Nine.

Dylan

 The next few days passed without much issue. In fact it was wonderfully quiet. Even Alpha Rogan hadn't made any more unexpected appearances.

 There was a break from classes for some type of harvest festival that they celebrated in the human lands, so staying home and working helped me pass the time. 

 Rae finally talked me into letting her out for a run tonight since it's been almost a week since everything happened and we haven't heard anything from, well, anyone. Lecia had sent me a few texts and even called once, but our conversations had been short, sweet, and to the point. 

 Today I worked a morning shift and was almost about to log-out when my computer dinged to let me know that there was an incoming message. I hesitated to open it, but I knew they could see that I was still working so I really had no choice.

 Many times I had considered if the company could see me through my computer, but right now I really hoped that they couldn't. Especially not the person who sent me this message.

 Roane had sent me a request to attend an in office meeting and the look of the shock I felt was clear on my face. I'm sure that they would have died laughing if they could see me right now.

 In all the time that I have worked for the company, I have never been asked to go to the office.

 To be honest, I didn't even know where it was. While I had found the position on my own while using the school computers, essentially everything else had been set up by alpha Rogan and the company owner.

 I wasn't really sure that I was reading the message right so I sat there and read the words over and over again. The words just didn't seem to make sense to me no matter how many times I repeated them.

 Time just slipped by and I completely forgot to clock out. My mind was racing faster than my heart and I started to panic. 

Why does he want to see me in the office?

Did I do something wrong?

Are they going to fire me?

 Rae was finally able to get me out of the spiral I was going into, and that is when I realized that while I was freaking out about the reason I had to go into the office I hadn't even considered the real issue. What would alpha Rogan say about this.

 Whatever plans I had for today completely flew out the window, along with my appetite, my nerve, my drive, and my sense of reason. There was nothing Rae could say to me at this point to pull me back to reality.

 There was no way that alpha Rogan was going to let me attend this meeting, especially if the office was off of pack lands. I have never been off the pack lands, not even when our class took field trips. 

 As I sat there in my little house, on my little couch, I couldn't help but remember where I came from and what I've gone through to get here. If I lose this job I'm not sure if I will be able to keep any of this and that, that is what scares the absolute sh*t out of me.

 The pain, the fear, and the tears consumed me. The darkness was flooding in and I knew that I couldn't hold it in or hold it back this time. It consumed me, it swallowed me whole, and no matter what Rae said I was lost in it's grasp and there was no stopping it.

"Dylan!"

"Dylan, can you hear me!"

"Dylan!"

 I knew that I was in my house, or at least the last thing I remember was being on my couch. But there was someone calling out to me, but I couldn't see them through the darkness.

 Who ever was here was calling out not just to me, but for me. The hold that was gripping me was suffocating and I could feel Rae pushing through it, but it was unrelenting and unforgiving.

Rae was here. 

She is always here.

She is always with me.

 As she pulled on that cord, the part of us that bound us together, I felt her refusal to let go. Rae has never forced a shift on me before, but she did now and I knew that it was the only thing that could be done to stop this, to stop me.

 Shifting didn't pull me out of the darkness, but helped pull it inside with me. I had never asked Rae how she dealt with the feeling and emotions that I know she felt through our bond.

 The ones that I couldn't control or suppress and bottle up before they would take over my mind and body. Only partially aware of our surroundings, I wanted nothing more than to let Rae take over and fall away into oblivion. 

 Rae was still in the house, but the voice that I had heard moments ago was still near by and I again, was able to hear them. This time they were trying to help Rae not only get out of the house, but get some where we couldn't be seen. 

 Not knowing what time it was and still being unable to get my self together made it hard for me to fully understand what was going on. I could tell that Rae was sprinting through the tress, and I tried to focus on the sounds around us to try to get a grip on myself.

 The whipping of the wind, the crunching of the grass, and the snapping of Rae's tail were soothing. My mind was working to push out the intruding thoughts that still lingered and pull on my senses to find stability.

 We seemed to have traveled a good distance from my home when I realized that there was too much noise around for us to be alone. Who ever it was who had helped Rae and I earlier was still with us. I could feel the anxiety building up because I still wasn't sure who was here.

Sh*t!

 Alpha Rogan just let me off the hook a few days ago when he found out that I had shifted in front of people, what was he going to do to me now? Even as this new found fear began to fill me, the previous terror wasn't leaving.

 Rae's words were finally able to penetrate into me, "breathe my sweet one, you have nothing to fear." Her words carried a sense of determination and resolve and it settled in me. It took a bit of time, but I listened to Rae and began to finally focus on not only where we were, but who was with us.

 The smell of the water hit me so fast, I immediately knew that we were by the coast. Rae must have been running at full speed to get us here quickly. As she broke through the tree line along the beach, her foot falls were much softer as she stepped on the soft white sand.

 A moment after she started to slowly walk the beach a beautiful grey wolf slowly came out of the trees. It stayed a little distance away, but I could tell from the way it behaved that they were not a threat. "Rae," I asked her, "do you know who that is?'

"I do dear one, and so do you."

 I watched the wolf slowly walk towards us. Their eyes were starring straight at us and they were a brilliant greenish blue, but they kept their head lowered as they made there way to us. Finally, a few feet away, the grey wolf lowered itself to the ground. Rae stood over it for a moment, and then lowered her head slightly before she spoke to me.

"This is the girl from the other night little one, it is the one called Lecia."