"Now, Del we can talk about this, can't we?!"

Armand stumbled backwards, tripping over his feet and falling down on the rough dirt lining the roadway.

I snarled, my hackles raised and my ears pointed back. If he could hear my mind-speak, he would have known I wasn't going to kill him. I was, however, going to bite him hard enough to leave a scar no magic could get rid of.

Some part of me heard Irene begging me not to hurt him, but everything was hazy outside of Armand. My eyes only saw the nervous twist of his lips and the panicked bulge of his eyes. My ears only heard the scrape of his clothes against the dirt as he scuttled backwards and the pounding of his blood through his veins. My nose only smelled the fear wafting of the cold sweat coating his skin.

I was tapping into my primal instincts. Wolves were built to track, tear, and kill.

Unfortunately, I hadn't mastered the technique which was probably why I didn't maintain enough awareness to know Everett was coming.

One moment I was snapping my jaws a foot from Armand's face, the next something large and powerful slammed into my midsection. I rolled across the road and found my feet again on the other side. I shook out my coat, scattering the pebbles I collected back across the asphalt. When I looked up with a snarl, I discovered my attacker was my own mate. His bulky body blocked my view as Armand bolted back into town and Irene stayed by Victor's side. It was seeing my brother's wide, terrified expression that had me transforming back.

I fell into a heap on the roadside, tears in my eyes and anger vibrating through my body. Everett was quick to sprint forward. He gently grabbed my naked human form in his mouth and lifted me up off the ground so he could lay me a few yards away in the much softer grass. I heard him making some sort of huffing noise and maybe something like a whine before he returned his attention to me.

"I think Irene understood that I wanted her to take Victor to Moonshade. She's at least headed that way."

There wasn't any frustration or accusation in the feelings he sent over to me through our link. Instead, he settled onto the ground and wrapped his warm, furry body around me like a blanket. His snout planted wet kisses against my cheek as I continued to process my emotions.

"No one's hurt, everything's okay."

His tongue swiped my shoulder and I took a deep breath.

"Armand's the reason Victor's here. I'm going kill him."

I dug into the fur on his belly, curling up in his warmth. With my ear pressed against him, I listened to his steady breaths and heartbeat.

"Why would Armand do that? I'd probably kill him too if he put any of my siblings at risk."

"Even if it was Damien?"

I felt Everett send a tingling sensation through our link. It reminded me of laughter and matched the way his stomach bounced with his panting.

"Well, maybe not Damien. Though at this point I suppose I'd be upset since he is your beta. Losing him means losing a part of yourself and I wouldn't want to see that."

Despite his playful tone, I'm surprised to find he's right. When I considered Damien being put in harm's way, I felt the same prickle of agitation and fear that I did when I first saw Victor coming into the valley.

"Look," Everett said after some time had passed, "I know Armand is a friend and that you probably don't actually want to kill him. If you did, I wouldn't have made it in time to knock you away from him. That being said, you're allowed to be angry about what he's done. It is a terrible betrayal."

I nod my head while still pressed against his stomach, his fur a gentle caress that calmed my nerves.

"Do you know why he did it? I just can't—"

"He wanted to poke the hornet's nest."

"What?"

Everett lifted his great shaggy head, his ears tall and alert with curiosity.

"Me," I sighed, adjusting myself so I could look him in the eye. "I'm the hornet's nest. He wanted to provoke me into action. He figured if Victor was here, I'd want to get him out, and would thus start a chain reaction that would lead to the breakdown of the barrier."

My mate considered this for a moment, his head cocking to the side.

"You know, we had so much going on after the blood moon, I didn't really reflect on how Armand infiltrated the town and manipulated the Grey Ravine pack so he could execute Ryan. I need to remember that beneath that cheerful mask, he is a skilled man with dangerous talents."

"I suppose we should just be grateful he's on our side—at least most of the time."

I sighed and looked down at my nakedness.

"I think I'll transform and head back to Moonshade. I still want to tear his arm off and beat him with it, but at least I no longer feel like I'm going to run after him the moment you aren't looking."

"That would be hard to do anyway seeing as I'm always looking at you."

"I know you meant that to be romantic," I said with a light laugh, "but that just came off creepy."

"I'm a werewolf. I'm fairly certain the humans consider me creepy anyways."

I placed a kiss atop his fuzzy head before stepping away and transforming. He then popped up on his paws and trotted over to where I stood as a blonde wolf with a touch of red warmth in my fur. He nuzzled me with his snout and I gave him a grateful lick.

"Do you want me to spend the rest of the day with you? It's slow. The only problem we've had so far is a werewolf that tried to kill one of our mages."

"That's unfortunate," I replied, padding over to the roadside. "I hope you arrested the wolf and locked her up."

"I might cuff her later, and lock her up in my room."

I gave him a playful nip and he jumped out of my reach, wagging his tail with his tongue hanging out of his smiling mouth.

"Go on, go back to work. I need to go talk to Victor and make sure he doesn't think I'm a total monster."

"I'm sure he doesn't, though you probably reminded him what the reality of your situation is. I'm not sure he totally grasps that you aren't human anymore."

"Well, to be fair, I think we're all human. It's just that some of us are a little bit more. And I'd like to believe Clementine was right that we are all a little bit more."

I felt a comforting wave of warmth come from him before he came back to my side and gave me one last nuzzle.

"Try to go easy on yourself and good luck with Victor. I'll see you at dinner."

With that he sprinted back to the police station and I trotted over to Moonshade.

I stopped by the outdoor closet we kept at the manor for spare clothes when transformations couldn't wait for a wolf to undress, and slipped on a pair of sweats and a baggy shirt. When I walked over to the front door, I wasn't surprised to see Damien waiting.

"You want me to kill him, alpha?"

"I take it Irene filled you in when she dropped off Victor."

"That and you kind of screamed your sudden hatred for Armand over the mental link."

I paused on the top step and turned to Damien with a mortified expression.

"Oh no, did the whole pack hear me?"

"No," he said, shaking his head before opening the door for me. "There are less barriers between you and I than there are with any other wolves—except Rett, of course, not even a beta can come close to the kind of link fated mates have. So when you have a burst of emotion like that, I tend to feel it."

I groaned and stepped into the foyer. It only took a moment for my sensitive nose to pick up Irene's scent. She always smelled like bananas with a hint of coconut.

"She's still here?"

"Yeah. Not that I'm trying to eavesdrop, but we're the only ones in the house right now so it's hard to ignore."

"What...what are they saying?" I asked, biting my lip and turning my eyes to the ceiling as if I could see them through the floorboards.

"He's definitely shaken up, but mostly confused. He doesn't know what set you off so badly. She started to explain to him the details of the Body system. I can't tell how he received that or if he's now mad at Armand too, but he did start asking her questions on just about everything. I think he appreciates hearing things from another human."

I knew Damien's words were meant to reassure me, but it felt like a knife in my chest.

Victor couldn't trust me anymore. I wasn't human. My viewpoint is now skewed. What seems normal to me, is terrifying to him. What feels doable in my strong, capable lycan body, seems insurmountable to him. And what to me was just an emotional transformation in a moment of anger, was likely a terrifying reality check on what kind of monster his sister now was.

"I think I'm just going to lie down in the library for a bit. Irene is probably over the moon that Victor has all these questions for her. She's been lonely as the only human not sponsored in town."

"Of course, alpha. I'll keep watch over them while you rest. I'll let you know if any problems arise."

As usual, I think Damien is overdoing his commitment to his new role, but I think that makes him kind of adorable in a little brother sort of way.

So I leave him in the foyer and walk into the library to lay down on the couch, which has become my favorite napping spot.

It's also where Jazmin has managed to contact me before. I don't know if it's because the couch is right in front of a large bay window and her power is like a TV signal and I'm an antenna—meaning the less barrier between us the clearer the reception is. Or perhaps it's because I often nap here and drift into a sort of lucid meditative state that's optimal for her powers to reach me.

Either way, when I lay down and take slow, steady breaths to calm my heart after the eventful morning, I start to focus my thoughts on Jazmin. I even think of Clementine and the way she could reach out to me through the mycelium network all over the forest. It was those invisible channels that conducted the magic, reaching across space and time, linking us together upon an ethereal thread.

I pictured the thread in my hands, placing one fist in front of the other as I pulled myself through the dark distance between us. I called out to her, desperate for her to hear me.

And then, right before I drifted off to sleep, I got a response.

"I'm ready. Meet me at the chapel tonight."

***

Jazmin has decided it's time to talk about how she can help take down Graham. What will happen when her and Del meet again?

It's a day late, but at least it's here! I can't tell you what it was that officially threw me all sorts of off track on things recently, but I have been scrambling like mad to catch up. A lot of it was completely non-writing related stuff. Just the things that pile up in your day to day life. But, I think I've officially gotten back up to speed and I hope to go through my days following a schedule that I've made to keep me on top of things while also allowing me time to breathe. Anyways, it's important to take care of yourselves y'all. So make sure to treat yourself!