Fallen Leaves

by Lune.Equinox

In her mind, Karma hurting her was never a possibility, but she guesses everything happens for a reason. Even if she is in pain day after day, minute after minute, Amy doesn't regret it. Karma, without knowing, opened the door of a life that Amy never thought possible, a life that she was lucky to be part of. Yes, Karma is her family, but now, she isn t the only one.

36. I feel like I'm going crazy

"Stop it," Emma whispered, voice low with sleep. Her body was still humming with satisfaction after Jade had worshipped it so deeply. Right then, Emma could feel Jade's eyes on her and even with all the intimacy they had shared it still made her uncomfortable. "Did anyone tell you that looking at people while they sleep is creepy as fuck?" Emma asked, refusing to open her eyes.

"I have always been more than a bit creepy," Jade said with a smirk, "there's no shame in that."

"Well, it is not nice you creep." Emma said, using a pillow to cover her face.

Emma took a peek from under the pillow, Jade had closed her eyes and was no longer looking at her, but for some reason Emma still felt like Jade's gaze was caressing her body. Jade was face down on the bed, her head turned to the side to be able to look at Emma. One of her arms was in the middle of the bed, between their bodies, her fingers interlocked gently with Emma's own, Jade's thumb was gently brushing back and forth against Emma's own, that was the only form of contact they were sharing.

Emma sighed in content, bringing Jade's hand close to her lips and kissing the back of it gently, lips brushing in a feather like touch over Jade's cold knuckles.

The blankets were bunched over Jade's waist, her back remaining uncovered and for Emma's eyes to see. There were bite marks over her shoulders and sides, and claw marks crisscrossed over her spine, going up and down, from one side to the other, some of them were faded, barely present at all and some others were thick enough for Emma to feel them every time she caressed Jade's back when they made love, every time Emma kissed her and curled her arms around the back of her neck and shoulders.

But Jade was just lying there, completely unaffected with being uncovered. It made Emma feel foolish for even feeling ashamed of her body, for having such long fingers and neck, for being so flat chested, for not having wide hips, for not having enough curves. It made Emma feel foolish because even if Jade had the curves, she had the ass and the breasts and just everything that was so typically considered beautiful, there was almost no part of her body that wasn't somehow scarred, specially her back.

"You have never been ashamed of them?"

"Yes, I once was ashamed of them, not anymore." Jade said.

"How did you get over it?" Emma asked.

"Lauren," Jade said, opening her eyes to see Emma's confused expression, "she almost has as many scars as me, well she has more, but mine are bigger, she was ashamed of them and I was ashamed of mine as well, but I didn't want her to be ashamed of anything and if I wanted to teach her to not be ashamed I had to get over it, so I pushed myself to not cover them anymore, I hoped that if she saw that I wasn't ashamed she wouldn't be either. That's partly why I taught her how to surf, because she would see me there, standing in almost nothing with all my scars on show, with everyone looking at me. I just ignored everyone that looked, acted like there was nothing wrong, and there was really nothing wrong. Ren stills hides them though, so I guess it didn't work." Jade shrugged and closed her eyes again, burying her face in her pillow. "I'm sure the veela will help her with that."

"Why are you so sure of that?"

"Because Lauren is a lycan, if Amy closes their bond and takes Ren's mark, Lauren will feel like she's complete, if Amy sees her as beautiful she will slowly see herself the same way." Jade said, closing her eyes and pausing for a few minutes before continuing. "It should work like that for us as well, but I'm probably doing a shitty job."

"I haven't taken your mark Jade, you are not doing a shitty job, I swear."

"You shouldn't have to take my mark to feel beautiful when I look at you." Jade said, her voice strained. "But you don't feel like that, I can't look for too long before it makes you uncomfortable."

Emma sighed and moved closer to Jade, rolling her over until she was lying on her back with Emma on top of her. The white haired girl leaned down, kissing her softly and framing Jade's jaw with her hands, she brushed their noses together and kissed Jade's forehead, pulling back slightly to look into Jade's eyes properly.

"You do not make me uncomfortable," they both knew she was lying but Emma kept talking anyways. Jade let her, she wouldn't pressure her. "Your gaze is just so intense some times, you look at me like you-"

"Like I'm gonna eat you?" Jade said with an arch of her eyebrow, even if 'like I love you' was the honest answer. She knew the conversation was making Emma tense and she wanted nothing else but to have her all light and comfortable like she had been before. "Cause I already did that," Jade said with a smirk, watching Emma's cheeks go red, "multiple times actually. I would gladly eat you again though." Jade said, sitting up sharply and holding Emma tight against her body, feeling the girl shiver as their chests touched. "I love how it feels when you come all over my mouth." Jade said, her hands squeezing Emma's ass as she pulled her closer, feeling Emma's center press flush against her hard abs. Jade didn't need to look to know that Emma had gone impossibly red with her last statement.

Jade moved Emma up and down gently, the girl's clit rubbing against her abdomen just slightly and dragging a low moan out of Emma's mouth.

Jade buried her face in Emma's neck, kissing her gently.

"You are beautiful," Jade whispered against Emma's skin, "you are so fucking gorgeous, it's so hard to take my eyes off of you, I just want to look at you, to memorize each one of your factions, to count the freckles on your shoulders and to run my hands over the contour of your ribs. To keep my hands off of you is even harder, I always want you and every time we make love I want you more, I love you more. I find myself wanting things I have never wanted before, I want to hold your hand, I want to embrace you, I want to trail kisses over your cheeks, I want you close all the fucking time and is driving me crazy. I have never desired company before, but now, the mere thought of been away from you feels like I'm been torn apart." Jade paused for a second, finding herself overwhelmed with emotion, she tightened her arms around Emma and buried her face on the crook of her neck, she was shaking and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

Emma knew instantly that something was wrong, the mood changing very fast to a completely different thing. She hugged Jade back, kissing the side of her face and keeping her hold tight around her shoulders.

"We have been together for such a short time and I no longer know how to be without you." Jade whispered, her breath ghosting over Emma's collarbones. The white haired girl frowned, running her hands over Jade's smooth, dark hair and kissing the side of her face again.

"My Himmel , what's wrong?" Emma said, concern laced in every word. Jade pulled away to be able to look up at Emma, their eyes met, gazes intense, Jade's eyes said everything she needed to say.

Emma started pushing at Jade's shoulders with anger, trying to get away from her position on the other woman's lap.

"You have to be fucking kidding me!" Emma said, Jade grabbed her arm and held them together to halt Emma's motions. "You are fucking leaving! Do you need me to remind you what happened last time you left? You didn't come back, you were tortured, poisoned and almost killed! Fuck Jade! I had to resuscitate you. I had to resuscitate you! Do you have any idea how that felt, seeing you bleeding to death, unresponsive and broken to pieces right in front of me and now you come here say some sweet words and tell me you are gonna leave." Emma said, angry, she tugged at her hands harshly and Jade let her go in fear of hurting her.

Emma stood from the bed, putting her clothes on rapidly, not bothering to check if they were properly placed. Jade did the same, much more slowly, pulling up her pants and clasping her bra.

"Emma, let's talk about this." Jade said, placing a hand on Emma's shoulder. The white haired girl shrugged it off, pushing past Jade and out of the room.

...

"You were willing to let her go..." Karma said with disbelief.

"I am willing to let her go if that's what she desires."

"Why?" Karma asked, voice cracking.

"Because that's what love is, when you are in love your partner's happiness comes first, and with it comes your own."

"Is she aware?" Karma asked.

"No." Ren responded.

"How can she be unaware? Are you sure she's your mate?" Karma asked and for the first time she saw Lauren glare.

"I am sure," she said strongly, "and as I told you before, Amy is not a lycan, she's a veela and I do not know how they are educated in this matters, but Amy is not educated at all, she only knows about the three stages of the veela bonding and she was only told about two of them. No one explained to her what differences falling in love with someone and finding your mate. I only know she's my mate cause someone explained to me how it would feel like, how I would feel a pull when I first saw them, how I would be unreasonably interested in a complete stranger for the following days, how I would think of them constantly, see them in everything I did, if I had not been educated to know this I might have assumed that Amy was nothing but a really strong crush."

"It does sound like a crush." Karma said, skeptical.

"But it's not like that, not at all. When you crush on someone it's because you find them appealing, usually physically, and the main characteristic of a crush is that it can fade sooner or later. The pull towards our mate never fades, not until we have pursued them and even then it doesn't stop, we never fall out of love, it is always there. It grows and it morphs into love and then into need and in a matter of weeks being with them you ache for them, you need them and you wish for nothing but to keep them safe and happy."

Karma looked away, she didn't want to keep listening about Lauren's bond with Amy.

"The only thing I know is that I don't want to attack her every time I see her just because this beast inside of me feels like it, will I always feel like attacking her?" Karma asked, her eyes clouded with concern.

"No, your need to attack her is like your need to eat or your need to go to the bathroom, you can control it and some day you will be able to block it. There's also the fact that Jade bit you, you are now connected to her and the rest of the Westerberg pack of lycans, I was never part of that pack, but I'm Jade's sister so you are connected to me as well, my wolf has already matured so yours is naturally submissive to me, it's unlikely that you attack Amy like that again now that Jade has made you submit to her, if she's around or of I'm around we may be able to stop you before you get to do anything." Ren explained. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"No," karma sighed loudly, "Jade covered everything when she came to talk to me before." Karma paused, making a recounts of everything Jade had said. "magic exists, there are magical creatures, I was bitten by one so now I can turn into a wolf. There is the hybrid form, a mix between human and wolf and the wolf form, there is also the magical world that is apparently hidden under everyone's nose and people go around casting spells and weird stuff like that, which I'm sure I will pass out as soon as I see it. She also told me about werewolves and lycans and was very explicit about how they are different creatures because they only shift with the full moon and they go nuts when that happens and we lycans can shift whenever we want and even if we are forced to shift with the moon we can control ourselves if we are trained."

"Yes," Lauren said, "that's pretty much it, I'm gonna go get you something to eat. You should lie down, your shoulder will heal soon but you should take it easy for now."

"Lauren?" Karma asked, "will I be able to do magic now?"

"No Karma, people are born with magic, you are only a lycan because you have the poison running through your veins, magic can't be transmitted, you are born with it or you aren't, that's it. There are some packs that have always had magic, like Jade's or like Joël's and there are many more, but they don't transmit the magic when they bite someone, just the poison that makes you a lycan. There are more packs without magic than with magic and there are mixed packs..." Lauren trailed off, finally looking at Karma and letting out a sigh. "No, you won't be able to do magic now, but you are considered a magical creature."

Karma nodded in understanding, looking down at her lap.

"Can Amy do it?" Karma saw Lauren smile.

"Yes, she's a veela and all veelas can do magic like regular wizards and more because of the properties that come with being of their kind, she's also part of the most powerful veela clan in the world, the first veela clan, her family is extremely powerful and once she's recognized she will be actively participating in everything that comes with being part of the Delacour family." Ren said.

"What if she doesn't want to?" Karma asked, defiant, she didn't want any of this pressure being thrown to her friend like that, even if she knew that Amy had known this for a long while.

"No one will force her," Lauren said easily with a shrug, "her parents love her, they will support whatever she wants to do, of course they would have liked her to go to the same school they did or to enroll in something related for the magical community, but if Amy decided to go to non magical school to produce documentaries, they will support it, just like they supported her relationship with a lycan without making a fuss." Lauren said, "many of my kind have gotten killed for entering veela territory, so that says a lot about how much they value Amy's happiness."

There was a sudden bang, the entrance door closing harshly, Karma and Lauren's head turned their faces slightly towards the source of the sound. Lauren had a weird feeling in her stomach, the one she always got when Jade was in distress. She gave Karma a look, telling her that she would come back later and walked out of the bedroom, finding Jade standing in the hallway, she was barefooted, her raven hair flowing gently down her shoulders, her black flannel half open, the sleeves rolled up to show the white bandages wrapped around her forearms, her face was expressionless. Lauren sighed.

"I'll assume Emma didn't take the news very well." Lauren said, half a joke, half serious. Jade rolled her eyes, visibly tightening her jaw.

"She acts like this is easy for me," Jade said, her voice low, she looked impassive like always, but Lauren knew she was upset and frustrated, "it's not easy for me to leave her, I don't want to leave her, or you, or my kid, but it is not my choice, she knew what she was getting into when she decided to be with me and I gave her the choice, I opened the door for her to leave and be with someone else, but she decided to stay..."

"Jade..." Lauren interrupted, "you don't need to explain these things to me, I understand, I have known you for years, I'm used to the fear of losing you, she isn't, and she's Emma, she will never get used to that feeling, she's the kind of person who has the need to solve things and make them right, she's used to keeping things under control, she's used to fixing and this is something that she can't fix..." Lauren brushed her hair back, rubbing her fingers over the back of her neck in a try to comfort herself. "I'll go talk to her, okay? You should go home, be with Alex, I'm sure she's missing you, Joël and I will keep things in order here."

Jade nodded, buttoning her flannel and going to her room to find her shoes, before she could make it there Lauren grabbed her arm and pulled her close, burying her face in the crook of Jade's neck. Jade instantly returned the embrace, holding Lauren close gently and rubbing her back with her hands.

Lauren always felt younger like this, less burdened, less troubled, because whatever was bothering her, Jade would fix it, she would always make it better and that always made Lauren feel safe.

"I love you Jae." Lauren whispered, hearing Jade sigh gently.

"I love you too kid," Jade said, tightening her hold around her sister, "and I will come back this time."

Lauren pulled away and looked at Jade with a weak smile.

"You will come back conscious and without life threatening injuries?" Lauren said and Jade smiled back at her, leaning in to kiss Lauren's forehead.

"Don't get greedy." Jade said, messing up Lauren's hair with one of her hands.

"Ok, now go see your kid." Lauren said, giving her a light push and turning, heading outside to look for Emma.

...

"You two really need to stop hurting each other, you are either loving each other too much, or fighting, that's not a healthy relationship." Lauren said, watching Emma's figure sitting by a tree and clutching her knees to her chest, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh please," Emma said, her voice rough, "Amy almost kills you and let's not talk about what she told you when you went to France, she has broken you many times, my thing with Jade hardly compares to that." Emma wiped her tears away, refusing to look at Lauren once the girl sat next to her.

"I know," Lauren said, "and that's why I'm telling you that this fight is stupid, you have always known who she is, what her duty is, you knew she would have to leave eventually. She really doesn't want to, she wants to stay with you, with her kid, but that's not who Jade is, she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up and I don't think she will start doing it now, she knows that she's needed and she wants to build a better world for you and for Alex. She doesn't want to leave you, but she has to." Lauren said, letting the silence linger between them. Emma refused to look at her.

"You can't push her away like this every time you get mad at her, this is why she left last time and she will be leaving soon, don't let her go while things between the two of you are like this."

Emma said nothing, staring ahead and not moving from her position, Lauren sighed and wrapped an arm around Emma's shoulders.

"I'm worried as well, Amy is leaving with her and everything is gonna be fine."

"What the fuck?!" Emma cursed, pushing Lauren away from her, "of course you know everything is going be fine!" Emma said, her face going red with anger, "you think that everything is gonna be fine cause Jade, MY mate, would put herself in front of a killing curse to protect Amy because that would ensure YOUR happiness. Of course you are not fucking freaking out, your girlfriend is going out there in the middle of a war with a human shield, with someone to protect her, but tell me Lauren, while Jade is protecting everyone, who protects her?" Emma stood up harshly, Lauren was unable to say a thing as she looked down at her feet.

"She's your sister and you are willing to let her go so easily because you know that she would be protecting your little girlfriend while doing so..."

"Emma..." Lauren whispered, trying to get a word in.

"Don't talk to me, I can't even look at you." Emma said, angry tears shinning in her eyes as she walked away.

...

Clara heard the knocking on the door from the living room, she left her pencil colors on the table, brushing her hand over Alex's red curls and giving the little girl a smile before going to get the door.

"Jade! Hi! My sister told me you would come for Alex way later, she went to get some ice cream for all of us and left her with me, I hope that won't get her in trouble." Clara said in a rush, Jade was paying her sister to take care of Alex and Cassie had left just for a little while, but Jade had her impassive face on like always and it was more than a little bit intimidating.

"Relax Clara, I won't kill your sister for leaving my daughter alone with you, your sister actually is not an idiot and neither are you, so stop looking at me like I'm going to kill your puppy." Jade said, looking at the young girl with blank eyes. "Now, where is my kid?"

"We were just drawing in the living room." Clara said, letting Jade inside and walking her towards the living room.

Alex turned her head at the sound of footsteps, red curls bouncing around her shoulders as her lips curled into a smile, honey eyes shinning as she rushed into Jade's arms, the woman kneeled to catch her, hugging the child close to her chest and kissing the top of her head.

"Hey kid," Jade whispered, pulling away to kiss Alex's forehead and caress her rosy cheek. The woman looked up and down Alex's small body, searching her face for signs of distress and feeling relief at finding none. "Did you have a good time with Clara?" Jade asked, the little girl nodded and moved in again to cuddle into Jade's chest.

"I missed you and I'm gonna miss you when you leave, I'm gonna miss you a lot, a lot, a lot." The girl whispered, her voice shaky as she clutched Jade's shirt with her little hands. Jade frowned slightly, hugging her back. She hadn't told Alex about her trip, not yet. "I saw you leave with Amy, it is in my drawings." The girl whispered, turning her head to bury her face on Jade's neck, her nose brushing against Jade's pulse point. "Emma is really sad about that, her heart is hurting a lot, a lot, a lot. I saw it, I saw the sky cry."

Jade's face contorted into a grimace of pain, she was in pain too.

"Your pain is going to get worse," Alex whispered, pressing a gentle kiss on Jade's neck. "Your wolf won't take the separation well, it will tear your insides apart, it won't let you sleep, it will attack you for leaving her behind..."

"Don't worry," Jade whispered, "I'm going to be ok."

"No, you won't be ok," Alex whispered, "but maybe I could show Emmy the drawing of you coming back so she won't be so sad anymore, that would calm your wolf just a little, right?"

Jade pulled away from her daughter again, looking at her with calm blue eyes, her face void of any emotion.

"You saw me come back? Is that in one of your drawings?"

"No," Alex answered, she tangled her fingers in Jade's hair and started curling one thin lock of hair with her index and middle finger. Her eyes drifting from Jade's for a second before coming back. "I saw you taking me to a ballet class," Alex smiled and went to pick something from a near table, bringing back a piece of paper with drawings that were way to good for a kid her age. "See?" Alex asked, pointing at two figures that were walking down a sidewalk, Jade could only see their backs. There was a little girl, red hair falling down her shoulders, she was holding the hand of the woman standing next to her, the woman had all dark clothing and long black hair. Jade could say that it was Lauren and not her, but Lauren's hair brown, dark, but still brown and Lauren didn't have two dragons curling around her left forearm.

On the picture there was a ballet studio, Jade and Alex looked like they were walking towards it. The name of the studio was visible and clear, Jade would think that they could have been going to any of the other buildings surrounding them, but they weren't drawn as clearly or with as much detail as the ballet studio was.

"I drew this just before you came," Alex said, looking at Jade with a smile, "I was scared I wouldn't see you again, but now I'm not that scared, you have to be here to take me there, right?"

"Yes darling, you are right." Jade said with a smile, kissing Alex's forehead, "now I'm not that scared either." Jade stood up, bringing Alex close to her side. "Let's go home." The little girl nodded and they both shouted a goodbye to Clara before leaving the house.

...

Alex and Jade walked inside their home, moving to sit on the sofa to watch a movie.

"Are you hungry kid?" Jade asked, Alex nodded.

Jade couldn't cook to save her life, she looked at her daughter's face and thought about ordering a pizza, but the idea didn't seem fun enough.

"Let's go out, sounds fun?" Alex smiled and nodded clutching Jade's hand with her little one as they made their way outside.

...

"How is he?" Lauren asked Joël. They were both standing at the doors of the basement.

"Very upset, Emma has already healed him and gave him a potion to keep his wolf under control, you know that that potion is for werewolves so it doesn't work as well on us. He's conscious right now, very lucid and he remembers what he did, he has been dealing with this for a few weeks now and he said that the presence inside of him didn't want to hurt the girl. He's very upset about hurting Karma." Joël said and Lauren arched her eyebrows in wonder. "I gave him some clean clothes and a hair tie, he's very malnourished and weak, he told me he has been wondering around for a while not really knowing what to do, he knew he couldn't go back home so he has been living in the street, he was looking for food in that alley when he was triggered by a scent, he can't pinpoint where he had smelled it exactly just that it was in the air." Lauren nodded at Joël's words and moved inside the room.

The guy in front of her was putting his light brown hair in a loose bun, it wasn't too long, just enough to to be able tie it up. Joël's shirt was big on him, he was thin, his skin slightly tanned, dark circles under his eyes and his hollow cheeks made his face look more angular than it really was, Lauren could see he hadn't shaved in a while, maybe a few weeks. She walked up to him slowly, knowing that the wolfsbane potion used on werewolves didn't work as well on them, she knew, and Amy knew as well. Ren blushed at the last thought.

He looked up at her, light brown eyes meeting green, Ren smiled.

"I swear I didn't mean to hurt her, I don't know what happened, I was just looking for food and her scent filtered in the air and before I could do anything about it I started shifting, and this thing inside of me didn't mean to hurt her, I know it didn't, but it wanted to get to her and she was trying to escape and the only way it found to keep her from leaving was attacking and I-" he was talking very fast and with every word his voice was rising, Ren could see a vein pulsing in his temple and knew he was minutes away from shifting again, silver lines appearing in his iris.

"Hey," Ren said gently, putting her hands up, she slowed down her breathing and relaxed her shoulders, she didn't want to seem dominating, not in that moment. "I'm not asking you for an explanation, I'm just here to talk, to ask you a few questions." He sighed and nodded.

"Tell me a bit about yourself." Ren said and he looked up at her with a confused expression, she just smiled trying to making feel at ease.

"My name is Loch Hawthorn, I'm 18 years old, I'm from here, from Austin and I was supposed to graduate this year, but because of this I wasn't able to go back home, much less to school. My father is a nice guy, both he and mom are great, she's a nurse and he is a mechanic, they met because her car broke down in the middle of a street, a battery issue, and he helped, they have been together ever since, I have one sister and a little brother, I'm the oldest and I used to help dad fixing cars and bikes so I know quite a lot about mechanics. I like to smoke and it gets worse when I'm anxious, or nervous, or angry." He said in a rush, he was still nervous. Ren nodded an motioned him to keep talking.

"I don't know what else to say."

"Tell me about school, which subjects did you like?"

"Math and physics mostly, I like numbers, I like that every problem has a solution, one solution, I like the fact that your result is right or is wrong, no in between. I hated history, I found it boring same with biology and I didn't do too well in philosophy, but it was fine. I'm not too fond of books, or at least not the ones that school made us read, but I did well enough in lit as well. I was in the basketball team and I hoped to get a scholarship with it, but I seriously don't know what I'm supposed to do know. And I swear I didn't mean to hurt the girl." Loch said and Lauren sighed, he wouldn't let it go until she said something about it.

"She's fine, your bite wasn't that deep and we got there in time before things got worse, the thing is you got lycan poison into her, so she's now like you, you didn't get enough poison in her so my sister had to bite her to get more poison into her system, it was enough to turn her into a full blooded lycan, which will make her life easier. We explained to her what happened and she isn't holding it against a you, her best friend is a magical creature too and there were things they couldn't share because Karma wasn't part of the magical world, so there is a good thing coming from all of this. She's fine, both you and her need to be trained, and I will be in charge of your training. If things go as planned in a few weeks you can go visit your parents." Ren said, sighing deeply. "Unfortunately, the action of a lycan biting anyone is highly illegal and the attack has been notified to the Ministry of Magic..." Ren said and Loch went unnaturally pale, he didn't need and explanation to knew this was serious.

"You are saying I'm going to jail for this." He said, fisting his hands, his eyes getting red and watery. He was scared, his body and his mind felt foreign to himself and he wanted nothing but to go to his parents.

"No, I'm saying that you committed a crime, but due to the circumstances it can't be held against you, you were just turned, you have no pack and you had no one to tell you what was going on. Jade, my sister, will defend you in court and I haven't met anyone who dares stand in her way. They can't blame you for this, it wasn't your fault, the only person to blame is the person who bit you and I need you to believe that because it is the truth." Lauren said and he just nodded, still unsure.

"Am I allowed to ask you things too?" He asked after a while in silence.

"Sure."

"What's your name?"

"Lauren Jekyll," she said, offering her hand, "nice to meet you." She said once he took it.

"You are not from here, right? You have a very light accent, it's barely there, but I don't think you are from here."

"I'm not, I actually moved here last year, I was born in Germany, but my parents were both English, then they died and I was put in foster care, when I was 14 my foster parents decided to move to France and that's where I lived until I moved here."

"I'm sorry, I'm sure that must have been difficult for you." Loch said, looking at her with his honest brown eyes.

"It was, but now I'm here and I have a beautiful girlfriend that loves me, I have my best friend around, I have a brother who is about to have a child, I have my sister who treats me like I'm her kid, and I have my niece, her daughter, who is the sweetest little girl in the world." Ren said with a smile. "My point is, that things eventually get better." She looked into his eyes. "You will be in a good place again, it may take a while, but you will get there."

He nodded, rolling his shoulders until something cracked.

"You are like me, right? That's why you are going to train me."

"Yes, I'm a lycan as well, but I'm a full blood, why?"

"Did someone bite you?" Loch asked and Ren showed hi, the bite marks on her leg instead of answering.

"God," he said, those marks were a lot bigger than his, deeper, a lot more damage had been done.

"I know." She said with a light chuckle. "Sexy right?" She said, sarcasm lacing her words, she had only showed him because she wanted him to feel better.

He swallowed hard, touching lightly the healed scars on his side.

"I'm sure with these we could get an award for hottest people on earth. Really." He grimaced, but a light smile pulled at his lips.

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, Ren watched him, he was obviously uncomfortable, on edge, the wolfsbane was barely capable of keeping his wolf in check and the animal needed activity, needed to spend its energy on something before it got to be too much and made him aggressive. He was rubbing his cheeks and chin furiously, the hair that had grown there and was obviously bothering him.

Lauren stood up, pulling a knife from her boot, the handle was carved with Jade's initials as the object had been hers before she had given it to Lauren. Loch almost jumped out of his skin when he saw her pull it out, she instantly raised her hands and smiled at him.

"It's ok, I'm just going to help you with that, a stubble is nice, and what you have is not much, but I can see it's bothering you." Ren said and he sighed with a nod.

Ren grabbed the small bowl with soapy water and carefully soaked his cheeks and chin with her hands, he turned his face to the left, giving her better access as she neared the sharpened knife to his face.

"You will be left with nothing after this." She said giving him a chance to step back.

"Do it, it will grow quickly anyways and I don't see myself going to a barber any time soon." Loch said and she nodded dragging the knife over the expanse of his cheek and to his jaw with a careful movement.

She did this again and again until there was no hair left on his face, she was careful and slow, delicate, specially when she placed the knife to his neck. He had been tense at the beginning, afraid, holding on tightly to the arms of the chair he was sitting on. Half way through he started to relax and by the end he moved his head blindly, letting her move around without hesitation, his shoulders relaxed for the first time since he had been in that place, and for the first time in weeks he felt the beast inside of him settle, the beast inside of him felt safe and so did he. When she finally finished he looked up at her and she smiled. She wanted him to trust her, she wanted his wolf to trust her and that's why she had offered to do what she did in the first place. Ren knew that the wolf would be wary, ready to attack with a weapon so close, it didn't trust that the person with the knife wouldn't threaten Loch's life, but Lauren hadn't, she hadn't intended to attack. Her plan had worked, she had earned the trust of the wolf.

"Thank you." He said, and he wasn't talking about the shave.

"You are welcome." Ren said, cleaning her blade and putting the knife back in her boot. "Try to rest, tomorrow will be the trial. Everything is going to be fine, my sister never loses and if she does..." Ren raised her shoulders and gave him a smirk, he gave her a small smile back. He understood, Jade got what she wanted. Always.

Ren was half way at the door when he called out to her.

"Yes?" She said, turning to look at him.

"I let you put a knife to my neck, does that mean we are friends?" He asked. Ren just smiled, looking for something in the pocket of her jacket.

A second later Loch was catching a cigarette pack and a lighter with his hands, he looked up at her, smiling.

"Please, I love those, leave me some."

"Sure!" He said, already taking a long drag of the cig in his mouth, he held it in for a long while and let it out slowly, instantly feeling better. Lauren gave him one last smile before leaving.

The door closed behind her and she pressed her back against it, the smile fading as she covered her face with both hands, counting quietly to herself as she fought to calm down.

A hand on her shoulder made her heart stop still, seconds later she recognized the touch, her chest feeling less heavy as Amy sat down next to her, curling her arms around Ren's shoulders and pressing her lips to her cheek, close to her ear, counting with her and correcting Ren quietly when she eventually messed up.

"Hey love," Amy whispered quietly, "what's wrong?"

"Jade and Emma had fight, which led to me and Emma having a fight, she doesn't want to see me and she honestly made me feel like shit, and then I had to come here and pretend that everything is fine to this guy who probably will be thrown in a cell tomorrow." Ren said, pressing her face to Amy's shoulder. She was speaking fleecy because she knew Loch wouldn't be able to hear anything from the outside of the room.

"Why did Emma get mad at you?"

"Jade told her that she's leaving, that set her off completely, then I told her that you were leaving with Jade and she insinuated that the only reason I'm not freaking out is because Jade will put herself between you and a killing curse." Ren said quietly, almost like she was afraid of the words flowing out of her mouth.

"Emma obviously doesn't know Jade, she hates me! She won't put herself between me and a killing curse." Amy said strongly. Ren turned to look at her and they shared and intense look. "Lauren, Jade wouldn't put herself between me and killing cure, right? Right?!" Amy said.

"I'm not sure, but I really think she would. Jade has never valued her life much, but she values mine and she values my happiness. Jade is my sister, but she treats me like I'm hers, she loves me like she loves Alex." Lauren said, her voice sure, "she would die for me and dying for me means dying for you."

"That won't happen, I've been training really hard, I've spent every waking hour pushing my body and my magic to the limit, and I know every spell, curse and jinx Jade has taught me by heart." Amy said, cupping the side of Ren's face a turning her face to look into her eyes, "maybe Jade would put herself between me and a killing curse, but I won't give her the chance to do so."

"Jade has been teaching you just for a month, a couple of weeks and I know that Jade is capable and that she has crushed you under her power in her try to teach you, but that may not be enough, you are nowhere near the level of the people we are against, that's why they are sending you out there, because you don't learn about battle if you are not thrown into battle, but Amy," Ren said strongly, squeezing Amy's hand in her own, "you must not hesitate, never hesitate, because even a second of hesitation can mean the end, do you understand that?"

"I do," Amy said, "and I will come back." The blonde whispered, leaning in to take Ren's lips with her own, kissing her gently, the whisper of goodbye hanging between her lips. "I'm going to miss you, so much." Amy murmured against Ren's mouth, her slim fingers cupping the back of her neck to bring her close again, her body aching for the contact she would lose in a matter of days.

"No, you won't." Ren whispered hoarsely, her forehead resting gently against Amy's as she smiled.

The veela pulled away with a confused expression, her girlfriend was still smiling.

"I learned something new from Hermione's journals, and I've been trying to perfection it for the last few weeks. I think I've got a pretty good hang of it."

"Is that the reason why I've found you passed out in your bedroom for the last few days?" Amy asked, her voice getting an angry edge. Ren averted her gaze and that's was all the answer she needed. "Lauren! You know you shouldn't exert yourself like that! You will fray your brain!"

"I won't fray my brain!" Ren said, letting out a soft chuckle.

"Still, you know I'm right." Amy said, arching her eyebrows, daring Ren to challenge her.

"You are, but that's not the point right now, do you want to see my new trick or not?" Ren said and Amy sighed.

"Yeah sure," Amy said, "show me."

The veela looked intently at Lauren's face and nothing seemed to happen, she made a motion with her hand in question and Lauren just smiled looking at a point over Amy's shoulder. Amy slowly turned around and jumped back in fright, her back colliding with Lauren's front. Another Lauren was looking back at her.

"What the fuck?!" She said, feeling absolutely shocked. She was pressed against Lauren, they had been talking for a while and now there was another one standing in front of her.

The looked just the same, emerald eyes and dark and wavy brown hair; the Lauren who had appeared out of nowhere was wearing Amy's sweater, the one the blonde had borrowed her girlfriend after her shirt had been torn apart by the lycan who had attacked Karma.

The new Lauren walked forward and knelt in front of Amy, her lips parted and the blonde didn't know what to expect.

"Cool right?" Lauren's clone said, sounding just like her girlfriend, smiling like her girlfriend, and looking just as kissable as her girlfriend.

"Ren, what the fuck is this?" Amy asked and this time Ren answered.

"It's an illusion, I believe Hermione did this with just once, when we were at the cave and Jade was bonding with her dragon and I was freezing, remember?" Ren said.

Amy frowned for a second, trying to remember. Images of Ren's lips turning blue and of her body shaking came to mind. She had held her necklace and called for Hermione and the woman had appeared in front of her, just like this copy of Lauren had appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes, I do remember."

"It's an illusion." The copy of Lauren said.

"Hermione can do it with a bunch of people at the same time, but that's still a bit too exhausting to me." Ren said from her place behind Amy. The blonde shook her head, feeling like she was going crazy.

"One of you needs to stop talking, this is seriously freaking me out."

Both of them laughed and Amy almost felt her eye twitching.

"It's an illusion ma belle, she's not real." Ren said and Amy felt her looking for something in Amy's pockets, Ren took a coin and threw it towards the copy of herself. The coin went right through Lauren's face and Amy recoiled against Ren's chest.

"This is fucking weird."

"Ma belle," Ren said in her ear.

"Stop cursing." The other Lauren said and Amy seriously felt like she was going nuts.

"Oh! An illusion!" Joël said as he came walking down the hallway.

"I thought you said you got really exhausted when you did this with a lot of people." Amy said.

"Two is hardly a bunch of people," Joël said, "but that's not why I can see it, I'm an illusionist, creating illusions is my gift, that's why I can always pinpoint what's illusion and what's reality. I know that the Lauren holding you is reality and the one kneeling in front of you is an illusion."

"So everyone can creat illusions?" Amy asked.

"No, only those who has the gift like Joël, those who have the mark, like me, and I think there are some people who get to influence people's dreams, but that's different." Ren said.

"This is so weird, I just saw the coin go right through her, but is there a way for me to touch her?" Amy asked.

"Yeah sure," Joël said, "you guys can even have a threesome if you want."

Amy laughed and both the Lauren behind her and the Lauren kneeling in front of her went impossibly red.

"I'm being serious," Joël said after a chuckle, "it's easy for me to create vivid illusions where you can touch and feel everything, I'm sure Lauren will get to do that point as well. How do you think Hermione made all those trips without going crazy?"

"Ok," Amy said after a second, looking away from Joël's face, "that's highly disturbing, I don't want to imagine my sister doing anything with her mate, thank you."

"And Hermione did go crazy when Fleur came here a few months ago." Lauren reminded him.

"Fleur is pregnant, if my pregnant wife had left my side with my children inside of her in the middle of a war I would have gone nuts too." Joël said.

They stayed in silence for a while, Amy regarding the copy of Lauren in front of her while her girlfriend tried to strength her illusion enough for Amy to be able to touch it.

"It's all about playing with the right parts of the brain, the ones that process temperature, texture, pressure..." Joël said and Ren nodded, beads of sweat trailing down her temples.

The illusion of Lauren moved closer to Amy, moving a hand towards the blonde cheek. Amy frowned, she sensed something, but it didn't really feel like skin, or warmth, or the palm of a hand.

"Feels funny..." She commented, and Lauren nodded from behind her. The lycan was developing a headache, something throbbing at the back of her eyes.

The illusion of Lauren slowly started moving her thumb back and forth over Amy's cheek, at the beginning, Amy kept just feeling that faint pressure, but slowly the pressure got the feeling of soft skin, then of warmth. A little after she could feel the palm cupping her jaw and the fingers placed over her cheek. She felt Lauren's hand. Amy smiled.

"It's amazing." Amy whispered, leaning her face towards the soft touch. Joël nodded in approval.

Lauren's illusion smiled at Amy, the blonde felt the same pull in her chest that she felt when Ren looked at her and she moved forward wrapping her hands over the illusion's neck, she felt skin and the baby hairs at the back of Ren's neck, she felt the soft material of her sweater and the light scent of roses that always was stronger on her girlfriend's neck.

The illusion suddenly disappeared and Amy fell forwards, her hands breaking the fall. She heard a muffled thump at her back and turned around to find Ren passed out on the floor. Amy's heart jumped to her throat as she scrambled to get to her girlfriend.

Amy sneaked one of her arms under Ren's shoulders, pulling her gently to rest on her lap. The lycan's face was void of color, her usually pink lips completely white as she remained unconscious, beads of cold sweat shining on her brow. Amy wiped them away with the sleeve of her shirt and patted her cheeks gently, trying to wake her up.

"Leave her be," Joël said, "she's just tired. Do you want some help taking her upstairs?"

"No, I'm good." Amy said, worry eating away her insides as she gently picked Lauren up, going up to the second floor and lying her down on the bed, a shiver going down her spine as she watched Ren's limbs falling limply and her head lolling to the side.

Amy stood by her side, she didn't know what to do. The blonde settled for kneeling next to her girlfriend holding her hand and caressing her cheek. She pressed her lips to the back of Ren's hand, she could feel her veela moving in her insides, uncomfortable, aching to do something to make it better.

Amy didn't know what to do, but her veela did. She decided to trust her instincts and placed one of her hands over Ren's forehead. If Amy could have seen herself, she would have seen the green in her eyes fade, letting the glowing blue take over, her lips parted and a melodic voice came out from deep within her chest, speaking words in a foreign language.

Seconds later Ren was opening her eyes, they were shining silver. The veela looking deep into the eyes of the wolf, the creatures took each other in, the energy in the room shifting as the creatures caressed each other with nothing but a glance, there was no desire for aggression, just that thing they knew they shared. The exchange took only a moment, both pair of eyes slowly going back to their shades of green, leaving Amy and Ren blinking rapidly.

"You are not doing that again." Amy said, sitting next to Ren and holding tightly onto her hand.

"I just need to practice..." Ren trailed off sitting up and pressing her head against Amy's shoulder. The blonde sighed, knowing she wouldn't change her mind. Amy leaned her head against Ren's, rubbing her nape and the top of her shoulders with her hands, brushing her hair away from the back of her neck and tracing the soft skin there with her fingers.

"I love you," Amy whispered, the sound of her voice mixed with the melodic tone of the veela. "I love you so much it hurts sometimes, it hurts because it's too intense, it's too strong, it's absorbing and consuming, sometimes I don't know what to do with all of it. And that love splits my heart in pieces when I see you hurting or passed out in the floor of your bedroom, it makes me worry, it makes me ache when you are not okay. I can't see you like this all the time Ren, much less when it is caused by your own stubbornness."

Ren sighed, moving her body closer to Amy and curling her arms around the blonde's waist, her head still pressed against Amy's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I promise you I won't exert myself again, I will do my best, ok? I don't want you to make you feel like this." Ren promised, pressing a soft kiss to Amy's collarbone, trailing kisses up her neck and trying to reach her mouth. Amy turned her face not letting Ren touch her lips. The lycan groaned.

"No kisses for you today, you were being a stubborn ass." Amy said, leaning her own head against Ren's shoulder, basking on the calming scent and the comforting warmth that radiated off her girlfriend.

"Does that mean that we won't... You know,tonight?" Ren whispered and Amy smiled, she knew her girlfriend was blushing.

"We can have sex without kissing my love," Amy said, accentuating the word that she knew would make Ren more uncomfortable.

"But I like..." Ren trailed off feeling her cheeks getting warmer and warmer. "I like your lips." Ren said and Amy shook her head against her shoulder."

"No, no kissing for you today, my mouth is out of table." Amy said. Ren pulled away slowly, looking into the blonde's eyes, her pupils blown, Amy felt warmth pooling in her belly.

"I wasn't talking about those lips..." Ren said, her eyes dark, her voice suddenly turning low and husky. Amy had to hold back the urge to moan.

"Oh..." Amy said, a faint blush coloring her cheeks, her hand tightening on Ren's thigh. "You can kiss me there... And everywhere else, but not my mouth." Amy said, her hand unconsciously inching closer to the inside of Lauren's thighs.

"Well..." Ren said, "I love your mouth and I love kissing your mouth... So I won't kiss you anywhere if you don't let me kiss your mouth." She said, a smirk pulling at the corners of her lips. Amy's eyes widened, she was losing.

"You have to be kidding me, you won't be able to resist." Amy said, smiling at Ren in challenge.

Ren continued smirking, leaning in until her lips were brushing the shell of Amy's ear.

"you sure about that?" The wolf husked, giving Amy's earlobe a playful bite before standing up and leaving the room.

Amy was left alone, staring at the door, her lips parted in surprise.

The blonde groaned, falling back on the bed and covering her face with a pillow. Ren had to pay for that.

...

"You are a fucking tease!" Amy said, catching up to Lauren and pushing her against the wall, her lips catching the moan that was breaking past Lauren's mouth.

Ren growled, biting Amy's lips and giving it a sharp pull before letting it go, her hands trailed down Amy's back squeezing her ass hard before pulling her up, switching their positions so Amy was the one trapped against the wall. Amy smirked, her hands moving down Ren's front as she fiddled with the zipper of her pants, freeing the bottom on top so she could shove her hand in her girlfriend's pants.

Ren groaned, pushing her hips against Amy's hand as she started sucking Amy's pulse point, desire aching in her belly as the blonde rubbed her fingers against her center over her underwear. Ren moaned against Amy's neck, tightening her teeth around the soft flesh there, making Amy sigh in pleasure as the blonde kept moving her digits over her straining clit, a spot of moisture developing in her underwear.

"Amy..." Ren panted in her ear, her hips buckling against Amy's hand.

"Mmm." The blonde hummed, her lips never leaving the curve of Ren's jaw.

"My phone is vibrating-" Ren was interrupted by Amy's hand making direct contact with her center, a moan rumbled in her chest as Amy's fingers traced her entrance.

"Let it." Amy said, "we are busy." She pushed one finger in, it was instantly engulfed by Ren's warmth. Amy smiled, using her free hand to bring Ren's face closer, kissing her lips and shutting her up.

"It could be important," Ren said, pulling away, "take it and then I will take you." She said leaning in to give Amy a bruising kiss. The blonde relented, shoving her hand in Ren's back pocket and taking out her phone.

"It's Emma, she doesn't stop calling." Amy said, Ren pulled away instantly, the blonde sighed and gave her the phone, pulling her other hand out of Ren's pants and zipping them. Ren gave her her best sorry look and picked up the call.

"What's wrong?" She said, knowing that Emma wouldn't be so insistent if everything was ok.

"Jade isn't here, the house is empty." Emma rushed out, "I went for Alex and Clara told me Jade had taken her, but they aren't here and she isn't answering her phone. Why isn't she answering her phone?" Emma said and Ren could her that she was seconds away from crying. "This is just like last time, what if they found them? What if they took them both? I can't go through this again, Lauren, I can't." Emma cried and Lauren looked at Amy with worried eyes.

"Hey Emmy, don't think about that, I'm sure they are fine, maybe they went to the park or to get something to eat."

"They aren't there, I went to the park we always go to and to that burger place Jade likes and they weren't there and I don't know where else to look and she isn't answering her phone, she always answers her phone." Emma cried, desperation clouding her words.

"Just calm down, I'm gonna be there in a second just stay in the house and don't do anything, ok? I'll be there soon." Ren said, whispering a few comforting words before hanging up, Amy was looking at her with a worried frown.

"We have to go home, Jade is gone and Emma is freaking out." Ren said and Amy nodded. "Joël will take care of everything here."

Ren grabbed Amy's hand, they disappeared with a crack. They appeared minutes later on Ren's backyard. They lycan instantly went inside to take Emma into her arms, the girl crying into her shoulder.

Amy tried to get a hold of Jade by calling her with Ren's phone, but they got no answer.

"Hey, hey," Ren whispered, sitting with Emma on the sofa and taking her hands with her own. "You are Jade's mate, if something were wrong with her you would know, I need you to calm down and push your feelings away for a second, once you do you will be able to feel hers and you will know if something is wrong, but to do that I need you to calm down." Ren said, looking into Emma's eyes.

Amy knew just from looking at Emma that it wouldn't work, Emma's hands were shaking, she was sobbing and her breathing was out of control, she wouldn't calm down until she saw Jade.

"Ren," Amy whispered, "I know you don't like to mess with people's feelings but she won't be able to calm down on her own, you need to help her."

Ren looked at Amy and then at Emma, her friend's eyes soaked with tears and bloodshot. She sighed loudly and nodded, her gaze settling on Emma as she poured waves of calm at her, manipulating her feelings until Emma was breathing easier, her tears slowing down.

"Close your eyes and try to find her, she's there with you and she won't ever leave until the day she dies, if something is wrong you will know." Ren whispered and Emma closed her eyes, leaning slightly against Ren's shoulder as she tried to find Jade inside.

For Emma, it was surprising to notice how easy it actually was, Jade was right there.

"She's upset, disappointed..." Emma whispered, "it must be because the argument we hadtoday, but she's also content, it's a strange kind of energy, soft, tender, loving... Alex." Emma said, "she's not in danger, she's fine."

"See?" Ren said with a smile, silent relief making her bones feel like jelly. "She will know that you are upset as well and maybe if she's not too mad at you she will check on you." Just as Ren finished saying the words Emma's phone started ringing.

"Emma?" Jade whispered, "what's wrong? It's everything okay?" Tears trailed down Emma's cheeks at the sound of Jade's voice.

"I'm okay, I just want to talk to you, can you come back home?" Emma asked, her heart still afraid, it wouldn't settle until Jade came back to her.

"Is it urgent?" Jade kept whispering, "I'm at the movies with Alex, it's her first time at the movie theater I don't want to take her out in the middle of it."

"Don't," Emma said, covering her eyes with one of her hands, "I'll just wait here."

"Ok," Jade answered and feeling that something was off she added, "she loves popcorn now, specially the sweet ones, I think those taste like shit, but she loves them." Jade said and Emma smiled.

"I'll got her some of those next time I do to the store."

"Ok, I'll go home soon enough."

"It's okay, you can take as long as you want," Emma said and both of them knew she was lying.

"Ok, see you soon." Jade said.

They never said goodbye to each other.

"See you soon." Emma answered, hanging up and looking down at the phone for a few minutes.

She then looked up, finding Ren's and Amy's eyes resting expectantly on her.

"I'm sorry for all of this." She said.

"It's fine, we understand." Amy said, giving her a small smile, Emma nodded.

"I'm just going to lie down for a minute." Emma said, avoiding their eyes and going up the stairs.

"Go with her," Amy told Ren, "I'll go shower, okay?"

Ren nodded, standing up and walking up to Amy, interlocking her hands with Amy's and giving her a soft kiss.

"I'll go back to you as soon as I can." Ren whispered, placing a kiss on Amy's forehead before going up to Emma's room.

...

Jade stood at the door of Ren's house, Alex had fallen asleep and Jade was currently holding her, having trouble opening the door with a kid in her arms.

It took her a few frustrating minutes to remember that she had magic and that she could open the door without the keys. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity and the door opened on its own with a soft click. She walked inside, leaving the keys on the table near the door and walked upstairs slowly, she could hear the creaking of the stairs with each step she took, she could hear Amy and Ren as they loved each other and she could hear Emma's soft breathing. With Alex so close, Jade could also hear her heart beat.

She got to the second floor and walked towards the end of the hallway, there was a small door there that lead to another set of stairs, which lead to the attic, she went up, regarding the light of the moon from the glass wall Alex's bedroom had, the curtains wide open and giving them a nice view of the sky and the backyard.

The attic was big and it was plainly obvious that Lauren had been the one in charge of the decoration, the room was Alice in Wonderland themed, the bed, the walls, everything it was somehow related to the book and Alex loved it, she loved even more when Lauren was the one putting her to sleep, reading the book to her.

Jade walked towards the bed and lay down the child, taking her clothes off slowly and gently, trying her best to not wake her up and clothing the little girl with her pajamas.

Alex stirred slightly a soft whine falling past her lips, Jade smiled and leaned down, kissing her forehead and pressing her cold nose against the child's cheek, whispering a quiet 'I love you' in Alex's ear.

"Sleep." Jade whispered, giving her another kiss and caressing gently her hair, Alex's eyes fluttered closed again, but her hold on the sleeve of Jade's jacked didn't loosen.

Jade tried to move away, but the child only tightened her hold, she looked up at Alex's face to find the child's sleepy honey eyes looking back at her.

"I love you too." Alex whispered, closing her eyes and cuddling with her pillow, pulling the sweater she had kept with her from the very beginning and keeping it close to her chest. It was Jade's sweater.

Jade smiled, feeling warm inside, less heavy, less burdened. She leaned down again, caressing Alex's cheek with tip of her nose and leaving a cold kiss there right after. She pulled the covers on top of Alex's warm little body, closed the curtains over the glass wall, leaving them open just a bit so a little light could filter inside.

She gave Alex one last look before walking out of the room and towards her own. Emma was sitting on her bed, they had never gotten another bed for the both of them, they simply slept on Emma's, it gave them both a excuse to sleep in each other arms, as close together as possible.

Jade took off her jacket and her boots, discharging them on the floor, feeling Emma's eyes on her. Jade finally decided to meet her gaze and that was all Emma needed.

The white haired girl stood up, barefooted and clad only with one of Jade's huge black sleeping shirts. She walked up to Jade, standing in front of her, taking her in, letting her mind make sure that her mate was really okay. She knew that Jade was upset about their argument, about how Emma had handled things and that's why she didn't plan on moving forward, she didn't plan on curling her arms around Jade's shoulders and hugging her tight, she didn't plan on kissing that spot besides her ear, that spot she reached naturally because of the few inches she had on Jade, she didn't plan on burying her face in her hair and inhaling deeply, she didn't plan on trailing her fingers between Jade's shoulders blades, hoping for the shudder that would always follow; she didn't plan any of it, but she did it.

"What happened?" Jade whispered, tightening her hold around Emma's waist.

"You didn't answer your phone," Emma said, her voice shaky, "I thought it was nothing, I thought you were just mad at me, but I came home and you weren't here and Alex wasn't here either, I thought you might have taken her out so I looked for you in the places where I thought you might have been, but you weren't there either. A few hours had passed and I thought that maybe you went home, so I came back, but you weren't here and I freaked out, it was happening again, so I did what I did last time, I called Lauren, then you called. I just need a minute." Emma said, pulling Jade closer.

"My phone was in silent," Jade said, "I didn't notice you had been calling me until I started feeling something was wrong and I took my phone out to see that you had called, I called back as soon as I saw that. We went for something to eat, I wanted her to walk around the mall, then we watched a movie. We had ice cream afterwards and we just talked for a while, she's a great kid, she fell asleep on our way here."

Emma stayed silent for a while, processing.

"You hate the mall." Was the only thing Emma said, Jade smiled lightly, pressing a kiss to Emma's head.

"It really is the worse. Alex didn't like it so much either, she said there was too many people, too much noise, she liked the movies, though."

Emma hummed, showing she was listening, and pulled away from Jade.

They sat on the bed, Emma taking one of Jade's hands between both her own.

"You can keep pushing me away like this." Jade said, she paused for a second, knowing that she wouldn't make the admission she was about to make if she were with anyone else. "It hurts."

"I'm sorry," Emma whispered, slightly surprised by Jade's admission, "I know that it wasn't the best reaction, it was immature and stupid to walk away from you like that, but I don't know what to do Jade, I don't know how to deal with this. The wait is going to kill me, it's going to kill Alex, she gets sad when you aren't around and she can't sleep, and I get sad too and I can't sleep either. I don't want you to go, maybe we could just leave, we could take Alex, pack our bags and leave, we could go far away, where no one can find us, where no one can hurt us." Emma said, traces of desperation lacing her words as she tightened her hold on Jade's hand.

"What about everyone else? What about all the people who count on us to help them?"

"I don't care about them!" Emma exploded, looking away from Jade and sighing loudly, "I do care about them, I just care about you more and I don't want you to put yourself in danger again."

"You know I can't avoid this, I can't run away from all of this, it is in my blood Emma, this is what I'm meant to do." Jade said, turning her hand so Emma could see the dragons around her wrist, forearm and hand. "What kind of person would I be if I let all the power I was given go to waste? Of course I would like to take you away to a beach house or something and make love to you in every available surface, and spend the rest of my life doing the exact same, but I can't, I need to do this and I know it is hard, but it'd be really nice to have your support, this won't be the last time I will have to leave and I can't go through this again, it's exhausting."

"I know, I'm sorry." Emma said, "it is also bad for your health, are you going to be okay while you are away? Will you remember to take your meds? You can't miss your doses Jade, not for your HBP medication and not for your epilepsy medication, you've got to take them."

"I will remember." Jade said, "I haven't had a seizure in a few weeks now and my blood pressure is fine."

"But how will you remember to take them, I'm the one playing nurse everyday and giving them to you." Emma said, exasperated and worried.

"I think of you all the time, the you in my head will remind me to take them." Jade said.

"Saying cute things won't get you out of this Jade." Emma said, glaring at the side of Jade's face, the older woman sighed, turning to look at Emma in the eye.

"I promise you I will remember to take my meds." Jade said, making a pause to breathe in deeply before talking again. "I know this is hard and I know that living like this is not living, I know that asking you to support me through this is too much, so I'm opening the door for you again, just say the word and I'll send you away, I'll free you from all of this burdens, just tell me and I'll let you go. You know that you don't have to stay, you know I would never ask you to, you are free to leave whenever you want."

"I know, Jade," Emma said, smiling up at her mate, "and that's one of the reasons why I love you. I want to stay and I will stay, I will support you as best as I can. I just need time, this is hard for me and I know it is for you as well."

Jade nodded, resting her head against Emma's once the girl pressed hers against her shoulder.

"Tomorrow will be Loch's trial, I will defend him, will you come with me?" Jade asked.

"Yes, of course. Do you think they will let him go?"

"I don't know, the worse thing isn't that he bit Karma, the worse is that he exposed the magical community, the attack happened in a non magical city, and the person attacked is a non magical person, not counting the few people who actually saw it happen and ran away screaming monster." Jade sighed, "it's going to be hard to get him out of this."

"I'm sure you will do your best, you always do." Emma said, lying Jade back on the bed and straddling her hips, leaning down to kiss her softly, one of Jade's hands holding loosely onto her waist.

"I really hoped we could avoid all the talking and go straight to the rough make up sex." Emma said, "now the air is dark, it feels heavy."

"We can have rough make up sex now." Jade said, looking up at Emma with a smirk.

"No, we already made up."

"We can have just rough sex, then." Jade said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"No, you are all mushy now, it won't work." Emma said, trying not to laugh at the instant scowl on Jade's face.

"I'm not mushy." Jade said in a growl.

"You haven't fought me to be on top, you are letting me be on top, you always let me do that when you are mushy, like the first time you let me make love to you." Emma said, arching her eyebrows, daring Jade to say otherwise.

The lycan glared at Emma, knowing that she had lost.

"Are you going to kiss me or not?" Jade said, if Emma was kissing her she wouldn't be able to keep that stupid victory smile on her face."

"No need to beg." Emma said, laughing when the comment only made Jade growl louder.

...

"What should I expect of this?" Loch said as Ren fixed his robes, he felt stupid, he thought he would be wearing a suit, but apparently that wasn't what people in the magical community wore for these kinds of things. "I could always lie, right? What can I say to get out of this?"

"No lying," Jade said as she entered the room, "they will give you a potion, you won't be able to lie, the truth will tumble out and you won't be able to control it, you respond their questions as they ask them and I'll do the rest." She said, giving him what she hoped to be a comforting look, it did not have the desired effect.

"Who is going to be there?" He asked, "how will they decide if I'm guilty or not?"

"The judge will decide based on the evidence and on the facts we and the other people there are gonna give him, they will probably charge you with the obvious, attacking a non magical person while turned, turning that person into a lycan and exposing the magical community. I think we can get away easily with the first two, the last one not so much. There will be six people, each one representing the most powerful and old packs in the states, there will be someone from the department of regulation of magical creatures, someone from the department of fatal crimes and the judge."

"Department of fatal crimes? Did I commit a fatal crime?" Loch asked, feeling sweat pouring down his back.

"There are five fatal crimes in the magical community, usually they mean a straight ticket to jail, or for your magic to be taken away, or both, you are not a wizard so they can't take your magic, but they can send you to jail." Jade said, fixing her own robes while looking at herself in the mirror.

"What are the fatal crimes?" He asked.

"Murder, torture, mind control to make someone commit a crime, impersonate someone to commit a crime and to expose the magical community."

"And which one of those did I commit? Did someone see what I did?"

"Yes and even if no one had seen you, you still would have exposed the magical community, we are only allowed to turn into our wolfs form in a non magical a city or in a residential neighborhood, people can accept the sight of a wolf walking around, but not the sight of half human half wolf creature and you are a half blood lycan, you can't shift into a wolf completely, so yes, you did commit a fatal crime."

There was a knock on the door, Emma walked inside. Walking slowly towards Jade's side and reaching for her hand.

"Alex is with Clara's sister, she was annoyed because you didn't wake her, but I made her pancakes so she's fine now." Emma didn't bother with whispering, she knew all the lycans in the room would hear her anyways. "We should get going, we are going to be late..." Emma trailed off, "you should wear a scarf, you have a very dark bruise in the side of your neck, how did you get that?" Emma asked, smiling as she played stupid. Jade just glared at her and hid the bruise with a wave of her wand. The motion brought a thought to Emma's head, she didn't say anything but she grabbed Jade's left wrist.

Jade felt the familiar sensation of Emma's magic and once she saw her arm she noticed that her dragon marks were completely hidden.

"Your sleeves let them show when you move your arms up, it's just to be safe." Emma said, kissing Jade's cheek and interlocking their fingers once again.

"Let's go." Jade said, Ren reached for Jade's hand while putting her free hand on Loch's shoulder.

"This won't be nice, you will feel like you are being squeezed through a very thin tube and your stomach will be upset, I just hope you had a light breakfast because we will be appearing directly in the American Ministry of Magic in DC, and I don't want you vomiting there, got it?"

Jade didn't wait for an answer, with a crack the group disappeared, appearing a second later inside the ministry. Loch stumbled to the side and would have fallen if Ren hadn't held onto his arm to keep him on his feet, he looked like he was going to be sick. Jade held onto his upper arms and forced him to look at her.

"Do not vomit." She ordered, pushing a water bottle into his hands.

Loch regarded the flood of wizards with wide eyes, he felt like he was going crazy, Ren and Jade had already showed him magic, but seeing the magnitude of the Ministry and the great quantity of people and the things they could do, it blowed his mind.

He also noticed that as soon as they started walking people started parting like the Red Sea, they were whispering to each other and pointing discreetly, he swallowed hard, thinking that they were talking about him.

A wizard in his late thirties walked up to them, getting into Jade's path and talking to her with obvious nervousness.

"Lady West! We did not know you were coming, what can I help you with? Did you come to represent your family in the trial against the half blood that exposed us? Your uncle is already here, I can call him and free an office so you can talk privately with him." He said in a rush, Jade looked at him blankly. Emma tried to hold back a smile, the guy looked like he was going to pee his pants.

"I do not need to speak with my uncle, he knows I'm here, I'm here to defend the half blood that exposed us." Jade said, voice even and feelingless.

"Defend him?!" He said, perplexed. "But you are the Right Hand of the Queen, you are the Head of the Pentagon, you shouldn't be concerning yourself with this matters, I'm sure I can find someone to defend the boy, we both know it is a lost cause, he committed a fatal crime."

Emma didn't need to look at Jade to know she was glaring, the man was turning comically pale.

"What i do with my time is none of your business, if you want to help me you can point to the direction of the court room assigned and send there a cup coffee, black, two sugars." Jade said.

The man nodded silently, pointing to the left and giving very specific directions.

Jade nodded, it was the closes thank you he was going to get. She put a supporting hand on Loch's shoulder as they walked towards the court room, they were early, it was empty when they got there. Minutes later Jade's coffee came, she took a sip and made a face, giving it to Lauren, who also sipped on it, making a face as well.

"This is not real sugar," she laughed, "he must have thought you are on a diet or something."

"Idiot." Jade said, "now my mouth tastes like shit."

Emma chuckled and kissed her lips.

"No, it doesn't." She said, giving Jade a smile.

"Jade," A deep voice said from behind them, "I'm sure Tori wouldn't like to know you are kissing other girls."

Jade turned around with a blank expression on her face.

"Uncle," she said, leaning in to accept the hug he was offering her.

"It's been a long time, you haven't visited to see how everything is going with your pack. If you had you would know that I'm a grandfather now, my oldest had three pups." The man said proudly, "two boys and a girl, I hope she will grow to be as beautiful as you are.

"I trust you are handling the pack well. Congratulations! I'm sure all three of them will be gorgeous, it is in our genes." Jade let out a fake laugh, her uncle didn't notice and laughed along with her.

"Now tell me, who is this young lady with whom you are cheating on Tori?" He asked, looking at Emma with small smile. "I never thought you as a cheater Jade, you always seemed to be really committed to Tori."

"Tori and I broke up a while ago uncle, this is Emma, my rightful mate." Jade said pointedly, she didn't know to look at Emma to know he was making her uncomfortable.

"Oh!" He said, offering his hand to Emma, who quickly took it. "Nice to meet you, my name is Jorah West, I'm Jade's uncle, her father was my brother."

"The pleasure is mine Lord West, I'm Emma Blume."

"A Seer of the Fallen, I see." He said, looking at her hair and then her eyes. She nodded with a tight lipped smile.

"I'm sure being around this much people must be uncomfortable for you." He said and Emma thought she saw sincerity in his eyes.

"Uncle..." Jade said, her voice taking a warning tone, she knew Emma didn't like to talk about that subject.

"It's ok Jade," Emma said, squeezing her hand gently and then looking up at him. His light brown hair had already started to turn white and his pale blue eyes looked old. "I've learned to control it with time, it really doesn't bother me as much now."

People started filling the room, Jorah looked around and then back at Emma, smiling at her.

"I'm glad you have, it is really a difficult gift to have. I'm afraid I have to go to my seat, but I'd like to get to know you better, I also want to know why my niece hasn't marked you yet."

"Uncle..." Jade said again, her voice tense.

"I assure you Jade that you have my complete support in this trial." Lord West said, squeezing her shoulder before leaving to take his seat.

"I'm sorry for that." Jade sighed. "Go with Lauren and take your seats, this will start soon."

Emma nodded, giving Jade's hand one last squeeze before leaving to take their seats.

"Loch, go seat in that chair in the middle." Jade said, pointing to a single wooden chair in the middle of the room.

"By myself?" He asked.

"Yes, don't be afraid, the room is designed to make you feel intimidated, that's why the judge and everyone else are sitting so high up there, it's too make you feel inferior, they are trying to make you feel like a criminal even before the trial begins. Go, I will be right here. Someone will come to give you a liquid to drink, you drink it without hesitating, it will show them that you have nothing to hide." She said, he nodded and moved to seat in his chair.

The judge stood up, the formalities were told and Loch had to drink the potion.

"Loch Hawthorn, you are accused of attacking a non magical human, or turning said human into a lycan and of exposing the magical community, how do you plead yourself?" The judge said

"Not guilty." He said strongly, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

"Delegate of the department of regulation of magical creatures, Jason Colton, you may begin."

A man on his late forties stood up, Jade knew he was going to be a pain in the ass just by the look on his face.

"Exactly four days ago Mister Hawthorn was seeing and captured attacking a sixteen year old girl, Karma Ashcroft in Austin, Texas. Miss Ashcroft was attacked by this man in an alley, where he jumped her, bit her and would have killed her if Lady Lauren Jekyll hadn't stopped him-"

"Objection!" Jade called. "Speculation."

The judge looked at Jade, motioning with his hand, silently telling her to continue. He was an old man, his glasses almost falling over the tip of his nose.

"Mister Colton is nothing but assuming that my client's intention was too kill Miss Ashcroft and everyone sitting in this room should know that that could be a mistake." Jade said. Colton glared at her.

"He bit her, sunk his teeth so deep in her shoulder the girl could have bled to death, tell me Lady West, what was his intention if it wasn't to hurt her?"

"To mark her." Jade said.

"Objection!" Colton called, "speculation."

"Overruled. Continue Lady West." The judge called.

"If we look at the sheet of evidence number 1, a copy of my client's testimony we can see that his intention was not to hurt the girl. He said and I quote: "before I could do anything about it I started shifting, and this thing inside of me didn't mean to hurt her, I know it didn't, but it wanted to get to her and she was trying to scape and the only way it found to keep her from leaving was attacking." My client didn't wish to injure the girl, he sensed her scent in the air and his first instinct was to make her his, to mark her as his own, this were instincts that he couldn't control because he was bitten himself just a few weeks ago and no one has trained him."

"I'm not a lycan," the judge said, "but for what I have read in all the evidence given to me about this case, the first instinct of a lycan when they find their rightful mate is not to mark them, they feel something called "the pull" which is defined as an instant connection and attraction to someone, a desire to know them and to protect them accompanied with the inability of forgetting about them or stop thinking about them even after days, weeks and months of meeting them for the first time. I would like to ask the members of the six packs called to this trial their opinion about the matter. Is it possible for a lycan to want to mark they mate as soon as they see them for the first time?"

The judge pointed at one of the men sitting by his side, the man stood, nodding in respect before speaking.

"My name is Aaron Collins, member of the Collins pack of lycans from North Carolina. In my pack and in the packs loyal to us most members are full blooded lycans, we have been very careful to maintain the purity of blood in our pack as it is known that halfbloods and quarters are more volatile and uncontrollable. For what I have read in the evidence, Mister Hawthorn is a halfblood without pack or training, driven by his most primal instincts. I can understand why he might have wanted to mark his mate as soon as he recognized her. Even if he wasn't transformed when he sensed the smell, he probably is being driven by his wolf as he doesn't know how to control it." He bowed slightly before sitting again and a woman next to him stood up.

Like that each and everyone of the lycans called to assist in the trial responded the question asked by the judge, some responded the same way Aaron Collins had responded, others responded that it was lie, that the first instinct of a lycan was never to mark their mate and others said that they couldn't respond because they had never seeing that case before. Each one passed until the only one left was Jade's uncle.

"My name is Jorah West, Alpha of the Westerberg pack of lycans. As many of you know my family is the first known pack in the world, we have lived for centuries and we have seen things many of the other packs here probably haven't. At the beginning of time when we were called sons of the moon instead of lycans and we spent more time on four paws than on two legs it was perfectly normal for a wolf to sense a scent in the air, feel the pull towards it and follow it until they found their mate, some where lucky enough to find that the person they were pulled to was also a lycan that would feel the pull and accept the connection, which would lead to the coitus and with it to the marking. Others weren't so lucky, they would follow the scent and find a man or woman, maybe a regular human, maybe a wizard, someone who wouldn't accept the pull and try to scape. This act of running away is seen by the wolf as rejection, it angers the wolf so the animal recurs to attack to keep their rightful mate from escaping. This of course led to fights with other creatures, with men who desired to kill the monster that trapped their family members, so the elders of every pack recurred to different types of training that eventually allowed the lycans to control themselves during the transformation. If this boy here wasn't born in a pack, which he wasn't, and was bitten so recently, which he was, it is completely possible for his first instinct to be to mark his mate after seeing her. That's the way we all would be if we hadn't evolved from what we initially were. The packs in America are fairly new compared to my pack or to other packs that can be found in Europe, ask any of them and they will answer just like I have."

"It is also important to think about what happened to the other 8 kids that were with my client the day he was attacked and turned into a lycan." Jade said. "Evidence 13, a report presented by an official of the American ministry, he said and I quote: at 23:25 on February 15 the alarm on the department of regulation of magical creatures went off, there was alarming lycan activity in Austin, Texas; my team, 11 officers of the department mentioned before and I, appeared directly on the location where the alarm had been set off, when we got there we found a non medical camp site, there were a total of three tents thrown around the place, multiple bags full of clothes and camping supplies were strewn around the terrain. Each one of the tents could fit around three people, which led us to think that there was a total of nine non magical humans around the age of 16 and 19 years old. By the clothing and the personal objects found at the scene we can say that there were infant nine people, five boys and four girls. My team and I searched the place and found no one, no lycans and no people, only a destroyed camp site and traces of blood left on the grass."

"Objection!" Called Colton. "Irrelevant!"

"Overruled!" Called the judge, "please Lady West, continue."

"The other 8 kids were never found, please take a look at evidence number 23, each one of those kids were reported missing by their parents and are currently being looked for by the non magical police department of Austin. My client does not remember very well what happened that night, but he is one of the kids reported missing, his blood is one of the many found in that camp, he was turned weeks ago and has been walking alone all over Austin with no one to help him or to restrain him, which leads me to ask: what's going on in the department of regulation of magical creatures, a lycan has been wandering around non magical Austin for weeks and they didn't notice until there was an attack." Jade said.

"Objection!" Colton called, enraged.

"Overruled!" Called the judge, motioning Jade to continue.

"Let's move to evidence number 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 those are reports, all of them related to lycan attacks in the United States, putting them all together we get a number of 37 missing kids all around the ages of 15-21, all of them classified as inconclusive cases that were never submitted to further investigation by the department of regulation of magical creatures. Many officers of the department presented informs to Mister Colton, recommending further investigation, some others even recommended to call for the intervention of the Pentagon in the matter, but all of them were denied by Mister Colton himself, the attacks were dimmed inconclusive and were put away, so no one would look at them again. We wouldn't even be having this conversation if my client had been arrested, which is why Mister Colton sent officers to my known location in Canada after finding out that one of the survivors of the attack had bitten a girl in Austin, he assumed wrongly that I had taken my client there and wished to arrest him on the spot as it is seen on evidence 29, a letter that was stuck to the door of my house in Canada, left there by the officers who went looking for me and Mister Hawthorn and found nothing." Jade said. "All the evidence listed before leads me to think that there is something going on in the department of regulation of magical creatures and the matter is already been looked after by one of my most trustworthy members of the Pentagon."

"Delegate Mason Jones of the department of fatal crimes you are free to speak." The judge said.

"Disregarding Mister Hawthorn's blood status, or his position among the packs of lycans, it can't be denied that a number 3 non magical humans saw him while shifting into his lycan form and attacking Miss Ashcroft, which forced us to wipe their memories of what they had seen, some of this people had already spoken with their families about what they had witnessed, one of them was about to be submitted in hospital for what their family members believed to be dementia, which leads us to find Mister Hawthorn guilty of exposing the magical community." The man said, sitting back in his chair right after.

"Lady West." The judge said, giving her the chance to present her defense.

"I would like to ask some questions to my client, who is under the effects of a potion that blocks completely his ability to lie." Jade said, the judge nodded.

"Mister Hawthorn, when were you turned into a lycan?"

"I'm not able to answer precisely, I having been wondering around for what feels like months, but if I understood well I was attacked on February and we are now on March, so I must have been turned a few weeks ago."

"Are your parents wizards or considered magical creatures? Are they related to the magical world in some way?"

"No, my parents are normal, dad is mechanic, mom is a nurse, they know nothing about this, I guess they are related to this world now," he said, "through me."

"Did you know about the magical world before you were attacked?"

"No, I found out about it a few days ago after I attacked Karma, you told me about it while you explained what I am now."

"Objection!" Called Jones, "irrelevant."

"Overruled! Continue Lady West."

"My statement is very simple, my client couldn't have exposed the magical a community because he didn't know it existed until after the attack. A person can't expose something they don't know, the attack was an accident, caused by the poor management of the department of regulation of magical creatures. He can't be blamed for being attacked, bitten, turned into a beast and having no one to tell him he wasn't going crazy." Jade said.

The judge nodded and stood up, he thanked everyone, saying that he would have a verdict within two hours.

Jade put a hand on Loch's shoulder, telling him to stand and follow her to a near office provided for them by the ministry. Nicklaus was there waiting for them and offering Jade a cup of coffee.

"Thank you." She said. He nodded, shrugging his shoulders.

A few minutes later Lauren and Emma entered the room.

"Where the hell did you get that information?" Lauren asked, exalted. Jade was feeling the same, she was only better at hiding it.

"Nicklaus brought it to me an hour before we left the safe house, I barely had enough time to read over it before coming here, this is bad, really bad." Jade said.

"I'm going to end up in jail, aren't I?" Loch said.

"No," Jade said, "it's not about that."

"Then what's so bad?" He asked.

"You friends boy," Nicklaus said, "all those kids, they are gone, disappeared." Loch's face remained confused.

"Don't you get it?" Lauren said, her eyes wide, her face pale, "whoever they are, they are creating an army, an army of lycans."

...

REVIEWS would make me really happy :)