A growl rolled towards us and all three men snapped their heads up towards the source. I couldn't move unless I wanted my throat sliced open. The men's eyes widened and they got off me slowly. I coughed to get air into my lungs when the dagger was gone. I turned my head towards the entrance and saw a huge black wolf the size of a horse padding towards us.

"Great…just when we were having fun…" the brunette sighed then they suddenly vanished.

I curled into a loose fetal position as I looked into the eyes of the wolf. I was really going to die here. I could just feel like the wolf was hungry as it gazed down at me with neutral brown eyes. I whimpered and the wolf ran off. I sat up slowly and looked around through blurry eyes. Tears had escaped some time ago.

I was alone.

I found my shirt and put it on. I heard footsteps running this way and I hid behind the dumpster, unable to take anymore abuse. The person walked into alley and was getting closer. I pulled my knees to my chest, wishing I had never left the restaurant. The person came into view and I realized it was Dakota. He turned his head to me and his eyes widened.

I scrambled to him as a sob threatened to escape. His arms came around me and he held me close as I buried my face in his shirt. He must have been following me and I was actually grateful. I felt my legs give out and Dakota slid to the ground with me as tears fell.

"How bad are you hurt?" he whispered.

"I've been beaten up and almost raped," I growled. It was better than my voice being broken with sobs.

"I should have never let you go alone, I'm so sorry. Who were they?"

"Three crazy drunks… they thought they were vampires…started talking about how they were annoyed they couldn't control my mind," I laughed through my tears.

His body went tense around me. "Really…they are crazy. Vampires are only myths." Something about his voice was off.

I sat back on my knees, not touching him anymore and looked at him. His blue eyes seemed different…full of rage or some unnamed emotion. He stood up and helped me stand up. I grabbed my purse and bag and followed him out of the alley, not saying anymore. He seemed to be hiding something but I didn't care at the moment. I was in pain and wanted to be in my warm bed.

He walked to a black Camaro and opened the passenger door for me. I hesitated for a second then sighed and got in. He got into the driver's seat and pulled into the flowing traffic heading out of the city.

"Who's car is this?" I whispered.

"Mine, it was just in a storage garage nearby," he replied, eyes following the traffic.

"How did you find me?" I looked at him.

"I heard your scream. After you had left, I started following but I wasn't fast enough," he growled, hands tightening on the steering wheel.

"You didn't see the huge wolf?"

"A wolf in Chicago?" his eyes flickered to me for a few seconds.

"That's what I saw, unless I was just really scared. The black wolf was the size of a horse…"

"That's impossible," he laughed. "You must have had fear eating you."

"Please stop laughing…where are we going and where is your family?" I whispered looking out my window.

"My family took the limo home a little while after you left. I'm going to take you home and get you past your family before they see you in this condition."

I pulled down the visor flap and looked at my face in the mirror. There were bruises already showing and there was blood at the edge of my lower lip that rolled down my chin. I closed the visor not wanting to see anymore.

"I'm glad it's Friday, I have a whole weekend for these bruises to disappear," I laughed without humor. "I feel like shit though…"

"Getting attacked will do that to you," he whispered.

"How are you going to get me past my family without them seeing?"

"I have a plan. Don't know if you'll like it or not…" he trailed off.

"What is it exactly?" I growled, not liking his tone.

"You pretend to be asleep and I carry you up. Of course you'll be wrapped in a blanket, and your face will be hidden if you rest that side on my shoulder." He looked at me, smiling.

"Ugh, I'd rather let my family see…"

"You want to explain that you ran off during dinner? That seems too much work."

"They'll figure it out eventually over the weekend anyway…especially Dylan…"

"I could take you to my house for the weekend. I'm sure Jack wouldn't mind," he smiled.

"I think I like you better when you're empty of emotion," I growled, slouching as far as I could in the seat.

He laughed at me as he sped through the emptying streets as we got farther away from the city. The rest of the ride was quiet as I thought about the plan Dakota concocted. He did have a point in pretending I was asleep. If I was wrapped in a blanket, my body would be hidden and my face could be easily hidden against his shoulder and by my hair. He was considering many things with the plan.

He pulled into my driveway and got out. He pulled out a blanket from the backseat and came around to my side and opened the door for me. He crouched forward and wrapped the blanket around me as he lifted me into his arms, skillfully. I held onto my purse under the blanket and rested my head on his shoulder, forcing myself to not hiss in pain.

He walked to the door after closing the car door with his foot and knocked on the door. I closed my eyes and forced myself to relax against Dakota. The door opened and I resisted the urge to open my eyes a little to see what was happening.

"What happened?" Dylan growled.

"She just fell asleep on the way home." Dakota's chest as he spoke quietly.

"I'll take her up…"

"Do you really want to wake her up?" Dakota hissed.

"…no…I guess not. She gets cranky when she's woken up. Follow me upstairs," Dylan huffed.

Dakota started walking and I listened to his steady heartbeat. His heart didn't quicken at all as he climbed the two stories. His firm muscles weren't even shaking as it usually would for someone carrying someone a distance, especially up stairs. They walked into my room and Dakota started to place me on the bed and I gripped his shirt tightly, hopping he'd get the warning. His body froze and he chuckled.

"What?" Dylan's voice was right next to us.

"She has a firm grip on my shirt, I don't know if that will loosen. Would she wake if we forced her hands to let go?" Dakota sounded as if he was smiling.

"Yeah, usually she's a light sleeper. So what do we do? When I wake her, sometimes she gets very angry at me and trust me, we don't want that."

"Would your parents mind me staying?"

"They're sleeping. As long as you promise not to do anything, I'm not worried."

"Please, she'd probably use one of her sabers on me if I tried anything," Dakota laughed.

Dylan joined in and his footsteps proved that he was leaving. The door closed and I released Dakota and he put me on the bed. I pulled off the blanket and kicked off my shoes. I stood up and put my purse in the closet and pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top. I walked back out and saw Dakota sitting on the bed.

"Nice way to get Dylan to leave," he whispered. "Did you know he'd do that?"

"Yeah, if there's one thing he fears, it's waking me up," I smiled, standing in front of my mirror.

The right half of my face was slightly darker than my normally tanned skin. I lifted up my tank top and saw a forming bruise on my stomach. If there was a bruise there, I knew there'd be a bruise in the center of my chest. I winced as I tenderly prodded my stomach. The bruise covered my whole lower torso.

"That's going to be ugly," Dakota groaned, coming to stand behind me.

"Yeah it is," I muttered, then pulled my tank top back down. "So…what are we going to do now?"

"Keep up pretenses as soon as we clean up that blood. Do you have your own personal bathroom that we can work with?"

I walked into the bathroom and leaned against the counter as he found a black rag and got it wet with cold water. I held still as he wiped the blood of my lips and chin. When one of his hands trailed along my throat, I growled. The area was sensitive from having a blade pressed against it.

He lifted my chin and examined my neck. "You're not cut or bleeding so that's good. Is that where the dagger was put?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"Does it hurt?"

"No, it's just sensitive. Are you done?"

"Yes," he smiled and washed the rag as I walked out of the bathroom and laid on the bed. "Do you need any medicine?"

"No, I'm fine."

He had a caring side when he wasn't glaring at the world. I pulled the blankets over me and he sat next to me. He lied down next to me on top of the covers and I closed my eyes, wanting to be smug that I got to see a side of Dakota that most didn't get to see. As I drifted off into sleep, I felt one of his arms come around my waist while being careful of my stomach.