, they weren't sure where to look.
They were somewhere around half the distance between the cave and Ayla when they heard her scream. It caught them off guard at first.
Unsure of what they heard, they looked at each other in an attempt to process the sound that met their eardrums.
After a moment, it clicked.
"That was her" Dominic chimed. "It had to be. Who else would be out here? I can't think of anyone else stupid enough to come into these woods alone at night" he laughed.
"She isn't alone...or she wasn't alone" Raphael said, "Maybe he didn't make it, and she's been out here all alone. Did we make a mistake in thinking that they were together this whole time" he asked with real concern in his voice.
"No. I wouldn't think she would make it, and he wouldn't. Maybe she screamed because something happened to him just now. Maybe they are in trouble. What if she needs us because someone is trying to kidnap her right now" Phoenix added.
Just then, the majestic deer crossed their path before fleeing from them.
It only made their questions increase in regard to Ayla's safety.
"We need to go, NOW. Could you tell where it came from" Raphael asked, but Dominic was already leading the way.
This time, Dominic felt like his life really was on the line.
If something happened to Ayla, he would have to answer for it.
By the time they reached the vicinity where the scream came, it was quiet.
The odd part was that he couldn't pick up anything.
There were no footprints anywhere, not really any strong scents to track, and that was odd.
The deer had the faint scent of Ayla on it, but just faintly.
Then, there was one tree, and a small area that very faintly had her scent, but that was all he could pick up.
When he reached the tree that he could just barely pick up her smell the best, he looked around and saw what looked like a butt imprint and two hands on the ground.
He was running not only what he found, but what he couldn't find through his mind.
NO tracks, NO smell.
The only place he could find a trace of smell, really, is where it seems she was on the ground for some reason.
She had to have been scared or have a high level of fear.
That's it, when her emotions are high, her scent leaks out.
She must have been extremely scared at this moment when she hit the ground.
Tracking her is going to be nearly impossible without our senses.
That is partly how she has evaded us.
We rely on our senses too much.
She doesn't know she is a werewolf, so she lives like a human.
We should track her like a human. Maybe we even act like we are human, he thought.
"Men, I think I have a plan. Unfortunately, we are not going home tonight.
I'm not explaining any of this to Alpha Theo.
We will stay in the human city, like humans tonight".
He finished his thoughts and laid them all out for the other guards, and it seemed to make sense to them.
They weren't sure how humans tracked people, but they had a pretty good idea how to figure it out.
The best part about staying in their city was watching their television shows. It would give them the insight they needed, as well as a little time off to potentially interact and mingle a little.
Honestly, what was the worst that could happen? Right!