A/N: Holy shit! over 100 reviews! Who'da thunkit? Thanks to Niffer01 (I was thinking the other way round), LacedWithLove, szym (13 is actually my lucky number, but yeah, I picked it cause of the traditional significance), WritingxIsxMyXLife and greyhaven11 for their reviews, and thank you to everyone who's added me/this story to their alerts!

I grovel. You have no idea how much I grovel! A whole month without an update. But I have something to confess. I had everything planned out in great detail...right up to Talia's not-death. Then, uhh, nothing. Then I had to write in those boxes, with not clue what they were. Ugh! I've got it all figured out now, so don't worry. Thank you all for bearing with me.

Oh, and I know that pretty much everyone has been getting a look-in except Caleb and Sarah, and for that I also have to apologise. It's just that since I didn't create their romance, I feel like a bit of a pervert trying to write them together. My friend assures me this doesn't mean I'm insane. Many other things do, but not this. Trust me, I'm working on it.

Review and Enjoy!

"…and on behalf of all the faculty and staff here at Spencer, I'd like to extend out deepest sympathies to the Abbot family. We are all deeply shocked by Aaron's sudden passing. I know many of you were close to him," a loud sob from Kira, "and we have brought in grief counsellors for anyone who needs to talk. A service will be held in the Campus chapel this evening, and anyone who wishes to say something will have a chance to do so."

As the Provost finished, Kira's wailing started afresh. The students began to slowly spill out of the large hall, classes soon beginning for the day.

"You know, I feel almost sorry for Kira, she's really broken up about this," Sarah said sadly as their group made their way out.

"Don't be," Alex replied, her tone disgusted. "I came in this morning to find her practising in front of the mirror."

"What a bitch," Tal replied. She, Caleb and Pogue had been replying Aaron's death over and over in their minds, irrational guilt eating away at them. Sensing her pain, Reid snaked an arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her forehead before pulling back.

"Walk you to class, Babe?"

Talia smiled at Reid before turning to Sarah. "Come on, we'll be late for English Lit."

"What, like you care, Ms. I've already got my G.E.D.?" Reid grinned back.

"Funny," she drawled. "But if you miss anymore class, your gonna flunk. And there's no way I'm dating a guy who has to repeat senior year."

"Ouch," Reid flinched, shaking his head and following the two girls down the hall.

Caleb smiled. "Looks like we've finally found someone to keep Reid in line, huh, Baby Boy?"

"Yeah, but don't call me Baby Boy," Tyler replied lightly.

"Uhh huh," Caleb said. Obviously, that was never going to happen.

Pogue and Alex watched, grinning as their friends parted, heading towards their respective classes. It was nice to have everyone together, have everything back to normal, minus the secrets.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" a familiar voice called from behind them.

"Hello, Kate," Pogue replied, his arm tightening around Alex's shoulder.

"Alex, right?" Kate asked, a wide smile on her face. Pogue was surprised to see her, and more surprised to notice there was no malice in her question.

"Uh, yeah," Alex replied uneasily.

Kate held out a hand, and Alex eyed it warily before grasping it firmly. "I just wanted to say hi. I…" Kate looked embarrassed. "It's weird, seeing you two, but the boys, Sarah… they're my friends. You were my friends before I started dating you," she smiled at Pogue. "I don't want to lose that. I acted really rude at the Gala, I guess I figured that things would be the same. Kinda stupid, huh?" she laughed self-depreciatingly. "Anyway, since I'm back, I just wanted to say hi, and I hope things aren't too awkward."

She walked off before either Pogue or Alex could snap out of their surprise and answer.

"That was unexpected," Pogue said after a moment.

"Yeah," Alex said, watching as Kate disappeared in the rapidly filling hallway.

"Still, it's nice she isn't mad or anything," Pogue remarked, shrugging before turning towards his first class of the day.

"Yeah," Alex repeated, pasting a smile on her face before following, her instincts screaming.

"This is ridiculous!" Jess sighed, slamming another book down on the growing pile next to her, sending a cloud of dust billowing around her head. "We're never going to find anything."

"She's right," Maya agreed. "There are journals here going back three decades, not to mention the hundreds of other books. And they're not even in any kind of order!" she groaned, pulling a first edition of the Malleus Malificarm from next to a modern-day paperback. " 'Practicing Conscious Living and Dying' " she read from the spine. "Hmm. Interesting."

"Not what we're looking for, though," Will commented, not looking up from his own stack. "We just need to sort out what's relevant from what's not. Reading his journals will help with that. Then when the others get here, we start reading through some of the important books."

"Whatever," Jess muttered, still sore at having to be stuck in the Danvers' study when Talia got to spend the day with her boyfriend. It didn't help that Will had spent the first half of the day trying unsuccessfully to flirt with Maya, and the second half sulking because it wasn't working.

Still, it was nice to sleep in a real bed for once. As soon as she'd heard that they were all staying at local motels, Evelyn Danvers had offered Will, Jess and Maya a room each, waving off their protests. Staying in such a large house felt strange, but it was useful to be so near the things that had been transferred from Vargsen's now-burned-out mansion.

"So, Maya. Where're you from?" Will asked suddenly, grinning down at the book he was flipping through.

"Right," Jess said, snapping shut her own book. "I'm going upstairs to see what I can find out about these titles online." She grabbed her notepad, nearly running straight into Evelyn. "Whoops! Sorry!"

"No problem, dear. I was coming tell you that I'm headed out for a couple hours, is there anything you need me to pick up in town?" the older woman asked, smiling.

"Uh, yeah, actually. You know those little Post-Its you get for marking pages? We need like two dozen packets of them, if you could pick them up," Jess replied.

The woman barely blinked. "Of course, no problem. I'll be back in time for dinner at seven. I assumed everyone would be joining us, so I had the cook make enough."

Evelyn smiled and waved her goodbye before pulling out. Jess ducked in, told Will and Maya the news, then went up stairs to her waiting laptop.

She had just signed on when an IM popped up.

lilredpandachick:Hey Moonbrain!

Jli: Hi sis. What's up?

lilredpandachick: Mom's back. Driving us crazy.

Jli: Sure that isn't the other way round?

lilredpandachick:HaHa. Everyone's crazy round here. You + Tal had us freaked for while. I heard you met some hotties though.

Jli: Yeah, Tyler. You'll meet him when we come down.

lilredpandachick: Cool. He got a 'lil brother?

Jli: Sorry, nope.

lilredpandachick: Bummer. Everyone's been asking 'bout you. Hey, can I borrow your green jacket?

Jli: Hell no. Remember what happened the last time? How are the others?

lilredpandachick:Evil. I hate being the youngest. Mira and Yas went out with Niko the other day, left me to cover for them.

Jli:LOL You shouldn't let them walk over you. I gotta go, Jaya. Love you.

lilredpandachick: Luv you too. Thanks for letting me borrow you jacket BTW ;)

Jess laughed as her youngest sister signed off before she could reply. She loved her sisters, but they drove her crazy sometimes. Jaya was the youngest of the triplets, and often bore the brunt of her older littermate's lunacy. She was more like Jess than Mira or Yasmin, which was great when Jess was in town, but left Jaya feeling a little left out the rest of the time. She missed them all so much.

Heartened by the idea that she would see them soon, she began her research.

"You never answered my question," Will remarked, breaking a few minutes of blessed silence.

"What question?" Maya sighed, knowing he wasn't likely to stop if she tried ignoring him.

"What, you can't read my mind?" he asked, grinning devilishly.

"You're an ally. Or at least an ally of our allies. It would be considered rude for my to pry," she answered levelly, still not raising her head from her work, although she watched him out of the corner of her eye.

Her lack of desire to read his mind may also have had something to do with the fact that getting inside his head was like trying to pick her way across a pornographic minefield. Every step set of a barrage of sights, sounds, hell, even taste so vivid, it left her panting. She hated feeling so out of control. And she sure as hell wasn't going to let him win whatever twisted game he was playing.

"Ah, well. That must be it," he nodded, but his tone suggested he knew exactly what her problem was. "I asked where you were from."

"How is it any of your business?" she snapped, slamming her book shut and picking up the next one.

He held his hands up in surrender, his wounded eyes just oozing innocence. "I was just trying to be friendly, that's all."

Guilty gnawed at her, even though she knew hadn't done anything. She mentally cursed her weakness as she answered, "Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Happy now?"

"Yup," he grinned winking.

She shook her head. This was going to be a long day.

Alex jumped as a hand dropped onto her shoulder, spinning in her seat and tearing her earphones out.

"Shit! You scared the crap outta me!" she hissed at Kate as the other girl took the seat across from her. Based on the empty seats surrounding them, Alex was willing to bet the other girl hadn't come to the library to study.

"Sorry!" Kate smiled warmly, "I called to you, but you couldn't hear."

Alex smiled wanly and bit the bullet. "What can I do for you, Kate?"

Kate ducked her head, then looked genuinely uncomfortable. "I don't know how to say this, without coming off as a jealous bitch. You seem nice, actually, and I don't want you to think this has anything to do with you, but…" she trailed off, picking at her fingernails.

Alex finished for her. "But what you said before was bullshit. You want Pogue back."

Kate's head snapped up. "I… Yeah. It's not about taking him from you or anything, but he and I had a lot together, and I'm not ready to give up on us. Not yet. I don't want it to be a tug-of-war, but I want him back."

Alex sat back, and the two girls watched each other, measuring up. Thing was, Alex believed Kate that it wasn't personal. She couldn't blame the woman for wanting Pogue back.

"Listen. If Pogue wants you back, I won't stop him. I don't want to be with someone when he's thinking of someone else. But I'm not just going to back down. I'd appreciate if you didn't bring the others into this, they're my friends too."

Kate nodded and stood, picking up her bag from the table, and leaving without another word.

Alex sat, cold dread spreading through her. Pogue had said he was over Kate, that she was what he wanted, but Alex could help feeling that he'd change his mind now that Kate was back for good.

"Mom? Guys?" Caleb called out as they all piled into the foyer of his home.

Jess bounced down the stairs, and Tyler felt his chest tighten at the sight of her, looking stunning even in casual clothes chosen for comfort rather than style, her red hair pulled into a sloppy bun with tendrils slipping out around her beautiful face and down the back of her neck.

"Your mom headed out a while ago, said she'd be back for dinner, which we're all expected for. Maya and Will are in the study, if she hasn't already killed him."

Behind him, Tal let out a tired sigh at the antics of the brother, but Ty was watching Jess closely. She was frowning slightly as the others made their way to the study.

He stopped her from passing and cupped her face in his hands. "What's wrong, Jess?"

She gave him a weak smile and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. "I'm just tired. I've been staring at the screen for the last two hours and I have a headache."

"And?" he prodded.

She tilted her head back and looked up at him, a real smile on her lips. "And I miss my family."

He kissed her forehead and held her close. "You'll see them soon, I promise. It'll be okay."

"I know," she said, her tone lighter. She rolled up onto her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "You always make me feel better."

Tyler felt pride swell in him and they grinned at each other, happy in their own world, at least until Reid popped his head around the corner. "Come on Baby Boy, we've got work to do.

"Don't call him Baby Boy!"

Will couldn't figure out the little witch. She wanted him, he knew it, he could smell it, but she kept shooting him down. Kept pretending it wasn't happening. When he found out they'd be working together, he'd figured she might be up for a good time, but this resistance was intriguing.

He wasn't arrogant enough to think that every girl he winked at would just fall into bed with him, but what got him was that she obviously wanted to, but for some reason, she wouldn't admit it.

I wonder what secrets this little witch has?

He was distracted from his thoughts, and from his study of Vargesen's journal by the tap-tap-taping of Talia's foot.

"What?" he asked his little sister.

"Hmm?"

"What's up with you? Why are you wound so tight?" he frowned suspiciously. "When's the last time you shifted?"

It was her turn to frown, "I don't know. I guess since Ophelia."

Will shook his head. "No wonder you're so jumpy. Go take a run."

"But—"

"Now," he said, his tone brooking no argument. "You're no use like this. It's distracting."

She looked a little ashamed, and he felt bad, he hadn't meant to sound so sharp, but he was a little riled up thanks to Ms. I'm a horny ice-queen. He smiled to take the edge off. "Have fun. Don't be late for dinner."

The others didn't notice as Reid stood up and followed her, and Talia avoided his eyes as she grabbed Reid's had and tugged him outside.

"What is it, Reid?" Talia asked when they were clear of the study.

"I thought you might like some company," he shrugged.

"You want to come with me on my run?"

"Yeah. I've only seen you as a wolf once, and I've never seen you turn. I'm curious," he smirked. "Plus, I get to see you naked, which is always a bonus."

"Reid…"

"What?" he asked, his voice concerned.

"It's…private," she shrugged, not meeting his eyes.

"You do it in front of Will and Jess all the time, what's different?" he frowned.

She sighed, not prepared for this today. "I've never…I've never changed fully in front of a human." At his hurt look, she added quickly, "It's not that I don't want to share it with you Reid, it's just a big step, and it might be a little weird. My bones shift, I sprout fur and grow a tail. It might take some getting used to."

He nodded, realising this was important to her. "I get that, Tal." He step forward and pulled her close. "But it's a part of who you are."

She nodded her grey eyes wide as she looked up at him. He was right, it was a part of her, and he had right to know what he was getting himself into.

She jogged backwards through the woods, laughing at Reid, who despite not being a Shifter was keeping a good pace. It didn't hurt that her pace was fairly sedate.

"Hurry up, slow-poke!" she called disappearing once again from his view.

He cursed good-naturedly before quickening his pace in the direction she'd been travelling. He slid to a stop on the slippery-wet leaves as he darted round a large tree only to find her standing in the middle of a clearing facing him.

"Strip," she said.

Already loosening his tie, he asked, "What?"

"Take off your clothes. I have to get naked to shift and there's no way I'm doing it while you're standing there, perving on me, fully clothed. Now take it off Garwin."

A few seconds later, they were both standing naked, and Reid couldn't help certain parts of himself showing his appreciation for the delectable view in front of him. Reid had never had a problem with public nudity, and that had gotten him in trouble a time or two, but he had to admit, it was a little early in the year to be wandering around the woods in Massachusetts in his birthday suit.

"Down boy!" she said, seeing his growing erection. "Well, here goes nothing," Tal muttered, before crouching on the ground.

Reid watched as she took several deep, calming breathes before closing her eyes. He watched as her skin began to ripple, fur erupting thick and grey, before her bones began to change size, the joints on her legs changing direction. Her ears morphed 'till the tips were pointed and they began to travel up her head. Her nose and jaw fused together, lengthening into a pointed muzzle filled with sharp ivory teeth.

Yes, a part of Reid rebelled at the sight of his girlfriend mutating before him. Yes, on an instinctual level, he feared what he didn't understand, something that was so different from what he'd known all his life.

But when she was finished, like the night they went after Vargsen, it was just Talia standing before him. A different shape, maybe, but still the woman he loved.

She shook out her thick fur, and Reid had a sneaking suspicion that she was nervous. Realising he was just standing there staring, her tried to set her at ease. "Do you want me to throw you a stick?" he smirked.

She growled, and turned running a little before stopping to see if he was following.

"Is Timmy stuck down the well again?" Reid asked as he followed. Talia let out a short bark that Reid thought might be laughter.

They ran through the trees for a while, Reid in his bare feet watching where he stepped. Tal would disappear for a few minutes, then reappear, able to find him wherever he went. It turned into a game, Reid dodging off as soon as she disappeared, hiding, only to have her sniff her way back to him.

Seeing their clothes piled on the damp ground, he realised she had led him back to first clearing. He collapsed on the ground feeling her lying next to him. He didn't even notice her shift until she spoke.

"Man, you're fun to play with!" she gasped, lying on her side and propping her head on her hand.

"I'm always fun to play with," he reminded her before rolling over and kissing her silly. His hard-on from before had returned with a vengeance at the sight of her naked body beside him.

She pushed him back slightly and looked into his eyes, her expression once again serious. "Are you okay? I didn't freak you out too much?"

"I'll admit, it was a little weird at first, but I love you, all of you." He grinned, losing his seriousness and pushing against her. "Can't you tell?"

"Mmm," she murmured against his lips, sliding her hands down his back and gripping his ass as she widened her legs for him. He slid a hand between to find her already dripping wet.

He pulled back, and flipped her over, laughing at her squeak of surprise. He leaned over her and whispered in her ear. "You and me baby, ain't nuthin' but mammals…"

"Eww, Garwin, The Blood Hound Gang? That's disgusting!" she groaned, but was already pushing against him.

"Really? How come you know the words, then?" She didn't reply, but he could practically hear her blushing.

Before she do anything, he lifted up her hips, lined himself up and plunged inside, sliding deep, before easing back out. Soon he was holding her by the shoulders and pounding into her as she moaned beneath him, hips his pushing back in rhythm with his. He could feel his release rapidly building and could tell from her moans that she wouldn't be far behind, but her wanted her to come with him.

He leaned over her, rubbing his face in her neck, waiting for the moment when her groans turned to whimpers, and when it came, he bit down hard on the sensitive skin at her throat. It had the desired effect, and soon she was screaming her release into the echoing woods around them.

As he drove to the club, he thought about his new ally. Collins was unpredictable, but like all witches, the idiot thought he was smarter than he really was. Just a boy, really. A puppy. But he couldn't get rid of the Sarka's without the whelp's help.

He didn't give a shit what Collin's master plan was, it was irrelevant. All he needed was to get rid of that fucking prick who thought he was Alpha, and all of his bloodline. Including the brat-to-be. It really was sad, he'd always like Anna, but it was her own fault she had such bad taste in men. Maybe he could hold off killing the brat 'till it was born, then she wouldn't have to die. 'Course, killing Jacob would probably kill her anyway.

He pulled into the parking lot in front of the club and made his way quickly inside, there was a sweet little piece of ass he was meeting later, human, but hot, and he didn't want to miss her, or risk another guy getting to her before him.

He stopped after stepping inside, scanning the room to see who was there. Before he could move, a large, smiling man can strolling towards him, slapping him on the shoulder jovially.

"Where the hell were you last night, man? We missed you!" the man grinned.

All he wanted to do was rip the man's throat out, taste the grey-eyed bastard's blood on his tongue.

"Ah, long day, y'know?" he forced himself to smile. "How's Anna?"