Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing about this story... the writing is all L.L. Raand's and the Characters are from various televsion shows (South of Nowhere, The O.C., Orange is the New Black, Lost Girl, The Fosters, and The L Word) Credit goes completely to all listed above.

Lauren knocked softly on the door to Alice and Carmen's room. They were physically well enough to return to the barracks, but neither seemed eager to leave the infirmary, and that worried her. It wasn't natural for any Were to choose to be separate from the rest of the Pack, but particularly not the adolescents. Very young Weres slept together in the nursery in a jumble, often four or six in a bed, many shifting involuntarily in their sleep. The presence of warm, familiar bodies and comforting scents helped dispel the sometimes disorienting effect of waking as a wolf. As they grew older and learned to control their shifts, adolescents were consumed with defining their places in the Pack hierarchy, forming intense friendships with Weres of both sexes—tussling, tangling, assessing potential mates. Carmen and Alice had both spent time in sentrie training, where they'd lived, eaten, worked, and slept with their Packmates in the barracks. For them to want to stay alone now wasn't healthy.

Lauren knocked again. They would know it was her by her scent, but she wouldn't intrude without permission. They'd had too much of that in the last weeks.

Alice rumbled, "Come in."

"Have a good run?" Lauren asked. The room was lit by silvery moonlight streaming through the open window, and Alice, naked except for a pair of jeans, seemed wary and distrustful. She occupied her usual position with her back against the wall, watching the door, putting herself between Carmen and any potential threat. Carmen, in a black T-shirt and camo BDUs, lay curled up on top of her cot, her arms wrapped around the pillow and her knees drawn up to her midsection. She looked small and wounded, and Lauren's heart wept.

"John called us back before we got very far." Alice's eyes glimmered gold, her wolf prowling, restless. "Then we heard the alarm. We can fight. We're ready."

"There's no fight yet," Lauren said, considering how much to tell them. She ached to protect them, but that time had passed. "Bo has a captive—a human. We don't know very much about him, but he says that he knows you. From the lab."

Carmen gasped and Alice leapt to her feet, snarling.

"The Alpha isn't here right now, but it's possible she'll want you to see him." Lauren spoke calmly, ignoring that Alice was on the verge of shifting. Alice was volatile, barely in control, but she had to be given the chance to control herself. Alice had to know that she and her wolf were one, as they always had been, and the Pack trusted her. "I know you don't remember much about the humans who held you, and that's okay."

"Only broken memories," Carmen murmured. She sat up, her arms tightly folded around her middle, and glanced at Alice. "What does the Alpha need us to do?"

"Bo is talking to him now. If you see him, you may remember more." Lauren saw no point in saying the Alpha was missing. The Alpha would return. Any other possibility was unthinkable. "How do you feel about that?"

"We'll do whatever the Alpha needs," Alice said.

"I know you will." Lauren smiled softly. "But I want to know how you feel about doing it."

"What does it matter how we feel?" Alice growled. "We're warriors. We follow the Alpha's command."

"Do you think she doesn't care how you feel? That I don't care?"

"We don't care about feelings," Carmen said flatly, sounding bitter but stronger than she had before.

"They hurt you," Lauren said to Carmen. "We know that. We all hurt for you."

"Don't," Carmen said. "We don't want you to pity us."

"Pity is not the same as love." Lauren wanted to gather them both up—to soothe them, heal them. Their shame and sorrow and guilt choked her, and they were so wrong. They were so heartbreakingly brave. But they did not need her tears. "The Alpha will decide what to do with him. And I know you will do what she asks."

"Where did she go?" Carmen asked.

The Pack had few secrets, living as they did in intense community, aware of each other's impulses and desires and needs. Lauren didn't ordinarily discuss battle plans with adolescents, but these weren't just any adolescents. These were two young wolves who were no longer young in anything except years, already seasoned in the worst kind of battle. They needed honesty and respect. "The Alpha went back to the installation where you were held. There may be other captives."

Carmen whined, an anguished cry caught in her throat. "No. The Alpha wouldn't have left anyone."

"We can't be sure. They could be hidden in some other part of the installation. Your captors found a way to prevent the Alpha from sensing you."

Alice shuddered and her eyes glazed. "I couldn't feel the Alpha—couldn't feel the Pack. The air was…wrong. Stinging, bitter."

"They poisoned you."

"I should've gone back with them tonight," Alice said. "I remember…some things. Places they took us. I might have helped."

"Do you remember a human—a big man with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes?"

Alice shook her head, pacing back and forth in front of her narrow bed. "Faces. I can't see the faces."

"You will, you're doing fine."

"I killed one. I remember his blood in my mouth." Alice looked at Lauren, questions in her tormented eyes.

"Yes, you did," Lauren said. "Any one of us would have done the same. There's no shame in that."

"I still want to kill them."

"Of course you do. So do we. All of them." Lauren cupped Alice's face. Alice went very still, but did not pull away. Lauren stroked her thumb over the sharp edge of Alice's cheekbone, brushed the hair from her eyes. "What you feel is important. What you do about what you feel is what defines you. That's up to you, Alice. I trust you. We all do."

"I remember scents, touches. Pain, I remember pain, and—" Alice abruptly snarled so violently, Lauren nearly growled a warning. She wasn't dominant, but her wolf instinctively responded to the threat. Lauren calmed her wolf, waiting for Alice to settle. She'd sensed a surge of rage and, unexpectedly, excitement. Whatever Alice remembered had aroused her.

"I want to see him," Alice said, a low heavy, rumble in her voice. Her eyes shimmered gold again and her canines jutted from behind her full upper lip. Pheromones clouded the air. Alice was a mature young dominant, and Lauren was in heat.

Lauren backed up a step. "No, Alice. Not now."

Alice snarled. Her face grew sharper, her skin shimmering with sex-sheen.

"Listen to me," Lauren said gently, "I don't want you to answer my call."

"I don't care." Alice stepped closer, her pelt line flaring. She was fiercely beautiful, potent and primed. Lauren walked a fine line between continuing to stimulate her if she stayed, encouraging her by her very presence, and risking further injury to Alice's self-esteem by denying her the opportunity to restrain her wolf. She wasn't even certain Alice could contain her urges, but she needed to give her the chance. Softly, she said, "You know the rules. My choice who answers my call."

Alice shuddered and panted.

Lauren suddenly heated, skin tingling as if she'd been electrified, and her body quickened. Her need surged, fed by the flood of neurostimulants set off by the Were bearing down on them. Bo was coming. Lauren sensed her from across the courtyard. Bo stormed closer, possessive and aggressive. If she burst in on them now, Alice would attack and Bo would probably kill her. Lauren reached inside herself, projected her thoughts, never questioning if she could reach Bo.

I'm all right. Don't hurt her.

She challenges.

No. No, she doesn't. Bo, don't hurt her.

The door behind her banged open and Lauren spun around. Bo stood framed by the golden glow of the lights in the hall behind her. Her hair shimmered like fire and her hazel eyes glowed as hot as embers. Her chest was bare, breasts tight-nippled, her heavy pelt line bisecting her rigid abdomen. Her claws were down, her canines extruded. She dripped sex and adrenaline.

"Mine," Bo growled.

Alice's head snapped up and a rumble rose from her throat.

Bo, wait. Please.

Behind her, Bo growled again, a tone so dangerous and so primal Lauren wanted to be under her, her teeth buried in Bo's throat, Bo buried inside her. She fought for control, fought to project calm. Her wolf howled for release, to mate.

"Alice," Lauren murmured, holding her place between the two of them. "Alice, I choose Bo."

Alice's pelt rolled beneath her skin, her jaw elongated, her eyes angled. She shimmered and started to shift.

"Alice," Bo snapped. "Hold your wolf. We need you here."

Lauren held her breath, watching Alice struggle to obey the Pack imperator.

Alice sucked in a shuddering breath and her wolf receded. Softly, she whispered, "Yes, Imperator."

"Next time, mind your place, whelp." Bo came up behind Lauren and wrapped an arm around Lauren's waist, pulling Lauren back against her chest. Heat poured from Bo's bare torso through Lauren's body as if they were skin to skin.

Thank you. Lauren arched her back, exposing her neck, and Bo grazed her throat with her canines.

I won't be so generous again.

Lauren knew Alice was watching, knew she needed to be reminded of one of the most basic rules of the Pack—a female always chose who answered her call. Her mind assessed her patient's welfare, but her body surrendered to the overwhelming pleasure of Bo's hands on her. Her breasts tingled, her belly rolled with need, and her clitoris expanded. She rocked her hips into Bo's crotch, inviting her to take more. Try as she might, she could not resist the need roaring through her.

"Lauren is mine," Bo said to Alice, running both hands up and down Lauren's body. She pulled Lauren's shirt from the waistband of her pants and slid her hand underneath. "Remember that."

"Yes, Imperator." Alice backed up until her legs hit the bed, and she sat, her hands between her knees, her eyes lowered focus somewhere between them.

Lauren reached behind Bo's head and ran her fingers through Bo's hair, turning her head to bite her on the jaw. "She didn't touch me."

Bo kissed her. "If she had, she'd be bleeding on the floor under me right now."

"You claim rights you don't have."

"Then give them to me." Bo spread her hand over Lauren's lower abdomen, her claws pressing into Lauren's belly. Her teeth penetrated Lauren's shoulder as quick as lightning, and Lauren's sex readied.

She couldn't fight her wolf and her instincts and her heart all at the same time. "Yes," Lauren whispered. "Yes."

Spencer coughed the dust from her lungs, her heart pounding furiously. "Ashley!"

The rumbling of stone and screeching of shifting metal finally stopped, and she listened, willing Ashley to answer with every ounce of her being. The silence was suffocating. Even the crackling roar of the fire ravaging the surrounding forest and the cries of terrified animals had disappeared. Wiping grit from her eyes with the back of her arm, she started down what remained of the stairs.

"Wait," Dani yelled, grabbing her arm. "Let me go first."

"No." Spencer jerked her arm free. She'd waited long enough. Ashley was near and nothing would stand between them now. She jumped over a gap in the cracked and canted stairwell, landing on a narrow ledge of stone that overlooked an abyss. She peered down. "Ashley?"

Only darkness awaited her.

Despair, black and heavy, seeped through her like poison. The only thing keeping her from leaping into the yawning cavern in search of Ashley was the ever-growing presence of the young she carried. She cared nothing for herself, but for them, for Ashley's heirs and hers, she would not take the last step. A howl rose from her chest, haunted with grief and fury. Only an echo, lonely and desolate, filled her battered soul.

"I'm going down." Dani paused on the brink of the impenetrable. "If I don't return—there's something you should know. When we broke into the lab last night, the Vampire who was there before us was the Viceregal's senechal. Shane."

Spencer nodded. "Thank you. When you find them, call me."

"Of course."

"Hurry."

Dani disappeared and time stopped. Spencer called out again, "Ashley?"

She couldn't sense her, couldn't feel her. Every breath was a blade piercing her heart.

"Spencer," Dani called. "There's a landing fifteen feet below you."

Instantly, Spencer jumped. The blackness was absolute. Even her wolf eyes could not see what surrounded her. She extended a hand and felt rock, spikes of steel, burning wood. Her shoulder touched Dani's. "Do you feel—"

"Dani? Spencer?" a disembodied voice croaked.

"Liege!" Dani shouted and disappeared in the direction of Stef's voice.

Another crack like thunder, and clouds of stone dust rose up around Spencer's feet. Rocks rolled down what must have been the remains of a hallway.

Someone moaned. Someone close by.

"Ashley!" Spencer dropped to her knees and ran her hands over the uneven surface of the mounds of rubble. She touched warm flesh. Ashley's flesh. Spencer heaved rocks aside, felt Ashley move, and then Ashley was kneeling in front of her, warm, alive. Spencer gripped Ashley's shoulders and kissed her, desperate for the taste of her, the scent of her, the press of her flesh. Spencer's breath came in jagged rasps. Her face was wet with tears she didn't bother to hide. Ashley gripped her hair, kissed her with a hot, fast plunge of her tongue, bruising her mouth, drinking her. Spencer opened, absorbing the ferocious power of the Alpha, her mate. Her life.

"I thought…" Spencer couldn't touch her enough. Couldn't form words. All she needed was Ashley under her hands. She ran her hands over Ashley's face, down her neck, her shoulders. "I couldn't feel you. Why couldn't I—"

"Didn't I tell you to go?" Ashley muttered against Spencer's mouth, unable to stop kissing her. "Will you never listen?"

"Are you hurt?" Spencer rasped her claws down Ashley's back. Hers again. "Ashley, are you hurt?"

"Nothing serious."

"You're bleeding."

"Just cuts and scrapes. We have injured—humans."

"What? Why?"

"They have fever," Ashley said. "They're both in midtransition."

"God. What were they doing here? Where's Alex?"

"Here," Alex grunted. "My arm was broken but it's healed now. I'll get the Liege."

Spencer said, "The air down here is toxic. We need to get out of here."

Dani and Alex crowded next to them, each with a girl in her arms.

"These two are still alive," Alex said. "Do you still want to take them out?"

"Yes," Ashley said. "Where's Stef?"

"She's…injured," Dani said. "I'll go back for her."

"No," Ashley said. "Spencer, go back to the surface. Alex, Dani, take the humans up with you. Stef and I will be behind you."

"No," Alex said. "I will take my Liege. You take this human."

Ashley snarled. "You disobey my orders?"

"Warlord," Stef said in a toneless, flat voice. "Take the humans, go up first. Clear the way for all of us."

"Yes, Liege."

Spencer waited until Dani and Alex disappeared up the precipitous stairwell. "What's wrong?"

"Stef has severe UV exposure," Ashley said. "She needs blood."

"I can wait," Stef said.

"You can't even stand." Ashley gripped Spencer's shoulder. "I need to feed her, or she won't survive to get bonded blood."

"Then do it." Spencer circled her hand over the center of Ashley's back. "We don't have much time."

Ashley took Spencer's hand and they eased over portions of a collapsed wall to where Stef lay. Together they lifted Stef until she was cradled against Ashley's chest.

Spencer guided Stef's head to Ashley's neck. "Stef, you must stop before you weaken her."

Stef was beyond hearing. Her mouth was already against Ashley's neck, her teeth in Ashley's throat. Ashley gasped and reached for Spencer.

"Come here, mate," Spencer murmured, cupping Ashley's cheek. She kissed her, and Ashley groaned against her mouth. Spencer tasted her power, the heat of her, and her body stirred. She kissed her and kept kissing her until Stef pulled away with a gasp.

"Thank you," Stef said. "I am in your debt."

Ashley shuddered, her hands trembling on Spencer's shoulders.

Spencer stroked her face. "We need to go now."

"Yes," Ashley said hoarsely.

Alex called down, "The forest is burning. Hurry."

Stef disappeared into the stairwell above them.

"Spencer," Ashley said. "That was not—"

"I know." Spencer kissed her. "Let's go home."