For the next few hours everyone put their ideas down on the table, Ruby learned where all the weak points were in the existing pack territory and where the weak points would be in the perimeter that she and Oliver had planned. No one seemed overly impressed with her planning or boundary and by the time they finally stumbled out of Topher's office, it was well past midnight.

Ben had called several times already to ask where she was, now he was most likely in bed and Ruby was ready to go to sleep on the floor.

"Come on Elsie, you can sleep in the guest bedroom. It's Sunday tomorrow so sleep in if need be, we'll be mulling around in the office again." Ruby was thankful that Topher wasn't kicking her out, she was sure Hollis was about ready to tell her where to go. Throughout the meeting, she got a distinct feeling that he hated her but she wasn't going to call him out on such petty things, not yet anyway.

"Here, I snagged one of Hollis' shirts for you to sleep in. I'd give you one of mine but...it'd look a bit weird if you ran off with it and showed up in my class wearing it." Ruby wanted to be annoyed but she patted Topher's face with appreciation as she slipped out of her clothes into the large t-shirt. She hoped Hollis didn't mind and let Topher lead her to the bed where he pulled the covers back, shover her in and threw them back over her.

"He's probably going to kill me for sleeping in it," Ruby muttered as she settled into the soft pillows and drifted off to sleep.

Despite Ruby being exhausted, she found herself waking slowly sometime later, she lay there quietly. She knew exactly where she was, whose home she was in and that Topher had put her to bed but something didn't feel right.

Often Ruby would simply close her eyes and fall back to sleep, but she realized that sleeping here...at Topher's house had left her wide open for attack from several sources. It wasn't the pack members she feared attacking, it was the beings that could move easily between realms and it was that feeling of utter dread in the pit of her stomach that made her think that perhaps she wasn't alone in the room.

Ruby knew long ago that if this sort of attack were to happen there were two ways she could face it, either run away or run towards. She'd never been called a coward, so after several deep fortifying breaths Ruby rose from where she lay and froze when her eyes landed on a frail-looking woman standing near the open window that had been securely closed when she'd gone to bed.

For a few moments, Ruby wondered who she was, why she'd gone into the room and even how she'd gotten through such a small window without making much noise.

Even in her exhaustion, Ruby would have heard the slightest sound, she'd become so accustomed to thinking that she was being hunted constantly that she'd trained herself to wake whenever there was a disturbance.

It took a short while for her to notice several odd things about the woman and when clues began falling into place her eyes opened wide with realization.

The woman standing before her wasn't alive and if her suspicions were right, the woman herself wasn't bodily standing there. Throwing the blankets aside Ruby rose from the bed, the woman smirked at her actions and Ruby couldn't help but wonder if this is what she'd wanted.

Silently the woman pointed out the window, Ruby didn't look and made no move to follow the woman's action.

She'd look out the window and the woman would end up trying to kill her. Then again Ruby had watched several horror movies in the past with that similar theme, but the shadow of the woman seemed to grow frustrated that Ruby wouldn't look out the window to whatever she'd been pointing at.

The shadow moved towards the window, hovered there for a moment before diving out and disappearing. When Ruby went to the window she stuck her head out, there was a slight breeze in the air but also whispers of something else.

'He's coming for you, he's coming for you.' Echoed a soft, feminine voice. If it had been any other time of the day Ruby suspected she wouldn't have heard it, but it repeated over and over on the breeze. Carried from God only knew where the longer she listened to it the louder it grew to the point that it was rushing in her ears.

Clamping hands over her ears Ruby crouched near the window and closed her eyes trying to block the whispers out but nothing she did had any effect on the volume until she felt hands on her shoulders.

Looking up she caught the familiar set of eyes looking down at her, Topher reached above her and closed the window before coming back to crouch before her. Another presence in the room, Ruby figured it was Hollis. The two seemed joined at the hip as an alpha and his second in command should be.

When Topher moved her hands away from her ears she listened for the taunting, but it was gone.

The echoing in her head, however, would take some time to leave.

"Are you okay? I heard creaking and then you started groaning...what's happened? You look like you've seen a ghost." It was then that Ruby realized, she was shaking, she was cold and suddenly felt exhausted beyond belief.

The shaking she contributed to shock and wished it would stop as she pushed away from the wall and tried to stand, again Topher helped her to her feet. She was grateful for the help when she was finally standing she put a hand on her head and tried to keep from blacking out.

After a few deep breathes she found it easier to focus, the shaking was still there and would likely stick around for some time yet but Ruby was beginning to feel a little better.

Whatever and whoever was responsible for that episode knew exactly what they were doing and how it would impact Ruby.

"Hollis go flick the jug on, we'll have something to eat and drink." Ruby was grateful as she let Topher lead her down to the kitchen. She wondered just how loud she had been as she hadn't realized she'd been making any noise, she really needed to make contact with Jonah before they went any further with planning.

"I'm fine now, thank you Topher." Ruby pushed away from him. She didn't want to begin relying on anyone to save her, being as aged as she was she should have been able to fight off a simple attack such as that and yet she'd shrivelled into a small ball.

"Come on, we'll still go and have something to drink and eat. You might want to talk about it, you might not but it's best not to go back to sleep after something like that. Trust me." Ruby wondered what Topher had been through to know what she was currently feeling but decided to trust him. So far he seemed like a good alpha, better than the image he portrayed at school anyway.

Going down into the kitchen, Ruby eyed Hollis warily as he stood at the counter waiting for the kettle to boil.

"He won't bite too hard." Ruby felt Topher whisper in her ear as he urged her towards the barstool on the other side of the bench. Ruby tried nudging Topher in the ribs but he moved away from her too fast, so instead her elbow caught nothing but thin air.

Walking over to the barstool offered, Ruby sat in the one next to it and gave Topher a hard stare.

He chuckled before settling in the stool he'd offered Ruby, she likely would need to state that she was not here to make friends or get into any sort of complicated relationship with men. She had a job to do and tonight proved just how unprepared she'd been, just how much things had been underestimated.

Ruby would need to call Farf back sooner than expected and felt bad about it, but they'd need everyone here ready to battle whatever it was that had the hair on the back of her neck standing.

"While most of your pack members are good looking, I'm not here to act like a middle-aged woman hellbent on throwing herself at any bachelor that I might cross paths with. So don't go getting any ideas alpha, it's not happening." Ruby thought she'd sounded serious but Topher only chuckled as took the offered cup of steaming liquid from Hollis. For a fleeting moment Ruby wondered if the two men could be a couple, but when she caught Hollis scowling at her she figured not.

"I think you've hurt his feelings," Topher leaned over, on instinct Ruby swatted Topher in the face and frowned at him with some amount of dislike.

He'd gone from absolute stranger to far too comfortable in the space of a few hours, they weren't friends and weren't going to be if Ruby had her way.

"You're far too accepting of some behaviour alpha." Hollis' looked like he was about to pounce over the counter and tackle Ruby to the floor. She didn't bat an eyelash as she stared him down, what was his problem? One second he acted like she didn't exist and in the next breathe he was looking at her with so much disdain that she might otherwise have shriveled.

"Stand down Hollis, that was entirely my fault. We understand each other now, don't we Ruby?" Topher knew his mistake as soon as he'd uttered the words. Ruby groaned looking from Topher to Hollis and back again, she nudged Topher in the ribs, thankfully it was just the three of them in the room but he really needed to get his mind into working order if they were going to continue working together.

"Ruby?" Hollis asked, confused.

"It's a nickname because Elsie reminds me of this pain in the ass student I have in class named Ruby. Right Elsie?" Ruby stopped herself from doing a major eye roll at Topher as he covered his lame slip-up with a worse explanation.

"How should I know? I've never met her." Ruby smiled when Topher rolled his eyes to her response, Hollis groaned.

"You two should get together, you've got that vibe." Both Ruby and Topher shot him similar looks, Ruby narrowed her eyes accusingly whilst Topher couldn't help the smile and shake of his head that followed the initial look of annoyance.

"Like I said, I'm not here to create those sorts of relationships. I need to make contact with an associate, excuse me." Ruby went back up to the guest room to collect her phone, the honey and lemon tea had settled her nerves well enough. When she came back into the room she glanced at the window to see if there was anything weird but it was still shut and there was no weird energy in the room.

Ruby retrieved her phone and called Benedict first.

"Ben? It's me, I was attacked this evening. Can you make contact with Jonah, I don't know who the girl was but she carried a message across the winds. Yeah I'm fine, Topher managed to pull me out before I could be dragged too far down. I'll stay here the rest of the night, we still need to cover some other things but I think we need to put another request in for a few more warlocks. This is too big a job for just Jonah, yes I'm sure. We can switch people out if need be." Ruby hung up after that, she was sure Benedict and Oliver would get things rolling on that side while she continued to help the local shifter population with their work.

Heading back down to the kitchen, Ruby stopped in her tracks when she heard Topher and Hollis' talking.

"With respect to you alpha, you really need to stop trying to push her at me. I can't believe you gave her one of my shirts. What's wrong with one of yours? I don't need anyone in my life, least of all someone as arrogant, stubborn and pig-headed as she is. Don't even get me started on what everyone would think if I began pursuing her." Ruby wasn't sure how to feel as she continued to listen to Hollis' belittle her, how had they not heard her approaching that they continued to talk about her in such a way?

Well at least Hollis anyway, he seemed like the bitter kind but she never thought he'd be cruel but the longer she listened to what he had to say the less she liked it. Instead of going back into the kitchen to suffer the humiliation of having her real self dissected and judged she went back into the spare room and changed into the clothing she'd arrived in.

She made the bed, grabbed her phone then quietly tiptoed to the front door, slipped out and went home where Benedict and Oliver were furiously organizing things and making phone calls. It comforted her to know that Jonah was already there and as soon as she walked through the front door she was pulled into one of the most comforting hugs she'd felt in such a long time.

Ruby knew that it was the magic in Jonah's tattoo's that were making her feel safe, it was the wards he'd placed around the property too and she wondered how she could be so stupid to drop her guard that much.

"You're safe here Ruby, whoever it is tried getting in here but they couldn't penetrate the boundary. Two more warlocks will be coming in to help, one will place a boundary around Topher's home and the other will place wards around the school grounds. I heard the whispers in the wind but I assumed it was just whispers, I knew I should have investigated." It comforted her to know that Jonah had heard the whispers, it made things all the more real and she pulled away from the comfort before she began to rely on that safety.

"I felt her before I saw her, she was a shadow. My best guess is she used to be the human that went missing, she was sent to me specifically to give that message. He's coming, he's coming. That's all she said, over and over. At first it was just a whisper and then when Topher came in it had grown to a scream, I don't think he even knew what he'd interrupted. I was stupid to expose myself in that way," Ruby said, she was also referring to the conversation she'd overheard between Topher and Hollis but Jonah wouldn't know what they'd said unless he'd been there.

When he offered her a sad, understanding smile she realized he knew exactly what she was referring to.