"They all fell down." Kelsey's voice echoed through the hushed room, a murmur following it as eyes slid suspiciously in her direction.

Leah leant forwards, placing a hand on Kelsey's arm, "not now Kels', not here," she whispered, eyes scanning Jake's pack who were all piled into his home.

Cassidy's pack sat to the side, segregated from Jake's, with Liam as the buffer. Any wolf that stared in their direction too long was soon put in their place by Liam. Leah tilted her head as she watched the Beta glare at another wolf who's look had lingered too long. She wasn't sure what had prompted Liam's sudden switch in behaviour - one minute he was trying to get rid of Cassidy and the next he was protecting her pack, but she felt like it had something to do with Kelsey.

Kelsey's eyes swivelled towards the door, out of habit Leah's attention followed, but frowned when there was nothing there. Just as she turned away, the front door clattered open and the pack's healer, Elenor, fell through. Her face was bruised and bloodied, and Leah could sense the pain waves coming off of her.

Leah felt a tug in her stomach, her body instinctively rising to go and help the she-wolf, even as others ran past her. Saf saw Leah move and shot her a look that spoke more words than she needed to hear. Saf had learnt a lot from Cassidy, including the ability to stop someone with nothing more than a glance. Leah knew Saf' was telling her to stop, but Leah knew she couldn't ignore her calling.

"You're too weak," Saf's tone was annoyed as it drifted across the pack link to Leah, "you'll end up killing yourself before you can save her."

"You don't know that," Leah snapped back, the wolves rushing around them ignorant to the conversation going on beneath the surface "I could save her, at least stop her from dying."

"Alpha would tell you not to."

Leah's eyes widened at the power wave in Saf's words, shocked that her friend would try to use pack hierarchy to make her do as she was told. "You really think she'd stop me from saving the woman who saved my life? You think that she could?"

Saf flinched, guilt flashing across her face. Ignoring her friend's guilty look, Leah stepped forward and began to push through the crowd of wolves trying to tend to Elenor. When she reached her side, Doc was already there. His hands flitted across her with an experience that Leah would never have, yet she reached out and stilled his hands, sending a ripple of anger through the crowd.

"I can heal her." She promised, locking eyes with Doc, willing him to trust her, "I can save her."

Doc rocked back onto his heels and released a long slow breath, "you better not be overpromising, kid."

Leah nodded once and Doc turned to the crowd, ordering them to back up and give them some room.

"Whatever happens, don't touch me during this," she instructed Doc, before turning her head over her shoulder towards Saf, "Saf, if it gets too bad..."

Reluctantly, Saf nodded.

The crowd had fallen into an uncomfortable silence, everyone watching with bated breath as the she-wolf laid her hands on Elenor's still body and began chanting beneath her breath.

Doc watched in wonder as the girl's hands lit up on Elenor's body. She'd seen Elenor heal but it never looked like this. He could only stare as the injuries began to disappear from Elenor's skin. First a cut on her left cheek, then the bruise under her eye. The wound on her stomach began to ease, the-

A hissed breath caught his attention. His eyes snapped to the girl's face, a shudder creeping down his spine as a cut that mimicked Elenor's spread across her cheek. Just as a drop of blood began to ooze from the wound, her eye blackened and bruised in front of his eyes. In horror, Doc reached out to brush her hands away, but the one she'd called Saf stepped forwards and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"But, but-every injury she heals, she feels." He stuttered in bewilderment.

Necks craned forward to watch, as Liam surfaced from the crowd, "Wow, that's-"

"Cruel," Saf interrupted, forced to watch as wounds opened and then slowly began to close on her friend. "She absorbs the injury - the pain," she paused, her eyes wincing as a particularly nasty cut opened on Leah's forearm, "and then her body repairs it. She's too weak to heal her fully, but she can get her stable at least."

Doc nodded, his head bobbing up and down long after the question had been answered, his eyes transfixed on Leah.

"How does she do it?" Liam whispered, as he moved beside Saf, blocking the view for some of the crowd.

"We have no idea, and nor does she."

"So she fully heals the wounds?"

"Yup."

Liam paused and hesitated as though scared to ask his next question. Saf rolled her eyes with impatience. "Spit it out." She ground out through her teeth.

"Well-if she can heal anything, why didn't she heal Cassidy's scars? She's covered in them!"

Saf's eyes narrowed on his, anger bubbling below the surface. Her lips curled back over her teeth, her wolf entering her eyes. "What do you know of my Alpha's scars?"

Liam took a step back, knowing a predator when he saw one. "I-I wasn't trying to be a dick. I was just asking."

Saf's wolf stared at him long and hard, to the point where he wasn't sure she was going to answer, until finally she spoke. "Cassidy wouldn't let Leah heal them. She said she could never put someone else through that pain."

Humbled, Liam went to speak when he realised that Saf wasn't paying attention anymore, and Leah had stopped healing Elenor and now sat back, both of their eyes blank and slightly raised to the ceiling. Liam recognises the look: They'd had a message via their pack link.

When their eyes blinked back into focus, their attention snapped to each other, before reaching over the crowd's heads to Kelsey. All three wolves ran from the room in unison without another word.

***
A/N

Hello there!

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to apologise for missing last weeks upload. Been busy with funeral arrangements etc., so just didn't get around to it! We are back on track now though - there may even be another update before next Friday as a little mid-week treat...maybe....!!

Have a great week & thanks for reading/commenting/voting etc. - it's a great way to cheer me up!

V_F