Austin's feet carried him to the woman. Her fur had receded to give way to pale skin and thin limbs, and her muzzle had turned into a lightly freckled face framed by ash blonde hair. He had never seen her before but he would have recognised her anywhere. His breath caught and he crouched beside her.

"You silvered her?" Sky glowered at Conall, who was standing some way off, loosely holding a bow.

"You said you needed someone to end it," Conall said, approaching. "I ended it."

"You killed her!"

"She isn't dead," Ellis said, kneeling on the other side of Austin's mate. "Austin, pick her up. I already linked Ridge. Sky, you're coming. Your father needs to look at that wound."

"It's fine," Sky said, looking at the claw marks drawn across her side. "He'll have his hands full dealing with her."

"You're still coming, no negotiations. Conall, you too. I have some words for you. Come on, Austin. Hurry up. The silver is going to kick in any minute and put her in a world of pain."

Austin gathered her brittle limbs in his arms and was surprised at how light she was. It was the first time he really touched her and he could feel – just feel – the mate bond growing stronger as he carried her. He hurried to the infirmary, the others trailing after him.

"I got hurt trying to be gentle and you just went and shot her!" Sky said, shoving against Conall's shoulder.

"I had to do something, no one else was doing anything."

"So you silver her – the girl who's been silvered four times already? You signed her death warrant."

"I followed protocol."

Ellis moved around Austin to open the door to the infirmary and they all burst through the doors. Ridge was already standing beside one of the empty beds and gestured for Austin to put her down on it. He lay her down gently, on her stomach so Ridge would have access to the wound on her back.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Conall silvered her," Sky said.

Conall rolled his eyes but said nothing. Ridge bowed over her, examining the cut. The skin around it was turning silver and the girl stirred, her features twisting in pain.

"That was about the worst thing you could do," Ridge said, looking up at Conall.

"It's protocol," he said. "You might all care so much about fate and mates and all that nonsense, but she was a risk to our pack and I took her out, just as our rules prescribe. If she were anyone else, you would be asking me why I didn't shoot her dead."

"You might as well have." Ridge took a cloth and wiped away some of the dirt surrounding the wound. "I'm going to clean this first, hopefully before the silver kicks in. She'll be hard to handle then. Someone go get some cuffs so we can chain her to the bed. She'll be a danger to herself and others when the silver takes effect."

"I'll link someone," Ellis said.

"Ask them to bring some clothes while you're at it."

"You could have used a normal arrow," Sky said to Conall.

"I made sure it only grazed her. A normal arrow would not have done anything to stop her, or I would have needed to hit her somewhere vital. This was the best I could do on such short notice."

"What if you had missed? You could have hit me."

"I'm a good shot and you know it."

"You have good aim but you're sloppy and impatient. You could have hit me."

"She'd already hurt you, you needed backup, I was confident I could take the shot, and that's that."

"You're hurt?" Ridge looked up.

Sky made a dismissive gesture. "Just some scratches. It's fine, Father." She turned and motioned to her side.

"That needs to get disinfected," Ridge said. "Stay here, I'll get to you once I'm done with this one."

"There's really no need –"

"Don't you argue with me, young lady. Sit down and stay put."

Sky rolled her eyes and sat down on the edge of one of the other beds. Ellis and Austin were standing beside the bed of the woman, who was starting to writhe more and more every minute. Conall saw his chance and moved towards the door.

"You're not going anywhere, I'm not done with you," Ellis said.

"There's nothing any of you can say to chide me. I followed protocol. I protected our pack, the way a beta should. I'm not going to stand here and get accusations thrown at me. Sky already got hurt, I wasn't about to let her hurt anyone else."

"I want to make it very clear she only managed to hurt me because I was going easy on her," Sky said.

"Noted," Ellis said. "Fine, get out of here, Conall. But we're going to have a talk about your attitude later."

He scoffed and left the infirmary without another word, crossing ways with a servant bringing the cuffs and some clothes as he left.

"Alright, I've cleaned the wound," Ridge said. "I'll just stitch it up and then we'll chain her. Healing will take longer with this amount of silver in her system."

"Is she going to make it?" Ellis asked, glancing sideways at Austin to see how he would take that question. He was standing unmoving, staring down at his mate, and didn't look like he even noticed Ellis speaking at all.

"I don't know, Alpha," Ridge said, retrieving needle and thread. "I don't like her odds, but she's beat expectations before, so who knows. If she makes it through the next twenty-four hours, she'll probably make it, but right now there's no way to tell. We're lucky it was only a silver-tipped arrow this time and not an entire vial. She would not have survived that. Now, please pardon me, I need to focus." He set to work and Ellis moved away towards Sky.

"You alright?"

"Fine," she said. "Hardly even hurts. She's a good fighter. If she'd been in better shape she might have given me a lot of trouble. Makes one wonder who she is."

"Hopefully we'll find out soon. That's one advantage of silver, at least she's human now." He paused. "You did well."

"Thank you, Alpha."

He nodded. "Seems like I can't be of much help here, so I'll be going. Link me if you need me, Ridge."

"Will do," Ridge said, not bothering to look his way. "All done. Beta, help me turn her on her back, please."

Austin came closer and helped Ridge move her. Drops of sweat had started gathering on her forehead, and her lips were moving, uttering words no one could hear.

"Help me dress her."

"I don't think so," Sky said, popping up at Austin's side. "I'll help." She pushed Austin aside and took the nightgown the servant had brought. "Can you lift her a little, Father?"

Ridge pulled her up slightly, allowing Sky to pull the gown down her back.

"She has so many scars," Austin said, standing uselessly beside Sky.

"She's a fighter," Sky said. "I could tell. Maybe she's a warrior in her pack."

"Maybe, yeah," Ridge said, "but those scars aren't from normal fights. They're from silver. Look." He pushed her right sleeve down a little, revealing a particularly nasty scar running down her shoulder. The scar was silver around the edges, with tiny shimmering lines spreading out from it, covering a part of her chest and arm.

"All of them?" Austin asked, inching closer.

"I didn't exactly have time to examine her closely, Beta," Ridge said, "but a lot of them, from what I could tell."

"But then she must have been silvered at least a dozen times," Sky said. "I didn't know that was possible."

"It is, as long as there's enough time in between to heal. Our bodies can't really get rid of silver, but it can build up a certain resistance. Still, it makes you wonder what kind of life she has led." He pulled her sleeve up again. "Let's chain her." Ridge handed Sky the chains and together they attached them to the bed and to her wrists.

"It will be starting soon. If you don't have the stomach to see it, you should get out now," Ridge said to Austin.

"What exactly will be starting?" he asked.

"The pain. Expect a lot of screaming. Has the bond grown stronger yet? Have you noticed?"

"I don't know," Austin said, a little thrown off guard. "Maybe a little. Why?"

"Her state might affect you too. Mates often channel emotions and experiences through their bond. Especially if you stay near to her, so for your sake it might be better to leave, though for hers it will be better if you stay. Perhaps your presence might alleviate the pain somewhat."

"I'll stay," he said.

Ridge nodded. "Very well. There's not much else I can do for her. I've tended to her wound, in a moment I'll take care of her other injuries as well, but beyond that I can't help her. It's up to her now." He turned around to Sky. "I see you've put yourself into a dangerous situation again. How surprising."

"O, let me be. Someone had to do it. It's fine. Just clean it and I'll be out of your hair."

"You always take unnecessary risks."

Sky hissed as he cleaned the wound. "I never take unnecessary risks. Only necessary ones."

"Agree to disagree. You're too eager to prove yourself. Someone else could have taken care of it."

"Someone else might have hurt her. I knew what I was doing."

"Clearly."

Tuning out the father-daughter bantering, Austin sat himself down on a chair beside Ryleigh's bed. Her breath was coming in fits, like there was a weight pressing down on her chest preventing her from breathing.

"All done. Go on, get out," Ridge said to Sky. "You don't want to be here when the screaming starts."

Sky slid off the bed and glanced towards the girl. "Keep me posted. She intrigues me."

"Will do." He ushered her out and closed the door behind her, turning back to Austin with a look on his face that edged on anxiety.

The girl whimpered and uttered choking sounds, pulling at her chains weakly. Next, a cry escaped her. She groaned and tried to turn on her side, but the chains pulled her back. She drew her legs up to her chest, curling into a tight little ball. Another cry turned to a scream halfway and Austin felt a need to cover his ears – not just because of the volume, but because hearing his mate scream was like a knife slicing through his soul.

"Hold her hand," Ridge said, which made his head snap up in surprise.

"What?"

"Medicine and silver don't go well together, so I can't give her anything to help. The mate bond is all we have. So take her hand."

He hesitated.

"Julie would want you to help her any way you can. Do it now."

Austin reached out and slipped his hand into that of his mate. A scream stilled halfway past her lips, and her eyes shot open, black with a silver hue slipped over them. He doubted she was lucid, but still her eyes found his, and she clung onto his hand as if her life depended on it, which in a way it did. 

_______

A/N: Shifted at last. Granted, she didn't have much of a choice. But at least she might vocalise her opinions now, which - trust me - she will. Stay tuned ;) 

Thanks for reading!