"Try to keep your temper, Lea. We're here for Roxanne. You can get your revenge another day," Steven said, hiding in the shadows beside his granddaughter.

"I can't make any promises, Grandfather. If she gets in our way, I'll end this," Lea growled, flexing her claws as she spoke.

Accepting that his granddaughter was always going to be headstrong, Steven sighed and moved a bit further out of the shadows, keeping low to the ground to keep from being seen. Lea followed his lead, the closer they got, the easier it was to see her sister who was just beginning to develop her mutation. Her eyes narrowed, glowing faintly due to the ending twilight, it looked like her sister was trying to tear her claws out herself, to prevent their mother from seeing it.

"Grandfather…"

"Stay put, Lea. I'll handle this,"he reassured.

There was a growl of protest from Lea, though she did as she was told and waited in the shadows. She clawed at the tree trunk near her, watching and listening in to the conversation that her grandfather was going to have with her older sister.

"Roxanne, there's no need to be ashamed or frightened about what is happening to you," Steven said in a calm tone.

"Wh-What?" Roxanne froze from her attempt of ripping her owns claws out and looked up at Steven with a distressed look on her face.

"Relax, we are the same," he showed her his claws, flexing them to further prove his point. "I can help you, just like I helped your sister. Come with me."

"My sister? You know where Shannon is?!" she asked in awe, though Steven could hear the growl that came from Lea by hearing her birth name. "Wait… What about my mom?"

"Your mother does not understand, nor accept our kind. She will torture you, just as she did Lea. Now please, we must hurry. I can smell her, she is getting close," Steven urged.

"N-No! I have to tell her first!" Roxanne said firmly.

"Very well…" he sighed, shaking his head. "I will await in the shadows. Speak to her out here, where I can jump in if needed."

Steven returned to Lea's side, glancing down at his youngest grandchild. He could smell the anger and anxiety that radiated from her being. It didn't settle his nerves much either. It seemed like whoever this woman was that his son had married was not favored by Lea, and from the stories Lea had told him, the woman was not someone on his good side at the moment either. Nevertheless, as her scent drew near, Steven became more focused on Roxanne than Lea, whose temper seemed to be under control at the current moment in time.

"Roxanne! Where are you?!" a voice shouted from inside the house, once more causing a growl to emit from Lea's throat.

"I'm in the backyard, Mom!" Roxanne called back.

A woman with short, bob-styled dark hair came out into the backyard. It was visible to Steven and Lea that the woman's roots were gray, and there were bags under her eyes. She was wearing long khakis and a pink blouse. From the look on her face, with her eyes bugging out, she was in a bad mood.

"Why the hell are you out here?! I told you to do the dishes, sweep the downstairs, and scrub the tub!" the woman barked.

"Mo-Mom… I gotta tell you something. Please," Roxanne spoke in a gentle, quiet tone, hoping to calm her mother before breaking the news to her.

"What?" she snapped.

"Um…" not sure how to say it, Roxanne decided just to show her by raising up her hands and displaying her newly grown claws to her.

"No! No no no no NO!" her mother screamed angrily, grabbing Roxanne tightly by the wrist, causing her to whimper in pain.
Lea, who was carefully watching the interaction between her sister and her mother was brought back to when her mother had first found out about her mutation. The memory brought back so much pain, anger, and grief. It caused her to ignore her grandfather's attempt at a calming touch, and charge forward to defend her sister.

"Get your fucking hand off of her," Lea snarled, grabbing ahold of her mother's wrist, her claws growing to encasing her wrist around them.

"Sh-Shannon?!" her mother croaked out, releasing Roxanne and now squirming under Lea's grip.

"That's not my name," Lea hissed, clenching the fist that held her mother's wrist with such force that she felt the bone snap. "Who the hell do you think you are, trying to gain control over a feral?"

"Shannon, stop!" Roxanne pleaded, though she was scared as all hell of her sister at the moment.
"Roxanne, don't interfere. You must let Lea get this out of her system," Steven said, grabbing Roxanne quickly to keep her from getting in Lea's way.

"A scream is not an answer, Allison," Lea cooed, pulling her mother closer and running a clawed finger along her jawline. While it seemed like a gentle touch, it was simply a build up because then Lea grasped Allison's face tightly and growled in it. "Answer. Me."

"I-I-I…. I'm yo-yo-your m-mo-mother…" Allison's scent was pure fear, and Lea inhaled it greedily.

"Heh… No. No you're not,"

In a swift move, while still holding onto Allison's broken wrist, Lea pulled Allison into her and rammed her claws deeply into her right shoulder. The moment the rustic scent hit her, Lea's pupils grew, almost consuming every inch of blue, and Lea's fangs grew to the point of poking out of the side of her mouth.
While Allison hollered from the intense pain that burned in her right shoulder, Lea shushed her, as if almost to soothe her from the fiery pain. The entire time Lea hushed her though, she was flexing her claws against the hot flesh, twisting and turning to get more of the rich crimson liquid to drip down her arm.

"Imagine feeling this type of pain, multiple times a day for years, bitch," Lea hissed, pushed Allison away and yanking her claws from out of her shoulder.
Examining her now blood covered claws, Lea noticed an odd circular-ish lump on her middle claw. Calmly, she brought her middle finger to her lips and licks the blood clean. The lump appeared to be fleshy, so Lea plucked it from her claw and pinched it in her hand, never breaking eye contact with Allison.

"Well well well, I wonder what this could be…" Lea taunted, a smirk playing on her face.

"Yo-You're a monster…" Allison panted.

"Yes well, it's better to be a monster than a corpse," Lea pinched the pink fleshy object in between her index finger and thumb, causing blood to drip down her hand once more.

Finally regaining her senses, Allison turned away from Lea and made a run for the inside of her house so she could get to the phone. Unfortunately for her though, Lea was much younger, and much quicker than her. Lea pounced and landed in front of her, blocking the door, a sinister smirk on her face.

"Now now, pet, I didn't dismiss you,"

Lea grabbed Allison by the neck, tightening her grip around her neck by extending her claws. She lifted her mother into the air with ease, and raised her right hand up with her claws fully extended. Once more, she crashed her blood-soaked claws into Allison's wounded shoulder and punctured through the exposed flesh, hooking onto the stringy muscle. In a slow, agonizing manner, Lea dragged her claws deeply through Allison's body. As Lea dragged her claws through her mother's torso, blood sprayed and splattered onto Lea's face and upper torso, due to her slicing through the muscles, until she finally stopped at her hip.

"Now, you're dismissed,"

Lea kicked Allison in her exposed torso, causing more blood to fly through the air before Allison collapsed onto the ground. She was just barely alive, gasping and choking as she attempt to breathe. Lea brushed her bare foot on the grass, wiping off the blood, then crouched down beside Allison's face. In a surprisingly gentle manner, Lea angled Allison's face so she could watch as the light left her eyes. It was only until after she was certain that she had passed that Lea stood up and looked towards her sister, who had tears streaming down her face from the horror she had just witnessed, and her grandfather, who had a blank expression on his face as he restrained Roxanne.

Lea's eyes snapped open, not in a startled manner, but an alert one. Her vision was blurred for a moment before it recovered. She sighed and rolled over, feeling Victor's coat move over her. He must have put it on her after she fell asleep. It was a nice gesture, and for a moment, she felt touched by it. That moment faded rather quickly when she realized that this man was hunting her. She saw him sleeping soundly beside her, and part of her was surprised he wasn't sleeping on top of her to keep her from running. She was grateful for it though, because she slipped out of his coat and got to her feet.

She tiptoed away from Victor and over to the cave's entrance. Her brows furrowed together when she noticed every stone that she had used to barricade herself inside the cave was in the same spot that she had placed them. She was dumbfound as to how Victor got in if she had blocked the passage. Her icy gaze turned, and she searched the rocky walls for a hole, but there wasn't anything disturb within the cave,

"How the hell…" she couldn't help but ask out loud, in a confused tone of voice.

Realizing her mistake, Lea clapped her palm over her mouth and looked over her shoulder to Victor. Her heart was racing, but lucky for her, he was still sound asleep. A relieved sigh left her and she began peeling rocks away to get out. Once the sunlight broke through, Lea heard Victor stirr behind her, which caused her to rush herself. She shoved a few more rocks aside before climbing through the small opening. Her wide hips caught in the hole, causing Lea to silently cursing herself for having birthing hips, and began to wiggle and shimmy until she got loose. She fell forward, tumbling down the rocks then falling face first into snow. An annoyed groan left her and she got up, dusting the snow of her hide. She peeked through her escape route, and saw Victor rolling in his sleep, in the direction that she had been sleeping. Deciding not to wait for him to wake up, took off again, this time down the mountain.

It hadn't even been ten minutes before Lea heard Victor's roar of anger. This caused an annoyed sigh to leave Lea as she continued to run down the mountain. Her claws were unfortunately leaving a trail due to her going down an icy slope, so there were chunks of dirt and messed up patches of snow, which would lead Victor right to her. This caused her to speed up, but due to the increase of pace, she lost control and began tumbling down the mountain.

"Fuck!" Lea growled as she was bouncing and hitting every rock in sight.

Lea reached out towards a rock as she continued falling, attempting to use her claws to slow her down, though her attempts failed miserably and she felt her claws break. She roared out in pain, and while her mind was fogged with pain, she felt something grab the back of her dress and yank her. A soft whine left her as she felt her back touch against a cold stone. She looked down at her hands to see her claws were broken so severely that they were bleeding and she could see the skin under her nails. Her healing factor was already working though, and quickly reconstructing her claws to their natural length.

"Ow ow ow…" she groaned, putting her hands in between her thighs.

"Let me see."

Lea could only groan, recovering from the pain, as she knew who that deep voice belonged to. She inhaled sharply, knowing that Victor's scent would relax her before she looked at him. Her claws remained firmly between her thighs, as she met his gaze. He didn't seem angry, in fact, Lea could swear she saw concern in his eyes.

"I'm fine, Victor. Fuck off," Lea growled through a clenched jaw.

"Kitten, either show me or I'll fucking make you," Victor growled back in an impatient tone.

Her brows rose at his threat. The alpha side of her took it as a challenge, and it pissed her off. As far as she was concerned, they were still on her home turf, so she wasn't exactly pleased with the fact that Victor was going against her authority in her home. She could feel her claws grow due to the threat.

"Fucking. Try. It. Bitch." she spat.

With that, Victor wasted no time on asserting dominance over her. He grabbed Lea by her shoulders, and threw her down into the powdery snow. She kept her hands firmly wedged between her thighs, but she growled and bared her fangs at him. He returned the growl before crashing his thin lips into hers. A muffled sound of disapproval left her, and she could feel one of his knees stabbing at hers, which were helping keep her legs closed. He managed to wedge it free and grabbed her wrists, yanking her hands out. He broke the kiss and pulled her up into a sitting position.

"You're such a fucking dickass!" Lea shouted.

Victor arched a brow at Lea's insult and looked at her for a moment before turning his attention to her hands. She knew the insult was stupid, but she was also very flustered so she didn't care. She looked at her healed hands as well, and her eyes widened when she realized that Victor made her hands look so small, yet one hand seemed to fit perfectly in one of his. He turned her hand every which way in a surprisingly gentle manner as he examined them for any cuts.

"You do know I have a healing factor right?" she asked in a calmer, more civil tone.

"You worried me," Victor growled suddenly, his hands enveloping hers. "Are you that against being my mate that you'd throw yourself down a mountain!?"

Lea's eyes widened further at his sudden hostility. The hold he had on her hands now was tight and firm. It wasn't one in an attempt to harm her, but one that made her think that he felt if he had let go, she'd slip away. She could feel her inner beast feel pity towards him and she could feel herself become a bit more submissive to him. She looked away from him, not sure what to say.

"Answer me," he demanded.

"Maybe I just don't want to be owned!" Lea snapped, yanking her hands away from his and glaring at him. "What the hell did you expect!? Do you think you're so fucking desirable that I'd just drop everything and become your mate?! How big is your fucking ego!?"

Not waiting for him to answer, Lea got to her feet and dusted the snow off of her behind. She began to walk away when she felt Victor's claws constrict around her wrist. She turned and ended up being face to face with Victor. The scent of his rage was radiating off of him, but she didn't care.

"Fuck off!"

Lea tackled Victor, which caused them both to fall backwards back down the slope he had rescued her from. There was immediate regret on Lea's side, as pained growls left both of them. They were separated by a rogue pine tree, and like before, Lea tried to stop herself by her claws. She had managed to slow herself, but she ended up crashing onto the ground a bit near Victor. She felt something pierce into her back, and her spine being snapped by the object. Her vision blurred from the pain, but she could swear she saw someone with blades sticking out of his fists nearby. Then everything went black.

Fact for the Chapter: Lea left her childhood home at the age of 10. She had originally planned to go to Wisconsin, and during a hunt on the border of Wisconsin and Canada, Lea was found by her grandfather.