"Get Matthew here at once. Have several guards guarding the exits to the pack house," I growl. "We can not let her escape."

"Yes Alpha," Xander replies. "Do you want Matthew to meet you out here or should we ambush her?"

"Ambush her in a narrow corridor if possible."

He nods.

I reenter the room after talking to Xander to see Carrie and Iz talking. Or rather, Carrie talking and my mate listening. Iz's relief at my return is apparent. She doesn't conceal it at all and I notice Carrie's nails lengthen, as if she's struggling to hold back her vampiric talons.

She knows Isobel knows. She knows I now probably know.

She's not going to attack yet; she knows better than to go face to face with an Alpha wolf with no plan. Even so, I'm not convinced I could take her and I'm not risking a fight when Isobel can't fight back.

We also have a large group of wolves downstairs equipped to take her out, Nate comments, rolling his eyes.

That too.

I silently watch the pair of them, resisting my urge to rip Carrie away from my mate. Despite knowing the truth of Carrie's nature, I can't help but to admire her for managing to keep up her act of being an innocent child and playing the role so convincingly that she managed to fool all but my Beta. The fact she managed to fool Jack is impressive as she trusts next to no one, treating everyone as a potential threat until they prove otherwise.

I hate this. Isaac, we need to get her away from Iz.

No. We have to be patient. We can't risk Iz getting hurt.

My heart goes out to her. I wish I could talk to her properly, for her to be able to talk back again. I already miss her disregard for rules and I even miss Jack's arguably bloodthirsty nature. I give a small sigh of regret; if I'd never let the Praetorian take her, we would still be able to talk. Iz hears me and she beckons to me and I walk over, seating myself in the other chair beside her, taking her hand again.

I glance outside the small window to see it's starting to get dark, and a shiver of fear crawls up my spine. Vampires are strongest at night, especially when it's a new moon like tonight; we are running out of time to safely capture her. However, the time also gives me the perfect excuse to get her downstairs and away from my mate.

"Carrie where do you want to sleep tonight? You can stay with Gwen or the other children."

"Gwen."

"I'll tell her and ask her to pick you up."

Is everyone ready?

Yes Alpha, Matthew answers. We are ready to ambush her in the main reception area. Everyone in that area has been vacated to a safer part of the pack house.

Good. I'm on my way.

"Gwen will be here to pick you up in ten minutes. Say goodbye to Iz and we'll go and wait for her."

"Okay. Bye Izzy!"

Carrie hugs Iz's free arm and I give Iz a parting smile and a wink, and I lead Carrie out the door, a pair of guards locking it behind us.

Good. Isobel's safe if this should go wrong.

Not that it will.

Not that it will.

My stomach churns as we approach the doors to the reception area and my anticipation builds, all the worst-case scenarios rushing through my mind. What if she escapes? What if she manages to capture Isobel? What if she -

Stop your worrying. It'll be fine.

I pull open the reception doors and usher Carrie inside, praying to the Moon Goddess that Matthew is prepared.

We have taken only a few steps into the room when the door slams behind us, the sound of several locks clicking a relief. She's not getting to Isobel any time soon. The entrance to the pack house is also locked and bolted with three guards blocking any path to it.

In seconds, Carrie's nails sharpen to long talons, her fangs bared, and using her supernatural speed, she turns and stabs me in the stomach, Nate forcing us to dodge at the last possible moment.

Let me take over.

I feel the familiar sensation of brief emptiness as Nate takes control of my body, our body initiating a partial shift. Slashing at Carrie's face, we jump backwards as she retaliates, her talons grazing our arms, deep scratches embedding themselves in my arm, blood beginning to drip onto the floor.

Xander fully shifts, pouncing on Carrie while she's distracted with Matthew, who has succeeded in breaking several of her talons by using her own fingers as leverage. The broken ends drop to the floor, emitting a green-black smoke as they decay, smoke that we are all careful to avoid, except Carrie. She darts forwards, becoming a blur.

For a moment we lose track of her, the quick patter of her feet on the ground the lone indicator of her direction. Several of the other guards collapse due to their knee tendons being sliced. However, their wolves are quick to heal them and they shift, pouncing on Carrie's still moving body.

Most of them miss, but one manages to seize her leg in her jaws, dislocating first the knee then biting through her calf so her leg drags behind her. Somehow she keeps running.

Then it goes silent.

Carrie's nowhere in sight, the sound of her heavy breathing one of the few signs she's still in the room and hasn't escaped.

She's hiding.

Coward.

Everyone, except door guards, span out and search the room. She's child sized so search even areas which are too small for you. She poses a threat to the entire Pack. We cannot let her escape, I say over the Pack link.

Yes Alpha, a chorus of voices answers, and they follow my orders, checking under every table and chair.

There is an uncomfortable amount of small spaces that we are forced to search and we often have to move furniture to check that she's not hiding under it. Numerous times we spot her but she always flees to a new space milliseconds before we can restrain her.

Finally though, we manage to back her into a corner, all of us frustrated at how long it's taken to get to this point. Matthew pushes past me, his eyes flickering from his normal brown to yellow as his wolf takes control of his body, his claws and canines coming out.

They pounce before Carrie can react, pinning her to the wall, claws digging into her icy skin, drawing ruby blood that drips down her arms that are held above her head. She fights to escape his grip, her body several feet off the floor, the only solid surface the wall at her back.

A scream pierces the air as Matthew's wolf releases her right arm, dropping her so violently that her other limb is dislocated. For just a moment we all realise that Carrie may not be a child mentally, but physically she still is.

"Matthew, stop," I order, hoping in vain that it will pull him back to us. We all watch in horror as his wolf ignores us, choosing instead to slash Carrie's arm, tearing the flesh to shreds, cutting through to the bone, a small pool of blood gathering at their feet.

He's not coming back for a while by the look of it.

"Xander, deal with Matthew. Me and the guards can restrain her now."

As you wish Alpha.

Shifting back to his human form, he turns to Matthew's wolf who is oblivious to the events occurring around him, his entire focus on the bleeding vampire in front of him. "Keir, let her go."

We wait expectantly for him to drop her.

He doesn't.

"I said drop her Keir. She's not a threat anymore, Goddess knows you've seen to that."

"No." Keir's voice is gravelly, much rougher than Matthew's. "She remains a threat as long as she's alive. Besides, I was enjoying myself."

I'd forgotten about this.

Me too. Xander, you know what to do.

Yes, Alpha. I wish it didn't have to come to this.

Me too. We have no choice.

Me, Xander and the guards approach Keir and Carrie. As one, we all fulfil our roles, Xander tearing Keir's hands off her, me and the guards snapping a pair of handcuffs on her wrists, ankles and elbows, acknowledging that she is still dangerous, regardless of her injuries.

She's close to unconscious from the pain and I give quick instructions to the guards, ordering them to put her in the most secure cell we have. She'll heal given several hours, so won't require medical attention.

That leaves me alone with Keir, who is being pinned to the floor by Xander's wolf form, his jaws locked around Keir's throat, preventing him struggling.

"You can release him Xand."

He steps off him, alert for an attack from him.

"Keir, give Matthew back control."

"No," he snarls, yet he remains lying on the floor, more focused on fighting Matthew than me. I grab his chin, forcing him to face me.

"I said give him control. Now." He looks as if he's going to resist, baring his teeth. "Do not make me repeat myself again."

He whimpers and his yellow eyes morph to brown as Matthew is granted command of his body once more. Aware that Keir is gone for the moment, I release him, sitting on the floor beside him.

"Shit. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to - " He starts to apologise, regret lining his features.

"Don't be," Xander says, cutting him off. "Both me and Isaac understand that it isn't your fault that you struggle to control him in situations like this."

"If anything, it's my fault Matthew. I should have anticipated this," I put in.

"Stop blaming yourselves. It's not your faults." Matthew sighs, rubbing the dark circles under his eyes. "Is she going to be alright?"

"She'll recover. We'll interrogate her tomorrow," I answer. "You need to get some rest, alright?"

He nods, struggling to remain sitting upright, and he scrambles to his feet, me and Xander following suit. He wobbles back and forth for several seconds, before losing his balance and plummeting forwards.

I catch him before he hits the floor and he slumps against my chest, a quiet snore echoing through the empty room.

"I'll take him to his room, Xander. Once you've changed, can you organise clean up in here?"

His wolf nods and we walk up the stairs of the pack house, parting on the first floor, me to take Matthew to his room to recover and Xander to go and get changed.

It doesn't take long to tuck Matthew into bed, his exhaustion meaning that he's running on the mental energy of a small child and doesn't wake up once.

I want to check on Iz.

I hear back to the Pack hospital, past the cleaners and up to my mate's room.

She's asleep, a miniscule smile on her face, and I can't stop the small one spreading across my own. I gently stroke her cheek, causing her to stir but not fully wake, and I quickly change out of my clothes, shifting into Nate. I know he's missing Jack; the least I can do is let him be with Iz.

Thanks Isaac.

He curls up next to the bed, facing the door, positioned to defend Iz should we need to.

***

We are woken the next morning by shuffling. We spring to our feet, preparing to fight off any enemies, the events of last night coming to mind, a growl rumbling deep in our chest. We hear quiet laughter above us and we look at Iz inquiringly. She clears her throat and gives speech a go.

"It's sweet seeing how protective you both are of me. Don't worry, I'm fine now."

I shift back and she quickly covers her eyes like she always does. I change, chuckling to myself: she always acts so innocent but I can't help reflecting on the events of yesterday.

"Iz, how can I not worry? You nearly died! I thought you were dead! How am I not supposed to worry? I'm your mate."

"Isaac ..." She gestures for me to sit on the chair beside her. "Isaac, I'm okay. I'm not dead. It's okay." Her words bring a small measure of relief but they can't crush the feeling of guilt and regret inside me.

"No Iz, it's not okay. I thought I'd lost you. I could have prevented all this if I'd just - "

She silences me with her hand, covering my mouth with her palm.

"You think I don't know that? I thought I was going to die. Me and Jack went through every option, every possible way of escape and came up with nothing. We said goodbye Isaac. We didn't think we would still be alive today, we didn't think we would make it to this morning. I was terrified Isaac! And you nearly didn't come in time. And - and - "

She breaks off into sobs, burying her face in her hands. I reach out to her but she flinches away.

"Let's get you out of here. I'll get the doctor to discharge you okay?"

She gives a barely noticeable nod and I leave the room to track down a doctor. Thankfully one is already heading towards Iz's room.

"Can Iz be discharged?"

"Allow me to do a final checkup on her condition, Alpha, and if everything checks out, then Luna Isobel can go home."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome Alpha."

It takes less than ten minutes for the doctor to make sure Iz is okay before discharging her, unhooking her from the drip, telling us that if any of the symptoms reappear to return immediately, and then leaves us two alone again.

"Let's go home."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sooooooo...

This chapter changed a lot in the editing phase. It ended up about 600 words longer than the original chapter but I had a disturbing amount of fun writing it.
Thanks for reading.
Bye bye bye,
WORxxx

Bye, bye, bye - NSYNC

(Have I done this one before?)
(Probably).
(Do I care?)

(Nope).

34