Maddy's eyes widened on hearing what Leia said. Due to her sudden absence and Tristan's slip of tongue, her mother was worried and was boarding a plane to California. After flying all the way to India to rescue Leia, only to find that the people who bought Leia from the dark market also worked for the supposed 'boss', the last thing Maddy needed was to have her mom added to the whole situation.

If her mom did arrive to California, she would find out that Maddy wasn't in California and then Maddy would definitely be grounded for her entire life. Maddy couldn't afford to get grounded. Especially not now. The boss was out there, planning on bringing all the werewolf packs down. He had even paid humans to do the research. He was planning something big, and right now, Maddy was their biggest advantage. She wouldn't succumb to any of the boss' attacks because she wasn't a werewolf. The rules didn't apply to her. Not to mention the fact that her friends would also be in danger because they were werewolves. There was no way Maddy would sit in her house back in New York while her friends fought for their lives.

Maddy scrambled to get her new phone. She quickly dialed her mom's number. After three rings, her mom picked up.

"Hey, Mom!" Maddy said brightly. "You called?"

"I heard that you got kidnapped. Is that true?" her mom asked bluntly.

Maddy forced a fake laugh. "Mom! Did you honestly think that I would get kidnapped? It was just a prank!"

"Uh huh."

"Why would I be kidnapped? There is like nothing special about me. Normal people don't get kidnapped."

"Are you sure you are safe?" her mom asked worriedly.

"Yeah!" Maddy said. "I'm perfectly fine. Leia is here with me too."

Maddy switched to a video call as Leia climbed into Maddy's bed to sit next to Maddy and joined in on the conversation. The three of them talked for some time.

"Fine," her mom said once Maddy and Leia managed to convince her that everything was fine. "I suppose I'll cancel my ticket to California. When are you returning?"

Maddy shared a look with Leia. If things went according to Maddy's way, she wouldn't have to return to New York. Justin had asked Maddy to join the pack if she could manage to convince her mom to shift to California. Maddy wanted to have face-to-face conversation with her mom where she would explain everything that was going on. Until then, Maddy wanted to keep her mom in the dark.

"You know," Maddy said as she waved her hand nonchalantly, "soon."

Maddy's mom narrowed her eyes. "Well, I want you back here by the next week."

"What?" both Leia and Maddy exclaimed.

"What do you mean by what? Your school is starting. Leia will stay in California, but you have to come back. Surely, you remember that."

"Okay." There was no point of arguing with her mom. Maddy knew from experience that if she argued with her mom to extend the date, her mom would prepone it instead of postponing.

"If you don't, I'll have no choice but to fly all the way to California."

"There will be no need of that," Leia assured. "Maddy will be at your doorstep by this week."

They disconnected the call after bidding her mom bye. As soon as the call was over, Maddy turned to Leia. "What are we going to do? I can't leave within two weeks!"

"You need to speak to your mom about moving to California anyway. We'll visit your mom in two weeks and you can talk to her then. If all goes well, we'll come back to New York and you can join the pack."

"Okay," Maddy said as she nodded. "That will work. At least I hope it will."

"Just saying." Leia grinned. "You're going to tell your mom this when I am not around. I don't want to be anywhere near your mom when she finds out you got kidnapped twice, went all the way to India, and managed to get shot twice."

Maddy scowled. "That's not fair! You can't ditch when I need you the most."

"Yeah, yeah."

Maddy took the time to examine Leia. She was glad that Leia was still cheerful and unharmed. Maddy had been afraid that even when they did rescue Leia, she wouldn't be the same person, that she'd be traumatized and would stop being the cheerful badass that Maddy knew. Thankfully, Leia didn't seem to be any different although she did look a little tired. Nothing a good night's sleep couldn't take care of.

"What happened after I passed out? Tell me everything," Maddy asked as she leaned back and Leia started telling the story.

"This is what the others told me. I was busy chilling in a silver cage. They got your message and rushed to help you. When they got there, there was no one around at first. Then they came across a bunch of unconscious werewolves at the second floor. Krithika must have used the same gas that she uses to knock wolves out when she does experiments on them. Jeremy came to the room where I was locked up and freed all the werewolves in there. Alexa tried to get the unconscious werewolves that you freed, back on their feet.

Meanwhile, Xander searched for you. He then saw your passed out, bleeding body with two bullets inside, and freaked out. He called the others and then everyone freaked. Once everyone was done with the mass panic, we gave you the faerie medicine that we brought along and rushed you here. Oh, and we also burnt the house after we got everyone out of there so that no one else can use it for bad purposes."

"Well, that explains everything."

Leia opened her mouth to reply but the twisting of the door knob stopped any further conversation. Maddy turned her head towards the door as Xander, Alexa and Jeremy entered the room.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the hero of the day!" Alexa exclaimed with her ever-cheerful voice as she sat down on her bed.

Maddy grinned back at her as Xander took his seat next to Alexa. Jeremy walked up to Leia. He intertwined his fingers with Leia as he kissed the top of Leia's head. Maddy almost awed out loud and ruined their moment but she managed to stop herself. After whispering something to Leia and squeezing her hand, Jeremy went and sat on the other side of Alexa.

"You are in big, big trouble," Xander said as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Maddy.

"But it was worth it." Maddy narrowed her eyes back at Xander.

"You nearly gave us a heart attack, Maddy."

"You should have seen his face when he saw your text," Alexa snickered. "He went as red as a tomato and then he slammed his fist on the desk in his room with so much of force that he broke it. It was hilarious."

"He broke the desk," Maddy said as she gaped at Xander. She was glad that Alexa managed to steer their conversation to a more cheerful tone.

"Yeah," said Jeremy as he cracked a smile. "The room cleaning service was bewildered upon hearing that the desk broke."

Maddy grinned at Jeremy. She was glad that he was happier. Ever since Leia had been shipped off to the dark market, he hadn't spoken much. Maddy was sure that in a few more days, Jeremy would be back to arguing with Alexa.