It’s been two hours and still no word, Linda came by about a half hour ago to bring me some food, but I haven't touched it. Every so often I'll hear howls in the distance, but I can't make out who is making them or why. As I sit in my bed with my head in my hands, my father's words echo through my mind. I know he didn't mean to hurt me and he just wants me to be safe, but I can't help but get angry. I know its stupid and illogical but just can't help it, it's also not helping that I'm worried about everyone out there right now. Alice, Cora, Claire, Lucas, Noel, Selene, Charles and my parents; their all out there and anyone of them could be hurt and in trouble and I'm up here not doing anything. My mind slowly drifts back to Keira, hoping and praying that she's alright, I can't help but imagine her hurt and alone needing me.

That's it, I can't take it anymore! I need to do something!

I go to my closet and grab some bed sheets and start tying them together by the ends. Part of me knows this is a stupid idea but I ignore it and hope this works like it does in the movies. I open my window and look down, eyeballing the distance to the ground I'm satisfied with the length of my makeshift rope and tie one end to my bed post and throw the other end out the window. I strap my silver daggers to the back of my waist and give the blankets a good tug to make sure its solid. I take another look out the window to make sure no one from the pack is around to see or stop me. James's clinic isn't far, if I stay downwind and move fast I can get there before anyone can pick up my scent. I know mom and dad are gonna be pissed when they find out I left to the clinic, but I can't just sit around and do nothing. I need to show them I can do this, that I can help that I can be of use to the pack.

I take a deep breath to steady myself and proceed out the window, as I slowly make my way down I pray that the sheets hold, when my feet finally touch the ground I let out a sigh of relief.

"Huh, I'm surprised that actually worked." I muse to myself.

Snap

The sound of a twig snapping behind me has me groaning in frustration, not even a minute into my escape and I'm already caught. As I slowly turn around I try to think up a good excuse.

"So yeah, this isn't what it looks like. I was jus-"

My words die on my lips as I finish turning around and see that the giant wolf behind me is not a wolf I recognize, it isn't from our pack. This is not good; my hand moves slowly towards one of my daggers.

"Grrrrrrrrr."

The wolf growls and moves in front of me so quick I have to fight the urge to cower back. The fact that this wolf hasn't already torn me to shreds is a miracle, so I decide not to push my luck and raise my hands in surrender. Up close and out in the open I'm taken aback by the sheer size of the wolf, it's as big as my father maybe even bigger and he's considered large even among the other alphas. Its white fur and fluid movements make it look almost ethereal, even through human eyes I can tell that this wolf is beautiful. Its light blue eyes continue to watch me, eyes that I recognize.

"Keira!?" I say incredulously

The wolf slowly circles around me letting its large body graze mine as it moves, as if trying to caress me, causing the humming feeling to wash through my body.

"Well I guess that answers that question, but what are you doing here? Scratch that you need to leave, if my pack catches you here there's gonna be trouble and I don't want YOU hurting anyone." I say in a hushed voice.

I was more worried for my pack than Keira, as strong as she was in human form I can't even begin to imagine how powerful she must be in her wolf form. This seemed to make Keira happy as she seemed to stand up straighter and gave a low growl of approval. I hear a low howl in the distance and it reminds me of what I was doing.

"Look I need to go, and you need to get back to your pack. We'll talk tomorrow I promise."

I turn to walk away but she jumps in front of me and growls.

"What the-, what are you doing?" I question.

She uses her snout to point at the rope of bedsheets and pushes me back towards it. She's stopping me!

"I don't have time for this, I need to go help James our pack doctor."

Keira growls at me and I see her take in a deep breath. She's going to howl!

"Okay, okay, okay." I jump at her to stop her. "I'm going, I'm going."

I begin to climb back up, she uses her head to help push me up. When I'm finally back in my room I go to my door and listen to see if anyone is coming. Thankfully everything is still quiet, I turn around and see Keira in human form standing in the middle of my room gloriously naked. I quickly turn around; her body is perfect. I call upon every ounce of self-control I have left to not walk over there and take her or realistically let her take me.

"What's wrong?" Keira asks me in a worried tone.

"Nothing, I just need you to grab one of those bed sheets and use it to cover yourself." I say in a strained voice.

"Why? Aren't you used to seeing naked werewolves by now?" She asks me curiously.

"I am, I just.." The urge to turn around was getting stronger so I decide to tell her the truth. "It's different with you, I don't think I have the self-control and I'm pretty sure you know why." My voice getting even more strained.

A few seconds pass and she doesn't say anything, I start to wonder if she's still here when I feel her arms wrap around me and her lips near my ear.

"It's nice to know I have that effect on you." She whispers huskily in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

The sensation of fabric on my back lets me know she's using a bedsheet, which surprises me. I turn around not bothering to move out of her arms and look at her.

"Why do you look so surprised?" She asks smiling.

"Because I am, I thought you might try and use this to your advantage." I answered honestly.

"Hmm, the thought did cross my mind, but after working so hard to get here without getting caught I figured it'd be a shame for it to happen now from you screaming my name."

"Screaming your name?" I ask confused. She quirks an eyebrow at me and I realize what she means. Tired of her always taking charge I decide to fight back a little, "How do you know it wouldn't be you screaming my name?" I put my arms around her waist to show her I can give as good as I get.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

She looks down at my arms around her waist and then back up at me, her eyes were now glowing her wolven instincts rising to the challenge. The intensity if her gaze makes my legs shake and my breathing hard. Goddess she's beautiful.

Howl

Another howl, it breaks us both out of our reverie. I recognize the howl as Zaya's, it's an all clear signal, I can tell from the pitch and length. Remembering the situation outside I force myself to back away from Keira, she's visibly saddened by this but doesn't stop me or say anything.

"You should leave, they'll find your scent any second now."

"Doubtful, I covered my tracks and hid my scent. The only way they'll catch me is if I let them." She walks around my room looking at my belongings.

"Hid your scent, how do manage that?"

"Tsk, tsk, I can't give away all my secrets." Her tone playful.

I roll my eyes, "So, what are you doing here?"

"I think a better question is why were you sneaking out of your own room? You said you were going to go help your pack doctor, so why do you need to sneak out to do that?" She eyes me curiously.

I let out a sigh, "Its complicated, my family is a bit over protective right now and they didn't want me going out. But the pack is my family and I need to help however I can."

I look over to Keira, she's smiling at me, but her expression is one of surprise.

"What?" I ask.

"You may not be a werewolf, but you sure do act like one." She looks at me with an expression full of pride.

Embarrassed I look away.

"Now, why are you here and shouldn't you be with your pack for an attack like this?" I ask again.

"An attack of this scale is precisely why I came here, I had to make sure you were safe, no offense to your family. And my pack is fine without me, they aren't that weak." She moves and sits on my bed.

"But why? What am I to you, you say that I'm yours but in what way? Am I just a notch for your bedpost, some challenge that needs conquering, or a quick way to curry favor with my father and the council?" I looked down as I spoke, afraid to hear her answer.

But she doesn't say anything, I hear her get up from the bed and stand in front of me.

"Caden." She calls in a gentle voice. "Look at me."

I slowly raise my head and see her smiling at me.

"You already know the answer to that question." She looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to say it.

"I-I'm you're ma-"

"CADEN!!! CADEN WE NEED YOU!!!!"

It was Claire calling from downstairs.

"Shit, just hide out here for a while, I'll be right back. Please don't leave." I practically beg her.

Keira just smiles and nods. Satisfied I grab a few different bottles of cologne and give myself one spray of each, hopefully this will keep anyone from picking Keira's scent on me. I quickly make my way downstairs, when I get to the last set of stairs I see Claire at the base of the staircase holding up Barry, they're both covered in blood.

"Jesus, what happened!?" I say as I scamper down the stairs.

"I don't know! He was fine just a moment ago, we were walking up to the house when he just doubled over and started bleeding." Claire says in a panick.

"And you?"

"Don't worry not my blood, belongs to the fucker that did this." She nods her head toward Barry.

When I reach them, I see black blood oozing out of Barry's side.

"This is bad, get him to the dining table. Why didn't you take him to James?" I help Claire carry Barry to the dining table.

"James has his hands full and Barry seemed fine up until a moment ago. I remembered you saying you wanted to be a pack doctor and you were closer sooo."

"Alice and Cora!?" I ask panicked

"Their fine, in fact if it weren't for them I'm pretty sure some of us would be dead."

I breathe a sigh of relief. Shawn and Linda hearing the commotion run in, seeing what was happening they quickly clear the dining table knocking everything over and help me and Claire lay Barry on top. I quickly assess the wound, it's a small but deep cut with the area around it turning black, no other sign of injury.

"How did this happen?" I ask Claire

"Some of the fuckers were hiding in the trees in human form with silver daggers, came down right on top of us."

"Shit." I look over to Shawn and Linda. "I need towels, lots of hot water, and a knife now."

Shawn and Linda move without hesitation.

I look over to Claire, "Claire I need tweezers, rubbing alcohol, and a lighter."

She nods and is gone, in moments Shawn and Linda return with Shawn carrying a large bowl of hot water. I use the towels and water to clean the area, so I can see the wound better. Claire returns, and I use the alcohol to disinfect the area around the cut. I clean the knife with hot water and then pour rubbing alcohol on it before lighting it with the lighter, to disinfect it.

"You guys are going to have to hold him down, Barry if you can hear me I'm sorry but this is going to hurt." I warn them.

As they hold him down I take a deep breath to steady myself. I use the knife to make an incision and make the wound bigger, making sure not to cut deeper than I need to. Barry screams and I can see everyone straining to keep him steady.

"I don't understand, why isn't he healing and why is his skin black?" Linda asks me.

I carefully spread the wound open to look inside.

"Unfortunately for us silver is a soft metal and can break easily, it looks like a small piece of the dagger broke off and is stuck somewhere in here." I answer while carefully looking for the broken piece.

"But why did he collapse?" Claire asks.

"It looks likes it nicked the artery and is poisoning his blood, I need to find it fast." I pick up the pace.

"His breathing is getting shallow." Shawn warns me.

"Damn it, Shawn get me the turkey baster I need to clear out some of this black blood to see, Linda I need more towels." I order.

Nothing like trial by fire, I chide myself.

Shawn returns with the turkey baster and I use it to suck out the surrounding blood, so I can see.

"There!! I see it!!"

Using the tweezers, I carefully grab the piece of silver and slowly pull it out placing it in one of the towels Linda just brought. Using the baster, towels and hot water I clean out as much of the infected blood as I can. All we can do now is wait, a few moments pass and nothing changes.

"Come on Barry." Claire yells.

After a few more moments I see the wound starting to regenerate and Barry inhales a deep breath. I exhale a sigh of relief, letting everyone know were good, Shawn and Linda hug while Claire hugs me covering the rest of me in blood.

"Oops, sorry." Claire apologizes

From the corner of my eye I see Keira in the doorway, oh oh. Barry groans and we look all look at him, he seems to be coming to. I look back toward the doorway, but Keira is gone and no one else seems to have noticed her. I leave the clean up to Shawn and Linda, I take off my bloody shirt and hand it to Linda which she happily takes. Making the excuse of wanting to wash up I head back upstairs. While heading back to my room I stop by one of the bathrooms to clean myself up, I begin to worry about what Keira might do. She just saw another female werewolf covered in blood, naked, hugging me. She is not going to be happy.

When I get to my room I slowly open the door and peak inside, Keira was at the other end of the room and was visibly shaking.

"Crap." I say to myself in a low voice.

I enter and slowly close the door behind me.

"Keira, I know your angry, but it was just a hug between friends, heat of the moment. Claire is-"

Before I could finish my back was slammed against the wall and her mouth was on mine. The kiss was deep, hard, and demanding. It felt as if I might be consumed by it, part of me was scared but the other part relished the feeling, letting myself drown in it. The bed sheet fell away and I could feel Keira's bare nipples against my skin, causing my already growing erection to become painfully obvious. Surprisingly Keira was the one to break the kiss.

"So, I take it you're not angry." I gasp between breaths.

"Angry? You were amazing down there."

She starts kissing me again and starts grinding her hips against mine causing me to moan into her mouth. Fighting to regain control I break the kiss.

"You saw all that?" I gasp.

She nods, "I wanted to make sure you were okay, so I followed and saw everything."

This time I kiss her, letting my hands explore her back and grabbing her ass. She growls with pleasure into my mouth, letting me know that she very much likes what I'm doing. After a few more intense moments she grabs my hands and pins them to the wall above my head. She breaks the kiss, and like me she's panting, taking in deep breaths. Her eyes close and I see her struggling for control.

"I want you so badly it hurts." Keira growls out. "But not yet, not like this."

She opens her lust crazed eyes, somehow, she's barely managing to stay in control. She pushes away from me towards the window.

"Tomorrow, tomorrow you'll be mine." She says in a sinisterly sensual tone.

With that she jumps out the window, I run over and look out to see her, but she's gone not a single trace of her left.