Chloe's POV

When Tess came back from her talk with Ashe, she pulled Elijah aside to talk to him. Though they just went to the back so I could sort of still hear them. Tess said it was time to go home, it was getting too risky to be around here for too much longer. Elijah didn't seem too upset by this, he didn't want to be around his pack this long anyways. Especially now that we've seen a bit of their true colors after they attacked some poor individual who'd gotten too close to their territory.

They walked back over to the four of us after talking.

"So the pack members are starting to figure out you kids so Ashe advised it's time for us to leave," Elijah said to us.

"Where are we going then?" Emma asked.

"Home," Tess said. "I'm sure we'll be getting there around the same time as the others if they haven't already beat us."

I thought back to the conversation I overheard about Tess' family and felt bad for her. She didn't have any other options besides her home, we were all the family that she had. The rest of us still had someone out there even if we didn't want them. Elijah had this pack, Matt had his daughter, Simon Tori and Derek had their Dad, I could always find my Dad and Aunt Lauren if I ever wanted to, even Jeremy still had his parents out there somewhere. But Tess had no one. I thought Derek had it hard enough trying to get through the change at a secure place like the Lyle House, I couldn't imagine going through that in a prison. How do you explain that to the guards? You can't.

Derek gently elbowed me, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Hm?" I said. Derek nodded over to Elijah who was looking at me waiting for an answer. "Sorry I zoned out, what did you say?"

"I asked if you felt up for the trip," Elijah said.

I nodded. Though I didn't care if I felt good enough for it or not, I wanted to see Matt face to face and see for myself that he was okay.

"We'll get going in the morning then," he said then mumbled quieter. "I'll never understand these stupid packs and their rules."

"Elijah," I said, changing the subject. "What weren't we allowed to see yesterday with that whole intruder thing?"

Everyone's attention was on him, waiting for the answer.

He sighed, "You really want to know?"

We all nodded except Tess.

He took a deep breath then said, "Well we scare and catch the trespasser then bring them to this gravel patch at the center of town. The person, or people, get tied to wooden posts in this gravel patch where they basically get tortured until they die. Magic werewolves use them to practice on, other werewolves throw stones or sharp things at them, some straight up beat them. It's a horrifying thing that you guys did not need to see. You guys thought Emma's group was bad? These werewolves are just as bad, maybe worse. They live for violence here."

"I'm glad I didn't see that," Jeremy said, I assume that was his way of thanking Elijah from pulling him from the situation.

"Alright enough gloom," Tess said trying to turn it around from the dark topic. "What do you guys want to do on our trip back? We could stop and see some sights…"

I slipped away from the conversation and went to the bathroom cause I was starting to feel a bit off and didn't want anyone to notice. As I shut the door behind me, there was a weird feeling in my eyes. I rubbed them but it didn't stop so I turned to look in the mirror and saw that they were pretty bloodshot. I took a deep breath trying not to get worked up, bloodshot eyes weren't a big deal. I was fine, they might've been that way for a while.

I came back out of the bathroom to find Elijah passing bowls of pasta around to everyone for lunch. Mine was sitting on the bed where I'd been sitting before. I scooped it up as I sat back down trying to act normal.

"You alright?" Derek whispered to me, he knew I wouldn't answer if all eyes were on me.

I nodded and told half of the truth, "Yeah, my back just hurts a little. These beds aren't the best."

I ended with a chuckle to make it seem like that's all there was. Derek just smirked back in response. I don't know if it was in agreement or that he knew I wasn't saying everything.

After we were all done eating, Elijah laid out his plan for the rest of the day.

"Alright," he set his bowl down. "Derek, if you wouldn't mind joining me, I could use an extra set of hands getting stuff for the road."

"Like what?" Derek asked.

"Mostly food, I'd rather not have to constantly stop at fast food places, that stuffs not healthy. And some toiletries because I have no clue where we'll be staying and I doubt a bottle of shampoo the size of my thumb will do be enough for all of us. Once we're back, everyone packs and gets some rest, it's going to be a long day tomorrow."

"I've got to run back to Ashe's," Tess said. "I think I left a load of laundry in the dryer."

"Do you-"

Before Elijah could even finish saying do you want help, Tess glared at him and said, "I can carry a basket of clothes EJ."

"Please take someone with you," Elijah nearly begged. "I can't…"

Tess' glare softened when she realized he wasn't saying she needed the help, he was saying he didn't want something to happen to her when she was alone.

"I'll go," Emma spoke up.

"Can I come with someone?" Jeremy asked.

"No." Elijah said immediately. "You don't have enough common sense to be walking around this place."

"EJ!" Tess snapped and I agreed with Tess' reaction, that was a bit harsh of Elijah to say. Yeah Jeremy had made some dumb mistakes but hadn't we all?

"I said what I said," Elijah stood. "Come on Derek."

Derek gave me a quick goodbye kiss and then followed Elijah out the door.

"I'm sorry for that," Tess said as she stood. "He has no filter when he's worried about me."

Jeremy shrugged it off and we watched Tess and Emma leave.

"So it's just you and me now," I smiled. "Liability 1 and 2."

Jeremy chuckled.

"Well, Liability 1 is going to take a quick shower before everyone starts hogging it," I said and grabbed a set of clean pajamas from my bag. I slid him the laptop, "Here its got a lot of movies on it."

Jeremy began browsing through movie titles as I got into the shower, hoping the hot water would help my back ache. I was halfway through rinsing the shampoo from my hair when I started to cough and taste copper in my mouth. Damn was it another nosebleed?

My answer was no when my coughing wouldn't stop and little streaks of water turned pinkish red. I was coughing blood.

Pain shot up my stomach and I tried to reach for something to hold onto as my vision got fuzzy but couldn't find anything in time. I collapsed onto my knees coughing.

Jeremy knocked on the door, "Chloe!? You alright in there?"

Pain shot through my stomach again and I threw up the pasta covered with blood. Jeremy turned the knob until it broke and opened the door as I yelled out from pain. It was in my back now, shooting up and down my spine like when I used to change.

"Chloe!" He yanked the curtain out of his way and saw the blood draining away. "Where are you bleeding?"

All I could do was cry out from the pain.

"Oh god oh god oh god," Jeremy kept saying. "Chloe I don't know what to do!"

The pain subsided for a moment and water started to feel cold around me. I spit blood.

"Hey! Chloe open your eyes!" He grabbed my face with one hand and angled it up towards his.

I tried to keep them open but another wave of pain shot through me making me squeeze them shut and scream out.

"You're gonna be ok," he said. "Just give me a second."

My head pounded feeling like it was about to explode. Ringing in my ears drowned out whatever he might've said. I felt blood flow down my chin as I screamed one last time before everything went black.