After being cleaned up, Selene walked toward where Adam had told her he had placed Michael in a bed.

"He won't be vicious when he wakes up," she had tried to explain to him.

He had sighed. "Maybe not, but I'm not taking any chances. I'm sorry, but his doctor is gonna have to be the best Lycan doctor we have on staff, not me."

While Selene was disappointed to see that Adam was surrendering so easily, she could sympathize with him. After all, had she herself not doubted her dedication and loyalty to Michael several times?

She sat there, watching him rest. I guess those tranqs really did work on him…

Finally, the next night, Michael woke up. He was a bit groggy, but he was coherent.

At first, he seemed a bit confused as to where he was and how he got there. This confusion quickly dissipated.

"Selene? How did I…" when he realized, a look of overwhelming guilt washed over his features. "Oh shit. Oh, God no… did I… Oh, Selene, I'm so sorry…"

She smiled at him and lovingly placed one hand on his cheek. "Shh, it's okay," she cooed.

Michael sat up. He touched one of the scars he had left on her face. "I can't believe I…"

Selene shook her head. "It's okay. Really."

He looked around the room. "No one else is here."

"They're all busy. It's not that they don't want to see you, it's just that they've all got something to do."

"Why don't you 'have something to do', then?" he asked bitterly.

Selene looked hurt, biting her lip so that her fangs showed. Her vampiric eyes shimmered in the light, moist and sad. "You should rest," she said quietly, rising to leave.

He grabbed her arm firmly. "No, I didn't mean to… Please, stay?"

Selene sat back down, a bit hesitant but not wanting to provoke another attack from Michael.

Suddenly, her cell rang. It was Leon. "One moment," she said to Michael to excuse herself. She stood in a corner.

"Yes?"

"How's it going?" Leon asked.

"Not exactly as I had hoped."

"Nothing ever goes the way we hope, Selly. Just try your best to talk to him."

"I was, until you called."

"Whatever." He sighed. "I just wanted to check up on you. I worry about you, you know."

"Yeah. Look, I'm gonna go now. Bye."

The call ended.

"Who was that?" Michael asked, now sitting at the edge of his bed.

"Leon," Selene said, and Michael's head shot up.

"Who?"

"Leon," she repeated, although she knew he'd heard her just fine. "Vampire, about 6'2, 180 pounds?"

"Right, him," he said, his voice icy.

She sighed. Here we go… "Michael."

"I don't wanna hear about it. Why don't we just do a 'Don't ask, don't tell' thing?"

Selene shook her head, frowning. "There's nothing to tell."

"What?"

"Okay, I did kiss him—" Michael scowled and closed his eyes "—but it didn't mean anything. It was… a habit, but nothing more."

Michael didn't say anything.

"But I do have to confess something. While I didn't feel anything in that kiss, I do find a certain kind of comfort in him. Something that I can't get from you." Michael frowned. "I just find it easier to come to him for comfort about your 'maturing,' but I realize now – he helped me realize – that I never gave you a chance to do that. And I should have. So for that, I apologize."

Michael stopped frowning.

Selene knelt on the ground, looking up at him. Her eyes shone like a couple of moons in the dark night sky. They held some kind of light, the pure and forever-burning light of love. "I love you Michael. And I won't lose you, not to something stupid and temporary like this. You'll always be the man that saved my life when you didn't even know my name, and you'll always be the man that saved my soul when you didn't even know where it was."

Michael looked down at her, no longer frowning or smiling or containing any type of negative energy in his body. "I love you so much, Selene. Thanks for not leaving me," he said lamely.

Selene smiled, not caring how Hallmark-like her last statement had sounded. She rose and kissed him. He kissed back, and for one moment, they were suspended in a warm, time-stopping kiss that filled the both of them with love and happiness.

They both pulled away at the same time, making the whole event seem like something out of a crappy story. Only it wasn't.

Unfortunetely, the whole scene was spoiled by the arrival of Derek in Selene's door.

He seemed embarrassed that he had killed the moment, but he was too flustered to leave.

"I have some really, really bad news."

Selene looked up at him, a bit annoyed that he was standing there. "What is it?"

"Do you want the bad news, the worse news, or the worst news?"

"In the order you just said them in."

"Uh, okay. The bad news is that Daisy's escaped the mansion."

"So wait, that's the best news?"

"Yes. The worse news is that Marc's missing. We have no idea where he is."

"What the fuck is the worst news, then?"

"Well, it would appear that while we've been dealing with these things, a whole group of Stealth Shooters were killed, right where you guys were the other night."

Michael shook his head. "That's impossible. That tunnel's been empty. We've never had reports of activity down there since—"

There and then, Selene remembered her thoughts of when she had been unconscious. A traitor. "Shit," she cursed, interrupting Michael's sentence.

"What?" Derek asked.

"There's a traitor," she said, finally voicing her thoughts.

"Who?" Derek asked. "And how do you know this?"

Selene sighed. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "But it makes sense. Ever since Erika was captured, we've had more busts on our missions than before. It's like the Death Dealers have known where we were gonna go."

"So you think… that they have an inside man, a secret informant."

Selene nodded. "We can rule out quite a few people. There are only a few people who have information about the locations, and a few who are in charge of knowing the missions ahead of time."

"Derek, you, me, Damien, and Marc all know the missions' locations ahead of time. And James and Adam are the only ones who have info on the locations before everyone else does," Michael said.

"It's not the three of us," Derek said.

"Which leaves Damien, Marc, James, and Adam." Selene sighed. This isn't gonna be easy…

"It can't be Adam, He's never left the medical wing, and we log his calls to monitor the shipment of medical supplies," Michael said.

The three quieted down, trying to puzzle it all out.

"I think it's Marc," Selene said suddenly.

"What?" Michael and Derek said simultaneously.

"I trust Amie and James," she explained. "And think about it. The last two times my team was attacked, he was supposed to be watching our backs outside. The time before last, he declared us dead. The last time, Michael wound up attacking me. And the Lycans came—"
"—from all directions. Behind us, in front of us… I remember," Michael finished. "I-I agree. If those are our options, then I agree."

"It would also account for where Marc and Erika are."

"How would it account for Erika?"

"Marc was watching Erika tonight… supposed to be, anyway."

"Hasn't he done it before?"

"No, this is the first time. He requested it, too."

"If he and Erika are working together, no good can come from it."

Derek's cell rang. Once again, Michael and Selene listened to his side of the conversation.

"Hello, James. Is he now? Where is he?... Break room, okay." He hung up. "Marc's back, the little asshole. He's in the break room."

Derek drew his gun and began to charge out of the room. Selene grabbed him and held him at bay. "Not yet," Selene said. "I want to see if we can play his own game and beat him at it."

"You want to see what his excuses are."

"If he came back, there was a reason. I want to see what it is."

"It could be to kill you," Derek pointed out. "We could be walking right into a trap."

"If he wanted to kill me, he could've camped out outside my window and taken a shot at me. It's gotta be something else."

"Okay, maybe he's not planning on killing you; maybe he's planning something else. We can't go in there without a plan."

"I'm going alone," Selene said.

Michael stepped in. "Like hell you are. You're definitely—"

"—going in there by myself. If we all go in there, he's gonna suspect something. I want to see how far he'll take this charade. I want to see what he's planning, releasing Erika."

Michael started to protest, but Derek interrupted him. "I concur with Selene." Michael began to interrupt, but Derek cut him off. "You two hired me to be the tiebreaker. Here I am, breaking the tie. Don't argue just because it's not in your favor."

Michael shut up.

Selene smiled at Derek. "Give me and Michael a moment alone, please?"

Derek nodded. "Sure." He stepped out.

"Michael, why are you protesting?"

He sighed. "I don't want you to be in danger, especially since everything's so unpredictable right now."

"Michael, what's the worse he can do? We have security cameras in the break room, and I doubt he'll be able to drag my unconscious body out of Nueve Esperanza without bumping into somebody."

He was silent for a moment, unable to retaliate with a comeback. "I know. But you can't blame me for worrying."

Selene kissed him on the forehead. "Honestly, I find it cute. But you know you can't stop me."

"Yeah, I've figured out that once you make your mind up about something, there's no changing it."

"Good."

She kissed him again, this time on the lips. She began to walk out of the medical room, but stopped before continuing her exit. "I love you," she said.

"I love you, too."

Selene sighed, hoping that her encounter with Marc would go as well as she wanted it to.

A/N:

Thank you so much for reading this far. I sincerely hoped you enjoyed it. Any comments are useful!

I want to take a moment and thank underworldfan2000, unitfive, london vixen, vampire-luvr, and choksantos for submitting their helpful comments. Thanks a lot, guys!!

KATEB819