*Just quickly... I ended up fixing Chapter 11 so the whole thing was there, not just the early posting I accidentally did. Joys of a slow internet connection - I hit publish instead of save and walked away while it was loading, not realising what I did until later. Sorry about that x

________

Going downstairs, May found the house practically deserted. Her parents sat silently with Chad in the kitchen, while Amy and Brock were in the living room watching TV. There was nothing to give away anyone else's presence and May wondered how long she had actually stayed in the shower for. Passing by the window, it had to be late afternoon as the sun had started to grow dull with the coming night.

"Where's Tiffany?" May hated that it took her so long to ask about her friend.

"When we went home we took her back to her place too. Told her you were sleeping off a hangover of your own, so if she asks, you're grounded." Miranda got up and went to the fridge, taking out a plate of chicken, sausages and a pile of vegetables. "Hungry?"

"I'm starving." Already her mouth was watering at the prospect of eating. "But, weren't we going to tell her about the shifters?"

"We decided not too. She woke up headachy, had a few questions about the police showing up and Bianca decided to keep her in the dark. For now at least. Since we don't know what they know, we're hoping her innocence in all of this keeps her safe." Chad looked as tired as May suddenly felt - like the last few hours of sleep had never happened.

"Where is everyone?"

"Pack meeting. Connor is in the basement, doing whatever he does, Taylor is there to keep him company. Kyle had some luck and managed to get hold of the punch that had been poisoned too." Taking the food from the microwave, Miranda passed the leftovers to May. "For the next Alpha, he really needs to help Bianca with this. If he doesn't, it won't be long until he is challenged."

"Should have gone with Morgan. She's twice as smart as he is, I have no idea why Dean didn't choose her." Braydon dared to steal a sausage from May, earning a death glare from his daughter. "She will challenge him anyway. I have no doubt."

They were people May barely knew. While Bianca had always been like a silent partner to Dean, she and her family which included the Winters, rarely got too involved in what she thought of as his pack stuff. They had their own way of doing things and the shifters that lived locally, saw only Bianca and Cody as their leaders. He had never dared challenged for her or anyone else's submission, despite his territory practically being split into two halves. May had heard the stories of how he had come to be and without Bianca he wouldn't have had anything anyway. Now in times like this, they all came together as one. Technically, they were leaderless since Kyle wasn't ready to take on the responsibility, but of course Bianca would be in control of everything how it had always really been. Since Braydon had always been her and Cody's backup, it wasn't strange to hear him talk about the next generation of Alpha's like it could actually matter, but it was strange to have him around when something big like a meeting was happening.

"Why aren't you with them?" May asked.

"We've got other things to do." Braydon told her. "When you're done, we're going to head to the hospital. Eli and his family will be staying with us for the time being."

"Oh."

"That okay?"

May nodded. "Sure. Won't be strange at all. Why not take them to Amber's place?"

"The less travel and changes we make the better. If we head out to the farm, we could be leading danger straight to them. They have eight pups out there at the moment already, three who haven't yet gone through the change." Chad told her. "Once this is over, we can look at other options."

"Will this be over?" May frowned.

No one could answer her and once again the kitchen became silent. It didn't get much better in the car either. May went with Chad, and the two kids were with them. Selena was being discharged after the doctor's final rounds before dinner, and they arrived just in time as Eli wheeled her out. The nurse with him waited until they had her in the car before going back in, and the effort that took left Selena looking exhausted. To give them the ability to be together, May got into the car with her parents while Chad now drove the others to their new home.

They were nearly there when her phone started ringing again, and seeing Josh's name filled her with dread. With everything else going on, she hadn't even started to think about what happened between them last night or other things; like whether or not he was as genuine as he appeared.

"Are you going to answer that?" Miranda asked, glancing over her shoulder. Nevermind having wolf senses, May's unease was easily felt by all in the car.

"No."

"Caleb?"

May shook her head. "Josh."

"Oh." Braydon looked at Miranda as she instantly put her hand on his leg.

"What does, oh, mean?" May didn't miss the silent exchange between her parents.

"We'll talk when we get home." Braydon decided.

"No, we'll talk now. What's going on?"

Miranda didn't miss the hint of hysteria in her daughters tone and didn't want to make things worse. "It's just, well. We have no doubt they are using their poison to work out who is a shifter. The smell of it is exactly what your dad smelt wrong with that curry you got from Josh's house."

Nothing else was needed to be said about it as May knew where her parents were going with this. They thought Josh was involved and suddenly his desperate attempt at getting her to leave took a rather dark turn. All she could think about was seeing those monsters rounding up the shifters into the vans. They were her age, some younger, some older - they could have been her. What if Caleb hadn't gotten them out? If josh was involved, would he save her - could he or was that just stupid to think and he'd be wondering why she never returned his calls? Would he worry when she didn't turn up to school on Monday, try and help her parents find her? Would there even be anything to find?

"Stop the car." She demanded, already trying to open door.

Braydon swerved off the road, slamming on the breaks as May nearly fell out of the car and threw up on the gravel. Chad of course pulled up behind them, and was there before Miranda could move around the car to get to May. He pulled back her hair, patted her back and once she was done, offered her a bottle of water.

"It's not, there isn't more of that poison around is there?" Eli nervously asked, keeping close to Chad's car as the trio blocked her from his view.

"No, nothing like that." Miranda assured him.

"You're wrong." May told her parents, coughing as the acidic burn rose up from her stomach again. "He's not involved."

"Do you really think that?" Braydon asked as gently as he could, while knowing she didn't.

No. "Yes. Maybe, the Hunters spiked the punch and the food, plus who knows what else could be affected. Sure, they're doing it to work out who is human and who is not, but it's not him."

'That's a good point sweetheart. It was just, unfortunate the curry had been affected. It could have been any take out food that they used." Miranda soothed, guiding May back into the car. "For all the pizza your father eats, he's lucky it wasn't that."

"Exactly." May told her, thankful someone was seeing it from her point of view.

No one spoke on the rest of the ride home, and as Braydon showed their guests around the house, Miranda pounced when it was just her and May in the kitchen.

"So, how did he hurt your wrist?"

"It was an accident." May answered before she actually processed the question. "I fell, remember."

"May, I saw your bruise. The others said nothing, which said more than words. What happened?" She asked in her 'you better tell me' mum voice.

"I don't know. We were having a good time, then he came and said he had to go. His Dad was at the hospital and his Mum was coming to get him. We went outside and he said he didn't want to leave me here without him and they'd drop me home, but I didn't want to go."

"And then?"

"He tried to pull me to the car, but I wouldn't move and he just pulled that little bit too hard and it hurt. That's it."

"He must've been holding you really tightly." Miranda frowned.

"I'm sure he just wasn't think right because of the emergency with his dad." Even to May it sounded lame.

"So, why are you avoiding his calls?"

"Mum, I don't know what's going on with me at the moment." She admitted, needing to talk. "I feel horrible because while I think Josh is great, he's just not, he's um... I thought about what you guys said in the car, before that. But I know him, he's not one of them. He can't be."

"Oh honey, I know you like him and it's hard to think about. We have no real evidence, so we can give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but just be careful. You don't need to feel horrible about that."

"It's not just that. It's, everything." May thought about what Caleb had said when she asked what she wasn't getting. Everything. He was right, she had absolutely no idea. "I do like him, but he's not..."

Miranda waited for May to speak, but when she simply stared at the bowl of fruit, she spoke for her. "He's not Caleb?"

Yes. "No." It wasn't a very convincing no, especially when internally May knew that was exactly the problem. "I can't keep up with him and his stupid moods. I shouldn't even care."

"But you do?" May gave a tiny nod before shrugging. "Have you ever thought about why he is so moody?"

"He's an asshole who hates not getting his own way and likes to make everyone around him feel beneath him?"

"Exactly." It was impossible to miss the sarcasm in her tone. "Because someone like that wouldn't have driven home last night as though he had precious cargo beside him or nearly challenged a certain older, more dominant shifter when he went to see his slightly injured daughter in a way he didn't think was appropriate."

"You're looking into things too much." Yet hearing that brought on a feeling of warmth that almost made May smile.

"Oh of course I am. Just like how I saw a dangerous young shifter on the verge of losing control last night, to then be told to calm down and stay put by someone else that he did actually listen to."

"He didn't listen to me. You heard what he said."

"I did, but actions speak much louder May." Miranda smirked. "Just like when a certain wolf decides to sneak into that same someones room."

"You knew he was with me?" May felt her face turn red.

"Did you ever think about why he was there?"

"Well no, but-" the phone rang again and this time, May answered. "Hello?"

"I've been calling all day, are you okay?" Josh greeted, sounded more stressed than May had ever heard him be before.

"I had a hangover, not really feeling that great after last night. Hows your Dad?"

"False alarm. He was released this morning." He told her flatly. "Where are you?"

"Home. Why?"

"I came around earlier, you weren't there."

"I ended up staying at Leanna's." She moved outside, not keen on her parents eavesdropping as her Dad came in. "I'm glad your Dad's okay."

"Why would you stay at Leanna's?"

"Because Caleb drove all of us back to her place." May felt like she had to explain herself, as though she had done something wrong. It wasn't like anything had happened between her and Caleb, for most of the time he had been in wolf form anyway.

"You all seem to be getting on well, especially since you told me you two don't talk anymore and you and Leanna weren't friends either." He snapped, clearly unimpressed.

"We made up last night. Josh, I've known them forever. It's not like how you might be thinking it's like."

"Right. Of course." He coughed away from the phone, and this time he spoke, he sounded more like him. "What are you up to tonight?"

"Nothing. I'm grounded because of the hangover and the cops raiding the party too. I should have left with you." She lied.

"I did offer."

"I know and I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted. Did you hear about what happened though? The cops made a few arrests, apparently some kids from another school were dealing drugs. When we were at the hospital with Dad, a few people had been brought in suffering from some bad side effects from it too."

"Really?" May didn't want to talk about it with him. It felt fake and awkward, until she thought about the other people he had known there. "Who were your friends?"

"What friends?"

"The guys you spoke to, by the pool." She pushed.

"Oh. I met them at a work thing my Dad went to when we first arrived. Some lame family day at the zoo."

"Cool. Well, I'll see you tomorrow. I better go before my parents get madder at me."

"Okay. Goodnight, and May-"

She hung up as what he had said about those being brought in with side effects. Feeling sick again, she went back inside as Eli and Selena appeared. May decided to tell her parents about that later, when it was just them. It had to be a coincidence, she couldn't have been with the enemy this whole time and not known. Lost in thought, May helped Miranda heat up an assortment of casseroles from the freezer and it wasn't long until everyone was sitting around the table. Despite how hungry she felt, May couldn't eat anything, and instead listened in to the conversation going around. Very subtly, the adults were were getting the back story of Eli and his family. It was all pretty normal, bad circumstances and no luck that got them to where they now were, but the Winters were all paying attention when the talk went to how they knew to come here.

"Her name is Carolina King. Do you know her?" Selena asked, cringing as the automatic response from Braydon and Chad was a growl.

"Yes." Miranda answered for them. "Taking in unwanted or orphaned shifters was actually an idea of hers, many years ago."

Chad snorted.

"So why is she now packless and living alone with her mate?" Eli looked between Chad and Braydon cautiously.

"We have a history with her, but nothing that matters right now."

"It does actually, especially if she is off blabbing about us to any and everyone!" Chad snapped at Miranda.

Selena clearly felt some kind of loyalty to Carolina and was quick to defend her. "She isn't, just us. We met her by accident and as she knew we were like her, and on our own she helped us!"

There was something about Selena that really annoyed May. Maybe it was because for someone older than her, she acted less mature; her voice was kind of high pitched and she rarely seemed to be not complaining about something. Then again, it could just be because she liked Carolina - someone that had the ability to upset Chad in a way no one else could and May's loyalties would always be to him.

"You aren't shifter, not a runt either, so it can't be that." Eli pointed out making Braydon glare at him as he studied Miranda. "Yet she does have a human mate and her pups are human too, rather than runts like us. Is that why?"

For every question he was asked, Eli managed to ask one back. He was smart, observant and May had found him a little bit interesting to listen to when he spoke. For someone that was only four years older than her, he seemed to know about a lot of stuff about a lot of different things. It didn't matter if it was about technology, or politics, articles on gossip blogs or shifters and more important to May - about people like her. Well them; runts. He had shifted when he was eighteen, Selena seventeen. The way he just seemed to know it all gave her a flicker of hope, that maybe she wasn't destined to miss out on finding out what it was like to actually run with the wolves - despite the fact she didn't want to actually shift and be a stupid animal like the rest of them because she was totally fine with being human these days.

"Her situation has nothing to do with her family, but how can she be sure her pups aren't going to shift?" Braydon asked, his curiosity winning out.

"Don't you know? Female shifters only produce human pups when they mate with humans, unlike males." He told them like it was the commonly known thing in the world, before looking between Chad and May. "Good thing our mothers were human!"

"I don't shift." May pointed out, yet it lacked the usual venom that occurred whenever the subject was mentioned.

"Yeah, but you're still young. The chances of it happening are much higher for you though, especially since your parents are mates."

May's hope vanished once more. Sure they were mates, but it wasn't like Jay and his human Chloe. It was also discovered she had a shifter in the family tree four generations ago to explain how it happened for them. Miranda and Braydon were different, so would May be as well?

"And how do you know this?" Chad asked not believing.

"Carolina told us. She's done research on it and it's almost unheard of for a male shifter to sire a non-shifter with his true mate. Between us, but you probably already know, she can't shift anymore either as her wolf has gone dormant and she wanted to make sure her kids would be normal. How do you tell humans what we are, especially after being married to them for a decade and breeding?"

"Her wolf is dormant?" Miranda softly asked, unable to stop herself from feeling guilty. Braydon instantly put his hand on hers and gave it a squeeze.

"Yeah. She's said she's happier now though. She has a nice life and wouldn't change it for the world." He told her.

"Research?" Chad ignored that last part. "What kind of research?"

"I dunno, she just said she's been looking into it."

Braydon was gone from the table in an instant and Miranda ran after him as he went upstairs. Chad looked at May before following and then all eyes went to her.

"Ah, did we say something wrong?" Eli finally paused from eating, yet his eyes still drifted to May's untouched food.

"Well, a place the Hunters were using was found and all it had been doing was what looked liked research into our kind. Do you think she could be-"

"No!" Selena protested instantly. "That's ridiculous! Wouldn't she have taken us too if that was the case? Our Dad is gone, Mum died years ago. No pack. We would have been easy targets for them!"

May looked at the siblings with new eyes. Selena made good points, and if Carolina was involved, sending them to a pack that would take them in could be a good cover. The poison hadn't killed Selena, so maybe it was a self sacrifice to make sure they weren't suspects; after all the poisoning and ambush did happen after they had left as well as being at their relative's house. Now here they were, eating dinner as if nothing was wrong when really this could all just be a set up too.

"Your cousin, I saw her get taken last night." May blurted and instantly regretted it as Selena dropped her fork and grabbed Eli's arm.

"You said you spoke to her, that she was okay!"

"I didn't want you to worry while you're sick. Besides, it makes no sense for them to take her, she's human!"

"I'm just going to check on my parents." May got up, her stomach churning as panic and fear tainted the air. Selena had to be worried about Kylie, it couldn't have been a set up. Either way she wanted to be closer to her parents. "See what's going on."

She was gone before they could have even tried to stop her and running up to the home office, she barged into the room making everyone stop their arguments.

"What's wrong?" Miranda asked instantly, forgetting all about trying to keep Braydon calm.

"Is she guilty? Is she one of them?" May demanded, looking at the screen where Carolina looked on, completely confused.

"I'm not. Honest." She added.

"Then what is this research you've been doing?" Braydon looked as though he was about to try jumping into the screen to grab her and despite the safety of her location, the woman looked terrified.

"I'm not the only one to end up on my own you know. I met someone older than us at one of my husband's friends engagement parties about five years ago. She cornered me and told me she knew what I was, and hugged me. Of all the things- nevermind, I didn't sense she was one of us, I struggle with that sometimes now." She admitted clearly embarrassed. "She introduced me to some of her friends. A couple were like me, rejected mates for whatever reasons. One other was born from a shifter mother and human father, who when she was younger was well aware of pack until she grew up and left. These are my people now. We talk, we support each other in ways we need since there is no pack."

Miranda let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. "I'm glad you have them."

"Me too. I would never do anything against my own kind like what these, monsters are. I've got to go, it's past bedtime and my kids are still up. Please stay safe, all of you." She said, looking at Chad sadly.

"You too." Miranda ended the call and she turned back to May. "What's wrong, you came running in her like we were under attack!"

May told them what she thought about the people downstairs and further uncertainty passed between them all.

"I am positive they are not out to betray us." Braydon told his family. "Bianca and I had talked about this after the hospital. It's the only reason I decided to allow them to come here."

May trusted her father's decision and her own instincts told her the same. There was just too much they didn't know and with a million arrow signs pointing in every direction, it became hard to focus.

"Why don't you go bed darling, you still look exhausted. It's been a big weekend for you." Miranda walked with May as they left the room. "No school Monday either, so don't worry about that."

"Okay." There was no argument, just acceptance and once in the sanctuary of her room, May eagerly curled up in her bed. 

Tomorrow was a new day and she'd work everything out then, or at least try to.

______

So, Carolina/Newbies. Friends or Foes?