The way he was looking at her, Gypsy was starting to wonder if she'd sprouted another head. Or worse, got something stuck in her teeth. She ran her tongue over them just to be safe.

"Three days ago..." Kellen started cooly. She was amazed with how his voice and those rich espresso eyes managed to reveal nothing as to what he was thinking. "I asked you..."

"And I ran." She straightened, fingers interlocked on the table. She took a big chance coming to him with this proposition, he was a fine and intimidating man when he wasn't kissing her neck in a darkened room.

"Now I'm here, asking for a chance to give you the whole story. In return..."

"I lie to my cousin for you?"

"No." She gasped, "I'd never ask that! I just want you to not tell him until I'm ready to tell him myself, it's my story after all."

"If you wanted to tell him you'd have already."

Gypsy sighed. "You don't meet someone one day and tell them your whole life story right there. You give them a chance to know you for who you really are, not some mistake you made one night two minutes into being eighteen years."

Kellen laughed. A bland laugh with not an ounce of humor. "Is that what you call stabbing a man in his sleep, repeatedly. A mistake?"

She stuttered, snapped her mouth shut and inhaled. "The point is..."

"There's a point, good." He sneered.

"Do you want the truth or not?"

Kellen tilted his head to the side and continued to dissect her with intense brown eyes

"See, I already know plenty about you." He stated, "I drew a sketch of Billie's face before you both ever got here."

Gypsy's heart sank like metal piece of a wrecked ship, she gulped audibly and a devious smirk tugged one side of Kellen's lips, he had her where he wanted her.

"I have your number, Gypsy." He said sardonically, "And I have my friends in the city looking into you as we speak."

She shook her head, she felt like throwing up all over the table between them and then pass out right after.

Kellen eyed her still, "I don't have to do you a single favor. There's nothing you can tell me that I can't simply find out myself if I don't already know."

Gypsy took a sip of the orange juice on her tray and forced it down, she met his indifferent eyes and shook her head again. "That may be true, but will it give you the same satisfaction as hearing it from me?" She licked her suddenly dry lips. "No file, no private investigation or the freakish three seconds of my life you steal through my eyes can tell you who I am. The only person that can do that, 100%, is sitting right in front of you."

Finally, there was something in his eyes. Something beside his cold, blank stare and you never truly no how long a minute is until you're sat before the judgmental eyes of someone that was supposed to love you unconditionally. And you watch them weigh your worth as a human being, and you know the exact second you drew up short in their eyes.

Swiftly, he was back to being the man he was when she first got here. Not the admirable man that made her tea in the kitchen. Not the man the man that kissed her neck and expressed his desire to kiss her senseless. He was the man that stepped out the door as she was entering and looked at her like she was the very filth under his million dollar shoe.

"You know what, forget I said anything." Gypsy pulled her tray closer and began to get out of her seat. "And your friends in the city aren't going to find anything on me. I didn't do anything wrong."

"Words spoken by every hardened criminal all over the world." Kellen got up too.

She choked on the lump in her throat, one hand holding her untouched meal and the other hanging lose at her side, she looked up at him with tears stinging her eyes. "Is that what you really think of me?"

"I don't think of you that often." He stepped closer, his broad chest filling her view and blocking out everyone else. "Although right now, I'm wondering how the hell you live with yourself after what you did!"

"Fine." Gypsy started to sidestep him, "I won't take any more of your time."

"Sit down, Gypsy. We're not done until I say so." He growled and the severity forced her to drop back into her seat.

Kellen domineering leered down at her, his large frame caging her in place. "You wanted a chance to tell me the truth? You got it." He said. "Let's start with Billie, she's not your daughter, is she?"

Gypsy stared at his define chin to avoid looking into his blazing eyes. His stubble was coming up and despite feeling like a cornered rat right there, she wanted to caress his cheek and feel the roughness against her palm.

"I've answered that a thousand times already."

"Answer one more time. And this time, try the truth."

"Alpha Kellen?" Someone cleared their throat behind him and he whipped around so fast that the man had to take a couple steps back with his hands up in surrender.

It was the big man Gypsy had silently been referring to as Dwayne Johnson. He was the one who threw himself between Kellen and Trevor in the kitchen. He had been there two out of the three most humiliating moments of her life since she got here.

"People are watching." Dwayne said.

"Let them!" Kellen growled loudly and turned back to her.

She felt her heart tear apart at the seam, seeing the look in his eyes turn sinister and she knew exactly what he was going to do next.

"Please Kellen..."

"What? Don't do this to you?" He mocked and stood up straight.

"Gather round everybody and take a careful look at this person." He stepped aside and exposed her to over two dozen curious eyes. His people that had welcomed her with opened arms and only moments ago were clapping for her in gratitude, Kellen was about to strip her naked in front of them and she couldn't move.

"Y'all know she saved two of our own." He stated, "One of which is my little niece, Bebe. I am grateful for that act of kindness. Now I've heard some of you call her 'Luna', she is my mate, yes, but she's no Luna of mine."

Gypsy shrunken into herself, trying desperately to make herself invincible. She locked eyes with her daughter across the room and saw the mortification she felt reflect in Billie's eyes.

"The only reason I'm not rejecting her right this second," Kellen continued, his words were only half registering in Gypsy's mind. With the wild spasming of her heart, the overwhelming embarrassment that set goosebumps all over her body, she felt as light as a feather now.

"Is because she is a lying piece of shît." His statement was received with gasps amongst his people. "Gypsy isn't her real name and that isn't even the half of it!"

Something dropped to the ground with a thud right then, followed by a scream that startled half the room. For a second, Gypsy willed it was the ground that had opened up to swallow her but with people clearing back and some calling for help, she realized someone just collapsed.

Kellen immediately forgot all about her and strode to where the confusion was happening and his people beckoned him.

Gypsy looked around for the closest exit, with the welcomed divided attention she could probably make a clean break without anyone noticing. Billie rushed over with opened arms and she let herself take comfort in her daughter's hug for five seconds before pulling back.

Billie gripped onto her hand, knowing they had to be on the road without Gypsy having to say it out, Billie had always been good that way.

They almost made it to the door when Gypsy caught a glimpse of the the navy patterned shirt that Rachel had been wearing, on the ground, surrounded by people. She froze in her steps and slowly turned around. It was her friend on the floor.

"What's going on?" Gypsy asked no one in particular, approaching the small gathering and pulling Billie with her.

"Rachel?" She called, panicking. Seemed a bit preposterous that her friend fainted from hearing that her real name might not be Gypsy? People made way for her until she was standing beside Kellen, staring down at Rachel's body.

"Why isn't anyone doing something?!" Gypsy cried, instantly dropping to her knees and feeling around Rachel's neck for a pulse.

She laid motionlessly on the floor, eyes wide and vacant, her skin was white as sheet. Her lips had turned dark blue and the hue was quickly spreading to her cheeks and neck. She most definitely wasn't faking it to get Gypsy out of Kellen's humiliation.

Gypsy spread her hands out over Rachel's body but was quickly yanked back up to her feet.

Kellen gripped her arm and pulled her away from the people. "Ernie has been mindlinked, help is on the way." He grounded out. "You can't just go siphoning everything into your body, it'll kill you one day."

"Good, cause I'm not sure I want to live after what you just did to me." She looked up and for a second she thought she saw remorse in his eyes before he scrubbed a hand down his face, hard.

She snatched her arm out of his grip with all her strength, nearly losing her balance when he let her go. She was so angry, embarrassed and scared shitless for Rachel that she wanted to scream and trash and break something. Preferably his nose.

"Don't touch her." Kellen said, "That's an order, Gypsy!"

Gypsy whirled around like a cheetah, blinded with fury she removed her shoe and threw it hard in his direction, getting a great deal of satisfaction when it hit him square in the chest and his eyes grew wide in shock.

"You're not the alpha of me!" She yelled like a crazy woman. "You don't get to call me Gypsy and you sure as hell don't tell me what to do!"

The room was stunned silent, everyone shuffled out of her way as she staggered back to Rachel and spread her hands above the body. She tried to concentrate her energy into one task. The heat started from her heart, spreading through her arms until her fingertips stung and she directed the pure energy were she wanted it to go, simultaneously siphoning the dark energy from Rachel's body.

She took until she physically couldn't take anymore and she collapsed beside Rachel. She stared at the ceiling, watching faces around her faze in and out of her reality, voices droned on and sounded so far away.

She counted three heavy breaths before she was able to turn her head to the side and see Rachel being lifted unto a stretcher and wheeled away. Gypsy didn't know if she saved her, just that her lips weren't as blue as it had been and that ought to count for something.

She felt herself being lifted off the floor by strong arms, she wanted to throw a fit at the thought that it might be Kellen touching her but nothing in her life has ever felt as right as being in those arms that minute. She buried her nose in his chest and breathed him in deeply, feeling her nerves start to ease up immediately. Then... blissful darkness.

When she came to, she was sitting on the long bench in the hospital's waiting area; Billie's head in her lap. Jared sat beside her on the same bench and Trevor crouched before her, holding her hand.

The world felt like it had turned completely on its axis. And Gypsy wondered if the droning pulse behind her eyelids was cause by fury or exhaustion. Probably both, she concluded as she laid the back of her head against the wall.

"When did you get here?" She asked, fixing her eyes on Trevor in confusion.

He squeezed her hand, "Just now."

"How did I get here?"

"Uhm, we drove?" Jared responded beside her. "Alpha carried you to the car and you whined about how you can walk the entire time, so you were bluffing?"

"I don't remember." Gypsy shook her head, "I get a little disoriented after using my ability."

"Ugh huh." Jared snorted.

"How are you feeling now?" Trevor asked, squeezing her hand again.

Gypsy wanted to smile at the concern in his voice. But she didn't know if her lips could manage the effort it would take to remove the seemingly permanent frown from her face.

She noticed Kellen, down the corridor, pacing and listening to something Dwayne Johnson was telling him although she could tell he didn't like whatever it was.

"I'm fine. It's Rachel, she was fine this morning. I left her for five minutes and... I don't understand, what happened?"

"Don't look at me," Jared shrugged.

Gypsy felt her blood boil at the sheer nonchalance in his voice. She slugged his arm, "I left you at the table with her!"

"So what?" Jared cried out, "Don't ever hit me again, you wild creature. My stupid job is to watch you, not every Rachel and Becky in this godforsaken pack."

"Hey, tone it down." Trevor stood and pulled Jared to his feet by the collar. They stared each other down for a moment before Jared pulled free, huffing and puffing, he mumbled under his breath and stomped away.

Gypsy lifted Billie's head away from her lap and hastily got to her feet. "Bathroom, please?"

"Down the hall." Trevor pointed.

She wobbled down the corridor as fast her legs would take her. Kellen turned to look at her as she approached but she kept her focus forward, dashing past him and Dwayne Johnson, she barged into the first bathroom she saw. She hoped it was for females because if not this day was about to get even worse.

She only barely made it to the washbasin before she emptied the contents of her stomach. The after taste stung her throat and triggered another wave of nausea that shook her entire body. She hugged the bowl for dear life, coughing and retching some more.

"Go away, Trev. I'm fine." She said when the door opened behind her. She quickly opened the tap to flush the bile in the washbasin, then she washed her face and swooshed water around in her mouth for a bit.

When she lifted her head, she locked eyes with Kellen in the mirror instead of Trev. Her temperature ran cold.

She wanted to tell him to get out. No, she wanted to scream at him to leave. Many unkind words such as he'd used on her since she got to his pack rushed to the tip of her tongue that if she started, he wouldn't get a breath in edgewise. But all Gypsy could do was stare....and wait for him to continue telling her what an horrible person she was.

Kellen stepped forward and she turned around to face him, pressing her backside to the washbasin. She reached for the paper towel in his hands but he pulled it out of her reach and stepped even closer until their body was perfectly aligned.

Gypsy watched his movements with hooded eyes. He pressed a wad of tissue to the side of her mouth. She hated how she reflexively leaned into his touch.

She hated how this man made her feel, like a piece of shît one minute and like the most desirable woman the next. He looked at her with so much loathing one second and so much lust the next.

"Let me." He said when she started to push him away. With a tenderness she didn't know he was capable of, he dabbed the paper towel over her face and absorbed all the water.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, speaking in a low vibrato that sent waves of shivers over Gypsy and she felt her lower belly go taut with anticipated pleasure. She stared mutely at him, he crooked a finger under her chin and position her head the way he wanted-looking unwavering into his espresso eyes.

His eyes were hot. He was hot. And tall. And very male. And everywhere.

He was the air she breathed, the only thing she saw and felt.

"Your eyes could tame a beast, you know that?" He whispered. His breath fanning her face, his lips ghosting over hers. She almost closed her eyes, every second that passed and he wasn't kissing the air out of her lungs was pure torture. He must be able to hear her heart beating staccato. He must be able to smell her desire in the thick air around them.

His hands felt hot and heavy on her hips as he pulled her closer, his head dipping low and she bit her tongue when his nose softly grazed down the croak of her neck.

"You smell so good..." he growled into her neck. "...So fucking good."

Gypsy whispered his name. She was breathing so hard, yet it felt like every part of her was holding it breath in longing and anticipation.

Kellen pulled back to stare in her eyes, she thought she might melt down into a puddle if he wasn't holding her up. There was a firm resolution in his eyes, she saw it, he was going to have her right there and by god, she had no objection.

But the knocks rapping down on the door was like a dose of cold water on the both of them.

"What?" Kellen called out, impatience and annoyance in his voice.

"Ernie is out, Alpha." Someone said beyond the door.

Gypsy shuffled but he refused to let her go. He kept his heated eyes on her and she could see his fight for control in them.

"Come to me tonight." He demanded lowly, dipping his head again he softly grazed his nose over her cheek, down the slope of her neck as his hands slid down her back and possessively squeezed her butt. She yelped lightly, fisting her hands in his shirt and reaching up on her toes, wanting everything he has to offer.

He nuzzled her, breathing her in, seemingly unable to get enough of her scent.

"Say you'll be there, Gypsy." He kissed her, not more than a peck on the lips.

"I'll be there." She heard herself pant.

The world outside the bathroom was different; gloomy and tense. Gypsy couldn't make eye contact with anyone in the hallway once she followed Kellen out, her eyes fixed on the glass cup Dr. Ernie was holding in a clear ziplock bag.

"Rachel was poisoned." The doctor announced and she felt her stomach lurched.

"There's an unspeakable amount of wolfsbane in the orange juice she drank, this is her glass." Ernie held it up for all of them to see. "Alpha Kellen, I think it's time we consider the very real possibility of a rogue among us, poisoning our people with Monkshood"