"Are you sure?" Walker asked as they made their way passed other wolves and witches, the owls and other woodland creatures eyeing them as they walked the trails, "Roxie.."

"Stop asking me or I'm going to turn around," Roxie said through her teeth, "I don't want to do this, I have to do this."

"Don't we know what we need to know? Can't we let it be?"

"Walker, she could know something the witches don't. They were using witchcraft anyway."

"She tried to kill you and she killed our baby!" Walker yelped, causing both of them to stop in their tracks. The others fell many steps behind as Jenny ushered them further away.

Roxie turned to face him, "I know what she did to our baby, Walker. I have to be reminded of it every day because I don't feel him anymore."

Walker swallowed hard, watching as she stepped forward an inch, "I...felt him...I know what I'm missing, what you're missing. They wouldn't have done that to us if they weren't crazed. I don't need you to remind me."

"I don't mean to..." Walker started, "No, I do mean to. He was my baby, too. I'm angry."

"And you have every right to be, but not at them..."

"How do you know they didn't go along with it?"

Jaleesa stepped forward, "You don't just go along with being crazed, Walker."

The fact that most of the things we've been told are untrue has me questioning everything, " Roxie said as they continued on, "Mate bonds, the elders, pregnancy, visions... "

Walker sighed, "It's like the universe is fighting back. Aren't there some ancient scrolls or some shit that talk about this? "

Jenny piped up, "According to Jadis, they sealed those. "

Walker scoffed, "Of course they did. The truth is in those scrolls."

"The truth is in us, Walker," Roxie took his hand as they walked, "Don't you get it? We are the truth now and they can't deny that. "

Jaleesa agreed, "Even if you had the scrolls, anyone can forge them, fake them, bind them.. For fifty years they've played your kind into submission. Your mother was supposed to be mated to an aristocrat in France. "

Roxie laughed,"My mom?"

"No inner mingling, remember? You stick with your kind. Most likely Jesse or someone is going to be falsely mated to you at that ball and then bound. "

Walker stopped and turned around.

"You're telling me that the elders before never did this shit? "

Jaleesa smiled,"They had integrity, ethics .. they were direct and in alignment with the cosmos. Example is a young woman in Madrid who was very well off was mated with a stable boy who had nothing. They're still in Madrid and living out their old age in peace. Another in Africa.. a homeless vamp was mated to a local lawyer who'd never laid eyes on the poor soul and they are happy and healthy with 22 grandchildren. "

"Some of your vamps are still mated to their own class, if you will, because their powers are incredible and they can have offspring. "

"My mom had me.. " Roxie said.

"Through the spells yes," Jaleesa said,"They made sure to at least allow conception. It would have looked even more bizarre for the falsely mated to never bear kids. "

Roxie stiffened. She felt like a lie, like her life was nothing but one big, chaotic lie.

Evans laughed,"Fuck.. this is giving me a headache. All of this bullshit to keep people down and bring up the high class? Typical... "

Walker cringed. He'd been lied to his whole life as well. Taught to feel superior to people like Roxie and her family, the mutts, even the witches and now?

He felt at home.

"I do, too... " Roxie whispered as they made it to the cells where a few of the Rager guards stood near a tiny cell in the back of the corridor.

"Crystal..." Walker went up the cell bars and gazed inside as Crystal sat on the corner of the cot, her knees up to her chin,her head bowed. She was shivering until she heard Walker's voice, slowly gazing up at him and then to Roxie and back to him.

"I'm.." She looked at Dante and Roxie noticed something passing between them,but she couldn't quite figure it out, "I'm so s-sorry.."

"What happened?" Walker said, "You need to tell us and then we need to bury Connie."

A sob came from Crystal as Roxie shot Walker a look, "A little tact would nice, my love."

"Roxie, please forgive me!" Crystal stepped closer to the bars where Roxie gripped the iron, "I am so alone..."

"You're not alone, Crystal. You have us," Roxie said, knowing full well that the young prisoner was in agony over being crazed and the killing of her friend, "I promise."

Dante shifted his weight. He'd been with Crystal for most of the time she'd been placed in the cell.

"Would you like to come out?" Roxie asked, "We're going to give Connie a nice burial, but you don't have to come. It wasn't your fault what you did, Crystal, but who crazed you?"

"I—I don't know...I was at the den meeting and then I was in the cave," Crystal sobbed, "Walker, I like you, but I've never loved you—no offense."

Walker smiled, "None taken."

"Connie liked you—a lot, but we had no idea about any of this," Crystal looked around, "I don't know what this even is! Why am I here? Why did I kill my best friend? Roxie, I am so sorry I treated you so badly."

"That's my fault," Walker sighed, "I...should have been better."

Crystal shook her head, "Walker, stop. I know you love her and I love that for you both, I do. I don't understand what's happening, though. Can anyone help me?"

"You need to come with us," Roxie softened, "We'll prepare Connie so you don't have to and then we're burying her by the river."

"Sh-she loved the river,"Crystal choked as tears streamed down her face, "She really had nothing against you, Roxie...she just...we just...we were so stupid.."

Dante held Crystal close to him. It wasn't just Roxie who noticed, Walker did, too—as did Jenny and Evans.

The women prepped Connie with Jaleesa healing her body as best as she could. She wasn't able to take away all of the damage, but Jenny put some makeup on her face, but Connie was naked and badly battered.

"I have a dress," Roxie said as she carried herself back to her and Walker's home, Walker watching her as she did so.

"You love her a lot, don't you?" Crystal asked as they sat huddled together around a small fire Evans had built, "I see it."

"I do.."Walker said as he watched Roxie exit the home, carrying a purple bundle, "She's a good mate."

"She's more than that, Walker," Crystal said, "You can't ever stop thinking about her. I see how you look at her—I saw how you looked at her at school. Connie would get so pissed, but she carried it with stride."

"How did I look at her?"

"Like she was more than what you wanted her to be—what you thought she was," Crystal said, "You hated to like her as much as you did."

They watched as Roxie slipped back into the little chapel.

"I can't imagine your pain, Walker. I can't forgive myself for...for.."

"He'll come back, Crystal. You didn't know what you were doing."

"I would never hurt a child.." Crystal turned away as Dante wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "Never.. I wish I was dead."

"No!" Walker glared at her, "No, you don't...please, I barely have anyone left that I can trust and you don't deserve to die. Don't talk like that."

"Do you all use a priest or an elder...?" Dante asked.

"We use whatever Connie believed in..." Walker said, looking at Crystal, "What would Connie have been OK with?"

Crystal's tears streamed down her face, "Honestly? She'd just want people to know she wasn't this way—I want her avenged."

"I do, too!" Roxie said as she made her way to Walker's side. He pulled her onto his lap and she reached out and took Crystal's hand, "We'll get through this. We need you, Crystal. Connie wouldn't want you to die—she loved you. We'll get Jadis to perform the burial ceremony."

"Why?"

"She's the closest thing we have to a spiritual leader and there's no way we're calling an elder."

The ones who wanted to view Connie: Roxie, Walker, Crystal, Jadis, Jaleesa and Jenny did so quickly, quietly, as Corey, Walker, Evans, Metgar, Dante, and another one of Metgar's soldiers, Ryan, carried the coffin down to the river where men had worked to dig a hole on the embankment.

Jadis chanted the entire time, but it was calming to the group. As she began her speech, the men grappled with the long belts wrapped around the coffin, using all of the strength they had to lower it into the ground. A sob left Crystal as the coffin disappeared from sight.

"Connie.." Jadis said as she continued chanting in some language that no one understood except for Jaleesa.

Thunder rolled in the distance as the sun finally began to set and each person took a handful of dirt, tossing into the grave and onto the coffin.

"We'll bring flowers tomorrow," Roxie said, taking hold of Crystal's hand, "She liked petunia's right?"

"She didn't like real flowers," Walker mumbled, "She said all they did was die, but she adored fake ones."

Jenny stepped closer, "I think we can make that happen, too."

The men finished covering the grave as the group said their goodbyes. Dante cradled Crystal to him as they walked back to the village.

"What the fuck is going on there?" Walker asked quietly as he and Roxie shuffled a few feet back.

"I am assuming it's called love, but they've only known each other for two days," Roxie smiled, "He has taken a liking to her."

Walker shook his head, "He just wants to fuck her."

"Not all guys just want to fuck, Walker," Roxie rolled her eyes, taking one last glance back at the river, "Maybe....Wait..."

"I know what you're thinking. Connie didn't have an invite,though."

"I thought she did?"

Walker sighed, "She didn't have one before we left."

Jaleesa slowed to walk with them, "She didn't have a mate...She would have been absolutely free to be with whomever she chose. Her soul will rest easy once we've eliminated the problem."

"Crystal is free to go if you'll allow it," Jenny told them, "It's under your law, not ours."

Dante and Crystal stopped so they could gather themselves.

"I'll take her in," Dante said,"I have no one there anyway... "

Crystal looked absolutely grateful for the man standing beside her. She had changed so much in such little time

"We'll protect you," Dante said, turning to face her, cupping her face in his hands,"Right?" He turned to the group, pleading with them.

"Yes," Roxie said,"We will. Something happened at that den meeting so you'll need to tell us everything you recall about it and who was there, but we can discuss it later."

Jaleesa smiled,"Brett and the Haven's are definitely keeping an eye out. Oddly enough, nothing noteworthy has happened since you two left. Connie's parents are not even frazzled, but they will be soon. I can send some spies."

"Spies?" Evans asked, "Familiars? Fuck this is getting so absurd."

Walker snapped, "You're a fucking dog, Durant. Tell me how much more absurd this is to you."

Evans started to say something, but thought better. He knew that outside their world, people would have looked at them like they were mentally unstable.

"I'm surprised none of the hunters have gotten involved," Roxie said, "Do they even care?"

Jadis cackled, "Hell no, little lady! They'd rather see us tear each other down so they don't have to do the dirty work."

"I think I'll take Crystal make home and settle her in," Dante said, looking to Metgar for approval, "If that's OK, boss?"

Metgar nodded, "I'll send Martina with some clothes and other essentials soon. Crystal, please don't be alarmed—Dante is one my most trusted men. He'll protect you, don't you worry."

Walker leaned into Roxie's ear, "I'm pretty sure clothes are going to be optional for them very, VERY soon."

Roxie's eyes widened and she shook her head, watching Crystal and Dante walk back to Dante's home.

"Yep," Jadis sighed, "The kids are so damn gorgeous. Little hellions, though—just like Jenny was as a child. Wolf and vampire combos are the mischievous ones."

Roxie smiled, but then remembered that all visions were what might be, not always what will be.

"I'm glad you see that, Jadis.."

Jadis nodded, "Your four—hell, I can't even count how many you two have—always trying to go at it everywhere in that house.." She walked away, mumbling, "Walker can't wait two weeks for you to heal—but that's men...I remember when I had my daughter..."

Roxie poked Walker in the chest, "See? You can't stay off of me now, either."

Walker blushed, "I have no regrets about this."

"Do you want to join them tonight?"

Walker looked in the direction of the canteen and then back at her and out into the village where their little home stood.

"No, I think I've had enough of them for one day," Walker said, "I just want you all to myself, Rox. Can I have you tonight?"

"You can have me every night, Walker.."