"Hey Ruby, what's up?" Ruby closed the door once Catrice was in the bedroom, she was well aware that the walls were not soundproof and likely the others were straining to listen now.

"Catrice, listen. There's no easy way to say this so I'm just going to come out and say it. The guy downstairs, Hollis? He thinks you may be the fated-mate of the alpha. Topher Fysher, I need you to go over and introduce yourself. But also be mindful that this...this complication might also be true. If it is we're going to need to work around it, you may need to be withdrawn from this case." Ruby had never been good at wording delicate things, she knew how to dance around a topic or avoid it all together. But as soon as she was required to share sensitive news she often blurted it all out at once.

To her credit, Catrice seemed to take it all in her stride. She took a few moments to compose herself, Ruby watched her facial expression change several times from sheer happiness to deep worry.

"What should I do Ruby? I can't have this impacting the mission, I don't want to be reassigned but I also don't want to pursue it until after the case is closed." Ruby knew then, as her eyes connected with Catrice's that this would be Catrice's last mission as a protector. After this trip, she would no longer be a protector.

"Please Ruby, let me stay. I'll talk with him, I'll let him know that this 'thing' needs to be put on ice until my job is done. To think, some people find their mates in middle school and high school...it took me 120 years to find mine." Ruby snorted, at least shifters had such a concept as fated mates.

"Okay Catrice, if you and Topher can promise that this won't impact the mission then I'll allow you to stay. Have you come out of mourning then?" Ruby asked Catrice dipped her head slightly.

"Yes, I...yes. I came to tell you that none of it was your fault either, it wasn't even Kenny's fault. Jamieson did what he had to do and paid the price for it. We weren't prepared, he knew that but he still went ahead with it regardless. I just hope you can forgive me and you can forgive yourself. It must have been hard having everyone judge and question your every movement after the incident, a lot have moved on but I know you'll still be beating yourself up over it and so will a few other protectors. I also just wanted to say thank you, you value us and you value your team. Some of the others that I've worked for since that incident...they don't care. So when I heard you were taking up this mission I jumped on board as soon as possible. It's really nice to see most of the gang back working together." Ruby was momentarily at a loss for words, she hadn't been beating herself up over Jamieson's death but she also hadn't let it go.

It made her glad to know that the one person impacted most by Jamieson's death had no only moved on but had also forgiven her was heart warming, something she hadn't really allowed herself to feel for several years now.

"Don't panic Catrice, I won't boot you off if you want to stay. But you know the rules, so if you can work something discreet with him I'm happy enough to look the other way." The radiant smile that spread across Catrice's face only served to escalate those heart warming feelings to a point where Ruby began to feel tears stinging the backs of her eyes.

Coughing slightly to clear her throat, Ruby nodded at Catrice before opening the door.

"So, what's your name for this assignment? Are you using your actual face?" to most others that would have come across as being odd but Catrice smiled and nodded.

"Yep! I'm finally getting to use my own face and my name is Twyla Gray, Gray to friends and family as that is my disposition. I'm Carlos' new girlfriend, Jonah was a bit shocked by that but he said he's willing to play that part if I am...I'm fresh out of high school and decided to follow him here to Samson. I'm a struggling artist and believe deeply in the damaged type of human." Ruby laughed as they both made their way downstairs, everyone was busy shuffling around downstairs, Ben and Jonah shouting instructions for what was going where.

The only person not doing anything was Hollis, for a moment he looked as if his breath had been stolen right out of him. He stood there gawking at Ruby and Catrice, though Ruby assumed he was staring at Catrice as alpha females tended to have that reaction from pack members when they were radiant.

"I like your real face to Ruby, or is it Elsie?" Ruby forgot she'd been posing at Elsie and reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Probably Elsie from here on out, I need to work with Topher and Ben to see if we can come up with a reason for why I'm no longer in school." Ruby mused over reasons as they came to a stop in front of Hollis, who still hadn't recovered his senses.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked Hollis as he stared down at her with that slack-jawed expression, she figured he was being influenced by Gray's presence. Having an alpha female around, especially one that hadn't been claimed did odd things to males and Hollis' expression fit into that category.

"I think he's love-struck," Gray commented with a smile at Ruby, she glanced from Gray to Hollis and back again before the penny dropped.

"Okay Hollis, why don't you take Twyla Gray and introduce her to your alpha. Gray, take him with you." Ruby barked her orders before leaving the room, she felt as if she were suffocating. What the hell did Gray mean by that and why had Hollis been staring at her in such a way?

She wasn't a shifter, she was old enough to be his ancestor and yet he'd been looking at her like she was his alpha...like he loved her.

Shaking the idea from her mind Ruby felt a presence at her side and glanced up to see Jonah standing there, waiting for her to gather her wits again. He was good like that, he never intruded on her privacy when she needed it and only ever spoke once she did.

"It's not a spell, that much I can confirm. But he did look thoroughly rejected when he walked out with Gray. What'd you do to him?" Ruby shrugged, she had no idea. In the space of a few hours, Hollis had gone from holding some sort of grudge against her to looking all doe-eyed instead. It didn't make any sense, Ruby wasn't a shifter so there was no way that Hollis could be feeling that sort of pull towards her.

"It has to be a spell, a male shifter doesn't go from hating me to looking like the sun is shining out of my *ss in the space of a day. Are you sure Jonah? Can you not triple check just to make sure?" Jonah gave Ruby a sideways look before nodding, Ruby at least felt reassured that he'd look again. It was the only thing she could of that would attract a male shifter to her.

"You do realize you're beautiful, right? You probably haven't been told that in a long time, not to your actual face anyway. But you are beautiful and when you smile like you did inside you're radiant, I think that's what got Hollis. Until that point, you were just this annoying, arrogant woman who was trying to show everyone up." Ruby frowned, she knew that this face she currently wore was pretty but for Jonah to compliment her meant something. Looks didn't much matter to him, especially in a job where their faces changed constantly.

"Thanks, Jonah but you know I'm not here to parade my looks around and hook up with the hottest shifter." Ruby used to add on 'life is too short' but she'd been around far too long to consider life short anymore so instead left it at that.

Jonah laughed and rolled his eyes at her, a typical Jonah response.

"Yeah I know, but if you're still punishing yourself for what happened fifty years ago you shouldn't. You've been punishing yourself for far too long over something that wasn't your fault, the only person that still blames you is you...and Mali. But let's be honest, Mali is still in the dark about what happened. Isn't he? Maybe it's time you let him know what really happened and put those demons to bed." Jonah had a point if Gray could accept things and move on then so could Ruby.

"Yeah, maybe you're right Jonah. Maybe I do need to speak with Mali, but don't get your hopes up with Hollis. The last thing I need on this mission is a distraction." Ruby mumbled, even though she had to admit he was a good-looking distraction all the same.

"I'll leave you to it then." Ruby nodded as Jonah left the room, she was able to think more clearly once he was gone. Maybe her reaction to Hollis hadn't been the best, but the last thing she'd expected was that sort of expression from him.

'He's coming.' Ruby jumped at the sudden invasion, the voice that had voiced the warning had changed. The statement was said with a cackle, one she'd never heard before but was unmistakably someone with an agenda against her. It was as if the woman had been standing there, right next to her but when Ruby turned there was only emptiness.

Shaking the feelings from her mind, Ruby went back out to where everyone was bustling around shifting things.

For a moment nothing seemed out of place until she saw Mali standing amongst everyone, he stood perfectly still. Staring at her with a small, sadistic smile plastered across his face...if looks could kill he would have murdered her by now.

And then everything slowed as she watched Mali's skin begin to prickle and move as he began to shift into his werewolf form, Ruby knew then that she was his target and transformed a fraction of a second before him. She stood her ground and roared at him, just as Mali roared back in response.

Often that was enough to pull him to attention but something was wrong, Ruby knew it.

The others in the small room melted away as Mali lunged for her, though thankfully Ruby was ready and braced herself for impact. She managed to land a foot against Mali's stomach and pushed down, he seemed to barely notice as his gaze was transfixed on her.

In her moment of distraction, Ruby felt Mali's teeth sink into the side of her neck, this wasn't a marking...shifters of their kind never marked each other.

When Mali began to pull, Ruby knew she was in trouble if she didn't act quickly. So she did one of the few things she swore she would only do in an emergency, she ripped flesh from the underside of Mali's jaw, managed to get a few fingers inside his mouth and proceeded to shove her fingers down his throat. It was effective, though extremely bloody, when Mali howled, gagged and pulled away Ruby collapsed to the ground clutching her shoulder.

It only took a few seconds before both she and Mali were back in human form, Ruby clutching her shoulder and Mali clutching the underside of his mouth.

"Jesus...what the hell are you two doing? Someone grab Jonah, can someone else call ahead to Topher. We're going to need his pack doctor too, Ruby you're losing a lot of blood girl. Make sure you come back on the other side, Mali you're dead meat man." Ruby wasn't sure who was talking, she hated when this happened as it meant going before the judges...but it was going to happen regardless as she felt herself black out and collapse to the floor.

When Ruby woke it took her a moment to realize she wasn't on the floor in Ben's home, she wasn't in any home.

Rolling over, she frowned.

Picking herself up off the bed Ruby walked aimlessly out of the room, it was as if she were in a medical clinic but there was no other noise. There were no other people in the area, that is until she came to the reception desk and saw the same old face she had seen many times before.

"Hello Lettice, they're ready to see you. Why don't you go on through." Ruby frowned, so she had died.

Swearing softly, she blushed and smiled when the receptionist tutted at her.

Pushing through the doors she stopped just inside and let them close, standing before her was one person. This was usually not the case, usually, there were at least nine people. It set unease in Ruby's mind as she approached the woman who turned to look at her as she came nearer.

"Take a seat Lettice, you're wondering why I'm here and the other nine aren't. We've got a situation on our hands, one we absolutely underestimated and that you will not like in the slightest. Let me start by introducing myself, I'm Allorian." Ruby knew who she was before she even had a chance to prattle off her full title and position, everyone who had ever been a protector had heard of Allorian but no one had ever actually met her...let alone met her alone.

At every single one of her judgments, there was always a single chair empty in the room, it had never been filled in any of her sittings and now it was the only chair that would be filled?

"I don't sit in on many judgments as I'm never needed but this one is different...we've made a huge mistake. I'm sure you're aware of Nyssa Shipwash? She was let go, she fooled us all into thinking she was still mentally sound...so we allowed her to continue using her witchy powers. For all the good she had done during her time she was also granted some of her youth, unfortunately, we didn't count on or predict that she would hold such a large grudge against you. She has also joined forces with someone else who holds a grudge against you, she is unnatural but whilst we research and form some sort of way to kill not only Nyssa but Charlotte we can only offer you and your team all the help that can be given to protectors. You have a full team, more if you need and everything else at your disposal. We truly are sorry Lettice, there will be casualties on both sides." Ruby sat there absolutely dumbfounded at the monumental f*ck-up that these higher beings had created and as usual Ruby and her team were going to be left to clean it all up.

"Hang on, how can you not see that someone as old as Nyssa had turned? Even I could see that, did no one read my reports? Did no one read the character references that we put through after every mission? There is only one thing I want right now, one thing that is going to make this all better. I want to talk to Clemence." Allorian didn't look at all pleased with Ruby's request, but there was nothing that Allorian could offer Ruby that would make anything better.

"Very well." Ruby was relieved, for a moment she thought that Allorian would deny her demand. Ruby was often denied but this time was different.