I shaky my head, “No.”

My tone is a little desperate, “Don’t tell anyone, please.”

Her eyes are helpless as she looks at me, taking the envelope, “Thea. How long is this going to go on? You have twenty-five hundred saved so far with me. What are you planning to do?”

My hand trembles, and I give her a weak smile, “I don’t know. Run away some day? Maybe?”

That had been the plan till Alan, Universe’s father, had let slip about my secret bank account.

Some people have memories that traumatize them. A few memories. Every day, for me, is a living trauma. My brothers had marched me over to the bank and had me withdraw my eleven thousand dollars of savings, the money I had put together over years and years. Then they had taken me home and broken my legs. They had beaten me for three days straight till I had been foaming at the mouth, unable to breathe or think or even process the pain.

Universe doesn’t know that.

All she knows is that I was severely punished.

It’s convenient to have a human friend be aware of my identity, but if she ever finds out about the dark nature of Panther shifters, I’m scared she will abandon me.

So, I smile, “Just keep it safe, will you? Maybe one day, you and I will travel the world.”

She lets out a bark of laughter as we close up, “Tell my bank account that.”

The town is the busiest just as the sun is going down. Humans would attribute that to people ending their workday, but I know better. Arrow Brooke is no ordinary town. It is ruled by Mayor Donald Hamrington, a vampire. I’ve seen him in passing. He looks like he’s in his late seventies. His wife, on the other hand, is human, surprisingly. Ashley something.

I’ve seen her, too.

Very pretty and young.

It’s due to Mayor Hamrington’s influence that a lot of Others flit through Arrow Brooke. Considering that the town is surrounded by a forest so large that it’s easy to get lost for days on end, a lot of shifters have moved here as well.

That’s why my parents moved here fifteen years ago when we had been ousted from our tribe. They had come here with the hopes of starting anew.

It’s getting even darker, and my anxiety rears its head. But the entrance to the forest is still at quite a distance. I cross past a large bar, and my feet slow down as I glance inside. It’s only got a few people, but I catch a glimpse of a woman behind the bar. She has short, choppy black hair and piercing grey eyes.

I know who she is.

Seline Cross, the mate of Austin Cross, the Alpha of the Stone Creek Wolves. She is quite popular around town. Nobody could manage to quell the rumors of the events which took place two years ago, with Seline at the heart of it all.

I’ve always wanted to go inside and just take a proper look at her. I mean, I could. Universe has been dying to get me to go out for drinks. But I’m not allowed to leave the house unless it’s for work or study. And even that came at quite a cost.

As we reach the intersection, Universe turns to look at me. I can see that she wants to say something but is hesitant.

“Don’t worry about me,” I smile at her. “I’ll be fine.”

She’s only met Chris so far, and I remember how terrified she was of him.

“I can’t help it,” my friend takes my hands. “I wish you would take some money from me and just run away.”

“They’ll track me.”

“But you’re fast-”

My smile wobbles. How do I explain to her that the mark on my right wrist is not a birthmark but a seal to hold in my panther? A punishment that makes me weak and at my brother’s mercy.

I can’t run fast enough.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I hug her before dragging myself towards the tree line.

My hand on the trunk of a tree, I look inside the darkness, my panther whimpering restlessly. There was a time when I had loved running through this forest along with my parents and my doting brothers.

Now, my parents are no more, the violence of their deaths having broken our family. And my brothers, they have become monsters.

There are a few shifter packs that reside in the woodlands. But the territories have been scent marked so that no one crosses over. Our family tribe is small, so we don’t have much territory to begin with. There’s another Panther pack in the area, the Black Claw Tribe, and their Alpha is a particularly creepy man. My brothers like him though, since he allows us to hunt on his tribe's land.

I shudder, moving quickly through the trees.

I finally breathe a sigh of relief when I see the treehouses in the distance. Each treehouse belongs to one of my brothers. Everybody has one except me.

It’s an insult, I know.

But I’m past the point of insults at this stage.

I just want to survive.

I make my way to the family house, the one that my father built when we first arrived. It no longer has that feeling of warmth and safety I once associated with it.

I enter the house to peeling paint and a musty scent, the sound of some game blaring loudly from the living room. As I put down the keys on the table right next to the entrance, I noticed the vase that had been an anniversary gift to my mother was missing.

I bite my tongue to hold in my cry of dismay.

They must have pawned it.