Brooklyn and Loona had to take the bus back to her neighborhood. She shivered inside her coat as she watched the streets and buildings pass by.

Of course he didn't want her, she thought. Why would he? Why should she be more important to him than his family? A family who neglected and underestimated him so? Why should he leave them and run away with her?

Meanwhile Brooklyn leaned towards the aisle, knowing she wanted her space. He really did blow it.

They got off the bus and said nothing as they walked down the street. They had a couple blocks before they came to the abandoned church, not realizing that they were being followed.

Something barked from several feet behind them.

Brooklyn lifted his head. "Bronx…?"

He turned around and there was the clan's hound bounding towards them excitedly, having finally found their missing brother.

"Bronx!" Brooklyn knelt down and gave him a hug as the dog happily licked his cheek.

"Brooklyn!"

From above them glided down Broadway and Lexington, in disbelief that Bronx followed Brooklyn's scent to this blonde-haired human.

Broadway took Brooklyn's wrist, as if to confirm that the skin was real. "No way…"

"Is that really you, Brooklyn?" Lex asked.

"Yeah, it's me…" Brooklyn sheepishly confirmed.

"How did this happen?"

"We were so worried, buddy!"

Lex spotted Loona, who eyed them in alarm. "Who's this…?"

"I— um, this is…" Brooklyn wasn't sure where to start, given everything that had happened.

Loona glared at his brothers. So this was the family he chose over her.

Loona flinched as Bronx furiously sniffed at her coat. She shrank back and Bronx growled at her. He knew that scent.

"Hey, Bronx? What's the matter, buddy?" Lex asked.

Bronx let out a confirming bark. He found their werewolf.

Loona screamed and stumbled backwards, scrambling to her feet and running away as she would with the other hunting dogs she had faced.

"Loona!"

She made some distance between them when she turned a corner and a familiar stink filled her own nostrils. The reason she had come to Manhattan in the first place.

She froze in her tracks. No… Not now…!

"Loona!" Brooklyn called.

Standing in front of her was a bespectacled man in a pressed suit underneath his heavy coat. Hardly the attire for someone casually strolling in this part of town.

"There you are, kiddo," he greeted. "Y'know you really had me worried all these years…"

Loona glared at him, her fists tightening.

Brooklyn turned the corner and finally caught up with her. "Loona! Loona, are you okay?"

"'Loona?'" the man repeated. "So that's what you go by as these days. That's a nice name."

"As if you ever gave me a name, you bastard," Loona growled.

"Loona, now that's no way to talk to your dear old dad…" Victor Parker grinned.

Brooklyn glared at him. If this was the deadbeat dad Loona had been searching for then it couldn't have been good.

He took Loona by the shoulders and said, "Loona, I don't know what's going on but we should go."

Loona turned her glare to Brooklyn. "What, so your dog can rip me to shreds?"

Before either of them could answer she darted out across the street. She couldn't handle this.

"Loona! Wait!" Brooklyn ran after her.

Victor turned up his coat collar, bringing the microphone closer. "Yeah, we've got a Mad Dog on the run. You know what to do…"

Without thinking Loona retreated into an alley. She couldn't handle all of this. She needed to hide. She ducked in between two trash cans and slid to the ground, her head rattling. Hunted from every side, from both her presumed old man and her date's family.

"Loona!" Brooklyn caught up with her. He stepped further in the alley, quietly so as not to frighten her further. "Loona, I don't know what's going on, but it's okay. Whatever happens, we're not gonna—Gaaaahh!" He was cut off by a sharp pain in his bones and he dropped to his knees.

"Brooklyn!" Loona rushed to his side.

He panted as the aches pulsed in his muscles. He couldn't hold back the grunts and screams as his bones reverted back to their real form and his face regained his horns and beak. His tail grew back out from the seat of his pants and his wings burst forth from his shoulder blades, reducing his shirt to shreds.

He caught his breath. He looked up and Loona was still there, having held onto his hand throughout the transformation.

Unfortunately his pained cries attracted the attention of armed soldiers under Victor Parker's employ, and before Brooklyn could even get back to his feet he was shot in the back with a tranquilizer dart.

"Brooklyn!"

He could barely keep himself up. His instinct to get to safety was overruled by his drug-induced drowsiness.

Loona's eyes flared up. They hurt her friend, and she wasn't going to let them get away with it.

She snarled, done with the pretense. In a shroud of blue flames her human form was gone, and in its place the hellish she-wolf she truly was. With a furious yell she lunged at the armored goons on all fours, fangs bared and claws swinging.

"There they are!"

Above them Broadway and Lexington caught up with them, with Bronx not far behind on the ground. Their brother was hurt and in the presence of the werewolf.

They landed by Brooklyn's side.

"You okay, there, buddy?" asked Broadway as they tried to get him to his feet.

Brooklyn looked back, only barely able to get a glimpse Loona in her true form as she fought off their attackers.

Had they not been armored they'd have been dead. Loona's jaws broke through a metal plate and nearly shattered a man's arm with it, while her claws barely missed the exposed points. She nearly went for the man's neck when another struck the side of her head with the butt of his gun, throwing her off.

He nearly shot her with a tranquilizer when Bronx came bounding and barking, pouncing on the goon and pinning him down. Broadway was quick to snatch their guns and break them in half.

The remaining guards looked up and saw the winged reinforcements, their eyes glowing furiously. They too were ready to fight.

They had not been prepared for this. One gargoyle or hellhound, perhaps but not more than two. They were not getting paid enough. They decided to cut their losses and retreat.

Loona had half a mind to go after those bastards, but she looked back at Brooklyn and his brothers. He was still barely conscious and he had seen her for what she was. The others' eyes still glowing, and to her it seemed they blamed her for Brooklyn getting hurt.

She snarled and wiped her blood from her mouth. So that was how it was going to be. They didn't want her either. She bounded away before she had to listen to their accusations as well.

"Loona…" Brooklyn weakly called out, but he couldn't keep himself awake anymore and he passed out.

"It's okay," Lex reassured. "We'll find her."

"Yeah." Broadway hoisted Brooklyn onto his back. "Let's get you home first."

Loona retreated back to the chapel. There was no sign of Victor or his goons having broken in or even figured out where she lived.

She retreated to the dark corner in the shadows and curled up in a fetal position. The deadbeat father she had originally come here for wound up finding her, and at the worst possible time.

What's more, Brooklyn saw her at her worst. Who she truly was. Now his family knew about her and she could tell they hated her, that they blamed her for what happened to him.

It was all too much. She found her dad, but lost the closest friend she had ever had.

In the stress of it all she finally let herself cry.

End of Part 1