I really need to figure out a way to have a conversation on the phone without werewolves being able to hear it.

Linnea had hardly touched her coffee as she sat in silent staring straight ahead rubbing her thumb across the tips of her fingers as if sharpening her claws making me really start missing that bitchy attitude she had about thirty minutes ago.

I tried not to focus on it. Turns out that's not easy to do when you're the only one in easy reach. My eyes would dart back to her then down to her hands again as I passed car after car. Glancing at the speedometer, I was doing a hundred and eight.

Thank the moon goddess, I wasn't the focus of her anger. Whoever jumped Greg had better be long gone or I fear what she'll do. It's not just alphas who are possessive of their mates.

"You're not planning on using those things are you? It sounds like he'll be fine once he gets his medication back in his system."

Her lips twitched as she took in what I said. I could see her eyes look towards me but her head stayed locked straight ahead.

"I don't understand how he could've got down there, or why? There's no reason he'd gone down there. He doesn't know anyone there." She answered in a harsh tone but more directed at herself, than me.

"Maybe he knew you'd be looking for him and-"

"Then I should've found him! I waited an hour or so before I went looking for him, not months! I don't get it! Scents don't disappear that quickly. And I don't believe he just decided to get drunk either. Greg doesn't like to drink. It's why I'm never worried about him showing up at The Wolf's Den. His dad was an alcoholic and use to beat up his mom when he was a kid. He usually avoids it."

Learning you were wrong about something as major as the existence of werewolves and vampires can do a lot for a person. Making them want a good strong drink was the least of them. Something told me I'd best keep this to myself for now and let Linnea ramble on in peace.

We made it into town in just over an hour. Good thing I had Nancy's Ford, mine would of blown up before we left Washington.

Linnea wasted no time rushing out which was understandable. I decided to hold back and wait outside for a minute and talk with Nancy who I was sure would soon join me.

This place was deader than The Valley. The sign coming in said the population was 208 and by the looks of it, I'd say that sign was about 200 off. There was a bunch of cars parked across the street at the docks but no doubt, they were all tourists, not local folks. Aside from that, there was a Trading Post that looked only a few years more modern than the one in an old western movie I watched last week, a tavern called Dirty Earnie's and aside from a few scattered homes and possibly a post office hiding somewhere, that was about it.

I watched Nancy come out of the room looking worn out herself fully dressed in a pair of jeans and burgundy studded blouse with tied sleeves. I couldn't help wonder where she got it as she had taken off from Linnea's place in wolf form.

"Isn't it obvious? I stole them.She answered my thoughts in a worn out voice.

I knew she hadn't been getting a full night's sleep since her altercation with Ashley and then having to run all the way here looking for Greg...

I pulled the examined the wound on her neck that still looked really gross like a big scab. It hadn't reopened like I feared, still I grazed my fingers over it to further confirm it. It's amazing how quickly she was healing.

"I was worried sick. If it had reopened-

"It didn't. And even if it did, it wouldn't of mattered. If it was you that had gone missing, I would've torn everything apart till I found you. Linnea's a pain in the ass but she doesn't deserve that. Plus Greg's a good guy."

"How is he?"

She pulled away, shaking her head as if unsure.

"Confused. Aggressive as hell. For such a skinny human who doesn't have full control of his movements he's stronger than I'd expect. How much of it is the Parkinson's and how much of it was from what them bastards did to him, I don't know. He had a good amount of blood on him but nothing that appeared life threatening. I do know I'm not letting you in that room till I know it's safe."

That's okay, I had no desire to do so. The way Linnea had been acting all this morning convinced me to tread lightly. Not that I thought she'd deliberately hurt me, but she was stressed and on edge. If she did snap, I didn't want to be near her when it happened. Someone purposely hurting Greg seemed like a high probability.

Despite Nancy's insistence that we couldn't stay she did get us a separate room next door. I tried talking her into taking Greg to the hospital.

"Nothing heals us better than our mate. Trust me, he's getting the best possible care he can get. My neck was far worse than anything he received and it's fine now." Nancy said sitting down on a hard wooden chair next to the window of our room.

I took my seat at the edge of the queen size bed facing her. Here it was not even noon yet and I needed a drink. Instead, I opted for a cigarette ignoring the sign on the door just a few feet away that said No Smoking in large red letters. Everything here's older than I am, it wasn't going to hurt anything.

"He's not a werewolf, Nancy. You might have some superhuman healing abilities but us mere mortals aren't so lucky. And for the record, you're neck still isn't healed so don't tell me it's fine or try to convince me a doctor wouldn't of patched you up better than me."

"No doctor would of because I wouldn't have let them. Trust me, he's going to be fine." She said leaning over and looking me in the eye. "We got other things to figure out anyways like where you, him and you sister can hide tomorrow."

"Hide? For what?" I asked not sure as to what she was talking about.

"The following night is the full moon and that means things are going to get really dangerous for the three of you. We need a place that you'll be safe."

Fuck! Already? I could've sworn I had a bit more time. We needed more time. Has she forgotten everything that's happened?

"Nancy, Greg needs to rest and so do you! As far as JoAnn is concerned I don't know what to do. You were there at my parents service when Ashley insisted she be there and aft-"

"She isn't staying there! I don't give a shit what she said, it's not happening."

Nancy said in a firm voice letting me know this wasn't up for discussion. I took a drag of my cigarette as I tried to calm my nerves that just jumped so high that I wasn't sure when they'd come back down. What did she think we could do, just walk into her territory and take her. Even if Ashley was fine with it, which I knew she wouldn't be, I wasn't sure JoAnn would even be willing.

"What's this about? You had no objections earlier-"

"I just didn't say anything because I didn't want us getting into it in front of everyone and JoAnn was desperate to prevent Ashley from making a scene as it was. There's only one reason why Ashley would insist that she be there on the full moon, Crystal, and that's because she plans on biting her. I'm not about to let that happen. Jake used her to get to us and I'll be damned if I'm going to let her do the same. When Jake and his brother hit her pack, things are going to get bloody. JoAnn got lucky last time. They see her there, they'll kill her. Ashley's letting her work, right?"

I nodded. My throat suddenly becoming extremely dry.

"Good."

Good? She's talking about Kidnapping my own sister! She's not even fully healed yet.

I put out my cigarette and lit another as fear consumed me. All of a sudden this was getting a lot more real and I wasn't sure I could stomach it. Oh who the hell am I kidding? There's no damn way I could handle it!

Then a thought popped up that I refused to acknowledge before. What if JoAnn and Ashley really was each other's mates?

I turned towards the thin wall that separated our room from the one that Linnea and Greg were in as if I could see through it. Linnea wasn't an alpha and she certainly doesn't have the followers that Ashley does.

"She'll kill you!" I gasped jumping up from the bed.

"No, she won't!" Nancy said as she grabbed me by the arms holding me tightly in place. "She won't be able to do much of anything until after the full moon. She'd have to split her pack to come looking and she won't do that when facing a war."

"But if JoAnn is her-"

"She knows we wouldn't hurt JoAnn! She'll be pissed but she won't be able to do jack shit till afterwards and then it'll be too late. She might be expecting Jake, but she won't be expecting me. Now I know you're scared, but trust me, this will soon be all over."

"I don't want Ashley killed either. She's still one of the few friends I have even if you don't approve. And if JoAnn is-"

She wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace.

"I don't think it'll come to that. If she submits then I'll accept it." She stepped back placing her strong grip on my shoulders and stared deeply into my eyes "It's not her I care about. I'm going to show what a cowardly son of a bitch our ex really is and make sure you never have to worry about him again. You understand?"

By seven o'clock Linnea seemed to be in a better frame of mind when I made me and Nancy made our way over.

Greg studied me from the bed like he'd never seen me before. I was unsure if this was from missing his medication or the injury but he then let me know I was totally off on both accounts

"You're ... not..."

I let out a giggle in part from his shyness at the question and the fact the question actually didn't seem so weird. Not long ago someone questioning me or anyone being human would have been crazy. I was a bit worried that my reaction might be inappropriate but it felt good after the seriousness of the past sixteen hours or so.

"No." I said in a sad tone letting out a sigh. "I'm just your average, everyday, boring human I'm afraid. Disappointed?"

"He shook his head a little fighting back a grin of his own now.

"Sorry. Linnea said you were but..."

"I might secretly be a vampire? Don't be silly. Truth is, I'm actually a powerful succubus. How else do you think I captured her stubborn heart?" I said smiling at Nancy. I was glad she found him before anything worse happened to him.

"Oh is that what happened, huh?" Nancy questioned with a smirk.

"Are they real too?" Greg asked scooting himself up and wide-eyed.

"No,no, at least I don't think so. I'm not so sure of anything anymore to be honest.

I was glad to see him okay and that he remembered me. It seemed Nancy was right about not taking him to the hospital but I still felt bad. Still, he didn't seem to be any more confused than what was to be expected after learning about werewolves. It seemed like ages ago since I learned.

He shifted his glasses that were now crooked and had a crack on the right lens. He had a large ace bandage wrapped around his forehead and his right eye had swollen practically shut. There were a few other scrapes and bruises on him but nothing that looked to serious if his head was fine.

"How's your head?

"It's fine. Really, this bandage is overkill-

"Jag riskerar inte din blödning ihjäl! ( I'm not risking you bleeding to death) It's bad enough you ran from me, so don't start! You have been through a lot and I'm not taking any chances. Förstår du? (Do you understand)

He gave her a forced smile

"The correct answer here is "yes, I completely understand and will never run from you ever again." Linnea said leaning over him.

"Well it's not everyday your girlfriend says she's a werewolf. I'm sorry I freaked out a bit. I'm still a bit freaked out if I'm being honest but I guess if you were going to eat me in my sleep you'd have done so by now."

"Oh I'll eat you up alright...but you'll be wide awake and loving every second of it!" She said kissing his cheek.

"Okay, okay! If this is going to get X-rated, I'm outta here!" I said

"Actually, we all need to get going. We got a big day tomorrow." Nancy said besides me spoiling my mood. Greg needed rest and moving him should wait.

"I've got to check on something before I leave-"

"The human can wait! Greg is going to be alright and we're going to need you."

Nancy broke her off in a dominating voice that instantly silenced Linnea. I knew she wasn't happy about it but understood it was how things needed to be done.

On the way back to Lakeside to drop off Greg and Linnea my sister decides to call me to vent about Ashley not showing a house in Silverton. This was all I needed.

"I swear, Crystal, everything is a struggle with her! She still won't even barely look at me and forget getting her speaking to me. I swear it's driving me insane. I know I messed up but I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything. She needs to lighten up just a little bit."

She went on for over ten minutes rambling and the whole time I just tried figuring out where her head was at.

"So she's letting you show the house tomorrow?" I asked just as we were approaching Lakeside.

"Yeaaaah between noon and one of you can believe that? How's that for a leash? A part of me can't wait till this full moon shit is over with. Then another part just wishes everything wasn't a struggle. Oh, and that she didn't feel like I constantly need a chaperone. At least Kera got her to agree to just having Linda come with me. She's thinking of trying to get her realtor's license so it can be like on-the-job training. It's better than just being a prison guard. If she can help me sell Mrs. Miller's old home that be great for us. That home they have her out now is just outrageous!"

I agreed. Mrs. Miller used to run the Burger Shack up on Camron when we were kids. We used to always hang out there after school with some of the other kids because she had a great ice cream selection and five arcades in the back which was a lot.

"Im sorry, Ashley is being such a bitch"

"She has a lot to deal with right now!" JoAnns voice automatically taking a defensive tone. That was fast.

"You know what? I don't know why I even called you. I just wanted someone who'd listen to me and not go on about shit they know nothing about. I guess that's just too much to ask for. I'll talk to you later."

With that she ended the call before I could get another word in and confirming she is getting more attached to Ashley. Getting her to leave might not be so easy.

Nancy placed her hand on my thigh. I closed my eyes enjoying the contact for just a moment.

"She gets off at noon." Nancy nodded not saying a word or taking her eyes off the road. I knew she had heard the conversation and was thinking the same thing.

Usually her touch comforted me, this time I still felt uneasy. I just kept telling myself that it was for her safety. I didn't want her anywhere near there when things went down.