Chapter 22

~Derek POV~

"Absolutely not." Her suggestion was crazy, insane. There was no fucking way I was letting Spencer, much less her, go out and do something as suicidal as walking out in plain view of already bloodthirsty vampires. If they so much as caught just a whiff of her scent, they'd slaughter her, and Spencer would be a bonus catch. If they didn't kill them, they'd take them to Lorcan Kern, and even imagining that sick bastard self-righteous enough to call himself a leader around her made me want to throw up. "Derek," she said, breaking my reverie, "I have to do this. It's for our pack, and you can't do it."

She was right, I couldn't, and it was for our pack, but I was just selfish enough to keep to my stern 'no'. Losing a packmate was like losing an arm or leg, but losing a Luna? There were no describable words for that. You died inside your living body. If you were able to continue going on at all, there'd never be anyone else, maybe not even friends. All that would matter would center itself around her.

And she would be gone, forever.

Shaking my head, I spoke firmly. "No, and I mean it. We'll find another way, but I'm not letting you put yourself at risk," I caught her by the shoulders, struggling against shaking some sense into her, "If you die, I die. Don't you get that?" I felt myself growing angrier with her persistence. When I turned her, she would have unbelievable power, but until then, no matter how much her Luna tried to claw her way out, her body was still human. I'd have to change her, very, very soon. "Well what do you suppose we do, huh?" She asked, fire lighting up those violet eyes I'd come to adore so much. "We cannot just sit and wait while we have an unknowing ally come in and lead predators right to our pack and friends." It was so inappropriate, but her stance, her anger and the protectiveness in her voice, the way her Luna was unburying itself, I couldn't help it turning me on. Obviously, it wasn't the time to leap on such feelings, but damn did I want to. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair, but attempted to calm myself. Her anger and worry were running me over, and I knew that my own must be coming at her.

"I have a suggestion." Spencer came in behind us, and settled on the couch to the side. "Okay." I said, knowing I was probably going to quickly squash whatever 'helpful' plan he might have had. Aaden's eyes were intently watching him, as if to say "Out with it already!". "How about this? Farren and you," he said, his eyes flitting to me, "come with us. You take us way the hell down the road, about five miles or so, where our scents will not drift to unwelcome noses, and we wait. You both stay back, where your own scents will be masked by the woods. Aaden and I will go directly due North, straight in front of you. The wind's direction will blow right to you, and away from the bad guys. That way, if in any case our scents do travel it will be extremely light and masked by whatever the hell else may be around us." In reality, that wasn't a horrible idea. Although it still brought to life unwanted shudders, it wasn't unreasonable. "Have you told Farren this?" "Yes, she told me to speak to the Alpha in charge."

Aaden looked to me, her face both begging and demanding that I let this go through. It killed my pride, but I was going to have to admit that this plan was as good as it got. I stood taller, and Aaden surprised me with a challenge rising in her eyes, but I spoke, "That seems to be as good as it's going to get. Meet Farren and me in the gym in twenty minutes." The relief that smothered me that next second came from Aaden, and it pleased me to know that I'd pleased her. Quickly, I walked down to the gym, where Farren was already waiting. "It's as good a plan as any, and this way, we can keep an eye on them." It irritated me, the smug little smile she tried to stifle, but couldn't. She turned, putting a few things into a bag. "Softie." She murmured. I rolled my eyes, going to grab a few necessities from our stock closet. Small bits of ammonia would kill their scents, without hindering it from us, or alerting the King's assholes of our position.

When Spencer and Aaden came down, I had them stand, arms out, and while they held their breaths, I quickly sprayed them with the ammonia. "Vlad?" Farren hollered upstairs. "Yeah?" "Can you smell Aaden or Spencer?" "Not over that damn ammonia!" Farren smiled, and it made me feel a little better. "Okay, we're going four miles down the road, and making a left, onto Bellini Avenue. This is where Amy was supposed to walk from." Farren explained, "She's got light brown hair, and more than likely, will be wearing a bright color. This is how you are to identify her. If you happen to see, hear or come in contact with another vampire, you yell, do you understand?"

~Aaden POV~

"Yes." I said, and Spencer nodded beside me. It was still a little unreal to me that they were actually letting us do this, but I felt better. The pack could remain safe, and we'd have backup.

Derek pulled his car around to the main entrance and we climbed in, driving almost exactly four miles to the dot before pulling over to hide the car. "You'll go on foot from here. Now when you get to the intersection, there will be two streets: This one we're on which is Parks Street, and Bellini Avenue, diagonal from us. There will be a single sign, welcoming travelers to the next town about five miles away. You wait behind that sign, and when you see Amy, calmly walk to her and tell her who you are. She's not violent, but I can't promise bodily injury wouldn't occur if you surprised her. If she isn't there in forty-five minutes, walk back to us." Farren's last sentence held steel, and she meant what she said. "Will do." I replied, and took Spencer's arm.

We pretty much walked in silence for the first five minutes, but Spencer broke it, almost startling me. "So I hear congratulations are in order." A smile crossed my face, and it felt huge the more I tried to cover it. "I'll take that as a yes. Congrats!" He said, pressing a quick kiss to my temple. "Thank you," I said, pulling up my coat sleeve to show him the ring. "Wow, he put a lot of thought into that," he said, raising an eyebrow. "More than you think," I said, "it was his mother's." "…He really loves you." I smiled, nodding once. Spencer seemed slightly down after that, and just when I was about to say something, he spoke. "There's the sign, let's get to it."

We calmly walked to the sign and settled in behind it, sitting on the extra jacket we'd brought in case we needed it. "Spencer?" I asked, attempting to bring back my earlier question. He looked up at me, his eyes dark. "Do you like Farren?" He coughed, looking away as his face grew beet red. "Spencer, I'm not judging. Farren is lovely. I'll not say anymore." "No, it's fine, really. I just didn't really think it was obvious. I don't just like her, Aaden, I think I'm in love with her. But you know how she is." I nodded, my heart feeling light with this revelation. I hoped my best friends could find love in each other, and that Farren would allow herself to open up to him.

"Maybe it's about time to head back." I said, noticing my watch. "Probably, come on." He said, but when we began gathering our things, a small beauty with bellowing light brown curls came bouncing out of the other side of the woods. She wore a bright yellow quarter sleeve blouse and white jeans. She was a vision, with the palest pink mouth I'd ever seen in my life, all made prettier by her amber yellow eyes. Quickly, we picked up our stuff and walked to catch up with her. "Amy?" I asked cautiously, but she turned brightly, as if she knew us. "Hello, have we met?" She asked. Her voice was like gentle wind chimes, soothing and melodious. It was easy to see how prey could just flock to a hunting vampire. "No, but we'll become better acquainted," Spencer said, holding out his hand. "We're with Farren and her group. I'm Spencer," he said, and she carefully took his hand to shake. "I'm Aaden," I said, offering her my hand as well.

She took a deep inhale and looked at me quizzically before speaking, "You appear human, but you smell as a wolf. Why is that?" I was trying to find the words when Spencer spoke again, "She's an unchanged Luna. Derek's in fact." "Oh! Well, that's nice. Why are you here?" "Not far from where we are hiding out, resides many of the King's men," I said, "If we had not been here, your scent would have led them to us." Her eyes widened, but she smiled gratefully. "Derek and Farren are waiting for us, we need to go." Spencer said, tugging me along and offering his other arm to Amy, who sweetly took it.

It felt like forever, but we got back to where they were waiting for us. "Oh, thank God," I heard Derek mumble, and I couldn't stop myself form running to him. It surprised me, but his arms opened wide to receive me. "We're never doing anything like this again, not while you're human." "Agreed." I said, and pressed my lips to his.

**Hey guys, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed I realize I haven't said anything about it before, but I wanted to say you're all welcome to leave reviews, I would love to hear from you! Hopefully, I will have the next chapter up soon, and I can assure you, there is much more mayhem in the running for Aaden, Derek, Farren, Spencer and everyone else. Until then, I hope everyone has wonderful days!**