::: ELEVEN :::

"Derek, Chloe, please take a seat."

Derek took one of the seats in front of the desk while I took the other, I could feel my hands shaking again. The women stood beside Derek's father as the room fell silent; Derek's father was studying him - watching his every move, the look in his eyes was... pride. Looking around the room, I realised that we were in an office - The wall behind the desk was full of books, hundreds of old books, it looked old fashion and history touched everywhere. I turned to Derek, he was watching his father as well."I'm Samuel and this is my sister Tara." Samuel signaled to the women standing beside him. "I'm the Pack leader. We have been watching you for awhile now, making sure you're following the rules and keeping safe." Tara looked down at some of the folders down on the desk. "Before we get personal Derek, I would like to finish some Pack business." Oh god, I don't like the sound of that - I remember the stories I had heard of the Pack and they weren't anything with flowers and sunshine.

Tara moved one of the folders and placed it in front of Derek and me. "Open it." Derek flipped the folder open to some photos - The people had been beaten up, you could tell from the bruises and cuts on their faces. The pictures didn't help my stomach, it wanted to puke at the sight of the pictures- One had Blonde hair and the other had dark hair."Do you know these werewolves?" I felt a shiver ran down my spine at the thought of thinking of them again.

Derek was staring at the photos, before he looked up at Samuel."We came across them a while ago."

Samuel nodded."Names?"

"Liam and Ramon."

"Ahhh yes. They started with killing people than eating them. They...needed to be dealt with." Samuel nodded his head again and Tara closed the folder placing it into a cabinet. They were Man-eaters - I remember Ramon and Liam talking about it. "Thank you for making the ID on them; I wasn't sure who it was."

"How do you know them?" Tara asked.

"We came across them at a park."

"They were hunting you, we caught them yesterday night." Tara looked directly at me when she spoke " James caught was Ramon. You're very lucky he didn't bite you or you could be a werewolf now." I felt my gut tie into a million knots knowing that Ramon was the wolf yesterday night.

Samuel cleaned his throat. "James." The man in name opened the door and walked up to the desk next to Samuel bowing his head in respect. "Would you take Chloe to the room she's staying in."

"Yes Sam." I started getting up before Derek grabbed my arm, he was looking straight at Samuel.

"I would like Chloe and I to share a room."

"I don't think that would be a wise choice with the season." His voice was so calm talking about mating season like it was an everyday conversation - Well I guess it would be, he is the Alpha after all.

"I'm sharing a room with Chloe." Derek wasn't leaving any argument. Derek and Samuel stared at each other for a long time trying to read each other.

"James, take Chloe to the small cottage where Chloe and Derek will be staying." Derek nodded his head at Samuel then turned to me.

"Don't do anything til I get back." I nodded my own head to Derek - I wouldn't have nodded if I didn't think my stuttering would start.

James nodded his head at the werewolves and started for the door - guess that's means it's time for me to leave. I didn't like leaving, I wanted to stay with Derek. I might have the bravery to stand up to Derek but his father, no thank you. I followed James out the open door and into the hall, there weren't many people in here as before. Some of the males near me sniffed the air and growled or gave a little howl, James give each of them a sharp stare.

He took me outside and walked through a small garden of flowers before a small cottage came into view. It was cute, nothing like the mansion with flower garden's spread around it and the large stones for the foot path. James walked me right up to the front door and opened it for me, I walked in and looked around. There was a lounge room with a wood fire and a kitchen that I could see from the door with a small hallway on my left. "If you need anything, call the house and ask for me." James started to walk away.

"Hey James, why don't you come in?" I saw James eyes widen a bit.

"It's...mating season. Derek would kill if he found someone else in there anyway I've got my own mate to look after." James gave me a wink and walked off before turning around. "Oh, don't let any male near you unless you want to be having someone else's pups." James contuined walking, leaving me in the door way with a shocked face. When I finally snapped out of it, I quickly shut the door putting some space between myself and other wolves.

I walked to the kitchen fridge, it was packed with food - No surprise there, wolves eat a hell of a lot. I grabbed an apple and walked into the lounge room that held a TV, couch, fire place and a wooden table. Going into the short hallway was a door to my left and my right. The one of my left was a bathroom and the other was a bedroom.

In the bedroom the mattress first caught my eyes as the huge king size bed filled the middle of the room. I felt my heart speed up, beating against my chest - Nothing is going to happen, it's Derek, his responsible and mature. I felt an ache of sadness -Derek would be willing to do anything if you are...You could get him in the mood. Shouldn't be hard if his having trouble keeping his hands off you now. I flopped down on the bed, and buried my face into the pillow as I tried to ignore my sub-conscious and checked the time on the clock beside the bed, two thiry in the afternoon. I laid flat on my back staring at the ceiling thinking of the past two days, everything had changed so much - We need to call Simon and Tori. I'll get Derek to ring them as soon as he gets back.

I can't believe that the wolf was Ramon, he was so close to me. I remembered want Tara said to me - I could have become a werewolf. I wasn't sure if that would be good or bad, I can't become one - He didn't bite me, just some of his saliva dropped on my neck. Derek said there was only two ways of becoming a werewolf - You're born one or you get bitten by one. If you get the saliva in your bloodstream, Derek said it's like a virus. Couldn't happen, the only cuts I had were the ones on my hands and knees. So I'm safe. I was so grateful for James and the wolves to come when they did. I don't know what would happen if they didn't appear. Would Ramon eat me, bite me or kill me? Thank god Derek was there to- I couldn't believe, he was there as a wolf. Wait, a wolf? He never completed his first change well not that I know about. He did the final change and didn't tell me? I felt like someone had punched me in the guts as acid filled my mouth- he didnt trust me. I wanted to walk back into the office and give him a piece of my mind.

I felt the anger and stress from the last few days explode inside of me - My chest was raising deeply and my eyes were string with salty tears, my heart beat was pounding in my ears as I sat there.

I didn't know anyone was in the bedroom before someone touched me through the tears, I could see Derek looking at me with worried eyes. "Chloe calm down." He wanted me to calm down?

"You want me to calm down! Why didn't you take me?" I saw confusion flash across Derek's face.

"I did bring you with me."

"Not to your final change!" I pulled out of Derek's hold and backed towards the window.

Derek's expression shifted like me pulling away stung him like a bee. "Please, you need to calm down."

"Why?!"

"Because you have raised corpses." He sounded so damn calm and hearing that didn't help, it heightened my emotions. "Shhh... Chloe. You need to release the spirits." I tried breathing in and out to relax.

"I can't."

"Yes, you can. Close your eyes this time." I closed my eyes breaking in and out of my nose letting the pine scent wrap around me as I relaxed. I imagined the spirit getting released from their body - I imagined that, over and over and over. "You can open your eyes now." I slowly opened them expecting to see a corpse in the room - No corpse. Only Derek, Samuel and Tara standing within the room before Samuel spoke.

"I'll have dinner sent here. I'm sure tonight you would like to be left alone." Samuel and Tara left the cottage, it left an uncomfortable silence between the two of us.

"Chloe?" I pointed my hand at the door.

"Leave."

"Come one Chloe, let me explain."

"You could have explained before but you didn't. Now leave."

"What about dinner?"

"I'm not hungry anymore. Leave." Derek started for the door. "And you'll be sleeping on the couch."

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PUBLISHED: 06/10/2010

REVISED: 22/05/2013