Blue Ridge Pack Luna

Bella Lilian Caedmon was the name she had been born with but after seeing the faces of the men who had murdered her family, shot her and left her for dead, the FBI felt it was necessary to change her name, for her to assume a whole new identity. They just couldn’t seem to understand that on top of having had the only people she had ever loved so brutally and violently killed, almost right in front of her, changing her identity had been like ripping out her heart. Now they were taking the only connection she had left with them and just throwing it away as if it meant nothing.

They didn’t seem to understand that her parents had chosen “Bella” in honor of her grandmother who had been a well known Luna in their pack. But then they didn’t know anything about her leading a pack after her husband died because they didn’t know about werewolves so Bella couldn’t explain it beyond it having been her grandmother’s name.

Lilian had been the name given to the first born girls in her mother’s family for generations and Bella had always felt honored to carry it. But again, she couldn’t explain it either without giving them reasons to check into her family tree because they had always lived “under the radar” for so long and that was a secret she would carry to her grave.

They had given her options but in the end she had to live with the name that the witness protection program had chosen for her.

For a year and a half she had to live with the name Arabella Jane Price. She didn’t mind Arabella so much but she hated “Jane Price”. But after multiple attempts to “shut her up” by the men who had killed her family, that had scared the hell out of her, she hoped that it would be enough to keep her safe.

At least she was able to use the shorter version of her new name to “Bella” as a nickname and it would be something she wouldn’t hesitate to answer to. At least until it was all over and she could resume her life.

While she had been in the hospital, an agent from the FBI had come to see her and had questioned her intensely until she got upset and refused to answer any more questions until they told her what the hell was going on. Basic instinct told her that this was more than just a murder case, otherwise it would be just regular cops, not FBI.

It had been FBI agent, Ralph Garrett, who told her, “We believe that your father was killed because he had uncovered a money laundering scheme involving some very highly placed people. We don’t believe that your family was killed by accident. I’m sorry but that’s all that I can tell you other than you will be placed in protective custody while we investigate.” To say that Bella had been shocked was beyond an understatement.

Before she had been released from the hospital a couple of days later, she found out she had been assigned two agents to look after her, to keep her safe. Joe Keller and Carla Benton.

Joe was tall, lean, relatively handsome for a man in his mid 40′s and even though he was a former Navy Seal, he was the friendlier of the two and they had gotten along well.

Carla was also tall, lean and relatively attractive but she was very stern and proper, insisting too many times that they follow “the book” to the letter. Bella had found it hard to get “friendly” or to really develop any kind of relationship with her at all.

During the year they had basically lived together, Bella had often been tempted to call Joe “Uncle”, but she had never been tempted to call Carla anything but “Ma’am”.

Joe had been the one to tell her that they would have to change her name and asked if she had any preferences. She had told him she wanted to use her mother’s name, Violet, and sister’s middle name of Amelia but he told her that it was too direct a link to her family. It didn’t matter to them that her eyes are the color of African Violets, especially when she’s happy. But then Joe hadn’t really seen her happy until the day she was finally able to leave.

Several attempts had been made to kidnap her, thankfully unsuccessfully, as well as multiple threats on her life. She’d been made to leave her home and stay with Joe and Carla in different hotels and safe houses until the trial. She hated not having the familiar surroundings of her family home while she recuperated from her injuries but in reality it had been what was best for her.

If she had been home, she would have been surrounded by the memories and the reality that she would never see her family again would have been right in her face all the time. Most of the time, she had to put on an act that she was hurting or weak to keep from where she had been shot to keep from raising suspicions of even Joe and Carla. Humans just don’t heal that fast!

It wasn’t that she disliked Joe, in fact, they had become quite close and to Bella it was like leaving her surrogate father behind the day she drove away from the small diner where he had met her for brunch.

“I can see now why you wanted to be called Violet. Your eyes are the most beautiful and unusual shade of blue when you are happy. I’d like to say keep in touch but that might put you in danger so instead I’ll just tell you to keep wearing your disguises until you are well out of the area.

Don’t forget to use the contacts for your eyes since they are a dead give away. Keep your head down and take care of yourself but you know that if you ever need me, just call and I’ll be there. I wish you would change your mind and stay in the area, Bella, but that’s only because I’m going to miss you. I know it’s unprofessional of me, but you have become more than just a detail to me but more like a daughter.” Joe had admitted, fighting back the tears that had flooded his eyes as they had hugged goodbye.

“Thank you for everything you have done for me, Joe. I don’t know what I would have done without you and I’m going to miss you too but there are just too many memories here. I need to make a fresh start somewhere I’ve never been before. Somewhere no one will even think to look for me. Maybe I’ll go see Mickey or Hogwarts for a bit or just take a cruise somewhere. I’ve always wanted to do things like that.

And you are not old enough to be my father although I’m sure I’ve made you feel old over the past year and a half.” She had given him a teary eyed grin. “Please take care and follow your own advice? Maybe we’ll see each other again some day.” Bella told him as she returned his hug, trying hard not to cry herself.

“Tell Carla I said thanks and goodbye.” She told him as she climbed into her jeep.

It had been hard to leave but, after warm hugs, they finally said a tearful goodbye and Joe waved her off as Bella got in her new car and left him standing in front of the small diner. Bella had watched him watch her drive away with mixed feelings. She felt rather lost without him but at the same time it was freeing to finally be able to be on her own.

She had not put in the contacts that changed her eyes to common brown because she had been right in knowing that she would be crying today. Through the tears that had filled her eyes when she looked in her rear view mirror, she saw him standing in front of the diner, looking rather lost as she pulled up to the exit and waited for traffic to pass until she could pull out and begin her journey.

She had not told anyone, even Joe, where she was going. She had used a public computer to do her searches and had been careful to wipe her browser history before she had signed out each time. She had never gone to the same place twice to gain access to the internet. She had learned A LOT while she had been in witness protection about covering her tracks and hiding in plain sight.

She drove, at first heading south, until she noticed that she was low on gas. She had talked up going to Florida a lot over the past month when she had been making her plans for when she got out of protective custody. She actually didn’t want anyone to know where she was going, even Joe and Carla.

She had been watching her rear view for possible tails all the way and while she hadn’t seen anything suspicious, she knew from experience over the past year and a half, that it meant absolutely nothing!

She might be being paranoid but she seemed to know that Joe would always keep track of her. At least he would try and she debated about whether or not that was a bad thing but realized that if Joe could track her then someone else might be able to as well.

As she got close to Dayton, she pulled into a Chevron station and filled up her tank. While she had been waiting for her tank to fill, she had first turned off the locator program on her phone and then used the electronic detector she had bought online to make sure there were no tracking devices in or on her car.

Just as she had suspected, there was one under the hood of her car, near the brake fluid reservoir. It was held on with a magnet so it was just a matter of pulling it off.

There was a vendor’s delivery vehicle parked next to the front door to the convenience store where she had to go in to pay for her gas and she discreetly attached the device to his rear wheel well after she pulled up next to him and got out of her car to enter the store. The passenger side window of the delivery van was open so , after making sure she had wiped out all phone numbers and messages, she dropped her phone inside between the seat and the door. More than likely, no one would find it there for a long time. The time on the prepaid card would be running out soon anyway.

She walked down the aisles of the store, keeping a close watch on the vendor as he filled the shelves with the goods he was dropping off. When she saw him folding up his boxes and preparing his paperwork for the man behind the register to sign, she had grabbed a couple of soda’s and a bag of her favorite chips while she kept an eye on the vendor and got behind him in the line at the register to check out.

The man behind the register had a heavy east indian accent, making it hard to understand him but it was plain that he was trying to flirt with her as he rang her up. Bella just acted like she didn’t understand and said something in gibberish in a voice that she hoped sounded Italian, wishing he would hurry up before the vendor finished loading up the hand truck and empty boxes and left her behind.

As soon as she had paid for her purchase, she hurried back outside just before the vendor that had been parked next to her pulled out. She quickly jumped in and started her car, a Jeep Cherokee, and followed the vendor to the exit. She kept her one eye on her rearview mirror to see if anyone pulled out behind them and was relieved to see that no one seemed to be following her.

Thankfully the vendor turned in the direction she wanted to go and with a big smile, Bella turned right as they both headed for the on ramps to the highway, the vendor took the one that would continue on south and she was going to follow him for a while, just in case someone was following her and she just hadn’t seen them yet.

Thanks to the defensive driving lessons Joe and Carla had insisted she learn, it would be easy to lose a tail in the traffic on the highway by changing lanes and hiding behind big rigs until she got close to an exit that would take her in the direction she wanted to go. There was no rush. Staying close to him had allowed her to be sure that no one was following her and would give whoever might be tracking her electronically the impression that she was still headed south.

When she saw another Jeep Cherokee just like hers pass her in the right lane, she switched lanes and glued herself to his bumper then passed him when they were behind a big rig.

Thankfully, he got off at the next exit which had access to an off ramp going east and the next exit would take her west, which was just where she wanted to go. When Bella pulled up to a stop sign, she turned left and got on the off ramp that would take her west. Again, she kept an eye on her rearview mirror and didn’t see anyone following.

Being that she would be following the sun, it would give her a couple of more hours of driving time and she decided to make the most of it. She stopped for gas about every 200 miles, not willing to let her car get too low on gas between stops. She even bought a new burner cell phone and a card for minutes in one store. Even though she played “cat and mouse”, zigzagging back and forth, backtracking before going in the same direction, she made good time and put some miles on the car before she finally stopped for the night.

When she hit St. Louis, it wasn’t dark yet but it would be soon. Besides, she had been on the road for over 8 hours now and she was tired. She checked into a Day’s End Motel and after she put her suitcase in her room, she grabbed her book then went to have some dinner. Hopefully the book would keep men from approaching her if she at least pretended to be reading.

The club sandwich she had had with Joe earlier had worn off long ago and the small bag of chips she had bought at the first service station had not been enough to really curb her appetite so she was hungry!

Right now she just wanted to have her dinner then get back to her room, get this damned itchy wig off, the contacts that she had put back in at a previous gas stop, out of her eyes and then take a long hot, hopefully relaxing bath. She had tried not to worry about anyone following her but keeping a watch on her own back had become a habit over the last year. A very exhausting habit.

Because it was such a high profile case, the judge had not allowed much time to pass before the case was brought to trial and in the meantime, Bella had been in protective custody. Six months later, the trial for the men who had killed her family had been completed.

Their lawyer had come up with every legal means at their disposal to delay the final verdict but the defendants had screwed themselves by ranting on and on about how her family had been wolves who had shifted to humans after they had been shot. The fact that they had admitted to the shooting sealed their fates because wolves are on the endangered species list.

In the meantime, several attempts to silence Bella had been made but thanks to Joe and Carla, they had all been unsuccessful. The day the men were found guilty by unanimous vote by the jury, had been a day of triumph for Bella. Finally the men were sent to a high security federal prison where they spent one year before they were executed for their crimes. Several appeals had been filed and fought, all of them losing because the men kept claiming that she and her family were werewolves.

All during the trial, no one on either side had made any mention of the money laundering scheme and in order to keep Bella safe and because they couldn’t prove anything different, the PA decided not to pursue it at the time. But Bella had been warned that the men associated with the murderers might try to get to her if they suspected that she knew even minor details about her father’s discovery, which she didn’t.

Joe had told her, “Hopefully the people involved will realize you didn’t know anything about your father’s investigation and since the two of them had been insisting that they saw your family turn into werewolves, no one believed anything they had to say.”

Their one year had ended two months ago and even though Joe had tried to convince her not to attend, she had to be sure that they were gone and had paid for killing her family. Joe finally caved in and Bella had been in the front row as each man received the injection that had ended his miserable life. In her opinion, they had gotten off easy since they were basically allowed to just go to sleep, never to wake up again.

Her family had not been so lucky. But Bella refused to think about that right now. It was too close to bedtime and thinking about it now meant nightmares and there was no Joe or Carla to sit with her tonight. She knew they were only a phone call away but she also realized that she needed to learn to deal with it on her own. She couldn’t keep running to them every time she had a bad dream. Besides, if she used her new cell phone to call, that would open her up to them finding her location again.

Joe Keller and Carla Benton had been her almost constant companions for the entire time she had been in the witness protection program. She couldn’t really say that she had gotten close to Carla because Carla was just too stiff and rigid but she had protected Bella more than once and for that Bella would always be grateful.

But it was Joe that she had gotten close to. He too was much older than Bella but he was much more relaxed and easier to talk to. His shoulder had been the one she cried on when they had laid her family to rest and had been her rock when she had identified the men who had killed them.

The trial had been hard to endure but she had given her testimony as truthfully as possible, under the circumstances, and in full detail of what she had survived by sheer luck.

Bella could have won an Oscar for her performance as she had added to the belief that the men must have been drinking or on drugs and delusional, seeing things that could not possibly be true, when they had shot and killed her family. Her father, after all, was a very influential person in the banking industry in Detroit, hence the reason the trial was so high profile.

She had played her part well, acting embarrassed and as if she had been revealing a family secret when she told them that her family were nudist and had been enjoying a family gathering, naked in the woods. That reasoning had explained away why their bodies had been found with no clothes on and there had been no evidence of rape or molestation.

If anyone had known anything about werewolves, they would have realized that the true reason was because werewolves shift back to their human forms if they are killed. The only reason why Bella had survived was because she had been the only one not shot in the head. It must have been easy for the hunters to make those head shots from the safety of their hunting tree blinds and her family had not known they were there.

Bella had been looking for a way to climb down to the pond at the bottom of the cliff when she had heard the shots. She had been in her wolf form and was almost to the bottom on a trail that was barely a trail when she had heard the shots and had run back towards where she had left her family.

When she had seen what had happened and the men standing over their bodies, she had made a mistake in rushing the two men but they had heard her coming and one shot her in the right side of her chest and as she stumbled, the other one shot her in her thigh.

Off balance and stumbling, she had rolled as she had fallen over the side of the cliff and landed on a small outcropping several feet below the top of the cliff. When the hunters had looked, they had not seen her hidden by the bushes and had assumed that she had gone all the way to the bottom of the ravine. Her family had not been so lucky. She had heard the hunters talking and they had been afraid that no one was going to believe them about her family being wolves, so they tossed her family’s bodies over the cliff and then ran away when they heard other hikers coming.

Apparently there had been other people looking to go swimming in the pond and had heard the shots. They had also heard Bella’s cries for help and had rescued her from the small outcropping, naked as the day she was born and badly injured from where she had been shot in addition to all the scrapes and scratches from falling off the cliff into the bush.

When she had arrived at the hospital, because the bullets were still in her, she had not healed as quickly as she normally would have. Doctors at the hospital had been amazed how quickly she had healed once they removed the bullets but the lead that had been in them had left traces in her flesh as well as slowed the healing process.

The human doctors did not know that all traces of lead needed to be cleaned out in order for her to heal quicker or without scarring. Even now, Bella sported two round scars, one on her left thigh and the one that she saw most often was the one just above her right breast below her collar bone.

Just then the waitress interrupted her wool gathering as she delivered her food. Bella thanked her and didn’t hesitate to dig into her food. The beef brisket she had ordered was excellent and she enjoyed every last bite of it.

The waitress brought her check, made sure she didn’t want anything else and before she could leave the table, Bella took out money from her wallet and told the waitress “Keep the change” as she handed her enough to cover her tab and a generous tip.

“Thanks!” The waitress told her with a smile before heading to dump her dirty dishes and then to the register to cash out. Bella grabbed her book and stood up but had barely made it to the door when a man a little older than her approached her.

“Did you enjoy your meal?” He asked.

“Yes, it was very good. Thank you.” Bella replied.

“How about a drink in the bar before you head off to bed?” He asked, before pushing open the door for her.

“No, thank you. I don’t drink. Good night.” Bella said, hoping that would be plain enough for him to get the message as she stepped over the threshold back into the hotel lobby.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” The man said and let the door swing closed behind her.

She was thankful that he had taken the hint but she was also suspicious because he had given up so easily. Bella hurried over to the elevator and pushed the up button. Thankfully she had the elevator car all to herself. She took the extra precaution Joe and Carla had taught her and to hit 3 buttons, 2 floors below her floor and for 1 floor above and then for 2 more floors above that and she got off at the one that was 1 floor above hers, preferring to go downstairs rather than having to climb the stairs back to her floor, just to be safe and sure that no one was following her.

She stepped off into the empty hallway and saw the sign for the stairs. She hurried over to the door and pushed it open. She checked that no one was in the stairwell then hurried down the steps. She pushed open the door to her floor and she practically ran for her door, which was about half way down the hall. She pulled her key card out of her back pocket and let herself in, then immediately put the extra lock on and pulled the desk chair over and shoved it under the door knob.

She stepped back and looked at what she had done and then laughed at herself. “Paranoid much, Bella?” she thought but having the door as secure as she could make it gave her a sense of safety so she left it as she had made it.

Eager to finally be free of it, she walked to the bathroom as she pulled off the offensive blonde wig and tossed it on the counter. She removed the scalp cap and then the bobby pins that kept her own braided hair in place. As soon as she released the braid, she then scratched her head vigorously with both hands. She couldn’t wait to wash it, even though it didn’t really need it since it had been under the stretch cap and wig all day. But they had both made her scalp feel like her head had been sweating which made her scalp feel dirty.

She entered the shower area, turned on the water in the tub then adjusted the temperature before removing her clothes. She forced herself not to look at the scar on her right shoulder or the one on her left leg as she undressed in front of the vanity mirror before she removed her contacts.

Instead she grabbed a washcloth and then stepped into the tub, sinking down until it covered her all the way up to her neck. She reached out and turned off the water so that it wouldn’t overflow onto the floor then leaned back with a sigh. She emptied her mind as the heat from the water helped the muscles in her back and legs relax. She wished this was a jacuzzi tub but it wasn’t so this would have to do for now. If she dared to stay at a high end hotel she might be able to enjoy that luxury but since she was still nervous about someone following her, she felt she would have to give up those amenities for now.

She had shaved her legs last night so she didn’t need to worry about that tonight but she did want to wash her hair again. She lay in the tub, letting her arms float beside her until the water cooled, then she pulled the plug and when the tub was almost empty, she turned the water back on, stood up and washed her hair and finished bathing.

Feeling much more relaxed now, she climbed out, dried off, brushed her teeth then combed out her hair. She knew it would be the smart thing to do to continue wearing the blonde wig tomorrow but dreaded having to put it on in the morning.

She pulled on her nightgown and went through her suitcase for the clothes she planned on wearing tomorrow. She left them on the bed she would not be using, put the clothes she had worn that day in a plastic bag and put them back in her suitcase. She’d have to do laundry in a day or two, otherwise it meant having to wear clothes she had already worn, which, to her, was offensive.

She left her toothbrush, toothpaste and brush out on the vanity counter but put the rest of her toiletries back in her bag. She had learned long ago to make sure she could leave anywhere at the drop of a hat and not have too much to grab on the way out or that anything that had to be left behind wouldn’t be too hard to replace.

That was the reason, she had two of everything in the way of her toiletries as well as two or three cell phone chargers. One of everything she needed was in her “go bag” with an extra change of clothes. It was all in a small backpack that took up about a quarter of the space in her larger suitcase. If she had to run in a hurry, she could just grab it and her purse and just go and she would have everything she really needed for at least a day or two. She also had a small first aid kit, a sewing kit, matches, a compact flashlight, a pocket knife, a fish hook with a card of monofilament to use as a fishing line, a rain poncho and a “space blanket” and some granola bars and “space packs” of food. The food stuff tasted awful in her opinion but it would be better than starving if the need ever arose for her to have to use them.

You would think she had learned to carry all of this from Joe but actually she had learned it from her father. When he had been teaching his kids how to camp and hike as humans, seemingly knowing that there might be the day when they might not be able to shift to get away from a bad situation. Bella often wondered if he had ever realized that one day his lessons would help to keep one of his daughters safe again or at least feeling more secure in her chances to survive!

Once Bella felt secure that she was ready to go, she turned on the TV and channel surfed for a few minutes. Not finding anything on the boobtube to watch, which wasn’t unusual, she found an easy listening music station. She turned the volume down, set the sleep timer to go off in an hour, then grabbed her book.

Piling pillows from both beds on her bed, she slipped between the sheets and settled down to try to get interested in her story but she was so tired that it wasn’t long before she was sound asleep.

The next morning, Bella woke up to the sound of someone slamming a door and of the maids talking in the hallway. Realizing that she had forgotten to put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the doorknob outside, Bella shoved herself into an upright position.

“At least the chair is there so they can’t just come in.” she thought groggily as she swung her legs off the side of the bed and sat for a moment, trying to fully wake up. Bella had never been a morning person and even though she had slept well, she was still rather tired.

After a minute or two, she stood up and went to the bathroom to empty her bladder. As soon as that was taken care of, she washed her hands, brushed her teeth and then her hair before putting the hated contacts back in her eyes. She glared at the blonde wig, dreading putting it on and then remembered she had a scarf in her suitcase. She had bought it before she had started wearing the wig as a disguise. If it had worked then, it should work now.

She dug through her suitcase until she came up with the scarf then hurried back to her brush. She braided her hair then put the scarf on her head and twisted her braid up in the ends of the scarf and wrapped it around her head effectively hiding her hair. She added some big hoop earrings and changed the plain t-shirt she had been planning to wear to a peasant blouse and it would be easy to pull off the “hip gypsy” look today.

Some red lipstick and a thicker line of eyeliner finished the look and she couldn’t help but smile at herself. “Thank you Carla.” She whispered to herself. Carla may have been stiff and not overly friendly but she was a master of disguise and had taught Bella some makeup tricks that worked well to keep her safe.

Bella had put the contacts back in her eyes, thinking that she needed to find some large sunglasses so that she could cover her eyes and would not have to wear the contacts anymore. Then she stuffed the hated blonde wig into a plastic bag and put it in her suitcase. She grabbed the charger for the burner phone and added it to her “go bag” before she zipped her suitcase closed. She slipped her feet into her loafers, looked around the room to make sure she had everything as she put her suitcase down on the floor and extended the handle.

She let herself out of the room and went downstairs to check out. She decided to forego breakfast in the dining room and just headed for her car. She wanted coffee but would go through a drive through and get something to eat at the same time. Since she also needed to fill her gas tank, she headed for the service station first.

As had become her habit, she used her electronic detector to make sure no one had added a tracking device to her jeep as she filled her tank. When she was satisfied that her jeep was “clean”, she hung up the pump handle and went to pay for her fill up, again paying cash. Then she drove over to a fast food place across the street. She got her breakfast and pulled into one of the empty stalls in their parking lot to eat as she watched the cars going by before she got on the road again.

She repeated the day for over a week, taking her time to see as many of the sights as she could along the way. But her need to reach her destination seemed to fill her with an urgency to keep going as she got closer to the west coast and when she finally crossed the state line into Washington, she let out a sigh of relief. She had not been pushing it and had enjoyed the scenery and even a few souvenir shops along the way but she was glad that she was finally here as she entered Seattle that evening.

Knowing she still had a little way to go but because she didn’t want to chance getting lost or in an accident on the mountain roads she would be driving soon, she decided to pull in and get another hotel for the night since she was both hungry and tired and it was going to be dark soon.

Tonight she chose a Holiday Inn and thankfully they had a decent restaurant downstairs, if the smells coming through the lobby were anything to go by. She checked in, put her bag in her room on the 5th floor and after she freshened up a bit, she went downstairs for dinner.

Now that she was near the ocean, Bella decided on surf and turf for dinner and when the waiter brought her dinner, she was glad of her choice. She enjoyed one of the best meals she’d had in a very long time.

Completely satisfied and now with a full stomach, Bella paid her check and decided to walk outside to enjoy the view of the sun setting on the ocean. The smell of the ocean was strong but the sound of the waves on the shore was very soothing as she walked along the sidewalk that ran parallel to the beach.

When the sun disappeared over the horizon, Bella turned back towards the hotel and had only gone a few yards when suddenly, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she got goosebumps on her arms. She turned and looked behind her, lifting her face and taking a deep breath through her nose.

She faintly smelled sandalwood and cinnamon but the stronger scent smelled of something dead. She took another deep breath but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from and she didn’t see anything, even with her enhanced night vision.

Uncertain of what to do, she stood for a minute thinking but then she heard the voices of some other people headed in her direction. It was two young couples, walking hand in hand. She had to step to the side to let them pass and after they were well down the path on their way to the beach, Bella lifted her head and took another deep breath through her nose but found she could no longer smell the scents she had picked up on earlier. “With my luck, it’s a rapist or serial killer, hoping I would go into the trees or onto the beach by myself.”

With an unsettled feeling, she stepped up her pace as she walked back to the hotel and up to her room. She took a shower and after preparing her stuff for the next day, crawled into bed but tonight it took her a little while before she fell asleep.

“I know I smelled something! But surely, they wouldn’t be this close to town? Why didn’t they make themselves known? Are they rogues? Girl, you had better be careful. Murderous hunters are not the only dangers out there.” She whispered to herself as she drifted off to sleep.