It didn't take more than a week to find my place among the group of men. Except for some moderate temper explosions, everything had been pretty mellow.

The group kept me busy for most of the day. By the time I got back to my room I would be exhausted. I hadn't seen Casey or Grayson in weeks. I would see Mason in passing, or he'd be leaving the gym when we all went there as a group.

I kind of missed his relentless teasing. It was weird not training with him every day. But a month into training with the group of guys, I got used to not seeing him around.

A 16 mile run around the pack lands had become yet another routine.

But this time, something was different.

Something was wrong. It was a gut feeling that roused my wolf immediately. I moved to the side of the group and stopped, listening to the environment. Something's wrong. My wolf warned as we stopped completely.

I noticed that the group of guys had stopped and were all looking at me. Then I heard a barely audible gurgle that told me my hunch was right. I took a step closer, then I heard a whimper lower than the gurgle sound.

Someone was in trouble. I ran away from the direction the group had been going. I didn't wait for the guys to catch up. I was smaller and faster so I could get there sooner than if I waited for the guys to catch up.

I ran as fast as I could without running into trees.

I smelled the blood before I saw it. Disturbingly, it made my mouth water and my stomach clench in hunger. Even though I knew that it was a person's blood didn't change the fact. The wolf in me saw the potential for a meal and I was suddenly starving.

My heart dropped when I looked at the man on the ground. He was too pale from bleeding out from his slit throat.  He was staring into the sky, unblinking.

I was too late. I'd seen this so many times before, I wanted nothing more than to be able to help the person before they died, even if it was just being there for them as they died. Dying alone was horrible.

I bend over and rested my hands on my knees. I was so close to hyperventilating.

That was until I saw him slowly blink.

I stared at him for a second and listened closely. There was a faint heartbeat.

I screamed for help as I quickly took off my shirt and rushed over to him. I staunched the bleeding with the shirt. The sweaty shirt wasn't exactly hygienic, but it was better than trying to stop the bleed with just my hand. 

"You're okay now." I whispered. I knew he was probably hallucinating right now. That's what I did when I was dying from blood loss. "Help!" I screamed.

His glazed over eyes looked at mine. The corners of his mouth tipped up in a weak smile.

That gave me some hope that he'd make it, so I smiled back at him.

Everyone said we were fast healers, so he could make it.

Then he stopped smiling. His eyes turned vacant.

I shook my head, he should survive. I could smell the werewolf in him.

The guys finally caught up. They all stopped where I had originally.

"Jesus." One of them muttered before walking away.

"Is he dead?" Frank asked, slowly walking towards me.

I tried feeling for a pulse at his jugular, I felt nothing. There was no thumping of life.

"Yeah." I muttered. "You should call Alpha Grayson out here."

"Tommy went to get someone."

"Did you guys know him?" I asked without looking at them.

"I don't know his name, but he was a brand new recruit. He got here 2 days ago."

I nodded and took my shirt off his neck.

"It's not torn or ripped." I muttered looking at the wound. "It's clean, like someone used a knife." I looked up at Frank. "I thought it's hard to kill us with knives."

"Not when it's lined with silver." I recognized Grayson's voice without looking.

"Silver's too soft to give a sharp edge." I looked at the wound again. "It's clean and smooth."

Grayson was deathly silent as he crouched down next to me. "You should go back to the compound."

I shook my head. "I'm okay."

He took the shirt out of my hand and made me look up at him. "This isn't the type of situation you want to put yourself in." He looked back at the wolves I had been running with. They looked uneasy and anxious. "The normal reaction to a kill is the overwhelming hunger. They're exhibiting it now; they're right on the verge of coming over here and taking a chunk out of the meat." The eyes of the men were all bright amber. I'd imagine that's probably how I looked. "You're not showing any outward signs of hunger."

"Not anymore." I muttered unhappily. "When I found him, I felt it."

He smiled. "That's normal. It's surprising that you were able to resist the urge so well."

"He wasn't dead when I got here. I was trying to save him." I looked down at the bloody shirt Grayson tossed away.

"That probably has something to do with your police training." I shrugged. It probably did. "I'll teach you a new trick that you can use now that you're a werewolf. It will make you useful."

"What's that?"

"Close your eyes and take a slow deep breath." I did. "Tell me what you smell."

I shrugged, "Dirt."

He smiled. "Slower and deeper."

So I did. "Dirt and plants."

"And?" He coaxed.

"Blood."

"Is anything there that shouldn't be? Does anything strike you as out of place?"

I shook my head.

"The more you practice, the better you will be able to sort out the scents." He looked around. "Like the flowers by the tree." I followed his eyes to the flowers. "Each of the wolves you came here with." Who were now gone. "I could follow the disparity and fear mixed in with your scent. I can smell the one who attacked this new recruit."

"You can smell the murderer?"

He nodded, "With time and training, you'll be able to too."

I stood up. "That doesn't help me now."

I looked around in hope of finding any potential evidence.

"You're not going to learn everything it means to be a werewolf in 2 weeks."

There was a disturbed patch of mud. I felt Grayson's eyes watching me as I walked over to the mud.

"What did you find?"

"A boot print." It was perfectly contained in the mud. "It's fresh."

"And irrelevant." The moody voice of Mason said beside me. He looked me over.

"Do you typically run shirtless with a group of men?" He asked arrogantly.

"That's none of your business." It wasn't. It didn't matter if I ran in a shirt, sports bra, or naked. I would do what I wanted and Mason had no control over it.

"It's a bit sluttier than I thought you were." He growled.

All thoughts of the boot print were instantly gone. "Did you just call me a slut?" I asked taking a step towards him.

"And if I did?" He stood to his full height and tried to intimidate me.

I took a cleansing deep breath and sent my foul retort back to my wolf who sent it to me.

I needed to remember what Casey told me. Wolves are protective and possessive, and the dominate wolves were the worst. I'm an unmated female, so the response can be extreme at times.

I poked his stomach hard, "You're not frightening. You should really stop."

His eyes flicked back to his brother. They had their silent conversation while I stepped away from them as I followed the boot prints. Maybe I could find this guy. The strides were spaced far apart, but easy to track.

I felt a little excited that this could be my first real case. Maybe I could find the murderer and get justice for the man who died looking into my eyes.

I walked pretty far in silence and was looking around for anything that could lead me to the killer.

There were a few scraps of clothes hanging on a blackberry bush. People don't really realize how sharp some berry bushes are.

I carefully picked the scraps up only touching one corner. I didn't want to contaminate the evidence too much.

"You know we don’t need that right?" Mason's smug voice said right behind me, startling me.

"You need a bell on you or something."

He smiled, "Casey says the same thing."

"So it must be true." I muttered.

I looked around. The boot prints continued on.

"So what happens if we find this guy?" I asked casually while I followed the trail of boot prints. I was careful to carry the piece of cloth without ruining any potential evidence.

"When we find him, he's a dead man." He said so simply it was like he was talking about going out to get some milk.

"Automatic death penalty for killing? That's kind of harsh."

I didn't miss the flash of rage that showed in his eyes. "There's a lot that I don't expect you to understand."

I knew Mason well enough to know that when he got angry like he just did, he needed a minute to rein back his anger so he can talk without being snappy. So I quietly followed the boot prints until I got to rest area of a main road. When the boot prints vanished I knew that our murderer had left by car.

I looked up and down the road. There was nothing that would help to identify the car. The only building was a bathroom and that didn't have any cameras for security, which made perfect sense since we were in the middle of nowhere.

I sighed and looked back at Mason. "So you know the murderers scent too?" He just nodded once. "Is it familiar?" He nodded once again. "Do you have a name for me?"

Mason just shrugged, his face showed his obvious anger.

"The tracks were too easy to follow. He didn’t run on anything that wouldn't keep a print. He wanted us to follow him to this spot." Mason rolled his eyes at me, annoyed in true Mason fashion. "Is there any significance to this spot?" I asked while I looked around the ground. There had to be something here. The murderer led us here for a reason.

He sighed "You should focus on getting your wolf under control. You don't need to worry about this."

"I can help. I do have experience in this kind of stuff."

"You're not here to solve crimes."

"So I can't help just because I'm new?"

He growled, "I'm not having this conversation."

Now I was frustrated. "You never want to talk! All you want me to do is shut up and stay out of your way." My voice was raised by the end of my complaint. He just stared at me with a blank look as if he hadn't heard what I said. "Fine. Whatever." I conceded. "I'll shut up and stay out of your way."

I started walking down the road. I knew how to find my way back to the compound. I also knew that whether or not he liked it, he'd follow me back to the compound so I wouldn't cause any problems for him.

When I heard a truck coming down the road I got off the pavement. I definitely didn't want to get hit. The car slowed a bit and I heard the whir of an automatic window rolling down.

A whistle from the driver made me smile. I looked over to see a smiling, chubby old man looking at me.

"Hey there darling." His smile shrunk a bit when he noticed Mason's permanent scowl. "You okay? Want a lift?"

Mason huffed low enough that the man didn't hear. "I'm okay, just out for a little jog."

The old man eyed Mason. "You sure darling?"

I nodded while I smiled convincingly that I wasn't in any danger walking with the foul mood werewolf. "I'm sure. Thank you though."

He nodded and drove off slowly, just in case I changed my mind.

Something hit the back of my head and wrapped around my neck. I quickly took whatever it was off of me. Knowing Mason, it could’ve been anything.

It was a shirt. I looked back at him. He was shirtless and absolutely drool-worthy.

"Put it on."  He ordered when I thought about throwing it back to him.

"I'm fine. I'm not cold."

He shrugged, "You're walking down a main road in a bra."

"It's a sports bra. I'm less naked than you are now."

"Just put it on..." He gave me a frustrated look. "Please."

"I didn't know you knew that word."

He looked at me expectantly, so I put on his shirt, if only to avoid another argument.

His shirt was huge on me, even bigger than the oversized shirts I wore to bed. "You could fit a circus in here."

"You're circus enough." He was smirking when I shot him a glare over my shoulder.

"Are we really going to take the scenic route?" He complained.

I kept walking. "I don't know the woods like you do. I understand streets."

"Well, you're going to have to figure out the woods. Your wolf is going to make you want the woods over the concrete."

I stopped and turned around to face him. "Fine. Lead the way."

It was hard to keep my eyes on his face and not look over his body. If he caught me doing that he'd never let it go. He'd tease me relentlessly. There was no way I was going to get stuck in that situation.

He turned right into the trees. "Keep up." He started running.

Luckily I was still warmed up from the jog earlier.

Mason was fast. I couldn't keep up. He stopped and waited for me a few times before we got back to the compound.

"Can't take it easy on me?"

He shrugged, "I didn't even break a sweat. I was taking it easy."

"Well, you should've adjusted to my speed."

He barked out a laugh, "I'd have to speed walk to be as slow as you."

I took off his shirt and threw it back at him. "Whatever. Take me to my room."

He nodded with a smile and escorted me to my room. I listened to make sure he was gone before I undressed completely for a shower.