Seren was falling and even though her feet were planted firmly on the ground, she couldn't feel a single part of her body except her heart pounding inside her ribcage at ten times its fastest pace. Her muscles were trembling over her bones in utter shock and she wasn't sure if she had just lost it or was dead. A tingling had taken up all over her skin and she wanted to shake it off, but was too afraid to move.

N-no...No...It's not....You're d-dead...You're a...a....ghost.

And he, in the same form as her, was standing before her, looking like a king, with all the power of a god rolling off of him as his eyes bored into her very being as if he had never seen her before and wasn't quite sure if she was in front of him. But he appeared different somehow. It wasn't the same sweet-looking wolf she had known. No, he was different now as if changed by the events that had spanned their separation. His legs seemed slightly longer, his paws slighty longer, almost like hands, his eyes...well, they had captured the agony he had endured through  the illness and shared a skull still with the monster he had come to share a body with. In a word, he looked...wild.

I'm not a ghost, he replied, his chilling voice making her shake all the worse.

Liam was real. Liam was alive. Liam was only a few feet away from her. Her mate was alive. It was impossible. She had felt him die, felt someone split her sternum right down the middle and set her heart and lungs on fire. But here he was. Seren felt emotions surge inside of her, confusion, disbelief, joy and an overwhelming longing to hug him, to be safe in his arms. Even if he didn't want her, she would never let go until they pried her away.

She suddenly felt a wash of utter fear as she sank down into a half-crouch, her ears swivelling submissively to the sides as she tore her gaze from his and instantly was looking for an escape route. If he was alive, there was only one reason that he had found her, and that was because she was on his land. She remembered clearly what the consequences of doing that were. He was too big and too fast to attempt to run past him, but she glanced behind her at the steep decline and considered it, weighing her chances of surviving the descent.

Liam took a languid step toward her, measured, careful, his eyes like blue stars that burned with immeasurable intensity as he lowered his head. His posture told her that he was stalking her as prey and she pressed further back against the very edge, the dirt crumbling away under her weight. 

I'm s-sorry...I'm sorry. I didn't know...I thought I was further north...I'm leaving right now...I didn't mean any t-trouble.

He growled softly and she spun, leaping down the hill in the hopes she could slow herself, but when her paws hit the rocky dirt, she skidded for a short distance before pitching forward and tumbling head over heels into brush and roots. She smacked against boulders, but couldn't grab onto anything before the pull of gravity continued dragging her down toward the stream below, which was growing in side every second. 

It's gentle sounds from above turned into a low roar as she realized, through the leaves and soil of her rolling vision, that it was in fact a small river and she tried desperately to stop her path to it. With a yelp of alarm, she dug her claws into a small tree, catching herself just as her hips and legs swung over the edge of a drop. Seren scrambled desperately to get the rest of her body onto land, but felt the ground crunch and lurch beneath her as the tree leaned over the water, its roots too small to hold both her weight and its own. She saw Liam land a few feet away, his paws sinking into the ground with his weight, his muscles rippling as he worked to get to her, and in that moment, she didn't care that he was going to kill her. She decided that it was better for him to kill her than to drown. 

Before she could even beg for mercy or help, the ground gave and the heavy mass of soil shoved her into the chilly roiling currents, forcing her directly into the rocky bottom where it proceeded to drag her painfully along as she thrashed to free herself. Her body was shocked with the iciness of the temperature as instantly made her bones feel like concrete and her muscles like tearing fabric with pins and needles pricking her skin. 

She smashed into a huge rock that crushed the breath out of her and almost made her lose consciousness with the force. Moving her stiff limbs, she got her head above the surface for a second, gasping fruitlessly for air when more water sprayed down into her mouth and burned her throat. She went back down, ping ponging on the uneven bed below. She was stabbed and poked by sticks, pummeled with hundreds of pounds of water into stone and robbed of breath completely. 

One last time, she was up for a brief moment enough to take a breath, though it was short and her lungs burned with the need to cough as stars erupted in her vision. Seren nearly cried out for death to take her, to end her torture and release her from the world, but it was already upon her. She lost sensation in most of her body, going completely limp as she was tossed about like a rag doll with not even enough oxygen to form a coherant thought. 

In addition to the wounds, scrapes, cuts, bruises and potentially broken bones all over her body, something snagged the skin on the back of her neck, pulling so hard she was sure it would tear completely off. The world was spinning and it hurt, everything hurt because of the cold. She was getting pulled under into an icy darkness. 

Suddenly, a brilliant heat flushed through her body, nearly scalding her. There was a pressure in her chest as though her heart were beating in from the outside, pushing everything out. She felt water running down her chin and then another push from the fire forced out a huge amount and her eyes flew open as she coughed and sputtered desperately, each inhalation causing more coughing. 

She saw her hand, now human. so white with her fingers bright red, resting on the rounded muscular shoulder in front of her, tan from the summer and the source of the burning. Her head lay in the crook of his neck over his collar bone and she couldn't summon the energy to move as she panted, his chest rising and falling against hers. His other arm was around her back, holding her tightly against him, though she was gripping him for all he was worth, terrified that if she was parted from him and the warmth radiating from him that she would sink back into the frigid dark.

They lay there against the tree, breathing hard, for a long time, experiencing the sensations that were revitalized after being apart for so long, a pulsating euphoria that seemed to be weaving between them like they were two edges of a laceration being sutured back together. Seren, though battered, hadn't felt so relaxed, warm and safe in a long time.

"Please...." she whispered. "Do it quickly."

Liam's lips were pressed against her head, just above her ear. "What?" His husky voice sent a shiver through her, causing him to hold her even tighter.

"If you are going to k-kill me," she croaked, her voice raspy from the water. "W-would you please...do it quickly so that it doesn't hurt?" She felt the tears welling up her in eyes before they spilled over. It was going to be alright. He was going to make it all end and then she would be with her dad. He wouldn't torture her, she was sure, because the bond they had once shared that seemed to still flicker weakly would not allow it. 

He tilted her back slowly, and though she hated the distance between their chests, she knew it was time to let go. His blue white eyes met hers and she gasped, clenching her jaw as the butterflies began moving in her stomach. "Seren," he said deeply, focusing all her attention on him. She had forgotten how he could completely entrance her with his beautiful, piercing eyes and make her body go crazy at the same time. She then realized how tightly she was holding on to him and quickly let go so as not to upset him, squeezing her eyes shut in preparation.

"Look at me," he commanded and she hurriedly obeyed. "I'm not going to kill you." His words sounded strained, as if the thought caused him pain. He pulled her back against him, offering his blazing heat, and rested his chin on top of her head.

Seren sighed in comfort, but also in relief that she would get to be with him longer, that he wasn't going to kill her. His lack of an explanation didn't make her feel better about the whole situation and didn't reassure her that she would be allowed to live in the end, but she was content to soak up the warmth and let it seep into her frozen bones. 

The sky became dark around them and crickets began to chirp as they lay there unmoving. Even though Seren's body throbbed with aching pain, she didn't mutter a word for fear that the moment would end. 

"Do you think you can walk?" Liam's smooth voice pulled her from the buzzing state of near sleep she had been in and she nodded.

He leaned forward, pushing them up and she realized that, though she was now dry, they were both stark naked and she blushed. A small cry left her lips when she tried to put weight on her right leg, pain shooting up from her ankle and she quickly squatted to cradle it. She noticed how cut up and discolored her skin was, even with the moonlight as weak as it was and hoped it would heal quickly. 

The air behind her seemed to move and whisper as Liam changed his form. A large soft muzzle pushed its way under her arm so that his nose could find the swollen joint. A deep rumble came from him and she found herself unconsciously touching his fur, having missed his huge soft wolf. She was immeasurably relieved that he wasn't gone forever.

Liam pushed his way against her, telling her he wanted her to climb onto his back. She hesitated, preferring her other form to her naked human one, her face still flaming hot. However, if she were a wolf, even limping along, she would be too slow for his taste and he would be afraid that she would run off again. With a sigh, she leaned onto his back and put her bad leg over him to lay with her chest in his fur. 

As he began to move, she lay her head down and nuzzled into him, addicted to the warmth after the coldness of the river took all of hers away. The gentle rocking of his body soon sent her into sleep, the exhaustion from her grieving and near death experience finally winning over her fear of him. 

It unnerved him how she felt. When he had found her on the edge of the cliff, crying out into the sky, he'd been overwhelmed with emotion. The strongest was happiness, his heart immediately celebrating the proximity of his mate and her wonderful scent reaching his nostrils once again. But then he was attacked with guilt and regret, a crushing sadness for all that she had endured because of him and his inability to protect her. 

How terrified she had been when she had seen him! The thought of her so scared that he would kill her ate at him. He had so much to explain to her, but he wanted to get her somewhere safe first and that was back home. 

As he walked with his little mate lying across his back, Liam replayed the events leading up to that moment. It had all begun the day that Donovan and Cara had arrived, bursting into the medical ward while Liam used the last reserves of his energy to not shift even when every screaming cell in his body had been trying to for days on end. There had been no peace, no rest, just that horrible urge, that pure relief dangling in front of him. It had been his darkest hour indeed. All he had craved was the flesh of a female to bury himself in, most of all his unmarked and unmated female, torturing his mind like a siren. He had no delusions now; he knew he surely would have killed her on accident with his fervor and strength, ripping her throat out instead of leaving just a mark there. But god how he had wanted her then. Gloria had done right by telling him to send her away. 

He just wished he had done it differently. He could have avoided so much suffering for so many.

When he had caught the scent of her blood in the syringe, it had broken the last supporting beam of his willpower and he had begun to transform into that horrible beast that had been clawing at his insides for so long, forcing its primal and basic urges upon his mind. Had Donovan not been so quick to deliver it to his chest, he would have been lost- not that the partial change hadn't left its mark on him. It had been the single most painful moment of his life and some part of him had surely died, because he was not the man he had once been. 

He had felt her reject him.

What seemed like years later, he was waking up in a hospital bed, unchained and free, healed by her bloood as he had once healed her. Though he was not completely normal, stronger, faster than before, he no longer had to fight himself at every breath and heartbeat. His first words had been the ones he had screamed for days. "Where is she?"

"Safe," Donovan answered. "I found her passing through my land. She's at my packhouse now, waiting for you to get your head out of your ass and tell her you don't want her gone forever." He handed Liam a cell phone with a number on the screen. 

Liam had exhaled a breath he hadn't known he had been holding and his heart beat quickly just with the thought of hearing her voice, but she hadn't picked up the phone any of the times he had called and then he knew she had rejected him. It hurt, but he had deserved the pain for what he had put her through.

He had planned to immediately go get her and bring her home, but word about the warehouse had arrived shortly and they had had to prepare. Liam knew the nature of these creatures and that they would be extremely difficult to kill, especially if sane wolves were protecting them on top of it. Seren had helped without even knowing it. If she had never been able to cover her scent with that special soap, Liam wouldn't have known it existed and would never have had the element of surprise. 

McGreggor taught them how to make it and all the men and women who were to fight had washed thoroughly with the stuff, amazed that they could no longer smell one another, even those who were mated. 

They had rallied Donovan's men and stolen off into the night as soon as they had arrived. With twice the men and no scent to catch, they had easily overwhelmed the Red Toothed warehouse, taking out the sentries first before they set the building on fire. Any one of the viral wolves that escaped, burning and sprinting into the night like sentient torches, was cut down. Liam had kept Max's parents away, instructing them to be with the defending forces that took on the uninfected Red Toothed when they arrived. He had found Max himself and the sight of the poor boy was still etched in his mind, emaciated, warped, a shadow of his former self. He had stared at his former alpha with bloodlust evident in his eyes, not a flicker of recognition to be found. It was like looking into a mirror of the future and seeing a reflection of what Liam would have become, but he had been cured. He had been impossibly saved, pulled from the edge of the abyss by the tiny angel asleep on his back. 

How could he tell her that he had beheaded her friend? Though the happy go lucky Max they had known was long gone, he was there physically even if it was but a decaying shell, sickly, a walking corpse. Max's final cry and the sobs of his mother would forever ring in his mind. 

In the midst of the battle, there had been the distressed voices of countless children from the pack house, calling to him and their parents. Martha's words still gave him chils. "We are being attacked by the Gray Paws, Alpha! They are in the house and we cannot fight them! Send anyone that you are able to! Our Luna has returned to us and has instructed that we take the children to the den through the underground tunnels. She...she plans to hold them off for us with Mayline," she had said through the mind link. 

He remembered the bone numbing fear he had felt then. Not only was Seren not safe at Donovan's, but she had come back and walked right into a trap! How could he have been so stupid not to see Arthur's true intentions? Immediately, he had ordered the men closest to the house, Caine, Zaine, and a handful of others, to turn around and defend it, to find Seren and keep her safe. 

As alpha, he could not leave the front lines, could not abandon his pack during a fight, no matter the reason. So he had fought with his pack feverishly destroying the sickness that was the Red Toothed pack and earning scars that Seren might one day admire, though, at the time he had been terrified that she would be killed. Then he had encountered their alpha, the one who had sent the brown wolf to find females to breed with, the same wolf that had nearly blinded her and Liam had seen only red. The battle between them was brutal, as alpha contests usually are. But Sakael had been older, fat and weak in his greed and power. He had not been in fighting shape, nor had he been equipped with the wild taste for flesh that Liam had recently gained through the disease that he had so happily spread throughout his people. 

Liam was nearly ashamed of his destruction of his opponent. He hadn't been honorable about leaving his body once dead, but mangled it beyond recognition in his frenzy, enjoying the spray of blood and tearing of viscera. Sakael had kept him from getting back to her.

When the Red Toothed finally surendered, both packs turned and rushed home, only to meet the damage that had been left behind. Many were dead, Zaine maimed and barely hanging on to life, Seren stolen away. Liam had been the one to find Gloria and Seren's father at the top of the stairs, hand in hand as they lay motionlessly together. It had moved the alpha profoundly and he had insisted that he help move them into the medical ward to be covered. It was only then that they found the paper in Gloria's hand with the combination to the safe that held all the antidotes which later healed several who had been bitten. 

He hadn't know if Seren knew until he found her grieving and heard her thoughts. 

Those that could still fight had rested briefly, tended to their wounds and rallied up. During that time, Liam had been pacing the building, assessing, checking, thinking, giving orders and he had stumbled across her backpack. He had pulled out his jacket and felt a wave of pain that she had kept it the whole time even though he had been so horrible to her. He brought the cloth to his nose and inhaled her scent, savoring it. There had been another scent there, too, a male's and it enraged him. Had she replaced him so quickly? Did he deserve any less? However, he had soon after found her blood splattered on the walls and floor and it set his nerves and temper alight, doing nothing to make him patient for his men.

That time, Donovan had stayed behind to protect everyone and find the children while Liam's men had made the long run to the Gray Paw territory, taking weapons and explosives for good measure. They would assume, of course, that the Red Toothed had taken them down because they didn't know about Donovan and the Storm Chaser pack and would not be expecting them to come knocking.

Sure enough, they had been f****** celebrating their victory when the wall had been blown down, but as soon as Liam had seen Arthur standing next to that plexiglass box, holding his mate like he owned her and could offer her up as a prize. He had put her in revealing lingerie and