Word Count: 4470

Editing in progress, please let me know if you see any huge grammatical errors.

Matt opened up the throttle and raced across the bay as fast as his boat would take him, he could hear the second speed boat driven by Alpha Michael right behind him, he had to swing south to round the island and he realized it would take him longer than he anticipated to reach the inlet of the canal leading to the spring pool.

Matt sent out a call through the mind link.

Harper asked, her voice frantic.

Matt reassured her.

Harper responded.

Matt asked.

Harper said.

Matt couldn't help but chuckle at Harper's irritated tone.

Matt told her.

Harper snorted.

Matt asked.

Harper answered.

Matt asked.

Harper answered.

Matt answered.

Harper replied.

Matt asked.

Harper told him.

Matt asked, slowing the boat as they neared the inlet.

Harper asked.

Matt answered.

Harper answered.

Matt said.

Harper said.

Matt said.

"The boys are at the canal," Harper announced. "Alpha Michael is bringing the wounded to the marina, and they'll be here soon. He's fine."

Luna Diana breathed a sigh of relief, pressing a hand to her chest. Luna Penny rubbed her arm in sympathy, there was no better feeling than the one of finding out your mate was alright after a battle.

"Who was injured?" Eva asked.

"Matt said Jae, and Neval were seriously injured, and Laro had some concerning injuries, but Matt said he'll heal just fine, the others have scratches, but nothing serious," Harper answered. "He said he, Ara, Sagan, Mesa, and Eden didn't have a scratch on them."

"Not surprising, they are the strongest among us," Charo said. "Did Cole survive?"

"I think so," Celie said. "I heard them yell that he got away, but Lorelai fucked him up pretty bad, he was nothing but a shredded lump of meat on the sand the last I saw of him."

"She is an impressive warrior," Moira chuckled. "There are few who could survive her wrath."

"She was surrounded by his warriors, but she was taking them down left and right," Celie said. "Porter got to her just as Jenny and I got to the parking lot, so I didn't see what happened next."

"He sounded fine when he called us," Alpha Alexander said with a shrug.

Just then Porter's voice came through the mind link, as though the sound of his name summoned him.

Porter asked.

Eden answered.

Harper asked.

Porter answered after a moment.

Harper asked hesitantly.

Lorelai answered.

Harper and Celie both gave a sigh of relief and Celie reached out and laid her hand on Harper's shoulder reassuringly. They both had begun to soften toward them, Harper still harbored a lot of resentment toward Reese, but her feelings for Callum were complicated. She still remembered the brother he'd been when their parents were alive, the brother who'd carried her piggyback through the forest laughing and had tickled her until she screamed. The boy who'd come into her room to scare away the monsters when she was a child, that boy was still in there somewhere, and she knew she needed to forgive him, their parents would want that. She would never have the relationship she should have had with him, but she was grateful he was alive, and she was happy to hear Adam survived as well. He was her friend now, and though she didn't necessarily love him, she cared deeply for him and wanted him to live a long and happy life, despite the pain he'd caused her best friend.

"Just a little while longer," Celie whispered to Harper. "They just need to make a few more minutes and this is over, for a while at least."

Harper just nodded, the lump in her throat was too big for her to talk.

"So, Luna Penny, I have a favor to ask," Celie said, and Harper nearly choked on her laughter.

**

Matt and Eden swam slowly to the mouth of the inlet.

Eden linked Matt, glancing in his direction.

Matt said.

Eden said, smiling to himself. Soon he would have his mate forever, the girl that had haunted his dreams for years would be his, and his alone, and he could not be happier for that. Now he also knew she would likely be able to bear his young and that thought filled him with an emotion which was so powerful it nearly brought tears to his eyes. Watching her with Faru had created a longing for young in him that he had never felt before, he'd never imagined himself with young of his own, but now he wished for it with a passion he'd never known.

Matt asked, sending his mind out as far as he could.

Lorelai answered.

Matt answered.

Porter answered, then his voice boomed through the link.

It was over before it even began, when the wolves advanced the tritons ran, dove into the spring pool and fled right into the waiting sirens in the canal, only one survived, a female, but she was so torn up, they weren't sure she'd make it through the night.

Eden reported.

Harper instructed.

Matt said.

Lorelai answered.

Everyone listening actually shivered at the thought of an interrogation led by Lorelai.

**

When the warriors made it back to the house, they were met with a hero's welcome. Celie and Harper ran to their mates, jumping on them like they hadn't seen them in years, laughing and crying at the same time. Porter and Lorelai strolled in holding hands as though they'd just been out on a leisurely beach walk. Once Eden sat Celie back on her feet she ran immediately to hug Ara and Sagan, then Winter, who was surprised but laughed and squeezed her back.

Eden was smiling until he caught sight of the blood on Celie's shirt and immediately drew her to him to check her over for injuries.

"I'm fine, it was just a scratch," Celie assured him. "Harper bandaged me up, I didn't need stitches and it'll be healed in a day or two."

Eden took her hands and kissed her skinned knuckles with a grin.

"I see you got some licks in, Cel," Porter laughed, looking down at her hands.

"I saw her," Reese said, shaking his head with a smile. "She straddle pinned one and pounded it into the sand like an MMA fighter."

"You saw me?" Celie asked, surprised.

"I tried to stay close to your location in case you needed help, but I was engaged with another one and Eden beat me to you after you got knocked down carrying Jenny," Reese shrugged. "I gotta congratulate Harper on her training, I don't know where you learned those moves, Harp, but you would have been proud."

"Cel always makes me proud," Harper said, drying her hands on a towel. "I've patched up the others as much as I can, we need to figure out what to do with Vall and Bo, I need the injured to stay in the tank while they heal and I'm not comfortable leaving injured sirens in a tank with tritons. Even ones that seem to be on our side, can we put them back in the spring pool or will that be too dangerous for them?"

"We will take turns guarding the canal, so they will be safe there," Winter said. "I also doubt there are many of Cole's fighters willing to venture back here for some time. I believe mating season will soon be over, we have perhaps a day or two left at most, that will certainly signal the end of this battle until next year."

"Good, alright, let's go take a look at the one you captured," Harper said, her face hard as she picked up what looked like small pistol. "I'll trank her ass then patch her up, but don't be surprised if my bedside manner is not nice at this moment."

"How long will she be out if you trank her?" Lorelai asked.

"Till tomorrow around noon probably, I'm going to dose the hell out of her with alligator tranquilizer," Harper said.

"We need to cover the pool with a tarp or something," Matt said, glancing at Alpha Alexander. "Aircraft fly over here all the time, if someone spots a mermaid in our pool that'll create problems we don't need."

"I've got a crew that I'll call, they can build a small cage over the pool, and we can cover it," Alpha Alexander said, rubbing his chin. "It won't hold up if we get a storm, but hopefully she won't be in there long."

"She won't be," Lorelai said. "She's going to answer my questions, then I'm going to kill her."

"Straight to the point," Celie said.

"No reason to beat around the bush, we don't have rogue cells here and couldn't keep her in one for long even if we did," Matt said. "She won't be able to change into a human form for much longer, and she'll die anyway if she's out of the ocean with her wounds."

"Alright, let's go," Harper said grimly, heading toward the patio.

The female triton was bigger than Harper was expecting, it was probably nearly eight feet long in marine form, and though her whole body was covered in deep gashes she was still struggling mightily against the nets wrapped around her.

"Dog!" the triton spat at Harper as she approached.

"Not a dog," Harper smirked at her as she raised the trank gun. "WOLF," she corrected, and pulled the trigger.

It shrieked when the dart buried in its chest but her struggles lasted only a few moments before her eyes began to close.

Everyone stood around staring down at the creature for several seconds before Harper knelt next to her and started pulling the nets back and asked for her tools. She went to work sewing her slashed and torn skin closed, ignoring all but the largest wounds. The smaller ones would close on their own and weren't worth the effort, Harper only cared about keeping her from bleeding to death until they could question her, she didn't give much of a shit whether she could fully heal or not because they were going to kill her the first second they could. Normally Harper would feel some sympathy for a creature hurt and obviously suffering this much, but she couldn't help thinking of when they'd dragged Matt back here, he'd been as torn up as this female, so it was hard for her to feel bad.

"Is it me, or does that female look familiar?" Celie asked, her face scrunched up in thought.

"It was one of the ones who attacked during the storm," Adam said, causing them all to look back and nod in recognition.

"I wonder if Bo knows her, where is he?" Celie asked, looking around.

"They're in the tank room, their daughter is in the small tank with Levi," Enna answered.

"Daughter?" Celie asked, a hint of a smile on her lips. "What's her name?"

"They haven't named her yet," Enna said. "It's a foreign concept to them, and they don't know many names, so I think they're not sure what to call her."

"They'll need to return to the spring soon," Eden said. "When Mesa and the others finish their sweep we will take them down there, it shouldn't be long."

"I'm going to go see them," Celie said. "I'll ask him to come out here and find out if he can tell us about this female."

Celie tapped on the tank room door before she opened it, she knew the triton family was probably scared out of their minds, being in the house with so many wolves and siren warriors.

"Hi Bo, Vall," Celie said, smiling gently at them as she slowly entered the room.

"CeeLee," Bo said in a relieved voice as he stood up from where he'd been crouching next to the small tank with the sleeping babies.

Before she could say anything, Celie heard a quiet gasp and looked down to see Vall staring at her shirt.

"Cee hurt," Vall said in the tiniest voice Celie had ever head.

"I'm ok," Celie smiled at her. "Don't you worry about me, it's just a scratch, and Harper already fixed me up."

"Battle over?" Bo asked.

"Yes, we captured one of Cole's fighters who came after you in the pool," Celie explained. "It was a female, I thought you might know her and be able to tell us about her? She's out on the patio now, she's hurt, and Harper is sewing up her wounds. Do you mind coming outside? The others are sweeping the area for more fighters, but we don't think we'll find any, as soon as they return, you'll be able to go back to the spring pool. Don't worry, we'll be guarding it and the water around the island, none of them will get to you."

Bo nodded and moved toward the door, but Vall hesitated, looking fearfully at the babies in the tank.

"It's ok, Vall," Celie said. "We don't hurt babies, nothing will happen to your young here, she's safe. I promise."

Vall stood slowly with a nod and followed them outside.

Bo and Vall both stopped and stared when they caught sight of the female on the deck that Harper was still working on.

"Su, that Su," Bo said, and he put his arm around an obviously fearful Vall. But she was not showing fear to the wolves and sirens around her, it was the sight of the triton female that scared her, she turned her face to Bo's shoulder.

"Su, huh?" Lorelai said turning to them, Vall's reaction hadn't escaped her notice. "I'll take your reaction to mean she's an evil bitch who needs to die?"

"Yes," Bo said, and Vall nodded into his shoulder.

"Don't worry, she will soon," Lorelai said. "Before that happens, we need to know about her, what can you tell us?"

"She with Kul," Bo said. "Mate."

Everyone turned and stared at Bo.

"So, he had a mate, and he was screwing around with Jenny and got her pregnant? What a bastard." Porter shook his head in disgust.

"How long were they mates?" Charo asked.

"Long time, meet every season," Bo said.

"So, they didn't live together all the time, only during mating season?" Matt asked, glancing at the others.

"Yes, is way many kind live," Bo said.

"That's why we never knew they had mates, because they didn't stay together and we never saw pairs," Enna said, nodding in understanding.

"You said many kind," Eden clarified. "Does that mean some don't separate from their mates during the year."

"No, I stay Vall, protect," Bo said, pulling Vall closer to his side.

"Evolving," Silas said. "As you suspected."

"Are there others like you?" Charo asked.

"Some, Vall grow with male and female together," Bo said.

"What else can you tell us about Su?" Lorelai asked, less than interested in the mechanics of triton mating rituals.

"She behind Kul, tell all to go and do," Bo answered.

"Second in command then," Porter nodded. "Did she stay with him? Does she know where he would go if he's wounded?"

"Kul hurt?" Bo asked, a slight smile turned his lip.