I stared at the book that sat on the desk. Somewhere in my stunned mind the fog cleared up, and I realized that what he called a compendium was the book I stole from the House of Wolves Sorrow. But how could that book have been my mother's? Shaking my head, I reached for it. A hand slammed down hard on the book's cover as my hands came around it.

     "How. Did. You. Get. This?" The words were spat out from behind clenched teeth. Had I not looked death in the face everyday, I would have been afraid. But I did't feel a single iota of trepidation as I focused on the book.

     Such an alluring thing, that book. It's leather bound pages seemed to hum my name. I pushed aside Louvell's hand and brought the book closer. My fingers grazed along the embossed letters on the front.

     How did I miss this the first time?

     "It was in the House of Wolves Sorrow." I said in a hushed voice, more so speaking to myself than to Louvell. Was it strange that I had yet to acknowledge him as my father? Always Louvell, but never "dad". My musing were fleeting, as I cracked the book open and went back to the story of the woman who dared to procreate with a werewolf. "This story was about her, wasn't it?" I looked up at Louvell only to catch the affirmation of my question on his face.

     "So I am the child? The one who would destroy the Demolishers and fuck up my 'noble lineage'?"

     "Yes." That was all he said. He no longer looked at me, but rather at his desk. I could tell a thousand things were running through his head at once.

    "How did she know that would happen?" Khan spoke up. I had completely forgotten he was here. He asked the question that was on the tip of my tongue. I quickly glanced at him before looking back at Louvell.

     Sometimes, that guy annoyed the crap out of me.

     Louvell looked at the pair of us, thinking hard before he said anything. A worn look closed his expression as he sat back in his seat. "Phoebe spoke to the council about this when she had the vision. This was well before I met Anna, and they all thought it was preposterous at the time. For that, she was ex-communicated; until what she predicted began unraveling around them."

     Clasping his hands in front of him, Louvell leans against his desk and looked beyond us. His eyes glazed over as distant memories crossed his mind. It was a while before he said anything. When he finally opened his mouth to say something, the door to his office was thrown open. All heads turned to the person standing in the doorway.

"Alpha, wolves are attacking the southern border," a scantily clad young man announced in a breathless huff.

     Louvell was up in an instant, flanked by Khan, and headed toward the door. I got up to follow but Khan turned to me with a look that stopped me in my tracks. There was a fierceness in his warm brown eyes that drew me in, but I fought against it.

     "Stay here," his voice was low and full of concern, "it's safest."

     For a moment – perhaps a fraction of a second – I felt myself complying; it was just something in the way he spoke then. But the moment passed quickly as I gritted my teeth. What kind of mystical bullshit is this?

     "I'm going," I ground out. "I battle wolves all the time, this would be no different."

     "It is different! Without the Karecous, any intense anger or spike of adrenaline can cause you to shift now. You wouldn't know how to control your wolf out there, and that could get you killed. And I wouldn't be able to –" He stopped himself halfway through the sentence. He was silent for a long stretch of time as his eyes searched my face. "Just, please, stay here."

"I can keep my emotions under control in a battle. Besides, you have no right to tell me what to do!" I felt something building in my chest, it was followed by a rush of heat through my veins. I could feel my breathing become a bit labored as my mind became clouded. Balling my fists, I forced myself to calm down, slowly feeling myself regain control.

I pushed past Khan and followed behind Louvell and the unnamed wolf. I wasn't about to let someone who manhandled me and caused strange things to happen to my body tell me what to do. Besides, I needed to let off some steam.

By the time Khan caught up with us, he was fuming. His eyes were the darkest shade of black and tension rolled off of him in waves. He must have been the Beta or some other high ranking position, he certainly had enough strength to get lower ranked wolves to make way for him so easily. There's something really attractive about power...

     Thankfully, my thoughts were squashed when Louvell called everyone to attention. I watched as his whole demeanor seemed to change, from the man who I sat across to something damn near lethal. He barked out instructions, leaving no room for failure. We were separated into three groups, each were equally matched in strength overall. I went with the center group, which was lead by Louvell. We were going to lead head on into the fray. My skin was itching in anticipation of the oncoming battle.

     After orders were given, the three groups took off running. Many of the fighters were shifting mid run. Despite all the pain that I had gone through over the last couple days, it was exhilarating running into a fight like this. I felt a strange surge of power go through my body, causing me to stumble for a second. I felt eyes on me from all sides but I didn't let it deter me. I steeled myself against the sensation, allowing my Demolisher training to take the forefront.

My newly heightened senses picked up on the sound of wolves further up ahead. The sound was paired with a smelled akin to festering skin. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. As the center group took the lead, Louvell shifted into his great black wolf. That caused everyone else who had yet to shift to follow suit. I watched, momentarily enraptured, as Louvell threw his head back and howled. Every cell in my body hummed as the howls in response rang out from all around me.

I moved to the outer perimeter of the group, running faster than I ever could before. It didn't take long to spot the wolves fighting along the border. It was even easier to distinguish between the pack wolves and the enemy wolves, as the latter were mangy looking. As we got closer, the disgusting smell intensified. I pushed my legs further, trying to keep up with Louvell at the front. Jut when I thought I had him, he launched himself forward baring his teeth at the closest enemy wolf. In a bat of an eyelash, the enemy wolf was down with Louvell's fangs piercing through its neck.

Soon enough all three groups had descended upon the enemy wolves. Things soon became a frenzy of gnashing teeth, growls, claws, and blood. I didn't have long to watch the blood bath, as a wolf decided to lunge for me. I dodged the large dark brown paw that came at me, nearly getting grazed by the long claws. Moving quickly, I moved further away from my opponent, assessing them from a distance. It was an average sized wolf, but there was something feral in its eyes. It let out a low growl before charging at me. I met it head on, a bullet barreling towards its target. As it neared closer and closer, I reached toward my nearest weapon – or where it was supposed to be.

It was in that moment that I realized how deeply I was fucked. I had no weapons. Like not a damn one. How could this have happened? My mind was racing, trying to pinpoint the exact moment when my weapons could have been taken from me. Flashes of my first encounter with Khan, being in the underground holding cell, and when Phoebe removed the Karecous. Fuck...

This made things a bit more difficult, now that I'd have to kill it with my bare hands. It wasn't the first time, but I just didn't like doing things this way. It was too late to complain now as the wolf was five feet away from me. Stepping to the side just as it was about to bite me, I sent a roundhouse kick into its ribs. The kick threw it off balance but didn't have much impact, but all I needed was an opening. As it regained its footing, I was already making my next move. Hooking an arm around the neck of the beast, I got onto its back and wedged a foot into its neck vertebrae. Using a great deal of force, I snapped its neck upward while pressing my foot down. The beast let out a strangled sound as it choked on its own blood.

     I didn't get the time to look at my handy work, for another wolf was hurtling towards me with its fangs bared. It made a move to lunge at me, but I ducked beneath its belly and grabbed hold of one of its rear legs. With a simple flick of my wrist, the bone dislocated. The wolf howled in pain, but quickly pulled itself together. It swiped at me with its claws, clipping my right shoulder. The rush of fighting and my training made it easier for me to not feel the pain. Just as I was about to attack it a wolf with russet brown fur leaped across me and bit into the enemy's throat. In a matter of seconds the enemy wolf hung lifeless from its muzzle. Tossing the mangy thing aside, the wolf slowly approached me. Halfway it shifted, revealing Khan and his nakedness.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he came to a stop in front of me. He didn't wait for my response before he went on to examine my right shoulder.

It was strange, with everyone else fighting, here we were standing in the middle of it all. I was lost to his tender ministrations on my shoulder. It was definitely a complete change of pace when compared to our first meeting. It was like day and night. Actually, thinking about it made this moment taste bitter. My muscles tensed as he poked and prodded the healing wound.

"I'm fine," I said snatching my arm out of his grasp. "I don't get why you're being all touchy-feely all of a sudden, but stop!"

A hurt look crossed his features, and for a minute I felt bad for putting that look on his face. Now wasn't the time for guilt – at least not on my end. We were in the middle of a fight. Khan watched me for a while, searching the depths of my face. The disappointment on his face was proof enough that whatever he was looking for wasn't there.

"Alright, fine. But you need to calm down, you don't want to force a shift right now." His voice was monotone as though he was trying to pacify me. For some reason, that just made me angrier. Heat seared through my bones like lava. Something was building in my chest, causing my breathing to quicken and my chest to rise and fall faster with each inhale. "First you beat the crap out of me when I get here, and now you flip flop and start acting like you give a shit. It gets old really fast!"

Despite what was going on with me, I was hyper aware of the calm that had settled among the fights. All the enemy wolves had long been subdued or killed. Now surrounding us were pack wolves watching our altercation in fascination. I didn't care though. I was just sick of all of it! Tired of all the secrets, all the inconsistency, and just these fucking wolves in general! Thinking they can come in and get away with all they've done.

"You really need to calm down, Natalia," Louvell warned, coming up behind Khan.

"Don't call me that," I ground out past gritted teeth.

I couldn't think straight. There was a red haze filling my line of vision. Acid spread on my tongue as the fire in my stomach began to grow, and the lava in my veins started to boil. It started out with minuscule pain so insignificant that I hadn't notice, but the pain soon built up. It felt like lightning ran through my body shattering the bones in my legs first. A scream bubbled up in my throats but found no escape. The pain ran amok throughout my body, making it's way up my spine to the very tip of my head.

I could no longer stand on my feet. Keeling over, I gasped at the pain. It was as though it were humming through my body on a continuous loop. The feeling in my chest finally ripped through me, releasing itself as a growl. I was falling within myself, growing smaller with each passing second. The voices around me seemed to become more distant, despite the fact that they were physically closer than I could bare. There were shouts to not move me and to get the pack doctor, Dr. Jauken.

It felt like something was coming undone within me. Again, I felt small within my own body. Something was freed but didn't want to leave room for me. I was battling this unknown force and quickly losing strength. All I could do was curse the fact that I was always blacking out since I got here.

Before sinking into the nothingness, a howl rang through my mind. Sighing in exhaustion, I continued to sink further down the hole.

A/N: Hola readers, it's been a while. Here's the latest update! Hopefully you guys stuck around this long! Tell me what you think! Vote, comment, and/or follow!

— Tabii XD