Val felt a drop of cold sweat trickle down her forehead as they turned in the direction everyone was running from. Mostly humans, judging from their scent; and the fact that eyes, both yellow and red, had stood back and started glowing; both growling and hissing against the threat.

The trees shook as big, feral-looking wolves came barreling down from the tree line, bumping into each other as they did.

Bodies were running past them with terror etched in their eyes, and Val watched in shock as the wolves ripped at familiar faces. Classmates. Pack mates.

Blood was splattered everywhere, staining the silky grass and filling the atmosphere with a coppery scent that made her stomach churn.

Severed limbs were savagely thrown in different places as the wolves bit at whatever they could find, some tearing at others' leftovers. Bile rose in her throat.

They stood there for a moment, frozen before the carnage. And then a girl, blond, with eyes of the raging waves, now tinted with shimmering yellow, screamed, as an auburn wolf sank its teeth into her arm.

Robin... She'd seen her before, trained with her. The fierce gaze she had learned to admire had slumped down to pure terror.

Val was moving before her mind registered the danger; the fear.

She was close enough to reach her in mere moments; her friends screaming her name from the back following, as she bumped her shoulder into the wolf, pushing it away and tearing its teeth from the gaping wound on the girl's arm.

Hands tipped in razor-sharp claws and fangs ready to shred at flesh, she snarled at the male that recoiled, and then licked his lips in anticipation. Val — to her surprise — found herself doing the same.

There were about a dozen and a half, as far as she could tell. She risked a glance at the growls coming from her back just as a small group of large wolves jumped over them, one tumbling away with the wolf that had shredded Robin's arm.

"Scouts," Erik bellowed, and one of the wolves turned back — Zack. He let out an urgent snarl and motioned for them to go before jumping in front of a red one.

"Let's g— Ugh!" A large wolf jumped on Erik. He pushed him away and quickly snapped up, growling, eyes glowing a brilliant yellow. Val made herself a wall in front of the blond still clutching tightly at her arm.

Robin stopped the sobs that had made her shoulders shake, wisely stopping herself from inflicting any more pain.

The others had already gone to work. Circling the wolf and snarling; claws at the ready. The wolf studied them warily.

It was one thing going up against one of them; but all of them...

Even in its rotten mind, there was one instinct at least that still worked.

They wouldn't be able to escape the male now, Val thought. Might as well do something about it.

There was safety in numbers, after all.

His skin, bloody and frail, had sunken onto his muscles, and Val cringed as her eyes trailed on his body. The ribcage was striking out the most, but the rest of his bones were just as sickeningly visible.

His fur was thinned out and patches of skin were missing from different parts of his body. He looked sick. He probably was.

Val scrunched up her nose in disgust as his foul smell burned her nostrils. He smelled of dry blood and decaying flesh.

He smelled of death.

Still, something pushed at her to lunge. Shred whatever was left of the poor male.

Something had awoken, cracked its eyes open to the smell of blood — to the pain it longed to inflict.

You'd just be putting him out of his misery anyway; it seemed to whisper. Slithering through every shred of self-control, pushing—

Erik snarled at him and lunged. The wolf was thrown to the ground and let out a small cry at the new gashes at its side.

Another wolf jumped onto Ian and Damian punched hard at its ribcage, a characteristic 'snap' telling her he had probably broken one or two.

They split into three pairs of two as another appeared. The scouts still tried to hold the line as people escaped.

Ian threw one at the ground and held him with a headlock. Erik moved quickly to his head but the wolf broke loose of the hold and snapped her jaws at them.

Alex was currently trying to keep another wolf's teeth from reaching her neck just as Sam was clawing at his back to distract him. Something pushed in Val's mind, clawed at it. Alex didn't seem okay. Her eyes were watery, and her arms shook too violently for the hold to last.

She looked for any help but the scouts were too preoccupied to notice. The last group of young wolves clearing the lake under Zack's orders took Robin with them, moving carefully behind her as she covered them. When she was sure the girl was taken care of, she moved to help Damian.

"Come on!" Damian hissed, and the auburn wolf lunged at him, teeth flashing and claws swinging dangerously.

Val moved quickly and clawed at an injured spot on her back that didn't look fully healed. The wolf let out a howl and jumped off of Damian, a bone now jutting from her front leg. There was almost no fur there, just sickly, pale skin.

The beast growled and Val braced herself as Damian popped up from her side, the wounds on his arms already healing.

She snarled and lunged, but they didn't collide.

Val suddenly found herself scrambling to stay upright as something crashed with the wolf right before she did. She snarled in annoyance and turned to snap at whoever had taken that hit from her.

"Zack?" Her eyes were wide in shock, but her voice was gruff, still filled with the need to sink her fangs into the female's flesh.

"What are you still doing here?" A scout appeared from their back in human form. "Run!" They broke into a hasty run as more and more pack warriors filled in, shredding what was left of the rogues. She took one last look back and saw the woman — female — jumping into her shift, just as a dirty, blond wolf marched toward her.

Val set her jaw and sped up.

She let out a low snarl of annoyance and jumped over a fallen log, cursing the Beta.

She snapped at the hand that cupped her right shoulder.

Sam stared at her with wide, glowing eyes. She had a few scratches here and there that looked like they were healing, but she looked relatively okay. It didn't exactly help that they were all still in their swimming suits.

They stopped only when they'd reached the edge of the forest. Each leaning on a tree, each staring blankly at their feet.

She could tell they were also frustrated about leaving. They wanted blood for the one that was spilled. But they also seemed to understand, maybe even more so than her. Hell! She was new at this, what made her think she could go up against a rogue?

The panting soon died down. Val could hear the others talking behind her back.

No words registered.

One hand held tightly at her chest, she took deep gulps of air in, trying to leash at whatever was trying to push out; run back to that lake...her wolf.

Her body was covered in dirt and blood. So much blood...

It was in her nose, her mouth, under her claws. All she could think of was blood.

What she felt. Again. It wasn't normal... It couldn't be, could it? Was it just some werewolf temper she'd yet to get used to? No... Erik and Sam were unsettled too, but they seemed to still be in control.

Was that it, then? Was her inexperience making it hard to leash her wolf in?

She massaged her temple to relieve some of the pulsing headache but it didn't help.

She could feel her clawing at her insides. Growling, snarling—

It wasn't time to come out yet. She couldn't.

Whatever had previously settled in her was rising back up. A dull, familiar ache had her eyes looking frantically around. It started to burn, and her knees wobbled, remembering the last time her body reacted that way — the night she'd turned with Alex.

No deep breath helped this time, there was just pure, undiluted rage, slowly clouding her senses.

She grunted and punched at one of the trees near her. Small pieces of wood and splinters flew everywhere around her, some sticking in her fist. They were pushed out as the wound healed.

"Calm down." Alex went to rub reassuringly at her back but she jerked away.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Go back without me, I'll find my own way home." The words had barely left her mouth when she suddenly pivoted, taking off at full speed. She didn't know what she'd do if any of them came too close at the moment. It was selfish, but she needed it.

She found herself unconsciously running to that clearing. Taking in large breaths and slumping down on the gleaming rock in the middle. She at least felt the pressure die down a little, the burn receding.

She'd been coming back to get away from things when she needed to. This place always gave off a sense of calmness — regardless of her freaking out when she woke up there. She felt relaxed, but also... dread. It had a strange way of calming her mind.

"What's wrong with me?" she thought aloud. Anger management issues aside, she'd never lashed out like that before.

Footsteps crashed the grass from behind her. Her nostrils flared.

"What do you want, Erik?"

"Nice to see you, Erik. Oh, how I love that you've found me, Erik. You're the best Er—"

"It's not the time — Erik." Val drawled, mocking his tone. "I just need a minute. I'll be back soon, promise." He sighed, the footsteps got closer. That didn't quite reassure him.

"Look. It's natural to lose your temper every now and then; especially since you haven't been able to fully control it yet. But you will. In time it will get easier, you'll see."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"It depends... Did it?"

"No."

"Then no."

She gave him a sideways glance.

He didn't understand. This... this thing inside her wasn't who she wanted to be.

That was a monster—

She pulled at her hair.

Erik opened her closed fists and brought them down to her thighs as he crouched down in front of her.

"I know it's hard, I do. But you need to fight it. You can't let it control you, Val." His words came out soft, and she let out a breath as he gently stroked her cheek with his thumb, unconsciously leaning into his warmth.

"Come back now, alright?" As worried as he might have been, he also understood she needed some time to work through everything. This wasn't easy, especially for someone who wasn't born into this world — wasn't prepared for it.

She nodded and he jogged back with a last pat on the shoulder.

Val rubbed tiredly at her face and glanced at the sky above.

So be it.

~~~~~

David watched the man as he brought the tip of the blade to his neck and bit back a hiss at the burn.

The second his friend left the room, his shoulders sagged.

"I'm sorry," the man whispered. It was barely audible — but sincere. He could see the pull to obey, to submit to his orders, but he didn't do so happily.

David gave a low rumble as an answer and closed his eyes, waiting.

The tip slightly buried itself in his throat, then was abruptly pulled away.

He cracked an eye open and smirked. "Took you long enough."

The male in front of him grinned and adjusted his grip on the blade so it didn't burn his skin. "Well, if you hadn't gotten yourself taken down by a bunch of powerless pups, we wouldn't be having this conversation now would we?"

David huffed, "If I hadn't stayed they would have gotten more than just one of us, you know that, Evan."

"Yeah. My dad, the hero." He chuckled and pointed the blade at the male that started to wake up.

"Don't." He held up a hand. Evan cocked a brow. "Just knock him out. He won't be a problem."

The man stared up with wide eyes.

"If you say so..." Evan knocked him out with the leather part of the blade and got up, pulling David with him.

"Come on. The others are waiting."

He nodded and let him pull him up with a grunt of pain. It took him a second to get used to the burning before he followed his son to the long hallway. They passed another cell and he got a glimpse of two bodies lying inside. David could faintly hear the way they would strain to fill their lungs with oxygen, then let it out in shaky breaths. It was clear that one of their next would be their last.

Thankfully, they weren't part of his pack.

Evan shook his head. "We can't break them out without getting the keys, and they won't last long. They'll only serve to slow us down."

David nodded, seeing the battle in his eyes regardless of his words.

They turned right to a long hallway and David took notice of the several guards now lying on the floor.

Most of them were still alive; drugged. Evan was careful to not let the others sniff out their blood. Smart boy.

They climbed the stairs at the edge of the hallway, Evan carrying the brunt of his weight, and pushed the door open.

David covered his eyes with his hands as he breathed in the fresh air. The sun was still high in the sky and it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the bright light. He could just about make his son's features through the blur of the drug.

"You came here in broad daylight?" he hissed as Evan sniffed the air. The entrance was well hidden under tree branches and slender roots filled with leaves that covered the stony surface. It almost looked like one big bush.

"Like you could tell the difference from down there," he snickered. "Plus, we got hold of one of his wolves. He didn't say much but he was happy to inform us that after today, we'd probably find your shredded body somewhere in the woods. Bluh, bluh, bluh, he's dead now." He shrugged and motioned forward. David shook his head with a breathy laugh and limped ahead.

"Where are all the guards?"

"I had a couple of wolves cause a distraction before coming in. It's not much, but hopefully we'll get to the car before they spot us. Can you shift?" He shook his head. It would take some time for the drug to leave his system, especially with the amount they'd dosed him with.

"Figured," Evan sighed. "Don't worry about the others, we've got a plan. They won't catch them." David didn't need to ask; their small pack was everything to them.

Evan mind-linked someone and the silent roar of a car made David's head whip in its direction. Soon enough, they were heading toward an old, black car with a man leaning against the door. "Good to see you, old man." Mark grinned.

David chuckled, "Good to see you too. If there's even a dent on my car I'll rip your throat out."

Mark tipped his head back and roared a laugh. The two of them slid at the back as Mark hopped in the driver's seat. "A bundle of sunshine, as always." He turned the key and the car engine came to life.

"He's getting sloppier," Mark stated after a few minutes of silence. "He's itching to get his hands on the girl. Hell, he was stupid enough to bring you here!" His grip tightened on the wheel and his knuckles turned white.

"If I just get my hands on him I—" his claws slowly came out, and his eyes lost their normal green color. Instead, they were replaced by a vibrant yellow that perfectly blended with a blue as bright as the sky.

"Scratch my car and I'll have your hide," David growled. "Now calm down. We haven't gotten this far by being reckless." He glared at Evan when he rolled his eyes.

Mark loosened his grip on the wheel and his features went back to normal. "We need to get to her now, David. He's too close. Too damn close."

That same urge had been fueling them on since he could remember. Over and over again.

Like an invisible rope was pulling them there, tightening and clenching around them like a python whenever they strayed too far away, delayed too much—

He had to clench his teeth to avoid letting out a frustrated growl.

"I know... We just need to give Daphne a bit more time. She's not ready for this, Mark...not yet. Let her shift first, then we'll go."