Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry if the first two chapters weren't that great, I've been having a really hard time getting down to write mainly because one of my kids seems to think that if Mommy is typing on the computer, that's the best time to bug her. Kids. They are the anti-muses. I also realized that I kind of forgot to do a plot for the last story, so hopefully, I can correct that with this one.

They were waiting for us when we got off the bus.

There were two of them, a dark-haired man and a woman. They were just leaning against the side of the gas station that the bus terminal was located at. At first, Derek and I hadn't taken any notice of it. But as soon as we stepped off the bus, Derek's nostrils flared and his gaze shot to them. The man peeled away from the building, and walked over to us. Before he could get very far, Derek had grabbed my hand and we took off towards the parking lot for a strip mall, hoping to lose them among the cars.

Another man stepped in our path, and I could see the female coming up from the other side of us, essentially trapping us.

"Derek Souza? Chloe Saunders? I'm Jeremy Danvers," the dark-haired man said. Derek inhaled sharply. His eyes widened with shock and recognition, then he swore.

Jeremy was a good twenty feet away from us, but I swear the corners of his mouth uplifted, like he heard Derek and was trying not to smile.

"Who is he?" I hissed.

"He's the Alpha of the Pack," a voice from beside us drawled in a thick Cajun accent. "And you're trespassing on Pack territory. You know what I do to trespassers?" The blond man who had originally cut us off was directing his question at Derek.

"We've been told some things," Derek slowly answered. His voice sounded… off. I glanced up at his face. He was scared. He was more afraid of these three werewolves than he had been of Ramon and Liam combined.

Or maybe he was just scared for me. I remembered what Ramon had said back at the park

"That's against the rules, pup. You don't go telling your girlfriends what you are…"

And the people who made and enforced those rules were standing right in front of us. Did Derek know what the penalty was? Or did those rules not apply to me, because I was a necromancer? I didn't care. I was getting pissed off. I was sick and tired of having to run away and not being able to trust people.

There was a shimmering next to Jeremy and a second later, Liz popped into view. She looked around with interest, then turned to me. I glanced at her for a second then turned my attention back to Derek. His eyes were going glassy, and sweat was streaming down his face. He looked feverish, and pale. We had to get out of that parking lot, and fast.

"What do you want?" I asked bluntly, hoping to speed things along.

"We want to help you. That's it." Jeremy answered calmly.

"Why do you want to help us? I'm a mutt on your territory," Derek rasped, his voice sounding an octave lower than usual. His breath was coming in short spurts now. I was starting to panic.

An elderly man came up to us, eyeing the adults in our group with suspicion.

"Is everything ok, here? These folks aren't giving you any trouble, are they?" he asked me. I looked to Derek, not sure how to answer.

"We're fine. Thanks for asking. We were just… leaving," he managed to choke out. The old man didn't look convinced. Derek's obvious fever wasn't helping.

"You look like you could use a doctor, son. My son-in-law is a doctor, and he would be more than happy to see you. No charge," he added as an afterthought.

"Thank you for the offer sir, but we have everything under control," I hastily replied, grabbing Derek's arm so I could lead him out of the parking lot. We had passed some woods right before getting to the bus station, so I figured I would take him there. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than the parking lot. If we could ditch the Pack. Something told me that wasn't going to happen. I looked at Liz to see if she had any suggestions, but she was avoiding my gaze.

"We're fine. Like I said, we're leaving." Derek's voice sounded strained, like the effort to talk was too much for him. He started walking and glanced back to Jeremy. "So, where's the car?" If Jeremy was surprised by Derek's sudden change of heart, he didn't let on, just gestured to a mammoth of an SUV parked three cars down from us. It had three rows of seats, so Derek and I took the middle one. As Clay put our bags in the trunk, I waved to the old man to let him know we were fine. Satisfied, he walked away. Liz was next to the car, and I waved her in. If Jeremy and Elena saw me, they didn't say anything about it. I figured I could explain later, if they asked..

"Can you get us out of this?" I asked her. I knew they could hear me, so I didn't even try to lower my voice.

"I could, but I'm not going to. You need to go with them."

" What? Why-" I started, but she cut me off.

"Chloe! Chill! Listen, they really do just want to help you. Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do, Liz. But trusting you is one thing. I don't know these people from Adam," I replied angrily.

"Chloe, I'll explain everything later, but right now, just go with them. They will keep you safe. I have it on good authority that they are the good guys."

At least until they bring out the chainsaws, a little voice in my head reminded me. We weren't safe yet. Just because they seemed like very reasonable people, didn't mean that we could put down our guard. But we really didn't have much of a choice right now.

As I was about to say more, the others got in the car. Jeremy got in front with the woman and the other man climbed in back.

As we were leaving the parking lot, Jeremy made introductions. The blond man was Clay, Jeremy's adopted son, and the blond woman was Elena, Clay's mate. They all lived on an estate called Stonehaven, which was by a small town called Bear Valley in New York. We were only about half an hour away from it, he said. He explained that they were supposed to meet Andrew at the safe house tomorrow at six, but obviously plans had changed.

"So, how did you find us anyways?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure of the answer.

Jeremy gave another almost-smile.

"I know a necromancer," was all he would reply. I shot Liz a glare, and she had the grace to look chagrined, but still didn't move from her spot on the floor between my seat and the door.

Jeremy explained to us that even before he was Alpha, he was the one who had helped all the young werewolves through their first Change. He continued to reassure Derek in a calm, and very soothing voice that he had nothing to fear, that he wasn't alone, and most importantly, it would be over soon. Elena shot Derek occasional glances of sympathy, but all Clay had to add was a few grumbles about vomit on the upholstery.

."Where are you taking us?" Derek rasped out. Trees were shooting past us, and it felt like we were being driven down a long, green tunnel.

"Home. To my home,. Stonehaven." Jeremy replied casually. "We'll be safe there."

We drove for about forty minutes. I will always look back on those forty minutes as the longest of my life. Even with the windows open, I could feel the heat pouring out from Derek's body. His shirt was already drenched with sweat. Just when I was about to asked the dreaded, "Are we there yet?" Jeremy pulled into what looked like a private road. After driving for what felt like forever, a large house pulled into view. It was too dark by now to see any features of it, but it was huge.

As soon as the car stopped, Derek opened his door and scrambled out. He stumbled over to a tree, and was leaning against it when Jeremy and I went over to him. Clay just grabbed our bags and went in the house with Elena. The door opened and I could hear cries of "Daddy!" and "Mommy!" Jeremy must have heard them too, because he turned his head to the house and this time he gave a real smile. He turned to me, and explained that Clay and Elena had twins, a boy and a girl. He sounded as proud as any grandfather I had ever heard.

A silhouette appeared in the doorway, outlining a woman. Whoever it was waved to Jeremy, who then asked us to wait for on minute then he ran up to the porch, and greeted her with a kiss. They talked quietly for a minute; too quiet for me to hear. It didn't matter anyway, because I was too worried about Derek to even try to eavesdrop.

"Are you ok? Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked him worriedly.

"I've got to get into the woods. Are you… are you coming with me?" he asked, his voice raw. In answer, I grabbed his hand and started pulling him to the forest beside the house. Jeremy said something to the woman, and quickly caught up to us.

"Chloe, your friend Liz is at the house, waiting for you. The necromancer I was telling you about, Jaime, is waiting to talk to you too. Why don't you go back to the house while I help Derek-"

"Chloe stays with me," Derek growled, cutting him off.

"It's best if she stays at the house," Jeremy answered quietly.

"No…"

"I've always gone with him before," I said. "Whenever he tries to… Change, I go with him. I stay with him. Always."

Jeremy looked at us in surprise.

"Really?" He asked us, sounding genuinely shocked, his face gave nothing away. He paused, presumably considering his next words. "That's fine, I guess. But she would probably be safer and more comfortable at the house. I promise, we don't bite." Another pause. "Anymore."

"As comforting as that sounds, we'll pass." Derek replied. "You can go back if you want. Although, to be honest, I don't mind you coaching me through it."

I glanced at Derek, brows raised in shock. He slowed down, and gestured for Jeremy to lead the way. When Jeremy was twenty feet ahead of us, Derek leaned down and whispered in my ear so low I could barely hear him, "We'll be fine. My dad told me things about Jeremy. He's alright. If he wanted us dead, he wouldn't be the one doing it. That's not how it works in the Pack. Besides, I need to know if… if I'm doing it right." We had stopped walking, and under the light of the gibbous moon, I could see the worry in his eyes, the sweat soaking through his clothes, and worst of all, the strain he was under trying to hide all the pain he was feeling from me.

"Do you want me to go to the house," I asked weakly, hating how small my voice sounded.

"No!" He exclaimed sharply. Then he repeated in a gentler voice, "No. Stay with me." He leaned over and kissed me quickly, then grabbed my hand again and we jogged over to Jeremy together. We were in some woods now, and the trees completely obscured the house. Jeremy suggested a spot a little further in, so we followed him to a small clearing that had convenient bushes and a well-placed boulder for Derek to hide behind. Jeremy took position out of our sight, and Derek went behind the rock to change out of his clothes.

A couple minutes later, he was in his boxers, and on all fours. We had this down to a routine now. I sat beside him, and rubbed his shoulder blades while he vomited, convulsed, panted, whimpered, and gave strangled cries for half an hour. I thought he was so close a few times; I swear I heard his bones rearranging themselves. But just like the other times, Derek stopped before going all the way through his Change. When it was over, and he was back to his regular shape again, he pulled me down next to him so I could stay warm. I rested my head on his shoulder, and before I knew it we were both asleep after a long and very exhausting day.

Um, for some reason, I had such a hard time keeping Derek in character. Sorry if people are upset I didn't really go into his partial Changing process, but those parts are really hard to write. Plus, I had trouble reading them, I guess "seeing" big, tough, strong Derek puking all over bushes and cowering in fear kind of bums me out, you know? But I swear, I will make it up to everyone in the next chapter, and I will get into why Derek just went along with them the way he did. So it's not all OCC. I'm still getting the hang of this writing thing, this being my second fanfic and all. Ever.