"Mom have you seen my baggy sweatshirt?" I yell, running around our suite in my white towel, freshly showered.

"Which one?" She asks.

I roll my eyes and continue to search, "The really comfy one that I like to sleep in all the time? It's navy blue."

Mom pops her head out her bedroom door. She has a guilty smile and her eyebrows are knitted closely together. Her odd face tells me she knows exactly what happened to it, and I'm not going to like the answer.

"I think I might know which one you're talking about..." She disappears into her room.

A moment later she comes out with her hands behind her back, hiding something. I really don't like the look of this. I step up to her and place my hands on my hips.

"Now don't get mad Lucia...."

"Just show it to me mom."

Slowly she complies, taking her hands from behind her back. My jaw falls to the ground. There is my sweatshirt, all paint stained and dirtied. Are you kidding me? My favorite sweatshirt?

"What the hell happened!" I complain, reaching out and swiping my sweatshirt from her.

"Well you see, Trinity wanted to paint her room, so naturally, I offered to help."

I glare at her, cradling my once favorite clothing item, "So you decided to use my sweatshirt when you went to paint?"

"Well it looked ratty and over used. I just assumed that it was one of your bad ones..."

I sigh, walking over to the trash can. I lift the lid, shoving the sweatshirt in. This is just my luck.

"So now what am I going to wear around this place?" I ask myself.

"Well to compensate for destroying that one, I did go out and buy you a few more sweatshirts, shirts, shorts and pants..." Mom says from her door.

I turn to her and raise an eyebrow, "You went shopping for me?"

She nods. I slap my face with the palm of my hand. There is no way this is going to turn out good.

"They are girly, aren't they...?" I complain.

I hear a small giggle, followed by footsteps walking away from me. Lifting my head, I notice my mom descending into her room. I slowly follow behind her, scared of what's about to happen.

Mom rummages through her closet and pulls out four huge shopping bags. I give her an confused look as she places them in front of me. She went out and bought all these things for me? I'm starting to think ruining my sweatshirt wasn't an accident...

She gets down onto the floor and pulls out a few things. First is a short sleeve white shirt, it's a little loose and is on the longer side. If it wasn't for the shape and design I might have mistaken it for a dress due to the length of it. Next she pulls out these thin looking sweatpants, judging by the looks, it is going to be skin tight. Lastly, she pulls out a jean jacket that's sleeveless, so it could be comfortable.

"I think this is what you should wear today!" Mom says giddily, like a child in a candy shop.

Surprisingly, I don't hate it.

"Well it seems girly, but at the same time not..." I point out.

She smiles, "That's exactly what I was trying to do! And you will love these leggings. They may look tight, but they are super comfortable! You can wear them almost anywhere!"

"Leggings?" Is that a new invention?

Mom sighs, clearly disappointed in my lack of girly-ness, "They are the pants... Just try it on."

I shrug it off and scoop the clothes out of her hands.

"Fine I will give it a go." I march toward my room to change, "If I hate them, you're returning them."

I hear her snicker from behind me. I get to my room, tossing my towel to the floor. Grabbing underwear from the drawer, I slip them on along with a bra. Then I get into my new clothes. They slide on perfectly.

I glance at myself.

Wow.

I turn around, looking at the whole outfit. I smile.

It is surprisingly comfortable. It looks cute too. I guess this could work for me. I will have to check out the other items she got me later. For now I need to braid my damp hair and head to Derek's room.

----

As I approach his room, I hear faint gun shots and the clicking of controllers. This can only mean one thing. Video games.

I fling the door open hard. It slams loudly against the wall, causing a large bang to bounce around the room.

Derek jumps up in his seat and Leo jolts from the bed in surprise. I laugh as I walk into the room.

"So this is what you guys are doing instead of thinking up ways to start our mission?" I ask, plopping myself onto Derek's bed near Leo.

Derek rolls his eyes, "Come on Lucia, you just messed up our kill streak."

Leo grunts and drops his controller onto the bed.

"We were doing so well too."

I roll my eyes, "Oh come on, act like you two won't be able to do it again if you try. Derek, I have known you my whole life. You're the best at these games."

He sighs, placing his controller on the desk behind him, spinning his wheely chair around. Facing his computer, he starts to get to work.

"Did you find out anything about the shipment?" I ask Derek.

The keyboard clicks as Derek types, "Honestly, nothing. Hunter's are great at keeping these things secretive. I'm not sure how they do it."

"So you have nothing?" I ask disappointed.

He shakes his head, "Nope. He didn't give us much to work with in the letter."

I slide off the bed, "Well we need to find something on this quick or else we won't even know which truck to intercept."

I head over to the desk Derek is at. He has a list of shipments coming through this area. I scan through the list eagerly. It has to be here, we just need to figure out which one.

"Clear out all the big companies." I suggest.

He nods. He clicks through, erasing the big shipping names. The list gets immensely smaller. We are left with under 50 names. Granted, that's still a lot. This is going to be tougher than I anticipated.

Just then, the door flings open.

"So, you started without me?" A deep angry voice booms, startling me.

I turn, locking eyes with dark black ones. He looks angry, but what is Damien doing here?

"We needed to start gathering data, I had no idea you wanted to help us." I state honestly.

He is so weird. He never shows up. Why would he get mad about us starting without him? He hates helping the Squad.

"This is my team, isn't it?"

I frown slightly. Ugh, not this again.

"Of course." I answer unwillingly.

"Then stop back sassing me. No more of your excuses." He shuts the door and walks over to Derek and myself.

"Yes sir..." I reluctantly answer.

What a dick.

Leo just watches quietly from the sidelines. It's best if he just doesn't speak when Damien is here. He must feel that vibe too because he says nothing.

"If you guys had been more patient, then you wouldn't have had to waste your energy." Damien adds.

"What do you mean?" Derek asks, curious.

Damien leans over my shoulder to peer at the list. Creepy chills run down my spine due to his nearness. His face is close to mine. I feel the urge to push him away from me, but I decide otherwise.

"Richard's Home Furniture." Damien points out.

"That's the one?" Derek asks.

Damien nods, "Yup. My dad got some intel on the subject."

Derek quickly searches through the web, just to double check on the Company. We find some weird things. The place doesn't do shipments often, and when it does, it goes to the same area.

"They seem suspicious. Must be them if the Alpha told you so. What's our next move?" Derek asks me.

"Well I guess we are going to have to do this on the road. Since the shipments all go to the same area but not the same place, we wouldn't know where to wait for an ambush." I add.

Damien leans away from me. Unconsciously I relax.

"We will attack on the highway. It's the only guaranteed spot. Ruben will be driving the car, Derek you will be trying to intercept any calls made to the police on the matter-"

I cut in, "And Raymond and I will be hoping onto the hunter's truck to grab the weapons."

Damien growls, "No you and Leo will be doing that."

"Leo? He is a newbie, there is no way-"

Damien growls. He grabs my arm in his hand, dragging me toward the door. His fingers dig into my skin. I have to restrain myself from screaming out.

Once he gets me to the hallway, he aggressively pulls the door shut. Forcefully he slams me up against the wall next to the door. I grunt as the air gets forced out of me.

He lowers himself to my level, "Don't ever tell me what is going to be done in the Squad. You aren't the leader, I am." He growls at me.

His hot breath skims my cheek. Anger builds in me. Seriously? This is how he is reacting to me taking charge of the team while he runs around banging the pack whores? I've had it with his attitude.

"Really? Because last time I checked, leaders don't avoid their duty and actually have respect from their subordinates."

He growls loudly, squeezing me harder. His nails sink deep in my skin as a warm liquid drips down my arm. His eyes pierce my own, but I hold my ground. If we are going to talk about this, it's now or never.

"You have no right to talk to me like this Lucia. I could kill you right now," he hisses in a low tone.

My heart pounds nervously. I can feel my wolf wanting to submit to authority but I ignore her.

I frown slightly, "you could, but you won't."

He growls angrily. Rage dripping off of him. I feel his hand struggle from shifting between human and wolf. Shit, I pissed him off more than I anticipated. I could be screwed if he shifts.

"What makes you so sure?" He finally manages to breathe out.

I look him dead in the eye, "You're dad would be real disappointed in you." I see shock in his eyes, he tries to hide it. Bingo. Just hit the nail on the head, "You work so hard to keep your lazy life hidden from the Alpha, just so he will never look down on you. If I'm gone, then you will have to actually attempt to run this squad. That's when your dad will find out just how incapable you really are. You need me."

I feel his grip loosen a bit. His breath is ridged and ruff, but he tries to slow it down. Guess he changed his mind about hurting me after all.

"You know, I don't think I will kill you, but don't think I can't ruin your life in this pack," he says.

I glare at him, "I don't have anything for you to ruin."

He leans closer to my face and smirks at me evilly, "I'm pretty sure you do."

Footsteps from the end of the hall sound. They get closer and closer. I'm too caught up in this shitty conversation to even notice. The steps slow and soon I hear someone clear their throat.

Still glaring at me, Damien sighs and turns to his left, breaking eye contact. I smirk victoriously and also turn to our intruder. My eyes grow wide.

"What the hell is happening over here," Greyson's deep angry voice asks. His eyes flicker to my arm which is dripping in my own blood. I feel my head spin a bit. That was weird.

Damien growls, "Teaching the bitch a lesson," he glances over at me, "don't make me do this again. You won't like the outcome."

He releases me aggressively by pushing me back into the wall. I hit it with a thud but hold my ground. He walks down the hall angrily.

"Finish up the plans." Quickly he turns to me and glares, "It's you and Leo tomorrow."

With that he is gone.

I sigh in relief. The tension is immediately lifting from the air and I relax in my own skin for the first time since seeing Damien. He can be a real asshole sometimes.

Something touches my open wound. I quickly suck in a sharp breath and bite my lip, holding in my scream. I glance down to see a hand gently grasping my arm which is stained red. Oops, I didn't know I was bleeding so much. Looks like the maids will have a fun time getting that stain out of the carpet.

"Shit Lucia, what the hell happened?" Greyson's apologetic voice rings in my ears. Wow, never thought I could appreciate the sound of a person's voice so much.

I look up into his dazzling green eyes. I feel my pain start to dwindle. I really shouldn't make him worry... I mean not that I would expect him to worry about me, but just in case.

"Nothing really. I just stepped out of line is all. I'm fine," He stares at me. His eyes filled with uncertainty. He is immensely unsure about my response so I roll my eyes and push his hand from my wound, "really, I'm okay."

"You don't look okay," he says, "we should get that wound patched up."

I shake my head and grab the door knob. As I do the room spins even more and black dots begin to fill my eyes. I ignore it, "No way, we need to focus on tomorrow's mission first. The wound isn't even that bad."

Hands wrap around my waist. The next second my feet are off the ground and I'm thrown over a strong broad shoulder. I let out a surprised scream.

"What the hell!" I say shocked.

All I can see is Greyson's sturdy back. He walks away from Derek's door with me flopped over his shoulder. I feel his warmth beneath me.

"I'm taking you to get that wound fixed up." He says.

"Ugh... No way. We have a mission to deal with here." I complain as he continues to walk away, my eyes begin to spot black again and I feel my head getting tired.

"The mission can wait a couple of minutes." he says.

I feel my eyelids grow heavy, so I grunt.

"Whatever," I add, and get relaxed for the ride.

Surprisingly, this position isn't that uncomfortable due to his large stature. I sigh as if I'm annoyed but I can feel my heart tingling in excitement. For the first time I feel my wolf purr in content. Woah, it's weird that she reacts to Greyson too. It takes a lot to get her to stir. She's practically a brute.

The comfort of being with Greyson soothes my body. My eyes flutter shut. I feel myself begin to dose off.