"The raid is still on schedule for Wednesday at four. Dustin, can you pull up the pictures?" Alec instructs a man in his late forties who has a blonde beard and a man-bun.

Daisy, Jensen, and Tony sit with their legs crossed in front of the other pack members in the basement. There are about 100 people crammed in the unfinished basement. The rest, all of the children and a couple of adults to supervise, stayed upstairs.

The basement is massive and spans almost the entire length and width of the first floor. Every wall is slate gray and the only contrast is the large white sheet nailed to the wall opposite of them.

Lights stream from a projector set on a stand in the middle of the crowd of people sitting on the cold, concrete floor. The lights flash different colors as a photo is shown on the hanging sheet.

The photograph is of the front of a crumbling, concrete, sand-colored building with the words, Purpose Int. painted in black on the front. The old-looking structure looks like it's been there for at least fifty years.

"At four they will change shifts." Alec paces in front of the screen, his eyes roaming around the room. "So, we will go into the back as they're not paying attention to the security cameras. And if they are, we'll just have to fight through 'em. There's no detailed plan, just get in, get intel, no casualties unless life or death situation, and get out. You know the drill, protect the geek squad so they can get to the computers. Any questions?"

"What exactly is the geek squad collecting from their computers?" Jensen blurts out next to Daisy.

Alec's eyes shift down to him. "Locations and names. The only way to shut this down is by cutting off the head of the snake." He crosses his arms and looks away, looking to see if anyone else has something to say.

"I have a question," Tony speaks up this time. Alec's eyes dullen as he looks over at his younger brother. "How did these guys even find us in the first place?" He references his friends who sat to the left of him and points his finger in their direction.

"We think that these guys are related to the government and since you guys were fooling around in an abandoned military airfield," he sighs, "it is very likely that they could have spotted you there." Alec turns his attention back to the rest of his pack.

"No casualties? They didn't exactly keep to that standard when they killed Ariana!" Estelle shouts in the back, standing up. "Come on Alec, don't tell me your morals have suddenly stepped in now?"

The room erupts in a low hiss of whispers. The once quiet room soon fills with many voices slurred into a haze of noise.

Alec's eyes begin to glow yellow in the low-lit room. "Estelle-" his voice has a dangerous edge to it. "I'm aware of what they did." His voice is grave. "But do we really want to stoop down to their level? We're supposed to be better than them. If this continuous game of cat and mouse is going to stop—we need to kill the other player, not his friends."

"Screw that! We're playing a different game now!" An unfamiliar man stands up next to her. His straight, stark white hair stands out next to her long, azure hair. He grabs her hand as they stand together, not backing down.

Most of the pack agrees with them and their voices get louder.

"Hey!" Alec yells, his voice comes out loud and powerful. The bickering pauses and everyone turns to him. His eyes are now a more vibrant hue of amber. Power radiates off of him. The pack collectively holds their breath, receiving the same vibe—don't cross the line.

"I'm not your dictator! You can do what you want to do. This pack is about sticking together. Being a family. Lately, that hasn't been our top priority. I think we collectively agree on that." He looks toward Estelle. "We stick together even though we may disagree, and even though we make different choices." His gaze shifts off of her and he looks around the room. "So if you want your eye for an eye, go for it. But I will not be participating."

The room is silent and no one moves. Alec's eye's change back to normal and then he abruptly leaves the room.

As soon as they can all hear him shut the door to the basement behind him, people resume talking.

"My brother's crazy," Tony mutters as he rubs his hand on his forehead.

"I don't think so," Daisy says next to him. Jensen and Tony's eyes fall on the girl who sits between them. "He's lost a lot recently, and he's dealing with it surprisingly well. He's a good alpha, Tony. You should be proud of him."

"I just..." Tony trails off. "I feel like there's something else behind this for Alec."

"Like what?" Daisy asks.

Daisy thinks about Alec a couple of days ago, back at the Moretti house, and then the speech he just gave. She's not particularly fond of the man, but he's beginning to make more sense to her. When she met him, the death of his fiance was still fresh. But now that he's come to his senses, he doesn't seem all that bad.

"Guilt." Tony says. "It has to be. I wouldn't be surprised if this is all happening because of something he started."

Daisy scoffs at this. "What's going on with you Tony? Did you not hear anything that he said? He's trying to keep the peace." Her hazel eyes narrow on him as he stands up from the ground. "I don't really know how you get guilt from that."

Tony's fists are balled at his sides and his eyes glow blue. "I think I know my brother better than you, Daisy. And Maybe it's because I've had to leave my home and family because of him. If Alec had never bitten you we would have never gotten into this mess. That's what he does. He created more problems."

"You don't know that," Daisy whispers. She reaches up to touch his hand but he yanks it away and walks away from her. "Tony—" She attempts to call after him, but he's already up the stairs now.

"Daisy," Jensen says softly.

She turns to him as a single tear falls down her cheek. Jensen doesn't hesitate to put his arm around her shoulder and pull her into him. Her arms find their way around his torso and his hand brushes through her hair gently. "If you had never been bitten, I would have never become friends with you. Heck, I probably would have never even talked to you."

Daisy sighs into Jensen's chest before pulling away from him. She offers him a small smile. "This is such a mess." She shakes her head.

"I know. But we're going to figure this out together. Me, you, and Tony." Jensen brushes a rebel hair away from Daisy's face. "I really am happy that it worked out as it did, Daze."

Daisy cracks a smile at his words. "Daze? That's new. I like it though..."

Jensen smiles wide as he notices a slight pink tinge on the tops of her cheeks. "Well, this has been a long day... I'm going to go to bed." Jensen gets up from the floor and so does Daisy.

"Okay." She sighs. "I'm going to go look for Tony."

Jensen nods and his smile falters for a second, but Daisy doesn't notice.

Daisy and Jensen part ways and the golden-haired girl takes it upon herself to try and reconcile with the youngest Moretti. It takes her a while because she's not familiar with the house, but eventually, she finds him watching T.V. in the room that can be described as a "den."

He sits alone on a brown, leather couch in the center of the room.

Silently, Daisy sits next to him. Her eyes look up at the television to find one of her favorite shows playing, Heroes. Instinctively, she smiles.

"Remember last year, when I made you watch the entire show with me in one weekend," she says, not looking over at him.

"Yeah," he responds. "Because Rachel broke up with me. You said if anything was going to help, it was a good, old-fashioned, binge-party."

Daisy laughs and turns to him. Her eyes find his brown ones. "You're watching our comfort show, T. What's wrong?" She knows what's wrong, of course. But she needs him to open up to her in a healthy, non-angry way.

Tony sighs and looks down at his hands. "Alec and I fight so much when it comes to the pack because I'm supposed to be the leader. And it's really irritating when everyone expects so much from me and then I get sidelined."

Daisy looks away and then looks at him again. So maybe she doesn't really know what's bothering him.

"I don't understand."

Tony lifts his head to meet her eyes. "The Phoenix prophecy," he says. "Basically, Phoenix's are supposed to be the King's of the supernatural's."

"Oh," she whispers. Her eyebrows knit together. "Wow." She reaches out and grabs one of his hands in hers. "I'm sorry, Tony. I don't really know what to say to that, to be honest."

"Yeah," he says. "Me neither." He squeezes her hand and looks down at their interlocked fingers. "Actually, I wanted to ask—do you like Jensen?"

She laughs. "Yeah he's cool, don't you?"

Tony shakes his head, a smile forming on his lips. "That's not what I meant, Daisy."

Oh, she pauses, her body stiffening. "Well, I didn't tell you, but I actually liked him a while ago, like when he first came to our school."

He looks up at her, his eyebrows raised.

"But—now," she shrugs, "I don't know. It's weird; like he's completely not like he was even just a week ago. And—" She wants to say, I'm torn because while I had, and maybe have, a crush on Jensen, I've been in love with you probably since the day I met you--and if I knew if you loved, or even liked me back, I would never think about Jensen again. However, I don't think you feel the same so that's why I let myself be open to liking Jensen. But, she can't say that. "I don't know. That's my final answer."

Tony nods. He nods longer than a person would normally nod. He stops when he notices Daisy looking at him strangely. He clears his throat but then doesn't say anything.

Her feelings for Jensen Wilder aren't simple. She likes him, a lot. But she isn't sure if it's as a friend of more than that yet. And then there's Tony, who she's loved for a really long time. But she knows, if Tony liked, or loved, her back he would have told her by now, surely. Thinking about it makes her head hurt.

"I'm tired. And my head hurts. And this day has been too long." She laughs light-heartedly.

Tony nods and lets go of her hand. "Then, goodnight, Daisy."

She ruffles his hair. "Don't stay up too late, pasta boy."

<><><>

A couple of days later, it is the day of the raid.

Tony pesters Jay to let him go on the raid, considering Alec is nowhere to be found. Jay agrees only so that he will stop bothering him. When Jensen hears the news, he insists on going as well. And when Daisy hears all of the news, she's definitely not happy. Daisy would prefer if neither of them went at all, but since she can't stop them, she decides to go along as well.

So now, the three teenagers are sitting in the back of a black van. Tony's lips are pursed in annoyance and Daisy is on the verge of rolling her eyes. Just minutes before They had a disagreement, so Jensen sits between the two, looking rather uncomfortable.

Daisy believes that Tony is going in there trigger-happy since he was so eager to join the raid. She thought their heart-to-heart the other night would resolve this, but now Tony is back to acting angsty for no particular reason other than to try and prove himself. Or at least, that's the only thing she can come up with. She just wishes he would stop trying so hard to live up to any expectations and just take it one day at a time. She doesn't want his competitive spirit to end up being his downfall.

Daisy's jacket brushes against Jensen's as she crosses her arms, glaring out of the window.

All three of them are dressed the same. They wear their grey utility jackets over their black t-shirts and wear matching black cargo pants and combat boots. Daisy's clothing, being a girl, was more fitted than the boy's clothing. The only other difference in their outfits is what hangs at their belts.

On Jensen's is his black pistol. Tony holds a refill for his machine gun that rests in between his legs. And on each side of Daisy's belt at her hips, is three small silver throwing knives, giving her six in total.

The van finally comes to a stop and eleven people pile out of it wordlessly.

After Jay and Alec, the first three people to get out, are in the geek squad. You would think with a name like, "the geek squad," that these two guys and a girl would look like your stereotypical nerds. But, in fact, only one of the men fit that bill. And, ironically, his name is Bill. Bill is a vampire. He spends most of the days indoors on his computer, so being a vampire really is only fitting.

The other man is very fit, and very attractive. His sharp jawline and piercing green eyes seem too young-adult-novel-esque to be real—and not "nerdy" at all—Matt. Matt is the hellhound that Tony introduced Daisy and Jensen to a few days prior.

Lastly, the girl is much to the three teenagers' surprise, the girl that Daisy had fought the same day she met Matt. Kate.

The next three people to pile out of the van are their "protectors"—a group of men in their 30's who all share similar stony expressions. The protectors are there to act as bodyguards for the geek squad.

The last of the people to get out of the van is the trio themselves. Daisy looks at Tony out of the corner of her eye, to make sure he was right behind them. He steps out of the van, not sparing her a second glance, and walks forward, towards Alec who stands out in front of everyone.

The van is parked a block away from the target building in a dark alleyway. Everyone follows Alec and Jay as they lead them down a maze of alleyways.

As they're walking, Daisy feels someone flick her ponytail. She glances over her shoulder to see Jensen with a boyish grin on his face. A soft smile forms on her face at his silliness.

In some ways, Daisy's kind of glad that everything has worked out as it has. But usually, it only lasts for a fleeting moment, and then she remembers that she doesn't know how long until she can see her mother again. She's called her every night so far, but their conversations are usually short since Daisy can't tell her much.

Also, her mom's not super fond of the idea of her missing so much school, but Daisy's excuse this time is that she's trying to find her dad and her brother. She hates lying to her, but the other choice is to tell her that she's a werewolf—and that would be worse.

A buzzing noise echoes of the brick walls in the alleyway, causing everyone to freeze in their footsteps. The sound is coming from Alec's direction.

"Seriously?" he grumbles and pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns it off. Alec puts his phone away and they're about to resume walking when Jay's phone begins to ring as well. "Gesù aiutami, this better be important," Alec huffs and grabs the phone from Jay's hand.

Alec glances at the name on the phone as his brows furrow in confusion. He begins to speak Italian on the phone. "Eh, papà?" His body stiffens and he turns to face away from everyone. He begins to whisper, still in Italian, so no one can understand what's going on.

Except for Tony. Next to Jensen, Tony steps forward and walks over to his brother. When he reaches his side, he becomes still as well. He listens in on the conversation and says a couple of things in Italian to his brother.

Alec hangs up the phone and turns to Tony. The two Morretti boys wordlessly embrace in a hug.