(THE NEXT MORNING)

Harper sits on a stair outside the lodge, jotting things down in her notebook. She hears Alina sit beside her as does Forest; the latter setting her staff down on her legs.

"So, we were going to head out for a bit of a hunt. Max suggested it as a way to cool Nico down." Alina speaks up. "But if you want to join in, you certainly can!"

"Sure, why not." Harper smiles then tucks her notebook away into her bag along with her pencil.

"Great! Let's go!" Alina jumps to her feet and strolls away north.

Forest follows suit as does Harper. The female trio suddenly approach a cabin that sits up on a hill. Alina and Forest dart inside quickly while Harper just stands there.

"Don't worry girls. She'll join us, won't you Harper?" a voice says aloud.

"Yes, join us Harper." Alina says like she's a sudden robot.

"Please join us, Harper. We need you." Forest tells her in a similar tone of voice.

Harper ignites a fireball, positioning her hand so it's outstretched. "No! I will never join you!" she shouts. "Not in a million years!"

"Then you're so called friends will just suffer. They'll be forever under my control unless you join us." the voice whispers into her ear.

"Alright! Fine! I'll join you." Harper reluctantly agrees. Only to free my friends though. They don't deserve to be controlled forever.

The voice steps out of the shadows he is hiding in and throws a green potion at her. Her once pale blue colored eyes are now a vibrant green. The guy snaps his fingers.

"Get Harper a change of clothes, would you? She needs to look her best if she's not going to stay pure." he orders.

"Yes brother." Alina and Forest reply simultaneously.

The two girls drag Harper upstairs and hand the Phoenix a change of clothes. Within a matter of minutes, she's fully dressed in a type of outfit she would normally never wear.

The cabin's door then bangs open with a soft creak. "Harper?" Blade calls out.

"Welcome, Blade! If you are looking for the gorgeous redhead, well, she's not yours anymore, she's forever mine. I have the fearless Harper under my control now!" the guy chuckles loudly.

"She's not a pawn to be played with in your stupid game, Brave!" Blade snarls. "She's my friend!"

"Oh, friend? I for sure thought she was more than a friend." Brave grins. "Oh well, she's mine."

"Harper, dear! Come show our werewolf intruder your beauty!" Brave hollers.

The Phoenix walks over to the balcony for one second before she leaps off the balcony, landing on solid feet. She stands directly at Brave's side as the latter unbrandishes a silver colored knife.

"He is the only thing that stands in your way of loving me. So, tell me, Harper what are you going to do?" Brave asks the Phoenix.

She snatches the knife and holds it in front of her. "I'm going to kill him." she states loudly.

"Good." Brave smirks. "Do that. The Ultima Werewolf must die."

Harper lunges at Blade before she roughly kicks him out the door. He ends up walking backwards with her advancing him until he turns his head down. He's right at the edge of at least a three hundred foot cliff.

Please don't push me off. I seriously doubt I can survive a fall like that!

'Mate, don't do it.' Terzo whispers.

Blade gapes in shock at the sentence his inner wolf said that he doesn't notice the knife being plunged in his chest. When he finally notices what happened, he gasps a bit just as Harper's foot kicks him off the cliff.

An ear piercing thud echoes throughout the forest as Blade struggles to even move an inch. Everything hurt, especially the new stab wound on his chest. He slowly manages to snatch the helm of the knife with both hands and quickly pulls it out; nearly passing out in the process.

He just lays there on the snowy ground, barely conscious. The Alpha knows he has to get up to get back to his friends but at the rate he's bleeding, it'll be shocking if he makes it without falling unconscious. Blade puts both his hand palm down on the snowy ground as he succeeds in siting up at least. Crimson liquid is dripping down his chest and making him a bit lightheaded.

"We can do this." he mutters; his voice slurring a tiny bit.

He takes a sharp shaky breath and proceeds to push himself to his feet. He manages, feeling a little woozy but slowly walks away. Blade gets not even a foot away before he bends down to grab a loose tree branch that's laying on the forest floor.

At least maybe now I won't feel like I'm about to collapse. He pushes himself further into the forest.

(NANA - HALF AN HOUR LATER)

"Where's Blade? And the girls?" Nico asks aloud.

"I thought you hated Blade. Now you care where he is? Damn, dude, you really do have a split personality." Nathan comments.

Nico flicks a cookie crumb at Nathan's head. "I do not have split personality! Where the Irene did you get that idea from?" he snarls.

"I saw the girls sitting outside for a few minutes but that was half an hour ago. I don't know where they would be now." Max says.

The door to the lodge swings open as Blade stumbles in, on the mere verge of collapsing. He holds up a hand and almost falls had Kim not raced over to catch him. She eases him to a chair and sits him down.

"What happened?" Nico asks the Alpha.

He groans in response. "Harper stabbed me with a silver knife then kicked me off a three hundred foot cliff." Blade mumbles.

Nana hands Kim a good handful of bandages and Kim gracefully takes them, setting them down on the floor next to her.

"Harper did what?!" Nathan shouts.

"She stabbed him with a silver knife. Were you not listening?" Nico remarks.

"I was listening!" the werewolf fires back. "I'm just wondering how she managed to stab an Alpha Werewolf."

Zianna sits up in her spot. "He's a werewolf?" she whispers.

"Hey, Blade? Are you with us?" Nana asks the werewolf in question.

"Mhm." he hums then opens his eyes that wanted to just sleep but he couldn't. Not yet at least.

Kim wraps the last bandage around his chest and helps him stand up. She lends him her arm to hold on to.

"She wasn't herself. Neither were Alina and Forest. They all had vibrant green eyes." Blade whispers, blinking to keep himself awake.

"Forever potions." Garroth says. "Nasty business."

"Gar Gar's right. Forever potions have to be the cause of green eyes on the three girls. Which can only mean we don't have much time. Once time runs out to remove them, the potions will set forever." Kim explains.

"Right. The only way to remove them is to gather the correct ingredients and an emerald. But the correct ingredients vary with the forever potion placed on someone." Emmalyn says aloud and takes over Kim's control to speak her mind.

Kim gets back in control of her body and nods. "Emmalyn makes a point. The ingredients to make the potion' cure vary." she states.

"Let's find one of the girls first; so, who will it be?" Max comments.