Victor was pleased with his success on the mission that Frankie assigned him. The asshole that had been selling the pack's young was now scattered across the forest and he was on his way up the long driveway that led to the mansion. It looked like there was a damn party in full swing but that'd be all right. Parties meant booze. He put the truck in park and climbed out, habitually scenting the air to make sure there were no surprises. A breeze rustled through the trees and he thought he caught a hint of whiskey on the air. When the scent filled his nose again, he went to investigate, knowing that smell belonged to Charlie. The metallic sting of blood was the next smell that hit his senses, causing a growl to slip past his lips before he could be bothered to stop it. Following the smell to the gardens, he saw a dark haired man sprawled on the ground with his throat torn open and his intestines scattered across the cobbled pathway. Victor couldn't care less about him when his gaze fell on Charlie's unconcious form, shivering violently. He picked her up and found that the front of her dress was drenched in blood.

Carrying her bridal style into the mansion, Victor almost bumped into Christien. "What the hell happened to her?"

"I don't know." Victor grunted. "I found her like this. I think somebody attacked her because there's another body out there."

Christien paled. "Get her to her room. I'll be up to check her out in a minute."

Victor didn't appreciate being told what to do but took her upstairs and placed her in the bed. He didn't like the way the blood mingled with her smell and used his claws to tear through the delicate fabric of her dress. Tossing the gown to the ground, Victor checked for any wounds but found none. The blood on her hands was still wet and he retrieved a damp cloth and wiped it away. He heard footsteps coming their way and covered her almost naked form so no one else would see his mate.

"What happened?" Adelaide rushed into the room and to her daughter's side, careful not to touch her. Christien started searching the room for something while Francois closed the door softly.

"I found it." Christien held up a small pink, plastic case and then opened it, examining the contents.

"How many doses has she missed?" Francois asked as Christien counted the empty spaces.

"Almost a month." Christien replied with a sigh. "It's a wonder this hasn't happened sooner."

"How the hell has she missed a month's worth of doses?" Victor snapped. "You said she'd know better than that."

"Could be the fact that she was moving around so much in the last month." Francois countered, giving Victor a meaningful glare.

"Don't try to blame this on me." Victor snarled. "This wasn't my fucking idea in the first place."

"How long until she wakes up?" Adelaide asked her son.

"I don't know, Mother. We need to get her sedated until I can get the proper dosage back in her system." Christien said.

"Why not just let her out to play?" Victor didn't like all the fussing over her.

"You know why, Victor." Adelaide said. "She's too dangerous."

Francois and Adelaide left to handle Jack's body, leaving Christien and Victor with Charlie.

"No one would blame you if you wanted out, Victor." Christien told him. "This is a lot to handle for anyone."

Victor was leaning against one of the bed posts with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm not going anywhere. She's my mate. I gotta protect her."

"Even from herself?" Christien asked.

"Especially from herself."

-0-

Victor woke up the next morning to find Charlie's side of the bed empty and screaming coming from down the hall. Jumping out of the bed, he yanked the door open and bolted toward the screams. He found Charlie in the ballroom, her brother pinned beneath the claws now extending from her fingernails. Christien was making a valiant effort to keep his sister from decapitating him but Victor didn't want to take the chance on her success. Launching himself at his mate, Victor shouted, "Get a sedative. Now!"

Christien kept a hand clamped on his throat as he stumbled to his feet and headed for the infirmary as quickly as he could. Victor was thrown across the ballroom as Charlie got to her feet with a snarl. "Control yourself, woman."

Charlie ran toward him and Victor met her halfway, their bodies colliding with a loud thump. She slashed at his face, making Victor counter her attack. He brought his arm up and slashed defensively, stopping when she dropped to the ground with her hands pressed to her face. His protective instincts kicked in when she howled in pain and he knelt next to her. Christien arrived with the sedative and injected it into her arm. A moment later, she relaxed and her screams silenced themselves as her hands fell away from her face. There were four large gashes covering her face, one narrowly missing her eye and two of them cutting through her lips.

"What happened?" Christien asked as Victor picked her up.

"She attacked me and couldn't control herself." The walk to the infirmary was silent and tense. Christien stitched up the gashes and added an extra sedative to Charlie's system. "Now what?"

"Now we wait."

-0-

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that my face ached. Throbbed, actually. I reached up to try to feel the source of the pain when a strong hand grabbed my wrist. "Don't. You'll make it worse."

"What happened?" I croaked. My mouth felt like it was full of sand. Victor came into view and handed me a cup with water. I gulped it down as quickly as the pain in my lips would allow.

"You should wait for your brother." Victor replied stiffly. "He'll be back in a minute."

We sat in silence for a few minutes until Christien arrived with my parents. "Good. She's awake."

"What's going on?" I asked, looking from Christien to Victor. "He won't tell me anything."

"How much do you remember?" Father asked me.

"Not much. I went out to the gardens to-" I stopped myself from putting Jack in a compromising condition. "Get some air then I woke up here."

My parents exchanged a look then my mother spoke up. "Charlotte, this may be difficult to hear but there was a reason that we sent you away."

"Yeah, because I'm human."

Mother cleared her throat. "Not exactly. Sweetheart, you were born a feral."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "How's that possible? I don't have the healing factor or the claws or anything."

"Well, you were born a feral but due to extreme circumstances, we had to make a decision." Father interrupted. "After you mauled your grandfather, we decided that you were too dangerous to be part of the pack. There are young ones here. Christien developed a formula that repressed your mutant gene. It has to be taken daily and it seems you haven't taken it in a while so your feral managed to escape. Lynx is very dangerous."

"Why don't I remember any of this?" I asked with a wavering voice.

"Because we wiped your memory." Christien answered. Ashamedly, he corrected, "I wiped your memory."

"Leave." Victor told my family, noticing the tear rolling down my cheek. "She needs some time to process this."

When we were alone, I asked Victor, "Did you know about this?"

"Yeah. I've known for a while." Victor picked up a glass bottle and examined the contents before setting it back down.

"How long is a while?"

He shrugged. "A hundred years or so."

"A hundred years?" I echoed.

"Give or take." Victor said.

"How old am I?"

"I'm not sure of exact numbers but I figure you're around 110 or 120." Victor stopped wandering around the infirmary and finally settled his gaze on me. "This doesn't happen often but it does every once in a while."

My mind was racing while I tried to process this new information. "Are you telling me that you stick around every time this happens?"

Victor nodded somberly. When I asked him why, he simply said, "I'm your mate."

-0-

The gashes on my face would scar but not heal fully, thanks to my healing factor being repressed for the last ten years. Christien assured me that in a few weeks, my body would adjust to the accelerated healing and I wouldn't scar anymore. He also gave me the choice to continue to repress my feral half, who he called Lynx, by handing me a pack of birth control pills.

"Why do you have my birth control?" I asked, accepting the pack from him.

"We used it to administer the formula. Since it needs to be taken daily, Father decided that it would be beneficial to use this to do so."

"How did you manage to make sure I got the formula in my pill?"

"We have contacts all over the country." Christien replied. "It was easier than you think. Speaking of which, you should really make sure you take it every day. If not for the formula then do it for the contraceptive."

"I really don't need the safe sex talk from you, but thanks." I tried to smile but it tugged at the cuts on my lips. I gave him a hug instead. "By the way, have you seen Jack around? He was supposed to have a cooking lesson."

Christien hesitated. "Nobody told you?"

"No. What's wrong?" I felt a lump rise in my throat.

"He's dead, Lottie. Lynx took control and-"

I hadn't known Jack for a very long time but knew him long enough to develop a crush. Knowing that I had killed him—or Lynx had killed him with my hands—made me start crying again. If they had just told me sooner, I could have learned to control my feral. They had lied to me and made me feel like a horrible mistake because I wasn't a feral. Now, another person was dead. I lost myself in the grief that I had killed someone.

I became aware of a strong pair of arms holding me and Victor's scent made something in me snap. I yanked myself out of his grip. My mate should have told me what I was and what I was capable of. "I hate you, Victor Creed."

"Christien, get a sedative." Victor kept his eyes on me.

"Don't you dare, Christien." I growled at my brother. To Victor I steadied my voice and looked him in the eyes. "I reject you as my mate."

"Charlotte, think about what you're doing." Christien warned.

Victor stiffened and clenched his fists tightly. His claws were digging into his palms and blood was dripping on the floor. "Knock it off, Charlie. We don't have time for this."

"I. Reject. You." I enuncated carefully, making sure he would understand it. "Stay away from me."

I stormed out of the infirmary and back to my room, shoving some clothes into a bag. Victor's keys were on the sidetable and I took those as well. He owed me that much.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thanks to all who added this story to their alerts and favorites. Leave a review and let me know what you think. All feedback is used to make my writing better and to feed my muse. :)