Jackson nodded his head at his pack who were waiting patiently outside Mason's cabin. Apparently whatever errands he had sent them on didn't keep them busy for to long.

Mark was the first one to walk up to him, a serious look on his face, "What did Mason want?"

"What do you mean?" Jackson mumbled without meeting his gaze.

Mark chewed on the inside of his cheek nervously, "Why did Mason want to know about Ara? Is something wrong with the girls?"

Jackson looked up and met Mark's worried eyes. A prick of guilt hit his heart when he saw the evident ring of light green the elder's eyes.

What was he supposed to say?

He knew there was no point in telling Mark the truth because even Mason didn't know the whole scope of what was going on.

Telling him that there was a slight possibility that Ara or Areum might not be their mates wouldn't do anything but worry him.

He needed a concrete answer from Mason about the prophecy before he sent anyone else into a fit of panic.

"He was just telling me about the panthers and he wanted to make sure that he read the spirits correctly when they said you found her." He lied with a tense smile.

Mark scanned Jackson's face before nodding. He could tell that he didn't believe him, but there wasn't enough time for him to ask more questions.

"We got the Trackers." Yugyeom said as he nodded to the group of matured wolves with tense faces.

Tracker wolves were a specific breed of wolves that had an acute sense of smell. The district used them when they were finding a place to settle and a territory to claim. Trackers also played a large role for exterminating the panthers with his parents .

Jackson bowed to them and they immediately bowed back respectfully. "Here." He said softly, pulling out a shirt that Areum had left in his room.

He loved how his room was littered with parts of her and her life. "Her scent is on this, but it has mine on it too, so it might not be too strong."

The leader of the Trackers shook his head, "Don't worry, this is more than enough. We've tracked a lot more with a lot less."

Jaebum took a step up beside Jackson, "It'll help if you keep a lookout for a panther scent as well. It'll be a lot stronger than hers probably is."

Jackson watched uncomfortably as they look long drags of breath of Areum's shirt, memorizing her scent. It felt invasive but he had to endure it and stop himself from snapping when they closed their eyes to focus on her scent.

They were here to help.

The leader opened his eyes with a stern nod, "We'll split up, there's 7 of us and 7 of you so we should pair off." He looked at Jackson, "You should come with me, prince."

Jackson nodded, "Let's go."

He turned to his pack who were watching him intently. Jackson gave him a grim smile and nodded, "Be safe. Call us if you guys find them and don't forget that Areum is more important than the panthers. If you have the choice to kill them or escape with her, take her, no matter what."

"Don't worry, she won't get hurt." Youngjae donned his rare serious expression.

Jackson took a deep breath and nodded before turning to the trackers who were waiting for Jackson's command.

"Alright then, let's go."

-----

They locked her in the basement.

When she dreamed about being Cinderella as a kid, this wasn't the part that she wanted.

She looked around the dusty room and sighed.

At least there was a small window up high that let light bleed in, both other than she could barely breath through the thick air.

She had to admit that she was curious why they moved her, but she had to admit she was glad. She didn't like being in Mino's room, it made her feel claustrophobic.

She guessed that it was because they wanted to keep her away from Mino but another part of her wondered if they were just worried that when the wolves came, that she's be too easy for them to get her out.

In a way it made her feel better, they were cocky, but not enough to assume that they'd win. They knew that wolves weren't easy and their precaution, made her feel confident.

She pushed herself up off the ground and limped around the room. Her ankle was still a little sore from the cut she got from the shattered plate and when she was cleaning the pieces up, a few dug into her skin so walking was a pain.  

The basement was relatively empty  except for a few bags and boxes. She walked over to one of the open boxes and rifled through its contents.

She lifted out a file that was wedged into the corner of the box. She dusted it off and opened it up. Her eyes scanned down the pages but most of it left her dumbfounded since it was in ancient script that she had never seen before.

But through the diagrams she could tell that she was reading the biological history of panthers. She remembered Jackson telling her that this pack of panthers stayed in hiding all these years while the rest of their race were being exterminated.

These panthers didn't have elders anymore, they had to figure out their own biology and behaviour patterns on their own.  

She shuffled through the pages until she found something written in English.

Links

She gulped and dared to read the small blurb that was scribbled on the bottom of the page.

Links

Panther's are known for having the longest natural life span than any other supernatural creature which often has them outliving their links. For that case, panthers are capable of linking with more than one link. Panthers can go through up to 3 links in one life time however not at once.

That being said, other than death, there is only one other way a panther can move on from a current link to a different one.

If the mat--

CRASH!

Areum dropped the file on the ground and turned and looked towards the door, in the direction where the sound came from.

The sound of footsteps thundering above her boomed around the house and she could hear the front door being swung open.

"They're here!"

Areum's eyes widened as she raced up the stairs to hear the commotion better.

They were here, the wolves found her.

She slammed her shoulder into the locked door, but like all the times before, it didn't budge. She needed to escape or they would never find her.

She looked around behind her until her eyes fell on the small window near the wall. Now that they were all out of the house, she actually stood a chance of escaping.

She ran down the stairs and raced up to the window, but it was too high up and even on her tippy toes, it was out of reach. She looked around for something to stand on until her eyes landed on a bunch of plastic storage boxes shoved in the corner of the room.

She hobbled over and stacked the boxes up on top of the stairs before dragging them over under the little window. She slowly climbed up on them as they teetered back and forth and  tried to catch her balance.

Once steadied, she grabbed onto the frame of the window and peeked through. She couldn't see much, but it was enough for her to know that if she could wiggle through, she would make it outdoors to the grass.

She quickly took her sweater off and wrapped it around her fist. She turned her face away protectively, before slamming her fist through the glass, shattering it into a million pieces. She used her covered fist to clear the rest of the glass that didn't break and heaved herself out of the window.

She hissed when a few shards of glass stabbed her palm but she forced herself to squeeze through the small window.

Areum laid on the grass, stomach down, and allowed herself to catch her breath. The cold winter air burned in her lungs as she wobbled up on both feet.

She did it.

She was free.

-----

Jackson never felt fear in his life.

As the prince, he had to show confidence and he wasn't allowed to show concern since he represented their race and district.

If people were to look to him for guidance, he couldn't falter.

So it took him 25 years to figure out what his biggest fear and nightmare was.

It was that if Areum's wasn't his mate, then somewhere out there, someone still was.

But he couldn't imagine having the capacity to love someone as much as he loved Areum.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus his attention back to the Tracker. They had been at it for a few hours and they were slowly moving further away from where they started. They had left their territory about an hour ago and now they were in unclaimed land.

He followed behind the Tracker he was with as he sniffed the ground in his wolf form. Jackson had never been this far away from the district and whenever he did chose to venture into the city, he never came into such isolated parts.

He didn't even think the Patrol packs monitored this far away.

Jackson kept his attention on the Tracker as he lifted his head up in the air and took a deep inhale and saw the way his body tense up.

Jackson barked, his tail wagging furiously. The Tracker's ear flinched as he shook his head off to the side and barked quietly back.

'I'm picking up a strong panther scent. They're close. I'd say maybe 200 feet away.'

Jackson's muscles locked up and a subconscious growl ripped through his throat. He started closing in on the vicinity as they spotted a small cabin hidden behind trees with vines acting as camouflage. He had to admit that if it wasn't for the Tracker he was with, he would've walked straight passed it.

Jackson wandered closer, his eyes scanning the area. It looked like the house was the only thr