Brendon had never been happier to feel sunshine on his skin and breath fresh air into his lungs than he was when they burst through the heavy wooden door and exited the dark, damp tunnel.

It had been a long time since he’d felt the breeze on his skin and while it was a hot breeze, being late summer, it was still a welcome feeling.

The wolves all shifted back and Brendon rounded on Grange.

“I told you I wanted to be the one to kill Farris.” he said angrily. Grange shrugged.

“You walked away from him.”

“Dammit, Grange….” Brendon ground out, his fists clenching. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Dawn trying desperately to cover herself with her arms and he fought a smile. It was nice to see that while the world rarely stayed the same, some things never changed.

He slid off his duster coat, it was bloody, torn and stiff but it would do what she wanted done. Dawn smiled gratefully at him as he slipped the coat over her shoulders.

None of the other wolves were bothered by their lack of clothing. To them it was as natural to be nude after a shift as it was to breath.

“I wasn’t going to kill the bastard while he laid on the ground helpless.” Brendon argued as he turned back to Grange. “But once he pulled that gun he was fair game.”

“I saved your face and you’re welcome.” Grange grumbled, a grin forming on his lips.

“Looks like this place has truly been overrun.” Blain stated quietly as he looked out over the mountainside. Brendon followed his gaze and saw a small group of Hunters and guards running for their lives into the woods.

“Run, Hunters, run!” Trig exclaimed, laughing loudly when one of the Hunters tripped and a vampire chasing them leapt on him.

Brendon turned his head away, having seen enough of Hunter’s being slaughtered. In truth the Hunters weren’t the bad guys. The bad ones had been the Council and now they were gone.

“We can head back around to the front of the compound and go the Hunters quarters if the prisoners haven’t destroyed it. There are clothes there, food and beds where we can all rest a while.” he informed the pack. From the looks of the wolves, they needed some rest. While none of them were badly injured, they were covered in cuts and bruises.

“Food is the nicest word I’ve heard all day!” Trig exclaimed, his stomach rumbling loudly as he spoke. He came up and patted Brendon on the back roughly and Brendon’s sharp intake of breath had Trig jumping away.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” the wolf insisted, holding up his hands. “Please don’t hurt me back.”

“Shut-up, Trig.” Grange growled. “Take the shirt off, Brendon. Let me see what’s wrong with you.”

“Grange, I ain’t comfortable with another man asking me to get undressed.”

Grange rolled his eyes. “You are in my pack now, that means I’m the boss.”

“I get rid of one master only find another one?” Brendon questioned with amusement and Grange grinned. “I’m fine, Grange. Just a little bruised up. Now let’s go try to find a bed. I’ve been sleeping on a piss covered floor for damn near two months. I’m ready for a bed.”

The eight of them made their way back around the compound and through the toppled front gate.

Brendon led them into the compound, the walls in the entry hall bathed in dark red blood. He glanced at Ella to see how she was handling the scent of all the blood but she seemed content as she held onto his hand and walked beside him. Brendon was sure she had gotten enough blood in the last two days to keep the vampire satisfied for a long while.

He headed down the southeast corridor and then up a staircase into the east tower.

He moved slowly, cautiously. This was the tower that the Hunters called home when they were at the compound and Brendon was in no hurry to be stabbed in the back by one that had managed to hide out here.

The tower seemed to have been untouched by the fighting here today. Everything was neat, tidy, orderly, just as all Hunters were trained to be from the time they came to the compound.

Brendon defenses began to lower when suddenly they were sent flying back into place when he heard a thud in the corridor to the left.

“What was that?” Dawn asked quietly and Nickolai tilted his head.

“It smells like children.”

“Hunters in training.” Brendon replied with dread. He sent up a prayer that the children wouldn’t attack them. Brendon had no urge to kill young boys only doing what their brain washings had taught them to do. “Their rooms are down that corridor. You all stay here, I’ll be back.”

“I’m coming with you.” Ella insisted and Brendon shook his head and put his hand on her cheek.

“You are going to stay here. These boys are going to be very confused and nervous and they know me. If they see you coming in to their rooms it might only make things worse.” Ella sighed and took a step away from him.

Grange stepped forward when Brendon started to turn. “Be careful, Brendon. Those aren’t just kids, they are killers.” Brendon nodded as he thought back to when he had been that age.

“Trust me.” he whispered. “I know.”

He turned away and started down the corridor. These kids were dangerous but not beyond saving. If they knew that their masters were dead and no longer in control of them, they might just be able to begin to let go of their teachings.

Brendon stopped outside one door as he heard movement behind it. This was where the boys were. They were carefully masking their scents but they hadn’t yet mastered the art of breathing without making a sound and Brendon was good at what he did.

“Boys, it’s Brendon. I’m going to come in this room now but I don’t want to hurt anybody. I just want to talk.”

Brendon’s heart was thundering, his pulse pounding in his ears as he pushed open the heavy door and there they were. Twenty boys, ranging from seven to fourteen, huddled together in the back corner of this room full of beds and wardrobes.

Brendon stepped in and sat down on the edge of the bed nearest the door. He didn’t want any of these boys to think he was a threat. These were the only boys that survived the attack. Those that were older than fourteen would have been downstairs amidst it all or out in the field hunting.

It still bothered Brendon that the prisoners had killed all the Hunters. While Brendon understood their anger, he couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for the Hunters who had only been doing what they’d been trained from such a young age to do. They had been following orders, knowing that if they dared disobey they would be labeled disloyal traitors and their heads would have gotten a nice long vacation from their bodies.

It wasn’t fair but such was life. Life was what it was.

“What is going on downstairs?” one of the youngest boys asked as he stepped forward on knees that were shaking. Brendon recognized him as the boy that had been in the stables when Brendon had arrived back the day he’d been thrown in the dungeons.

“You boys are free now.” Brendon replied carefully.

“Free?” An older boy, fourteen, asked cautiously. “What do you mean free?”

“The council is gone.”

“Gone? Where did they go?” the youngest asked again and the oldest frowned.

“Can’t you smell it on Brendon? They’re dead. The prisoners got loose and the council is dead!” Brendon sighed.

“Yes, they are dead. Boys I know what you’re feeling right now. You feel like everything you are is gone…” The lost expressions on those twenty faces told Brendon he was right. “…”but it’s not. Those councilmen didn’t care about you. Trust me, I know. I served them for over three hundred years and because I fell in love I was branded a traitor and thrown in the dungeons.”

“They said you wanted to kill them all. That you’d fallen off your rocker.” the oldest boy argued and Brendon laughed.

“Do I look like a crazy person?” he questioned. “All those councilmen cared about was using you. Using you to do their dirty work. It wasn’t justice. Sure some that we hunted down deserved it but those dungeons were full of innocent immortals with a few guilty ones sprinkled in.”

“We know the council is bad.” another boy said stepping forward. This boy had a scar on his cheek, obviously from a bad wound since superficial wounds would leave no scar on a Hunter. “They killed Tommy.”

“Tommy?” Brendon asked with a frown.

“He said he was tired and needed to rest. He was only ten and they had been training us harder than usual. The council called him a traitor and they had the guards cut his head off right there in front of us.” The oldest boy said.

“He was just tired! He just wanted a rest!” the boy with the scarred cheek insisted. “He weren’t no traitor!”

Brendon nodded.

“You’re right, he wasn’t. Neither was I and that didn’t stop them from locking me up for nearly two months and then attempting to kill the woman I love just to get back at me.” Brendon felt anger beginning to stir in his blood and he took a deep breath. “But it doesn’t matter now. They are gone.”

‘And what’s gonna happen to us?” the young boy asked as he walked to Brendon and sat down beside him on the bed. Brendon put his elbows on his knees and propped his chin in his hand.

“Those of you who have homes and families can go back to them if you remember how to get there. You will need to stay here for a day or two, let the prisoners clear out and calm down and then you can head on home.”

“What about those of us that don’t?” the oldest boy asked.

“Why don’t the boys that don’t have a place to go all come stand in front of me.”

The youngest boy, the boy with the scarred cheek and the oldest boy all came to stand in front of him. The rest of the boys stayed where they were.

Brendon knew that most of them did not have families to go back to but Hunters were independent creatures and he was not worried about them. They might be young but they were resourceful, strong and more than capable of surviving on their own even at their young ages.

“What are your names?” Brendon asked the three boys in front of him.

“Gilliam.” the youngest said.

“Roland.” scar-cheek added.

“Carson.” the oldest.

“Gilliam, Roland, Carson, I am a member of a werewolf pack…”

“Werewolves?! What kind of werewolf pack has a Hunter in it?” Carson demanded skeptically. Brendon smiled.

“The same kind that has a vampire and a werelion.” he replied. “The alpha is a good man. Fair and he defends the innocents in his territory fiercely. I will talk to him and if you boys want there may be a place for you there.” Brendon looked up at the other boys. “That is open to all you.”

He was sure Grange would probably have a few choice words to say about Brendon’s offer but he also knew that Grange would take the boys in. Grange was a good man who usually did the right thing, even though he made sure to bitch and moan about it the entire time.

“Now I have a favor to ask.” Brendon said as he stood up. “My pack and I are very tired, sore, dirty and hungry. Stay in the tower but bring us up plenty of water for baths and some food.”

Eager feet ran off, happy to make sure Brendon and the pack had what they needed. Brendon grinned and decided that having the boys around probably wouldn’t be so bad.

***

Brendon settled in to the giant copper tub in the bedroom he had chosen for he and Ella to share tonight. A fire roared in the fireplace, despite the heat outside the stone walls and lack of windows kept a chill in the tower air.

That and Ella looked beautiful when the firelight danced off her flaming hair.

She was sitting in front of a mirror in the corner and running a comb through her long hair. Their stomachs were full of the stew that the boys had brought them and Ella was already clean, having taken her bath while Brendon had been talking to Grange about the boys.

The wolf had said he would think about it but Dawn had seemed open to the idea which told Brendon the boys that wanted to, would be leaving with them the next day.

Ella had changed into a long white sleeping gown that had belonged to the boys and she seemed to glow as he sat transfixed by the way the pale skin of her slender arm was revealed to him as the gown slid up it when she ran the comb through her hair.

“You are beautiful.” he whispered gruffly and Ella jumped before setting the comb on the table and turning to look at him. “Did I scare you?” he asked teasingly. She stood and walked toward him, her womanly hips swaying beneath the thin white fabric of her gown.

“I was lost in thought. It takes more than you to scare me.” she replied and Brendon knew she was speaking the truth. So much his mate had been through in her life but that was over now. He was going to make sure she was safe, happy and satisfied for the rest of his days.

“Brendon!” she exclaimed, her eyes dropping to his stomach, which was still badly welted and covered in dark black bruises.

Brendon shifted in the water, wishing the fire hadn’t been quite so bright and allowed her to see the damage done to his body.

“I’ll be just fine, Ella.”

“How bad was it? It must have been bad for you to still be showing bruises.” Ella’s tone was accusing and Brendon smiled. She had changed in the time he’d been away. Her voice was more animated and less emotionless. Her eyes were expressive and her mouth did more than frown now… Now it smiled.

“It was bad. But my insides seem to be healed and the outsides will follow.” he assured her. “Help me wash my back?”

Ella smiled again, a sight that Brendon knew he would never get tired of, and took the sponge he held out to her. She walked behind him as he leaned forward and began gently washing the dirt and blood from his skin.

“We nearly died today.” She finally said, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over them. Brendon nodded.

“Yep.”

“You said you would die for me.”

“Yep.”

“No one has ever said that before. With Warren it was always ‘I will kill for you’. No one has ever offered to lay down their life for me.”

Brendon sighed and took her arm, pulling her around him so that she was crouched on the side of the tub and he could look in her eyes. He slid his hand across her cheek, leaving a trail of warm water droplets in his wake.

“I would certainly kill for, Ella, but if that’s not an option I’d be more than happy to die in your place.” Brendon expected her to smile or lean into his hand with a contended sigh. Instead her eyes narrowed, her face reddened and she stood straight, placing her hands on her hips.

“Was it something I said?” he asked with a chuckle.

“You are ignorant!” she stated bluntly.

Brendon raised a brow and stood up, feeling a small sense of triumph when Ella’s angry glare faltered momentarily and her eyes traveled up and down the length of his dripping body.

He waited until she was once again looking at his face and then asked, ‘Come again?”

“If you die for me then what do I have?”

“Your life…”

“And what good is that if you’re gone?! Don’t you ever offer to die in my place again!” Brendon crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.

“I can’t make that promise, honey.”

Ella shrugged. “Fine then. And if the opportunity presents itself then I will die in your place.” Brendon grumbled under his breath and then stuck his finger out and under her nose.

“I don’t think you will.’ he warned.

“No fun feeling helpless is it?” Ella asked and Brendon realized with shock that she was teasing him.

“Why you little blood sucking demon…” he grumbled as he reached for her and lifted her into his arms. She laughed.

“Vampire actually.”

Brendon couldn’t believe how beautiful she was when she laughed or how that sound washed over him like cleansing rain after a long drought. The significance of laughter and smiling was something that had never been lost on him. No matter how rough his life had ever gotten he had always been one to see the lighter side of things. He had always been quick to laugh and to smile.

Now seeing Ella doing those things only reinforced his belief that while many things in life were bad for the most part life was very very good.

He sat her down on her feet in the tub, water quickly soaking her gown to just past her knees.

“I’ve missed you, Ella.”

“I have missed you.” Ella put her hands on his freshly shaven cheek and then let them trail down his neck, across his collarbone and down to his stomach, enjoying the feel of his hard muscles beneath her fingertips.

Brendon let out a growl and then picked her up, pulling her body against him. Ella wrapped her legs around his waist, enjoying the feel of his arousal pressing against her most intimate places.

“Why don’t we just agree to not get ourselves in a situation where either of us has to die for the other?” Brendon asked roughly as he stepped out of the tub and carried her toward the waiting bed.

“I would die for you, you know.” Ella replied meaningfully as Brendon laid her down on the mattress and braced his body over hers. His lips teased a path along her jaw and her neck as his fingers danced their way up her legs, beneath her gown and across her trembling thighs.

His lips went back to her ear and then to her lips and he whispered against them. “I know.”

***

“What’s wrong?” Grange asked as he took Dawn by the hand and forced her to stop pacing around the room. She had already rearranged the already perfectly organized weapons in the cabinet at least four times and if she swept the floor again, she was going to wear a hole in the bricks.

“There’s nothing wrong, Grange. I’m fine.”

Grange growled. If there was one thing he knew about his mate it was that when she said ‘There’s nothing wrong, Grange, I’m fine.’, what she really meant was ‘There’s something very wrong, Grange, and I’m not fine.’.

“Dawn, you know I don’t do this. I don’t do this beating around the bush and dancing around an issue thing. If there is something wrong then just tell me.”

“You honestly don’t know?!” Dawn exclaimed. “You don’t know what’s wrong with me?”

“If you’re worried about Creed, don’t be, Farrah and Brie will make sure he’s taken care of. If you’re worried about something else happening here, it won’t. The prisoners are gone, they didn’t want to hang around here. The guards are mostly dead, the rest have decided they weren’t as loyal as they thought. Everything is fine.”

“It’s not fine!” Dawn growled as she yanked her hand away from him and moved across the room. “Why didn’t you stop me!?”

Grange was confused. “What are you talking about?”

Suddenly Dawn was sobbing as she hugged herself tightly. Grange felt his own heart breaking at the sight of her tears and the sound of her gasping for breath. He stood quickly and went toward her but she held out her hand and he stopped.

“Don’t touch me, Grange.”

“Dawn, I….” Grange searched for something to say. Never before had she been this angry with him. What had he done? He would never, never, do anything to cause her pain and yet here she was sobbing and refusing his comfort.

“I killed those men.” she croaked out, her face red and wet with tears and her eyes full of more tears, quickly following in the paths of those that had fallen before.

“The council?” Grange asked with a frown. He had always hated searching for answers but he wasn’t about to snap at Dawn or lose his patience. Not when she was like this. “Love, tell me what’s wrong.” he urged gently.

“You should have stopped me, Grange! You shouldn’t have let me do that… I don’t want to be a monster. I don’t want to be this…creature… anymore.” She went toward the door and Grange moved quickly, grabbing her arm.

Her other arm whipped around as she growled loudly and her hand struck him sharply in the face.

Grange released his hold on her and stumbled back.

Dawn’s blue eyes widened with shock and then she opened the door and ran into the hall. Grange moved to follow her but she once again held up her hand.

“If you love me then you’ll leave me alone.”

Grange watched her disappear down the hall and then somehow he found himself back inside the room and sitting on the edge of the bed. His heart felt as if it had been ripped from his chest.

The clock on the wall, the only sound filling the silence.

His mind was reeling and each thought he had was more confusing than the last. Questions were swirling inside his mind but one was infinitely louder and more prevalent than the rest.

Had he just lost his mate?