"Alex, I am telling you from a lifetime of personal experience, do not leave the hotel room." Mercy warned. I could hear her shuffling things in the background and a drawer sliding open. A gun was loaded, a drawer was shut, rustling of fabric, I recognized the rustle of a fleece jacket and the click of a door knob as well as the heavy thud of a fireproof door closing and the click as it locked.

"What is going on over there?"

"I'm coming to get you."

"That's a terrible idea! You just told me not to—"

"I've had a lifetime of experience in ignoring my own advice, Alex. I'll be there in five minutes."

I almost half-expected to hear a helicopter landing on the roof—knowing full-well she was not five minutes away, but it never happened. Soon enough, there was a knock on my door.

I looked through the peephole.

"Ask me a question." Mercy said just as my hand touched the doorknob.

"What?"

"Ask me a question."

"Who's there?"

"Mercy Thompson, mate of Adam Hauptman, alpha of the Tri-Cities pack." She answered smoothly. "Be careful how you phrase that. Ask who I am, not who is there—because it does appear to be me I suspect."

I frowned and opened the door. Before I could speak she cut me off.

"And never, never invite someone in. If I can't walk into this room myself, it isn't me."

I nodded.

"Life lessons, Alex." She smiled. "Fae can't lie, but they manipulate the truth. You need to be specific in your questions and demand exact answers."

"Mercy, no offense directed at your lessons, but I'm more concerned about what is going on with Adam and Angus." I stopped her, now getting a little frantic.

"I know Adam is fine, he's not that good at pretending through the bond." She sighed, "But I have no clue what he's doing."

"I can't feel anything, it's not working yet. I don't know how to make it work." I felt my heart rate getting quicker as I started to think about it.

"No, no, it's ok. It's a fragile thing, it doesn't always happen at the blink of an eye—Alex, focus..."

"Mercy, I have no idea what is happening!"

"You sound a little like Adam right now, I suggest you breathe for a moment, this isn't at all like you." She sat me down on the bed.

"I'm not sure why I'm so scared..." I was trembling now. "I didn't feel like this before—not before you got here...not when you first walked in—" I broke off, a sickening feeling in my stomach. "Mercy, this is what they wanted—they needed us together in one place...we need to get out of here—"

"Alex, you aren't—" She stopped and shook me, both hands on my shoulders. "Alex, see if you can find out anything else. Find out who is coming, find out anything you can. Take deep breaths, this isn't you, this isn't you. What a shitty time for you to start figuring out your bond."

"He's in on it—he was in on it—we need to leave—"

"Who was in on it, Alex? Who can we trust?"

"Charles, Charles can help us—"

"Charles...where is he? He's the one who told you to come here."

"Because it's closer to the target, but Adam and Angus are held up, Charles is on his way...but so are they—"

"I swear to God, Alex, if you don't tell him to focus for five seconds and tell us who they are—"

"Mercy, we need to leave."

"Alex—"

"They're going to check all the hotels...we need to go someplace else."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know, I know what they smell like." I blinked back tears. This was the most stressful thing in my entire life, it seemed. I really had no idea what was happening or why.

"Ok, ok that's a start." She encouraged. "I'm going to kill him when he gets back, slaughter him, I'm going to—stay calm, Alex, you said it yourself, help is on the way."

I heard a knock at the door, surely they'd never have the decency to knock—

"Who are you?" Mercy called, "What is your name?"

"Charles Cornick, open the door, Mercy, there's no time right now." The response was the growl I was oh-too familiar with.

"Alex, Mercy, listen." He snapped as he entered the room. Anna made her way over to me, draping her arm over my shoulders.

"I can't fight." I whispered.

"No one expects you to, Alex, I—"

"No, with her...with her arm on me." I looked at Anna, confused. Her eyes widened and she looked at Charles.

"You need to protect your mate, dingo, and close the bond." Charles growled and my mind went blank.

"I'm sorry..." I trembled. I honestly had no idea what had just happened or what to do.

"No time!" The male wolf snapped impatiently. "We founded out what we needed to know, who's running the inside operation."

"What operation?" Mercy asked.

"We didn't know," His teeth were clenched, I knew his patience was wearing thin, and he was also hesitant to admit he had no idea what had been happening under his nose. "But this operation is the reason that Lucas knew where to find Alex."

"And so, you had her mate leave her alone. Her new mate at that, she can't even work the bond." Mercy stated.

"It's not our fault, we didn't know they were after her, after the both of you. We thought it was because of Asil." Charles shook his head, "It's not, they aren't anymore after him than they are Anna. They want the both of you."

I frowned, I had no idea what could possibly be the reason anyone would need or want me. I am a trouble-maker, but I do manage to lay low.

"We don't have time right now, not to explain everything, but we need to get you home."

"Home?" Mercy sounded incredulous. "Like Tri-Cities?"

I need to stay here, I need to stay here, I need to—

"Alex, listen to me, you can't." Anna said from behind me. "You aren't safe here."

The sound of a keycard swipe before the unmistakeable "click" and turn of the door handle startled me, I was caught off guard. Everyone else in the room seemingly realized who it was and recognized the nearly unrecognizable scent of the Emerald Pack Alpha, of my mate.

Adam didn't follow far behind and he locked the door again.

"What the actual—" I had heard Mercy's colourful vocabulary before, but never in such a state as this.

"No time." Adam growled.

"There's a reason world conferences don't happen often." Charles stated easily.

Even I could feel Anna's presence now in the room, she was clearly expanding, trying to relax the wolves. Three dominants in one room giving orders, with two fairly more dominant than the other, left room for violence.

"Alex, you're going to listen to me," Angus leaned his forehead against mine. His hands held my face, but they were trembling. His teeth were almost un-human, and his eyes were not their usual shade, nor were they focusing into view in one colour, into one being—something I had never before seen a wolf do. "Alex, for once in your life, you will listen."

The command in his voice made the other two dominants tense, I could feel the magic wash over me despite Anna's fighting it, and I almost never feel the need to react to such an extent.

"I-I-I-I—" I stammered, heart racing.

"For goodness' sake, you're forcing her into a panic attack, Angus." Mercy snapped. Adam growled and, when I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mercy's face pale—one more thing I had never seen happen.

"You need to hurry, Angus." Charles was out the door. Anna looked like she didn't know where to stay. She rested one hand on Angus' shoulder, took a look at me, and followed her mate hurriedly.

"They want the two of you," Adam began to explain, "Because you might be able to have moon called children, children like Charles. We cannot afford to start a war, but they already have."

"Adam, who is 'they?'" Mercy asked.

Angus was still leaning his forehead against mine. I could feel his eyes on my face, but even more noticeable was the feeling of his trembling body so near to mine, touching mine.

"Northern Ireland." Angus answered, he sounded pained as he spoke through gritted teeth and I wanted to help him, but I had never been more scared of him than in that moment.

"Angus—" He closed his eyes and I stopped. I was new to this whole concept and I had absolutely no idea what to do or how to comfort him.

Mercy gave me a small smile and a nod as if she had read my mind.

"Mine." I could barely hear the sigh that escaped his lips. "Mine." He said it a little louder, one eye opening to look at me.

"Yours." I agreed hastily. I matched his volume, but the only other two people in the room would have heard his whisper, too.

"Angus is new to this 'defend the shapeshifting mate' concept, that much is obvious." Mercy tried to lighten the mood a little, to no solid avail.

He seemed to chew on his lip a little bit, staring at me with fixed curiosity.

"It isn't the best time to try." Mercy told him. "You just started a war, I think you maybe need to be a little more concerned about that."

"Alpha," Adam's voice was thick, and in almost little to know way did it sound like him, "Angus is an alpha. If he does it now, he has a whole pack behind him." His words were slow, forced...

He was already beginning the Change.

I watched Angus nervously now, one wolf usually meant more to follow, but despite his tremors and his disagreeing eyes, he was keeping himself together fairly well. I focused on him, listened to his breathing, tried to block out the Change that looked almost as disturbing as it sounded.

"Angus," His body tensed, "They don't always like this, the wolves, but I trust you know what you're doing."

His hand caught my chin and his eyes met mine again. He searched them for a moment, seeming to bite his cheek now, before his mouth met mine.

He had bitten his cheek, because when our tongues met I could feel his blood burn where it touched me, tasting of iron and magic. He held my face to his for a few more, breathless moments, pulling me tighter to his body with his other hand before his lips left mine, a sensation in my throat like one of those numbing sprays had burned its way down and then numbed away everything.

His lips were at my ear, his hands clenching mine so tightly that I swear he was about to break bones.

"Mine to me and mine. Pack." He bumped my cheek with his nose and pushed me forward. The words tumbled out of my mouth, almost instantly, before I had a moment to think.

"Yours to you, mine to me—" He had barely let the words escape my mouth before he kissed me again and pulled back with a slightly sheepish grin.

"Pack." He stated. "Now you're protected."

"Pack..." I said nervously, feeling just about ready to pass out, with no idea what emotions were mine or how to control them.

"I'll teach you, but not now." He promised, his words slowly becoming more unnatural and slow. "Keep her safe, Mercedes." His eyes never left mine, even when he stepped back. I stepped back, too, nervous even though I knew he would never try to hurt me. Adam was already waiting impatiently at the door for one of us to unbolt it.

Slow and painful, even for an experienced alpha, three times in a short amount of time—and I have no idea if they ever ate—is painful and slow. I wanted to hold him through the sounds of bones twisting into shape and place, and especially in the sharp intake of breath when a wound, that had gone unnoticed by my senses, began to heal even quicker. Safe to say, the pain gives them even more reason not to want to be touched or held through a Change.

I could never had watched Adam, but watching Angus was twice as bad because I felt it—despite what he was obviously trying to hide—and it hurt.

"Alex, look at me." Mercy said softly. "Angus doesn't whine when he does this, regardless of circumstance, your feeling pity is making it harder on him."

I bit my lip, apparently still lightly stained by Angus' blood, as I could taste, and nodded, keeping my eyes and focus on her until I heard heavy panting.

Angus was lying on the ground, a moment's rest before getting up, but he nearly jumped to his feet when I turned. I had only seen his wolf a few times, and it was more beautiful than I remembered. He nudged me with his muzzle and caught my hand on top of his head. I patted it, almost unsure.

Mercy opened the door and stepped aside, allowing Adam room to barge through. Angus looked up at me and my hand fell. He pressed his nose to it and turned, following Adam through the door.

Mercy bolted it shut again behind them and turned to me.

"Sometimes, they think they're lap dogs."

I gave her a small smile, still feeling unsure of everything and very much still dazed.

"How about this," She helped me sit down. "I'll get you a cup of water and then we can change and relax a little. If we are in our other forms, we are probably more safe than we are now—plus it gives us many more places to hide."

I nodded, hands trembling, head spinning.

Mercy sat with me until I had calmed down enough that she felt comfortable becoming coyote. I too, closed my eyes and stripped, following her lead and instructions, before I was instantly on all fours. Her nose nuzzled into my fur comfortingly and she moved me under the far side of the bed. I curled up and tried to relax and I could tell she was doing the same on the other side of the room, under the desk.

Now, was just time to wait.