I was woken up to someone rolling me over towards them. I opened my eyes and saw myself staring at Dakota. He hid my face as my bedroom door opened. I realized what he was doing and I closed my eyes.

"Is she awake?" Dylan's voice rolled towards us.

"No," Dakota's voice was husky as he whispered.

"Oh, okay. I'll have someone bring up some breakfast for both of you."

Then the door closed.

"He's acting odd today," I frowned, sitting up.

"Oh, god," Dakota gasped, looking at me.

"What?" I whispered.

I scrambled off the bed and ran to the mirror in the bathroom. The skin of my right cheek was a little swollen and darker than it was before I went to sleep. Afraid to see my other bruises, I lifted up my tank top slowly and hissed. My stomach had black and blue bruises blossoming everywhere. Since I was in the bathroom, I closed the door and pulled off my tank top to look at the rest of the damage. In the center of my chest, between the wiring of my bra, the skin was a little lighter than my stomach but there was a cut about three inches long and a millimeter wide.

"Leo?" Dakota knocked on the door. "Are you okay?"

"No…" my voice shook.

He opened the door and I turned to him. He closed it behind him quickly and I saw the worry in his eyes. I walked backwards until my back hit the wall then I slid to the ground. My chest started to hurt and my breathing became shallow. Dakota grabbed the black rag from last night and knelt in front of me, already working on getting the wound clean.

"Do you have some type of medical training or something?" I whispered.

"Something like that," he smiled. "I had a lot of friends back in California that got hurt on a daily basis and I learned quickly. You're not going to black out on me, are you?"

"No," I chuckled, wincing a little as he put a little more pressure on my chest. "That would have happened yesterday if it was serious."

"True, how are you doing?"

"It hurts a little…"

"Dakota? Leo?" Dylan's voice showed that he came into the bedroom.

I stopped breathing and Dakota hurried to clean off all the blood from my chest. Sure I was able to do it myself, but there was something about being taken care of by someone else that made it nice. The bathroom door started to open and I wanted to gasp. Dakota moved faster than a normal human and had a towel around me to hide my chest before the door opened all the way.

"What's going on?" Dylan's eyes narrowed as he saw us on the bathroom floor.

"I'm not feeling well," I spoke, not looking at him. "Dakota got me in here when I started to feel nauseous."

"Oh, so should I get the food out?"

"No…it's passed…" I whispered.

"What are you hiding, Leo? Look at me," Dylan walked closer.

I refused and looked at my hands that were gripping the ends of the towel to hide my chest. Dylan crouched next to me and put a hand under my chin, right where it was sore. I jerked out of his grasp but it exposed my chest.

"Leo…?" I scrambled to hide my chest but he had seen it. "What happened last night?"

I looked at Dakota and his face was empty of emotion. He was looking at Dylan, probably studying his reaction. It became quiet and I could feel Dylan's gaze on me as I looked the opposite way. He knew I had been hurt and probably figured out why Dakota had stayed.

Dakota's eyes finally shifted to me and there was something lurking behind his blank façade. His blue eyes seemed to darken, but I could have just been seeing things. Just like when he had wrapped that towel around me with inhuman speed. He had a secret that hid just behind his eyes…

"Leo, what happened to you?" Dylan's voice was firm.

"I…" I sighed then decided I couldn't lie to him. "I got attacked. I left the restaurant to get some air. Three drunks trapped me into an alley and hurt me."

I turned my face to look at him and he moved my bangs and gasped. He sat back and leaned against the counter. I opened the towel so he could get a full view of my torso then wrapped the towel around me because I was getting cold.

"Is that it…?"

"Yes, they never raped me…although that had been their plan, but Dakota found me," I whispered, resting my head on the wall and closed my eyes.

"What are you going to tell mom and Jack?"

"I wasn't planning on telling them. Mom would go into hysterics and Jack would probably try to hunt the drunks down," I growled, standing up.

I walked out of the bathroom and into my closet. I slid on a pair of loose black sweats and a large black t-shirt. Then on top of that I pulled on a pair of socks and a black sweatshirt. I looked at myself in the mirror and laughed. I looked like crap, but the important thing was that I was comfortable.

When I walked out of the closet, Dakota and Dylan were sitting on the couch. They were both quiet and staring at each other like one of those idiotic staring contests. I sat on my bed and picked at the food that was on the tray; scrambled eggs, a piece of toast, some red grapes, and a glass of 1% chocolate milk.

"So…are you two just going to sit there all day?" I smiled before eating my eggs.

I laughed when I saw Dylan jump in surprise. He shifted his position and slouched against the cushions. Dakota was lounging on his half of the couch one leg resting on the top of his knee. He showed no emotion that he had been surprised, but then again…he never showed emotions very often.

"Was the being sick an act? To hide this…" Dylan spoke hesitantly.

"Yes, I wanted to see how long I could hide it. From mom and Jack that will be easy. It was you that I was worried about finding out…"

"Leo, are you awake?" Jack knocked on the door.

I looked at Dylan wide-eyed. "Yeah…" I called. I shifted my bangs into my face as the door opened.

"Hey, I came to make sure you had come home. Last night there was a report of a mutated k9 in the city streets. I had been worried."

"Really?" I gasped, acting as if I didn't ever leave the restaurant.

"Yeah, well I must be off to work. Morning boys," Jack smiled then left.

I sighed and lied back on my pillows, relieved. "He is so laid back…"

"It's a good thing," Dylan whispered. "If he was more serious then we might have had a problem explaining why Dakota was here."

"Yeah that's true," I smiled standing up. "Get out, both of you."

"Leo?" Dylan looked surprised at me kicking him out.

"I need a shower," I sighed and realization flashed across his face.

They both stood up. Dylan grabbed the tray of food then they both left the room and I walked to the bathroom and stripped down. I looked at my back and saw bruises and other cuts from being kicked. In the shower, I hissed as the water hit my bruises but washed off the blood and grime from the streets then got out and got dressed again. I pulled on a pair of skater shoes before leaving my room and walking downstairs to go outside to the orchards.