"That's a negative. Facility three has been wasted."

The call was disconnected and silence filled the office. No one moved, breathed - their mood sour at the turn of events that saw more than thirty of their comrades murdered and a research facility destroyed. It wasn't supposed to happen this way.

"Sir, I fear we have underestimated-" One of the younger recruits started, yet he was promptly silenced by a single glare.

"Fear nothing. Let them think we are beat, and when they least expect it, we will strike back. Everything is to remain in place."

Nervous glances were exchanged across the glass table. After the night's events, it was clear these monsters were smarter than expected and reviews would be required with all their practices.

"Sean Burland raised the first alarm. We should be thanking them for taking out our weak links." The leader finished.

"What if he told them-" Another spoke up, unable to stay quiet.

"Facility 3 only knew of Facility 3. We keep corpses there for research he knew nothing about. Burland had his chance yet his attempt of retrieving what should have been an easy target, failed. It was one of the creatures we believe to have had a human parent." His disappointment was obvious. "Instead he made himself a target and is to blame for everything that happened tonight. Remember that. You're all dismissed."

He had almost believed himself just then, passing on the blame to someone who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. How Sean had been found was beyond him, and they really had underestimated the creatures. Because of that, facility three would forever be on his conscious. The only upside was that the creatures didn't know about the rest of the organisation and until he was ready, they could go and celebrate their victory while they had it.

As everyone left the office, the older man sighed and brought up what footage they had of glimpses of wolves, of abominations, monsters - attacking Burland. It was like they knew the camera was there and the duo who stalked the man, toyed with him before going in for the kill - had done it all for the benefit of anyone who may happen to watch.

"This isn't the end demons. You may have won this battle, but I will win the war."

_________________

Sunday didn't hold the same cheer or relief of Saturday. While breakfast had already been started by the time May went downstairs, there was no laughter or happy chatter. She found her Mum sitting with Chad in the front room, both holding their coffees close as they stared blankly at the TV Harry was watching. Taking a deep breath, she went into the kitchen to find Nate and Leanna whispering to one another at one end of the table while Caleb sat alone staring at his breakfast.

"Morning." May greeted, moving over to the stove to hug her grandmother.

"Hello darling. Sleep well?"

"Good enough."

Some kind of bacon and egg casserole was sliced up and put on a plate for her, and hesitating May chose to sit on Caleb's end of the table. The other two didn't even seem to notice she had come down.

"Your Dad phoned, they're checking something out, but will be home later tonight." Caleb mumbled.

"He did? They're okay?"

He nodded. "Didn't say much, but they're okay."

"Looks like Mum's still got it." Nate added, happily drinking his juice. "And now things can go back to normal."

Leanna and May dared to glance at each other and the younger girl looked away quickly, clearly feeling guilty. Instantly May felt agitated, knowing it was only a matter of time, probably when it was just the two of them, that Leanna would say she was sorry for what she said but May didn't want to hear it. Just like Caleb, these people were not really her friends - not so long as she wasn't like them.

"Great." May smiled at Nate. "I'm not actually that hungry Nan. Sorry."

Cleaning up, May sought refuge with her Mum and squeezed herself into the tiny space between her and Chad. If it was apparently good news, why was everyone so flat?

"Are they really okay?" May whispered, not caring who answered.

"Yes." Chad told her. "It's just, not what we were expecting. That guy they found, told them about this place they have. It was a storage facility, nearly half of missing shifters were found there."

"That's good though, isn't it?"

"They were dead." Miranda winced even as she said it. "Dean was found, missing, things. How he survived or even got away and. They'd been doing experiments or something there. I- I ah, nevermind. We'll find out more tonight."

Chad put his arm over May's shoulders and she leaned against him, her stomach churning at the thought of what the 'something' could actually mean. How or why could they do that to other living beings - human or not?

The day went slowly, the drive home seem to take hours and no one was interested in talking to each other either. As soon as her grandparents left, May went to her room and stayed their undisturbed until she felt her father's presence getting closer. Rushing downstairs, the others were moving towards the backyard and sure enough, the three wolves they'd all be waiting for easily cleared the back fence.

In the failing light of the evening, they moved more like shadows as they came nearer and Miranda was the first to run over. Her anger was put on hold, like all the others who had been left behind as relief at having them home was stronger. Well all of them except for Caleb who stood away from everyone. Thinking fast, Chad grabbed a few of the simple robes kept by the backdoor and went over too, allowing the trio to shift and cover themselves before being lost in tearful embraces.

"I was so worried. Don't ever, ever do that again!" Miranda scolded Braydon, yet her words lacked the bitterness of earlier.

"I can't promise that." Braydon mumbled, holding her close as put his nose against her neck. "But it's over, for now at least."

None of them were naive enough to think that was the end. The facility they had found proved there was so much they didn't know and while they found no trace or sign that it wasn't the only one, it was too elaborate, too thought out and more importantly, too easy to breach and destroy for their not to be more.

Once they had finished the reunion with their own family, Cody agreed with Braydon and going inside, they spoke more about what they had found. A lot was left unsaid, as while they wanted to protect their kids, they knew they couldn't hide everything from them. The threat wasn't gone, they were sure of it, but it was impossible to know where to start looking.

"Connor will go through everything we managed to get for him from their computers. We've never had a problem like this before, our existence has been a well guarded secret." Bianca sighed, the weekends adventures catching up with her. "I heard of hunters in the early days, but much like our creation, it's more just stories with the truth lost over time. I just wish we knew more about who they are."

"That, Sean guy seemed fairly unaware. He was a scientist, not a soldier yet some of the people there had to be government, military even. The way they talked, they were well trained." Cody hugged Leanna a little tighter as she stayed glued to his side.

"Not good enough." Braydon growled.

"I wish we had got their sooner. Those poor souls..." Bianca shivered and went quiet. Nothing never seemed to affect her, yet whatever they saw clearly did. "It's not just a matter of killing us. They were torturing them and for what?"

No one had any answers.

May had sat on the kitchen counter, listening quietly to everything going on. Looking up, she met Caleb's gaze from across the room. He too stood separate from the bulk of everyone; his face a mask of concentration and rage, which was something that scared her. His eyes weren't his own, and the longer she stared at him, the more he seemed to calm until he finally moved to stand beside her.

"You doing okay?" She asked softly as the adults now made plans to keep up some level of patrol going. Retribution for the destruction they caused would be unavoidable.

"Fine."

"Caleb-"

"I'm fine." He growled, a little louder now so that Chad looked over at them cautiously.

May knew he wasn't. Every inch of her was drawn to him, the urge to simply hug him and fix everything became overwhelming, just like the need she had to go outside. To get away from him, these people, everything and just, go. Her hands gripped the edge of the counter, her nails scratching against the marble as she sought to anchor herself. If she let go now, she was bound to flee and daring to look at Caleb again, she knew he would chase. It was an almost thrilling thought and one she shouldn't be having.

"What about you?"

"Me?" May swallowed nervously. "I'm fine too."

As if it had been rehearsed, they both started to laugh. Of course it had all eyes turning to them and that only made the pair laugh harder. Why - they had no idea.

"I'll order some pizza if you want?" Miranda offered, the only one not openly staring at them.

"No, it's fine thanks Andy. I think we should head home." Bianca decided. "I'll just go change."

Bianca and Cody went to where their things had been left in the guest room and came back down dressed. Bianca hugged Miranda tightly, thanking her for looking after her pups and did the same to Chad. One by one they headed out to the car, May and Caleb the last to go outside.

"Come on, in the car." Cody yawned, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. Instantly Caleb rolled out of the touch, and stepped apart from his Dad. The look he gave him actually stopped Cody in his tracks. "What was that for?"

"You come back and we're all happy families again?" Caleb snarled.

Caleb hadn't spoken to either of his parents since they got back. There was no, hello, or I'm glad you're okay. He avoided their touch, and unlike his siblings couldn't seem to care about the fact they had even come home.

"Not tonight." Cody practically begged.

"Thought as much." Caleb stormed over to the car, lifted the back door and kicked off his shoes. "I'll see you at home."

Before anyone could stop him, he was shifted and running off into the night.

"I'll follow him." Nate offered, yet Bianca shook her head sadly.

"Let him go. He'll get home."

No one said anything more and Miranda dutifully waved goodbye as the car pulled out the driveway and went down the street.

"Did you say pizza for dinner?" Braydon asked hopefully as they went back in.

Chad laughed and put the order in while everything in the Wright household seemed to have instantly returned back to their normal.

"Not my fault." May whispered to herself, thinking about Caleb as she went back up to her room.

She knew without her around, her parents and Chad would all have a chance to talk about all the adult things they didn't want her to hear. May had heard enough already and didn't see how she could benefit from hearing anything else apart from giving herself nightmares. Flopping down onto her bed, she looked over at her desk where photos from her childhood had been pinned beside her calendar. There was nothing to feel guilty about and she refused to let Leanna make her think Caleb's issues with his parents had anything to do with her.

"Not.My. Fault." She repeated again, believing the words this time.

It wasn't long until she was being called down for dinner and since the adults seemed determined not to mention the weekend anymore, conversation was limited.

"I'm not a baby. You can talk about this stuff while I'm around." May sighed, idly picking the olives off her pizza. "What's going on with curfew and school?"

"For now, we will keep things as they are. We expect retaliation, so we're not taking any chances." Braydon looked at her almost apologetically, and she knew her Mum, or Chad, had told him what had been going on already.

"That's fair. I mean, look what happened to Chad and Mum." Putting on her adult tone as best she could, she refused to let them see it bother her.

And that was exactly how she acted Monday morning when walking into school as well. Chad gave her some space, an unspoken request he abided by for her and it wasn't as if she was alone. Tiffany as always was waiting near Chad's parking space for her. Since they were rarely on time, May was sad to see that Josh wasn't with her too, but it wasn't as if it was impossible for other people to be late. He wasn't in homeroom either, and sticking with Michelle, May ignored the group of shifter boys as she would every other day and the girls as Leanna made an attempt to finally talk to her.

Lunch wasn't spent in the library as it had been on Friday. May knew Chad would likely try and find her to give her detention or something lame to ensure she did as they wanted, but it didn't happen and she enjoyed the sunshine, listening to Tiffany complain about the rules of Basketball. If she was honest, she wasn't completely listening to what her friend had to say. May had messaged Josh after first session, and hadn't heard anything back. When she checked again during Math and felt relieved at seeing his name there with a message.

"Where is Josh today?" Tiffany whispered, trying not to get the attention of their math teacher.

"Sick apparently. Got a flu thing over the weekend."

"Shame your Nan wasn't around. You could get her to make up that yummy soup and take some to him." She licked her lips as if imagining the food herself. "Actually, got any in your freezer?"

"Probably. You coming around then?" May laughed - not even thinking about whether that would be allowed.

"Sure! Mum's working tonight so it beats being at home alone."

It wasn't until later May realised the problems that could cause so she quickly messaged her Mum to let her know. Distracted by doing that, May didn't realise she was being followed straight away, and when she did, she didn't care. Tiffany would already be waiting near Chad's car, and rather than go to his office like she had done on Friday, she started to make her way towards the carpark instead.

The usual trio of bullies kept close to one another, probably thinking she didn't know they were there and as the first hand came closer to grab and pull at her backpack, May was ready. Spinning around, there was no hesitation as her fist swung out to hit whatever she could. It was Brad's chin that she found; the growl and yelp merging into some weird sound as he left himself open to her attack. Growing up around boys, she knew how to play rough. Having Chad and her father being over protective of her, meant they also ensured she had some idea on how to take care of herself. She wasn't the strongest, fastest or the smartest, but since she had the tiny flaw of never being able to back down from trouble, May knew enough to hold her own ground.

Despite Chad coming to her rescue last week, she liked to think she had been handling it on her own and now that was what she intended to do. She had enough of these idiots thinking it was okay to break the lines between them. May never socialised with the shifters at school, at least not since Caleb and Nate had left. They did their thing, she did hers and since they now sought to single her out any chance they got, she had enough.

"You little-" David spat, looking at Brad in a mixture of surprise and disgust.

"Oh just shut up." May glared at the boys. "What the hell is your problem?"

"You are, and the fucking little runts like you. All of this is your fault!" The third boy, Paul growled.

"Of course it is. Everything is always my fault!" She yelled now, unable to keep her temper in check. "Tell me how this time?"

"Cause of shifters like your dad, crossbreeding." He snapped at her. "It's got their attention, it's why they're after us now."

"Wow." May shook her head in disbelief.

"They all think it." David added for verification.

"Well, that says a lot more about all of you than it does of me." She calmed down, feeling sorry for them and any others that decided to think that way. "Forgot this, and let's just go back to you ignoring me and me ignoring you."

Brad growled, a real deep menacing sound that his companions taking a nervous step back as he rubbed his jaw one last time before speaking. "I-"

He stopped, his eyes widening at something behind May and just when she was about to yell at Chad that she was handling it, she realised it wasn't Chad. Her face looked just as shocked as Brad's as she slowly turned to look over her shoulder. From behind her she heard the boys all swallow nervously and Brads vicious tone vanished as he weakly muttered an okay.

"Have they been bothering you?" Caleb asked, his tone flat.

"No." May lied, turning to face him. "What are you doing here?"

"Chad had to go, your parents are stuck at work and you needed to be picked up." He didn't actually look at her, rather just to May's left as he watched the trio disappear down the corridor. "You okay?"

"Where did Chad go?" She didn't bother telling him she knew the rest of that was a lie too as her parents both took time off.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "There is a pack thing okay. Your parents are there too and since I'm not getting along with, well, anyone at the moment, I got babysitting duties."

"Wouldn't that count those guys too?" May dared to tease, knowing none of them were to leave or go anywhere unaccompanied. She wasn't even going to start a fight about him referring to her as being part of babysitting duties.

"No. Unless I'm wrong and you want to go with those guys to the pack?"

"Tiffany will be waiting for me and-" May quickly tried to think of way out of whatever this was.

"I know. Your Mum told me." He grinned almost wickedly. "Like I said, I'm on babysitting duties."

"Don't even." May warned, walking past him towards the carpark.

May was surprised to see Nate and Connor talking with Tiffany and looking at Caleb he shrugged.

"Apparently I can't be trusted to go out on my own or be around others either. I put my parents in quite a difficult position." He didn't sound remorseful.

"It's not over yet, none of us should let down our guard and be going out alone." May hated how she sounded like her mother had at breakfast that morning.

"Like you, walking alone, picking a fight with those idiots?"

"Wasn't picking a fight. I was simply going to Chad's office, where I was supposed to meet him!" She defended.

"No you weren't. I had been at Chad's office waiting, then decided I had to go find you. Good thing I did too."

Rolling her eyes, she ignored the look Tiffany sent her way as she and Caleb made it to the car. "Whatever. Hey guys!"

Nate opened the backdoor, and bowed slightly. "June, you're ride awaits."

"Funny." May smiled as Tiffany giggled.

"Chad forgot he had a ah, school, meeting. For teachers. This afternoon and had to go. Since I had the twins with me, figured I could just pick you up too." Connor greeted, cautiously looking at Tiffany. If she noticed the awkwardness of the guys, she let it go and they were all thankful of that.

Getting back to May's house, the guys subtly made sure to be the first to enter. Going into the kitchen, May got out some of the frozen soup Tiffany had wanted and started to heat it up, but her friend wasn't as clueless as she let everyone think.

"What's really going on, why are they all here acting like they're preparing to break into your house later?" Tiffany whispered as the twins went out the back and Connor went upstairs.

"Oh, they're just wanting some peace and quiet since it's so crowded at their place now the twins decided to take a break from uni." May shrugged. "You know how it is with our families."

"Even Caleb? So, the friend thing is working out?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it?"

"Really?" Tiffany raised an eyebrow and May focused back on the microwave.

"It's fine. Honest. Let's just heat this up, then we can leave them to do whatever and we can get that homework done."

"Yes, because algebra is exactly what I want to be talking about right now." She pouted.

"It is if you want some soup." May smirked.

"Damn you for knowing all my weaknesses!" Tiffany started to smile but stopped, instead reaching out to put a hand on May's arm. "Everything aside, are you really okay? I don't think I could be considering what-"

"I know. But I'm fine. Honest." May gave her a quick hug. "We've all moved on, it's fine."

Tiffany wasn't so sure, but let it go. "Okay. If you're sure."

"I am."

It wasn't until her Dad dropped her off at school the next morning, May knew she really would be fine. Josh was standing to one side of the carpark on his phone and after a quick goodbye, she headed over towards him with a big smile on her face. Glancing up, he looked twice as he saw her, a smile of his own appearing on an otherwise serious face.

"Morning!" He greeted, easily taking her into his arms in a hug.

"How are you feeling today?" May instantly asked; a short, sharp breath in as they parted revealed no sign of sickness.

"Better. I just slept a lot yesterday, I think it was a twenty four thing."

"Good. I'm glad you're back."

"Me too." His arm fell easily over her shoulders as her own went around his waist.

"Well would you look at that!" Tiffany greeted as the pair found her on the way to home room. "Cute!"

May stuck her tongue out at her friend, while Josh only smiled. Passing the group of shifters, May only glared at them and while Brad returned the look, the others looked away and pretended she didn't exist, which is exactly how she liked it. That was until Leanna stepped away from them and went to say something, yet stopped herself and sat back down with her own friends.

"What's their problem?" Josh mused, noticing the way May had tensed beside him as they passed.

"Who knows. They're not like the rest of us." She answered.

"Even Leanna?"

May glanced back, frowning as she did so. "Even her."

Just like that a new normal started. The shifters pretended May didn't exist and she returned the favour. Her days were spent with her human friends, her nights with her family and long calls with Josh. A peace she hadn't had in so long returned and as days turned into a week, that week turned into two, then three and it seemed like there would be no retaliation from the hunters. No more missing shifters were being reported, and finally the curfew was weakened.

"So, my Mum thinks it's time she met you." Josh cringed as he said the words on Friday after school. Sitting at the local diner, doing homework - instead of the constant rush home eased some of the tension May had been feeling. Having some freedom back after so long was like being able to breath again after being underwater for too long. "So, ah, want to come to dinner tomorrow night?"

"Really?" May asked, surprised. So far Josh had seemed more than determined to keep her away from either of his parents and despite how weird she thought that was, she didn't like to bring it up as they were something he didn't like to talk about - at all.

"Really."

"Well, yeah. I could do that." She smiled, yet he didn't return it. "Wrong answer?"

"No, it's just. My parents aren't like yours. My Mum-"

"It's okay Josh, really. I can handle it." May assured him. 

"I hope so." He mumbled before leaning in to kiss her and for some reason that made her feel more nervous than she could ever remember being before.