Jana's POV

Maddy and Rhydian head over to talk to Ceri and Gerwyn, I turn around to follow Carys, I know she wants to be alone, but I don't.

She sits against a tree throwing twigs into the river and watching them get carried away.

"She's been exiled. It's over," I tell her, and sit beside her.

"It'll never really be over though, will it? She's a lone wolf now, she could easily track us back to Stoneybridge."

"Why would she do that? After everything, what would be the point?"

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a piece of scrunched up sketch paper. She unfolds it and stares at the page.

"I went through her stuff last night when you were sleeping, I wanted to understand why she did all those terrible things. She doesn't have a lot, only a few handmade weapons, and some paper pencils that she must have stolen from Rhydian last time he was here, and this," she hands me the paper.

"What is it?"

"Just read it," she says.

I look at the page, in scribbly writing, not so different from my own penmanship when I learned to write, is a letter addressed to Carys.

Dear Carys,

You may think I'm strong, that I could kill anything that comes my way, maybe you think I'm brave in some ways. Yes, I am brave and strong when it comes to being a wolf, but when it comes to my humanity, I'm a coward. I think you can see that. I try hard not to let you see, or anyone, but I know you see it anyway. Something about you is different, different to any wolf I've ever known. You captivate me. I hate myself for feeling like this towards a tame. If you ever read this, and I would die if you did, then you'll know that I am so sorry for how I've been treating you, but it's the only way I know how to deal with the shame I feel when I think of you. I'm just scared. I'm terrified. I will never tell you how I feel. I know not much of love, but I'm almost certain that this is it.

Ingrid

I can't believe what I'm reading.

"She felt something for me and now she's been sent off to die alone. She felt something human that she was too ashamed to talk about. And it's all my fault," she throws down her handful of twigs and branches and kicks them into the river with rage. She hugs her knees, and cries.

"Hey, don't talk like that. She was an awful person; her feelings don't excuse what she did, okay? Don't you dare blame yourself again," I lift her face up and wipe her tears away.

"All I can do is blame myself, it is my fault. If I had just talked to her- Jana we lived out here for months and I made no effort to become a proper part of this pack. She had to watch us living so openly and happily. If we had just spent some time getting to know her, maybe she could have learned to be honest, and not be ashamed of who she is."

"Look, Carys. I'm not saying she deserves to die, no one does, but she has to be held accountable and, in her case, that means exile. What she did set an example for the rest of the pack, so no one else will ever get away with mistreating members of this pack again. Anyway, she'll be fine out there. Hell, if Bryn can survive for as long as he did then I'm sure Ingrid will thrive." It feels so wrong talking about Ingrid as if we should all be concerned about her, but I'm worried about Carys, as per usual. I look down at the letter again, I hand it to Carys. She stares at it for a minute, then scrunches it up and throws it into the river. We sit and watch it get carried down the stream until it's pulled under and gone for good. "It's over." I hold her as she gathers herself. "We're going home, and you can go see Dr. Stevens and tell him everything. It's all going to go back to normal. We'll go back to school and finish our exams then we can talk about our future."

"Our future? So, you're going to stay with me?"

"Well, yeah, I love you and I love tame life. I grew up in the wild, but I found everything I'd been missing my whole life when I came to Stoneybridge, including you. And besides, I don't want our kids brought up here, with all the backwards morals and old-fashioned traditions. We'll make our own." She suddenly pulls me in for the most passionate kiss we've shared for a while. "And if you're scared of her coming back, or you're scared of anything, you just have to talk to me, or Rhydian or your mum or anyone! We're all here for you, we're here for each other. That's what it means to be a pack."

We hear the sound of Ceri's voice calling Carys and I. We stand up and come out from behind the tree and head towards camp. The second Carys's eyes meet her mothers, she starts crying again.

"Is Bryn doing any better?" She asks.

"It might be a while before we can go home, but I think he's getting stronger," she strokes her hair. I leave Carys to let her have some time alone with her parents and Bryn. I walk over to Maddy and Rhydian.

"Is she okay?" Maddy asks me.

"She will be," I look back at her. "It's been a hard week for all of us."

"I'll be the first one to admit I'm looking forward to getting back to History with Jeffries," Rhydian jokes, before we all smell something. "Is that..." he sniffs the air.

"A human?" Maddy says.

"We have to get everyone out of here, if the pack catches a whiff, they'll lose it. They're all still thirsty for blood after the hearing," Rhydian says. Maddy and Rhydian try to distract everyone away from the camp saying they've found something to hunt. I see Carys come out of the tent. She can smell it too. She runs to me, at least that's what I thought she was doing until she bolts past me. I look back at Ceri with the same confusion on her face. I run after Carys and I see her come to a stop in front of another figure, it's a girl, no older than us. I try to listen to what they're saying but they don't seem to be speaking. They're just sort of looking at each other. I come to a stop a few feet away from her.

"What are you doing here?" Carys finally says something, she's angry. Angry enough that she could let her wolf in front of the human.

"Carys, stay calm," I say.

"So, that's her?" The girl says with the same Welsh twang as Carys. "That's the girl you 'moved on' with?"

"You can't be here," Carys clenches her fists. Her veins start to show. I squeeze her hand and rub her palm between my fingers; my usual technique for calming her down.

"Me? You're the one living in the middle of nowhere!" I still don't know who this girl is, and how on earth she managed to find us all the way out here. Carys stares her down.

"I'm Jana," I extend my hand to shake hers but Carys pushes it down.

"I know who you are," the girl says. She looks at Carys.

"Jana, this is Anwen." Anwen. Ex-girlfriend Anwen. I don't care that Carys' ex is clearly an overprotective, clingy psychopath. I care that this is probably bringing up horrible memories for Carys. Memories of home, and her so called 'parents'.

We can't bring her back to camp, she'll be eaten alive. "Why are you here?" Carys asks.

"I came to find you, I was worried," she puts her hand on Carys' arm, like she's her property. I feel so uncomfortable, Carys pulls away and growls. I tug on her arm to get her to stop. The last thing we need is the secret coming out, especially to Anwen. "You didn't answer any of my calls."

"My phone's broken, plus there's barely any signal out here anyway. You need to forget about me, Anwen, move on with your life." She holds my hand proudly. "How did you even find me?" Anwen looks to the ground, she's hiding something. "Anwen?"

"I had GPS on your phone, the signal went dead, at first I figured it had just died but it didn't come back on, it had been days, and everyone knows you can't live without your phone. I was just worried."

"You've been tracking me?" She tenses up again.

"I'm sorry it was stupid I know."

"You've been stalking me! That's not stupid Anwen, it's creepy," her veins begin to appear again and I have to push her behind me and make her look at herself, she starts to panic and can't get control of her wolf.

"Carys," I whisper, "Go back to camp and find Rhydian, and then stay with Ceri, okay?" she nods and runs off.

"Carys?" Anwen shouts after her. She looks so confused to see Carys running as fast as she is.

"She's got a lot going on and you showing up is the last thing she needs," I say, folding my arms, and blocking her view.

"Don't talk like you know her, I grew up with her," she raises her voice at me.

"Yet I'm the one she wants, she loves me, and I love her too. Do yourself a favour, turn around and go home, before you hurt her any more." I know she probably won't listen to me, but I need to put my foot down.

"And why should I listen to you? You're a rebound."

I try my hardest not to transform and pounce on her, but that would only upset Carys more. "Because I know what's best for her, all you ever did was drive her away," it's becoming a competition, I never saw myself as the jealous type before.

"She was keeping secrets from me, she still is! I bet she lies to you too. It's all she knows how to do," Anwen steps to me, and I take a breath and keep myself from lashing out.

"Actually she doesn't, she trusts me. Carys is a different person now, she's brave, honest and strong. All the things she couldn't be when she was with you." I smell Rhydian coming up behind us. "Rhydian, this is Anwen."