---Nick's POV---

"Come on dude, you have to eat something."

Joshua's voice broke through my thoughts and I looked up at him, giving him a weak smile. "I'm not hungry." I replied before I turned my gaze back to the other tables, hoping to find Paige. After Jacob has threatened her away from the table, I hadn't seen her during lunch.

I didn't speak to Jacob anymore; I've even let him explain to my parents why Paige came home crying on the first day, why she ran from the house every moment she'd got and why she didn't even bother to talk or even look at me, at any of us. They were shocked at first and tried to contact Luke, Jacob's dad, but Jacob just used his Alpha-tone so that they couldn't betray his plan.

He knew well enough he was abusing his alpha powers and he didn't give a damn that he was betraying himself and the fragile mate bond for rejecting Paige, and betraying the pack for denying their true Luna.

The others felt the same way like I did; it felt like we had betrayed Paige. She had trusted us after going through several years of being bullied at the orphanage, and for what? We just laughed and stabbed her in the back when she dropped her defenses.

I sighed as I stopped looking around; Paige hadn't come in for lunch for the last weeks. She ate less then ...before. Even at dinner, she only managed to take a few bites before she started playing with her food.

Of course Jacob didn't see this because he was too busy chasing she-wolf tail. He didn't see the weight loss of Paige, the dark rims under her eyes or the tears that ran over her cheek when I checked on her before I went to sleep.

It made me feel sick and I was disgusted with myself. If I was a stronger wolf, I could just forget Jacob's command and talk to her, explain everything. Or even better, I would be able to contact the true Alpha and let him know what a bastard of a son he had.

I've tried countless of times but each time I had made my mind up to go and speak to Jacob's father, my body froze. I couldn't get out of my room, nor could I reach the link to contact the Alpha about the misdemeanors that were happening right beneath his nose.

"Don't beat yourself up Nick. There's nothing we can do about it." David spoke softly, attempting to reassure both of us while he patted me on the shoulder. I just stared at him with disbelief but turned away from him. He wasn't in the wrong in this situation.

Jacob is.

A lot of noise announced Jacob's arrival, along with one of those hussies that he had draped on his arm. He smirked while he sat down with a happy "Hey guys." before he started to wolf down food. He didn't seem fazed about giving his mate the cold shoulder.

That fucking bastard... I growled lowly, letting go of all the anger in my body. He looked up immediately while his eyes gained a harder edge. He placed his hands on the table and growled back, "What is your problem Nick?"

The anger in my chest boiled over, especially after seeing him down a full plate of food while Paige couldn't even finish off an apple on her own.

I shoved him in his chest while I growled, "You are, you asshole!" he fell on the ground with a shocked expression on his face but I didn't gave him time to react. "Haven't you noticed that everyone of us feels like crap because of your command? If you could just use your eyes and the little pea you have for a brain, you could see that Paige hasn't come in to eat, for all this time."

I took a step towards him. "You might have noticed that my parents had to adjust her clothes several times over so that they wouldn't fall off of her, or that she hasn't had a good night's sleep since we stopped speaking to her."

My wolf forced me to take another step, snarling deeply, "You don't have to see the hurt expression in her eyes when I can't even speak to her when I'm home or," another step, "the tears that have dried up on her cheeks, every night she had cried herself to sleep, because of us."

I noticed a glance of worry in his eyes but he pushed it away while he got back up. "So? What does that have anything to do with me?" he sneered harshly. I quickly clenched my hands and punched him square in his jaw. My wolf was almost in full control right now. He stumbled back a few steps before he found his balance again and glared at me. The whole table became silent.

"Has it ever occurred to anyone here, that Paige has been heavily bullied before? That one day, she might think , Enough is enough? She already lost her true family and now that she has been offered a new one, it has been taken away from her by an arrogant pup who thinks he's an Alpha. Hell, I wake up every morning, being afraid that I might find out that she couldn't take it anymore and decided to commit suicide!" I yelled at his face, while he instantly paled, his wolf whimpering at the thought.

Obviously it hasn't crossed his mind yet. Not only was he playing with their mating bond, but with Paige's life as well, and he did it so carelessly.

I stormed off in search of Paige. I had punched the next Alpha in his face, but wasn't bothered by it. Hell, he could even kick me out of the pack if he wanted. We would just ask a transfer to another pack. I finally found Paige; she had her final art class for the day. Jack was already inside with her; he felt as miserable as I did.

"Jack, let me know when class is dismissed. I'm going to follow Paige back home." I said to him through the mind-link and he replied with a "will do."

Walking back to my class, I noticed a new scent in the hallways but I couldn't be bothered with it. Let Jacob patrol his territory some more instead of hunting down single she-wolves, I was more worried about his mate then he was. I couldn't be bothered to go back to class; I think that I wouldn't be able to sit next to Jacob as if nothing had happened.

Its more than likely I'll give him a repeat performance and I know his wolf won't take a beating whilst laying down...

"Nick, class has stopped early and Paige has already left the school grounds." Jack yelled through the mind link, causing me to snap up and bolt to the doors while cursing a long string of profanities.

The doors slammed shut behind me and I looked around. No sign of Paige anywhere. Damn it!

I took a deep breath, trying to pick her scent up with my enhanced senses and smiled when I found it. Now I could follow her back home. After a few steps however, my heart felt heavy; the smell of several hunters on her trail sickened me while I had a sudden realization.

Paige was going to be the next Luna. Only she would be able to truly lead the pack alongside Jacob. If she was killed, the pack had no new Alpha-pair, and we would die out, forcing the remaining pack members to find a new pack. So if the hunters found out...

What am I saying, the hunters had eyes and ears all over the school. They knew Paige was being exiled by Jacob and probably guessed the reason behind it. If she had been accepted, Paige would never have been left alone by any of the pack.

If something happened to her, I'll never forgive myself and gods only knew what I'd do to Jacob.

I took off in the woods, following Paige's trail while changing forms midstride. Where was she? She couldn't have gotten far! My wolf was trying to take over but I couldn't allow him.

"Warn the pack Nick. We can take them on together." He said to me but I just snorted.

"By the time that the pack can get through to Jacob and let him allow us to find her, Paige is as good as dead!" I yelled at him, and he had to agree with me on that. I was already opening the link, about to reach out when a sudden sound froze my blood.

A feminine scream filled the woods and I pricked my ears up to locate the source. I immediately knew it was Paige, and from the sounds of it, the hunters have found her too. I took off at full speed and heard the fade sounds of a struggle. "Hang on Paige, please, hang on." I desperately thought to her.

Finally I arrived at a clearing and I saw several hunters closing in on Paige, while one of them held his bleeding hand in a tight grasp. Paige had bit him hard and I couldn't help but smirk when the hunters noticed me.

"The pack knows! Shoot the wolf! Kill them both!" one of them shouted out but before he could aim his gun towards Paige, I had ripped off his head, quickly spinning around in the air to charge at the next one.

I took out another pair while I saw Paige from the corner of my eyes, fighting off a few hunters by herself. I smiled internally as I slightly turned around to take in the sight. Right now, they were only three hunters left, and I tensed my muscles to take out the next one when I heard the sound of a gunshot, followed by a piercing pain through my shoulder.

I howled in pain when the bullet tunneled through the joint and came back out at the other side before I collapsed on the ground. I looked up at the sound of Paige, screaming out my name while she looked at me.

Wait a minute, she knew?

The shock had barely left my body when she turned around and amplified the shock I felt to a whole new level ; she snapped the neck of the hunter in front of her and then lunged at the hunter that shot me...

She landed on him in wolf form.

---Paige's POV---

The years of secrecy, the promises I've made to my parents, all of that went out the window when those hunters tried to abduct me as Nick had arrived to save me. The secret was out. As soon as they shot Nick, I knew I had to protect him and kill those hunters. It was them or us and I rather lived another day. When the hunter behind Nick prepared his gun to deliver a fatal blow, I just responded instinctively.

I lunged at the hunter, changing in my wolf-form in the process. I landed on all fours while I tore away at his arm, forcing him to drop his weapon before I backed up and lunged at his throat.

One down, two to go.

Nick was staring at me with a shocked expression that was clearly visible on the hunter's faces. They probably thought that I was a werewolf too. Well, time to pull them out of that daydream.

One of the hunters shot at me and I ducked, barely missing the bullet. I darted towards him, building up speed before I dodged left when he swung a knife at me. I changed to my cougar, pounced against the tree and then on the hunter, my jaws securely around his throat while I saw that Nick took out the last one.

Before I could snap the hunter's neck, he plunged the knife in my ribs and I hissed before I yanked at his neck, dropping him on the floor with a broken neck. I panted heavily while I looked around at the massacre around us as Nick stepped closer.

I sat down on the ground and moved a paw to my ribs while I changed, placing my hand on the stab wound. I hissed when I put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. A thud next to me caused me to open my eyes and I saw Nick on the ground, passed out.

Just my lucky day huh? Here I was in the woods, my secret thrown out in the open, laying on the forest floor, and both me and my brother were wounded. I stood up, groaning at the pain when my ribs protested at the movement, and stepped towards my brother who was still in wolf-form.

The bullet made a clean way through, but there was something that made me feel uneasy. He was losing a lot of blood, fast. I looked around and picked up the shreds from my clothes, making a makeshift bandage, and wrapped it around the wound to stop the bleeding.

Luckily for me, I wasn't left naked in the forest; whenever I changed back to my human form, I seemed to have a small layer of clothing on that had the same coloration as my animals fur. So right now, my body was covered in a thin layer of brown clothing that would disappear as soon as I had real clothes on. I wasted no more time and gently picked up Nick.

Or at least, I tried. I couldn't pick him up in wolf-form because he was too big. I groaned while I paced around on the forest floor. I snapped my head up when he moved slightly and slowly opened his eyes.

"Nick? I need you to change back. I can't carry you in this form." I spoke to him in a soft tone while I wrapped another piece of clothing around my ribs. They were really starting to hurt like hell, and I was afraid that the hunter had caused some internal damage.

Nick slowly shook his head, looking at the clothes on the floor before he looked back at me. I rolled my eyes at him; werewolves did become naked when they changed back. I walked towards one of the dead hunters, pulled out his long coat and flung it to Nick.

"Pull that on. We don't have much time." I said while I turned my back at him. I heard some movement behind me, accompanied by a few yelps of pain before I heard Nick's strained voice "Ready." He mumbled, the pain in his voice barely masked.

I turned around to face a pale and utterly confused Nick. He was looking at me with a mixture of shock, curiosity and awe. I smiled at him before I walked over to him and pulled him up. He groaned and clenched his jaw while I helped him on his feet.

"Jesus." He hissed between his teeth. "No need to be gentle with me Paige. It's not like I've been shot or something." He yelped, causing me to laugh. He looked back at me and smiled weakly. "Sorry for doing that to you sis." He said.

"It's okay." I nodded, while I smiled at him. "I knew why you guys did it." We started to walk back to the house, adjusting the pace to our wounds. "Speaking of that..." Nick said while he looked at me with confusion clear in his eyes, "How did you knew that?"

I smirked at him "I'll tell you later, I promise. Right know, I need to get you back home before you bleed to death." I spoke softly while I dragged him along. After a few steps, Nick really started to weigh down on me and I looked at him to find him unconscious again. I sighed, just great.

I groaned out loud when I pulled him over my shoulder, avoiding my wounded side before I started the slow and painful trek towards the house. Thankfully, we weren't that far off and I stumbled inside after a minute or so. Katherine and John were eating but they dropped everything when they gave us one look.

"Great god, what happened to you two?" Kath screeched while I placed Nick on the couch, worried about his paleness. I turned around when I felt John's hand on my side, right on the wound and I let out an inhuman growl, what caused him to pull his hand back quickly.

"Wait-what...what's happening?" he asked, confusion on both of their faces. I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"I will tell you, but I need both of you to calm down." I said in a calm voice. Kath hold her hands over her mouth and nodded while John was still staring at me. I sat down besides Nick, feeling weaker by the minute.

"We need the pack-doctor over here, along with your Alpha. " I said and I saw the shocked expression on their face while John opened his mouth but I interrupted him. "Yes, I know what you guys are and no, I am not human but unless you want us to bleed to death, we really need the help NOW." I hissed between my teeth while I clenched my hands to the wound, closing my eyes in pain.

I heard them stumble around before the door flew open and I felt Kath's hand on my wound, taking over mine. I opened my eyes when an unfamiliar scent filled the room and an elderly woman walked in, looking at us.

Her face immediately became serious when she observed the both of us. She started to fuss with Nick's bandage and I slightly panicked. Before I could speak however, I felt a hand under my chin that turned my face around and upwards, forcing me to look in the eyes of Jacob's father.

"What happened?" he asked in a demanding voice, his eyes pinching in barely contained rage as he glanced from Nick's wounds to my own. I groaned when Kath pushed harder on the wound and I heard her mutter a soft "Sorry."

I looked back at the Alpha and spoke in a firm tone. "I need you to promise me, on your word as an Alpha, that what I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this room."

The room became dead quiet and I saw that I made him slightly angry but I spoke up before he could reject my offer. "Please Sir, if those hunters find out about me, you can stop treating my wounds right now, because I'll be as good as dead." He stared me in the eye and I couldn't find the strength to look away. He slowly nodded his head before giving me his word.

I took another deep breath and told them everything that happened, how Nick got shot, that I got stabbed and in short, what I really am. They were all quite shocked when they learned that I wasn't human, but they didn't ask any questions, yet.

The Alpha sat back up and looked at the doctor, who was looking at our wounds. "What do you think Claire?" he said. The woman slowly shook her head while she put a finger on my wound. I hissed at her, turning around in pain.

"Their wounds are severe and they've lost a lot of blood. It seems that the weapons ... coated with 'Silver-light'. We need ... them... our hospital." She said in a firm tone and I could hear them speak to each other, but it didn't make sense to me. I was getting light-headed and uncomfortably dizzy.

I saw Kath turn towards me, speaking at me in an urgent tone, but I didn't understand what she was saying. My eyes rolled away and I blacked out.

---Jacob's POV---

I woke up Friday morning, feeling tired and sore. Bringing my hand to my jaw, I slightly winched when I touched the purple bruise that Nick had left there. It wasn't the only reason to feel sore though; I had a very realistic nightmare and I could swear that I really was stabbed in the ribs but when I checked it, everything was just fine.

Glancing at the clock, I noticed that I overslept. Ah well, I had Math right now, so it wasn't that bad. I smirked while I quickly dressed myself before I ran downstairs and collected my stuff. I noticed that the pack house was rather quiet, but then again, it was already close to noon.

I arrived at school just in time for lunch, so I made my way over to the table, where I saw the others talking to each other, concern plastered on their faces. What had happened? I noticed that Nick wasn't there but that might be for better; I didn't know if I could stop myself from returning the favor and bruise his cheek too.

"Hey guys. Why the long faces." I joked while I sat down. It surprised me that no one replied; instead, they just glared at me before Joshua opened his mouth "I think that one of your new pets can't wait to tell it to you." He shot at me, venom coating his words. What the hell?

"Speak of the devil, there's your lapdog." He said while nodding his head towards Adrianna, the werewolf girl that I was hanging around with last week. She happily waved at me while she almost ran towards us on her high heels, wearing her usual clothes: a tightly fit shirt along with a very short skirt.

She was known as the pack slut but I didn't care; I needed her to keep my attention away from Paige until I found a way to get over that ridiculous bond.

"Jacob!" she yelled in a high-pitched voice while she smiled at me. "Haven't you heard the news yet?" She jumped on my lap and I let her, although I had to fight my wolf, which was yelling at me that she wasn't our mate and suggested that we should snap her face off.

"Hey babe, what's got you all happy and excited today?" I asked her, ignoring the glares of the other guys. They couldn't believe that I tried to hook up with someone like her, when I had the 'perfect mate' waiting for me. Too bad she was human.

"Well, two good things happened yesterday actually." She said with excitement clear in her voice before she continued. "Oh, you are going to love this." She said in a cooing voice.

"Then tell me or do I have to guess it?" I teased her and I heard a few growls around me. I scoffed at them, before I turned my attention back to Adrianna.

"You remember that idiot Nick, who punched you yesterday?" she said, causing my temper to flare up again but I nodded. "Well, he's in the hospital!" she exclaimed in a happy tone.

I opened my eyes wide in shock. Nick was at the hospital? Why? What had happened to him? Before I could ask any of the guys, Adrianna continued, oblivious to the turmoil inside of me.

"But that's not even the best part." She gave me a seductive grin, accompanied by a snarl of Joshua, who was held back by his brothers. Adrianna showed her teeth at them before she turned back at me, a smile instantly covering her lips.

"The best part is..." she whispered, trailing slightly off before she clapped in her hands, "...the best part is that both he and Paige are in the Intensive Care Unit." She cheered.

The shock I felt turned into despair. Nick and Paige in the hospital? They were in the Intensive care unit? Did I miss something? Adrianna wrapped her arms in a possessive way around my neck before the information truly came through.

"WHAT?! " I roared, jumping to my feet while the guys around me jumped backwards to avoid the table that skidded away. Adrianna was laying on the ground, her eyes widened in shock.

"Jacob, baby, what's wrong? You don't even like that filthy human-" she said but she couldn't continue because I had grabbed hold of her throat. I growled lowly at her before several hands were pulling me away. I shook them off, trying to get control of my body before I went wolf.

"What happened?" I hissed, knowing that they would understand. Eric snorted before he calmly said "It's better if you go to the hospital and find out yourself." My body tensed and I slowly opened my eyes, feeling my wolf close to the surface.

"What do you mean by that?" I slowly asked him while taking a step forwards. His two brothers came by his side while he explained, "Well, we were ordered by someone not to talk to or about Paige, unlike that hussy over there." He said while pointing at Claire with his chin, disgust clear in his eyes.

"Plus," David added, "Luke has told us that he would tell you specifically." His words made several others nod in agreement while they seemed pleased with that while my courage disappeared, like snow in the sun.

Father knew. He knew what I did. Although I didn't intend to hurt Paige like that, it had happened. And it was my entire fault.

I ran out of school, pushing people out of my way while I made my way to the doors. Kale was standing next to them with an unpleasant smile on his face.

"You should thank him, you know." He spoke just before I opened the doors. I froze midway and slowly turned my gaze on him, noticing the humans crowding around us like they were expecting a fight. It might become one if Kale didn't shut up.

"Make some sense when you talk to me or get lost Kale." I said, losing my temper with those hunters. I couldn't change however; there were too many eyewitnesses.

"I'm talking about Nick." Kale said while he nonchalantly walked to his locker and opened it, showing me his back. "If he had arrived just a little later, then I could have invited precious little Paige to our party."

He glanced over his shoulder with an amused look in his eyes as it dawned me. Hunters had attacked Nick and Paige. Nick protected her, doing what I was supposed to do. Kale smirked at me before he threw his locker shut and turned back to me.

"You better hurry," he said while he nodded towards the door, "I've heard that silver poisoning is deadly for humans." He laughed before he gave a mocking salute over his shoulder and walked away, whistling a content tune.

I was fuming when I got outside, and I turned wolf as soon as I was under the cover of the forest. Both of us were ticked off, but my wolf blamed me. If I hadn't pushed away Paige, she wouldn't be in the hospital right know, because I would have protected her. We were scared to death though: what if Paige really had silver in her blood? Would she make it?

They had brought the pair of them to the werewolf hospital, so I quickly made my way over and changed in the bushes, covering myself up with some shorts. I ran inside, ignoring the shouts of the nurses and doctors behind me and ran for the intensive care.

I skidded to a halt when I noticed a familiar group of people around the waiting room; Nick's parents. They looked so serious, so...sad. My heart skipped a beat before it went into overdrive. Paige and Nick weren't hurt that badly, right?

Nick's mother noticed me and tensed as John raised his head towards me...before he charged at me and punched me in the face. I groaned while I sat back up, hesitantly touching the same jaw that Nick had punched.

Talk about irony. But I saw that John was stressed and his wolf was fighting for control. So I lowered my head while I mumbled, "I deserved that."

"Yes, you did." John spat, "Thanks to you, both of our children are in the hospital. The sad thing is that you've send your own mate here, you son of a-"

"That's enough John!" a familiar voice spoke up. I slowly turned around, only to face my ticked off father, who looked like he could kill someone.

"I'll take it from here." He said while he placed his hand on my shoulder, griping down like a vice. I was in deep trouble.