Author's Note: I guess rereading this series has helped me write this story, which has always been playing in the back of my mind. I'm hoping you're enjoying this story. If so, please tell me. I'm waiting for my first comment.

Enjoy!

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The sunlight seeped through the window. I hadn't put blinds up in my room because they were a pain to clean. So if I wanted privacy, which I got none living with a werewolf like Sam, I could simply put up a blanket. In other words it didn't really matter.

The light shining in my face woke me from a deep sleep. I stretched my toes first to make sure I had feeling in them. Sometimes I slept in awkward positions and my toes were the first to go to sleep. When I noticed they had feeling in them, I stretched the rest of my body. The arm draped across my stomach was warm. Instinctively I turned into the body it belonged to.

It was easy to snuggle under Ben's chin. Somehow our leg's tangled together. He enclosed me in his arms as I buried my face in the side of his neck. We would have gone back to sleep but my phone rang. I ignored it for the first couple of times it rang. By the third time I was annoyed. I snatched the phone and hit the answer button.

"What?" My voice could have been nicer because it could have been anyone from Adam to the Marrok calling, but I was crabby because I had been asleep.

"You need to get to the hospital." I was right. It had been Adam but the fear in his voice told me something else. That and the fact that he was running.

I was up and moving around the room, phone pressed to my ear. "Jesse?"

"Yeah, I'm in Spokane."

"What the hell are you doing there?" Again, I could have been nicer but that had gone out the window.

"I had business today."

"It's Black Friday."

"I know. Where are you?"

"At home. I'll be there in a few minutes. Do you want me to wait on you?"

"No. Help Mercy get her home and call the pack. I'll be there in less than three hours."

"Got it." I snapped the phone closed and slipped it in a pocket of my cargos. I walked over to the bed and shook Ben. "Get up and get dressed. We got to go."

"I heard." He replied as I looked out the window.

"Ok. I'll be right back." I threw open my bedroom door. Sam's car was outside but that didn't necessarily mean he was home. So I threw open his bedroom door (remember: no privacy, especially not in emergencies) and began gathering clothes for him. "Superman, get up."

"Go away." He growled at me. He obviously had just gotten in because he was still in his scrubs.

"No can do on this one. Adam says we got to go."

"What the hell for?"

"Jesse's in the hospital."

He was up then and asking questions like I knew he would as he started to change into the clothing I had in my hands. "What happened?"

"I won't know until we get there. Hurry up."

We were all ready in ten minutes. Sam merely lifted an eyebrow at Ben as he walked out of my room in one of his shirts. I shook my head when he turned that gaze to me. We piled in my Jeep and headed for the hospital where Sam and I both worked.

I parked in nurse's parking because hey! I'm a nurse. It was also the closest to the building you could get. Sam brushed past us and went into the building as Ben started making calls to the pack. As we walked through, I found Mercy in the waiting room. She was shaking uncontrollably. Warren was with her which made me think she had called him about the time Adam called me.

"Mercy?" I said as I walked over. She flew at me, her arms going around my waist in a hug. "What happened?"

"We were getting a jump start on Christmas shopping like we always do. We were in Wal-Mart on the edge of town when I smelled something out of place. I was on the phone with Warren asking him to meet us there when Jesse suddenly dropped. She'd been shot. Kaden, she's only seventeen. She's too young to be in this mess."

I waited until she calmed down enough so I could hand her off to Warren and then walked out into the hallway. Ben and Sam were talking to Dr. Rutledge as I came up.

"Jesse's fine. She's able to go home. The bullet only nicked her arm but I'm concerned with the caliber." She said.

"What was the caliber?" I asked.

"I'm not quite certain."

"Is there any way I can see it?" She produced it from her pocket in a little plastic bag. I took it and looked it over as she continued to talk. "It was embedded in the bone and had to be moved a little to get it out. Her arm will be fully functional when the wound heals."

"Thank you." I said as I handed it back. "Have the proper authorities been called?"

"Yes, we have Officer Tony Montenegro on his way over." I knew Tony and knew he was a good man. "He should be here shortly. If you'll excuse me, I have patients to attend to."

When she was out of hearing distance, we formed a small circle just in case. "That was a 7.62x51mm NATO." I said.

"That's a small cal." Sam replied. "I'm not sure I know what it belongs to."

"It's a SIG-Saur SSG 3000 made by Schweiserische Industrie Gesellschaft. It's bolt actioned and the cartridge holds five rounds. It's used in law enforcement in Germany, where it originated, and the United States."

"So we're looking for a police officer?"

"Either that or someone who can easily get their hands on one."

We heard Jesse emerge from the emergency room. Mercy came out and took the girl in her arms as gently as possible. Warren looked at Sam in question. He shook his head.

We followed them out to their car. They had ridden with Warren obviously. When we found my car in the parking lot, I let Sam drive because I was about to call Adam. It probably wasn't a good idea because Mercy should do it, but she was concerned with Jesse. So I picked the lesser of two evils and called the Alpha.

He picked up on the first ring. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Rutledge says she was only nicked by it." I replied.

I heard him sigh in relief. "Good. Where are you now?"

"Heading to your house. Ben called the pack while we were at the hospital."

He didn't say anything about why Ben was with us. He knew because his red truck had been left at Adam's last night when he stayed with me. He did however catch the change in my tone. "What haven't you said?"

I took a deep breath, getting ready for the onslaught that would ensue. "Jesse was shot with a sniper rifle, SIG-Saur SSG 3000 to be exact. It's standard task force edition."

I heard him curse under his breath. "Cops? A cop shot my daughter?"

"That's what we're looking at. I won't know for sure until I do some digging."

"Kaden, I don't want you to get your nose in this."

"Sorry, Boss, but my nose was thrust into this when you called me at eight-thirty. That was your fault as well.'

He growled at my insult but I think it was more about the fact that I told him it was his fault. "True, but don't do it alone."

"I'm not. I got friends in high places."

"Ok, but to be safe, I want you to call Bran."

I dropped my head with a sigh. Last time I had talked to Bran Cornick on the phone he had chewed me out for flying under his radar for about two hundred years. Females weren't supposed to be lone wolves but I had been one for a long time, living with a vampire so I wouldn't be found. It had worked, until a year ago when I made my presence known. Ever since then, both Bran and Adam had made sure I didn't think about leaving.

"Kaden, it's for my daughter." Adam's voice was desperate as he said the words. There was nothing he wouldn't do for his daughter.

"All right. I'll call Bran. You concentrate on getting home in one piece."

"I will. See you in a bit."

I hit the end button and stared at my phone. I couldn't believe I was doing this but Adam had asked and I was going to do it. I dialed the number and waited. It was answered on the second ring.

"Hello?" It was a female and there was only one female that would answer that number. Leah.

Drat! I was in for an earful. "Hello? This is Kaden Northman, a wolf in Adam Hauptman's pack. I'm calling on his behalf."

"What do you want, old one?" Well, that was an insult if I heard one.

I clenched the seatbelt in my fist. Two could play that game. "I need to talk to your husband, unwanted one." Sam snorted from the front seat. He liked it.

She went off on a tirade but it was cut short when someone told her gruffly to shut up and hand him the phone. That was Bran. I had talked enough with him on the phone to know his voice. He came on sounding so regal it made me want to gag. What a hoax!

"Hello?"

"Bran?"

"Hello, Kaden. What can I do for you?"

"Jesse Hauptman's been shot."

There was silence on the other end. Either he didn't know what to say or was waiting for me to say more. I opened my mouth but he beat me to it. "Is she okay?"

"It's just a nick but it could have been worse. She was shot using a Saur."

"Police addition."

"Yes, sir."

"What do you need?"

"I need to know if there are any police officers in the Tri-Cities area who absolutely despise the werewolves. Someone who has no qualms with shooting a seventeen-year-old girl."

"I'll get Charles and Anna on it." Charles was Bran's youngest son. He was almost two hundred years old. Anna was his mate. She was young but feisty, an Omega in the Marrok's pack.

"Thanks."

"How are you doing?'

I shifted, knowing exactly what he meant by asking that question. He wanted to know how I liked being a in a pack. I was tempted to tell him that I hated it but that would have been a lie. I looked at Ben, who had become the reason for changing my mind. "Fine."

"You know why I put you there right?"

"Because if I had been in your pack, I would have been a threat to Leah." I heard the other female in the background giving the phone a piece of her mind while on my end Sam was laughing hysterically while he drove up into Adam's driveway, already filled with cars of pack members.

"I take it you said that just to get on her nerves." I snorted at his assumptions. "I take that as a yes. Kaden, stay out of trouble."

"Seriously? Do you honestly think I am going to sit by while Jesse has been shot and Adam's pissed beyond all recognition?"

"No, but I want you to stay out of trouble. We don't need any wolves acting stupid if there are police officers shooting werewolves and their families. When's Adam due back?"

"This afternoon. He told me to call you."

"Keep me updated." He hung up on me.

I stared at the phone for a few moments before I climbed from the car and walked into the house where the pack was waiting.