CHAPTER 36

Lauren dropped her things when she started running, she did not want anything weighing her down. She bit off a curse when she started questioning her choice of location of the townhouse that was provided to her as a ward of the Ash.

'It never bothered me before.' she told herself. In fact, she had liked knowing that her closest neighbor was one street down; it afforded her the privacy she craved and needed from time to time.

Of course she never thought she would be running for her life on the compound before either. 'But hey, semantics.' she groused silently.

She knew better than to try to make it into the townhouse, Dyson would have been on her before she ever made it inside, let alone put the key in the lock, so her obvious choice; her only choice was to run.

And as much as she wanted to get back to the medical facility, she wouldn't have made it.

Dyson would have blocked that avenue of escape.

As she ran down the street, her eyes darted from left to right in hopes of seeing a neighbor, perhaps someone walking their dog, anyone; Hell the trash eater...

'Wait, today's Friday, Jerry doesn't eat trash today.'

Argh!

Lauren wanted to shake herself.

She could not let her mind wander so aimlessly, it could cost her dearly.

She didn't look behind her, Dyson was close by and with her luck the moment she took her eyes off what was in front on her, she'd probably trip over something.

Lauren kept scanning for anything that could be used as a weapon against Dyson; she would not be able to out run him for long, especially if he was in his wolf form.

As she cut across the street she pondered if the baby would be a shifter like Dyson.

It would have been a wondrous sight to behold. 'Think of all the possibilities... let's not forget the downfalls.' she thought to herself.

Now, as she as gasped for air she wondered if she'd ever see the baby, let alone find out if the baby would grow up into a shifter.

As Lauren tried to make it to one of the buildings close to her home, Dyson kept herding her away. 'You've got to be kidding me? Are you sure you're not a sheep dog or something.' she thought angrily as she veered off again as he raced in front of her. "Damn it!" she cried out. He was leaving her little choice or direction in where to head.

As the wooded area of the compound came into view, Lauren put on a burst of speed. She had walked the grounds and spent many lonely evenings contemplating her life or what was left of it while Nadia...

Lauren shook her head.

She couldn't think about the past.

It was done, but she silently thanked her deceased girlfriend.

If it had not been for those solitary walks, she would not have known about the bunker located on the grounds. It had been built presumably during the Cuban Missile crisis between the United States of America and Russia during the Sixties.

Apparently one of the former Ashes was an American and he wanted to be prepared for any contingency.

It wasn't much, but if she could just make it.

She had been curious about the structure and found out as much as she could. She had even sneaked inside it once and found it to be in remarkable shape and if it could withstand a nuclear blast, surely Dyson would not be able to get in.

Now, she had two options at the moment, she could try and run around the damn pond that stood between her and the bunker, or she could dive in and try to make it across before Dyson.

The thought had crossed her mind that Dyson would probably simply revert back to his human form and dive in after her.

It was desperate attempt at survival, but it was the only thing she could think of.

There wasn't time to concoct a fast acting tranquilizer from the various compounds she had carefully stored away at her place.

There wasn't time to tell Bo everything she ever wanted, to share her entire past with her and to open herself up completely; to tell her everything; leaving nothing hidden from view or scrutiny.

She raised her arms to cover her face as she ran haphazardly through the overgrowth.

Lauren hoped Bo or Kenzi had thought about contacting Jacob or even Hale.

If she could keep away from Dyson long enough, maybe, just maybe, help in whatever form would arrive.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blur rushing past her.

It had to be Dyson.

She had never asked him if he kept his human intelligence while in his wolf form. It could explain why it felt as if he were trying to cut her off.

Of course it would be typical behavior of the wolf anyway, so, it was a moot point.

She pushed herself to run faster as the pond seemed within reach. Lauren felt a burst of adrenaline hit as she saw the clearing up ahead - her possible salvation beyond it.

She made up her mind.

She was going to swim across.

Lauren could not help but smile.

Three things entered her mind as she ran her arm across her forehead to keep the sweat from falling into her eyes.

One: I probably should not have done that...

Two: Kenzi is probably laughing her ass off right about now.

And lastly: Fuck!

She thought this in the millisecond it took for her to miss the tree root sticking out and watched as the ground rapidly came up to meet her face. She landed with a thud, knocking the breath out of her.

Lauren could hear Kenzi's voice plain as day as she winced; her breath accidentally blowing dirt into her eyes.

'Haven't my horror movie marathons taught you anything? You don't run into the woods. You don't stand in front of window. You don't look behind you and you never take your eyes off what's in front of you... that and don't have sex, you're sure to die.'

Lauren rolled over slowly and saw Dyson staring at her with his yellow eyes. His tongue was hanging out as he panted.

She started to scoot backwards, inching herself towards the pond.

He took a step or two closer; he was stalking her.

Lauren knew that he was playing with her.

He could have ended this charade whenever he wanted.

And they both knew it.

She bit her lip as her hand rolled forward when she came into contact with a rock.

It wasn't big, but she could feel the jagged edges and thought it was better than nothing as her hand curled around it.

Dyson snapped at her.

Lauren's heart felt as if it were going to burst out of her chest.

She never saw him move; one second he was in front of her hunched down, the next thing she knew, a scream tore from her throat as she felt his teeth bite through her pant leg and into her ankle as if it were paper.

Wave after wave of pain washed over her.

She began to hit Dyson with the rock, hoping it would break his hold.

Lauren could feel the sickening crunch of the lower part of her tibia shattering. Although she wanted nothing more to give into the darkness that threatened to take her from the pain, she continued to hit Dyson as he began to shake her leg.

Her voice grew hoarse as she cried out in pain. Suddenly the vice like grip that had held her leg was gone.

She was shocked when he yelped and released his hold on her.

Lauren blinked through the tears and saw him pawing at his face. She could see blood running down his muzzle.

He shook his head – Lauren watched as droplets of blood flew threw the air. She had opened a gash above his eyes and it was affecting his vision.

She tried to move back but couldn't; the pain was unbearable.

She watched as Dyson prepared to launch himself in her direction.

Lauren knew this was the end.

"I love you Bo..." she gasped as Dyson leapt. And she raised her arms in a defensive position.

She knew it would do little good to stop him.

Lauren wasn't sure who was more surprised...

Dyson or herself when she watched the largest puma she had ever seen in her life come out of nowhere and intercepted Dyson mid-jump.

It seemed surreal.

One moment, Dyson was leaping towards her, his muscles rippling under his skin and the next...

A large blur collided with the wolf and they were now rolling around snapping at each other and using their claws for maximum effect.

The blonde turned her head when she heard Jacob's voice shouting from the distance: "Lauren!"

Gritting her teeth, she scrambled backwards disregarding the pain in her leg and; trying to distance herself from the life and death struggle playing out in front of her.

Dyson managed to claw the other shifter's side, leaving behind a large and potentially lethal injury.

He looked at her; his muzzle was frothy and bloody. She could see that he too had sustained injuries during the brief fight.

He turned to his left.

She watched as his ears rose and twitched.

He bared his teeth in her direction and growled before running away.

A minute or two later Lauren watched as other shifters ran past her and went after Dyson.

She crawled over to the injured Fae who had by now reverted back to his humanoid shape. He was bleeding profusely. Taking a deep breath, Lauren took off her shirt and held it against his side, trying to staunch the blood.

"Lauren!"

"Jacob... hurry!" she called out. She turned away as Jacob kicked up a cloud of dust as he skidded to a stop in front of her.

"How badly are you hurt?" he asked when he saw the pool of blood under her leg.

"Shattered tibia – don't!" she yelled out as he went to touch her leg. "Take care of him first." she told him as warm blood continued to gush from the wounded Fae's side.

Jacob nodded. "Let me take a look." he told her as she pulled the shirt away.

The wound was indeed deep – he needed to be taken to the medical facility right away to have any chance of survival. Jacob could feel his hunger flare inside him. He shook his head, he could not feed.

Not now. There was too much at stake beside his desires to... 'Stop it! Stop it right now!' he chastised himself.

Lauren turned her gaze-upwards when she heard the rotor blades of a helicopter approaching. As it came closer, she leaned over the injured Fae in hopes of keeping the dirt and debris from contaminating the wound more than it already was. It landed thirty feet away from her.

She saw Hale ducking as he stepped out of the medi-vac.

"Lauren..." he said as he approached.

"Hale."

"Where is he?" Hale asked as he looked around. "Where's Dyson?"

"A few of your men are still chasing him." she yelled over the noise coming from the helicopter blades.

"Can he be moved?" Hale asked as he looked over the injured guard. "Hang on Colin... that's an order... you hear me?" he yelled.

Colin could only nod.

"We need to get him into surgery right away." Jacob explained.

Hale waved the medics over; they quickly worked to stabilize Colin before moving him to the medi-vac.

Jacob took off his shirt and draped it over Lauren's shoulders. "We need to immobilize Lauren's leg, otherwise we could damage it beyond repair." he said.

"We got this. Why don't you head back?" Hale told him.

"Jacob..."

"Yes." he replied leaning down.

"Let Bo... call her, tell her I'm okay." Lauren said before passing out.

"Doc!"

Jacob checked her pulse. "She's going into shock..." he told Hale, his heart racing in his chest.

"Don't worry, we'll handle this." Hale told Jacob as he quickly waved the medics back.

Jacob watched as they put Lauren in a neck brace and slid the backboard underneath her. He knew they were doing this to prevent complications from any injuries they could not see.

They put an air-splint around her leg and stabilized her before quickly placing her into the helicopter.

There was no more room, so he could not accompany her back to the medical facility. He thought about who was on rotation right now and came up short. He could not remember.

"Shit!" he muttered as he turned away as the rotor blades began to spin. He felt his stomach turn as he noticed the blood seeping into the ground.

Most of it belonged to the injured Fae, but the stain he could not take his eyes off of, was Lauren's.

And in a completely unexpected reaction, he turned and threw up.

He could not recall the last time he did that after witnessing an injury. He was sure her injury was not life-threatening - she would survive, but seeing Lauren pass out from the pain, was more than he could take.

He had failed Madeline.

He had failed himself.

He had failed Lauren.

He had made a promise to look after her.

He had placed her under his protection.

"What protection? She could have died because I failed to take into consideration that Dyson would have attacked her on the compound." he muttered out loud. "Idiot, idiot, idiot!"

Madeline would have been livid. It would have taken a virtual army to stop her from tracking Dyson down... and he would have been right behind her.

Wiping his arm across his mouth, he could see the helicopter in the distance.

"She's going to be okay." he told himself. He took a deep breath and started to jog back to Lauren's townhouse. He would take his car back to the medical facility and wait for word on both Lauren's condition and the security team members.

"How's Lauren? Let me talk to her!" Bo demanded as she picked up the cell phone.

"Hello Bo..."

"You bastard! What did you do to Lauren?"

Dyson looked in the mirror as he held the phone away from his ear. He tilted his head from the left to the right, getting a better look at the gash Lauren had given him. "Well, the good doc and I got re-acquainted, that's all." He chuckled.

"If you've hurt her..."

Dyson laughed as he slowly walked out of the bathroom. "And if I hurt her, then what? What will you do, Bo?" he said tauntingly. He had barely managed to get away. He had to double back to the warehouse to get cleaned up.

He knew there was no way for him to return to the Light.

He had killed one of the men who chased him down and he had no idea what had happened to the other one he fought near the pond. 'If he hadn't shown up, she'd be dead by now.' he thought to himself.

"I'll kill you with my bare hands!" she shouted.

"Please Bo, really? If I could get to Lauren even with all the Ash's security around her; I can get to you. You won't be able to hide forever."

"Not if I find you first..."

"How very dramatic of you Bo, but then again, you always took things so seriously didn't you?"

"And you didn't?"

Dyson let the comment slide as he started tossing clothes into a duffle bag that he had brought with him.

She could say whatever she wanted to him, in fact the longer she spoke the better. He needed to keep her on the phone for as long as he could.

"To think I ever loved you." Bo told him.

Dyson stuffed the last shirt in the bag when he paused and straightened up. "You may not believe this, but I do love you... I'm doing this because I love you."

"You're kidding right?" Bo asked incredulously. "You can't possibly know what love is. If you did, you wouldn't be doing this; you would love this child like I do..."

Dyson growled.

"You will never see the baby..."

"As if I care." Dyson zipped up the bag and picked it up carrying it into the other room. "Tell me Bo…" he said as he unceremoniously dropped the bag and walked to the table. His laptop was open and he looked at the program he had running. He knew this was probably the last chance he'd have to access to the police database.

"Tell you what?"

"If the child had been ours?" This was the first time he admitted to himself that he was indeed having a child with Lauren. "Would you have kept it?"

"No." Bo answered without a second thought.

"Why Bo?" Dyson asked quietly. "Why not?"

"Get this through your thick skull. I love Lauren. Healing with you was a mistake. You can't possibly believe I could have your baby while I'm with Lauren."

Dyson winced momentarily at her comment before raising his eyebrows in surprise at the information on the computer monitor.

"I'll see you around." he said hanging up. Any love he had for her died.

"Dyson!" Bo cried out as the connection went dead.

Dyson could not say he was completely surprised to find Bo and Kenzi were not in Ontario as Samantha had told him.

He was surprised however that she had answered her phone. He thought she would have known better than to have done that. That being said, he also knew Bo well enough to know she would have no choice but to answer her phone once she saw he was calling.

Which made tracing her whereabouts that much easier.

Her need to know how Lauren was; was her downfall and would always be. But from what he could tell, no one had updated her on Lauren's condition.

He should have gone for Lauren's throat when he had the chance instead of playing with her.

But he did love the smell of her fear in the air. Dyson shook his head to clear his thoughts of what he should have done.

Dyson had to move quickly if he wanted to get out of town. He would not be able to use his motorcycle. Hale probably posted a BOLO on it already. As Ash, he would pull some strings to get that taken care of.

He smirked – he could just imagine the headache this was causing his former partner about now and frankly, Dyson couldn't be happier.

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." he told himself as he closed the laptop, stuffed it into the duffle bag and left.

He had places to go and people to see.

Jacob was waiting for Lauren to regain consciousness; the Ash was informing him about Lauren's condition.

"Let the Doc know that Colin made it. Dr. Barber said if she hadn't applied pressure on his wound, he probably would have died before we had a chance to get him back."

"I'm sure she'll be very happy to know that... and the other guard?"

Hale sighed heavily. "Dyson tore his throat out. There was nothing anyone could have done. He was a good man. Dyson will have to pay for what he did, and he will once he's found. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to contact his family and keep them from issuing a blood feud. This has gotten out of hand."

"Of course." he said as bowed. Jacob did not envy the Ash at the moment. The task he was about to do was something Jacob was very familiar with as he had had to break the news to friends and families countless times over the years.

It never got easier and the day it stopped bothering him, was the day he would start another journey and get his priorities straight.

From what Jacob could read from Lauren's medical file, they had placed a titanium rod in her leg.

He gasped and almost rushed into the bathroom to throw up as he read the true extent of her injuries. Lauren had not allowed him to treat or look at her leg while in the field.

He now knew why.

Jacob swallowed convulsively as he shook his head slowly. 'Look what he did to your daughter Madeline. Look at what that cur did.' he thought as he grew angry.

Dyson had not only shattered her tibia, he had almost torn her foot off. Dr. Barber had used Fae medical treatments to save it.

Jacob put the chart down.

As soon as the orderlies and nurses left the room, Jacob slowly approached Lauren's bed.

He carefully lifted the sheet covering her leg. Again he swallowed the bile he could feel rushing up his throat at the anger he felt towards Dyson as Lauren's injury came into view.

"What did he do to you?" he asked softly as his hands hovered over her leg which was red and swollen.

Jacob took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, they were completely black. He could see the damage; he sent a pulse of energy into her leg pulverizing the loose bone fragments that Dr. Barber was not able to remove.

He began to sweat as he carefully reconstructed the muscles that had been practically shredded to bits.

Lauren would still have scars to remind her, but they would not be as noticeable.

Before he saw the true extent of her injury Jacob would have said Lauren would have been on a three to four month recovery timetable.

Now he knew it would have taken much, much longer, closer to a year and she would have had to use a cane or crutch most of the time.

Now, with what his help, Lauren would have full use of her leg in month. She would still be in pain, but she would not have to use crutches, only a walking cane.

"Jay... Jacob…"

He approached Lauren's bedside and leaned down. "I'm here." he whispered as he squeezed her hand gently.

"I... I passed out?"

He smiled. "Yes you did, it's to be expected considering..."

Lauren raised her head slightly and looked down, she sighed in relief when she saw her leg.

"You have a rod in your leg."

"What about the guard, the one who saved me?" her head dropping back on the pillow, the effort to keep it raised exhausting her.

"He's recovering. It was touch and go but your first aid measures helped save him."

Lauren closed her eyes grateful that he didn't die. "And Dyson?" she asked. "Did they catch him?"

Jacob looked away, he would have to tell Lauren what had happened and she would take the blame upon herself. "He got away."

"What aren't you telling me?"

Jacob sighed. "He... Dyson killed one of the security detail sent to bring him in." he heard Lauren's gasp. "There was nothing anyone could do – by the time they caught up with him…"

"What... what happened?" Lauren demanded.

Jacob faced her and was not surprised to see anger reflected in them instead of guilt. "Dyson tore the man's throat out."

"Oh my God." Lauren gasped out. "No... no. This is my fault..."

"No! Damn it!" Jacob tossed his hands in the air. 'Of course she would think this.' he told himself. "Lauren, this is not your fault! No matter how much you believe it, you did not cause any of this. Do you hear me? Are you listening?"

"No? I didn't do this? Is that what you're telling me? A man – Fae – someone is dead because of this... and it's not my fault?" Lauren told him.

"No damn it, it's not!" Jacob countered. "It's Dyson's; it's the Blood King's. They are responsible. Dyson ripped that Fae's throat out – not you! And don't get me started on Trick." he stressed. "He says one thing but does another behind your back. He's not blameless either. Instead of telling us the truth from the start, he lied to his granddaughter to her face..." Jacob ranted.

Lauren watched as Jacob placed back and forth.

"They are the ones who could not – cannot accept not only your relationship with Bo, they cannot accept the child. If... if Dyson had not been so prejudiced, so pig-headed against humans, you in particular, we... Bo..." Jacob gasped.

Lauren became instantly worried when she noticed how pale Jacob became.

"By the Gods..."

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Jacob looked at Lauren. He could not believe what he was about to say. "I... I forgot to call her back." he said incredulously.

Lauren's heart began racing in her chest. "What do you mean you forgot? How long has it been?"

Jacob looked at his watch and blinked. He shook his head. "It's not possible..."

"How long!? How long has Bo been waiting!?"

"F-five hours."

"And she doesn't know I'm alive?"

He shook his head once more. He never felt more like a fool in his life than he did at this moment. He had meant to call Bo, he did. But as soon as he reached the car, his main focus was on getting back to the facility and helping in anyway possible.

"Are we on lock down?" Lauren demanded.

"What?" he replied confused.

"Are we on lockdown? If we are, she can't call in... We can't call out... they will have blocked the signals... she must be going out of her mind." Lauren said tears streaming down her face. She felt as if her heart was being torn in two, she needed to speak with Bo. "Get Hale..."

Jacob did not think twice as he ran out of Lauren's room.

Author's Notes:

I guess I could say I'm sorry for the delay, but, I won't. Kravn and I have been editing chapter 37 so much, we don't want to look at it again. It was nineteen pages and went up by three.

This story is taking a lot out of me and Kravn, as she's not only helping me, but she's working on her story: Time and assisting two other writers.

I am very thankful for all the reviews the story has recieved so far. I'm not sure how or if I will ever top this again, so thank you very, very much.

Your reviews have and do brighten my day. They make me smile and sometimes they'll make me LOL, then I have to explain to my collegue why I'm laughing.

I have to say I am surprised by some of the reviews, not that they're bad or anything like that. Color me surpised at how much some people really dislike both Dyson and Trick.

I guess I must have done something right, go figure.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm still writing 38 and probably will be for a while.

Umm, I guess that's it then. Have a nice day. Oh, beware of cliff hangers, I hear they like to hang around here.

A.M. Glass