Val fell onto her bed and stuffed her head in her arms.

Dead, he'd said.

It happened almost a year ago. The pack was attacked at a gathering and she hadn't made it. Her anniversary was coming up soon, and they'd just been attacked by rogues again...

She groaned. Why did she push it? She could tell it was bothering him, tearing at him—

So why did she?

When she touched that sketch, she felt her awaken again — her wolf.

It shouldn't have been possible. Zack said she might start feeling her those last few days before the shift, but it was too soon. Still, she was there, Val knew it. And she'd pushed at her as if learning about Ian's sister was important. As if it was worth hurting him over.

When those images started playing in her head, when she heard them speaking, her wolf had perked her head up. She pushed in her mind, as viciously as she had demanded that she went back and tore that rogue to ribbons.

She groaned and padded to their backyard; her training space even before she started with Zack. Their training space... her parents'.

She now understood why Daphne had spent all that time teaching her to fight; she was trying to prepare her. In her way.

An hour after she started punching the bag, Erik leaped over the fence with a grin. "Training again?"

"No, I'm cuddling the bag," she deadpanned, and he stuck his tongue out.

Erik tilted his head. "Ian told me you asked about his sister."

Val let out a long breath. "Did I push it too much?"

"Maybe a little..." He nodded slowly. "But I also know that he needs to talk about it, whether he likes it or not. It's just still too fresh in his mind. Especially now."

"Yeah," she sighed and watched him from the corner of her eye. Had he been at that gathering? Had he witnessed Ian's little sister dying? Had he lost someone too? Had any of the others?

Question upon question swirled in her mind, and for all the protectiveness she felt toward them, for however close she felt they might be, she realized there were still a lot of things she didn't know about them.

Erik watched her cautiously. "What happened in that classroom? I won't be backing down this time, you said you'd explain everything and I'm still waiting."

She pursed her lips. "Did Ian tell you how I found out about her?" He shook his head and she rolled her lower lip between her teeth. Was she crazy? Normal people didn't have images popping into their heads like that; they didn't see people whom they had never even met before. But it was real, the incident with Ian only proved it so. And she was far from normal anymore.

She took a big breath. "I touched his sketchbook and images started playing in my head. I saw his sister, they were talking, and I saw his parents, too, in a photo..." He frowned. "It wasn't the first time either."

"When?"

"With Sam, right after gym class. She was handing me her history book and then it just—"

"Those are the only times it happened?" She nodded and he thought for a few seconds. Then a wide grin broke onto his face. "I think you might be a scout, Val."

"I'll just silently wait for you to explain what that is," she drawled, though impatiently.

He chuckled. "Right. As you know, werewolves are in their nature a predatory species. It is said that the Moon Goddess had gifted the original werewolves a sixth sense of a sort, to help them deal with the harsh winters and the scattered prey—"

"Are you telling me wolves are psychic?"

Erik smiled at the incredulous look on her face."—They could find a broken branch on their way, or a paw print, and they could smell and trail when the scent had been too faint or covered before. They could see them running or hiding and they would know where to go, that's how the species survived — our species. They weren't psychics, they were scouts." His eyes were wild with excitement. "And you're one of them."

She frowned. "And that's not a common thing?"

Erik laughed then. "It's not uncommon, but it's different with everyone. Some are born with it and start to show signs as they train; others might find that they can tap slightly into it as they go, sniff out something a little faster; but that's it. Some can use it better than others, you can go from being able to sniff a scent a little better, to being able to see your prey moving, or more accurately, the aftermath of its movements."

"Are all of you walking werewolfpedias, or is it just a unique character trait?"

"I'll just take that as a compliment." He narrowed his eyes. "And I know this because I'm also a scout. You can count yourself lucky, there's no one better to train than with me." He puffed out his chest and placed his fisted hands at his waist. "You can calm your excitement now," he said, scrunching up his face at her cocked brow, and her face broke into a grin.

"I'm glad I have someone to train with." And she really was. "But right now I'm trying to prepare myself to not be so thoroughly sacked by Zack again, so if you don't mind..." She nodded to the door. He barely even spared it a look.

"How about some real action?" Challenge gleamed in his eyes, lips twitching.

"I don't know," she humored him, musing, "you could get hurt."

"We could have a safe word," he jeered, "how about pineapple?"

Val chuckled, "why am I not surprised? Pineapple it is." She crouched into a defensive position and he mirrored her with exasperating slowness.

He took a sudden step forward but didn't make a move; he was testing her. Val remained still.

"Zack says you've been getting better lately," Erik said and lunged. He sent a punch to her jaw but she stepped aside and caught his wrist, wringing it to his back. He elbowed her side and she let go with an 'oomph'. "Maybe he was just going easy on you."

Val faked a left hook and took hold of his arm with her right hand, bringing him down and kneeing him hard in the stomach.

~~~~~

Erik staggered back, a hand around his stomach, and laughed. "Or not." Val grinned and he beamed back at her, straightening. Even though she'd adjusted well to learning she was a werewolf, it still seemed to be pressing down on her. The changes had been sudden, and unlike the rest of them, she had to adapt quickly. And with the big full moon coming up, with it a very solid possibility of her first shift...

He was just happy to see her smile.

"So... Erik the oh, so magnificent werewolf," she mocked with words he may or may have not used to describe himself earlier, "what's your story?"

He clicked his tongue. "Oh, you know, just the old cliche. Parents killed by rogues, learning to fight; yada yada yada." He lashed out before she could respond and hooked his leg around her ankle, Val lurched forward and he elbowed her nose. There was a crunch.

She cursed, blood running down her cupped hand. "Too rough?" He grimaced. But there was humor in his voice. Val chuckled and twisted sharply with a painful click; a few seconds later the blood stopped; her nose started to heal. "He seems to have at least taught you that right."

"He had to. My nose was a popular spot for his elbow. Or fist. Or knee... it took a lot of practice." Erik grimaced.

"At least you had some sort of training beforehand." He scrunched up his nose. "When he started training me, there were times when teeth flew — a lot of times. Note that it takes longer to replace one, so I was left walking around pack grounds with arrogant, overconfident pups and only a broad, toothless grin to defend myself with." She winced, but her eyes were alight with amusement. "It was a slaughter."

"I would have paid good money to see you then. Toothless Erik." She chuckled.

"Maybe you'd have helped a friend out?" he suggested, and she thought for a moment. Erik pretended offense.

"I might have helped Zack..." Val tapped her chin with her finger in contemplation and shrugged. "Could have earned me points for my training."

"Brutal."

"I certainly try." She winked. "Besides, what makes you think we'd be friends then?"

"Oh—" Erik bellowed, "there would be no escaping me. Trust me, I know." He smirked. "And who could say no to this charming face?" A grin broke over Val's face and he could barely contain his own. At least he could offer her this.

It was weird; how she just walked into their lives like that, and how relaxed they felt around her. It felt natural. Like they'd been waiting for her. Like that's exactly where they were supposed to be.

Her eyes fell to the ground and she pulled a few wipes and two bottles of water from a bag stuffed into a corner. She wiped away the blood on her face and hands and threw one of the bottles to him. He drank greedily. "How do you think things would have been like having grown up here?" she asked after she'd had her fill.

"I'm not sure the pack could have handled your younger self." He offered a small smile. "I'm counting down the days already." Val gave him a playful shove and he whisked her on his shoulder — the right one, where an angry scar almost burned with memory. He was glad she had been able to live normally, even for a little while. She laughed with glee and he joined her.

Distraction, he thought, seemed to be serving good for him as well.

~~~~~

Daphne parked her car and walked into the school's gymnasium. She'd taken an hour off to be able to go back home without Val asking any questions.

She wasn't working for the money. The hospital was a good way of attaining information, especially given the fact that supernatural beings crawled all over its halls. Werewolves, vampires, witches... No one noticed them, but they were fairly able to recognize each other.

There were too many times that one of their kind might have needed medical attention, the kind that required equipment of larger scale, of hospitals. So they'd made sure to have their kin placed wherever they needed them.

She was able to learn there; ask about rogues, inquire about strange ones, with glowing blue eyes that hadn't turned completely blue. She never spoke of their eyes, only hinted. She'd hoped that would be enough.

"What are you doing here?" Zack asked as she approached. His body was slick with sweat. His shirt was discarded a few feet away and a bag full of sand was swaying back and forth following the rhythm of his fists.

"I'd expect a warmer welcome," she cooed, and he sighed.

"And maybe you would have gotten one had you not come for something else..." He spared a sideways glance at her. "What is it?"

Daphne's shoulders sagged. "They got hold of David," she said softly, and he stopped punching at the bag, halting it with an outstretched hand.

"He wouldn't get caught," he cautioned. "He would either die fighting them off or..." his face was grim, "die at their hands." A hand rubbed at his face with frustration, "He wouldn't talk. He'd never—"

"He's alive." Daphne stopped him. They were friends, it would be hard for either one of them to hear about his death. He'd been the one to approach them, to help them.

His head snapped up. "Where—"

"I don't know. He sent a message through an injured wolf saying that they had taken him, but Evan broke him out."

He sighed in relief. "Who took him?"

"He doesn't know. They dosed him with silverdust — heavily. He said his senses were too all over the place; he couldn't smell him, see him—"

Zack put his shirt on with a heavy breath. "We have nothing, then."

Daphne pursed her lips. "Maybe we do..." His brows shot up. "There have been murmurs, Zack. Of an Alpha taking hold of wolves. Torturing them. David can't be sure, but if it's him..."

"No," he growled. "He might be a piece of shit Alpha but he wouldn't side with them." Daphne opened her mouth to speak, he silenced her. "They killed her, Daphne. She was the only family he had left and they killed her — he mourned her. He wouldn't—"

She caught herself from yelling: how do you know? The Alpha was to be trusted in a pack, but he barely stayed in it to run it. The only reason it still stood was Zack.

"All I'm saying is to keep an eye on him," she gruffed instead, "'cause if it turns out that he does work with them, bringing Val here would have been a big mistake." A muscle feathered in his jaw, but he nodded. "And we try to keep her hidden from him, as much as we can, until we know for sure."

His lips curled at that, teeth bared in a silent snarl. It wasn't in his nature to defy or withhold from his Alpha, his wolf seemed to be very against it. But he stilled himself and nodded again. "Whatever keeps her safe." His wolf seemed to settle at that, golden eyes turned back to brown.

For her, she almost whispered. The unspoken words hung heavily in the air, clamped down on her shoulders as she breathed out. And as she walked out and into her car, she wondered how long they had till all turned to hell.