As I walked through the house I could feel the judgmental, condescending stares and glares from the pack; and I knew why. They could smell that I was pregnant; werewolf senses and all that jazz.

Their looks didn’t faze me though; I didn’t care what they thought anymore and if someone said something they’d soon find that I had a temper that could match a wolf’s any day.

I walked into the kitchen and drank a big glass of water. I’d managed to keep water and crackers down over the past few days but everything else came up in less than an hour. I took a seat at the breakfast bar and rested my forehead against the counter. I was so bored! I hadn’t been working out before I felt sick and there was literally nothing else to do.

I heard Pierre and I groaned. I didn’t want to have to deal with people today. An idea struck me and I raced up to my room. I changed into a pair of cargo pants, boots and simple singlet. I holstered my gun around my thigh and slid a knife into my boot, grabbing my Camelbak which is a backpack that holds water. I strode down to the kitchen, grabbing a packet of crackers and filled up the bottle in the bag.

“Where are you going Eve?” Ace asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“For a walk.” A very long walk through the mountains where none of the pack members would bother me; the best kind of walk.

He leant against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “With who?”

I turned off the tap and turned to my over protective father. I raised an eyebrow and mirrored his stance. “No one.”

I could literally feel all eyes on me as dad’s eyes grew stormy. “Pierre will go with you; you are not going by yourself. You are human and don’t have the mind link, you can’t protect yourself against a wolf and no matter how good our patrols are, there are always rouges.”

Faster than anyone could register I had dropped my seven foot father to the ground and was holding a knife to his throat. He wheezed in pain from where I’d kicked him as I pressed the blade into his skin slightly. “I am a trained soldier and captain of a team of over a dozen men; I have fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, taken down terrorist groups and killed more men than I can count. So tell me again that I can’t protect myself.” I growled.

No one moved, no one made a sound as I slowly drew back. Dad’s eyes were wide as he slowly sat up and pressed a hand to where a drop of blood marred his tanned skin. I held his gaze until he stood. Slowly I moved my cold gaze around the pack; I’d just dropped one of the highest ranking members of their pack. Now they knew I was not to be messed with.

“I don’t need Pierre to protect me.”

With that I sheathed my knife in my boot and pulled on the bag. “Don’t wait up.”

I knew that he wanted to protest and that he’d probably send Pierre with me anyway, but he wouldn’t do it in front of the pack; I’d just emasculated him in front of the wolves who were meant to look up to him and I knew that it was more his ego that had taken a beating.

I walked out the front door of the pack house and straight into the tree line. It was a beautiful summer day and the air was warm and crisp. I felt happier being away from everyone, on my own again.

I must have walked for hours, scaling the high hills and cliff faces. Because Jenna had built the pack house so deep in the alps that no humans would ever find them, I could go wherever I wanted without seeing another human being.

My body was sore when I took a break. The few weeks I’d been sick had really taken a toll on my body. I needed to get back into better shape; anything less was unacceptable. In the army once you passed the physical tests that was it; you were responsible for your own fitness and it was in your own hands as to whether you were fit enough to survive.

I stood and stretched before looking out over the valley. The pack house was a mere speck in the distance as I sat atop the mountain peak. It felt like the entire world was spread out before me; a mirage of earthy colours. From the lush green grass to the bright blue sky all the colours seemed magnified.

I must have sat like that for hours because slowly the sky began to darken. I stood but a growl from behind me signalled that I wasn’t alone.

I turned slowly to see a mangy wolf with foaming lips pulling back to reveal yellowing, sharp teeth. It released a loud growl before it lunged at me. I crouched as it sailed over my head and pulled out the knife from my boot. I had a gun but I in my current position, my knife was more accessible. I liked doing things close and personal; I wanted to feel his blood and see his life drain from his eyes. This was a part of myself I kept locked away; it was a part of every soldier. It emerged during battle but we all kept it hidden; so many people saw it as wrong but tell me, if someone was coming at you with a knife or a gun, would you simply let them kill you? No; you fight. Some people let it consume them; that was when they became no better than common murders, they became the people we vowed to destroy.

The wolf came at me again and this time I didn’t duck. He sailed towards me and I was knocked back by the force of his body but he could do nothing as my knife slid deep into his body, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. I felt his warm blood pour out of his body and stain my clothes.

I groaned and pushed the giant wolf off me, withdrawing my knife with a wet sucking sound. I wiped it onto his fur before sheathing it and looking down at myself. The pack would smell me coming a mile away; my shirt was soaked with blood and it was slowly leaking down my stomach to my pants.

I hauled my bag back onto my back and set back off in the direction I knew the house was. I didn’t need a map and I didn’t follow a path; my training was more than enough to get me home. It would’ve been well past eight o’clock and I know that dads and Jen would probably be up. As I drew near to the pack house I could see Pierre through the trees. I knew that he’d been stalking me the whole time and I sighed in annoyance. “You can come out.” It’s not like I didn’t already know he was there… the entire time I was out.

A dark brown, marbled wolf slowly crept out of the trees. His eyes were like melted chocolate and too intelligent to be a simple wolf; Pierre. I could hear the laughter from inside the house as I pushed open the front door, Pierre following behind me as his paws clicked against the marble flooring.

I saw a few men freeze before they turned to look at me in horror. Slowly more and more people trickled in to see what was happening. I let the bag drop to the floor as I began walking towards the steps, the eyes of the pack on me.

“What the hell?”

Slowly I turned to see Jenna, Klaus, Elliot, Davy, the twins, my father and many of the pack warriors staring at me.

“What happened?” Jenna asked as Pierre approached and handed me a shirt. I didn’t change into it because I knew that it would just get bloodied again.

“There was a rouge; he wanted a fight but it didn’t end very well for him.” I said with a casual shrug. Her jaw dropped and I saw everyone eye me.

“You took down a rabid rouge? Do you need to doctor to check you over? Do you need any shots? What about the baby?” Hansel asked, coming forward.

I rolled my eyes and bent down, smoothly pulling out the long hunting knife from my boot that I’d used to kill the rouge. “He ran into my knife.” I said darkly. Dad approached and checked me over for injuries. “You’re not going to find anything dad.” I told him.

“B-but h-how? You’re human for god sake!” I know that he didn’t mean it as an insult but gosh was he tactless.

I pulled out my dog tags and smoothed my thumb over the metal. “Yes father, I’m human; but I’ve been in the army for several years now. I worked my way up the ranks and then I joined… covert operations; training was so intense that men died.

I’m sick of you people thinking that I’m inferior just because I’m not a werewolf; I’m tougher than half the men in this pack and I’ve seen more things that you could dream of. I am not weak simply because I don’t have super senses like you; it makes me stronger and tougher because I train and push myself to be better every day. What do you all do? You sit around and ‘train’, thinking that you’re all so much better than us.

You live in this perfect little bubble away from everyone and everything while humans like me are putting our lives on the line every day.

I’ve spent more time in a warzone than you ever will; I’ve risked my life more times than I can count and spent weeks in an al-Qaeda prison. So call me weak one more time; doubt me one more time and I won’t spare you just because you’re my father.” I hissed, glaring at him with my jaw gritted and fists clenched.

He recoiled like I’d slapped him. “Who are you? You’re not the daughter I raised.”

“That girl died years ago.” I slipped off the bloody shirt, leaving me in my soaked bra and threw it at him. “Track the scent and destroy the body before anyone stumbles upon it.”

As I turned around there were a few gasps at the scars covering my body; mostly from the rebels. They were on my front as well but they were streaked with blood and not visible at the moment.

After all the excitement of today I had a hot shower, scrubbing every inch of my body before getting out. I ran my hands over my stomach as I stared into the mirror and although it wasn’t very noticeable, there was a definite bump. It reminded me that I wasn’t just looking out for myself now; I couldn’t do what I did today otherwise I could hurt myself and the baby.

I’d gotten thinner because of the morning sickness and I had lost muscular condition. The scars had begun to fade slowly, no longer a bright red. I slipped on Griff’s shirt and a pair of undies and made sure to set my alarms before crawling into bed.