This series has done something interesting to me. It's put me in this weird spot where I'm actually craving writing something romantic. I actually miss love stories. Not overly sappy Twilight love stories –ironic, right?- but basic love stories. This story might branch off the pattern from the first two stories. Rather than being solely family –don't get me wrong. It'd be out of character for all of them if they didn't find family as priority.- This story might have an actual romantic love story intertwined into it though. Don't lie to the people. You've already started working on the end. The end says nothing about a love story! True. I kind of hoped you'd rat yourself out if there was one. I will kill you. You already did that. Go away, Dol. Make me.

"Bur. Bur, wake up." Collin didn't remember much after he'd lost his head –in the unfortunate literal sense of the term.- There was the faint memory of being drug through thin forests and the sight of shifters of different feline types. "Bur. Please."

That voice.

Lifting his hand to rub his neck and verify it had been reattached, he mentally accounted for his limbs and was slightly pissed to realize his legs had been removed. He rolled himself onto his stomach and his heart sank.

That voice. He'd recognized it. He'd just never heard it sound so broken, so lost, so scared. That voice had always radiated confidence, power, even in her weakest moments Mary had never sounded so lost.

"Bur. Please." A bloody and torn up tiger was laying limp in the corner of the room, Mary's back was to Collin, he could see she'd been delegged as well. Half her body was laying over the side of the shifter as she hugged him. If he listened, there was the faintest sound of a heartbeat coming from Bur.

"Mar-"

She hissed at him, cutting his sentence short. "Don't. You brought him. Collin, you had no right. If he dies…"

He cut her off, dragging himself across the small room as he said the two words. "Save him."

"I can't." She was lying. The way her voice broke. It was clear she was lying. She was completely capable of saving him.

"Mary, I don't care what screwed morals you're living by. We need him. Save him."

Mary made a pained sound, "I promised. I can't." She buried her face in the tiger's blood covered fur.

"Screw the promises." He growled out, pushing himself onto his side and reaching out, grabbing her arm. She turned her head slightly. And damn. The guilt, the pain, the pure longing in her expression. She'd finally gotten her nephew back, her brother, and he was dying.

"I can't." She returned her face to the tiger. "Promised Ak, promised Bella, promised him. I can't." Her voice broke as she said the words

"Break the promise, Mary. Promises can be broken."

"I can't." I won't. Even now, in an impossible situation, she was holding onto what she truly believed was the right thing.

"He promised Lila. He promised he'd bring her mate back alive. Mary. It's not your choice. Save him." The girl seemed to struggle with herself for a moment before, finally, she used the tiger's mangled body to pull herself up to his neck.

"Bur, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, baby boy. I swear. Only once. It'll hurt. You'll hate me for it. I'm sorry" She was so vulnerable. Collin had never seen her like this. She'd been calm and collected with her sister, matter of fact. With Bella she'd had a breakdown but it was anger, not pain. Not this. This was full blown vulnerability. "I'll have to wake him up..." The words were choked. "Gods, I don't want to do this."

"Why do you have to-"

"I need him to shift. He'll have to shift. If he's in animal form this'll kill him." Though she tried to make her voice sound confident and mechanical, it wavered and cracked.

"I'm sorry, Mary."

Her voice was a growl when she spoke. "Sorry doesn't change it. You shouldn't have brought him."

"You knew I'd do anything to save you."

"It doesn't matter. You shouldn't have. You should've known better." She moved her hand up to the side of his head and took a breath. There was a silent pause then the tiger started yowling and writhing in agony under her.

"Bur, Brady, shift. Now. Shift." Her voice was loud yet held that same fear and pain, she was trying to comfort him with her words. The tiger's agonized yowling was loud though. Either he was in too much pain to hear her or the yowling was too much.

"Bur!" Collin growled out loudly, making sure his voice came off as harsh, loud, authoritative. The way he'd heard alpha shapeshifters speak in the past. The tiger registered what was being said and he shifted forms. His human form was so much worse than his animal one. There were three large gashes running across his chest that began gushing blood the second he shifted forms. Their brother reached up and grabbed his chest, gasping and choking up blood. Clearly the damage done to him in his animal form was much worse in his human form. Mary dove into his neck and bit, their brother choked up blood, tears streaming down his face, she reached up and touched his head again. Silence. Just like that.

"I'm not supposed to do this. It's a rule." She rolled off him onto her back and stared at the concrete ceiling. "Collin, after this. You're getting turned back."

He stared at his sister like she was insane, she was joking, right? "You can't."

"I will. It's not a matter of wanting to. You put him in danger."

He honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing. "To save your life!"

"I didn't need saving!" She hissed out, her gaze jerking to him. "I am eternal, Collin. Do you know what you did by coming here? You brought the only two creatures capable of killing me into one place! You played into their hands perfectly!"

"I'm sorry the impossible werewolves nearly killed Bur. I am. But, Mary. You couldn't have thought that I'd leave you. We don't do that. Not me, not my mom, not you. We don't do that."

The other regarded him warily, moving her gaze to the ceiling. "We can't get out of here. I can't hide. We can't move. Even if they can't kill me. They can harm me. They can use you. Collin, you shouldn't have done this. You should've let me rot."

There was an underlying message. While she spoke her hands moved from her side to just above her. First she flicked her wrist slightly in the direction of where Collin had absently noticed a stairwell. Following the gesture, she tapped her eyes once before dropping her hands to her side.

To him the message meant that's where they'd escape at. Something told him it wasn't the right message. It was obvious if they tried to escape they'd have to go that way.

Which meant he'd need to think less about it. Find the mindset of the girl he'd tapped into the memories of. Eyes. Even then it would've meant look. She saw something. Saw someone.

Someone was there. Or had been there. Maybe.

The gesture had to mean over there or out there. Away from where they were.

Or maybe.

The eyes. Out there. Look. Or out there. Eyes.

Maybe it was literal. Outside eyes. If they'd been human in one of those primal villages, they would've been wary of things outside their camp. Eyes in the woods, watching.

They were being watched. Someone who didn't have the primitive knowledge would have saw that as a sign to say they would escape through there. It wasn't though. They were being watched. Sure she could've said it. But the non-verbal communication was important. Her ancient signals would probably mislead the others. Especially the less obvious ones. The problem was he couldn't use them. He could barely read them.

Bur knew them though. He would be fluent in ancient had signals. When he woke up. "Mary, what will happen to him?"

"My dosed down venom will heal him. The animal essence in him will kill it off though. That's why I needed him in human form." While she sounded honest it occurred to him that he couldn't believe anything she said to him. They were being watched. If he'd translated correctly. If they were being watched then they were being listened to. Anything she said would be either a complete lie, partial lie, or an honest answer.

"How did they catch you?"

Silence. Several long moments of silence. Then she spoke, "werewolves. Three of them. They were working together."

The same thing he'd experienced. Werewolves didn't work together. Then there was... "When they attacked us, it was broad daylight."

Mary stared at him for a moment, worry covering her expression before she buried it. "That shouldn't be possible."

"You did it."

"It's not that simple. I'm tied to every vampire in existence. I can tap into the mentality of a rare few. Rose was half vampire. She was also one of those rare few. I flicked a switch that only existed do to her being a half breed. No one, nothing else, could make that happen."

She was lying. He could see it in her eyes. There was a clear lie in them. He couldn't pry into it right now. He wanted to. Every ounce of his being wanted to know. They were being watched. This wasn't the time to ask. No matter how much he wanted to know.

Instead he asked, "Why didn't they kill me?"

"There's the real question." He jerked his head around, causing himself to fall on his back as a woman appeared at the foot of the stairs. If he'd been listening he would've heard her arrive, her heart and footsteps would've been a dead giveaway. He'd been zoned out though. This shifter. She was familiar. From the memories of his family. Kayden. The girl who had been Dol's beta shifter.

"Hello, Collin."

He eyed the shifter warily. "Kayden."

"I've never met you before." She tilted her head, eyeing Collin curiously. "How do you know me?"

"I'm gifted. What are you doing here, Kayden?"

"She thinks she's Ak's successor." Mary laughed from behind him, a laugh that told Collin everything Mary thought of this woman. A mockery.

"Mind your tongue, Mer."

Collin stared at her. "You? You think you're the successor to my aunt?" He couldn't help but laugh at her. No, he didn't respect Ak's beliefs. Partially because he sort of needed humanity to survive but also because she had a slight God complex. On top of that, there was no one that could come close to her power. Especially Kayden; he'd seen the memories of her. He knew who she was. "You used to kneel at her feet! You were nothing compared to her. She saw you as a pet with a nifty gift. A girl with a childish crush on the power she held. Nothing more." In truth, Dol had respected her. Kayden had held her curiosity. However, Collin wouldn't tell her that. It wasn't her place to know.

There were several long moments of dead silence. The shifter glared at him. If she was still half vampire he would've been thrown across the room, he had no doubt. As it was she was restricted. "Careful, Collin." She finally stated. "You can die." Then her gaze moved past Collin to where Mary was, Collin didn't dare follow her gaze and turn his back on the shifter, he watched her as she spoke again, "Mer, tell me how it feels. Breaking a that promise you've never broken before. Betraying the trust of your baby brother."

If she thought she'd get a rise out of Mary she was clearly mistaken, the breakdown of emotions she'd exposed before were gone. "Like I just saved my baby brother." There was a dangerous undertone to Mary's voice. "I do recognize you now. One of the ones that got off easy. I killed so many creatures over those fifteen years faces just kind of slipped away." The more Mary talked the more anger flashed across the shifter's face. "You were there when I reverted all those shifters. Let me tell you. Learning to humanize the batch of abominations my sister made was difficult. It was tiring. A very short amount of you I let free as a warning. I killed your sister in front of you, didn't I?"

"You really should've killed me, Mer."

Mary's voice was lethal when she spoke, "I won't. I will never kill you." It was a promise. "However, I will escape. I will kill everyone you love, your pack, your mate, your child." A brief flash of fear covered the shifter's expression before it was buried. "Every single person you love will die. You made a terrible mistake in harming my brothers. Their blood, it won't be on my hands. No. It won't. It will be on your hands. You chose to kidnap the most powerful creature in existence and make her your enemy. "

The shifter buried anything that resembled fear from her expression though it was basically radiating off of her. "Oh, Mer. I have each of you exactly where I want you." There was a brief pause before she continued. "You aren't escaping. I promise you that."

Careful Mary. The thought rang through his head, suddenly he was very worried. If she wasn't careful she'd say the wrong thing. Then again, did that matter?

"You might have me where you think you want me, you really might. The thing is, the real place you want me, it's far away. Very far away. As far as you can get me. I knew Bur and Collin would arrive. Your pack has a big mouth. However, you made a terrible mistake by locking them in here with me. I needed Bur."

Something clicked in the shifter's expression, fear flashing across her face. "The Old Soul!" Kayden cried out as the sound of two shifters shifting filled the air, Collin barely had a chance to register what was happening before Bur was flying through the air over his head and slamming into the newly shifted Kayden.

There was no fight, she had no chance, Bur was larger, he had no heartbeat, he had the single advantage over her that he needed. He was half vampire. If Kayden had paid attention to the events, if she'd caught the lies, she'd have been fine. Mary had turned him into a half breed. An abomination by her standards.

At first, Collin didn't realize what had happened. The situation didn't really register in his brain. Until it did.

It had been a show. Why hadn't it clicked before with him. Soul siblings held telepathic links. Bella and Dol had always communicated telepathically with each other, no one had really known why. They had never thought much on it.

Until now. It clicked into place, the reason why.

Mary's confidence. Her and Bur communicated telepathically. This had been a trap. They'd been setting up Kayden. Drawing her in.

Bur had Kayden pinned to the floor, his teeth around her throat, she made a sound that sounded like the cat equivalent to a whimper.

"We couldn't risk telling you, Collin." Mary's voice came from behind him. "Soul siblings have telepathic links. If it hadn't been for you bringing Bur out, things wouldn't have gone like this."

"You…risked our lives…"

"No. The two of you were never in real danger. I've been listening to them talk. They planned to have one of you turn on me. They wouldn't have killed you because they needed you."

Betrayal. That was what he felt. She'd used him. Both of them had used him.

"I'm giving you one chance, Kayden. One. Let us go. Now. If you do, I will spare your pack, your family. If you don't let us leave, we will kill them all when we do escape. That is a vow."

The female shifter glowered at them, growling choked growls, teeth exposed, angry.

"Going once." Mary's voice was venomous.

The shifter looked defeated.

"Twice."

Lethal silence as she stared behind him at Mary. Her entire demeanor changed, to submission.

"Good choice, Kayden. Have one of your pack members bring down our legs. If you send down any of the werewolves, we will know and we will kill you. I promise you this. Werewolves cannot win a battle confined."

Collin had taken one of the werewolves down before, he had to wonder if there were only two of them left or if there were more.

There was dead silence for several minutes, except, if Collin listened closely, he could hear the shapeshifters up the stairwell walking around, complaining about Kayden messing up. Kayden would probably die from the sound of it. Her pack would kill her for submitting to the will of a vampire.

He couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about it. Even if he felt betrayed that they hadn't told him of what was happening, this entire pack had threatened the lives of his family. They had threatened his own life. They'd screwed up and they would pay the price for it. That was a promise. If Mary didn't enact vengeance on the mutts, he would.

Mary sang quietly, "Pay the price, pay the blood, pay with life, or your love, the cost grave, what you took, you will pay, little schnook." That childish tone in her voice said a lot. Sure she was a child, she always sounded like a child. This was different though, this was how she sounded when she was slipping into her youthful self. It was who she was, a child. No matter how ancient she was. When Mary began sounding like this she was angry, truly angry.

Angry enough that when the time came, she would snap, destroy anything and everything in a childish rage. This was how she'd sounded when she'd encountered her sister.

Bur was doing this to her. Not on purpose. It didn't matter though. He was doing it. Having that child awake would, without a doubt work to their advantage though. It would guarantee their escape.

"Little tiger, little girl, little liar, in the war." Mary's voice rang through the room louder, though not loud enough to drown out the clicking of the door as someone stepped through.

"M…Mer…I…h…have…y…your…legs…" A very young voice came from the stairs, stuttering and terrified. Collin's focus moved to the door as a girl no older than six with dark skin emerged. A girl that had to be Kayden's daughter. She was radiating fear, holding a bag that without a doubt held their legs. If she hadn't been a shapeshifter there would've been no way for her to hold the bag.

"Toss it here, little girl!" Mary's voice rang through the room again.

The young girl stared wide eyed at Mary before she did as told.

"My venom is quick, Collin. I don't want to be here when her pack turns on her. Bur and I have things to do, years to catch up on." She hummed quietly as something smacked him in the back, he didn't bother looking as he reached behind him and grabbed his legs, wasting no time in pressing them to the area they had been torn from.

Mary's venom did work fast, almost immediately the venom she had put on the skin of the limbs she handed him went to work, reassembling his body.

It took no time, he could feel his legs again. He had his legs again. Mary was already on her feet, strolling over to the young shifter. "You're coming with us, little angel. Nice little leverage to have, isn't that right, Kayden?" The girl squeaked when Mary threw her arm over her shoulder.

Mary was good. Collin couldn't take that credit from her.

The tiger growled, shifting forms beneath Bur. "You can't take my daughter from me, Mer. I'm begging you."

"I made a promise, Kayden. A promise I'll keep. She'll live, for now. But she is mine to take, lest I take your family and pack and leave you alone again. You crossed a line, tigress. You harmed my family. You forced to me to break a promise I'd never have broken in another million years. As a consequence, I must do something to get my point across. Clearly killing those you loved didn't work in the past. So instead I will hold one you love as leverage. If anyone in your pack, including the Children of the Moon, come after my family again. I have your daughter. There are much worse things than death."

Kayden stared wide eyed at Mary as she spoke, her heartbeat was loud, terrified, she was terrified.

Collin might've cared about the threat but he didn't. Anything to protect his sister. "you're too much like Aunt Bell. She'd have done anything to get my mother back. She loved her too much." Brady's words rang through his head. It was true. They would do anything to save each other, no matter the backlash. No matter the blood.

Except Bur. Bur was the line, the line she would never cross. Bur would always come before Collin. Something told him that his life wasn't as guaranteed as Bur's. Bur was soulbound to her. They wouldn't have killed him. They might've killed Collin though. He very well could've died to the werewolf that came after him. It was striking to kill, not to maim.

"Say goodbye to your mother, little angel." Mary stated in a singsong tone as Bur backed away from the other shifter. The girl scrambled to Kayden's side as she sat up, shooting daggers at the ancient vampire while pulling her daughter into a tight hug.

Tears filled the woman's eyes. "I'm sorry. I am so so sorry, Ayla. I am so sorry."

"M…momma…don't let her…please…"

"Ancient tactics from an ancient creature." The shifter growled out. "I will receive my daughter back from you. I promise that."

"You expect me to be ignorant enough to return her to Vegas after you turned my own against me? Honestly, Kayden. I know nothing of you but I do not take you as an ignorant woman." This was the Mary Collin recognized. The ancient being, not the child.

"How-"

"I know where my psychic is and it isn't Vegas. That response was all I needed to confirm my suspicions. Now come, little angel. I have revenge to enact."

"Wait, Mer." As she spoke, she gently pushed her crying daughter off of her, kissing her cheek before pushing her in the direction of Mary.

"What do you want, tigress?"

"Keep her normal. Please keep her normal."

"I do not create abominations unless absolutely necessary. I am not my sister. Little angel, get on Bur's back. We must leave."

With that they made their way up the stairs and out. They were in a series of underground tunnels, lined in dirt and rock and support beams. It looked like it had once been a tunnel of mines, there was the occasional hole in the wall with a wooden door on it, some of them had shifters standing in the doorway shooting daggers at the group as they left. None of them made a move to attack the group as they left though. They didn't need to be lead out, there was a potent trail that clearly indicated the exit to the underground area. The scent of the werewolves was there but faded, they hadn't been present there in a day or so. It didn't mean that they weren't waiting outside the exit to strike.

"They won't attack as long as we have the girl. Even with her mother under the possibility of death, they will not allow the deaths of one of their children." Mary stated absently as she leaned into Bur's side.

Collin was jealous. He wouldn't admit it but he was, Mary was with her soulbound brother. It was different than her being with Brady. Very different. As Brady he was one thing but as Bur she clung to him, even if it wasn't physical.

"So did you plan on telling me you saw my memories?"

"How-"

"I was dying, I wasn't dead though. I felt your ability latch onto me. Like a parasite draining away at my life. I'm old, Collin. There are a lot of things you could've seen. I want to know what you saw." The answer was simple enough but he held back, mostly out of spite, he was still upset with her. She'd used him. "Collin, please. I know you're mad at me. I want to know though. I want to know how bad it was."

That was when it clicked. She was ashamed. Ironic since she didn't care about human lives. No. She was ashamed because he saw it through her eyes. She had been barely what was defined as human when she was younger. That was why she was scared. She strutted around as the ancient being but if someone saw her back then she wasn't this. She wasn't powerful as in she held power over vampires and other beings alike. She was a mindless killer being led on by her sister. Killing without purpose. Something Mary never did. She made it a point to have a reason for killing. Back then she had been an attack dog though.

"I saw you slaughter a village."

"How many people?"

Now, ten was hardly a slaughter by vampire standards. Really, it wasn't. Not now. However back then ten was probably the equivalent to a town, maybe even a city. That was something he couldn't be certain of.

"Ten." He breathed out reluctantly.

"Was it on her orders? Or was it my own choice?"

"Bloodlust."

"I was still young then."

"I think it was on Ak's first life. You were supposed to kill one. Only one. A man. You killed him then when the others came you killed the rest."

"I shouldn't have followed her mindlessly. The whole reason we became what we did was because she was killing. I killed her to save the lives of my tribe. I wound up becoming her blade. Her pet. I was an animal."

Bur growled quietly, pushing against Mary and sending her stumbling slightly.

"Bur, you changed me. You saved the human race. You truly did. You don't know who I was before though. I was a monster."

"So is that a soul sibling thing?"

"The telepathy? I'd presume so. Bella and Dol had a much more capable connection do to Bella's ability. It allowed Ak to communicate with her."

"So you don't talk to Brady?"

"No. Not telepathically. I mean, sometimes I can sense his emotions or slips of things he's thinking. Usually only when Bur is trying to surface though. Old Souls are the same soul but they are also different parts of the same soul." Bella's final conversation with Dol filled his head, the sight of all the other people she had been throughout history. "Technically, I'm only directly bound to the Bur part of their soul. As Bella was only bound to Dol." They finally followed a small dirt pathway out of the ground into a small cave that was only a few feet taller than Collin. There was nothing in it except dirt and rock walls as well as the opening into a small clearing covered in snow.

"I found another one."

"Another what?" Mary sounded confused at Collin's words, something that very rarely escaped her.

"Old Soul. In the Rockies. The pack that is raising her has raised her as an animal. She's a human."

"There can't be another Old Soul. There were only two souls lined up for rebirth. Are you certain she was an Old Soul?"

"Positive. Mary, why-"

"If she's an Old Soul…it could mean my sister was reborn again. This isn't a good thing."

"She's human though."

"That doesn't matter. Collin, where in the Rockies is she?" She stopped in her tracks and turned on her heels, looking angry and, buried in her expression, was fear.

Suddenly Collin was extremely wary for an entirely different reason. Mary was going to kill her. Something deep in him told him he couldn't let her touch the girl. "She isn't an incarnation of Ak. Mary, she isn't. I know she isn't."

"I can tell you that if I see her. Collin." Her tone was warning, Bur had turned around, pawing at the ground in front of him nervously. Bur wouldn't take his side. Ak was a threat to all of humanity, she'd killed him.

"No." Anger flashed through Mary's expression. "I won't tell you where she is, Mary. I can't. I'm sorry."

"If that is another incarnation of Ak, the world is in danger. You know that, Collin. You've lived her lives."

"Yes. I've lived her lives. Which means she's dead. Not walking around."

"You have seen a couple of Bur's memories, Collin. You know that isn't the case. Dormant soul pieces are considered death by your ability's standards."

"I won't let you kill her." His gaze darted to the trees that he could take off into. In theory, Mary wouldn't leave Bur out here with the potential of werewolves lurking nearby. It was possible for him to run and leave her. If she decided that Bur could protect himself though…Even if she loved him, she feared her sister more. She very well might kill him for the information. Or she'd let him go and follow him to the girl. Or she'd seek her out on her own. Was it worth risking his life to save a girl he knew nothing about?

His answer wasn't a choice. He didn't even realize he was doing it until he heard Mary yelling after him. Technically she was faster than him. She would be able to catch up to him. But it would take her time.

She didn't chase him. Collin couldn't decide which was worse, her chasing him or her leaving him. It hurt, it broke his heart, but he couldn't dwell on that, not now. He would need to decide which course of action to take now. Did he go straight for the girl or did he wait?

The answer was the same as his actions had been.

He'd rescue the girl. He'd rescue the Old Soul before Mary found her. It was all he could do. Keep her safe. Keep her alive. He'd endangered her by mentioning her to Mary. He had to keep her safe. It was his responsibility. He didn't understand why; all he knew what he had to.

Protect, save, rescue. Those words rang through his head as he made his way back towards America.

So this is the second consecutive chapter I've gone without a flashback. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't place one but it just didn't have space. We'll see something next chapter.