"So he left the body at the border?" Asked Dylan.

"Yeah," answered Brison.

"Why'd you think he did that?"

"I'm not sure. Must be an other warning," he told them.

"This shadow sure is creeping me out," said Selena.

We all sat around Brisons dining table, passing around a pot coffee. Megan for some unknown reason baked cookies, which had just been taken out of the over, and they were being passed around too. We were all in a better mood since this shadow had come into the picture. We knew very little about him, but he was helping in our hour of need. And it seemed we hit the jackpot, as he was very good at helping. That and the demons were at war. Yes they sent the prince Dalton "the shadow" after us, but he was no longer a problem anymore and the were not sending the numbers they once were. Things were looking up. It was slightly care free.

We had gathered around to try and decide what we were going to do. So far we had just discussed what had happened so far.

"If I had to guess, I would say he wants us to keep going to school," Suggested Dylan.

"What make you think that?" I asked.

"Well he did get rid of the demons around the house so we could get out and of all places to protect, they chose the school. He's letting us know that it's safe to go, that he'll protect us there," he explained.

"Why would he do that. Why would he care if we go to school," Asked Stella.

"Maybe he has taken pity on us and wants us to have a normal life," I suggested.

"He must really love education. I mean he's killing for," joked Brison and we all gave a small laught.

"So we keep going to school?" Asked Megan.

"Well he hasn't given us any reason not to trust him," he said.

"What if it's a trick?" Asked Megan.

"You really don't like school do you?" Teased Dylan and we all gave a small laugh again. As her small laugh faded away, she answered with a smile still on her lips.

"Seriously. What if it's a trap set by the demons?"

That got us all think. We put down the mugs of coffee as we realised how careless we had been. This was more dangerous than we thought. Yes he saved us, several times, but those several times he had shown amazing skill. Skill that should frighten us.

"No way. He was a prince. They were not going to kill a prince just to catch us out. Especially him," said Brison.

"Still," Said Megan.

"I'm siding with Megan on this," I said. "Fine. I say we still go to school. Ellianna it means to much to you to just give up. It's safe and to make it safer, I'm gonna be there and so is Dylan," he said, clearly using his alpha status over poor Dylan.

"You can count on it," added Dylan, who reached across and gave my hand a light squeeze.

"Well his brain is too little to be let out alone," Said Megan looking at Dylan.

"I guess I'm following you into this trap,"

"We'll keep watch from the tree line," said Stella, speaking for her, Maverick and Selena.

"So is this like a council or something. Because anytime anything happens, you three are always there," said Megan.

"Yup," said Stella.

"I'm after Dylan, Maverick's after me and Selena's after him," she told us.

"And how long have you been a council?" I asked.

"Ever since the old council stepped down about a year ago," She said.

"And where are they now?"

"Oh they all left. It's tradition for the old leaders of the council to leave so that the new council can rule freely," She told us.

"What if you need help?" I asked.

"We just have to sort it out," She told us, folding her arms and sitting back in her chair.

"It's getting late so we better get going," Said Selena with a big yawn.

"I suppose so," Answered Stella.

"Come on," Said Maverick.

Selena and Stella go to college together, where Maverick graduated a year ago from medical school. He already has a job and a house like Brison's. They live with him as their college is just around the corner. Stella is doing law and Selena wants to become a gym teacher.

Maverick got up and took Selena's coat off the back of her chair as went. He stood back and waited for her to stand.  She stumbled to her feet from fatigue. She slipped the arms into the coat and Maverick slid it up onto her shoulders, taking this brief second to lean in close to her. He quickly stepped back again before he back to hypnotised. She went to walk but she stumbled again, but Maverick was quick to catch her. As she was the only one on the council still here when Brison went off in search of help, and Dylan was busy filling in as alpha, it was up to her to lead the rest. This meant she did more shifts than anyone else, so she is still mentally and physically drained. She is still bruised and cut in places and she hisses every now and then from pain, but she tries hard to conceal it.

"You can't walk," Said Maverick.

"Yes I can," She argued half heartedly.

"No you can't," He insisted as he swept her off her feet.

She was too tired to argue anymore so she just wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into his neck. It was heart warming to watch. Stella pulled the keys from his back pocket and walked towards the door.

"I'll drive," She said, grinning at him, as she walked outside to the car.

Maverick followed, his eyes fixed an a sleeping Selena. Brison told me that they were mates, sometimes it takes one of the mates a while to realise it. In this case it was Selena, but he did not love her any less. Stella told me that when they were gone, she was all he could think about. He knew that she would have a lot of hard, dangerous work and he was worried sick.

*******************************************************************************

"One and two and three and four, pick it up people, look alive," I barked as we practiced for the football game in half an hour.

Brison and Dylan were playing and we of course were going to be there. It was dark and only the floor lights on the field let us see where we were going. The football team was the other end of the field warming up. From the corner of my eye I saw them making their way towards us, up to the entrance to the changing rooms.

"Alright guys, that's enough. Lets go get changed," I said.

Brison came up beside me and caught my hand and we walked in together.

"Get a room," Screamed Dylan as he ran past us making everyone laugh.

When we reached the end of the tunnel, the boys went left and we went right. I gave Brison a small kiss and let go of his hand and watched him disappear into the changing room, like it was the last time I would see him.  I turned around and look out the tunnel at the stary sky, like I had just seen it for the first time. I could hear the other girls and boys in the changing rooms behind me, but they faded away, as for the first time I truly paid attention to my story. I was so in the moment, feeling how my chest would rise with every breath and how the cold nipped, giving me goose bumps. I felt exposed as I stood alone with the entrance wide open in front of me. I watched, nothing in particular, but I could not help the feeling of procrastination as I stood there, as a voice in the back of my head kept telling me to go get changed, so pulling myself away I walked back into the changing room

*************************************************************

I cheered and clapped as Brison ran up the field, with the ball under his arm and jumped to my feet as he ran over the line. I knocked my pom poms off the bench as I jumped up, so I picked them up and sat them back down next to me. I waited, cheering with everyone else until the final whistle blew and we had won. We all ran to congratulate the boys, leaving our pom poms behind us. I ran straight to Birson and kissed him. The football team lined up behind us as we had to lead them in. The band started playing, and we had to go in at a certain point in the song, just like we had always done. We usually take this time to run back and get our pom poms. I saw as I approached, how each girl reached down and picked them up. It was all in harmony, like a wave, but I was stumped to find that there were no more pom poms, down my end of the bench. I was a little worried as I could miss the moment we had to go in. I looked over my shoulder to see them all back in line waiting for me. I began to panic, biting the inside of my lip, until I saw them, all the way down the other end of the bench. I was firstly relieved when I saw them, but then I began to feel curious as to who could have moved them.

I cursed under my breath as I heard the band reach the note that we were supposed to run in to. That was it, I thought, I missed it. Feeling a little defeated and annoyed I ran back over to them.

"I missed it," I mumbled to Brison.

"It'll be fine," He said, as we began running towards the entrance of the tunnel.

"No one died or anything," He said.

And with that, there was a loud bang from the inside of the tunnel and the whole thing came crashing down, in smoke, dust and fire.