A/N: Yes, yes you love us-two chapters in one day. Read and review loved ones!

Morana

It was very eerie outside. The kind of eerie that gave you goose bumps and made you double check the locks on your door. Mist rifled through the trees and the moon hung low and crescent in the sky like a deflated balloon. I had changed back, which meant I was wandering through the forest barefoot in only a jacket and undergarments.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," I muttered to myself as I inched through the thick moss that coated the path like the slimy trail of a snail. It was slippery and unstable under my feet—walking on on ice.

Let me in goddammit! I heard Nick echo around in my empty head. The stubborn, bossy, impatient werewolf had been pressing on the barrier I had thrown up hastily in my mind. It managed to hide my thoughts from him, efficiently I might add. I could see him clearly in my head and I wished I couldn't. I wished I saw the blurry blob I saw before, but his face was stark in my dimly lit mind. Golden eyes set back in strong features, inky black hair that managed to always fall into his eyes. It was a torture of the worst device, the kind that could drive you insane if you let it.

Walking was the sort of thing that drove all thoughts out of my mind and let me wander on. It was strange, like I had forgotten about all my problems—I could just walk away and leave them behind. I could just keep going and never come back. Echo's screaming face flashed in my mind quickly like a bolt of lightening. Dark curls framing a familiar face and jade green eyes.

People had always said that we were exactly the same, but different at the same time. The hair was a give-in, I had a froth of gold and she had a cloud of black. The eyes through were almost more different in themselves. Mine gleamed a soft electric green and hers were the most exotic green you had ever seen. The green jade of a Chinese pendent, the green fields in the summer time, dazzling emeralds on velvet—it was hard not to loose yourself in them.

I stumbled on something in the dark. Having mixed genes backfired in a lot of areas for instance body heat and night vision. I couldn't see my own hand infront of my face which made the ground look like a very dark abyss. I tripped again, except this time my chin dug into the ground. Uneasily, I sat up and rubbed my jaw tightly. Get yourself together, I ordered myself quickly.

Morana, please. Nick whispered. His voice killed me like drinking posisn or overdosing on drugs. Broken and helpless like he thought he had failed in everything he had ever set out to do. Except I didn't have to guess how he felt, I knew. He hated the world for doing this to him, he hated feeling helpless, and he hated me for making him weak.

That alone was a punch in the gut. I pulled my self up again and before I had even set my foot down fully, I was slipping and hitting the ground again. The angle was odd and managed to jam my arms into the rocks behind me and for my hip to twist and snap. My feet were sticky, my head ached, and my mind fell a bit.

He rushed in, filling my soul with his light. Where are you? Please love, I have to find you, please. Nick was breathless from running. I wondered if he was close to me, if I had a chance of making it out of here alive. Of course you will, of course. Just tell me where you are. Great, now he was eavesdropping on my inner thoughts.

I steadied myself, I don't know. I fell and I can't get back up, everything hurts…

An angry roar filled the space, desperation and frustration. You will never be out of my sight again Morana, I swear to God. Stay with me love, all right? Lets talk about something. Anything.

I frowned and tried to ignore my slowly freezing feet, What about the fact that I am not your love? Hurt emotions radiated from him. Oh, no, you do not get to feel hurt about this. I have been trying so hard, but it's like your blind Nicholas. It's like you can't even see me and don't make me bring up the whole Echo issue.

He was getting closer, I could feel his heat and electricity through the air like it was my oxygen. My air. You are my love. Mine. I can't let myself love you. Don't you understand? Haven't you seen what I've done? To you and Echo? I've done bad things to good people who didn't deserve it. I am not good enough to love something as pure as you.

I chocked down some air through bruised windpipes, I missed him so much. Just talking to him was feeling a piece of my soul click back into place. It was a piece I hadn't realized was missing. The piece that I needed the most.

But I don't care. That wasn't you. I was trying to stay conscious for him, but air suddenly was hard and toxic.

He was running to me now, I could see his mop of black hair. It was part of me. It was so faint I could hardly hear it in my mind. Nicolas was there, everywhere. He was close enough to pick me up when he froze, the flashlight beam darted around me.

"Holy," he breathed aloud. "This can't be happening! I can't let this happen to her," Nicolas muttered what seemed to be to himself. He swore a kicked something, hard. I heard the thump as whatever it was launched into the distance. Swearing again he growled fiercely, I whimpered.

"No, no, no love, that wasn't meant for you, I would never—could never hurt you, ever. I'll never let anyone hurt you. I'll always protect you," he bent down next to me as his warm eyes melted me.

I groaned, "I missed you, so much."

"What happened to your pants? You're freezing," he tenderly wrapped a thick grey blanket around my shoulders and lifted me up. It was strange the way he held me, like he was terrified of hurting me, but he held me gently against his chest. Protection, I almost laughed, he was protecting me. Was it hard enough to believe? Yes, he treated me like he hated me…then this. It was more like he hated himself. The flashlight swayed a little and I could have sworn I saw a pair of huge dead eyes staring at me from the ground.

I looked down alarmed, "Nicolas? What was that?"

"Morana," he pressed his forehead to mine making it harder to think, "don't look, okay? Just close your eyes and stay with me. I have you." I turned my head into his shoulder and breathed in the thick musky scent of pine. It was too easy to forget everything; he made it so easy for me just to let him take care of me. Nicholas's chest rumbled as he walked, like he was content or on edge, it was hard to tell.

I sighed, "Nicholas?"

"Yes?" His voice was deep and worried, like I was lying dead in his arms.

My head felt heavy, "I-I," my tongue didn't want to cooperate with me, "I don't want you to leave me. Promise not to leave me. I don't want to be alone," I whispered. His arms tightened around me. Safe, my mind sang, we're safe.

"I won't leave you little one," Nicolas promised, "I love you too much."

And that was when my head gave up the battle.

Echo glanced at me, "Full moon tonight."

I brushed my hair away from my eyes hoping she couldn't see the way my hand trembled. You don't care, you don't care, I thought quickly like a mantra. I couldn't care about what she did because there was nothing I could do.

I nodded slowly, "I know. You'll be fine, I know it," I breathed in quickly, I didn't know it. "We get closer and closer every day to finding out a way to control it. Just try a little harder tonight," I whispered. She knew I was lying, I knew I was lying, but neither of us pointed out the truth.

"I'm going to go," Echo said vacantly like she had already checked out for the night. She stood by the flickering television screen as it struggled to work. Grey flickered to black then back to red.

I curled up on the musty motel bed's ugly floral blanket, "If that's what you want to do. I'll be here waiting for you." My arms wrapped around my knees and my head tucked into my knees like I was eight.

"That's what I want, alright?" I nodded. "Then I will be gone all night. Don't let anyone in and don't order room service, you'll get attacked. I can't be worried about you and this at the same time."

I didn't respond, just stared at the flickering television. I heard her snort and unlock the door like she would never understand how my mind worked exactly. The door relocked back as her converse clad shoe stepped out.

Sometimes when she left me alone I would wander through the hotels looking for someone to talk to. Other times I would sleep or read, anything that distracted me from my own reality. Tonight I sat on the bed staring at a broken television. No tears slipped down my face, too many had fallen already. I just stared on and on waiting for answers that never came.

The next morning she walked in and rebolted the door. She didn't mention the fact that my eyes were bloodshot and that the television was still on, I didn't mention that she looked half dead. It was just too easy to lie.

First my hearing came back, then my feeling. There were voices mixing together like run-on sentences making it hard to hear. It hurt and I wanted to tell everyone to stop talking at once, that it hurt my ears—I couldn't talk. Worry filled me, I had to remind myself that it wasn't my worry I was experiencing, it was Nicholas's.

I tried to steady myself as best as I could, Nicholas?

Morana! Thank God! I felt arms slip around me as a possessive growl echoed through the room. Voices mashed together, I tired to concentrate on Nicholas's arms around me and the sound of his voice in my head.

The headache intensified. He made a sound in the back of his throat. What is it love? You're hurting; don't lie because I can feel it in myself. Tell me what I can do to help you. Thorn is doing everything she can to patch you up.

Can you tell everyone to just leave? I can't take it and my hip is killing me, I told him through the bond. I felt him put is head against my neck and breath in and out like my scent it's self calmed him.

His voice boomed in the small room, "I need everyone to clear out," when the pounding talking started again he added, "now. Including you, Echo, you are part of the everyone I was referring to."

"She's my sister! How dare you do this Nick," Echo screeched in a very loud voice that made my ears pound. She seemed to be the last one left in the room not including Nicholas who was trying to keep his cool.

He shook against me a bit, "Morana asked me to tell you to leave. She can't take all your constant talking, so I advise you to leave."

"She would never ask me to leave, I need to be there for her," her voice had lowered to a seething deep that I would never mess with. It was the voice that told you to take three steps back or your hair would be shaved tomorrow morning.

Nicolas exhaled into my hair, "I know what is best for my mate, leave Echo."

"Oh now she's your mate huh? Well you weren't acting like this five hours ago. You were acting like you hated her. You have to make a choice Nick," Echo breathed quickly.

Even though it hurt, I managed to get my hand to work. I felt like someone had ran over my hands with bulldozers then shoved me into a bad fistfight. Nicholas growled as he felt my pain, but I threaded my fingers through his.

Nicely, I thought to him, tell her nicely and she will leave so it can be just us. Then we can talk. He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it gently. It was barely a brush of the lips, but it seemed to revive me a bit.

He cleared his throat, "Please Echo, I need some time with her alone."

I heard her scoff, "She told you to do that."

"What?" Nicolas asked innocently then smiled into my hair. I heard her drag her heels out the door. It was like he was holding his breath, because the second she was out the door he was examining me soothingly. My eyes opened slowly, his features coming into view gradually. His eyes trained on my face, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against my forehead.

I groaned a bit when he ran his fingers lightly over my arm, "Outch, still damaged goods," he growled, "there isn't anything you could have done. I chose to go running ramped through the woods and it's my fault that I tripped on…Hey, what was that?"

"It was a message, left for me," he explained ominously.

I raised my eyebrows, "What kind of message cowboy?"

Nicholas smiled and wrapped a large blanket around the both of us, "Cowboy?" He wrinkled his nose a bit, but it just made him look more adorable. "Where did that one come from?"

I twisted in his arms a bit a threw him a smile, "Have you seen your long, black coat and your chivalry? It makes you look like a cowboy, along with this messy hair," I brushed a few strands away from his face. "You're trying to distract me."

He sighed, "How did you know?"

I shrugged, "I know you now. Your trying to protect me from some kind of information that will most probably rattle me up a bit. Just spit it out, I can't be some ignorant little kid who is protected by everyone."

"They were offerings for you, I suppose," when he saw the questions in my eyes he continued, "another…um…wolf must have known I had finally found my mate. You see, there aren't enough females that are eligible to be mated with my type of wolf so that makes them valuable. Females take away our darkness, they give us control. The male, whoever he is, saw that I was refusing you as my mate and is trying to tell you that he wants you as his mate."

My head spun, "Some guy I don't know wants to take me as his mate?" I shuddered and his arms wound around me tighter, "I won't take him as my mate, I can't not when I…"

"You what?" His forehead wrinkled as he watched me.

I ran my fingers through his hair and his eyes fluttered shut, "Not when I love you Nicholas." His eyes cracked open and he dropped one hand from my waist to inspect a gold curl. Pain surged through my hip, but when he worriedly looked me over I shook my head.

"You don't know what you're talking about, no one could possibly ever love me back. It isn't possible," he murmured softly. I placed my hands on the sides of his face, forcing him to look me in the eyes.

I bit my lip, "That's a lie. I love you, not because you're an adorable cowboy or the fact that you're my mate. I love you because you are pure and good, you make me feel lighter and happier. You take away my pain, Nicholas."

"I do?" I nodded. "You take away mine Morana, everything always seems better when you're there like I can make it through the day. When I saw you there, lying in the dirt next to those…sacrifices, hurt and wounded—I hated myself for letting something so good be hurt. I realized that the only way I could make sure it never happened again was if I let myself love you," Nicholas furrowed his brow then looked down at my hair, "I had loved you since the day I saw you at the campfire. It is only now that I realized what life could have been without you and I can't live that life anymore."

I shuddered a bit and nuzzled my head into his neck, his arms automatically wrapped around me, "I can't live without you cowboy." The temperature in the house dropped a bit and he tucked me into his arms more.

"I love you so much," he vowed.

I squeezed my eyes shut, "I love you Nicholas." I poured everything into those words I know it struck a core in him.

He laughed a bit, "You know that no one calls me by my full name, but you. It's always Nick or people are too scared to even approach me."

I frowned. "Oh, do you not want me to call you that? I can always call you Nick if you want, it doesn't matter to me Nicholas," I said quickly, a bit embarrassed for slipping up. Blush spread across my face, had meant to call him Nick, but it just came out.

"No!" He exclaimed a bit alarmed, "It sounds good coming from you," he paused then looked down as his cheeks reddened a bit. "How about I stop talking?"

I laughed and he leaned us down pressing me into the couch cushion. I ignored the pain of my hip and felt happiness brush over me. He gravitated toward me, but managed to keep his weight off me by propping himself up with one arm.

"Is this okay?" I nodded and he tilted his head so that he was only inches from my face, "What about-"

I had wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him to my lips. His lips brushed against mine lightly then harder like he couldn't get enough of me. I ran my fingers through his dark hair as his lips trailed down my collarbone. Fire was running through my veins. I broke apart for air, my heart racing.

I pressed a hand against his heart to feel it beating rapidly. Nicholas kissed my nose playfully then grazed my cheek with his lips. The door slammed open and stood there was a seething Echo and a smiling Thorn who was bouncing up and down on her feet.

Nicholas was in front of me in seconds, in a defensive position and a possessive growl. Echo lowered her head then her eyes shot over to me. I tried to smooth down my tangled hair and to make my swollen lips go back, but it seemed useless. I went to stand, but my hip seared with new pain.

"What the hell?" Echo exclaimed.

Nicholas growled deeply, "Stay back."

Thorn caught Echo's elbow before she could march over here and get ripped open by Nicolas, "His mate is injured and he was finally, finally I repeat starting to form a bond with her. It isn't something you really should interrupt. Got it sugar?"

Echo shot Nicolas a look, "Don't you dare pressure her into something she doesn't want right now or I swear to God I will rip out you heart and watch you die."

I gasped, the metal image was terrible, I saw Nicolas lying there helpless in my head, and I shook the thought away, "Echo! Don't say anything like that, all right? It isn't fair." Nicholas growled at Echo for making me worried then shifted so that he was closer to me as I struggled to stand.

"What? Do you love him? You couldn't possibly. Sure he is your mate and all that crap, but you barley know him. He is just some guy who wants to make-out with you Morrie, he doesn't care about you," Echo snapped. I jerked up and fell against Nicholas who caught me stiffly, he was staring at Echo.

Nicholas went to spring, but I grabbed his arm, "Don't cowboy, just drop it."

He nodded and wrapped a possessive arm around my waist, "I love her Echo and I know her better then anyone. She knows me. Did you know that mates give us control? She took away my darkness. I will always love and protect her, whether you like it or not."

Echo shook her head, but didn't say anything—it was Thorn who spoke, "I know a way to heal you faster," Nicolas curled his arms tighter, "to fix you up good as new with no damage done to your hip."

"What is it?" I questioned doubtfully. "And how would you know?"

She crooked a half-smile, "I'm a shaman, for the tribe and I know. You have to take the blood of your mate. Not enough to kill, of course, but a mouthful would be fine—we aren't vampires. It would also complete the mate bond so that the other male couldn't take you away from Nick."

Stunned I leaned a bit heavier into Nicholas, "Which is?"

She smiled and cocked her hip out, "Knitting your souls together."