Headlights appeared in the distance, coming over the hill ahead of us. We weren't positive it was Elijah's friends so to be safe, Derek quickly darted off the road with Emma and stayed behind some bushes. I waved politely at the car as it approached but the car never slowed as it passed by.

Fifteen minutes later we saw two pairs of headlights coming our way again and Derek hide with the Emma. These cars slowed down as it spotted us and pulled off the road about a hundred feet ahead of us. The drivers window of the first car rolled down but I couldn't see anything with the headlights blinding me.

"Can I help you?" I asked as I shielded my eyes.

Their response was the opening and shutting of the car door.

"Elijah's friends?" The woman asked as she walked up to us.

I felt the tension leave me. "Yes."

"He said there was four of you…" She said.

Derek emerged with Emma from his hiding spot.

"We ran into a hiccup that we didn't think regular humans driving by should see," Derek said as he walked up.

The woman swiftly clapped her hands twice and the other car doors opened. Three men got out of the second car and walked up.

"Be careful with her," the woman told the men. "Her leg is injured."

They nodded and one of the men took Emma from Derek while the other opened the car door for him. The third man stood stiffly behind the woman. Like he was her bodyguard or something?

"You all look exhausted," she said. "Let's get you somewhere safe."

She turned and started walking back to her car, we followed and got in. The car was all black leather and warm. It smelled of lavender and strawberries. I felt my eyelids starting to droop until Derek shook my softly. He, on the other hand, was on high alert. We were vulnerable to these new people and had no idea where we were or where we were going. The distrust in his eyes was plain as day.

"As you probably already know," the woman said. It dawned on me finally that this was the woman Ashe that Elijah mentioned. "Werewolves don't allow those outside their pack on their territory so we are making a special exception for you guys. So don't screw it up."

"How do you know Elijah?" Jeremy asked, changing the subject.

Ashe looked over at him somewhat surprised, "Didn't Elijah say? He's my brother."

My eyes widened, we were talking to his sister?! Elijah never talked about his family, I never knew he had a sister.

"What's with the bodyguards?" Jeremy asked.

"Elijah mentioned you all didn't grow up with the traditional pack," she said. "It's typical for werewolves to not let their alpha roam outside the pack territory alone. Especially so close to another pack's territory. They have to make sure nothing happens to me, for the safety of the whole pack."

I couldn't wrap my mind around what Ashe just said. Not only was she Elijah's sister. But she was the alpha of the pack? What was happening?

Jeremy asked more questions whenever he could think of one but the ride was quiet for the most part. Everyone was just too tired. After a few hours, the car come to a stop outside what seemed to be an abandoned parking structure. Ashe let the car of guards drive in first then followed them to the second floor parking spaces.

"Werewolves with a poorly kept parking garage?" Jeremy muttered as we got out of the car.

One of the men grabbed for Emma in the backseat and she yelped.

"Hey," I leaning back in the car. "What's wrong?"

Emma looked at me then back at the spot where Derek had been sitting.

"He's got to be exhausted Emma," I said.

She whimpered and shook and looked at the spot again.

"Derek," I called. "Can you carry her please?"

The man who had tried to pick her up watched me intensely. I don't know what it was but it made my skin crawl. Derek came over and picked her up.

Ashe and the werewolves lead us to an elevator that didn't look very big. It was a tight and awkward fit to get everyone in. I couldn't see anything but I heard the click of buttons being pressed then hushed talking. The elevator jerked and started moving us to the first floor.

Or at least I thought it was going to be the garage's first floor. When we stepped out we stepped into what looked like a tool shed. It smelled musty; hammers, screwdrivers, and all sorts of other tools hung from the walls. Shovels and rakes and stuff lined the sides, creating a narrow pathway for us to walk out of the shed.

Two werewolves exited first, followed by me and the others, then Ashe and the third werewolf. We stepped out into their territory I guess? There were buildings everywhere, it was dark to see too much detail except for the occasional light post on the front of a building.

"Dismissed," Ashe said to the men. They nodded and walked away, she looked at us. "Follow me."

She lead us to a stone building and stepped inside, holding the door open for us. My attempt to look around and figure out what this building is, was cut short by me being swept off my feet by a pair of arms.

"I'm so glad you're ok," Elijah hugged me tightly.

"You're going to suffocate her," Ashe smiled.

"Hi," I said.

Elijah let go of me and looked at everyone, the joy of seeing us okay fell from his face when he saw Emma.

"Oh my," he said softly as he set a hand on her back. "That looks awful Emma. We need fix that up first thing in the morning. Derek, would you please set Emma on one of the beds?"

Derek nodded and walked away, I finally looked around. We were in a hospital kind of. Beds with dark blue sheets lined the walls, maybe ten twins to each side? And the middle of the room was of metal tables full of stuff. Along the back wall was a large fireplace that was blazing. Derek set her on the second bed on the left side of the room. The first bed was occupied by someone already asleep. Tess?!

I stepped in her direction and Elijah immediately grabbed me to stop me.

"Ah!" I exclaimed as he gripped my wounds.

Elijah realized his mistake and let go, grabbing my shirt instead. "Leave her be she's finally getting sleep."

I opened my mouth to ask what was going on but Ashe cut me off.

"Alright, everyone pick a bed and we'll start getting you fixed up."

A woman, probably the nurse, took the bowl from Jeremy's hands, I'd totally forgotten he had that. She looked inside it and must've recognized it because she took it to the fireplace and dumped the contents into what I figured was a pot of water hanging over the fire.

I quickly picked the one on the other side of Emma so Jeremy couldn't. She needed some space from him for a while. Derek let Jeremy pick the bed next to me, I think because he already planned to sleep in my bed with me to protect me whether it was allowed or not.

Elijah made sure we stayed quiet as we passed by Tess and made our way to the beds. I sat on Emma's bed, the boys sat on mine. I sat my good hand on her back, gently running my fingers through her fur to try to keep her relaxed.

"What exactly happened out there?" He asked after he was sure she hadn't woken up.

I glanced at Emma who's expression was unreadable.

"The short version is that her parents were jerks," I said. "If there's a term for being like supernaturally racist, that would be them. They let their neighbor tattle on our visit then these werewolves came to get rid of us…" I gestured to the injuries. "And you can see what that resulted in."

Elijah and Ashe began with me. I held out my arm for them to look at. I had bumps and bruises all over from getting knocked around but this was my only really big injury.

"Are these bite marks?" Ashe asked appalled.

I nodded.

"From what?" She asked.

I was afraid of getting us in trouble and kicked out again so I lied and said, "A werewolf who had me pinned down."

Elijah sighed, "I'm sorry, I should've looked before I grabbed you."

I shrugged it off. Ashe snapped her fingers and the woman who took Jeremy's plants and herbs came over with a metal box. She opened it at the foot of the bed and pulled out a vial of clear liquid, gauze, and tape. Ashe and Elijah looked over Derek as she poured some of the liquid on my cuts and wrapped it. It burned but I tried to keep quiet, assuming Jeremy would get some of this too. And he wouldn't do it if he knew it was going to hurt.

"Do you have a headache?" Ashe asked Derek, looking at the deep cut on his head.

Derek nodded like it was obvious.

"You've likely got a concussion but that should heal fine," Elijah said. "Looks like you got off easy."

Derek didn't think the joke was very funny. The nurse werewolf finished with my hand and went to Derek as they looked at the cut. She added drops from the vial to a square piece of gauze and taped it over the cut. As soon as she finished, Derek got up and came over to Emma's bed. He sat behind me and pulled my back against his chest wrapping his arms around mine.

"Turn around," Elijah said to Jeremy.

"I'm fine," Jeremy replied.

Elijah rolled his eyes, "I can smell the blood."

Jeremy glared and turned around so his back was facing everyone. Elijah slowly pulled off his old gauze from the other pack.

"Jesus Jeremy," Elijah said. "That's going to take a while to heal."

The nurse left to go back to the tea and finish preparing it. Ashe picked up the vial and a clean cloth.

"You're going to want to lie face down," she said.

Jeremy did.

"Grab hold of the headboard," Ashe instructed, gesturing to the headboard that was made of rows of twisted iron rods.

"Why?" He asked.

"Just do it," Derek growled.

Jeremy's angry glare returned, he was not having Derek tell him what to do. Ashe quickly soaked the cloth in the liquid and set it on his back. Jeremy's hands immediately shot to the bars and gripped tightly. Ashe cleaned around and in the claw wounds making Jeremy growl and curse loudly as tears streamed down his face.

"I fall asleep for five minutes and you start torturing people?" Said Tess from the other bed.

I know I usually wait for feedback before posting more chapters but I couldnt wait lol sorry, I have a lot of free time during holidays to write.