Chapter 6

((EDITED 5/16/2016: ***Please note there have been some major dialogue changes in this chapter, along with a few continuity fixes! For those of you who have read it before or recently, you probably will notice the difference, although the main plot is the same.))

A/N: Please read!

Here you guys go, a timely and longer chapter. You're welcome. :) The first half is filler but bear with me, I like to be thorough when describing things. xD The last part of the chapter gets much more exciting and really provides direction for the main plot.

Please let me know what you think about the plot development. Also, comment and vote, this story is getting much more reads now and it's exciting!!

MULTIMEDIA:

"If We Ever Meet Again", the song that's playing in the club that I mention (you'll see). It was stuck in my head and if you listen the lyrics kinda go with some story elements ;)

Also, a picture of Anne >>>>>>>

Sorry in advance for any grammatical errors.

---

The trip started off on a sour note.

"I've never seen you wear clothes that tight," were Will's first words when he saw me, as he leaned on the outside of Maria's Jeep. I tossed him a dark scowl, not appreciating his smirk. The top was fine, but the skirt was a little tight, and I really wished he hadn't pointed it out.

"Leave her alone, Will," Maria chastised. "We're supposed to be cheering her up, not pissing her off."

The other werewolf accompanying us, Jake, was already in the backseat of the car. He was a short but burly werewolf with reddish-blonde hair and a shy smile. We'd always gotten along just fine, and I returned his wave.

"Wait for me!" came a voice from behind us. I turned around and felt a surge of irritation: Anne was striding up to us, wearing a tight black dress and bright red lipstick. I glanced at Maria disbelievingly; had she really invited Anne on a trip meant to cheer me up? But Maria looked equally as surprised as I did.

"Hey, Anne!" Jake called through the Jeep's rolled-down window, and I realized who the culprit was. He didn't hang out with us enough to know about the tension between Anne and me, or perhaps he was just oblivious.

"I didn't know you were coming!" Maria stated, a little awkwardly. Anne raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Jake invited me. Is that okay?" Anne looked a bit irritated at the fact that Maria was the one questioning her presence.

Maria hesitated, and I felt bad putting her in this position. I wanted to speak up, to tell Anne she couldn't come, but knew that would just make me look petty and immature. Several wolves in the pack were already thinking poorly of me lately, and I didn't want to worsen the situation. Seeing Maria looking at me out of the corner of her eye, I gave a nearly imperceptible nod. Seconds later, I was in the backseat next to Will and Jake, with Anne and Maria in the front.

Now I really was in a pissy mood, and we hadn't even left yet.

Convincing my parents to let me go to town had been surprisingly difficult and my mother had even tried to make me feel guilty about going. Any other week I would have respected their wishes but I was on edge because of the whole 'evil tyrant as my Mate' thing. I had basically snapped something about them being overprotective before storming out of the house.

Not the most mature way of reacting (in fact, I knew I owed them an apology later) but I needed the fresh air and my Wolf was driving me crazy. I'd heard my mother's resigned sigh before I slammed the door, so I knew they wouldn't follow me. They could communicate to me mentally if it was that important.

I snapped out of my thoughts as Anne turned around to talk to Jake, and I realized she looked as graceful and perfectly made-up as always. I scowled to myself, not sure how I was going to be able to tolerate her the entire night. My nerves were on edge and I attempted to relax, ignoring my Wolf's annoyed growls coming from deep in my conscience.

I get it, you're not happy I'm going to town. But I'm GOING, so please just shut up already, I finally snapped.

We shouldn't be going so far away from our Mate, she whined.

Well I'm definitely not going to waltz into his pack territory and get any closer to him. Just leave me alone for a couple of hours, I need to get out of the house.

Before she could come up with a retort, I spoke aloud, "So what are we doing tonight? Going out to eat?" I knew I sounded hopeful; going to a nice restaurant sounded more fun to me than clubbing right now, although the way I was dressed, I suspected a club was the more likely destination.

"There's a new club that just opened up. Will wanted to try it," Maria replied.

"Okay!" I responded, trying my hardest to sound enthusiastic. I then relaxed as Will and Jake struck up a conversation that didn't require my participation.

When we were about ten minutes from our destination, my peace and quiet ended. "So, Skylar, going to dance?" That was Anne's sickly sweet voice. I saw Maria toss her an angry look from the front seat. Although she didn't explicitly say it, I knew she meant "dance with any boys."

"I'm sure you'll keep most of the boys occupied," I replied irritably, hoping she would drop it. I knew exactly what she was implying and I didn't want to anger my Wolf.

"Oh come on, the guys at this club will probably like you, too. I mean Fate did give you an Alpha as a Mate. That has to say something about your charms." There was an undercurrent to her words that increased my irritation.

"Back off, Anne," Will said warningly. "The point of this trip is to forget about all of that." He was right; I couldn't think of Gabriel now, the whole point of this was to get his face and dark eyes out of my mind.

"Why do you want to forget about it? It's a big deal!" Anne responded.

"Why do you want to talk about it so much? It's none of your business," I stated, matching her tone of mock innocence.

The blonde shrugged daintily. "I guess I'm just confused. I mean...no offense, but why you, Skylar?"

I remained quiet as my Wolf growled softly.

"Normally the Alpha's Mate is supposed to be...powerful. Assertive. Brave."

Part of me agreed with her because I had considered the same thing, but the other part of me (namely my Wolf) was infuriated by the implication that I wasn't good enough for my own Mate. Burning with anger and insulted pride, I spoke before thinking. "Yeah, I'm not any of those things but at least I'm not a bitch, either. I'm sure your future Mate will have a lot of fun straightening you out."

A snarl emanated from her throat and I instantly regretted talking without thinking; she was of Alpha blood, after all. Plus, I was annoyed that I let her petty words get to me. Normally my temper was not so quick to emerge. Clearly, I was even more on edge than I realized.

"Guys! Stop!" Maria said loudly, cutting off Anne's reply. "This is supposed to be fun, going out for a few hours. Anne just forget it, okay? Skylar's had a hard time. Let's just focus on having a good night."

Will tossed me a sympathetic look as I swallowed my anger and settled back down again. The tension still simmered in the air and I wondered how long it would take for Anne to bring it up again.

---

Several minutes later we arrived at our destination, a club that was a couple miles from the middle of downtown. We preferred to visit the clubs that were further away because the center of town always gave werewolves claustrophobia due to the dense presence of so many humans.

I'd never been to this club before, and I took it in curiously as we all exited the Jeep. Stargaze, a large neon sign read above the front doors. I snorted. What a corny name. Still, it looked pretty bright and well-maintained and the line in front of the building was fairly long. I saw several expensive cars parked nearby and the people around us were definitely not low-class. I glanced around, realizing that we were in one of the nicer parts of town. Apparently the rich group of humans liked to stay away from downtown, too.

"Aren't you glad you wore heels?" Maria asked playfully, and I rolled my eyes. With my werewolf coordination, the heels were very easy to manage, but they were so awkwardly designed that I always wondered how humans managed it.

"This club just opened last year," she continued. "It's ten dollars at the door but they don't even bother letting you pay if you don't look nice. Stargaze isn't the nicest club in the city but it's definitely better than a lot of the others we've been to."

I listened idly as she spoke about the club, sniffing the air. The odors of gasoline, perfume, and human sweat made an altogether unpleasant stench and I decided to breathe mostly through my mouth throughout the night.

"You coming?" Anne snapped irritably and I realized the others were already heading towards the line. Sighing, I made my way over to them while preparing myself for the worst.

---

'Okay, so this is pretty cool,' I admitted reluctantly to myself as we entered Stargaze fifteen minutes later. The club was large and packed with humans. There were a few tables near us at the back where people were sitting and conversing, almost having to shout over the music, which was loud enough that it hurt my sensitive werewolf ears and I had to tune it out almost entirely so I didn't go crazy.

To our left was a large bar where people were clustering and shouting at the bartenders. I didn't have a fake ID so I'd have to convince someone else to buy me a drink, not that I really intended on consuming alcohol. It didn't have much effect on werewolves anyways.

Straight in front of us was the area where humans jumped and grinded to the music. Above them were blacklights that brought anything white into sharp clarity. I saw various flashing lights and a rotating ball hanging above that reflected a rainbow medley of colors that moved about the room as the ball turned. It was extremely disorienting with my enhanced vision.

"So are you gonna dance?" Maria asked, giving me a half-smile. She knew I wasn't overly fond of dancing and the dense mass of humans was intimidating to say the least. I glanced around the rest of the club; there was another area in the back corner containing several fancy booths and tables. That would likely be where I spent most of the night.

"Skylar, don't be a wimp!" Will chided teasingly, noting my expression and the area of the club I was eyeing. "Come on just come dance for a bit. If I have to go you have to go." He waggled his eyebrows.

'Yeah right,' I thought, amused. 'Like you aren't going to try to pick a girl up on the dance floor.'

"The humans stink of sweat," I replied instead. "And a lot of them are loud and obnoxious."

"Only the drunk ones," Jake cut in, grinning.

Maria grabbed my arm, giving me a look that told me I had no choice in the matter. "Just a couple of songs. Then you can go sit and be a loner, I promise."

I sighed. The song, some techno mix I hadn't recognized, switched to a remix of some Katy Perry pop song I'd heard a couple of years ago. Anne clapped her hands, delighted. Before I could protest Maria, who was singing along, dragged me out to the dance floor and into the mass of humans.

"Cause baby I'lllllll never be the saaaaaameee...." Maria was singing as she turned and swayed to the beat. Will, who could not dance well, was stepping back and forth while he eyed the dancing females around us. While he wasn't a womanizer, he had definitely kissed plenty of pretty human females during our time in high school. He hadn't dated any of them, though. That would've been very frowned upon by werewolves.

Personally I didn't understand. Even in my human form, I felt like I had very little in common with them.

I endured a few more songs after the Katy Perry song, idly moving about in an attempt at dancing while my friends found dance partners, bumping and grinding to the music. I politely turned one guy down after he asked. He was handsome enough but I just wasn't interested.

And he is nothing compared to our Mate, my wolf snarled. I instantly shushed her; I couldn't think about Gabriel now. The longer it had been since we parted, the more hollow I felt when I thought about him. I didn't want to deal with the pain of separation right now.

At least I was out of the house, though. Maria was right that it helped when I wasn't moping about in my bedroom. Even though I couldn't dance as well as the others, my friends were having fun, and some of the songs were catchy. Overall, the experience wasn't too bad.

After the music and human bodies pressed around me became too much I decided to take a break. The noise and presence of so many people made me uneasy after a while. I meandered away from the dance floor and found an empty booth, sliding into it with a relieved sigh. Placing my chin on my hands, I took a deep breath.

This is better than being at home, but why do I still feel like crap? I thought, even though I knew the answer.

Because you left our Mate behind, my Wolf chastised, unnecessarily.

He left me in the clearing! I snapped back.

Because you were cold and distant to him. And now you're making no attempt to seek him out.

He has a history of oppressing our pack, remember? I can't just forget that in a couple of days, it would be disloyal!

And you're being disloyal to our Mate by seeking out a human settlement to waste your time, she replied. Her words stung even though I knew she didn't truly mean them; she was on edge as much as I was.

"Excuse me, would you mind if I join you?" came a voice from above me. I quickly snapped to attention and focused on the human standing next to me. He was about average height and handsome with curly dark hair and warm brown eyes.

"Erm..." I began, caught off guard.

This seemed to happen a lot to werewolves when we were in the human town. I'd been approached by men while I was by myself on a couple of occasions. I'm sure Maria and Anne had similar experiences, and probably even more frequently than I had. The humans had no idea what we were, but it was almost like something in their subconscious recognized that we were different, that there was more to us than met the eye, and it drew them in. Our nature was alluring to them and they didn't even know it.

Of course, I was sitting by myself in a club, so I supposed a human female would experience much the same thing in this situation.

The human held out his hands in my direction. He was holding a drink in each. "Look, I brought a peace offering. Strawberry daiquiri or margarita?" I blinked in surprise. Part of me wanted to turn him away but he looked friendly enough and I needed a distraction from my inner turmoil. Besides, it wasn't like I had to go home with the guy or worry about something suspicious in my drink. He could've put five times the dose of a human drug in either drink and my body wouldn't even notice it. Werewolves were immune to pretty much anything that could be used to spike a drink, unless we consumed an absurd amount, of course.

"Umm...strawberry daiquiri," I replied finally. He grinned, setting it in front of me and then sliding into the seat across from me.

"Good, I was worried I would end up with that one and have to revoke my man card while drinking it."

I smiled slightly despite myself. "So you're saying the margarita is manlier?"

"Well it isn't pink and there isn't a fruit in the name, so I'm saying yes." He grinned again, revealing dimpled cheeks. I took a brief moment to analyze him. He appeared lighthearted and pleasant with an open expression; he didn't seem the type to be able to hide malevolent intentions. Not that I had to worry about him being able to take me if it came to a fight.

"So...you here with your friends?" Realizing I was staring into space I re-focused on him as he spoke.

"Yeah. They're dancing the night away."

"Not much of a dancer, are you?"

I snorted in reply, taking a sip of my strawberry daiquiri. It was very fruity and the strong flavor served to mask most of the liquor, which I was grateful for. I did not savor the taste of alcohol.

"What about you?" I asked, realizing he was staring at me and waiting for me to say something.

"Oh I love to dance but I needed the break. I was getting a drink when I saw you come sit over here and I figured you could use company. What's your name?"

I deliberated for a second before answering. "Skylar, yours?"

"Drew. Nice to meet you."

"You too." I had no clue how to continue a conversation with this guy. I didn't particularly want to.

"You have really pretty eyes, by the way," Drew said, a bit shyly.

Now I felt even more uncomfortable, and my thoughts sprung, unbidden, to Gabriel. I wondered if he found my eyes pretty, and then immediately mentally berated myself for wondering that.

"Erm....thanks."

'Impressively articulate response,' I thought sarcastically.

"Do you live around here? I'm from the east end of town but we just moved here a couple months ago."

I didn't really care where he was from but I wasn't rude enough to say that so I just nodded politely. "Oh I'm not actually from this city, I live in a nearby town but we don't have clubs there." I definitely wasn't telling this stranger any more details than that.

For the next few minutes we made idle chitchat but after a bit I became distracted. My Wolf was growing increasingly agitated, whining restlessly. At first I thought it was because I was talking to another guy who was borderline flirting with me but after a moment I realized it was something else. Her agitation had nothing to do with the conversation; in fact, I had no idea what was bothering her and neither did she. She just had the feeling that something was wrong nearby. I had learned to trust these instincts so I began surreptitiously glancing around, trying to see what was out of place.

Nothing seemed amiss. I thought I saw Maria and Anne still dancing in the middle of the floor although I couldn't see Will or Jake. Apparently their Wolves were fine because they seemed perfectly relaxed. So why was my Wolf on edge?

I scanned the crowd again, using my enhanced vision to detect the slightest sign of danger.

There was nothing.

"Skylar...? You with me?"

I turned back to see Drew staring at me with concern and mild irritation. "Uh...yeah, sorry Drew. I just got distracted." I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. Her agitation was making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"Actually, I'm going to go to the restroom. I'll be right back."

Without waiting for his reply I quickly stood up and made my way around the edge of the dance floor towards a hallway on the far side of the club. At the end of the hallway was a door marked 'employees only' but the hallway curved left at the door, leading to the restrooms.

I opened the door to the restroom and strode in. The lighting was extremely bright after the dim atmosphere of the club and I winced, rubbing my eyes. There was a girl at the sink applying her makeup and I thought I heard someone in one of the stalls but I ignored them, shutting myself in a stall and resting my head on the inside of the door.

To my surprise, my Wolf's agitation actually increased and she whined again.

What's wrong with you? I asked, concerned.

I don't know, but something is wrong. I can sense danger. We're closer to it now.

It's in here? I asked incredulously.

No...but we're closer to it than when we were sitting in the booth.

I took a deep, shaky breath. Are we in immediate danger?

I don't think it's after us.

That confused me. Why would she be so concerned if the source of danger wasn't focused on us? Why was she so unnerved? I had never felt her behave like this.

Opening my senses, I took a deep whiff of the air, closing my eyes. The music pressed in loudly on my sensitive ears but I attempted to block it out and focus only on the smells.

The stench of urine was quite poignant along with sweat and alcohol. Wincing, I sorted through these scents to find others that were harder to trace. I detected a slight whiff of werewolf scent along with the overwhelming smell of human, but this did not interest me. I focused intently as I tried to find something out of place. A minute trickled by, then another, with no luck, but my Wolf insisted I keep trying. Then it hit me all at once.

Blood. A lot of blood, the smell growing stronger by the second.

In a flash I had exited the stall and rushed out of the bathroom. The blood was human, not werewolf, but I still felt duty-bound to investigate. I wasn't going to let someone die if there was something I could do to help, and with the overwhelming sense of danger I detected, I knew this wasn't an ordinary accident.

The smell grew stronger as I strode down the hall, approaching the 'employees only' door. Without a second thought I shoved the door roughly open. Inside I found a wide hallway with cubbies and cabinets on the walls, likely for the employees, and another door on each side. The trail did not lead me there, however. Another door was at the far end of the hallway marked 'exit only'.

Taking a deep breath I dashed to the door and shouldered it open, stepping outside. The smell was so strong out here that to my sensitive nose it was nearly overwhelming. It was coming from an alley a short distance away.

Something's not right. My Wolf was saying nervously as I dashed towards the mouth of the alleyway. There's something here....something else here.

I did not have time to ponder her meaning as I reached the alleyway, but it soon became quite clear. A lonely streetlight hung nearby and threw the scene before me into dim relief. I saw two figures, one a few feet away from me, sprawled on the ground with her head facing me, and another hunched over the limp form.

The one sprawled on the ground was dead or near-death judging by the amount of blood leaking out of her neck. Her dark hair was spread out on the ground and her face was deathly pale. The smell of her life force was sickening and I had to fight the urge to gag.

But the body was not the main source of my problems, not even close. For a split second after I examined the body my eyes snapped to the other figure, the one that was slowly standing up to tower over me.

It was a man but he wasn't human. His behavior had alerted me of that immediately, and my stomach clenched with revulsion when I saw his face. He was as pale as the corpse and his irises were as black as his pupils, giving him a frighteningly haunted appearance. He had sharp fangs extending into his bottom lip and they were tipped with blood, and his fingers were curved into claws. His skin was thin, taut and pulled back, his cheekbones almost looking like they were going to cut through it.

'Vampire,' I thought, dazed, my wolf howling in the back of my mind as he took a step towards me. He was so gaunt and ghostly pale that he looked quite dead himself. My instincts quickly kicking in, I swung into a defensive crouch. Until now I had thought vampires were a legend but I fervently hoped they weren't as strong as werewolves. To my surprise, his smell was faint, even to my nose, but it was oddly familiar. I shook the sense of familiarity off and raised my lip to expose my canines, which were slightly elongated in my preparation to shift into wolf form at a moment's notice.

"Don't come any closer," I snapped, a menacing growl echoing deep within my chest.

He stopped, cocking his head. "Didn't expect to see a werewolf here...I'm surprised I didn't sense you sooner. You smell awful." He sounded a lot younger than he looked. I snarled in response to the insult.

"Get out of here," I growled.

"But I hadn't finished eating dinner..." He drawled, a cocky smirk appearing on his pale face. I felt my skin prickle in irritation. I glanced down at the corpse.

"Hmm, I'm surprised. I thought werewolves would be a lot uglier." His dark eyes had focused on my face and his smirk was wider.

I growled again, loud and menacing. I thought I saw wariness cross his expression.

It was then that I realized I was in a tight skirt and heels. Not exactly the ideal outfit to be wearing in a fight. I thought I had enough of a sense of balance to make the heels work if I absolutely had to, but why take the risk? What if one of them broke mid-fight or made me twist my ankle?

I was bending down, eyes on the vampire, preparing to surreptitiously remove my shoes, when it happened. The only warning I got was the vampire's eyes flickering slightly as he glanced at something over my left shoulder before there was a quiet whisper of sound behind me and a slight rush of air. I spun around quickly to face the intruder, cursing myself inwardly for being so easily distracted, but I was a heartbeat too slow. I felt clammy hands clamp down on my bare shoulders and then sharp teeth were sunk into the side of the neck.

The next thing I felt was excruciating pain.

---

Eli's POV

I was tired of patrolling.

For the past three days Gabriel had forced us to relentlessly patrol the borders at every hour of the day and it was draining the entire pack. Ever since the incident the night of the meeting, when one of our pack members had been brutally murdered, every wolf had been on edge. As Gabriel's Beta, I respected his decision and would likely have made the same decision in his place, but it didn't mean that I wasn't feeling the same exhaustion as everyone else.

My Wolf was feeling it, too. I could feel his relief that our patrol had ended and I got to return home for some much-needed rest. I had volunteered to take the extra shift tonight but was sincerely regretting that decision.

Still in Wolf form, my head drooped as I climbed the craggy terrain that led to our pack homes. Our territory was much more difficult to traverse than most but kept us in good shape. My muscles still burned, however, as I scaled the last steep slope. I would need to stop by Gabriel's house first to give him my report.

Several minutes later I shifted back to human form outside of Gabriel's large house, dressing quickly before knocking three times on his door.

"Come in," his deep voice commanded and I opened the door, shutting it quietly. Gabriel was sitting in a large chair reading a stack of documents but he glanced up when I strode in.

"Patrol went as normal, " I began without preamble. I knew Gabriel better than anyone else in the pack so I could drop most of the formalities. "No strange scents or tracks. Whoever killed Amelia seems to have vanished into thin air."

His expression darkened and I knew he felt the pain of losing one of our own. Gabriel may have been austere and seemingly emotionless but I knew he cared more about protecting the pack more than anything else in the entire world.

Except, maybe, that brunette girl from the Meeting. His Mate. But there was no way in hell I was asking Gabriel about that until he was ready to talk; it had been shock enough to learn he had a Mate. He had seemed slightly dazed the last few days as if he couldn't believe it happened.

While my instincts urged me to talk to him about it, because he was clearly conflicted and needed my help, I held my tongue. Gabriel and I had known each other a very long time. We had grown up together. As far as I knew, he trusted me more than anyone else. When we were younger, he'd been quite withdrawn and hard to get to know, although he'd confided in me a few times. Now, he was even more withdrawn, and it was very rare that he spoke with me about anything personal. I only hoped that if he needed to talk about it, he wouldn't hesitate to ask me.

"I suspected as much." He finally muttered, breaking me out of my train of thought and back into our conversation.

"Who do you want to patrol tomorrow?" I asked, folding my arms in front of me and widening my stance.

"Not you. You've been patrolling three times as much as anyone else."

I agreed, but better me than anyone else. "As Beta it's my duty to-" I began but he cut me off.

"No, Eli. You're wearing yourself out and I need you to be at your best."

I lowered my head, slightly relieved and knowing there was no point in arguing with him. It was impossible to win against Gabriel and he always did what was best for the pack either way. He had been the greatest thing to ever happen to the Black Mountains pack, I thought. I knew my pack agreed with me; he was certainly a better Alpha than his father had been.

"Should we warn the other packs?" I asked, slightly wary of his reaction. He had been tiptoeing around the subject ever since the Meeting.

His dark eyes snapped to my face and narrowed as if he knew exactly what I was thinking but he didn't reply, contemplating. I knew part of him, big or small, would instinctively want to protect his Mate no matter how far away she was or what pack she was in.

"It's possible that whoever did it crossed into their territory," I continued.

After that statement I saw a clearly visible expression of concern flit across his features. So he definitely did care. I desperately wanted to press but knew now wasn't the time.

He stood up, slowly, rising to his full height. I was 6'3 and taller than the average werewolf but Gabriel was even taller than me. His stature only served to add to his intimidating Alpha presence.

"It's possible." He admitted, eyes narrowed. "We should-"

But I never found out about what we should do because Gabriel abruptly cut off, face contorting into an expression of extreme pain. He grabbed the chair beside him and hunched over, a loud snarl escaping his throat.

"Alpha?" I asked, striding over to him, concerned. His muscles were taut, his frame shaking. Gabriel's expression was absolutely feral as he bared his teeth. I could tell he was fighting with all of his might against the pain but I could not determine the source of the injury.

"Where are you injured?" I demanded but he moved away from my outstretched arm.

"Not me..." He breathed out heavily, gritting his teeth. "Skylar..." His fingernails dug into the fabric of the chair and the veins stood out on his arms. I watched him, alarmed.

He snarled again, furious. His eyes were exceptionally dark and I wondered if it was the pain, the fury, or both.

"Skylar? But you haven't-"

"It's hers."

"But-"

"There's no other possibility!" He snapped, straightening abruptly, fists clenched. His shaking slowed slightly as I watched, and he took a deep breath, though he remained tense. It seemed to me that his Wolf was clawing at the surface and he was fighting to control it.

"Is she..." I couldn't finish the sentence, afraid of his reaction.

After several seconds, Gabriel unclenched his fists. Apparently the pain had abated somewhat, and he had won the internal battle with his Wolf. "It's her pain, it has to be." His expression was absolutely terrifying to behold. "She's in danger." I saw his resolute expression and knew where this was going.

"Watch the pack." He leapt to the door in one large bound. "I'll be in touch."

"Alpha you-"

Gabriel turned around, fury evident in his expression. "I said WATCH THE PACK, Eli!" He roared furiously, putting a Command in his tone. He rarely had to use the Command on me. I bowed my head in submission.

Then he was gone, the door ominously banging shut behind him.