LEAVE

The farm was already opened when Anna and Diane got there and Diane didn’t have to use the keys she had shown to Anna.

“You’ll get yours when Kane is sure he can trust you,” Diane had said, “I on the other hand don’t see anything wrong with giving you the keys but…the rules at the rules,” She had shrugged and still looked slightly guilty.

Diane is a softhearted girl contrary to what she wants everyone to think. Anna remembered being like her, always wanting to be at everyone’s beck and call just so everyone would be satisfied with all of her actions and even her thoughts.

What Diane didn’t realize was that with the kind of power she had in this pack, there was so much she could achieve and so many she could make bend under her feet.

Yet, she was all smile with everyone and made sure to fulfill all of their requests no matter how hard it was.

If there was anything Anna had learned from her four years in Bullhorn pack its that power controls all, power makes comfort, power makes the world go round.

They stepped into the farm after Diane had put her keys back into her purse.

The young boy was the only person in the farm, he held a watering can in one hand and a phone in another.

“I was about to call you,” he said. His dark eyes taking in the both of them with an emotionless expression before looking away.

“Good morning to you too Marcus!” Diane smiled.

Anna had only met the boy once, he had a head full of brown hair and lips that were a darker shade than usual, the brown in his eyes even darker.

The boy didn’t have a shred of childlike innocence in those empty eyes of his, Anna didn’t want it to seem like she was overreacting so she resisted the urge to stare more at him.

He was like a grown man in a child’s body, she couldn’t help but wonder what got him to this point.

“I see you got an early start today,”

“I had nothing else to do at home,” Marcus replied, he put his phone back into his pocket and walked to the water tank at the far end.

“What about school? You’re supposed to be here in the afternoon,”

“I don’t see the use,” Came the young boy’s curt reply.

Diane chuckled and shook her head, it was something she was used to no doubt. She turned to look at Anna, a shimmer in her eyes as always.

“Come, we’ll start with the trees!”

It took over three hours for Anna to be introduced to every single on of the trees and plants and their usual routines.

Lily came not long after, her face a mask of happiness almost like Diane’s only that Anna could see that it was a mask, just pretend.

Lily was a woman that looked to be in her early thirties or so, she was average looking to the ordinary man but to Anna her eyes were beautiful and that compensated for everything else. She had shoulder length black hair and always had on pink lipstick.

She had a beautiful smile that never reached her eyes and a calming voice.

Lily walked Anna through the process of planting and caring for the growing plants afterwards. Ana tried her best to listen attentively but soon her mind wandered.

The farmhouse was considered to be in the outskirts of town even though it was still a part of it.

Anna’s attention always drifted to the woods outside of the farm, Diane had said a few minutes walk and she would be at the border between GreyThorn and the human civilizations that took over at least seventy percent of the world.

Anna planned her escape to the human’s lands but she also considered the risks.

There were cameras everywhere leading from the borders to the pack and eyes on those spots twenty-eight hours a day as Diane had told her.

Anna had resisted the urge t ask any further questions so as to not rouse the young girl’s suspicion.

She would leave soon. She just had to find a way to beat that security system.

“Are you listening?”

Lily’s voice brought her out from her thoughts and back to the farm.

Yeah. She could almost taste her true freedom but the fact remained that she was still in here, in the pack where her fated mate is to be the one that’ll end her once and for all.

“Yes, you said never to forget to lock the doors and to make sure the ceiling is always open except for when there are violent winds,”

See?

She was listening.

Lily nodded in satisfaction and then took Anna’s hand in hers, “Then you’re ready!”

Anna looked down at the slightly smaller hand that clasped hers and couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable from the warmth. When was the last time someone treated her like she was an actual living being and touched her without acting like she carried a plague?

“We’re going to be locking up early today because we have to get some vegetables and fruits to Ethan before the sub goes down,” Lily said.

“Here’s the list,” Diane handed over a piece of paper from behind Lily and Anna took it.

“It’ll be your first task, you can go with Marcus to the pack house and we’ll meet you both there, or you can just go ahead and start getting ready, the party is in a few hours,”

Her first task.

She wasn’t as excited as both women looked. She didn’t want to bump into Kane, or May...Or May’s mother.

Damn, she just didn’t want to meet anyone.

Ana wished she could say no but…

“Ok, I’ll get my purse,”

She had to win everyone’s trust. At least the ones that could help her gain the freedom she so desperately wishes for.

Diane and Lily gathered everything on the list into a big basket bag pack and set it down.

Marcus left what he was doing, washed his hands and picked the bag up before Anna could even make an argument.

“Let’s go,” He said to Anna and that was the only thing he said on their entire trip down to the pack house.

They had passed by the guards at the main gate, Anna had greeted them despite their attitude and they had returned her greeting rather begrudgingly.

The pack house was fuller than usual, the halls were lively, hustle and bustle and conversations brightened up the place.

Everyone prepared for the party, simple decorations that didn’t ruin the beauty of the castle of make it seem too extravagant.

Anna and Marcus made their way to the kitchen.

Ethan the head cook, was already there, he had on a cream colored apron and a warm expression on his face.

“Anna,” He smiled, “It is good to see you working just like everyone else,” He said. He then assisted Marcus in taking of the basket and the opened it.

“Thank you both,”

“You’re welcome,” Marcus and Anna said at the same time. The boy’s lips curled in distaste and he walked out of the kitchen without another word.

“Do you need anything else?” Anna asked, somehow managing to keep Marcus’ weird attitude at the back of her mind.

Ethan shook his head.

“That will be all,” He said and Anna left the kitchen not long after.

She walked to her room quietly, all the while passing by people and hoping she was invisible to them. She didn’t want anyone to talk to her, not when she was thinking about so much at once.

She had to escape and soon.

The party would be the best way to slip out unnoticed.

Anna had decided.

She will leave tonight.