"Who's Ryan?"

"He's the bastard who got us in this mess," Cooper growled as he skirted past Noble to check the security of the table.

"Really? How so?" inquired Noble, only half-listening. She slid down the wall into a sitting position, closing her eyes as she did so. Sam laid down next to her, head on her lap. Cooper tugged at the table. It didn't budge. Satisfied, he turned to answer Noble, taking note of her new position.

"He was called in to capture one of these things, and used us as bait. You sure you're alright?" There was a faint touch of concern in his voice. Noble nodded, eyes still closed.

"Peachy. I've just never had to hold back a fucking Irnaek before."

"A what?" asked Spoon, listening for once. Noble opened her eyes and nodded at Sarge.

"Your wolf is Irnaek. Full moon. That's when you change. It coincides with your birth moon." Her eyes closed again. "Irnaeks are known for being warriors," she finished softly. The soldiers were silent a moment.

"What does that make you then?" asked Sarge.

"Ritasaq, half moon. We're the level headed ones," she told them, a rueful smile on her face. "When was Ryan bitten?"

"Not sure. Sometime last night. We found him this evening with a wound in his chest. It didn't last long," Cooper said darkly.

"It was about midnight he changed," finished Sarge, fingering his own healed wound.

"So there's another rookie running around…" Noble said to herself. She sighed, then snapped her eyes open. "Well, that changes everything." She climbed to her feet again and moved across the room to lean against the china cabinet. Instead of trying to fight the pain Sarge's wolf was causing her, she was attempting to accept it and ignore it. It seemed to be working a little better.

"What do you mean?" Cooper asked cautiously.

"I'll have to hold off killing the rest of them till morning. Don't want to accidentally kill your man Ryan." Cooper scowled.

"That twat's not on our team. He set us up. If I was you, I'd kill him." Noble arched an eyebrow.

"Why, did he attack you?"

"Yes!" Cooper cried angrily, even as Sarge coughed.

"That's not quite true, Coop. We were interrogating him, he changed, and we…attacked him first." Cooper stared at Sarge, mouth ajar, a look of betrayal on his face.

"Sarge, how can you say that after what he did to us? He set us up!"

"Because it could have just as easily been me who changed, Coop," Sarge told the private gently. "That could've been me, mate. It almost was, if it hadn't been for Noble." He turned his attention to her for a moment. "Thank you, by the way." She smiled gently.

"Anytime. So Ryan didn't attack you, then?"

"Now that I think about it, after Coop shoved that sword through him, 'e took off. Bam, out the window," Spoon said thoughtfully. Cooper still looked upset, but resigned. Grudgingly he accepted that Ryan had not attacked them when he changed.

"You shoved a sword through him and he didn't attack? That's some damn fine control. He must have accepted his wolf then," Noble said, the last part to herself. Sarge was listening carefully to everything she said, not only for his men, but also for himself. Whatever clues he could garner about his current situation and options would be helpful.

"What do you mean 'accepted his wolf'?" he asked Noble taking a step towards her. Noble turned her head to look at him.

"The best way to gain control over your wolf is to not fight it. Accept it as part of who you are now. Getting that far alone usually takes months; it's rare that it's accepted on the first night. That Ryan has already shown as much restraint as he has bodes well for him having already accepted being a werewolf. 'Why' he's accepted it though is something I'll have to look in to," Noble informed him.

"Well, you don't have to accept nothing, Sarge. We'll find a way to reverse it," Cooper snapped glaring at Noble, who frowned.

"I wouldn't recommend that, Wells. Ignoring it will only make it worse. And there is no way to reverse it. Your only options are control or death. Werewolves of any kind are not allowed; it's too dangerous for themselves and others," she informed the rookie. Suddenly Sarge's wolf upped its assault against her and she hid a grimace by biting her tongue. "And the sooner you learn control the better. Your wolf really wants out."

"Suppose I don't want to be a werewolf? What then?" Sarge asked her, dismayed at his options.

"I can kill you, though I don't think that's what you had in mind," she added quickly as Cooper and Spoon looked at her. "The other option is, again, control. Once you've learned that, it's possible to suppress the wolf. It's not done often, but it is possible." Sarge brightened at that.

"So I can live out a normal human life then?" Noble bit her lip.

"If you can call immortality 'normal', sure." Sarge did a double take, processing this information.

"How 'bout that, Sarge, you're immortal!" chortled Spoon, slapping the man on the back.

"Im-immortal?" Sarge asked Noble. She shrugged, mentally ignoring another attack from the man's wolf.

"Silver, scrambled brains, other than that, yeah. I'm damn happy being a shifter, but then, I was born this way. The Blooded don't always agree." She shrugged again, grimacing as his wolf ripped into her defenses even stronger than before. "That is one tough puppy you've got, Wells. If you do go the suppression route, you're going to have to have a nice long chat with him." Suddenly there was a loud crash from the bedroom above and everyone started, including Sam, watching the ceiling cautiously.

"Do you know what they're up to?" Cooper asked Noble as she moved underneath the hole. She shook her head, glaring into the darkness above.

"Might just be throwing a hissy fi-" Noble began before letting out a wolf-like yelp as a clawed hand darted down grabbing her head. Another appeared beside it and began tugging her up, slamming her into ceiling several times.