

### Growl

By

Elaine Pierson

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 Elaine Pierson

License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, people or places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

### Lacey Hannigan Novels

Growl

Change

Redemption

### Other books by Elaine Pierson

Summer's Curse

Visit the author's website at elainepiersonbooks.com for information about upcoming books.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

# Chapter One

Lacey had dropped her backpack at the bottom of the stairs and went into the kitchen to fix herself a snack.

"Lacey, can you come in here for a minute?" her mother called from the livingroom.

Lacey stopped a few feet into the kitchen and hung her head low. After the day she had, the last thing she wanted was to talk to her mother. She looked to the backdoor and thought about sneaking out, but given her luck she'd get busted and be in even more trouble than she was already in. She let out a deep breath and made her way into the livingroom.

Her mom, Jackie and stepdad, Tom were sitting side by side on the super ugly yellow and green flowered couch that Tom had brought over from his house after he married her mom six years ago. Lacey could tell by the look on their faces that she was in more trouble than she had thought. With her arms crossed over her chest, she sat down in a chair across from her parents and quietly waited for the inevitable lecture she was about to get.

"Why don't you start by telling us how all the windows in the girl's locker room ended up in a million pieces on the floor? And then you can tell us why Melinda Cross thinks that you tried to kill her" Tom said and pierced Lacey with an angry stare.

She looked at him, then at her mom and let out a deep breath. "There is no point in playing this question game Tom, you already know what happened to the windows. I broke them, but you know as well as I do that I can't help it. I tried not to get angry. I tried to control myself but Melinda pushed me too far."

"So you think that makes what you did okay? Melinda made you mad so you try to kill her. What's gotten into you?" he yelled.

Lacey jumped up and yelled back, "I did not try to kill her! I just wanted her to leave me alone, but she kept going on and on about my dad and how he didn't want me. And I lost it. I might have scared her but I did not hurt her" she said with certainty.

"You used your powers to shatter all the windows and she was cut by the glass shards. How can you say that you didn't hurt her? Damn it Lacey, we've talked about this. You can't go around using your powers on people every time someone makes you mad. Melinda is your friend, the only friend you have and this is how you treat her" Tom said.

Lacey narrowed her eyes at him. "My friend? You're kidding, right? Melinda Cross is not my friend. She has teased and tortured me ever since the fifth grade when she first moved here. Just because she says hello to me in front of you does not make her my friend. And I already told you that I didn't mean to hurt her." She looked to her mother for support. "Mom, you have to believe me when I say that I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

Her mother frowned. "You never mean for things to happen but they always do, don't they?" she said and quickly looked away like she regretted saying anything.

Lacey rolled her eyes. "Whatever! I should have known better than to think you would take my side. You never have so why should you start now" she said and started for the stairs to go to her room.

"Get back here!" Tom yelled, "We're not done with this conversation."

Lacey glared at him. She hated everything about him, from the stupid way he combed over the few strands of hair he had to cover the fact that he was practically bald, to the way he doted on her mom like she was an infant in need of constant care, always hovering around her. He even closed his downtown office and turned their guest house into his new office so that he could work from home and be close to her all the time.

Lacey couldn't help but think that his psych patients would be better off if they found another shrink because Tom was a quack. Out of all of the shrinks her mom made her see when she was little, he was the worst. After her mother told him about her telekinetic powers, he did everything he could to provoke her into using them on him so he could see what she was capable of. But even at the young age of nine, she knew better than to let anyone see what she could do. She learned early on that she was different and people didn't like different.

After two years of Tom trying to get her to trust him enough to let him see her use her powers, he finally got what he wanted. When she found out about him and her mom getting married, she got so upset that she lost control of the hold she tried to always keep on her powers and lashed out at him. She tossed him across the room like a ragdoll and demolished everything in his office. When she was done, it looked like a tornado had come through and Tom was crouched in the corner, shaking like a leaf on a tree on a windy day.

"What do you want me to say, Tom? I screwed up. Okay. I lost control of myself for a minute. I'll get a job and pay for the damage" Lacey said.

Tom stood up and pulled her mother up with him. He wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulder. "Don't worry about the damage. I'll pay for it" he paused, "But your mother and I have decided that it would be best for everyone if we send you back to the hospital for a while."

Lacey's mouth dropped open and she struggled to breathe through the memories that assaulted her mind at the mention of the hospital. After what happened in Tom's office, he had convinced her mom to have her committed into a children's psychiatric hospital so they could study her powers. He wanted to know how she was able to move things with her mind and unfortunately, her mother had agreed. Lacey spent four months in the hospital and every day that she was there, was pure hell. The doctors kept her hooked to machines to monitor her brain activity as they tried to coax her into using her powers. When they found out that simply asking her to do what they wanted didn't work, they tried other methods.

They started with just insulting and teasing her to get her mad, in hopes that she would react the same way she did with Tom, but she didn't. Their insults hurt her, especially when they talked about her real father, but she let it go. She refused to give in to them. Then they tried withholding food from her, saying that if she wanted to eat all she had to do was show them what she could do with what they called "her special abilities."

Of course, they never really starved her. They gave her saltine crackers and bottled water. And then they tried to entice her by leaving a tray of her favorite foods outside her door so that she could smell it. But Lacey never gave in. Sometimes she would go days without eating anything but the crackers. She didn't have a choice. She knew if she showed them what they wanted to see, she would never leave the hospital. So she endured everything they threw at her. Even the shock therapy.

The most cruel and inhumane thing the doctors did to her was when they sent her to the shock room. There, she was strapped to a table and shocked with small jolts of electricity. They would shock her again and again, telling her that if she wanted them to stop, she had to make them. They were careful to use just enough electricity to be painful but not enough to cause any real damage. And even though Lacey had been tempted several times to show them exactly what she was capable of, she didn't. She kept a tight hold on her powers, even when it caused her physical pain to do so. Eventually, the doctors gave up and she was released. But she lives with the memories of the torture that they put her through every day and there was no way in hell she was ever going to go back there again.

She stared unflinchingly at Tom. "I'm not going back to that hospital."

"You don't have a choice. The decision has been made and Dr. Green is on his way here to pick you up as we speak."

The hairs on Lacey's arms stood on ends and she could feel the tingling sensation that felt like electricity as it surged through her body. She was getting angry and the hold she usually kept on her powers was starting to slip just like it had in the locker room. With each year that passed it seemed like it was getting harder and harder to keep her powers under control. "I won't go!" she yelled. "I'll be eighteen in three weeks. If you want me to leave then I'll leave, but I won't go back to the hospital and you can't make me."

Tom smiled and Lacey wanted to punch him in the face. "Until your birthday, you are a minor and in our custody. You will go where we tell you to go."

"No, I won't!" she screamed.

The picture frames on the wall started shaking, the glass cracked across the faces in the photos. Lacey trembled as anger swelled up inside her. She glared at Tom. The lamp on the table behind him flew across the room and shattered against the wall. He turned to look at it then narrowed his eyes at her. "Go ahead, break everything in here if that's what you want to do. It won't change anything. You're still going back to the hospital where you belong."

Tom's last words echoed in Lacey's head. Fear and anger seized her and she lost all control of herself. The furniture near her flew across the room. Tom's ugly couch skidded across the floor and busted through the large picture window by the front door, half inside the house and half outside on the porch.

The coffee table slammed into the fireplace and papers from her mother's desk swirled around in the air above them.

Tom grabbed Jackie's hand and pulled her down to the floor beside him.

The large mirror over the fireplace shattered and shards of glass swam in the air. Lacey could see everything that was going on around her but she couldn't stop herself. She wanted to, she knew that if she didn't someone was going to get hurt, but she was too upset to control her powers. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth as it trickled from her nose and over her top lip. A dull ache slowly spread from the back of her head to the front, intensifying as it covered her entire head. But even that wasn't enough to make her stop.

"Lacey! Stop this now!"

She looked at her mother crouched on the floor a few feet away. The tears in her mother's eyes succeeded in making Lacey find a way to control herself. She put everything she had into reigning in her powers. Slowly, everything in the room stopped moving. The papers and glass fell to the floor in a scattered mess. Lacey looked around the room at what she'd done and then at her mother. "I'm so sorry...I...I didn't mean to do this" she said in a choked voice as tears rolled down her cheek.

Her mother stood shakily and held her hand out to Tom. They both stood in front of Lacey, staring at her with fear in their eyes.

"I'm so sorry, mom. Please don't send me away" Lacey pleaded.

Jackie lowered her eyes and turned her head away as if she was too ashamed to even look at her own daughter. "I'm sorry Lacey, but it's what's best for everyone. The nose bleeds and the headaches, you need help" she paused, "Look around. Look at what you've done, you're dangerous and I don't know what to do with you anymore. Even your father..."

"Don't bring my father into this!" Lacey yelled, cutting her off. She wiped the blood from her nose on the sleeve of her black shirt. She hated being reminded of how much her father disliked her.

Jackie flinched and squeezed herself closer to Tom. Lacey frowned and shook her head sadly. "Why are you so afraid of me?" she asked in a small, child-like voice. "I've never hurt you but all my life you've been scared of me."

Her mother suddenly found her strength and pierced Lacey with an incredulous glare. "You've never hurt me? Do you really believe that? You've done nothing but hurt me since the day you were born. You cost me the love of my life. I loved your father more than anything in the world and you drove him away. He couldn't handle having a freak for a daughter so he left and I got stuck raising you alone. Not only did I have to deal with you and your powers but I had to endure the embarrassment of being the mother of the weird girl. Do you have any idea how many friends that I've lost because of you? I could never have anyone come over to the house for fear that they would see your toys flying around the room or god forbid, you would decide to throw one of them across the room like you did your father. I couldn't leave the house because every time I tried, you would throw a fit and shatter the windows. I hoped that as you got older things would change but they haven't. You're still just as dangerous now as you were when you were a toddler."

Lacey staggered back at the pain she heard in her mother's voice. She had never spoken to her like that before. Most of the time she didn't bother to talk to her at all but when she did, she never had the kind of emotion in her voice that she had now.

Lacey reached out to touch her mother's arm to soothe her but the look of fear on her face stopped her. She dropped her hand to her side and closed her eyes as tears slipped through her lids. She had known most of her life that her mother was afraid of her and blamed her for her dad leaving but to hear her actually say it, hurt more than she ever thought possible.

She grabbed her backpack from the floor in front of the stairs and headed for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tom asked from behind her.

Lacey ignored him and kept walking. She opened the door and walked outside to the curb in front of her house where she had parked her yellow VW Beetle that her paternal grandmother had given her the money to buy since her father wasn't around to buy her a car. She opened the passenger side door and threw her backpack inside. Looking over her shoulder, she saw her mom and Tom standing on the porch. Tom was yelling at her to get back inside and her mother was looking down at her feet, avoiding looking at her. The pain that tiny action caused was excruciating. Lacey felt as if someone had punched a hole in her heart. She wiped at the tears falling from her eyes and whispered, "I love you mom" before running around to the other side of the car and getting in.

She was almost hyperventilating by the time she pulled away from the curb and drove away from the only home she had ever known. She had no idea where she was going to go or how she was going to make it on her own, but leaving was the only thing she could do to protect herself and give her mother what she wanted most...a normal life.

Fear that Tom might call the cops and report her as a runaway made Lacey eager to get as far away from Blaxton, Georgia as possible. She pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor as more tears streamed down her face. Her emotions were becoming more and more unstable as she replayed everything that had happened over in her mind. The look of pain and fear on her mothers face, the smugness on Tom's and the way her home looked after she lost control of herself. A sob escaped her throat and she began to cry uncontrollably. She sped across the Jackson County line and kept going, ignoring the fact that her powers were starting to act up again...until it was too late.

The car started shaking and the windows rattled. Suddenly, one of the tires exploded and the car ran off the road into a ditch. It crashed into a tree. The impact crushed the front of the car.

The throbbing pain in Lacey's head let her know that she was still alive. She lifted her head from the steering wheel and looked out the windshield to see the tree that she had hit. Her vision blurred and for a moment she saw double. She touched her hand to her head and cringed when she saw the blood that covered her fingers. She looked in the mirror to check her wound. The gash over her right eye wasn't as bad as it felt but it was bleeding and so was her nose. "Damn it," she cussed and wiped at the blood with the sleeve of her shirt before taking it off and tossing it in the back seat.

Looking to the road, she checked to see if anyone saw the accident and were calling the police. Fortunately, the road was empty. Knowing that she didn't have much time, she grabbed her gym shirt from her backpack, quickly put it on and got out of the car. Dizziness nearly caused her to fall. She leaned against the car for a few minutes to clear the haze from her mind. Several minutes passed but her vision was still a little blurry.

A car stopped on the road and a man's voice called out to her. "Hey, are you alright?"

Startled, Lacey looked his way and said the first thing that came to her mind. "Um...yeah, it's not my car. I was just walking by and stopped to see if anyone needed help but there's nobody here." She hated to lie and knew that she wasn't any good at it, but she didn't know what else to do.

The man looked at her skeptically. "Are you sure you're okay? You have blood on your face."

Lacey quickly wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Oh, um yeah, I'm fine. I have nose bleeds sometimes" she said and pushed her achy body away from the car.

The man watched her for a minute then asked, "Do you need a ride somewhere?"

She looked over her shoulder at him as she continued walking away and forced herself to smile. "No, thank you. I live just down the road. I was on my way home from school when I saw the car. I'll be home in no time."

The man watched her for a few seconds longer then got in his car and left.

Lacey let out a relieved breath and quickened her pace. She needed to get as far away from the car as possible before someone else saw her and stopped to help. The last thing she wanted was for the police to find her and take her back home.

With the pain in her head getting worse with every step that she took, she forced herself to start running.

# Chapter Two

Several hours later, Lacey walked through the door of a small country store. She had never been in the store before but she had passed by it several times on the way to Kitson, Georgia to see the "specialist" that Tom was always taking her to.

She knew she wasn't far from home, about twenty miles or so. But she was far enough away that she didn't think Tom would look for her there. She quickly made her way to the medicine aisle and picked up a bottle of pain reliever. Her head was still throbbing. She grabbed a coke and a bag of chips and went to the counter to pay for her stuff.

The old man at the register didn't even look at her as he rung up her purchase and she liked that. It was a nice change from people staring at her like she was a freak. Usually, people took one look at her dyed black hair, black lips, and black clothes and assumed that she was either a gothic chic or a trouble maker. But she was neither. She dressed in black to hide from the world. It was easier to blend into the background of life when she looked like someone that nobody wanted to know. And her naturally blond hair and baby blue eyes made that impossible. So when she started high school four years ago, she dyed her hair black and has been doing so ever since.

*****

Lacey sat down on a wooden bench outside the store and leaned back against the wall. She was tired and in pain, whether it was from the accident or the use of her powers, she didn't know. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten anything all day. At lunch, she hid in the bathroom to avoid being around the other students and when she went home, her mother had called for her before she had a chance to raid the fridge.

After opening the bottle of pain pills, she took two of them then downed a half a bottle of soda. Then she started in on the bag of chips. Within minutes, the bag was empty and her stomach was still rumbling. She pulled her wallet out of her backpack and counted her money. Twelve dollars. That was all she had. How was she supposed to survive with that? She hung her head low, feeling weak and defeated. She had no clue what she was going to do next. She stared at the empty bag. Her head was still hurting and now so was her stomach.

The thought of calling Tom to let him know where she was briefly entered her mind, but then the memory of being strapped to a hospital bed flashed in her mind and she shivered. She quickly pushed the memory away and got to her feet. She couldn't call Tom or anyone else. She was on her own and she was going to have to learn to make the best that she could out of a bad situation.

She entered the store again and spent the last of her money to buy a couple bottles of water and some snacks, then continued walking down the road.

Almost an hour later, the sound of tires slowing to a stop on the gravel behind her caught Lacey's attention. She stopped and turned around slowly, praying that it wasn't the police. When she saw the blue pickup truck, she let out a sigh of relief.

"You need a ride, Miss?" An older man with thinning grey hair stuck his head out the window and asked. He gave her a second to respond and when she didn't he continued, "I'm going to Carol Springs, you're welcome to join me if you're headed that way."

Lacey considered the man's offer. She was well aware of the dangers involved in hitchhiking but she was tired and the old man didn't look like the serial killing type. And even if things did go bad, she was more than capable of taking care of herself. She had never intentionally used her powers to hurt anyone, but if she had to save herself then she would. With that in mind, she smiled at the man and jogged over to his truck.

"Thank you...I'm not sure where Carol Springs is but it sounds like a good place to me" she said and got in the passenger side of the truck.

The old man held his hand out to her. "My name is Jerry."

She shook his hand. "I'm Lacey. It's nice to meet you."

Once she had her seatbelt on, Jerry pulled back onto the road and started toward Carol Springs. No one said anything else for a little while. Jerry looked over at Lacey several times but didn't say anything. About half an hour later, he finally spoke. "So young lady, how about you tell me what you're running away from?"

Lacey blinked in surprise and gave him a nervous smile. "I'm not running away from anything."

He raised his brows and nodded in understanding. "I get it...none of my business. Just let me give you some advice. Think about what you're doing. Is the life you're running away from so bad that you're willing to risk your life by getting into cars with strangers and allowing them to take you to places you've never even heard of?"

Lacey looked down at her hands in her lap. A sudden need to see her mom one last time hit her. She pushed the thought away and nodded. "Yeah," she said sadly, "it is."

Jerry gave her a thoughtful look. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that." He shook his head. "Young people shouldn't be forced to leave their home before they're ready." He paused and looked deep in thought. "I ran away from home too. It was about fifty years ago, I was sixteen and thought I could do better on my own. I didn't like working in the lumberyard with my dad, I thought I could make more money and have a better life on my own. Turns out, I was wrong. I never did get a better job than the one I had and I ended up going back home two years later and begging my dad for my job back. It was a good life lesson that I had to learn the hard way. I hope you're not making the same mistake I did."

Lacey peered out the window while Jerry talked. She wished her problem was that easy. That all she wanted was a better job than the one she had. And that she could just leave for a little while then go back home and everything would be alright but that wasn't possible for her. In her heart, she knew she was making the right choice by leaving, no matter how much it hurt to do so.

"I wish I could say that my leaving is a mistake, but I can't," she said sadly.

Jerry gave her a fatherly look; tender, gentle and understanding. "Enough said. I hope you find whatever it is that you're looking for, young Lacey. For some, it's happiness and for others, it's acceptance. Whatever it is for you, don't give up until you find it."

Lacey smiled and wondered why she couldn't have had a father like Jerry. He was nice, and kind. The kind of man who would be a loving father. Of course, he didn't know how different she was from him but she liked to think that even if he did know, he would still be just as caring as he was now. Silence filled the air between them after their little talk and Lacey was thankful that he didn't ask her anything else.

An hour later, Lacey had her face glued to the window as she stared at everything they passed. Carol Springs was the biggest city she had ever been to. Everything was so much bigger than where she grew up in Blaxton. The buildings towered above the ground and some businesses took up a whole block. And there were so many lights everywhere. She was in awe of everything she saw. But at the same time, she was a little scared. She had never been to a city so big and didn't know what she was going to do or how she was going to make it on her own.

Even though it was late at night, everywhere she looked people were walking or riding bikes. The streets were full of cars, some parked in front of businesses while others followed the flow of traffic through the center of town. Lacey smiled to herself, there had to be a place for her there.

"Where would you like me to take you?" Jerry asked.

Lacey looked out the window at all the possibilities. "Um, I don't know."

"How about I take you to my daughter's house?" Jerry offered. "I'm sure she won't mind you staying there for a few days until you figure out where you want to go. You could meet my grandkids. I have a grandson your age. His name is Kyle. He can show you around town. A young lady like you shouldn't be wandering the streets alone, especially at night and in a town you're not familiar with."

Lacey gave him a big smile. He was so nice to worry about her. "Thank you Jerry, but I don't want to be a burden to anyone." She saw a sign pointing to the bus depot. "Just drop me off at the bus station."

Jerry turned down Maple Street and parked by the curb in front of the bus station. Lacey looked at the people huddled around in front of the ticket office. She had had such a nice time on the trip there but now that it was time for her to get out of Jerry's truck and truly be on her own, she was scared and nervous. She reached for the handle and Jerry touched her arm. "Will you reconsider my offer to take you to my daughter's house? I don't feel right leaving you here alone."

Lacey laid her hand on top of his. "You're a good man, Jerry. But you've already done more than enough to help me. Thanks for the ride." She opened the door, got out and started away from the truck.

"Wait" he yelled after her. "Do you have any money?"

Lacey looked away, embarrassed. "No."

Jerry got out of the truck and walked over to her. He pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and offered it to her.

"I can't take that" she said.

"I don't want to hear it. I can't just leave you here without any money. How will you eat? How will you pay for a place to sleep? It's already after ten and most of the boarding houses are closed for the night, which means you are going to have to get a motel room."

Lacey considered what he said and reluctantly took the money. "I swear one day I'll pay you back. I plan on getting a job as soon as possible and I'll..."

Jerry laughed, interrupting her. He pulled out a business card and wrote something on the back of it before handing it to her. "Don't worry about paying me back. Tell you what, you promise me that you'll give my grandson a call tomorrow and let him show you around town so you don't get lost and we'll be even. Like I said, his name is Kyle and I'm going to tell him to be expecting your call."

Lacey looked at the phone number on the card as her eyes began to water. No one had ever bothered to look out for her so much as this stranger did. She only met him a few hours ago, and he already showed more concern for her wellbeing than anyone else ever had.

"I'll call him, I promise" Lacey said and tucked the card in the front pocket of her jeans. Catching Jerry off guard, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. "Thank you."

He chuckled and hugged her back. "You're welcome, young Lacey. Be safe."

She nodded and quickly walked away before she lost her nerve. She watched Jerry drive away and then looked up at the board above the ticket booth at all the places she could go if she decided not to stay in Carol Springs. She didn't recognize any of the town names but none of them seemed as interesting as where she was.

After a few minutes, Lacey noticed a guy leaning against the wall of the building, looking at her with way too much interest. She glanced over at him and he smiled. His rotten teeth aside, he looked scarier than anyone she had ever met. She quickly looked away and started walking down the sidewalk toward the center of town. She was dead tired and needed to find a motel for the night.

It didn't take her long to realize that she was being followed. A weird feeling that someone was watching her caused her to keep stealing glances over her shoulder and every time she did, she saw the guy from the bus station. He was about thirty to forty feet behind her and he tried to mix in with the rest of the pedestrians walking, but she knew it was the same guy. And he made her uncomfortable. She dodged into the first open business she came to and hid just inside the doorway until the man walk by. She waited inside the small convenience store until she was sure he was gone before going back outside.

Confident that her pursuer was gone, Lacey pulled a hoodie out of her backpack and put it on. The cool March night had more of a chill in the air than usual. Falling into step behind the people in front of her, she put the strange man out of her mind and continued her search for a motel.

The aroma of food cooking in the restaurants and café's that she passed hit her nose and made her stomach ache. The snacks she bought before hitching a ride with Jerry were long gone and had done nothing to satisfy her hunger. She stopped outside of Joe's Café and looked in the window. The smells coming from inside were mouthwatering. It looked like a nice place and she had no doubt the food would be delicious, but one look at the menu and prices on a board over the counter and she knew she couldn't afford to eat there. She needed to stretch her hundred dollars as far as she could and that meant spending fifteen dollars on one meal was out of the question. She looked away from the café with regret and kept walking, ignoring the pinching of her stomach.

She passed by several more cafes and delis but once again, their prices kept her walking on by with hopes of finding a cheap hamburger joint further down the street. But the further she walked, the more uncomfortable she became. There was less traffic, both on foot and in vehicles. The buildings she passed were no longer beautiful and alive with business, but old and dilapidated. Some were even abandoned with condemned papers nailed to the front doors. The windows were either broken or boarded up. It soon became apparent that she was no longer in the nice part of town. She turned around and started back in the direction that she came. With her head down low and her hands in her hoodie pockets to shield herself from the wind that was starting to blow, she had only taken a few steps when she accidently bumped into someone. She stumbled and nearly fell.

When she looked up to see who she had ran into, her breath caught in her throat. It was the same man from the bus station, the same one who had followed her earlier.

"I'm sorry" she said quickly and took a step away from him.

The man smiled. "It's alright, baby. Don't worry about it."

She gave him a small nervous smile and walked past him. Everything in her said that he was dangerous. The fact that he was still following her after she thought she had lost him, scared the hell out of her.

"Hey pretty girl, where are you going? I didn't get a chance to ask your name" he yelled to her. But she ignored him and kept walking.

Lacey soon heard footsteps coming behind her. Her heart raced with fear and she quickened her pace. She didn't want to look over her shoulder, she was too afraid to see him following her again.

"Come on baby, don't be like that. At least tell me your name. My name is Joe" he said as he jogged to catch up to her.

"Leave me alone!" Lacey yelled over her shoulder and started running.

All pretense that he just wanted to talk instantly vanished as Joe ran after her. Lacey looked around in a panic as she ran and tried to find a place to hide. She wanted to go back to the bus station and call Jerry's grandson for help, but that idea was quickly squashed when she saw two more guys that looked a lot like the one chasing her, coming toward her. She didn't know if they were with the guy behind her or not, and she wasn't taking any chances. She darted between some buildings and ran down a dark alley and crossed over several streets. She had no idea where she was going. Her only thought was to get away from Joe, and when she finally stopped running a little while later, she was sure that she had succeeded in losing him. It had been a while since she heard his voice.

She leaned back against the side of an old building and tried to catch her breath. She hadn't run that hard in years. After taking a couple of deep breaths, she listened to the sounds around her. It was too dark to see much of anything but she could hear just fine. And the one thing she was listening for was footsteps, and she didn't hear any. She'd lost him. Knowing that, brought on a flood of relief. She let the tightened muscles in her body relax as she sagged over with her hands on her knees. Her breath was still coming in quick, scared gusts. She took a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly. "He's gone" she said to herself to ease her nerves.

After a few minutes, she stepped back onto the barely lit sidewalk and tried figure out where she was. She looked down the empty street lined on both sides by abandoned buildings. There wasn't a car or person in sight anywhere. She was all alone. The relief she had felt just a moment ago was quickly disappearing. The thought of calling out to someone for help entered her mind, but she decided against it in case Joe was still within hearing distance.

Lacey knew that the best thing for her to do was go back the way she came and if she ran into any more trouble, she was going to have to use her powers to defend herself, but only as a last resort. She started down the sidewalk and tried to remember which way she came from. After crossing over a couple of streets that she thought she had crossed earlier, she realized that she wasn't going in the right direction. Nothing looked familiar. She was lost and the fear inside of her was growing more intense with every passing second.

She leaned against the wall of one of the abandoned buildings, closed her eyes and berated herself. "Great Lacey, you really know how to screw things up," she said and wiped at a tear spilling from her eye.

She was about to lose it and break down into full sobs when she heard a whistling noise coming from down the street. She pushed away from the wall and looked down the sidewalk. The streetlamps above her flickered like they were about to go out and she had to squint her eyes to see. But there was no one there.

"Hello" she called out and slowly walked toward the sound of the whistling.

The noise suddenly stopped. Lacey paused and looked around. "Hello, is anyone there?"

A man laughed. "You shouldn't be out at night by yourself, little girl" he said in a deep, threatening voice.

Lacey froze. She knew immediately that it wasn't Joe, whose voice had been kind of boyish. She glanced around frantically, searching for the man. But he was nowhere to be seen. "I'm lost" she said before she could think better of it. Then she mentally scolded herself for being so stupid.

The man laughed again. The sound echoed off the buildings. It was impossible to tell what direction it came from. "You should never admit your weakness to your enemy, little girl. It makes you easy prey."

Lacey shivered at the coldness of his voice. She quickly ran over to one of the buildings away from the streetlamp and flattened her body against it, hoping that in the darkness the man wouldn't be able to find her.

"You can hide little girl, but I'll find you" he said and chuckled.

It sounded like his voice was all around her. She covered her ears with her hands and yelled back at him. "What do you want? I don't have any money. Just leave me alone!"

Her fear was almost to the point of being uncontrollable and the familiar buzz of electricity on her skin was getting harder to control. Her powers were on the verge of breaking free of her hold. Not being able to control her powers completely had always been her weakness. But now it might be what saves her.

"I don't want your money, little girl. I want to play a game. It's called predator and prey. And you're the prey...so guess what that makes me" the man said.

This time it sounded like he was right next to Lacey. She ran from her hiding spot and darted across the street and into an alley between two large buildings. Her breathing labored with every breath she took. She was tired and she knew that she couldn't outrun whoever was after her but she was going to give it her best shot.

She had just rounded the corner of one building and was about to cross another street when she heard the footsteps of someone running behind her. All of a sudden a lot of whistling rang out in the darkness, followed by hoots and howls by several different men. She felt like a deer in the middle of a forest surrounded by a bunch of hunters.

Not knowing which way she should go, she froze where she stood. The footsteps behind her slowed and came to a stop.

"You're not giving me the hunt that I was hoping for, little girl. I expected you to be more challenging than this."

Terrified, Lacey turned around expecting to see a scary looking man. A thug or gang member with piercings and tattoo's covering his skin, but what she saw shocked her. Standing mere feet away from her was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. He was average height but taller than her with a body that showed he liked to stay in shape. He was all lean muscle. His short cut black hair hung over his forehead just above his dazzling green eyes. She stared at him in shock.

He chuckled. "Like what you see, little girl? Most human women do."

Lacey shook her head to clear it and looked up at him. "Why are you following me? What do you want?" she asked stubbornly, sure that she had somehow gotten herself caught up in the middle of a college prank or something. Given how unfrightening the guy looked, she no longer felt threatened by him.

The man took a step closer and Lacey wrapped her arms around herself. She couldn't believe what he did next. Reaching his hand out toward her, he lifted a strand of her hair and sniffed it. Stunned, Lacey quickly moved away from him. "What the hell are you doing? Just stay away from me" she said and turned away from him. She started to walk away and he grabbed her by the arm.

The second he touched her, she released the hold she had been trying so hard to keep on her powers and the man was thrown backwards nearly twenty feet. His body crashed into the building behind him. He grunted loudly from the impact and fell to the ground. Lacey didn't wait for him to get up, instead she took off running. She heard what sounded like a wolf howling and forced herself to go faster.

She ran so fast that she didn't have time to stop when someone suddenly jumped out of the darkness into her path. She slammed into a rock hard body and fell to the ground. The impact from the fall was sure to leave a few bruises. She scrambled to get to her feet, but she was dazed and a little disoriented. The footsteps of several different people sounded all around her. They were closing in on her. She quickly composed herself and tried to run again but the man she crashed into grabbed her by the arms and held her tightly. "You're not going anywhere so stop fighting me" he growled near her ear.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lacey knew what she had to do. She threw her head to the side and the man was tossed backwards away from her and landed in the street. A sudden surge of adrenaline coursed through her, waking up her exhausted body. Her powers were on overdrive and she was done running away. She was afraid but more than that, she was angry. She had been stalked and chased and now these men wanted to play some kind of sadistic game with her. She had had enough.

Lacey stayed where she was as about ten men came out of the darkness all around her. She turned around in a small circle and looked at each of them intently. They all looked similar, young and in good shape with athletic builds. They were all dressed the same; tight tee shirts and dark jeans. Some of them wore black leather jackets. They looked like gang members only without the tattoos, piercings and scars. More like a gang of preppy college boys or male models. Why were they bothering her? She didn't wait for the answer.

She held her arms out to her side as her body tingled with what felt like a surge of electricity. She glared at each of the men, daring them to come near her. She had never been so brave before and she had no idea where her newly found courage had come from, but she was thankful to have it.

Several of the men charged toward her at once and she threw her arms out at them, lifting them off the ground and tossing them backwards into the buildings behind them. The remaining men stared at her in shock, unable to believe what they saw.

"Get her!" someone yelled from the darkness.

Two more men ran at Lacey. One of them managed to grab her arm, only to get forced backwards when she focused her powers on him. The other man stopped when he saw his friend fly past him.

"You want me! Here I am, come get me!" Lacey shouted through the blood that was filling her mouth as it poured from her nose.

No one made a move toward her. Instead they just stared at her with wide eyes. Lacey used her powers to pick up some boards that were piled up near one of the buildings and hurled them through the air, striking a couple of the men. Their shouts of pain fueled the rage that was building inside her. They had chased and terrified her and now it was her turn to scare them. Everything around her - trash from the street, broken boards that fell from the boarded up windows, and bricks, all soared through the air around her, striking anyone that was close enough to get hit.

Several minutes passed before a crippling pain hit Lacey in the head. She faltered in her strength and everything fell to the ground around her. She grabbed the sides of her head with both hands and fell to her knees. The headache that seized her was so fierce that her vision blurred to the point that she could barely see. She screamed out in pain. It felt as if someone was stabbing her repeatedly in the head. The men stayed far away and watched as she struggled against a pain that none of them had caused. After catching her breath, Lacey spit out a mouth full of blood from her nose as more of it dripped from her chin onto her shirt.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" One of the men yelled.

Lacey got to her feet and turned toward the alley behind her. With her hands still gripping her head, she ran into the darkness hoping that no one would follow her. She looked up when she was halfway down the alley and for the first time since she had gotten lost, she saw cars driving by at the other end, and lights and people. She wanted to scream out for them to help her but she couldn't find her voice. She was barely able to breathe through her pain so there was no way she could scream. She glanced over her shoulder to see if the men were following her. They were watching her from the entrance of the alley, but made no move to follow her. A jolt of relief settled over her.

She was almost to the end of the alley, almost to safety, when someone stepped away from the building, in front of her. It was the same man she saw earlier, the one who liked to call her 'little girl'. She stumbled to a stop in front of him. "Get out of my way" she said weakly.

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her with confusion in his eyes. "What are you?"

Lacey looked up at him with heavy lids. She felt like she was going to pass out at any moment. "Move!" she said more forcefully and tried to push past him.

The man studied her for a second then grabbed her by the arm and shoved her hard against the building. Her head hit the brick wall, sending a new jolt of pain to her brain. She resisted the urge to lash out at him. Doing so would only cause herself more pain.

"I asked you a question, little girl. And you will answer me. Are you a witch? How did you do that to my men?" he yelled in her face.

Lacey chuckled halfheartedly and wiped blood from her nose with her hand. "A witch? That's a good one. I don't think anyone has ever called me that before."

"If you're not a witch then what the hell are you?" he growled.

Lacey knew the man was getting angry with her and if she didn't get away from him, he was probably going to hurt her. But she didn't think she was strong enough to use her powers again, so she did the next best thing. She took a deep breath to center herself and brought her knee up between his legs as hard as she could. He instinctively grabbed his crotch and doubled over. A string of cuss words echoed through the tiny alley as he yelled at her.

Lacey took the opportunity to try and escape but unfortunately she didn't get far. Someone grabbed her from behind and picked her up around the waist. She struggled in his arms but his grip on her was too strong. He set her down roughly on her feet in front of the man that she had kneed in the groin. His face hid his pain well as he glared at her with a look that shook her to her bones. The way his perfect lips curled into a snarl and his rage filled eyes bored into hers made her shiver.

"Give her to me, Zack!" he yelled.

Zack chuckled and tightened his hold around Lacey's waist. "You sure about that, boss? This one is feisty, she already kicked you in the nuts. You sure you want her near you again?"

"Now Zack!"

Zack pushed her toward the man that appeared to be the leader. Lacey looked up at him. He grabbed her face roughly and growled, "You shouldn't have done that." His breath was hot against her skin as he breathed heavily, his mouth less than an inch from her face.

Lacey knew she was about to die. She quickly summoned the last remnants of her strength and forced everything she had into one last attack. The man's hands immediately left her face as he was forced backwards. He didn't fly through the air like earlier but he was tossed backwards a good distance. She turned to face the other men that surrounded her in the tight alley. "Get out of my way or I will kill you all" she warned with a ragged breath, hoping that they wouldn't call her bluff because she truly had no strength left.

The men reluctantly moved to the side and Lacey staggered toward the opening of the alley. She was only a few feet away when she heard the leader of the group yell from behind her. "What the hell are you idiots doing? Go get her!"

But it was too late. She stepped onto the sidewalk, mere feet from a bright streetlight. Completely drained of energy, she collapsed on the concrete. Several people walking by stopped to help her. They were all asking her questions at the same time and she couldn't understand any of them. Her fight to stay conscious was over. Her eyes fluttered closed and she welcomed the darkness.

*****

Cole stood in the darkness of the alley and watched as the pedestrians helped Lacey. Once the ambulance drove away with her inside, he turned to his men. "Kevin, follow that ambulance and bring her back to me" he said to his second in command.

Kevin started past him. Cole grabbed his arm. "I want her alive and untouched. She's caught my interest and I think I'll keep her...at least for a little while." He smiled. "I'd like to see what else she can do."

Kevin nodded and left the alley to follow the ambulance. Cole gave his pack one glance and walked past them, disappointed that none of them were able to detain the girl. He growled in frustration when he heard Zack talking to the others.

"Did you see what that crazy bitch did? I can't believe she hit Cole in his family jewels and he let her live. If a woman hits me in the nuts, I'm going to rip her heart out."

"Zack! Shut the hell up before you really piss me off. Tonight's hunt is over. Go home" Cole yelled over his shoulder.

Zack's head snapped up and he stared at Cole's back as he walked away. Who the hell was he to think that he could talk to him like that? Alpha or not, Zack didn't care who Cole was, he wasn't going to tell him what to do. One day, Zack thought to himself, he and Cole were going to clash and he intended to be the victor. He was a born leader not a follower and he was finding it harder every day to stay under Cole's control when all he wanted to do was kill him and take over the pack.

# Chapter Three

Lacey woke up in the hospital with remnants of a massive headache still lingering. She lifted her head from the pillow and glanced around the room. There were two other beds besides hers but both of them were empty. She lifted the sheet covering her to see what she was wearing. She grimaced when she saw the blue and white hospital gown. Slowly, she sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. After a few minutes, she got up and went to the small closet by the sink and looked inside for her clothes. Thankfully, they were there. She quickly changed clothes and tried to think of a way to leave the hospital without getting caught. After the night she had, all she wanted to do was climb back in bed and sleep. But she couldn't.

First of all, she hated hospitals. And second, if she stayed she was going to have to answer a lot of questions that she had no intention of answering. No doubt the police would be called about her attack, which she desperately wanted to report but couldn't do so without telling the police her name. Then her mom and Tom would be notified and she'd be sent back home and then to the loony hospital. No, thank you.

As much as she hated doing so, she was going to have to leave the only safe place that she had found since arriving in Carol Springs.

Lacey opened the door to her room and peeked out into the hallway. At first, she didn't see anyone but then a man came out of the waiting room across the hall with a soda in his hand. Her breath caught in her throat when she recognized him as one of the men who had attacked her in the alley. She eased the door closed and leaned against it. Her mind whirled as she tried to figure out why he had followed her and how she was going to get away from him.

She thought about calling a nurse in and asking for help but then she came back to the same problem. The police would be called and she'd have to tell them who she was and that she was a runaway.

After taking a few minutes to pull herself together, Lacey moved over to the window. She let out a relieved breath when she saw that she was on the first floor. She slid the window open and started to climb out. Halfway out the window, she realized that she had forgot her backpack on the bed. She quickly climbed back inside and put it on her back then jumped out the window. She had just slid the window closed when the door to her room opened and the man from the hallway stepped inside. She ducked down and crawled away from the window. Once out of eyesight of the window, she got up and ran.

*****

Kevin scanned the room. Lacey's scent was still strong in the air but she was nowhere to be seen. Kevin opened the bathroom door and looked inside. Then he checked under the bed. She was gone. He let out a fierce growl and stomped over to the window. He pushed it open and sniffed the air. "Damn it" he cussed when he caught her scent. She had escaped right under his nose. He jumped out the window and followed her scent.

Lacey ran across the hospital parking lot and across the street, dodging cars as they honked their horns and flipped her off. She couldn't help but notice how alive the city was even after midnight. She pushed the thought away and looked for a place to hide. She ran into the first open business she saw, which happened to be a pizza parlor. She closed her eyes and hid behind the wall by the door, and tried to catch her breath. After a minute, she peeked out the window to see if the man had followed her. She spotted him on the opposite side of the street. He was standing under a streetlight with his nose up in the air.

"What is he doing?" she said to herself as she watched him sniff the air in several different spots.

"Can I help you?"

Lacey jumped, startled by a woman's voice. She spun around and glared at the woman standing barely a foot away from her. The first thing she noticed was the waitress's long wavy red hair. Even pulled back into a crappy ponytail, it looked amazing. Lacey shook her head, "No, I don't need anything" she said in a rush then changed her mind. "Um, yeah, actually I do...where's the bathroom?"

The red-headed waitress pointed to the back of the restaurant and Lacey rushed past her.

Once in the bathroom, she locked the door and slid down against it to the floor. She laid her head on her knees and tried her best not to cry. But the reality of the nights events were catching up to her. She was alone and scared and didn't know how much more she could take. Her lip quivered as she tried to hold in her tears, but after a few seconds she could no longer fight against it. Within minutes, she was in full sobs.

How could so much bad stuff happen in one day? What was she going to do? Where was she going to go? Question after question popped into her mind and she didn't have the answer to any of them. She sat there pondering the hopeless situation she was in.

A little while later, someone knocked on the door and Lacey jumped up and backed away from it, praying that the man hadn't found her.

"Hello in there...sorry Miss, but its one a.m. and we're closing."

Lacey recognized the waitress's voice. She let out the deep breath she was holding in and unlocked the door. She opened it to find the waitress standing in front of her with her hands on her hips. She looked Lacey over from head to toe.

"Are you alright?"

Lacey quickly wiped at her eyes. How was she supposed to answer that question? She definitely wasn't alright but telling the woman that she had ran away from home, got attacked by a group of what she could only assume were gang members, ran out on a hospital bill and was currently hiding from one of the men who had attacked her earlier was not a good idea. So instead, she just nodded.

The waitress smiled. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Is it that obvious?" Lacey asked.

The waitress laughed and leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest. "Yeah, it is. This isn't a good part of town and you shouldn't be here. And if you were from Carol Springs, you would know that." She held her hand out, "I'm Cindy and you are?"

Lacey gave her a small smile and shook her hand. "I'm Lacey."

"Do you have somewhere to stay, Lacey?"

She looked away for a second, embarrassed by the fact that she was technically homeless. She was trying to think of something to say when Cindy touched her arm. "Why don't you come home with me...I have a small house on the other side of town, it's not much but you're welcome to stay the night if you need a place to sleep."

Lacey considered her offer. The thought of having a roof over her head and a nice, safe place to sleep was too good to pass up. "Thank you" she whispered and followed Cindy out the backdoor of the restaurant.

*****

Cole paced the floor of one of his many hideouts, an old rundown building that used to be the town hardware store. When he first came to Carol Springs five years ago he loved the fact that an entire section of the town was nothing but abandoned buildings. It was the perfect place for him and his pack.

The front door creaked open and Kevin walked in.

"Where is the girl?" Cole asked angrily.

Kevin looked away for a second, ashamed that he had failed. "I lost her...one minute she was in her room and the next she was out the window. I tried to track her down but I lost her scent when she crossed Tanner Street. The smells from the restaurants covered hers."

Cole shook his head and growled. "I can't believe you let a human girl outsmart you. I thought you were better than that."

Kevin flinched at the anger in Cole's voice. He had never yelled at him before. Since he was his second in command, Cole had always treated him with respect and now he was yelling at him like he was a newbie. "It's not my fault. She can't be human. You saw what she did in the alley. Humans can't do that."

Cole turned his back to Kevin and walked away. "She's human...trust me. I got close enough to smell her blood. There was something a little off about it, but she is human." He walked over to one of the many mattresses that were spread out across the floor and kicked one of the feet hanging off of it. "Get your lazy ass up" he growled.

Zack looked up and saw Cole standing over him with an angry expression. "What did I do?" he asked in a sleepy voice.

"I want you to help Kevin find the girl, since apparently he can't do it on his own." Cole looked over his shoulder at Kevin and shook his head in disgust.

Kevin stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him. He had always looked up to Cole and considered him a friend and to have him berate him in front of a newbie was embarrassing.

Zack jumped up with a big smile on his face. This was his chance to get on Cole's good side and earn his trust. Kevin had obviously screwed things up by losing the girl and if he could find her then Cole would probably give him a higher position in the pack and he'd be one step closer to his goal of taking over the pack completely. "You can count on me, boss. One way or another, I'll find the girl."

Cole stood in front of him. "If you harm her, you'll have to answer to me, understand? She's no good to me dead."

Zack smiled and grabbed his jacket and shoes from the floor by the mattress. "You can trust me, boss" he said and walked out. Once outside, he found Kevin leaning against the building. He walked over to him and laughed. "Damn Kevin, you really screwed up. I've never seen Cole so angry with you."

Kevin grabbed Zack by the throat and threw him against the building. "Don't forget your place here, newbie. You're a human that we changed and I'm a born werewolf. We're not even in the same league. You're still on the expendable list around here and you better remember that. Don't make me shorten that list by killing your useless ass."

Zack shrugged off the threat. He might not have been born a werewolf but he was still just as strong as Kevin or any other werewolf and he wasn't about to let anyone get the upper hand on him...ever.

*****

"So how long have you been in town?" Cindy asked as she covered her couch with blankets for Lacey to sleep on.

Lacey finished the last bite of pepperoni pizza she was eating and took a swallow of soda before answering. "I just got here today."

Cindy raised her brows questioningly. "You must have had one hell-of-a-day to have looked the way you did when you opened the bathroom door at the restaurant. I swear I thought you were about to fall to pieces in front of me."

Lacey smiled thinly. "It was a day I don't ever want to relive, that's for sure."

Cindy finished with the blankets and sat down beside Lacey on the floor in front of the small coffee table in the middle of her livingroom. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really" Lacey said and gave her an apologetic look.

"Okay, I can understand that, but you have to understand I'm not in the habit of bringing strangers home with me so I think we should get to know each other a little better. I'll start by telling you a little about myself." Cindy smiled. "I'm twenty two years old and I've lived here for almost three years. I foolishly thought that by moving to a big city like Carol Springs my chances of being discovered as the next pop star would increase. Ha, was I delusional or what? Anyway, that didn't pan out and I've been working at the pizza parlor for over a year. I hate my job, I don't like cats and I don't have a boyfriend because men are way too needy." She stopped to take a breath and then pointed to Lacey. "Your turn."

Lacey smiled. She liked Cindy and thought she was definitely someone she could be friends with. She just hoped that she could trust her. "Well," she started then paused, "I'll be eighteen in three weeks. I've been on my own for one day and I've already gotten myself into more trouble than I've been in my whole life. I'm so close to a nervous breakdown that I wouldn't be surprised if I end up in a mental institute by the end of the week."

Cindy laughed at Lacey's weak attempt of a joke. "So you're a runaway, huh? I had a feeling that you were. Don't worry, I'm not going to turn you in. I'm sure you have your reasons for leaving and they're none of my business. When I first left home, I had some issues too and I sure as hell didn't want anyone asking me questions. Besides, like you said, you'll be eighteen in a few weeks. So as long as you promise me that you're not into drugs or anything else illegal, you can stay here for a little while until you find another place to stay."

Before Lacey could stop herself, she leaned over and hugged Cindy. Hugging wasn't something that she was used to doing but she was so happy and relieved to have a place to stay that she couldn't help herself. The weight that had been pushing down on her shoulders suddenly lifted. "Thank you so much, Cindy. I'll get a job as soon as I can and pay you rent."

Cindy laughed. "Worry about actually finding a job first. It isn't as easy as you think. I hope you don't think I'm working in 'the hole' because I want to."

Lacey gave her a confused look. "I thought the pizza parlor was called Raymonds."

"It is, but the east part of Carol Springs is called the hole because people have a tendency to disappear around there. It's a bad part of town that most people avoid. Can you imagine my surprise when I saw you walk through the door? I knew instantly that you were new in town or else you wouldn't have been there."

"I guess there's a lot I need to learn about this town, huh?" Lacey said with a yawn.

"Yeah, and I'll tell you everything you need to know, but right now I think you should get some sleep. You look exhausted." Cindy got up and walked over to her bedroom door. "I'm off work tomorrow so I'll probably sleep late, you can help yourself to whatever is in the kitchen and the bathroom is down the hall to the left."

Lacey thanked her again and laid down on the couch. It felt so good to finally be able to relax. She was just about to fall asleep when an image of the man in the alley popped into her head. Cole...she thought she heard one of the other men call him. She couldn't get his face out of her mind, the way his cold, angry green eyes stared at her. Why did he attack her? Why did he call her a human woman and not just a woman? And why wasn't he afraid when she used her powers against him?

She knew it was crazy to be thinking about him, especially after one of his men followed her to the hospital but she couldn't help but think that she was going to run into him again. The way he looked at her right before she threw him backwards in the alley, she saw it in his eyes. He had the same look that the doctor's in the psychiatric hospital had, her powers interested him. Lacey took a deep breath and forced everything from her mind and drifted off into a deep sleep.

*****

It was almost noon when Lacey finally woke up the next day. She tiptoed over to Cindy's room and peeked inside, she was still asleep.

Lacey's stomach growled. She hadn't eaten enough of the pizza last night to really fill her up. She rummaged through the refrigerator and cabinets in the kitchen but didn't find anything that even resembled breakfast food. The fridge was full of take-out boxes from several different restaurants and the cabinets were bare except for a couple cans of vegetables that were covered in dust. It was obvious that Cindy wasn't much of a cook.

Not finding anything that she wanted to eat, Lacey grabbed her backpack from the floor by the couch and pulled out her wallet to make sure the hundred dollars that Jerry had given her was still there. She smiled when she saw it and put it back in her backpack then grabbed a pen and sheet of paper from the desk by the front door. She scribbled a note to Cindy, telling her that she was going for a walk to the store to get some eggs and bacon and that she would be back later. She left the note on the coffee table and quietly left, easing the front door shut behind her.

Lacey stepped out onto the porch and held her hand up to shield her eyes from the bright sun. It was a beautiful day and she had every intention of putting what happened the night before behind her and enjoying her new beginning. She walked down the sidewalk in front of Cindy's house toward the shopping center they had passed on the way home last night. She was glad that Cindy lived so close to the center of town. She could walk everywhere she needed to go if Cindy couldn't give her a ride.

Lacey took in the sights of the neighborhood as she walked. It was such a nice, peaceful place, so much different from the part of town she had been in last night. Both sides of the street were lined with small quaint houses with children playing in the front yards and dogs laying lazily on the lawns, soaking in the sun. She smiled at how normal everything looked. Finally, she had found a place where she could be happy.

Almost an hour later, Lacey stopped outside a small clothing store. She looked in the window at the jeans and tee shirts on the rack, then down at what she was wearing. Cindy had loaned her a pair of jeans and a pink tee shirt but pink was definitely not her color. Without a second thought, she opened the door to the store and went inside. Now that she had a place to stay, she could afford to spend some money on a few new tee shirts and a pair of jeans.

*****

Kevin and Zack stopped on the sidewalk in front of Cindy's house. Zack sniffed the air. "She's here."

Kevin walked up the steps to the house. Tracking Lacey down hadn't been easy but when he went back to where he had lost her last night and caught a faint scent, he followed it and it led him to the pizza parlor. Once inside, her scent mixed with someone else's. And after a lot of talking and eventually a beating, he finally got some information out of the manager. He gave Kevin the name and address of one of the waitresses that he saw talking with the girl. And now he was standing outside, ready to take her to Cole so he could redeem himself for losing her in the first place.

Kevin reached for the door handle and turned it. It was locked. He nodded to Zack, signaling him to go around back. He looked over his shoulder at the men across the street washing a car and at the kids playing in the front yard a few houses down. He was going to have to be careful not to let anyone see anything that they shouldn't. He knocked on the door and waited. A few minutes later, the door opened and Cindy stood in front of him wrapped in a pink robe.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asked.

Kevin let his eyes roam over her appreciatively. "I'm looking for a friend of mine and I think she's staying here."

Cindy narrowed her eyes at him. "Really? What's your friend's name?"

Kevin ignored her question. "She's about your height with black hair, fair skin..."

"What's her name?" Cindy asked, cutting him off. If he didn't even know Lacey's name then there was no way in hell he was a friend and Cindy wasn't going to tell him anything.

Kevin clenched his jaw and balled his fists at his side. He looked over Cindy's shoulder and smiled. She turned around and found Zack standing behind her. She opened her mouth to scream but he clamped his hand over her mouth and pulled her back away from the door.

Kevin casually stepped inside and closed the door. He turned around and glared at Cindy. "Where is the girl?"

Tears slipped from her eyes and rolled down her face as she shook her head. Zack lowered his head next to her ear and whispered, "If you scream, I'll kill you. Do you understand?"

Cindy nodded and Zack moved his hand away so that she could speak. She wiped at her eyes with a shaky hand as her eyes darted from Zack to Kevin. "I don't know who you're talking about."

Kevin cocked his head to the side, popping his neck. Then he grabbed Cindy by the arm and yanked her to him. "Don't play games with me, woman. I know you brought a girl home from work with you last night, now tell me where she is."

Cindy quickly considered her options. She didn't want to tell them anything about Lacey but at the same time, she didn't want to get herself hurt either. In the end, she had no choice but to put her own safety first. She closed her eyes as tears slid down her cheek. "I don't know where Lacey went. I just woke up when I heard you knocking on the door. I haven't seen her since last night."

Kevin pierced her with a look that sent chills down her spine. He looked past Cindy to Zack, "search the house" he said.

"Who are you and why do you want Lacey?" Cindy asked in a trembling voice as Zack stormed through her house.

"Lacey? So that's the girl's name" Kevin said and walked over to the couch. He picked up one of the blankets and held it to his nose and sniffed.

Cindy watched him and inched closer to the front door. She glanced over her shoulder to see where Zack was but he was in one of the other rooms. She turned her attention back to Kevin, he wasn't looking at her so she made the decision to try and make a run for it. She lunged for the door but faster than she thought possible, Kevin grabbed her from behind and threw her to the floor. "Where do you think you're going?" he said.

Cindy looked up at him terrified. "Please, let me go. I've already told you that I don't know where Lacey is."

Zack came back into the room with a grim look on his face. "She's not here."

Kevin grabbed Cindy by the arm and yanked her to her feet. He stared at her with cold, angry eyes. "Tell me everything that you know about her and don't leave anything out. Your life depends on it" he growled.

Cindy nodded her head frantically. "She's a runaway. I met her last night and offered to let her stay here with me. She must have gotten into some kind of trouble yesterday because she was really freaked out and didn't want to talk to me about it." She sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. "I swear that's all I know about her."

Zack came up behind Cindy and wrapped his hand in her hair. He sniffed it, inhaling deeply then he let out a deep breath before smiling at Kevin. "I think she's telling us the truth, don't you?"

Kevin ignored him and walked around the room. He stopped at the coffee table when he saw a piece of paper on it. He picked it up and read it, then smiled. "It seems Lacey left you a note...Cindy." He looked over at her. "The name suits you."

Zack wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rubbed his face against her hair. Cindy wanted to tell him to leave her alone but she was too afraid to say anything.

"Can I keep her?" Zack asked and continued rubbing his head against Cindy's, like lovers would do.

"No!" Kevin yelled.

"Why not? We change people all the time. I think she would be a nice addition to the pack."

Kevin growled and pulled Cindy away from him. She looked back and forth between the two, confusion showing on her face. She had no idea what they were talking about and she didn't want to find out.

A few tense seconds passed between the men as they glared at the other. But then Zack backed down and walked away. "Fine, let's just kill her and get the hell out of here."

Cindy's head snapped in his direction. Fear erupted inside her. "What!...no...no...please, I told you what you wanted to know. Don't hurt me" she begged.

Kevin held up the note that Lacey had left. He hated it when humans begged for their lives. It made them look even weaker and more pitiful than they already were. "Once the girl comes back, we'll leave and you can go on about your day" he lied. The safer Cindy thought she was, the less likely she would try to escape again.

Cindy sat down on the couch and folded her shaky hands in her lap. She didn't believe for one second that they were going to let her live, especially not after they plan on taking Lacey with them. She looked at the men. Kevin was standing by the front door, peeking out the closed curtain and Zack was sitting on the arm of the couch, watching her. She knew without a doubt that they were going to kill her and probably Lacey too. She thought about how she could escape and came up with nothing.

There was no way out except for the front and back doors and she knew she couldn't make it to either one of them without getting caught. She was going to die and there wasn't anything she could do to save herself. That thought made her mad. She had always been a fighter. She'd survived living on her own in a big city for years. She had fought off drunks who showed up at her job late at night with touchy feely hands, drug dealers who tried to make her work for them and sell drugs when she first came to town, and she had struggled month after month with shady landlords of cheap apartments until she was finally able to afford rent on the nice house she now lived in. And now she was going to die. She wasn't ready to give up and she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Without warning, she grabbed the old heavy lamp on the end table next to her and swung it at Zack's head. He fell off the end of the couch and Cindy ran for the front door. Kevin swung around with his arms out to the side to stop her. He blocked her path to the door. Cindy looked at him then at the window. There was no way she could get past him but she could call for help. She retrieved the lamp from the floor and put all the force she could into throwing it through the window. The glass shattered and Cindy started screaming.

Kevin brought back his fist and punched her in the face, knocking her to the floor. Before she had the chance to scream again, he grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth then glanced out the window. The men he saw washing the car earlier were still outside across the street and now they were looking over at the house. One of the men started toward them while the other pulled out a cell phone to make a call.

"Damn it!" Kevin growled and looked down at Cindy. "You shouldn't have done that."

Before she could say anything, Kevin placed his hands on both sides of her head and twisted it, breaking her neck. Without remorse, he let her head fall back to the floor with a thud. Then he looked over at Zack who was sitting on the floor holding his hand to the side of his head. "Shift now!" he growled.

Within seconds, both men shifted into wolves. Kevin turned into a beautiful grey and white wolf, and Zack was a sandy brown wolf. Zack ran for the backdoor while Kevin grabbed the blanket that Lacey had been sleeping with in his mouth and followed behind him. They had just made it out the backdoor when they heard someone kick in the front door. Then a man yelled, "Call 911."

# Chapter Four

Lacey walked down the sidewalk back to Cindy's house with her backpack full of new clothes and a bag filled with breakfast supplies. She was surprised at how much her hundred dollar's had gotten her. Of course, the five dollar tee's and ten dollar jeans weren't what she was used to wearing but they looked nice and they fit her. For the time being, that was good enough. She had a nice place to live with a great roommate and soon she would find a job and her life would be normal. The thought made her smile. Things were finally looking up for her.

The closer she got to the street where Cindy lived, the more excited Lacey became about having a good home cooked meal. Her mouth watered with anticipation of a double-decker BLT sandwich. It was one of her favorite foods and she hadn't had one in a long time.

Lacey had just turned down Cindy's street when she heard the faint wail of sirens coming behind her. With every step she took, the sirens got louder and louder until a police car zoomed past her. She stopped to watch two more police cars drive by. When they stopped at the end of the road just a little ways down from where Lacey stood, an uneasy feeling came over her. It looked like they were in front of Cindy's house.

Lacey watched as the police got out of their cars and ran up the sidewalk to the house. Fear swelled inside her and she dropped her bag of groceries and ran to see what was going on. All thought of what would happen to her if the police recognized her as a runaway forgotten. Her only thought was of Cindy. By the time she got to the house, she was nearly out of breath. She stormed up the steps of the porch and was about to enter the house when a cop stepped in front of her with his arms held out to block her. "Whoa, you can't go in there."

Lacey looked up at him with worried eyes. "What happened? Is Cindy okay?" she asked in a rush.

The cops face softened and he glanced over his shoulder, inside the house. He gently grabbed Lacey's arm and led her down the steps of the porch. "You know the woman that lives here?"

"Yes. She's my friend. Now tell me, is she okay?" Lacey practically yelled.

The officer ignored her question. "What's your name, Miss?"

Lacey looked past him toward the house, hoping to get a glimpse of Cindy. "My name is Lacey" she said without thinking.

"Well Lacey, I'm Officer Jacobs. Can you tell me how you know the woman who lives here?"

Lacey was getting frustrated. "Her name is Cindy and I've already told you that she's my friend. Now, can I please go in and see her?"

Officer Jacobs frowned and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but..." He stopped talking when the coroner rolled a gurney out of the house with a body on it covered by a sheet. A hand fell from the side and Lacey noticed the bright red nail polish that Cindy was wearing last night. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. A swarm of different emotions suddenly attacked her, making it difficult to think straight. Cindy was dead.

Lacey stumbled backwards and nearly fell. Officer Jacobs caught her by the arm. "Are you alright?" he asked gently.

"What happened?" Lacey asked in a cracked voice as she tried to hold back the tears that were building in her eyes.

"I'm sorry but your friend was murdered. Someone broke her neck. Do you know of anyone who had a problem with her?"

Lacey watched in horror as the coroner put Cindy in the back of a white van and closed the doors. Her heart ached at the loss of the only friend that she had. She looked at the officer, the hairs on her arms stood on end as the familiar buzz of energy soared through her. She was getting emotional and her powers were starting to surface. She wanted to lash out at someone, anyone. She was hurting and the hold on her powers was slipping.

The leaves on the ground in the yard lifted into the air and started swirling around Lacey like a mini tornado. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down before things could go any further. If she lost control in front of the police, she would be in big trouble. She took a couple of deep breaths and forced her powers to the back of her mind. Slowly, little by little, the leaves fell to the ground.

"What was that?" Officer Jacobs asked as he looked at Lacey with curiosity. "Did you make that happen?"

Lacey looked at him for a second. She could see the disbelief on his face but he also had a bit of interest on it as well. He reached for her arm and she took off running. She ran harder and faster than she had ever run in her life. Officer Jacob's voice rang out behind her, telling her to stop, but she didn't dare.

When she got to the end of the street, Lacey looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was following her, to her relief they weren't. She kept running until she got to the shopping center where she had bought her clothes earlier. She ran behind the building and collapsed by the dumpsters.

The strain on her to keep her powers under control combined with the pain of losing Cindy and the reality that she was now homeless again was too much. Lacey let go of everything and allowed herself to wallow in her grief. Trash from inside the dumpsters swam in the air as the lid bounced open and closed. The metal backdoor to one of the businesses began shaking like it was going to bust from its hinges. Nothing around her was still as her powers surged through her. Not even the blood that trickled into her mouth or the headache that was starting in the back of her head was enough to calm her down. She had never felt more scared, desperate and alone in her entire life.

*****

"What are you doing back here without the girl?" Cole yelled at Kevin and Zack when they came in the door of the pack hangout in their wolf forms.

They quickly shifted and stood before Cole, naked. Kevin held out the blanket he had taken from Cindy's while Zack walked past him into one of the other rooms.

"What the hell is this?" Cole asked and looked down at the blanket.

Kevin walked over to a box and pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt and put them on, then faced Cole. "We tracked her down to a house on Baker Street but she was gone before we got there. Her scent is on the blanket. We can pass it around, let everyone smell it and we'll find her in no time."

Cole stared at him, then brought the blanket up to his nose and sniffed. "Yes, this is her scent." He smiled before ripping the blanket into shreds. "Make sure everyone gets a piece of this" he said and threw the pieces at one of his pack members, a young boy barely more than a teen.

Cole stood in front of Kevin. "Did you find out anything about her?"

Kevin nodded. "Her name is Lacey and she's a runaway."

Cole walked past him whispering her name. "Lacey...such a pretty name for my little witch."

"Do you really think she's a witch?" Kevin asked.

Cole smiled. "I don't know what she is but I do intend to find out."

*****

Lacey woke up next to the dumpster and realized that she must have cried herself to sleep. She lifted her head from the ground and looked around. The trash on the ground around her reminded her of her earlier breakdown. She pushed herself up from the ground and a wave of dizziness hit her. She leaned against the dumpster to steady herself. "What's happening to me?" she whispered. She was starting to think that there was something seriously wrong with her, besides the fact that she could move things with her mind.

Over the last couple of months she had been having nose bleeds every time she used her powers and a few weeks ago, she started getting headaches. And now, dizzy spells. Something wasn't right, and she knew it. But her fear of hospitals and doctors kept her from seeking out the help that she needed. No way was she turning herself over to the mercy of the people she feared most.

Lacey looked up at the sky and shook her head. The sun was setting. She had spent the entire day asleep on the ground when what she should have been doing was looking for a place to stay. The thought brought back the image of Cindy's body being loaded in the back of the coroner's van. She closed her eyes and pushed the image away before it caused her to cry again. Why would anyone want to kill Cindy? She was so nice and friendly. Lacey tried not to think about it as she made her way around to the front of the shopping center.

Her stomach growled. She pulled her money from her pocket. Three dollars and twenty cent. What was she going to do with that? Once again, she found herself starving and with no money. Regret for spending all of her money on clothes hit her and she shook her head at her own stupidity.

She found the receipt in her pocket and went back to the store where she had bought the clothes, hoping to return them and get her money back. But the store was closed. She rested her head against the door as a feeling of helplessness overcame her. She stayed like that for a few minutes before walking off with no particular direction in mind.

An hour later, Lacey found herself in the middle of downtown. The city was beautiful at night. White and neon lights from the many businesses that lined both sides of the street shined brightly. The six lane road through town was full with bumper to bumper traffic. And the sound of music blasting from the passing vehicles and honking horns assaulted her ears.

Lacey stayed on the sidewalk as far away from the road as possible for fear that she might have another dizzy spell and fall into the street. Her stomach growled again and she wrapped her arms around herself as she walked. The smell of Italian food caught her attention. She stopped outside a small restaurant named, "Little Italy" and looked in the window. Her mouth watered when she saw the two plates of lasagna that were just brought out to an older couple at the table by the window. The old woman looked at Lacey and she quickly walked away feeling embarrassed and ashamed that she couldn't even afford to feed herself.

She continued down the sidewalk until she came to a market that had fruits and vegetables displayed in boxes on the sidewalk. She stared at the apples and oranges with yearning. She had never felt so hungry in her life. And she knew that she wasn't going to be able to just walk away this time. She peeked inside the market and saw a middle aged man behind the counter ringing up a customer's purchase and made up her mind about what she had to do. She wasn't proud of herself but she didn't have a choice.

Lacey walked around to the side of the market and pulled her hoodie out of her backpack and put it on. Then she pulled out a piece of crumpled paper and a pen and scribbled an IOU on it. She left her first name and promised to come back and pay for the fruit that she was going to take as soon as she could. She folded the piece of paper up and held it in her hand as she walked into the market.

She went straight to the back of the store and looked around nervously. When she was sure that no one was watching, she opened the drink cooler and grabbed a couple bottles of water and slipped them into her backpack. Then she walked over to a large table in front of the window that was filled with fruit. She sneaked a look over her shoulder at the cashier. He was watching a small television in the corner behind the register. With shaky hands and no regard to the people who might be watching her through the window, Lacey started filling her backpack with apples and oranges.

*****

"Hey Jesse, take a look at that" Scotty said and nodded toward Manny's Market.

Jesse turned around on the bench he was sitting on outside the market and followed Scotty's gaze to see a girl stuffing her backpack with fruit. He couldn't tell what she looked like because she was wearing a hoodie but from the way she was shaking, it was obvious that she was scared. Probably not someone who made a living out of stealing. Jesse was still looking at her when Scotty chuckled, "looks like she's about to get busted" he said and pointed to the cashier looking up at the mirror above Lacey.

The cashier saw her put some fruit in her bag and came around the counter to confront her. Jesse jumped up from the bench and hurried inside to intercept him.

"Hey Manny" Jesse said and stood in front of him, blocking him from Lacey. "You wouldn't happen to have some more energy water, would you? You know the kind of water that's good to drink when you're _running_." He put an emphasis on the word running.

"I'll help you in a minute" Manny said and started past him with his eyes set on Lacey. Jesse stepped in front of him again. "But I really need that water Manny, it helps me _run_ faster" he said. Again, emphasizing the word run.

Lacey looked up when she heard someone talking near her. She saw a young guy with short black hair with his back turned to her, talking to the old man from behind the counter. Only he wasn't behind the counter anymore. He was just a couple feet from her and he was giving her a mean look. She quickly looked away as fear of getting caught ripped through her. She listened as the young guy talked and noticed the way he kept saying "run". It took her a second to realize that he was saying it to her. She was busted and she knew it.

She dropped the apple that she was holding and ran toward the door. Manny dodged around Jesse and grabbed Lacey by the arm. Without thinking, she lashed out at him, using her powers to throw him backwards. The IOU that she had been holding fell to the floor as she ran out the door.

Jesse stared at the door, not really understanding what he just saw. Manny moaned and Jesse knelt down to help him up from the floor.

"Did you see that?" Manny asked.

Jesse noticed a piece of paper on the floor and quickly picked it up. He turned his back to Manny and read it. Then shook his head and smiled before facing the angry store owner. "Did I see what?" he asked.

Manny stared at him with wide eyes. "That girl pushed me without even touching me."

Jesse raised his brows questioningly. "I didn't see her push you. I thought you fell." He tucked the IOU into his pocket and half smiled. "You know Manny, you're too old to be chasing after girls."

Manny gave him a mean look. "You were in on it, weren't you? You helped that girl steal from me. Get out!" he yelled and pushed Jesse toward the door. "Don't ever come back to my market again!"

Jesse let Manny push him outside where he rejoined his friends. Scotty was smiling from ear to ear while Tonya and Kindal pretended that nothing had happened. Trevor shook his head and put his arm possessively around Tonya.

"What the hell are you smiling about, Scotty?" Jesse asked and walked past him, down the sidewalk. His friends fell in step behind him.

"Nothing really" Scotty said. "I've just never seen you do anything like that before. You don't usually get involved with human issues and I'm curious as to why you helped that girl."

"Because I wanted to and that's all you need to know" Jesse said and reached into his pocket to pull out the paper that Lacey had dropped. He read it again. His assumptions about her had been right, she wasn't used to stealing. He had never met a thief who left an IOU before. He thought about how scared she looked. "Did anyone see which way she ran off to?" he asked.

Scotty smiled again. "Yeah, she ran off toward the hole. I don't know why she'd want to go to that part of town but that's the way she went." He hit Jesse on the arm playfully. "Don't tell me you got a thing for the little thief."

Jesse ignored him. His thoughts centered on Lacey and why she was headed toward the hole. She didn't strike him as the kind of person who would live there. She seemed scared and fragile, probably not someone familiar with the city. The thought bothered him. Someone like her could get into a lot of trouble. Jesse stopped and faced his friends. "I've got something I need to do. I'll meet you guys at the warehouse later."

Scotty laughed and made kissing noises. "Yeah, I bet you do have something to do" he teased.

Jesse narrowed his eyes. "Will you shut the hell up? I have no interest in human girls and you know that."

"Yeah, you look totally uninterested right now, buddy. But hey, whatever you say" Scotty said with a big grin before walking off.

"Be careful" Trevor said and rested his free hand that wasn't wrapped around Tonya, on Jesse's shoulder.

Jesse nodded. Tonya smiled at him. "Have fun, but not too much" she teased.

Kindal wiggled her brows. "Go get her, tiger."

Jesse growled in annoyance and headed off toward a part of town that he very rarely visited.

*****

Lacey was breathing so hard that she had to stop running to catch her breath. She bent over and rested her hands on her knees. She couldn't believe what she just did. She used her powers out in public and probably injured that man at the market. And for what? A couple bottles of water and some fruit. She slammed her fist against her knees, disgusted with herself.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, she looked around to see where she was. While she was running, she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going. The only thing she was thinking about was getting as far away from the market as she could. And now, looking around at the empty streets and abandoned buildings, she realized that she was no longer in downtown and had no idea how to get back.

Lacey started walking down the road she was on. There were no cars in sight, the buildings were rundown and now that the sun had gone down it was so dark she could barely see anything. The streetlights hardly gave off any light at all. Only one of every three actually worked.

The scene before her, gave her a sense of déjà vu. It reminded her of last night when she left the bus station and got lost, then attacked. She immediately put her guard up and scanned the darkness around her. She walked faster and prayed that she would come across a busy street if she just kept going.

She was almost to the end of the street when she heard what sounded like a dog growl. It sounded close. Lacey stopped and glanced around but didn't see anything. She took a few more steps. The growling got louder. She froze where she stood, her heart hammered in her chest. Her first thought was that she was about to be attacked by a stray dog. But when two men stepped from the darkness in front of her, she knew that she was in much more trouble than a dog attack.

She immediately recognized the men as being the same ones from the alley. One of them; the taller one with dark curly hair, was the man that had followed her to the hospital. And the shorter, stockier man was the one who had grabbed her in the alley after she brought their leader to his knees with a well placed strike to the groin.

Lacey turned around to run in the opposite direction but stopped when three really big dogs stepped in front of her. She stared at them and realized that they weren't dogs, they were wolves. She stood locked in place between the men and the wolves.

"We've been looking for you, Lacey" Kevin said and stalked toward her with a hard look on his face.

"How do you know my name? Why won't you leave me alone?" she yelled.

Zack laughed. "Our boss wants to talk to you. You might remember him, he's the man that you nearly castrated last night. He's a bit pissed about that."

Everything in Lacey told her to run, but she couldn't. The wolves surrounded her, nipping at her legs but not actually biting her. She pulled her backpack off and held it in front of her. She unzipped it and pulled out an apple and hurled it at one of the wolves, hitting it in the head. The wolf took a step toward her and growled.

Zack chuckled. "You really shouldn't anger Stella. She has a really bad temper and a great memory. She'll get you back for that sooner or later." He reached out and grabbed Lacey by the arm, digging his nails into her skin.

She tried to pull away but he was too strong. He laughed at her inability to fight against him and her anger grew. She was tired of being afraid of everything and everyone. The last two days had been the worst in her entire life and she wasn't about to let him take her anywhere. Zack jerked her away from the circle of wolves and started dragging her down the sidewalk. Lacey narrowed her eyes at him. "Let me go or you'll be sorry" she warned.

Zack looked at her with amusement. He opened his mouth to say something but it was too late. Lacey opened herself up to her powers and yanked her arm away from him. Zack flew backwards across the street and crashed into one of the streetlight poles. He fell to the ground in a heap. The three wolves charged toward her and she turned her attention to them. The air around her sizzled with power. She narrowed her eyes at the wolves and tossed her head to the side. They soared through the air and landed about fifty feet away.

Kevin tried to sneak up behind Lacey but she spun around just as he was about to grab her. "Don't make me hurt you too" she yelled as a steady stream of blood flowed from her nose.

"I have to take you to my boss" Kevin said and lunged for her.

"Wrong answer" Lacey said and threw him away from her. The sound of his head banging against cement echoed in the air. Lacey spared him a quick glance to see that his body laid limp in the middle of the street. Then one by one, the wolves came at her again. Lacey was quickly losing her strength. Using her powers took a lot out of her and she was starting to feel weak. She picked up the first wolf and threw it into the ones behind it. All three of them crashed to the ground.

The pain in the back of her head was intensifying and she was struggling to stay on her feet. Lacey looked around to see if anyone else was coming for her. No one was. She took a few steps on her way to escape, but everything around her suddenly started to spin as dizziness overwhelmed her. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, so weak that she could barely move. The last thing she saw before passing out was a man running down the sidewalk toward her. Damn it, she missed one.

# Chapter Five

A knot formed in Jesse's stomach when he saw Lacey fall face first onto the ground. He picked up his pace and ran over to her. Kneeling down, he gently turned her over onto her back, then pushed her hoodie from her head. The blood on her face shocked him. He brushed her hair back from her face and took his shirt off to wipe the blood from her nose and mouth.

Lacey moaned and Jesse placed his hands on her face. "It's alright. You're safe" he said.

Lacey opened her eyes just slightly and looked up at him. As soon as she saw his face, she panicked. She pushed at him weakly. "Get away from me." She tried to yell but it came out as barely a whisper. She struggled to get to her feet but dizziness claimed her again and she fell through the air toward the ground again.

Jesse caught her in his arms. He looked down at her and felt a twinge of sadness at how weak and helpless she appeared. Lacey forced her eyes open slightly, "please don't hurt me," she whispered before her body went limp in his arms and she lost consciousness.

The sound of her voice was so soft yet filled with so much pain. Her words echoed in Jesse's head and he couldn't help but feel protective of her. He glanced over his shoulder at his brother's pack members. Two of his men were unconscious on the street alongside several others in their wolf form. He had never in his life seen a human go up against that many werewolves and survive. He looked down at Lacey with admiration in his eyes. There was something very special about her. Normal humans couldn't do the things he saw her do. He lowered his head to hers and sniffed to try and detect whether or not she was more than she appeared to be, but her scent didn't hold any traces of anything but pure human blood. There was something odd about the smell of her blood but it was human, nonetheless. Lacey squirmed in his arms as she started to come around again.

Knowing that he didn't have much time before she would be fully awake and ready to fight him off, Jesse held her close to his chest and headed off at a dead run toward the warehouse he called home. His brother's men would be waking up soon and the last thing he needed was a confrontation with them.

*****

Lacey instinctively lifted her hand to her head as she started to wake up. The pain from her headache was slowly fading away. She forced her eyes open and found herself laying on a bed. She sat up slowly and looked around the room she was in. There was nothing feminine about anything she saw. The bed she was laying on was covered with a black silk comforter. There were no pictures anywhere. A huge flat screen television hung on the wall across the room in front of a black leather couch and two gaming chairs. A massive stereo system took up most of the wall to her right and a guitar rested in the corner.

She jumped when she heard something hit the floor. Her eyes immediately went to the closed door to her left. The sound of running water suddenly stopped and she knew that must be the bathroom. Beside the bathroom door was a closet and the door was open. She could see men's clothes hanging up and black leather biker boots on the floor. Lacey covered her mouth with her hand when she realized that she wasn't alone in the room. The memory of the men who attacked her came rushing back and her first thought was that she was in the room with one of them now.

She scooted over to the edge of the bed and got to her feet. She started for the bedroom door just as the bathroom door opened and a man stepped out wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. She gasped.

Jesse looked over at her and smiled. "You're awake."

Lacey stared at him wide-eyed for a second then made a run for the door. He got to the door before she did and stood in front of it. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here."

"Like hell I am" Lacey yelled as she searched the room for another way to escape. "Why did you bring me here? Why did you attack me?"

Jesse looked at her confused. What the hell was she talking about? He could see that she was frightened. He held his hands up in front of him to show that he wasn't going to hurt her and slowly moved toward her. "Lacey, I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't attack you. I helped you."

"How do you know my name?" she shouted and backed away from him.

"I found the piece of paper that you dropped at the market, it had your name on it."

Lacey narrowed her eyes at him. "You were following me!" she said accusingly.

Jesse shook his head. "No, it's not like that. I..." He kept walking toward her as he spoke despite the fact that she looked like she wanted to hit him.

"Don't come any closer!" Lacey yelled and tried to concentrate on her powers. She needed them to keep him away from her. But she was still too weak. She could barely form a thought much less use her powers. She strained to throw Jesse across the room but nothing happened. The buzz of electricity on her skin was barely noticeable. Frustrated, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried again. The television screen cracked and the lamp by the bed wobbled, fell off the table and hit the floor. But the man in front of her didn't budge. She tried one last time but swayed on her feet as blood began to drip from her nose.

Jesse grabbed her arm before she fell. "Please let me help you" he whispered in a gentle voice.

Lacey looked at him with tired eyes and reluctantly nodded. She couldn't fight anymore. She didn't have the strength to. Jesse scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. He laid her down and covered her up before going over to the closet and pulling out a shirt and a pair of jeans. He glanced over at his television. The crack in the screen went all the way across it. He didn't know how Lacey had done it but he knew that she was responsible for the damage. He had a lot of questions for her and he was eager to hear the answers. But they were going to have to wait because it was clear she was in no condition to talk.

Jesse stepped into the bathroom and quickly got dressed before sitting down in the chair by the bed. He watched Lacey as she laid in his bed with her eyes closed. He knew she wasn't asleep. A tear fell from the corner of her eye and rolled down into her hair. He reached out and rubbed his thumb across her soft skin to remove it. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Lacey opened her eyes and glared at him. He was just as handsome as she remembered from the first time she saw him in the alley. His dark black hair, now shining with moisture from his shower clung to his forehead as he looked down at her with those amazing green eyes. Her gaze landed on the scar on his neck. It started under one ear and went across his throat to the other. It looked like someone had cut his throat. For just a second, she felt sorry for him. But that feeling quickly faded. "Why do you care?" she snapped.

"Because I want to help you" he answered.

"Why do you keep saying that? I don't need your help. If you'll leave me alone and stop following me, I'll be fine."

Jesse leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and shook his head. He was starting to understand her anger toward him. She thought he was Cole. "I'm sorry for what you've been through, but you seem to think I'm someone that I'm not."

Lacey sat up in bed with her elbow supporting her. "I know exactly who you are. You're the bastard who attacked me in the alley and had your friends follow me. Now my question is, what the hell do you want with me?"

Jesse was caught off guard by the hostility in her voice. "I didn't attack you. It must have been my brother. We're twins and he's..."

Lacey laughed out loud, cutting him off. "Oh, that's original. I'm sure you can come up with something better than the identical twin story. Everyone uses that one, even me and I'm an only child."

Jesse pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I'm telling you, it wasn't me."

"You are such a liar!" she yelled. "You got right in my face. I got a real good look at you."

"Really?" Jesse said and pointed to the scar on his neck. "Then I assume you were close enough to see my scar. Because that's the only way anyone can tell the difference between me and my brother Cole."

Lacey's breath caught in her throat. He said his brother's name was Cole. That was the same name she heard some of her attackers call their boss. She looked at Jesse's neck and tried to remember if the man who attacked her had a scar. It didn't take her long to remember that he didn't. His skin had been flawless.

"What's your name?" she asked him, still a little doubtful.

"Jesse."

Lacey laid back on the bed and eased her eyes closed. Things were getting confusing. Apparently, they were twins and one of them wanted to hurt her while the other one swore that he wanted to help her. What had she gotten herself into?

Jesse waited patiently for Lacey to say something. When she finally spoke, he wished that she hadn't asked the one question he hated answering.

"How did you get the scar?" Lacey asked and turned onto her side to look at him with her arm resting under her head. She knew it was rude to ask that kind of question but she wanted to know and after everything she'd been through, she didn't care about her manners.

Lacey's question brought back memories that Jesse wished he could forget. He didn't want to answer her but she was finally talking to him instead of yelling and he wanted her to feel better. And for some reason he didn't understand, he wanted her to trust him and feel safe with him. He was shocked to realize just how much he wanted that. Normally, he didn't care what humans thought of him. Whether they liked or feared him, he didn't care.

He had spent most of his life saving humans from werewolves like his brother, who liked to hunt them down and kill them for sport. But he always looked at it like his duty, his job so to speak. He'd save them and send them on their way, never bothering to get to know them. To him, humans were a weak species. He didn't dislike them but he didn't go out of his way to befriend them either.

"My brother tried to kill me" Jesse said flatly and looked at Lacey to see her reaction.

She stared at him for a second then shook her head. "And I thought I had family problems" she said and gave him a small smile.

"You have no idea" Jesse said. Relief that she didn't ask him anything else settled over him. He decided to change the subject. "Are you hungry?"

Lacey looked away, not wanting to admit that she was. "No, I'm fine."

He raised his brows. "Are you sure? There is plenty of food downstairs."

"I'm good but thanks anyway." She was starving but her pride wouldn't let her admit it.

A few seconds later, her stomach growled. Jesse smiled and pushed a button on the wall by the bed. It looked like some sort of intercom.

"Tonya, can you send some food up to my room?" he said into the device.

"One plate or two?" A woman's voice came back at him.

"Two, and make sure you bring Lacey's apples up with you. She went through a lot of trouble to get them." He winked at Lacey and she quickly looked away.

It took her a minute to realize how he knew about the apples. "It was you...in the market. You were talking to the cashier."

Jesse smiled and Lacey covered her face with her hands, feeling embarrassed. "You saw me steal the fruit, didn't you? I don't normally do things like that but..."

"You don't have to explain anything to me. I'm just glad you got away."

Lacey slid her hands slowly down her face. "Thanks for helping me."

A knock sounded at the door and Jesse went over to open it. A tall, slender redheaded woman walked in carrying a tray of food. Lacey couldn't take her eyes off of her. The woman's face was pretty but it was her hair that caught Lacey's attention. The thick red curls reminded her of Cindy.

She tried not to think about Cindy but it was so hard not to, especially when she looked at the woman standing in front of her with a smile just as kind as Cindy's had been. A tear slid from Lacey's eye before she could dry it up.

"Oh, honey, what's wrong?" The woman asked and shoved the tray toward Jesse before sitting down on the bed.

Lacey looked up at her and shook her head. "Nothing, I'm fine" she said in a cracked voice.

Neither Jesse nor the woman looked like they believed her but they didn't say anything. The woman gave her a warm smile, "I'm Tonya. If you need anything or if you just want to talk, I'll be here."

Lacey smiled back but avoided looking at her again for fear that seeing her hair would trigger her to start crying.

"Thank you for the food, Tonya" Jesse said and nodded toward the door. She took the hint and left, closing the door behind her.

Jesse set the tray down on the bed and pushed it over to Lacey. "You should eat something."

He wanted to ask her why she was about to cry when she saw Tonya but decided against it. Whatever her reason, it was obviously something painful and he didn't want to ask her about it until she was ready to talk.

Lacey looked at the two plates of food on the tray. One of her apples had been sliced and put in a bowl for her. Her face reddened a bit. She took one of the plates from the tray and rested it on her lap. Jesse started for the door.

"Where are you going?" she asked in a worried voice. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Jesse turned around. "I ate before my shower. You eat as much as you want and I'll come back for the tray later."

Lacey's eyes darted nervously from Jesse to the door. He noticed the fear on her face. "The door isn't locked, Lacey. You can come out whenever you want. You're not a prisoner here."

He opened the door and pushed it all the way open before walking out.

Lacey stared at the open door for a few minutes. She thought about getting up and looking out to see where Jesse went but the smell of the steak, mash potatoes and macaroni and cheese was too much for her to resist. She dug into the food like she hadn't eaten in weeks. When she was finished, she moved the tray and empty plates from the bed and set them on the night stand. Tiptoeing over to the open door, she looked out into an empty hall.

She could hear people talking. She followed the sound and stopped at the top of metal stairs that led the way down to what looked like a warehouse building. She peeked over the top railing to see what was below her. The huge open room was just what she thought it was. A warehouse. The open space was divided into different sections by furniture.

In the middle of the room was a couch and a few lounge chairs. It looked like a sitting area. In one corner was another large television like the one in Jesse's room and an entertainment center. Her attention was drawn to the rear of the room when she heard people laughing. That area had been turned into a small kitchen and several people including Jesse were sitting around a square shaped table, talking and playing cards. Everyone looked so normal, not at all like the men who had been chasing her since she arrived in Carol Springs. She relaxed and went back to her room.

Knowing that she must look awful, she went into the bathroom. Her reflection in the mirror over the sink startled her. She looked worse than she expected. The dark bags under her eyes made her appear much older than she was. And the little flakes of dried blood around her nose disgusted her. She grabbed a washcloth from the shelf by the mirror and wet it. She scrubbed her face until it turned red but still wasn't satisfied that she was clean. What she needed was a long steaming hot bath.

*****

Jesse waited until he heard the bedroom door shut before turning to face his angry friends. When he heard Lacey step out into the hall he had told everyone to act happy so that she wouldn't know they had been arguing. But now that she was back in his room, he had to deal with their complaints.

He sat at the table with Trevor across from him with Tonya on his lap. Kindal was sitting on the counter by the stove. And Scotty and the cousins: Devon and Tyron, were sitting on either side of him. Jesse waited patiently for them to start in on him.

"I think you really messed up by bringing the girl here" Trevor said.

Jesse looked at him. They were best friends and had been for many years. He considered Trevor more of a brother than he ever did Cole. At least he had never tried to kill him. "I didn't have a choice. She was injured and Cole's men were after her" Jesse said defensively.

Tonya got up from Trevor's lap and joined Kindal at the counter. Trevor leaned over the table and gave Jesse a serious look. "You know if Cole wants her and he finds out that you have her, he's going to come looking for her."

Jesse nodded. "I know" he said in a grave tone.

Trevor let out a deep breath and looked over at his mate, Tonya, and then back at Jesse. "Are you willing to start a fight over this girl? Because if she stays here, that's what you're doing, starting a fight that we can't win."

Jesse glanced toward the stairs that led up to his room as he thought about Trevor's question. He knew he couldn't just give Lacey over to his brother. No one deserved that fate. "I guess I am because I'm not going to let Cole have her. She's going to stay here until she's well enough to be moved and then I'll take her somewhere safe. That might take a day or two or it might take a little longer. However long it takes is how long she will be here."

Trevor shook his head angrily. "You don't even know her. Cole's pack is bigger and stronger than ours and we both know it. He's turning people all the time to increase his pack size. And for every one person that we save from him, two more get turned in their place. We've been fighting a losing battle with him for years. He keeps turning humans and we keep trying to stop him but our efforts have always been too little too late. And now you have someone that he obviously wants real bad, and you're telling me that you're willing to put our pack, our family, in danger to save a girl that you don't even know."

Jesse looked at each of his friends. His pack consisted of four men and two women. And Cole's numbers were in the sixties the last time he counted. He knew Trevor was right. They were nothing compared to Cole and his men. But after the little bit of time he had spent upstairs with Lacey he knew that he couldn't turn her over to his brother.

The fear he'd seen on her face, the heartache he heard in her voice, were things he couldn't ignore. She needed protection and he was going to do the best that he could to keep her safe. "I'm not asking anyone to fight for her. This problem is between me and my brother and if he does come for her, then I'll deal with him on my own" Jesse said and got up from the table and headed toward the stairs.

"Sure you will" Trevor mumbled to himself and held his hand out to Tonya for her to return to his lap. She sat down and kissed his cheek and said, "Don't give him such a hard time, baby. I've met Lacey and she seems like a nice girl. But she's weak and fragile. I think she's been through a lot. I can understand why he wants to protect her."

Trevor gave her a cross look. "Would you risk our family to protect her?"

Tonya thought about it for a minute. The pack was all she had and everyone in it was a member of her family. She loved them dearly and would die for any one of them. She looked at Trevor and slowly shook her head. "No, I wouldn't."

"Neither would I. I don't think Jesse is thinking clearly. I think he sees a little of his mother in this girl. His mother was human before his father turned her. And she hated being a werewolf every day of her life until she died. Jesse probably wants to save Lacey because no one saved his mother...I don't know. Whatever his reasons are, they're going to get him killed."

Tonya snuggled closer to him. "We can't let Cole hurt him" she said softly.

Trevor hugged her tightly and nodded. "I know. Even though I don't agree with him, we'll stand with him no matter what."

Tonya kissed him gently on the lips and rested her head on his shoulder. Kindal jumped down from the counter and joined the conversation. "I think Jesse has a crush on the girl. Realistically, I think it's a mistake but I'm with you, I'll stand behind him no matter how much I disagree with him" she said to Trevor and Tonya before joining Scotty, Devon and Tyron over at the poker table in the corner. "Deal me in boys. It's going to be a long night and I feel lucky."

*****

"What the hell do you mean you lost her again?" Cole yelled as he paced the floor in front of Kevin, Zack and the other members of his pack that he had sent to find Lacey. "Please explain to me again how all five of you ended up on your asses and the girl managed to get away...Again."

"I already told you, boss, she's not human. There's some kind of force around her and it threw me through the air like I was nothing" Zack said and rubbed the back of his still sore head.

"I know where she is" Kevin spoke up. "When I came to, I saw Jesse running away with her in his arms. He was too far away to catch up to him, but I'm sure it was him. His scent was all around and it was mixed with the girls."

Cole was quiet for a moment before finally speaking. "Well then, if my brother has my little witch then I suggest we pay him a visit."

"Why do you want her so badly?" A female voice came from behind him.

Cole turned around to see a tall blond woman leaning against the wall across the room, cleaning under her blood red fingernails with a switch blade. Sasha. He glared at her and wondered for the hundredth time why he ever got involved with her. Then his eyes roamed over her beautiful toned body and he quickly remembered. She was a woman of many talents, most of which he enjoyed immensely. She was the most ruthless female he had ever seen and sometimes she even scared him with her brutality. But he had grown tired of her a long time ago. Her persistence that he make her his mate is what ultimately ended their relationship. He wasn't the kind of man or wolf to be tied down to just one woman. He just wished she would move on and forget about him. He was her alpha and nothing more but she had a tendency to forget that, especially when he showed interest in other women.

"What I want with her is none of your business, Sasha. And when I bring her back with me, you are not to bother her. Do you understand?"

Sasha narrowed her deep blue eyes and gave him a cruel smile. One that told him she had no intention of obeying. She walked past Cole and stabbed the switch blade into the wall beside the door before walking out. "Just keep the bitch away from me" she growled over her shoulder.

A couple of Cole's men laughed and shook their heads. Zack raised his brows. "Boss, I think you better keep a close eye on her or your little Lacey won't make it through the night."

Cole growled low in his throat. "I think you're right. So I'm putting you in charge of making sure that Sasha doesn't get anywhere near her."

"You got it, boss. She won't get past me."

"She better not" Cole warned and turned to address the rest of his pack. "Tomorrow, we will go to Jesse's warehouse to get what's mine. I want you all to stay in human form unless I tell you to shift. Hopefully, my dear brother will give the girl over without a fight but if not, then we will take her by force. Either way, she's coming back with me."

His pack nodded and shouted in anticipation of a fight. Cole walked to his room with one thing on his mind, getting Lacey and finding out what kind of power she had and how he could use it to his advantage.

# Chapter Six

Jesse gently pushed the door to his room open. The lights were off and the room was dark except for the small red light from the intercom by the bed. He walked over to see Lacey asleep on her side, the red light illuminated her face. He sat down in the chair by the bed and watched her sleep. As he looked at her, he knew his friends were right. He shouldn't have brought her to their home. He had put them all in danger by doing so but even knowing that, he still couldn't regret his decision to help her. There was something about her that called out to him.

He was surprised at how peaceful and relaxed she seemed. It was a nice contrast to the way she looked earlier. He fought the urge to reach out and rub his hand over the soft skin of her face. In all the years that he had spent saving humans from the worst of his kind, he had never once noticed whether or not the human in his arms was attractive. But he found it very difficult not to notice Lacey's beauty.

Her smooth, flawless skin reminded him of a porcelain doll. He wanted to run his hand through her black hair to see if it was as soft as it looked, but he got distracted when his eyes landed on her full pink lips and the sudden urge to kiss her tested his ability to restrain himself. He forced his eyes away before he could do something he would later regret.

In that moment, he knew that he was going to have to keep his distance from Lacey. He didn't like the feelings that were beginning to stir inside him. Those kind of feelings could get him in trouble and with the kind of life he led, the last thing he needed was more trouble.

One of the most important things he'd learned in his lifetime was that werewolves and humans should never get involved with each other. It was too dangerous and never ended well for the humans.

Jesse leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest and stretched his legs out in front of him on the floor. He tried to get comfortable and prepared himself to sleep there all night. He looked at his big soft bed with longing, but there was no way he was going to frighten Lacey by crawling into bed with her. Even though, that's exactly what he wanted to do.

*****

Lacey rolled over in bed. A loud growling noise brought her out of a deep sleep. She opened her eyes and looked around the still dark room. A red glow from the intercom beside the bed allowed her to see enough to know that she was not alone in the room.

Jesse was asleep in the chair by the bed. His tall frame looked extremely uncomfortable in the small chair. His head hung over the back of the chair with his mouth open. It didn't take long for Lacey to figure out what had woke her up. Jesse was snoring loudly, but it sounded more like growling. She smiled at how funny he looked and sounded.

No longer sleepy, she sat up in bed. She had been so tired last night that she didn't even know when Jesse came into the room. Normally, she would be freaked out by waking up to find a man asleep in the room with her but for some reason she felt safe with Jesse. If he wanted to hurt her, he could have done so by now and he hadn't. And after what she'd been through over the last two days that said a lot about his intentions. He wasn't a bad guy. He hadn't even asked her yet about what he saw her do when she used her powers to crack his television.

Jesse snored again and his whole body jerked. Lacey watched as he moved around in the chair, trying to get comfortable. He slowly lifted his head and groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"You okay?" Lacey asked.

He lifted his eyes to hers. "My neck hurts" he said in a thick sleepy voice.

Lacey smiled. "Sleeping in a chair will do that to you."

Jesse stood up and stretched before looking at the clock. "It's only five thirty...do you always wake up this early?"

Lacey pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Only when someone in the room snores like an angry wolf."

Jesse's eyes opened wide as he looked at her. He hoped that she didn't think anything weird about the noises he had made. "Yeah, um sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not sleepy anymore. Actually, I feel better and more energized than I have in days."

"Wish I could say the same" Jesse said to himself as he continued to rub his sore neck.

Lacey got out of the bed and looked at him uncomfortably. "Um, why don't you take the bed? You look like you need some more sleep. I'll just go downstairs and make some breakfast."

Jesse stared at the bed with longing. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into his soft comfortable bed and sleep for a couple more hours. Instead, he shook his head. "No, I'm good. I'll go get you something to eat."

He started for the door and Lacey reached out and gently touched his arm. "Hey, get some rest. I'm not helpless. I can fix my own breakfast."

Jesse mulled over his options. He knew that Lacey was safe inside the warehouse and he really was still sleepy. What could it hurt to let her be on her own for a little while? "Okay. Everyone else will probably sleep for another couple of hours, so you'll have the kitchen all to yourself. If you need anything, come get me."

Lacey smiled and walked past him to the door. "I'll be fine" she said and closed the door behind her.

Too tired to bother with getting under the covers, Jesse fell face-down across the bed and drifted back to sleep.

*****

Lacey tried to be as quiet as she could as she pulled pans from under the counter and started to cook. She was pleased to see that the fridge was full and she could finally fix herself a decent breakfast.

She had just finished cooking a big pan of bacon and placed it in a bowl on the counter next to a bowl of eggs when someone came up behind her.

"Man that smells good. Hope there's enough for two" Scotty said and pulled a chair out from under the table.

Lacey jumped at the sound of a male voice she didn't recognize. She spun around and glared at the man smiling at her. "Um, yeah there is more than enough for two" she said uncomfortably and glanced toward the stairs, hoping that Jesse would come down.

"I'm Scotty. I'm a friend of Jesse's and I live here" he said once he saw the worried look on her face. "If you want, I'll go get Jesse for you."

Relieved by his friendly demeanor, Lacey smiled a little and shook her head. "No, you don't have to do that." She held her hand out to him. "I'm Lacey, it's nice to meet you."

Scotty shook her hand. "Same here."

Lacey handed him a plate then fixed herself one before sitting down at the table. Scotty quickly dug into the bacon and eggs like he was starving. "Oh man, this is good" he said with his mouth full. "Who taught you how to cook like this? What did you put in these eggs?"

Lacey smiled. "I taught myself. I call this...spanish eggs and bacon. The eggs have onions, tomatoes, jalapenos and a few other ingredients. I'm glad that you like it."

"Like it? I love it. I tell you what, I sure wouldn't mind waking up to a breakfast like this every day" Scotty said and popped the last forkful of eggs in his mouth.

Lacey took her time with her meal while Scotty continued to praise her culinary skills. Within half an hour they were talking like they'd known each other for years. He was such an easy person to talk to. And it wasn't long before he had Lacey laughing so hard that she had to stop eating for fear of choking.

When they were finished with their breakfast, Lacey put the rest of the food in the stove to keep it warm then followed Scotty over to the couch where they continued talking for another hour, until someone came down the stairs. Scotty glanced over his shoulder and smiled at two dark-skinned men who no doubt had to be related as closely as they resembled each other. "You two just missed a great breakfast. Little Lacey here is a hell of a cook."

The men stopped behind the couch and glared at Lacey and Scotty like they had grown extra heads or something. Scotty jumped up, smiling.

"Devon, Tyron, this is Jesse's friend, Lacey."

Both men looked at her for a second before smiling and holding their hands out to her. "Hello" they said in unison.

"Hi" she said and shook their hands. No one said anything for a few seconds after that and Lacey began to feel uncomfortable again. "Would you guys like something to eat?" she offered.

Devon and Tyron looked at each other, then at her. "Sure." They followed Lacey into the kitchen and sat down while she fixed their plates. Just like with Scotty, soon after that she was talking with the cousins, as Scotty had told her everyone refers to them, like they were old friends.

Once the cousins were finished eating, they left the kitchen and flopped down on the couch while Scotty helped Lacey wash the dishes.

*****

As soon as Jesse opened his bedroom door, he heard all the laughing from downstairs. He went to look for Lacey. He stopped halfway down the stairs and watched as she talked and laughed with Scotty in the kitchen. They looked so comfortable with each other. And for some reason that bothered Jesse.

Scotty splashed water on Lacey and she giggled and playfully pushed him with her shoulder. Jesse watched them with curiosity as they continued to play around. He smiled when Lacey laughed out loud at something Scotty had said. Her voice was like music to his ears; soft and whimsical.

Jesse's smile suddenly thinned to a hard line when he saw Scotty rest his hand on Lacey's lower back and whisper something into her ear. Why was Scotty touching her? The question popped into Jesse's mind and was quickly followed by more. Why was he standing so close to her? Was he flirting with her? The questions made Jesse feel something he wasn't used to feeling...jealousy.

He growled low in the back of his throat and stalked into the kitchen area with his eyes locked on Scotty and Lacey. Just seeing them standing together caused anger to swell up inside him. He stopped a few feet from the table but they were too busy laughing and playing around to notice him. He cleared his throat to get their attention.

Lacey looked over her shoulder with a big smile on her face as drops of water rolled down her cheek. "Oh, hey Jesse" she said casually before returning to her task of washing dishes. She was completely oblivious to the tension in the air as Jesse stared at her. But Scotty wasn't. He noticed the look on Jesse's face and immediately stepped away from Lacey. He grabbed a towel to dry his hands. "Jesse, you're up. It's about time, man. You missed a great breakfast but there might be a few scraps left" he teased to lighten the mood. It was obvious that Jesse was pissed about something. Scotty could see it in his eyes and the hard set of his jaw.

Jesse ignored him, his gaze locked onto Lacey. Scotty took the hint and joined the cousins on the couch.

"I see you've already met some of my friends" Jesse said as he took Scotty's place beside her at the sink.

Lacey smiled and handed him a soapy plate to rinse. "Yeah, you're friends are really nice. Especially Scotty, he's very entertaining and easy to get along with but I guess you already know that."

Jesse glared over at Scotty who was trying to watch them discreetly, but Jesse knew he was looking at them. He had to try really hard to hold in the growl that was threatening to escape his throat. "Yeah, he's something alright" Jesse said through tight lips.

He grabbed the towel that Scotty had used and dried the plate Lacey handed him. He found it hard to keep his eyes off of her. She looked even more beautiful than she did last night when she was sleeping. Lacey caught him staring at her and Jesse quickly dropped his gaze. "So, I know you've already met Tonya. Have you met Kindal yet?"

"No, I haven't" Lacey said and put the pans that she had just washed back on the stove and started pulling things from the fridge.

"What are you doing?" Jesse asked, puzzled. He didn't think it was possible that she could still be hungry.

Lacey put the eggs on the counter and smiled. "I'm going to cook you something to eat. There isn't anything left from earlier."

Jesse stared at her. The thought of eating something that she cooked just for him, made him happy. But just as she started cracking the eggs, Tonya and Trevor came down the stairs. Tonya hurried into the kitchen and put her arm around Lacey's shoulder. "Oh no sweetie, you're a guest here and I won't have you cooking for yourself. Just have a seat and I'll fix you something." She led Lacey over to one of the chairs at the table and pushed her down in it.

Lacey smiled shyly. "Thank you, but I already ate. I was going to fix something for Jesse."

"Well, aren't you sweet" Tonya said, "But I can take it from here...Jesse, what would you like?"

Lacey sat at the table, not knowing what to do with herself. She looked over at Jesse, who was standing at the sink with his arms crossed over his chest. Their eyes met and she saw something in his eyes that made her temporarily forget how to breathe. The desire on his face caught her off guard. She wasn't used to men looking at her in that way. After a few heated seconds, Jesse broke eye contact and turned his attention to Tonya. "I'm not hungry" he said.

"That's a first. You're always hungry" A petite brunette said as she came into the room. She looked at Lacey and smiled. "Hey, I'm Kindal."

"Hey" Lacey said to the girl that looked about the same age as her. As a matter of fact, all of Jesse's friends looked like teenagers with the exception of Trevor and Tonya. And they looked like they were only in their twenties. Before she could stop herself, Lacey looked at Jesse and asked, "How old are you?"

He was caught off guard by her question. There was no way he could tell her the truth. "I'm nineteen, why do you ask?"

"No reason. It's just that you all look so young. I was wandering if you guys are runaways or something."

Jesse chuckled. "No Lacey, we're not runaways. But I take it that you are?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her, waiting for her to respond. When she didn't, Trevor glanced at Jesse then at Lacey. "How old are you?" he asked.

She looked up at the only person in the room who hadn't said one word to her, until now. Trevor was a tough looking man with shoulder length jet black hair that he kept tied at the nape of his neck. The truth was, he scared her a little. "I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen in less than three weeks" she muttered.

"Are you a runaway?" he asked.

That question, she didn't want to answer but she was the one who brought up the whole runaway and age issue. She looked up at Trevor and nodded. "Yes, I am. And before you say anything, I'm not going back so don't waste your time trying to talk me into it."

Trevor narrowed his eyes at her and Scotty busted out laughing from across the room. "That girl's got spunk. She's going to keep things interesting around here."

"Shut the hell up, Scotty" Trevor said before turning back to Lacey. "And you" he pointed his finger at her, "should go home. This city isn't the place for a young, naïve girl like you. You should be home with your parents. The fact that you were attacked proves that you can't take care of yourself."

Lacey dropped her eyes to the floor. Trevor's remark was like a slap to the face. She knew that she shouldn't be on her own, but what choice did she have. Her mom didn't want her and she had no idea where her dad was or if he was still alive. And even if he was, he made it clear a long time ago that he didn't want her either.

"That's enough, Trevor" Jesse said in a rough voice and pushed away from the counter when he saw the hurt that crossed Lacey's face.

Lacey sat quietly and chewed on her bottom lip. It was a bad habit that she hadn't done since she was a child, but she suddenly didn't feel so grown-up or comfortable anymore. Jesse came up behind her chair and rested his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. But I think I'll go upstairs if that's alright" she said and got up to leave the kitchen. From the look on Trevor's face, it was obvious that he didn't want her there and while she had enjoyed talking with the guys earlier and the women seemed nice, this was not her home. It was theirs and it was time she got on her way. Jesse had saved her and brought her there to get her strength back and she had. Now it was time for her to go.

Jesse walked with Lacey to the stairs. "I'll be up in a minute so we can talk."

She looked down at the floor for a second before meeting his eyes. She was starting to like him and didn't really want to leave. She felt safe with him but apparently she had overstayed her welcome. "Um Jesse, I want to thank you for your help last night and for letting me stay here, but I think it's time for me to leave."

He looked at her with an expression that Lacey didn't quite understand. He looked scared. "You can't leave. It's not safe. For whatever reason, my brother wants you and he's still out there looking for you."

"Look, I can deal with your brother. And if I can't then I'll call the cops. I really don't want to get them involved because of the whole runaway issue, but if I don't have any other choice then I'll call them."

Jesse looked to his friends for help. He knew that there was nothing the police could do to keep her safe. Cole had no problem what-so-ever with killing human cops. "Why don't you stay here for a little while longer and then I'll take you somewhere safe out of the city."

Lacey thought about his offer. She wanted nothing more than to stay there with him but she needed to get on with her life. Find a job and a place of her own. She didn't want to be a freeloader and she didn't want to stay where she wasn't wanted. And Trevor obviously didn't want her there. She gave Jesse a forced smile and shook her head. "No, I really should go. I just need to grab my backpack." She started up the stairs then stopped and glanced over her shoulder and said, "maybe I'll see you around town sometime."

Jesse looked like he wanted to argue but he didn't say anything. Once Lacey was upstairs, he walked over to Trevor. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you tell her she needed to leave? How am I supposed to protect her when she's roaming the city?"

Trevor glared at him. "She's doing the right thing by leaving. We're werewolves and she's a human, she doesn't belong here. If you want to protect her then make sure she gets out of the city safely but don't ask us to put our lives in danger by letting her stay here."

Jesse growled and pushed him. "You don't run this pack! I do."

Trevor stumbled backwards and Scotty caught him by the arm, steadying him. "What's gotten into you, Jesse?" Scotty said and looked at him with disbelief.

Trevor gave him a disappointed look before walking off. Jesse had never once put his hands on him or anyone else like that before and he was hurt by his actions. They had always been like brothers and hardly ever disagreed about anything. He didn't know what was going on with Jesse, but he wasn't going to fight with him.

Tonya looked at Jesse and frowned. "He's only trying to look out for us, Jesse. Don't forget who your real friends are. We are the ones who will still be here with you long after Lacey is gone." She walked off in search of her mate but before she made it out of the kitchen a loud knock sounded at the door.

Everyone looked at each other. They never got visitors and no one ever knocked on their door.

Another knock hit the door. "I know you're in there Jesse, I can smell you so open the door and let me in" Cole yelled.

Jesse's eyes got wide when he heard his brother's voice. He stared at the door. Within seconds Scotty, Devon, Tyron and Kindal were all standing at his side. "What do you want to do?" Scotty asked in a serious tone.

Jesse looked at him, then at the others. Trevor and Tonya came from the room behind the kitchen, hand in hand. Trevor looked at Jesse for a second then nodded. It was his way of saying that what happened earlier was forgotten and he had his back just like always. Jesse nodded back then glanced up the stairs where Lacey was. He had hoped to have more time to get to know her before his brother came looking for her. It didn't look like that was going to happen now. He closed his eyes and prayed for her sake that she wouldn't come downstairs.

"Open the damn door, Jesse!" Cole bellowed.

"I'm sorry for getting you guys into this" Jesse whispered to his pack before he moved to unlock the door. He opened it and stood in the doorway blocking Cole from coming in. "What do you want, Cole?" he asked and leveled a death stare at his brother.

Cole smiled and leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. "What? I can't come visit my brother from time to time" he said sarcastically.

Jesse rolled his eyes. "No asshole, you can't. In case you've forgotten, we hate each other. So why the hell are you here?"

Cole lifted his nose in the air and sniffed, then smiled. "I think you know why I'm here. You have something or should I say someone that belongs to me." He looked past Jesse to the stairs. "Where is Lacey? I know she's here, I can smell her."

Jesse stiffened. "She's sleeping" he lied.

"Well then, I'll just take my sleeping beauty and be on my way" Cole said and tried to push past Jesse.

Jesse stood his ground and pushed Cole backwards. "You're not taking her anywhere" he said as Scotty, Devon and Tyron took up positions at his side while Trevor, Tonya and Kindal stood behind him, ready to back him up. "Lacey is staying here and you are leaving."

Cole chuckled at his brother's bravado. Faster than anyone had been expecting, he pushed Jesse with all of his strength. Jesse flew backwards, knocking his friends to the floor before finally hitting the wall by the stairs and falling to the floor.

Within seconds, all hell broke loose as Cole's men stormed into the warehouse and started fighting with Jesse's pack.

Lacey was sitting on the bed trying to pull herself together long enough to make it past Jesse and his friends without them seeing how much leaving was hurting her when she heard a loud crash from downstairs.

She ran from the room and looked over the railing of the stairs at the scene below her. Her breath caught in her throat at what she saw. The warehouse was filled with people and they were all fighting each other. But they weren't fighting like normal people. They were throwing each other across the room and jumping through the air to tackle one another. It was like something out of a movie. Lacey wanted to run back to her room and lock herself inside but she was too scared to move.

It wasn't until she saw someone she knew that she was able to get ahold of herself. Tonya was in the middle of the room fighting with another woman and Trevor was at her back battling his own group of attackers.

Lacey's eye's nearly popped from her head when she saw Tonya grab the woman by the throat and toss her across the room like she was a ragdoll. Surprisingly, the woman didn't land in a heap on the floor like Lacey had expected her to. Instead, she landed on her feet and charged toward Tonya again.

Lacey stayed at the top of the stairs and watched as everyone fought in the same way. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. But what she saw next nearly made her fall over the side of the railing.

One of the men she didn't know threw his head back and howled like a wolf. Then he ripped his shirt off like a madman and fell to the ground on his hands and knees. And in the time it took for her to blink, he changed into a wolf and charged at Devon.

Lacey held onto the railing to keep from falling over it as her head swam with dizziness. She couldn't have seen that. It wasn't possible. She kept telling herself that she was seeing things, that her headaches must have messed up her mind and she was hallucinating. But one by one, the other people changed into wolves as they fought.

Lacey flopped down on the stairs and closed her eyes as fear that she was finally losing her mind made her body tremble uncontrollably. She rocked back and forth on the top step and mumbled to herself. "This can't be happening. This can't be happening."

# Chapter Seven

"Give me the girl!" Cole yelled and grabbed Jesse by the throat and shoved him against the wall.

Cole's voice echoed across the room to Lacey. She looked around the warehouse and saw that the only people who hadn't turned into wolves were fighting in the farthest corner of the room. She immediately recognized Jesse and jumped up from where she as sitting when she saw that he was pushed up against the wall with the other man's hand around his throat. She couldn't see who his attacker was because he had his back to her, but she had a feeling that she already knew who he was. Cole.

Lacey screamed Jesse's name and both men looked at her. Jesse's face was full of fear as he shook his head at her. Cole smiled and released his grip on Jesse, letting him fall to the floor.

Lacey watched with fear as Cole slowly stalked toward the stairs. Toward her. She stared at him, unable to believe how much he looked like Jesse. Cole whistled loudly and all the wolves stopped fighting but kept their eyes on each other as if they were daring the other to make a move. Lacey didn't know what to do. She wanted to run but there was no point. There was no way she could make it out the door before either Cole or one of the wolves caught her.

"Lacey! Run!" Jesse yelled. She looked at him as he got to his feet and started after Cole. He ran and leapt through the air over Cole's head. He landed at the bottom of the stairs a few steps in front of Lacey and took a protective stance in front of her.

Cole laughed. "Get out of my way before you really piss me off" he said dismissively.

Jesse growled, sounding more animal than human, and backed up the stairs to stand closer to Lacey. "Stay away from her" he said through gritted teeth.

Cole followed him up the stairs. He narrowed his eyes at Jesse and clenched his jaw. "Don't make me kill you. I've put up with your interference in my business over the years. But don't push your luck with me. I want the girl and I will have her one way or the other."

Lacey held her breath as her body shook uncontrollably. She looked from Jesse to Cole. They looked so much alike that the only way she could tell them apart was the scar on Jesse's neck...just like he'd told her.

The brothers were at a standoff as they stared angrily at each other. Then Cole smiled and looked away. For a second, Lacey thought that he was going to give up and leave but then he raised his hand and one of the wolves jumped on a smaller one and bit into its back. The smaller wolf howled out in pain and changed into a woman before falling to the floor, naked. The other wolves all started to fight again but stopped when one of the wolves lowered his head to the woman and held its mouth open at the back of her neck like he was going to bite her again.

A lot of growls filled the room, reverberating off the walls. As Lacey watched what was going on, she was quickly able to see a difference in the wolves. They stayed together in two groups. One group was large, with about twenty or so wolves and the other was small with only five wolves. The smaller group was trying desperately to get to the woman lying on the floor but they were being held off by the larger group.

It wasn't until Lacey was able to see through the group of wolves to the woman, that she knew who it was. Her red hair splayed across the floor all around her.

"Tonya!" Lacey screamed.

Cole looked at Lacey with a cocky smile. "Come with me or she dies."

Tonya lifted her head from the floor and Lacey saw the fear on her face and in that moment, her mind went to Cindy. Her eyes started to water. She had already lost one friend, she wasn't about to lose another.

Lacey let go of the hold on her powers. The wolves standing over Tonya lifted into the air and flew across the room, slamming into the wall. As they fell to the floor, more took their place over Tonya. Lacey forced them away the same way she did the first ones. All the wolves stopped what they were doing and stared at each other, trying to figure out what was happening. Some growled while others whimpered, like they were afraid.

"Get out!" Lacey yelled at them.

At the sound of her voice, Jesse turned around to see Lacey's body trembling, like she was struggling with an unseen force. The look on her face scared him. She was staring at the wolves, her face hard with concentration, her brows furrowed angrily. He reached for her only to be stopped by his brother.

Cole grabbed him and tried to push him over the railing. Lacey turned her attention to Cole and threw him backwards down the stairs. He quickly got up and started up the stairs again but she knocked him back down. The wolves resumed their fighting and Lacey took out her anger and fear on them all.

One by one, she threw them across the room. They hit the wall, fell to the floor, jumped back up and charged toward her again. It was an endless cycle that was draining her of energy. But she didn't stop. Ignoring the blood that was dripping from her nose, she put more force behind each attack. She sent the wolves crashing into each other as well as into the walls.

Cole stayed at the bottom of the stairs, watching Lacey. He was in complete awe of her. Everything about her fascinated him. He had never in his life met a woman like her and he wanted her more now than ever.

Growing weaker with every passing second, Lacey knew that she couldn't keep up her strength much longer. She needed them to leave. She glared at Cole. "Get out or I will kill you all!" she yelled.

He didn't respond. He just stared at her in amazement.

"Now!" she screamed and forced the doors open with her mind. Some of the wolves ran out while others had to be thrown out.

Jesse stood a couple feet from Lacey. He had never seen anyone do what she was doing. It didn't seem possible that she was responsible for the pile of unconscious wolves against the wall. She began to sway on her feet and Jesse reached out to steady her. As soon as he touched her, he was immediately knocked backwards into the wall.

Lacey looked at him as the blood dripping from her nose became a steady, nonstop flow over her lips and down her chin. Her eyes were red and glassy. She turned away from Jesse and focused on the wolves still in the room.

She tried to toss them out but her strength was waning fast. They barely moved a few feet. Cole noticed how weak Lacey was getting and took the opportunity to try and get close to her. Before she knew what Cole was doing, he charged up the stairs and knocked Jesse over the rail. He fell twenty feet to the floor.

Lacey screamed and looked over the rail in horror. Jesse was sprawled out on the floor, completely motionless.

Cole grabbed Lacey by the arm and tried to pull her down the stairs. She was weak and her vision was getting blurry and her head felt like it was going to explode. She tried to pull away from him but he was too strong. She forced all the strength she had left into one final attack. Cole dropped her arm as he was forced backwards, down the stairs.

He jumped up and started towards her again but stopped when she screamed out loud and grabbed her head. Lacey screamed so loud that everyone in the warehouse froze and looked at her. She swayed on her feet then slumped down onto the stairs. All the while, screaming as if someone was killing her. She wasn't used to using her powers so much and over the last couple of days she had used them more than she had in her entire life. And now she was paying the consequences for doing so.

Cole ordered the last of his pack to leave. He stood in the doorway, unable to take his eyes off of Lacey. He wanted to know what was causing her pain. But Jesse was starting to move on the floor. It was just a matter of time before he was going to be up and ready to fight again.

Trevor moved toward the door, still in his wolf form and growled at Cole. He looked down at the sandy brown wolf and smirked. "This isn't over" he said and walked out.

Jesse's pack quickly shifted back into their human forms and secured the warehouse so that Cole and his pack couldn't come back in. Jesse got to his feet and hurried up the stairs to Lacey. The look of pain on her face made his chest ache.

"Lacey, what's wrong? Tell me what to do to help you!" he yelled but she didn't answer him. She just gripped her head harder with her hands and squeezed as tears flowed down her face.

Jesse scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his room where he laid her down on the bed. He didn't know what else to do. She was obviously in pain but he didn't know how to help her. He anxiously paced the floor by the bed, his eyes never left her face as she continued to cry out. Tonya and Scotty ran into the room.

"What's wrong with her?" Scotty had to shout over the screams.

"I don't know" Jesse yelled back.

Tonya ran over to the bed and sat down beside Lacey. She tried to calm her down by talking to her and wiping the blood from her nose and mouth.

"Pills!" Lacey said through gritted teeth. "I need pain pills!"

Scotty ran into the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet. He came back with a worried look on his face. "We don't have anything."

Jesse ran his hand down his face and stared at Lacey, feeling completely helpless. "My backpack!" she said in a strained voice.

He grabbed her bag from the dresser and dumped everything out, then picked up the bottle of extra strength pain reliever and opened it. Scotty ran back to the bathroom to get a glass of water.

Jesse offered Lacey two pills. She shook her head and grabbed the bottle from him. She poured eight pills into her hand and swallowed them before he could stop her. He snatched the bottle away from her. "Damn it Lacey, what are you trying to do? Kill yourself?"

"Get out!" she yelled as Trevor walked in the room. He looked at Tonya and nodded for her to leave. The chair in the room started shaking as did several other items, including the bed Lacey was lying on.

Jesse looked at Scotty and Trevor. "We need to take her to the hospital."

"I'll get the jeep ready" Scotty said and ran from the room.

"No!" Lacey screamed. "The pain will stop soon. Just leave me alone!"

Jesse reached for her, to pull her up from the bed but before he could touch her, she screamed as another pain hit. Jesse and Trevor were sent flying out of the room. They crashed into the wall outside the door and Lacey used the very last of her strength to shut and lock the door behind them.

Trevor and Jesse slid down the wall to the floor. Trevor sat up and glared angrily at Jesse. "What the hell have you gotten us into?"

Jesse ignored him and stared at the bedroom door. He wanted to go back inside with Lacey. He jumped up and reached for the doorknob. Trevor grabbed his arm. "Answer me, Jesse! Who the hell is she? And how did she force us out without even touching us?"

Jesse shook his head. "I don't know. All I know is that she is human."

"Human my ass. You better find out who and what she is before we all end up dead. Were you paying attention to what she did downstairs? She could probably kill us all if she wanted to" Trevor said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"She's not going to hurt us!" Jesse yelled.

"She sure as hell better not" Trevor said before storming off.

Jesse leaned against his bedroom door as his friends words went through his mind. Trevor had every right to be scared of Lacey. What she was capable of wasn't normal but Jesse didn't think for one second that she would do anything to hurt him or his friends. He wasn't blind to the fact that she didn't react until she saw Tonya lying on the ground. It was then that she exploded with power. He didn't know how she did it, but she had saved them all.

*****

It seemed like an eternity passed before Lacey finally stopped screaming and the room got silent. Jesse grabbed the door handle and gave it a quick jerk. A locked door was no match for a werewolf's strength. The door cracked at the frame and he gently pushed it open.

Silently, he crossed the room to the bed and looked down at Lacey. She was sound asleep and probably would be for a while considering how many pain relievers she had taken. Jesse knelt down by the bed and watched her sleep as emotions he hadn't felt in a very long time consumed him.

He had an overwhelming need to keep Lacey safe and to keep her with him. But that was ridiculous. He knew that she couldn't be with him, no matter how much he might want her. She was human and he was a werewolf and he had made a vow years ago that he would never get involved with a human. It went against everything he believed in. But looking at Lacey now, he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to hold her in his arms. And to brush his lips across hers.

Jesse was completely lost in thought about things he shouldn't be thinking when someone tapped gently on the wall by the door. He looked up to see Kindal standing in the doorway. "Is she alright?"

Jesse sat down in the chair by the bed and shrugged. "I don't know. She was in so much pain."

Kindal entered the room and sat down on the bed beside Lacey. She tilted her head to the side to get a good look at her. "She's very pretty. I see why you like her."

"Yes, she is. But I'm not interested in her like that" Jesse lied. "I'm just trying to keep her safe from Cole. God only knows what he plans on doing with her."

Kindal raised her brows like she didn't believe him. "Uh huh...whatever you say. But just so you know, I think she likes you too. I saw it in her eyes when we were all together in the kitchen. The way she looks at you, it's clear that she likes you."

Jesse wished that he didn't feel anything about what Kindal said, but he did. Hearing that Lacey liked him, made him happy. It made him feel like he had butterflies in his stomach and it made him want her even more. And that made him disappointed in himself. He knew better than to fall for a human. He gave Kindal a hard look. "She's human Kindal, and I'm not. End of story."

Kindal got up and walked over to the door. "She may be human but she's just as strong if not stronger than us. And after what happened today, she knows our secret and you know the rules. If a human finds out what we are, we have to either change them or kill them. So I'm guessing the part about her being human won't be an issue much longer. That is unless you're choosing option number two for her. I think it would be a waste to kill her. We could definitely use another female around here. And if you don't want her, I'm pretty sure Scotty does."

Jesse jumped up from his chair. "No! We are not going to kill her" he whispered roughly and looked at Lacey with sad eyes. "But I won't change her either. And as for Scotty, he better stay away from her."

Kindal started toward Jesse with her hands on her hips. "You have to change her! She saw us shift. And Cole and his pack know that she did. Word is bound to get around that she knows our secret and when it does, we're going to have a whole lot more than just Cole's pack beating on our door. You have to face the fact that the life she had before she came here is over. You can either give her a new future and change her or get yourself killed by trying to protect her from our entire species. But leaving her human is not an option."

Jesse closed his eyes for a minute before giving Kindal the saddest look that she had ever seen on him. "I'm not my brother. I can't take away her humanity and turn her into an animal. I know what that does to humans and I won't do that to her."

Kindal's face softened. She knew that he was talking about his mom. She felt sorry for him and the pain she knew he still carried around with him over her death. But his decision to leave Lacey human was a mistake and she had to make him understand that.

Lacey moved on the bed and Jesse sat down beside her. Kindal touched his shoulder. "We'll talk later" she whispered before leaving the room.

Lacey tossed in her sleep a few more times before finally settling down. Jesse moved back to his chair and tried not to think about what Kindal said, but it was useless. He knew that she was right, but even so, it didn't change his mind. He was not going to change Lacey and he wasn't going to let anyone else change her or hurt her in any way.

*****

Cole charged through the door of his packs hangout. He was furious at how things went down at Jesse's. Zack came from behind him, smiling. "Don't worry about it, Boss. We'll get the girl. Sooner or later, she has to leave that warehouse and when she does, we'll get her."

Cole growled and grabbed him by the throat and tossed him across the room. "Stop brown-nosing me and stay the hell out of my way. What makes you think that you can address me the way you've been doing over the last couple of days? You haven't earned enough of my respect to have that honor, newbie. And as far as Lacey is concerned, you better not go near her."

Zack landed on one of the mattresses in the corner. He jumped up ready to fight back but was quickly put in his place when Kevin stepped in front of him and growled, "don't even think about it, asshole. You go near Cole and I'll kill you myself."

Zack glared at him with hatred then reluctantly backed down. He flopped down on the mattress and smiled. "I would never go against Cole. He's our alpha." He tried his best to keep the disgust from his voice as he spoke.

Kevin stared at him. He didn't believe a word that came out of his mouth. He could see through Zack's false loyalty even if no one else could. It was clear that he didn't like following rules or being told what to do. He had the attitude of someone hoping to rule his own pack and Kevin was going to make sure that never happened.

"Kevin" Cole called and nodded to the back room.

Kevin gave one last look to Zack. "I'll be keeping my eye on you" he said before following Cole into the other room.

"I want Lacey! I don't care how we do it, but we have to get her away from Jesse's pack" Cole said as he paced the floor.

Kevin leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and tried to come up with a plan. Slowly, a menacing smile crossed his face. "I think I know how we can get to her."

"How?"

"We're going to use your brother to our advantage."

Cole raised his brows. "And just how do you suggest we do that?"

Kevin walked across the room as a plan formed in his mind. "She seems to trust Jesse. She already chose him over you. He wasn't the one that she sent flying across the room." He chuckled.

Cole growled and Kevin held his hands up in defense. "Just hear me out, Zack was right about one thing, she has to come out of the warehouse sooner or later. And when she does, we'll have our chance."

Cole wasn't sure how Jesse fit into whatever plan Kevin was coming up with but he decided to listen to him. Any plan was better than none.

# Chapter Eight

Cole and Kevin came out of the room with a plan they were sure was infallible. "Get everything ready. We'll wait a few days before going after her again but next time I want us to be prepared" Cole said.

Kevin nodded and left to get started on their preparations. He walked past Sasha, who was leaning against the wall outside of one of the other rooms a few doors down. She smirked at him. "Looks like the little human outsmarted you again. Perhaps, I should try my luck with her."

Kevin ignored her and kept walking. Cole pointed his finger at her. "I told you, I don't want you anywhere near her."

Sasha smiled and sashayed over to him. She got in his face and before Cole could push her away, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, crushing her mouth to his. She bit down on his bottom lip and he pushed her away.

Laughing, she said, "I bet that little girl won't be able to handle you the way I can."

Cole wiped the blood from his lip and growled at her. "Don't piss me off, Sasha. I'm not in the mood for your games. You might be able to take on most of the men in this pack but we both know you won't win against me. Just do as you're told and stay out of my business." He walked off, leaving Sasha staring at his back.

"I won't be replaced by a human" she mumbled and stormed off in the opposite direction from Cole. There was no way in hell she was going to let Lacey live and be by Cole's side. He was hers and she was going to do whatever she had to in order to get him back. And the first thing on her list was to kill the little human he seemed to want so badly.

*****

Lacey forced her heavy lids open and tried to focus her vision. The first thing she saw was Jesse asleep right beside her in the bed. It took a minute for everything that happened to come back to her and when it did, she sprung up from the bed and backed into the corner, never taking her eyes off of Jesse.

Her movements woke him up and he looked at her. "Lacey? Are you okay?" he asked in a sleepy voice as he rubbed his eyes.

Lacey looked around the room frantically. Her eyes landed on the door. Jesse immediately sensed that something was wrong. She looked terrified. He got out of bed and walked toward her.

"Stop!" Lacey yelled. "Don't come any closer, Jesse. I don't want to have to hurt you."

He stopped and gave her a pleading look. "Lacey...please don't be afraid of me. I know that you're scared about what you saw...but I would never hurt you."

She stared at him. "What the hell are you?"

Jesse frowned. "I could ask you the same thing. But to answer your question, I'm a werewolf and so was everyone you saw...including my brother."

Lacey's mouth dropped open a moment before she let out a half nervous, half hysterical laugh. She was so confused and her mind was so messed up that she wasn't even sure whether or not she was actually awake. "You're a werewolf. Right. And I'm the wicked witch of the east. Now can we please get back to reality? If I'm dreaming, please wake me up. I don't like this dream. This can't be real." Her whole body trembled as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms nervously.

Jesse took a few steps toward her and held out his hand. Lacey cringed further into the corner. He hated seeing her so confused and scared. "You know it is, Lacey. You saw it for yourself. You saw those men shift into wolves. I know it's a lot to take in, but I have to tell you that I'm just as shocked by you as you are of me."

Lacey narrowed her eyes at him and held her head up straight but didn't say anything. She wasn't ready to talk about her powers, not until she found out more about him first.

"I saw what you did last night. We all did. You're different from normal humans" Jesse said.

Lacey let out a girlish chuckle and nodded her head. "You can say that again."

Jesse took a few more steps toward her and eased his hand around hers and squeezed it slightly. He gave her such a gentle smile that he succeeded in calming her nerves just a bit. She let him pull her from the corner and lead her back to the bed. She sat down then scooted away when Jesse sat down beside her.

"Please talk to me. Tell me what's going on with you, Lacey. Why were you in so much pain?" he asked.

Lacey pulled her hand from his and shook her head. "No...I don't want to talk about me. I want to know about you. I want to know how everything I saw last night is possible." Images from the fight came back to her and she squeezed her eyes shut to force them away. She was having a hard time believing what she saw. Things like werewolves didn't exist, but she couldn't deny what she saw. When she opened her eyes again, she looked at Jesse, her blue eyes caught his and held them.

Jesse tensed at the look on her face. She looked like she was about to break down from the stress and fear of everything. He wanted to pull her into his arms and make her feel safe. But he stopped himself, the last thing he needed was to get close to her.

"How did you become a...werewolf?" Lacey asked in a small voice.

Jesse chuckled at the way she said werewolf. "I was born this way."

Lacey looked away. "Do...do you hurt people? I mean...when you're a wolf."

Jesse thought about her question and how he was going to answer it. He didn't want to scare her any more than she already was but she needed to know the truth about his kind. "No, I don't hurt people and neither do my friends downstairs. Most of us are decent people just trying to fit in and live our lives. But there are some who do kill humans. They hunt them for sport. The humans that aren't killed during the hunt are changed."

"What do you mean they're changed?" Lacey asked.

Jesse looked away, not wanting to see the horror on her face as he answered. "They're changed into one of us" he paused, "a bite from a werewolf while in animal form changes the human."

Lacey gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "That's horrible."

"Yes, it is" Jesse agreed. "My friends and I try to save as many humans as we can but there is only so much we can do." He sounded frustrated.

Lacey looked at him as understanding finally hit her. "Your brother...Cole. He's one of the ones that hunt humans. That first night I met him, he was hunting me, wasn't he? Is that why he wants me now, because I got away?"

Jesse shook his head. "That might have something to do with it. But I think he wants you because of what you can do. He probably thinks he can use you somehow. Your talent is extremely unique. And I'm sure he's interested in it."

"My talent? Don't you mean my curse?" Lacey said with disgust and rolled her eyes. "A talent is something you should be proud of and I can assure you, I'm not proud of what I can do. My talent as you call it has brought me nothing but pain and anguish. Not even my own parents could stand to be around me. My father left when I was four. And my mother has been afraid of me my whole life. I was born with the ability to move things with my mind, do you know how weird that is?" She sighed. "I've been an outcast since the day I was born. The only people who aren't afraid of me are the ones that want to study me like I'm some kind of lab rat. And all I want is to be normal."

"What about the nose bleeds and the headaches? Are you sick?"

Lacey shook her head. "I don't know. The nose bleeds started about six months ago. And the headaches only started a few weeks ago, but they're getting worse every time I have one. The only time I have either is when I use my powers. I guess they're getting worse now because I'm using my powers a lot more than usual."

"Have you been to a doctor to see what's wrong?"

Lacey jumped up from the bed. "No! I hate doctors and hospitals. Whatever is wrong with me will go away on its own. It's probably just stress." Even as she said the words, she didn't believe them. She knew that something was wrong with her and she was starting to get really scared. She was getting weaker and more fatigued every day. But there was no way she was ever going to go back to a hospital.

"Why are you so afraid of hospitals?" Jesse pressed.

Lacey gave him a hard stare before answering. "Let's just say I haven't had good experiences with them. But enough about me. It's your turn to answer some questions. Assuming that I haven't completely lost my mind and everything that I saw was real...werewolves apparently exist. How was everyone able to change into wolves? It was the middle of the day when they showed up here. I thought you'd need a full moon or something."

Jesse smiled. "We're not really werewolves. That's just a name we've kinda adopted because of all the Hollywood hype. We're shapeshifters. We can change at will. The moon has no control over us whatsoever."

Lacey plopped down in the chair by the bed and pouted her lips. "That sucks. So basically, Cole can hunt people whenever he wants. He's not limited to certain times that he can do it."

Jesse lowered his head and said in a sad tone, "Unfortunately no, he's not."

Lacey was quiet for a while after that. She didn't know else what to say. Knowing that people were being murdered by a psycho who could change into a wolf, put her at a loss for words. It made her feel like she was trapped in a horror movie.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Jesse asked.

Lacey let out a small chuckle. "Why not, you've answered all my questions."

"Who is Cindy? A few times in your sleep, you started crying and saying her name."

Lacey immediately froze up and gave him a hard stare. A small pain hit her in the chest at the mention of Cindy's name. "She...she was my friend. I met her when I first got here and she let me stay with her." Lacey looked away and wiped a tear from her eye before it could roll down her cheek. "She's dead. Someone killed her two days ago."

"I'm so sorry" Jesse said as he brushed Lacey's hair behind her ear, rubbing the side of her face with his hand in the process. She looked in his eyes and saw the compassion in them and before she could stop herself, she flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. She had been trying so hard to be brave and handle everything: being a runaway, Cindy's death, the fact that people could change into animals, and knowing that there was something seriously wrong with her, but she wasn't strong enough to deal with everything on her own anymore. She wanted someone to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. She held onto Jesse as tightly as she could while her tears flowed.

Jesse rubbed her back and tried to comfort her. "It's alright, Lacey. You're safe and everything is going to be okay."

She pulled back and looked at him with red tear filled eyes. She tried to speak though the sob building in her throat. "I'm sorry. I don't normally cry. I'm more of the keep everything to myself type, at least I used to be. But I'm not strong enough to deal with all of this. People are dying, others are turning into big dogs and I'm being pursued by a man that probably wants to chain me in his basement and make me use my powers to hurt people. I can't go to the police for help because then I'll be sent back to my parents and my stepdad will have me committed to the mental hospital again, I feel like I'm dying and I think I'm falling for a guy who isn't even human. I am so messed up" she babbled and dropped her head back to his shoulder.

Jesse continued rubbing her back. He'd heard everything she said but his mind was stuck on the part about her falling for some guy. He couldn't help but hope she was talking about him even though he knew they couldn't be together. There was a war going on inside him. The rational part of him knew that he should keep his distance. It was safer for Lacey that way. But another part of him wanted to wrap her up in his arms and keep her like that forever.

Jesse had never felt any kind of connection with a woman before. He'd had plenty of women in his lifetime, but he never felt anything for them. His reasons for being with them were the same as theirs for being with him...primal need. They'd both get what they wanted and move on. It was the way he preferred things, no emotional attachment. But now he was breaking his own rule. He rested his head on top of Lacey's. Just holding her in his arms felt like heaven to him and it was hard to let go, but for both their sakes, he did.

After a few minutes, he gently pushed Lacey back and stepped away from her. She looked at him, her eyes met his and without thinking, she closed the distance between them and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you...for everything: saving me, bringing me here and for just being nice to me" she whispered then looked away shyly.

Jesse was caught off guard by her actions. His heart raced in his chest. He knew he should say something but he didn't know what to say. He couldn't get past the fact that Lacey had kissed him. You'd think it was his first time ever being kissed by a girl the way he was standing there, staring at her all tongue-tied. Heat flushed to his cheek where Lacey's lips had touched him, making the spot seem extra sensitive. His eyes dropped to her mouth, the urge to kiss her almost made him quiver in his resolve to stay away from her. He raised his hand and rested it on the side of her face. "You don't have to thank me for anything." The desire in his voice was hard to hide.

Lacey smiled at him and before she could talk herself out of it, she leaned in and kissed him again. This time, more passionately. Her lips brushed gently over his, making his body tense up so badly that he felt like a statue. Jesse fought hard not to give in to her kiss, but his restraint was at its breaking point. She touched her soft lips to his once more and that was all it took. Ignoring the tiny voice in his head that told him to run out of the room, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her closer.

Lacey wrapped her arms around Jesse's neck as their kiss deepened. She never expected her first kiss to be so rough, but she liked it. Or maybe it was just that she liked Jesse so much that she didn't care about how rough he was. As they kissed, he pushed her back toward the bed. She fell, pulling him down on top of her.

Jesse growled low in the back of his throat. The passion and desire building in him was too strong to push away. No one, human or werewolf had ever made him feel the way Lacey did. What was it about her that ignited so much emotion within him? He looked down at her hoping to find the answer. Her lips were swollen and red from their kiss, her eyes still glassy from crying, she looked so human. The thought froze him in place. Human. She's human. Those words repeated over and over in his mind, causing his body to stiffen. Lacey tried to kiss him again and he shook his head. With a heavy heart, Jesse pushed himself up from the bed.

Lacey looked hurt. "What's wrong?" she asked and reached for him again but he moved farther away from her.

Jesse ran his hand through his jet black hair and let out a deep breath. "We can't do this, Lacey. It's not right. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. I'm not like you, I'm not human" he said the words like they caused him pain.

"I know what you are, Jesse. And I still like you."

"You don't even know me. How can you say that you like me?"

"True, I don't know as much as I'd like to know about you, but I do know that you've saved my life twice. You brought me into your home and have treated me with nothing but respect. You didn't run away from me when you saw me use my powers and you haven't made me feel like I'm a freak for having them in the first place. Already you've treated me better than anyone else ever has in my life."

Hearing Lacey talk like that made Jesse angry. Just the idea of anyone mistreating her made him want to go out and beat the hell out of everyone who had ever been mean to her. But it was just that kind of thinking that made him understand he was getting too close to her. And he couldn't let that happen.

"Lacey, I'm sorry that you've had a hard life. But you can't go around trusting every person who shows you a little kindness. The world is full of people who lead misleading lives. People are very rarely who and what they say they are. I was doing my job when I saved you. I save humans from my brother's pack and other's like his all the time. But I never get involved with the humans that I save. You're a nice girl but I'm not interested in you like that."

Lacey looked like she was about to cry again but she sucked it up, not wanting Jesse to see how much his rejection hurt her. "Then why did you kiss me?"

Jesse walked over to the door. He hesitated before opening it. "That was a mistake and it won't happen again."

Lacey wanted to scream. She didn't think their kiss was a mistake. It was the first time anyone had ever kissed her and it obviously meant more to her than it did to him but she wasn't going to let him know that. Instead she held her head high and acted like it was nothing. "Fine then...Do all werewolves feel the same way about human girls as you do?" she asked.

Jesse paused in the doorway, not really wanting to answer her question. "No. It's just my personal preference. Most of my kind don't have a problem with dating and sometimes even marrying human women. But I think they're wrong for doing so."

He started to tell her that those human women were the unlucky ones because they always ended up losing their human lives because once a shifter falls for a human woman, the change is forced upon her. Whether she wants to become a werewolf or not doesn't matter. That's what happened to his mother and that's why he will never do that to anyone else. Jesse closed his eyes for a second and brought up an image of his mother the last time he saw her before she died. She looked so sad and defeated. He could never do that to anyone. He gave Lacey one last look before leaving the room.

Lacey stared at the door feeling more hurt than she'd felt in a long time. She wasn't used to letting people get close to her but she had let her guard down for Jesse. And to have him turn away from her, hurt more than she wanted to admit. She sat on the bed for a while berating herself for being stupid enough to think that someone like him would have been interested in her. At first, she was sad but after a while she became angry.

Angry that Jesse didn't think she was good enough for him, angry for not thinking better about herself and angry that she had never put any effort into finding someone who would want her. She didn't want to live the rest of her life alone. She wanted to find a man that could accept her for who she was and love her. And if Jesse didn't want to be that man, then she needed to forget about him and the stupid crush she had on him and move on. And she knew just the person to move on with.

She got up and grabbed her backpack from the dresser and went into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. So what if Jesse didn't want her, she was still going to show him what he was missing out on. She didn't care that what she was about to do was childish, and completely unlike her. Her pride was hurt and she needed to get back at Jesse.

*****

"Kindal told me that you don't plan on changing Lacey" Trevor said as soon as Jesse sat down on the couch beside him.

Jesse glanced at him from the corner of his eye. He was not in the mood to talk about anything at the moment, especially not Lacey. His feelings for her were affecting him in a way that he couldn't think about anything but her. And that wasn't good. "No, I'm not and that's all I'm going to say on the subject."

Trevor furrowed his brow and glared at him. "You don't have a choice, Jesse. If you won't change her then I will. She can't stay human, she knows too much about us."

"I don't care how much she knows! I am not changing her and neither are you!" Jesse yelled and brought his fist down hard on the arm of the couch. "This discussion is over."

Everyone in the room turned to look at him. Devon and Tyron abandoned their game of poker to watch him and Trevor. Tonya glanced over from the kitchen where she was cooking. And Scotty stayed quietly in the chair across from them. It was a rare occasion for Jesse to raise his voice at anyone in the pack and it took them all by surprise, all except for Trevor.

He jumped up from the couch and stood in front of Jesse. "What the hell is going on with you? Do you know the kind of danger you're putting us all in? It's bad enough that we have your brother wanting to kill us to get to the girl, but if you don't change her then we'll have our entire species gunning for us to get to her. One way or the other, she's going to either be changed or killed." He sighed and let out a deep breath, "the choice is yours."

Hard lines creased Jesse's forehead. His jaw muscles clenched as he ground his teeth together. He opened his mouth to say something then closed it without saying a word. He lowered his head and shook it from side to side. His expression and voice softened. "I can't let it happen. I'm sorry."

Trevor sat down on the edge of the coffee table and lowered his voice. "This is about your mother, isn't it? What happened to your mom won't happen to Lacey."

Jesse looked at him. "This has nothing to do with my mother. She was a good person" he said through gritted teeth.

Trevor nodded. "Yes, she was. But she never accepted what your father turned her into. She didn't want to be one of us. She wasn't happy and she made the decision to end her own life. I don't think the same thing will happen with Lacey, she's a very strong-willed girl and she already has an advantage that your mother didn't have. She knows what we are and she's still here, willingly. Your mother didn't know about shifters until after your father changed her."

Jesse shook his head. "Maybe you're right, maybe you're not. But it doesn't matter, it's just not right to take a human from their world and throw them into ours. Being a shifter is hard enough for those of us born into this life, it's nearly impossible for humans to make the transition successfully, without losing who they really are. Just look at Cole's newbies. Most of them were probably good people when they were human, but the power and urges of the wolf changed them. And now they are just as cold-hearted and ruthless as Cole. I won't do that to Lacey or anyone else."

Trevor lowered his head and stayed quiet. It was pointless to try and convince Jesse to change Lacey and he knew it. The reality of the situation was that he was going to have to go against his oldest and dearest friend and change her himself because he wasn't going to put his mate or anyone else in the pack in danger just so Lacey could stay human. He left Jesse on the couch and went to talk to Tonya.

Everyone in the room resumed what they had been doing before the argument began. Jesse felt relieved that Trevor wasn't going to push the subject any further. He looked over at Scotty, who for the first time ever, wasn't smiling. "What?" Jesse asked him.

"Nothing...I just think you're making a mistake. I mean, I like Lacey too and I don't want her to get hurt either but changing her really is the best thing to do."

Jesse shook his head. "Yeah, well I didn't ask for your opinion."

Scotty raised his brows and started to say something but stopped when he saw Lacey coming down the stairs. His eyes widened and his mouth nearly dropped open as he stared at her.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Jesse asked before turning around to see Lacey. The second he saw her, he felt as if someone had knocked the air out of him. She looked amazing with her black hair curled around her soft face. Her lips were painted a seductive shade of red and the outfit she was wearing, almost made him howl. The tight black miniskirt and red razor-back tank top accentuated her body in all the right places. She looked more like a woman than a scared, fragile teenage girl.

Jesse noticed everyone in the room looking at her. The interest on Devon, Tyron and Scotty's faces really pissed him off. He jumped up from the couch and stormed over to the stairs ready to march Lacey back up to his room so that she could put something else on. He reached for her arm but she pulled it away from him.

"Lacey, what are you doing?" Jesse whispered with a hint of anger.

She raised her brows and smiled. "What do you care?" she said and walked past him and over to where Scotty was sitting.

# Chapter Nine

Jesse watched as Lacey strode over to where Scotty was sitting and knelt down beside his chair. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to drag her away from Scotty and back up the stairs so no one but he could look at her. He stood frozen at the bottom of the stairs trying his best to remain calm. Kindal came down the stairs and stopped beside him. She looked from Jesse to where Lacey and Scotty were talking. "Um, did I miss something? Why is Lacey talking to Scotty and not you? I thought when she asked me to help her with her hair and clothes that she wanted to impress you, not him."

Jesse curled his upper lip and snarled. "You dressed her like that? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was just trying to help. Lacey said that she wanted to look sexy so the guy she was interested in would notice her and since I thought she was talking about you, I helped her. I had no idea she was talking about Scotty." Kindal smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, you did say that you weren't interested in her. And I think they make a cute couple, don't you?" she asked playfully before walking away to join Scotty and Lacey where they were now listening to music in the corner of the warehouse with Devon and Tyron.

Jesse growled low in the back of his throat and stormed into the kitchen and flopped down in a chair at the table. He couldn't take his eyes off Lacey as she laughed and talked to Scotty. Tonya rested her hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine" he replied in a thick angry voice.

Tonya glanced over at Lacey. "Sure you are. Why don't you just go over and talk to her? I'm not even going to pretend to understand what's going on right now but I really don't think Scotty is who Lacey wants to talk to."

"Apparently, he is and I don't care. She's a human, as long as she's safe, I don't care who she's talking to..." Jesse paused and looked over at Lacey, "or hanging all over" he growled. The muscles in his jaw clenched and his brow furrowed in anger.

Tonya frowned when she saw Lacey wrap her arm around Scotty's waist and lay her head on his shoulder. She patted Jesse on the arm in a motherly gesture and walked out of the room to look for Trevor. She had a feeling things were about to get ugly.

Jesse tried not to notice what was going on in the corner. He didn't want Lacey to know that it bothered him that she was with Scotty. But every time she laughed, he couldn't help but look over at her. And every time he did, he got angrier and angrier. She was constantly touching Scotty. Either touching his arm or wrapping hers around his waist. And now Scotty was starting to touch her as well.

Devon put on one of his mixed cd's and turned the music up loud and started dancing.

Scotty smiled at Lacey. "How about a dance?"

She spared a glance in Jesse's direction. He was looking at her. She quickly looked away and smiled at Scotty, debating on how far she was going to take flirting with him. The fact that Jesse didn't seem bothered by her being with Scotty made her want to push it a little further. "I'd love to" she said with a smile.

Scotty took her hand in his and they started dancing. They talked and laughed with each other as they moved around the room, trying not to bump into Kindal and Devon as they danced wildly. After two fast paced songs passed, a slow song played. Scotty raised his brows in question and held his hand out to Lacey. She took it. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her close to his body.

Jesse couldn't take it anymore. He was so consumed with jealously that he wanted to rip Scotty's arms from their sockets just for touching Lacey. He jumped up from the table, knocking his chair over, and stormed over to where they were dancing. He grabbed Lacey by the arm and pulled her away from Scotty. He pointed his finger in Scotty's face, "Stay away from her and keep your damn hands to yourself" he growled.

Scotty smiled nervously and held his hands up in front of him. "Hey, we were just dancing, Jesse."

Kindal quickly turned the music off.

"The hell you were, you had your hands all over her!" Jesse accused.

"What do you care?" Lacey said from behind him. Jesse turned around to see her looking at him like she wanted to hit him. She was rubbing her arm where he had grabbed her. "You can't tell me what to do or who I can spend time with" she said as she came from behind him and stood beside Scotty. She wrapped her arm through his. She didn't really want to go to him but she wasn't about to let Jesse take away her independence and tell her what to do.

Jesse stared at their arms linked together and snarled. Before he could think better of it, he lunged at Scotty and punched him in the face. Lacey screamed and Scotty fell to the floor. Just then, Trevor ran into the room and grabbed Jesse from behind while Tonya took Lacey's hand and led her away from everyone and over to the stairs.

Jesse struggled to break free of Trevor's hold, the whole time throwing cuss words at Scotty.

"Stop this!" Trevor yelled. Jesse stilled and took a deep breath and looked around for Lacey. When he saw her, regret instantly filled him. She was scared. "I'm fine, let me go" Jesse said.

Trevor released him and Jesse looked at Scotty who was now back on his feet. "Stay away from her" he warned before walking off in a huff.

"What is your problem?" Lacey asked as Jesse walked over to her. He ignored her question and took her by the arm and started up the stairs. She struggled against him. "Let go of me!" she said and tried to pull her arm free, but he continued to pull her up the stairs anyway. Everyone in the warehouse looked away, showing that they weren't going to get involved.

Once at his room, Jesse opened the door and pushed Lacey inside. She stormed across the room and flopped down on the bed with her arms crossed over her chest. She watched Jesse pace the floor in front of the door, the veins in his arms protruded as he tightened his fists at his side. He looked really mad and Lacey was scared to say anything. This was definitely not the reaction she wanted from him. After a few tense minutes, Jesse stopped pacing and leaned back against the door.

"Don't ever do that again" he said, so low that it was almost a whisper.

"Don't do what?" Lacey asked in a falsely innocent voice.

Jesse narrowed his eyes at her and pushed himself away from the door. "You know damn well what you were doing. You were trying to make me jealous and it worked. Are you happy now? Because of you, I just struck a member of my pack."

Lacey jumped to her feet and put her hands on her hips. "So I wanted to make you jealous...that doesn't mean that I wanted you to hit Scotty. You did that all on your own buddy, so don't blame me for your temper."

Jesse stopped in front of her. It was clear that she was mad at him but he didn't care. All he cared about was that she was alone with him and not Scotty. Nothing else mattered. He reached out to touch her face and she moved away from him. He locked eyes with her and tried again. This time she let him touch her. He rubbed his thumb gently over her cheek then lowered his head to kiss her.

Lacey pushed him back. "Oh no you don't! You can't tell me that you don't want me then think I'm going to let you kiss me" she said in a cracked voice like she was trying hard not to cry. Emotionally, she was a wreck. He had hurt her with his earlier rejection and she had only added to her own distress by her juvenile antics with Scotty. Now she felt hurt and embarrassed. She tried to walk past Jesse to the door but he grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry" he whispered and lifted his other hand to her face to wipe away a tear as it slipped from her eye. "I didn't mean to hurt or scare you" he paused and let out a deep breath, "I do like you, Lacey. More than I should. But my feelings don't matter. We can never be together. It's just the way things have to be." The desperation in his voice was undeniable and Jesse knew even as he spoke the words that he wasn't going to be able to stay away from her much longer.

Lacey pulled her hand from his. "Then get out of my way and let me go back to Scotty" she said sarcastically and pushed past him. She had no intention of going back to Scotty but she had to get away from Jesse. She reached for the door and pulled it open. As soon as she did, Jesse reached around her and pushed it closed. She turned around and was face to face with him. His breath was warm on her cheeks. He was looking at her with an expression that she was getting used to seeing on his face...desire. It excited and angered her at the same time. Before she could say anything, Jesse crushed his lips to hers and pushed her back against the door.

Despite the turmoil of emotions swirling inside her, Lacey eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck and melted against his body as he kissed her. She had never wanted anyone the way she wanted Jesse. And the way he was kissing her, it was obvious that he wanted her too.

After a few heated minutes, Jesse broke from the kiss and looked down at Lacey with lust filled eyes. He knew at that moment he couldn't fight his feelings for her anymore. "The only man that will be touching you from now on... is me. If Scotty so much as looks at you again, he'll be eating through a straw from now on because I'll knock all of his teeth out."

Lacey smiled shyly. "You don't have to do that. I'm not interested in Scotty and he doesn't want me either. He was just doing me a favor. I asked him to flirt with me to make you jealous, now he may never speak to me again. You shouldn't have hit him."

"He got what he deserved. I don't want to talk about Scotty. I'll deal with him later" Jesse said and kissed her again. He knew he was making a huge mistake by giving into his feelings but he couldn't think about that. All he could think about with Lacey wrapped in his arms was how much he wanted her. He picked her up and carried her over to the bed, all the while never breaking from their kiss.

The familiar buzz of Lacey's powers went unnoticed as she wrapped herself in Jesse's arms. It wasn't until all hell broke loose that she realized what the goosebumps all over her body really meant.

*****

Trevor and Scotty were talking in the kitchen when they heard a loud crash from upstairs. They both ran up the stairs and stopped at the top. Neither of them could believe their eyes. The wooden door to Jesse's room was shattered and lying in pieces in the hall.

"What the hell?" Trevor said as he stepped over pieces of the door on his way to Jesse's room. He stood in the open doorway and stared into the room with his mouth open. Scotty joined him. His eyes grew wide with what he saw.

The room was completely destroyed. Clothes from the closet were scattered across the floor, all the drawers from the dresser were lying around the room, shattered into little pieces of wood just like the bedroom door. The flat screen television that Lacey had already damaged by cracking the screen was now in a heap on the floor.

Lacey was sitting in the middle of Jesse's bed. Her red lipstick was smeared across her face from kissing, and she looked terrified. Scotty looked around the room for Jesse. He found him hunched over on the floor against the wall by the bathroom door, rubbing his hand on the back of his head. Trevor walked past Scotty over to Jesse to check on him.

Scotty raised his brows at Lacey. "What the hell happened in here?" he asked.

Lacey started to say something but the trickle of blood from her nose stopped her. She quickly covered it with her hand and jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom. Jesse leapt to his feet when he saw the look of alarm on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked as she pushed past him into the bathroom.

"Nothing" she said and grabbed a washcloth from beside the sink.

Blood was seeping through her fingers. Jesse noticed and immediately became worried. He took the rag from her and moved her hands away from her face so that he could clean her up. "Hold your head back" he ordered.

Lacey did as she was told and after a few minutes, the blood flow slowed. But the tension on Jesse's face didn't ease up. He dropped the dirty cloth to the floor and grabbed another one and held it to her nose. He looked over his shoulder to Trevor and Scotty who were watching from the bedroom. "She's fine...we'll be downstairs in a little while" he said and tilted his head toward the door, hoping that they'd get the hint and leave them alone so he could talk to Lacey.

Trevor gave him a disapproving glare before following Scotty out of the room.

Once they were alone, Jesse looked at Lacey with concern. "I want to take you to the hospital."

Lacey pushed his hand that was holding the rag to her nose away and pushed past him out of the bathroom. "No" she said stubbornly.

Jesse followed her. "Lacey, I'm worried about you. I'm no expert on human biology but I do know that nosebleeds and headaches like you're having are not normal. I think you're sick." He looked away for a second, not wanting to meet her eyes because he didn't want her to see the fear in his.

"What is it? What aren't you telling me?" Lacey asked.

Jesse sighed and shook his head slightly. "There's something wrong with your blood. I can smell it. I don't know what it is, but it's not normal."

Lacey chuckled. "There's nothing about me that's normal. That doesn't mean that something is wrong with me" she said and wrapped her arms around his waist, hoping to ease his concern. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, wishing that she could make her own fear go away. She knew that Jesse was right, something was seriously wrong with her. She felt as if she was slowly losing strength and her fatigue was increasing. She kept telling herself that it was stress, after all she had been in a hell-of-a lot of stressful situations in the last week. But then she thought about the months before she ran away from home, the truth was she hadn't been feeling well for a while, ever since the headaches and nosebleeds began. But whatever was wrong with her, she prayed that it would heal itself because her fear of hospitals and doctors was preventing her from getting the help that she knew she needed.

Jesse kissed the top of her head, "Please, Lacey. Let me take you to the doctor."

"No!" She yelled and walked away from him.

"Lacey, be reasonable" Jesse pleaded.

She spun around and glared at him. She was getting frustrated that he wouldn't drop the issue. "I don't want to go to the hospital! I don't want to see a doctor and I don't want to have this conversation!" she yelled. Seeing the shock on Jesse's face at her outburst, she closed her eyes and let out an exhausted breath. When she opened her eyes, she pierced him with a heartbreaking look. "Please, promise me that no matter what, you won't ever take me to a hospital. I'm terrified of those places" she admitted.

Jesse wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. The true depth of her fear was written all over her face. He had no idea what had been done to her in the hospital that her parents sent her to and he hoped that he never found out, because if he did, he would probably kill everyone who hurt her. "I promise" he whispered in her ear even though his vow went against his better judgement. But he couldn't stand the thought of her living in fear that he was going to force her to go somewhere she didn't want to go.

A knock on the wall by the doorway caught their attention and they both looked to see Devon standing in the hall. "Jaden called..."

Jesse's lips set into a grim line. He nodded once as if he knew instantly what those two words meant. "Get everyone ready, I'll be down in a minute."

Devon turned to leave then stopped and smiled at Lacey. "I didn't believe Scotty when he told me what you did to the door." He looked around at the pieces. "Is there anything you can't destroy?"

She thought about it for a minute. "Maybe steel, I've never tried to use my powers on that before."

Devon chuckled. "Good to know. I'll make sure to stand behind something steel the next time you get pissed...or excited" he said and winked at her. She blushed and buried her face in Jesse's chest.

After Devon left, Jesse cradled Lacey's face in his hands and asked, "Are you sure that you're alright?"

"Yes, I'm sure." She didn't think the headache that was building in the back of her head was worth mentioning.

"Okay, well I have to go out for a while. I'll be back soon" Jesse said and went to the closet and pulled a big black bag from the corner. He dropped it on the bed and rummaged through it.

"Where are you going and who is Jaden?" Lacey asked.

"He's my informant. He lets me know when and where Cole has his hunts. And apparently, he's having one tonight."

"I'm going with you" Lacey said without hesitation and slipped her shoes on.

Jesse stopped what he was doing and stared at her. "Oh no, you're not. You're going to stay here with Tonya and Kindal. People die at these hunts and having you there will distract me from helping them. I need to know that you're safe so that I can do my job. And besides that, you're in no condition to help anyone. You look exhausted."

Lacey started to argue but stopped when Jesse held up his hand and shook his head. "This is not negotiable."

Realizing that she wasn't going to get her way, Lacey flopped down on the bed with her arms crossed over her chest. "How many people do they usually hunt in one night?"

Jesse could hear the disgust in her voice as she asked the question. He sat down beside her and squeezed her hand. "The numbers vary. It depends on how many people Sasha can round up. But it's usually no more than five or six." He sighed before continuing, "And of that number, we might be able to save one or two if we're lucky" he said sadly.

Lacey looked at him with sad eyes. "So at least three or four people are going to die tonight?"

Jesse frowned and nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. But I promise you that I'm going to save as many as I can."

Lacey suddenly felt overwhelmed by grief and sadness for the lives of those people she didn't even know, who were about to die for no other reason than someone's twisted idea of fun. "Please let me help. I can use my powers, I can save some of those people" she said in a cracked voice that gave hint to the tears she was fighting hard to keep at bay.

Jesse wrapped her in his arms. He hated seeing her upset but there was no way he could ever sacrifice her to save someone else. Her powers were hurting her whether she wanted to admit it or not, he knew it to be true and he wasn't going to let her use them. "I know that you want to help, but what do you think would happen if you get hit with another headache like before?" He waited for her to answer and when she didn't, he continued, "I'll tell you what would happen. I'll be so worried about you that I'll lose focus on what's going on around us and we could both be killed. You're powers are amazing, but they do have side effects. And whether you like it or not, those side effects make you a weakness instead of a strength to our rescue attempts."

Lacey wiped at a tear as it rolled down her cheek. She didn't want to admit it, but once again, he was right. "Alright" she whispered. "I'll stay here."

Jesse kissed her on the forehead before leaving the room to join the others. Lacey stayed in the room for a little while to pull herself together before going downstairs to talk with Tonya and Kindal.

*****

"You did a good job picking out our prey tonight" Cole said to Sasha as he walked down the line of five men and one woman on their knees in front of him.

He stopped in front of the woman. She was crying. He lifted her head with his finger and looked at her. "Crying won't help you human, only your wits will. If you're smart enough to evade us in our hunt tonight then I'll give you the most precious gift in the world, I'll make you one of us. If you're not, then your troubles will be over and you'll get to see your maker."

The woman busted out in another round of sobs. Cole smiled and stepped away from her. He raised his hands in the air to call everyone's attention. Forty or so werewolves in human form stood behind the line of humans. They looked to Cole, waiting for him to speak.

"Tonight, we hunt!" he yelled.

The crowd cheered and howled. Cole smiled and raised his hands up once more. The crowd silenced. "We have several humans tonight and I do hope that they give us a good hunt. I would love to increase our pack size. However, do not take it easy with them. Only the strongest should survive. And if my brother happens to interfere with our hunt tonight, don't take it easy on him either. Take him down a notch or two but don't kill him. If anyone deserves that honor, it's me. Feel free to take out as many of his pathetic pack as you wish."

Again, his pack cheered. Cole approached the humans once more and smiled menacingly. "I'm sure that Sasha has already told you the rules," he looked to her and she nodded. "Even so, I'll go over them with you again. The only rule is to survive. We are miles outside of town and the woods behind us are secluded so no one will hear you if you scream for help. You'll have a thirty minute head start. All you have to do is make it to the road about three miles through the woods. If you get caught then you'll have the chance to fight, if you win, you can join us. If not, well, it was nice knowing you. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

A few of the men cussed at Cole and the woman pleaded with him to let her go. Sasha grabbed her hair from behind and jerked her head back. "Stop your pathetic whining or I'll slit your throat right here and now" she snarled and held her switch blade against the woman's throat.

"Let her go, Sasha" Cole said with a chuckle. "She's only human. You can't expect her to have pride or dignity. Let her cry her eyes out if that's what she wants to do. It won't help her in the end."

Sasha released the woman and growled near her ear. "You're mine!"

The woman shivered as more tears rolled down her face.

Cole took a whistle from his pocket and held it to his lips. He blew into it and smiled at the humans. "I suggest you run. Your thirty minutes just started."

The humans jumped up from the ground and pushed their way through the crowd and ran into the woods. Cole's laugh echoed in the night behind them. One of the men looked over his shoulder before he stepped into the woods. He saw everyone taking off their clothes. Curiosity got the better of him and instead of following the others, he continued to watch Cole's pack. When they dropped to the ground and turned into wolves, he gasped and stared at them in shock. It took him a second to pull himself together, then he darted into the woods. There was no way he was going to survive the night and he knew it.

*****

Jesse knew he was getting close to the hunting site. He could hear howling and the scent of wolves was everywhere. He motioned for Devon and Tyron to enter the woods in a different direction from him and Trevor. Scotty went further down on his own.

They all slinked their way through the woods quietly. With Cole's pack being in wolf form, their hearing would be at its best. Whereas Jesse and his pack had to stay in human form if they were going to succeed in getting the humans to trust them enough to follow them to safety. Not being able to shift put them at a huge disadvantage when it came to protecting themselves.

Jesse and Trevor walked deeper into the woods. Jesse lifted his nose in the air and sniffed to try and catch the scent of the humans. The stench of fresh blood hit him and he followed it until he found the mutilated body of a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. His throat had been ripped out. Guilt over not being able to save the man hit Jesse hard and he thought about his promise to Lacey. Already, he was failing her.

Someone screamed and Jesse's head snapped in the direction that it came from. He gave the dead man on the ground one last look before running deeper into the woods towards the screams that were echoing through the trees.

Before he could get to whoever was screaming, the noise stopped and so did Jesse. There was no point in continuing, he knew that he would only find another dead body. Trevor touched his arm from behind and nodded in another direction. Jesse followed him and quickly picked up on what had caught Trevor's attention. He could hear the rapid beating of a human heart. They followed the faint sound until they found a man hiding in a tree about twenty feet above the ground.

Jesse stood under the branch that the man was sitting on and motioned for him to come down. The man looked down at him with a terrified expression and shook his head. It was obvious that he was scared out of his mind. He was clinging to the tree like it was his life line.

"I'm going to have to go up and get him" Jesse whispered.

Trevor nodded and kept watch around them as Jesse climbed up the tree with ease. Once on the branch with the man, Jesse held his hand out to him. "Come on, we have to get out of here" he whispered.

The man stared at him in shock. "Who...who are you?" he stuttered.

"I'm here to help you, now let's go before they find us."

Just then a howl rang out and it sounded close. The man looked in the direction that it came from then back to Jesse. "Okay...get me the hell out of here" he blurted.

There was no easy way to get him down so Jesse just grabbed his arm and jumped, pulling the man down with him. They both hit the ground at the same time, Jesse on his feet and the man in a crumpled heap. Jesse pulled him to his feet and pushed him toward Trevor. "Get him out of here!"

A woman screamed and Jesse and Trevor looked at each other.

"I'll go, you take him to safety" Trevor said and started in the direction of the woman's scream.

"No! You get him out of here and I'll help the woman" Jesse countered.

Trevor looked at Jesse for a second. He didn't like the idea of leaving him alone in the woods with Cole's pack around. But he had to get the human to safety so he nodded, grabbed the man's arm and tugged him through the woods back to the Jeep.

Jesse took off in hopes of saving the woman before it was too late. About two hundred yards from where he left Trevor, he stopped abruptly when he got close enough to see what was going on.

A small brunette woman was lying on the ground and Sasha was on top of her in wolf form. The woman's arms were bleeding and she was trying desperately to push Sasha off of her. Sasha caught Jesse's scent and looked up, leveling a death gaze at him. She growled out loud and snapped her jaws, warning him to back off.

"Sasha, don't do this. Just let her go" Jesse pleaded.

Sasha gave him what amounted to a wolves smile before biting down on the woman's throat. She shook her head, ripping the flesh open.

"No!" Jesse screamed as he closed the distance between them. He looked down at the woman as blood poured from her wound. His gut wrenched and he felt nauseous. He quickly looked away, unable to believe the cruelty he had just witnessed.

Racked with guilt over not saving the poor woman, Jesse let his guard down for a second, but that one second cost him. Out of nowhere, a large brown wolf rammed him in the side, knocking him to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Sasha running off in the opposite direction. He jumped to his feet and faced the wolf that had attacked him. It wasn't one that he knew so he figured it must be one of Cole's newbies.

The wolf charged at him again and Jesse leapt through the air over his attackers head. He hit the ground with a thud a few feet behind the wolf. He kicked its back legs out from under it and the wolf fell to the ground. Jesse then turned and tried to make a run for it but the wolf jumped up and bit down on his arm, ripping his flesh from the bone. Jesse howled out in pain and punched the wolf in the head. It immediately let go and backed away.

Unable to hold his human form any longer through the rage boiling inside him, Jesse's instincts kicked in and he ripped his shirt off and fell to the ground on all fours. His human skin gave way to thick black fur as his body shifted gracefully from one form to the other.

He threw his head back and howled in anticipation of a fight. Both wolves circled each other, looking for an opening to attack. Jesse saw his first. The brown wolf glanced over his shoulder for the tiniest of seconds when he heard a twig snap and Jesse charged him. He bit down on his opponent's front shoulder and jumped onto his back, digging his claws into flesh.

The brown wolf howled in pain and tried to buck Jesse off but he wouldn't budge. The sound of other howls getting closer caught Jesse's attention. He released his hold on the brown wolf and sniffed the air. The scent of wolves was getting thicker and thicker in the air and Jesse knew that he was minutes away from being surrounded by his enemies. He looked down at his attacker and gave a low growl before running out of the woods. His only thought all the way home was that none of his pack had been injured or worse, killed.

# Chapter Ten

Lacey had spent the last couple of hours grilling Tonya and Kindal about what it was like to be a werewolf and they had graciously answered her questions...all but one. After they told her who Sasha was and her connection to Cole, Kindal let it slip that very soon Lacey was going to have the same kind of connection to Jesse that Sasha and Cole shared because of the werewolf law. But when Lacey asked what she was talking about, Tonya interrupted Kindal by giving her a mean look and changing the subject.

Lacey thought it was strange for Tonya to react that way but she didn't give it much thought. She liked both women and didn't want to cause any problems with them. Kindal was quickly becoming someone that she could think of as a friend while Tonya was earning a more unusual place in her life.

Ever since Lacey was brought to the warehouse, Tonya had been waiting on her hand and foot. She had a gentle motherly aura about her and the fact that her red hair reminded Lacey of Cindy every time that she looked at her, caused conflicting emotions within her. On one hand, being reminded of Cindy made Lacey sad but on the other, the way Tonya tried to take care of and nurture her made her feel good. It also made her wish that her own mother had been as loving.

Lacey glanced at the door of the warehouse, hoping that at any moment Jesse was going to walk in. She was enjoying her time with the women but she was still worried about him. Tonya noticed Lacey looking at the door and tried to divert her attention to something else. She had been doing that most of the night. Every time Lacey looked at the door, Tonya would start a conversation about a new topic and ask her opinion. It was obvious that she was just trying to keep Lacey distracted and she loved her for it.

A little while later, the door to the warehouse flung open and Scotty and the cousins walked in. Devon had the limp body of a young man in his arms. Tonya and Kindal jumped up and within seconds the whole place was in chaos.

Tonya was questioning Scotty about what had happened and Kindal was running around trying to find the first aid kit to help stop the bleeding on the man's neck. And Devon and Tyron were arguing over whether or not they should have just left him in the woods because he was injured so badly.

Lacey stayed back and watched quietly, not wanting to get in anyone's way. The door suddenly opened again and Trevor walked in with another young man coming in behind him. Tonya ran over to Trevor and threw her arms around his neck. "Oh, thank god you're alright" she said.

Trevor hugged her tightly then looked around the room. "Where is Jesse?"

Kindal stopped beside him with a first aid kit in her hand on her way to the couch. "We thought he was with you" she said and looked from Trevor to Tonya.

"He was but we got separated" Trevor said.

"So you just left him behind!" Kindal yelled and threw the first aid kit across the room to Devon.

"I didn't have a choice! I had to get the human to safety" he yelled back at her and pointed to the man huddled in the corner across the room. "Besides, Jesse can take care of himself. I'm sure he'll be here any minute."

At the mention of Jesse's name, Lacey ran over to Trevor. "Where is he?" she asked in a rushed tone. "Why didn't he come back with you?"

Trevor looked at her but didn't answer. She could tell by the look on his face that he was worried and that was all it took for her to freak out. The fear she'd been trying to keep at bay, erupted inside her. And instantly, she felt the hairs on her arms stand on ends as her powers surged through her body. She pushed past Trevor and darted toward the door, only to be stopped in her tracks when it swung open again.

A big black wolf limped inside and stopped a few feet in front of her. Lacey's breath caught in her throat and her first instinct was to use her powers to throw the wolf back out the door. She lifted her arm and was about to do just that when Tonya yelled from behind her, "No, Lacey! It's Jesse."

Lacey dropped her arms to her side and stared at the wolf. She didn't see any resemblance between it and Jesse. She looked over her shoulder to Kindal for reassurance. "Don't be afraid, Lacey. It really is Jesse" she said in a calm tone.

Lacey turned back to the wolf as it slowly approached her. Even knowing that it was Jesse, she was fighting hard not to lash out at him. She couldn't hide her fear of having a wolf standing so close to her, especially after her experience over the last couple of days with them. But then Jesse looked up at her and she saw his mesmerizing green eyes. The pain she saw in them made her completely forget her own fear. She reached out and touched him on the head. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Jesse couldn't take his eyes off of Lacey. The fear on her face tore at his heart. Was she afraid of him or for him? He didn't know which and that bothered him. He limped around behind her and nudged her toward the stairs with his nose. She looked down at him then at everyone else in the room, unsure of what to make of him pushing her.

"He wants you to go upstairs" Tonya said.

"Then why doesn't he turn back into a human and say so" Lacey said sarcastically and looked down at Jesse. He nudged her again.

"He doesn't want to shift in front of us. He'll be naked" Scotty said with a chuckle. "And I don't know about everyone else but I for one appreciate his consideration for us, because I definitely don't want to see him naked again."

Jesse looked at Scotty and growled before turning his attention back to Lacey. He pushed her with his nose again. And she finally climbed the upstairs and entered his room. Jesse limped past her into the bathroom.

Lacey stayed in the doorway of the room feeling a little uneasy as she waited for Jesse to come out of the bathroom. A few minutes later, he came out in human form with a towel wrapped around his waist and a rag around his arm. The once white rag was now red with his blood. Lacey hurried over to him. "What happened?" she asked.

Jesse didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed a bandage from a box on top of his dresser. He dropped the rag and tried to wrap the bandage around his arm but it wasn't easy to do with one hand. Normally, he wouldn't even bother with tending to his wounds but he didn't want to scare Lacey by letting her see his arm heal itself. His genetics allowed him to heal much faster than humans and in just a few hours his wound would be nothing more than a scar.

"Here let me help you" Lacey said and reached for the bandage.

Jesse stepped away from her. "No. I can do it."

He tried to wrap it again but couldn't get it right. Lacey took the bandage from him. "Sit down!" she ordered and pointed to the bed.

Jesse stared at her for a minute then reluctantly sat down. For some reason he didn't understand, he was angry at her for being afraid of him, even though he knew he had no right to be. She wasn't one of his kind and up until a few days ago, she didn't even know that people like him existed. She had every right to be terrified of him. So why did her fear hurt him so much?

"You don't have to do this. I can manage on my own."

Lacey narrowed her eyes at him. "What is your problem? Why are you acting like a jerk?" she asked as she wrapped the bandage securely around his arm.

Jesse looked up at her with accusing eyes. "You're afraid of me. I can feel it. And I can hear your heart racing in your chest." He looked away so that she wouldn't see the pain on his face.

Lacey rested her hand on his cheek and turned his head toward her. She stared into his eyes for a minute before speaking. "You're right, my heart is racing, but not because I'm afraid of you. It's racing because I was afraid that you were hurt. When Trevor, Scotty and the cousins came back without you, I thought that I was never going to see you again."

"When you saw me in my wolf form, you were scared of me so don't say that you weren't" he said.

Lacey nodded. "Yes, I was at first but only because I wasn't sure that it was you. But once I saw your eyes, I knew." She sat down on his lap to show that she wasn't afraid of him and ran her hand through his jet black hair. "The wolf is a part of who you are Jesse and I can accept that, just like you have accepted me for who I am. You are a good person and I'm so very lucky to know you" she said and gently kissed his lips.

Jesse listened as Lacey said all the things that he had hoped she would say. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and eagerly returned her kiss. It made him feel good to hear that she accepted him and believed that he was a good man. But in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder how she would feel about him if she ever found out the truth about his past. Would she still like him if she knew what he had done so many years ago? Would she understand his actions or would she turn against him?

He had so much going on in his mind that it was impossible to think straight. It was only a matter of time before his home was going to be flooded with werewolves who were going to want to see Lacey changed or killed. He still had to worry about Cole coming for her again and now he had to face the fact that the worst thing possible was actually happening, he was falling in love with a human.

He eased his arm under her legs and lifted Lacey from his lap. Then gently laid her down on the bed and cuddled up beside her. Neither of them said a word as they enjoyed being in each other's arms. Jesse's heart raced in his chest as Lacey's scent washed over him. How had one little human managed to affect him so much in such a short time?

*****

Cole watched as Sasha cleaned the wound on Zack's shoulder. "Looks like my brother isn't as weak as I thought he was. He managed to whip your ass pretty good."

Zack sneered at him. "He got lucky, that's all. I was distracted but it won't happen again."

Sasha dropped the bloody rag to the floor. "Cole's right. There's no excuse for Jesse to have gotten the upper hand. He was distracted by me killing the human woman. He didn't even know you were there until you lunged at him. Face it, he's just a better fighter than you."

Zack growled at her and she grabbed him by the hair. "You better watch yourself, newbie. If you ever growl at me again, I'll rip your tongue out."

Cole chuckled and left the two of them glaring at each other. He found Kevin in the backroom. It was a small space, decked out just like a jail cell, completely empty of all furnishings, except a full size mattress on the floor in the corner and a chain attached to a steel plate on the floor in the middle of the room.

Cole looked at the human man that was chained to the floor then at Kevin. "Is he the only survivor tonight?"

Kevin didn't say anything. Cole narrowed his eyes at him. "What? What aren't you telling me?"

"We can only account for four of the six humans from tonight's hunt, including this one." Kevin pointed at the man on the chain. "Two are missing. We've combed through the woods several times. Jesse and his pack must have taken them."

Cole ground his teeth together and cocked his head to the side, popping his neck to relieve built up tension. "Jesse is really starting to piss me off" he spat then knelt down in front of the man who was about to become his newest pack member. He studied the man's athletic build and youthful appearance. "What is your name?" he asked.

"Steven" the man said with a shaky voice.

"Well Steven, you did well tonight. You put up a good chase and managed to keep yourself alive. I was told that you even put up a decent fight with one of my wolves. That's not something that's easy to do, especially for a human. I think you will make a good addition to my little family" Cole said and stood to leave the room.

"I don't want to join your damn family! I want to go home!" Steven yelled.

"You are home" Kevin said and followed Cole from the room just as two of their pack members walked in, in their wolf forms. Kevin turned off the lights and locked the door from the outside. Within seconds, growls and screams filled the room as the two wolves bit into Steven again and again.

Kevin leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Cole. "You know, all of Jesse's pack was in the woods except for the two females. He must have left them with Lacey. We could have taken her from them and it would have been so easy."

Cole nodded. "I know. We missed a golden opportunity, but now I know how to get another one." He smiled and called Sasha over to him.

"What?" she asked and ran her hand down his cheek. He pushed it away.

"I want you to get word out to everybody that there is going to be another hunt tomorrow."

Sasha stared at him with her hands on her hips. "It's too soon to have another hunt. We took six humans tonight, if we take more so soon it'll raise a lot of attention."

"We're not actually going to hunt. I just want Jesse to think that we are. Drop hints to everyone that the hunt will be on the east side of town. That should be far enough away that by the time they realize their information is bad, it'll be too late. I'll have Lacey and Jesse will have two less pack members to aggravate us. If Tonya and Kindal get in our way, we'll kill them."

The screaming in the backroom stopped and Kevin opened the door. Steven was lying unconscious on the floor bleeding from the bite wounds that had been inflicted on his arms and legs. The two wolves shifted back into their human forms and walked out the door.

"I hope you two didn't kill him" Cole said to Gabe and Finn.

Both men smiled. "No, but he's going to wish we did when he shifts. The first time is a real bitch. Let's hope that he's strong enough to handle it" Gabe said as he walked into the other room.

Cole chuckled and patted Kevin on the back as they walked off by themselves. "I want Steven moved from that room as soon as possible. Give him to one of the older pack members and tell them to help him though the transition. I want to use the holding room for Lacey. You've seen her powers, so make sure the bars on the windows are secure and the glass is shatterproof. Once we get her in there, I don't want her to be able to escape."

Kevin nodded and turned to leave. Cole grabbed his arm and looked away uncomfortably. "I want Lacey to feel comfortable. Go to the store and get her some things like...makeup, chocolates, a couple romance books. Hell, I don't know... just get whatever you think human women like."

Kevin growled and lifted his lip in disgust. "I don't know what human women like and I really don't care."

"Well, neither do I, but I figure the more comfortable she is here, the more likely she is to cooperate with me. So do as you're told" Cole snapped.

*****

After a long nights sleep, Jesse and Lacey walked down the stairs holding hands. They joined the others in the kitchen. Tonya had already fixed their plates and had breakfast waiting on the table.

Jesse sat down and was about to take a bite of eggs when Trevor spoke up. "What do you want us to do with the unconscious boy? I've already taken the man we found in the tree to his home. I questioned him and he didn't see Cole's men or any of us shift so I don't think he's going to be a problem. I told him that the people who kidnapped him were a gang and if he told anyone about what happened in the woods they would come after him again. I'm pretty sure I scared him enough that he'll keep his mouth shut. But the boy that Devon and Tyron found still hasn't woken up. He was bitten."

Jesse dropped his fork to the plate and jumped up from his chair. "What! Why didn't anyone tell me one of the humans was bitten?"

"You needed to be alone and we aren't helpless. You know, we do know how to deal with a newbie" Scotty said and reached across the table to grab a biscuit.

Jesse shot him a mean look. "Where is he?"

"He's in the backroom" Trevor said and followed Jesse to the room behind the kitchen.

Kindal was sitting on the edge of the bed with a wet rag in her hand. She wiped it over the boy's face and neck to help keep his temperature down.

Jesse looked at him. "He can't be more than sixteen or seventeen. What was Cole thinking? He knows the younger they are when they're changed, the harder it is to control them."

"Yeah well, I guess Sasha thought getting younger humans would make the hunt more interesting. They're stronger and faster than older humans" Kindal said.

Trevor looked at Jesse. "What are we going to do with him?"

"I guess we'll have to let him stay with us, at least for a while. He needs someone to teach him and we can't just let him go. He'll probably end up back with Cole's pack and the last thing we need is for his pack to get any bigger."

"I'll teach him" Kindal volunteered in a low voice as she rubbed the rag down his arms. "He'll be going through his first shifting soon. Maybe you should get Lacey out of the warehouse for a little while. He's going to be confused and unable to control himself, it could be dangerous for her."

Jesse thought about it for a minute. He had kept Lacey held up in the warehouse for almost a week and he knew she wanted to go outside. "Alright, I'll take her on a tour around town. Make sure the boy is stable and chained before I return."

"We'll take care of him" Trevor said.

Jesse walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Lacey was already finished with her breakfast and was talking and laughing with Tonya. He leaned against the counter and watched her. The sound of her laughter filled his ears. It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Lacey turned around and saw him looking at her and smiled. Jesse felt as if his heart was going to burst from his chest.

Lacey got up from the table and joined him at the counter. "Is the boy okay?"

"He will be" Jesse said and squeezed her hand gently. "How would you like to get out of here for a little while? I thought you might like a tour of the city. It's a lot safer during the day."

Lacey let out a squeal and smiled broadly. "I'd love to go out" she said and quickly turned around and looked at Tonya and Scotty. "Not that I don't enjoy spending time with everyone here. I mean you guys are all great but I really would like to get out for a while."

Tonya laughed. "We understand Lacey, go and have some fun."

Lacey hugged her and ran upstairs to put on her shoes. Jesse waited until she was out of sight before turning to Scotty. "I'll have my cell phone with me all day. Call me when it's safe to bring her back."

"Don't worry, we have everything under control. Just have a good time."

Lacey came down the stairs and grabbed Jesse's hand and pulled him towards the door. "Let's go" she said anxiously.

Jesse laughed and let her lead him outside. Lacey shielded her eyes from the bright light with her hand. She hadn't been outside in so long that the light actually hurt her eyes. She looked around to see where they were but didn't see anything. There was nothing around the warehouse but woods. Tree's surrounded both sides and the rear of the building. And a small two lane road passed by in front of it with even more tree's on the opposite side of the road. She looked at Jesse. "Where are we?"

He gave her an odd look then remembered that she had been unconscious when he brought her to the warehouse and she hadn't been outside since. "We are about ten miles outside of Carol Springs. And no one else lives within at least six or seven miles from here."

Lacey glanced around the big empty dirt yard in front of her. "How did we get here? Where's your car?"

Jesse smiled. "The garage is around back" he said and led her to the rear of the warehouse and opened the garage door.

Lacey's mouth dropped open as she stared at the four motorcycles in the middle of the large room. She wasn't a motorcycle enthusiast and had never ridden on one, but even she had to admit the beauty of what she saw. She walked over to the green motorcycle and rubbed her hand over the black leather seat.

"Is that the one you like?" Jesse asked as he leaned against the door frame, watching her.

She smiled. "Green is my favorite color."

"Mine too, but I would have thought yours was black" Jesse said and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

Lacey cringed a little. She wanted to tell him that black was just easier to hide behind but instead she just smiled.

"You ready to go?" Jesse asked and kissed the tender skin of her neck, sending chills down her spine.

She turned in his arms and pressed her lips to his. "Absolutely."

Jesse straddled the motorcycle and Lacey got on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. After starting the bike, Jesse peeled out of the garage and down the road toward town.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled over to the curb on Main Street, in front of a long line of shops and restaurants. "Where would you like to go?" he asked Lacey.

She glanced around at the possibilities. "Um...I don't know."

Jesse chuckled and got off the motorcycle then held his hand out to Lacey. "How about we go for a walk, do a little sightseeing, maybe some shopping."

"I would love to go shopping but in case you forgot, the first time we met I was stealing fruit to eat. I don't have any money." It was clear by redness that rushed to her cheeks that she was still embarrassed by how they met.

Jesse put his arm around her shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry about it. It'll be my treat."

They walked through the business district of downtown for hours, stopping to browse at almost every shop they passed. Lacey was having the time of her life. Just spending time with Jesse meant more to her than anything he tried to buy for her. And he tried to buy her a lot of stuff, but she wouldn't let him. She wasn't used to anyone buying things for her and she didn't want to take advantage of his generosity.

They were on their way to a small café to have lunch when something in the window of Sandy's Thrift Store caught Lacey's attention. She stopped and looked in the window at the choker necklace around the mannequin's neck. The heart shaped emerald pendant dangled from a black satin ribbon. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever seen. It didn't matter in the least that the emerald was more than likely fake. She stared at it with yearning, completely oblivious to the fact that Jesse was watching her.

Jesse smiled as she adored the necklace in the window. It was clear from the look on her face that she wanted it. He grabbed her hand and started to go inside the store but Lacey pulled him to a stop. "Where are you going?" she asked.

He touched her cheek and smiled. "I'm going to buy that necklace for you."

"It's called a choker and I don't want it" Lacey said, shaking her head. She glanced at it one last time before walking off down the street. She did want the choker but was afraid to let Jesse buy it for her, afraid that it would mean more to her than it did to him. And that if he was to decide he didn't want to be with her anymore, the choker would become a constant reminder of him and she wouldn't be able to deal with that.

Jesse was puzzled. He knew that Lacey was lying about not wanting the choker but he didn't know why. He saw the way her eyes lit up when she looked at it.

Lacey put the choker out of her mind and led Jesse into Carl's Café. They sat down by the window and she picked up a menu to look it over. Jesse couldn't help but wonder what was going on in her mind. Why she was so open at times and guarded at others? He watched as Lacey twirled a strand of black hair around her finger and the overwhelming urge to protect and keep her safe hit him.

Being around her always made him so happy that it was easy to forget about all the danger she was in. But looking at her now, he was reminded of it and also of what he had promised himself he would do. Get her out of the city and as far away from Cole as possible. He didn't want to be separated from her but he didn't have a choice. He looked at her and said the first thing that came to his mind. "You do strange things to me, Lacey."

She put down the menu. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you make me feel things I've never felt before and I don't know how to deal with that. You excite and scare me at the same time."

Lacey smiled and bit down on her bottom lip. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she teased.

Jesse shook his head. "I don't know" he answered honestly. "But what I do know is that I have to get you out of Carol Springs. I'm going to find a safe place in another town and this weekend I'm going to get you out of here. I can't handle the thought of someone hurting you."

Lacey's brows furrowed. "I don't want to leave. I like it here with you. And I thought you liked having me here" she said and looked away so that he wouldn't see the disappointment on her face. "Is this why you wanted to take me out today? You wanted to show me a good time before you send me away."

Jesse pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "That's not what this is about. I want to be with you but it's safer if we live in different towns. I'll visit you as often as I can. Cole won't know where you are and neither will anyone else. You'll be safe."

Lacey pierced him with an angry stare. "Why do I feel like there's something you're not telling me? Cole hasn't been back to the warehouse. I don't think he's interested in me anymore. I think my powers scared him and he knows that he can't get close enough to hurt me. So why don't you tell me the truth about why you want me to leave?"

Jesse didn't like seeing Lacey look at him in anger. He wished that he could make her understand how wrong she was about Cole not wanting her anymore. He was just waiting for the right moment to strike. And then there was the law that said Jesse had to either change her or kill her. He didn't plan on doing either. That was the real reason he wanted her to leave, because too many werewolves already knew about her. How could he tell her that everyone was waiting for him to either kill her or turn her into a monster? He was about to say something when a tap on the window caught his attention. He looked out the window and saw someone that he knew. "I'll be right back" he said before getting up and going outside.

Lacey watched as Jesse walked around the corner of the café. A few seconds later, a waitress came over to take her order.

*****

Jesse followed Jaden around the building." What's going on?" he asked.

Jaden looked around nervously. "I heard a rumor this morning that Cole is planning another hunt for tonight."

"What!" Jesse yelled. "He just had one last night. Why is he having another one so soon? This isn't like him. He knows not to have back to back hunts, the disappearances will attract too much attention."

"I know, that's why I'm telling you. I think your brother has really lost it and if anyone sees me talking to you, I'm a dead man. I heard he was pissed that you saved two of his humans last night and he's out to make up for his losses tonight."

Jesse was quiet for a minute. This was not good news and it made him feel that Lacey was in even more danger than he thought. Cole wasn't acting normal and there had to be a reason for it. He patted Jaden on the back. "Thanks for letting me know about the hunt. You should get out of here before someone sees us talking."

"You don't have to tell me twice" Jaden said and took off down the street, leaving Jesse standing by the café alone. He peeked through the window and saw Lacey eating. Then he glanced across the street to the thrift shop and made a split second decision to buy her the choker. He wanted her to have something from him to take with her when he found her a safe place to stay. He darted across the street and into the shop.

# Chapter Eleven

Lacey had just finished her tuna salad sandwich and was wondering what was taking Jesse so long when a tall, very attractive woman with long blond hair and a skin tight leather outfit came over to her table and sat down in front of her.

"Can I help you?" Lacey asked.

The woman laughed. "Yeah, you can...you can kill yourself and save me the trouble of having to do it. I hate getting my switch blade dirty."

Lacey stared at her with wide eyes then looked around the café, thinking it must be some kind of joke. But no one was paying them any attention. "Who are you?" she asked nervously.

"My name is Sasha, but you already know what I am, don't you?" Sasha said and looked Lacey over from head to toe. "I just don't see what he sees in you" she said in a disgusted tone.

Lacey's heart raced in her chest. Tonya had told her that Cole's girlfriend was named Sasha. She also told her how dangerous she was and now she was sitting less than three feet away from her. Lacey stood quickly and was about to run out the door when Sasha grabbed her by the arm and squeezed it painfully. Lacey looked to the waitress and the other customers for help but they all looked away. They were just as terrified of Sasha as she was. She tried to pull her arm free, but couldn't.

Sasha dragged her outside and around the corner of the building. Lacey opened her mouth to scream for help but Sasha covered it with her hand. "If you scream, I'll slit your throat" she threatened and pushed Lacey up against the wall and held a knife to her throat. "I won't let you have him" she growled.

"What? Who are you talking about?" Lacey asked as a tear rolled down her face.

"Cole!"

Lacey blinked to clear her eyes. "I don't want Cole. I swear."

Sasha sneered at her. "You might not want him but he sure as hell wants you. And I won't lose him to a human." She looked Lacey over again. "What the hell is so special about you anyway? You're just a weak, pathetic girl and I'm going to enjoy killing you."

Lacey glared at Sasha as her fear turned to anger. She wasn't ready to die and she wasn't going to make it easy for Sasha to kill her. She opened herself up to her powers. The knife in Sasha's hand started to shake then flew out of her hand and embedded itself into the building behind her. Sasha narrowed her eyes at Lacey and took a step back. "How did you do that?" she growled.

Lacey's whole body started to tremble. A second later, Sasha was thrown backwards into the building inches away from her knife.

The headache that using her powers brought on was instant. The pain grew worse with every second that she used them. But Lacey ignored the pain as her anger grew even more. Sasha got up from the ground and ran at her. She barely made it three feet before she was tossed backwards again, this time hitting the wall much harder. Her head slammed into the brick wall and it left her dazed as she slid down to the ground. She looked up just in time to see bricks from a pile by the café flying toward her. She scrambled to her feet and tried to dodge them, the whole time screaming profanities at Lacey.

But Lacey was too far gone in her rage to realize what she was doing. She knew that Sasha would have killed her if she had been given the chance. The thought of being murdered just like Cindy, kept going through Lacey's mind, fueling her anger. She didn't want to have to live the rest of her life afraid that Sasha was going to come after her again. With that in mind, she knew what she had to do. Without warning, she lashed out at Sasha with everything that she had.

Blood was pouring from Lacey's nose and her head was throbbing with a pain so intense that it was taking every ounce of strength she had not to scream. She continued hurling bricks at Sasha, striking her in the head repeatedly. She was already unconscious on the ground but that didn't stop Lacey's attack.

*****

Jesse stepped out of the thrift store and knew immediately that something was wrong. The scent of a werewolf was in the air and it wasn't a friendly one. It was Sasha. Jesse ran across the street toward the café where he had left Lacey. But before he even got to it, he knew that she wasn't inside. He could hear the commotion around the side of the building and knew that she was in trouble. He was in no way prepared for what he saw.

Jesse skidded to a stop when he rounded the building and saw Sasha lying on the ground, bleeding. Several bricks were on top of her and on the ground around her. Lacey was about ten feet away, shaking so bad that it looked like she was having a seizure. Bricks were flying in the air around her and her gaze was locked on Sasha.

"Lacey!" Jesse yelled to get her attention, but she ignored him. He tried to go to her but couldn't reach her without getting hit by the flying bricks. "Lacey! Stop this!" he yelled again.

This time Lacey turned to face him. The look on her face sent Jesse's heart to his feet. She was deathly pale and her eyes looked empty. Blood covered her mouth, chin and shirt.

Lacey stared at Jesse and tried to focus on his face but her vision was blurred. The pain in her head intensified to the point that she couldn't concentrate. The bricks fell to the ground and she grabbed the sides of her head. Unable to hold in her pain any longer, she screamed. She was suddenly so weak that she could barely stand, she reached out to Jesse but before he could get to her, she fell to the ground. He ran over and lifted her head onto his lap. "Lacey, baby talk to me!" Jesse said in a rushed frantic voice.

Her eyes fluttered open. She reached her hand up to his face but before she could make contact, her eyes closed and her hand fell to the ground at her side.

"Lacey!" Jesse yelled and shook her. But she didn't respond. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and called Trevor. "Bring the jeep to Carl's Café on Main Street, now!" he yelled into the phone and hung up.

Jesse picked Lacey up and carried her to the rear of the building and laid her down near the backdoor of the cafe. Then he went back to where Sasha was still laying on the ground. He knocked the bricks off of her and shook her to wake her up. She wasn't dead, he could hear her heart beating and he knew it would take a whole lot more than a beating with bricks to kill a werewolf. It might hurt like hell but it wasn't going to kill her.

Sasha opened her eyes and glared at him. It took her a minute to pull herself together, then ignoring the pain all over her body, she got up. The bricks had done a number on her and she was definitely going to be sore for a while. She touched her forehead and looked at the blood on her hand. She growled and looked around for Lacey. "Where is she?" she yelled.

Jesse stood in front of her ready to fight if she took one step toward the rear of the building. "If you ever go near her again Sasha, I will kill you" he threatened.

Sasha stared at him, still a little dazed. She reached for her switch blade and realized that she didn't have it on her. It was impaled into the wall behind her. She narrowed her eyes at Jesse and said in a low menacing voice, "I will kill her before I let Cole have her."

Jesse growled and was about to attack her when he heard tires screech to a stop at the curb. He looked past Sasha and saw Trevor, Scotty and Kindal running toward them.

Sasha made a noise that sounded like a chuckle and said, "this isn't over," before running across the street.

Trevor hurried over to Jesse. "What's going on? Where's Lacey?"

Jesse ran to the rear of the building and knelt down beside Lacey. He scooped her up in his arms and started for the jeep.

"Oh my god, what happened to her?" Kindal asked as she ran ahead of him and opened the backdoor to the jeep.

"Sasha attacked her and she used her powers to protect herself. We need to get her back to the warehouse. She needs to rest" Jesse said and got in the backseat with Lacey.

"Shouldn't we take her to the hospital?" Scotty asked.

"No, I promised her that I wouldn't. She has a fear of hospitals."

Everyone jumped in the jeep and Trevor drove them back to the warehouse. By the time they got there, Lacey was starting to wake up. She moaned and grabbed her head, squeezing it between her hands.

"It'll be okay, Lacey" Jesse said softly as he rubbed the back of his hand over her cheek. Scotty took off his shirt and handed it to Jesse to clean the blood from her face.

Lacey moaned again and began to squirm in the seat. "It hurts" she said and squeezed her head tighter.

Jesse pulled her into his arms and held her. "I know baby...I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left you alone." Guilt ripped a hole in his chest as he looked down at her struggling in pain.

Lacey squeezed her eyes shut and bit down on her lip as another sharp pain hit her. She tried so hard not to scream but after a few seconds, she lost that battle and let out a blood curdling scream. Kindal spun around in the front seat and looked pitifully at Lacey. "Is she going to be alright?" she asked in a cracked voice.

Jesse shook his head. "I don't know. When I found her she was..." he paused, unable to talk with the image of how pale and lifeless Lacey had looked so fresh in his mind.

Trevor pulled up in front of the warehouse and everyone got out. Jesse carried Lacey upstairs and gave her some pain relievers. He stayed with her until she fell asleep then he moved to the chair by the bed. He couldn't help but think about how close he came to losing her. The thought brought him more pain than he thought possible.

For the first time since the day he lost his mother, he let down his guard and a tear slipped from his eye and rolled down his cheek. He rested his head on the edge of the bed and wondered how his life had managed to get so complicated in such a short period of time. He had broken his own rule and fell in love with a human. Then he nearly got her killed by not being there for her when she needed him most.

*****

Cole and Kevin were sitting at a table by the door, going over their plan for the nights activities when Sasha burst through the door and walked past them in a huff.

"Sasha" Cole called out to her but she kept going toward her room. Cole got up and followed her. She tried to slam the door in his face but he stuck his boot in the doorway. He looked at her and grimaced. Her arms and face were covered in bruises. "What the hell happened to you?" he asked.

Sasha growled and turned her back to him. "None of your damn business."

Cole followed her into the room and shut the door behind him. "The hell it isn't. You're a member of my pack and I've never seen you beat up like this before. Who did this to you?"

Sasha glared at him but didn't say anything. Cole studied her carefully. He could see the shame on her face. And he knew her well enough to know that even if she had lost a fight, as long as it was a fair one, she would still hold her head high. She wasn't doing that now. It took him a minute to understand why and when he did, he burst out laughing. "I see that you've finally met Lacey."

Sasha snarled at him. "Get out!" she yelled and tried to push him out the door.

Cole touched the bruises on her face. "She's magnificent, isn't she? A puny human managed to take on one of the deadliest creatures in the world and survived. No one has ever hurt you and lived. I'm more impressed with her now than ever."

Sasha pushed his hand away. "Well, you shouldn't be. She got lucky, that's all. I wasn't expecting her powers but now I know what she's capable of. The next time I see her, I will kill her" she snapped.

Cole grabbed her by the throat and brought her close to him. "You better not touch her. I've already told you that I want her alive."

Sasha stared at him with cold eyes. "And I told you that I won't sit by and watch you take another woman into your bed and I meant it."

Cole tossed her onto the bed and straddled her. He leaned his face close to hers and whispered, "Is this what you want, Sasha?" He teased her by running his tongue over her lip then he kissed her chin and neck.

She moaned with pleasure and grabbed his head, pulling him from her neck so that she could kiss him. But he wouldn't let her. He grabbed her hands in his and held them over her head. He looked down at her and smiled. "I don't think so."

Sasha growled in frustration and struggled to push him off of her. "Damn you, Cole. The girl doesn't even want you. She told me so herself."

Cole released her and sauntered over to the door. He looked over his shoulder and smiled. "I don't give a damn what Lacey wants. She's going to be mine."

Sasha sat up in the bed and smirked at him. "Oh really, then I guess I should tell you that there's more to your brother not wanting you to have her than just him trying to protect a human. I saw it with my own eyes. He's in love with her. He might not be willing to admit it, but he is definitely in love with that girl. He was willing to take me on to keep her safe and that is one thing your pathetic brother has never done before."

Cole narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "I don't believe you. Jesse would never allow himself to fall in love with a human, not after what happened with our mother. Not even I'm stupid enough to let that happen. I might have my fun with human women but I would never allow myself to have feelings for one of them. And I don't believe Jesse would either. He took what happened to our mother even harder than I did."

Sasha stood and sashayed over to the mirror hanging over the dresser and touched the bruises on her face. She smiled at Cole through the mirror. "Believe what you want, but I know what I saw. Jesse isn't going to let you have her without one hell of a fight. I hope that you're up for the competition."

Cole stormed from the room and slammed the door shut. If what Sasha said was true, it changed everything. If Jesse really was in love with Lacey, there was no way he was going to take any chances by leaving her alone, especially not after Sasha attacked her. It was going to take something really serious to get him away from her even for a minute. And Cole didn't think the ruse of another hunt was going to be enough.

He opened the door to the room of his newest pack member, Steven. He looked at him asleep on the floor. Zack came up behind him. "What's up, boss?"

"Has he gone through his first change yet?" Cole asked and nodded toward Steven.

"No, but he should within the next hour or so. He's been thrashing around for a while, he must have just fallen asleep."

Cole shut the door. "Where is Kevin?"

Zack rolled his eyes. "He's not here. Whatever you need, I can do it, boss."

Cole considered it. "Alright, I want you to take Steven over to the abandoned building district and keep him there until he changes. When he does, I want you to let him go."

Zack gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean let him go?"

Cole smiled. "I mean exactly what I said. Once he shifts, stay out of his way. Let him do whatever he wants."

"What! He'll be too unstable. He won't be able to control himself and he'll attack everyone that he sees. He'll draw a lot of attention."

"I know!" Cole said and walked away. Zack stood staring at his back, unable to believe what he wanted him to do. Releasing Steven out into the public before he learned to control himself meant exposing what they are to the whole world. Zack didn't really have a problem with that but he was surprised that Cole was going to let it happen.

"Oh" Cole said and turned around to see the look of total shock on Zack's face. "Make sure that you call Jesse's little snitch, Jaden, and let him know one of my newly changed wolves has escaped and is terrorizing the city. Tell him that Steven has already killed several humans and make up a gruesome story. If I know my brother, he'll do everything in his power to stop him." Cole smiled and said to himself, "even if that means leaving his woman unprotected."

*****

Lacey woke up and tried to sit up in the bed but a dizzy spell hit her and she fell back to the pillow. She looked over at Jesse asleep in the chair and felt a tingle in her chest. The memory of the last time she saw his face before she blacked out came to her. He had looked terrified. She didn't want him to be afraid of her. She had never been in love before but she was pretty sure that what she felt for him was love and she wanted him to love her too, not fear her.

Slowly, she got out of bed and knelt down beside Jesse's chair. His hair was hanging over his eyes as he slept. She reached out and brushed it away. The cool touch of her hand startled him. He jumped and opened his eyes. "Lacey, you're awake."

She smiled and eased down on his lap. "You didn't have to sleep in the chair. You could have slept in the bed with me."

Jesse wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "I didn't want to disturb you. You needed your rest." He gave her a worried look. "How do you feel?"

She let out a deep breath. "I've been better. I'm a little weak but at least the headache is gone."

Jesse could hear the exhaustion in her voice. He was quiet for a minute. "I thought that I lost you. When I found you outside the café...I've never been so scared in my life. You looked like the life had been drained out of you. Promise me that you won't use your powers anymore."

Lacey didn't have the strength to argue or use her powers even if she wanted to. So she nodded her head in agreement. "I won't. I promise. But you have to promise me that you won't leave me alone until I get my strength back. I've never felt so weak before and I don't know how long it will take to build my strength back up."

Jesse hugged her close to his chest. "I promise I won't leave you unprotected." He wanted to tell her that he loved her and that he was never going to leave her alone again, but he couldn't. He just couldn't get the words out. He was afraid that once he told her how he felt everything would change.

Lacey laid her head on his shoulder and ran her finger along the scar on his neck. She loved everything about him, even the scar that he hated. And it was getting harder and harder to keep her feelings to herself.

A loud rapid knock hit the wall by the open doorway. "Come in" Jesse said.

Tyron walked in with a deadly serious look on his face. "We have a problem."

Jesse quickly stood up with Lacey in his arms. He sat her down on the bed before joining Tyron in the hall. Lacey stayed were she was and listened to what was being said. The more she heard, the more color drained from her face.

"One of Cole's newbies escaped and has already killed several humans. Jaden said the last time he was spotted he was near the abandoned buildings district on the other side of town. Cole isn't bothering to look for him and if we don't find him soon, god only knows how many more people he'll kill" Tyron said.

Jesse ran his hand down his face. If the newbie was captured or killed by the humans and he changed in front of them, then the whole world would know about werewolves. Jesse knew that he was going to need everyone in his pack to help capture the newbie. He glanced over at Lacey. She was staring at him with a worried look. It was obvious that she had heard what Tyron said just by the look on her face. "I'm going with you" she said.

Jesse wanted to argue and tell her that she couldn't go but if he did, she'd be left alone and unprotected. He couldn't allow that. He nodded and turned to face Tyron. "Get everyone ready. We leave in five minutes."

Tyron turned to leave the room.

"Tyron, how is the newbie doing?" Jesse asked.

He grinned. "He's alright. He handled his first shifting like a champ. He finally told us his name, it's Kyle. And you were right about his age, he's only seventeen. He was scared at first when we told him what he is now, but he got over it quickly when Kindal walked into the room. Once he saw her, he's been all smiles. I think he has a crush on her."

"That's good to hear but I still want him chained up before we leave. He can't be trusted on the outside yet" Jesse said as he put his shoes on.

Tyron left the room. Jesse watched as Lacey changed clothes and put on her shoes. He went over to her and rested his hand on her cheek. "When we get outside I want you to stay close to me at all times unless I tell you differently. And no matter what, don't use your powers. My pack and I will keep you safe."

Lacey placed her hand over his. "I know you will" she said and kissed him on the neck, right beneath his scar.

"We have to go" Jesse said and took her hand in his. They joined the rest of his pack outside in the garage.

Lacey stood quietly at Jesse's side while he barked orders at everyone. "Scotty, Devon and Tyron, you three take the motorcycles and spread out in town. If you see the newbie or catch his scent anywhere, call me and let me know where you are. Trevor, I want you and the women with me. We'll go to the abandoned building district and look for him there."

Jesse looked at each of his friends. "Be careful and don't take any chances. If he won't let you take him alive, kill him. We have to get him off the streets one way or the other."

Within seconds, Scotty, Devon and Tyron were on their motorcycles and out of sight. Trevor jumped behind the wheel of the jeep and Jesse rode shotgun. Lacey got in the back between Tonya and Kindal.

Tonya looked at her with a motherly smile. "Are you feeling alright, Lacey?" she asked and touched her hand to Lacey's forehead.

Lacey turned her head away and Tonya's hand fell from her face. She didn't want anyone to worry about her, especially not when they had so much to worry about already. She knew that she didn't look good and she didn't feel good either but she kept it to herself. "I'm fine. Just a little tired."

Jesse looked over the seat at her. He couldn't get over how weak she appeared. It worried him. "Lacey, I changed my mind. I think its best that you stay in the jeep. One of the girls will stay with you."

"I will" Kindal quickly volunteered.

Lacey sat up straight in the seat to make herself look stronger than she felt. "No, I want to stay with you. I'll be fine."

Jesse shook his head. "I won't be able to help in the search if I'm worried about you collapsing from exhaustion."

Trevor pulled the jeep over to the curb and got out then opened the backdoor for Tonya. Jesse gave Lacey a pleading look. "Please stay here with Kindal. We'll find the newbie as quickly as we can and I'll be back here in no time."

Lacey knew there was no point in arguing with him. It would just waste everyone's time and she'd still end up sitting in the jeep. "Okay" she said weakly and gave him a small smile.

Jesse turned to Kindal. "Keep her safe."

"Of course" she said and put her arm around Lacey and squeezed. "She's safe with me."

Jesse got out of the jeep and ran to catch up with Trevor and Tonya.

*****

Cole stalked around the woods outside of Jesse's warehouse, excitement radiating off of him. He was finally going to get what he wanted. Lacey.

Kevin came up beside him. "Zack called. He said that he just spotted Jesse and Trevor. They have Tonya with them. And one of the other spotters saw Devon, Scotty and Tyron riding through town. So Kindal must be inside with the girl."

Cole smiled. "How do I look?"

Kevin lifted his lip in disgust. "You look like Jesse."

"Good" Cole said and started for the door of the warehouse. "As soon as Kindal opens the door, she's going to know I'm not Jesse. We might be identical twins but we have different scents. I want you to yank her outside and I'll rush inside at the same time. Hopefully, we'll be quick enough that Lacey won't notice anything. Once I'm inside, I'll get close enough to her and inject her with this." He held up a syringe filled with a clear liquid and looked at Kevin. "This shit better work. When she realizes that I'm not Jesse, she's going to be pissed. And if I get thrown against the wall again, you're a dead man."

"It will work. She'll be unconscious within minutes" Kevin confirmed.

Cole knocked on the door and waited for Kindal to open it. Nothing happened. He knocked again, louder this time but still no answer. He looked at Kevin. "I don't hear anyone inside."

"Neither do I" Kevin said and turned the knob. It was locked.

"Knock it down" Cole ordered.

Kevin took a step back and kicked the door with all his might. It flew open and crashed against the wall behind it. Cole entered the warehouse and looked around. The place was empty. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and listened for movement upstairs but there was none. "Where is she?" he growled.

Kevin stormed into the kitchen area. He held his hand up and pointed at the door a little ways from the kitchen. "Someone is in there." He sniffed the air. "It's one of us."

Cole walked past him and opened the door. Kyle was sitting on the bed with a chain secured around his left ankle. Cole walked over and lifted his head up to get a good look at him. "I know you. You're one of the humans from the last hunt."

Kyle jerked his face out of Cole's hand. "I _was_ human until one of you freaks bit me, now I'm one of you."

Cole looked over his shoulder at Kevin. "Why wasn't I told that one of the humans Jesse saved had been bitten?"

"I didn't know that he had been" Kevin said.

"What is your name, boy?" Cole asked.

"Kyle"

"Well Kyle, it doesn't look like Jesse is treating you very kindly. And since it was one of my wolves that bit you, technically you belong to my pack" Cole said and motioned for Kevin to remove his chains.

Kyle shook his head. "I don't want to go with you. I want to stay here."

Cole looked at him dumbfounded. "You can't be serious. Jesse has you chained up like a damn dog. Why would you want to stay here?"

"Because he won't let me become a monster like you!" Kyle yelled.

Cole knelt down in front of him and smiled. "You're already a monster. Now you can come with us or I can just kill you but I won't let Jesse have you."

Kyle dropped his head in surrender. He didn't want to die. "Alright, I'll go with you" he muttered.

Cole patted his head. "That's a good boy. Now tell me, have you seen a human girl here. Her name is Lacey."

"No, I haven't seen her. But she was here, I could smell her. She left with the others."

"Damn it" Cole growled and stormed from the room. Kevin followed him. "What are you going to do now?"

Cole rested his hands on the kitchen table, then punched a hole through it. He turned to Kevin. "Take Kyle to Sasha, tell her to keep an eye on him. I'm going after what's mine."

# Chapter Twelve

Jesse and Trevor had the newbie cornered in the alley behind the old paper mill. He was in his wolf form and was highly agitated. He paced the small area between the dumpster and Trevor. He growled and snapped at Jesse when he took a step toward him.

"It's alright. I know you're scared. We're not going to hurt you. We're here to help you" Jesse said in a calm voice.

Steven continued to pace in front of him. He was confused and didn't know what to do. The last thing he remembered was being mauled by wolves in a room somewhere. And when he woke up, he was lying next to a dumpster. Soon after that, he was in excruciating pain. He had felt like every bone in his body was breaking. He must have passed out from the pain. When he woke up later and tried to stand, he had four legs instead of two and was covered in fur. He'd been running around frantically ever since.

Jesse tried to keep Steven's attention focused on him so that Trevor could sneak close enough to tackle him to the ground. He held his hand out and took another step. "Listen to me, we can get you out of here. I will take you somewhere safe until you shift back to your human form, then we can talk and explain what is happening to you."

Steven stopped pacing and looked at Jesse.

"That's right, just come with me and everything will be okay" Jesse coaxed.

Steven considered his options. He was about to agree to go with Jesse when he noticed Trevor coming toward him out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned on him and clamped his jaws down on his arm. Trevor yelled in pain.

Tonya came from her hiding spot in the woods a few feet away when she saw Trevor get bitten. She started toward him but was attacked from behind. She screamed as she fell to the ground. Jesse looked over at her and saw one of Cole's men on top of her in his wolf form. He ran over and knocked the wolf off of her. The wolf growled and darted back into the woods. Jesse helped Tonya up and they both hurried over to Trevor.

By the time they got to him, he had managed to get the newbie under control. His shirt was wrapped around the wolf's mouth and he was holding him in a tight grip around the torso.

"Nice job. How's the arm?" Jesse asked.

"Fine" Trevor said through gritted teeth. He looked at Tonya with worry in his eyes. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm fine."

Jesse grabbed Steven's back legs. "Let's get him back to the jeep before someone sees us."

*****

Lacey jumped in the seat when she heard Tonya scream. She reached for the door handle.

"No!" Kindal yelled. "You have to stay here."

"I can't. Tonya is in trouble. I have to help her."

Kindal thought for a second, indecision clear on her face. She knew that she couldn't let Lacey out of the jeep but Tonya did sound like she was in trouble and Kindal couldn't just leave her out there alone if she needed help. She looked at Lacey. "I'll go check on Tonya. Promise me you'll stay in the jeep until I come back or Jesse returns."

"I promise" Lacey said in a rush. "Now go, she needs help."

Kindal jumped out of the jeep and ran in the direction that she saw her friends go earlier. Lacey stared out the window, following Kindal's movements until she was out of sight. She sighed with frustration that she couldn't do anything to help. She didn't want any of her friends to get hurt.

Lacey was starting to get restless in the jeep. With every passing second, she grew more anxious. She had to know that everyone was okay. She was about to break her promise and jump out of the jeep and go looking for Tonya when she saw someone come out of the darkness toward the jeep. Once she realized who it was, she let out a small gasp and opened the door and ran toward the man.

"Jesse!" she yelled in relief before she jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You have no idea how worried I was. I'm so glad that you're okay. I heard Tonya scream and I got scared."

Lacey was so relieved to see Jesse that she didn't notice how stiff his body was or the fact that he wasn't hugging her back. She pulled back from him and looked at his face. "Jesse, is everything alright?"

The look on his face sent chills down her spine. She quickly looked at his neck to make sure the man she was holding onto had a scar. He did. She looked at his face again, confused. "Jesse, say something. You're scaring me."

Cole looked down at her. He didn't know what to say. He was caught off guard by her reaction to him. No one had ever hugged him the way she just did. She held onto him like she never wanted to let him go. He lifted his hand and gently rubbed her cheek and for the first time since he met her in the alley, he noticed how beautiful she was. "Lacey" he whispered her name.

She cradled his face in her hands and peered intently into his eyes. "What is it, Jesse? Did something happen to Tonya?"

Cole put his hand on her lower back and pulled her closer to him. Without thinking, he slowly lowered his head and kissed her. The kiss was sweet and gentle but then it got rough and demanding. Lacey pulled back from him. Something wasn't right. She could feel it. There was something different about him, about the way he kissed. She was about to ask him again to tell her what was wrong when someone screamed her name. She turned around to see Trevor, Tonya and...Jesse, standing a few feet from the jeep with a wolf in their arms. In that moment time stood still.

Lacey felt as if her heart had fallen to her feet. She turned around and looked wide-eyed at the man in front of her. She reached a trembling hand out and rubbed it against his scar. When it peeled away from his skin, she knew it wasn't real. It was nothing more than a latex Halloween prop. She took a step back and opened her mouth to scream but couldn't find her voice. "Cole?" she said in a shaky voice.

He smiled cruelly and Lacey turned to run but he grabbed her by the arm and stuck a needle in her neck. Almost immediately she felt the effects of whatever had been in the syringe. Her vision blurred and she swayed on her feet. Cole caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground. Lacey glanced toward the jeep, Jesse and Trevor were running toward her screaming something but she couldn't understand what they were saying. Her eyelids got heavy and within seconds she was surrounded in darkness.

*****

Jesse froze, barely able to breathe when he saw Lacey standing in front of Cole. Fear consumed him and he ran toward her screaming her name. But he was too late. He saw Cole inject her with something and she went limp in his arms. Jesse charged toward them and skidded to a stop when Cole put his hand around Lacey's throat.

"Take one more step and I'll break her neck. You know I will, so don't push me."

Jesse couldn't take his eyes off of Lacey as she lay unconscious in his brother's arms. "Let her go, Cole. You can't hold her against her will and you know it. Once that drug wears off, she'll use her powers to get away from you."

Cole smirked at him. "Who says that I'm going to let the drug wear off?"

Jesse growled and took a step toward him. Trevor grabbed his arm and pointed over his shoulder. There were about twenty of Cole's men behind them and one of them had Kindal in a choke hold.

Cole laughed out loud. "You should have known that I would get her in the end." He looked down at Lacey and smiled. "Don't worry, I'll take real good care of her."

Jesse knew the true meaning of what Cole meant and it filled him with so much rage that he wanted to rip his heart out. He growled and lunged for Cole again but Trevor held him back.

"You can't do this now. Think about Kindal, they'll kill her if you touch him" Trevor whispered in his ear.

Jesse couldn't think straight. His eyes darted from Lacey to Kindal. He was torn between saving a member of his pack and saving the woman he loved. "Don't you touch her, Cole. I swear I will kill you if you do."

Cole turned his back to Jesse and walked away with Lacey in his arms. He laughed, "Sure you will brother. But until you do, just know that I plan on getting to know your girl a whole lot better."

Jesse watched helplessly as Cole put Lacey in the back seat of his Tahoe and drove away. His fist clenched at his sides and his heart shattered at the thought of never seeing her again.

Once Cole was gone, his men released Kindal and sunk back into the darkness of the trees. Jesse stood staring in the direction that Cole had driven off in. Tonya came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked at her. A tear rolled down her cheek. "We'll get her back" she said in a soft voice.

Jesse looked past Tonya to Kindal. He stormed over to her. "Why did you leave Lacey alone?" he shouted. "I told you to stay with her!"

Kindal trembled at the anger in his voice. "I...I'm sorry, Jesse. She heard Tonya scream and she tried to get out of the jeep. I told her that I'd check things out if she stayed inside. She promised me that she'd stay inside until I got back or..." she stopped and closed her eyes.

"Or what?" Jesse yelled.

Kindal looked at him with sad eyes. "Or you return for her" she whispered.

Jesse staggered back a step as that sunk in. Lacey got out of the jeep because she thought Cole was him. He sat down on the sidewalk and dropped his head between his knees. "This is all my fault. I promised her that I wouldn't leave her and I did."

Tonya crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at Jesse. She had never seen him look so devastated. Kindal came up beside Tonya and put her arm around her. Trevor sat down beside Jesse. "We will get her back. You have to believe that."

Jesse lifted his head. The pain Trevor saw in his eyes almost took his breath away. "I can't lose her. I love her. And I didn't even get the chance to tell her" Jesse admitted. He didn't care anymore that she was human or that he had broken his own rule and fell in love with her. He just wanted her back.

Trevor rested his hand on Jesse's shoulder. "I know my friend...I know" he said in a sad voice and looked at Tonya. The thought of losing her popped into his mind and he knew exactly the kind of pain Jesse was in and it killed him to know his best friend was hurting so badly.

*****

Cole sat across the room from where Lacey was sleeping on a mattress in the corner. He was beginning to think he might have given her too much of the sedative. She had been sleeping for almost fourteen hours. That couldn't be normal not even for a human. Someone knocked on the door and Cole got up to answer it. "What?" he asked when he saw Zack standing in the hall.

Zack tried to peek around him to Lacey. Cole growled and pulled the door closed a little. "What the hell do you want, newbie?"

"Oh, um...I just thought you'd want to know that the new kid, Kyle, has been asking if we could take his chains off. I don't think he's going to run but I told him I had to ask the boss first."

"You can release him but keep an eye on him" Cole said and started to shut the door.

Zack cleared his throat as if he had something else to say.

"What?" Cole yelled.

Zack looked down the hall toward the other rooms. "I also think you should know that Sasha has been on the warpath ever since you brought the girl here last night. She's already beat the hell out of a couple of the guys. And she said that she's going to kill Lacey the first chance she gets."

Cole growled. "Don't let her near this room!"

"Yes sir" Zack said and turned around to stand guard outside the door.

Cole shut the door then walked over to the bed and knelt down beside Lacey. He studied her face carefully then touched her hair. He picked up a few strands and let it fall through his fingers. His gaze shifted to her lips and he gently rubbed his finger across them. The memory of kissing her last night was still fresh in his mind. And he wanted to do it again.

She moaned and squirmed on the bed. Cole touched his hand to her cheek. "It's time to wake up" he said.

"Jesse?" Lacey asked in a sleepy daze as she slowly started to come around.

Cole jerked his hand back and stood up straight. "No! I am not Jesse and it's best that you forget about him. You're never going to see him again" he said roughly.

Lacey opened her eyes and glanced around the room. She didn't recognize anything. She tried to sit up but found it difficult to move. She was too weak to lift her body off the mattress. It felt as if she had an invisible weight holding her down. She looked over at Cole, who was staring at her with his arms crossed over his chest. "Where am I?" she asked.

"You are in one of my many hideouts and no, Jesse doesn't know where we are so don't think that he's going to come for you. You belong to me now. The sooner you understand that, the better."

Lacey touched her head as a wave of nausea hit her. "What did you do to me?"

"I had to make sure you couldn't do your hocus pocus stuff on me. So I gave you a sedative. I admit, I may have given you too much. I'll lower the dose next time."

"Next time?" Lacey asked.

Cole knelt down in front of her again. "I can't have you getting your full strength back, now can I?"

"I'm going to be sick" Lacey said and scrambled to get up, but she was so weak that she couldn't make it two feet before collapsing back to the bed. Cole scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bathroom. He set her on the floor in front of the toilet and walked out.

After a few minutes, she got quiet and he went back to check on her. She was sitting on the floor by the toilet staring at the chain around her ankle. She looked up at him, confused. "Why is there a chain around my leg?"

Cole raised his brows at her as if it should be obvious. "It's just an extra precaution to make sure that you don't escape. Once you've earned my trust, I'll remove it...maybe."

Lacey closed her eyes for a minute then tried to stand but once again, she couldn't. Cole tried to pick her up again and she swatted at his hands. "I don't need your help" she snapped and glared at him.

Cole stepped back and watched Lacey struggle to get to her feet. It took her a little while but she finally made it. She took one step and swayed on her feet. She reached for the sink to steady herself but missed it and fell through the air. Cole was there just in time to catch her before she hit the floor face first. He peered down at her with curiosity. He was shocked at how weak she looked. How could a sedative incapacitate her so much? "Are you alright?" he asked.

Lacey looked away as a tear slid from the corner of her eye. "Like you care. You should have just let me fall."

Cole carried her back to the bed and laid her down. "I'll get you something to eat" he said and started for the door.

Lacey closed her eyes to keep from crying. "I'm not hungry" she lied.

Cole ignored her and left the room.

As soon as Cole was gone, Lacey sat up and looked around the room for a way to escape but there wasn't one. The room was empty except for the bed and a chair. She looked to the window to see that it had bars on it. There was nothing she could use to help her. Whether she liked it or not, she was stuck there. She let out a deep breath and thought about Jesse. He must be going crazy looking for her. The image of him running toward her flashed in her mind and her heart clenched. He had tried to save her but it was too late. Her own stupidity had put her in the arms of her worst enemy.

She wiped at her eyes and turned over on her side. No matter what, she had to find a way to escape and go back to Jesse. She was lost in thought when the bedroom door opened and Cole walked in holding a tray of food. He set it down on the foot of the bed and stood back. "Eat" he ordered.

Lacey ignored him with the hope that he would go away. Cole walked around to the other side of the bed so that he could see her face. "Crying won't help you. It just shows your weakness to your enemy" he spoke the sentence like it was something he said often. It came out almost robotic-like.

Lacey glared at him. "Go to hell!"

Cole knelt down in front of her. "I like your spunk Lacey, but don't think you can talk to me however you want. I won't allow you to show me disrespect in front of my pack."

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Just go away and leave me alone."

"I can't do that. I want to know how you do what you do. How do you make things fly through the air? Are you a witch?" he asked with true curiosity.

Lacey didn't answer him. Instead she turned over on her other side away from him. Cole growled at her. She knew that she was pissing him off but she didn't care. He was going to kill her anyway and she preferred that he did it sooner rather than later. The less suffering she had to endure the better.

Cole walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down in the chair by the bed. He smiled at Lacey's stubbornness. He admired her for showing some backbone and not begging him to let her go like other humans had done. He crossed his arms over his chest and settled into the chair to get comfortable because he had no intention of leaving until she told him what he wanted to know. And if that meant sitting there all day, then that's what he was going to do.

Lacey stared at Cole without saying a word for almost half an hour before she finally sat up in the bed.

Cole smiled. "Are you ready to talk now?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "No"

He laughed out loud and for a second he sounded just like Jesse. "You aren't going to make this easy for me, are you?"

"Why should I? You're no different from any of the doctors that my mother and stepfather took me to. All that you are interested in is learning how my powers work so you can use them and me to your advantage. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not going to be anyone's guinea pig ever again."

The emotion in her voice caught Cole's attention. "What do you mean? What did they do to you?" he asked, surprised that he really did want to know.

Lacey shook her head sadly. "They did the same thing that you want to do to me. They tried to find out how my powers work and when I wouldn't show them, they used torture methods to get a reaction out of me." She glared angrily at Cole. "So you see, I'm used to people like you. I didn't break for the doctors and I won't break for you either."

Cole didn't know what to say to that. He stared at Lacey and tried to imagine what it must have been like for her as a child to be tortured and still not give in. The thought intrigued and angered him. He respected her strength but at the same time, knowing she had been tortured made him mad. And that caught him off guard. He had never cared one way or the other what happened to humans, but there was something about Lacey that made him feel sorry for what she had been through.

"I'm not going to torture you, Lacey."

She let out a chuckle that sounded like she was on the verge of hysteria. "Sure you won't...I don't care anyway. I just want this nightmare to be over."

Cole's gut clenched at the pain and sadness in her voice. He had never met anyone like her. It was obvious that she was a fighter, she definitely gave his wolves a run for their money every time they tried to get to her, but at the same time she seemed so ready to give up. She was a very confusing girl.

Cole looked at the tray of uneaten food at the end of the bed. "Your food is cold. I'll have someone bring you some more" he said and got up to leave.

He had known from the beginning that Lacey was different from other humans but being around her was starting to have an effect on him that he didn't like. She made him feel and whether it was anger or sadness that he felt, he didn't like it. No one had ever made him feel anything before. He didn't want to care about what had been done to her in her past or what might be done to her in the future.

Once outside the room, Cole spoke to Zack. "I'm going to send someone to you with more food for the girl. I want you to take it in to her and get out. Don't talk to her and don't touch her. Are we clear?"

"Got it, boss" Zack said and waited until Cole walked away before rolling his eyes. He hated that he had to act like a whipped dog around Cole but until he was in a position to take him on and win, he didn't have a choice. He stood guard in front of Lacey's door and smiled. She was going to be his ticket to get rid of Cole once and for all. She just didn't know it yet.

*****

Jesse kicked in the door of the old library and ran in ready to fight. But just like all the other buildings he had broken into, it was empty. He had spent the last day and a half looking for Cole's hideout and still hadn't found it. He walked out of the building and over to where Trevor was waiting by the jeep.

"Jesse, you need a break. You're tired and you need some sleep."

Jesse ignored him and jumped in the jeep behind the wheel. "Go home!" he yelled out the window and pulled away from the curb, leaving Trevor standing on the sidewalk.

Jesse was exhausted but he wasn't about to give up searching for Lacey, no matter what his friends said. He knew that every second she was with Cole, she was in danger and he wasn't going to rest until he found her. The image of her lying in his brother's arms kept replaying in his mind, fueling his anger. He loved her and she had trusted him to keep her safe and he failed. Now he had to live with knowing that if anything happened to her it was his fault. How was he going to live with another death on his conscious?

# Chapter Thirteen

The door to Lacey's room opened and a man with curly brown hair walked in carrying a tray of food. She glared at him. "I don't want it. Take it back."

Zack carried the tray over to the chair and set it down. "If the boss says that I'm to give this to you, then that's what I'm going to do. And if he tells me to force feed you because you refuse to eat on your own, then I'll do that too."

Lacey tried to summon up enough energy to toss him across the room. Instead of the normal tug she usually felt when using her powers, she only felt a small buzz. She was still too weak from the sedative. She looked at the tray of food, her empty stomach growled. Maybe it was best to eat something so that she could build up her strength. The smell of freshly cooked barbeque chicken drifted in the air toward her and her mouth watered in anticipation.

Zack raised his brows. He knew Lacey was hungry and she wasn't going to be of any use to him if she was weak from starvation. "Eat or else!" he threatened and walked out to stand guard outside the door.

As soon as he left the room, Lacey grabbed the tray. She was starving and she couldn't deny it any longer. She dug into the mashed potatoes, green beans and chicken like she hadn't eaten in weeks. She ate so fast that she began to feel a little sick. She slowed down and took her time with the rest of the food but the sick feeling didn't go away. It got worse.

She stopped eating and pushed the tray away as a thought came to her. What if they poisoned the food? The thought had barely formed in her mind when her stomach cramped and she ran to the bathroom and bent over the toilet. All of the food she had just eaten came back up.

Lacey turned the water on in the sink and splashed her face with it. She felt hot. She looked at herself in the mirror. "I should have known better than to eat anything they gave me" she said to herself.

Feeling weaker now than she did before she ate, Lacey grabbed a towel from the rack by the door and wiped her mouth with it. The chain around her ankle snagged on the bottom of the bathroom door as she tried to make her way back to bed and she tripped and fell to the floor. The thud of her body hitting the floor echoed in the empty room. She tried to get up but her stomach cramped again, the pain prevented her from standing up. She laid on the floor in the fetal position as the cramping got worse and worse with every passing second. Her insides felt like they were on fire. Not knowing what was wrong with her and being in too much pain to help herself up, she did the only thing she could do. She called out for help.

Zack opened the door and stuck his head inside the room. "What?" he asked.

Lacey's teeth were gritted so tightly that she could barely speak. A sharp pain hit her in the stomach and she screamed out loud. Zack looked over his shoulder and yelled, "Boss, something is wrong with the girl!"

A door slammed from down the hall and Cole came running from his room and pushed past Zack into Lacey's room. He stopped when he saw her lying on the floor a few feet from the bathroom. He looked at her for a minute, unsure whether or not she was faking. But then she turned her head toward him and he saw that her face and hair was soaked with sweat and she looked pale. He ran over and scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. "Lacey, what's wrong with you?" he asked as he watched her dry heave.

She shook her head at him. "Like you don't know...what the hell did you put in the food?" she asked weakly.

He stared at her like he had no idea what she was talking about. Then he looked at the empty tray sitting on the chair by the bed. Lacey tightened her arms around her stomach and groaned as another pain hit her. Cole looked at her as anger ripped through him that someone had went against him and tampered with her food.

He knelt down by the bed and tried to comfort Lacey by rubbing her arm. He didn't know what else to do. He had never tried to help someone feel better before. He was usually the one causing pain in others.

Lacey pushed his hand away and glared at him with glassy eyes. "Why don't you just kill me?" she shouted as a tear slid from the corner of her eye and rolled down into her hair.

Her outburst struck a nerve with Cole. He jumped up and stormed from the room. He grabbed Zack by the collar and dragged him into the room and forced him to look at Lacey. "Who poisoned her food?" he yelled.

Zack looked at Lacey then at Cole and shook his head. "I don't know. Josh brought her tray to me and I gave it to her like you told me to."

Cole narrowed his eyes at Zack then pushed him out of the room. He stood in the doorway unable to take his eyes off Lacey as she whimpered in pain.

"Get out!" she screamed.

Cole took one last look at her and shut the door, leaving Lacey alone in the room. He turned to Zack. "Don't let anyone near her" he ordered and walked off.

He stomped through the living area and into the kitchen. Several of his pack members were sitting at the table eating. Cole stood in the doorway with a look on his face that said he was ready to kill someone. "Who the hell poisoned Lacey's food?" he growled, his voice echoed in the room.

Everyone turned to look at Cole like they had no idea what he was talking about. Everyone except for Sasha. She was leaning over the counter with a smug look on her face. He walked over to her and grabbed her by the arm and squeezed it. "What did you put in the food?" he snarled, his upper lip curled in anger.

Sasha smiled and pulled her arm from his grip. "I told you that I would kill her if you brought her here. You should have listened to me."

Cole growled out loud and backhanded her. She stumbled backwards and fell against the wall. She steadied herself quickly but not quick enough to avoid being struck again. She hit the floor and glared up at Cole. The rage on his face scared her. She had never seen him so angry and he had never hit her before.

Cole's eyes narrowed. "You better hope that Lacey doesn't die because if she does, I'm going to kill you" he said and left her lying on the floor and hurried back to Lacey.

When he opened the door to her room, he was stunned to see that she wasn't on the bed anymore. He heard the water on in the bathroom and went to check on her. What he saw when he pushed the bathroom door open, shocked him.

Lacey was in the bathtub curled in the fetal position with the shower turned on. Her lips were a light shade of blue and she was shaking violently. Cole quickly turned the water off and picked her up and carried her back to bed. "What the hell are you doing? That water is ice cold" he yelled at her. But then he saw that the sheets on the bed were soiled with vomit and he knew that she had been trying to get herself clean. He grabbed the sheets and threw them across the room into the corner and yelled for Zack.

Zack opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Yeah, boss?"

"Bring me some blankets now!"

Zack closed the door and Cole looked down at Lacey, she was still shaking. He tried to take off her wet clothes but she fought against him, slapping at his hands and trying to kick him. After a few minutes, she gave up and let him undress her. She was too tired to fight. Zack ran back into the room and handed Cole the blankets.

"Now get out!" Cole yelled at him and turned his attention back to Lacey. He quickly wrapped her up in the blankets. But that didn't stop her from shaking. Not knowing what else to do, he crawled into bed with her and pulled her into his arms to warm her up. Lacey rested her head against his shoulder.

Cole's body stiffened at how cold her face was. He tightened his arms around her. "This isn't what I wanted. I wanted you to trust me" he whispered against her hair. He couldn't help but feel bad for what she was going through.

When Lacey didn't respond, Cole looked down at her and saw that she was asleep. He gently lifted his hand to her cheek. Her skin was still cold. A tiny pain hit him in the chest at the memory of how fragile she had looked when he opened the bathroom door and saw her shivering in the tub. He tightened his arms around her, not because she still needed the warmth of his body but because his cold heart needed the warmth of hers. He couldn't bring himself to move away. He wanted to be near her and he knew that the only time he could be was when she was asleep.

*****

Cole never once left the room while Lacey was sick. He stayed with her all day and night while she slept like she was in a coma. And by sunset the next afternoon, he was so anxious for her to wake up that he tried to wake her up himself. He got a wet rag from the bathroom and rubbed it over her face. It took a few minutes but she finally opened her eyes and looked at him.

"How do you feel?" Cole asked in a rough voice. He hadn't slept at all since Lacey fell asleep and he was fighting to stay awake.

"I'm tired" she mumbled and rubbed her eyes.

"You must be starving."

Lacey cocked her head to the side and gave him a go-to-hell look before rolling her eyes. "You have got to be kidding me. I'm not eating anything that you people give me ever again."

Cole grimaced. He wanted to reassure her that it was safe to eat, but the look of determination on her face told him that it was pointless to say anything. She wasn't going to believe anything he said and after what had happened, he couldn't blame her. He moved from the bed and sat down in the chair and left her alone.

*****

Over the next couple of days, Lacey was in and out of consciousness. Cole figured her condition was a combination of the poison and exhaustion. At least that's what he hoped. He put Kevin in charge of fixing food for her but she wouldn't eat anything. Cole knew that she wouldn't live much longer if she didn't start eating. And he was beginning to think that he was going to have to force feed her.

He grabbed the bowl of chicken noodle soup from the tray on the floor and sat down on the bed. Lacey turned her head to look at him. Her eyes appeared sunk in and she had dark spots under them. Her skin was pale and her lips dry and cracked.

"Lacey, you have to eat" Cole said and held the spoon out to her.

She turned her head away and closed her eyes. Cole put the bowl on the chair and put his hands under her arms and lifted her up in the bed. He propped the pillows up behind her before retrieving the bowl. He held a spoonful of soup out to her again. "If you don't eat then I'll have no choice but to force you" he said in a tired voice.

Lacey looked at the spoon then at Cole. She had no doubt that he would force feed her if he had to. And she didn't want that to happen. Besides, the truth was she really was hungry. With the hope that she wasn't making a mistake, she opened her mouth and allowed Cole feed her.

"Do you like it?"

Lacey nodded and reached for the bowl but her hands were too shaky to hold it. Cole moved closer and held the bowl near her chin and continued to feed her. Neither of them said a word while she ate. From time to time, they made eye contact but they both quickly looked away. When she was finished, Cole took the bowl over to the door and gave it to Zack. "Bring her some more" he ordered.

Zack took the bowl and left.

Lacey wanted to tell him that she didn't want any more but she was still hungry so she stayed quiet and waited for Zack to return. When he did, Cole took the bowl from him and shut the door without saying a word. He reclaimed his seat on the bed beside Lacey and started feeding her again. She felt weird having him take care of her, especially since she knew that he wasn't a good guy. And most likely, his kindness was going to end as soon as she got better. But she was going to let him care for her as long as he wanted to while she built up her strength to fight against him.

Once she was full, Lacey held up her hand. "That's enough."

Cole set the bowl down on the floor and gave her a napkin to clean her mouth.

"Thank you" she whispered.

Cole looked at her, surprised by her gratitude. "You don't have to be polite. No one here cares about manners."

Lacey laid back in the bed and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She felt much better now that she had eaten. Her stomach was full and she didn't feel as weak as before. "What are you going to do with me?" she asked in a small voice.

Cole started for the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. "I'm not going to lie to you Lacey, I am interested in your powers. I think that we could work together. No one would dare go against me with you and your powers at my side. I've considered changing you but I'm afraid if I do, you might lose your powers. So in return for your help, I'll give you protection. I'm sure you already know about the rule you've broken by learning what we are. And you are going to need all the protection you can get once word gets around that you know our secret."

Lacey raised her head. "What are you talking about? What rule?"

Cole turned around and walked back over to the bed. He looked down at her, stunned. "Jesse didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" she asked with a hint of aggravation.

"Ahh. What was my brother planning to do with you? He obviously wasn't planning on changing you if he didn't tell you about the rule that's been broken. But I have a hard time believing that he was going to kill you. So he must have had something else in mind" Cole wondered aloud.

Lacey glared at him. "He was going to take me out of the city to some place safe."

Cole shook his head. "My brother is a fool if he thought you would be safe simply by moving you to another city. Eventually, someone would have found you and they would have killed you. So you see, you're safer with me."

"Why? Why am I in danger?"

Cole sat down in the chair. "We have unwritten rules that we live by, some more than others, but there is one rule that everyone must obey. That rule states that any human who discovers the truth about us must either be killed or changed. It is imperative for our survival that humans don't know we exist. I'm sure you can understand that."

Lacey's mouth dropped open. She shook her head. "No, I don't understand. How can you kill innocent people for stumbling onto your secret or worse, change them into monsters like you? If your secret is so sacred to you then why are you risking being found out by hunting humans for sport? Shouldn't you isolate yourself away from civilization or something?"

Cole jumped up from the chair and leaned on the mattress mere inches away from her. "My hunts are none of your business! And there is no such thing as an innocent human" he growled.

Lacey moved back a little to put distance between them. "Why do you hate humans so much? What did we ever do to you?" she asked. Her eyes met Cole's and she held his gaze, daring him to be the first to look away. She tried not to flinch when a sharp growl escaped through his parted lips.

Cole glared at her for several seconds before averting his eyes to the floor. He reclaimed his seat in the chair and decided to change the subject. Talking about his personal life with her was not something he was interested in doing. "How did you spend your time with Jesse? You obviously didn't spend it talking since you don't seem to know anything about my kind."

Lacey crossed her arms over her chest. "It's none of your damn business how we spent our time together." The fact that Cole didn't answer her question didn't get past her. But she decided not to push him, at least not now. Sooner or later she was going to find out what he had against humans.

Cole let out a manly chuckle. "No, I guess it's not. But I am still curious. Jesse really should have told you more than he did. Has he spoken to you about our parents? Or about our past?"

Lacey looked at him with interest. "No, he never mentioned his parents and the only thing he said about you was that you were a very bad man." She shot him a mean look and pursed her lips. "I definitely agree with him about you."

Cole smiled and lifted his shoulders in a small shrug like her opinion of him meant nothing. "I'll make you a deal. If you tell me about your powers then I'll tell you about my parents."

Lacey thought about it for a minute. She didn't want to talk about her powers but she did want to learn as much as she could about Jesse and his family. She reluctantly agreed. "Okay, but just because I tell you about my powers doesn't mean that I will use them for you."

"Fair enough...You go first" Cole said and leaned back in his chair.

"Fine. To answer your earlier question, no I'm not a witch. I was born this way. My powers are connected to my emotions. When I get angry or I recently learned, excited, I feel a tug in my head. I don't really know how to describe it. It feels like electricity surges through me and I can move things with my mind. All I have to do is concentrate on what I want to move and it moves. At least that's how it is most of the time" Lacey said and bit down on her bottom lip as memories of all the times that she's lost control of herself passed through her mind.

Cole noticed the slight change in her posture as she avoided looking at him. She looked as if she was ashamed of something. "And at other times, how is it then?" he asked with curiosity.

Lacey lifted her head to look at him. Cole could see guilt written all over her face and it touched a nerve with him. He wanted to know what she felt so guilty about. "Lacey?" he prompted her to respond.

"What!" She yelled defensively and got out of the bed and started pacing around the room. "What do you want to know? Do you want to know my weakness? Fine. I can't always control my powers. I've never been able to fully control them. And sometimes people get hurt around me. People that I care about, people that I love." Her voice broke when she thought about her mom and dad. She quickly looked away from Cole before he had a chance to see the tear that was threatening to slip from her eye.

The pain in Lacey's voice ripped at Cole's heart. He got up from his chair and started toward her. She turned around and leveled a death stare at him. "Don't come near me. I don't need your sympathy. I answered your question, now you answer mine. Why do you hate Jesse so much?"

Cole stopped a few feet in front of Lacey and studied her face. She was trying to hide her feelings from him but he could see through her brave façade. There was a lot more going on with her than he knew. He stared at her a moment longer before returning to his chair. "We're brothers... isn't that reason enough to hate him."

Lacey narrowed her eyes at him. "No it's not." She made her way back to the bed and sat down with her arms crossed over her chest. She looked down at the chain locked around her ankle and gritted her teeth. "Just tell me what he did. Did he steal your girlfriend? Did he break your favorite toy when you were kids? Was he your parents favorite? Did he get all the attention and now you're pissed at him for it? You need to grow the hell up and let it go." Lacey knew that she was pushing Cole, but at the moment she didn't care. He had her chained to the floor like a dog and her own temper was starting to rise.

Cole growled a warning at her. She flinched before straightening her back, composing herself and glaring back at him defiantly. "What? Did I guess right? Are you just an overgrown brat with a grudge for something that happened when you were a child?"

"Enough!" Cole yelled and jumped from his chair. He pushed her backwards onto the bed and pinned her down by her shoulders. His body trembled with anger.

Lacey looked up at him with frightened eyes. She tried to push him off but he didn't budge. Cole's jaw clenched as he spoke through gritted teeth. "You don't know anything about me. And you sure as hell don't know anything about Jesse. You seem to think that our hatred of each other is because of something that I did. Well, you're wrong. Everyone has a bad side Lacey, including your precious Jesse."

Lacey searched Cole's face for any sign that he was lying. "That's not true. Jesse is good. He's nothing like you."

Cole eased his grip on her shoulders and gave her a small smile. "I'm not going to argue with you, Lacey. I know who my brother really is and one day everyone else will to." He took one last look at her before sitting back in his chair. "Let's get back to our little question game, shall we. Can you move anything with your powers or is there a limit to what you can do? Can you lift a car in the air? Or move things that aren't near you?"

Lacey raised her brows and shook her head. "I don't want to play your stupid game anymore" she said stubbornly.

Cole let out a small growl. He wanted to hear more about her powers and he was losing his patience with her. He had already showed her way more than he had ever shown anyone else. "I'll tell you about my parents if you answer my question" he bargained.

Lacey thought about it for a second. Her curiosity got the best of her. "Fine. No, I don't think I can lift a car. I mean I've never tried to. As for the distance question, I don't know. I've never really tested myself. I usually try not to use my powers. Now tell me about your parents."

Cole smiled, pleased that Lacey was responding to him. He let out a deep breath before speaking. "Our mother was a human that our father had been dating for a while. She didn't know what he was, he never told her. Once father fell in love with her, he decided to change her. Apparently, she didn't like being a werewolf. She tried to kill herself several times in the years after she was changed but when she got pregnant father hoped that she would feel differently. He hoped that having children to love and care for would make her enjoy life. After Jesse and I were born, she did change for a little while. She was never happy but she didn't try to kill herself anymore." He paused and looked away as memories of his childhood caused a pain deep in his chest. "She tried her best to be a good mother. I know that she loved us even though she hated what we were...what she was. Jesse and I were twelve when we came home from school and found her dead in her room. She had shot herself with a silver bullet. On the table beside her body was three letters, one for myself, one for Jesse and one for our father. In my letter, she apologized for not being strong enough to live with what she was. She said that she loved me and wished that I'd find happiness one day. I don't know what the other notes said, I didn't bother to read them."

Lacey was speechless as she listened to Cole talk about his mother's death. She wanted to say something but didn't know what she should say. Her mind was on Jesse. The thought of him finding his mother dead was heartbreaking. She wanted to hold him and tell him how sorry she was for what he had been through.

She didn't realize that while she was thinking about Jesse, Cole had turned away from her. He stared off into the corner of the room without saying a word. When he finally faced Lacey again, she could see the pain on his face that talking about his mother had caused. She instantly felt awful that she hadn't acknowledge that Jesse wasn't the only one who lost his mother. Cole did too.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Cole" she said.

He ignored her comment like her sympathy meant nothing to him. "Your turn. Is there anything that your powers don't work on? Can you crush metal or rock?"

Lacey rolled her eyes again and said, "No, I can't crush metal. I'm not superman. Windows, mirrors or any type of glass isn't safe around me. When I get angry, it shatters. And I can't do anything against steel. It's too strong. Your turn" she said and pointed at Cole. "What about your father? Where is he?"

"He's dead" Cole said flatly and returned her gesture by pointing at her. "Your turn."

Lacey was getting frustrated. "How did he die?" she asked.

Cole shook his head. "Your turn" he said each word slowly and firmly.

"Damn it Cole, I'm tired of this. Can't you just tell me what I want to know and be done with it?" she yelled.

Cole grinned. "I could ask you the same thing. I'm not happy playing this game either, but it seems to be the only way I can get any information from you."

"Ugh...just forget it!" Lacey yelled and pulled the blanket over her head. "I don't want to hear anymore anyway" she lied. She desperately wanted to know what happened to Jesse's father and what had made Cole hate humans. But she wasn't going to let him think he had any control over her by dangling information in her face.

Cole laughed. Lacey's childish antics amused him. He was intrigued by her. He liked how one minute she was strong and willful, and the next, she was more stubborn than a mule and then as bratty as a child. The only thing that he hadn't seen from her yet, was weakness. Even when she was in pain from the poison and barely able to move, she still lashed out at him. He got up and walked over to the door. He wasn't giving up on finding out more about her but there was no point in pushing her, she wasn't going anywhere. And he was beginning to know her well enough that he knew if she didn't want to talk then she wasn't going to. "I'll come back later to check on you. Maybe you'll feel like talking then" Cole said and left the room.

Lacey threw the blanket off of her and stared at the door then yelled, "Jerk!"

She heard Cole laughing from the hallway. She buried her face in the pillow and screamed.

The sound of Lacey's voice echoed in Cole's head as he made his way to his room. He couldn't help but smile even though it was obvious that she hated him. There was something about her that he liked and it scared him. Once in his room, he closed the door and leaned against it with his eyes closed. Lacey's face popped into his mind. She was looking up at him with so much love. Her eyes were wide with concern. His heart thudded in his chest as he saw himself stick the needle in her neck.

He opened his eyes and pushed the image away. Lacey hadn't been looking at him with love. She thought she was with Jesse, not him. Cole growled and pushed away from the door. What was happening to him? Why was the thought of Lacey being with Jesse so infuriating? Why did it bother him so much? Being around her was making him feel things that he didn't want to feel. She was making him soft. The mere fact that he still had not been able to get all of the information he wanted from her proved that. Normally when he wanted something from someone and they refused to give it to him, he would just take it. He had beaten information out of people many times over the years. But when it came to Lacey, he wasn't himself. He didn't want to hurt her. Even worse, he wanted to take care of her and that is something he had never wanted to do for anyone.

Cole's belief has always been that only the strong should survive, which typically meant only werewolves. But every time he looked at Lacey, he felt the need to comfort her. He kicked the chair at the foot of his bed, sending it flying across the room. Then he flopped down on the bed and brought his fist up on both sides of his head and squeezed as if he was trying to force Lacey from his mind.

He was going to have to get tougher with her. He wasn't about to let a human be his downfall. She was going to have to start obeying him or pay the consequences just like everyone else. He couldn't afford for his pack to see his weakness with her. He had never cared about anyone and he wasn't going to start now. Although he was starting to understand why his brother had foolishly fallen in love with her. But he wasn't going to make the same mistake. He was going to have to keep his distance from Lacey for his own sake more than hers.

# Chapter Fourteen

"It's been over a week and we still haven't found Lacey. I'm afraid that it might be too late to save her" Tonya said and reached across the table and squeezed Kindal's hand.

"I miss her" Kindal said and wiped a tear from her eye. "I was supposed to protect her and I didn't and now Jesse is killing himself trying to find her. He's barely gotten twenty hours of sleep since Cole took her. He's not eating and he looks weak and tired. I hate seeing him in so much pain."

Trevor walked into the kitchen and put his hand on her shoulder. "He'll pull though this. It's not easy losing someone that you love and it's going to take Jesse some time."

Scotty looked up from his bowl of cereal and glared angrily at his friends. "What the hell is wrong with all of you? You're acting like Lacey is dead and we should all just move on and forget about her. Well, I don't believe that. I agree with Jesse, she's out there somewhere waiting for us to find her. I don't think Cole wants to kill her. He wants her powers and she can't use them if she's dead." He pushed away from the table and stood up. "I'm going to keep helping Jesse look for her until we find her...dead or alive. And if you all were really his friends, you'd do the same. He's always been there for us whenever we've needed him, and it's time that we were there for him."

Scotty stormed out the door of the warehouse, slamming it behind him. Tyron and Devon got up from the couch and followed him outside, leaving Tonya, Kindal and Trevor alone in the kitchen.

The mood at the warehouse had been somber since the night Lacey was taken and everyone was having a hard time dealing with losing her. But no one was hit as hard as Jesse.

He sat in the hall outside his bedroom, leaning against the wall as he listened to his friends talk about him downstairs. Every time he heard them talking about Lacey like she was already dead, it ripped a new hole in his heart. He didn't want to think she was gone. He had to believe that she was alright. It was the only way he could go on each day.

He knew that his friends were worried about him but he couldn't stop looking for Lacey. He loved her too much to give up. And the fact that she was with his brother urged him on even more. He knew the kind of madness Cole was capable of and he had to get her away from him. The image of Cole kissing Lacey the night that he took her went through Jesse's mind and he punched the wall beside him, making a huge hole. He cussed to himself and got to his feet for another long day of searching.

*****

Kevin was sitting at the kitchen table cutting potatoes for supper when Sasha came into the room wearing a super short black leather mini skirt and a hot pink tank top. She sashayed over to the table and leaned over it so that her breast spilled over the top of her shirt. She smiled.

Kevin looked up from what he was doing and raised his brows at her. "What are you up to, Sasha?"

She came around the table and straddled him in the chair. "Who says that I'm up to anything? I'm just bored and Cole doesn't want to play with me anymore. He has his little human to keep him company" she said and leaned over to kiss the side of his neck.

Kevin closed his eyes, loving the feel of her on his lap as she kissed him. He had wanted her for years but never made a move because she was with Cole. Never in his wildest dreams did he think she would be sitting in his lap rubbing herself against him the way she was now. Sasha playfully bit down on his ear lobe. Kevin let out a low growl. She reached down between their bodies and grabbed his crotch.

"Sasha" he growled in warning, "don't start something that you can't or won't finish."

She smiled at him seductively then claimed his lips with hers. Her kiss was rough and needing. And it excited him.

Kevin stood up with Sasha's legs wrapped around his waist as they kissed. He backed her up against the wall in the corner of the room and explored her body with his hands without breaking from their kiss. His whole body trembled with the need to have her. He rubbed his hand up her thigh and under her skirt.

"Not here" Sasha said breathlessly. "We need privacy. Let's go to your room."

Kevin didn't waste any time. He put her down on her feet, grabbed her hand and led the way to his room...right next to Lacey's.

He opened the door and Sasha pushed him inside, eager to get what she had to do over with so that she could get him to help her with her plan. The mere idea of having sex with him disgusted her but she was willing to do whatever she had to in order to get Cole back. And she was sure that once Lacey was out of the picture, he would fall in love with her again.

Kevin grabbed Sasha by the shoulders and pushed her down on the bed. He stared at her with hungry eyes. He knew that she was just using him. He wasn't dumb enough to think that after all the years they've known each other she suddenly wanted him. She was using him to get to Cole or maybe Lacey, but that wasn't going to happen. If she was stupid enough to think that by sleeping with him, he would do whatever she wanted him to do, then she deserved to get used. And he intended to use her all night long.

*****

Several more days had passed and Lacey was starting to accept the fact that she may never escape. She came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head just as the door to her room opened and Zack walked in carrying a box. He set it down on the bed and turned to face her. "Cole told me to give this to you. It's some clothes and other woman crap" he said and quickly left the room.

Lacey walked over to the box and searched through it. She pulled out a pair of very comfortable looking pajama bottoms and checked the tag. To her surprise, they were her size and so were the rest of the clothes. She quickly put the pajamas on before anyone had the chance to walk in and see her naked. Then she looked through the rest of the box and found some makeup and lotions. In the corner of the box was a stack of books, she picked them up and read the titles.

"You have got to be kidding me" she said with disgust as she rolled her eyes. "Wolf Lover, Mating of the Wolf, Sleeping with a Wolf."

She shook her head and threw the books back in the box. "Not in this lifetime, buddy" she said to herself and moved the box from the bed to the corner of the room. She took the bottle of lotion and rubbed some of it on her ankle where the chain had rubbed her skin raw. She stared at the purple bruises around her ankle and grimaced. How could she have been so stupid to let herself get kidnapped? The question hung in her mind making her mad at herself.

She walked around the room, amazed at how much better and stronger she felt. She hoped that in another day or so she would be strong enough to use her powers to attempt an escape.

She walked over to the window and tested the bars on it to see if they would move but they didn't budge. They were cemented into the wall. Standing in front of the window, Lacey looked around her prison. Her eyes landed on the only object in the room that she could use to help in her escape, the chair that Cole always sat in. She went over to it and tried to pick it up but the legs were nailed to the floor. She smiled. It was obvious they didn't trust her and were afraid of her powers. She liked knowing that. It made her feel stronger.

Lacey sat down on the edge of the bed and focused on the nails that held the chair in place. The chair wasn't going to be much of a weapon but it was all she had to use. She stared at the nails as a tiny surge of electricity tingled through her body. It wasn't as strong as it usually was but it was more than she'd felt since she was kidnapped.

The nails started to move a little. Lacey narrowed her eyes and focused harder. One of the nails pulled from the chair leg and impaled itself into the wall on the opposite side of the room. Lacey smiled at her tiny accomplishment and let out a deep breath and tried again. Two more nails pulled from the chair and fell to the floor. The fact that they didn't fly across the room told her that she was already getting weak again. She was about to try one last time to pull the remaining nails out when she felt something wet on her lip. She touched her hand to it and looked at the blood on her fingers. She got up to go to the bathroom at the same time the door to the room opened and Cole walked in. He stood in the doorway staring at her. "What happened? Why are you bleeding?" he asked and walked over to her.

Lacey quickly covered her nose with her hand and walked past him to the bathroom. She grabbed a towel and covered her nose with it before she came back out. Cole was standing by the bed staring down at the floor. He bent over and picked something up. He looked at the object in his hand then at Lacey.

She tried to hide her reaction when she saw the nail in his hand. She walked over to the bed and sat down like nothing had happened. "I have nose bleeds sometimes" she said to get his attention away from the chair.

"Do you need anything for it?" Cole asked but didn't take his eyes off of the chair. He grabbed the arm of it and jiggled it. The chair moved against the floor. He noticed immediately that some of the nails were gone. He turned his attention to Lacey, his eyes narrowed. "You were using your powers, weren't you? I thought you were too weak for that. You've been playing me this whole time, haven't you?" He grabbed her by the arm, jerking her up from the bed.

Lacey slammed into his chest hard but quickly pulled back from him. "Let me go!" she yelled and tried to pull her arm from his grip but he held her tighter.

"I'm done playing your games, little girl. Either you agree to use your powers to help me or I'm going to kill you right now" Cole said through gritted teeth and jerked her against him again.

Lacey couldn't hide the fear that she felt. He hadn't been that rough with her before and now she was starting to see why everyone was so afraid of him. The cold calculating way his eyes stared at her made her breath catch in her throat. She quickly pulled what little energy she had left together and focused it on Cole. She knew that she was pushing herself too hard, but she didn't see where she had a choice, he was going to kill her if she didn't do something.

Power surged through her and into Cole. His hands were ripped from her arms as he was forced backwards across the room. He hit the wall and slid down to the floor. Shocked by her attack, it took him a second to pull himself together. Then he jumped up yelled for Zack to come in and help him. Without wasting any time, he charged toward Lacey. She hit him again with her powers but he was barely pushed two feet. She could taste the blood in her mouth again and the onset of pain in her head was quick and crippling.

She grabbed her head and fell to the floor, screaming. Cole stood a few feet away, watching her. He didn't know if she was trying to trick him or not. But he wasn't about to get close to her until he knew for sure.

Zack ran into the room and froze when he saw Lacey screaming on the floor. "What's going on?" he asked Cole in a rush.

"I don't know. Check on her" Cole said in a rough voice.

Zack looked from Cole to Lacey, he didn't understand why he wanted him to check on her instead of doing it himself but he did as he was told. He knelt down beside Lacey and turned her head toward him. The look of pain on her face shocked him. Tears streamed down her face as she continued to yell out. Zack looked up at Cole. "What did you do to her?"

Cole came up behind Zack and looked over his shoulder at Lacey. "I didn't do anything to her. She used her powers and threw me against the wall then she fell to the floor screaming like a banshee."

The room was getting full with Cole's pack members. They all stared down at Lacey but none offered to help her. Cole noticed how packed the room was getting and ordered everyone out.

"What about me, boss?" Zack asked as he stood up.

"Stay outside the door in case she tries to use her powers again."

"You got it, boss" Zack said and left the room, closing the door shut behind him.

Cole knelt down beside Lacey. The pain on her face made him believe that she wasn't faking. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to speak through the pain. "My powers...they give me headaches...I need pain reliever."

Cole went to the bathroom and looked in the cabinet but didn't find anything. "I don't have any."

Lacey screamed again and Cole picked her up and carried her to the bed.

"Make the pain stop! Knock me out!" she yelled at him.

Cole gave her a dumbfounded look, like he didn't understand what she was saying. She yelled at him again and tried to jump up from the bed. "Knock me out!"

Cole grabbed her and stared at her wide-eyed, not sure if she really wanted him to hit her. The pain on her face answered his question. And without a second thought, he hit her in the back of the head and she fell across the bed unconscious.

Cole stared at her in shock. No one had ever begged him to hit them before. Lacey was confusing him more and more every second that he spent with her. He grabbed her under her arms and straightened her in the bed then sat down beside her. He watched while she slept and tried to come up with a rational reason for her behavior. But there wasn't one. The image of her screaming on the floor flashed in his mind and he shook his head. "What's going on with you, Lacey?" he whispered and brushed her hair back from her face.

He replayed the moment when she threw him against the wall in his mind and smiled. He admired the fight in her. She was definitely a one-of-a-kind woman. He looked at her lips and the memory of kissing her the night that he had taken her came to mind.

Her lips had been so soft and sweet against his and he wanted to experience that sensation again. The only kisses he ever received were rough and demanding. The women he had been with weren't interested in taking it slow. But it had been different with Lacey. She had kissed him like she had real feelings for him, like she loved him. But it wasn't him that she thought she was kissing, it was Jesse. The thought angered Cole more than it should have.

He took one last look at Lacey before getting up to put new nails in the chair. Once he was sure that she wouldn't be able to remove the nails again, he sent one of his pack members to get a bottle of pain reliever in case Lacey needed it when she woke up.

*****

Kevin walked back to his room and picked up his shirt from the floor and put it on. Sasha was still in the bed with a sheet wrapped around her. "What was the girl screaming about?" she asked.

"I don't know. Cole told us to get out. She was on the floor screaming like a mad person" Kevin said distractedly.

Sasha smiled. "She must have really pissed Cole off. Stupid humans cry about everything."

Kevin grabbed his shoes and started for the door. Sasha got out of bed and sashayed over to him, then wrapped her arms around his neck. "Where are you going?" she asked in a sweet voice and nibbled on his ear. "I need to talk to you about something."

Here it comes, Kevin thought. She was finally going to tell him what she expected him to do for her sleeping with him. He stepped away from her and put his shoes on. "What do you want to talk about, Sasha?"

She dropped the sheet to the floor and stood in front of him naked. She wrapped her arms around his neck again and started kissing him. "I want you to do something for me" she said in between kisses. "I want you to help me get close to the girl. She's weak and useless. We don't need her in our pack. She'll bring us all down."

Kevin let out a deep chuckle and pulled Sasha's arms from around his neck. "I don't think so."

She narrowed her eyes at him and put her hands on her hips. "Why not!" she yelled.

Kevin rubbed his finger over her lips. "I know what you're trying to do Sasha, and I won't help you. Until Cole says differently, the girl is not to be harmed."

She let out a loud frustrated growl. "You mean I slept with you for nothing!"

Kevin laughed and shook his head. "You came onto me, remember. And I never told you that I would help you do anything. Look at it this way, we both got laid and now you know your tricks don't work on me."

Sasha swung at him but he ducked and quickly opened the door and left her standing in the middle of the room completely naked, yelling cuss words at him.

He walked down the hall to Lacey's room and saw Zack standing by the door.

"What the hell is Sasha yelling about?" Zack asked.

Kevin looked over his shoulder to his room and smiled. "Nothing that you need to know about. What's going on with the girl?"

"Nothing that you need to know about" Zack said sarcastically, repeating Kevin's words back to him.

Kevin got in his face. "Don't try that smartass crap with me newbie, if I ask you a question, you damn well better answer it."

Zack smiled. He liked aggravating Kevin. "If you want to know, ask the boss. He hasn't told me anything."

Kevin knocked on the door and Cole opened it. "What?"

"What's going on with the girl?" Kevin asked.

Cole opened the door all the way and let him in. He ran his hand through his hair roughly as he looked at Lacey. "I don't know but there is something wrong with her. Her nose was bleeding earlier and I smelled something in her blood. I don't know what it is but it's not normal. I think she's sick."

Kevin glanced at Lacey. "She looks alright now."

"Yeah, I had to knock her out" Cole said and sat back down in his chair.

"At least she's not screaming anymore" Kevin said with a smile.

Cole ignored him and rubbed his hands down his face. He looked tired. "I don't know what to do with her. I think her powers are what caused her to freak out. She was fine until she used them to throw me against the wall. Then she fell to the floor screaming."

"If her powers incapacitate her like this," Kevin pointed to Lacey asleep on the bed, "then she's useless to us. There's no point in keeping her. We should just kill her and be done with it."

Cole jumped from the chair and grabbed Kevin by the throat. "If anyone comes near her, I'll rip their hearts out. Do you understand? I'll decide what we do with her, not you. And until I say differently, she's not to be touched."

Kevin looked at Cole with fear in his eyes. "Of course" he said through tight lips.

Cole released him and took a step back. Exhaustion was taking a toll on him. "Get out" he said and looked over at Lacey.

Kevin opened the door and walked out, slamming it shut behind him.

Zack, having heard everything that had happened in the room, smiled as Kevin stormed past him. He was beginning to think that it was going to be easier than he thought to take Kevin's place as Cole's second in command.

*****

Lacey moaned as she started to wake up. She rubbed the back of her head where a new pain was throbbing. She remembered Cole hitting her and looked around the room for him. He was leaning against the wall across the room with his arms crossed over his chest. She shot him a mean look. "I really hate you" she said with as much venom as she could muster.

A slow grin crossed his face. He pushed away from the wall and took his seat by the bed. "Well, I'm not that fond of you right now either" he said as he studied her face. She looked too weak to use her powers again but he wasn't going to let his guard down around her anymore. "What happened to you earlier? Why were you in so much pain?"

Lacey wanted to tell him to go to hell but she was too tired to fight. And she knew that eventually he was going to figure it out anyway, so there was no point in angering him by not answering his question. "Using my powers has side effects. Well, they do now. The headaches and nose bleeds started a few months ago. But they're getting worse the more I use my powers."

Cole gave her what he hoped was a sympathetic look but since he had never showed anyone sympathy, he wasn't sure if he was making the correct face. "You go through that every time you use your powers?"

Lacey gave him a hard stare and nodded.

Cole was completely stunned. "Then why do you keep using them?"

Lacey thought about his question and she didn't really have an answer. She could tell him that she was just used to using them or that her powers were the only defense she had to keep herself safe. But the truth was she used them because she didn't know how not to. She had spent her whole life trying to find a way to suppress her powers so that she could be normal like everyone else. But every time she got even a little upset, her powers would surface, even when she didn't want them to.

She looked away from Cole. "Why do you care? As long as I use my powers to help you, you couldn't care less about what they do to me, so don't pretend like you do" she snapped at him.

"I do care" Cole said in a rough voice. "I don't want to see you hurt, Lacey."

She looked at him with sad eyes. "If you didn't want to see me hurt then you wouldn't keep me here against my will. Just let me go...let me go back to Jesse" she pleaded.

Cole scooted to the edge of his seat to get closer to her. He hated hearing his brother's name come out of her mouth. And he hated knowing that she wanted Jesse and not him. He tried to keep his anger at bay but jealousy was making it almost impossible. "Why do you want him?" he asked in a thick voice.

Lacey closed her eyes and thought about Jesse. When she opened them, she said the only thing that she could, "I love him."

Her words hit Cole like a punch in the gut. He wanted to lash out at her, to tell her that she was in love with the wrong man. That she should love him because he was stronger, braver and more worthy of her love than Jesse was, but he didn't. Instead, he tried a different approach. He reached out and gently rubbed his thumb over her cheek. She tensed and gave him a scared look.

"Don't be afraid of me, Lacey" Cole whispered.

She relaxed a bit but didn't take her eyes off of him. His face appeared softer, kinder and at the moment he reminded her so much of Jesse that she wanted to reach out and touch him. She gazed into his eyes and saw a familiar look. It was the same look that she had seen in Jesse's eyes when he looked at her. Desire. Confusion filled her mind as her heart began to race.

Cole slowly closed the distance between them, keeping his eyes on her lips. He ached to kiss her and before he could stop himself, he did. His lips gently touched hers. Lacey flinched and instantly pulled back. She looked at Cole like she didn't know what to do.

"It's alright, Lacey" he whispered and cradled her face with his hands before kissing her again. Instead of returning his kiss, she stayed perfectly still and held her lips tightly closed. It wasn't that she didn't want to kiss him, because if she was being honest with herself, she'd admit that she did. The problem was that she knew he wasn't Jesse. He might look like him, talk like him, even act like him at times, but he wasn't the man she loved. But even knowing all of that, she was still finding it hard not to give in to him.

Cole rubbed his face against hers and closed his eyes. "Kiss me, Lacey" he whispered.

His breath was warm against her skin and it sent goose bumps down her arms. She looked him in the eye and tried to find the strength to push him away.

He lightly touched his lips to hers again, hoping that she would have pity on him and let him experience how a kiss should be. He wanted her to kiss him, knowing that it was him she was kissing and not Jesse.

Lacey knew that what she was about to do was wrong but she couldn't stop herself. Cole reminded her so much of Jesse and she needed to be close to him, anyway that she could. Cole's lips touched hers again and she relaxed her mouth. She slowly moved her lips against his. It was a soft, tender kiss that quickly grew into a more passion filled one. She didn't feel the instant connection that she had felt when she kissed Jesse but she did feel something and that surprised her.

Cole couldn't believe that Lacey was actually kissing him. She moved her lips against his and opened her mouth to him. He gently pushed her back on the bed as they kissed. Everything in him felt so alive. It was like fireworks were going off in his chest and the more he kissed her, the more he wanted her.

He had often heard people talk about what it was like to fall in love, how it excited and terrified them at the same time. He had never understood what they meant by that, until now. At that moment he was the happiest he had ever been. But at the same time, he was terrified that at any minute, Lacey was going to pull away from him.

Lacey was getting lost in the moment and was about to let things go too far. Cole eased his hand under her shirt and she put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. He looked down at her with lust filled eyes. She sat up and scooted away from him. "We shouldn't have done that" she said quietly.

Cole looked away, angry at her rejection. "Why not?"

Lacey shook her head as guilt formed a knot in her chest. "We shouldn't have kissed because I love Jesse. He's the one I want to be with."

Cole got up from the bed and glared at her. "What the hell is so special about my brother? What makes him more worthy of your love than me?" he yelled.

"Are you serious? Do you really not see the difference between you and him?" Lacey yelled back. "Jesse is a good man. He's brave and courageous. He lives his life trying to save people from monsters like you who only want to hurt and kill others...and did you forget that you drugged and kidnapped me. God, I can't believe that I kissed you!"

Cole jumped on the bed, knocking her back onto the mattress. He straddled her and held her down by her shoulders. "You think my brother is brave? And courageous? Tell me Lacey, how brave is it to stand by and watch your own father be murdered and do nothing to help him? You think you know Jesse so well, but you don't. You don't know anything about him. At least I tried to save our father."

Cole lifted his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor then pointed to a scar in the middle of his chest. "And this is what I got for my attempt. I was shot and left to die beside my father while my dear brother hid in the bushes, watching. So don't you ever talk to me about how brave that bastard is because I know better."

# Chapter Fifteen

Lacey stared at Cole with disbelief. She heard the emotion in his voice but she couldn't believe what he said. It wasn't possible. Jesse would never sit back and watch someone that he loved die. "I don't believe you!" she yelled and struggled to break free of his hold.

"Believe it baby...the man you love so much is just as much a killer as I am. He could have saved our father but he did nothing."

Lacey shook her head in denial. "You're lying."

Cole released his hold on her and sat down on the bed. "You want to know what happened to our father, I'll tell you...It was two years after my mother died, we were in the woods around our house, hunting in our wolf forms when we crossed paths with two hunters. My father had just taken down a big deer and Jesse and I were admiring his kill when father caught the scent of humans in the area. The hunters were too close for us to run away without being seen so father pushed us toward a thick group of bushes just as the men came into view. They saw my father before he had a chance to join us. He moved away from the bushes to lead the men away from Jesse and me. I saw the men raise their rifles and aim at my father. I darted from the bushes toward them and knocked one of the men down. But the other one got a shot off. I saw my father fall to the ground and I called out for Jesse to help me take down the other man but he never came out of the bushes. So I went after the man alone but he shot me before I could get to him. Then he shot my father again. Even then, Jesse never came from his hiding spot. Some of our pack were in the woods and heard me howl. They came to help but it was too late. I crawled over to my father to see if he was okay, but he was dead. I didn't know it at the time but the bullets the hunters used were silver. I passed out and woke up two days later. And I've hated my brother ever since."

Lacey stared at Cole, unable to speak as images of what he described went through her mind. She couldn't believe that Jesse wouldn't help his family when they needed him. There had to be more to the story than what Cole said because if there wasn't, then he was right, she didn't know Jesse as well as she thought she did.

She wrapped her arms around her legs, pulling her knees to her chest. She watched Cole stare at the wall across the room and felt sorry for him. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like for him to watch his father die and the fact that he had been shot too, made her feel the need to comfort him.

"I'm so sorry about your father, Cole" she said softly. "But you can't blame his death on Jesse, he didn't kill him, the hunters did."

Cole turned toward her. "I know who killed my father. It was a worthless human with nothing better to do than kill for sport." He chuckled to himself. "It's kind of ironic, don't you think? Humans used to hunt my kind, now I hunt them."

"Is that what your hunts are about? Getting revenge for what happened to your father. That's insane. The people you are killing now didn't have anything to do with your father's death."

"I hunt humans because I hate them. You think that I'm a monster but humans are the real monsters. They hunt for sport and prey on those weaker than them. They use weapons to give them an advantage. And they don't care that every time they kill an innocent animal, they are breaking up a family. So why the hell should I care about them. Hell, humans even turn on their own kind. They kill each other all the time over nothing. They have no sense of loyalty at all."

Against her better judgement, Lacey scooted closer to Cole and rested her hand on his arm. She knew that he was a killer and not someone she should trust or get close to, but the pain she heard in his voice touched her in a way that not many things did. "I can't even begin to understand what you've been through, Cole. All I can do is tell you that not all humans are like that."

"Really?" he said sarcastically. "And what about you, huh? How have people treated you and your gift? Have they embraced your difference? Have they accepted you for who you are?" He saw the pain in her eyes before she turned her head away from him. He had his answer. "I didn't think so. Let me guess, you grew up being teased and ridiculed by neighborhood kids for being different. You didn't have many friends and the few that you did have only liked you for what you could do for them. But despite how others may have treated you, I'm sure you had two loving parents who helped you through the rough times and told you how special you were to them even if no one else saw it. Am I right?"

At the mention of her parents, Lacey jumped from the bed. "You don't know a damn thing about me or my life. You think you're the only one that has ever lost a parent, well you're not. Your father was taken from you, mine left voluntarily because he couldn't stand to be around me. And my mother, she blamed me for him leaving. She never even tried to get close to me. She wanted nothing to do with me because she was just as scared of my powers as everyone else. At least your parents loved you, mine feared me."

Lacey wiped away a tear that slipped from her eye. Cole stood and tried to wrap his arm around her but she pushed him back. "No, I don't need your sympathy just like you don't need mine. Everyone has a sob story to tell but you can't live in the past, you have to move on. Which is what I did, I left home and I found someone that accepts me for who I am, someone that I love and that makes me happy. And you've taken that little bit of happiness away from me." She turned her back to him and said sadly, "Just leave me alone."

Cole stood in the middle of the room, unable to take his eyes off Lacey. He wanted to go to her but then again, he didn't. He was already feeling a lot more for her than he should. Before he could do something that he might regret like kiss her again, he quickly left the room.

As soon as Cole left, Lacey sat down in his chair and covered her face with her hands and cried. She cried for the pain she knew Jesse and Cole felt from losing their parents and she cried for the pain that she felt from losing hers. She might not have lost them in the same way that Cole and Jesse lost theirs but her parents were still lost to her nonetheless. And no matter how much she told herself that she was doing the right thing by staying away from her mother, it didn't make it hurt any less.

*****

Zack was relieved from his guard duty outside Lacey's door by one of his friends and he went in search of the newbie that Cole and Kevin had brought back from Jesse's. He found him in the kitchen eating a sandwich.

Zack had been keeping an eye on him over the last couple of days and he was certain that he would be interested in helping him with his plan to get rid of Cole. The boy wasn't hiding his dislike for the werewolf lifestyle at all.

"How have you been doing, newbie?" Zack asked him.

Kyle looked up from his plate and gave Zack a go to hell look. "What do you want?"

Zack smiled and sat down at the table. He remembered how much he hated his life right after he went through the change. He was just as aggressive as Kyle was now.

"I want to help you" Zack said and glanced around the kitchen to make sure they were alone. "I know you don't want to be here. I heard Kevin talking about how you didn't want to leave Jesse's warehouse when they found you. I can help you go back there, back to your friends."

"They aren't my friends" Kyle growled.

"Then why didn't you want to leave them?"

Kyle looked Zack in the eye as he spoke, "Because they wanted to teach me how to control myself and all Cole wants to teach me is how to kill. I don't want to be like him or you."

Zack leaned over the table. "Then let me help you go back to Jesse and his pack." He sighed, "I'm sure you know that the girl Cole has locked in the back room is Jesse's girlfriend. He's going to kill her. I overheard him and Kevin talking earlier. Her powers are useless to us because she can't use them without major side effects. You could get her some help. Tell Jesse where we are so that he can come rescue her."

Kyle sat back in his chair and stared at Zack. Something didn't feel right. Why was Zack trying to help him and the girl when he hadn't even spoken two words to him since he got there? And from what Kyle had gathered from watching Zack, he wasn't the kind of man to help anyone. "Why are you offering your help? I got the impression you were loyal to Cole."

Zack smiled. "Impressions can be deceiving, Kyle. I am loyal to this way of life. Unlike you, I enjoy what I have become. I just think this pack would be better served with someone other than Cole as our leader. I'm tired of hiding what I am from the humans. We are the stronger species, they should be hiding from us. We're wolves and the instinct to hunt and kill is too strong to be satisfied with the little hunts that Cole allows us have. Once he's out of the picture, I'm going to take over the pack and we will have hunts every night. And if you want, I'll make you my second in command. We could rule this town."

Kyle looked at Zack in disbelief. He couldn't believe Zack was stupid enough to think that he would help him murder even more people than Cole was already killing. Kyle wanted to stop the murders not increase them. But the idea of getting away from Cole and his pack and going back to Jesse's was very appealing. And he knew that Lacey needed help too. He had already heard several of the guys talking and making bets on how long it was going to take for Sasha to find a way to get to her and kill her. He had to help her. "Okay. How are you going to get me out of here without anyone seeing us?" he asked.

"You let me worry about that. You just do what I say and you'll be out of here soon. We have to wait for the right time" Zack said and left the kitchen.

*****

Kindal was leaning against the wall in the chain room, watching Steven. He was sitting in the middle of the room with chains holding him in place. She felt bad that he had to be kept restrained but he wasn't adjusting well to the change. Every time anyone got near him, he would lash out at them. He even attacked Scotty when he brought him some food a few days ago. Luckily, he didn't do much damage. The gash in Scotty's arm healed nicely but the attack turned him against Steven. It was now up to Kindal to make sure that he got fed. Trevor and Tonya were too busy, Devon and Tyron were out searching for Cole's hideout and Jesse hardly ever came home anymore. He spent all of his time searching for Lacey.

"Are you finished with your plate, Steven?" Kindal asked before moving from the wall.

He looked over his shoulder at her and made a growling noise deep in his throat. "Why do you bother feeding me? Just kill me. Put me out of my misery. I've already told you that I don't want to live my life as an animal."

Kindal slowly approached him. She knelt down in front of him. "Things will get better. Once you can control yourself, we'll let you out of here. You'll find that the way we live isn't much different than the way humans do." She reached for his plate and he grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her closer to him. He stared at her angrily. "What don't you understand? I don't want to live like this. I'd rather be dead."

Kindal looked at him. He was an attractive man and she was sure that when he was human he must have had women falling at his feet to be with him, but she wasn't one of those women. She jerked her arm away. Steven looked surprised by her strength.

"The sooner you stop fighting and accept what you have become, the happier you'll be. You can still have a good life. There are many advantages to being a werewolf and if you stop to think about it, you'll see that I'm right. So stop sulking and feeling sorry for yourself and grow the hell up. You are not the only one with problems around here and we really could use another dependable person in our pack. Things are falling apart and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I could use some help, so learn to control your shifting and stop acting like a damn baby" Kindal said grouchily.

Steven was stunned at the way she spoke to him. She had never said more than two or three words to him while she watched him eat. Over the last few days, he had hoped she would talk to him but he wasn't expecting her to jump down his throat like she just did. He knew that he wasn't adjusting well and most of it was because he was mad about what had happened to him. He was feeling sorry for himself and hadn't even tried to look at his situation as anything other than a death sentence. Maybe Kindal was right. Maybe he could still have a good life if he tried. He looked up at her. "Will you unchain me?" he asked in a low voice.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't. I won't let everyone down again" she whispered.

"What do you mean? How did you let them down?"

Kindal looked away with regret. "The whole pack is falling apart because of me. The night that we found you, I was supposed to watch Lacey and I left her alone. Cole took her and it was my fault."

Steven could see the sadness on her face. "Who is Lacey?" he asked.

"She was a very special person. She was my friend and Jesse's girlfriend."

Steven nodded his head in understanding. "Ah, I see. Well, I'm sorry for your loss. How did she die?"

Kindal shook her head and tried not to cry. "We don't know for sure that she's dead. But she's with Cole and that's a fate worse than death. Even if she is still alive, I don't think she's the same as she used to be. She's been gone for almost two weeks. Cole has probably changed her by now and taught her to kill humans instead of help them."

She walked toward the door whispering to herself, "I'd rather think of her as dead than as a willing member of Cole's pack." She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Steven alone again to think about what he wanted to do with his life. Live it chained to a wall or by helping others. The thought of being able to help Kindal made him smile. He didn't like to see her upset. And he couldn't help but feel a little guilty that he was the reason she and her friends had been out that night to begin with. If they hadn't been searching for him, Lacey wouldn't have been kidnapped and Kindal wouldn't be hurting.

Steven looked at the chains around his ankles and made a silent vow to himself to try and learn how to control himself so that he could help Kindal make things right again.

*****

Jesse waited impatiently in the alley by the bus station. It was one of Jaden's favorite hangouts and Jesse needed to find out if he had any new information.

Jesse glanced around the corner and saw Jaden talking to a human girl. He whistled to get his attention. Jaden looked over to where Jesse was and when he saw him, he took off running in the opposite direction.

"What the hell?" Jesse said to himself and took off after him. He caught up to Jaden a few blocks away and pushed him against the wall.

"What the hell are you running for, Jaden?" he asked breathlessly. Normally, he could run for hours without tiring but since he wasn't eating right or getting enough sleep, he didn't have as much strength as he usually did.

"What...what do you want, Jesse?" Jaden asked nervously.

"You know what I want. Have you heard anything about where Cole is hiding? Or about Lacey?" Jesse asked. Just saying her name formed a lump in his throat. He was starting to lose hope.

Jaden shook his head. "No man, I haven't heard anything. I don't know where Cole is. He hasn't been seen since he took the girl. I don't think he's even in town anymore. I went by a couple of his most popular hideouts but they were empty." Jaden looked away nervously, like he was ready to bolt the first chance he got. He did have some news about Lacey but he was too afraid to tell Jesse. He liked him and didn't want to be the one to deliver the news that was going to devastate him. "Look Jesse, I'm your friend and I don't like what you're doing to yourself, man. It's time to move on. Just forget about the girl."

Jesse shoved him against the wall again, harder this time. "Why do I have the feeling that you know more than you are telling me?" he growled.

Jaden looked away. Jesse grabbed his face and turned it toward him. "What do you know?"

Jaden let out a deep breath. "I heard that Sasha tried to kill the girl by poisoning her food. She almost died. It took her a few days to get better and then she tried to use her powers to escape and was found screaming on the floor. I was told that she was covered in blood and Cole had to knock her out to get her to stop screaming. He knows now that her powers are useless to him because they have limits." Jaden paused and looked away so that he didn't have to see the anguish on Jesse's face. "I heard that Cole is going to kill her but I don't know if it's true or not."

Jesse let go of Jaden and stumbled backwards, nearly falling to the ground. He sat down on the sidewalk as images of Lacey screaming on the floor flashed in his mind. He knew how bad her headaches were and the thought of her in pain broke his heart. He pulled the choker that he had bought for her from his jacket pocket. Looking at it and knowing how much she liked it, made him feel a little closer to her. He closed his fist around the green heart pendant and held it to his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Jesse" Jaden mumbled.

Jesse ignored him and walked away to continue his search. He was running out of time. After almost two weeks of not knowing whether or not Lacey was even alive, he finally had some hope. She was still alive and waiting for him to save her.

*****

"Alright, here's the deal. I'm going to start a fight with one of the guys tonight as a distraction and when I do, I want you to go into my room and climb out the window. I've already got someone else to distract the guards outside so you should be able to get away without anyone seeing you. Here are the directions to Jesse's warehouse" Zack said and handed Kyle a piece of folded up paper.

Kyle took the paper. "Are you sure this will work? What if someone sees me?"

Zack smiled. "Then you're screwed because I will deny everything."

"Of course you will" Kyle said and walked away.

*****

Sasha knocked lightly on Cole's door before pushing it open. She stepped inside and saw him asleep on the bed. She smiled and started taking off her clothes and dropping them to the floor as she crossed the room. She crawled into bed beside him and rested her hand on his bare chest. He moved in his sleep and she stiffened. A few seconds passed and Sasha let out a deep breath and snuggled closer to him. She was surprised that Cole hadn't caught her scent and kicked her out of his bed. But then she remembered that he had been keeping guard over his human pet and figured that he probably hadn't slept in a while. She gently lifted her head and placed it on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around his waist. It felt so good to be near him again. She stayed like that until she fell asleep, just like old times.

Hours later, Cole's eyes fluttered open and for a second he thought that he was with Lacey until he looked down and saw Sasha asleep on his chest. He pushed her head off him and sat up in bed. Sasha woke up when her head fell to the mattress.

"What are you doing in my bed, Sasha?" Cole growled.

She reached for his arm to pull him back down with her but he got out of bed before she could. "Why do you keep pushing me away, Cole? It's pointless, you know. I'm never going to give up on us. You brought me into this life when you changed me. You told me then that I would be yours forever and I'm holding you to that. I'm yours and you are mine."

"Get out!" He yelled and grabbed her by the arm and tugged her toward the door.

Sasha pulled him to a stop and yanked her arm away from him. She stared at him with pleading eyes. "Cole, I'm warning you...don't push me away again. I give you my word that if you agree to give us another chance, I won't touch your little human pet. But if you don't, I will kill her. And I will make her suffer like no one has ever suffered before" she said each word slowly and with as much hatred as she could muster.

Cole grabbed her face with his hand and squeezed. "Nothing in this world could ever make me want you again. You have slept with almost every member of my pack but yet you claim to love me. You are incapable of knowing what real love is and you disgust me. And as for Lacey, well she won't be human much longer." He smiled. "I've come to a decision about what I'm going to do with her. It's going to be very interesting to see how well you fare against her in a wolf battle. I'm hoping that her powers will increase with the change. But there is also the possibility that she will lose them altogether. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Until then, if you go near her, you won't get the chance to fight her in a fair fight because I will kill you myself."

Sasha growled and Cole released her. He walked out of the room in a better mood than he'd been in all week. He didn't know why it took him so long to figure out what he wanted to do. The solution to his problem was easy. There was no way he could ever let her go back to Jesse. He cared for her too much to let her go. And now that he knew her powers were hurting her, he didn't really care if she lost them during the transition. His initial plan of wanting to use her powers no longer seemed important. All he cared about was keeping her with him. And he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He intended to change her whether she wanted him to or not.

Cole was on his way to Lacey's room when Kevin stopped him in the hall. "We need to talk."

"Not now" Cole said and walked past him. He was still pissed about him wanting to kill Lacey.

Kevin grabbed his arm. "It's important. It's about Zack."

Cole spun around and pushed him. "I said not now!" he growled and continued down the hall.

"He's up to something" Kevin yelled at his back. Cole ignored him and entered Lacey's room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Kevin ground his teeth together and wondered why the hell he was trying to help Cole when he was treating him so badly. But he already knew the answer, Cole was the pack leader and he was loyal to him no matter what. Kevin stormed off down the hall to find out what Zack was up to so that he could put a stop to whatever he was planning.

# Chapter Sixteen

Lacey sat in the tub and let the water from the shower fall over her. She jumped when she heard the bedroom door slam shut. She quickly got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself. She unlocked the bathroom door and peeked into the room. She almost screamed when she saw Cole standing right outside the door with a broad smile on his face. She let out a deep breath and pushed past him.

"What do you want now?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

He watched her walk across the room with nothing on but a towel. Water dripped from her hair and rolled down the side of her face. Every nerve in his body sparked with anticipation of having her in his arms. He stalked toward her like a predator and snaked his arm around her waist from behind and kissed the back of her neck.

Lacey jumped and spun around in his arms and pushed at his chest. "Cole, cut it out! Keep your damn hands to yourself" she yelled.

He reluctantly let her go and stepped back but never took his eyes off of her. "I'm new to this, Lacey. I've never had feelings for anyone before and I know that I'm probably going about this the wrong way but I want you to be with me. I've tried to keep my distance from you but I can't" he said in a thick voice laced with desire.

Lacey's eyes grew wide as she stared at him in disbelief. She grabbed her clothes from the bed and hurried into the bathroom and locked the door. Cole's words echoed in her head. He wanted her. The thought of being with him scared her, but it also intrigued her. Over the last few days, she had caught herself thinking about him several times. She thought about their kiss and how it made her feel. She thought about what it would be like to have him hold her again. She tried telling herself that the only reason she was attracted to him was because he looked like Jesse but she knew better than that. She knew that he wasn't Jesse and she knew what kind of a man he was. And she hated that she was starting to have feelings for him, despite knowing that he was a killer. She quickly got dressed and opened the door to find Cole sitting in his chair.

"Why are you still here?" she snapped.

Cole smiled. He loved her attitude and the fact that she wasn't afraid of him the way everyone else was. "I've come to a decision about what I'm going to do with you."

Lacey put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh really, and what would that be?"

"I'm going to change you and make you a member of my pack" he said proudly.

Lacey's mouth dropped open as she stared at him wide-eyed. "I don't think so."

Cole gave her a broad smile. "You have no say in the matter. The decision is mine and that's what I've decided." He strolled over to her and rested his hand on the side of her face. "I swore I would never take a mate, but you make me want to change that. You should be very proud to have won my heart when so many others could not."

Lacey shook her head and backed away from him. "I don't want to be your girlfriend. I'm with Jesse. He actually knows how to treat a woman with respect."

Cole growled and pulled her to him, crushing his lips to hers. After a minute, he broke from the kiss and looked down at her. "I didn't say that I want you to be my girlfriend. I said I want you as my mate. There is a difference."

Lacey rolled her eyes and pushed him away. "It sounds the same to me and I'm not interested in being either."

Cole smiled. "Girlfriends are like playthings, toys so to speak. We keep them for a while then move on to the next one. A mate is someone that we keep for life. Werewolves don't reproduce until we find a mate and I think I've been a bachelor for way too long. I've never wanted children and I still don't want any now. But one day I will and I want my offspring to have a strong mother. I want you to be that woman. I've had many women and none of them compare to you or your strength."

Lacey was stunned silent. Ever since the night Cole had taken her, her biggest fear was death, now she had to worry about being turned into a werewolf and becoming his mate. It took her a minute to pull herself together then she looked at him and said, "No!"

Cole cocked his head to the side and looked at her like she had spoken an alien language. "What?"

Lacey crossed her arms over her chest and walked toward him. "I said no. I won't let you turn me into an animal and I won't be your mate."

"Yes...you...will" Cole said each word slowly.

"No...I...won't" Lacey replied, copying his tone.

Cole growled and reached for her but she quickly moved out of his reach. She moved around the room with her back to the wall, watching Cole like a predator watches her prey. She never took her eyes off of him and he loved it. He countered her movements as he tried to get closer to her. He was almost close enough to grab her when she jumped on the bed and off the other side. "Stay away from me, Cole. I'm warning you."

He smiled. "I'm not going to hurt you, Lacey. All it takes is one bite. I can change into my wolf form and get it over with right now."

Her face drained of color and she held her hands out in front of her. "Please don't make me use my powers. You know how much it hurts me to do so" she pleaded.

Cole stopped. The memory of her lying on the floor screaming popped in his mind. He didn't want to see that again. But he wasn't going to change his mind either. "Alright Lacey, you win" he lied and sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside him. "Sit down."

She shook her head. "I don't think so. You just want me to get close enough to you so that you can bite me."

Cole chuckled. "I have to be in wolf form to change you and as you can see, I'm not. Now sit down...don't make me force you" he warned and picked up the chain in front of him that was still connected to her ankle and gave it a small tug.

Lacey debated her options. She didn't want to sit down with him but she also didn't want to play tug of war with a chain that was attached to her leg. Slowly, she made her way over to the bed and sat down.

Cole eased his hand behind him and pulled a syringe from his back pocket and held it in his hand at his side, out of Lacey's view. He smiled when she sat down and wrapped his arm around her shoulder like he was going to hug her. He held her tightly before sticking the needle in her neck.

*****

Lacey knew that Cole was up to something as soon as she sat down. She thought that he was going to try and kiss her again. It didn't occur to her that his intentions were to drug her. She flinched when the needle pierced her skin and looked at him with wide surprised eyes, until they fluttered closed.

Cole gently laid her back on the bed. He kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, "this is the best way for you to go through the change, you won't feel a thing. And when you wake up, you'll be just like me and we'll be together forever. You've done the impossible, Lacey. You've revived a heart that has been dead for years and one day you'll learn to love me back."

*****

Zack stood post outside Lacey's door as Sasha approached him with a smug look on her face. He smiled and shook his head. "Don't even try it, Sasha. Cole is in there with her and I'm not letting you past the door."

She got in his face and growled. "If I want in that room, there isn't a damn thing you can do to stop me. But that's not why I'm here. I have a proposition for you."

Zack raised his brows. "Well now, that sounds interesting." He let his eyes roam over her body and licked his lips. "Exactly what kind of proposition are you offering?"

She took a step closer to him and rubbed her body against his in a seductive way as she played with his hair and nibbled on his ear. "You already know what I want, just help me do it. Help me kill the girl and I'll give you whatever you want."

Zack looked at her. "What if I want you as payment for my services and not just for one night? Will you stand by my side as my mate or will you throw yourself at Cole as soon as the girl is dead?"

Sasha ground her teeth together. "Why would you want me as your mate? Haven't you heard that I'm a bitch? And I don't follow orders well, so if you're looking for a docile, easy to manipulate woman, you are definitely barking up the wrong tree."

Zack grabbed her around the waist and jerked her to him and kissed her. When he was finished, he let her go. "I know what kind of woman you are. So what's your answer?"

Sasha narrowed her eyes at him in contemplation. She had no intention of being his mate but she would say anything to get what she wanted. The thought of killing him when she's done with him crossed her mind and made her smile. "Fine, we have a deal. Now when can I get to the girl? I'm running out of time. Cole is planning to change her. I'm not going to let that happen."

A broad smile crossed Zack's lips. "Just stay close by and I'll make sure you have your chance with her very soon." He looked at his watch. It was almost time to put his plan into action.

Sasha patted her back pocket to make sure she had her new switch blade with her and walked away.

Zack watched her stroll down the hall and thought that he was the luckiest man alive. Not only was he going to get rid of Cole and take over as pack leader but he was going to be mated to the fiercest, sexiest female in the pack.

*****

Cole started removing his clothes so that he could change into his wolf form and make Lacey his forever. A loud noise sounded from down the hall and he opened the door and stepped out of the room. Zack wasn't at his post outside the door. One of his pack members ran by and Cole grabbed him by the arm to stop him. "What's going on?" he asked.

"There's a fight in the main room."

"Who is fighting?"

"Zack and one of the other newbie's."

Cole growled deep in his throat. Zack was supposed to be guarding Lacey's room. He looked back into the room at her asleep and vulnerable on the bed. He knew that he couldn't leave her. "Go find Kevin and tell him to deal with those idiots and send someone else to stand guard outside of this room."

The young werewolf nodded and ran to do as he was told. Cole stepped back inside with Lacey so that he could finish what he had started.

*****

Zack knocked the young newbie that he was fighting into the wall and lunged at him again as he staggered to his feet. He caught sight of Kyle standing by the entrance to the hall and gave him a subtle nod. Kyle hurried down the hallway to Zack's room and climbed out the open window at the rear of the building.

He looked around but didn't see anyone. He started to run for the woods but stopped abruptly when he heard shouting from the front. He peeked around the corner of the building and saw more of his pack mates fighting. They were the other distraction that Zack told him about. Kyle watched as all the guards from around the building and at the edge of the woods ran to break up the fight. He waited until it was clear then darted into the woods, praying that no one saw him.

*****

Zack was about to toss his opponent across the room for the third time when someone grabbed him from behind and threw him to the side. He fell to the floor and looked up at Kevin with hatred in his eyes. He jumped up and started for the kid that he had been beating for the last five minutes. Kevin stood between them. "Stop now or you'll be fighting with me" he said, his jaw muscles clenched as he glared at Zack.

"I'm not afraid of you" Zack said through gritted teeth.

Kevin smiled. "You should be. I didn't get the position as Cole's second in command for nothing. I'm not someone you want to piss off."

The two of them stood toe to toe and were about to go at each other when someone yelled, "Hey, where's the new kid?"

Everyone in the room started looking around for Kyle. Kevin never took his eyes off of Zack as he barked orders at the rest of the pack. "Check all of the rooms and the kitchen and bathrooms. When was the last time anyone saw him?"

One guy spoke up, "I saw him by the hallway right before the fight started."

"Get Cole, Now!" Kevin yelled.

Zack started to walk away but Kevin grabbed him by the arm. "You had something to do with this, didn't you? I saw you talking to Kyle in the kitchen a few days ago and now you start a fight and he disappears. Let's see what Cole thinks about all of this."

*****

Cole sat at the foot of the bed in his wolf form watching Lacey sleep. He nudged her arm away from her body with his nose and was about to bite her when someone banged on the door. He growled out loud and jumped from the bed, landing on all fours.

He quickly changed back into his human form and answered the door in the buff. "What the hell do you want?" he yelled in frustration.

The guy outside the door quivered in fear. "Kevin told me to come get you. Kyle escaped."

Cole stared angrily at his pack member then turned and picked up his clothes from the floor. "Tell Kevin to bring his ass to me. I'm not leaving Lacey alone."

"Yes sir" the guy said and ran down the hall.

Cole slammed the door and sat down in his chair, waiting to find out how one of his newbie's had escaped. A few minutes later, Zack walked in followed by Kevin.

"What the hell happened, Kevin?" Cole asked.

Kevin looked at Zack and said, "I think you should ask him that question. I think he helped Kyle escape but what I can't figure out is why."

Zack walked past Kevin and stood in front of Cole. "I don't know what he's talking about, boss. Yes, I got into a fight with one of the newbie's. He pushed me the wrong way and I snapped, but I didn't help Kyle escape."

Cole turned his attention to Kevin. "What makes you think he helped the boy escape?"

Kevin wasted no time in answering. "I saw him and Kyle talking in the kitchen a few days ago and we both know that Zack hasn't bothered to talk to anyone but you since he was brought here."

Cole looked at Zack. "He has a point, Zack. So why don't you tell me what you two were talking about." He turned to Kevin. "I want the boy back. Send everyone out to find him. Tell them not to return until they have him."

Kevin hesitated. "I don't think Zack should be trusted."

Cole glared at him. "Just do as you're told."

Reluctantly, Kevin walked out of the room, leaving Zack alone with Cole and Lacey.

*****

Kyle had been running at full speed for almost an hour and he was tired and out of breath. He looked at the paper with the directions to Jesse's warehouse again. He was almost there. According to the map, it was just a couple more miles outside of town. He crammed the paper back in his pocket and started running again.

He knew the second that the other werewolf stepped from the woods in front of him that he was in trouble. He stopped so abruptly that he almost fell on his face. He looked around to see if anyone else had followed him but he was alone, except for the man in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going?" the man asked.

Kyle considered trying to make a run for it. But then the man started toward him and he got a closer look at him, he realized that he wasn't one of Cole's men. At least, Kyle didn't think he was. He had never seen him before. "I'm looking for Jesse. My name is Kyle and I have some very important information for him."

The man stopped a few feet from him. "I'm Jaden. I'm a friend of Jesse's. Do you know something about his girl?"

Kyle nodded. "Yes, and I know where Cole is keeping her."

Jaden grabbed him by the arm and led the way to Jesse's warehouse. He hoped that he was at home when they got there.

They ran up to the warehouse and pounded on the door. Trevor opened it with a shocked look on his face when he saw Kyle. Jaden pushed past Trevor and pulled Kyle inside. "Where is Jesse?" he shouted.

Tonya and Scotty jumped up from the table and ran over to them. "He's upstairs, sleeping. What's going on?" Tonya asked.

"Kyle escaped from Cole's hideout. He knows where they are keeping Lacey" Jaden said quickly.

Tonya smiled with relief and Scotty ran up the stairs to get Jesse.

Trevor grabbed Kyle by the arm and led him over to the couch. "Tell us everything you know and I'm warning you this better not be some kind of trick."

"This isn't a trick, I swear. I never actually saw the girl but I know she's locked in one of the bedrooms" Kyle said nervously.

Jesse came running down the stairs half dressed with Scotty right on his heels. "Where is she?" he growled as he came to a stop at the end of the couch and glared at Jaden and Kyle.

Everyone looked at him. His haggard condition was shocking. He didn't look anything like he did the last time that Kyle saw him.

"Where is she, damn it?" Jesse yelled again.

"Cole has her in an abandoned building about fifteen miles on the other side of town" Kyle said. "He has about ten pack members living with him and he has guards posted outside. A guy named Zack helped me escape."

Jesse sank to his knees by the couch. "How is she? Is she alright?" he asked in barely more than a whisper. He couldn't even bring himself to say her name anymore because it hurt too much.

Everyone in the room passed worried looks to one another in anticipation of the answer. Kyle looked at Jesse sympathetically. "I honestly don't know how she's doing. All Zack told me was that Cole is going to kill her because she can't use her powers to help him."

Jesse slowly stood up. "Thank you Kyle, for your help." He looked at his friends. "Will you go with me and help bring Lacey home."

Tonya immediately went to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Of course we will. She belongs here with us."

Scotty headed for the door behind the kitchen where Steven was still locked up. A few minutes later, he came out with Kindal and Steven at his side.

Trevor shot him a warning look and Scotty shrugged. "We need everyone that we can get and he's been doing much better since Kindal has been spending time with him."

Kindal smiled and put her hand in Steven's. "He wants to help and I think we should let him. He's a member of our pack now."

Steven squeezed her hand and smiled.

"Alright, I want everyone ready to go in five minutes" Jesse said and headed upstairs to get ready for the fight of his life.

# Chapter Seventeen

After a quick chat with Zack about his involvement in Kyle's escape, Cole dismissed him to stand guard outside the door once more. He didn't know if Zack was telling the truth or not but at the moment he didn't want to be bothered with him. He had other things on his mind.

Cole was in the process of undressing again when the door suddenly swung open and Zack rushed inside again. "Boss, we have a problem. Your brother and his pack are here. They're fighting with the guards outside and trying to find a way in."

"Damn it" Cole growled and stormed from the room. He stopped just outside the bedroom door and glanced at Lacey. She was starting to move on the bed. The drug was wearing off. He growled in frustration and grabbed Zack by the collar. "Don't let anyone near her. No one! Do you understand?"

Zack nodded. "Yes sir boss, she's safe with me."

Cole ran down the hall to join in the fight.

Minutes later, Lacey slowly sat up in bed and held her hand to her head. She felt dizzy as she looked around the room for Cole. She was relieved when she didn't see him. She crawled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to splash water on her face. She silently prayed that she would get her full strength back soon so that she could put a good beating on Cole for drugging her again.

Zack looked down the hall to Sasha's room and whistled. She came out and smiled at him. He held her gaze for a minute then walked away from the door, giving Sasha complete access to Lacey. He had his own battle to deal with.

*****

Once outside, Cole found Jesse and his pack in their wolf forms fighting with the few men that he had who hadn't went to search for Kyle. And from his perspective, Jesse's pack had the upper hand. Cole cussed to himself and wished that he hadn't sent his entire pack out looking for the escaped newbie. He dropped to the ground and quickly changed into his wolf form before running into the middle of the fight.

After easily taking down one of Jesse's wolves, he focused his attention on his brother. He snuck up behind Jesse and jumped on his back and bit down on his neck.

Jesse bucked and tried to get Cole off of him but he wouldn't let go. Jesse dropped to the ground and rolled over onto his back, hoping that his weight on Cole's chest would make him loosen his grip. Kindal saw what was happening and bit down on Cole's back leg. He let go of Jesse and yelped, giving Jesse the chance to get away. But he didn't get far before Cole was on him again.

Cole leapt through the air and knocked Jesse to the ground again. He quickly got back to his feet and faced his brother. They circled each other, growling and snarling, each looking for an opportunity to attack.

Regret over not keeping himself in better shape for when he found Lacey, came to Jesse's mind. He had lived the last couple of weeks barely surviving and now that he had finally found her, he might not be strong enough to save her.

*****

Lacey stepped from the bathroom to find Sasha leaning against her closed bedroom door. She stopped short as she struggled to catch her breath. She felt like someone had knocked the air out of her. The last time she saw Sasha, she had tried to kill her.

"How did you get in here?" Lacey asked with a shaky voice.

Sasha smiled and stalked toward her. "I have my ways. We have some unfinished business to take care of" she said and tossed something to Lacey.

She looked down at her feet to see a key chain with two keys on it. She bent down and picked them up and looked at Sasha. "What are these for?" she asked.

"Unlock the chain around your ankle. I take pride in defeating my enemies and I don't want it said that I killed a woman who was chained and unable to fight back" Sasha spat.

Lacey glanced at the door as her whole body began to tremble. She yelled for Cole or Zack to come in and help her, but no one came. She looked at Sasha who was pacing the room in front of her, ready to attack. The hatred on her face was unmistakable. She wanted her dead.

"Hurry up! I don't have all day" Sasha snarled.

Lacey knelt down and unlocked the chain from around her ankle and tossed it into the corner. Her gaze roamed around the room trying to find a way to escape but there wasn't one. Whether she wanted to or not, she was going to have to fight Sasha. And considering that she was still weak from the drugs, she didn't know if she was going to be able to use her powers or not.

Sasha pulled a knife from her back pocket and twirled it in her hand. "I'm going to enjoy killing you much more than I enjoyed killing Cole's other whores" she said and advanced toward Lacey with death in her eyes.

Lacey backed up against the wall. She didn't have anywhere else to go. Just as Sasha swung her hand out with the knife in it, Lacey dodged around her and jumped on the bed. She fell off the other side and grabbed the chair. She shook it as hard as she could to try and break it free from the floor but it wouldn't budge.

Sasha jumped over the bed and landed in front of Lacey. Before she could move again, Sasha stabbed her with the knife. Lacey let out a blood curdling scream. And all at once, Sasha flew backwards and hit the wall by the bathroom, the wooden bedroom door shattered and the chair pulled from the floor and impaled itself into the wall, knocking a huge hole in it.

As heat spread from her stomach throughout her entire body, Lacey no longer felt weak or dizzy from the sedative. She didn't feel fear or panic. In fact she didn't feel anything at all. She was on such an adrenaline rush that she didn't even feel the pain in her stomach from her stab wound. A buzz of electricity more powerful than she'd ever felt before surged through her, making her hair stand on ends. Her eyes landed on Sasha sprawled out on the floor across the room. Her vision blurred red with hatred as she stared at her.

Everything that had happened to her since she came to Carol Springs quickly flashed in her mind. Cindy's dead body being rolled past her, her fight with Sasha behind the café, the night Cole had taken her away from Jesse. It was all too much.

Her eyes narrowed into slits as she focused all of her power into her next attack. She lifted Sasha in the air and threw her across the room again and again, slamming her into the walls with all the force she had. After several minutes, Lacey knew that Sasha was no longer a threat to her but she couldn't stop herself. She was so angry because of everything that had happened it was like she wasn't herself anymore. Her powers had taken over her body and all she could think or feel was that she wanted revenge. When she finally stopped her assault, Sasha's limp body fell to the floor like a ragdoll, all bloody and broken.

Lacey turned her attention to the hallway. She could barely see through the anger induced haze that clouded her vision. She stormed through the building and didn't see anyone until she got outside. There, she saw what looked like a wolf war. She didn't know what was going on or who was fighting but she had a feeling that Jesse was there. The little bit of rationality that she still had left told her that she needed to find him.

She searched through the fighting wolves, trying to find Jesse. But she couldn't tell which one was him. There were several big black wolves and after only seeing him in his wolf form once, she wasn't sure which one was Jesse. The taste of blood was thick in her mouth as it poured from her nose and the headache that hit her was so intense that it felt like her brain was throbbing in her skull. But she ignored it and focused her attention on the large group of wolves.

"Stop!" Lacey yelled to get their attention but none of them paid her any attention. Refusing to be ignored, she sent out a massive amount of energy toward them. All of the wolves were lifted into the air then dropped violently back to the ground. They all looked at her for a minute then started to fight again.

Angry that they wouldn't stop, Lacey started throwing each of the wolves one at a time into the air. After four or five wolves got tossed into the woods, they all stopped fighting and looked at her again. She screamed Jesse's name and one of the black wolves raised his head in the air. Their eyes met and she knew instantly that it was him.

He started toward her but Cole jumped in front of him and growled, baring his sharp teeth. They circled each other, preparing to fight. But Lacey wouldn't let them. She'd had enough. She threw them both against the side of the building and stood in front of them, shaking. Blood covered her mouth and neck. She was getting weaker by the second. "I won't let you two fight over me" she said as she looked at them and tried to figure out which one was Jesse and which one was Cole. They were identical in their wolf forms just as they were in their human forms.

Out of nowhere, Zack grabbed her from behind. The second that he touched her, he was thrown backwards. She turned around with the intent of killing him but when she tried to hurl him through the air again, her headache intensified to the point that she lost all of her vision. The pain felt as if someone was stabbing her in the head. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. All of a sudden, she fell to the ground and started convulsing. Blood poured from her nose and ears.

Jesse jumped up and ran over to her, changing into his human form before he reached her. Seconds later, he was joined by Cole. Jesse knelt down beside Lacey and frantically tried to stop her bleeding. Cole lifted her shirt and saw the stab wound to her stomach. His eyes met Jesse's and they both knew what was happening to her. She was dying.

"We have to get her to the hospital!" Jesse yelled and tried to pick her up only to realize that he was too weak to hold her. His shoulder was dislocated and he had a major gash in his leg that was losing a lot of blood, preventing him from standing with her weight. He sank back to the ground with a defeated look on his face. Then he did the only thing he could do, he turned to his brother and asked for help.

"Please, help her."

Cole spared him a quick glance then scooped Lacey into his arms and ran to his Tahoe. Trevor helped Jesse get in the front seat while Cole put Lacey in the back. She was still convulsing and unresponsive to them.

The rest of Jesse's pack jumped into the jeep and followed them to the hospital.

Ten minutes later, Cole pulled up in front of the emergency room. He jumped out and gently pulled Lacey from the back seat and carried her in his arms like a child. He looked down at her and a fear like none he had ever experienced seized him and his heart nearly stopped beating. She felt so cold in his arms. He was losing her and he knew it. He burst through the hospital doors. "I need some help here!" he yelled.

Within seconds, someone was in front of him with a gurney. Cole gently laid Lacey down and watched as the nurses rolled her away. He was so lost in thought as he stared at the door she went through that he didn't realize he was surrounded by his enemies until someone touched his shoulder.

He turned around to find Jesse and all of his pack staring angrily at him. Unaffected by their stares, he turned his back to them and sat down in a chair in the corner of the waiting room. Jesse followed him. "I want you to leave. You have no right to be here. Lacey is fighting for her life because of you."

Cole narrowed his eyes at his brother. "I don't give a damn what you want. I'm not going anywhere."

Jesse growled deep in his throat. "In case you haven't figured it out yet, you're pack isn't here to back you up this time and I'm seconds away from ripping your head from your shoulders."

Cole stood up and faced him. Both of their bodies tensed, ready for a fight. Trevor and Scotty quickly took up positions at Jesse's sides. Cole snarled at them then focused his attention on his brother. "Anytime you want to fight, just say the word, but I would suggest that you wait until you are at full strength. There is no fun in killing a weak, injured man."

Unable to hold himself back any longer, Jesse swung at Cole and punched him in the face. "I'm going to kill you for the hell you put her through" he yelled as he tried to land another blow to Cole's jaw.

Cole caught his fist the second time and pushed him backwards, into Trevor. He rubbed his jaw and chuckled. "You can try but I should warn you that I plan on killing you first and taking Lacey as my mate. So, that being said, may the best wolf win...oh, and you should also know that Lacey never once fought me when I kissed her. In fact, she enjoyed it so much that she returned my kiss with a passion fiercer than any I've ever experienced. I think she liked kissing a real man."

Jesse let out a growl and lunged for Cole's throat. Trevor grabbed him from behind and held him back. "I hate you, you bastard!" Jesse yelled as he struggled to break free of Trevor's hold. Scotty had to help hold him back.

"Get the hell out of here, Cole!" Trevor growled as he put everything he had into holding Jesse back from attacking him in public.

Cole laughed and walked towards the exit. He looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Tell Lacey that I'll see her soon" he said before walking out and around to the other side of the hospital to the main entrance.

Jesse stared after him, his chest heaved with every labored breath that he took. He had never hated his brother as much as he did at that moment.

"Jesse, you need to calm down" Tonya said and pushed him toward a chair. "You don't want Lacey to see you like this, do you?"

Jesse looked at her then at Trevor. "Lacey was with him for two weeks. Do you think what Cole said is true? Do you think that she connected with him?"

"Come on Jesse, you know what kind of sick bastard your brother is. He's just trying to mess with your head. Don't listen to him" Scotty said.

Trevor nodded in agreement. "He's right, Jesse. You can't believe anything Cole says."

Jesse sat down in a chair with Cole's words echoing in his mind. He couldn't help but worry that he might have been too late after all.

*****

Lacey could hear someone moving around near her. She slowly opened her eyes, surprised by how much it hurt to do so. When the light touched her eyes, she squeezed them shut again as a pain shot through her head. She moaned and someone touched her arm.

"The light" she whispered, "turn it off, it hurts my eyes."

"Of course, Miss Hannigan" A soft feminine voice said from beside her. "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Lacey opened her eyes again and looked around the darkened room. She was in a hospital room and she wasn't alone. A grey-haired nurse stood on one side of the bed and a tall thin doctor stood on the other, looking down at her.

"My name is Dr. Loken. How do you feel, Miss Hannigan?"

"How do you know my last name?" Lacey asked weakly.

Dr. Loken looked at the nurse before answering. "Your picture has been on the television for several weeks now. We know that you're a runaway. The police have notified your parents and they are on their way here now."

Lacey shook her head. "No, I won't go with them. I have to get out of here" she said and tried to sit up. But the pain in her stomach and the dizziness in her head stopped her. She fell back to the pillow.

"Don't try to move, Miss Hannigan. You need to rest" the nurse said in a motherly voice.

"No!" Lacey yelled and covered her face with her hands. "I don't want to be here and you can't make me stay. Yesterday was my birthday, I'm eighteen. I'm an adult and my parents have no control over me anymore."

Dr. Loken gave the nurse a slow nod and she left the room. He sat down in the chair by the bed and gave Lacey a sad look. "Miss Hannigan."

"Stop with the Miss Hannigan crap. My name is Lacey."

"Okay Lacey, I don't want you to stay here because of your parents. You need to stay because you're not well. You are very sick."

The seriousness of the doctors voice caught her attention. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes. She had known for a while that something was wrong with her but she had been too afraid to find out what. "What's wrong with me?" she asked.

Dr. Loken was quiet for a second. "When you were brought into the E.R., you were unconscious. After we stitched up your stab wound, we did a CT scan of your brain to check for concussions." He paused and squeezed her hand. "We found a rather large tumor on your brain."

Lacey stared wide-eyed at him as she tried to catch her breath. She felt like her heart had dropped to her feet and the whole world stopped moving. It took her a minute before she was able to speak. "Can you remove it? Do I need to have surgery?"

Dr. Loken frowned and shook his head. "I'm very sorry Lacey, but it's too late. The tumor has spread to cover over half of your brain. It's inoperable. I spoke with some of your friends earlier and they told me about your headaches and nosebleeds. Both of those were signs of too much pressure on your brain. As the tumor grew, the pressure increased, causing the nosebleeds."

Lacey looked away as tears rolled down her face. "How long do I have before I...?" she choked on the last word. She couldn't believe that she was going to die after everything she had been through. She had managed to survive being kidnapped by werewolves and being stabbed by a psycho, only to die from a tumor. All hope that she had of living a long life with Jesse was crushed. Her heart ached at the thought of losing him.

Dr. Loken squeezed her hand again. "You don't have very long, I'm afraid. Maybe a week, maybe less. The tumor is growing at an incredible rate. When we contacted your parents, they gave us your health information and we called the doctor that did a CT scan on you three years ago after you fell down the bleachers at school. They faxed over the results of that scan and you showed no signs of the tumor at that time. The fact that the tumor has grown to the size it is now in only three years, shows how aggressive it is."

Lacey completely shut down after hearing that. The doctor kept talking but she wasn't listening anymore. Her mind was going over everything she had done over the last three years to try and find something that might have caused the tumor. She knew it was ridiculous but she needed to find a reason, an explanation for why she was going to die. She felt a tiny surge in her powers and her head shot up.

Her face drained of color when she realized what was causing her death. It was her powers, it had to be. The strain she put on her brain every time she used them had to have caused the tumor. It was the only thing that made sense. She had used her powers more over the last three years than she had during her whole life. The knowledge that she had basically given herself a death sentence hit her like a ton of bricks. "Please leave me alone" she whispered as she brushed the back of her hand across her cheek to remove her tears.

Dr. Loken frowned. "You don't have to go through this alone. I can send in a counselor to talk to you and I think your friends are still here as well."

Lacey closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. I don't want to see anyone."

The doctor tried to talk to her again. "Lacey, please. Now isn't the time to push people away. You don't have much time left."

She opened her eyes and shot him a look filled with so much pain and anger that it made him take a step back. "I'm going to die and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it!" she yelled. "And having my friends watch me slip away isn't going to change that. It'll only make it harder for them to move on."

Dr. Loken nodded in understanding and left the room. Lacey turned on her side and cried like she had never cried before. She cried until she felt empty inside. A little while later, her door eased open and a light shined in the room. "I said that I didn't want to see anyone" she said in a cracked voice.

Cole walked over to the foot of the bed. "I'm not just anybody" he said cockily. But when Lacey lifted her head and looked at him, all of his bravado quickly left him.

Her face was red and swollen from crying, her eyes were bloodshot and her skin was the palest he had ever seen. It hurt him to see her like that. He immediately went to her and rested his hand on the side of her face. He rubbed away her tears with his thumb, surprised by the fact that they didn't repulse him. Seeing people cry had always disgusted him, it showed how weak they were. But with Lacey, it was different, her tears caused an ache in his chest. He didn't want to see her cry. "Lacey, what's wrong?"

She looked up at him as another round of sobs built in her chest. She never thought she would see him again after the time she had spent being his prisoner, but here he was. And as screwed up as it was, she was glad that he was there. During the time that she was with him, he had never really hurt her and she had seen a side of him that she was sure no one else ever did. She saw the pain and sadness on his face when he spoke about his parents. And he took care of her when he didn't have to. She really believed there was good somewhere inside of him and that was the part of him that she liked.

Cole was getting impatient waiting for Lacey to answer him. "Damn it, answer me. Are you sick or something?"

Lacey nodded. "Yes" She sighed as the reality of that took her breath away.

An uneasy feeling started to settle over Cole. "Well what's wrong? Is it an infection from the stab wound in your stomach?"

Lacey sniffled and shook her head. "I have a tumor."

"A tumor? So...you need an operation? Is that why you're so upset? Don't worry about it. People have operations all the time. I'm sure you'll be fine" Cole said confidently.

Lacey closed her eyes and shook her head again. Cole stared at her. Fear suddenly consumed him, almost forcing him to his knees. "Why are you shaking your head no? Aren't the doctors going to remove the tumor?" he asked.

She opened her eyes and pierced him with a heartbreaking glare. He saw the truth written all over her face and it devastated him. "What are you saying, Lacey?" he asked through the lump building in his throat.

She fidgeted with the edge of the sheet that covered her as she spoke the words that made her want to scream out loud at the injustice of her life. "I'm dying. The doctor said that I only have a few days left" she choked out between sobs.

Cole flopped down in the chair in the corner of the room and stared at her in shock. He couldn't speak, hell he could barely breathe. He had spent his whole life thinking that he was incapable of loving anyone. And then he met Lacey and she changed everything. At first, it was her strength that he admired. Then it was her beauty, but what really sealed it for him, was her compassion, tenderness and vulnerability. When she kissed him, he felt all of those things and it made him feel more for her than he had ever felt for anyone. It made him love her. And he didn't want to lose her.

He jumped up from the chair and leaned over the bed. He looked down at Lacey with hope in his eyes. "I can save you" he said in a rush.

She gave him a confused look. "What?"

Cole sat down on the bed and brushed her hair back from her face. "I can save you" he whispered. "I can change you. Once you're changed, your body will heal itself. It might take some time but you will get better. The werewolf genetics will change you. You'll be stronger, more resilient. You'll be able to fight off the tumor."

Lacey wiped at her eyes and moved closer to him as a tiny bit of hope flared up inside her. "Are you sure? Are you sure that I'll live if I'm changed?"

Cole thought about it for a minute and decided to be honest with her. "No, I'm not positive. Not all human bodies accept the change well, sometimes the human dies. But that won't happen to you. You are a very strong woman, Lacey. I know you will make it through the change. I changed Sasha over twenty years ago after she fell off of a cliff in the mountains where I grew up. She was nearly dead when I found her. Almost every bone in her body was broke but after I bit her, her body healed itself. You have to let me change you."

Lacey thought about it for a minute. "Well, it's not like I have a choice, now do I? If I don't change, I'm definitely going to die and if I do change, there's only a possibility that I'll die." She closed her eyes and nodded. "Okay...I know what I have to do."

Cole smiled and pulled her into his arms. "It'll be quick and it won't hurt much. If you want, I can take you out of here right now. I'll take you somewhere safe and change you tonight."

Lacey stiffened in his arms and pulled back from him. "Cole, I don't want you to change me. I want Jesse to do it" she said softly.

Cole glared at her like she had hit him. "Damn it, Lacey! When are you going to realize that I'm the one you should be with? Jesse is nothing. He's weak and a coward. He won't be a good mate for you. You need someone who can protect you and keep you safe."

"I'm sorry Cole, but my feelings for him haven't changed. I love him and I want to spend my life with him. Once he changes me, we'll leave and you two won't have to fight each other anymore."

Cole chuckled and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Yeah, well good luck with that. Jesse promised our mother that he would never change a human into the monster our father turned her into and so far he's kept his word."

"You don't think he will change me? Even after he finds out that I'm dying?" Lacey asked in a small voice.

"Oh, I'm sure that he will change you because he doesn't want to lose you. But the guilt of doing so will eat at him for the rest of his life. Every time he looks at you, he will be reminded of the promise that he broke to our mother" Cole said with disgust. "He's always been a sentimental fool. He doesn't give out promises lightly, but when he does give them, he never breaks them."

Lacey thought about what Cole said. She didn't want Jesse to break the vow he made to his mother. And she didn't want him to hate her later on for putting him in the situation where he had no choice. She looked up at Cole. "And if I let you change me, then what?"

He pierced her with a hungry stare. "I won't change you so that you can go running back to my brother. If I change you, you have to agree to be my mate. And I've already told you that mates are for life. You'd have to forget about Jesse."

Lacey narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll take my chances with Jesse" she said flatly.

Cole chuckled. "You do that. And when that doesn't work, you can call me. But don't forget what I said, if I change you, you will be mine" he said and dropped a piece of paper with his cell phone number on the bed and walked out of the room. He thought about just kidnapping her again. It would be so easy to scoop her up in his arms and jump out the window. They would be long gone before anyone even knew she was missing. But he didn't want to force her to leave with him again. He wanted her to choose him of her own free will.

*****

Lacey squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that Jesse would agree to change her without her having to tell him that she was dying. That was the only way she could think of to find out if he would change her without feeling pressured into it. She didn't want him to break a promise that was important to him. And she didn't want him to change her because she was dying. She wanted him to do it because he loved her and wanted to be with her.

She grabbed the piece of paper that Cole had left and slowly got out of bed. She was so weak, she could barely stand on her own feet. She glanced around the room for her clothes but didn't see them. With her mind made up about not spending one more second in the hospital, she stumbled over to the door of the room and walked out wearing nothing but the hospital gown. A nurse ran up to her, waving her hands. "Miss Hannigan, you shouldn't be up. You need your rest."

Lacey walked past her. The wound in her stomach ached more with every step that she took. "I'm leaving" she said weakly.

The nurse stood in front of her. "You can't leave. The doctor hasn't signed your release papers."

Lacey glared at her. "I don't give a damn about release papers. I'm walking out of here and you're not going to stop me!" she yelled.

Just then, Jesse poked his head out of the waiting room down the hall. When he saw Lacey, he ran over and wrapped his arms around her. "What are you doing? You should be in bed resting" he whispered in her ear.

The feel of his breath on her skin sent goose bumps down Lacey's arms. She smiled and cradled Jesse's face in her hands. She couldn't believe that she was finally face to face with him. "I love you" she said seconds before her knees grew weak and she started to fall. Jesse tightened his grip around her waist to hold her up. She let out an exhausted breath and rested her head on his shoulder. "Please take me home. I want to see everyone."

Jesse kissed her forehead. "Shouldn't you stay here for a little while longer? You don't look well."

"No, I want to go" Lacey said and gave him a pleading look. "I'm fine, really. I just need to rest and I want to do that at the warehouse with my friends."

Jesse hesitated briefly then reluctantly agreed. "Okay baby, I'll take you home" he said and gently kissed her. "And I love you too, more than anything in the world."

Lacey smiled and closed her eyes. She wasn't sleepy, but she was so tired that she couldn't hold them open any longer. She didn't think she had as much time as the doctor had told her. She could feel herself getting weaker.

Jesse shuttered at how cold Lacey felt in his arms. He eased her into the front seat of the jeep and wrapped a couple of blankets from the back seat around her. He looked at her for a minute and couldn't help but feel that something was terribly wrong. He quickly ran around to the other side and got in. "What did the doctor say, Lacey? I asked him how you were but he wouldn't tell me anything because I'm not your family."

Lacey forced one eye open and looked at him. She could see the concern for her all over his face. Her heart filled with so much love for him. "I was stabbed but other than that, I'm fine. I'm just exhausted and need to rest. I'll be as good as new in no time" she lied and forced herself to smile.

A little while later, they pulled up in front of the warehouse. Before Jesse even had the chance to get out of the jeep, all of his pack came rushing outside to meet them. Tonya opened Lacey's door and wrapped her arms around her as she cried. "I've missed you so much. I'm glad you're back."

"Hey, Lacey" Scotty said from behind Tonya.

Lacey smiled at him then at Trevor when he nodded to her. Tyron and Devon said, "welcome home" in unison.

Jesse came around to help Lacey out of the jeep. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against him for support. She tried to take a step but was too weak to walk. Jesse picked her up and carried her toward the warehouse.

"Where is Kindal?" Lacey asked. But before Jesse could answer, she saw Kindal waiting by the door with her arms crossed over her chest and her head hung low. Jesse started past her and Lacey asked him to put her down. She reached out and touched Kindal's arm. When she raised her head, Lacey saw that she was crying.

"Don't cry, Kindal" Lacey whispered and wrapped her arms around her.

Kindal grabbed onto Lacey and held her tightly, burying her face in her hair as she continued to cry. "I am so sorry, Lacey. I should never have left you alone. I will never forgive myself for what you've been through."

Lacey felt her own tears rolling down her cheek. She had missed Kindal so much. "It's okay. I'm okay. It wasn't your fault."

Kindal pulled back and studied Lacey's face as she wiped tears from her cheek. "What's wrong? Something is wrong, you don't look right."

"Kindal!" Jesse yelled in warning. She looked at him then back at Lacey and hugged her again.

It was taking all the strength Lacey had to stay on her feet. But when she started to sway, Jesse was there to catch her. He looked around at his friends. "She needs to rest. You can talk with her tomorrow" he said and stormed up the stairs with Lacey in his arms.

She leaned her head on his shoulder and whispered, "Thank you."

Jesse looked down at her. "For what?"

She smiled weakly. "For everything."

Jesse kicked his newly installed bedroom door open with his foot and laid her down on the bed. He removed the hospital gown she was wearing and went to the closet to get her one of his tee shirts. When he got back to the bed, Lacey was already asleep. He sat down beside her and let out a deep breath.

All the fear he had of never seeing her again came rushing into him all at once. He reached out and touched her face as a tear rolled down his cheek. Then silently vowed to himself that he would never let her out of his sight again. He laid down and eased his arm under her head and held her until he fell asleep.

# Chapter Eighteen

The next day, Jesse was pacing the room with his eyes glued to the bed where Lacey was still asleep. It was almost six in the afternoon and she had been sleeping for eighteen hours straight. He had tried to wake her up several times but she just fell back asleep. He was getting worried and didn't know what to do. A knock sounded at the door and Kindal walked in carrying a tray of food.

"Is she awake yet?" Kindal asked.

Jesse looked at her with fear in his eyes. "No. I think we should take her back to the hospital. You were right last night, something is wrong with her."

Kindal put the tray down on the chair and sat down on the bed beside Lacey. She touched her forehead with her hand. "She's so cold."

Jesse nodded. "I know."

Kindal picked up Lacey's hand and started talking to her. "Honey, it's time for you to wake up." She looked over at Jesse and continued, "You're scaring Jesse. He needs to hear your voice."

Lacey started to move on the bed. She stretched before opening her eyes to see Jesse and Kindal staring at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked them in a thick sleepy voice.

Jesse sat down beside her. "Baby, you've been asleep for eighteen hours. I was getting worried."

Lacey looked at him with disbelief. "Wow, I guess I really was tired, huh?"

"I brought you some food. You must be starving" Kindal said and moved the tray over to the bed.

Lacey looked at the food. She hadn't eaten anything in days but she wasn't hungry. Just the thought of eating made her stomach feel sick. She smiled at Kindal. "Thank you, but I think I'll wait until everyone else eats and join them downstairs."

"That sounds great. Dinner will be ready in about two hours" Kindal said and left the room.

Lacey smiled at Jesse. "It's good to see her so happy."

He nodded. "She missed you almost as much as I did" he said and rested his hand on top of Lacey's.

She looked at their hands and wished that she could wait a little longer to ask him about changing her but the fact that she had been sleeping for eighteen hours and was still just as tired as she was before she went to sleep, told her that she was running out of time. It was now or never.

"Jesse, why didn't you tell me about the rule that said I had to be changed or killed?"

He looked at her with wide eyes. "I didn't tell you because I don't intend to do either, so there was no reason to worry you about it."

"Why don't you want to change me?" she asked and waited nervously for his answer.

Jesse studied her face and wondered why she was asking him that. "Well, it's a long story but the short version is that I don't believe in changing humans. It changes who they are and some can't handle the change. It makes them crazy and they hurt themselves or others. To take someone away from the only life they know and throw them into a new one they never even knew existed...it's not right."

Lacey nodded in understanding. "But what if a human knew about werewolves and chose to become one of their own free will, would you change them then?"

Jesse didn't waste any time in answering her. "No. It's still not right and no one in their right mind would willingly want to become a werewolf. Why are you asking me this? What's going on?"

Lacey looked away so that he wouldn't see the pain on her face. All the hope she had that he was going to change her was slipping away. She knew if she told him about her tumor that he would change his mind. But she couldn't do that. She didn't want him to go against his principles just to save her.

Lacey tried her best to hold back her tears as she thought about just giving up and letting the tumor kill her. But she was too afraid of dying to do that. Her only hope was Cole and she already knew what he wanted in exchange for changing her. She closed her eyes and a tear slid down her cheek. She didn't want to leave Jesse again but she didn't have a choice, not if she wanted to live. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. "I love you so much" she whispered.

"I love you too, Lacey. And I want you to tell me what's going on. Why all the questions about changing humans? Did Cole change someone in front of you?" he asked.

"No, I was just curious, that's all." She hugged him tighter. More tears threatened to spill from her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. Now was not the time to be weak minded, she needed to be brave. "Let's go downstairs. I'd like to see everyone."

Jesse gave her a worried look. "Are you sure you're up to it?"

Lacey smiled to hide the fact that her heart was breaking. But if tonight was going to be the last time she was ever going to see the people she loved, then she was going to make it one to remember. She smiled at Jesse. "I'm sure. There's nothing I want more than to spend time with the people I've come to think of as my family."

Jesse scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up with his hand out to her. She took it and he helped her up from the bed. He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out the choker he had bought for her.

Lacey's eyes grew wide when she saw what he had in his hand. "What's that?" she asked surprised.

Jesse smiled then held the choker up in front of her and eased it around her neck. "This is what kept me going the whole time you were away. I knew how much you liked it and every time that I started to lose hope of ever finding you, I'd look at this necklace and I was reminded of how beautiful you looked the day you saw it in the window of the thrift shop, the way your eyes sparkled. I knew that I couldn't give up and I never did."

Lacey wrapped her hand around the green heart pendant. The choker meant more to her than Jesse could possible know. It was going to be the only reminder that she had of him and the love they shared because very soon she was going to have to leave him forever. "Thank you" she whispered and kissed him with everything she had in her.

Way too soon, Jesse broke from their kiss. "Do you still want to go downstairs?"

Lacey gave him a small smile and nodded. "Yes" she said weakly.

Jesse took her by the hand and led her downstairs.

*****

Lacey was having the time of her life as she sat on the couch, laughing with her friends. Tonya was the first to fill her in on the news that Kindal and the new guy, Steven, were seeing each other. And that Kyle was jealous about it.

And after talking with Kyle for a little bit, Lacey quickly realized who he was. He was the grandson of the man who had given her a ride to Carol Springs. Jerry had told her that he had a grandson named Kyle. But it wasn't until Kyle told her that he had been captured by Sasha while he was out looking for the girl his grandfather had dropped off at the bus station that she realized who he was. And when she did, she felt horrible.

She had promised Jerry she would call his grandson so he could give her a tour around the city and she never did. And if Kyle hadn't been out looking for her, he wouldn't have been caught by Sasha, and he wouldn't have had his human life taken from him. Knowing that he was a werewolf because of her made Lacey sad but she couldn't dwell on her guilt. She didn't have the time to.

Scotty was being his usual self and cracking jokes on everyone. Devon and Tyron kept the place alive as they banged on their bongo drums to the beat of the music that filled the warehouse. And Trevor was all smiles as he told everyone about his plans to build his own house deep in the woods. No one said anything, but Lacey had the feeling that he and Tonya were ready to start a family and wanted some privacy.

Hour after hour passed as everyone talked and laughed together. Lacey laid her head on the back of the couch and let the sound of her friends laughter seep into her mind. She had intended to just close her eyes for a minute but fatigue claimed her and before she knew it, the sounds from the room faded and she fell asleep.

"Lacey?" Jesse called her name. She slowly opened her eyes to see him staring nervously at her. "Are you alright? If you're tired, I can take you upstairs" he said and touched his hand to her face. Her skin still felt cold.

Lacey looked around the room at everyone and smiled. "No, I want to stay down here as long as I can."

The worried looks that everybody were passing to each other and the concern on their faces, warmed her heart. She knew they all cared for her and she hated that she was going to have to leave them.

*****

Another hour passed and Lacey couldn't take her eyes off of Tonya and Trevor as they held onto each other and slow danced across the room. It was obvious that they loved each other. And Lacey couldn't help but feel a little jealous. They were going to spend the rest of their lives together and she'd be lucky if she could just spend another couple of hours with the man she loved.

Jesse saw Lacey watching Tonya and Trevor dance. He stood and held his hand out to her. "Will you dance with me, Lacey?" he asked and gave her a smile that made her heart skip a beat.

Lacey knew that she was too weak to dance but she couldn't say no to him. She took his hand and let him help her from the couch. She eased her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart as it raced. She tried her best to stay on her feet as Jesse moved her around the room. They almost made it to the end of the song before her knees gave out and she went limp in his arms. He looked down at her, alarmed.

"I guess it's time to call it a night, huh?" she whispered.

"Lacey, you're not getting your strength back like before and you look so pale. I think I should take you back to the hospital" Jesse said, worried.

She shook her head. "No...I'm fine. I just need to rest, that's all" she insisted.

Jesse didn't believe that for a second but he didn't want to upset her. He escorted her back to his room and laid her down on the bed.

Before he could get in bed with her, Lacey asked him to get her a glass of water from downstairs. After he left the room, she grabbed the phone and pulled out the paper with Cole's number on it. She stared at it for a minute before picking up the phone. She was running out of time. She could feel herself slipping away with every minute that passed and she was terrified.

*****

Lacey laid in bed beside Jesse, he had been asleep for almost an hour. She glanced to the clock on the wall, it was three in the morning and it was time for her to leave. She knew that Cole was probably already waiting on her outside. She eased out of bed and looked down at Jesse. She wanted desperately to kiss him one last time. But out of fear that he would wake up, she didn't.

She opened the drawer on the nightstand and pulled out the letter she had written for him earlier and placed it on her pillow and started for the door. Without looking back because it hurt too much to do so, she opened the door and tiptoed out of the room.

When she got to the stairs, she had to stop and take a deep breath as exhaustion claimed her. Normally, when she was trying to sneak in or out of a place her heart would be racing in her chest, but now it was barely beating at all. She held onto the metal rail of the stairs for support and prayed that she was strong enough to make it down without falling. Five minutes later and completely drained of energy, she opened the front door. The cool night air hit her face and made her shiver.

*****

Cole was leaning against the hood of his Tahoe when the door to the warehouse opened and Lacey stepped out. She was holding onto the door like it was the only thing keeping her on her feet. He started toward her and got there just in time to catch her before she hit the ground. He looked down at her and was shocked to see how much worse she looked now than she did when he saw her in the hospital.

Lacey could barely form the words to speak as she looked up at Cole. The walk down the stairs had drained her of what little energy she had left. "Change...me...now. No...more...time" she gasped through ragged breaths as she struggled to pull air into her lungs.

Cole quickly picked her up and ran back to his Tahoe. He put her inside and hurried away from the warehouse. He wanted to wait until he got her back to his place before he changed her but one look at her and he knew he didn't even have the twenty minutes it would take to get there. She was dying. Cole turned down a dirt road a few miles from the warehouse and parked in the woods. He helped Lacey from the Tahoe and laid her on the ground and stepped away from her so that he could change into his wolf form. A few seconds later, he approached her on all fours.

Lacey looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Do it."

Cole lowered his head in agreement and bit down on her arm. Lacey didn't scream or make any sound at all. Instead, her eyelids fluttered closed.

Cole stood over her and watched, waiting for her to make some kind of movement but she didn't. He immediately worried that she was too far gone for the change to happen with just one bite. So he bit her other arm and then each of her legs. She barely flinched with each bite that he gave her. Fear that he was too late gripped him. He walked into the woods and changed back into his human form. After he got dressed, he knelt down beside Lacey and tried to get her to talk to him.

He had to fight against the lump forming in his throat at the thought of losing her. "Lacey, talk to me! Say something. Do you feel like you're getting your strength back?"

Nothing. Lacey just laid there motionless. Cole was so distraught that he did something he had never done before. He closed his eyes and prayed. He prayed that Lacey would make it because the thought of her dying caused a pain in his heart so intense that he didn't know how he could live through it.

After trying one last time to get some kind of reaction from Lacey, Cole picked her up and put her back in the Tahoe and headed out of town. He didn't want anyone near her, not even his pack. And he definitely didn't want Jesse to ever find her again, so he decided to take her to the one place no one would ever think to look for them, his parent's house.

The drive to the mountains of north Georgia was about eight hours long and Lacey didn't wake up or move an inch the entire ride there. But Cole knew she was alive, and he knew that she was no longer human. He could smell it. Her human scent was slowly being washed out by a very distinct wolf scent and her heart beat was returning to normal. He looked over at her and smiled. She was his now and no one was ever going to take her away from him.

*****

Jesse reached across the bed, searching for Lacey. When he didn't feel her beside him, he opened his eyes and sat up in bed. He glanced around the room. "Lacey?" he called out to her to see if she was in the bathroom but no one answered. He got up and checked to see if maybe she fell asleep in the tub, but she wasn't there. He walked back to the bed and grabbed his shirt from the mattress and saw the piece of paper on the pillow. He smiled, thinking that it was a note telling him she was downstairs. He picked it up and started reading it. He sat down on the bed when he realized what the note really was...a goodbye letter.

His heart shattered more and more with every line that he read. By the time he was at the end of the letter, his eyes were full with unshed tears. He dropped the note to the floor and ran downstairs and out the front door. He dropped to his knees on the ground and yelled Lacey's name until his throat grew sore. The pain of knowing that she was dying tore him apart. He had held her in his arms just a few hours ago and now she was lost to him again.

Jesse's pack ran outside and crouched down beside him, trying to find out what was wrong but he ignored their questions. The words from Lacey's letter kept repeating in his mind. She was going to let Cole change her. Jesse cussed at himself for not realizing last night why she had been asking about changing humans into werewolves. He should have known something was seriously wrong. He saw how weak she was and he did nothing to help her. But he wasn't going to sit back and do nothing now. He jumped up and ran toward his jeep.

"Jesse, where are you going?" Trevor asked.

Jesse paused before opening the jeep door. He looked over his shoulder and said in a deathly tone, "I'm going to do what I should have done a long time ago, I'm going to get rid of Cole once and for all. Then I'm going to find Lacey and bring her home where she belongs."

To be continued...

Follow Lacey on her journey as she learns to adapt to the new life she has been given and tries to honor her agreement with Cole. Will she ever be able to love him or will her feelings for Jesse stand in the way? Did she lose her powers when she lost her human life?

Find out in the next book of the Lacey Hannigan Series

"Change"

Available Now

