Months, weeks or days - Caleb had no idea how long he had been wherever he actually was. His mind replayed the few short visits he'd had from May, yet they weren't visits at all; more like hallucinations that tormented him more than any of his actual visitors could. Then again, to have her here with him would be even worse so he let himself cling to those moments as right now, they were all he had. Sure the shackles were gone, the hospital possibly part of those dreams too, but what he had been left with wasn't any better.

A solid metal door with a glass screen separated him from the masked people in white coats that walked past every ten minutes or so, always looking at him, always watching. Just like the tiny black camera in the corner of his cell. Pale concrete walls made up the three other sides of the square and the floor was tiled the same as the roof making him feel claustrophobic. The bed was simply a metal bar attached to one side with a thin foam topper that did nothing to stop the cold coming through and a blanket that only made Caleb itch.

His clothes were gone, and in their place was a white hospital gown. Despite the way irritated him, he had little choice other than to sit on the blanket and as he slowly opened his eyes, his stomach dropped as one the walkers didn't keep walking. The burn on his stomach still throbbed, a reminder of the last visit that had him tasered again when he tried to attack. He'd learnt his lesson. The fact his wounds from the accident weren't visible anymore was misleading as his body was still sore and beaten. No matter how he tried to force himself to do it - he couldn't shift to heal as he needed to do and so these monsters would always win when ever he fought them.

He knew that had to be part of their plan.

Two guards appeared behind the white coat, their black uniform identical to the ones who taken him had worn and it only confirmed he wasn't going to like what was about to happen - again. Sure enough, the door slid open and he didn't move. The guards came in first, the thud of their boots in perfect sync as the stopped either corner of his bed. This was the one that smelled like coffee and a chemical heavy perfume that reminded him of the handwash at May's grandmother's house. The woman meant to two things, cold hands and blood samples. Right on cue another white coat came in, holding a small metal tray with an assortment of tubes and needles. This one smelled like leather polish, the shiny boots she had one probably the reason why.

"Extend your right arm." The voice was distorted slightly, probably why they had to wear the masks. Did they really think that would protect their identity? Caleb didn't move. "Extend your right arm or it will be extended for you."

The growl was automatic, his eyes narrowing on the space behind the visor where this woman's eyes would be - daring her to do it. All they seemed to do is take swabs and samples, like the last lot hadn't been enough. This time Caleb was going to be smart about his attack, calculating the space between him and door. He just needed to look at what was in the corridor - an office, lab or maybe more cells. He never heard any others, never saw any either, but he thought it important to know. A clock or window would be appreciated too; maybe they'd have a calendar hanging outside the door to give him some sense of time, though he really doubted it. Everything was too sterile and hospital like for something as homely as a calendar to be hanging on the wall.

The guard to his right shifted slightly, tensing as he prepared to do as the white coat wanted. It was barely a nod as she picked up a needle from the tray. While she was distracted with that, the guard made his move - going for Caleb's arm as the other went to push on his sore shoulder. So, he let the guard grab his arm, because his left hand went for the black handle he prayed would be a gun strapped to his belt and putting all his energy and strength into the action, into getting it, found it wasn't a gun but his enemy, the taser.

Not thinking he pulled the trigger, making the guard let his arm go as that tick tick of electricity sent a chill down Caleb's back. As though he was dancing, the guard swayed in his boots, his body spasming from the charge that wasn't stopping. Falling backwards, he tripped the second white coat and dropping the device by the tray and tubes at his feet, Caleb's good hand swung around to block the other guard as he moved to punch him. His left hand came up and as the guard went to stop him, Caleb instead kicked, sending him backwards into the wall while the cold handed white coat bolted for the door.

Caleb moved quicker, ducking past her he shoved her out the way and sure enough, the white tiles weren't limited to his cell. The corridor he hadn't been able to see much of stretched either side of his room for at least fifty meters each way - no windows, no way to tell the time. Was it night or day - not that it mattered in that moment. Deciding to go right, Caleb barely made it four steps before he froze at the sight of the beaten wolf that was his neighbour. Hair was missing in clumps all over, while skin was pulled tightly over visible bones. He moved to the next door, then the next -running down the empty corridor of white and bright lights.

One shifter was in human form and no one he recognized. The man barely glanced in Caleb's direction, just like all the wolves who didn't look at him until one did look up at him. Caleb's hand pressed against the glass of the door as he paused in shock at the sight of blood beneath the wolf - so red in this colourless nightmare. The animal opened its mouth as it laid there panting, revealing a blue tongue and no teeth, which made Caleb's empty stomach churn painfully. Dead eyes sparked to life at the sight of him, a tiny thud of a tail wag that landed in the red liquid, spraying it across the floor in a tiny arch of dots.

Then  Caleb was suddenly looking at the animal from the tiny space between the door and floor; the wolf knew this male wasn't there to help - that he was just like them. Turning its head away, the wolf avoided the misery of watching the guards take out their rage on the newest escapee shifter.

They all made it out of their cell at least once when they first arrived, for the strong and resilient, sometimes twice, but their moments of freedom never lasted and neither did Caleb's.

___________________

Two weeks and all that May had achieved was not ripping Thomas's throat apart with her bare hands. The pack was doing 'things'. The information they were getting from bits of conversations was helping, but not enough to put an end to this. Since the pack had claimed two of the hunters for their own purposes, Josh had been told to wait on further recruitment of her incase all of that had been due to May tipping the shifters off. Now, sitting in the shed at what had been Dean's home, she forced herself to stay quiet while others discussed their next move.

"I say we use her as bait to draw them out. Take their young and see how they like it!" Someone from the front shouted.

"That is not option." Bianca snapped. "Without May we wouldn't-"

She didn't get to finish. Kyle stood up, moving to stand beside her. "He's right. She did her part and now she will do this."

The look Bianca gave the future alpha was one of pure hatred and everyone fell silent, no one prepared to argue over what May should be doing for them anymore. It amused May in a weird kind of way, that now she was useful to the pack they accepted her presence rather than avoid or ignore it. Still, no one asked what they could do for her, if she was actually okay or even willing to do more. She put herself out there and they expected her to continue to do so no matter the outcome as the runt became the key to fixing all their problems. The past didn't matter anymore, at least not the majority to them and May felt the call of the pack - her pack and she was ready to lead the hunt.

"She will? Listen to yourself. She is a seventeen year old girl who has the weight of the pack pressing down on her shoulders. You, as the future leader, should be preparing for what's to come and not relying on her to do your job for you!" Bianca squared off against the younger male and everyone knew that while in human form the odds would appear to be in Kyles favour, appearances could be deceiving. Few people could take down a wolf in human form like Bianca could and before a fight started between the pair, Kyle was the first to back down.

"We don't have anything else!" Kyle shouted. "What do you expect me to do, since you're not exactly doing much either. Your pup was taken, don't you want to get him back?"

Someone just in front of May gasped as Bianca took a deep breath. "You think I've been doing nothing?"

"That runt has been, you've put our future in her hands!" He boldly answered, making a few more protest - defending May and Bianca. "Should we all just bow down to her now?"

May hadn't done anything except keep Josh happy - she even went on a date to the movies with him the other night and to hear him disrespect Bianca so much had her as angry as the pack. She had done what other wolves didn't want to do. The hunters they had captured had been questioned by only a few of their kind and Bianca had led the interrogations. She'd led the hunt when they took down the facility, organised patrols and ensured the pack was protected as best they could be. With May's bugs, Connor had been able to warn of another food poisoning disaster and it had been Bianca who put herself at risk when going to the abattoir to stop it. Kyle hadn't even joined her, and having sensed his fear, May had lost what scrap of respect she had for the next so called Alpha. 

"When compared to you, we should." Morgan slipped through the crowd, making the pack shifted uncomfortably at what was clearly a direct challenge to Kyle. The last week had both young, dominant wolves at each other's necks every chance they got and while Dean had made his choice - Morgan wasn't so willing to accept that. "Alpha, I have a plan."

Bianca gave a tiny nod, allowing her to continue yet Kyle started to move towards her, his intent obvious. Before he could do anything, Bianca had tripped him up and kneeling on his back, he knew better than to fight back. "Back the fuck down."

As their alpha stood, Morgan continued, completely unphased by the sulking, growling mass that slunk off to his chair in the front row. Bianca's eyes never left him, neither did May's despite the struggle to see him from her position in the back. She really wished Bianca hadn't held back and taught him a lesson - or Morgan.

"Instead of May, use one of them. Let his escape be natural, so he goes running back to whatever hole they came from. We can follow, tag him even. It's obvious they're not going to talk anymore than what they have."

Discussion exploded around the room and as the breeze blew in through the tiny opening of the door, May inhaled deeply. Caleb. Faint, but it was there and his scent lured her outside. Eli and Nate watched her warily while Leanna was too distracted by what was going on to notice her slip away. Soon the scent of blood from the fight that had occurred three weeks earlier dominated all else, stealing him away from May. Her mood changed in a flash, frustration filling her to the point where all she wanted to do was scream. The urge to howl had her head tilting skywards, her lungs expanding as she filled them with air and before she could utter a sound, Nate was there.

"I smelt it too." He mumbled, kicking the dirt with the point of his shoe. "Talk to me May. I can feel something around you, it's strange. It's like the energy that comes with a storm."

Nate looked up into the clear night sky. There wasn't a cloud to be seen, no smell of rain on the horizon and the air was just cold, rather than damp. It definitely wasn't the weather that had him on edge, and as the wind increased so May's hair was partly blown across her face while she just stood there alone in the dim light with nights darkness closing in around her, Nate knew without a doubt May was the storm. For a second she wasn't the May he had grown up with; she was someone else. Someone wild and furious, that didn't belong on two legs. As Eli came out and a flash of fresh light from inside hit her, he saw it then - the way her eyes reflected like an animal in the night. There was a change to her scent too, familiar as always but something more.

"May, what's going on?" He asked cautiously.

"You see it too?" Eli glanced at Nate before focusing on May.

"What are you two on about?" She huffed, putting her hands on her hips as she rolled her eyes at them both and just like that, the illusion shattered.

"I saw, I don't know what I saw, but are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine!" May groaned, but she wasn't. It was as if at any moment she might very well break apart and working out what that final straw might be to light the fuse for the explosion could be anything.

"No you're not." Eli told her, like he knew her better than anyone else. She'd barely known him a month for crying out loud. "May, I think you might be changing."

"Gods Eli! Enough of your stupid shifting theories. I think I would know if I was. I've got the DNA but spoiler alert, even my other half didn't want want me. Tell him Nate, tell him what Caleb told you."

"Long story short, she ah, rejected May and in the same process Caleb hence their whole drama." He rubbed the back of his neck feeling way too uneasy being out there now.

"So you don't think I would if I could Eli?" Her anger returned and moving in front of him, she had a need to release that explosion on him right now. Instead she closed her eyes. "Shift, come on May. Shift."

Shift.

Shift.

Shift.

May thought about what she'd been told in preparation for the change. It would hurt that first time, yet she had to keep a clear thought in her mind of becoming the animal she was suppose to see in some magical moment of acceptance. So May thought about what her wolf might look like. There was no doubt she'd be smaller than the average shifter, but light footed, quick and her size wouldn't be a disadvantage. Her coat would be lighter too, patterned with black and grey markings along her side as though she'd rubbed up against black paint on wall that hadn't dried. There was no set pattern or definition as others had, not that it mattered. May thought her beautiful.

"Stop it May." Eli told her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Why? What are you scared will happen, that I'll suddenly sprout a tail and start running around on four legs?" Her sarcasm wasn't appreciated. "I can be pretty stubborn sometimes, depending on which of my parents you talk to, a trait from the other one. Let me do this."

"It doesn't work like that, you can't just talk yourself into shifting." He sighed.

"Oh, so I'm not changing then?" The venom in her tone made him flinch.

"Don't be like this." Eli practically begged.

"Like what?"

"I'd just give in if I were you." Nate mumbled to Eli.

"May there is something going on with you and you need to work out what it is." With that, he turned and went back inside.

Nate waited for him to disappear before talking. "You and Caleb are so much alike I have no idea how you're even going to make things work without killing each other."

"Funny." May shot back before she thought back over what had just happened - instantly feeling guilty. "He's right though Nate. Something is going on with me, and lately the only time I haven't felt like I'm about to fall apart and actually like, me, is when I was with Caleb. How ridiculous is that?"

"Your mates May. It's not ridiculous at all. We have years to build up a relationship with our mate, to create that bond that ties us together. You two had sixteen years of that so being apart must be hard." He looked thoughtful about that for a second. "Mums true mate was bonkers, for a few reasons, but being separated from his mate for all that time, well I understand how she was worried about Caleb turning, bad. Even Carolina, the rejection of her true mate had her plotting your mother's death. Unfortunately it's also why many die not long after their mates do."

He was only voicing some things May had already thought about, but it was still strange to hear.

"I hate when you're right."

Nate gave her a hug. "He's still alive."

"I know. If I thought he wasn't, I probably would have gone serial killer crazy by now." It was a bad joke, but he laughed anyway.

Feeling better, the pair went back inside and May decided to settle all the arguments by being the one to make the decision on what would happen next. She went with Morgan's idea, and so sometime between the hours of two and four am, the clever human outsmarted the stupid werewolves, broke free of his restraints and just like a good little piggy, ran all the way home.

_______________

May looked at the shifters beside her and wondered why and how they were involved with this madness. The two women looked to be around her mother's age, only they lacked her gentle presence. Theirs was wrong; to May they smelt sick and staying beside Josh, she didn't mention them to him either. Did he know what they were, were they even supposed to be here?

"Just stick by me tonight, okay?" He whispered to her.

"Okay."

They took a seat in the backrow of the small theatre. There was barely enough seating for small crowd, the room fitting maybe a hundred people and May had a feeling this wasn't as simple as seeing a local production by drama students. A few people May remembered from the pub came in and waved to Josh, but it was the spaced out shifters that held May's attention. They sat stiff backed and unblinking, more like robots than living beings and as the lights dipped, the red curtains were pulled back to reveal Rohit. He was in his usual business wear and raised a hand to the crowd, which had everyone starting to clap.

"Thank you all for coming night. It's great to see so many new faces." Rohit greeted as his audience quietened. "You all know why you are here, and I assure you, you've made the right choice."

May glanced at Josh out of the corner of her eye. She had no idea why she was there or what choice she had made that was apparently the right one.

"Becoming a Cadet is more than the first step on an exciting career path. It's actually helping to make a difference in the world." He stepped to one side and a screen lit up behind him, the government symbol something May reconised but the rest of the design was foreign to her.

Like an ad to the join army, the clip played showing team work; soldiers having fun with their comrades before slipping into a darker display of them hunting down wolves, breaking into buildings while the voice acted like a cult leader spouting words like saving the human race, abomination, monsters, killers. Then what May saw had her stomach flipping and wanting to look away she couldn't. It was just like the file she had seen - wolves and people spread out on an operating table while doctors practically dissected them. Clips of people in white coats watching wolves that paced around in tiny cells; guards slipping metal nooses around their necks as they turned feral, struggling to control the crazy animals that foamed at the mouth and left blood smears on white tiles.

Research shows.

Tests have proved.

Experiments were successful.

Forcing herself look away, May found the nearest shifter trying to see if their reaction matched hers yet all that was there was the same blank stare from before. The presentation ended and all she wanted to do was leave. Of course she couldn't, May was stuck where she was beside brainwashed humans and a crazy person. The way Josh had sat nodding along and clearly supportive of everything dimmed her hope of convincing him shifters were not the monsters he had been led to believe.

Rohit opened the stage up to a question and answer round, which May listened to in a state of shock as lie after lie came from his mouth. The recruits were horrified that blood thirsty monsters could live next door to them; stories of seeing cult like activities in backyards and devil worshipping had her rolling her eyes. Others wanted to know where these people came from, was it a terrorist plot from years gone by. Were women really safe since apparently taking them for 'breeders' was all these creatures wanted to do. The questions got even more fanatical, even more stupid. Why did no one ask about a peaceful resolution, how did they seem to miss the fact that shifters had lived amongst them in secret for centuries with no impact on society at all. If they were as bad as Rohit was saying, wouldn't they be in control by now, farming humans for breeding and consumption like pampered cattle?

It was basic human instinct to fear the unknown and the trigger happy bigots rounded up into this one room terrified May. Had the past not taught them anything, even against an apparent foe made from up from nightmares and horror films.

"Yet the animal in these monsters can be tamed." Rohit started, pulling out a whistle he gave two sharp blows which had the shifters in the crowd standing and moving down to the stage. People gasped, the smell of fear nearly overwhelming May as everyone worked out what those people were. "Meet our secret weapons. It has taken years of hard work by our research team to conduct a formula that has these feral beasts as obedient as your common pet."

May gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth as someone near the front started to clap.

"They are our greatest achievement. Your role as collectors, allows us to utilise these demons for our own security forces. The government relies on our Lupis Squad for missions that would prove too dangerous for our soldiers. Not only do they have the ability to change into a werewolf, but in human form their reflexes and senses are much more enhanced too." Rohit blew his whistle again, the sound sharp and piercing to Mays ears.

The two males moved with precious, stripping their clothes and then in the familiar blur of changing, disappeared so suddenly there was wolves in their place. The crowd went crazy, someone screamed; everyone was generally in awe. May felt her heartbreak, the animals revealing more than the humans. Their ears stayed flat against their skulls, while their bodies crouched slightly, hackles raised and eyes crazed rather than the blank stare of their other half. The tension radiated off them, the sick smell growing stronger as and as one made eye contact with her, May knew she had to go. How good Rohit's control was wouldn't matter if the wolf managed to snap it's leash; whatever had been done to them had broken them in ways she doubted could ever been fixed.

"It's okay, it's taken a couple of years but they won't are under our control." Josh whispered to her. "They're better this way, no longer a danger to anyone except who we tell them to hunt."

"Josh, this is wrong. They are still people!" She told him, horrified.

"No May, they're not. You've just been lucky you haven't seen the other side of them."

"What if you're wrong and there isn't another side?"

He paused then, frowning like he was actually thinking about that. "I've seen them kill before May. No normal person could live with themselves after doing what they do. I thought like that in the beginning too, then the more I learnt and saw, I knew they weren't people at all. They're just really good at pretending."

'So are you.' She thought looking at him now. Hatred burned inside as the injustice of it all left a bitter taste in her mouth.

The door at the back of the theatre suddenly bounced open, a thud against the wood loud and silencing those near it. Josh instantly grabbed May's forearm as all eyes turned, and the wolves suddenly howled - making everyone go quiet. The woman dropped to their knees, shifting too and Rohit started to urge everyone to stay calm while giving three sharp blasts. Too bad the screams from the crowd drowned them out as more wolves came charging in, snapping and growling at those closest to the aisles as the doors were smashed open.

"They're found us! Enable evacuation process two point four!" Rohit called down the microphone before abandoning the equipment.

The ones like Josh, the Collectors as Rohit had called them earlier jumped into action, ushering everyone towards backstage as the trained shifters ran forward to meet their still free counterparts. The male that May had made eye contact with earlier leapt towards them, knocking over a couple of people in the rows ahead of them.

"Shit!" Josh cursed, jumping over the row of chairs to help them while yelling at her. "Go May! Get out of here!"

May froze, the wolf had no interested in the others like his Lupis Squad friends. The threat of an attack on her instantly came to mind and as the row beside her cleared out, rushing past the fighting animals, she too ran. The wolf chased and as she tripped over someone's bag that had been left in the aisle, he pounced. May rolled at the last second, pushing herself down under dusty seats before popping back up two rows down. She didn't look for the animal, keeping low at chair height she rushed towards the crowd that Rohit was screaming at to move faster. Somehow she managed to dodge his next attack, barely avoiding his jaws as they reached out to grab her arm. Thinking off all the play fights she'd had with her family, with the twins and other pack wolves, as she made it the clear space of the aisle, the wolf was there and as he lunged this time, May threw herself low and against his legs. He hadn't expected that, stumbling over her and grabbing his tail, May knew they hated that. She tugged, letting go a second before his jaws snapped towards her and kicking him in the side of the head, he yelped in surprise. May wasn't going anywhere with these idiots and rushing back up towards the way in, she wanted out of the theatre.

"May!" Josh yelled for her, abandoning the group he'd navigated to the stage on the other side.

She wasn't stopping for him or anything and just as she reached the doorway, gun shots echoed behind her. The growling only got worse as he stalked her now, easily able to catch her but preferring to toy with May instead; though May had a feeling he had a do not kill order holding him back too. Boldly testing that theory, she turned making eye contact and staring him down, sent the animal into a growling frenzy. Saliva flew around a snarling muzzle, those crazy eyes darting left than right, unable to actually focus.

"What did they do to you?" She whispered. Tan ears flicked towards her as he picked up her words, a tiny whine breaking through the rumble in his chest as he took two hesitant steps forward. "I'm so sorry."

Then the moment of calm was broken as he lunged, and bracing herself, she raised her forearms over her face, unable to stop herself from crying out as he grabbed hold. The bite could have broken her bones easily, only it didn't and she had no doubt now this what they wanted. The wolf kept her pinned down for what felt like days yet it could have only been seconds as she heard the shouts of approaching people, the scent of their guns breaking through the sickness that surrounded her. She was wrong, this attack wasn't the whole plan.

"Let go. You need to let go. Run. They're going to shoot you." She begged, unable to stop herself from crying. What more could they do to convince her that shifters were monsters. Even their elite, tamed pets still had the ability to attack. May didn't struggle and looking down her, golden eyes met hers in a moment of clarity and she realised that was what it wanted. "No. Run away. It doesn't have to be this way!"

Clearly he thought it did as the weakened grip tightened, making her cry out in pain this time as his growls turned savage. Two other shifters came running around, one launching itself so he had no choice other than to get off her - his teeth tearing her sweater and skin as he didn't let go as quickly as he should of. The wolves began to fight, Josh was suddenly at May's side - urging her to get up and then Rohit and a woman appeared with guns aimed.

"Get her out of here!" Rohit ordered and rather than helping May, Josh ended up picking her up despite her protests.

They were barely halfway down the aisle when shots were fired and then everything went quiet. A little more of the thread holding May together began to come undone as she held her bleeding arm - no longer fighting Josh, she disappeared into herself acting as blank eyed and robotic as the shifters had earlier while her arm was cleaned, checked and bandaged. People were talking around her, but she didn't hear what they were saying. What she really wanted to do was to scream at all them that this was all wrong; that they were the ones needing a bullet, only she couldn't.

Where did that shifter come from? Did he have a family, a mate -children waiting and hoping for his return. Was his pack talking with Bianca, discussing rescue attempts that wouldn't help him anymore. Did those drugs that controlled him now control Caleb, or David, or any of the pups taken from the party? What about the humans taken to, what about Eli's cousin - why hadn't they been able to come home?

"You understand now, don't you May?"Josh asked for the second time, uneasy by the blank look on her face.

"What?" May mumbled, blinking him into focus yet all she saw were the eyes of the wolf - that look of relief when she said he would be killed.

"They're dangerous. They came here to kill us today, luckily we had some of the Lupis Squad here to help defend-"

"No." She snapped.

There was no way she was that stupid she could fall for their theatrics. All the wolves had the sick smell on them, and the dead that now filled the theatre had been given a gift of being the ones chosen to die. That was what was lucky about the so called attack, some of the shifters were granted peace from the torment people like Josh and this group were subjecting them all to.

"What do you mean no?"

"He was one of your so called Squad pets. I watched him come right for me."

"He, you mean the one that attacked you?" Josh's scent changed slightly, he was nervous now; more than normal anyway. "I was worried it might do that. They seem to be able to pick out half bloods and go for them. They usually kill ones like you May, it's instinct for them. From what we've learnt, they used to disapprove of it before some, as bad as it sounds, like your father, saw some value in being with a human."

May didn't want hear anymore of this bullshit - because that's exactly what it was. "How do you even know all this stuff. Do you torture it out of them?"

His body tensed and ever so subtly, he let go of her hand.

"I told you, there are people like you in our organisation. Half Bloods that survived their birth, but not life with a pack. The stories I've heard, I mean, what kind of mother abandons her child?"

May knew exactly what he was talking about. It wasn't a secret the shifter world was harsh, but for so long they had needed to keep their existence secret and so runts like her weren't accepted. Chad gone through it, even in some ways her own father had too because he shifted early. Being different, meant being a danger, yet in the last thirty years or so, that had all changed. Sure it made them easy targets in the pack, but they were in the pack. There was always a guaranteed alpha and an omega, so despite their differences, they were all still pack. Even at the party May's least favourite people had moved to protect her against Eli, despite him not even being a threat. It was like the twins and Leanna, they could pick on her, call her names and whatever else they wanted, but if someone else did it - they were in big trouble. Pack wasn't perfect, but it was a family and no family was perfect.

"Surely it's not always like that?" May wanted to shake him while screaming in his face it wasn't.

"Worse sometimes. They even kill each other over anything too." Josh sighed, growing frustrated how she was clinging to the belief those things weren't that bad. "Our boss was one of them once May. We're not making things up."

"I know you're not, but what if there is more to the story than you've been told?" Then his words registered. "Who is your boss?"

"That's not important right now, but he has personal experience regarding this. Many of them do."

May slumped in defeat as it was obvious Josh wasn't going to say much else. "I know how hard this must be for you, but surely you can see we're right about how unpredictable and dangerous these, things, are?"

"Yes." She admitted weakly. "Have you ever tried talking to the ones you, capture?"

"No. That's not my job."

"Has anyone?"

"Of course, don't you think we would have tried that first?" He huffed, not hiding how annoyed he was becoming. "We're not the monsters here May. We do what we do because we have no other choice!"

That was that then and May knew she'd do whatever she had to as well, because the shifters didn't have any other choice either.