Author's Note: Astrid did kill in Maryland, so she was punished. But Rafe had nothing to do with it, he didn't even know about it. And Vivian is Willem's mate, not Gabriel's. It's January.

"Going to find that pack?" asked Faith, her annoying sister.

"Just going to a club," Angel hollered as she walked out of their two bedroom apartment in Bucharest.

I'm not looking for the pack tonight she thought I just need a break from that 13 year old freak.

It was true; Angel desperately needed to be around people her own age.

I need a drink she thought, entering the club.

"Absinthe, please," she said to the bartender that appeared to be undressing her with his eyes.

She knew this would happen, but hey, she wanted to turn some heads tonight. A one night stand would do wonders for her. This was her rationale for sliding into the jeans that hugged her in all the right spots and pairing it with the glittery red top that barely covered her chest. Can't a girl look good every once in a while?

After draining her drink, Angel glided onto the dance floor, joining the mass of swaying bodies. She danced as if the music was being played just for her.

Suddenly, she broke out of her trance in time to smell others of her kind that were now watching her. As she began to walk away, she saw the dark haired one tell a tall blonde something that sent him scurrying away with a business-like expression on his face.

Oh shit, time to go she thought, pushing through the throng of dancers to the stairs. She turned to look back, seeing the boys slowly walking in her direction. As she turned to watch where she was going, she stopped dead in her tracks to see a tall dark-haired man standing in front of the stairs.

Dammit!

"Come with me," he commanded in an authoritative tone. She followed him through the crowd into a barely lit room in the back where he sat in a black leather chair. "Sit," he said. This whole command thing is gonna get annoying really fast!

"Why have you come here?" he asked.

Wow, right to the point. she thought No hello, how are you's? Oh i'm fine, how are the kids? Little tommy growing like a weed? Nope, this is gonna be a looong night.

"My sister and I just moved here," she replied.

"Why?"

"Um...my, i mean, our pack was....killed a couple of weeks ago," she said quietly. "We were the only ones that survived."

"Why did you choose to live in Bucharest?"

"Our parents knew a woman, Esme Gandillon, from an old pack. They kept in touch.....they told me that if anything bad ever happened or if we were ever in danger, to find Esme," she murmured. Don't cry, don't cry, keep it together!

"Well, I am sorry for your loss," he said, a hint of pity shining in his icy blue eyes.

"Well, don't worry about it, we are fine," she said, her tone harsher than intended. Calmly, she said, "We had hoped to join your pack.....if you would let us..."

"We will see about that," he said. "First, what is your name?"

"Angel Devereux and my sister is Faith," she said.

"Where is your sister?" he asked looking around.

"She's 13....too young to be in a club."

"How old are you?"

"I'm 19," she said, much calmer than before.

"Well, you might want to get back to her," he said. "But expect a visit from me....soon."

Ok, so that wasn't so bad she thought.

"I'm Gabriel, by the way," she heard as she walked out of the room.

Once she was in her apartment, Angel had time to think about what exactly had just happened. She met the leader of the pack, had told him about her sister and her parents, and was to expect a visit from him. Oh joy....he's gonna follow my scent....like he's tracking me...like and animal As she was revelling in how piercing his icy blue eyes were, Faith bounced through the door.

"Where the hell were you?" asked Angel.

"I just went for a walk, no need to freak out and pretend you're worried," she said. "How was the club?"

"Fine. I....met the pack's leader..." said Angel. "I told him about what happened back home, and about us...."

"AND?!?"

"And...we are to expect a visit from him...soon," she answered.

"Was he cuuute?!?" Faith squealed.

Oh hell yeah! "I don't know," Angel said casually. "I was too busy being interrogated to notice his looks." or his rock hard abs that showed through his shirt, and his strong arms that could probably snap me in half, or how his eyes looked as though he could see straight through me....

"Ok?" asked her sister.

"What?" said Angel, not realizing her sister had said something.

Faith looked at her skeptically, slowly measuring her up. "I said I was going to bed, ok?"

Angel just nodded her head dumbfoundedly. She didn't even remember falling asleep.

She was in the club again, following Gabriel. The swaying mass wouldn't make room for her. Suddenly, Gabriel was yelling in her face, "Wake up you idiot!"

She opened her eyes to see Faith shaking her like a rag doll.

"What do you want?!?"

Her eyes were wide, "Gabriel is here! And he is HOT!"

Oh shit! "What time is it?" She looked at her clock; it was noon. Dammit! She thought as she jumped out of bed. She spotted herself in the mirror, I look like hell.... Angel grabbed the jeans from under her bed and a small red t-shirt. After dragging the brush through her tangled web of hair, she went into the living room.

Sitting on their blue suede couch, was Gabriel with a smile on his face that made her knees go weak. Wow........no, wait, focus you fool!

"Hello, Gabriel," she chirped. "What are you doing here?"

A smirk came to his face, "I told you to expect my visit."

"Well yeah, but when you said soon, I thought you meant like in a couple of days." She stammered as he steadily scanned her from head to toe. Suddenly, she realized she was still standing. She flopped in the nearest chair, a white armchair.

"Yes, well that was what I originally planned," he said. "But after talking with some members of the pack, I decided to come today."

Noticing the confused look on her face, he continued. "They would like to meet you, at the meeting...tonight. And to have you perform the challenge to see if you may join the pack."

Challenge??? "Um...what kind of challenge, exactly?"

"Don't worry," he said soothingly, "it's kind of just something that helps you sway them to vote for you to be in the pack."

Relaxing, Angel said, "Okay, well, that's fine...I guess. Will my sister have to take part in this challenge?" Say no, say no!

"Yes." Shit!

"Okay, well where and when?" she asked.

"I will come here at ten tonight to pick you and your sister up." He said calmly.

Stifling a laugh, "Um, can your bike carry all three of us?"

"No, I'll be driving an SUV," he said as a warm smile spread on his beautiful face. Suddenly a look of curiosity appeared in his eyes. "What happened to your pack?"

I knew this was coming eventually. "About 20 wolves came and attacked our pack. They killed everyone. When I found my sister, she was surrounded by four or five wolves....they were going to kill her, too. So I-"

"She tackled all of them and yelled at me to run," Faith interrupted, excitedly. "She said to get the car and drive as far away and as fast as possible. When I was running away, I saw two of the wolves break away and try to follow me. But everytime they did, Angel attacked them again so they couldn't get me," she finished, looking at her sister in awe. "I drove for ten hours straight, all the way to vermont, before she called me and told me to stay where I was. The next day she found me and we jumped on a plane to Bucharest and here we are."

Gabriel was staring at Angel with a look in his eyes that she couldn't quite read. "You fought off five wolves? All on your own?"

Before she could answer, Faith did it for her. "Yeah, she was pretty beat up when she found me! She still has the scars from it across her stomach! She hasn't changed since."

Confusion was clear on his face, "Why not?"

Before Faith could talk for her, Angel answered. "I broke a few ribs, and I didn't want them to heal wrong if I changed."

"Well, tonight, you will meet our healer, Persia." Gabriel said. "She will see to your injuries and tell you if you can change....If not, then the challenge will have to wait until you can."

Angel, after noticing that he was staring at her stomach, stood up and lifted her shirt to reveal the scar that crossed her abdomen. He looked like a child caught kicking a puppy. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it," she said reassuringly. "It's a lovely little battle scar....but it should fade soon."

"It must have been a pretty bad wound to still be visible this long after the fight." he said.

Angel just shrugged, he's......worried? He barely knows me....what's that look in his eyes? Why can't I read him like I read others? Why is he so different?

"Are you hungry?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Um..." she was still trying to get out of her head. Noticing her sisters confusion, Faith jumped in.

"Actually, we are starving!" she said, giving Gabriel a glowing smile that was met with a smirk.

Wow, be more obvious! she thought, realizing her sister was trying to flirt with a man that was 11 years older than her.

"Then let's go," Gabriel said as he gracefully stood and walked to the door.

Before following him out, she shrugged to Faith, who was looking at her with a confused but entertained look in her eyes.

Angel looked at a clock and realized they had been talking at the restaurant for three hours. "Wow, um, I guess we should probably go home," she said, "to, you know, rest up for the challenge and everything?"

"Oh, wow, um yeah," Gabriel said, a hint of disappointment in his eyes, "yeah, I'll drive you home."

"You love him!!!" Faith yelled as soon as the door closed. "You do! AND HE LOVES YOU!!!!! Oh my god! This is amazing! How is it that we aren't even officially part of the pack, and you are already in love with the leader!?!?"

Ignoring her, Angel went to her room and slept...or tried to. But everytime she closed her eyes, all she could think about was the pack, which led to the challenge, which led to her sister being in the challenge, which led to her sister flirting with Gabriel, which led to Gabriel and his abs, and muscles, and smiles, and eyes that made her feel like she was going to melt. But I'm not in love with him she tried to reason with herself.

"YES YOU ARE!!!!" yelled her sister, from the living room. She knows me way too well....To drown out Faith and the tv, Angel blasted her radio, which, oddly enough, helped her to fall asleep.

She awoke with a pillow slamming into her face. Why must I always be awoken with these rude gestures? she thought Why never a gentle shake, a good morning Angel! Time to wake up! Always yelling or something being thrown.

The pillow was still being thrown at her, again and again.

Grabbing the pillow and ripping it in half, "What do you want?!" she growled.

"Gabriel's here," Faith giggled.

As she got out of bed, Angel could sense a bit of fear coming from her younger sister. "Everything will be fine," she promised.

"Rest well?" asked Gabriel, as he led them to his car. Inside there were the five boys she saw at the club, and they were all smiling devilishly. Oh joy she thought, as their lust for her practically emanated from their eyes. "This is Rafe, Finn, Willem, Gregory, and Ulf," Gabriel said. "Otherwise known as The Five. Guys, this is Angel and her sister Faith"

"Shotgun!" yelled Faith as she bounded for the passenger door.

"Then Angel can sit right here," said Rafe. "Right between Finn and me!" His voice was dripping with pleasure, amongst other things.

It seemed like hours before they finally reached the forest. A woman in silver robes came rushing towards her.

"Angel," said Gabriel, "this is Persia Devereux, our healer."

"Hello, darling. Come with me," Persia said. "Let's take a look at those wounds, shall we?"

After 20 minutes of being checked out, dozens of people coming in to meet the new girls, and Esme reminicing about Angel's parents, Persia finally cleared her to change. "Whoever stitched and wrapped you up did a very good job," she said. "This could have been very bad! Who may I ask, took care of your wounds?"

Angel nodded to her sister, who was beaming as though she had just won the lottery.

"Well, my dear," said Persia, "you appear to be a wonderful healer. Someday you might just be Jenny's apprentice. Jenny is my apprentice right now. But I think you will make a great healer one day."

Faith's face looked like it might crack, she was beaming so big.