The night had went by so fast, that before I knew it, it was morning. My body seemed to know that it had stayed up all night. It was achy from sitting on the floor and the chair that they brought in later on that night for me. Ezra has been sleeping soundly and the knife wound was already healed over. He didn't even have a scar as a reminder of the event.

"Brooke come out here. We are going to have a meeting."

I probably looked terrible at the moment. I knew that I was still covered in Ezra's blood. I haven't had the time to get washed off, partially due to worrying that if I left, Ezra would go into a state of shock. I didn't leave his side the entire time. My hair had to look like an absolute fright. I knew that I had bags underneath my eyes, and at the moment I could care less.

I exited the room and went to the room the others were in. Their eyes got visibly bigger. They were looking at me as though I had two heads.

"How is he?"

Jackson was the one that broke through the looks and asked me.

"He's stable. He seems to be sleeping without pain right now. He was touch and go there for a little bit."

I heard the room sigh with relief. I was swaying slightly, and I hoped that the others didn't notice. I was really tired, and my vision was starting to go in and out. I forced myself to stay awake. It wasn't as bad as some other times that I have had.

"Brooke, tonight you will stay here with Jake. You will not participate in this patrol."

I didn't argue with him. I was happy that they cared enough about my well-being. They shouldn't care as much though. It was my fault that Ezra is in the situation he's in right now. I'm the reason that he got injured. I didn't stay anything and went back to the room that was given to us for the time being. Jake had followed me and closed the door behind us.

"You know you don't have to watch me that closely. I'm not going to sneak out to go on patrol."

"You know, I can feel that you are upset right now. You can tell me, you know."

"I'm not….upset."

My eyes were betraying my words. My eyes had started watering, and a few tears had slipped out. He holds out his arms, and pulls me close.

"I'm not upset about patrol. I'm upset that they are being nice to me after I got Ezra injured."

"No one blames you for that Brooke. You also saved his life. Look at you! You have his blood all over you because you saved him. He saved the one person that means the world to me, and I owe him so much gratitude for that. You didn't cause that, this is what we do."

I was sobbing uncontrollably now.

"Everywhere I go, people get hurt. Even you got hurt!"

"If I could redo it all over again, I would do the exact same thing."

I buried my face into his chest. I felt so secure in his arms at the moment. I didn't feel any of the pain that was previously there. My tired body and eyes finally betrayed me, and I fell asleep in his arms.

~Jake's point of view~

I knew something was wrong with her whenever she didn't argue with Jackson. My imprint was telling me that she was upset. Too many signs were pointed at the idea she was upset. When she started crying I couldn't help myself. I put out my arms and pulled her close to me. I was expecting her to fight with me, and want out of my hold. When she didn't fight me, I looked down. She had fallen asleep in my arms. I had taken the blanket that was close by and wrapped it around the two of us.

I was looking at her face. It was slightly wet from her crying earlier. It was rare to see her crying over something like this. I took my thumb and wiped the tears and the blood that was on her face away. She was so beautiful. It pains me to see her so upset.

Before I knew it, I had let my eyes drift shut as well. We sat on the floor in each-others embrace, and slept peacefully.

~Brooke's point of view~

When I woke up, I felt Jake's arms were still wrapped around me. He was holding me tightly again. It almost felt like he was trying to protect me from the sadness that I felt. He had fallen asleep, but still held on to me. In my mind, Jake had moved in the ladder. I slowly unwrapped myself from his grip. I took a moment to stare at his peaceful face. I went to stand up and exit the room, but something pulled me back. I turned around and leaned in, kissing him on the cheek lightly. M face blushed bright red, and I quickly made my way towards the exit.

I closed the door quietly behind me, making sure that I didn't wake him up. I made my way back to the room that Ezra was in. I was praying that he was still alright, and that I didn't leave him when he needed me. I had entered the room, and he seemed to look over to me.

"Brooke!"

"Oh my goodness! Ezra you are awake! I'm so glad that you are up."

"Thank you for saving me. I'm sorry that I got my blood on you."

"No! Thank you for saving my life. My rookie mistake almost cost you your life. I don't know what I would have done, if I couldn't fix what I had done."

Ezra sat up slowly in the bed. He didn't wince from pain, and he looked really good for just waking up.

"Are you sure that you want to get up?"

"If I don't get up now I will be angry at myself."

"Alright I will help you."

He put his feet over the edge of the bed. I quickly rushed over to him, placing body underneath his. He was leaning on me slightly, but the rest of his weight was on his own two feet.

"How about we go get you some food and water. Just don't rush too much. We don't want you to open up any wounds that haven't had the chance to heal completely."

"Thank you again Brooke."

We slowly made our way out of the room and into the kitchen. The pace was slow, but it gradually went up to the regular walking speed. I smiled. I was so happy that he was going to be alright. The others were standing in the Kitchen, and when they looked over their eyes got wide. I don't think they were expecting to see Ezra up and walking so quickly. They all came running over. One of the boys grabbed a chair, and made him sit down in it. They were rubbing his head affectionately. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood.

I was about to turn around, but I felt arms warp around me. I turned around slowly, not knowing what to expect. When I saw who it was, my face was in shock. Jackson was hugging me. His eyes were watering. I didn't know what I was supposed to do in this situation.

"Thank you Brooke! You saved him! You saved our pack."

"Please stop….he wouldn't have gotten hurt at all if it wasn't for me and my rookie mistake."

"Brooke, if you weren't here and he got hurt like that he wouldn't have made it. Even if you don't like it, you are now a part of our pack. A valuable member. Any one of us would have done the exact same thing."

"I-I'm going to get a shower."

"We will talk about our game plan when you get back. Take your time though."

I walked back to the bedroom and woke Jake up. He was still in the same spot as whenever I went to check on Ezra. I explained that Jackson was going to explain about our game plan. I told him that I was going to get a shower and then I would be down. He stood up and yawned. He had stretched, and his shirt pulled up revealing his abs. My face flushed a bright red as I hurried and gather the things I needed to get into the shower.

I went to the bathroom and started the water, so that it would get ready for me to step into the water. The water felt amazing, and I quickly cleaned myself up. Certain spots were harder to get off, but once I shut off the water I felt miraculous. It did take a lot out of me to pull myself from the warm water that was running over my body.

I quickly got dressed, and only towel dried my hair. It was still wet, and left a small wet spot in the area that it was lying. I made my way to the kitchen to join back in the group. They were all sitting there smiling at me.

"You clean up well."

"I try."

"Alright everyone, back to focusing on the matter at hand. Ezra, we are glad to see you're back. You will not be going on patrol or tomorrow. We will see if you can participate in our plans when the time comes."

Ezra just nodded in agreement, clearly not wanting to make Jackson angry. Everyone was sitting at the edge of their seats, and listening intently to what Jackson was going to say next.

"As of tonight we are making a plan for mass extermination of vampires from town. They have hurt way too many humans for us to control and let them run wild anymore. If we don't act soon, we could all be in danger. They haven't found the house just yet, and I want it to stay that way."

No one dared to speak up at the moment. The intensity of Jackson's voice was enough to send a chill up my spine. This was an alpha's determination.

"We will break up into small groups based on skill. Each group will be positioned at the outskirts of town, and we will force our way to the middle of town for minimal vampire escapes. Once we meet in the middle, we should a large battle. This will because we will be pushing the newborns to the middle. The middle will be the most dangerous. The least physical members will remain towards the back to catch the leeches that try to escape."

"When will we make our advance?"

"As soon as Ezra feels better. We will need everyone in this advance. Although Ezra will take all the time he needs. We do not need him to get hurt because he wasn't up to it."

"Groups?"

"The group coming from the North will be Tray, George, and Joe. South will be Andrew, Ezra, and Casey. East will be Jake, Brooke, and myself. Lastly Embry, Paul, and Hunter will take the west."

We all nodded. I felt slightly relieved that I was going to be near Jake during this whole process.

"I want George, Ezra, Embry, and myself to be the ones on the outskirts of the group when we get out of the middle."

We all agreed, and the meeting was dismissed. This was going to be a dangerous battle, and the tensions were high. It needed to be done.