Jana tried as hard as she could to not let her nerves show but it didn't work. The man kept on looking at her, his eyes narrowed in suspicion and fear. She just hoped this all worked out ok. Because she needed to protect her pack and she needed to protect Ari too. And the only way she could think of was by sacrificing herself.

"Here," Jana said, pointing to a small mound of earth surrounded by a group of tall and knarly looking trees. A thin layer of leaves covered the ground and the ivy climbing up the trunks was lustrous and green. It was perfect Jana thought to herself, except it was also sacriledge. But it was the only thing she could think of.

Jana let out a shaky breath. Now for the acting. Now for the hardest thing she'd ever have to do in her life.

"I didn't mean to..." Jana said, covering her eyes with her hands and letting the man believe that she was crying.

Think of the day your mother died, Jana coached herself, that always makes you cry.

The man looked at the mound of earth and then back at Jana with a scared look.

"You killed Kincaid?" the man asked, as if for once he was actually trying to believe that a wolfblood could be good and kind and not evil and little better than an animal.

Jana nodded, "I didn't mean to... My father, if he ever found out. And Matei..."

"Your father?" the man asked, "Wouldn't he be pleased? We heard that Kincaid kidnapped the wild pack?"

Jana nodded, "He did. Meinir..."

"Your friend, Meinir," the man began, "What about her?"

"He..." Jana said, before sobbing hysterically, "He would have done the same thing to me, if... He wanted to kill all of the men in the pack... He had this book... Drawings... Equations on boards all around the room...I couldn't let him get away with it... I had to avenge Meinir, it's what pack sister do!"

The man confused, "So you are saying that Kincaid assaulted her?"

Jana looked up at the man with tear stained eyes, making sure that her own eyes met his with a look of absolute passionate misery.

She nodded, before looking away quickly, "He would have done the same thing to me. My father... He wanted to pass the decision... But I knew he'd never avenge Meinir properly. That bastard, he deserve to die for what he did to her! But still I, I didn't want to disobey my father. The need to honour and follow your alpha is above all else. I couldn't disobey my father, even if I really wanted to. I knew I couldn't kill him, I just thought that if I..."

"The post mortum will reveal everything," the man said solemnly as he pulled his phone out of his coat pocket, "So wait, are you saying that an alpha's word if law, and that the pack has to obey absolutely, and has no choice to disobey?"

Jana nodded, smiling internally- if only! That would have made everything so much easier with Meinir. It was a stroke of luck that the man had clearly never watched Breaking Dawn.

"So they are forced to obey?" the man said, "Like it's a part of them that's stopping them from acting otherwise?"

"Exactly," Jana said.

"So Matei, TJ, Imara and Selina," the man began, "When you decided to go public. They had no option but to do as you commanded, they were forced by something biological inside of them to reveal their wolves to the world?"

Jana nodded, "In the pack an alpha's command overshadows a member's individual wants and concerns."

"So wolfbloods are only as dangerous as their alphas?" the man said.

Jana smiled, "You could say that."

"So with you being the leader of this movement..." The man pondered.

"Yes, I suppose in their eyes I would be," Jana said thoughtfully, "Although I've never seen myself as one. And then their biological instincts would set in. The wolfblood world would be divided into those who stood with me and those who were against me and want to hide from the humans."

"Which makes you the most dangerous wolfblood in the world," the man concluded.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Nia refused to touch the sandwich in front of her. It was beef and good quality beef too but she wasn't at all hungry. She was worried about her pack, especially Jana. She knew Jana was there with her, somewhere, close, she could sense it.

The human woman sat across the table from her watching her closely. Nia could tell that she was nervous, and openly so, she didn't try to cover it up with bravado or by trying to antagonise her. The woman was genuine, or as genuine as humans could be.

Nia smiled at her warmly, "I don't think you're much like that human man. I think you're a lot nicer than him."

The woman looked confused as to the direction the conversation was going and worried about if she should be concerned.

"I think if you had your way," Nia continued, "You probably wouldn't be carrying out these interviews like this. You'd actually want to see what we can do in the wild, see Eolas and Ansian for yourself. I think you're just curious at heart, really. You've already figured it out just by finding how many wolfbloods living in human society, by looking at how many of them are criminals. You and I know that the worst thing most normal wolfbloods do is eat all of the free sample of meat on the deli counter at the supermarkets."

The woman smiled in spite of herself, "That is quite true. The statistics do show that wolfbloods are less likely to commit criminal acts than humans. Although, you and Rhydian haven't helped those statistics."

"Rhydian had a hard childhood," Nia began, "He lost his pack when he was three. Essentially abducted by humans. Imagine finding out that you're parents never abandoned you, that they loved you dearly and always wanted you, imagine finding out that your birthday is wrong, that your name had been made up. Imagine being moved around all the time, having no mum or dad, no brothers and sisters, no real place to call home."

"Nia," the woman said, "I understand what that must have been like for your cousin. But it didn't excuse his behaviour."

"No, it didn't, not really," Nia said, "But it explains it. Rhydian wanted assurances, he wanted to save up so that he wouldn't become homeless once he left care. He wanted the best start in life for him and Maddy. I think that makes him a lot more like a human than you might want to believe. Yes, we have above average senses, we can run faster, and we have a wolf living inside of, literally. But humans have guns, bombs, science. You are just as armed as us, if not more. It's who's holding the gun or the test tube that makes the difference."

The woman seemed to be pondering what Nia said very seriously. Nia just hoped she was getting through to her.

"And you?" the woman said, "You killed your father."

Nia nodded, "I'll tell you why. I feel like I can be honest now. But you have to understand, I wanted to tell Jana this first, because she is my alpha. That's the only reason I haven't been honest with you. Because the time hasn't been right. My father... He was a very sick man, as you humans would say. The pack would just call him crazy. He didn't love my mother, instead he came into our camp late one night and had his way with her, so to speak."

The woman looked horrified.

"I spent my childhood being told that I was worthless and horrible," Nia continued, tears forming in her eyes, "My mother never loved me. I couldn't blame her. I reminded her of him. I looked like him. When I was three, Jana's pack exiled me. Rhydian was taken by the humans, and Jana and I went to human world to look for him, Arianne was killed by a drunk driver when she came to find us. Jana saw it all. Alric, I can't begin to describe the love he had for his wife, he wasn't himself and everyone was done hearing my mother abuse me. He exiled us. And we joined another pack- Elgar's pack."

"Who is Elgar?" the woman asked, "Jana never mentioned him."

"Oh, she wouldn't," Nia said, "His name is taboo in the wild pack. He used to love Arianne, became insanely jealous when it turned out that Alric was her enaid cymar alffa. Alric's father had to exile him, he feared what he might do to his cub. People care more for their families in the wild I think, it's because life and death is so much more real. Well, anyway, Elgar took us in, on the condition that my mother would marry him. She did. I think that he really was her enaid cymar alffa. She seemed happier, and was kinder to me too. Though she never really stopped hating me. It was made clear to me that I would never be Elgar's successor. I didn't care. I'm no alpha. Elgar tolerated me so long as I kept out of his way. Then my brother was born..."

"Your brother?" the woman asked.

Nia nodded, "I wasn't even allowed to stay for long enough to find out his name. Elgar exiled me the moment they said he was healthy. I knew no one would take in a half-human half-wolfblood and, in the wild, the lone wolf dies, the pack survives. I'd heard a rumor about Jana becoming tame. I wanted to find her, to join her new pack."

"How does news spread in the wild-blood world?" the womana asked with genuine interest.

"Whenever alliances are formed," Nia began, "Through marriages, peace treaties. Agreements about territories. Alphas meet and any important news gets shared, or rather, gossiped about. Jana's father, Alric, he is part of a long and noble dinisty. All the way back to the Saxons. He is royalty, essentially. So news about his packs always ends up reaching us one way or another."

"So you came to Newcastle to look for Jana?" the woman asked.

Nia nodded, "I couldn't remember her exact scent. But I trusted that I would find her. That's when I noticed something familiar. Humans don't have scents per say, but they still do smell, in their own way. I followed the smell and that's when I found my father. I didn't mean to, I didn't even know he lived in Newcastle. When I saw him, I became so angry, that was before he..."

"Nia?" the woman asked in worry. It was as if only then did she start seeing Nia as she really was. Instead of a dangerous animal, she saw a girl, just a girl, broken and beaten down, thin and frail, and barely holding it all together.

"He tried to do to me," Nia began, "What he did to my mother. He almost succeeded, but then I saw a knife. I knew what he was going to do. So I had to. Otherwise, he would have killed me. I only meant to stop him, so I could run away. I stabbed him in what I thought was the stomach."

"Punctured aorta," the woman said, "The coroner's report. A coroner is someone who decides how a person died."

Nia nodded, "Well that makes more sense I guess."

The woman let out a shaky sigh, "Nia, I don't know if there'll be much I can do to help you. They might want to charge you for manslaughter- accidental death. But there's a chance that because of the situation- because it was self defense that the charge might be lighter."

"I don't want to be locked up in a cage," Nia sobbed.

"No," the woman said, "There will be other places where they might send you. Places where they can help you."

"But I need to be with Jana," Nia said, "I only feel safe when I'm with Jana. She's not a sister to me, not really, she's something...more. I know Matei is her enaid cymar alffa, but I'm ok with that, being around her just makes me happy. I don't know what I'd do without her."

The woman looked shocked, she placed a hand carefully on Nia's, "I was wrong. I promise I'm going to fight for you."