Run, Run, Run, As Fast As You Can

Midnight

I looked at the calender and felt a small, satisfied, smile slip onto my face. I'd never been away from an HMH for more than two months. It had been six months since we'd arrived in Birdsong as of today.

Looking at the differences between this escape and my previous ones it wasn't any surprise that we'd made it this long when I'd never been able to make it more than two months previously. This time, I had wolves on my side, not only chasing me. Eros had sent a letter to his mom via a pigeon that Snapdragon made friends with. It had come back with a note from his mom saying that she would call off the search. Snapdragon had covered our path, so Falcon couldn't find us if he wanted to. Jambres didn't really have the resources to waste on us. So many factors were coming together to make this the best escape I'd ever pulled off. 

I put a red mark over the date and crawled into bed. 

Sleep claimed me quickly and I fell into dreams of soaring above the clouds. 

I was dreaming of true freedom when I realized that there was something wrong in the real world. Rolling over, I tried to shake the feeling off. It didn't work. 

Reluctantly, I pulled my eyes open and started looking around the room. 

A pair of blue cat eyes blinked at me from the corner of the room. I wasn't surprised about it this time though. This seemed to be the style of the elves. Showing up randomly when their curiosity prompted them or when they just wanted to talk to someone. They seemed to be nocturnal by nature, so it was always at night. They didn't seem to think of houses as anything but shelter either. 

"Hello Mingan," I said, sitting up in bed.

I could just see his outline bowing to me in greeting, "Rose."

"Why are you here?" 

"I was hoping you would go on a walk with me," he said, motioning to the window. 

A faint shiver went up my spine at the prospect. Snow was falling in a lazy manner past my window, and I knew that it was far below freezing out there. However, to refuse Mingan, would mean to turn my  back on a supernatural creature that was as much the reason that we'd been able to stay here as anything else. 

"May I bring my strong-arm?" I asked, having no intentions of going alone.

"Of course," Mingan said with another slight bow, "I would expect nothing less of the next king werewolf."

I nodded once in appreciation before standing up and walking to the door of my room.

"Please," I said as I grabbed the door knob, "make yourself comfortable. I'm not sure how light my strong-arm sleeps."

I couldn't see it, but I knew that Mingan bowed again as I opened the door and walked over to Eros' door. 

Trying to be as quiet as I could I opened his door and slipped inside. Eros was on top of the covers in nothing but his boxers. Ignoring the slightly nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach I walked over to him and shook his shoulder gently. 

He growled deep in his throat before grabbing me and maneuvering me until he was standing in a protective stance above me. I moved a little, trying to get out from under him. His growl got deeper and I stopped.

I considered my position for a minute. I was lying down in his bed, unable to get in front of him because he seemed to be having some kind of nightmare.

"Eros," I said softly, reaching up to put my hand on his bare back, "we have a visitor. You need to be awake to see our visitor."

He just growled more and got into a deeper stance in front of me. Poising, almost as if he were preparing to pounce on his invisible foe.