Haley's mate hated me and my kind. That much was clear.

The reason for that hate, however, remained unknown.

It couldn't be anything personal, because I'd never met the guy in my life, nor had my parents. But it sure felt like it.

After Haley's private conversation with him, we went back down there and split into three groups. Dad, Ezra and I went into Jun's cell.

My magic lit up the four corners of the place, making it appear as if it was drenched in sunlight.

Jun's skin gleamed with a sheen of sweat, black hair clinging to his forehead and dark eyes oozing hostility when they set on me and Dad.

Ezra growled low. "I don't like the way he looks at you. If he wasn't Haley's mate, I would've rearranged his face."

"I'm sure Haley wouldn't appreciate her pretty mate's face to be damaged."

Ezra looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Pretty?"

I bite back a laugh. "Are you jealous, your highness?"

He grunted, his dark scowl fixed on Jun. Smiling, I leaned against his arm. After a second, he wrapped it around me and kissed my temple.

"How did the meeting with the Alphas go?" I asked Dad, pulling him into a link with Ezra.

"Good. Most of them were interested in our healing abilities." Dad smiled. "Although some were worried that we'll start turning humans into fae to make an army and raid their territories."

"The majority of the werewolves take their cue from the royal pack," Ezra said. "So even if there are people who don't like your existence, they'll be a minority."

Dad sighed. "Let's hope it stays that way."

A moment later, Zyron came in, followed by Hale and Haley.

Jun's gaze immediately found Haley, who came to stand next to me.

Hale and Zyron stood in front of Jun, next to Dad, crossing their arms. I straightened. I couldn't help myself. Even though I was technically an adult, I felt like a little girl in their presence.

"So this is your new son-in-law, Hale?" Zyron asked, scanning Jun from head to toe.

Hale grunted. "Apparently. Jun is it?"

Jun simply stared at Hale, his face blank. Hale glanced over at his daughter. "Does this mate of yours talk, sweetheart?"

"Yes," Haley grumbled. "Although all that comes out of his mouth is a load of crap."

Jun's expression didn't falter. He held himself better than I would've, faced with the three scary supernaturals.

"Sam and Vlad are spending some time with your vampire friend next door," Zyron said. "How about sharing some information with us before Sam gets here? Why don't you start with what you were planning to do with Brian?"

"Now why would I do that?" Jun asked in a lazy drawl. Haley reached for my hand and held on tightly.

Zyron grinned, his eyes flashing a light brown. "Because you want to stay in one piece. How about that for motivation?"

Jun raised his chin. "Try your best, King. I'm not in the mood to talk."

"Maybe we should put you in the mood, then," Hale said, stepping forward. Sparks of white crackled dangerously around him. Haley's hand jerked in mine.

Before Hale could deliver on his threat, Sam strolled inside as if he owned the place. He looked around the cell and raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you started the fun without me."

"Anything interesting?" Dad asked.

Sam made a face. "Apparently, they were there today to receive information from Brian about patrols, Orla's security details and her family's scheduled outings, if there are any. Things like that."

Zyron growled, the sound raising the hairs in the back of my neck. "I'm going to kill that traitor."

"Also, I found out that the little blood sucker is a subordinate to our dear Jun. So Haley's mate most likely knows more. Don't you, buddy?"

Jun's lips tightened. Sam heaved a loud sigh and stepped forward. "I guess I'll have to dive into that pretty head of yours."

Sam put his hands on either side of Jun's head and gripped it, his pale blue eyes blazing as his magic flared. Sam's magic slid around Jun's head and clung to it with unyielding claws.

Jun's jaw ticked, black bleeding to the white of his eyes as his will fought Sam's.

"What a scary bastard," Ezra linked me, his brows heavy. "His magic is fighting even with the silver in his veins."

After a few minutes, Sam growled. "You're as hard headed as Haley."

Jun's eyes flickered to Haley for a second. Sam froze, glancing over at Haley, then grinned. "Haley, why don't you come closer?"

Haley frowned but obliged. Walking slowly, she stood next to Sam. Jun's eyes flickered to her again. It was like he couldn't help himself.

Sam chuckled. "You like your mate, don't you, buddy?"

Jun ripped his head away from Sam's grasp, a vicious expression on his face. "Fuck off."

Throwing his arm around Haley's shoulders, Sam stepped back.

Narrowing on where Sam touched her, Jun's eyes blazed with fury. Oh. Oooh. He was jealous!

"His willpower is still strong," Sam told Zyron. "I'll try again tomorrow. But he's a witch, so I'm not guaranteeing anything."

Hale rolled the sleeves of his shirt. "I guess we'll have to do this the traditional way, meanwhile."

Haley looked at her Dad with a shocked expression. My wide eyes found Ezra. I wanted to ask him if this was necessary. But I knew the answer.

It was so hypocritical of me. If Jun hadn't been Haley's mate, the idea of their torture wouldn't have bothered me as much.

"Haley, sweetheart, why don't you head back?" Hale asked.

Haley looked at Jun, who gave her a twisted smile. She opened her mouth, closed it, then stormed out of the cell. I went after her.

As I stepped out of the cell, I heard the sound of a fist hitting flesh and winced, but didn't dare look back. Storming out of the prison, Haley was nowhere to be seen.

Jason followed after me, staying a short distance back. I tried reaching Haley through mind link, but she didn't respond. Where could she be?

If I had a werewolf's nose, I could track her.

Oh, wait.

I glanced at Jason's somber face. "Can you track Haley?"

He gave a short nod and led the way through the night woods. Three other guards trailed after us. I guess I was going to be heavily guarded for the foreseeable future.

We found Haley five minutes later, in the clearing with the jutting rocks under which Gray lay.

She sat on the ground, leaning against one of the boulders. Moonlight washed the clearing in silver, painting Haley's sunny top an incandescent gray and glistening her tear-stained cheeks.

Jason and the other guards stayed back, fanning out to surround the clearing. I sank next to Haley. She wiped her cheeks and glared ahead of her.

"He's the reason Gray is gone," she said. "He's one of them."

I patted her leg. I had no words to comfort her. Nothing I could say to make this any less painful.

"I hate this. It's making me emotional, and I'm not even on my period," she grumbled.

Her words drew a smile on my lips. Stretching my legs next to hers, I held her hand. "Want to talk about it?"

She shrugged. "Not really. I want to watch a movie. Something bloody. Like Jigsaw or Scream."

My heart jumped. I really, really didn't like horror movies. "Okay," I squeaked.

Haley looked at me and giggled. "Oh my God, the look on your face. You hate horror movies."

"No! We can watch a horror movie."

Haley grinned and squeezed my hand. "Thank you, Orla."

Muted footsteps sounded, and a moment later, Ashley appeared. She plopped down on Haley's other side and nudged her shoulder. "What's up?"

"Hey," Haley said. Tugging on the material of the skirt in her lap, she asked Ashley, "are they still...?"

"Yeah..." Ashley mumbled. "Sorry..."

Haley just leaned her head on Ashley's shoulder, her hand still in mine. And we stayed that way for a long while.

Hours later, Ashley, Haley, Meredith and I crowded on the couch of Wren's living room with popcorn and cookies. A horror movie played on screen. Haley decided it would be a good idea to turn off the lights, and she found great amusement in my attempts to watch the movie peeking behind her shoulders.

Surprisingly, the gory scenes weren't what scared me. It was the jump scare moments that made me squeal and made my heart leap out of my chest every single time.

Wren, Eleanor and Mom found us like that. Wren's sharp green eyes found Haley snuggled between me and Ashley. They joined us, and we all watched the movie, laughing and snacking, pretending that Haley's mate wasn't just minutes away being tortured by her father.

Just when I thought I finally got used to the ruthlessness of this world, something like this happened. It was a reminder that no matter what your plans are or what you think your future holds, life has the ability to rock your world in a way no one could imagine.

I must have dozed off at some point after we switched to a comedy movie, because the next thing I remember was Ezra's scent and being cocooned in his familiar heat. It was the metallic smell of blood that tugged me out of my sleep.

"Ezra?"

"Shh, go back to sleep," he whispered. I felt his hands on my feet, tugging off my shoes, before he hovered over me, a shaft of moonlight finding his eyes and illuminating the spatters of crimson on his neck and t-shirt.

I touched his neck. "Blood."

Smoothing his hand over my hair, he kissed my forehead. "I'll wash up and join you."

But he didn't move. Conflicted emotions weighed down the bond. "Did you find out anything?"

He shook his head. "He's strong willed."

"Is he... okay?"

Ezra raised his eyebrow. It was a stupid question. Of course Jun wouldn't be okay.

"He doesn't crack under pressure," Ezra said, begrudging respect evident in his voice. "He would've been a great ally. The fact that he didn't sell out his superiors after what we put him through means that he has a good reason for allying himself with them."

"If only we can find out that reason, maybe we can understand how to pull him to our side."

Ezra made a face. "He won't talk."

"But he'll talk to Haley," I said, taking his hand in mine. My fingers grazed dried blood on his knuckles.

"What are you suggesting?" Ezra asked.

"Why don't we sneak in Haley to spend time with him?" I asked. "He's her mate. How long do you think he'll be able to ignore her? He'll at least try to make her understand his view on things at some point."

Ezra slowly nodded. "Hale will lose his shit."

I sighed. "He's her father. He's protective. But you know, he doesn't need to know about it."

Ezra's eyes crinkled. "You're being sneaky. The guards will definitely let Dad know, and then Hale will know..."

"I've been in the cell. I can teleport her there."

Ezra's face closed off. Yep. As expected. He liked the idea as much as I thought he would. "I don't want you there alone with him."

"I won't be alone. Haley will be there. Besides, he's silvered and chained, while we'll have our magic and a bunch of guards right outside the door."

Ezra's jaw worked. I patted his knee. We both knew it was a good idea. He would just have to come to terms with it.

He went to shower without responding, the sound of running water lulled me back to sleep. When he climbed into bed with me a while later, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

"I still don't like it, but it's a good idea," Ezra said. "We'll keep it between us for now. But we'll tell Haley tomorrow. And you'll take Blake with you."

"Why Blake?"

"He's not a dominant wolf, which will put Jun less on edge. But he's very protective of you, so I can trust him to protect you if anything happens. I know you can take care of yourself even without him, but it'll put my mind at peace."

I smiled. That was a capitulation I was willing to make. A few weeks ago, Ezra would've gone insane if I suggested sneaking into a prisoner's cell. The fact that he agreed to it now and trusted my abilities enough to do it despite his obvious reluctance made me love him even more.

*** **** ***

The following morning, Ezra drove me, Haley and Blake back to campus. In the car, Ezra broached the subject of sneaking into Jun's cell.

I glanced back at Haley to see her bright-eyed look.

"You don't have to get him to tell you about his superiors or anything about their plans," Ezra said. "But if we can understand his motivations for joining them, it would be a good start."

"What if he's just an evil asshole?" Haley said.

"Do you really believe that?" Ezra asked, glancing in the rearview mirror at her.

Haley sighed and shook her head. "No. I'll try to find out more about it. Thanks, Ezra. I know the idea of letting Orla there with me is making you shit your pants."

I stifled my laughter. Ezra rolled his eyes. "Right. Blake will tag along. He can hang out with Orla in a corner while you chat with your mate."

Haley gave me a bright smile, her excitement palpable in the twinkle of her eyes and the bounce of her knee.

"Oh, by the way, why did Brian help them?" I asked.

Ezra growled as he parked the car along the street of our cabin. "That asshole's father was a pack Alpha ten years ago. After his father died, his uncle took over, but Brian didn't like that. Instead of challenging his uncle like any self-respecting werewolf, he tried to sabotage his uncle's hold on the pack by spreading lies and trying to divide the pack. Dad had to intervene. He punished Brian, then brought him into our pack as a way to keep an eye on him. We thought he was reformed, but obviously, he held a grudge against Dad. It was his idea of payback."

"Wait, isn't the alpha position inherited?" I asked. "I thought an alpha's son should become alpha after him."

"It should be the strongest wolf. Usually it's the alpha's son, but that's not always the case."

Ezra and Haley went on to their classes, while Blake and I made our way to an empty classroom to study for exams. We found an empty one on the second floor, overlooking the back of the building where the woods breathed crisp morning air through the windows.

Three guards stayed outside our door, while Jason got inside with us. He sat a few tables away, his clear eyes sharp and his face wearing his usually somber expression.

I never thought studying would be a way for me to destress, but it provided a great distraction from the situation with Haley and Jun.

Blake and I were hunched over a problem when we heard it through the open window.

"You freak! Just because Delaney is nice enough to hang out with you doesn't make you one of us, do you understand?"

Blake and I exchanged a wide-eyed look, then we scrambled to our feet and dashed to the window.

Around the corner of the building, two guys cornered a familiar girl. Emma. Her head turned downward, brown hair curtaining her face and arms crossed protectively over her middle.

One of the guys stabbed his finger on her shoulder, shoving her into the wall. "Do you even talk, freak?" he hissed.

Fury lit up a fire in my chest. My magic burned in my veins. One of the guys raised his hand.

I popped up beside him in a blink and shoved his hand away. The two guys gave startled squeaks and scrambled backward.

I put myself between them and Emma. Blake was next to me. I had held onto him before teleporting.

A loud thud made me glance aside, where Jason had just jumped out of the second floor window. He stood beside me in a blink.

The two bullies' eyes widened further, their gaze flitting between me, Blake and Jason.

"What are you doing?" I asked. One was a witch, the other a vampire. I had an undeniable urge to reach out and rip out their magic from them, but I held myself back, just barely.

The witch, who'd been about to strike Emma, swallowed convulsively. "I- we-shit."

Then he spun and ran away.

The vampire's eyes widened. He looked between the back of his fleeing friend to me. Then he, too, bolted, almost tripping on his feet. I blinked after them. Well, that didn't last long.

I shook my head. Pathetic. As soon as someone stronger showed up, the bullies made a run for it. Why wasn't I surprised? I guess bullies were the same, whether they were human or supernatural.

"Assholes," Blake muttered.

I turned toward Emma, whose cheeks were blazing red. Her arms wound tighter around herself.

"Are you okay?" I asked, trying to catch her eyes. As soon as I did, she flitted her gaze away.

"Yes. Thank you," she whispered, her voice barely there. Her shoulders hunched, and her feathery hair shadowed her face. She looked so fragile, I wanted to hug her and make her hot chocolate and brownies.

That would be a bit creepy, so I settled for a smile and a brief touch on her arm.

"Do you want to hang out?"

--- ---- ---

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M.B.