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"Thirty..."
Harsh breathing covers the sound of crunching leaves under their feet almost entirely. The badum badum badum badum of their heart as their ears pick up the slower footsteps of the hunter chasing them, a flash of cold metal held in front of the hunter's face in their mind's eye. Mike is getting tired, legs sore from running as their ankle throbs. They can't lose, not this.
"Twenty-nine..."
Mike has to rest. They can't keep going like this.
Slowing their run to a trot, Mike lets their bones break and snap back, healing just enough as they go from wolf to mostly human, fangs still seen as they grimace, hand ghosting over their poorly patched side. The side that the hunter had grazed with one of his bullets not too long ago.
Their head snaps up at the break of a branch, still on high alert and ready to take off again as much as adrenaline would allow.
Another wolf emerges, a lighter brown than Mike themself, with hazel eyes that seem to reflect the sun just right. Two pups, still babies in their eyes, follow him, their blonde-ish coats also catching the sun's rays, all unaware of the dangers they would soon encounter.
Crack s and the sound of a skeleton shifting, bones moving, and a light brown-haired man in front of them.
"Mike..."
Mike winces as they step forward, pain shooting through their ankle much more than before. Their ankle is swollen, appearing sprained at the very least as they look down. They look up as Will pulls their arm around his neck.
The children, Daisy and Miles, crowd around the two, having taken longer to shift due to their young age. Miles attempts to help his dad support Mike, Daisy taking over talking for both.
"Papa!" She not so discreetly glances at their wrist, the forest green side of the bracelet showing. "Dad took us for a lesson earlier, and..." She continues on, Mike too busy trying to get the energy to talk now that they're drained.
Mike shakes their head. "Will, we need to get them out of here."
"Twenty-eight..."
Mike doesn't shy away from their mate's eyes, their pups going quiet, seemingly sensing the tense energy Mike radiates. "There's a hunter not too far from here. We need to hide, take them somewhere safer. He had a gun , Will." Tears are already forming in their eyes, making it harder to see as Will helps them.
"We need to get you patched up first. I know how you do it under stress, and I'm not having you bleed out before us." Will sends them a look when their mouth opens to reply, Daisy opens the door once they get close enough, and Miles runs for the first aid kit. Bringing the box back, neither kid budges when Will tells them to pack what they can carry.
Mike winces as Will pulls her shirt up, turning her head to look at Miles. "Please, we'll have to leave after Dad is done." She moves to flip the bracelet on her wrist, making the dark red face outward.
She doesn't look as her shoddy wrapping comes undone, and the kids finally scatter for their things.
The cleaning solution stings, the graze being surprisingly deep from what she had noticed earlier.
"I really hate that you keep sneaking out to avoid me asking, you know," Will murmurs, carefully dabbing at the dried blood to clean it off. "I want to make sure you're safe, too."
Mike lets out a huff. "I know, I'm working on it, but it feels like I'm letting you get hurt if I do. You know I can't stand seeing you hurt."
"And you think I can?"
Mike flinches as Will proceeds to clean the actual wound. There were already quite a few bloody cotton balls in their trash can he'd pulled over. Silence prevails as Mike doesn't really know how to respond. Will moves to spreading antiseptic and having Mike hold her shirt up so he can tape a gauze pad and neosporin to it.
"Look," he says, pulling away. "I don't want to just be your nurse when you inevitably get shot or hurt or anything. I want to protect you, Ems." His shoulders are slumped as he talks, defeated.
It makes Mike feel selfish, just a little.
"I know what you're doing right now, so stop feeling guilty." Will tries to meet her eyes as he speaks, but she can barely stand it. "I just want you to see you don't have to be the one always on the lookout. You need to rest sometimes."
And Mike doesn't mean to, she really doesn't, but it still gets to her that she needs to be the one to protect him, to protect their pups, but God forbid they get tired of her and leave one day, just like everyone she'd known before him. She wouldn't be able to handle it, she knows.
"I know," she whispers. "But my brain doesn't work like that, Will. It won't let me just lay off. You know how obsessed I can get."
Will's expression saddened as he reached up to push a few strands behind her ear that fell from her hair tie. "I know, Ems. And I hate how it works against you like that, but sometimes it makes me feel like I'm not doing enough."
She winces. They've had this conversation again and again, but it feels like there's nothing she can do to change it because knowingly letting Will put himself in danger makes her go haywire. She can't let anything happen to him. "I'm trying." is all of a response she can muster up. They're quiet as Will fixes her ankle as well.
Will lets out a sigh that feels like disappointment before standing. "Come on, we need to pack, too."
He helps her up, and they both pack a bag. Packing every essential they could fit, Mike grabbed her wedding rings she didn't like wearing on patrols or hunts and the earrings Will had gotten her for their anniversary this year. Their papers from the lock-box, spare phones, and a charger.
"Twenty-seven..."
They make it out of the house quickly and quietly, having a bag each. Mike grabs for Will's hand, intertwining their fingers. She would definitely miss this place, but they needed to move anyway, the house not being big enough for something she hadn't told Will about yet.
She also needs to take Will's words to heart, especially with the extra beating heart she hears sometimes. By now, Mike is sure she knows what it means, but like with Miles and Daisy, Mike had hated being careful to the point where she couldn't even go out.
So, it'd have to be a secret a little bit longer.
How she'll keep this secret, she doesn't know.