I was not surprised to see Dmitri but a little to see Nickoli. I guess there was no better time like the present. The talk I just had with Dr. Sway helped a lot and if it wasn't for that I was not sure if I could have talked to Nickoli today. I said, "I'm fine. I just went for some testing after last night's freak show. So you can relax." I walked over giving Dmitri a small kiss on the cheek then took Nickoli's hand. "May we talk for a minute? Outside?" Only if my voice sounded more sure would have been better.

He nodded and looked relieved. Hand in hand he led us outside to the back yard where we could have privacy. Far enough away that only someone concentrating hard enough could hear us but maybe not even then. Letting my hand go he stepped in front of me with a small smile on his face. He looked so at peace and I was a nervous wreck. How the hell do you tell someone that you love them but not IN love with them?

"It's ok Sam. I know." Nickoli broke the silence after a few minutes of staring at each other.

I was afraid we may have been thinking two different things. "So things changed for you?" I tested the waters just in case I was wrong.

He laughed. It was a nice laugh. He wasn't laughing at me. It was more like he was free. "I do not think we were ever in love with each other but I do love you deeply. I am not your mate." He confessed.

My body deflated. All the nervous energy I had since I walked into the house was gone. I could not only sense his words were true but also smelt them. "Should I apologize? Right after...when I came back things started to feel different with people. Some connections stayed the same, some lessoned and some...increased." It was basically only one who really increased, I think.

Pulling me in a hug, a brotherly hug, he said, "Things changed for you after our blood infected yours. As soon as you became one of us your lion choose your mate." He started to laugh while I tried to pull away in shock. Mate? "I know you know this Sam. Think. Actually don't do that. You always overthink everything. Close your eyes, let your mind go blank." I relaxed and did what he asked. It was the least I could do. "Now who do you see?"

This time when I jumped back he let me go. Staring into his eyes only one word came to mind, "Fuck."

Nickoli roared in laughter. I wasn't sure if it was my amazing communication skills or the shocked look on my face. Settling down he bent over to give me a kiss on my lips. That spark that shot through my body before was gone. This time it was just a nice warm kiss. I kinda missed that spark between us but at the same time it was hard to miss something that was never really yours to begin with.

Wrapping his arm around my shoulder he pulled me back to the house. " Sam...I am truly very happy for you. Do me one little favour please?"

"Of course!" What else could I say. Yes this conversation went much better than I thought. The realization who my true mate was...lets say that I was not expecting at that moment. I owed him everything. I was going to miss our times together.

"Try not to be too hard on him. He is a lot older than I am and has never found his true mate. He is the dominant of lions and probably close to being more dominate than most shifters." His voice was so serious even though his smile grew.

I stopped dead when another thought flew through my mind. "Wait! What about..." I looked over towards the house.

Nickoli knew what I was asking. Shaking his head before he answered, "Sweetheart, I honestly don't know. Did things change," he tapped my chest where my heart was, "there? I honestly do not know if it is possible to have more than one mate. You broke most of the rules so far so only time will tell." He stopped for a minute, we stood unmoving.

"You have always been closer to the wolves and I wonder...I really wonder if you should have been only a wolf. You see, I believe you becoming one of us was always in your destiny. Someday you would have been but when you got hurt and Lawrence added his blood to the mix...I think that was what changed everything. Or maybe it was just the fact that you moved here that changed that course. Does it really matter now? We can't change the past and you are who you are. A beautiful hot mess that keeps us all on our toes."

"Hey!" I said and went to smack him on the arm for the hot mess comment but he jumped out of the way. One day I will go over everything else he just said. Procrastinating is one of my best friends.

Laughing at me was ok. I loved seeing this free loving side of Nickoli. I suited him. I wished I could have seen it more before but I think I was going to see it more now. Diving at me he picked my up throwing me over my shoulder and slapping me in the ass as he jogged us back to the house.

Back in the kitchen I felt like a million bucks. Between talking to Dr. Sway and Nickoli I felt like a ten ton boulder was lifted off my shoulder. My smile was so big it hurt my face. Dmitri stared at us with uncertainty. I could only imagine what was going on in his head.

"Ok Sweetheart I am heading off. I will see you soon and call me if you need anything," Nickoli said before placing a soft kiss on my cheek. Turning towards Dmitri he added, "Take care of her and good luck!" With that said, Nickoli walked towards the front door laughing with a new spring in his step.

Flipping on the radio on my way, the music echoed through the main floor while I started prepping for dinner. Shaking my hips to the beat of the music, humming along to the words, I ignored the growing crowd gathering in the kitchen. "I can barbeque tonight but as you all know cooking is not my strongest skill by far and that includes barbecuing," I said, head down mixing the salad waiting for one of them to jump at the chance for anyone to cook besides me. Once again a few "I will" were said and the meat was off the counter and on the grill in record time.

"Sam, you alright?" Dmitri asked weary.

I was able to give him a true smile, "I am, thank you," adding a playful wink.

Passing silverware and plates off to the others, I took the salad bowl to the formal dining room stopping to answer the phone on the way, "Hello?"

"Well hello Samantha, I have so missed that lovely voice. Have you missed me?" Mr. Whyte cooed over the line.

Salad bowl slipped from my fingers, smashing on the floor, eyes widening, and my body trembled. Tightening my grip on the phone so that too didn't crash to the floor, taking a breath than clearing my throat i asked, "What the hell do you want?" I was ashamed, my voice sounded so small. By that time I felt all eyes on me. The shame I felt as the memories came flooding back, eyes evaded down not wanting them to see the fear and shame in my face.

"Well, Elijah is a little upset that you skipped out on your mating ritual and wants to give you another chance to come home on your own," he told me with way too much enthusiasm.

My knees could no longer hold me up, I slid down the wall, clearing my throat again, taking another slow deep breath pushing down the contents in my stomach from coming up. "Well you can tell Elijah he can shove his mating ritual up his ass," I hissed. Lawrence came out of nowhere, crotched down and took my hand giving my the strength to get through the call. I could feel the edge of his anger and his internal fight not to take the phone away and deal with this himself. Apart of me wished he would but knew I had to do this for myself, and my gut was telling me there was more to this call.

Mr. Whyte made a tsk noise then said, "That's too bad Samantha, we thought you might feel that way so how about a trade?" I froze, this was not good at all, not able to say anything. He chuckled, "What's the matter Samantha? Ok time to get to the point. Here's the thing, you come back home, where you belong, and we return this cute little thing back home."

Hearing they had someone else snapped me out of my stupor. I could not allow anything to happen to someone else. With a shaky voice staring up at Lawrence needing his strength and guidance, "Who...who do you have? And how do I know you're not lying?"

"SAM!" Sydney screamed and Mr. Whyte laughed.

I jumped up, anger overriding everything else I felt. "Don't you lay a fucking hand on her, if you do I promise I will rip out your throat," I screamed over the phone.

"There's the Sam I am so fond of, I'm glad your back. I'm counting the minutes till you are back where you should be. We are waiting at the place where we left that young cat we had fun with a while back. See you soon. Oh Sam, I would hurry, this one is a fighter and you do know how that affects me," he said with a sigh and hung up.

I was out the door in a flash, feeding off my anger and reliving every thought on what I would do the next time I saw Mr.Whyte. Hitting the lawn, shirt coming off, deciding my lion could make it there faster, I concentrated on that as I started to undo my pants. Before I got too far, I was slammed to the ground from behind and flipped to her back a moment later

"Where the hell do you think you are going?" Lawrence demanded, holding my arms over my head, as he straddled my hips.

I was so determined I didn't think what I was doing. "They have Sydney, Jack's granddaughter, if I don't get there now..." I trailed off.

"We heard and Jack's on his way. Where do you think you are going? You are not going anywhere near the clearing," his grip tightened on my wrists.

I struggled not to shift under him, I needed to get to Sydney and this 'do as I say' thing was pushing my buttons. "What, should I stay here and wait for them to come and get me again? Leave some of your best fighters here with me or the not so strong fighters and get them killed when they come and take me? Fuck, Lawrence I'm going and if you don't get off me know I will shift under you," she threatened.

He stared down out me, his anger echoing mine. To help persuade his decision I let my lion creep up to the surface, not enough to begin my change, but I could tell by the way my sight changed that my eyes had taken on my animals. One day I would find out how I knew how to do this.

He was not going to budge and I knew once I changed so would the others and there was more of them. "FUCK! You don't understand. They will do to Syd what they did to me. Dammit Lawrence. One night seven of them, seven men, held me down and took turns raping, cutting and biting me till I finally passed out from the pain. There is no way in hell I am going to let that little girl go through a fraction what I did." I was crying out of fear for Syd and the memories of that time. It came back to me in full colour.

Lawrence and everyone else went quiet. A brief glimpse of horror crossed Lawrence's face before he could recover. "Fuck Sam. Just wait a minute. Think. Do you want them to know you are one of us now? Shift now but bring something to wear before you show yourself." Not waiting for my answer he ran into the house.

Circled around me were others already in their animal forms, Nickoli and Dmitri moved forward. Grabbing a handful of fur under their chins I said between clenched teeth, "He is mine, no matter what happens he is mine. Do you understand, do you all understand?" I raised my voice and looked at the others. Letting my shields down I heard not happy murmurs of yes echo through my head. "Good," I said kicking off my shoes.

"Here," Lawrence was back, throwing me something, "It takes less time to dress with that," he added with a smirk.

I didn't even know I owned a sundress, raising an eyebrow I said, "Uh thanks." Nickoli took it gently from my hand while I finished taking off the jeans and started to run thinking about my lion, willing it to come to surface, not thinking about the pain that came with it.

Hitting the tree line my body rippled and the next step I was on all fours not missing a step, I said to myself, "That was easy."