📎A/N.  Hello my lovelies... I hope your weekend has been going well.  

Gotta rush... I need to decorate the Christmas tree before my children crucify me!!!  Once it's up I will finish and post the next chapter.

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"That's enough!" Ambrose growled. "You've had your fun. Any more and we won't have anything of value to trade."

Ambrose pushed Elijah away from the F.B.I Agent's mother and assessed the damage. "Go get Briana, and tell her to bring the first aid kit and something to stop the bleeding," he said to Junior as he tilted the unconscious woman's head back and forced an eyelid open. Her dilated pupils rushed to close, repelling the sudden light. Her pulse was weak. The effect of the loss of blood coupled with the pain inflicted upon her.

He rounded on Elijah, who was making his displeasure known. "What the hell were you thinking? We need her as a bargaining chip."

"It never ceases to amaze me, how little you understand this gift I have given you," Elijah said with disgust. "You are superior to them. Compromises and trades are for the weak."

Ambrose's eyes narrowed to crinkled slits. "That's where you're wrong! Never underestimate a wounded animal. It's then when they are most dangerous and unpredictable. We need to be prepared for the possibility he'll find us."

Elijah's face turned to pure rage, his jaw clenched and teeth gritted. The venom that flashed from the other Werewolf's eyes disturbed Ambrose. Elijah's body convulsed with fury.

"Let him come," Elijah hissed. "I've had enough of this cat and mouse with O'Neill. It's gone on for nearly half a century and I'm tired of it. I'm sick of them all telling me what I can and can't do. They think they're so high and mighty."

Ambrose took a step back, he recognised the sound of bones moving as they cracked and morphed. He was on high alert as Elijah's body jerked uncontrollably and readjusted from his human form to his wolf form. Ambrose shivered; he wasn't sure which version was more terrifying.

A ferocious roar erupted from deep within the wolf as he snarled and snapped his jaws in Ambrose's direction. The sound of Junior and Briana's approach halted them both. The wolf's head turned and watched them race into the room.

He knew that he was in no danger of Elijah's wolf. It was trying to scare him, show him his superiority. However, the moment they were disturbed, Ambrose recognised a shard of malice slip into its expression. Before Ambrose could shout a warning to the others, the wolf sprung into the air, the remainder of its clothing falling to the ground in the process. He was astounded when Briana attempted to pull Junior out of the way of the monster that was flying in their direction. They hadn't been aware of what was about to happen. However, she was too late. The wolf descended on Junior, its jaws opened and sharp teeth embedded into his side.

Junior's bone chilling scream at the sudden attack, woke Ambrose from his inertia. He raced across the room and tackled the Werewolf. Briana dropped the medical kit she was holding and rushed to assist with dislodging the creature from their cousin.

"Get off him," Ambrose shouted. His words were lost in the cacophony of growls, screams and shouts of the others.

The sinewy muscles underneath the wolf's pelt were too strong for them and they failed to budge the creature an inch from his position.

The wolf growled, the sound reverberating from somewhere deep. It clenched its jaws further into Junior's flesh. Then, with as much speed as it had begun, the ordeal was over. The wolf tossed both Ambrose and Briana from his back and let go of its vice-like grip on Junior. It snapped its jaws and barred his razor sharp teeth, the sound of thunder rolled through the room.

Briana scrambled backwards, the threat of further attack had her securing a little more distance between her and the wolf. Ambrose rose and squared his shoulders, not once taking his eyes off the agitated wolf. From the corner of his eye, he could see Junior rolling on the floor in pain. His previous screams now dulled down to series of moans, coupled with a smattering of expletives.

That's it, I've had enough!

Ambrose continued with his unwavering stare at Elijah's wolf. He felt the muscles in his face tighten. His inner wolf wanted out; wanted to show the madman just what he was capable of. He fought the overwhelming urge to change. The act of the resistance placed a strain on his body that was more agonising than the first time he had transformed.

His body shook as he continued to lock gazes with the wolf. It was as if they had already begun their battle. The one that Ambrose knew was inevitable.

Before he could say or do anything further, the wolf snarled and snapped its jaws at him again. Ambrose was surprised when the wolf snorted at him then turned towards the window and, in a graceful motion, leaped through the air. The sound of wood splintering and glass breaking could be heard as it landed on the small balcony. A moment later, the creature leapt to the railings and disappeared over the side down to the ground below.

Ambrose rushed to the balcony in time to see the wolf disappear through the tree line. His breathing still out of control, Ambrose fought to bring it back to tolerable levels. A moan from inside caught his attention. It was faint, almost drowned out by Junior's groans and complaint at Briana's nursing. She had gone to his side the moment the wolf had broken through the window.

Shit, she's coming to! he thought, referring to the Quinn woman.

He quickly made his way back into the room. It was clear Junior was in no danger. "Bri, can you see to our guest, please. I think she's waking up."

Briana nodded and got up from her position on the ground next to her cousin and rushed to the semi-unconscious woman secured to a chair.

"What the hell did you do to her?" she accused as she pulled the restraints off the woman's legs.

Ambrose growled, "You can thank Elijah's knife for that."

He then crouched down beside Junior and inspected the deep teeth marks. "Well, the good news is you'll live."

Junior grunted as Ambrose touched the painful area. "And the bad news?" Junior breathed through gritted teeth.

"If you think this is painful, you're not going to cope with what your body's going to go through in a couple of months' time," chucked Ambrose.

Satisfied that Junior was going to be all right, he went over to the bed where Briana was cleaning the wounds on their prisoner. "How is she?"

"She's lost a lot of blood. But none of the cuts are deep enough to require stitches." Briana replied, "I've given her a sedative, she was starting to come to. I'll need a larger bandage for her wrist though."

Ambrose glanced at their prisoners wrists. She had strained so much against the cable ties they had cut into her wrists, leaving deep gashes the entire circumference. Deep bruises where starting to appear on the woman's upper arms where Elijah had manhandled her too roughly.

Briana taped up the wound she was working on. "So," she began as she moved onto another deep cut. "That happened."

Ambrose rubbed his forehead and sighed. "He's getting too dangerous," he admitted.

"You think?" Briana remarked as she glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

Ambrose had to admit, Briana had been right. They had indulged Elijah far too much. It was now coming back to bite him. Literally.

"How did you know to try and get Junior out of the way?" he asked remembering her attempt at pulling their cousin out of harms reach. "There's no way you knew that was about to happen.

She frowned at him. "You yelled out a warning."

"No, I didn't, it happened too fast."

"I know what I heard," Briana said with more force.

Ambrose was confused. This wasn't the first time somebody had done something without being told. He couldn't explain it. It was like they were reading his mind.

He scratched his head. "I swear to you. I didn't say anything. I may have thought it, but nothing came out of my mouth."

Briana glared at him. Are you calling me a liar?

"No, I'm not calling you a liar. There's just some bizarre things happening lately that‑"

He was cut off from saying anything further by Briana's shocked expression. Her face had paled and he could hear her pulse had quickened.

"What?" he asked.

Briana shook her head from side to side, "I didn't say anything," she stammered, "How did you know that's what I was thinking?"

It was Ambrose's turn to frown. "Yes, you did."

She shook her head again, she had stopped tending to her patients wounds and stood up straight to face him. "What the hell is going on?" she whispered.

They were interrupted by a large crash. Junior had upturned a small table he had used as leverage to stand. "Sorry," he grimaced at the contents now strewn across the floor.

Ambrose rolled his eyes and turned back to Briana. "Well discuss this later. I need to work out how we're going to deal with this mess. We can't be holed up here for the rest of our lives."

"You're sure this O'Neill won't be able to find us here?"

"Positive," he assured her, "If the US Government hasn't worked out who and where we are, what chance does he have?"

Ambrose headed towards Junior to help him downstairs. He would need a couple of sedatives to deal with the pain of the bite. The mafia Don grimaced as he looked at the wound embedded in his cousins flesh. It was a lot deeper than the ones Elijah had inflicted on any of the others he had turned.

He understood the message that the Werewolf was sending. The only problem was – he didn't like it. More importantly, his inner wolf didn't like it. For days, he had struggled with keeping it at bay while in Elijah's company. His wolf could not understand why he tolerated the madman.

After the debacle upstairs, he was now questioning his own decision. His need to expand his power and to ruin the cartels had blinded him somewhat. It was now very clear, he needed to do something about their maker before he could inflict any further damage to them. The attack on Junior had been a warning shot across the bow. Elijah's message was very brutal but undeniable; I can make you, and I can destroy you.

Would he be signing his own death warrant to challenge Elijah? He needed to prepare himself for the eventuality.

The familiar headache began to pound. This could not have come at a worse time. His take-over of the five families complete, his next move was ready to execute. Something that would require their undivided attention. Right now, that didn't seem possible. Elijah was only one of the fly's in the ointment at the moment. He wasn't entirely truthful with Briana. His belief they were secure at the estate was nowhere as strong as he made out. There were many things about Werewolves he didn't yet understand. He knew Elijah had been deliberately vague when answering his many questions, but chose not to question it further.

Just how strong was this Werewolf that had chased Elijah?

After depositing Junior with Frank he went back to his office to think. Elijah would be back, that he had no doubt. Based on previous run ins, it would be as though the incident hadn't occurred. 

His bigger concern was O'Neill.  He wouldn't put it past the madman to divulge their location to the FBI Werewolf just to end whatever was going on between them.

His only consolation was that O'Neill was only one Werewolf. Even if his partner came with him, they would be no match for his small army. If they came, he would deal with them. Correction‑ Elijah would deal with him. The vendetta between the two would save his men the effort of the initial fight. His men would deal with whoever was left standing.

The question was – would he be ready?

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📎A/N.  Things are a bit rocky with that relationship... not to mention tense - what do you think?

.. and I wonder how Briana knew to move ..

... at least Madeline is still alive.  Let's hope it stays that way.

Don't forget to vote if you enjoyed the chapter.

Take care

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