Disclaimer: I don't own any Mercy Thompson characters.

Carolyne

Chap 2

Alex sticks her head into the guest room that Adam was letting Carolyne use. "Want to go for a walk?"

Carolyne lifts her head off of the pillow. "You're back. You kind of disappeared last night."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. Had some business that I had to attend to, so walk?"

Carolyne nods and grabs her jacket. It wasn't raining again, but the night air was cold. Alex sticks her hands in her pocket as she stalks put of the house. She had spent most of the day at the Ridge, just running. Then came home and was lectured by Adam about how she needed to stay near the pack. After she had relentlessly pointed out that she wasn't pack, at least not his.

"So, who was that man?" Carolyne asks quietly after they had walked for a while.

"Did you tell my father what you were running from?"

"Yes, he's supposed to have someone looking into it." Carolyne states, shivering as she remembers being kidnapped and caged as she was turned.

"Bran probably sent Charles."

"Bran?"

"The Marrock. Leader of all werewolves. The man in the house yesterday." She swallows.

"You care about him. It's in your voice."

Alex's lip quirks. "I love him, unfortunately he is already mated. Even if their relationship holds no love, he still chose her long before I came into the picture. I went last night to talk to him and tell him that I was done with everything. Things got out of hand and we ended up sleeping together. I think he cares for me, but anyways…I told him it was a mistake."

"But it was a lie."

Alex nods. "It wasn't a mistake, I care for him so much."

Carolyne goes to respond before she stops as she hears growling. She backs up as she sees the blonde haired wolf with a black and a red wolf flanking him. Alex growls as she assesses the threat. She moves in front of Carolyne and starts changing into the wolf. Her anger at the fear she was smelling made the change go a bit faster, but by the time she was done, blondie already had Carolyne against the tree, a silver knife in his hand.

She goes to jump at him before being knocked to the side by the red wolf. The black wolf looks over at them before joining in the fray. Alex whimpers as one of the wolves grabs her neck and shakes his head. She tried to move to fight them off, knowing she had to help Carolyne. She whines as she hears Carolyne's grunt as the knife enters her stomach.

She fights against the wolves, tasting the blood as she bites into the red one's leg. She grunts as another wolf jumps in knocking the wolf holding her throat away. Ben grabs the blonde and tosses him away from Carolyne. He growls and advances on the man, snarling and starting to follow when he stops at Warren's growl.

Ben stops and moves to the woman who fell to the ground. He checks her over while Warren forces his body to change. Warren glances at Alex and curses. "Ben, we need to get her back now. She shouldn't be changing." He mutters picking up the half-human, half-wolf Alex.

Ben grunts and picks up Carolyne. "Nothing's different, the stupid cunt is still getting herself into trouble."

"Don't let Adam hear you calling her that," Warren says ignoring his own wounds as he carries Alex back up to the house. "Maybe if you hadn't been off chasing your rabbits then we could have helped them sooner."

"They're not pack, protecting them is not on the top of my list of things to do," Ben says frowning at how much blood Carolyne was losing. "Come on, speed up."

Alex groans as she moves. It hurt to move. She sniffs the air and whimpers as she smells Bran. "What are you doing here?" she asks knowing that he was awake.

Bran nuzzles against her neck as he holds her closer. "I'm your Alpha, you are injured, I'm here to help you heal."

Alex tries to move, but Bran tightens his hold on her. "No, Carolyne, she was stabbed."

Bran pulls her back onto the bed and wraps himself around her. "Carolyne is alright. Adam pulled her into the pack and has been with her almost nonstop. She's healing good with the pack magic. She'll be better probably tomorrow."

"Why does it hurt to talk?"

"If it hurts then don't do it." He runs his hand over the bandage on her neck. "Warren didn't realize the other wolf had such a good hold on your neck when he knocked him off. Took a good chunk out, but you'll be okay." He kisses her cheek. "Just relax and let the pack wash over you. We'll keep you safe."

Alex relaxes against him before wrinkling her nose. "Leah is resisting."

Bran winces slightly. "Yeah, I know. I can feel her also. Just ignore her, I'll deal with her when I get home."

Alex sighs comfortably against him. "I love lying like this."

"Me too," Bran says nibbling her neck. "Rest."

"Mmhm," Alex mutters as she falls asleep.

Bran rubs her thigh, setting his hand there as the door opens and Adam comes into the room followed by a black wolf. Adam lays on the bed beside Alex while Carolyne curls up into a ball. Bran doesn't say anything as they make themselves comfortable before Ben and Warren both come into the room as well.

Bran swallows. He was already feeling aroused having Alex up against him and naked. The last thing he needed was to get aroused in front of Adam. The simplest movement and he would be touching her in a place that would really piss Adam off. Carolyne sniffs before pushing her nose against Warren's feet. Warren chuckles and pops her on the nose laughing when she falls off of the queen sized bed. Carolyne sneezes before settling herself on the floor.

Alex wakes up and looks around the room. She touches her neck grateful that the bandage was gone. But so was Bran. She reached out, but she couldn't even feel the pack bond anymore. That's when she realized that she wasn't a part of the pack anymore, she whimpered. A black head poked itself over the side of the bed before she jumped up onto the bed and rubbed against Alex.

"Carolyne? Shouldn't you be back in human form by now?"

The door opens and Samuel comes into the room. "You're awake."

"Samuel! I haven't seen you since you slipped out of town while I was visiting friends."

The doctor snorts, "You have the worst timing sometimes." He states making his way to the bed and tilting Alex's head back. "How do you feel?"

"Like I have a horse in my lap." Alex answers smiling when she feels Carolyne snort.

Samuel runs his hand down her neck before nodding satisfied. "You're healed. And the horse in your lap has not left your side since Adam deemed her fit for moving." He says before laughing as Alex's stomach growls, Carolyne cocking her head at the noise. "Right, healing equals a need for food. I'll get Warren to bring you up something." He kisses her forehead before leaving the room.

Alex settles back onto the bed running her hand through Carolyne's fur. "Guess he really didn't want me anymore, huh?" She asks the wolf.

Caro whines and nuzzles the girl laying almost completely on top of her.

"I was told to deliver dinner," Warren says as he comes into the room setting a big tray of food down on the bed for them.

Alex looks at him. "You can't tell my father any of what you heard last night. He'll flip out."

Warren snorts, "Do you think I'm stupid? I'm not saying anything." He answers watching as the black wolf hurriedly begins nosing around the tray.
Alex snatches up a burger before Carolyne eats everything. "When did he leave?"
"Couple of hours ago," Warren says offering her a smile.
Alex chews on the meat thinking about everything.

Alex walks downstairs and freezes as she sees Mercy with Adam in the kitchen. "Umm...what is my mechanic doing here?"
Carolyne bumps into the girl and pushes her further into the kitchen.
"Right," Adam comments. "She's fixing the Touareg?"
"Yeah, dad, she is."
"Dad?" Mercy asks looking at Adam.
"I was going to talk to you about her. Mercy, this is Alexandra, my eldest daughter. She left before you came here. She's been living with the Marrok for the last ten years." He pauses and looks at his daughter as he feels a pang of sadness from her. "Alex?"
"I need to take a walk."

Carolyne whines and practically steps on the girl's feet trying to stay against her.
Alex reaches down and pets her before heading out of the house, trying not to listen to her father and Mercy's conversation.

Alex scratches Carolyne behind the ear as she wakes up because of her cell phone. She reaches over and snatches it off of the nightstand settling comfortably back into bed. "Hello?" she asks tiredly.
"Were you sleeping?"
Her eyes open wide and she bites her lip. "Well, it's three in the morning, Bran. Most people are sleeping at this time. Did you need something?"
"No, I just wanted to hear your voice."
Alex snorts. "Come on, Bran. Why did you call me in the middle of the night? You've already made your thoughts crystal clear."
"What do you mean?"
"You tossed me out of the pack like I was nothing."
Bran bit back a curse. "Alexandra, I did what I thought you wanted. You said you wanted space and what we had was a onetime thing, so I was trying to give it to you."
"Always under your terms right?" she asks fingering the locket that he had given her a few months ago. Carolyne whines and nuzzles her arm.
"What do you want from me?"
"Nothing," she says with a sigh. "Well, that's a lie. I want you to come back here and sleep with me again and convince me that I'm supposed to be with you." She finishes quietly.
"Alexandra." Bran says gently.
"Don't Alexandra me. We've been pussyfooting around for the last ten freaking years and now when something actually happens you don't want to talk about it or be with me anymore."
"Alexandra!" Adam calls.
"I have to go, Bran."
"Alexandra."
"Bye." She hangs up the phone. "Don't ever fall in love," she mutters to Carolyne. She climbs out of bed and heads into the living room where most of the pack was situated. "What?"
"Come here," Adam says gently frowning when she backs away from him. "Alex?"
"I don't want to be a part of this pack. I still belong to the Marrok," she says.
"You don't belong to him Alexandra."
Warren hides a snort.
"In my mind I do," she mutters remembering the way he kept claiming her as his.

"Alex."
She looks at her dad and nods. "Fine."
Adam glances at Carolyne that was sticking close to Alex. "Why are you still in wolf form?"

The black wolf drops her head and tries to scoot more behind Alex.
Alex looks at her and at her father again. "I don't think that she knows how to change back yet."
Caroline whines slightly.

Adam frowns as he watches her forcing her to change back to her other form. "She's going to need a lot of help," he mutters. "Surprised she's not feral."
"She survived, what else could you expect from her?" Alex bites out.
Adam's eyes dart to his daughter and he curls his upper lip. "Watch your tone."
"No." She instantly bites her lip and looks away. "I'm sorry."
Adam relaxes slightly. "Why is Bran paying for Mercy to fix your car?"
"I wasn't aware that he was." Alex says with a frown. "I was planning on paying for it. Tell Mercy not to worry about it. I'll pay for it."
The alpha nods.
Alex looks back at Carolyne. "I'm going to take her upstairs and get her dressed."
"Alex," Adam says holding out the piece of bloody flesh.
Alex takes a deep breath before she walks forward and allows him to put the meat into her mouth reciting the words after him. "I'll be down for dinner." She grabs Carolyne's arm and helps the girl up before bringing her upstairs. "Do you have any preference in what you want to wear?" she asks her setting the girl on the bed.

"Just clothes." The woman mutters settling back on the bed. "Ugh."
"It takes a while to get used to the changing," Alex mutters as she pulls out a dress and tosses it to the woman.
Carolyne nods and slowly pulls on the dress. "I've only been like this a month, I don't even know how to change, generally it just happens."
"Yeah, temper will cause you to do that. Even after ten years there are times when I can't reign in my temper enough. Bran said I was always better off with him because my father and I are too much alike to be in a pack together." She flashes Carolyne a smile. "We both have bad tempers."
The younger brunette nods, and fights a yawn. "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," Alex responds pulling off her shirt and replacing it with a new one before doing the same with her jeans. "That dress fits you pretty good. I have a bunch of them if you want them. My dad always bought them and I don't really wear dresses." She sighs. "Come on lets go and find you some food."
Carolyne smiles before following her from the room.

TBC

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