(OOC: so sorry i haven't been on to post, and that Zoe wasn't there for Adrian when she needed her. :/ I'll try to keep up better, which will be much easier after this week, since it is my last week before summer vacation. :D)
Zoe returned to the castle with Zane, panting and out of breath. By the time she had gotten Adrian's message and cry for help through the mind-link, she had been on the opposite side of the territory and couldn't find her in time, by the time she was even heading in the right direction, Adrian seemed to already have returned safely. Zoe felt guilty for not being there to help her friend, and felt slow and useless at the moment. How was she supposed to be of any help to anyone if she was never in the right place at the right time, and she always missed everything when her packmates and friends needed her the most? Her inner wolf whimpered, but she pushed it down and let out a soft, long sigh under her breath, nuzzling Zane's shoulder with her muzzle gently and walking with him inside the castle. As soon as she entered the grounds though, before she even took three steps into the entrance hall of the castle, the smell of an extremely power and dark vampire hit her nose. Her lip curled up in disgust, as she contemplated who it could be to feel that powerful, and only one possibility entered her mind - the Vampire Queen - fear struck her heart and made it hard to breathe, but she walked closer to her mate and leaned on Zane for comfort and reassurance. He was one of the only ones she would truly admit how scared she was to. And right now, she knew the thought of the Vampire Queen scared the living shit out of her, as well she knew it should. She decided to avoid the Queen for tonight, not even wanting to put herself closer to that devious bitch than necessary. She didn't know her personally, but she'd heard stories, none of them pleasant. There was hardly a woman more ruthless, so she'd heard, and she didn't doubt it. Although she also knew that her pack, her family, had the potential to be even stronger at times because of how close they were knitted together and how much they would risk for each other. If you touched one of them, you messed with them all; thats what she loved about being a werewolf, and she thanked Artemis she wasn't a vampire; even if they were mad at each other, they didn't stay that way for long, and werewolves were always there for each other. Thats just what they did, who they were; because they were family, a pack. And no force, not even the cruel, ruthless Vampire Queen, as evil and devious as she was, could tear that apart.
Zoe reached her room with Zane and quickly changed into a t-shirt and comfy shorts for pjs and crawled into bed beside him once he changed into something more comfortable also. For a time, she didn't know how much time passed, she lay there next to her mate in companionable silence, her fingers brushing his between them as she lay there on her back, eyes focused on a distant spot in the ceiling as she pondered the events of the day and past few weeks.