We didn’t stop till mid-morning. If we planned this right and Ethan was able to do as we planned, I’d be seeing him by nightfall. What I didn’t expect was the familiar form of the Alpha’s daughter trailing me and our reunion was soothing to my soul. Following her, the pack was nearby and I didn’t like how low they’d come so early. The reaction I got at returning to them was of pure joy and the pups were now mini wolves, actively joining the pack. I was glad to see they had all survived so far, it would appear this year was being kind to us all.

I stayed with them for two days, heading in the direction I needed to go and as night fell the single howl had them all responding. I kept quiet, listening to make sure it was the one I was waiting for and shifted. My own song sounding out  after the pack and the response was quick to answer. The pack followed me as I took off towards Ethan and it took it me longer than usual as I convinced them to stay back. My power with them was weak and while they didn’t stay at my side, they did linger nearby.

Old habits die hard.

I dropped my backpack nearby, easily finding Ethan who was looking around cautiously. I watched for a few minutes, assessing the wolf in front of me. He was a little taller, thinner and while I knew he felt he was being watched, he made no attempt at finding the source. I circled him, purposefully making noise when I wanted him to hear it and all I seemed to be doing was making him even more scared.

Weak.

‘Give him a chance.’

Everything was riding on what this meeting could provide us and putting him out of his misery, I emerged from the bushes. He spun around instantly, growling with warning and I didn’t flinch, shifting instead. He instantly stopped, shifting and running over to me.

“Oh god Bianca!” While I had become familiar with the others touch, and despite the fact he was of my original pack, I shied away from his hug. He didn’t seem to notice. “I can’t believe it’s you! We all thought you were dead!”

“I should have been. Are you alone?” I glanced around curiously, I knew he was, but he could always have some waiting a howl away.

“Yes, it’s easier to move around undetected when you’re on your own.”

“Come, I know somewhere we can stay the night and talk.”

Shifting, he followed without complaint and finding the pack he went on attack mode. The wolves all responded the same and shifting I tried to encourage him to do the same.

“Your place to stay is with wolves?” He asked in disbelief. I tried to calm the pack and the longer I was with them, the more they listened and finally moved away from us.

“They saved me Ethan, do not think less of them because they are only animals.” The edge my tone had him silencing and I wondered if he really could have taken the place of my father at the head of our pack.

Weak.

My wolf didn’t think so.

“Can you tell me what happened and where you’ve been the last five years?” He asked, glancing towards the wolves who watched him like an easy target. We found a nice patch of grass to sit down on and I told him parts of what had happened. Despite everything, I didn’t trust him.

“How did you know Damon was coming after me if you’ve been playing wolf all this time?”

I decided against telling him about the gypsy. For some reason I felt like that was my one advantage over all of them, so I lied.

“A dream, it was almost like a vision. Damon shot you, and since I’ve been tracking him – after that I looked for you. The fact you’d both went into Canada was to convenient.”

“I knew he’d be after me the second I decided to come back home. I’m not going to make it easy for him to kill me.” He growled. He had my story, now I needed his.

“Why would he want to kill you?”

“It was a week after we buried your parents he appeared. He declared he was going to take over and merge the two packs. The survivors were thankful, but I recognized his scent of Leanna and put two and two together so to try and defend our pack from his take over, I challenged him.”

“You were to young!” I gasped, he had only been a shifter for a month and that challenge would have been asking for death.

“I know. So did he and the pack, my challenge was revoked with his permission. Only because I had done it, clearly I’d try again when I was older so he made my life hell. I just want revenge for my mate and to take back my pack.”

It’s not his pack.

‘It’s not ours either’

She snorted in response and I focused back on Ethan.

“Four years later I was visiting Leanna’s grave and he was there, him and his thugs. If you challenge him it’s not a fair fight, he uses safety in numbers and is never without them around him. A couple of weeks ago a wolf was killed that was part of his group. I sent a bottle of champagne and I think he thinks I did it.”

I regretted not doing something the same, and made a mental note to do that next time.

“So I’m at the grave and he asks me if I still wanted to fight him and I said no. I’m not stupid. He admits to me he was there when Leanna died, that she had begged like a whore for them to let her live and that our Alpha’s had fought like weak mutts. I knew what he was doing and before I could respond they jumped me, he kept saying something about a gypsy telling him that I was a threat.”

Again my wolf snorted.

“Then what happened?” I asked softly, his rage thinking about the comments about Leanna obvious.

“I got one of them, managed to shift and ran. I went home, got a few things and headed south to a human friends place. Six months ago, I got the hell out of here and headed to Europe.”

“So why did you come back?” He had an out, he would have been safe over there.

“I got a letter telling me my parents had died, foolishly I came straight home and getting to the airport I knew it had been a set up. I got the next flight out of there as the place was crawling with his pack and as soon as I could, I phoned my parents to tell them. They’re currently in New York and are heading over to my place in Germany.”

“Why haven’t you left?”

“Because when I was arranging my flights I got a message warning me about Damon coming and decided to find out what that was all about. So here we are!” He waved his hands around the clearing and I only nodded. “Whats your plan?”

“I’m going to kill them all.”

“Bianca, you’re a girl. You’ve been running around the forest with wolves. What chance do you have of taking him down?” His disbelief annoyed me and I growled, not caring enough to stop my wolf coming out.

“Because I’m the one who killed that shifter and that’s how I’ll get him. Take away the pack, he is nothing.”

I didn’t think Ethan was going to be much help. My wolf was right, he was weak and while I was glad I knew his story; it provided me with nothing.

“Then you’re going to need my help.”

“Why?” I couldn’t hide how skeptical I was over that declaration.

“Because I have another one of those guys tailing me. He lost me back over the border, but he is a keen tracker. I can lure him out and you can kill him. They will think I did it, playing in your favor and so when they come after me, you can get them.”

All I heard was me kill them, and while he clearly wanted the glory, he wanted his hands to stay clean. Had he always been like this? Either way the result would be the same.

“Deal.”

A few hours later Ethan was back to asking me questions and while I answered them simply or not at all, he finally asked something he should have done in the beginning, despite my vague description of what happened that night we were attacked.

“Do you even know why he chose us?”

Don’t tell him.

My wolf didn’t trust him, neither did I. Even if he was meant to be Leanna’s mate, he wasn’t so I had no reason to believe him.

“No idea, but he made a big mistake leaving me alive.”

And that was the truth.

-

Crossing the border was easy enough and stealing a car, I left that side of things to Ethan. He did let me drive for a while and the open country roads gave me time to adjust to driving on actual roads and also to be alert for road signs. The first town we came across we booked into a hotel, figuring they were probably tracking his accounts like Connor had.

Just thinking about him made me think of Cody and a week later, I was missing all of them; even Adam. Ethan was nice enough, our travelling in human form left us with time to talk and he filled me in on what he knew of our pack that was left. Many had died in the fights that followed the takeover but Damon had the numbers we didn’t and with no Alpha to lead, the pack submitted.

It was the smart thing for them to do.

“Do you ever sleep?” Ethan asked as we found our room.

“Yes?”

“I mean for more than an hour at a time.”

I struggled to sleep without Cody. I don’t know how that happened, and I hated it. Exhaustion eventually made me stop, but it never lasted. I needed to be stronger if we were going to have to fight and despite requesting separate beds, we were given a small double. Turns out it wasn’t Cody I needed, just someone beside me.  Well that was what I told myself. In reality my wolf took over, imagining Cody beside her and it worked. We slept for nine hours straight and I felt more human the following day.

“Daisy Duke keeps messaging me, I just got reception back on my cell.” Ethan handed me his phone and all of Connors messages came through in a rush. A week without checking had let them pile up and by the end there was over sixty. He could obviously tell we had seen them as the phone vibrated in my hand and he sent through another two.

Daisy Duke: Please just tell me you’re ok

I know you have seen this message!!

Ethan Forrest: I’m ok. I’m sorry but it was better this way.

Daisy Duke: It’s really not. My brother is a mess

We never used names, even in all of the messages he referred to them as only his cousins or brothers and so I made sure I didn’t either.

Ethan Forrest: I’m sorry.

Daisy Duke: Just come home.

Ethan Forrest: I cant

Daisy Duke: I thought you were a better person than this.

His status changed to offline and I hated disappointing him. Before I could give Ethan the phone back, Connor was messaging me again.

Daisy Duke: I told him everything and I mean everything. He hasn’t spoken to me for a week. I don’t know what happened between you two but you need to come back. We all need you.

“Ah Bianca. We have company.” Ethan called from the window and I turned off the phone. Standing beside him we peeked out of the curtains, the two men were easy to spot amongst the humans in the street.

“There are two of them.” I hissed, he had told me there was only one.

“Max and Kyle. Kyle is the one you need to watch, Max must have joined him for support since I got away.”

“This changes nothing.”

I found the wig we picked up the day before, hiding my dark hair the blonde didn’t really suit me, not that it really mattered. As Ethan put on his cap and sunglasses, I had to roll my eyes at how obvious he looked. Discreetly I tore a tiny piece of the wolfs bane leaf off, and followed Ethan out of the hotel. We split up and thankfully he didn’t notice anything different about me as we parted.

I walked past Max and Kyle, my wolf anxious to catch their scent and we were not disappointed. Kyle was one of the ones there that night, Max was just unlucky. Did Damon always send his most trusted men to do his dirty work?

Coward.

I wondered what he had on them to make the oblige or were shifters really that stupid. If Ethan was considered strong enough to be an Alpha, what did that make Cody and I? Just thinking about Cody distracted me and I tripped over a crack in the pavement. Surprisingly Max was there, helping me up.

“Careful Miss.” He smiled, and there didn’t seem to be a single thing vicious about him.

He dies too.

He knew my face, he would think I am only human, but we couldn’t leave loose ends. We wouldn’t make the mistakes they did.

“Thank you.” I mumbled, praying my hair hadn’t moved.

“Sorry, but do I know you?” He asked and Kyle looked me over for a second. I had no idea where Ethan had gone, so looked confused.

“I don’t think so?”

“Oh, do you have a sister who is stripper? I swear I saw you dancing just last night down the road there!” Kyle piped up.

A stripper?

“Sorry, wasn’t me!”

They didn’t try and stop me, carrying on down the road towards a bar. Obviously the strippers weren’t open yet, but it gave me an idea.

 Ethan was easy to find, the guy had no clue on keeping out of sight and I had no idea how he wasn’t already found. Clearly they had something more important to do before finding him.

“You ok?” He asked, having seen it all.

“Great! Come on, we need to do a few things first.”

-

This was it.

If I did this, there was no going back.

My wolf was in the front of my mind, a constant pressure  on my temples as the scent of Kyle had her fighting for freedom.

Ethan had managed to do as we planned and had slipped something into Max’s drink at the bar. Kyle had ruined that for us, as he had already left. He would never know his pack mate had found himself being thrown into the hotel pool for one last swim. The spare seat beside him told me Max was definitely expected so I had to move quick before his presence was missed. 

Max was probably the luckiest out of all of the Damon’s shifters, it was bad luck for Kyle he didn’t get the same fate. We also knew the chlorine would make sure Ethan’s scent had been removed from the body. Thinking back, Kyle had been more of a watcher than a participant and had started to leave when the others decided to throw me over the edge.

I guess he wasn’t as bad as the others, but he still hadn’t stopped them.

And the pair of them had been here to find Ethan.

“You going to wait those tables Daisy or you here to watch the show?” The bartender poked my arm and I didn’t hide my wolf tonight. There were no other shifters here, so as I got closer to Kyle he easily scented me.

“Well she-wolf, you wanna find out who’s top dog around here?” He slurred, the putrid stench of alcohol on his breath had my stomach churning.

“I don’t come for free.” I purred back, winking and as another patron slapped my ass I prayed Kyle couldn’t see my annoyance.

“Of course not.” He signaled the man with the DJ. I only met him once earlier this afternoon and to get hired all I had to was tell him I’d be willing to wear the ridiculous piece of string they called underwear and smile nicely at the guests.

“How much?”

“Daisy here is a ripe little flower, ready for the taking!” He mused, looking in my direction I kept my face still. “What are you wanting my good Sir?”

“What can a thousand get me?”

“Daisy, take the man to room three and show him what a thousand gets him.”

The room smelt like sex and decay, the disinfect was only there if you searched for it through the rest of the smells and I wished we had been able to drug Kyle too, just so I didn’t have to breath this air.

Thankfully human diseased didn’t affect us and I kept telling myself that as I touched the pole. I had no idea what to actually do with it so I walked around it, waiting for him to sit down. I didn’t have to wait long.

“First day?”

“Yes.”

“I can tell you’re nervous. It sounds cliché, but what are you doing in a place like this?” Kyle wasn’t as old as Max or even the first shifter I came across. He could have been around thirty, maybe just under. While he wasn’t handsome like Cody or good looking like Ethan, he had something about him that was interesting to look at.

He waved his hand, and I realized he wanted me to stop walking around the pole.

“I could ask you the same thing, I came here because there were no other shifters.” I growled and he nodded, the drinks he had already consumed had opened him up and he was rather chatty.

“I’m here with a friend on pack business. We’re looking for someone. My Alpha is a bit of a hard ass and the pup pissed him off. Haven’t seen him have you? Blonde, I guess he looks like he belongs on a beach in California.”

“No, you’re the first shifter I’ve met. What you going to do with him?”

“Honestly, kill him. If we do it now it will be kinder than what the Alpha has in store. We’ll just bullshit we didn’t have a choice.”

I wasn’t expecting to hear that.

“Don’t look so surprised princess. He killed one of our own.”  Kyle sighed, “He was a dickhead, but he was still pack and despite that I don’t want to have to see anyone go through the torture the pup has waiting for him back home.”

He was showing mercy to Ethan?

Where was your mercy?

I had been so lost in thought, I didn’t see him move from the chair and growled while trying to push him off as he picked me up and took me to the bed.

“So what does a thousand get me?” His lips on my neck made my skin crawl and pulling my legs up slightly, I got ready to get him off me.

“A quick death.” I whispered in his ear.

“Wha…”

I kicked hard in his stomach and with a groan he fell to the side. Disorientated and slightly drunk, his movements were slow and I had him pinned easily.

“Want to know the real reason why I’m here?”

He fearfully nodded, my wolf was growling in preparation to be let out.

“My mate killed had his pack kill my family and then rather than killing me, someone said. Now what was it? Oh let the wild animals out there have at her, maybe an eagle or something?”

“You’re her! The alpha’s mate!” He started squirming underneath me and I punched him hard in this side of the head.

“Well done.”

“I’m sorry, I am so sorry.” He started to apologize, begging for forgiveness. “Please, just let me live.”

“I’m pretty sure I begged like that and you know the answer I got!”

If I had thought it would be easy, I had underestimated the idiot. Getting a hand free, he gripped my throat and I as I let him go his threw his own punch. He got me hard in the ribs and I fell backwards.

“Think you’re tough little she-wolf?”

“Prove me wrong shifter.” I challenged and leaving the room, he was quick to follow. No one said anything as we ran out and hitting the tree line I shifted.

Kyle did the same, the brown and white wolf was surprisingly smaller than I was expecting, barely bigger than me. In seconds were nothing but a snarling mess of fur. He was quick, but I had the strength he lacked. He managed to knock me over, pouncing on my I rolled up to face him and leapt for his muzzle. His whined, panicking as I gripped onto his lower law, the sensation of bone cracking under the pressure of my own making my wolf feel even more dominant. He wasn’t whining now, he was yelping and his paw came up to try and scratch at my face.

It worked, I let him and he ran eager to escape me.

That wasn’t part of my wolfs plan and licking the blood from around her muzzle she ran faster, leaping at him  her weight made him stumble and we rolled for a couple of meters before stopping. Getting up I shook my coat, the few odd wounds already starting to heal, as were his. This time as I came forward, he couldn’t move at all, the fall had weakened one of his legs and the sensation of ripping his throat out had my wolf going in frenzy.

Blood covered the white fur as the limp figure of my opponent was torn apart. Finally getting control back, she stepped back panting and the sight we left behind sickened me to my core.

He deserved it.

‘Not like that’

Throwing her head back, her howl screamed of her success and leaving the corpse behind, I didn’t like how much joy she had taken from the kill. There was only one death she needed to enjoy and it wasn’t Kyle’s.

Ethan was waiting with a car as I emerged from the forest and seeing me he got out, offering me a dress to put on.

“Come on, we need to go.” He urged, and getting in the car Max’s scent was everywhere.

“Who’s car is this?”

“Theirs, I figured they wouldn’t need it anymore. We just need to get away from this town, then we can shift and head back towards home.”

Not bothering to argue, I sat back in the chair. Did Esmeralda know this what was I’d end up doing when I found Ethan? 

With him driving, it didn’t take me long to fall asleep. Only now I had new nightmares waiting for meand I couldn’t blame Damon for these ones; they were completely of my own creation.