The next morning, Layla woke up to find the apartment empty. Henry had left. She found a note on the breakfast table that Henry had left for her.
He apologized for leaving before she was up, but he hadn't wanted to wake her and had a few important meetings this morning that he had to take care of. Layla wondered what kind of meetings the son of a gang leader would have to attend, but she shrugged it off.
At the end of the note, Henry asked her to not leave the apartment. Layla found it a little odd but given their talk last night, she could understand it.
If he had been attacked, it stood to reason that if she left his apartment, anyone would make assumptions. His scent would have to be all over her by now, what with how long she had already been staying at his place.
She didn't particularly like the idea of being cooped up all day, but she could understand the reasoning behind it, so she made peace with it.
Henry also added in the note that she could feel free to help herself to whatever she liked. Layla thought that she would do just that. She put some bread in the toaster and got out an avocado. They didn't grow easily, and her pack didn't trade with other packs often, so they were a little bit of a delicacy back home. Henry had about seven in his pantry at a time, so Layla guessed they were less rare here.
She made herself a simple breakfast of avocado on toast before she set about tidying the room that she had started to think of as hers.
Henry had given her a few clothes he told her were leftovers from his sister. She tidied them up and placed the dirtier ones in the washing machine.
Once everything was done, she grabbed her bag that had fallen off the chair. A photo frame fell out.
It was an old picture of her and her family. It had been happier times when her ceremony had been so far away she had managed to convince herself that it wasn't real.
Layla missed her family and Silva Forest. It hurt her knowing that she might never be able to go back home.
Everyone she knew was there, everyone she cared about. Everything that defined who she was. Her vision blurred as her eyes teared up, but she quickly swiped at them to stop them from falling. She missed them, and she would probably always miss them all.
Not only the people, but most of the customs that she had grown up with too. The hunting, the running, the shifting into a wolf beneath the full moon and running as a pack, hunting as one ...
She would never be able to ever make herself forget the forest she came from-the soft earth beneath her paws, the trees so large and imposing above her.
She knew that she had made the right decision.
Silva Forest had been her home right until the night before her ceremony. That night, it would have become a cage. She would have lost her life, and even her own home would have been foreign to her. No matter how much she missed Silva Forest, even if she had stayed there, she would never have been home.
Now, it was just something that she had to move past. It wasn't that easy though. Suddenly, the apartment started to feel very stifled.
She knew she had to get out immediately. She knew the dangers, and she knew that Henry had told her to stay inside because they were in the heart of Wolfsbane territory. She also knew that if she forced herself to stay inside any longer, she was probably going to shift intoa wolf and break through the glass just to get out. It was best to do it while she was in human form and still more in control.
Grabbing her bagjust so that she would have something with her, Layla left before her anxiety and misery could overwhelm her entirely. She made her way out of Henrys apartment and down to the lobby where she quickly left the exquisite apartment building.
If Layla was being perfectly honest, it looked more like a hotel at the bottom. She wanted to explore a bit, but she didn't really want to get only as far as the lobby. She left the building and began walking the streets around her.
Lunavia was different from the packs and homes in Silva Forest, but it was still beautiful. It was big, so much bigger than the small villages her own towns setup.
She walked past store after store, looking at everything as she passed it. There were clothing stores with ready-made clothes fully stocked.
She'd seen stores like this before, of course, but they didn't have them back in her pack. All of their clothing was made for them when they needed it. It was just easier than having to go to the cities all the time for clothing ...
Especially at the rate that they tore out of their clothes when they shifted.
There were a few food shops too selling food. Layla thought she would come back around to some of it. She wasn't hungry right now, but she was sure that she would be soon.
There were also wolves, more wolves than shee could count on the streets. All of them were in human form. There was not a single pelt to be found. That was different from her pack too.
Back in the forest, there were always a few wolves in wolf form. It was fun to run and live asa wolf, but it was also safer for the pack. If anyone or anything attacked, there were already wolves shifted to protect them all.
The shift from human to wolf was quick, but sometimes a second made all the difference.
As Layla was staring at the beautiful display of glass-crafted animals, she noticed someone coming toward her. For a moment, she panicked, but then shook it off. She didn't know anyone here. She was just being paranoid.
"Layla!" She turned instinctively at her name being called and turned to find someone was actually coming toward her ...
Someone very familiar.
"Jake," Layla greeted him in surprise as he caught up to her.
Jake was her betrothed from her home in Silva Forest. Technically, they weren't betrothed. The ceremony was meant to determine who would bring back the greatest game, and who would then, by extension, win her hand to mate. Even though there was no official betrothal, Jake had been the favorite to win.
He was strongest and leagues ahead of anyone else. He was even stronger than their Alpha's pups, so he was most likely to have become Alpha of their pack after him. There had been no real competition to Jake winning that ceremony, so everyone, including her parents and Jake, had started to behave like they were truly betrothed.
He had even given her the necklace.
"Oh, thank the moon you're safe," Jake said, exhaling in relief as he wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him.
"Hi, Jake," Layla murmured back. What else could she say? She wasn' t exactly glad to see him.
"Everyone's been so worried about you," Jake told her seriously. "Why did you come here?"
Because it was the closest city away from their pack. Layla knew she couldn't say that to him. She had made her decision pretty obvious by running away the day before the ceremony was supposed to start, and she didn't want to rub salt in the wound now.
"Anyway," Jake shook his head, continuing without waiting for her to speak.
This was what endeared her to him. He was sweet and adorable, and Layla had always loved him and loved being in his company. She just couldn't be his mate.
"You need to come back," Jake told her seriously.
Layla flinched at his words, not that she'd been expecting anything different.
"Lunavia isn't safe," Jake continued.
Layla knew that. She couldn't tell him just how perfectly she knew that, but she also knew that no matter how dangerous it was, she would still choose this city over going back.
"No, Jake," Layla told him, stepping further away from him. "I don't want to go back to Silva Forest. You being here, tracking me all the way to Lunavia like I'm some kind of mutt, just proves that."
Seeing Jake here, having had him find her, made Layla realize a chilling thought. She wasn't free from her pack. They could find her here. They had found her here. It didn't look like they were going to leave her alone.
She was only more justified in having left.