After the incident with Gabe I sat huddled next to my dad underneath the blanket Arden had placed around my shoulders. By now Marie and Danny were up. Marie kept sending me sympathetic looks while Danny just looked lost.

I made sure to keep as much distance between us as possible as I watched Gabe stumble around the room trying to collect his things in his hurry to get out. I didn't really need to worry though because the entire time Cory made sure he was always blocking me from Gabe's sight.

Not that he could see much with two swollen black eyes anyway.

As Gabe grabbed the last of his belongings he turned to look at Cory with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Listen man. You don't have to do this. We can-"

"Get out."

They were only two simple words, but the way Cory said them made me glad he wasn't talking to me.

Realizing there was no point in trying to argue his case anymore Gabe slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way to the stairs.

Just as he placed his foot on the bottom step his eyes connected with mine and all I could see reflected back was a promise.

If I ever came across Gabe again there was no doubt in my mind what he'd do to me.

Cory stepped in front of Gabe cutting me off from his line of sight yet again and pointed toward the top of the stairs.

"I won't say it again."

Gabe hung his head, trying to play the wounded victim role to the very end, but it was pointless. No one was letting him stay after what he did.

Once he was at the top of the stairs Cory turned to look at Arden.

"I'll go and make sure he really leaves." Cory glanced at me and Arden nodded, seemingly understanding his unspoken words.

"I'll make sure she's okay."

Cory nodded before making his way up the steps. As soon as he was out of sight I wrapped the blanket tighter around my body suddenly feeling a lot colder.

"Are you cold?" Arden asked, noticing my actions.

"Just a little chilly."

Arden quickly ran to the room where she had prepared my soup for me before and just like the last time she brought out another steaming bowl of soup for me.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had no appetite after the ordeal I had just went through. After all she was just trying to be nice. So, I simply took the bowl of soup with a small grateful smile.

"If you ever want to talk I'm here." Arden said quietly as she watched me take small spoonfuls of the soup.

To be honest I didn't want to talk about what had just happened ever again. I'd rather just forget it ever happened.

Instead of saying that though, I simply said, "Thanks Arden."

Arden opened her mouth to say something else but the sound of Cory's returning footsteps interrupted her and a moment later Cory was back.

For some reason I couldn't meet his eyes and suddenly found the frayed edges of the blanket to be the most interesting thing in the world.

Cory opened his mouth like he wanted to say something but then suddenly thought better of it. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he stormed across the floor into one of the rooms before slamming the door behind him making everyone flinch.

I glanced up at Arden in question but she simply shook her head before returning to her sleeping bag.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get any sleep after what had just happened but I snuggled down into my sleeping bag anyway.

Sure enough, after an hour of tossing and turning it was clear I wasn't going to get any more sleep that night. I sat up in my sleeping bag and my eyes traveled to the door Cory had locked himself behind. He hadn't made a single noise since.

I bit my lip in contemplation.

Should I?

I stared at the door for a moment longer before making up my mind.

Sliding out from underneath my sleeping bag I silently stood and made my way across the floor and towards the door.

I lifted my hand and hesitated just for a second before knocking.

"Cory, are you awake?"

I listened for any noise that would indicate he was still awake but heard nothing.

He had probably already gone to sleep.

Just as I was about to turn back around and head back to my sleeping bag for another fit of tossing and turning the door opened to reveal Cory.

He definitely hadn't been sleeping. In fact he looked like he had purposefully been avoiding it. His hair looked like he had been roughly running his hands through it and his eyes were slightly red around the edges.

"Cory I-"

Before I could finish my sentence Cory reached forward grabbing my hand and pulled me into the room with him before closing the door behind us.

We stood there in the dimly lit room only a few inches apart. Unlike with Gabe, I was pretty sure my heart was beating this fast for an entirely different reason.

I swallowed hard and looked around the room to try and distract myself from his nearness.

Try being the key word there.

Despite how close he was I did recognize that we were in a small office. A small wooden desk that was covered in stacks of paper and a small lamp took up most of the space in the room. There was also a small chair and a book shelf that was being used for everything besides holding books that looked like it had seen better days.

Had he just been sitting in here the entire time?

With that thought I looked back to Cory and he was once again giving me that intense look.

I swallowed again and tried to remember why I had come looking for him in the first place.

"I just wanted to thank you for earlier. If you hadn't shown up when you did he...well he would've..." I trailed off, not even able to put into words what would've happened had Cory and Arden not been there.

Despite the fact that we were now dealing with man eating wolves, there were still humans out there that were much worse.

"You don't have to thank me. I should be apologizing to you if anything." Cory's voice broke through the silence that had ensued after I stopped talking.

I frowned at that.

"Apologize for what?"

"For Gabe.  I knew from the moment we let him in that he was a sick bastard with the way he kept looking at Arden. I didn't turn him away because I didn't have the heart to after seeing what those things did to my parents. How could I leave somebody out there to face that?"

He looked distraught as he continued.

"So, I just made sure to keep an eye on him. I made sure that he never got too close to Arden and they were never alone and everything was fine. At least
I let myself believe it was. Then you showed up and I... I should've watched him closer. I should've-"

I placed my hand on his arm, cutting him off.

"Cory that's not your fault. You were being a good person."

He scoffed. "Yeah and look at what almost happened to you because of it."

I shook my head. "That's on him not you. Isn't that what you told me earlier when we made it back from the hospital? The same applies to this situation."

"It's not the-"

"It is the same." I took a step closer so the small space that was between was even smaller.

"You saved me tonight. That's all that matters." I made sure to keep my eyes locked on his so he could see that I meant every word.

"I don't blame you for anything because you didn't do anything and nothing's your fault."

Without giving him a chance to say anything else I closed the small distance that was left between us and wrapped my arms around his middle and pulled him close in what I hoped was a comforting hug.

I rested my head against his chest ignoring the fact that his heart was now beating just as fast as mine.

"Thank you." I whispered.

Just as I felt him slide his hands up my sides with an intent to return the hug, the door swung open revealing Arden who looked between us with wide eyes before seemingly remembering what she had come in here for.

"Your dad's awake!"

***