"Put some pants on first." Mom scolded him, but I was surprised she hadn't crouched down to see my cut herself.

"Yes ma'am." He stood up and walked away. Mom and I started towards the infirmary without him. But we weren't exactly running so he caught up with us soon enough, now wearing jeans and a black t-shirt.

The walk through the woods was silent, neither of my parents wanting to discuss the fight or the conversation that stopped it. And without being human, I couldn't just ask them everything I wanted to. I didn't want to shift until necessary because I knew it would bring a fresh wave of pain to that notch in my bottom lip.

We entered the infirmary, Dad holding the door open for us. Instantly the place stilled, because the alpha had stepped in and their protocol was that he be treated as a priority. But surprisingly—and thankfully—not many other pack members were even there. Those I saw injured must not have thought their injuries were bad enough to receive treatment.

Our pack doctor, Holly, appeared, walking through the double doors that led to the main area of the building. Behind her I could see the rows of cots, few claimed by hurt enforcers. She let the door close behind her and walked over to us.

"Alpha." She dipped her head a little. "Luna." Holly was older than my parents, by several years. But even though she wasn't quite old enough to be the age of my grandmother, she was sporting several brilliant streaks of white in her dark brown hair. They were woven into the thick braid she was almost always wearing, and the alternating pattern of brown and white was actually very pretty. Her warm brown eyes landed on me, as if just noticing I was also there.

"Would you like a private room today?"

Both my parents also focused on me, since we were there for me this would be up to me. I debated, but ultimately decided not to take the offer with a shake of my wolf head. I didn't plan on us being there too long anyway.

"Alright." She said, turning and leading us through the double doors and towards a cot near the middle of the room. I noticed Mom looked uneasy, as if this place held bad memories for her. Dad squeezed her hand, I tried to push the questions from my mind.

"Wait here." She told me before leaving us alone and quickly talking with one of the enforcers on a bed several down the aisle from mine.

In wolf form, I was too large for the cot, so I sat down and licked at my lips again, finding no new blood. That was good. My wolf had started healing it a little. I was sure shifting back would reopen it though, and that was probably why it was important for me to be here when I did.

We waited for Holly to come back in silence for a bit, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mom staring at the wall and Dad rubbing a thumb over her hand. I found myself wondering why we didn't have nurses here.

I knew in packs, a doctor could take on as many apprentices as interested pups showed, but they didn't have nurses as an occupation within a pack hierarchy. It was pack doctor or nothing. Holly only had one apprentice: her daughter Lillia. But she was across the room bandaging an enforcer's leg.

Finally, Holly returned, holding a clipboard and a tray with a syringe and a suture kit as well as a wad of gauze. She set them down on the cot next to my parents and then looked me in the eyes.

"I'm going to need you to shift. I can't sew your lip in wolf form, because it won't do you any good when you do shift. The stitches will just pop open." She held my eyes, serious. "It's going to hurt."

I always liked that about Holly. She was direct and honest when it came to what she was about to do. Lillia, on the other hand, tried to sugar-coat everything as if we were children needing to be coddled. I preferred Holly's way.

"Ready?"

I nodded and my mom stroked my head once, her fingers trailing past my ears and down to my scruff. Clamping my mouth shut in anticipation of the pain to come, I called my human form to the surface and pushed my wolf down underneath.

My limbs came first, and so I didn't feel anything until my face flattened out and my lips reformed to my human face and I screamed. Reopening the wound was much worse than getting it in the first place. I knelt on the floor, panting, pushing the tears out of my eyes with my eyelids so they streamed down my cheeks. Reaching up with my hand, I wiped at my face, but the butt of my palm nicked the side of my mouth and I shrieked all over again.

Suddenly I regretted not taking the offer for a private room, for everyone present in the infirmary was staring at me.

When I opened my eyes, the floor swayed in front of me, and I got anxious I was close to passing out. Both from blood loss during the fight and from the pain of it reopening just now.

A fleece blanket enveloped me from above and I looked up to see Lillia's retreating figure. I wanted to thank her but I was afraid to even think about my mouth, let alone form words.

Holly crouched in front of me, the wad of gauze in her hand. She peeled a square off and pressed it to my wound. I recoiled out of her reach, the feeling of the cotton producing a new sting to the wound.

"Sorry." She apologized, but scooted closer with a fresh square. "Luna, hold her head in place, so she can't jerk away. I have to clean the blood away."

I'm not a child! I retorted inside my head. But I knew that if Mom didn't hold me in place, I would again instinctively avoid the gauze to avoid the stinging.

Mom's hands went to either side of my head, and I felt her shift to behind me for a better grip. I pulled the blanket tight around me, partly to cover myself and partly for something to hold onto when the pain came back.

Suddenly the urge to laugh bubbled in my chest and throat. I pictured how we looked right now to the other patients: huddled on the floor between two perfectly useable cots. The luna behind me holding my head in place while the doctor crouched on the tile in front of me, sticking gauze swabs to my bottom lip.

Holly shook her head at me, as if she could tell I was fighting a smile so hard. "You stretch your lips, and you'll squirt blood and just cause yourself even more pain!"

I knew that. So why was it so hard to stifle the laugh inside of me?

But I managed. And I was able to hold still—or maybe it was Mom's strong hands from behind keeping me in place—long enough for her to clean the hole in my lip. Then she took the syringe and poked my lip right next to the wound. That didn't hurt nearly as bad as the cleaning. And neither did the stitches that followed. But it was probably numb by then.

I wondered why she didn't just start with the shot!

She snipped the suture end with scissors and then dabbed a gloved finger over her work. "Your lip will feel a little bit tight for a few days while your wolf tries to speed-heal it, but it should feel normal within a couple of weeks. Try to rest, and not talk too much, or smile—because trust me it will hurt—and let your wolf do the rest." She pushed herself to a stand. I did the same, but much slower, feeling suddenly exhausted and sluggish, even though I hadn't been hooked up to any pain meds.

"Thank you, Holly." Dad said as we walked out to the front doors.

"No problem Alpha. And don't worry about coming back, Emerald. The sutures will fall out on their own when they're ready."

I nodded and we headed out the door to the path back towards the pack house. I was still wrapped in the blanket from the infirmary, but Holly hadn't seemed to mind that I took it with me. She'd get it back eventually, we both knew that.

Holding the blanket up with one hand, I daintily touched my lip with the other. It felt fat and puffy, like it was swollen beyond measure. I was sure it was swollen, but I knew the numbing shot made it feel way puffier than it actually was. I'd just have to wait for that to wear off.

"Night." I said to my parents when we got to our bedroom doors. They were across the hall from each other. I dabbed at my puffed lip again, knowing I'd be stuck with one word answers that used the minimum amount of lip movement for the next couple days. At least it was the weekend.

I hopped into my standing shower and scrubbed all the blood from my skin before changing into joggers and a sweatshirt. I crawled under my pale green blankets, making sure I laid on my left side to keep my injured lip off my pillow. It didn't take long for me to drift asleep.

__*__*__

The weekend was a brutal cycle of sleeping and then attempting to eat again, only to fail and drink a smoothie instead. Mom and Dad encouraged me to keep trying to use my lip but once the numbing wore off, it seared like a burn. And Holly was right: it felt like it was being pulled too tight, and I was afraid I looked permanently puckered. Checking in the mirror, I knew it didn't look that way on the outside, but it made eating, drinking, and talking a nightmare. Cracking a smile was completely out of the question.

So, smoothies it was. Because I could stick a straw through the left side of my mouth my lip didn't hurt so bad.

"Still hurts?" Dad asked me, striding into the kitchen where I sat on the countertop. He gestured to where I was, again, lightly touching my fingertip to the stitches.

I grimaced. "A little. It's getting better."

His eyes darkened suddenly in seriousness. "Listen, Em. Maybe it wouldn't be the best idea for you to come along on the road trip this weekend."

"What? No, Dad, please!"

His reply was cut off when Mom appeared behind him. "Ready for school, honey?"

I hopped off the counter and grabbed my backpack while Mom scurried about the kitchen. She poured two mugs of coffee—handing one to my dad as she passed him—and then pulling a premade smoothie out of the fridge, which she poured into a plastic cup that had a lid and a straw. She handed that to me.

"Thanks." I told her and she whisked me off to the garage. "Oh. Really, I can walk." I had already missed the bus from being so groggy that morning.

"Get in." She hopped in the driver's seat of Dad's truck and within a moment, it roared to life.

"Okay. . ." I whispered to myself, stepping around to the other side of the vehicle. The second I was secured in my seat, she backed out of the garage and we were speeding down the street.

"Goddess, Mom."

She just laughed.

Soon enough, she was waving me away and then peeling out of the parking lot. I huffed a sigh and then walked into the building, pulling tight on my bag straps.

I wasn't actually that late, so I wasn't sure why Mom was rushing. The bell had just barely rang, and several students were still making their way through the halls. I quickly ducked into my first period classroom.

Scarlet glanced at me from the desk beside mine. "What happened to your face?"

I ignored her, because it wasn't just a concerned friend type of question. It was a sneering "ha! You're ugly now" type of statement. She didn't let it drop though, appearing near my locker before my lunch period.

"Seriously." I could hear the smirk in her voice, "It's like you didn't even try to cover it. Looks pretty bad."

"How in the world am I supposed to hide a busted, stitched up lip?" I kept my back to her, rummaging for the books I needed in my locker.

"Bet your mother would know."

Now I turned on her, but she didn't even flinch. "Excuse me?"

She shrugged, smacking the gum she chewed between her lips. "Maybe you should ask her tomorrow. Stories say she used to cower within herself here, never even speaking a word."

I balled my fists, "You don't know anything."

She dug her finger into my sternum, her nail pinching the skin between my collarbones. "Maybe you don't know anything." Then she turned and strolled away.

I pressed the pad of my thumb against the spot her finger had been, rubbing it until I was sure any mark she might have left was gone. What was she talking about?

Tuesday was similar. More jabs at my lip, but this time, instead of confronting me in person at my locker, I found a slip of paper inside. On it was a drawing of a wolf—a pretty decent one too—and it's lip appeared to be dripping. I crumpled it up in my palm.

It had to be Scarlet. How did she know about the wolf thing? The thought again crossed my mind that she was a wolf, but then why couldn't we smell it? It made no sense. Was she a hunter?

That one sent a cold shiver down my spine. My parents taught that hunters should not be messed with. Ever. They were even more dangerous than rogues because they had weapons. Guns weren't as outrun-able as another wolf.

I decided not to provoke her that day. Or the next. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that I even saw her again. She only passed me in the hall on the way out of the building and said "you got something on your lip."

"Thanks." I rolled my eyes. But then she leaned closer before she completely passed me by and whispered, "kinda looks like a fang."

It took a lot for me not to swing a punch. Both out of annoyance and a little of fear.

I rode the bus home with Sky's siblings. I still didn't understand why Dad had laughed at the fact we still used it, because the path he offered took the same amount of time, if not more. At least this way we could sit down instead of walk the whole way.

Per her request, I carried Maylie on my back as we walked up the driveway. She draped her arms over my shoulders around my neck and held onto my backpack in front of me. It hit me in the chest and stomach with every step as it swung from her fingers. When we reached inside the front door, I let her slide off my back and I took my bag from her before she ran off to find her parents.

"How was school?" Dad asked as I made it to the kitchen to grab a snack. He was pouring himself a glass of water.

I opened the refrigerator and stared inside, trying to decide what I wanted. "Good."

Mom joined us, shutting the fridge in my face as she walked passed. Thanks. "Don't stand with the door open." She scolded, then asked, "How's your lip?"

"It's fine. Doesn't hurt to talk anymore." A couple of the stitches had fallen out already, even though it hadn't been quite a week since the injury occurred. One point for werewolf speed-healing!

I opened the fridge back up and grabbed a cheese stick. Then I looked pointedly at my mother as I shut the door.

She sighed, but didn't comment on it. "Your father thinks it's a bad idea for you to come with us tomorrow."

"Why?" I whined, peeling open the wrapping around the cheese. Smoothies were still easier, but chewing didn't cause pain anymore. "My lip is fine. Even Holly said I wouldn't have to see her again because we heal so fast!"

Dad set his glass down. "You still have a scabbed over, dip in your lip that could reopen anytime!"

"I can almost smile now." I showed my teeth a little. "See?"

"It's still risky."

"Dad," I argued, "I'm sure the other packs we're visiting will have pack doctors, too. That's not a good enough reason to prevent me from going with!"

I caught Mom's eye. She didn't like us bickering, it made her uncomfortable, and somewhat nervous. In fact, she got like that when anyone argued, not just someone she knew. Scarlet's words came back to me. Did my mother have more secrets to her past than I could ever guess?

Dad's voice snapped me back to the conversation. "Okay, fine. I'm sorry." He sighed, taking a quick sip of water while I popped a piece of the cheese into my mouth. "I guess I'm reluctant to bring you along because it will no longer just be a friendly conversation with another alpha. We have to make sure they aren't plotting against us like Waning Moon is. We have to convince them to see our side of things, not Anne's."

Anne? He must have meant the queen. It was weird that he ignored formalities when talking about her.

"It could end how last week did. I don't really want your mother coming along at this point, either, but she has made up her mind."

Mom folded her arms and stuck out her hip as if to prove his point.

"Then let me make up my mind too!" I pleaded. "I'm not a child anymore, Dad. I need to start observing and learning how to deal with bigger things than just our pack's business."

Mom tilted her head up at Dad. "She has a point, Kota."

His gaze softened as he peered at the two of us. He wagged a finger between us, "Goddess, I can't say no to you. Either of you. Ever." Then he threw up his hands in defeat, grabbed his glass of water and stalked off to his office.

Mom's and my eyes followed him until he turned down a hall and was out of sight. She faced me and ran her hands down my arms, straightening an invisible sleeve. "It will be good for you to see more than just our territory."

"I've seen Eva's pack." I reminded her.

"Yes, but you've never been out of the state. Maybe you'll find your mate!"

And just like that, my heart dropped to my feet.