"Charlotte," it whispered to me, making me stir under my bear skin.

"Come see," it whispered again.

"Charlotte," it called to me in my sleep like a lullaby. I stirred some more and inhaled the faint traces of Ethan; pushing away the voices so I could sleep.

"It's time to see," it said a more firmly.

"See," it said again.

"Charlotte," I called gently to me.

"Wake up!" it yelled.

I sprung up in my bed but when I did a pained cry tore through my lips. My body was in pain. Pain that hurt like hot knives, bitter sharp cold bites, and achy ocean waves that rolled off of me.

As I felt back on my pillow, then the realization came to me. What happened. What the hell had happened? All I could remember was Ethan, and the collar, and the crowd–God that crowd was so angry. Everything was coming back in bits and pieces; too many bits and pieces like shards of glass being thrown at me.

"Ethan!" I gasped out in a hoarse cry.

My breathing picked up as panic started to set in. Rogues. We were attacked by rogues. Oh my God, Andrea! I felt my beast start to stir and pace; my friend had been beaten up badly the last time I saw her. More than that. She looked like she was on the cusp of death. 

"Ethan?!"

Larissa.

That traitor! I saved her damn life! I pulled rogues off of her!

Collar.

I felt my heart twist. I could feel a dull pain from the pull; he was in pain. I bit back a cry and tried to pull myself together. Why the hell did he do it?! Why didn't he fight it?!

I was going to kill her. I was literally going to tear that bitch apart. I was going to tear her apart and serve her intestines to Ethan on a platter.

Guilt.

I felt so guilty. I should be out there. It should be my neck, not his. I've put him through so much shit and he's taking a damn collar for me. The bond twisted some more as I reached out to him.

"Ethan?"

I could feel something stir in the link, something that was trying to reach me, but it was like it was just out of grasp. I bit back a cry and let out a shaky breath. My body hurt badly but I tried to sit up again, which was a mistake. The pain ripped through me and drew another scream from my lips.

"Don't!" a young female rushed out as she ran towards me. A voice I knew well. I looked over as shock tore through me. "Lyanna?"

"Hey Char," she replied with a gentle smile. She knelt down beside me and pushed some of the hair out of my face.

I held her silver eyes in mine for a confused moment. She looked so calm, so collected, so much more mature. She reminded me of her mother as she looked me over while her fingers played with my hair.

"Why the hell are you here? What's going on? Is Levi here?"

She sighed and looked back at me. "We have a lot to catch you up on."

"Ethan," I breathed out. "I can't link him Lyanna, you need to take me to him. Please Lyanna, what happened? Why is he out there! We were attacked by rogues, please, take me to him," I said before my voice cracked a little, a sob wanted to break through as I thought of him. The pull twisted a little; the pain, his pain, started to dully throb some more. I touched my neck where a ghost pain was starting to dully throb and felt tears prickle from behind my eyes. How had it come to this?

She sighed and gently shook her head. "He's fine Char, it's just the silver. It's close to his head and what's been leaking into his system makes him weak. He may be able to eventually but the silver will do that."

I nodded slowly as my heart twisted some more while she pulled up a chair and sat next to me. She took my hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. "How about I start at the beginning?"

"That's would be helpful," I replied as I turned my head so I could see her better.

She let out a tired sighed then looked back at me. "There two sides to the story and I'll let Evan fill you in on the rest." I nodded to her to continued as my wolf stirred as my nerves began to eat at my belly. "When you got back here, Evan left you with Jake, Martin, Ryder, and a couple other warriors who he trusted. There have been some stationed outside ever since. He ran to the border as fast as he could, looking for Levi obviously. I was training with Levi and Liam when Levi heard Evan over a link. He told Liam and I to stay, but obviously we didn't listen.

"We ended up running with Levi to meet Evan. Levi was terrified Char, I don't think I've seen him that scared in a while. Liam linked dad and thank God he did. He met us at the border with David and Bowie, that's when everything kind of turned into a shit show."

"Why? I don't understand," I breathed out.

"Well besides Levi trying to take off down here, which meant that he almost killed David and dad and Liam, Evan turned out to be my mate."

"What?!"

Lyanna smiled and pulled the neck down on her shirt to show me a moon shaped scar. I shook my head because I was speechless. Utterly stupefied. "This is insane."

"Ya," she chuckled out. "Dad wouldn't let me come at first. After they heard what happened, well, Dad was freaked out and didn't want me coming down here."

"But you're here?"

She nodded. "So, Billy totally believes you. He talked to a lot of the warriors. He's either been with Andrea or talking to his men or here sitting with you. It's not their fault Char, they love Billy and when they heard about Andrea, well, they obviously turned a little. It looked really bad according to Evan, he'll have to explain everything.

"But now that's changed. There are still some loyal to Thomas, a good number, but there are a lot that came around after Billy talked to them.

"He's felt so bad Char, seriously that poor guy looks like he's being eaten up from the inside out with guilt. Between looking after Andrea, sitting with you, and getting his warriors in line he's been going non-stop; and holy shit, you want to talk about pissed? Billy laid into some of the warrior's asses for what they did, as did Evan and Jake," she said with shiver. "Let's just say that they also have pulled their heads out of their asses, well, a good number of them."

"So how are you here?" I felt like it was a question that I couldn't get past. I was with Lander. There's no way I would have let her come here considering the mess that happened.

"Well, for the last two days Evan has run to the border to see me and speak to Levi, well really he just wanted an excuse to see me. He was so upset about all of it, and it didn't help that dad wouldn't let me go. It wasn't until Billy called Levi and gave him an update on the temperature of his warriors, that and uncle Levi thinks I'm a 'pain in the ass' enough to handle myself. Although he is livid."

"I still can't believe they let you come," I breathed out. "Why isn't Levi here?"

"Evan needs to talk to you. Are you up for it?"

I nodded. "Yes, get me out of this damn bed," I grumbled.

She rolled her eyes and held out her hands for me. Standing up was like ripping the bandage off, a bandage made of duct tape. I muffled a cry as I got to my feet. Lyanna rubbed her cheek against mine, calming me a little.

"Whose been taking care of me?" I asked as I looked down at my body to the wounds that were well dressed.

"Me, Evan, Elliot, Sam, and grandma Lucy," she answered as she held a big shirt open for me. "Elliot came back early, but Leo still needed Derek. Although, Derek almost lost his shit when he heard. It took all of us to keep Elliot from tearing this place down when he got back. He's barely left your side."

I slipped it on and was greeted by the sweet smell, the smell of Ethan. I felt the pull twist a little as I smelled his shirt. Lyanna sighed a little and nuzzled my cheek again. "He's fine, I promise. He'll be ok."

I shook my head and let out a hot breath before nodding. "Take me to Evan. I want to know everything now."

She nodded and held her arm out for me to hold onto. She helped me walk into the kitchen, slowly but surely and very stiffly, where soft murmurs of people filled the room. They hushed their voices as I walked out of my hall and into the kitchen.

Elliot immediately zipped over to me and kissed my cheek. He looked me over and gave me a relieved smile. "Derek will be here soon, I'm so glad you're awake."

I leaned my head against his chest while he kissed my crown. "How long was I out?"

"Three and a half days," he murmured into my hair.

"What?!" I leaned back from him and pushed my beast back. She wanted to go to our mate, as did I. But right now we couldn't shift, and we needed to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Char?" I leaned around Elliot to see a very tired Evan looking back at me with a half-smile. My eyes watered slightly. I sniffled; I couldn't handle the pull right now, it was twisting so hard and the pain from my body wasn't helping either.

Evan walked over to me with tired red eyes. He hugged me carefully and kissed my temple then let out a long sigh. "I am so glad you're ok little sister."

"Ev, tell me what happened. Is Ethan–"

"He's fine," Evan sighed out. "As fine as he can be. Come on, let's get you fed."

I nodded and let him walk me to the island where Jake and Ryder were smiling at me. Ryder sighed and nodded with a half smile. "Hey, Ghostrider."

"Hey Maverick," I answered as I winced when I slid onto the barstool

Jake bit back a hiss from just looking at me then tugged at his hair. "I am going to kill Larissa."

I growled lowly and snapped my eyes to his. "Her ass is mine."

He held my gaze for a long moment then nodded solemnly. Elliot brushed past me and went to the oven. He leaned down and opened it; steam from the oven poured out as the smell of potatoes and herbs filled the room. My belly rumbled which made Lyanna smile as she sat next to me.

"Loaded potato casserole, Lucy thought you would like it."

I sighed and nodded. "Where are they?"

"She had to run back home for something and Pop is out looking after Ethan," Evan answered as he walked around to Lyanna and kissed her cheek.

She sighed and leaned into him as he pulled her a little closer to his chest. His eyes were tired and his beast felt weary. "Evan, tell me, please. Why is Ethan out there? What about Andrea? And the rogues–"

"Char," he gently interrupted. "Ok one at a time. First," he sighed out. "Andrea is going to be fine. She hasn't woken up yet, but Sam thinks she will soon. You both had silver in your system. Sam thinks the rogues had their claws dipped in traces of it, on the nail at least so it wouldn't hurt them but it definitely would hurt you. It wasn't a lot, but enough to weaken you. That's why you were so out of it when we got to you and that's why it's taken longer to heal. Silver will really screw you up."

I growled lowly and nodded. "What happened? Why is Ethan out there?"

"He didn't have a choice Char," Evan replied a little bitterly. He pushed his beast back then looked back up at me. "When we got to you, when I got to you, you were surrounded by warriors who believed what their alpha was telling them and right then, they saw a hurt Andrea, a hurt you, and Larissa spewing off some bullshit story that I will rip her head off for later." He paused while I pushed back a growl as Elliot handed a bottle of water to me with a wink. "Char it was bad. I got there and we were outnumbered. It was Ethan, Jake, and I and a bunch of angry ass wolves, we could have torn down a lot but not all of them.

"It would have been a bad fight Char, a really bad one. I mean, most of them thought you almost killed the Master of Arm's daughter. When we got there, everyone there thought you deserved it, we had some guys with us, but well, it wasn't good Char.

"If he wouldn't have, that collar would have killed you. Your body was too beat up and the silver would have done you in That's not including the silver in your system from the fight, it really did a number on you. It's why your wounds haven't healed as quickly, it's just a pain in the ass to get out of your system.

" I can't believe he did it. No one has used that law in forever, he just pulled it out of his damn ass to prove a point."

"I thought they were swaying more towards us?" I growled out.

"Char," Jake breathed out gently. "They are, well now. A lot of our men were either out on patrols or running around trying to help track down leads on different parts of the territory. That and, well there are a lot of wolves that just saw the scene and jumped to a conclusion."

"But it's Larissa! She's full of shit! I mean come one! She's probably in on it, or whatever the hell it is!"

"Easy Ghostrider," Ryder said with a warm smile. "You have to remember that all the wolves, including us, respect the hierarchy of the pack. We have to, otherwise, you would have everything fall to shit."

"Now we know she's full of shit Char," Jake continued. "But you have to understand, a lot of wolves are loyal to the pack, loyal to their alpha. They may not agree with the leadership all the time, but no one's always going to agree with everything someone else does. They respect him and the position he holds, which as infuriating as it is, that kind of loyalty and respect is good for the pack."

"So when they drug you in, it looked bad like Evan said. I mean Char, I was there. I looked around and it wasn't looking good. Believe me, if a fight broke out, then I would have no doubt tore some wolves apart, but it would have been very bad for us and the pack.

"The wolves there saw the scene, were probably on the fence anyways because right now they haven't been given a reason not to be there, and they were listening to their alpha. They trust Thomas, so when Thomas pulled out a collar, while it is archaic, they respected his authority and judgment."

"But they felt so angry," I murmured.

Jake nodded. "Like Evan said, they thought what Thomas and Larissa were saying was true. It looked bad and Andrea looked almost dead. They saw you as a threat to the pack that needed to be punished."

"What do you mean by, 'bad for the pack?' Sorry, my brain is still trying to soak all this in," I said before leaning back a little in my seat.

Jake looked at Evan who nodded to him, before looking back at me. "So, one thing that no pack wants is for there to be fighting amongst themselves, a 'civil war' if you will. It's bad and has happened a few times in the past. The packs were pretty much destroyed like a virus ate them from the inside out.

"Ethan could have very well fought yesterday and we would have stood by him, but with the way the crowd around us was swaying it would have been an all out brawl. We would have had to get our guys back here to support us, which would have also looked bad. It would have looked like we were marching against our own pack or something.

"Besides that we were outnumbered, fighting like that, I could have seen it going very badly for us which may have been something that Thomas wanted. Disruption like that in the pack would have put a halt to all our efforts trying to find the rogues and evidence against him, thus giving him an advantage."

"Unless we called Tikanni. Levi would have helped, you know he would of," I added.

"True Ghostrider," Ryder said. "But then it would look like war. It would look like Levi declaring war to support our rebellion. We don't need a war and we don't need our neighbors getting involved. If our neighbors caught wind then they could get involved too and then we got ourselves a real shitty mess."

"It would have been very bad for the pack, unhealthy," Jake said with hints of confliction. "Part of why Ethan did it, well besides to protect you, was to protect the pack. It was either fight, and start something that could have been very bad for everyone and very well painted him as the opposite of what we want, or take it and try to smooth things out. He loves this pack Char, probably to a fault. Believe me when I say that in his eyes a collar is worth not seeing you hurt or this pack in chaos.

"When he challenges Thomas, he wants to do it in a way that's good for the pack. He doesn't have to do that, he could just do it now or already have done it, but Ethan cares for the health of the pack. Doing it this way, as much as it sucks, won't rip us apart as much as it would if he were to have challenged him yesterday."

I growled lowly and tugged at my hair. "But Lyanna said that Billy talked to most of them? The warriors?"

Evan nodded. "He did, Billy never doubted you. He feels awful he wasn't there, but he was at the pack doctor's with Andrea. He went straight there after they brought her in and he's barely left her side.

"He been either there, here, or talking with our warriors; well, more like beating some of their asses. Believe me when I say that a livid Billy can lay one hell of an ass beating, and plenty of those wolves have seen that over the last few days. He's more of less beat the truth into them.

"A lot of them felt awful about all of it and they damn well should. Some of them offered to help, I've had some of them posted either outside this cabin or outside looking after my brother, he's too easy of a target collard up like that."

"Can I see him?" I asked as my voice hitched from a twist in the pull.

Evan sighed and shook his head. "Not right now, you can't leave the house yet. Thomas still thinks you're behind all this and wants to pin actual charges on you. We convinced him to wait for Andrea to wake up, who hopefully will soon."

"How long? How long will he stay out there?"

"A week, law says a week at a time, any more is too dangerous," Evan replied. He tugged at his hair and shook his head.

"Where's Levi? What about the rogues? Where are the bodies we tore up?"

"This is so screwed up," Jake grumbled.

Evan sighed a little and rubbed his face. Elliot pulled out the casserole that smelled so damn good I thought my stomach was going to jump out of my body and devour it. "Ryder, can you get some plates?" Elliot asked over his shoulder.

Ryder nodded and started to help Elliot as Evan looked back to me. "Levi was almost down here, I'm sure Lyanna told you. It took four of us and Lyanna and Claire to keep him. He was beyond furious."

"Why? Why not? I still don't understand?"

"It's not his pack little sister. I mean, he's not the law here, Thomas is. It's against the region rules. Alphas can't just walk into someone else's territory and start trying to invoke authority where they don't have it. If they do, it's usually seen as a threat or takeover, declaration of war, and we don't need that right now, we don't need the other region members to get involved here, not yet at least.

"As awful as it sounds, if Levi comes down here then Thomas could take it as an act of war, which we really don't need. They are good rules and protect a lot of packs, but right now they are–"

"Bullshit," Elliot hissed out. Evan growled warningly to him and he just shrugged innocently. "What? I'm on team Levi on this one."

I sighed thought because I knew Evan was right. We couldn't just call in Levi. It was our pack. Our pack business and we had to handle it. I wasn't going to let Thomas get what he wants, which could very well be a war with Tikanni.

We weren't going to let him tear this pack apart just so he can save his own hide.

I rubbed my face as Ryder set a plate in front of me. It was layers of potatoes, cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, chives, and butter. I sighed out dreamily as I inhaled it then nodded to Ryder who handed me some silverware and a napkin.

"What about the rogues? Evan, we tore them up."

"There was blood everywhere but it was cleaned up when we got there. It really did look like a bad fight–"

"What the hell!?" I dropped my fork as my blood started to boil. My beast lashed out and snapped in the air. "No, there were like nine of them, maybe more. I ripped one of their arms off! Andrea and Larissa tore some up too!!"

"I'm going out again today Ghostrider, I think there is something there. I know there is." Ryder sighed and looked over to Lyanna. "Lyanna you've got a good nose, want to come?"

Evan growled and eyed Ryder hardly. Lyanna sighed and kissed the corner of his mouth, calming only a little. "Ev, it's fine. I'll be alright."

He shook his head. "No, you need to stay here at least until Char gets cleared, I'm not risking you."

She sighed and eyed him for a while then nodded. "What if you bring whatever you find that is interesting here?" she thought out loud. "If you can carry it bring it back and we can go through it?"

Ryder nodded as he thought for a few moments. "Alright, works for me. Means you're with me again Jake."

Jake nodded and looked back at me. "We'll find them, Char."

I sighed. My head was spinning in what felt like a whirlwind. "But the bodies..."

"Gone, it was just blood. A lot of it was your blood and the other girls," Jake answered softly.

"That's bullshit! She set it up, they did! They are behind this! I kn–"

"Char," Evan breathed out with his hands up. "We know, we agree. We're doing everything we can, please try to calm down you're making my beast more anxious than he already is."

I felt the pull twist again and my neck dully throb. He was in pain. Ethan. I shivered a little and let out a hot breath. This was going to be the longest four days of my life. Dammit, Andrea better wake up soon.

"I still want to see him."

Evan let out a stressed breath. Jake shrugged as he started to stab into his potatoes. "Bro, we can just wait until night when we have some of our guys out there on duty. I say we wait a day until she can shift."

"Fine," Evan breathed out. "But you have to do exactly as we say, got it?" he said firmly to me. "I mean it Char, if we say get out of there, you need to go."

"Ok." I nodded which made him look a little more relieved. "Why would Larissa lie? I don't understand. I know she hates me, but lying about rogues?"

Evan let out a low growl and shook his head. "She either really hates you and saw it as an opportunity or knows something."

I hissed. "Then find her and squeeze it out of her, she was obviously in on something!"

"Oh, we will little sister," he replied a darkly.

We finished eating in quiet chit-chat. There was really not much for me to say, I had nothing more to say. I just wanted Ethan. I just wanted to see him and know that he was ok.

That and I wanted blood. I wanted Thomas' and Larissa's. Damn her. I saved her damn life and she blatantly lied! She let a pack member get collared because of her bullshit!

I was happy that Lyanna was there with me. After I ate she helped me take a bath then curled up on my bed with me. She had grown so much since I last saw her; she was turning into a fierce she-wolf. Mature and poised but still full of playful energy. She was good at keeping me calm and keeping my beast from running out to Ethan.

I eventually called Levi, per Evan's instructions. Words cannot describe how that conversation went. There was a mixture of cursing, laughing, crying on my part, death threats, and more cursing. Levi was furious and suggest a few times that I come home, but I wasn't going to. This was my home now. I wasn't going to leave Ethan or this pack. I knew Levi was worried and wanted to keep me safe, but it was my job to keep this pack safe now–mine and Ethan's responsibility.

Ethan.

Every now and then I could feel his pain or hear his faint howls in the distance. It made my heart twist. I think I soaked the front of Lyanna's shirt for a good twenty minutes before I pulled it together, but sharing his pain only made my guilt worse–my pain worse.

"Char," Elliot said gently as he knocked on my doorframe.

Lyanna and I were curled up in my bed dozing in and out of a nap. "Yes?"

"Billy's here for you."

I widened my eyes slightly. I looked down to Lyanna who was almost asleep and sighed. My little lightning bug had grown up so much; she would be a good beta female for me.

Elliot zipped over quietly and helped me out of bed so I didn't disrupt Lyanna. The poor thing was exhausted. I can only imagine that she had been up without sleep for most of the three days I was out.

I followed Elliot into the living room where Billy was chatting quietly with Lucy. Lucy snapped around to me and let out a breath of relief before walking to me to give me a hug. "Oh my girl, I am so sorry."

"It's alright gran," I murmured against her shoulder.

I pulled back  to see Billy. My heart almost broke right there; he looked exhausted. He definitely hadn't slept in days, his eyes were bloodshot, and he smelled as if he hadn't had a decent shower in a few days.

He let out a shaky breath and gave me a half smile before standing up and walking over to me slowly. Kneeling he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my hair. "I will never be able to thank you enough."

I leaned on his shoulder and bit back a shaky breath. "Is she ok?"

"She'll be fine, she's tough," he replied as he gently pulled away. He pushed some of my hair back with a pained smile and kissed my forehead. "You're going to be a great luna you know?"

I felt my heart twist a little. I nodded. "Thank you," I murmured back.

He sighed and smiled to me some more. "I'm looking after him. He's going to be fine, just be patient."

I nodded and walked with him over to the island. Lucy helped me slide onto a barstool then kissed my temple. "Want some cake? I made funfetti?"

I smiled a little and nodded. "Thank you. How was the Mediterranean by the way?"

"Oh we came back early," she replied over her shoulder as she cut into the flat pan of cake. "We heard that there was a piece of shit trying to run our pack to the ground and decided that we come back and help."

I chuckled breathily and nodded. She had to be the coolest grandma ever. Billy scratched his head a bit then looked back at me. "Char, can you tell me what happened?"

I nodded. "We were running back, going to your house actually for some wine. Larissa found us and started trying to fight with me, I tried to push her away. I just wasn't in the mood to deal with her."

"No one is," Lucy grumbled out as she handed me a plate. The piece of cake was white and fluffy with plenty of sprinkles on the white frosting that made me smile as I thought of the sprinkled donuts Levi loathes.

"Anyways," I sighed out. "Well, we were in the middle of it when we smelled them. At first, it was only four and we ripped them down easily, but then more and more showed up. It was too much, I mean, we tore them up but we were all beaten up pretty bad."

"Heard you saved Larissa's life?"

I nodded. "I did. She didn't see one coming at her from behind and I took him down."

Billy let out a low growl and pinched the bridge of his nose. He let out a tense breath then nodded a little. "Alright, so what else? What did they look like? Anything useful?"

I shrugged as I started to cut into the cake. "Healthier than the ones I saw before but still sick. I mean nothing much. Evan said their claws had silver. If they did that means they planned this Billy, they deliberately planned an attack.

"We need to squeeze Larissa, she knows something. There's no way she just happened to be there or decided to blatantly lie about something like that."

Billy growled and nodded his head. "Agreed. Once we can get Ethan out of that collar, then we'll deal with her." He let out a small yawn as he stood up. "Alright, I'm going back to the hospital. You know where to find me. Stay in here kiddo. We'll look after Ethan, he's going to be just fine."

Lucy rubbed my back gently as I nodded to him. "Let me know if she wakes up?"

He chuckled a little. "Oh I know my daughter well, she'll let you know herself when she marches down here. She can't stand the damn pack doctor's place."

I laughed again as he nodded to us before walking out. Lucy rubbed my back some more then kissed my temple again. "What do you say that we open one of those good bottles of red Derek has hidden and start a movie?"

I sighed and leaned back against her. "Sounds good."

Saying that Lucy was the best grandma, did not do her justice. She found a nice bottle Derek had hidden and opened it without remorse. Next thing I knew I was curled up on the couch with my head in her lap while we watched 'The Breakfast Club.' Eventually, Lyanna woke up and joined us, which mean that Lucy has two wolves cuddled up with her. It was a tight fit, but I couldn't help but love the feeling of being next to my family. They comforted me and my best; helped to dull the pain.

It started to grow dark though. It started to grow dark and all I could hear were Ethan's howls. He howled which felt like a knife to my heart. My neck dully throbbed in places where I assumed the collar was rubbing him. Dammit!

I couldn't handle it. Even after I ate a good dinner and took a long bath, I could not handle it. I needed to see him. I had to see him. My beast was about to break out of our skin; she was angry and wanted blood for our mate. I did too, but we had to be careful and be smart.

Eventually, I walked to my bathroom and looked at my body in my full-length mirror. I looked better and I felt better. I was still sore but I was convinced that I could shift, as was my beast. We were past the point of caring anyways.

Evan was sitting on a barstool with Lyanna next to him when I walked in. He saw my determined looked and grimaced. "Please tell me you are not going to ask me what I think you are going to ask me?"

I nodded. "Evan I can't. I can't tell you how painful or miserable I am. Please, even if it's for like ten minutes."

Evan groaned while Lyanna whispered to him. He looked at her a little pained then sighed as a smirk twitched at her lips. She turned to me and winked. "Alright Char, let's do it."

"But you do exactly as I say," Evan warned.

I threw up my hands. "Ok, ok."

"Ok," he sighed out. "Lyanna you stay here. I'll get Ryder. Char, shift now."

I rolled my eyes then leaned down and let her come. It didn't even really hurt considering my injuries, we were too focused on Ethan to care. I shook my fur out then walked to Lyanna; my beast rubbed against her and nuzzled her a little, thanking her for helping.

"Ghostrider, heard we got a covert mission?"

"Dear God Ryder," Evan groaned as he stripped down in my living room.

"Please Goose, get over yourself."

Evan rolled his eyes before he leaned into his shift. Lyanna rumbled a little and smiled at him knowingly. He walked to her and pressed his head into her palm before looking back at me.

"Do as I say, ok?"

"Alright, Ev."

"That a girl Ghostrider, I'm outside by the way guys."

Evan huffed as Lyanna walked to the door. She looked outside then back to us and nodded. "Be careful."

We quickly stepped out the door and into a blanket of darkness. The moon was covered by clouds tonight, which meant better coverage for us. Ryder's eyes were glowing next to a tree, it was the only reason I could really see him.

Evan nodded at him then started to lead us back into the forest. I trotted quickly behind him with Ryder next to me. My limbs were still sore but my blood was buzzing; I was too determined to do this. I needed to do this.

"Where are we going?"

"The long way," Evan replied. "The other way is too in the open."

I nodded and started to run as we picked up the pace. My beast was excited and nervous; she had her mate's howls and felt his pain. She wanted to see him and lick his wounds, then she wanted to have the necks of the ones responsible. I nudged her gently, we had to keep our mind focused. No blood tonight, but there would be another night for it.

The way there was long. It may have been because it was actually long, but I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was just so anxious to see Ethan. The closer I got, the more I could feel him.

He was still burning hot; not even the collar would put his fire out. It made me smiled inwardly. Our male was strong, a fighter; but I could also smell the silver and feel his pain. My beast wanted to growl but I pushed it back.

Evan slowly down and crept up with Ryder and I next to him. The bushes were thick and didn't provide for the best visibility. He paused for a minute and sniffed around. Soon a familiar wolf trotted up, Jake.

"Well, fancy seeing you all here," he tiredly said over the link.

"Char wants to see him, tell everyone to give them their privacy, but I want eyes out. No one comes near them but us, got is?" Evan ordered in a tone that surprised me. He was starting to sound a little more like the dominant male we knew was in him.

Jake nodded as did Ryder before they fanned out. Evan turned back to me and sighed a little sadly. "Go on char."

I let out a shaky breath and walked forward quietly, creeping so I didn't make a damn sound. I heard a rumble. A rumble I knew that made me let out a sigh of relief.

I broke through the pushes and stepped onto the dirt to see the one I came for. My heart stilled. "Ethan?"