From that moment on I felt like I was floating. My body was moving, but I was like a spirit, observing from the side. It was like a movie - people around me rushing to grab some necessities, throwing those in some bags, than we moved out of the house and in the cars and started driving. The town has lost it's charm - people were not lounging around happily, no, they all were striding purposefully to some unknown destinations. I looked at Nick confused, so he explained this to me:

"Nathan has notified people of a possible danger through the mind link, so they are moving women, children and the older people to several safe houses scattered around the territory. Each pack has those just in case of an emergency. The men are moving towards the borders to ensure that there is no breach. There are also warriors surrounding the pack house, so it's the safest location on the territory. You don't have to worry, there is plenty of room for everyone there and you will be taken care of."

With that he gently took my hand and kissed my knuckles. I gave him a small smile, but this information didn't ease my tormented mind. It looked like a war was coming and it was my fault. People might get hurt, and it was my fault. And I could do nothing to stop it. I would have to live with it.

"Emily, look at me." that was doc Evans. His face was serious, but the situation kind of required some mature thinking, so I stuffed my fear deeper and looked him straight in the eyes.

"We've had this conversation already. It's not your fault, don't go blaming yourself. You are family, you are Nick's mate, and wolf's stick to their mates and families. So you don't have a say in this, and stop blaming yourself."

He spoke hitting a raw spot. His guess of my trail of thoughts was absolutely correct, but that didn't surprise me in the slightest. Doc was a clever old man.

"So what's going to happen now?" I asked.

"Well, we all are going to settle in the pack house, and I'm going to reach out to the council. Probably I will have to travel there today, but it's good in the long run, if there is a horde of rogues coming our way, the council will send some backup."

"Ok..."

"The pack house has it's own safe room, so at any sign of danger you are going to go there, together with Shirley, got it?"

"What about Lena? And Hannah?"

"Hannah is going to another safe house, and Lena is a warrior, she is going to fight."

My hands shook at that information. Lena, my closest friend was going to fight. She might get hurt. Or even killed... And Nick? What about Nick?

"Are you going to fight as well?" I asked him with a tremble in my voice.

"Me, father and the twins are going to keep the pack house safe. You don't have to worry though, I'm sure it's all just a false alarm."

But I didn't believe him. It was all too suspicious - my parents, the mayor, rogues, the stalker... It all blended together pretty well, and I think everyone else also knew, that it was not a false alarm. They just pretended for my sake. The only thing unclear was why my mother was helping this monster? What did he promise her? Or did she hate me so much? That was the question to which I wasn't so sure I wanted to know an answer.

We arrived at the pack house a couple minutes later. Sternly looking men were making rounds around it, the joyful aura it had about it the day of the BBQ was gone. We quickly entered the house and settled in the living room. Me on the couch with a cup of tea, Shirley right next to me, the men went to the windows. Nathan entered together with Andrew a couple of minutes later.

"Doc," he started straight to the point. "your escort is waiting at the back door, better hurry to reach the council before the rogues reach us."

"That is if they are heading our way."

"I think they are, and if it is so and they are masking their scents, we are in some serious trouble."

"Then you have to keep your eyes wide open while I'm gone. I'll try making it quick, call me if you need backup."

"Deal." Then doc turned to me, gave me a tight hug whispering a quiet 'be strong and be safe' to my ear and left. The spirits were down, Shirley was trying to calm me, but we both were on edge. Nathan took a long look at me and finally spoke.

"Emily, when doc visits the council, he will have to reveal your identity. That way we will have more guarantees that the backup will come if needed. But you have to remember, that you always have a choice."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused. From my perspective, I didn't have any choices left, life was happening without my consent.

"I mean that they will be ecstatic to meet a healer, they will probably invite you to go with them. Remember, that you can choose weather to go with them or not."

I turned to Nick, because from now on I refused to do anything without him. He was my love, my hope, my future.

"Whatever you decide, I will stick by." he gave me his answer.

"Ok. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, ok?" I replied to Nathan.

"Sure thing. Ok, I'm heading to the warriors, the borders need to be checked. Angela will join you soon, if needed, go to the safe room together and don't wait for anyone, understood?"

That was said towards Shirley, she was the eldest of us, thus responsible.

"Got it. Be safe, son."

"I always am, mother."

With that both Nathan and Andrew left.

"So what do we do now?" I asked no one in particular.

"Now we wait." Said Jonathan never turning his eyes from the window. Shirley threw a glance his way and then turned my way with a huge smile, that was only partially sincere.

"Scrabble?"

"Sure..."

* * *

Angela came an hour later, carrying a car seat with an adorable baby in it, probably their son. Angela herself was a sight for sore eyes - tall and lean with flaming red hair reaching her waist, piercing light blue eyes and pouty rose lips. She looked fresh and positive despite the whole situation. Her moves were graceful, posture proud and strong, but there was a fair amount of gentleness about her. In my eyes she was a perfect Luna. That's when I noticed the same aura around Shirley, strong, firm yet caring, maybe that comes with the title?

It was the first time I actually met Angela, during the BBQ she was visiting her family in a neighbouring pack, so after greeting everyone warmly she turned to me and surprisingly gave me a hug.

"Welcome to the family! It's nice to finally meet you."

"Oh, same here, hi..." I said awkwardly. She was so gorgeous, that I instantly felt like a whale comparing to her. She obviously had a child recently, but you could never tell, her body was perfect. Me on the other hand, well... Let's not forget the scar on my face and the crippled leg, but to top of it I was huge with a baby.

"Oh, and this is Daniel, our first born!" she introduced the cute little man in the car seat. He was adorable, like every baby, or maybe it were my hormones speaking? But the child smiled at me with his toothless mouth and both me and Shirley were awed. Shirley started cooing instantly, and I just rubbed my belly still looking at Daniel with a gentle gaze.

"He is so handsome!" I complimented, and Angela's face welled up with pride.

"That he is!" she said stroking his head. "Anyway, I need to feed him, so I'll head to the safe room. If anything happens, you know the codes, right?" She asked Shirley.

"Sure thing, dear! We will not bother you there, come out when you're done." and then Angela left.

"Why does she have to go to the safe room to feed him?" I asked confused.

"She's breastfeeding, and if something happens, she'll already be in the safe room, that way we'll not have to waste time searching for her. Just a precaution, no worries." Shirley said gently.

"Oh, ok." What more could I add to that? This day was named 'the day of precautions' in my mind. I really, really hoped that that it all was just a false alarm.

"Try to rest a bit, darling." Shirley said patting her lap. I silently accepted the invitation and tiredly place my head on her knees. She started stroking my hair and in no time I was asleep.

* * *

I woke up after an hour because my bladder was killing me. Hope probably rested right on it, as she usually did for the last couple of weeks. I rubbed my eyes and looked around - nothing changed, just the light outside dimmed a bit, it was getting dark. Jonathan was pacing from one window to another, Nick was at the door, the only entrance to the living room.

"Morning, sweetheart! Sleep well?" Shirley asked while helping me to sit up.

"Yeah, thanks." I threw her a grateful smile. "Where's Angela?"

"Oh, she fell asleep with the little one, so she's still at the safe room."

"I see." I turned to Nick then, "How's the situation outside?"

"Still quiet." Nick answered with a small smile. God, I loved his smile, the way his perfect lips curved. I couldn't help it and answered his smile with my own.

"I need to go to the bathroom. Is there one nearby?" I asked Shirley.

"Yes, sure, there is one in the corridor to the left." She answered.

"I'll walk you to it." Said Nick and stood up from his spot. "Where's your gun?"

"Do I need it? I'm only going to the bathroom..." I asked confused.

"Better safe than sorry", he said with a small smile and helped me up.

Shirley picked up my gun from the floor next to her and just shrugged.

"You left it in your duffel, but I figured we better have it near."

"Uh, thanks I guess..." I mumbled in response and tucked the gun behind the waistband on my sweats. That feels badass, I might admit. But also made me more uncomfortable. Having a gun meant it all was more than real. Suck it up. My brave and reasonable alter ego spoke again. Well, I don't have a lot of choice in the matter, so I just exhaled and let Nick help me to get to the bathroom.

The ever polite Nick stayed to guard me from the outside while I did my business. While in there I splashed some cold water in my face and just stared in the mirror for a while. How crazy life was? Last couple of months proved, that it can be so unpredictable... The only real question here was - how to stay sane in this windmill of emotions and events. The blame I was hiding deep inside was slowly eating me alive, the love I had for Nick and this pack was battling with it and combined it was driving me completely nuts. Maybe I should start meditating? As if it could help. Was it even possible to find some balance in all this bedlam? The spark of hope I had in my heart was so tiny, that I had a hard time trusting it, allowing myself to believe that in the end it would be ok, that everything would be sorted with no one getting hurt in the process. Wasn't all I went through so far enough?

I looked at the gun, that I placed on the sink. I had a gun. More than that, I knew how to use it, and according to doc Evans, my aim was pretty solid. All I needed was some courage to actually use it if needed. But I knew that for Nick and for Hope I would. Hell, for all my new family I would. I just really hoped that said need wouldn't show itself.

One more deep breath, the gun tucked back at my waistband, crutches in hand, it was time to face the wold again.

I slowly opened the door, and there was Nick, looking at me with such understanding in his eyes, that my own filled with tears.

"Oh, honey, come here..." he said quietly and wrapped his arms around me, my face in his chest. I took a sniff of his cologne, and it helped to calm my desperation a bit.

"Did you just sniff me?" he asked with a small laugh.

"Yea, I guess I did..." I answered in a state of daze. He did smell good. "I like how you smell..." I admitted with no shame this time. I was passed that, too much going on, there was no time for being shy anymore.

"I like your smell as well..." he said taking a whiff of my hair. "You know, that for werewolf's a mate always associates with a certain smell, each is unique."

"Yeah? What do I smell to you?" I asked genuinely curious. I somehow missed this pease of information when I read those clever books about werewolf's.

"You smell..." he took another whiff, "like a pine tree right after the rain, fresh... and with a hint of blueberries."

"Wow..." was all I could muster. That was so sweet. I liked my smell, it sounded like all the things I liked in life.

"And when I mark you, you would smell like me as well." he said proudly.

"I will?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, you will... Now you smell like you, like your baby and... him. But when I mark you his smell will be erased, like it never was there."

"Oh..." damn, I didn't like smelling like him. I hope Hope will not be carrying his scent.He certainly does not deserve this honour.

"Let's get you back to the living room and maybe feed you as well? We didn't have lunch and it's already dinner time."

I couldn't argue with that, so with some displeasure showing on my face I slowly detached myself from my gorgeous man, to which Nick just laughed, and we started heading to the living room.

We were almost there, we were standing at the double doors when everything seemed to explode - the front doors opened with a loud bang and two large reddish wolfs lounged right at us. At the same time I heard the sound of shattering windows behind me in the living room and Shirley's scream for Jonathan. Everything was happening as in slow motion - I turned my head towards Nick and saw him jumping high in the air, and his clothes were shredding and in seconds instead of him there was a huge black wolf grabbing one of the reddish ones and throwing it towards the second one. As soon as they flew out of the door he shifted into Nick again, only a naked one, and strode my way.

"Come! We need to hurry." and with that he opened the door to the living room and I saw that it was all crushed. Three reddish wolf's were lying in the puddle of their own blood on the floor, a naked Jonathan all covered in blood followed by still clothed Shirley strode towards us. We met halfway.

"Nick, take Shirley and Emily to the safe room, I will back you up."

"Yes, dad." said Nick and picked me up.

"Be safe." Shirley kissed Jonathan on the lips and we started moving towards the other part of the house.

We walked into another room, but suddenly more wolf's blocked our way.

"Mother, go!" Nick put me down next to Shirley and ushered us towards a large metal door in the corner of the room. The safe room! We are there! With new gathered energy me and Shirley started walking, while Nick was fighting off the wolf's, but no matter how hard he tried, more were coming. One of them managed to reach us and stood in our path, saliva dripping from his teeth on the polished floor.

"The code to the door is 3357", Shirley whispered into my ear, and turned towards the wolf. "Go!" She shouted at me, and on my unsteady feet I darted towards the door, meanwhile Shirley shifted into a beautiful black and white wolf and lounged for the rogue. I tried walking as fast as I could, but it was hard, really hard. My shaking hands were almost failing with the crutches, but I still managed to walk. When I reached the door I turned around just in time to see the rogue throwing Shirley into the wall, and her limp body slumped to the ground.

"No!" I screamed out and instantly regretted it, because the second the rogue heard my voice, he turned my way and jumped, only to be tackled down by Nick's wolf. I realised, that it was my last opportunity to get into the safe room, but I couldn't turn away. Another 3 wolf's jumped into the room through a broken window and they started towards Nick. His wolf grabbed one of the rogues by the throat and threw him out of the window, while another wolf bit into his hind leg. A ferrous growl escaped his muzzle and he turned around, but was tackled to the ground by two more. In a second a pile made of wolf's rolled out of the window and I was left alone with a limp body of Shirley.

It was a tough choice to make - go into the safe room, or help Shirley. Actually, there was no choice at all, because I couldn't leave Shirley lying there like a pease of meet. So I started moving in her direction, and as soon as I reached her I threw away one of the crutches and grabbed the fur on her neck and tied dragging her towards the safe room. Obviously I failed, I was to week to do that. But that didn't stop me. What did was the voice I hoped I would never hear again in my life.

"Well hello there, Rose! Long time no see!"