With that I formed an ice bridge and zoomed away, letting it melt behind me. My injuries hurt like hell and I sucked air through my teeth from the pain as I moved. I really hoped my Branch could deal with this, I did not want to end up in hospital. Alec and Nigel did a good job with my arm a few years ago, maybe they could handle this.

"JACKIE!"

I looked up to see Jack flying towards me, a terrified look on his face.

"You finally decided to show up snowman." I said dryly as I stopped and he hovered beside me.

"I heard you scream."

"I got attacked, it's taken care of."

Jack looked at me, his expression a mixture of concern and confusion. I saw his eyes drift over to my blood stained shoulder and widen.

"What happened?"

"Turns out Lupine has Descendants, and they can shape shift."

"I-I'd, better get you home."

"You don't have to, I can get myself back."

"And have you possibly collapse? I know the cold can't hurt you, but what if they find you again?"

Jack had a good point, but I was still reluctant to let him take me home. He seemed to notice this and asked.

"Is this because I said I couldn't teach you anything else?"

I opened my mouth to deny it, then closed it again. It was true, I was still upset about the lesson thing. However, it wasn't as if he was no longer my friend, so I needed to get over myself.

"Sorry, if you're really concerned then..."

Jack looked me up and down and the grin I knew so well crossed his face.

"At least I won't have to hold you up this time."

I snorted with laughter and set off again, Jack flying alongside me.

I quickly found that I couldn't move my bad leg, so I let my mind take over as I skated over the trees. I tried to think of a plan. The most logical place to go now would be the HOG war base; they'd been looking for these guys, so they'd want to know. But I didn't want to, right now I was tired and in pain, plus Jack would cause more of a stir than I could handle. I just wanted to go home, I could ring HOG.

I landed at the front door, staggering slightly and leaning against the wall; I must have lost more blood than I thought. Jack caught me but I managed to right myself before he could get too worried.

"Okay, I'm home. You've probably got Guardian stuff to do..." I prompted, to which his shoulders slumped.

"Fine fine, see you later. Don't do anything too dangerous without me!"

We shared grins and he took to the air with a gust of wind.

I unlocked the door and slowly walked in, heading for the kitchen and leaning on the wall for support. I managed to get some yogurt out of the fridge and sat down heavily at the table, eating slowly.

My dad walked in, initially with a smile, which faded as he saw my shoulder.

"What happened?" Naturally he sounded worried, but he saw that I wasn't freaking out, so managed not to freak out himself.

"Descendants of Lupine, turns out they're angry that I beat their ancestor, so they decided to take it out on me." I explained in monotone so I didn't let on how much pain I was in.

"A human caused those injuries?"

"Turns out they're all shape shifters. About ten of them turned into wolves and attacked."

"We need to get someone to see to that." He said concerned. He pulled out a chair and settled down in it, not taking his eyes off me.

"What, a doctor? You've never taken me to the doctor in my life, you've never needed to. Plus, my body temperature's just too weird, it'll attract attention."

"This is serious, you need medical help, your body temperature be dammed."

"I know, but I don't want to risk it."

"Maybe we have to."

I shook my head.

"I know someone else who might be able to help with this." I said, pulling out my phone.

"Your friends from HOG?"

"Who else? Remember my arm a few years ago?"

Dad nodded, his reading glasses bouncing slightly on his forehead. "Not sure I can forget. Go on."

I nodded, recognising that permission had been given, scrolled down to Nigel's number and pressed call.

"Jackie, what's the occasion?"

"Something's happened, and I need you or your brother's stitching ability."

"What happened?"

"Descendants of Lupine."

"You found them!?"

"More they found me, and they're not happy that I managed to take out Lupine."

I could hear Nigel wince.

"Okay, I'll call Alec and HOG, in that order. You just sit tight, where are you?"

"At home, the Descendants of Lupine are in the woods. I trapped them in the snow so I doubt that they've moved."

"Alright, I'll get the others over. Try not to move too much, okay?"

"Wasn't planning on it."

"See you later."

He hung up and put my phone back into my pocket.

"So, I take it we're having company?"

"Yep, sounds like my Branch and Nigel's brother are coming. Alec was the one who did my arm last time."

Dad nodded, "Okay, you just stay there and don't move too much until they get here."

"Noted."

Tina, Billy and Sally arrived first. They all went into the kitchen and winced as one.

"What happened? It looks like you were being ripped apart!" cried Tina.

"Turns out Descendants of Lupine can shape shift."

"Aw crikey." Winced Billy, "That must have hurt."

"You should see my leg, that's not much better." My jeans had been destroyed, again.

"I'd hate to see the other guy."

I had to grin as Sally sat next to me and put her hand on my uninjured arm. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than when they were being inflicted."

"You gotta tell us what happened!" cried Billy, bounding over. "How many were there? How much of a badass were you being?"

"I think we'd better wait for Nigel and Alec, they'll want to hear that story too."

Billy grumbled and sat down in a chair with his arms folded. He looked so much like he was sulking that it was hard to believe that he was thirty.

Tina looked like she wanted to say something to Billy, but for my sake she decided to keep it to herself.

We talked for a bit until Nigel and Alec arrived. They both had the same expressions of shock when they saw my shoulder.

My hoodie hadn't taken any damage, it was practically indestructible, but it was still stained dark with a lot of blood. I had to pull it off to let Alec do his thing and it got more than a little stuck on the ragged bite mark.

Alec got to work after setting some newspaper on the floor. I used copious amounts of ice to try and numb my shoulder as he stitched, which only just worked. The others quickly left and I tried to not focus on the needle going in and out of skin, instead telling Alec what happened, so he could relay it to the others.

After making sure that both injuries were shut, Alec forcefully told me to go to bed, which I did. I was tired after the fight, so sleep was very appealing.

Before the others left, Sally sat next to my bed and sent some golden sand above my head.
She couldn't form dreams, but she could prevent nightmares, so I fell asleep with a smile on my face.