Incoming call from Sector Community Hospital, the screen of Scarlet's phone blinked up at them. Trembling, she reached down for it. It was like the world had frozen around them. The bell rang to signal the end of this period, but they both stayed still, trapped in their world, dreading the bad news that the person on the other end of the line had for them.

As Scarlet gingerly picked it up, she felt like she had been transported back to the past. That day, so many years ago, when she had been in Wolf's place, watching her grandmother wince and pick up the phone. They had informed the Benoits that Luc, her father, was in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Despite their rocky past, Grand-mere and Scarlet had raced to see him. No matter how far off the track Luc had veered, he was still Grand-mere's son and Scarlet's father.

But this was different. Scarlet could barely breathe for fear of what had happened. Her grandmother was her only caretaker, the only person in the world who knew her inside and out. If something really bad had happened...

"Hello?" came a brisk voice as she accepted the call. For some reason, Scarlet put the phone on speakerphone so that Wolf could hear too.

"Hello," she managed to croak out. It felt like her throat was coated in sawdust.

"This is the Sector Community Hospital," the lady said in an almost bored tone as if these were lines she had memorized and repeated over and over. "Are you Scarlet Benoit, granddaughter of Michelle Benoit?"

"Yes," Scarlet said, impatient to know what had happened. "Is my grandmother okay?"

The lady ignored the question. "It is not part of our usual routine to call the granddaughter of the patient, but we called Michelle Benoit's son and he was very rude. Didn't want to be bothered, insisted that we call you."

Scarlet ground her teeth, partly with impatience for the secretary, partly with annoyance at her father. That sounded exactly like her father - expect Grand-mere to rush to him when he was in the hospital, and pay her back by ignoring her when she got injured.

"At 9 o'clock this morning, the first of December, Michelle Benoit was hit by a car on Lyon Avenue, while she was crossing the street - "

Scarlet dropped the phone. The words bounced around in her head, but she couldn't make them seem true. The lady kept on yammering information, not sounding the least bit sympathetic.

"Michelle Benoit has sustained major injuries, while the perpetrators of the accident remain currently unidentified and, as far as we now, uninjured - " Wolf leaned down and pounded the button to hang up the call. She barely registered the way his fingers brushed hers comfortingly as he slipped the phone into her hand. Scarlet felt the sudden urge to smash it.

Deep breaths. In, out. In, out. Nothing good would come of destroying everything in sight and screaming to the heavens. She had to rationalize. Focus on the next step. Make a plan. According to that cursed lady, her grandmother was still alive. Instinctively, she stood up and brushed the dirt off her jeans, internally taking inventory of everything in her backpack.

"I'm coming with you."

The words were so sudden, she didn't realize who had spoken until she turned around and saw Wolf's intense eyes. There was a certain fierceness about the lines of his face, sharp and determined and ready.

"Coming with me?"

"I can tell you're about to do something." Something stupid, his eyes seemed to say. "I'm not going to let you go alone. I'm coming with you."

"I need to see my grandmother," Scarlet said firmly, forcing her voice not to wobble. There would be time for grief later. "I don't care about skipping school. I'm going to Sector."

"And I'm coming," he responded shortly. "You've never been there. You need me to guide you."

"I don't need you for anything," she snapped, fed up with his irritating heroism. "What you need to do is go back to class. You won't be able to get into college if you cut class again, remember? And you have play practice."

"You have play practice too."

"Well, I don't care. The director hates me."

"How are you going to get to Sector?" Wolf argued. "Think about it. It's only an hour's drive, but you don't have a car. I can help you."

"I have a motorcycle," Scarlet told him, already turning away.

But Wolf was shaking his head. "Different rules in Sector. Minors under eighteen can't drive motorcycles."

"Well, fine then," she grumbled, secretly glad that he had prevented her from getting arrested. Worry for her grandmother threatened to make her collapse with anxiety, but she pushed it down. "What's your brilliant plan?"

Twenty minutes later, they were slinking through the bushes surrounding the back cluster of classrooms and the field. Scarlet had never been out here, and she wasn't interested in coming again. It was clear that no one took care of the decrepit space, which was littered with empty beer bottles and cigarettes from the students who cut class to come back here, as well as all kinds of random filth that had accumulated.

Wolf seemed familiar with it, which didn't surprise Scarlet. He guided her expertly around a big patch of weeds with enough spikes to rival cacti and a minefield of shards of broken glass. Scarlet itched with frustration to be racing toward Sector, going to her grandmother as fast as she could. It had been Wolf's stupid idea to sneak out like this. She imagined Grand-mere all alone in the hospital, with her son refusing to see her. Scarlet was her only hope.

But she also kept in mind her grandmother's persona. She was no weak damsel waiting for someone to come save her. Long years serving in the air force and working dawn to dusk on the farm had toughened Grand-mere. A few injuries couldn't bring her down. She'll be okay, Scarlet told herself.

"Here we are," Wolf said, gesturing to a hole in the chain-link fence surrounding the school. It was a smart place to sneak out. The thick bushes and snaking ivy made it nearly impossible to see this section of the fence, much less the hole. In a gentlemanly manner, her companion gestured for her to go through first.

They exited onto a back street. Once again, Wolf took the lead. "Used to sneaking out?" she asked, sounding more judgmental than she had been intending.

He shrugged, muscles on his back rippling. Scarlet could understand why the Wolf Pack had wanted him as their leader. He was such a powerful, intimidating figure. Muscular and hulking, yet agile and speedy. People in the street darted out of the way as Wolf loomed over them.

But the one thing that Scarlet had learned throughout this year was that the inside matters more than the outside.

They walked in peace for the next few blocks, each silent in their thoughts. It was hard to believe that just a few minutes before, they had been laughing and joking in the courtyard without a care in the world. Before that one call had changed everything.

Wolf stopped so abruptly that Scarlet bumped into him, stumbling from the impact against his body, which felt like a brick wall. She swayed for a second before Wolf turned and grabbed her wrist without even looking back. He kept his eyes on their surroundings.

"What is it?" Scarlet hissed, trying to figure out what he was looking at. All she saw were the lower-class residential apartments of Commonwealth, the same brown and gray houses and cracked sidewalks all around.

But Wolf wasn't focusing on her. Scarlet directed her attention to him, trying to track his expressions. First his eyes narrowed, then his eyebrows squinted, and finally, his lips curled in a snarl. Only one word was uttered. "Ran."

Scarlet froze. Wolf's brother? What was he doing here? On closer inspection of their surroundings, using all of her senses, she finally picked up what Wolf had noticed. A faint smell hung in the air, of sweat and filth and cigarette smoke.

Ran Kesley emerged from an alley ten yards behind them, smirking. "Losing your senses, big brother?" he sneered, shaking greasy hair out of his face and shooting a swarthy smile at Scarlet. "All that time away from the Pack making you lose your skills?"

"Ran," Wolf growled. His breath whistled through his nostrils as he fought to keep a clear head. Scarlet backed away. She sensed him about to leap out and pound his brother into the ground. "Leave us alone."

"Not until I find out where you're going," Ran said airily. "Hmm. Maybe you're going to do something with the Pack? Oh wait, that's right. You're not in the Pack anymore." Hatred flashed in his eyes with the last sentence. "I never would've believed. Alpha Ze'ev Kesley, once the pride of the Pack, now a deserter. You think your pretty little friend will like you more if you leave the bad boys behind?"

Scarlet flinched. Ran seemed to enjoy adding more fuel to the fire, getting Wolf madder and madder until he exploded. She could tell something bad would happen if this got too far.

"I'm not trying to impress anyone," Wolf snapped. "I left the Wolf Pack because of power-hungry, violent, arrogant scumbags like you." And then he made a hand gesture that would've gotten Scarlet a spanking. At the thought of her Grand-mere, her stomach squirmed. They had to leave. They were wasting time.

"Oh, Ze'ev," said Ran with a patronizing sigh, "What has become of you? What would our dear mother think of you, resorting to crude language like some street rat?" He slunk over to Scarlet, who shrank away in repulsion as he put a hairy arm around her. His eyes had the same piercing quality as Wolf's, but they were black and cold. "Pretty girl, you don't have to go with him. You would be much better off with a different Pack member. We may be violent, but we have some sense of honor. We stick together. Wolf here - he's twisted. He'll stab you in the back. He'll earn your trust and then abandon you."

Ran knew exactly the right words to say to play off all of her doubts and fears, make her doubt everything. Her friends' words echoed in her head. Cress and Cinder, the smartest girls she knew, didn't trust him. As she had gotten to know him, Wolf had seemed like he wasn't the best with relationships, like he would run away the second it became too much for him. No. She shook her head to clear it. That was Ran trying to confuse her. She knew Wolf, despite the many doubts in her head.

"Scarlet." She heard Wolf as if from far away, but there was so much despair in his voice that she immediately snapped out of her mental haze. "Your gun."

Scarlet frowned at him. What did that mean? He couldn't possibly want her to shoot Ran? But as she felt for the place where the gun was always tucked into her waistband, the cold metal against her skin always giving her a sense of security, she realized that it was gone. Turning her eyes upward, she was confronted by a scene she never would've imagined she'd see.

Ran. Holding her gun. Wolf, ten paces away, staring at him hard as his brother lifted the gun slowly to chest level, then to the height of his head. Fear dawned in Scarlet as she realized that he had pocketed it when he put his arm around her. This felt like a scene from the movies, but she knew it wasn't. Wolf was in danger and she was the only one who could help him.

"You wouldn't," whispered Wolf, and Scarlet was surprised to see not a bit of fear in his eyes. "Your own brother."

"I think you'd be surprised at what I would and wouldn't do anymore, Alpha," Ran told him coldly. Scarlet opened her mouth to scream for help, but she felt locked in place, paralyzed with fear and shock. The gloomy buildings behind them cast odd shadows over Ran, enhancing the shadows and angles of his face so that he looked like a madman with his gleaming eyes.

"I'm not the little brother who took orders from you," Ran went on. "I've grown up. I've found my place in the Pack. And when I kill you, I will be the next Alpha." Scarlet shivered. He sounded like he really meant it. He was planning on devoting his whole life to this Pack. This was his future. He was leaving his old life behind - and with that, severing all familial ties.

A little smile played around the corners of Wolf's mouth. He stepped forward. "Fine, then." He smiled at his brother, but it wasn't a friendly smile. It was more like the smile you give someone during a game of chicken, daring them to do something crazy. "Go on. The Pack hates me. You hate me. I'm not going to get into college. Ma, if she hasn't starved to death yet, would never accept me again after these past few years. I don't have anything worth staying alive for."

"Wolf - " Scarlet cried, but her voice broke along with her heart, which was crumbling from the force of those words. Did he really think that? Did he believe that no one cared about him anymore?

He glanced at her, but she couldn't decipher his expression. She desperately hoped he had some sort of plan. Somehow, Wolf's facade of bravery seemed to make Ran falter. As the two brothers stared at each other, Wolf challenging, Ran defiant but also nervous. Everything had locked down into this one moment. Scarlet's breathing was shallow, the sun overhead flashing dizzyingly in her eyes as she looked around frantically for help. The streets were deserted, the morning traffic long gone.

"Scarlet, run," came Wolf's voice. No longer brash and reckless, the hollow sound echoed despondently down the street. His eyes captured hers, that same green stare she had been so entranced in from the moment they met. He looked like he was pleading with her to run, to save herself.

"I'm not leaving you," Scarlet said softly, knowing he couldn't hear her. She planted her feet resolutely on the asphalt.

Wolf tried again. "Please, Scarlet - "

But the distraction had been exactly what Ran was waiting for. Malice dawned in his eyes as he mustered up the certain kind of hatred you have to have to shoot someone, especially a loved one, when your actions are clear and definable and not masked by the bloodthirsty chaos of war.

His hands clenched around the gun. Scarlet lunged forward, needing to do something, anything -

She knew before she had run two paces that there was no getting that gun out of Ran's hands. He had set his mind to something and he was going to follow through. Force wouldn't work. Her gun was gone. The only weapon she had left was her voice.

"Ran, he's your brother!" she screamed in a last act of desperation, pouring all her fear for Wolf and worry for her grandmother and anger toward Ran into her voice. "HE'S YOUR BROTHER!" Somehow, her words had an effect on Ran, and his grip on the gun slackened, and the barrel dipped down -

For a second she thought he had given up.

Then the gun went off.

And Scarlet's stomach collapsed in on itself, and she sank to the ground, giving in to a shrill scream that served no purpose other than letting her wild despair out -

Behind Ran, Wolf had collapsed, rolling across the hard ground. Scarlet couldn't see or think clearly, but she knew that she had to help Wolf. Her breath caught in her throat as the unmistakable scent of blood wafted through the air.

But then Wolf was springing up, lunging for his brother -

Both tumbled to the ground in a blur of limbs, guttural snarls issuing from their throats. Scarlet had no idea how Wolf was okay, but she decided to forget about that for the moment. As muscles rippled and knuckles slammed, in her mind flashed a bizarre image of two wolves out in the wild fighting for dominance. This wasn't a normal brotherly brawl. Wolf and Ran were fighting like animals. Fighting to kill, or at least injure.

As Scarlet reached them, head still swimming from the confusion and chaos of what had just happened, Wolf managed to grab the barrel of the gun and twist it violently out of Ran's hands. Before, the fight had been too close-range for Ran to shoot. But now Wolf had a clear shot at his brother's head. Scarlet cried out again, but Wolf tossed it away. She felt a glimmer of relief. Wolf would never be like his brother.

"The gun, Scar," Wolf croaked, ducking as Ran's fist lashed out again. "Get - it!" Scarlet stumbled over to the gun - her gun, actually. It was strange how much more hostile it looked, now that someone had been shot with it. It was no longer a safety measure, a last-resort. It was a weapon. She reached for it, hoping Wolf would be able to subdue Ran soon and they could run.

A weak groan from Wolf behind her told her that the tables had turned.

To her horror, Ran was crawling toward her, clearly weakened, but still strong enough to wrestle the gun from her and shoot both of them. With newfound courage, Scarlet stomped on the grimy, long-nailed hand reaching for the gun and kicked him in the face. Finally grabbing the gun, Scarlet whirled around and aimed it down at Ran. Her hands shook. Despite her bravado, she wasn't sure she would be able to shoot if the time came.

Ran bared his teeth, sensing her weakness. But he never got the chance to test her limits.

Wolf, sneaking up behind him, sent him flying with a well-placed hit.

For a moment Scarlet and Wolf stared at each other over his brother's body. Wolf was covered in sweat, grimy from rolling across the ground, and his chest was heaving. For a moment, she thought she saw the same dangerous, violent gleam that had been in Ran's eyes when he aimed the gun. But the moment passed, and Wolf was brave, determined Wolf again, ready to do anything to protect her.

She gasped when she noticed the trickle of blood inching down his leg, droplets plopping down like a leak from a pipe. "It's all right," Wolf mumbled, self-consciously wiping the blood off with the bottom of his shirt. "It barely grazed me."

Scarlet bit her lip. "How did you dodge it?" she asked. "He changed direction at the very last second. There was no way you could've seen it in time."

"Experience," Wolf said grimly, "From the Pack and from the gangs in my old town. But I know my brother. I knew he would be too cowardly to follow through. I expected him to aim for my leg instead."

Wolf walked over to his brother, still crumpled to the ground. "We could kill you," he told him. "But we're not going to, because I'm not as idiotic and cowardly as you. Good riddance."

He went back to Scarlet. "What time is it?" he asked. "We have a train to catch, I believe."

Scarlet stumbled over her words. "H - how do you act so casual about this? You were almost killed and you just disowned your brother. I mean..." She trailed off when Wolf looked at her somberly.

"Fights are normal to me," he said roughly, but Scarlet heard an undertone of pain in his voice. "Now, off to Sector. Time for me to relive a whole lot of bad memories."

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