Eli stared at the messages, waiting for the read symbol to appear. Each minute that passed was close to an eternity. He got more annoyed the longer it took. Noah would probably arrive at the house any minute. Cameron would check it then, right?

Jenny knocked on the door.

"Come in" He let out a long sigh and tore his gaze away from the small screen. He swivelled his chair around, so he could face the door without having to lift his chin off the desk.

The man, unlike last time, had clothes on. His shirt was ripped and covered in mud, while his trousers were shredded on one leg, and saturated in blood on the other. His ice blue eyes settled on Eli.

Eli slowly lifted his head from the desk. "I don't have the soul." His voice shook as it came out. He kept his gaze glued to the man, and without moving from his frozen position, clicked the call button on the screen.

He stepped into the room.

"JEN-" Eli jumped back, but the man's movement blurred as he came forwards. His bloodied hand covered Eli's mouth and silenced his cry for help. He snatched whatever he could reach on the desk and slammed it into the man's shoulder. He grunted, but that was it.

Eli bit down on the hand covering his mouth. It tasted of salt, dirt and blood, but it was worth the flinch that he got from the man. His blue eyes flashed in anger.

His elbow blurred into the rest of his arm as his fist collided with Eli's temple. There was enough force to topple him to the ground, and the follow up kick to his stomach stole his breath, and rendered him immobile. Eli's vision blurred and darkened. He tried to sit up, but his body didn't respond. His muscles trembled, but ultimately remained motionless.

The man knelt over Eli, and moved him onto his back. It made breathing even harder. He couldn't see through one of his eyes, but the dimmed view was enough to make out what the man pulled from his pocket. The silver chain of the Luna's soul was bloodied, and as the man picked it out the thin tendrils stuck to his hand and dug into the skin. A stead stream of blood oozed out from the wounds.

Eli's arms jerked up, stopping the advance of the man's. "Stop."

He covered Eli's mouth, and lowered the soul down. Eli grabbed his wrist tightly and kept it up. He used the freedom of his legs to kick as hard as he could. His knee came sharply up between the man's legs, causing a sharp growl to leave his throat.

He let go of Eli's mouth to hit him. Eli groaned as his head smacked against the ground. He didn't know which hurt more, the punch or the collision with the floor. When he blinked back the darkness of his vision, his arms were secured above his head. He looked up and tugged at the same time. A belt was wrapped around his wrists, and looped to the edge of the bed.

The man grabbed his chin and made him look at him. He said something in a language Eli didn't recognise. He was sitting over Eli's waist, so there would be no chance for him to kick him again. His arms were secured. And now his mouth was covered. He shuddered and tried to move away as best he could, but there was nothing he could do to prevent the soul being dropped onto his chest. He could see it light up in the corner of his vision, and saw the man's smile when it did.

Eli felt the sting of heat against his chest, worsened when the man moved his shirt out of the way and let it rest on his bare skin. He swallowed hard as warmth started filling his chest. It dimmed the aching in his stomach, and the numbness along the side of his face became less painful. Eli murmured something against the mans hand. He met Eli's eyes, said something in the language he didn't recognise, and lifted his grip on his mouth.

"What are you doing?" Eli asked.

The man answered.

"Let me go." Eli tugged his wrists, drawing attention to his arms.

More of the language answered him.

Eli met his eyes. He didn't know what he was saying, but it was clear he had no intention of letting him go. He said something else, and flicked his eyes down the soul.

His hand covered the centre and suddenly pushed down.

Eli cried out as pain shot through him. It wasn't just having something driven into his skin; it was as though it penetrated every nerve ending in his body. Unbearable, agonising heat ripped its way into his bones and made his blood boil.

The man covered his mouth, but that wasn't enough. The whine was coming from his chest, and vibrating through his throat into the air. He struggled against his bindings uselessly. He arched his back to somehow escape the heat, uselessly. "Stop!" He cried.

The man flinched, but pressed down harder.

Eli's vision came into sharp focus. He could make out every worn line on the belt confining his arms. He could see the edges of the paper he'd stuffed roughly into the bag the other night. He could taste blood in his mouth. He could smell it too. He moved his gaze to the man taking him in; he could smell his blood.

His joints started to ache.

His skin prickled all over.

He bit the man's hand, whining as the pain grew more intense.

"Just a bit more." He murmured. This time, Eli could understand him. He could also detect the pain in his voice. The soul was hurting him.

The lamp broke over the back of his head. Jenny quickly seized the one from Eli's desk, and brought that down on him too. The man jerked around to her, his fingers extending into claws as he rose up.

Eli sucked in a quick breath, but rolled onto his knees, and gripped the edge of the belt strap with his teeth. As he pulled at it he heard a yelp, followed by the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs.

"Watch out!"

Eli jolted. It was Cameron's voice.

There was an answering snarl and things breaking. The man had shifted.

Eli bit down hard, jerking and pulling until his wrists came free. He grabbed the bag, yanked the tin box from its spot, and then pulled out the gun. He rushed onto the landing. The rogue was fully shifted in the living room. He stood at full length, facing off against his opponents down the hall. Jenny was lying still with Marcus crouched protectively over her. Cameron was in front of them, holding one arm across his chest, with his legs visibly shaking.

Eli lifted the gun. They weren't anywhere near each other, and he pulled the trigger without any further thought.

The rogue yelped and keeled forwards. His head ripped around to Eli, and like a knee-jerk reaction he pulled the trigger again. He snarled, but lunged down the hall where Eli couldn't see him. The back door slamming open shook the whole house.

Eli panted, and his hands trembled as he lowered the weapon. He sunk to his knees, leaning against the banister as he stared down at the ground floor. Jenny was speaking. He could see her lips moving to form words. Marcus was cupping her face, while his own was creased harshly in worry.

He turned to Cameron as he came up the last few steps. A strong scent of copper and iron washed over Eli as he knelt next to him, and examined his face.

"You're hurt." Eli peeled back his collar. There were slash marks from his shoulder, reaching down across his chest.

"So are you." Cameron lightly took Eli's wrists and turned them over. He removed the gun from his shaking grip when he did. "Where did you even get that?"

"Monroe's girlfriend" Eli answered, "That's what I wanted to tell you about in the gym that time. Really freaked me out having it my room. I'm glad I had it now. Is Jenny okay?"

"She'll be fine." Marcus answered as he knelt next to them. His eyes flicked over the gun but he didn't comment on it. "Ambulance is on its way, you just need to hold on for another bit."

"You're not going to ask?" Eli tilted his head towards him.

"I'll be asking soon enough. Don't tempt me to start now." Marcus shook his head.

Eli heard sirens in the distance. Cameron and Marcus helped him down the stairs. Jenny was sitting down at the bottom. Her hair was dishevelled, and her clothes rumpled, but Eli couldn't see any injuries. She reached out and gave his fingers a light squeeze, before leaning back and letting out a tired sigh.

*

The gun was by far the biggest problem. The detective and his dad weren't pleased when he refused to tell them where he got it. His claims to have just found it didn't go well with the detailed instructions of how to shoot it. Apparently, they even questioned Alex at the café when a slip of paper with his number was found. Alex never mentioned Valerie. Eli bet it was because he felt guilty about what happened.

"I can't believe you." Noah groaned. He was sitting back with a book covering his face. "Where did you get it? It's not like they just give them out on street corners?"

"You're spying for dad." Eli wrapped his arms around his knees and pulled the hospital sheets up around him.

"Dad is well aware that you're not talking." Noah peeked out from the book, "Expect to be grounded for the rest of your life."

Eli groaned. "That's no fair."

"It's perfectly fair."

"As long as your still allowed to flirt with Kaylen you don't care."

Noah glared at Eli, but didn't correct him.

He turned his attention back to his text messages. He'd made Cameron send him a picture of the stitches he ended up getting. It looked grisly. It was going to scar.

"Stop sighing" Noah finally tossed the book aside, "Dad's just having one last talk with the doctors and we're out of here."

"He won't let Cameron come over."

"He's not letting anyone over." Noah corrected, "The house is still being fixed up, and you need rest."

"If I get anymore rest I'm going to take that gun and –"

"Dad, finished up?" Noah cut across him.

Eli glanced up to see his dad watching him with an unimpressed raised eyebrow. "You need rest." He repeated what Noah said.

"I feel fine." Eli groaned, "And it's so no fair to lock me up in the house for Halloween. I've been stuck in a room for almost two weeks now and it sucks."

Marcus sighed. "If I let you out, you have to keep me updated on where you are. And you need to be back by nine at the latest."

"Eleven."

"Eli."

"Ten? Come on, please?" Eli put his hands together like he was praying. He was so sick of being cooped up that he wasn't above begging.

"How can you saw no to that?" Jenny walked over and gently brushed his hair out of his face. "The bruising's gone down quite a bit. Eleven sounds good doesn't it?"

"Yes!" Eli agreed eagerly.

Marcus started to object, but one look from Jenny silenced him.

*

Sinclair wasn't lying when she said the haunted mansion was upscale. The place already looked haunted, but with the decorations, cobwebs and off-colour lighting it was downright creepy. Behind the mansion was a hedge maze, and next to that was a barn. The barn was renovated to be an indoor maze. There were groups of people lining up outside the mansion at a booth. There were teenagers and adults, but no kids.

"Cameron said there's werewolves." Eli looked at the different posters as they worked their way up the line. "Which one are they in?"

"How should I know?" Sinclair was staring down at her phone, "When's he getting here anyway?"

Eli impatiently check his own screen, despite knowing there wasn't anything new on it. "Any minute now. There was a pac- a meeting at the boarding house. He had to go to that first." He bit the inside of his cheek. He needed to pay a bit more attention when he spoke. Sinclair, thankfully, didn't pay his almost slip up any attention.

"He's bringing Kal along, right?" She suddenly looked up from her phone.

"I asked." Eli shrugged.

As they stepped up to the ticket desk an arm slid around Eli's waist. He recognised his presence before he tilted his head back. Cameron was dressed in all black, and his hair was damp, clinging to his temple's like he'd just gotten out of the shower.

"Two-person group." Cameron told the worker.

Sinclair cleared her throat.

"Eli promised if I brought you a date we could go around with just the two of us." Cameron answered her look with a shrug, "Kal's coming over now."

Sinclair sent a glare in Eli's direction, that he ignored. He knew that Sinclair wanted them all to go around together, so there wouldn't be any tension or awkward silences. But Eli wanted to be alone with Cameron. "I'll text you when we're finished." Eli called over his shoulder, looping his hand with Cameron's as they approached the mansion. The path forked out in three directions.

"What are you in the mood for?" Cameron gazed down each one.

"Open air first?" Eli suggested.

Cameron nodded and led them towards the maze. The distant roar of a chainsaw could be heard. It was pretty big for a hedge maze; and since they were at eyelevel it was impossible to cheat and see the right way to go before they went in. They had to line up, a gap of five minutes was given before each group went in.

Eli stared at the entrance, feeling strangely nervous by Cameron's side. His palms were clammy, and he felt like there was something he needed to say, but he couldn't figure out exactly what that was. Unlike the past week, they'd been able to text. But in person it was different.

"I still can't believe you shot him." Cameron broke the silence.

"I'm hardly able to take him on in a fist fight." Eli answered.

"I know." Cameron sighed, his breath turning into vapour in the cold air. He turned to Eli, looking over the fading bruises with a discontent expression. "If you hadn't threatened me multiple times, I'd say sorry."

Eli let out a short breath. That was the same as saying sorry. "It wasn't your fault, and acting guilty about it is annoying."

"I see. As long as I don't act guilty and just feel guilty it's fine?"

Eli shot him a look. "Don't be a smart ass."

Cameron smiled. "It's in my nature."

Eli had warned Cameron not to apologise the second he saw him, and Cameron had made him promise the same thing. That was probably why he felt uncomfortable. He felt that he had to, and having to force himself not to and move on instead was difficult.

"I'm a good shot."

Cameron gave him a questioning look.

"Two for two. Good spots as well." Eli elaborated.

Cameron let out a snort of laughter. "Yes, well done. Nice job. Excellent marksmanship. Superb aim. Outstanding-"

"Okay, that's enough." He rolled his eyes when the praises continued to be laid on thick.

Their turn to enter the maze came, and they stepped into the shrubbery. Distant screeches, and the not so distant revving of chainsaws filled the air. Eli steeled his racing heart, preparing himself to be jump scared around every corner.

"Has anything happened since?" Cameron asked as they turned the first corner.

Eli ran his fingers over his neck, knowing immediately what he was talking about. By the time they got to the hospital, the soul had melded with his chest. It felt like it was there, but all he could feel was smooth skin. "No. Do I seem different? I don't feel like it's affecting me, but I can tell that it's there."

"You kinda smell like a wolf." Cameron answered, "But your usually covered in my scent so it's not that different from before."

Eli shifted, his words for some reason making his cheeks heat up. "Is that so." It was probably the memories of how he usually found himself covered in Cameron's scent that made him hot. It had been a while since they'd done anything like that though. They'd been together at the motel a few weeks ago. Eli cringed at his own thoughts. He thought two weeks was a long time? Before he came here it had been half a year since he'd done anything romantic with anyone; but now two weeks was insane.

"What's wrong?"

"Shut up."

Eli was so consumed with deciding if he had an unhealthily addiction to certain things that he didn't notice the clown until it leapt into the path. Eli yelped, jumping a mile and crashing into Cameron. He managed to tangle their legs, and shoved him with such force that winded up on the ground. Cameron grunted when he landed on him.

The clown broke out of his role to laugh.

"Didn't know you were such a sacredly cat." Cameron joined it with a chuckle.

"I was surprised" Eli huffed, scrambling to his feet. One of his arms was doused in muddy water.

"That's the point." Cameron climbed up. He didn't have the advantage of a cushioned landing, and all of him was covered in slick mud. He squeezed out his jacket, and the bottom of his shirt, but it didn't make any difference.

Eli felt his face getting hot again, from embarrassment this time. "It's a good look." He told him.

Cameron's eyes glinted up at him.

"Come on" Eli moved to his other side, so he could use his already muddy hand to hold Cameron's. It didn't escape Cameron's notice. He walked forwards, but Cameron didn't. Instead he tugged Eli back, and wrapped his arms around him. "Stop" Eli whined as cold drops splattered down his back and onto the back of his neck. "It's already cold out."

"How do you think I feel?" Cameron grumbled, only tightening his arms around his waist.

"You can handle it." Eli saw that the clown had returned to her hiding spot, but didn't want to risk being over heard. He kept the wolf comment to himself. "I'll treat you to something hot when we get out of here."

"You could treat me to something here" Cameron suggested, nuzzling the back of his neck.

Eli smacked him away, even more aware of the clown only a few feet away. "You're clearly fine."

Cameron didn't resist when Eli tugged him forwards this time.

Being covered in mud was funny until they actually started to get cold. Cameron let out a long sigh when he noticed Eli tucking his fingers under his elbows. "Now I feel bad."

"You're cold too." Eli had seen him pulling his jacket closer around him. "Shouldn't you have more resistance to the cold?"

"Resistance, not immunity." Cameron responded.

"Let's go back to mine and get changed." Eli suggested as they wondered down the path, "I don't think we'll even be allowed into the haunted mansion like this."

"Sounds good to me." Cameron took the keys from his pocket. "Oliver's going to bitch about getting his car messy."

"We can clean it later." Eli turned the heating on straight away. He settled back in the chair and sent Sinclair a text to let her know they'd left. "How's Oliver doing?"

"Better than I thought." Cameron settled back in the seat. "He didn't really have much time to get too attached to his dad, so I suppose it's not a total loss."

"They're stuck for good?"

"They need both the Alpha and Luna soul to move back and forth." Cameron said, "with it like that it's impossible. Which I don't think is a bad thing. I feel bad for Oliver, but those things gave us nothing but trouble."

"That just leaves the rogue to worry about then." Eli sighed. He didn't really want to talk about this again. He'd been enjoying himself without the doom and gloom of reality.

"That pack's main purpose was to hunt down rogue's that were like them. I don't know if he knew what was going to happen, but I imagine trapping them over there was exactly what he wanted. He's safe, and more then capable of avoiding the average shifter when he needs to." Cameron spoke calmly. Eli could tell he'd put a lot of thought behind what he said. "He already got what he wanted."

"I don't know if we should be happy about that or not."

Cameron sighed. "I don't either."