Page 60 of Noah

I didn’t even know where I was going, but I knew I couldn’t stay there. I had to go somewhere else, somewhere far away from everything that had just happened.

The car keys in my pocket, I remembered. Without thinking, I climbed into my car and drove.

The road was a blur beneath me, my mind racing, heart pounding, everything inside of me on edge.

I didn’t know what excuse I had given myself, why I thought I could just run from it all.

The only thing I could feel was that mark. That damned mark on my neck, where Jackson had bitten me, claimed me.

My pulse throbbed in time with the mark, and every beat seemed to reverberate through me, shaking me to my core.

It was like a constant reminder of the decision I’d made, the way I’d asked for it in a moment of weakness.

A moment of vulnerability.

I shook my head, trying to focus, but it wasn’t working. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had asked for it. I had asked Jackson to mark me.

Maybe not consciously, but somewhere deep down, my wolf had been desperate to claim him.

Maybe in that moment of weakness, when everything felt raw, when I didn’t know what else to do, my wolf had spoken for me.

We’re mates, my wolf reminded me, its voice deep and calming, like it had always been there.Calm down. Jackson’s the one. You’ve known this forever.

And I had known it. I’d known it for years. But somewhere along the way, I’d buried that truth.

I’d gotten lost in the mess of growing up. I had forgotten. I’d buried the truth so deep that it was easier to deny than to confront.

I drove for what felt like hours, but eventually, I found myself in the woods. I pulled off the road, the trees surrounding me, and I didn’t even hesitate.

I tore off my clothes, my heart still racing, and shifted. The change was painful, but it was familiar, a comfort.

As soon as my paws hit the earth, I was running.

Running like I could outrun everything—like I could outrun the bond, outrun the mark, outrun the fear that had wrapped itself around me.

But no matter how fast I ran, no matter how far I pushed myself, I couldn’t escape it. I couldn’t escape Jackson, or what had just happened between us.

Every step, every breath, every heartbeat—it was all a reminder. The mark pulsed on my neck like it was alive, a constant presence.

You’re mates, my wolf said again, more insistent this time.Calm down.

I couldn’t. I couldn’t calm down. Not when everything was so damn overwhelming.

I ran harder. The wind howled through the trees, the forest blurring around me, but it didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered except the feeling of my paws pounding the earth, the feeling of the world falling away as I ran faster and faster.

The exhaustion, the panic—they all faded the longer I ran, the more I let my wolf take over.

But as I kept pushing myself, I started to feel something else. A presence.

A calming energy that flowed through the air like a ripple, like someone was there with me, running beside me.

I slowed for a moment, my senses alert, and I immediately recognized who it was. It was Cooper.

Cooper was running beside me, his pace steady, unhurried. His presence wasn’t intrusive, wasn’t demanding.

It was simply there, like a quiet reassurance. It was like he knew exactly what I needed—no words, no questions.

---