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***Christian's POV***

"I know you are a feline, however you may not want to watch." I focus on Leah as she looks absolutely horrified. We are on the way towards a park. It is overly populated with humans. However, we are definitely not looking to hunt upon that source. The truth is, there is a plethora of wildlife in the woods behind this particular attraction. We are merely passing through on the way.

"I'm not judging. I realize that we are two different species. I don't particularly look forward to watching you drain a human. I won't hold it against you though." Leah looks completely opposite of her confession as revulsion causes her lips to angle towards a grimace.

"I don't feed on humans." Josie pokes his tongue out playfully as he moves along side of Tony.

"That's comforting." Leah smiles while the color returns to her ashen face. For a moment, she looked like a night walker. She looked just like me.

"You feed on me." Tony stares at Josie with mock hurt.

"You are not a human. You are my beloved and a vampire." Josie pushes away the accusation as he kisses Tony on the lips.

"Will you ever feed off of me?" Leah looks at me with questioning eyes. If I am being honest, I have thought of what it would feel like to have my beloved's blood pushing through my veins. With our intertwined souls, that would be an incredible high with a thick nutrient source of overwhelming strength.

"That is not my choice but your own. You are under no obligation to be my donor." I softly explain to my beloved.

"If I allow you to, you would right?" Leah smiles something between beauty and hopefulness. The idea that she even considered it is more than pleasurable to me.

"Yes, love." I confirm without hesitation.

Breaking through our private conversation, a low growl bleeds into the still air. Immediately we are all conscious of our surroundings. Tony instinctively pushes Josie behind his body. A small chuckle slips between my lips.

Josie is in no more danger than the rest of us. We are all of equal strength. Actually, Josie is quite possibly stronger than any of us.

"Stay on alert." Tony whispers loudly as he leads us towards the source of the warning.

We follow slowly, making our way through the Forrest. Another piercing sound fills the air. With hurried footsteps we near the center of the field where all of our eyes are trained on the distressed child who holds her left ankle as the scent of her blood filters into each of our senses.

A feral snarl rips from Josie's throat. I watch in horror as his veins begin protruding while his fangs descend. His posture becomes frightening as he crouches low with the ball of his foot set to sprint. His fingernails dig into the ground.

"Hold your breath." I command loudly. He will never forgive himself if he hurts a child.

Josie rushes to clamp one of his hands over his mouth. Leah and I flank either side, laying our hands on his back to soothe him. Josie's whole body shakes as he attempts to keep himself from lunging.

Tony rushes towards the scared little girl, covering her with his large form. From what I can see she has been attacked.

When Josie leans forward, Leah and I hold on tighter. It's when he physically moves forward that I collapse on top of him before scooting back, putting all of my effort into gaining inches between us and the fresh blood that has roused his natural thirst.

"Josie, honey, stop." Leah pleads for our newborn to regain his senses.

Another louder growl rips through the air. Josie breaks away from me while I let fear set my adrenaline into high flow. I chase after my vampire buddy only noticing his direction when we are far from the little girl's fresh scent.

"I'm okay. I almost wasn't. I'm okay." Josie heaven breathlessly as he continues to stride away from the scene.

"You're fucking strong." I wheeze out.

"That was a miracle. I have never felt that amount of craving before." Josie doesn't stop walking as I follow behind.

"She was alluring. With time, you won't have to exert so much effort." I try desperately to soothe Josie. I know he is betraying himself.

"When you feel in control, we can go assess the situation." I grab Josie's hand, pulling him into a hug.

"A few more minutes." Josie curls into me. I rub his back slowly to help the venom course through his brains. He was really in so much more control than I would have expected.

"Take all the time you need." I don't stop soothing Josie. I am so flabbergasted at how well he handled that situation.

After a few moments, Josie nods, giving me the okay to move back towards the little girl . Once we reach the field, I notice more than just Leah and Tony. As a matter of fact, my mate is feral as she backs a larger cat against a tree while Leah is still in her human form.

I rush to Leah's aid while making sure Josie is close enough to me to be far away from the injured child.

"Leah, baby, what is going on?" I stand over Leah while waiting expectantly for an answer.

"This is my father." Leah hisses out the stranger's connection as I try to understand the situation.

"Okay but, why is he being pinned against a tree?" Josie questions from behind me.

"He attacked that child." Leah snarls as she presses herself against the cat in front of her. Her father looks less than impressed with her strength.

"Did he tell you that? How would you know that?" I am not trying to be difficult. I'm honestly curious.

"We have a mind link. It's part of being a shapeshifter. Like right now, he is cursing me to the grave when I finally let him go." Leah glares at her father with a look that would kill a mortal. I find myself extremely impressed by her tenacity.

"Tell him that if he so much as breathes a rancid breath in your direction, he will be my next fucking meal." Josie drops his fangs as I look at our passive newborn in adoration. He stole my line but, I could not be more proud of the delivery.

An aggressive burst of laughter pours into the air from my mate. Leah closes her eyes before continuing to laugh robustly.

"He said, fat chance." Leah barely gets the words out before an angry hiss comes from what should be my father-in-law. I jump back as Josie lunges forward.

My hands fly forward to catch Josie in mid-air. Unfortunately, I am deftly out maneuvered. I swap my line of sight from Josie to Leah then back to Josie. There is no hope to stop the viscous attack as my best friend sinks his incisors into the neck of my beloved's father. The sound of crunching bones is sickeningly satisfying.

The cat thrashes momentarily before his body falls limp in Josie's abnormally powerful arms. Instead of suckling the blood from the jugular between his teeth, Josie let's go. Turning to spit, Josie begins vomiting profusely. Leah rubs his back as her father's lifeless body falls limply to the ground.

I'm unsure what path to take as I stand in fucking horror. I literally just watched a murder or whatever the fuck you would call what I witnessed. Yet, the daughter of the victim seems content to pacify the perpetrator. It seems a very wicked world of entanglement is upon me.

"Leah." I whisper softly not knowing if I need to comfort my best friend or my beloved.

"I am fine." Leah turns to me smiling. It's a bit off putting. I would think sorrow would be more of an appropriate response.

"It appears you are in shock." I try to rationalize Leah's emotions.

"Fair assumption. However, I am only shocked that it is Josie to whom I am supporting. I would have believed you to be incapable of restraint." A giggle from Leah's lips makes her snide comment quite humorous. She isn't wrong. Had I enough wherewithal I would be the one who is spitting the toxic DNA of my father-in-law from my smiling lips.

As it stands, Josie seems to be trying to get extract the repulsive blood from his system as quickly as possible.

"Guys, we have a problem." Tony's worried tone captures our attention. We turn to see him walking towards us with the child wrapped around his frame.

"What is wrong?" Leah steps away from Josie to approach my creator.

"We have to get her leg seen about. Christian, we can't take her to our place. Can you fix her up here?" Tony looks to me for confirmation. Unfortunately, I do not have my supplies here.

"I would need to take her to my hospital," Tony is right. There is no way we can take her back to our manor. The vampires would lose control. She doesn't need to see much more than she already has. I will have to work magic as it is.

"Let's get her fixed up. Then, you will need to handle the memories." Tony walks towards the opposite end of the Forrest. The truck is too far away. We will need to run.

After informing my friends of what we will need to do, we make our way towards the back entrance of the hospital. Our super speed makes the journey short. I slip in quietly with my entourage following behind me.

Once in my office, I clean the wound. After a sterile shot for pain and a tetanus vaccination, I wrap the leg up with gauze. Everyone stands quietly as I work to take as little of the Jane Doe's memory as possible. Within no time we are releasing her at the edge of the park. We watch carefully as she makes her way back to her parents with a bit too much confusion.

"That was almost bad." Josie sighs heavily as he collapses into Tony's arms.

"You did well, doll. You did very well," Tony comforts his beloved.

"I killed a man." Josie bows his head in shame. It is unnecessary. The word man is a loose interpretation of the vile creature he extinguished.

"We have all killed people." Leah's confession makes me wonder exactly who she has killed. That is for another time.

"I'm sorry I took your father. I know he wasn't your favorite person. I didn't intend to. I snapped." Josie looks to Leah for comfort once again.

"It's fine. I was going to do it myself, eventually. You saved me the trouble." Leah kisses Josie softly on the forehead before placing herself in my arms.

"You didn't kill the little girl. You made a choice. Let it go and move on." I smile at my best friend. He should not feel guilty for saving two lives today. He should feel pride.

"Kitten, you were exceptionally elegant with that kill none the less. I'm very proud of you." Tony picks Josie up. He holds him closely to his chest, slowly erasing the events of the day.

We make the decision to skip feeding now that Josie has the bad taste in his mouth. Instead, we head to grab human food before going home. With all that happened today, I am suspicious that we have not heard the last of Leah's family. It will come as no surprise if they try to retaliate over their missing family member.

If the time comes, at least we have Leah to help us with a strategy to defend ourselves. Her intimate knowledge will aid in a smooth takedown. She seems to be off put by them enough that she will not need persuading to annihilate the threat.

For now, we will go on as if this whole situation did not occur. In my mind, it is one less villain in Leah's story. That thought brings me immense solace. There is no reason to spend today fretting over possibilities for tomorrow.