~Emily~Emily woke up with her head pounding. A horrible bright light was shining in her eyes, and there was a terrible throbbing in her shoulder. What happened? She squinted. She opened her eyes a little bit more. A beeping sound was going off in her ear and she felt like she had tubes coming out of her everywhere. She tried to move her arm but something was pulling. She looked down and saw an IV was stuck in it. She did have tubes coming out of her. She was in the hospital. She turned her head slightly. Brian was sitting in a chair sleeping. She turned her head the other way and there was someone in the other chair beside her. Lo. Lorenzo was here. Didn’t he leave? “Looo” she croaked out, her voice a hoarse whisper. Lorenzo’s eyes popped open. “Emily!” He said. He immediately kissed her on the forehead… and started rubbing her hair. His eyes had tears filling them. But why? She still didn’t remember anything. Then Brian was there. He pulled her into a hug but she
Emily~She was in and out. She had no idea how much time had passed. Every time she woke up someone new was sitting with her. After the first few times when her brothers, Lo, and Maeve had been there… she woke up and saw Alice. She immediately began to cry again. As Alice came over and hugged her gently. She had yarn in her hands and she’d been knitting. “Alice I’m sooo sorry..” she spurted out. But Alice wouldn’t hear of it. “Nonsense. None of this is your fault. You just get yourself better sweet girl. Charlottes hanging on. You focus on yourself. And when you get better we will make them pay for what they did.” Emily nodded then drifted back to sleep with tears still coming down her face. They must have been keeping her heavily sedated so she could heal. Still. She drifted. In and out. In and out. Once she woke and saw Nick sitting by her side. He looked horrible, like the entire universe was on his shoulders. “Nick….” “Hey there…” he said, straightening up and wiping
~Emily~She told them how they’d picked up goods at the first spot then went to the second one. While they were waiting there the truck pulled up beside them and sat there. She then told them how they’d followed her and Charlotte to their final pick up and blocked them in. She then remembered how they had gotten out and made up a story about looking for someone. “They asked your names?” Ellis questioned. Emily nodded. “And you told them?” Reymond said. “Charlotte did.” Emily said sadly. “What exactly did she say?” Asked Ellis. Emily didn’t know why this mattered but she thought a moment then remembered. “She said we’re Charlotte and Emily.”“So. She didn’t specify which one of you was which?” Asked Ellis. Emily frowned … she didn’t think so. But why would that matter. “Wait. You think…. Oh no. Goddess you think they were after me??” Emily asked, horrified. “We don’t know. We’re just trying to put all the pieces together.” Ellis told her. “Then what happened?” He asked. Emi
~Emily~She had just finished eating the beef stew and cornbread her brothers had brought her. She was still mostly in shock about what she’d found out earlier. The men that shot her used silver. They knew. Silver wasn’t as potent to them as the movies and books would make you think. However it was very dangerous. Just like the limestone in the dungeon, it prevented them from healing. It stayed in their blood stream and wound poison them eventually if they didn’t get a antidote quickly. So her being shot with a silver bullet? That was the equivalent of a human being shot with a regular one. That’s why it was taking her so long to heal. Thats why her shoulder was killing her and looked like it had been through a meat grinder. It’s why her arm was messed up.. it had gotten in her bloodstream. That’s why Charlotte was barely hanging on. It had gotten into her heart. She was so angry, and feeling so guilty. When Ellis wanted to know about the men asking their names… she knew they wer
Lorenzo It had been a few days and Emily was about to get out of the hospital. Charlotte was still the same, no improvements. He knew it was killing Emily. She would be going back to the trial soon. He was torn because he wanted to stay here with her, but he also knew he needed to get back to the pack. He’d only been there for a day before he ran out again. Literally. That was after he had lost his entire mind. He knew something had happened. He knew it had to do with Emily. How he knew that? No idea.. but he ran all the way back to the pack house without stopping. He grabbed his phone and sure enough… tons of missed phone calls and messages. He called her brother and when Brian told him what happened his legs gave way. Luckily his desk was behind him and caught him from all out falling. When he hung up his anger was so out of control he picked up one of the chairs and threw it across the room. Janine heard all this and came to see what was going on. In his inebriated state,
~Lorenzo~ He made it back to Emily’s pack in no time. Looking at her in the bed with all the wires hooked up to her physically hurt. He hated it. And someone was going to pay. She kept going in and out for a while. But he was there when she first opened her eyes. It didn’t last long, pretty soon she was back under again. It took a couple days, but finally she was able to sit up and eat and talk. “Lo you didn’t have to come back.. I know your pack needs you. How long were you home for?” She asked him. Lo smirked at her. “A day.” “But I am going back. Just for a while. You’re right they need to see me. But I won’t be gone for long. I promise.”“All this back and forth has got to be killing you.” She said. “Not as much as hearing someone shot you. Not anywhere near as much as that.” He told her. He noticed some folders sitting on the table. “What’s this?” He asked as he grabbed for it. But Emily snatched it away from him. She put one folder in a bag her brothers had brought
~Emily~ The last few days had not been easy or good. She had left the hospital, came home to the cabin, her arm still in a sling and her shoulder still killing her. Dr. Pavarti had sent some pills home with her for the pain. She had no idea what was going on with Raleigh, or the rogue wolves in the east, or the guys that shot her. No one would tell her anything. Lo had left… he went back to his pack. She understood why. He was an alpha he couldn’t stay with her all the time. He wasn’t even her mate. She couldn’t even tell him the other day that she might not be Nick’s mate for much longer, especially after all this. She wasn’t a scientist. She didn’t know if their mate bond would even trigger if she and Nick divorced and she denounced him. Although they didn’t really need it to did they? They’d loved each other their whole lives. They had a bond that surpassed the mate bond. Now, since she had showed him the paperwork and he’d told her he thought he had met his second mate…
~Emily~She was back in the town hall at her trial. She couldn’t say she had missed this place. Last night after talking with Maeve she couldn’t sleep, even with the pain medicine and sleep medicine the doctor had given her. All she could think about was that the men who had shot Charlotte had most likely been looking for her. It was her fault. Maeve had told her it absolutely was not her fault, and deep down she guessed she knew that but it still stung. And she sure as hell felt guilty. At least she had gotten the information to Ellis that she’d collected. Maybe nothing would ever come of it, who knew. But she had done what she could. Reymond stood up to quiet the crowd. The crowd, which seemed to double in size today. But she also knew a lot of the pack members were there to hear about Raleigh, because it had gotten out that he was in confinement and they all had questions. “If everyone could quiet down and pay attention. I know the past few weeks have been…. Enlightening.. so t
Emily She and Alan had made it into the human town. Being there was making her feel sick, and making her think about the trip here with Charlotte. They’d passed the tattoo shop where they’d gotten matching tattoos… and the place where they got their hair cuts. She was getting angrier and angrier the more she remembered everything. Now they were in the next town. The one where the guys had first shown up. She knew the addresses that Ellis had given her, where the men had been seen… at least allegedly. But just as a precaution she wanted to go to the loading docks where she and Charlotte had gone. Alan argued they were probably only there to follow them, and she knew as much. But she wasn’t leaving a stone unturned. But they weren’t there. She even stopped and asked a few people if they’d seen the truck the guy drove. So they headed to the first address, which was a house. But when they got there no one was home. The next place was a bar type restaurant where Emily had planned to
~Lorenzo~He and Collins walked out into the huge great room in the pack house. The fire was burning warmly and a few of the pack members were mulling around. He could breathe out here. Being in that little room with her was more than he could take. She sat down on the huge leather sectional that sat in front of the fireplace, while Lo still kept his distance and went and stood by the fire. “Now. What did you say you needed help with?” He asked her. She finally looked at him and bit her lip as if she was afraid to ask anything now. She really needed to stop biting her lip. He zeroed in on the movement, his eyes darkening. “Oh um. Right. So. I want to apply for college in the town.. I went to the human college in our old pack… and I need to get my transcripts sent over here… and yeah so anyway I don’t want to lose all the hours and classes I’ve already taken so I want to hurry and get in before the next semester starts. But when I asked your beta if he could get me some informat
~Emily~ The next day after the trail she and Alan were ready to put their plan in motion. They didn’t tell Brian anything, except they were going to Alice’s store. They would apologize later. They drove right by the scouts at the gate as Emily smiled at them and they waved them on through. “So how’d you manage this?” Alan asked her. “Ellis.” She said simply. Alan jerked his head and looked at her. “He knows??” She just grinned at him and kept driving. When she had told Ellis her plan he wasn’t necessarily on board with it. But he also knew she’d find a way with or without his help. “Emily we don’t know everything yet. These people are dangerous. And we don’t know who hired them.” He had said. “But we’ve got a good idea.” She said. “Yes… but we also need to prove it. And the only way to do that is some kind of concrete evidence. Even if you can get them to tell you it’s still just here say. We need some sort of digital or paper footprint to prove it.” She nodded her head un
~Lorenzo~ It had been several days since he’d spoken to Emily. He wanted to call her but he didn’t want to make things worse. He knew she needed him there, and he had to be here. There wasn’t anything he could do at the moment. But he felt like he’d abandoned her. He had spoken to Brian a couple times and gotten the latest that was going on. Alan had been busy taking care of the store for Alice so he hadn’t talked to him. And hearing Emily’s voice would probably just set him into high gear to go right back to her. So he hadn’t called her. And she hadn’t either. Maybe it was for the best for them to spend a little time away from each other. But it was killing him just the same. Cyrus — Mr. Manning— had come by and agreed to take the job as trainer. Lorenzo told him if he decided he didn’t want to do it, he could probably find a place for him to train here in his pack. But he knew how important this job was, so he had agreed. He told his family as little as possible about wha
~Emily~ The following day after the trial she was going to pull her brother aside and ask him to help her. She had spent the entirety of yesterday afternoon and last night planning. She knew she was taking a risk but she didn’t care. She was going to get some answers. As she started to leave the town hall once they’d dismissed, Ellis asked her to come to his office. He wanted to show her something. “I must ask that we keep this between us for now.” He told her as she nodded. “The day I went and searched the area where the fight was… I found something. I haven’t told anyone except Reymond and Red. I was going to tell you soon but… you went out of town then everything with the shooting happened. I wanted to give you some time before adding this to your plate.” He told her. That means whatever he found was bad. She thought. “Okay.” She said. He got out a key and unlocked the bottom drawer of the desk. He pulled out something wrapped in cloth with a string tied around it and l
~Emily~She was anxious for the trial to end that morning. She needed to go home and make a plan. She knew what she was going to do she just didn’t know how. She also needed someone to go with her, someone she could trust… but also someone that wouldn’t try and talk her out of it. Brian most definitely would. He’d tie her to the chair if she so much as gave a hint what she was planning. And no way was she going to involve Maeve with her being pregnant. Lorenzo was gone. He would never allow her to do it either anyway. So that brought her to Alan. The council had called someone forward while she was lost in her own head and she was shocked when she looked up and saw Samuel standing there. He looked much better than he did a few days ago. She wondered if Dr. Pavarti had listened to her suggestion… and if that’s why Samuel was standing there right now. She exchanged a look with Ellis, who slowly shook his head….She understood. They wouldn’t mention anything or ask him questions the
~Emily~THE PRESENT She hadn’t left Charlotte’s side in hours. Alice and Dr. Pavarti were currently discussing the possibility of moving her into the towns hospital. But was that even safe? They hadn’t caught the men who had done this yet. What if they had someone on the inside and found out they were moving her? But he had given her the treatment for the silver. It was her heart that was the major problem now. She’s been shot literally right through it. The bullet that had passed through her upper shoulder and hit Emily had barely even hurt her because of the angle it had gone in. Alice came back inside the room then. She looked at Emily and took her hand. “You need to go home and get some rest.” She told her. But Emily shook her head. “You go rest, Alice. I’ll stay here.”Alice just smiled and sat down beside her. Emily began to cry. “It’s all my fault.” She said. Alice reached over and rubbed her head and hair. A tear fell down her cheek. “Emily. I want you to listen
~Nick~THE PAST He sat by the hospital bed holding on to Emily’s hand. The machines she was hooked up to were beeping, wires were coming out of her body everywhere. The smell of bleach and medicine and cleansing agents was stinging his nose. He stared at Emily.. her hair in tangles, some blood was dried on her neck from the wreck.. she was still beautiful. She looked peaceful laying there, although he knew she was probably being plagued with dreams that were anything but. Please wake up. Please wake up. He thought. The ambulance had come after the wreck and transported her to a human hospital. He wished he could take her back to the pack hospital but he didn’t know how to do that without raising suspicion. They’d been taking good care of her here though. Charlotte had insisted on coming with him. And you couldn’t tell that girl anything once she’d set her mind to it. But it had taken them a few hours to figure out where she was. He had finally pinged her phone location..
~Emily~THE PAST She and Nick were expecting their first baby. She was so happy and excited and so was he. Emily knew Nick wanted an heir. But she also knew he was just happy to have a child with her. Her and Charlotte had been busy decorating the nursery in between all the other pack duties she now had. But she loved it. Emily was in her element. Although it was a lot of work… it made her feel fulfilled. She had only just found out about a month ago… but she had been dying to tell people. The morning sickness probably made it obvious to some. She and Nick were supposed to be traveling to the Whitetail pack that day. It was to be a quick turn around trip… only to get some paperwork from Caron that Nick didn’t trust to send through a courier. He had said it would be a fun little get away just for the two of them. He could see his sister and feel safe that he had the papers. Emily could care less about seeing Susan. But she had agreed to go with him anyway. But the night befor