Changes Chapter 1: Honeymoon, a women of the otherworld fanfic

Next story! Starting off with a bonus chapter. :B

I may or may not throw Nick's POV in after this... it just amused me to try it for this chapter.

"That's it. Honeymoon." Clayton threw something against a wall, a tea towel, raising his hands in defeat as Nick growled against the back of my neck.

We had been doing the dishes, the dishwasher had broken down, and I'd been trying to wash. Trying. Nick kept rubbing up behind me, apparently to help, but he kept 'accidentally' dribbling water down my chest. Making it cling. His hips grinding against mine with soft growls as he did pathetic jobs at scrubbing dishes. Not surprising- I was in his way.

Poor Clayton, who was rinsing and drying the dishes, was getting an eyeful he didn't want to get, getting dishes that weren't completely clean, handing them back and extending his torment. Elena had been sitting at the table with Dominic in her lap, watching us, trying to not laugh as Clayton's veins on his neck started to bulge out.

We, out of all the couples, were the most public with our affection. I'd realised this months ago at the triplet's first Christmas but pushing Nick away just made him try harder. He enjoyed it when I pushed him away. Enjoyed it when I ignored him. Enjoyed it when I responded. Realistically, it was made worse by the fact that our sex life was all based on the 'creative' moments now. The triplets were two years old in a month and that naturally meant chaos. They were all walking.

Nick was yanked away from me by Clayton's hand, pushed into a chair, Clayton pinning him there by lowering Lily and Susie onto each of his knees, forcing him to stay put. Then he returned and we tried to finish.

"You two need a honeymoon." Clayton glanced at me. I flushed and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah." I agreed, but glanced back at the toddlers. Honeymoons were for married couples with no kids.

"You two need a honeymoon. If I see him groping you again in here, I'm going to get you thrown out of a helicopter myself." Clayton growled as he heard Nick stand, shooting him a look, and Nick flopped back down. Crossed his arms. The two girls, now on the ground, were already heading for the living room. Seeking Jeremy probably. "You're going as fast as we can shove you on a plane."

"Ana's coming though."

"In three weeks. You don't need to be here to get her room ready." Elena spoke up. She lowered the little boy to the ground as he reached for it, Dominic following his sisters. She added, her voice taking on that edge that she got as 'alpha', something that I wished I could say was new since Jeremy had stepped down. But it wasn't. She'd been using that voice on us for months. "It's discussed and agreed on by all of us. You're going. I'll call Jeremy and see if we can take up Jamie's offer about the island."

"But-"

"We'll care for the triplets. Anything to get you two some time to ...relax." Clayton muttered. "They'll be fine. We don't mind for a little while."

"You will."

"Already spoken to Antonio. You're going." He glanced at me now, challenging me to defy him, to go against what was clearly becoming an order. "He comes here, you leave in a few days, we all get some peace."

"Where?" Nick stood up again and didn't make the mistake of looking at Clayton. He headed straight back for me, wrapping his arms around my stomach, his chin on my shoulder. When he secured himself there, his eyes met Clayton's, a low growl as a challenge as Clayton narrowed his eyes at him again.

"Tropical island. Jamie's got a contact who offered her a few weeks alone on it. She'll let you two have that time." Elena replied as she took the tea towel from Clayton. "It's a bit humid and there might be a storm or two but it should be fine."

"I like tropical storms." I did. I hated humidity, I really hated it, but the storms were fun. "But the humidity is awful. We could delay it... and humans. Humans on an island will make it hard to change."

"It has air conditioning and no humans. You'll be fine."

Nick's hand slid up my top, stroking the wet skin, jumping when he heard a hiss from Clayton and something thrown at him. He clung to me as Clayton dragged him backwards, taking me with him, and we found ourselves in the study as Clayton called Jeremy himself.

That was how we found ourself four days later, thinking we were about to die, all memory of being jet lagged gone, sitting in a helicopter, crossing against the ocean in a humid climate with a storm rocking and shaking the helicopter. I couldn't deny that it was starting to scare me, the way it shook, the wind blowing against the tiny metal object hovering in the sky, Nick's face as white as mine. Our bags, for some reason, had been delivered already. We only had our backpacks. Under us the ocean was white tipped, spray thrown up high into the sky, the island seeming to be miles away.

The helicopter lurched, dropped, lurched, swung around, the island vanishing from the front for a moment. Nick's hand tightened harder on mine as he stared outside, fear from him filling my nostrils, driving my instincts nuts.

The pilots were speaking to each other about 'ditching'. Nick heard it, swore, sliding closer to me, his arm looping around mine.

"You two are going to have to jump."

"What!" Nick yelled over the sound of wind and the helicopter. "No fu-"

"We can't ditch in the ocean. If we do, the helicopter's rotors might break up, shards of metal flying everywhere. You two get out in the water and we'll try and … the weight difference might make it safer for us to get back! We'll drop the bags and you two jump into the water."

"Can't you drop us on land?"

"Not unless you want to break your legs!" The pilot replied, his face white, hands clutching the stick or whatever it was hard. "Water. Jump in, legs tight together, arms across chest, then when you get in and the water closes over your head, spread your legs wide to slow yourselves."

"The waves are huge though!" Nick's voice was panicked again, as he stared under us, his hand shaking. "They're-"

"Break legs or jump in water. The waves aren't as big as they look." The pilot called.

We decided to jump into water.

The helicopter hovered over the land, high up, as the bags were thrown out. It shook, sliding sideways at an angle, spinning again, and they struggled with it. Then we were back over the ocean, back over water, somewhere that looked deep enough...

"The building is along the beach." The pilot called, glancing back a moment, his face shiny with sweat. "You can walk there before the storm really hits. This is... " He paused as the helicopter lurched, nearly tipping us out then and there. "This is just the start. Hurry."

Nick froze as he stared at the ocean under him, face white with fear, and I suddenly wondered if he'd ever been in surf before. But before I could ask, the helicopter lurched again and he fell into the calmest part of the waves.

In other words, he fell into the rip. I jumped in after him when he started to panic in the water, the helicopter lifting and vanishing as it fled the storm, trying to grab for him.

"Calm down!"

I may as well have said 'start to panic'. That was exactly what he started to do, when he saw I was there too, started to scramble towards me. Nick grabbed me. We both sunk when he did, his eyes widening, no sense left there. I struggled in the water, rip grabbing at my legs as Nick's panicked grasp on my shoulders kept shoving me underwater, about as frantic and determined to stay above water as a giant dog. A giant six foot three dog. Maybe he'd come over hoping to save me but now...

The only thing I could do, besides trying to rip off his arms and waste precious seconds, was to try and swim for it. I could see the sand a few metres under my legs, as we were swept backwards and forwards, if I could just swim far enough for him to get a foot hold... just fast enough... ignore the waves, the incredible pull of the rip, the thunder and rain pelting on the surface, just get there.

Panic flooded me as my lungs started to scream, trying to peel him off even as my logical plan was in effect, trying to swim forward. We were barely moving, barely reaching it, and Nick's arms kept tightening around me as if he wasn't aware that it was my head he was hanging onto. I wanted to scream at him to stop drowning me and just body surf in. Who didn't know how to do that? Fuck. Fuck. Fu-

I couldn't stop it. My lungs screamed and I gulped water, swallowing the salty shit, struggling to throw Nick off now, his arms clamped around me as the huge waves crashed over the two of us. A second more and... but I couldn't let him drown either...

Pain rushed into my chest, I gasped with the sheer shock of it, which of course made more pain rush in. I was going to drown while the idiot above me panicked. It was surf, for crying out loud, no matter how much the sky thundered and the rip tugged hard, sand brushing under my feet and vanishing again, the salt water tearing through my chest and rushing into my body.

I sunk, I couldn't hold him up any more, my body struggling to keep it up, my mind trying to shut off. Nick vanished, either he'd been washed off or he'd let go, I wasn't sure. I tried to hang on to conciousness, force my lungs to keep waiting for air, gasping as a wave was sucked back and gave me a precious second above water. The world going into a strange tunnel vision, grasping for something further ahead, rocks maybe, not caring what it was as long as it could get me out of the water.

I was so close to the beach. So cl...

The waves ripped at me again, tugging at me, the rip catching at my legs and dragging me backwards, underwater, pulling at me. Rips weren't scary usually, I knew what to do, but I was drowning now, I needed air. My heart pounded as I struggled against it, fingers grabbing for rocks, trying to find a way up into the air.

I felt something grab at me from the rock I'd been trying to grab onto, skin slipping against mine, grip lost as the rip tugged me backwards. I heard my dad's voice echoed in my head. Stop panicking, I heard him tell me when I'd gotten into a rip with him as a nine year old kid, just calm down and let it take you. They only went as far as the back of the waves. Back then, he'd shown me how to swim in one, he'd taken me the right direction, swimming parallel in the direction of the rip to find the edge. He stayed there with me the entire time, telling me that it wouldn't pull me under, it would only take me out to the back of the waves, and from there I could surf back in. I wouldn't drown if I focused.

With his voice in my head, his calm face echoing in my memories, I stopped fighting the rip and found myself come to the surface, found myself able to gasp for lungfuls of hair between the huge wave, trying to keep my mind clear as my tunnel vision kept me focused on one thing only. The sky. I focused on the sky, focused on the thunder and lightning, on the rain, and every time the waves allowed me air, I gulped it in as deep as I could, arms pulling me through the water with the rip. Panic still made my heart pound but that eased when I saw Nick standing on a rock, pacing up and down against it, the same rock I'd tried to grab. I must have gotten him to a rock. He was safe and I could do this.

With him safe I could focus on swimming in the surf, trying to swim parallel in the direction of the rip, arms pounding through the waves and gasping in deep gasps of air as a wave came at me. Finally I found my legs let go of by the current, felt my body slow, and could turn around. It was some distance to the beach now, my chest hurt like hell, and when the rollers lifted me up, I saw Nick on the beach, trying to see me, trying to figure out where I was. He couldn't see me now- I'd been moved some fifty metres sideways by this current.

I just had to get back now. The waves were at least going in the right direction. Towards the beach. I turned, salt water burning my throat and eyes, and started to swim in the direction of the swells, ignoring the gale winds, the rain, the thunder, letting the waves push me forward as I body surfed in, let them pull me back a few feet, then push me forward. In, and out, in and out, steadily making progress as the waves pushed me along the sandy beach, trying to avoid rocks as much as I could, glad that I'd had my hair tied back on the helicopter. It would be hell right now, getting swished around by the waves, the sand and the water disorientating.

Sand on the bottom touched my feet and hands, white water around me, and knew I was getting close, scrambling against it, finding rocks under my hands and feet, using them to hold on as the waves were pulled backwards. A sudden pain in one hand made me yelp, pulling back, but the wave washed me against the rock and another scrape distracted me from it. A few more minutes and I could scramble onto the sand, gasping for air, my chest hurting with the effort of it, collapsing just a few metres up from the waves.

I made it. I didn't drown, no thanks to Nick, and I got back. Exhaustion made my limbs stop moving and my head flop onto one arm. Fuck.

I wondered how far I'd been carried away from him. Surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to go back into the water. Probably not.

Rain pelted down on my back, the thunder rumbling ahead, the gale starting to return into my senses. Whatever tunnel vision I'd had while caught in the rip and being half-drowned was gone now, and the sounds and screams of the storm returned with full force. I'd have to get up and find Nick and get into some kind of shelter. Find where the helicopters had dumped the bags. Instead I lay there, throwing up, salt water burning my throat as my stomach heaved it up again, trembling. I slept then, unable to move, just letting my body do what it had to.

Nick

I groaned, dampness lapping at my bare feet, the taste and texture of sand against my head and in my mouth, aware of a pounding headache and the smell of blood in my nostrils. Something brushed against my head and then wandered away across the sand.

Last night had been one hell of a party. I must have drank too much. Or had Clayton hit me? Probably a little of both. My fault, I supposed, for springing that hooker onto him, but as his friend I was genuinely concerned. No thirty year old was supposed to be a virgin still. It wasn't natural.

His loss had been my gain though. Fuck, she'd been one hell of a woman, she knew her job well. The party had been incredible, even if Clayton had punched me and stormed out, the best party I'd thrown so far.

Wind was stinging me though with sand and I opened my eyes, cringing at the bright light, aware that I was now on a beach somewhere, my head cracked open, a palm tree lying right above my head. Ow. That might have explained how I'd hit it. Sleeping on a beach always seemed like a great idea ...till a palm tree fell on you.

I sat up slowly, the world swaying, gazing down at my hands and feet, seeing tiny cuts and dried blood. The crab that'd walked past my head was retreating into the gentle waves now but I could see dark clouds against the horizon. Coming or going?

From the strength of the wind I had to say it was coming.

A scent, both familiar and alien to me, was on me, on my hands, on my skin, under my clothing, and I lifted my hands to inhale it. A woman, not the stripper, but someone who smelt fucking incredible. Now why couldn't I remember her? Anyone with a smell like that should have stuck out. For the millionth time I swore I'd not drink so much this time.

I stumbled up, using the palm tree, the world swaying a little. I could smell the scent stronger as I stood, being blown at me through the wind, the woman still nearby. But there was blood too. That made something in me tense, an anxiety I couldn't quite place, and I was too sore to argue with it. Finding her might mean I'd find the house. Dad could come pick me up, I could barely stand straight, driving would be bad.

Making my way along the sand, I headed into the firmer wet sand, reaching up to touch my hair and the spot it'd been hit. The texture of my hair was more disturbing than the blood itself, dried out, filled with sand and crap. There was a cliff rising up out of the large bay, I scrambled up it, cringing as the exercise made the blood speed up in me. Ow.

I could smell her stronger the higher I got up, the bizarre 'wolf in heat' scent filling my nostrils, as if there was some invisible line set down under my feet towards where she was waiting. Waiting? I grinned. If she knew what I could do to her... she'd be waiting. But what was with her smell? It was almost like she was a werewolf, like me, which was naturally impossible. There was only mutts and the pack. If there was a chick we'd hear about it.

The jungle thickened for a few metres, suddenly separating as I almost fell down another small cliff, seeing a pale shape lying half in the waves down in a smaller cove, the smell coming directly from it. She wasn't moving. I wasn't even sure if she was breathing.

Oh shit.

I didn't wait or worry about sore feet, I jumped down the three metres, cringing as sand gave way under cut feet, scrambling across the wet sand as fast as my feet could catch me, that anxiety building into a higher pitch as she didn't move. Just lay there, water lapping around her face, not a twitch as it covered her mouth, her nose, or any sign she knew I was there when I dropped to my knees beside her to tug her onto her back out of the water. I couldn't smell any alcohol on her, that would have been obvious, no rank perfumes either, just the mind blowing scent of wolf mixed with the human.

Something else too, I thought, as I reached down to touch her open mouth, the lips parted, eyes shut. There was something about her that tore at me somehow. I bent down to check that she was breathing, found that she was, pressing a hand to her neck to feel for a pulse. This close I couldn't pretend that it was 'just a smell'. The werewolf scent drugged my head, tore into me, went down into my hips, begging me to …

I wasn't that kind of guy. I didn't care how hot a woman was. I didn't do them while they were unconscious.

She was alive. Half drowned, maybe, but alive. I lifted her up carefully, surprised by how easy it was to do so, her sharp inhale showing that at least on some level she was concious.

I expected her to stiffen, to fight me off, to wake up even, as any mutt would do with a strange werewolf. Instead, she sighed, relaxed, even snuggled against me a little, as if what she smelt she liked. A grin as I adjusted her, her forehead against my neck, she'd be easily warmed up to me when she woke up. But shit. A female werewolf? I'd have to call Dad the second … no, I'd call Jeremy. And Dad.

"Nick." She murmured, asleep still, lips tracing along the sensitive part of my jaw as if she knew exactly where it was by smell. That made me snap out of it a little bit. Cute or not, she was still a dangerous werewolf, and an unknown mutt who apparently knew my name.

What to do with her though? I made my way up, spotting a bag dangling from a tree, deciding that it clearly was abandoned. There was a cave too on the edge of the tiny cove. Okay. She could go in the cave, I could see what was in the bag, maybe tie her up. I lowered her, tensing again as she stiffened, some part of me resisting putting her down on the cold ground. Instead I just shifted her into one arm, her legs dangling, balancing her carefully as I tugged the bag down, and threw it over one shoulder so I could grab her with two arms again.

I had her quickly on the ground, rummaging in the bag, finding a knife and rope in the bag, along with some other 'survival stuff'. Great. What was going on? Had Clayton dumped me out here? I wouldn't put it past him. But with a female werewolf? He wouldn't have left her alone with me, he'd have dragged her back to Jeremy and the cage the second he spotted her, an oddity that wouldn't be left alone. Mutts would chase her down all over the place with a smell like that. I turned her gently onto her back, careful to turn her head so she could breathe, and inhaled sharply as I caught sight of what was all over the girl's back. The top had a low back, her damp hair falling out of my way with a careful brush, finding fucking awful scars along her back and right up her neck. I lifted the top at the waist, slowly, careful to not wake her, tracing them as they went right down, down into the damp jeans. Some kind of sex fiend? She didn't seem the kind and they didn't look like part of some kinky game. They looked serious.

A kind of rage rose in me as I pictured what they'd have been like when they'd been fresh, open, probably very deep, picturing her lying there with her back cut open... and then, suddenly, an image I couldn't explain. One of her lying there naked, her back completely untouched, my sheets curled across her bare legs, asleep in my bed in New York, as if I was watching her sleep.

Fuck. It made no sense. I grasped her arms, gently pulling them behind her back, the urge to just leave her alone fighting with the need to protect myself from her. I wanted to just leave her there, give her a pillow out of my lap, wait for her to wake naturally. But it wasn't wise to do that. When they were secure, I slid my hand into one of her pockets, trying to pretend I couldn't feel the smooth skin under there, the bone, or the way it made me want to keep feeling, trying to find a wallet or an ID.

I found rings hidden away in the coin part of her pocket. I slid backwards, staring at the rings and then at her, diamonds glinting at me in the dim light on one ring and the other a simple gold band. She was married? I sat there dumbly, staring at her, struggling with instincts I didn't get. Usually with a woman I'd back right off there and this one...It didn't work. I didn't want to back off.

Anne

When I woke it was morning, the storm was over, and my arms wouldn't move. Bright sunlight blinded me as my eyes flew open, aware that I was no longer on the beach but now instead in a little cave, the familiar smell of Nick nearby, my arms bound back behind my back.

Panic suddenly flooded me at that realisation, blind unreasonable panic, adrenaline flooding through me. Arms tied back. I struggled against them, struggled, trying to tear them or tear my arms free, skin already shiny with sweat. I wasn't on a honeymoon with Nick anymore, I was tied up, back with that alpha, my body threatening to change to deal with the threat if he didn't …

"Get them off me!" I gasped as I heard Nick's sharp intake, heard him step closer.

"Shhh, it's alright. Calm down."

"Don't you fucking give me calm down, this isn't funny. Get them off me before I chang-" I groaned, pain shooting through my skin, my skin prickling. Nick knew I couldn't be tied up. He knew that it always triggered this fear, always had, maybe always would.

"Calm down. Shit, you really are one, aren't you?" That confused the hell out of me, Nick's statement there, and I finally found him in the dim light, his eyes wide, pressed back against the cave. Dried blood was down the side of his face, scaring me further, I inhaled the smell of blood the panic increased. He was hurt. "You need to stop. It's okay. I won't hurt you."

"You are hurting me, Nick..." I cried out, body starting to contort, my cries of pain echoing through the cave and far down it, limbs starting to change. It was starting and I couldn't stop it. What happened to a wolf who's front legs were bound behind it's back like this? "Get them off me!"

He seemed to think the same thing, leaping over, the flash of something silver in his hand as he cut it free, trying to help free me of the clothing as my body contorted and changed, pain ripping through me. No one but Nick would see me like this, and even then I didn't like it much, but it was better than to be half trapped in clothing as a wolf. My eyes caught his, his pale face, the whites of his eyes showing in his fear, and he backed off when he'd loosened everything, the knife still in his hand.

When it was over, the ropes laying limp across my back, I lay there panting, not at all amused at this joke, still half-covered in clothing. Pain rocked through my body still, probably from the hurried swim earlier, my head, shoulders and paws hurting.

One leg moved, then the other, I crawled onto my legs, rolling onto my stomach and check the underside of my paw. Licking it, I found blood, though it wasn't quite like it would be as a human. I shook my sore head, chest aching, exhaustion still flooding through my body even as the wolf. Outside my senses told me the storm was over. Nick was outside now.

Outside?

I stood up slowly, body trembling, shaking my head and pawing at the hard ground in an attempt to see where he'd gone. His trail had gone outside, I followed it, sniffing and pawing at the soft dirt and sand outside. We were on the edge of a little cove. It was small, low compared to the land that curved around each side, rocks making cliffs, no crashing waves but the early morning light as the sun peaked over the horizon. Last night it'd probably been crazy. A tree had fallen over, roots keeping it connected to the soil, the palm leaves waving in the gentle waves as it was pushed backwards and forwards. The wind still was there, it blew hard against my coat, sending Nick's scent straight to me.

I padded through the jungle, panting, thirsty and hot, following Nick. I wasn't sure why he'd run away like that when I'd changed but I had to make sure he was okay now. Paws scrambled up the side of the cove, up the sand, onto the solid ground where roots and dirt held the sand steady.

The wind buffed against me as I inhaled, ears wriggling, circling around in an attempt to smell where Nick had vanished to. He was some distance away along the beach, a tiny dark dot on the edge of the water, still staring into the water, standing there. Or was it Nick? Maybe it was a rock.

I trotted through the undergrowth, head lifting up as I smelt something familiar, eyes finding a bag dangling from a tree. Two bags. That smell was our smell on them. I ignored them for now and continued to where the potential Nick was. Freezing, my nostrils flared, inhaling Nick's scent from the beach, the smell of his blood cutting into it. Fuck. As a wolf that smell was twice as bad.

Suddenly I ran, ran for the body there, skidding to a halt beside him and trying to see the wound in his hair.

Nick's nostrils flared and he spun around, arms warding me back, scrambling backwards as if I'd snuck up and falling on his ass in the sand. Stared at me in shock, at the sand, at the beach, panic flooding his body, and when I stepped closer, he scrambled backwards. He was afraid of me.

I whined, sliding onto my stomach, pulling forward, head tilted in confusion. He hurriedly got back to his feet, backing up faster, nostrils flaring again and again as he stared at me.

"Fuck, don't sneak up like that. You've gotta stay human." He swore, grabbing for a branch, waving at me. "Are you a new mutt?"

Mutt?

That hurt. I cringed, tail going down, as his eyes showed too much white at the sight of me. He was really afraid of me. What was wrong with him? He swung the branch at me when I came too close, his heart racing, and he was serious about it too, because the branch hit me hard in my side and sent me rolling. Was he trying to play a joke on me? I wouldn't put it past him even if it was bad timing.

This was not going to work this way. I backed up, turning on him, speeding for the beach where the little cave was. I'd have to change back.

I changed, trying to urge it to hurry, which my body naturally ignored. It took some time to manage to complete it, the more I urged it the slower it took, the agony of last night's 'swim' not assisting my body in shifting back to human from wolf. When I shifted back I looked like hell, hands raw, hair full of sand, bruises on my arms and legs, head and neck sore from Nick's arms grabbing onto me. Before I dressed I dunked my hair in the ocean to try and get it free of the sand, stepping into the calm water, trying to clean my skin and body of the shit from last night, aware halfway in that I was being watched. I ignored him. If he was playing some kind of game with me then it wasn't funny.

Nick's smell and feet drifted to me from above the little cove, as he made his way through the bush, keeping a safe distance above me. His knees cracked as he knelt down on the cliff, just a few metres away, eyes glued onto me.

Still ignoring him, I dunked my hair back under the water, kneeling there to wash it clear of the sand and to was dried blood off my hands. Just a few cuts. Nothing to get excited about. Nick's head worried me more.

"Are you going to get in and let me see your head now?" I called as he stayed put, his breathing hard, hearing him jump.

"Who the hell are you?"

I stared at him then, turning to look at him, seeing real genuine shock there. He seriously didn't know who I was. Fuck. I suddenly understood how Nick had felt when I'd forgotten him. I suddenly didn't know what to say. Girlfriend? Wife? Mother of his kids? "How's your head?" I ignored the question and stood up, cheeks flushing as his eyes roamed over my naked body, feeling that odd sense of shyness there drift up. He really did look shocked, sliding closer on the edge of the water, like he was starting to doubt his own sanity. "You better wash it. It's okay, I won't bite."

"Huh?" Nick blinked, tearing his eyes off my body and back to my head, shaking his head as if he was groggy. "Maybe I did drink too much last night. I swear..." He shook his head again, rubbing it, cringing as his fingers found the cut.

"I said wash that cut on your head." I replied, backing out of the water, cheeks reddening. He'd seen me a million times now but somehow his expression and comment not helping me try and stay calm and rational. I headed for the little cave.

"What's your name?"

"Liz."

"Did you just-" Nick hesitated, standing, glancing at me. He couldn't smell me from that direction and I felt him circle me, slowly, trying to relax as I smelt him. As he circled he tried to keep a conversation going. "So where are we?"

"The tropics." I dressed hurriedly, leaving the rings in my pocket, scrapping the bra for speed. "Apparently we're staying on this island. We've got to figure out where."

"We're staying here?" He was really confused now, moving into the entrance of the cave, struggling to smell me. When he got in far enough the smell hit him hard, it was already filling the cave, making Nick stumble back. "Where's Clayton? Big grouchy guy, head full of blonde curls, you can't miss him."

"Do you know what you are?" I was careful, trying to not scare him, but he seemed already freaked enough.

"Of course I do. Is this Clay's idea of a joke? What, did he pay a stripper to run around naked, rub some ...scent... on you, and confuse me with a giant dog? This because I gave him a hooker for his birthday?" He glanced from side to side as if he was expecting Clayton to come out and go 'I got you!'. Nick didn't seem to believe it, but he seemed desperate, fishing for an explanation that made sense.

"A ...stripper?" I growled before I could stop myself. That was not funny.

"Sorry. Prostitute. Hooker. Escort. Um. Whatever it is you go by. That's it, isn't it? You got paid to play a joke on me. You can tell me. I'll pay you double what he paid." He relaxed, liking this idea, laughing a little. "So where is he?"

Screw head injuries. I hit him hard, slapping him, hoping that it might smack his memories back into place. Nick was not expecting it and he was not expecting me to have that strength he had, it knocked him clean off his feet and onto the ground again, making him yelp. "Hey!"

Breathe, I tried to remind myself, breathe. Don't beat him up. You're married to him.

"I'm not a hooker, prostitute, escort, or anything else that exchanges sex for money. Might be an idea to not suggest that again. What do you remember?"

"Clayton getting a hooker for his birthday, Clayton vanishing, a party, drunk, some hot chicks, but not you." He rubbed the side of his face as he gazed up at me, eyes going back up and down my body, sniffing his hand as he touched the spot my skin had made contact with his. "I'd have remembered you."

"Yet you don't." I muttered. Crossed my arms. I was being probably too angry with him, maybe, but he'd nearly drowned me last night and now he was calling me a prostitute.

"Did we hook up?"

The urge to drag rings out and show him reared but I shoved it down. "Last night, no."

He looked disappointed at that.

"How old is Clayton?" I asked, slowly, as he rubbed his head.

"Thirty and flirty. No, forget the flirty part, he was not keen on that part at all. His loss and my gain." He grinned, or tried to, winking slightly. "But how th... who are you?"

"Thirty?" Pre-Elena, in other words, Nick had no clue what to make of me. I ignored his suggestion, turning my back on him, rubbing my head. This was not a good day. "I told you. I'm Liz. You've hit your head and I need some water. Apparently we're supposed to find a villa on the edge of the beach, and we both need water, so … questions later, please." My head ached.

Nick stood up behind me ,rubbing his bum to get rid of the sand, and I heard him ask, "I know I've hit it. So where are we supposed to go?"

"We have to find the villa."

So that was what we tried to do. Nick kept his distance, I just hoped that it'd calm down with some water. Did dehydration mess with memory? Maybe. If that didn't then the blow to his head probably wasn't helping. All I knew was that he thought he'd just woken up hungover from Clay's thirtieth birthday. From the sounds of it, it seemed like Nick had organised it and Clay had no say... I wondered if Clay had even been there.

We got to the bags and got them down. Nick kept trying to ask me questions, frowning now, as he stared at me. Stared hard. I couldn't figure out how to tell him what we were, so I mentioned that we'd been close. I didn't want to stress him out till he'd gotten water in him.

No, that wasn't the real truth. Truthfully, I didn't know how to handle this side of Nick, this time when he'd avoided all long term relationships, when he'd laugh at me if I told him I was his girlfriend, or I'd see him vanish into the jungle and calling me nuts. I wanted to get to the villa and call Jeremy. Clayton. Ele- ...not, not Elena. Antonio. I wanted to talk to Antonio and Clay. Get some help and maybe some backup. Nick knew and trusted them. I told him that we'd call them and explain it. Even if he thought he was thirty, he was still older than me, but I felt the separation between us suddenly and it scared me. I wanted to grasp for his hand and hold it, I wanted to hold onto him, I wanted to kiss him silly till it all came back. But finally, as Nick kept asking, his stress levels rising as his headache increased, I gave in somewhat.

"It's been a little while since Clayton turned thirty." I admitted, offering him the bottle of water I'd been guarding, letting him swallow it all.

"How long?" He slipped it into a pocket and started ahead of me, ready to take the lead, ready to use his instincts. "I think I hear something."

"A while. He'll tell you when I can get to a phone."

"So they know you?" He jogged closer as we made our way around the beaches, my nose and ears on alert, Nick's own working too. "Enough to let you call them?"

"Yes."

"How well?"

"We go for runs." I responded, glancing back at where Nick had frozen, seeing his mind trying to decide if I meant 'runs' or 'wolf runs'. I added for good measure, "On all fours. All of us."

"How much have I forgotten? Shit." He still looked suspicious, wary of me, but he was struggling with another instinct too. This was Nick's first time with my scent, as far as he knew, though I wondered if his instincts were screaming something else at him. We kept hurrying towards the sound we could hear, distant voices, but every time the strong wind gusted from me to him, Nick's shoulders stiffened, his nostrils flared, arms tensing as if he was struggling against something.

"Nick?"

He turned around to look at me. His pupils were dilated now, and I wondered if that was my scent or the fact that he was really not okay, the sight usually meaning he was about to jump on top of me. Nick inhaled again, drawing my smell into his chest, shaking his head. "Damn, you really do smell good. Yes?"

"If you're playing a prank, like you did the morning we..." The morning we'd gotten married. When he'd pretended we were in New York and he didn't know me. "Please stop. I'm upset enough about you tying me up." It was a last ditch effort at bringing him back, at forcing him to admit he was messing with my head, some of the hurt from his actions before threading into my voice. I was hoping to see regret, or something, or hear him admit he'd been joking.

He frowned at me, the emotion in my voice making him take a few steps back, holding up his hands. "Liz. I'm not joking with you. I seriously don't know who you are. Sorry if it upset you to be tied up but you're a strange mutt to me. We don't trust..."

"Yeah." What had I expected?

We found the source of the voices as we stumbled out of the jungle and onto a clear grassy area. There was a villa sitting there beside the beach, door open, a TV on in the window. Clayton had promised that this honeymoon would be free of all humans, all cooking would be waiting to be heated up, and I couldn't smell any humans around. There were old tracks, sure, but none of them fresh. Someone must have left a TV on by accident.

"That it?" He moved ahead as I nodded, crossing the grass with me close behind, Nick dumping the bags on the porch and heading in to stare at the flat screen TV. "Look at this. I've never seen one like it."

I followed him inside, exhaling slowly as we got out of the wind, relaxing. There was a letter on the table to 'Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Sorrentino' that I slipped into my pocket before he could see it and stress out again. I watched him touch the screen, fascinated, counting back mentally how many years ago it'd have been since he was thirty. Twenty years so... so this was Nick from the nineties'?

"Look at the colour!" He examined as he touched it. Prodded a button. It was on the weather channel, showing the storm heading towards us, apparently another one not far behind the first. "The sound. Fuck, look at the quality. Liz, have you seen one like this?"

"Do you want some water?"

Nick's head shot up and he nodded, as if he'd only just remembered that he was thirsty, dropping the remote and coming over. I handed him a glass.

"I need to change."

"Liz." He grabbed my arm, hands closing around it, and flinched when I jumped, his hand releasing mine. Suspicion was still there, filling his face, as Nick added, "Call them."

He wanted me to prove I knew them in other words. I nodded. "When I change, I will, I'm a bit cold."

He was grabbing my arm, staring at me again, lifting my hands to his nose, fingers running across my skin gently. I shut my eyes at the gentle caress, even if it wasn't what he intended, wishing he'd keep doing that. It calmed my frayed nerves. "You were bitten?"

"I was bitten by a mutt." I answered, opening my eyes as he continued to hold my hand, the confusion there. Confusion and disconnection. Like I'd lost my Nick and found some other version of him. How had he coped with this from his side? I didn't know any more. I stepped closer, reaching up, ignoring his flinch as I came close. I checked the cut on his head. "When you talk to Clayton, tell him about this."

Nick stepped closer now, a hand tracing up my side, nose brushing against my bare neck as he inhaled. "So we came here to be alone?"

"That was the idea."

A hand was sneaking down my back as he put the pieces together. I shuddered as it stroked across the back of my jeans, leaning closer to him, the familiar smell of my mate flooding my nose, ignoring the warning in the back of my head that something was off about this. "Just the two of us?"

"Just the two of us."

"For a bit of fun?" He pressed close now, lips tracing up my neck, hand sliding down over my behind harder, Nick's curls, dried out by the salt water, brushing against the side of my face.

"For a holiday together." Fun was guaranteed. I tempted it, touching his face, even if I felt strange about it. I shut my eyes and pretended it was Nick. Maybe he'd 'snap out of it' with a kiss or ... "Just the two of us. Away from the pack." And the triplets.

"And your husband?"

I blinked, stiffening, as the warmth of Nick separated from me, pushing me back off him.

Nick stepped back then, frowning, shooting me such a disdainful look that my breathing caught. "Don't sound like something I'd do. I don't get caught up with women who have husbands." His eyes went to my pocket and I reached for it, flushing, finding that it was empty.

Nick held them up, the precious rings, open dislike there now. "Found them when you were asleep, I was looking for your name. I don't mess with married women and I don't like women who do things that'll hurt others."

"Give them to me." I flinched at his tone, at his face, hurt. He thought I'd been cheating on someone with him.

"So what are you really doing here? Call Clayton if you know him so well." He pocketed them both again, crossing his arms, the expression on his face one that just made the pain in my chest increase. It was like being rejected all over again, being left behind, as if he'd again assumed I was like all the others he'd known. "Go on. Call him."

I turned my back on him and dialled, squeezing my eyes shut, trying to calm down. I held the phone to my ear, holding my breath as it crackled in the wind, eyes darting to the TV screen and the woman talking about the weather. The storm would hit here in a few hours and the instructions were to 'tape the windows with an X' and stay in a room without windows.

"Hello?" The voice came, clearly, cutting through the crackles, a drawl that flooded me with relief. I couldn't speak for a moment, sliding into the bedroom, locking Nick out before he could follow. He had to wait. "Hello?" Came Clay's voice again. "Who is it?"

"Anne." I ignored the 'thought you called yourself liz' from Nick outside. I stepped to the other side of the room, voice low. "It's me."

"You made it to the villa then?" Laughter. "Sorry about that. We decided you both needed a dunk in water before your honeymoon. Your bags are in the wardrobe. I hope it wasn't too shocking."

"Wait, what?"

"A... didn't you read the letter?"

"We haven't had time." I heard the door shudder as Nick went to bang it. "Bit of a problem over here."

"Shit. We told them to drop you two off on the other side and walk it. I warned you about that if you kept groping each other." Clayton was still grinning, I could hear it through the phone. "Having fun?"

"Nick nearly drowned me when the waves got too big for him, I got pulled out by a rip, and then Nick hit his head somehow and thinks you're both thirty and doesn't even remember Elena, but other than that, sure. Great fun." Another heavy shudder, as if he'd charged at the door. "He's pissed off with me, found my wedding rings, and thinks I'm a married woman trying to hook up with a single Nick."

The door was pounded on by Nick. "That Clay? Let me have the phone."

The answer was slow to come. "Wait, what?."

"He's hit his head and thinks he's thirty."

"I heard what you said, darling, but … you all right? Shit. You're right about a problem."

"What was Nick like when he was thirty?" I heard Clayton mutter something under his breath, heard Elena in the background go 'Hello, Jeremy?' and knew that they were already on it. Fantastic. I had no clue how to handle it. "That bad?"

"He had rules about avoiding married women, I remember that much. Doesn't like to hurt people."

"I don't know what to tell him. You-" The door fell open, lock breaking, as Nick slammed it. He snatched the phone from me and I heard him speak to Clayton.

"Clay? Who's Elena? Who is this?" Nick ignored me, stepping into the bedroom, and I slipped out to get something to drink.

I ignored the champagne, the chocolates, grabbed water and drank as much as I could. It came back up, all of it, and I tried again, making myself drink slower, calmer, exhausted.

I heard Nick's response without needing to focus.

"You've lost your mind, Clay. Seriously lost your mind. I can't be... a mirror? ...shit! ...this some kind of joke? … If she's pack… well, who's her husband? … What do you mean, you don't think you should be the one to tell me that? You're my best friend. Where's Tonio? ...well, who's El... you can't be. Pack law forbids that. My dad tried, remember?"

I relaxed, clutching the glass harder, staring out the window at the wind bending the trees, trying to breathe. Tried to put it together. Clayton had done what he'd threatened, thrown us out of a helicopter, and we'd almost drowned when Nick's bluff about loving surf turned out to be false. It would have been okay if Nick hadn't panicked, then I panicked because I didn't want him to drown, and then...

"You're the one that enforces it. How can it have changed? Jeremy?"

I tugged out the letter as I heard Clay and Nick arguing, reading it, seeing the same explanation there. We'd been dropped in and they'd come pick us up in a week. No humans around. Food in chest freezer in the pantry. Have fun. Triplets would be waiting when we got back.

I slid into a barstool and shut my eyes as I rested my head against the bench, cool stone meeting my forehead, not really caring how the storm outside was shaking the window. The sounds of Nick's voice in the bedroom filtered out till it became background noise as well, sleep slipping over me.

A phone was shoved against my ear as Nick reappeared. He looked upset, muttering something about fifty and being old, not helping how I was feeling about this, before he jumped up onto the bench and sat there.

"You there?" Clay's voice came and I sighed slowly. He seemed to take that as a yes. "Jer's coming. Guess we'll postpone this. Elena's on the phone to him now. Nick said you were asleep, how are you feeling?"

"Annoyed." I muttered. Then I hesitated. No, that wasn't fair. "I mean, I'm okay. A bit tired."

"I mean, are you hurt? You said you'd nearly drowned."

Oh. I flushed. "My chest hurts a bit."

Clayton repeated this to Elena, who was apparently on the phone to someone else, and then he asked, "Did you get any water in you?"

"A bit. I think. I think I swallowed most of it."

That was repeated and then, "There should be a first aid kit somewhere in the kitchen. Tell Nick..."

"He's already doing it." I watched Nick hop off the bench and start to rummage through the kitchen, searching for it, as I spoke on the phone. I rubbed my head and yawned. "What did you tell him?"

"You're pack, I trust you-" That warmed me, Clayton's voice telling me that, reassuring me a little, "- and he better start doing it too."

"That's an order?"

"Damn right it was." Clayton replied. "Told him the pack's got new rules about mates and it's up to you to tell him the rest. Jeremy's coming with Jamie now."

"He might want to hurry. There's a storm hitting us tonight. Did you know that when you sent us out here?"

"Hey, you always said you loved tropical storms. Nick thought you'd enjoy it."

That made sense, as to why Nick had pushed for a 'summer' holiday in the tropics. "Did he know about the helicopter?"

"Nope, all our idea. Didn't know he was afraid of surf after all his boasting."

I watched Nick pause, in his hunt for the kit, to eat something out of the fridge, back still to me. He glanced back, still dislike there, something made my stomach twist painfully. "What about Nick's head?"

"Did you check?"

"I couldn't get close enough long enough."

"I'll put ice on it." Nick yanked an icepack out of the freezer and dumped it there. He caught sight of his own reflection again, the shiny wall oven throwing it back at him, staring at his hair. "Fifty. Fuck."

"He's having another mid-life crisis." I added, as he stared at his hair in the reflection, thumbing through it. "I think he's searching for grey hairs."

"Tell him that he dyed them away before he left."

Nick heard and glared back at me. I cringed and he blinked, opening his mouth as if to say something, but I turned my back on him. Every time he looked at me like that, it made my chest tighten more, breathing harder. I couldn't speak now.

"Jeremy's coming." Clayton added, quieter, reassuring me, apparently hearing my breathing struggling. "I'd come but-"

"Elena." Elena had just become alpha and naturally, the change in leadership meant that there was new problems for Clayton as the protector and enforcer, because mutts were coming to challenge the new leadership. Anyone who tried would be insane, normally, but that didn't change the fact that a group of mutts, some young, some old, had forgotten Elena's reputation and assumed it meant the pack was easy pickings. It had also meant that a honeymoon in America, either north or south, was more or less impossible for us. I felt it welling up again, the nausea, and shoved the phone at Nick as I heard Clayton's response.

"Exactly. So hang on."

Nick

I was old. The words kept dancing through my head, over and over, as I stood in the reflection, prodding at my face, at the lines in the skin, at the dark hair, trying to find the grey I'd apparently dyed out. Fifty years old. Fifty! Werewolf standards, not too old, sure, but it was going to change my game. Not that it mattered, I lifted my shirt, checked myself out, still in good shape. Muscles, hair dried out from the sea water, and that chick didn't seem to mind. Shame she was married. I'd never heard of a female werewolf before and wondered how they'd be in bed.

Even if she hadn't been married, I doubted it was a good idea to get involved, she always seemed really put off by me somehow. 'Casual fun' wouldn't apply to her. I'd have to work too hard, get too deep, before she allowed me through.

I glanced at her in the reflection, her back to me as she spoke to Clay as if he was an old friend, frowning. That was till I caught the reflection of me doing it, touching the lines it made, smoothing them out. Then back to her. The entire morning, since I'd found her on the beach, her scent had done that. Hooked my eyes over and over, I couldn't take my eyes off her, the smell netting me in and holding me there. Provoking worry over her hands, her feet, the blood I'd found, everything. Her breathing scared me the worst. It wasn't working right. I could hear it, even if she seemed to be unaware, hear that it was wrong, that there was something off about it.

And every time I glared at her or mentioned the husband, she'd gotten this hurt look on her face, always making me regret whatever it was I'd said to hurt her. Some part of me wondered if the husband had been the one to bite her or to inflict those fucking awful scars on her back.

I stared at my reflection, obsessive about the changes, the scars I didn't understand, only vaguely caring now what she said to Clay. If he trusted her, which was extremely rare for him to say about anyone, that was good enough. She had to have been around a while to earn that.

The phone was shoved into my hand and I heard her rush to the en-suite beside the bedroom and throw up again, coughing, sounding awful.

"Anne?"

"Who's Anne?"

"Elizabeth Anne. We call her Anne." Clayton replied. "Is she throwing up?"

Why did I call her Liz then? I slid into the barstool and rubbed my sore head again. "Sounds like it. Clay, you've gotta see the TV in here. It's incredible."

"And you're not with her?" I heard it, surprise, and blinked at Clay's tone.

"Should I be?" She was throwing up, which wasn't good, but what was I going to do? Stand there and tell her it'd stop soon? Clay was acting stranger by the second- I was starting to doubt it was really him. Since when did he give a damn like this? I grabbed a glass, filling it with water, hearing thunder in the distance. "I'll get her water."

"You-"

A sound made us both freeze, another man's voice as a door slid open, the gale winds outside suddenly flooding into the house, two bodies being pushed with rain. Jeremy, much older than I'd ever seen him, stumbled in, a woman securely held under his arm in the wind. A human woman. Under his arm.

"Jeremy's here. With a woman." I informed Clayton. I expected him to sound surprised or something but instead he snorted.

"I told you he's coming with Jamie. Good. You talk with him and I'll tell Elena he's there." He hung up before I could ask why tell Elena. Who was she? She was blonde. I knew that somehow. Blonde woman. Good kisser. ...now how did I know that?

Urgh, this entire thing was confusing me.

"Hi Nick." The woman spoke, I stared at her blankly, confused. "I... uh..."

"Anne's in the bathroom." Jeremy told her softly. "Can you check on her?"

She nodded, his hand squeezing hers, and went past me to go into the en-suite. Her scent drifted past me as she went. Definitely human and definitely covered in Jeremy's smell.

"That was fast." I heard Anne mutter from the bathroom. I had to agree there.

"We were staying nearby." Jeremy explained as he shook the water out of his hair. "How's the head?"

"Sore." I muttered. I looked Jeremy up and down, the grey hair, the lines, new scars, the amusement in his face as I took it all in. "When did you get old?"

"When you did."

Anne

I stared at the toilet and flushed it. Voices were outside, more than Nick now, Jeremy and Jamie's voices mingling. That made no sense to me. Weren't they supposed to be in America right now? Apparently not, I thought as Jamie came in with an empty glass, filling it at the tap and offering it to me.

"You all right?" She asked, concerned, kneeling down.

"Just dehydrated, I think. I can't keep water down." I took the water and sipped it slowly, forcing myself to stop after just a little bit, putting it down. "Have to stop gulping it down. How did you get here so fast?"

Jamie grinned a little. "I got you the island. We figured if you were getting a holiday we should get one too."

"So you're staying somewhere here?"

"There's a villa in the middle of the island." She nodded and glanced back just moments before I heard Jeremy. Jamie stood up as he offered a hand to help me up.

I stood up with his help and grabbed the water, sipping it again slowly, ignoring the wave of nausea that came with it. Jeremy leaned closer, speaking low, clearly not wanting Nick to hear.

"Not pregnant?"

"No." Honestly. A woman had three babies, admittedly conceiving them pretty fast, and suddenly every time she threw up she was pregnant. I didn't want to go through that again any time soon.

The strength of my answer made him laugh softly and he directed me back into the living room to sit down beside Nick. I glanced sideways at him, briefly, hoping to see ...I didn't know. Jeremy's magical touch having brought his memories back.

I saw the same indifference, the same 'I don't really know you' expression, and squeezed my eyes shut as I turned forward again. Like sitting on a couch next to a stranger.

Jeremy knelt in front of me, starting to ask how I fetl, did this hurt, did that, and I pushed him sideways at Nick.

"Go to him first. I'm fine. Dehydrated. He's the one who's lost all his memories."

Jeremy nodded, shifting sideways, shifting a light into Nick's dark hair so he could see it better. I watched the storm approach across the ocean, standing to watch, fascinated. I loved storms. It would have been romantic, except of course for the danger of the windows shattering, to be with Nick in this.

"Jamie?" I turned to see her and she glanced up. "Can you help me tape x shapes on the windows?"

"Tape x shapes on the windows?" She repeated this, not sure what I was asking, and I nodded as I headed into the kitchen.

Tape, tape, tape... if they let us stay here, surely they'd have left us some for the storm. Nothing.

"Don't worry about that." Jeremy called as he shone a light in Nick's eyes. "You'll both come to our villa. This might be a bit too low. I just want to make sure you're all right before we go."

"Is Nick okay?" I called and he nodded, standing.

"I'll put something on it when we get there but seems okay." Jeremy was heading over as if he wanted to check me but I held up my hands.

"If you're going to check me, don't. I just feel like throwing up and I feel a bit weak. It's lack of water, that's all, nothing we can't fix. Leave me for up there then. It looks pretty nasty out there." I glanced outside, at the storm, the trees waving backwards and forwards, rain being thrown so hard against the ground that it was bouncing like sheets of tiny waves, the windows already trembling slightly. Jeremy followed my gaze and then to Jamie. She wasn't as strong as us in the wind, I could tell he was concerned about that.

"Get your bags. They're in the wardrobe." He instructed us and we went into the bedroom, tugging the doors open, pulling the bags out.

Mine was heavy. I swayed as I picked it up, blinking, trying to hold it. Fuck. Had it been like this when I packed it? Had Clayton slipped something inside? Or Nick? Or Reece? Or Daniella? With so many pack members who'd probably have enjoyed sneaking 'surprises', it was unfortunately a very high possibility. It hurt my arm too, hurt it like hell, the pain in my hand apparently extending higher.

"You want me to ..." Nick was holding out his hand and I shook my head.

"Let's get going." I turned my back, pushing it into the middle of my back, not sure what was wrong with me. It wasn't that bad. Didn't I have superhuman werewolf powers? Shesh. They weren't much use if I couldn't lift a bag.

Jeremy waited and his arm slid around Jamie as he opened the door, holding her securely in the wind, waiting till we'd past through the door before he shut it and locked it. The wind almost slammed me against the side of the building, that weakness with the bag now extending to the wind, and I cringed as I felt myself pushed backwards. Nick's hand shot out to grab my arm, tugging me against him, staring at me as I struggled to stand when he was doing fine.

Luckily Jeremy hadn't noticed. We followed him up, Nick's arm letting me go when I pushed him away, the trees starting to block the wind somewhat. It was getting harder to walk though, my legs aching, body struggling to keep up the pace behind them, the urge to throw up growing all over again. Mud under feet was harder to get through, I kept slipping, Nick finally refusing to let go of my arm and tugging me beside him. He finally grabbed my bag off me, hoisting it onto his back as easily as if it was just a bag of marshmallows, shaking his head. I could see it in his face. His 'first' female werewolf and she was as weak as a human girl.

Normally I wasn't like this. Right now though...

I threw up, gasping as the water came up, dry wrenching when it didn't. Nick waited, Jeremy already ahead with Jamie, the wind whipping across us, throwing water and branches falling. It was going to be one hell of a storm, that was for sure. We hurried after them, I was using trees to keep upright, rubbing my eyes every time blurriness threatened to overwhelm me, moving slower. Nick vanished after a while, the path up the jungle the only thing I could really follow, breathing struggling again.

Something wasn't right. Dehydration? I didn't know if it worked like this.

My legs gave way and I slid. Muddy path, muddy edge of path, a slope, arms not able to grab onto things, it was one disaster after another as I rolled down the slope, landing with an 'oof' on the side of a tree, grabbing on it hard. I didn't feel upset- I felt embarrassed. So embarrassed. This was not me. I chased down mutts, hunted, I was a big scary strong werewolf woman who had to train, study, help Clayton from time to time with 'intimidation', I even stopped Nick from drowning earlier and keep up with three toddlers. I did not trip on muddy footpaths, fall over and roll down slopes, struggle to lift bags or vomit. Oh. Okay. I may have when I was younger. I did sometimes get a bit clumsy, particularly on wet ground, and I had been sort of renowned for falling 'gracefully'. A lot actually. But today was a whole other level of absurdity.

I threw up again, or tried to, my stomach heaving as nothing came, one of my arms seriously hurting now. I kept it wrapped around the tree, refusing to slid any more, legs not letting me use them. When Nick didn't show up again within seconds, I knew he wasn't joking, the reality of that sinking in. The Nick I knew wouldn't have left me here.

I shut my eyes and tried to breathe.

Nick

One minute she was there, the next she wasn't, and I growled impatiently. The woman kept refusing me to help her, I literally had to drag the bag off her, and it wasn't that heavy. It frustrated me. What was wrong with accepting help? Was it because I called her a prostitute or let her know I knew she was married? Rejected her approach? Pride?

Where had she gone anyway? I could see Jeremy's villa, some place up high, see him waiting, and knew I was about to get an earful from him. He glanced at me, at Liz's bag, and then behind me.

"I only just noticed." I protested before he opened his mouth, dropping the bag, cringing as a cramp made the muscles in an arm get upset. "Just now. She couldn't carry it."

"She couldn't lift this?" Jeremy lifted it up easily, staring at the bag, then at me. "So where is she?"

I glanced back down the paved path to the beach, the jungle hiding most of it as it wove down the slope. No sign of her. A tinge of anxiety, much like the one I'd felt when I saw her on the beach, made my stomach twist. When I admitted, "Don't know," that anxiety got worse. My 'inner wolf', if it was there, would be pacing up and down, fur rising, like something was wrong.

"You don't know?" Jeremy repeated the words, as if he couldn't believe that he'd heard them right, blinking. "You don't know where she is?"

"I don't know. I went back down a bit but ...maybe she went back to the beach place."

"So go find her." He didn't give me a chance to hesitate, grabbing the bags off me, pushing me back out into the wind and rain. "Go!"

I went.

Ten minutes down I saw the muddy skid, where one of her feet must have lost grip, saw it slide into the mud beside the paved path, and down the slope. She was down there, curled up around a tree, eyes shut, and even though it was just a couple of metres of slope to walk back up, she hadn't moved. That unfamiliar anxiety grew stronger, as she didn't even look up as I made my way slowly down, when she surely would have heard me. Or smelt me. Even a human would.

One look at her face and I saw she wasn't there. She was alive, sort of, but her breathing was funny, lips blue, clutching the tree so hard her arms were white. I peeled them off the tree, it didn't take much, lifting her up and heading back up the path. What had been a ten minute walk now felt like an hour's jog, I could sense something was wrong now, almost feel what was going on in my own body. Feel my own breathing struggle, my own stomach twist and try and vomit, my own body weakening.

Jeremy was still standing in the doorway. He lifted her up and I followed him in, shutting the door behind us, seeing Jamie taping the windows and getting stuff out for the storm. Good for her, I followed Jeremy to the couch, kneeling beside her as he bent over her.

"She's not breathing right."

"I know." Jeremy reassured me. He frowned as he touched her lip, bent over her to listen to her chest, his own heart pounding hard. "There's no water in her chest but she's not getting enough air. Jamie, do you have the kit?"

She threw it over, a large box of something Jeremy catching it, tugging it open. Jeremy lifted out a canister and a mask.

Jeremy's eyes fixed in mine. "It's easier if you lie down beside her. She'll relax." He lifted her up, waiting for me to do as I was told, and I knew I had no choice there.

I did what he told me, scared like crap as her breathing failed a little bit more, Jeremy lowering her back down against my side with her head in my arm. "Why do I have to lie here?"

He didn't answer me, just pushed the mask to her face, the sound of gas hissing as Jeremy adjusted it. "There. Oxygen. I'll find out what to do while it keeps her breathing. Keep it there." Jeremy took something out of his pocket, a small black box, and glanced at me. "How are you feeling?"

"I..."

"Do you feel sick? Chest hurt?"

"I feel weak and I want to throw up?" I wasn't sure why he was asking me. I added, after an afterthought, "My arm feels a bit numb." I lifted it up to check but it looked normal. Strange.

"Which one?"

He didn't have to ask, I was holding it up, but I told him anyway. "Left."

I watched him lift up her left arm, inspecting it, inspecting the little cuts and scrapes on her hand. Jeremy inhaled slowly as he found something. Some kind of bite, small, insignificant looking, but even as he held it up I could smell it. Nothing too dramatic... but it didn't smell right either. She didn't smell right. He wrapped her arm up firmly with a bandage, right up to her shoulder, before he started pulling things out of the box, a little cardboard picture of bites being held up to her hand.

"What is it?"

"Bite of some kind." He replied, confidence reassuring me somehow, as if he had planned this out months ago and was just carrying it out. "Did she complain of a bite?"

"No." She didn't complain of any of it. Not even vomiting. She just took it, this stubborn look on her face, and I had to admit it was cute. I felt her soft hair brush against my chin, as she tried to fight it even now, like she was too stubborn to admit she needed help even now. One of her hands was trying to get the mask off her face and I grabbed it, holding it, keeping it still. "She doesn't like being weak, does she?"

Jeremy smile then, a small tense smile, glancing at me. "Not in front of you. No."

"Stupid Australian." The words came out before I could think about them, affectionate words, words I felt like I'd said many times before. Stupid Australian? I stared at her, her hand trying to wriggle free of mine, words answering mine.

"Stupid American." Eyes opened then, struggling to do so, the dark blue-grey meeting mine as if she was matching the storm outside, catching my breath with the intensity of them. Love. So much love. I stared at her, bewildered by that, aware that I'd never really seen a woman look at me like that before. Never. Then she blinked, as I didn't return it, hurt crossing her face. She struggled harder, trying to get me to let her go, Jeremy's hand moving to hold her there.

"Keep the mask on, Anne." Jeremy glanced at her now she was awake, her eyes going from my face to his.

After a minute she was gone again, body relaxing, and Jeremy seemed to find the card he was looking for. He held up her hand to me, the bite half-hidden under the cuts, and asked me if it looked the same.

"Yeah."

Jeremy pulled out one of the little boxes, jabbed the needle into her, and squeezed.

"What is it?"

"I think it's a sea snake so I'm using anti venom. If it doesn't work I'll have to try another."

There was nothing left for us to do then except wait. After a while I got up, heading into the kitchen, filling things with water while the storm got bad. It was like a blizzard only... it was hot. We had the air conditioning going, thankfully, but the power wasn't going to hold out much longer.

When she pulled through, I'd ask her out on a date. I smiled somewhat at that thought, picturing where I could take her, what I could do...

As the day went on though, she made no sign she was going to wake, and we settled in. I studied the TV, the bags, everything I could find. The four of us slept there that night, electricity going, the TV telling us the storm still was another twelve hours away, even though the lightning flashed occasionally overhead, the wind bent the trees over, the rain pounding against the window. How big was the storm going to be? Apparently it wasn't a storm now. It was a hurricane.

Guess that was what we got for being in the tropics during summer. Jeremy sent me back down to the original villa to get the supplies from there, several trips back and forward with boxes of food and first aid, while he kept watch on the Australian. The wind increased every time I went out, till even I struggled in it, loosing a few objects as the wind caught them.

Finally I had to ask him. Everyone called her Anne. I called her Liz. It'd been bothering me all day, this relationship, because I felt like no one was telling me something important. Something to do with those rings that were weighing down my pocket all the time. When I slid behind her again, expecting to be told off, no one seemed surprised. They seemed relieved, actually, and it deepened my suspicion.

"Jeremy, why do I call her Liz?"

Jeremy glanced up from another check on her. She was sweating, breathing with difficulty still, lost in whatever dreams she was in. "You met her when she was Liz. We met her when she was Anne. She changed it after ...after her bite."

"Did her husband bite her?"

He shook his head, sliding back, glancing up to Jamie as she came to sit beside him with a tray of hot cocoa. Jamie offered me one and I shook my head, suddenly afraid that if I tried to drink it, I might dribble some on her head. Jeremy shook his head, sipping his drink, holding her bandaged arm so that it was low down.

"Who bit her then?"

"Someone she took care of with Clayton." He glanced at her. "A mutt."

"So where is her husband?" I wondered if he was even in the picture. Before I'd been pissed off. Now... I wasn't. Somehow I didn't feel anger. Maybe there was a reason I'd let myself get involved with a taken woman.

"He was never fast, was he." Jeremy commented to Jamie, lightly, as he wrapped an arm around her. The storm had taken on a stronger edge now, rattling the windows hard, just about on us. "She's your mate."

Your mate.

I had to get out of the room then. Slid up from her, backing up, heading out of the room and away into a bedroom, my own breathing struggling. Where was another spare oxygen canister? I was almost hyperventilating. My mate. My wife? No fucking way. I ...wouldn't marry. I didn't date. I couldn't marry.

Your mate?

Had I got her pregnant? Would I marry her if she was pregnant? Probably but … in the human world, a wife may have been that. In the human world, a woman was married if a man got her pregnant. In the werewolf world though, even if the term mate was new to it in my world, it would be a different meaning altogether. Far as I knew, most wolves mated for life. No 'divorce'. No 'till the kids are older'. And the scariest part was that I knew that. I knew who she was. Every time I saw the hurt in her face while I'd tried to talk to her, I felt the growl deep inside me, the resistance to what I'd been doing.

The words kept echoing through my head as I was forced to sit there and face this reality. I had fun with chicks and I got away. No commitments, no one getting hurt, and I had a great time. We all did. What had I been thinking, getting a 'mate'?

Clayton told me Elena was 'his mate'. So matter of factly, so calmly, she was 'his mate' and they had children. Children! Clayton! Breeding! This was a terrifying image and I wondered if she was a meek little thing, letting him chase her around, following his orders. A female Nick, in other words, but one that had committed. I doubted if that was the case- I wouldn't have let him do it. It wouldn't be right.

Your mate.

I tugged out the rings I'd taken from her and held them up. Stared at them. Images of them flashed through my head, of laughter, of her face, and something else. My laughter. Onion soup. Something she didn't like about onion soup.

This was too much.

I had a sudden realisation that 'mate' didn't mean she was my wife and calmed down a little. Just for a moment. Then a new panic. What if I'd bonded onto someone who was married to someone else? Panic came back, the idea that she'd be married to someone, I pictured her with someone, marrying someone, kissing them, and felt a growl there before I could hold it back.

This passed as I caught sight of something else. Something gold and glinting on my own finger. Somehow I'd missed or ignored it, that little gold band, sitting easily against my own skin. It could only be one kind of ring. I didn't wear gold otherwise, it was tacky, and never anything on that finger. The kind of women attracted by that finger being claimed repulsed me.

"Jeremy, what's Clayton's number?" I picked up the phone but before he answered, I was already dialling a number, my hand shaking, already seemingly knowing who I was aiming for.

It wasn't Clayton who picked up. It was a woman, a woman who smashed my head open with memories around her, of her laughter, of her blonde hair, the hurt on her face when I'd started at her like she was a joke the first time I'd met her, the screams from the cage, the tears... and Clayton. His mate. I remembered her. I almost dropped the phone as I heard her asking who it was, felt a wave of affection wash over me for her like it had never been for any woman, and grasped the phone tighter.

"El...Elena? I need to talk."

She tried to reassure me on the phone as I babbled at her, about Liz, and marriage, and mates, confusion clouding my head. I remembered Elena, her twins, everything about her. Clayton's life up to now as well. It was foggy though, elements missing, things missing. Liz was missing.

"Is she my wife?" Or was I married to someone else? The second question hung there as Elena went quiet.

"Course she is. There's a photo in your wallet. In your bag."

I went for it, searching, finding a dark brown leather wallet. There she was, wedding dress and all, looking dazed as if she couldn't quite understand what the fuss was about, with me standing beside her. Older me. Arm around her, grinning like I'd won the lottery. Behind that photo was another one. Three babies side by side. Two with big blue eyes, one with darker brown eyes, gazing up at the camera from a rug covered in forest and animal things as they chewed on toys.

God, I loved them.

I didn't need to ask Elena who's kids they were. The second I saw them, even if I couldn't remember their names, I knew they were mine. The love flooding into me overwhelmed me so much I couldn't speak for a few minutes, staring at the photo, aware that they were Liz's babies too.

"I had babies with her."

"Yes. You remembered?"

"I found their photo." I collapsed onto the bed with the photo. She might have been married but these? These were mine. Every instinct in me agreed with that, the same one that was starting to get angry at the idea of Liz being married, these ones belonged to me. "Where are they?"

"They are-" She paused. "-playing with your dad downstairs."

"Babies." I stared at the photo. Stared at it long and hard, the two girls with identical pony tails out of the tiny scraps of hair they had, their nails painted different colours, the boy's dark eyes the clearest on the camera. Dad would have laughed his head off at that. "Is that why I married her?"

"What do you think?" Elena's voice got a bit dryer at that. It was a stupid question. Of course it wasn't. I wouldn't have kept a woman around just for that, I would have hired her a nanny, kept her away from my life at Stonehaven. And I wouldn't marry her just because she was pregnant. We all knew how well that'd gone when my dad tried it. Most of us were 'bastards' anyway.

"She's really my wife?"

"Has been since you met her." That was Clayton, who was apparently listening in, not far from the phone. "Where is she?"

"She's-"

My chest hurt suddenly and I clutched the phone with the suddenness of it. Almost at the same time Jeremy yelled for me to get back in and stop sulking, he needed my help.

She'd gone stiff on the couch, the mask thrown aside, and her heart... I couldn't hear it. Panic flooded over me, so much that I could barely breathe myself, feeling as if my heart was going to explode.

"Stop standing and help!" Jeremy was already on the problem, pushing his hands into the heart, and I skidded around the couch, following his instructions. Breathe for her. I breathed for her, trying to get as much as I could into her lungs, the phone still in one hand as we tried to get her back. I needed her back. It scared me, scared me how much it hurt to think she'd be gone before I remembered her, the lips so familiar...

Then she was back, suddenly, gasping for air, her heart thudding hard against her ribcage. I collapsed back, the phone still in my hand, Elena and Clayton's voices there

We spoke but it wasn't long before her heart failed again, and Jeremy threw the phone to Jamie, trying to get some understanding of what it might be. After a while all we could do was this, keep her breathing, keep her heart moving, keep the blood going when she didn't seem able to do it, because if we didn't her heart failed again.

I felt guilt, almost as if it was my fault, but Jeremy ignored that theory. When he got an answer from Jamie he could use, he injected something else into her. Heart in throat, I waited, keeping her breathing, hands stroking her face...

It didn't happen again. Whatever he'd done had fixed the problem for now. I collapsed back, grabbing for the phone, only to find the power had gone out while we'd been keeping her alive. She kept breathing, her heart kept beating, and I retreated into a corner to keep watch, struggling to stay away now. Now that I knew what she had been to me. I didn't understand why she hadn't just said it out loud.

Just as I relaxed, it happened again. And this time I felt like it was different. More final. Like something in me knew, knew that it had really stopped everything she was, really had torn her away from the body. Panic, blind panic, ripped through me, shattering something in my head.

This time I couldn't do it, I was panicking too much, and felt Jeremy shove me aside.

"Get out of the way. You're not helping now. Jamie?"

She replaced me, as he shoved me into the seat, and I had to watch. Had to watch the girl die again, hear the blood slow in her body as they tried to get it working, see Jeremy inject something into her all over again when her heart didn't work...

He tried for ten minutes, my anxiety rising higher and higher, like a volcano about to erupt. If he didn't get her back, I felt myself building, as if I couldn't stop it. I'd go mental. Change. Scream. And I still didn't remember her. Jeremy glanced at me, as he turned around, abandoning her heart for a moment. I stood up then, as if I was going to take his place, but I froze when he took out a big needle. A huge needle. So huge it made me feel physically sick to stare at it. Felt her chest, and slammed it in.

Pain erupted in my chest at that, slamming into my head, and panic flooded through me. Vauge memories of … I didn't know. The smell of her blood once. Running with her through the woods at Stonehaven. The boat ride. Another thing about boats, I knew she was on a boat and not being allowed to go get her. The way she looked pregnant, lying there asleep, tiger stripes across her stomach. The first time with her against a wall. Chasing fireflies for her. Watching her train with Clayton, hair back, all cuteness gone. Watching her paint while she sat in the nursery. Surprising me in New York, a few months ago, while I worked, bringing me lunch when she was supposed to be at home. Six hours away. Valentine's day. Another boat tour. Another day lost in each other instead of the tour itself.

Not everything but enough to really force me to accept that she was something other than a nuisance. Fuck. Liz... I shoved Jeremy out of the way, trying to get her to wake, ignoring his order to move. So what if I didn't remember her?

She was breathing again, heart beating fast, Jeremy throwing the needle onto the table.

"Last time. I hope." He told us, sweat beading off his forehead, flopping into a seat beside her.

We waited.

Anne

I shuddered as I woke, fighting the unconsciousness, refusing to give into it. It wasn't that bad. I could still ...well, breath, no. Turned out I couldn't breathe that well. Or stand. Or walk. Some part of me felt like I was still at that tree, waiting, fighting with the need for Nick's help and to get there without Nick.

The mask bothered me, the oxygen cold, I kept trying to get it off my face only to have someone hold my hand down. The other arm was bound up and wasn't going anywhere so I kept trying. I didn't smell Nick any more with this thing on. I could hear a heart but ...there had been a moment at that tree, a realisation that he'd left me behind, that had stuck a barb into me.

It forced me to open my eyes, to make sure he was still there, finding him right above me. I did this several times, dipping in and out of dreams, not sure if it was a dream or the real thing, but sometimes it hurt to see his face. In a dream he loved me. In reality he didn't know me. I wanted to ask for the rings back. Hold onto them. When I tried to get the mask off to ask he held my hand harder.

Damn thirty year old Nick. I'd have to ...I didn't know. What kind of music was around then? Food? Clothing? I wasn't even alive when he was thirty.

He vanished after a while and it was harder to force myself to stay awake. Jeremy was there, of course, so was Jamie, and I liked them both. But in some ways it hurt to see them touching like that, so intimate, lovers, even if it was just a brush of the arm, or a look they gave to no other, intimacy far beyond just sex. Nick might not have even known what that was like at thirty if I was his first real relationship.

I dreamed of him kissing me, kissing me so hard it made it hard to breathe, and then when he wasn't, it just made it even harder. My chest hurt.

Lightning crashed, I jumped, eyes flying open as I heard the storm suddenly. Had it just come or had I fallen asleep again? The room was no longer lit up by daylight. It was dark, not quite night, but enough for there to be a candle out already. The clock said it was only three in the afternoon.

"It's all right." Jeremy reassured me, pulling the mask off, checking my face, my mouth, which confused me. "It's just the storm. Go back to sleep."

"I'm thirsty." I told him and he glanced up then back to me. Jamie didn't take long to get his 'telepathic message', soon water was there, and she had sat back down in a chair near him, her own face white as she stared out the window. Jeremy's hand brushed across her ankle before he accepted the water and offered it to me. "And hungry."

I sat up, slowly, desperate to get up. He slid up and helped me.

The water was incredible and I didn't feel like it was going to come back up. Still, slow sips seemed better than nothing, and I made myself stay upright. I felt okay. Weak, but okay. "So where's thirty and flirty."

"He was... here. Somewhere. Nick was on the phone to Elena till the power cut out." Jeremy answered. "What are you feeling?"

"Better. Really hungry and weak. What was it?"

"Sea snake bite. I think. I gave you anti-venom, but you had some complications..." Jeremy paused, his nostrils flaring slowly. "You smell less ...sick. Maybe it's over."

"Guess I found one in the rocks while I was trying to get out of the water. Poor thing was probably being smashed around too." I muttered and he raised his eyes. "I wish I'd seen it. I might have hurt it."

"It almost killed you." A voice came from the dark corner. Nick's voice. Growling at me. It made Jeremy jump too, as if he hadn't realised Nick was there, glancing over at the man.

"That seems to happen a lot." I muttered and sipped the water again. Almost killed you. Almost killed you. I had to get stronger or ...at least learn to look out for upset snakes. It took me a minute to realise that it wasn't Jeremy who'd said that. It was Nick, standing in the dark corner of the room, his arms crossed, like some obsessed gargoyle keeping watch. Was he... "Do you remember yet?"

"I remember some stuff."

Damn. Disappointment crossed my face and from the light on his face I could see that he wasn't happy either somehow. "How is Elena?"

"She's worried." He replied and before I could speak any more, was gone into the kitchen, his eyes avoiding mine.

I watched him go, heart sinking, wishing I could follow. "How long was I asleep?"

"A day and a half." Jeremy admitted. "You might struggle to walk for a while. Nick found some photos."

"Is that why he's upset?"

"He's confused." Jeremy replied, softer, glancing over his shoulder at the kitchen. "Elena was trying to reassure him." Jeremy's usually calm voice was gone suddenly, a waver of something else, like he'd started to reach his own limits. "I think you dying might have pushed him a little. He held himself together till the last one and..."

"Die?" I was about to suggest I should propose to him when he said that, cutting off my train of thought, blinking at Jeremy's expression. He was still pretty white and a little shell shocked for his usual calm face.

"You had to be revived a few times. Don't remember that? I had to inject something into your heart to get it going again, you might feel a bit sore."

I shook my head. I didn't remember that. Just wanted to get up, that was all I could remember, get up and ...I didn't know. Cook. Watch the storm. Make love to Nick till he passed out or begged for me to give him a break. Normal things. I reached for my chest, aware that it was sore, the taste of someone on my mouth... faded now, it had to be a while ago. Nick and someone else?

"We gave you something and it worked." Jeremy added. He seemed to be shaking, relieved, like it had scared him.

"I promise. No more swims with snakes." My stomach rumbled as I smelt something in the kitchen. "I can cook when I get up."

"Don't worry about that. All meals were precooked and there's a gas powered stove. Bit slower than microwave but it's getting there. A few minutes." Jeremy sighed, a long deep sigh as I finished the water, and I felt him grasp me in a hug. "You're really awake."

"Unless this is a dream."

The sudden drop of food in front of me from Nick proved it wasn't. Jeremy made me drink a glass of something first, some medication or powder that tasted nasty, and then he let me at the plate. It took some time, I could barely lift my arm, but I got it all down as everyone else got their meals.

The storm seemed a little worse than I expected though, as I calmed down, glancing outside. Someone had taped cardboard against the windows now, except for the bigger ones, they had tape in an x across them.

"Bad storm?"

"It got a little worse than we thought." Jeremy admitted. "Just got to relax and wait. You woke just in time for the arrival of it."

Hours drifted by, as we did just that, the storm growing worse by the hour. Additional food and water was offered to me every half hour, as if Jeremy was timing it, and it seemed to give back strength with every fresh meal, my body ravenousness for the energy. Jeremy went to sit beside Jamie, squeezing in, an arm around her in the dim light of the single candle. Nick stayed far away, his arms crossed, attention on me at all times even if he didn't make eye contact. It bothered me. The time seemed to inch by, though I was sure I wasn't awake for all of it, accepting additional food as it came.

Around eight that night, just as Jeremy was suggesting we cook another dinner, I knew I had to get up off the couch now. I was thirsty again and even worse... I had to pee.

I stood up slowly, ignoring the sudden movement from the corner, testing my body. It was fighting as hard as it could, and I found I could stand somewhat, a hand on the couch assisting, Jeremy's dark eyes just keeping an eye on me from the chair.

A hand wrapped around my side, Nick's scent crashing into me as he tried to help, and I struggled against him.

"I'm okay."

"Where are we going?" He didn't seem to care what I thought.

"Bathroom." Maybe he was afraid I'd die again. I had to admit, that part still shocked me, that I'd died and not even noticed. What if I had died? Lost my babies? Lost Nick? I stared at him then, as we made our way through the bedroom, saw Nick, not the stranger, imagined going somewhere without him.

He glanced sideways at me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Wait here."

I pushed him out, locking the door, and tried to relax as I relieved myself. Every time he was in the room I had to pretend it was okay he didn't know me, that I was okay with it, that I was able to cope. Outside the door in the lit room, Nick kept pacing back and forwards, his shadow crossing the gap.

I tried to flush, power gone, making my way slowly for the door. The shadow outside the door froze, and tried for the handle, just as I unlocked it. Nick pushed it open, nearly pushing me over, his hand reaching out to grab for me before I fell.

"Slow down! I'm okay." I was yanked up against him, his arms closing around me, his body shaking. "N-Nick?"

"I … sorry. I thought you were ...never mind. I can't let go." He muttered. "Stay here."

"Okay."

I heard him push the door shut with a foot, pushing me backwards, a bed meeting my calves as we fell onto it. Nick let go of me then, climbing on top of me, tugging my clothing with desperation, his breathing hard. I could smell it, smell his need, my own body mirroring it. Wasn't this what we were going to do here?

"Nick, if you don't remember-"

Lips cut me off, desperate lips, like he was trying to suck the memories out of me. Or had he remembered? I kissed him back desperately, inhaling as hands slid up my thighs over the jeans, body arching against his hands. It knew what to do even if I didn't. Seduce him and then worry about memories. Something about it seemed off. Maybe it was the fact that I could smell Jeremy's scent all over it. Jamie's scent too.

"This is Jeremy's bed." I muttered. That thought killed any romantic thoughts in my head. I loved Jeremy, sure, but I knew what he'd done on it. To our senses that was an instant romance killer.

"I ...shit." He slid back, inhaling, blinking, trying to clear his groggy head. "It is."

Nick slid up, helping me stand as my legs struggled to get up from that height, tugging my top down again.

"Do you remember yet?"

"I-." He shook his head, struggling with something, mouth opening and closing. I resisted the urge to call him a fish as Nick's mouth opened and shut, like he was struggling to explain what it was, confusion clouding his head.

"Come on." I pulled the door open, making my way slowly, using the couches and things for additional support. Jeremy raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged at him. "Nick's doing fish impressions. Maybe he's thirsty."

Nick resumed his 'gargoyle' pose in the corner, as I flopped onto the couch, relief as my weight fell off my legs again. They weren't happy about moving.

Jeremy headed into the kitchen then, Jamie close behind after he glanced at her, and when they were gone Nick inched back over, slowly, circling around me as if he was afraid I'd bite again. "You're my mate?"

"That's what you kept insisting." I muttered. "Yes. We're mates."

"The Australian kind?"

"No, the wolf kind." I shook my head. I wanted him to remember already. "I suppose the Australian kind too. You're also my friend." Or were.

He slid across the couch, beside me, sliding closer. A hand grasped for mine, for my ring finger, touching it. I stiffened as he got close, I couldn't explain it, like I was afraid of what the 'young' Nick would think of me. It was as if I almost, almost, believed what Antonio had joked about months ago- that I had been a mid-life crisis for Nick. A permanent one. What if he didn't want me now that he thought he was young?

"Why were your rings off?" He tugged the rings out as he asked, fingering them, looking like he almost wanted to crush them. I inhaled sharply as his fist closed around them, crushing them, his eyes snapping up.

"I didn't want to loose them."

"They might have fallen out of your pocket, you know. You sure you want them still? Want to be married to me still?"

"Of course I do, I-"

"Well, why haven't you kissed me? Asked me on a date? Seduced me? Why didn't you tell me we were married then?" I could see it then. The jealousy, that one that reared up from time to time when someone in the pack got a bit too friendly, but it was serious now. He was seriously jealous.

"Nick..."

"You could ask me out. Show some interest. It's like you're not interested in me." He looked tired as he said that, exhausted, as if he hadn't slept. I saw him inhale sharply, suddenly, as if he'd remembered what he was holding. Nick glanced at his hand, opening it, regret on his face as he saw what he'd done to the rings. He'd actually bent them, the stones loose in his hand, and he swore. Nick growled, suddenly, scaring me as he flung them hard against the wall. Nick stood up, knocking my legs out of his way, and threw them hard against something, the bent metal reflecting the light of the candles, stones glittering as they fell out of their metal casings onto the floor.

"I..." He struggled, jaw opening and closing at the look of hurt on my face, eyes clouded with something. "I don't ...I need a moment." Nick was out the door before I could stand up, my legs not letting me get up enough, and by the time I got up he was gone.

"Anne?" Jeremy's hand closed over my shoulder as I temped the wind, nearly getting knocked back against the house, body not yet able to cope with that. "Inside."

I ignored him, shut the door in his face, and tried to walk. Tried to. The wind kept knocking me over as I tried to follow Nick in the darkness. The wind was so strong now, it knocked me right over, right into a tree that looked like it was about ready to fall over too. Nick was struggling too, so at least that was a good sign, but it didn't help me. I finally gave up and held onto the tree as it tried to stay upright, roots groaning under it, several already above the soggy earth. I watched him as he staggered through the wind. Waited there, rain and sticks pelting me, stubborn, pretending to not hear Jeremy's calls to come back. He took ten minutes to turn around. When he turned around, he seemed surprised to see me, face clouding with that anger again. He stormed up, dragging me inside off the tipping tree, and slammed the door behind us, hand a vice around my arm.

"What did you think you were doing out there?"

"Careful, Nick." Jeremy warned softly.

Nick frowned then, hesitating, his shoulders tensing. He rubbed his head and then shook it hard, releasing my arm, realising how hard he'd grabbed it. "Sorry. I ...fuck. I need a moment alone."

He headed for the bedroom this time and no one followed for a few minutes. I watched Jeremy gather the pieces of the rings up and the jewels and slip them into his pocket carefully.

Nick

I swore, hitting the pillow, the hurt in her head echoing in my head over and over. Okay, calm down Nick, relax. Enough teasing. Enough panicking. I'd destroyed the damn rings. Damn. She wasn't going to forgive that one easily. Maybe I was going too far with this teasing.

Then she kept doing things that sent my nerves on edge again. Spending too long in the bathroom. Looking like she needed a kiss, a hug, a cuddle, something. Standing in the rain in wind she couldn't take yet, like she wasn't going to let me leave her sight again, the sight of her head and face covered in water. The second I'd seen that I saw a flash of that face, half submerged in salt water, being dragged out to sea, had washed in my head when I saw her against the tree soaking wet. Drowning. Water splashing up around my knees as I waded in trying to get her out. Then boom, in came the eighties and early nineties music, the memory of a hooker, and she was suddenly a stranger.

It had taken her a minute to get back under my skin. One minute.

Before I knew it, I'd dragged her inside in a panicked frenzy, out of the rain, out of the water, almost wanting to shake her for being stupid. Almost. Seeing her almost drown in the rain... okay. That was a slight exaggeration. But she hadn't looked okay.

Then I saw the look on Jeremy's face and knew I'd gone too far.

A soft knock and I knew it was her, knew she was following again, the doorknob turning before I could tell her to back off. She had a towel in her hands, another around her head, holding it out to me.

"You're wet." She muttered, eyes avoiding mine, as if she wasn't sure what she'd see if she looked. It made me want to drag her onto Jeremy's bed all over again and claim it for ours. Made me want to kiss her till she looked at me. The look calmed me down a little though. "Sit down."

I sat down and watched her as she slid into my lap, as if she owned it, throwing the towel around my head and reaching up to stroke my scalp gently. It wasn't at all about drying me, that was pretty obvious, her fingertips massaging my hair and neck with the skill of someone who knew me. Knew every sensitive spot, every favourite area, as if she'd been coached.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I breathed in her smell slowly, felt the brush of her chest against mine as she tried to reach up, the inner edges of her bare arms tempting me. They looked sensitive.

She answered with words I barely paid attention to, answering automatically, my focus still her skin, wondering about it.

"You're not well still." I stroked her legs, seeing her flushed face, the too white skin around it, remembering the bite. "Sorry. Of course you're not going to ask me on a date right now. You've got to stop walking around. I'll carr-"

Liz cut me off, that stubborn look returning to her face, her jaw set. It made me grin.

I grasped one of her arms, holding it there, tracing my lips against the inside of her arm, smelling and hearing the blood suddenly rush faster through the veins there.

She still refused to look at me though. I grasped the towel around her head, pulling her head up, making her eyes meet mine. Then I kissed her, a soft sigh escaping my chest as I did, her taste as familiar as her touch.

When she made no move to stop me, returning it, my hands let go of the towel, sliding down her sides.

I'd tell her soon. She was fucking cute like this, all shy, trying to seduce me, clearly inexperienced at doing in the other way. It was like she was expecting me to throw her off and declare myself single again, and it made me love her all the more.

Anne

I refused to give him the towel. If he was stressed out then I had to calm him down. What had Nick done when I'd been upset with him? He'd kept going, as if nothing had changed, kept flirting, kept treating me like a lover. I had to do the same. He was right there. I felt awful for that, for ignoring him, but ...I didn't know how to do it. Suddenly I wished I had dates before Nick, some experience, something.

Nick sat down, blinking in surprise at me as I slid into his lap, refusing to look him in the eyes. Not till he calmed down.

"What are you doing?"

"You need to relax. And I wanted to ask you something." I added as I reached up to wrap the towel around his head, rubbing it against his damp hair, his face, stroking it with gentle circular strokes. It was a relief to sit down, actually, my body was exhausted, limbs barely able to walk.

"You're not well still." He seemed to know, his hands brushing across my legs, feeling the muscles tremble under his palms. "Sorry. Of course you're not going to ask me on a date right now. You've got to stop walking around. I'll carr-"

"When you've dried off." I insisted. Nick rolled his eyes, the shadow of a grin there, his hand firmly grasping one of my hands and holding it still. I watched him, heart rate increasing, the first traces of warmth flooding between my legs as his lips teased the skin there. Like he used to. Then he grabbed the edges of the towel I'd wrapped around my head.

He leaned down suddenly, kissing me, his hands tugging at the towel around my head to keep me from retreating, lips gentle. When I made no move to pull back and returned it, his hands slid down my shoulders, down onto my sides, and rolled us over so I was on my back,his hands throwing the towel off his head and to one side. He glanced back at it, as if he was tempted, fingers starting to grasp the hem of my top again.

"Jeremy's bed." I reminded him and he growled.

"Wall?" Nick offered. "Looks solid enough."

"Do you remember me?"

He shook his head, nodded, then shook it. "Sort of. Not completely."

"No sex then." I pushed him off me, standing with the help of his shoulder under my arm, using the wall for a prop as he lay there blinking at me. "Sorry. I ...It's strange. Sleeping with a man who doesn't know me. But … I could go on a date. With you." In the middle of this storm?

"You act like I was your first date. You don't seem to know how to seduce me." He stood up, stalking me, pushing me up against the wall. Hands slid up my sides, tugging one of my legs up around his hip, lips catching mine again in another hard kiss. His other hand lifted my other leg, lips teasing my skin along my neck, then he moved his head past me to sniff the wall. Nick added, "Jeremy didn't claim this wall yet. We can relax."

"That's because you were my first date. Kiss. Sex. All of it. I... want to date you. Dinner. Um. Something like that." I replied, breathing out slowly as his hips ground against mine.

Nick froze and tugged his head back from my neck. He let go of me suddenly, lowering one of my legs, like he was changing his mind somewhat about this. "Really?"

"You didn't notice at the time but ..."

"I did it here, didn't I?"

"Not on this island."

"No." He ground against me again, slower, gentler, watching my face as blood rushed into it, as a soft moan finally couldn't be held back filled his senses. Nick shut his eyes then. "Here. First time. Against a wall."

"Yes."

A banging on the wall, over the sound of the storm, made him twitch as we heard Jeremy call something about dinner being ready. The storm had hid them from us till now.

"No foreplay?" He seemed surprise by that, as if he was seeing a movie, body straining against mine through fabric. "None? Just you against a wall?"

"The entire third date was foreplay." I replied, shutting my eyes when a hand slid up my top, a finger brushing against a nipple, enjoying the look in my face as he teased my skin. "Sort of. Except for the park."

"Want to do it again? Another first time?" He nipped my neck harder, less gentle, clearly intending on giving that idea a go. "With more foreplay."

The window broke then, the wind shattering it, and I was dropped suddenly, shoulders and back shielding me, Nick's arms sliding up to hold me up. The door opened beside us, someone tugging us through, Nick right behind me as we were pulled back into the living room.

Jeremy fixed us with a stare, going from my flushed face to Nick's swollen lips and he crossed his arms somewhat. "This is why we sent you two on a honeymoon. Nick- kitchen. Anne- sit down."

"That why we came here?" Nick asked, shaking himself off a bit, shards of glass in his hair and across his clothing. He headed into the kitchen to pull it off carefully and Jeremy headed after him. I went to follow but found Jamie pulling me towards the couches.

"Sit down." She said, softly, glancing towards the kitchen. "Before Jeremy ties you down."

She was right. I slid down into the couch, relief again in my legs as I took my weight off them, breathing out slowly.

The food was waiting and I didn't start to eat till Nick returned, however hard it was to wait, now shirtless, a few scratches on his arms and that was about it. He flopped beside me and leaned over to snatch a plate.

I ate slowly, trying to not fall asleep as I ate, answering Jeremy's questions as they came. How did I feel? Tired. Was I sore? Yes. Could I walk? Yes. Could I eat and swallow? Yes. He unwrapped my arm, hesitating as he did, checking, as if he was afraid I'd suddenly pass out again. A quick check and he wrapped it up again, carefully, making sure it wasn't too tight. He'd leave it on overnight.

Jeremy and Jamie retreated to another door after. It was another bedroom, one I hadn't seen before, and they threw out some pillows and blankets for us.

"The sofa becomes a bed." Jeremy informed us. "Keep it down."

The night was awkward. I couldn't sleep all of a sudden, as I slid into the bed beside Nick, his fingers roaming even as he tried to fight with himself over it. When he'd fallen asleep I was still awake, staring out the windows behind him, watching the storm batter and shake the French window as if it was trying to smash it inwards. It almost did at one point, when a branch hit the doors head on, and I jumped.

No way I could relax like this. I had to get up.

Ignoring Nick's snore, I slid out of the sofa bed, circling around as I used the wall as a prop, making my way to the window. There wasn't much to see out there, really, just wind and storm, the darkness crowding into the room. I shivered. It'd been some time since the dark had really gotten to me, quite a lot of time, but … my heart raced a little more. Was that a flash of light? Someone outside in the trees? Did I see a shadow out there?

Was that a shape moving?

My eyes darted backwards and forwards, ears straining over the sound of the wind and rain, watching the force of the wind push the rain right through the cracks of the window frames themselves. Should I cover it with something? What? It had tape all over it. Maybe we should sleep in the kitchen or ...I didn't know. The trees seemed to be blocking most of the wind but still...

Suddenly the wind stopped. The rain stopped. Everything went quiet very suddenly. Fear raced through me, fear till I glanced outside, and saw stars in the middle of a giant circle above us.

"You not sleepy?" Nick muttered from behind me, sounding sleepy himself, as a hand came to drape across my shoulders. I jumped, adrenaline flooding through me, and he tightened his grip. "It's okay. Don't like the dark?"

"Not on my own." I admitted, crossing my arms, staring outside.

"You've got me, don't you?"

"You don't remember me." I muttered, voice low, Nick shifting closer as he strained to hear me. "I might sleep on the floor tonight."

"You aren't sleeping on the floor." Nick muttered. He glanced outside as a hand closed around mine. "Eye of the storm? Let's go look."

Before I could stop him, he eased the doors open, pulling me behind him, the two of us going outside onto the wet grass, stepping around the branches, a fallen tree, other debris. Nick wrapped an arm around me as we stared up at the stars.

"It's strange after that wind." I admitted. "So quiet."

"Yeah." He agreed. "It is a bit quiet."

We heard laugher from inside, Jamie's squeal of surprise, a thump, the sound of something smashing and my cheeks reddened. Whatever Jeremy was up to... it sounded active.

"Old man's first woman." He commented lightly, glancing back, amused. "Guess he's like a teenager."

"I don't want to hear it."

Nick moved forward, arms till over my shoulders, leading me further away down the path. It was light, his touch, but it got harder every time I slipped, unsteady legs not liking how slippery the tiles on the path were. When we were a minute away he turned around, capturing me in a kiss, arms lifting me up off the ground easily.

"Focus on me."

I did. Heart racing, my breathing hard, I focused on him, lips dancing against his, our tongues twisting and finding each other, Nick's own body breathing hard against me, sweat in the humid night beading off both of us. He kept holding me up so I was at his height, all the sounds of Jeremy and Jamie gone, the world nothing more than an insignificant blur around us.

Time passed, though I had no idea how much, a drizzle of rain doing nothing to interrupt us. The sudden staggering wind and rain stopped Nick though, he almost fell over, arms tightening around me as he grabbed onto a tree for support. Nick lifted me into his arms when he got his balance again, heading back for the house, the return trip slower in the hard winds that were screaming around us, a branch almost knocking him over as it was thrown against his side.

We got inside, slammed the door shut, only for a few of the panels of glass to shatter. Nick swore, the tape holding most of the broken glass together, trying to cover it in cardboard. I helped, standing beside him, and we managed to get it covered and blocked. The door frame rattled and tried to open again, the sound of glass shattering in a few more panels, the cardboard we'd covered it in protecting us.

I cleaned it up, careful, sweeping it up off the tiles as Nick dumped it into the bin and grabbed us towels. When everything was cleaned up, glass gone, the storm blocked out, we relaxed against the wall nearby, breathing hard.

"You know." Nick said, as he leaned on his arm, looking down on me. "You could try seducing me instead." He winked. "I might enjoy that. A little seduction of thirty year old Nick. He's missing company."

"Then thirty year old Nick can go sleep with another woman, like he apparently did last night." I muttered. Jealousy flared in me, a little delayed, but there. The reality of what a 'man whore' he'd been before me was really starting to dawn. Okay. So it had been twenty one years and a few months since he'd really woken up hungover from a night drinking, partying and apparently having mad threesomes with hookers and ...whoever else was interested... but suddenly it bothered me. Maybe because he didn't remember anything sooner. "Maybe I better get tested for a STD."

Nick grinned and stepped closer, arm closing around mine. "Are you jealous? If that's your seduction talk, Aussie, you're bad at it. Look. Try this."

He pulled me to a wall, pushed himself against it as if he was pinned there, hands grabbing my shirt and ripping it right down the middle.

"Hey!"

"Cleavage is a useful seduction method. But not too much." Nick informed me, tying the torn parts of the shift together so it covered my bra, and pressed himself harder against the wall, and feigned submissiveness. I narrowed my eyes at him as he grabbed my arms and pressed one of my hands against his arm. "There. Eye contact and a bit of physical contact. That's good. See? I'm all interested already. I want to see more."

I stepped back and he slid up onto his feet a bit straighter.

"Playing hard to get?" Teeth flashed in the darkness. "I like that too." Nick stalked forward, hands reaching out for me, trying to grab at me.

"Nick, seriously, I -" The second I raised my hands, he pounced, teeth nibbling on my neck, pulling me against him. Without a regular strength in my limbs I couldn't do much more than wriggle and try and peel hands off me.

"You just surrendered." He informed me and let me go again.

"I did not." But I had. I'd raised my hands. I gazed up at him, raising my eyes, seeing him lick his lips. Automatically I returned it, scowling as I realised what I'd done, and he tugged me against him again as Nick backed up against the wall again. "Stop it..."

"No, that's my line. Stop it!" He pretended to be shy, eyes dropping, as one of his hands moved down my back and to the back of my leg, a thrill running through me as his hands traced along the sensitive skin there, guiding my knee against his crotch. "I'm very shy. Oh, how naughty."

"I can tell." I said dryly, but I laughed anyway, a soft laugh I couldn't resist, as he batted his eyelashes, trying to look bashful and bat his eyelashes at the same time in the dim light. Bashful on Nick didn't work. I pulled myself free as best I could, Nick's hands letting me go, stepping back with the support of the wall. My legs were shaking, barely able to keep me up now, the urge to kiss him silly rising. Sweat was beading off his skin in the humidity of the night, the candle against one wall just making it glisten more, and I remembered how it tasted. Eyes tracing his chest, his nipples, knowing how he loved it when I … and there, that spot on his neck, how sensitive it was to a nail... and that spot just under his ear... and his lips. His lips, as he licked them, and his tongue.

I tore my eyes off his lips, off his face, his chest, his neck, all those places that I loved to taste, tried to forget the taste of his sweat. The urge to lick him, to run my tongue along his collarbone, the saltiness filling my nose and taste... I shuddered, fixing my attention on the window instead. "Remember, I'm sick. Stop teasing me."

"You're smelling less sick all the time." Nick replied as he stood up straighter. Unbuttoned the button on his jeans. "You're teasing me with that look you just gave me. I think you like seducing me."

I slid back, heading for the kitchen, picturing a glass of water on him. That might cool him down.

"Hard to get again?" He called, striding after me. Nick could have easily caught up with me, I couldn't move very fast, but he moved a fraction slower than me. I made it to the kitchen and tried to get water into a jug as I felt arms close around me from behind. "Got you again. That's it. Always be catchable."

"If I was full strength right now..."

"Oh!" He did that absurd sound again, that shocked high pitched sound, as his hips ground against my behind. "What would you do, seducer? Would you spank me?"

"Kick you is more like it." I muttered, glancing over my shoulder at him, a little taken back by this. He'd been behaving odd with me since he lost his memory but this... this was almost 'old Nick' all over again. He winked at me as his hands slid into the pockets of my jeans, making me inhale slowly, dampness between my legs telling me that I was enjoying this, my body throbbing gently against the hardness that kept getting that spot dead on every time. His hands grasping my lower stomach and pushing it back against his hips.

"Grinding me now. Very naughty." He added. "The smell you're giving off?" A low growl, deep in Nick's chest, as he inhaled slowly, pressing up harder for a moment, another rush of arousal throughout my body at the sound. "Keep that up and I might have to seduce you."

I splashed the water in his face.

Nick just stood there, grinning, slowly rubbing the water into his hair, clearly undisturbed by this. If anything he seemed to enjoy it and I had to admit, in the dim light of the candle, the water dripping off his curls, his face, along the defined muscles in his shoulders, arms and chest, it did look good. I just wanted to lick it off, tease him, make him moan, beg for me to …

Cool down. Cool the bloody hell down. I dragged my eyes off him, back to the sink, trembling a little. No licking and begging till he remembered me.

"Wet t-shirt gone wrong? Let me help." He offered. I felt something cold suddenly, a glass I hadn't seen him pick up, as he tipped water down my back, my front, pulling my hips back against him as the water soaked me from neck downwards. It didn't stop the heat building between my legs at all. If anything, it added to it, the wet top clinging to my chest and the stiffness under the fabric there. "I'm almost seduced. Almost."

"Almost?" He felt 'seduced' to me. I shivered as his hands pressed against my hips again through the jean pocket, pulling our hips together as he ground up, lips teasing the back of my neck. The sensitive spot that always got to me. One hand released my hips to trace up my wet stomach, under my shirt, fingers teasing the nipple there. I shut my eyes, the pleasure of that simple contact weakening my legs further, till I was only standing because of his hips under mine."What did I forget?"

"The l word."

"Love?"

He growled softly as his other hand slid out, only to pick me up, bending me over the sink, his body sliding between my legs. "Lust."

"Oh screw you." I muttered, trying to push him back. He laughed, letting me get down, but turned me around when my feet were on the ground.

"Of course I meant love." Nick tipped my chin up, stroking my face with one hand, the other holding me steady. The grin faded as he gazed down at me, his breathing fast, the smell of his own arousal filling my nostrils. More than that though. "I love you. I don't know you yet and I know that. Stop looking so upset all the time."

"You don't even remember me."

"I remember a few things." He lifted me up onto the bench nearby, hands tracing down my wet sides, down my stomach to where the few stretch marks had faded into a silver line. "Still got your stripes."

"What do you remember?" I pushed at him, annoyed when he said that, wondering when the hell he'd remembered.

"A boat tour. Painting. Hunting fireflies. You turning up to work just to give me lunch. Clayton beating you up. Your first time." Nick's face darkened, just a moment, before he grinned again, as if he couldn't quite handle that topic. "All shy and and pathetic at seducing m-" He yelped as I hit him hard "Hey! You were cute."

"That's not enough."

"You looked like a monster with a baby hanging half out of here." Even as he said it, he seemed to be surprised by his own words, his face paling as if the memory had only come then. Nick grabbed for between my legs, playfully, his fingers digging against the sensitive nub's exact location, pressing his palm against it as his eyes stayed fixed in mine. "Feels much better now. Like it's happy again." He dug his fingers in lower down, tracing the shape, my thighs squeezing around his hand. The warmth that had started to build during his little game suddenly flooded me, faster, responding to his smell and his touch quicker than I could accept him.

I tried to resist him. Tried to. I bit my lip as he dig in deeper, trying to get the words out. Or was I trying to keep them in?

"You slapped Clayton." He added, refusing to take his hand away, the other one reaching up to cup my face.

"Surely I'm not the first to do that."

"You might not be." Nick cocked his head to the side, thinking. "But he might not have told me if someone else did. They're probably dead."

I stared up at him as he grinned at me, head hovering close to mine as he stood there hesitating, ready to duck back if I hit him again.

"You really remember?"

"More and more." He pointed at a scar. "I took a bullet for you. Got shot here. Here's where I got shot as a teenager. This. I did this to you." A finger traced down one arm, a scratch mark he'd caused once that was a bit too deep. "We had to wake Jeremy to stitch it. You must be good in bed."

I hit him again then, nearly falling as he jumped back, arms catching me as I fell forward. Nick laughed, lifting me up, carrying me and dropping me on the bed. I played dirty then, going limp, pretending to pass out.

I felt him shift, suddenly, his heart rate increase, prodding me. Tickling me. Heart rate increased. A shake.

"Liz?"

Another shake. He bit me, nipped, my heart slowing as I controlled my breathing to a slow pace.

I heard his lungs deepen, as if he was about to call for Jeremy, and pounced, pushing him onto his back with as much of my strength as I could muster, which was more effective with him reaching panic mode again. He hadn't been expecting me to barrel into his stomach.

He growled as I nipped him, hands closing over me, his heart racing against his ribcage. "You scared me. Don't do that."

"You really remember me?"

"Like I said. More and more, and it's enough for me to accept it..." He shifted back, that same darkening in his eyes, almost like fear. Deep deep fear. I could almost see the wolf there, behind his eyes, the instinct that screamed at him to protect his mate. "It hurt my head. I don't know your memories yet but I know you. I... Liz, stay home. Have more of my babies. Hypnotise people till they're crying and hugging each other. Train with Clayton till you can break a man's arm with a finger. I don't care, just don't get hurt again." He shuddered, sliding down so his head was on my stomach, a hand tracing down the bandages on my arm.

"Offering me more babies?" I prodded him. "You must have been scared. How did you hit your head?"

Nick blinked up at me as I slid my legs across him, straddling him, his hands relaxing on my thighs. "I hit it-" He hesitated, a sheepish smile on his face. "-I can't remember that. I suspect it has something to do with trying to swim in and rescue you."

"You tried to rescue me?"

"You were in trouble." He stroked my legs slowly. "I tried to grab you and you slipped away. You seem to get hurt too much for my poor heart. Then... I'm on a beach and I'm thirty again."

"You're not thirty."

"I am. Don't remember everything yet so I'm thirty. I wonder how my dad looks?" He grinned, rolling me onto my back, careful with me as he inhaled slowly. Nick was clearly glad to change the subject to something a little less panic ridden for him."You smell healthier. That shit's not in your blood any more."

"So I died?"

Nick opened his mouth, nodded, then shut it. He relaxed himself on top of me, resting between my legs, tugging a pillow under my head. I slid the blanket over the top of us, the storm screaming outside. He didn't seem able to answer, just rested his head against my chest, nuzzling into the softness there.

"I don't remember it." I added.

"Good. Stop thinking about it then." Nick muttered. "Think about me. Thirty years old."

"In the nineties. Escaping the eighties." I added, as I stroked his hair. "Did you wear leg warmers?"

"I didn't wear leg warmers." He grinned. "I wore ripped jeans. Leather. Big hair. Bold colors."

"Sounds awful." I muttered, teasing his curls.

"Hey, I'm sexy." Nick lifted his head, sliding up to nip at my lower lip, his body pressing against mine. "Girls love me."

"Uh huh. Did you wear the make up too?" I inhaled when one of his hands slid into my top, pressing up to cup me, his thumb brushing across my sensitive skin.

"Of course. I could show you." Nick shifted up onto his knees, his eyes in mine as he undid his pants, sliding them down his hips. I watched him, watched him without shame, shifting up slowly onto my weak arms so I could see better. He slid off the sofa, grabbing candles, lighting a couple, and headed to get something out of his bag as I watched him. "You going to get undressed now or do I tear it off?"

"I don't know if it's a good idea. What if Jeremy hears us?" There. I'd given into it, into him, even without all his memories back. I couldn't help it, I loved him, and I wanted to believe that he wasn't lying to me.

Nick glanced at the door Jeremy and Jamie had vanished through. The screaming wind outside, the sound of trees banging on the windows and doors and walls, it was so much that I could barely hear Nick. "I think Jeremy could run around us in circles naked and we'd never hear him."

That gave me an image. I laughed softly, cheeks reddening at picturing the ex-alpha like that, wondering what he'd be like in bed. Maybe... I didn't want to know. It was an amusing thought though. I wondered if he'd be as controlled and calm in bed as he was normally.

Nick tugged off my jeans, his actions sudden, making me jump. He raised an eyebrow at me. "What are you picturing?"

"Jeremy in bed. What if he comes in?"

"Then let him enjoy the show. Old man might learn something." He grinned wide.

"What if-"

Nick pounced on me, the sofa groaning under us, kissing me so hard the question was lost in my head. Hands grasped my top, ripping it open again, his naked body straining to get inside mine through the last traces of fabric.

"I want to see what you wore in the eighties and nineties." I tried to distract him, tried to, though it didn't work.

"I'm all seduced. Save that for another time" Nick's mouth teased my ear, the edge of it, nibbling it, flicking his tongue against the edge. "Don't make me wait."

"Nick?"

"Mmm?" He tugged my top off, throwing it to one side, tearing the panties off with it. When my eyes darted to Jeremy's door, Nick rolled his eyes, and tugged the blanket over the two of us, creating a cave. "Ignore the door."

"I love you."

Nick froze, gazing up at me, and slid up, pushing himself into me. I shut my eyes, breathing out slowly, hips tipping up for him. It'd been weeks, with toddlers screaming, and we had needed this. Needed a honeymoon together. It almost hurt, almost, but the 'thank the heavens and scream for joy' kind, and I could see on his face the same expression as he inched slowly inside me, too slow, my aching body trying to make him go faster by pushing hips up. When our bodies bumped against each other, his hips pinning mine down against the sofa, we shared the same feeling, both breathing out, our hearts hammering hard. Relief.

"God, I missed you." Nick muttered. "So much."

"I missed you too."

We took longer than usual, growling and rolling, falling off the sofa at one point, that not seeming to stop or disturb us, arms and legs wrapped around each other, till I ended up on top of him on the floor, Nick's hands helping my weakened body move against him, his eyes drinking in the sight of me on top of him, the friction and heat and wetness incredible, then I was rolled over again, his body fast now, our breathing uneven as he gave up trying to take his time.

I groaned as the release flooded me, muscles going limp as it flooded me from head to foot, feet curling. Nick took one look at me and he groaned, stiffening, his own release making him collapse too. We lay there on the floor, breathing hard, sweat beading off us in the humid night, arms wrapped around each other.

Nick eventually helped me up, lifting me back onto the bed, flopping beside me, a leg brushing against mine as he slid close against me, throwing the sheet over us, Nick's forehead coming to find mine.

"Should we dress again?" I asked, voice soft, eyes shut. I didn't want to move. I wanted to enjoy the feelings still fading in my body.

"I'll dress you. Just relax." He replied, sliding up to kiss me, then got up and rummaged through the bags. Nick slid back onto the bed, running his hands up my legs as he pulled something up, sliding it there. I sat up as he pulled something down over my head. Strapless dress? I didn't pack that. "Like it?"

"I didn't pack this." It was at least long, going to my knees, but I raised my eyebrow at him.

"It's there. So wear it." He grinned. Slid back down, pulling me against him, the two of us breathing out slowly. "You and I are getting an eighties night." Nick muttered, sleepy now, his breathing slowing. "I want to show you."

"If you wear make up, I'm in."

We fell asleep together, hands threaded, my leg over his leg.

A laugh woke us, Jamie's arms crossed as she stared at us, Jeremy behind her. Early morning light filtered through one of the windows, the candles had melted down, the wind quieter. I raised my head, blinking, cheeks going red.

"Told you." Jeremy slid past her for the kitchen. "Leave them alone for a few hours and they'll make up." A few seconds, then his voice from the kitchen, "Why's there water all over the floor?"

"And..." Jamie lifted up my ripped top. "Clothing everywhere?"

"Sor-" I felt Nick's hand cover my mouth. When he was sure I wasn't going to finish the word he let it go.

He shifted up on one elbow, running his other hand through his curls, yawning. "Our honeymoon, remember? I had to get to know my wife all over again."

"It's cut short. We'll have to return home." Jeremy called. "Storm damage. The helicopter's coming to pick us up. You'll have to try again next time."

"Aww. We can handle it." Nick frowned, sitting up, the sheet over his lap. I saw he was naked under it and hit him.

"I told you to get dressed." I muttered. Jamie's eyes flew to Nick, her cheeks going just the slightest bit warmer, Jeremy reappearing.

Now that I looked at him, though, he looked about as satisfied as Nick did. There were marks on his bare chest, something suspiciously like love bites, bruises, a scratch down one arm. I snorted and he raised an eyebrow at me, crossing his arms. I diverted my eyes to Jamie, who was wearing a singlet top, and saw similar damage. No love bites... but red marks that looked like hickeys. Another snort as she flushed and raised her chin a bit in defiance.

I guess he did get a bit carried away in bed.

Nick twitched, suddenly, as his eyes traced over my hand. He paled, got up, wrapping the sheet around him as he started to search. He was probably looking for the broken rings.

"Jeremy rescued them." I told him as he glanced up. "You broke them."

"Didn't mean to." He looked a bit sheepish. "I'll get them fixed. Give you a bigger diamond."

"It was fine the way it was." I shrugged a little. Honestly, as much as those rings mattered, Nick's memory mattered much more to me. Even if he had crushed them. "Don't worry about it."

"The helicopter's coming in half an hour." Jeremy went back for the kitchen. "I'll get breakfast, you two get dressed and packed."

We got dressed as fast as we could, ducking into the bedroom, but it got slowed down as Nick twisted in the mirror, staring at scars, asking me what, where or when he'd gotten them. Then he turned me around and did the same thing. It reminded me that he didn't remember everything yet, he still had giant gaps, but ...he hadn't rejected me the next morning. That was a good start.

We heard the helicopter and hurried. Jeremy and Jamie had given up waiting for us and had dumped the stuff into bags themselves. The helicopter lowered in a clear patch a little walk away, the storm now just rain and wind, settling itself down.

It was time to go.