A Tragedy Unfolds (Javorcek X ClearSight)

The last thing Chris wanted to do was get up and go back to class, which was what she had expected to happen when she heard soft footsteps approaching. What she hadn't expected was the gorgeous doctor to be looking down at her with a rather mischievous smile. Chris had never talked to the woman but she wasn't blind. The look on her face was a bit unexpected however. "Hi." She didn't bother moving or fixing her appearance, she only gave a small playful smile back and let her eyes roam the mage. The woman didn't respond like any other girl would to Chris' attempt at charm, she took it in stride and tapped her chin, "Why are you not in class? You don't look sick. Party a little too hard?" She grinned, teasing Chris who found herself thinking back to the night before. What did she had to lose. From there she completely dodged the inference to why she was there and went to being a bit flirty, a dumb idea considering this woman was a teacher, but she couldn't help but throw caution to the wind in her current 'fuck it' state. She had to try something to get her mind off of Cait, might as well go extreme.

Surprisingly it went well, Tessa was actually capable of speaking to her on a high level without melting like some girls did when the French alpha spoke to them. She liked to think it was maturity but that was bullshit, something about Tessa made her hair stand on end, as if warning her that what she was doing was dangerous. Chris had always been overly confident when it came to socializing so she didn't listen, a bad idea considering she felt the ebb and flow of conversation being controlled by the mage and not herself. She was caught off guard as someone else entered the infirmary and she sat up a bit, looking over to see Alice, one of her sister's friends and definitely not someone she was glad had seen her trying to charm the good doc. She wasn't so sure what the girl had seen however and just smiled at her as Tessa went to grab some Tylenol, handing the girl a cup of water and a couple extra strength. "Here you go." She sat back down afterwards, and in true awkward fashion, for Alice but not so much for Chris, she just watched, waiting for her to leave.

When they were alone again Chris let out a small sigh, but before she could voice anything she felt lips pressing against hers and couldn't do anything as she was pushed to her back. A small little moan escaped as pleasant lips took hers, and while she immediately noted a lack of passion like with Caitlyn, but damn did it feel good. As lips left hers she was blushing, feeling much less sure of herself than she had moments earlier. "Oh my, big strong alpha blushing like a virgin... Adorable." The sultry voice had Chris struggling to say something and not feel like a fool, but she just couldn't think of what to say, and for once her mind wasn't on Cait. "Oh? Cat got your tongue?" she giggled, leaning in and kissing Chris again, this time tongue slipping past her lips and leaving Chris a moaning, increasingly horny, mess. Then once again the older woman pulled back, grinning. Tessa was doing things in such an odd fashion it had Chris completely off-guard, and doing an incredible job at keeping her from doing much to take back control. "Nope, tongue's still there." The image of the doctor licking her lips was one Chris wouldn't soon forget.

---

Things didn't go much further, after making her speechless, and slipping Chris her number, Dr. Reigns stood up and told her to get her cute butt back to class. Chris hadn't been able to say no and soon found herself back in the classroom, mind on someone else for a change. The only problem with that was that no matter how hot, and confusing, what had just happened was, was that she didn't feel any romantic desire. Maybe that's what she needed, anything to keep her from thinking about Cait every waking second, and the fact that her best damn friend was going to be the one by her side. And there went her mind. Fucking fuck. She reached in to her pocket and pulled out the number, sitting in on her desk and pulling out her phone as well, figuring she might as well try out her new distraction and see if keeping her attention on the older woman would do what she was desperate for it to do. 'So, just how often do you do things like that to students? ' Wow she felt lame, but it didn't take long for her phone to light up with a reply, 'Every couple of days. Just have to remind them how scary adults can be.' And she was a smart ass, of course she was, Chris liked that. 'Oh? A couple of days is too long for me to wait. I'd prefer tonight' Now to see what she said.

Alice hated getting involved in drama, especially drama that was destined to be an absolute mess. Dr. Reigns was flirting with students...and not just any student, she was flirting with Chris Sandalio. The beta was very close friends with Chris' little sister, Caitlyn. What she had seen put her in a very awkward situation. She didn't want to upset Caitlyn with bad news, but she couldn't very well just keep her mouth shut about it either. What if something bad happened to Chris? What if the school found out about Dr. Reigns preying on students? Well maybe 'preying' was a strong word...Chris was a senior after all and legal to boot, but it still looked very bad for an adult in a position of power to be flirting with a high school student.

Fuck...she had no choice, she had to tell Caitlyn as soon as she saw her.

----

4:30pm meant that Jocelyn and Michelle had exactly 45 minutes to get home after their respective sports practices and attempt to get some of the sexual tension they felt out before Mara got out of work. Of course 23 minutes were burned up sitting in the back of Jocelyn's Town Car, aching to touch eachother but too scared to do so because her driver would certainly tell Mara about it. Then it was a 2 minute walk into the building and a 1 minute frenzied make out session if they were lucky enough to have the elevator to themselves. All in all, there was a 19 minute gap of unsupervised time behind closed doors and with horizontal surfaces available. 19 minutes wasn't nearly long enough to do anything fun, but it was just enough time to drag Michelle to her room, push her down on the bed, jump ontop of her, kick her legs apart, jam a hand down the other girl's basketball shorts and try to get her to cum at least once before they had to clean up and pretend they were being good.

"I miss fucking you so much..." Jocelyn groaned softly as she plunged two fingers into Michelle's already soaking wet slit, her own clit pulsing in desire as she thought about wearing her strap-on and ramming the realistic toy into Michelle's clinging heat. Guh...it had been 3 months since she had been buried inside of that amazing pussy, it had been far, far too long since they had had any sort of privacy. "If only you didn't moan like a whore every time you cum." The wolf teased as she hooked her fingers, immediately going for the swollen sensitive spot that would bring her to orgasm quickly.

Living with Jocelyn was not what Michelle had expected. For some reason 'living with your girlfriend' sounded much more erotic than it was. Unfortunately they had nearly no alone time and Mara made sure to keep an eye on both of them. It was sexual hell, especially when every inch of her ached for Jocelyn, and the other alpha had a very sick game of 'tease Michelle every possible second' going, where she would get out of the shower and show off a bit or take the brief moments they had at school to touch her and remind the woman of what it was she was being denied by the constant supervision. Aside from her desires being at their boiling point it was incredible. Michelle honestly couldn't remember a time in her life where she felt happier, or more secure, which was funny considering she had been disowned by her asshole father. Jocelyn and her family made all of that better, and after a few months Michelle had stopped worrying about Jocelyn getting tired of her, a subject she had heard Mara whining about to Arlann a few times.

Having something of a stable home life was welcomed, and even at school she found herself okay with the stares because she was spending time with people she actually liked being with, and she was as close with Syri as ever which helped. Even Mara's constant watching had a warmth to it, someone actually gave a damn, it was new. Besides... Sneaking around was hot. An example, the fact that her entire day had been leading up to Jocelyn shoving her down on the bed, shoving her legs apart, and shoving fingers inside of her, causing Michelle to arch her back and groan with need. "Fuck, I miss having you inside of me..." She whined softly as the talented digits pushed inside of her. "I know you love hearing me moan." She shot back, right before letting out one of her 'whore' moans as her sensitive spot was hit with scary precision. Over the course of their time together Jocelyn's had learned a lot about her body, and she had learned plenty about her dominant lady as well.

As she moaned, body trembling from the much needed finger fucking, she looked up, a needy look on her face followed by her reaching out and running a hand along Jocelyn's body, "I want to taste you. We have enough time." She seemed to be begging, as if her wanting it would make more time appear. She was so horny she as prepared to lie to herself though, and while a hard no might stop her, Michelle was ready to dig in as soon as Jocelyn made her cum, which would no be long. Each movement caused further moaning, Michelle's tight, toned body squirming, a slave to her lover's touch. This was what no sex did to her, it was making it far too easy for Jocelyn to bring her to a climax, her entire body quivering in ecstasy in mere minutes, and her needy pussy clenching around the invading digits. "Fuck!" She cried out, finally cumming, juices covering Jocelyn's hand as her back arched, the gorgeous wolf being wrecked by the orgasm until finally the sensation ended and she was left panting on her back. Nothing was as satisfying as a bit of pleasure after a long day, even if she would have preferred something more extensive. She smiled up, more of a grin really, and pulled Jocelyn down on top of her, nibbling at the girl's neck with needy haste. "Take you fucking clothes off, I want my meal."

The young wolf grinned as Michelle called her out. "Maybe just a little bit...I like hearing you scream and beg much better though." Jocelyn's fingers sped up, working that sensitive spot so hard that she could feel Michelle's muscular legs quivering around her. "I don't think we have time for that baby..." Jocelyn whined as Michelle brought up something she wanted so bad: a velvety tongue eagerly licking her soaking wet folds. The Alpha was trying desperately to make the numbers work in her head though. 19 minutes, perhaps 5 of them were going to be spent fingering Michelle because now she had her thumb sweeping over the swollen button of her lover's clit. There was no way that the other girl would last longer than 7 minutes, tops. So let's say 8 minutes...that gives her 11 to go down on me, no, less 3 for a quick clean up...that gives me 8 minutes to cum. Fuck, I can't get off in just 8 minutes! Could she? The quickest orgasm she had had from oral was 15 minutes and that was with a girl that had fooled around with Jocelyn everyday for a month. Michelle hadn't gotten to go down on her since Parekura... But she's good...and it's been a long time, maybe I'll just cum right away.

Jocelyn was practically panting with want as she watched Michelle unravel before her. It wasn't long before her lover was crying out and trembling with orgasm...of course Jocelyn's wolf was clawing at the back of her mind as she watched their lover experience a subpar orgasm. If Michelle wasn't delirious with pleasure to the point that she couldn't form complete sentences, Jocelyn wasn't happy. It would have to do though... Until they could figure out some alone time, these rushed orgasms right after practice would have to do.

"Alright, fine, you can eat me out because I like you so much... But don't tease, we only have a couple of minutes." She leaned down and gave Michelle a quick kiss before crawling up and over her to the head of the bed. Part of her had been tempted to just ride Michelle's face, but it had been so long since she had had a girl between her legs that she wanted to lay back, relax, and just enjoy herself. It usually wasn't like this, she had never gone this long without proper sex; Mara and Arlann worked late sometimes, enough that Jocelyn had been able to have hook ups at the apartment before. But now that Michelle was living with them, Mara was always home early on days that the girls weren't buried with lessons or practice. Hell, Mara had even gone through the trouble of picking up the bill for any lessons that Michelle had had before her father had disowned her, just for the sake of keeping the girls busy.

Jocelyn hurriedly tugged off her practice jersey and sports bra. Then off came her short rugby shorts and panties which left her in nothing but some knee socks. She was always a mess after rugby practice, smelling of dirt and grass, body bruised and sore after getting knocked around by other girls who were bigger than her. "Come on. Stop staring and get to work." Jocelyn purred as she let her legs fall open, revealing a pink, glistening slit and swollen folds in need of attention.

She knew what Jocelyn liked, from that first night the woman took her at the masquerade ball she had been a slave to those desires. She was very aware how much the gorgeous alpha enjoyed making her scream, whimper, and beg for more. Michelle didn't hold back either, though perhaps at first her pride made it difficult to be as open, but now she couldn't care less about appearances... She liked Jocelyn to know how bad she wanted something, and when her lover noted timing she whined with the intention of protesting the ruling. "We can make it, please don't make me go another day without tasting you." She whimpered softly, barely keeping herself contained, that simple sentence being a struggle between bursts of moaning and aftershocks of the intense orgasm. It was almost irritating how easily Jocelyn made her melt into a puddle of desire, and while she would have liked to confidently do the same she had a feeling her lover would be tougher to crack than she had been... Which only made the competitive girl all the more fired up to get to work.

"Thank you Mistress." It was a word she didn't use often, and she was grinning as she spoke it and crawled between Jocelyn's legs, but she had started to like the idea of being the other girl's pet. Even with her obedient tone, thanking Jocelyn for giving her the pleasure, for 'liking her so much', she wasn't being so good, nipping and licking at the alpha's inner thigh, teasing ever so slightly before looking up, a warmth in her chest temping her to use words she had been suppressing thus far. Months, months of happiness, cuddling, kissing, playful bouts of sexual teasing... She loved Jocelyn, and yet she never said it. Michelle felt as if the magical spell keeping them together and happy was going to dissipate the moment those words came out of her mouth... Remembering what they had talked about when they started it all... What Jocelyn was looking for. She just gave a smile instead, nuzzling the beautiful leg, inhaling her scent, and then finally, after a few moments of being naughty, diving in.

Michelle didn't take it slow, didn't need time to re-acclimate herself with what she was doing, she just let her instinct guide her. She was a talented lover, and as she let her lips and tongue... And then teeth... Get to work on Jocelyn's needy little nub, she grew far more serious than she had been moments before. Her lips wrapped around the sensitive bundle of nerves, tongue slowly sliding across the surface, pushing it up into the bottom of her teeth, teeth that started nibbling and grinding as she continued on... Each minute that passed brought with it increased attention, harder suckling, faster lapping of her talented little tongue, rougher treatment by her teeth. Then came the fingers, two being thrust up inside her dominant lover, spreading her tight, dripping slit and immediately going for Jocelyn's sensitive spot, purring around the girl's clit as she found it, ready to be merciless in her attempts to make the beautiful woman cum. It wasn't like they had much time... She needed to hurry up and push her to the edge... Hear that gorgeous voice cry out... Get her treat when the alpha finally climaxed for her, and she was getting more vigorous by the minute.

"I thought pets were supposed to do what they were told." Jocelyn smirked as her lover took her sweet time getting between her legs and situated. "Michelle, come on!" Jocelyn whined as blunt teeth and a warm tongue teased along her inner thigh. Ugh, she liked sex far too much to be a proper Mistress...or maybe she had just been without sex for far too long to be a proper Mistress. She was wound so tight that Michelle could have turned the tables and made her beg; Jocelyn wouldn't even put up a fight. She just wanted to be fucked, -needed- to be taken hard and fast. The light attention actually made the girl jump at first and squirm as it went on; it had been so long since anyone had been between her legs that even Michelle's warm breath ghosting along her thigh felt like it was too much. "You brat..." The girl hissed between clenched teeth as she tried not to moan, unwilling to make any noise of approval until Michelle actually did something worth approving. It didn't take much longer, soon her lover had her moaning. "Oh fuck!" Jocelyn yelped, heels digging into the mattress, back arching as lips wrapped around her clit. The muscles in her legs were already trembling as she fought with the decision to relax or start riding her lover's face. Her hands flew to the back of Michelle's head, nails scraping into the other girl's scalp as two fingers rammed into her tight sex and found a spot that made Jocelyn buck and scream. "Michelle! OhhhhhfucMichelledon'tstop!"

Jocelyn's entire body was pulsing in pleasure and she was so close, but her mind was just so distracted... Even as Michelle ground her clit against her teeth, making the bundle of nerves even more sensitive, Jocelyn was trying to do math without any numbers. All she could do was estimate...but apparently wishful thinking that they'd have enough time to do all of this had her estimating wrong. The sound of the front door opening startled Jocelyn before she had a chance to cum or do anything really. The alpha jumped, trying to squirm away and locate her clothes before her mother came in, but it was too late. Somehow, even in heels, Mara had managed to cross the large penthouse and storm into her room in less than five seconds. The old wolf was practically foaming at the mouth in rage as she caught her daughter in nothing but a pair of socks and with Michael's offspring between her legs. For a moment she didn't know whether she should be more furious that her own daughter, the one who she was grooming to take over her company, appeared to be a bottom, or if she should be pissed off that Michelle couldn't follow the one rule that Mara had.

Without giving the girls a chance to collect themselves, Mara grabbed Michelle right by the back of her basketball jersey. She picked up the larger girl and threw her backwards and into a nearby wall...at least she had been kind enough to throw her into a bare wall and not straight into Jocelyn's desk and chair.

"Mom! Don't!" Jocelyn was scrambling to get up and kneel at the edge of the bed so that she could catch Mara by the arm before the old wolf tore Michelle limb from limb. Mara's human form might not look all that intimidating, but Jocelyn knew that her mother was powerful, especially when she was fueled by rage that came from love and her desire to protect her family. "It wasn't her fault, it was mine!"

Mara snarled and gave her daughter a 'do you really think I'm that fucking stupid?' look. She had caught her baby girl on her back and naked! Did Jocelyn really expect her to believe that this wasn't Michelle's fault? That the other girl hadn't coaxed her into stripping and then letting her devour her like the stupid horny slut Jocelyn was?!?! "I will not have my daughter fucking around with some stray when she should be studying! You should be preparing yourself for real life rather than be in your room playing house with your newest conquest" Mara barked. She knew that she pushed Jocelyn hard, gave her a lot of extra work to do that pertained to the company so that the girl would know what to do if anything ever happened to her parents. After growing up the way she had, Mara wanted her child to be prepared and not piss all of the grooming she had done away over some girl. "Michelle, I want you out of here in 24 hours."

"Mom, that's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair." Mara said simply and turned to go. "And Michelle, if I catch you with my daughter again, I will throw you out on your ass -tonight- and you can sleep in the street."

Just hearing that sweet voice moaning out in pleasure sent shivers down her spine, the alpha absolutely loving how vocal her lover was being. More than that, she was just happy to pleasure Jocelyn, to repay the constant favors Jocelyn gave her, because most days it was Jocelyn making her beg and scream and then it would get cut off, time being the one thing they didn't ever seem to have. What she would have done for an hour... Or a night. Hell really thirty minutes would have been a small but doable window for something more satisfying. She wasn't going to complain, just being around Jocelyn was a gift, but the time they had together after school was barely enough to do anything... A fact that became abundantly clear to her the moment she heard the front door open, immediately popping her head up, which wasn't fast enough. By the time she turned her head Mara was there and Michelle's heart nearly stopped. The one rule the woman had for them and now she had caught them blatantly breaking it... She was in trouble, though she hadn't anticipated how much.

Michelle had expected yelling and maybe a stern warning, something that would be hell and make her feel bad, but she had been so fucking wrong. She couldn't even defend herself as she was yanked up and sent flying into a wall, a sickening crack sounding out, hopefully the drywall but Michelle wasn't so sure one of her bones wasn't the culprit. She had not landed gracefully though, hitting the wall and bouncing off onto the floor, having to push herself up and shift to a seated position, not daring stand with Mara so enraged. Luckily she didn't feel any sharp pain, so it probably wasn't her body that made the sound, but a small groan escaped her lips as she straightened herself out, trying to gauge the situation where Jocelyn seemed to be stopping Mara from walking over and finishing her off.

The only thing Michelle could do was watch, stay in place like an idiot while Jocelyn and her mother went at it for a moment, and then the second it was over... Mara turned her attention back to the nervous girl... The stray as the older woman liked to call her. Twenty-four hours. Michelle had finally stopped thinking that it would end, both her relationship with Jocelyn and the strange happiness she had found with the Marrok family, as if she belonged even if just a little. Apparently after months this had been enough, and the shock of it all crumbling around had her silent as Mara made it clear she wasn't going to change her mind nor allow her to go near Jocelyn again or things would just get worse. Fuck... Now she felt like crying. She wouldn't but the urge was there, gnawing at her bravado.

Michelle waited for Mara to be gone before she slowly stood to her feet, giving one glance to the cracked wall behind her before brushing herself off a looking over at Jocelyn, an unconvincing smile on her face. "Sorry." She didn't know what else to say, she wanted to hug her, seek affirmation, anything, but all she could do in the moment was slink to the guest room, not sure whether to start packing the small amount of shit she had or collapse onto the bed and bury her face in a pillow to scream... One thing was for sure, she didn't want Jocelyn to see her acting pathetic, and she wasn't sure what else to do but hide on the bed and try to figure out what the fuck to do...

Jocelyn felt like she wanted to cry as everything spun way out of her control; Michelle was going to get kicked out and it was all her fault. She was the responsible one, she should have put her foot down and said 'no' when she had first doubted the possibility that they would have enough time. Her eyes stung a little bit but she didn't let herself break down, what good would tears do her anyways...crying wouldn't get her anywhere; the only time Mara ever expressed sympathy or concern was with her wife, and maybe a few times with Jocelyn when she had been very little. Great, I'm a sociopath just like her. It was disheartening to think that she would grow up to be as cold and as guarded as her mother was. Sure, Mara smiled and laughed, she had had a lot of fun when she was young and wild, but the CEO never let anyone get close to her heart...well no one but Arlann anyways. Jocelyn was much in the same way: the whole time that Michelle had been living here, she tried to keep things light and casual, tried not to feel true attachment to the other girl...but that had been a lost cause. The prospect of not cuddling Michelle on the couch before bed or stealing a kiss from her at breakfast in the morning made Jocelyn's heart tighten uncomfortably in her chest and her eyes sting a little harder. "I don't want you to go." The young wolf said quietly, sinking down onto her haunches and crossing her arms over her bare chest to help protect against the cold air of her room. It was a stupid thing to say, almost as stupid as Michelle's 'sorry' or her mother's cruel 'get out'.

-----

The only consolation that Jocelyn had was that Mara had to sleep on the couch that night. Arlann was furious that her wife could be so mean to a child and had banished her to the couch to think about what she had done. Not like it was that big of a punishment, Mara fell asleep at her desk in her home office all the time and was used to sleeping in uncomfortable positions. And not like it was going to change the old wolf's mind anyways, once Mara made a decision she always stuck with it. But having Arlann toss Mara out into the living room gave Jocelyn the opportunity to sneak out of her bedroom in the middle of the night and pad over to the guest room that Michelle was occupying. She didn't speak and motioned for Michelle to stay quiet as she crawled into the other girl's bed and made herself comfortable, pressing her body snugly up against her lover's. As badly as she ached to be intimate with Michelle, she did her best to behave...Jocelyn just wanted to get in as much time as she could with the other girl before she had to pack her bags and leave tomorrow.

-----

"Chris?" Caitlyn called softly as she knocked on her sister's door. It was late, their parents were asleep, hell Chris might even be asleep right now...but Caitlyn couldn't go to bed knowing what she knew and not doing something about it, so she'd risk waking her big sister up. Alice had told her what she had seen in the nurse's office earlier that day, that Chris had been blatantly flirting with the school doctor. Just the thought of it made her stomach twist into unpleasant knots and her heart sink. It was dangerous... Dr. Reigns was a mage, not that Caitlyn had anything against mages, but what if the doctor was manipulating Chris with a spell? Plus Dr. Reigns was an adult, an adult that worked for their school, that was way worse than being a mage...Chris could get into a lot of trouble, could be in a lot of trouble right now.

So Caitlyn carefully pushed the door open, trying not to make a ton of noise because she didn't want to wake up Clara and Anna. Then she slipped inside of Chris' room and shut the door behind her, keeping her voice low as she said, "I heard that you were flirting with Dr. Reigns... Is it true? Are you? Have you lost your mind Chris? What on earth has gotten into you lately?"

'I don't want you to go'. Those words had broken Michelle's heart, it was the most revealing thing Jocelyn could have said, and it meant a lot to the wolf that her girlfriend wasn't quite as casual about her as they both pretended. Not that it was the only part of their relationship that contradicted the definition of what they were. Still, it made her chest tighten and keeping herself from crying became all the more difficult. The rest of the night had been Michelle being as silent as possible, barely even getting comfort when Arlann arrived and chewed Mara out. Arlann had been exceptionally kind to her, and seemed to be as opposed to the idea of her being thrown out as Jocelyn, but over the months she had realized Mara didn't change her mind, not often. So she didn't expect a last minute change of heart. The only thing she could do was curl up in her bed and try not to break down, which was only possible when Jocelyn came into the room and crawled into bed... And all Michelle wanted to do was snuggle up against her and savor the last night she had with her lover. She was going to miss being able to spend her days with the gorgeous alpha.

---

Chris found herself smiling, the texts with the good doctor being an incredible rush, flirting in general and feeling wanted definitely cheered her up. She wasn't completely pulled away from the heartache down the hall but something about it helped console her, and helped ignore the fact that her best friend was trying to sleep with her little sis. Of course it may have helped if Chris had met up with Tessa after school, but they had decided to do something that weekend, so they had a bit more time and Chris could figure out a decent excuse for her parents and not have any time constraint at all. She was still a bit nervous, not sure what in the hell she was doing, but anything beat waiting in agony for Cait to continue moving on and leaving her to watch and hurt, alone. That just didn't seem like something she should do, even if flirting and jumping in to something so random was what she had to do... After all, Tessa definitely caught her attention, even if she was a bad choice realistically.

Of course, the moment Chris found herself calming down and willing to give something different a try, Cait popped back up, coming in to her room and immediately going on to the thing with Dr. Reigns. Seems like her little friend had seen something after all. Chris sat up, having still been up reading and gave Caitlyn a slightly confused look. "Hold up Cait..." She said, stopping the questioning and moving to the edge of her bed. "What are you doing?" She asked, reaching up and moving a hand through her hair. She had wanted Cait to care for so long, but not as a sister. "Yes it's true, I was flirting, she's gorgeous and apparently into me. Why shouldn't I?" She wasn't expecting answers, not really, she just found herself a bit upset. Cait didn't want her in that way but the moment she found someone who did the girl was running to her and what? Trying to stop her? "Cait... I love you to death, but if I'm supposed to move on it's unfair of you to jump in and even speak about my love life." That wasn't fair, they were supposed to be family, sisters, which meant Cait had cause to say whatever she wanted... But they weren't exactly normal siblings, Chris loved her... As a woman, and it made it difficult for her. "And you know what's gotten into me, I'm trying to get over you. So don't make this more difficult for me than it already is." It was the first time since Parekura she had even mentioned it.

"Why shouldn't you?!" Caitlyn gawked at her big sister as though that had to be the dumbest question that Chris had ever asked, even dumber than when she had asked grandpa how they painted the first down line so quickly on the field during a football game. There were a zillion reasons why her big sister shouldn't be getting into a sexual relationship with the school doctor! "Oh I dunno, maybe because she's old enough to be your teen mom. Maybe because doctors aren't supposed to flirt with their patients. Maybe because our moms would explode if they knew who you were...sleeping with." Just saying the words 'sleeping with' left a sour taste in Caitlyn's mouth and made her feel a little nauseous. She didn't like the idea of her big sister sleeping with an older woman, not one bit. Especially after what they had done... As screwed up as it already was, it just made Caitlyn feel even worse to know that she had just been used, that Chris was just going to hop into bed with another girl, a doctor no less, someone that Caitlyn could never hope to compete with.

But Chris went on, telling her that this was 'unfair' for her to come along and meddle in her love life. Instantly, Caitlyn regretted coming in here and saying anything at all. Unfair was getting jumped by your big sister when you're in the middle of your first heat and all out of sorts. Unfair was having to deal with the feeling of being dirty and damaged every fucking day afterwards. Unfair was having one of the hottest seniors in school really into you and every time she touched you you tensed up, grew uncomfortable, and had to actually -force- yourself to relax and enjoy her affections. Apparently Caitlyn swallowing all of her own issues in order to come into Chris' room where her big sister had stolen her virginity was so fucking unfair. God fucking forbid she actually care about what happened to Chris.

Clenching her jaw so that the frustrated scream that was building in her throat didn't come out and wake up the whole house, Caitlyn turned on her heel and walked out of Chris' room without anymore concern for what her big sister was getting herself into.


-----


The next day, breakfast at the Marrok household was tense and Jocelyn couldn't wait for the meal to be over so that her and Michelle could go to school. They didn't get to spend a ton of time together once there, but it was nice to just forget all the shit that had happened back home and be buried in the comforting routine of their classes. After the day had ended and right after their practices, Jocelyn and Michelle met up to walk to the car together so that they could go home. Like good teenagers, they were waiting until the last possible second to do something as unpleasant as moving Michelle out of the apartment; Mara had said 24 hours and so they were going to use up every minute they could in order to be together. For a normal teenager, minutes may not seem like much, but for a girl like Jocelyn who was always busy with practice, lessons, homework, and tutoring, a few minutes of free time were hard to come by. "Hopefully I can come over and see you at Syri's..." Jocelyn sighed, knowing that probably wasn't going to happen because she lived in the city, traffic was horrible, and there just wasn't going to be enough time in her day to drive all the way out to Syri's. Still, she could wish for such a thing.

As they neared the car, Jocelyn felt the unnerving sensation of being watched. She tried to shake it off, believing it was just some of Michelle's ex-friends gawking at them and saying shitty things out of earshot just because that's what the hyenas always did. But when the feeling didn't go away and was only made worse by a black van speeding toward them, Jocelyn tensed up. Men that were clad in tactical gear poured out of the back, guns drawn. "Michelle!" She grabbed the other girl's hand and forced the magic coursing through her body up Michelle's arm and through the other girl's body. It was the first spell her mother had ever taught her: one to harden the skin and protect against knives and bullets. At a very young age, Jocelyn had been taught to be afraid of hunters and their silver weapons, today that fear was finally paying off.

BANG! BANG! Two shots rang out, followed quickly by the sound of breaking glass as Jocelyn's driver was shot as he attempted to get out of the car to try to protect her. The second bullet was destined for Michelle's heart, but Jocelyn's spell would keep it from breaking the girl's skin and killing her...though it wouldn't help dull the pain of a small projectile ramming into her chest with enough force to crack her ribs and knock her on her ass. The few people that were around them were shouting and scattering. More shots were fired but Jocelyn held her ground, she wasn't about to leave Michelle. The girl began to shift, everything inside of her willing to stay and fight and protect her lover, but she was quickly stopped as she was swarmed by hunters. They clasped a collar around her neck, one that made her scream and drop to her knees in agony when she tried to transform. Two of them grabbed her by the arms and began hauling her towards the van, Jocelyn kicking and screaming and struggling the entire way until finally one of them men got sick of her, hit her in the back of the head with his pistol, and knocked her out to get her to be quiet.

Chris felt like an absolute piece of shit. She wasn't being fair, she was being cruel, but somewhere inside of her she couldn't help but think being cruel as better than putting Caitlyn on the spot or pursuing her further. Maybe that was just her fear speaking, the risk of losing Caitlyn forever, something that had almost happened already, was too much for her. She didn't want to lose her, she would do anything to be by her side... Apparently even make the girl hate her, and she could tell she had done that. Still, as fucked up as everything was she didn't really understand why Tessa was such a bad thing. Okay sure, by conventional definitions of appropriate it was fucked up, Tessa was older, a doctor, and the fact that she had been flirting with a student was a bad sign... But to Chris, who had only ever loved her sister, it just didn't seem so wrong. Watching Caitlyn's reaction made her more aware, but she knew what she was saying was what drove Caitlyn to walk out on her... She knew deep down that all the bullshit she claimed was to forget Caitlyn, to keep her, was actually driving them further apart than ever.

Chris hit her wall, hard, not giving a damn if one of their parents heard, and instead of screaming in frustration she stood up, put her shoes on, and left the house. She needed some fresh air, to think about what the fuck she was doing. After all, she had a lot to think about, especially whether pushing Caitlyn away was actually going to help her stop thinking about the girl... Or if the temporary solution was going to irreparably destroy the bit of foundation they were getting back after months. It wasn't like they were all that close anymore, she barely spoke to Cait at school, kept her personal life to herself, and had gone as far as implying approval with Alex when all she really wanted to do was sock her best friend in the face and telling her it wasn't going to happen. Something was going to have to give though, because the disparity between what Chris wanted to do and what she was doing was growing larger, and if she decided to try the thing with Tessa... Well, chances were there would be no coming back. Unfortunately she just didn't believe it mattered, Cait didn't love her in that way, it disgusted her... How could she overcome that... Fucking hell, maybe she really should have just left. Feeling horrible all the time sucked.

---

Chris woke up early, sleeping a few hours but ultimately waking up around four in the morning, exhausted and having experienced one of the worst nightmares in a long time. Fortunately she hadn't screamed, only woken up in a cold sweat with a racing heartbeat. It gave her plenty of time to shower, make a small bite to eat, though she could barely stomach half of the tiny breakfast before she threw the rest away, and leave the house before anyone else woke up. She just needed to be out of the house, and more than that alone for a day. So she didn't put on her uniform and went with casual clothes instead, jeans, a white t-shirt that was unremarkable in every way. She wanted to find a place to think, and be away from all the bullshit for a day. For her that meant a number of things, but really it meant finding somewhere to eat her weight in food. Last night she had done a lot of thinking, made a few decisions and started on a few others... She just needed a bit more time and she couldn't look at anyone while she was doing it, the young alpha needed solace. She had even left her phone back at the house, sitting on the kitchen table with a little note that read 'Sorry, I'll be back tonight'.

---

Oddly enough Michelle had slept like a rock, the presence of her lover enough to calm her hurting heart. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for breakfast, where Michelle felt like she needed to keep her head down and slip to school as soon as humanly possible. It was just what they did, and she wanted every second of their time spent away from Mara's watchful eyes to be together. That wasn't possible of course but they tried, and by the time they were leaving she felt calmer than she had that morning. It was heart-breaking that she had to leave Jocelyn's side, and she knew meeting outside of school was wishful thinking, but Jocelyn seemed ready to try and she was okay with that, she really adored the other alpha, difficulty was not going to stop her. She was distracted by it all however, so much so that she didn't notice something was happening until the moment people busted out of a van and came for them. At first she was confused but soon enough she realized what was going on, a savage snarl escaping her lips as she prepared to fight, only to be sent flying into the ground and gasping for breath.

For the second time in twenty-four hours Michelle had been sent for a loop, only this time she was furious, and struck by fear as she watched them shove Jocelyn into a van, struggling for air. None of the kidnappers seemed to realize she was alive, or they believed she would soon be dead. That was a mistake. Michelle may not have said it yet but she was in love with Jocelyn, adored the girl, would die for her. Even if she hadn't realized those feelings, they were there, and the wolf inside of her soon thrashed out of its cage, ignoring the intense pain. As the van started to drive off the incredibly powerful alpha it left behind started turning to her intimidating wolf form. A howl echoed out, a seething form rose from behind the town car, and before anyone could do anything to stop her Michelle was gone, moving as fast as she possibly could to keep up with the van, jumping fences and bashing down anything in her way. Never before had Michelle felt so primal, the urge to kill boiling up from within, and more than that the adrenaline pumping through her had the athletic alpha moving faster than she ever had before. She wasn't sure where they were going, how she was going to deal with them alone, or even how she was still alive, but one thing was certain, they weren't getting away with Jocelyn.

"Hey Jake, there's one following us. Should we open the doors and shoot it?" One of the men motioned to the shrinking form of a werewolf chasing after them out the rear window. Jocelyn had been secured to the bench in the back of the van, so there wasn't a threat of her unconscious body sliding from the vehicle if they opened up to take fire.

"Nah don't waste ammo on that thing if it's dumb enough to think that it can catch a van. Save your bullets for the big game." Jake grinned. "Boss says every big dog out there is going to be searching for this brat. Keep your bullets just in case they manage to sniff her out." Silver ammunition was expensive, as was funding an organization of Fundamentalist hunters. Some hunter groups were willing to see modern werewolves as people with a manageable condition, and so only tracked down rogue wolves who couldn't control themselves. Packs like the Lykos clan were so large that they actually held treaties with some of the more progressive hunter organizations in the area; Lykos would post bounties and give information on rogue werewolves, and in return, hunters would only kill wolves who were confirmed threats. But Fundamentalist hunters refused to be servants to werewolves; they saw the creatures for what they were: dangerous beasts.

----

"Muh-Muh-Mara!!" Sammie burst into her boss' office, right in the middle of a video conference with some European buyers. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't dare interrupt Mara in the middle of a meeting, but today her boss would surely forgive the outburst because of the news she had. "There's b-b-been a sh-shuh-shooting at tha-the school!" The beta was a stammering, worried mess; Her eldest daughter, Julie was away and safe at college but her youngest was staying after school to watch Syri play in a basketball scrimmage. This was the kind of thing that happened when you let your daughter have a social life or a love interest! The one day that Sammie had suspended her daughter's curfew was the day that her school gets shot up. "Th-they took her, they t-t-took Jocelyn!"

"Gentlemen, if you will excuse me..." Ever the professional, Mara held it together until she turned off the monitors even though she was a whirlwind of emotions on the inside. Jocelyn was her everything, not just her legacy but her one and only child whom she loved almost as much as her wife. Even after the audience was gone and she had ample opportunity to break down, she seemed to be calm...though a well trained eye knew that it would only take a little more bad news to get her to break down. They -took- Jocelyn. That means she's alive...we just need to find her. "Get me Nils, right now."

"I ah-already called h-him."

"Alpha Mara-" An older wolf with snow white hair that was short and kept in a military style haircut strode into the room in a few moments. Trailing behind him were two of his best men who were going to stick close to Mara until this was all sorted out.

"I want three guards sent to my mate and I want her escorted to me." Mara didn't waste any time exchanging pleasantries. She didn't pay Nils to be courteous, she paid him because he was the best werewolf security director on the East Coast. "If she argues with the protection, tell her it's too damn bad." The old wolf added, knowing that her wife was just as reluctant to have bodyguards as she was. "Is it confirmed that they have Jocelyn or is this just news speculation?"

"Videos from the parking lot cameras reveal that it is indeed your daughter that was taken. I have my men searching for the vehicle as we speak."

Mara nodded a bit, mulling that information over for a moment. "Sammie! How much cash on hand do we have?"

"I-I believe...uh...nearly 1.5 million, the re-rest is tied up in invest-muh-ments and r-ruh-real estate..."

"Excellent. Nills, one million dollars to whichever one of your boys finds my daughter and brings her back to me. I'll toss in my winter vacation home in Colorado if they bring me the leader back alive, half a million if he is dead." The wolf paused for a moment. "How many are dead from the shooting?"

"Charles is dead. The news is reporting 3 students dead from stray bullets, there are also 4 confirmed wounded who are all in very bad shape, silver bullets and all.... One other wounded too, I assume. There was a girl in the video with your daughter...saw her take a bullet right to the chest and then get right back up again." Nils sounded impressed.

"Heh...glad Jocelyn has been keeping up with her magic." Mara was impressed as well. Her daughter had probably just saved Michelle's life with that spell. Maybe she cares more about the girl than I give her credit for... "Alright, Nils, get going. Sammie, make an announcement that anyone who wishes to leave and check on their families may do so without penalty, including yourself. I'm going to visit our R&D department to see if any of those new nanobots are ready for a field test." One of the side projects at Lykos was developing a better treatment for their extreme silver allergy, hopefully some of the nanobots that were designed to capture and contain silver in the bloodstream would be ready to use on the four victims that were in critical condition.

----

"Wakey wakey little wolfy." CRACK! A bear of a man slapped Jocelyn straight across the face. Pain radiated from the young wolf's cheek and drew her out of her unconsciousness so that Jocelyn could slowly get her barings. Her neck felt like it was burning, her head was heavy and throbbing from the rough strike to the back of it earlier. As she opened her eyes, Jocelyn had to squint as the bright, artificial light of the room stung them. It smelled wet and moldy in here, also like sweat and blood...like they were in the basement from the movie Fight Club, it made her nose crinkle in disgust.

"Sorry you're not staying at the Ritz." The large man chuckled, his laugh only growing as Jocelyn struggled against the bindings to her wrists and ankles that kept her firmly glued to the chair that was bolted to the floor. "I wouldn't shift if I were you...not unless you want to crush yourself on those steel cuffs. But good! Now that you're up, let's call your mommy huh?" The hunters had took Jocelyn's phone in the car just to get Mara's personal cell phone number, than he destroyed it so that they wouldn't be tracked here. Now they used a burner cell phone to call the Lykos CEO. "Miss Marrok! Very nice to meet you-"

"WHEN I FIND YOU I WILL CASTRATE YOU! I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB AND-" Jocelyn couldn't help but smile as she heard her mother scream death threats over the phone. Maybe it was a little sick of her to feel better knowing that her mother would ensure that these hunters would suffer a slow and painful death...but as gruesome as this was, this was how she knew her mother cared.

"Such language from a lady!" The large man laughed with glee, though quickly became serious again. "I suppose I should expect nothing less from a bitch. Now, if you're done shouting. Some of my friends and I have found something that might be of interest of you. We'd be willing to return it to you, provided you're interested in paying the right price..."

"Jocey! Sweetheart if you can hear me I love you but we do not negotiate with criminals." Yeah, I know mom, thanks for the sentiment. I hope you guys write that on my tombstone. 'Jocelyn Marrok: Beloved daughter that was not worth negotiating for.' She tried not to take it personally...she knew that if her mother gave into this psychopath, then others would just come along and pull the same shit. No, her mother couldn't cave, Mara had to send a message...Jocelyn just hoped that she didn't end up dead in the process.

"Oh you won't play ball huh?" The man laughed. "You realize your daughter is very sick, yeah? The girl has got rabies...probably came from her inbred bitch of a mother. In less than two days there'll be a full moon that'll royally fuck with her brain and turn her into a drooling mutt. What do you think is going to happen when your little girl has to transform into a big bad wolfy while she's got this collar around her neck?"

"Mom! I'm in what smells like a basement! Somewhere run down and-" CRACK! Jocelyn took another strike straight across her face, one that was so hard that it actually made her whimper.

"Someone muzzle this mutt!" The leader growled and soon enough, Jocelyn had a foul tasting piece of cloth shoved into her mouth. "You have 36 hours to change your mind Miss Marrok. That should be plenty of time for you to liquidate your multi-billion dollar company and give us the profits."

Jocelyn looked up at the man with disbelief in her eyes. Was he crazy?! Did he honestly think that Mara Marrok would sacrifice her entire company, the well being of their -entire- pack, just for her? No, no, if there was one thing that she was certain of, Mara was definitely the type of person to think value the good of the many over the good of her daughter.

------

"W-what will you d-do?" Sammie asked quietly as Mara hung up her phone. Sammie had been lucky enough to get in touch with Alice who was fine and now safely hidden away at Syri's.

"Find her." Mara said simply, as though there were no other option but to succeed. She didn't like to think of her other choice in the matter: at 3:59 PM tomorrow, if her daughter could not be found by Nils, his men, and every other private investigator Mara could hire until then, she would pull her shares of Lykos before the closing bell. It would shatter her company, her life's work...but it was just a company, it was just money. There would always be another Alpha to take care of her wolves, always be another company researching biotechnology for her employees to work for...but Jocelyn was the only one of her kind, and Mara would not have her daughter dying over something as stupid as money.

Arlann could stay calm and charming through a lot of things, and even back in her wilder years when she was making it clear to the werewolf world that Mara was hers... She had a certain grace with the crazy. The moment someone, one of Mara's goons, told her about her daughter though, well that unfortunate soul was on the wrong end of Arlann throwing an entire table through a window with her magic, and half of it was fury that Mara hadn't bothered to tell her and had sent someone. She was going to get it, but for the moment the only ones in danger were the mother fuckers who took her child... They should have fucking known better. Yes, Mara was scary, held a massive amount of financial power and could rip a person apart with her bare hands... But Arlann could rip a building apart, and anger always did well to fuel a mages power, and nothing pissed her off more than someone touching her daughter.

She bust in to the room, thee guards sent to escort her trailing behind her, the professionals showing signs of exhaustion, not expecting such a response, but really who would. The only person who truly understood how incredibly temperamental Arlann was, was Mara, which made her sending others after her wife all the dumber. "Who the fuck has our daughter Mara..." She was seething, and as she approached she looked over to little Sammie, not angry at her but finding it difficult to be her usual affectionate self... She was being scary, and it was just the beginning. If even a single strand of hair on Jocelyn's head was out of place she would kill every last hunter she could find, treaty or not, they were trained, they should also be controlled. Fucking animals... Kidnapping a teenage girl like terrorists... They would know true terror when she was done with them.

---

For whatever reason the hunters had left Michelle untouched and allowed her to follow, and while she had lagged behind at some point she never gave up, following the scent and every last sign of the vehicle carrying her lover. How fucking dare they. Stupid pieces of shit, it was a mistake to take her in the first place but an even larger one to think Michelle wasn't worth stopping, to let her chase after without stopping her. She was thankful, it gave her a chance to do something, but it pissed her off to be so looked down upon, and the moment she found the van parked she had a wide grin spread across her features, her wolf giving a pleased growl. The wolf jumped up, agile as could be, perching atop a nearby building and watching, counting. Six, only six people, four males and two women... She couldn't get too clear a look from a distance but she felt comfortable with six, especially when she noticed where it was they were going. It wasn't a small room, a place where they would bunch up, it was an abandoned building, and a building meant they would split up, if they were as stupid as she thought.

For once Michelle felt thankful to her father, the obscure lessons about survival and tactics meant for military combat. None of it had seemed relevant, but in this one moment she was capable of acting due to the knowledge, and it was thanks to him, as much as she hated to admit it. That knowledge was what had her waiting, moving close and watching through the few spots that weren't boarded up, letting them stow Jocelyn somewhere and slowly spread apart. It was what made her watch... Wait... And then make her way to the building, as silent and dangerous as the inner predator leading her on. It was risky, part of her was terrified, but she could feel her heart pulsating, begging her to go in and tear them limb from limb, her inner blood lust awoken by the kidnap of the woman who had saved her from a miserable, worthless existence. Perhaps that was a lot to give Jocelyn credit for... But it had been some time since the days of self-abuse and being treated like a piece of shit... Since she spent her days tormenting others to hide her insecurities. With Jocelyn she was happy, and someone was daring to take that away from her.

---

Chris was panting, panic running through her body as she arrived at the gates of the school. She had heard about the shooting but she hadn't had her phone to call, and she knew Caitlyn was at school... In danger even. The alpha had run, miles, straight from her little hideaway to the school, lungs burning and thighs on fire, entire body screaming for oxygen and her rough, erratic breathing was proof of her exertion. Still, she didn't stop, moving through the crowd, pushing people out of her way, panicking as she looked around aimlessly, just hoping to see her sister. It seemed hopeless, for all she knew Cait was at home, away from the danger, but part of her knew she wasn't in the wrong place, that the other wolf was there, and that she had to make sure she was okay. Nothing was more important... Not in her entire life, she needed Cait to be okay, and the feelings driving her to move around in search of the girl echoed the decision she had come to after an entire day of torturous thought. Caitlyn was the only thing that mattered.

Chris had been a fucking coward, letting fear pollute the relationship between them, and making an ass of herself trying to defend her cowardice. So the moment she found her, found Caitlyn, saw her from a distance, she ran over and threw her arms around the girl, barely able to breath much less speak, but hugging the girl tight enough to make her worry clear, and if not that the thudding of her heart would speak volumes. It was only when she finally could speak that she released the hug, worry plastered on her features, "I was so worried... I'm so sorry I wasn't here to protect you Cait." She panted, looking deep into the gorgeous eyes of the gorgeous wolf, "I love you so much, I'm sorry I've been such an idiot."

Relief spread over the CEO's features as her wife burst into her office. Arlann was alive, no one had taken her as well, and that was something to be thankful for. The mage would like to pretend that she was indestructible, but put her in a magic suppression field and she was just as powerless as any other human. Mara's eyes flicked behind the furious mage and did a quick headcount to make sure that her two security guards that were assigned to Arlann were both present and alive. Apparently they had told her what was happening...which was good, Mara didn't like to give bad news to her mate and would rather pay someone else to do it. Such a tactic only made Arlann all the more aggravated, but usually by the time her wife got to her she had cooled down a little bit.

"I don't know...I can tell you who it's not though." Mara motioned to some scattered sheets of paper on her desk, faxes that had come in with the seals of several of the nearest hunter organizations; all of the memos denounced the actions of whatever faction had committed this act. "The larger hunter groups all know better than to violate the treaties...that must make this a band of extremists." The old wolf frowned. Extremists were even more dangerous, most of their groups followed a 'The only good wolf is a dead wolf' philosophy. "Nils has his men out looking right now. Sammie and I have notified almost every private company of the bounty for Jocelyn's rescue... We need to go out there and search for her ourselves, Arlann, even if it is just to weed places out. They have her chained up like an animal...and if we don't find her by the full moon, she is going to die from her transformation."

----

Jocelyn sighed miserably as she was forced to stay seated in an empty room without any stimulation. Well, not entirely empty, there was a guard still near her, but the hunter was as silent as anything and may as well have been a stick of furniture for all she cared. After the initial shock of being kidnapped was over, after getting over the feeling of being a shiny bauble that was nothing more than a good to be traded, being held for ransom was incredibly boring. Nowhere to go, nothing to do...guh it was slowly driving her insane. She never got a chance to sit still for an extended period of time...only in the car when she was being driven between lessons or school or practice or whatever task was filling her schedule for day. So being tied down with nothing to do other than sit in the confines of her own head was probably going to kill her before these bastards did. Whenever she let her mind wander, it always went to the strange sensation of the metal collar around her neck and how she was probably going to die a gruesome death when she shifted and her massive wolf got choked to out by the unyielding strip of steel. Jocelyn tried to think of other things...mostly of Michelle and how she hoped the other girl was alright.

----

Caitlyn was shellshocked.

One moment, she had been holding Alex's hand, walking out to the older girl's car for a ride home after rehearsal...and then the next moment their little walk out of the school building erupted into chaos. There were gunshots, people screaming, Alex had caught a stray bullet to her thigh and had immediately collapsed to the ground, yowling in pain and clutching her leg. Many of the other students had run, but Caitlyn couldn't just leave Alex there...even though she wasn't a real Sandalio, she had been raised as one, had been brought up with this need to protect and serve ingrained in her. So she had dropped down next to the other girl, trying to get her to move somewhere safe while others ran away. Thankfully the attackers hadn't come any closer after their initial hail of bullets, otherwise they would both bed dead...thought Alex just might soon bed dead anyways. All wolves knew how to care for anaphylactic shock; CPR and first aid were a mandatory part of their health class...but that didn't mean that all wolves were responsible and carried epi-pens on them at all times. Neither of them had any meds on them, so all Caitlyn could do was try to stop the bleeding and cry for help while Alex gasped for breath and went white as a sheet. It felt like an eternity before the few remaining adults came out to try to help the downed students, even longer still until they heard the wail of ambulances.

When Chris ran up to her, she was covered in blood and had been talking to one of the teachers...well not talking to as much as being talked at. Caitlyn was zoning out, not really believing what had just happened... People were dead. People she knew were -dead- for no other reason other than that they had been standing at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was only the familiar arms of her big sister that brought her back to earth, the young wolf sinking into her embrace and burying her head into Chris' shoulder to cry. "I'm glad you weren't here Chris, what if you had been shot? And don't be dumb, there's no protecting me from bullets." She wrapped her arms around Chris, hugging her tight. She had initially been pissed off at the older wolf this morning when she had found her note, but now she was relieved that Chris hadn't stayed after school too and been caught in the gunfire. If anything had happened to her big sister, she didn't know what she would have done. "Chris, they shot her...they shot Alex. We were walking out and she just dropped. She was so pale when the ambulance got here..." Just the memory made Caitlyn shudder.

Michelle was oddly patient, the rampaging wolf understanding that the fastest, and safest way to rescue Jocelyn was to be smart, and rushing in half cocked was not the right move, even if it seemed like the most rewarding. She wanted to rip them limb from limb, stomp in and smash each and every hunter to pieces... But she wasn't capable of it and she knew both of them would be dead if she tried something so reckless. So she chose the intelligent route, waiting and listening, gathering information and eventually finding out that Jocelyn was in the basement, and that the fuckers who had her only left one guard. It was perfect, and the moment they scattered to their own idiotic spaces she slipped through one of the less secure broken windows, moving with surprising agility, thankful that all of the lessons her father had paid for were finally paying off. She had tactical know how, combat training, and a high level of control over her wolf. She was green, as green as they came considering she only had training and no practical experience, but it was enough for a group of clueless hunters not smart enough to truly guard their hostage.

Once she made it to the basement everything became real, getting in was the easy part, dispatching the guard without making a sound so they could escape was more difficult, especially with the one they left. Unlike most of the hunters, whose loudness had made her spy job easy, this one seemed alert, and that was not what she wanted. Still, it was one person, and she made the choice to let her superhuman physical abilities make the difference, waiting for her chance and bolting right at the man, closing the distance before he could do much more than stand and reach for a weapon. As soon as she made it her jaws clamped down, ripping through soft throat and tearing any chance of alerting others away with one strong motion. The surge of adrenaline and feeling of victory did little to dull the agonizing pain she felt in her stomach, looking down to see a silver knife lodged in to her abdomen, the pain quickly shooting through her entire being.

Most wolves would have already succumbed, but for whatever reason Michelle could take it, stand despite the gut wrenching pain. Perhaps it was the remnants of Jocelyn's spell, or just insane willpower, but she threw the dead carcass aside, yanked the blade out, and flung open the door to find Jocelyn, alive... It was almost enough to make her collapse right there, relief washing over her. She didn't though and instead leapt over and, instead of bothering trying to remove the well made restraints, destroyed the chair and scooped Jocelyn up, doing her best just to ignore the pain and move back towards her entrance point. Unfortunately she wasn't so lucky. By the time she made it out of the basement things had changed, positions had altered, and she found herself face to face with the leader of the group, the large man who had shot her the first time. "What the fuck!?" He immediately went for his gun, much quicker than the younger man in the basement. All Michelle could do was shove him away and make a break for the window, smashing through it and running as fast as her legs would take her, knowing if she could make it far enough away everything would be okay... She hoped. That was about all she remembered. She was running, her legs wouldn't stop, but at some point after busting through the window with Jocelyn over her shoulder the primal wolf took over and Michelle passed out, the pain being too much for her conscious mind to bare. It wouldn't be long before the rest of her followed, she already felt like she would die with the amount of pain scorching within her body.

---

Caitlyn was alive, that was all Chris truly cared about, but seeing her sister so sad broke her heart, caused the older alpha to hold the girl tight and listen as she sobbed. The blood... She already knew before Cait said anything, it smelled of Alex... Of her best friend. She didn't share her sister's sentiment, she wished she had been there, to protect her, to protect her and Alex, she could have... But she wasn't, and that would never happen again, she would never make Cait go through something horrible alone ever again. She needed to be the person Cait deserved... As a sister, or as a lover... Either one needed to be more than Chris had been in recent days, and she was going to rectify that. "Alex will be fine Cait, she's strong. Something like this can't kill her..." She was worried as well, because despite everything with Cait, Alex was her best friend, the only girl at school that the loner alpha would talk to and spend time with, aside from her sister. Sure she had a few other 'friends', people she occasionally spent time with, but Alex was special.

As special as her friend was she couldn't stop herself, she pulled back a little, cupped Caitlyn's cheek, looked deep into her eyes, and leaned in for a soft, comforting kiss. Nothing passionate, not possessive or dripping in desire, but a sweet, loving kiss. "I love you Caitlyn... I will never... Ever... Let anything happen to you. I will always be by your side, no matter what, even if you are still against being with me... I will protect you and I will adore you. Alex will be fine, I'm fine... And most importantly you're fine." She wiped tears from her sister's cheek and moved a few strands of hair, gazing into the gorgeous eyes of her loving sister and smiled. "It's all going to be okay. I promise." It was foolish, she couldn't promise anything, she didn't know what would happen with Alex, but she had a feeling that it was all going to be okay, and after a stupid duration of being a complete let down to herself and Cait she was back, for better or worse, as lover or sister, she was going to be Caitlyn's rock.

Jocelyn's ears strained when she caught the sound of footsteps approaching. They were soft...not really steps, but more like the sound of someone wearing fuzzy slippers and walking her way... It made her spirits sore, there was a wolf out there! One of her mother's men must have found her! Of course because she was trying so hard to hear, she didn't miss the crunch and tear of ligaments and tendons that made her stomach lurch. It was different when she heard that sound while taking down a deer...not so terrible. Knowing that it was the sound of a -human- getting it's throat ripped out just made her feel nauseous, even if it was an insane hunter who probably deserved what was coming to him. She started struggling against her bindings, wanting to be free now more than ever because help was here...but when she saw just who that help was made her freeze still. It was Michelle, her lover had come to rescue her! "Mrphelle!" Jocelyn's eyes went wide when she smelled the blood, blue eyes fixing on the wound at her stomach. She struggled all the more, her wolf howling inside of her, their mate was injured! They needed to protect her, needed to fix her, needed to kill whoever had done this to her. It was all just animal instinct, stupid, stupid animal instinct that made her not only uselessly struggle against metal shackles, but also struggle inside of her own mind to cage her inner beast before it made them do something stupid like transforming while they were collared.

Thankfully Michelle had her out of that damned chair so that Jocelyn could rip the gag from her mouth and then throw her arms around her savior. Their reunion was soon broken up however, all of the commotion had alerted the leader to what was going on. "Whoa!" Jocelyn yelped as she was picked up and unceremoniously tossed over Michelle's shoulder. The large wolf barreled towards a nearby window and Jocelyn shielded her eyes as the large wolf blasted through it and took off at a full gallop. Bullets rang out and whizzed by them, but Michelle was too fast, getting lost in the towers of pallets and garbage that had been left behind in the alleys near the old warehouse. "Michelle! Stop! You need to put me down. You need to let me look at your wound!" Jocelyn began to struggle in Michelle's grasp as the wolf kept running with her tossed over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Either Michelle was ignoring her, or her wolf wasn't listening to her, either way Jocelyn kept trying to get through to her. "Michelle! I need to- ACK!" Jocelyn shouted as suddenly the wolf under her went limp and the two of them went flying to the ground, rolling a little ways before coming to a stop. "No, no no no no no no. Michelle, baby, wake up, now is not the time to pass out on me." Jocelyn whimpered as she scrambled over to the other girl.

She flipped Michelle onto her back and looked down at the wound, her spirits falling when she saw that a fierce looking rash had spread all over the other girl's abdomen. Jocelyn put her hand over the large gash, trying to use her magic to stop the bleeding. With her other hand, she took off her sneaker. Then she ripped out the insole and grabbed the small, flexible tube of serum that was stored in the heel. Jocelyn had always thought Mara was insane by tampering with her shoes in such a way, but she supposed that her mother's paranoia was going to pay off today. "Michelle, come on, wake up." Jocelyn felt bad as she wound up and slapped Michelle straight across the face, but she needed the girl to be at least a little bit with her so that she could swallow the medicine. "You need to wake up, you need to drink this." When she heard a groan, she took that to mean that Michelle was awake enough to control her swallowing, she quickly propped the other girl's head up and bit off the top of the plastic tube, then dumped the contents down Michelle's throat. The medicine wasn't going to heal her, but it would buy them a little more time until they could get to a hospital.

"You are a big dumb dog, you know that?" Jocelyn sniffled a little, barely holding herself together as she thought about the best way to resolve their situation. She didn't know where she was, didn't have her phone to call her parents, and was stuck here in a back alley with the girl she loved bleeding to death and having a severe allergic reaction to a stupid metal. There were hunters on their tail and she couldn't shift, couldn't defend them. Michelle was dead weight at this point, at least breathing because of the medicine that Jocelyn had given her, but that would only tide her over for a little while before the anaphylaxis surged up again... There was nothing to be done and yet Jocelyn had to do something, something other than leaving her mate to die and just saving herself. So she gathered up Michelle as best she could, struggling not with her weight but with the fact that the girl was so much taller than her that carrying her was awkward and difficult.

Jocelyn didn't have to go far though. A few more blocks and soon there were people, not a lot, but at least someone who would help a battered looking teenager and her mortally wounded lover. Once a call had been placed to 911, it only took a few minutes before help arrived in the form of Nils. The old wolf had gotten there way before the ambulance did, bringing with him Mara and Arlann who were both in the back of the SUV. "Mom, help her, please..." Jocelyn stopped her parents before they could even hug her. She wanted Michelle taken care of, needed her lover to be okay more than she needed reassurance from her mothers.

"Put her in the car." Mara dug into her purse and found something that looked like an epi-pen. But rather than jabbing it into Michelle's thigh, she put the needle right over her heart. The problem with silver was that microscopic fragments of it got lodged in the bloodstream, inflaming tissue and causing a gross overreaction. Silver sapped the strength right out of them, ruining a wolf's healing abilities and making them so very, very mortal for as long as the silver stayed in their blood. Once enough of it got into the heart, a wolf was as good as dead. Mara's nanobots were programmed to collect silver and encapsulate it so that the body didn't kill itself trying to defeat the metal nuissance...the only reason that the tech hadn't been approved for general use was because it was difficult to keep power to the little bots. "These little guys are fresh from the lab...they should be enough. We still need to get her to the hospital though."

-----

Caitlyn always felt foolish when she cried. Chris hardly ever shed a tear, same with Clara, and Anna was far better at hiding when she was distraught than anyone Caitlyn had ever met before. But she was a sensitive young wolf, and the stress of the day was getting to her. Hell, the stress of the last few months had been chipping away at her this whole time, she was basically a ticking time bomb heading for a breakdown. But this was what she needed...a good cry and for her big sister to hold her. Caitlyn always felt safe in her sister's arms, being around Chris was like magic, she could always make the younger girl feel better. She was about to protest when Chris started to pull back, she didn't want her sister to leave her...but the older girl came right back after repositioning herself to take a kiss. Rather than recoil or tense up, it made Caitlyn practically melt, the smaller girl pressing her body a little more heavily into her sister's, instinctively seeking more comfort.

"Chris..." Caitlyn whispered softly. "Chris, I can't. Alex..." The girl's voice trailed off. She seemed to be more upset by the fact that she was technically cheating on Alex right now than anything else. With a soft sigh, she buried her face into Chri's neck and just stayed there for a moment, hugging her big sister tightly before asking. "Can we go to the hospital?"

----

"Just like old times, huh?" Alex croaked and tried to muster up a roguish grin even though it was hard to do in her current situation. She was on a lot of painkillers and muscle relaxers, so moving the muscles in her face to form a grin was actually causing her great difficulty. The young wolf had been unconscious for awhile...and now was waking up to a bunch of machines around her, in an uncomfortable bed and hospital gown, with IVs poking into her skin. Good thing she had been unconscious for the IVs, Alex absolutely hated needles.

The last thing she remembered was Caitlyn trying to save her and screaming for help. Somehow Caitlyn wasn't the one by her bedside though, neither were her parents or siblings, it was actually Tessa here with her. The mage had cared for her when she had been a pup, had always been the one to take Alex to doctor's appointments...and emergency room visits when Alex did something stupid and hurt herself, which had been quite often when she had been very little. And now it was just like old times: Tessa was here, and her family was nowhere to be seen. "Mom and dad working?" Alex tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but it was hard to do with two parents who were doctors that couldn't be bothered to take time out from work to come to their daughter's bedside. You're being melodramatic. She could hear her mother's clipped tone in her head, as if the woman had known that Alex wouldn't die and therefore hadn't needed to come visit her.

Chris had thought of Alex, known what she was doing was unfair, but after taking the time to think, after thinking Cait could be in trouble, nothing else mattered. She would take her licks if she needed to, she knew Alex would forgive her... And the love she felt towards Cait would probably explain a hell of a lot to her friend, who had constantly asked her why she never dated anyone. Still, none of that mattered nearly as much as one other thing... Her sister hadn't pulled away, or looked at her in disgust, or told her she didn't have similar feelings. She was thinking of Alex, of her girlfriend, of how what they had just done was cheating, and while that was such a silly thing it sent Chris soaring, and she had to suppress a small smile as she held Caitlyn close and comforted the sensitive creature. "I know Cait... I know." She responded, stroking her sister's hair and nuzzling at her ever so gently. She had been such an idiot the past few months, all she wanted to do now was make her little sister feel better, she could put everything on hold for that, even if what she had been fantasizing about for most of her life finally seemed like a possibility.

"Yes, get your things and Alex's bag, I'll call a taxi." Chris could be strong at the most random of moments. Leave her alone, safe, in her room at night and she panicked, nightmares and attacks making it impossible to sleep some nights. Caitlyn stops talking to her, she can't take it. Minor things, isolation, those bothered Chris. Shootings... Danger in general, Chris could handle those, that was easy to the strong alpha. She gave her sister a kiss on the head before taking a few steps away to call the taxi, the relief of Caitlyn being okay leading her to start to worry about Alex as well... She loved her sister, Cait would always come first, but Alex was an important person to her as well, and had been for a very long time. Hell, if she wasn't so in love with Cait she probably would have ended up with Alex... She just... She had never been able to imagine herself with another person.

---

Tessa was absolutely terrified, the only comfort being Lykos and its little bots. Even with the promise from Mara Marrok herself about the bastards. It was Alex... Nothing would calm the doctor down when the wolf was hurt, she was the closest thing to family the doctor had. Looking at her it would have been impossible to tell the intense worry, she seemed composed, sitting in a chair near the head of the bed with her eyes on the monitors and the professional air about her that screamed 'physician'. Of course she wasn't reading any of it, the monitors just distracted her from the fact that Alex was laying in a bed, possibly dying, and in agony... Though the pain killers they were pumping into her was probably a huge help. Then Alex spoke, and Tessa spun her head to look at the young woman with a smile on her face. "Not exactly, I remember not knowing what the hell was going on back then, at least now I don't have to sit here and wait for some incompetent ass to tell me what's going on."

Tessa and Alex had some real history together, but the one thing Alex never knew was how horrible a person Tessa was. Somewhere in the time she acted as Alex's caretaker feelings had developed... Right around her junior year of high school. It had been odd, she couldn't think of her as a pup and started to seethe with jealousy when the topic of conquests came up, though that wasn't exactly fair... Alex didn't gloat and brag, she just talked about who she was seeing when Tessa asked. She was a fucking disgrace, falling for a young girl, and then deciding to work at Alex's school... But by then she had put some distance between them, having the urge to watch over the girl but knowing if they remained as close as they were she would make a mistake... And so she did the same thing everyone else in Alex's life had done, drifted away, and she had felt absolutely awful about it, knowing how shitty a person she was.

Once a piece of shit always one however, and she came up with a little plan... To go for Alex's friend and to use that to see if the girl had any interest, if she grew jealous... If she showed any damn signs of interest. "Your father is in surgery and well... You know your mom, her idea of an emergency is a little... Jaded." She didn't try to stick up for Alex's parents, they had some twisted priorities, but that was what they had used her for, to be there, to care for Alex, and she never regretted a moment of it. "I'm glad you're okay though, I'm not sure what I would do without your constant trouble making, life would be boring I suppose." She sighed, giving off a playful vibe as she leaned over and brushed a thumb over the girl's cheek. "But really Alex, going down from a leg wound... Pussy." She grinned, taking the sweet moment and flipping it right on its head, yep, same as always.

Somewhere deep inside, Alex knew that her parents' hearts were in the right place. They were working hard, trying to make sure that their children never had to want for anything, trying to give Alex and her siblings the chance for a better future. The whole family had fled from Russia during the middle of the country's werewolf genocide. Her parents had come here bringing only what cash they had on hand and 3 little pups. They had given up everything back home, had had to start all over with nothing, and now worked hard so that their children would never have to go through that again. While their intentions may be commendable, it wouldn't kill them to take a little time off to at least see how their youngest was doing.

"Yeah, well, at least you don't have to worry about the trouble I get into anymore." Alex's guard came up as she pretended to not care about her busy family or the fact that the only person who was here was the one that had been paid to care about her. Tessa didn't have to be here, the mage didn't work for her parents anymore, and if the older woman felt some pity towards her because she knew Alex's parents were emotionless robots, well, the young wolf didn't want or need it. She was used to not having a family to count on. "I'm a big girl Tess...you know you don't have to be here, right? You can go home...do whatever it is that you do now."

Alex definitely didn't have the most affectionate parents, not that they were bad people, but they seemed to believe parental love and attention weren't such important aspects of raising a child. That left Alex in Tessa's hands, and for a long time she had been the one to be there for the wolf. She hadn't been happy with the situation in her younger years, sure she adored Alex but she was treated like a servant at times and for a mage that seemed an awfully lot like being a slave. Eventually though, and even now, Alex meant so much to her that it would have been hard to keep her from being by the wolf's side when she was in trouble. It had always been that way, though Alex hadn't needed her so much in recent years... And it stung a little as Alex tried to make it seem like she would rather have the mage somewhere else. In fact it plain pissed her off. Sure she had put distance, but it wasn't for the reasons Alex probably believed, it was because she loved the stupid girl, and she wasn't supposed to. Then again... What she wasn't supposed to do had stopped meaning much, such as how she had used Chris to try and evoke some emotion in her adorable little wolfy.

"Don't be a pouting child. You know I worry about what you get in to Alex... Even if I'm not around as much. Hell, what I do now is on the level of being a stalker. Why do you think I work at your school silly girl?" She asked, leaning in closely and giving her a sinister grin. "Why do you think I made a move on your best friend? I wanted you to get jealous... But did you? No!" She chuckled, practically ignoring the fact that Alex was hurt at this point, though she didn't see the point in focusing on that when she had shit to say... And that almost losing Alex made it seem stupid not to just say it. "And you may be a big girl, but you're far from an adult, sleeping around so damn much, making me seethe with jealousy, being so damn inconsiderate of the sexy doctor in your life!" She huffed and nipped Alex's nose, not exactly accustomed to the weird biting rituals of wolves but giving it a cute attempt before going to something she knew much more about... Kissing. She didn't lay a peck, or a playful kiss, or even a loving one. When Tessa kissed Alex is was full of years of sexual tension, lips pressed into Alex's, tongue slipping through, a soft moan escaping her lips. She went until she was nearly out of breath and when it was over, she pulled back, adjusted her clothing a bit, and huffed. "Sorry it took so long, but there's some honesty" she laughed, leaning back in her seat and watching Alex, curious what her 'big girl' would do.

Alex was used to the people in her life slowly drifting away. Her parents had never really been around much, the most she heard out of them was "good morning" and "goodnight"; sometimes she'd get an "I love you" but that was pretty rare. Alex had been close with her siblings...but once they went off to college and had their own lives to live, she didn't really get a chance to see them anymore except for holidays. And then there was Tessa...the one person who Alex had naively believed would stick around; but the Mage had drifted out of her life after completing medical school...this evening was the most time they'd spent together in nearly a year. So of course Alex assumed the worst, that Tessa was only here because she was feeling guilty, not because she wanted to be. "I'm not being a pouting child, I just don't want a pity party." Alex huffed, making her sound even more like a child in the process. "And I dunno, cause the hours are good and you get summers off?" The young wolf shrugged, having never really thought about why Tessa had taken a job at the school, she just sort of assumed it was much more convenient than the 12+ hour days her parents worked.

A soft growl rumbled in Alex's throat at the mention of Chris. Caitlyn had told her about the whole thing and surprisingly enough it bothered the hell out of Alex, not because she was jealous, that would just be stupid, but because well...she didn't know why, but she sure as hell wasn't jealous! If Tessa wanted to sleep with her best friend then fine, whatever, she didn't care! If the Mage wanted to totally skip over her and date a sexy Chaumont then that was her choice! It wouldn't be the first time that Alex had been skipped over by a suitor due to her last name and it probably wouldn't be the last.

"You...what?" The wolf blinked in surprise, then eyed Tessa suspiciously when the Mage claimed to be jealous of all the girls that Alex had had sex with. It wasn't a long list of women...but Alex had a pretty healthy sex drive and a house that had no parents in it, so while she didn't have a ton of partners, she certainly did have a lot of sex. "Tessa..." Alex trembled as the Mage came much, much closer and nipped her nose. It was such a wolffish move that it actually turned Alex on more than it normally would have because it was Tessa doing it, Tessa trying to act like a wolf simply to please her.

When Tessa kissed her, Alex felt her entire body light up in desire. After getting over the initial bout of shock that this was happening, the young wolf eagerly returned the kiss, lips pressing back into Tessa's. She thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being absolutely devoured, of being wanted so badly that she could actually feel it through the kiss. By the time Tessa pulled away, Alex was panting, flushed, and incredibly confused. She had a girlfriend! She couldn't be doing this. And Chris...fuck...Chris was going to murder her.

"Tessa, look...I'm seeing someone." The young wolf frowned, she was too responsible for her own damn good. "I don't want to be a cheat... And this...you and me....are you even sure that this is what you want?" Alex loved Tessa, had always loved her as a caretaker...and then when she had grown up, of course she had developed a little bit of a crush on the older Mage. So it wasn't that big of a leap for her to want to get tangled up in something romantic. But fuck...if her parents found out, they'd probably explode.

Alex just didn't understand anything, as if a talented woman like Tessa would have taken a job at a school for the hours... Okay, so maybe she was a bit weird like that, but there were jobs that paid more and offered her the same hours, and probably more opportunity. Though, the Summer's were nice. Still, private practice was always an option and she could have made a lot more money. No, she was working at the school for a single reason, Alex. That had gone poorly thus far, she merely tortured herself watching the wolf play with other girls, but the second she heard the rumble of a growl and took the girl's lips it all became worthwhile. The kiss was exactly what she had always envisioned, pure electricity. There was no doubt they were meant for one another, and Tessa was not going to let this implode. Even as Alex began to retreat, responsibility trying to ruin her successful confession, Tessa knew it was her win, that Alex couldn't get away, not anymore.

"You're always seeing someone you damn serial monogamist... But I can understand not wanting to be unfaithful. I'd never let someone else have you, well... There are fantasies, but I'm always involved" She suddenly went to that place Tessa had always had, thinking about the sexy little scenarios always playing in her head. In this one Alex was sandwiched between her and another girl... Being well taken care of. Yum. "That aside." She waved off the images and flicked Alex on the forehead gently, "I know it's what I want. You've been mine for a long time, you just didn't know it... And I was too cowardly to act before now, mostly because you were sexy jail bait." She chuckled, half because there had been times she had considered trying prior to Alex turning 18, it was a bit odd but they had known each other for so long... A year seemed to inconsequential. "Don't worry though, I'll be patient. I'll wait until you and the other girl break up, and be waiting." She grinned, confident that the gorgeous wolf would come to her, as long as she gave her time to settle her current affair. Besides, she had waited for years, a few days was nothing.

---

Chris stepped out of the cab, taking all of the bags from Cait and throwing them over her shoulder, then using her other hand to help her sister out of the car and pull her close. Finally she felt right, like she was being who she was supposed to be. She wasn't thinking about her own bullshit and was comforting Cait however the girl needed it... She was being the woman she had been raised to be, and right now that meant going to see her best friend, and making sure her sister didn't feel alone. Difficult sure, this was not an ideal situation, but it was what needed to be done. "Come on Cait, let's go see Alex." She smiled, pulling the smaller wolf close and going inside the hospital, heading straight for the elevator, already having called ahead for the room number. It was also how she knew Alex was perfectly fine, hurt but recovering, and that news had been exactly what Caitlyn needed to hear, and Chris was thankful her friend was alive and well.

"Well, you know, I'll be 18 in a few months, have to hurry up and find a mate before I get too old." Alex chuckled as she repeated her mother's insane words. All of her siblings had found their life mates at a young age and her parents had been together since they were 16...there was a lot of pressure on her from home to hurry up and find a mate. Hopefully Tessa would be the one...she really did like the older woman. "Hey!" Alex tilted her head up and snapped at Tessa's fingers as the Mage flicked her forehead. "I'm yours huh? I don't think you know how being an Alpha works." The wolf grinned. Tessa may be older, she may have loved Alex for longer than the girl had known, but none of that meant that she was going to be the one laying claim around here. Alex had always been the dominant in her relationships and this one wasn't going to be any different. "-You- are the one that is going to be mine."

It was nice to be a little more forward when it came to the flirting. Not that she didn't like taking it slow but going out with Caitlyn had her going at a snail's pace. The younger wolf was so innocent...it was kind of a huge turn on to know that Alex would have been her first for many things. But being with such an inexperienced partner had required a delicate, patient touch...and sometimes Alex just wanted to be rough and domineering.

----

Caitlyn felt a little guilty snuggling up against Chris for the entire cab ride to the hospital. Her current girlfriend was stuck in a hospital bed, wounded and in pain, and here she was cuddling with what would soon be her new love interest. She couldn't help herself from seeking refuge in Chris' protective touch though, Caitlyn was feeling extra vulnerable and needed to be held. Chris had told her that Alex was okay...but the young wolf couldn't erase the image of the other girl nearly dying in her arms.

"There's my savior!" Alex smiled brightly at Caitlyn as she and Chris entered her room. Alex's thankfulness only made the girl feel even more like a jackass for kissing Chris earlier. "Hey, what's up, Chris? Good thing you played hooky today, huh?"

"Oh I didn't do anything... Dr. Reigns was the one who really saved you..." Caitlyn blushed a bit, not feeling at all like the hero that Alex was making her out to be.

"Ah don't let her fool you, Chris. She could've ran to safety and left me to bleed out and die way before Tessa got there with some medicine." Alex waved a hand dismissively at Caitlyn's modesty. Then she paused for a moment, glancing between Tessa and Caitlyn. "Hey uh...could you guys give me and Caitlyn a minute alone please.?" As awful as it might be, Alex wanted to break things off right now...she didn't want to hurt Caitlyn's feelings and figured that the girl might be a little less pissed off at her for breaking up with her out of the blue because she was in the hospital and all.

Tessa was well aware of what being an alpha meant, especially sexually, because fucking Alex had been open about it with her in some of their talks, which had just made the made increasingly jealous about not being with the girl. The older woman didn't really give a damn though, because as dominant as Alex was, and would probably be even with her, it didn't erase the truth in what she had said. Alex belonged to her, and she was confident enough that whatever happened the alpha would gravitate right back by her side. After all, they had been close for damn near Alex's entire life, it was quite unfair for any other suitor... But what made the mage so absolutely sure in her affections. "You may be a big bad wolf to other people, but to me you're still the pup I watched grow up." She grinned, saying possibly the most unromantic thing ever, but quickly followed it up with a "I'm looking forward to seeing if you can change my mind though... Show me just how big and bad you've become." She leaned in one more time and nipped at Alex's ear, not kissing her because of the whole 'cheating' thing but finding herself unable to keep from doing something.

---

Something had clicked in Chris. She had left the house as confused and unsure as ever, but during her time thinking she had come to the conclusion that she needed to just get over herself, and when she heard about the school... It had been a wake-up call of sorts. She was going to be the Chris she knew she could be and the one her loved ones deserved. That meant comforting Caitlyn, being a good friend, and being honest and taking responsibility for everything. It wasn't Caitlyn's fault she had a stupid sister that could only finally be honest once she was trying to move on. "Not so sure it was a good thing. I don't like having to hear about you and Cait being in danger second hand."

Yeah, she cared about Alex too... But when Alex asked for a moment alone Chris tensed up a bit, not liking the idea of whatever it was Alex could have in store. So she let her newly found spine guide her, and hoped Caitlyn didn't hate her for deciding to do this herself. "No." It was a simple word but the depth of it was a bit more complex. First she turned to Tessa, knowing she had her own business to take care of, "Sorry but I'll have to cancel our plans. You're gorgeous and charming, but I have someone I love." She felt stupid saying it aloud so randomly but if there was ever a time to do all of this it seemed like the time, not only because she wanted Cait to be her's as soon as possible, but because knowing Alex couldn't jump out of the bed and break her nose was comforting. With her own little 'affair' handled she turned to Alex, "And I know this is a shitty thing to do... But I'm going to have to take back what I said, I do mind you dating Cait..."

It was odd to Chris, she wasn't sure whether to play the big sister or be honest, but after a moment of standing there trying to decide, she simply leaned over and tilted Caitlyn's head up, giving her a soft, loving kiss right in front of the other two women... If anyone would understand her feelings, and not think of her as some incest addled creep, it was Alex. Of course, they didn't share blood, but still. Without fear of being looked at in disgust, she turned back, not wanting to embarrass Cait but also wanting to see just how pissed Alex was, and speak aloud what her kiss had already said. "She's mine." I love her, I've always loved her, she's everything to me... These were things she would say to most people, but to her best friend, the alluring alpha, she knew a claim was a more clear proclamation than anything else. "You can hit me if you want, I deserve it, but I won't let you have her." She knew her and Alex would be okay, she just didn't have the patience for delicacy when it came to Cait, something that had already been a problem.

"What?" Alex blinked. What the hell did Chris mean, 'no'?! Caitlyn was still technically hers, this was Alex's hospital room, and she had asked pretty damn politely; by this line of logic, Alex was well within her right to get the moment alone that she asked for.

A flash of jealousy crossed Caitlyn's face as Chris started off her break up speech to Tessa with the words 'gorgeous' and 'charming'. The young wolf was still growing into her form...so she knew that she couldn't compete with Tessa right now as far as looks went. She tried not to pout though, not wishing to give things away incase Chris wasn't ready to go public with their relationship. Caitlyn didn't know how they were going to go about doing that either...ugh and their moms...how were they going to tell anyone anything about their new relationship? Chris apparently had figured out a way, rather than telling people, apparently she wanted to show them. Before Caitlyn could stop her, the girl's lips were stolen in a slow, sweet kiss. "Mmm..." Caitlyn hummed happily, melting into Chris' body and coming away from the lip lock slightly dazed.

"Well, that explains a lot." Alex grinned as her comment made Caitlyn's cheeks turn as red as her hair. Not only did it explain why Chris never really dated anyone, it also explained how Caitlyn had been able to resist her advances. Things hadn't gotten very far, just a little light petting...but most girls just threw themselves at Alex after a few hours, Caitlyn had been able to back off and give her a lame excuse as to why they needed to stop every time the Alpha made an advance. "I'm not gonna hit you Chris...not only because I'm pretty sure I'd fall on my face if I tried to get out of this bed, but because, well, I actually wanted a minute alone with Caitlyn so that we could break up." Realizing that both Caitlyn and Chris would be offended, maybe jump to the conclusion that Alex didn't think the young girl was good enough for her, she quickly added, "Caitlyn's great...sweetest girl I've ever met....cute...and it didn't take a near death experience for her to tell me she had a crush on me, so she's pretty brave too." Alex teased Tessa as she took the mage's hand to hold before she could dole out another flick to the wolf's forehead.

Chris had a feeling that out of all people, that Alex would understand. Her friend was quite open minded, and of course the whole friend thing meant a lot. She was sure most people wouldn't be so understanding about her love for Cait, but they could deal with that. She was fucking positive Clara would hit her, and Anna... Well if she made Anna mad that would be scary, but she could see more worry than anything, hopefully. Everyone else, well fuck everyone else, she loved Caitlyn and if the girl loved her back she didn't care about anything else, not even the big inheritance she was in line for. Hell, with Cait by her side Chris would be happy no matter what, and she didn't have any doubts about that. She was already thrilled by the fact that every kiss they shared seemed to have Caitlyn more and more responsive, and this time she had felt the smaller body pressed against her's. It was perfect.

What happened next surprised Chris, not only did Alex seem perfectly fine with it, but had been about to dump her little sister, and a confusing mix of contentment that Alex wasn't vying for Cait, and anger that anyone would ever think she wasn't the best hit her. Alex must have known, because the girl quickly explained, and it was Chris' turn to grin. "I'm a bit peeved, looks like I was used." She chuckled, looking over to Tessa who had no shame and was giving her a small nod. "Well good." She continued, pulling Caitlyn close and leaning down to nuzzle her gorgeous mate. "I love you." She whispered, smiling before looking back to the other couple in the room. "Well... You're alive." She started, tapping her chin before walking over to the bed and looked at Alex, "So what the hell, big tough Alex can't handle a little leg wound? How pathetic." She laughed, trying to push right through any awkwardness after the partner swap thing they had just done and go right back to being a friend, and poking fun at Alex and her pride as an alpha was always Chris' favorite way to tease her best friend.

---

Michelle hadn't expected to wake up, much less in her room at the apartment. "The hell." She muttered, sitting up, a bit of pain stinging where she had been stabbed, but when she looked down the wound seemed pretty much healed. Nothing had prepared her to be okay after taking silver, and she had been fine with that oddly, as long as Jocelyn was okay... Jocelyn! She shot out of the bed and went flying out of the room, not paying attention to her state of undress, her school clothes ripped to tatters after her shift. "Jocelyn!" She shouted, looking around the apartment frantically. She had to know Jocelyn was okay... She had to. "Jocelyn!" She shouted again, panic in her voice as if she had woken up from a nightmare that was all too real. What if they had caught up, if Jocelyn had been taken back and she had been the only one found. It was a silly thought, they wouldn't have let her live, but Michelle wasn't rational, only worried.