I don't care what Emeli had promised for this car wash, what we were suffering right now was not okay in any way.

First of all, the second our clothes came off and we were standing with a bucket of soapy water and a sponge, Kade turned into a raving lunatic. He tried to block me from anyone who got near, which pissed me off at the start because hello, I was collecting the money, so it was kind of hard to take it from people when he was acting as a freaking bodyguard.

Eventually, I got Max to pull him away and go somewhere else so I could actually do my job for the day.

The second thing was that as much as Max claimed to hate rogues, he had a stare locked on Violet so hard he was giving Kade a run for his money in the 'if anybody touches her they'll lose a limb' contest. She was ignoring it, of course, but the fact that she had just washed the same car twice was telling me that her blissfully ignorant attitude wasn't as effective as she thought.

Then, there was Emeli. And I knew she had it worst off, because her scumbag mate was leaning up against one of the booths with a couple of the other teachers, watching her with a sick little smile on his face. Yeah, sure, if I didn't know what he was involved in, or that he wanted me dead, then it might have looked hot.

But right now? The guy was throwing off vibes creepier than any random guy in the back of an alley way any day.

Then throw in Levi, who you could tell, bless him, that he was trying really hard not to look. But Emeli was built like a supermodel and had curves all over the show, so I couldn't fault him when he seemed to be admiring her from afar.

This stupid car wash was turning out to be one of those degrading woman sort of fundraisers where horny teenage boys and the occasional older man with the three kids and wife he never saw came to, to stare and act all pig headed and settle bets and take dibs on one of the girls in the bikini's.

I had to give it to Georgina, though. The money was rolling in like a kid would on brand new roller skates.

Risking a glance over at our little group of men, I caught Kade's eye and he took a step towards me, before physically stopping himself, and just resorted to staring at me with a hot, secluded gaze. The possessiveness still annoyed me, but I couldn't really fault him on it, because it was just something all male werewolves had wired into their systems, and the fact he was trying to stop it was cute.

The only thing that would make him lose that thread of control, was another threatening male, and since James was standing over with Emeli at one of the other cars, all was okay.

But I was soon discovering I spoke too soon a lot more than I should, really.

Because what do you know, Simon the quarterback just turned up in his obnoxious little red sports car and group of idiot mates. I could sense Kade from where I stood next to Georgina, using my sponge to clean the very dirty side of someone's mini van.

"Oh god, here we go." Violet muttered when she came up beside me. Georgina shot her a cold look but Violet outright ignored her, and I knew it was because Georgina was mad Max wasn't watching her like he was with Violet.

Well tough titties human. You could try and flaunt yourself as much as you like, but Max is-

"What's your problem dude? I only came to get my car washed."

Violet and I locked eyes, then groaned in unison. Werewolf vs human?

It was pretty clear who was going to win.

We stepped out from behind the mini van and saw the scene unfolding. Max and Levi were flanking Kade on either side of him as he stood slightly in front of the two, glaring hard at Simon, who was also getting back up from his mates. Except, there was six of them, and three of us.

Simon's smug smirk told me he thought he had this, and I wanted to roll my eyes. The guy had no idea...

"My problem is how your talking about Katie like that." Kade growled, and I tensed beside Violet as Emeli came to stand beside me. "It's disrespectful. And rude. And disgusting."

"You can't tell me what I can and can't say!" Simon fired back, that short string of anger he had starting to wear thin already, but he managed to reign it in enough to still get enough swagger injected into his steps as he walked closer to Kade.

"Typical rich boy response," Violet muttered, shaking her head.

"I can."

"No, you can't!"

"When it's my girl your talking about, I can." Okay, that one was a shock to me, but I was going to go with it. My wolf purred at Kade's words. She liked the idea, and frankly, so did I.

Simon scoffed, and Kade's eyes darkened with anger. "Oh please, Katie's been into me since the start of high school."

"What?" I called out, not realising just how loudly I said it. All of their eyes turned to me, and I gulped.

"Tell him, babe. You wanted me since freshman year."

"As in wanted you to leave me alone? Yeah, I'd say I have."

"You don't have to deny it, beautiful-"

I saw Kade move before anyone could stop him, but at the very last second, Max managed to get a hold of his arm and yank him backwards just as his other fist nicked Simon in the jaw.

It wasn't a hard punch, I thought. At least, not until Simon's head knocked back and he yelped, stumbling back a few steps. Oh right, werewolf strength. Of course that was hard to a human.

"What's your problem, you syco?" Simon yelled, but I noticed none of his five brawny friends stepped forward to help. Maybe because they'd seen the impact, or maybe because they didn't really like Simon all that much but hung out with him for the perks of being popular, but they weren't jumping in to defend him anytime soon. "Fine, you can have the bitch, I've got dibs on the other brunette, with the purple eyes." Simon smirked again, turning to look right at Violet.

It was the wrong thing to do.

"Excuse me?" Max said hotly, moving forward. Levi tensed as well, and I sensed he didn't like the idea any more than Max.

"You heard me. She's single, isn't she?"

I saw Violet wince, and Simon started to approach her with a smile that may have looked swoony worthy, but was too charged with cockiness to really make an impact. What were the human girls thinking when they crush on him? Seriously...

"I wouldn't go there, if I were you." Levi said, appearing in front of us girls suddenly. Simon cocked an eyebrow but took a noticeable shuffle backwards, like he just realised how much bigger Levi was, and how much damage he could do.

He just couldn't keep his mouth shut though, could he?

"Who the fuck are you? Her pedophile older boyfriend?"

"I'm her brother." Levi snarled, sounding vicious. And even if he wasn't biologically, he pretty much played the part. "So do you want to keep walking? I suggest you turn around right now."

Simon looked around in disbelief, and I noticed that the music playing out of the speakers near the food booth and the people busy washing cars and selling things weren't really paying attention to our little situation, but one person was.

Of course, it was James.

"Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like you three girls have fucking gate keepers or something?" Simon said in a snippy voice, scoffing. "They aren't worth it anyway, right boys?"

None of his pussy friends nodded, and for that, I decided they did have brains. Small ones, but brains nonetheless.

"Not trying to be a pain here, guys." I moaned when I heard Georgina's high pitch voice call out from over by some mothers sedan. "But can you please stop slacking off and start washing the cars you're supposed to be cleaning?"

Kade, Max and Levi didn't stop glaring until Simon and his buddies had walked off, and I sighed in relief when they did. That hadn't gone too badly, I suppose.

Kade nearly bet him up. Nearly. It went better than I thought-

"What did I miss?" Noah's voice rang out as he appeared next to Kade with a huge ice cream in one hand. He frowned as he looked around all of our faces, and scrunched up his nose as he talked again. "Jesus, didn't realise I'd just walked into a graveyard. Chipper up chaps, you're going to scare away our customers."

"Our customers?" Violet scoffed, folding her arms and glaring at him. "I haven't seen you wash a single thing yet."

Noah shrugged, taking a bite out of his banana chocolate chip. "I looked too good in the bikini, Georgina said I would have distracted you all."

"I hope you get brain freeze from that shitty ice cream."

"See? What's your problem Violet darling? Tell Uncle Noah-"

"I told you we should have left him at home." Violet cut him off, turning to look at Levi. Levi cracked a grin, shrugging.

"The kid wanted ice cream, what could I do-"

"Thrown him a tub and locked him in his room?"

"That didn't work so well last time..."

As they bickered, I felt Kade come up behind me, and his warm hands latched onto my waist, sending jolts of excitement through my body. "You look too good." He whispered, his lips so close to my ear they brushed against my lobe slightly, sending hot little shivers straight down my side.

"And you look too riled up to be around here anymore." I said, pushing him off me reluctantly. Kade pouted, but there was understanding in his eyes, like he realised I wasn't fully ready to just give myself over to him after two days of him being mate worthy.

What was I saying? Kade was always mate worthy. He just had to tweak a few areas in order to let me in, and I could see him doing so.

"Alright, I'll back off, but I'm not leaving. Not when Simon's here." He glowered over to where he had disappeared to, with his five friends, then his eyes landed back on me. "Damn, these bikini's are too fucking distracting."

"You know what else is distracting?" I said, smiling a little. "You. So get lost. I need to finish this car wash so I can go home."

"Ouch," Kade put a hand on his heart, mock hurt filling his expression. "You know how to cut a guy deep, don't you?"

"I try."

"Well consider yourself successful." His tone started as dry, but it grew more saturated as his eyes trailed over to Emeli and James, who was standing close to her and talking in a low voice. He showed no emotion, no affection towards her, and it made me hate him even more. "He's such an asshole, look at him, wearing fucking dress shoes to a carwash. Does he not realise soap suds can damage leathers colour?" Kade shook his head, and I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"What?"

"Do you know how incredibly gay you just sounded?"

Kade glared at me, stepping closer. "Did you just call me gay?"

I tilted my head to the side, pretending to think about it. "I said you sounded gay. Is that the same thing?"

He didn't reply, just shook his head and grinned a little. When he looked over my shoulder again, his eyes darkened, a scowl marring his gorgeous features. "He's looking at you."

I tried not to let on the sudden cold feeling I had gotten, like someone had just hosed me off, instead of one of the cars.

Something popped into my thoughts, making me frown in confusion.

Savour the gift, or release the curse.

Why was that so important?

Kade growled in the back of his throat, then tucked me into his side, turning away. When his hand connected with my bare hip, he hissed and yanked himself away, eyes darker, scowl harder.

"Maybe I'll just go stand with Max." He commented, and I nodded with a blush, biting my lower lip. When he glanced at me again, he paused, and this mouth dropped open, a small growl emitting from it.

"What?" I frowned, looking over my shoulder.

"Your eyes are doing it again." Kade commented, and as they snapped back to his, he grinned slowly. "They're all sorts of colours...it's...spectacular."

I paused, trying to see if I could feel them changing. Concentrating on Kade's face, I started to notice that he was tinted, ever so slightly, and I had to concentrate very hard to notice it, but at the moment, he was a tiny bit green.

Then three seconds later, he was blue, then purple, then red.

And suddenly, he was back to his normal skin tone, and his clothes were their normal colour.

"I have to ask Violet what that's all about," I muttered, lifting a hand to touch just below my eye. Kade grinned, then his gaze lingered on me for a few more seconds, before he tore it away and took a few steps back.

"I'll be over here. If Simon approaches you again, he'll be leaving with no teeth. Promise him that, will you?"

I smiled, because that sentence was hotter than a death sentence, at least. My guy was learning.

I grabbed my bucket again, and went over to the next car where Violet was working. She was scrubbing hard at one area of dirt, her eyes focused fully on her task, so I joined in silently, working at the same rhythm she was.

"Where's Emeli gone?" I muttered after a while, and Violet looked up, seemingly surprised I was suddenly beside her. I looked around the car park, trying to pick her between the staff members, the volunteer workers, the booths and the customers. The music was blaring some new pop song, and I nearly gave up my search as Violet and I finished off the last car of the morning, both sighing in relief.

"I'm so glad we're done. I have soap suds where soap suds should never be."

I laughed at Violet's statement, but it was quickly turned into a frown as I spun in a slow circle, noticing the crowd had thinned slightly, probably because all of the cars were washed and the booths were running out of things to sell. We would have made a killing this morning, but I couldn't focus on the fundraiser as I searched for Emeli again, this time noticing James was gone too.

Naturally, that should have made me feel better. But it made me feel worse, because if he was gone...

"Violet? Can you try and find Emeli's mind? Search for her or something?"

"I can try." She said, sounding as worried as I felt. "There's a lot of people here though..." She trailed off as her eyes closed, and she fell into a sort of trance. I quickly walked over and grabbed our bags from the pile us bikini washers had created, and unzipped both, slipping on a pair of shorts and I was just reaching for my shirt when Violet gasped, rubbing her forehead with stressed fingers.

"Did you find her?" I asked, and a Violet's eyes turned to meet mine, I knew the answer was an instant yes. But what ever she had 'heard', didn't look like news I wanted to hear.

"She's over by the science block. She sounds stressed out, concerned. She thinks James is...uh, acting weird. That's what I picked up."

"We need to go find her." I said, urgency in my voice now. The fact that James had dragged her off was setting off warning signals in my head. He wouldn't hurt his own mate, would he?

I snorted. He was the sort of guy who would hurt his own mother.

That thought didn't really help.

Violet nodded, yanking on her own shorts and shirt before zipping back up her bag and slinging it over one shoulder. "I'm going to go get the guys."

"Mind link Levi, I'm worried and we need to go now." I argued, and Violet nodded again, a light sheen of sweat forming on her forehead as she closed her eyes again and concentrated on Levi's whereabouts. I frowned as she popped her eyes back open and she nodded, as if to say Levi and the guys were on their way over.

"Are you okay?" I asked, feeling growing concern for her when the sweat seemed to increase.

"Yeah, the mind stuff just tires me out sometimes, that's all. Hard work reading what other people are thinking." She tapped her temple, and I smiled, but only for a few seconds.

The boys showed up ten seconds later. Literally. One minute, I was smiling at a weary looking Violet. The next, we were surrounded by male werewolves.

"Where are they?" Levi asked in a dark voice, his eyes slicing over the school grounds. I pointed towards the furthest away block of brick. "Right over there."

He led the way without a second thought. Kade fell into step beside me, slightly in front, as if he was acting as a protection blanket. Max was bringing up the lead, his eyes serious and angry.

And Noah was straight across from Levi, his face set with a sort of seriousness I'd never seen before in my life.

"Can you sense what's going on, Violet?" Max asked roughly as we got closer. The school grounds down this end where deserted, and I was glad it wasn't night, because the place seriously would be creepy in the dark.

"Yeah, I think so. He's still got her in this area." Violet replied, her face still tight with tiredness and worry.

And as we turned the corner, we saw Emeli almost all at once.

But she wasn't standing, and she certainly wasn't moving.

I cried out, sprinting towards her limp body, which was lying a few metres away from the door. There was a gash on her forehead, but it was starting to heal shut already, and as I reached her side with panicky breaths, I let a huge gale of air out of my mouth when I realised she was breathing steadily, and was starting to look like she was going to come around ant minute now.

"What the fuck did he do to her?" Max growled, sinking down on his knees beside me and checking her body for any other damage. She was only in her bikini still, and I wondered what I could cover her up with until something black and big was dangling in front of my face.

"Here," Levi muttered, waving his shirt out in front of him as he stared down at Emeli with anger and concern. "Use this."

"Thanks," I muttered, laying it over her chest and luckily it was big enough to cover a portion of her legs, too.

"What is he up to?" Kade asked behind me, and Violet replied before I could.

"He's plotting. He wants to lure Katie out." Violet said, then clutched her head again. Noah looked at her with concern on his features, but she ignored him and continued to talk. "Katie, it's not safe for you to be here-"

"I'm not leaving!" I cut in angrily. "He hurt Emeli, and I'm not leaving until this is finished."

"But you-"

"No, Max. I'm no more important than anybody else here. So I'm staying."

I could tell they didn't like it, but I would be damned if they tried to make me leave right now. There was no way, this was my fight.

And by the looks of things, it had only just begun.

"Wait...look. He left a note." Kade scooped down next to Emeli and gently pried a small, folded piece of paper from under Emeli's arm.

"What does it say?" I asked anxiously, standing up to read the note myself. Kade's face grew tight, and he held the note out to me as soon as I was beside him. "Mother fucker."

"Katie, if you're reading this, you've obviously found my little present I left for you. Don't worry, she's not that harmed." I stopped reading the note out loud and snorted at that. "And by the time you read this, you will realise that you can't escape. I've got you right where I need you. Say goodbye."

"God," Noah muttered. "Can the guy get any more dramatic?"

I went to reply with something along similar lines, when a little moan came out of Emeli's mouth. Levi and Max were at her side in an instant, me the second later.

"Em?" I called out gently, my hand resting on her shoulder. "Can you hear me?"

"W-what the hell is going on?" She moaned, her eyes opening slowly. Her eyelids finally lifted, and she groaned, her head shooting up to touch her forehead. "Why am I bleeding?" She asked in a shaky voice.

Then, it was like she remembered. Just like that.

"Oh my god, James, he-"

"Is a wonderful man, thank you my darling." His voice rang out from somewhere, stopping all of us until we froze. His words rang out through the deserted part of school, and I tensed, waiting for him to talk again. "Isn't she so complimentary towards me?"

Emeli's eyes widened, but what filled them the most was confusion. "What's going on? James?"

"Oh, don't stress Emeli. This will all be over soon." His chilly laughter rang out across the space we were in, making my skin feel numb, damp. "I just have one more step to do."

"And what's that, James?" I called out, trying to locate him.

I didn't have to look hard, because he stepped out of the darkened corner of the garden a few seconds later.

"Why Katie, I thought you would know." He cocked his head to the side, his immaculate hair not moving out of place, his pristine clothes looking like he just got them off the rack, his straight toothed smile carefree and lethal at the same time. "It's to kill you, silly."

I heard Kade growl beside me, and he went to step forward when James put his hand up, making him pause. "I know what you're thinking, right? That I wouldn't stand a chance against you, since there's seven of you, and one of me, right?"

I didn't nod, I wouldn't give him he satisfaction.

"Well, you've played into my trap so, so nicely." James started to grin from ear to ear, his big smile grating on my nerves more than anything I'd seen before. He looked so triumphant. "Because I brought back up too."

I didn't really catch the mans face who stepped out of the shadows, but by the time he looked up from under his hooded robe from beside James, an icy chill went through me.

"Would you like to do the honours, Samuel?" James asked the stranger, who just smiled wickedly. I could see there was an ugly scar that started at his chin and worked it's way up into his hood, but it was the last thing on my mind when James spoke again."

"Knock 'em out, then boy."

And that's just what he did. Literally.

I screamed as everyone around me dropped like they were rag dolls, eyes rolled to the back of their heads, limbs limp. The guy, Samuel, hadn't even moved, and yet they were all sprawled over the grass, like someone had sucker punched them in the head and knocked them cold.

"Aren't werewolves with mind powers just wonderful?" James sighed wistfully, almost as if he was jealous of the guy. "Thank you for the help Samuel."

The guy nodded, and stepped back into the shadows. He hadn't disappeared, I could still feel his presence, but I focused on James instead, who was walking towards me slowly.

I growled, my wolf itching to come out and take him on. She had been confused at first, but was now enraged that someone would harm her friends, her mate.

Her mate.

She howled, and I almost let her loose just then. But James opened his mouth again.

"Careful, Katie. Try anything stupid and Samuel can turn their brains to mush. Or he could just kill them, what ever suits. Do you want their blood on your hands?"

I shook, physically and mentally. James had worked this out well, I would give him that. He had me right where he wanted me, just like he'd said in his note before.

And fuck, I was going to play by his rules, because if he hurt any of my people lying around me right now, he'd be dead.

"Where do you want to do this?" I hissed, calming my wolf down because of his threat that I knew could be carried out in less than a second.

"Well, I thought about the location long and hard, Katie. But I realised it didn't matter, because you'd still be dead, and my mission would have been accomplished."

"So you're just going to kill me here? Doesn't seem like your usual flare, James." I mocked, and his eyes darkened in delight.

"Oh, it's not!" He said, clapping his hands together in excitement. "I have to stage this so it looks like a random attack, remember?"

"The other wills know." I spat. "They'll know what you did."

"Who said that they'd ever wake up from this?" He pointed down at the ground, and an icy cold shiver of terror ran through me at his words. He was bluffing, he had to be.

"Samuel?" He called, and the robe wearing asshole stepped forwards again. "You can go now, and tell Brother Drek I've completed the assignment. No need to withhold information that will soon be reality."

Samuel nodded once, and then his body was distorting, becoming blurry, like a mirage...

And then he was gone.

James grinned, slapping his hands together and staring at me with victory in his eyes. "Now remember, no funny business. I can call Samuel back here in an instant, and then you would have lost everyone as well."

"You're the most vile person I've ever met in my life, have I ever mentioned that?" I spat angrily as James approached me.

"Oh, I do believe you've hinted to it. Now come on, we're wasting daylight and I have a celebratory dinner waiting for me once this is all over." He wrapped his hand around my arm, and started to pull me in the direction of the back buildings, where I realised that's where he would have parked, out in the staff car park.

Looking over my shoulder one last time, I felt so many emotions hit me. Those people lying there? They were part of my family. My two best friends since birth, the three I'd met a few months ago and trusted with my life, and my mate.

Kade.

A swell of pain hit my chest as my wolf howled in agony.

I would never get a chance to be with him, to mate with him. I'd never get to know what it's like to have that complete, soul binding connection with him.

I'd never see him grow up and become the alpha he was destined to be.

And at that moment, as I stared at his face in pain, memorising the sharp angle of his jaw, the strong nose, black hair, tanned skin, I knew what I had always known.

I loved him. Ever since he rejected me. Ever since we'd been through so much pain.

Because he was my mate. And I loved him for no reason, and every reason there was.

"Times ticking," James called out with a smile in his voice. "Are you ready for your fate?"

"As ready as you are to rot in hell."

"Well, my dear." James laughed. "You're as ready as you could possibly be."

* * * *

How did you like part one? Hmm...let me know! This was such fun to write! :D Be prepared for the next chapter, guys, it's gonna be a biggun ;)