Chapter 12: Running Away

(Penelope's P.O.V.) Later that day~

Cole had finished patrol and I was now reading him the second book of the book series. Today was pretty bland. I wish I had had more adventure in it. Being in rogue territory had it's downs but I felt like there was always a new place to be seen. I look over and see that Cole has fallen asleep. I place my hand on his cheek and softly rub my thumb across it. I thought of the moment we met. I would have never thought I'd be reading that brute from the forest a story before he takes a nap. A smile grew on my face. I guess the rogues didn't just bring bad. I thought of the night they attacked my village and Natalie set it on fire. I haven't visited the village in a while. Allison and I used to go every year on the date that it had happened. Thinking about our visits is all it took to get me up from the chair I was sitting in with Cole and walk towards the door. I don't know why but I feel like I just need to go. Just thinking about where I used to live made me feel home sick. I opened the door and snuck through the house and out the front door.

Once I was outside, I just fully sprinted towards the forest. Mid-run I transformed into my wolf and travelled through the forest. I eyed the markers that lead to the village as I passed them. Once I met the edge of the forest, where my village lied, I spotted blue roses that sprouted from the ground. That's new. I stepped over them and into the once main road of my village. I walked all the way down to the end of it, where the remains of my house were. On the doorstep I saw a King's piece from a chess game. I picked it up. Chess was me and Allison's little brother's favorite game. We played it all the time. Well, until he was taken away. I sourly smiled at the piece in my hands. All of a sudden I heard a deep voice behind me.

"Put your hands up! You are intruding on Blue Rose territory!"

I slowly raised my hands above my head and dropped the chess piece.

Meanwhile...

(Cole's P.O.V.)

"Check everywhere!!! Find her!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I observed every inch of scenery, attempting to spot Penelope. But she was nowhere to be found. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I reacted by flipping my body towards the person.

"Son, who are you looking for?" My dad looked at me with a puzzled yet worried expression written across his face. I grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"It's Penelope!!! She was reading to me and I fell asleep. When I woke up, she was gone!!!" I panicked.

"She'll come back. She wouldn't just disappear." He tried reassuring me but I was too panicked to take his advice.

"Wait, Cole! I think I know where she might be!" Allison yelled over to me from across the garden. I immediately gave her my attention. "Sometimes she likes to visit our old village. Maybe she was feeling homesick?"

"Show me where it is." I demanded.

She gestured to me to follow her and begin to run. I quickly followed after her. I heard my dad's voice behind me but I ignored it.

"Son! Wait!"

We sprinted through the woods for what seemed like forever. We reached the edge of the forest and there were blue roses sprouting everywhere.

"Allison, stop!" I quickly blurted.

She stopped her tracks and looked at me confused.

"We can't pass these. They symbolize the Blue Rose Pack's territory. They're my pack's enemy." I explained.

"But the village is that way." She pointed past them.

I guess that means Penelope passed them. She might be in danger!!!

"Ok, let's go." I jumped over them and Allison led the way to the ruins of the village.

(Penny's P.O.V.)

"I-I'm sorry. I was just visiting. This used to be my village. I didn't know somebody else owned it now." I justified myself, my back still to the stranger and my hands in the air.

"Wait, you're a native to this village?" he questioned.

"Yes." I turned around to meet his eyes.

"I��ve never met a native. My pack thought they all died."

"Well I'm Penelope. Nice to meet you." I gestured my hand out to him.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Collin." He was about to shake my hand when suddenly Cole showed up.

"Don't touch her!" He held his switchblade against Collin's neck.

"Cole, stop! What are you doing?" I remarked before I moved his blade away from Collin.

"Penelope, step away from him. He's dangerous." Cole demanded.

"What's your problem? Collin doesn't seem dangerous." I puzzled.

"You know Cole?" Collin butted into our conversation.

"Yes" I muttered.

"His pack is our rival!" He pushed me away from him and Cole headlocked him.

"I told you not to touch her." Cole threatened.

"Well I ain't scared of you, measly Promise pack Prince." Collin growled.

"STOP!" I yelled, "Cole, let go of him and if either of you make a move, I will have to get between you. Ok, what is your guys' problem? This seems ridiculous"

"He-" They said in sync," Let me talk first!" They screamed at each other.

"Alright. Cole, first." I suggested.

"His pack attacked our pack!" Cole blurted out.

"Only because yours had been stealing from us!!!"Collin defended.

"Ok, instead of fighting, why don't you guys just talk it out. Not everything has to be solved with violence." I said as I grabbed Cole away from Collin.

"You only say that because you're a girl." Collin complained. I scrunch my face in anger.

"And that could earn you a punch to the nose but luckily I'm feeling extra gracious today. Now, just apologize to each other." I demanded.

"Sorry we desturbed your pack, Cole." Collin said, annoyed.

"Cole?' I gave him a death glare.

"Fine, sorry for the idiots who stole from your pack, Collin." He admitted, in a huffy, upset voice.

"Alright, now shake on it." I ordered. Cole gave me the 'Are you for reals face'. I just nodded. They shook hands and I took a deep breath.

"Peace?" I questioned.

"I guess." They both rolled their eyes.

"Good." I clapped my hands in excitement.

"Let's go now, Penny." Allison interrupted.

Collin whistled.

"What a beautiful lady." He remarked. Allison rolled her eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself." She reacted stubbornly.

"Awww. Why don't you guys come over for lunch? We can explain to my dad that we've cleared things up." Collin tried to hide how hurt he was.

"Pass." Allison turned around, being sassy with her hips.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. She turned around.

"Penelope?" She gritted through her teeth.

"Why not? Cole, what do you say?" I conteracted her.

"Uhm yeah, sure. Why not?" He smiled. Allison groaned.

We walked for a while until we reached this huge patch of blue roses with a path that cut through the middle of it.

"Collin," someone said as we passed them, "Why did you bring Promise pack people into our village?"

"Because, Sister, we talked out the problem, and I want to tell father." Collin simply said.

"Well he's busy Collin. You'll have to come back later." She replied. "Who's busy Jennifer?" Came a deep voice from behind us.

"Father! You're done with your work!" Jennifer yelped.

"Well duh," Collin said. "He hardly even does work."

"Collin. Are you going to introduce us to your friends?" Collins dad asked, looking a little annoyed.

"Yes. This is Cole, Penelope, and Allison from the Promise pack." he said pointing as he said our names.

"You brought Promise people here!?" Collins' dad yelled, spitting on Collins' face.

"Yes." Collin started.

"Why on earth would you do that!?"

"Because me and Cole talked about the problem and we figured out that it was all a misunderstanding."

"Alright. But who's idea was it to talk about it?

"Penelope." Collin said pointing at me, "We came to have lunch because I wanted you to meet Allison, the prettiest girl I've ever met."

I saw Allison roll her eyes.

"I could do five times better than you, but okay." Allison muttered.

"Well, she is lovely." Collin's dad said.

"Actually I think we should get going, my dad will be looking for us. Very sorry we couldn't stay longer, maybe we could have dinner?" Cole stated as we walked away.

"Alright." Collin said.

We began to walk back. As I saw the Promise Pack gate come into view, I heard a twig snap to the left of us. Judging the way Cole turned his head sharply to the left, I'm pretty sure he heard it too.

"Cole?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly.

"Penny, get inside and get Granite and Dylan." he said kinda urgently.

"Cole? Is everything good?" I asked trying not to show him he was scaring me.

"Yeah, I'm sure everything's fine." He assured, smiling. But something was off about his smile. It was too wide. Like when someone is lying, and I saw something in his eyes that almost looked like fear.

"Alright." I said hesitantly, looking intensely into his eyes.

"Penny," he laughed, "It's probably just some rogues, no need to worry. Can you get Dylan and Granite to come"

He still had that fearful look in his eyes, and it was making me nervous, as I walked up to the village.

"Oh hey Penny, what's up?" Dylan asked, coming up to me with Granite.

"Nothin' much, but Cole wants y'all." I said.

"Are you okay?" Granite asked me.

"Yeah, just tired and hungry." I said, lying.

"Okay, where's Cole?" He asked.

"Just outside the front gate." I told them.

As they walked away, I sighed hoping that Cole really was ok.

(Cole's P.O.V)

As I watched Dylan and Granite come up to me, I hoped Penny was too far away to hear the growling and barks that were to come.

"Cole, what's up?" Granite asked.

"Well, there's a big group of rogues and I think I recognize one of them from earlier. Maybe they ran away so fast so they could get back up."

One of the rogues, who seemed to be the leader of the group, growled and leaped towards me. I leaped towards him and our bodies collided mid-air. I heard him whimper as we hit the ground. He grabbed behind me, sinking his claws into my fur and grazing my cuts that were already there. I growled in pain before I opened my jaws around his neck. I sunk my teeth in and waited for his breath to cease. I let go and shifted my gaze towards Granite and Dylan, who had started sparing some other rogues and before I knew another rogue had jumped on my back and started tearing and clawing at my fur. I hissed at the stinging before I jumped and slammed his back on the ground. I heard the rogue whimper and felt hime struggle underneath me. I rolled over and faced him. I was about to scratch his eyes out but another rogue jumped at me, shoving me away. I whimpered before I got up to face them. This was not a fair battle. There were too many of them. They started to creep towards me and I took a few steps back. When all of a sudden, I heard a bark and saw a wolf tackle one of the rogues to the ground. I couldn't quite see who it was till they had the rogue pinned under them. My eyes widened.

"Penny, what are you doing!?! You're gonna get hur-" Before I could finish the other rogue attacked me.

He knocked me on the ground and the air out of my lungs. I tried to regain my breathing but the rogue stood on my chest. I tried to wiggle my way free but it seemed nothing would work. I heard the rogue chuckle under his breath. I scrunch my face in anger and my eyes to meet his; mine glowed with bright green anger. I summoned all my strength to push him off and sit up. He hit a tree and whimpered as he ran off into the forest. The rest of the rogues scattered after him. I limped back into the gates of the village with Dylan, Granite and Penelope following behind. I waited for Penelope to catch up to me. She seemed fine but she shouldn't have intervened.

"What were you thinking, Penny? You could've been really injured." I scolded her.

"I'm perfectly fine. I fight rogues all the time and you are the one who got more hurt." She rebuked.

I huffed in frustration.

"I don't want you to be following me into danger. It's my job to protect the village. Mind your own responsibilities."

I entered the headquarters to see Caroline sitting on the couch. She perked up as soon as she saw me.

"Are you okay? What happened?" She immediatly questioned.

"I'm fine. Just another rogue fight." I responded to her concern.

"I'll go get the bandages." She exited the room.

She came back holding the medical bag.

"Sit." She demanded, pointing at the couch.

I followed her commands, as she pulled off my shirt to access my wounds. She began to clean my wounds. I hissed at the stinging, as the alcohol hit my stripped skin. She wrapped my shredded skin in bandages.

"You should be more careful, going into so many fights." Caroline said as she finished a bandage around my leg. "You won't be able to transform until you've healed enough not to wear your bandages. They'll fall off and your wounds will get infected if they're not covered."

I just nodded, understanding what she meant. I sat up and grunted from the tension pulling on the holes in my skin.

"You should rest. You'll stretch your skin out too much and it will take longer to heal." Penny butted in, grabbing my arm to help me stand.

She led me up to my room. I grabbed a shirt from my closet and slipped it on. She helped me lay down on my bed, tucking me under the covers. She was about to leave but I stopped her.

"Wait, I'm sorry I scolded you earlier. You acted really brave against those rogues." I apologized.

She nodded and grabbed the doorknob to leave her again but I again stopped her.

"Wait, will you read me more of that series?" I looked at her, trying to make my eyes big.

"Sure. We were on the third book, right?"

"Yes." I smiled brightly.

She plopped herself down in the chair in my room and began to read. I honestly didn't care much for the books she was reading me but I enjoyed her company. I like to hear her soft voice. Even though I didn't pay much attention to what it was saying.