"I love you" he whispered quietly. She closed the short distance between their faces and kissed him softly on the lips.

"I love you too" she whispered back. He rolled the window of his car up as she stepped away into the cold of the over cast midday. The drizzle that had been present during their entire date seemed to pick up in vehemence, or perhaps that was because she was watching him drive away in his small black civic once again, leaving her at the deplorable house of her youth.

Slowly and hesitantly, she made her way backwards, turning only when she knew another backwards step would have her sprawled out on the steps that led to the front door. Trudging up the wooden steps, she kept eye contact with the ground the entire way to the door. She knew that a tall, dark headed man stood at the edge of the porch, arms crossed, legs spread wide in a dominating stance. She knew the man was grimacing. She knew the face so similar to her own would have brows arched downwards in disapproving anger.

She attempted to bustle past his massive form, but he reached out and grabbed her upper arm.

"You will end it with him" he ordered gruffly.

"I love him Alpha Grayson" she said angrily, looking down at the wet floorboards.

"The only reason to risk your life and your Sleuth for a human would be because he is your mate, which he is not. End it, Kyrrian" he growled lowly.

"I won't, Kaddian" she replied before pulling her arm from his and running into the house.

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Can you get outside?" the bright screen on Kyrrian's phone lit up. Kyrrian chewed on her lip and fingered the edge of her oversized sweater nervously.

Picking up her phone she slowly texted, "Yes". She took a deep breath before sending the message.

"Hurry, please. I need to see you" Brian's message made Kyrrian smile softly.

Standing up and padding to her door quietly, Kyrrian cracked open her door soundlessly and looked out to see her brother sitting at his desk, going through papers. A glass of amber liquid sat next to his left hand, which he lifted up and took a sip from. Kaddian only drank whiskey when he was extremely stressed, not that his outward appearance would ever betray that.

Slowly closing her door, Kyrrian grabbed a pair of boots from her closet and her black coat before making her way to her window. As silently as possible, she slid the window up and perched on the sill. With a deep breath, she jumped out and hit the ground. She quickly pressed herself against the wall of the house and looked upward, waiting for her brothers head to appear at the window. When it did not, she exhaled the breath she didn't realize she was holding and pulled out her phone.

"I'm outside" she typed quickly.

"Head to the woods" Kyrrian read the message than looked up to the dark, dense forest that was directly in front of her. She tucked her phone into her pocket and briskly ran across the back lawn into the thick foliage. She walked for maybe a mile before she began to worry that Brian was not there. It was ridiculous for her to be frightened of the woods, she could shift into one of biggest and mightiest creatures out here, but Kyrrian still jumped at the hoot of the owl above her head. The moon was full and bright overhead, but the light barely streamed in through cracks in the tall pine's thick foliage.

"Brian?" Kyrrian whispered out into the silence. No reply met her ears.

"Bri-" before she could finish, two men grabbed her arms and wrenched them behind her back.

"No! Let go of me!" Kyrrian screamed out, "Let me-Brian! Oh thank goodness, help me!". Brian appeared out of the closest bush looking out of breath and paler than usual. He ran at them and Kyrrian felt relief overcome her quickly. She knew she didn't need to train like her brother insisted, Brian would always be there to take care of her. He ran up to her and grabbed her jaw in his hand.

"Brian" she said with a wincing tear as the men pulled harder on her arms.

"I'm sorry" he said before he pulled a syringe from his pocket, bit the tip off, and jammed it into her neck.

Before she had time to be shocked, blackness met Kyrrian's gaze.

___________________________________________________________________________________

"We have to administer the adrenaline when she's awake and then the tranquilizer once she's shifted, that's why this is so dangerous" a strange man's voice said as Kyrrian came in and out of consciousness.

"I can't do this, you should have seen the look on her face" Brian's familiar tone touched her ears. His voice was tremultuous and filled with fear.

"Shut up and get ready, she's coming out of it" the mystery voice said again. Kyrrian finally opened her eyes to see chains dangling in front of her face. It was very dark except for the bright light shining down on to her face from above.

"Brian?" Kyrrian cried out slowly has reality came crashing down on her. He didn't answer her, only the slight rattle of the chains and the dank, moist odor met senses. She was strapped vertically to some sort of table, but there were loose fitting chains on her wrists and ankles.

"Please answer me, I know you're there. Please" Kyrrian whimpered.

"Give it to her" the other man's voice said.

"Give what to me?! Please! Where am I?! PLEASE!" Kyrrian screamed before a needle was jammed into her chest from someone just outside of her vision. It went straight to her heart, each pump bringing a stinging pain. Before she could cry out, Kyrrian felt something cold rush into her heart as the plunger was forced down on the syringe. The needle was removed and all was calm.

Kyrrian's eyes darted around nervously as she took two deep breaths, and then it hit her.

Kyrrian screamed out loud as her body arched off of the table. She felt like every cell of her body was trying to run a different direction. Without any control over her body, Kyrrian felt herself begin to change, shift into her second form. He ribs sprang open and cracked as they seperated. Pain assailed Kyrrian, something that shouldn't happen with the shift. This forced, expeditited shift was causing her unimaginable amounts of pain. Fur sprouted from her arms and legs and half of her face began to elongate while the other stayed. She screamed out in pain as parts of her began to shift at wrong times, ripping her body in unnatural ways. After what felt like hours, Kyrrian lie slumped on the table huffing out loud, laborious breaths.

"Is she-" Brian began but jumped backwards in fear, clamboring into tables and racks as Kyrrian lunged forward, attempting to take a swipe at him with her sharp, long claws. The roar she let loose from her lips reverberrated loudly in the enclosed space and multiple things happened at once. Kyrrian began violently struggling against the chains that were once too big as they cut into her skin. Two strange men wearing grungy, blood stained button downs loaded a tranquilizer gun and shot her. Almost simultaneously a roar, deeper and louder—and far more menacing—than Kyrrian's could be heard outside the walls, as if it echoed from miles away. Kyrrian, again, lost consciousness as the tranquilizers took their toll. The last thing she saw was the two men ceasing their movements to look at each other.

The plaid clad men grabbed knives and ran to the now unconscious she bear while Brian stumbled blindly in the background, terrified and shocked. One of the mystery men shoved his blade under the skin of Kyrrian's left leg and slid it upward, making the first of many cuts needed to remove her pelt. As the second of the mystery men went to apply pressure to the knife he held to the inside of her other foot, a bang on the door of the triple enforced cellar made everyone jump.

"Damn it" he growled.

"There's no time to finish" the first one said.

"We have to, we haven't had a catch in months!" the second growled, hesitating with his knife, not convinced of the things he was saying. Another bang showed the door give way as bolts fell from the metal barrier.

"You know what's on the other side of that door" man one said quietly.

"He may not-" but the second man quit speaking as movement near the door caught his attention.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" a terrified, blubbering Brian mewled as he crawled toward the door.

"What are you doing?! No!" man one yelled, but far too late. Brian shakily unbolted the door and slid open the magnetic lock. The final dead bolt was nothing compared to the brute force of the massive, dark brown bear that ripped through the door like tissue paper. The door knocked Brian down to the floor. The bear rambled in and stepped on the door, taking time only to swipe his massive, clawed paw across the once living man's head, mutilating his face and killing him instantly. The other two men attempted to escape through a trap door behind a tool rack. The massive animal rammed the first man against the wall and slid his claws along his throat, barely leaving the man's head attached to his body. The second man shot the bear once with silver filled shot gun before the creature pinned him down and nawed his face off. With one last bellow, the bear turned quickly to Kyrrian, nosing her face gently. Alpha Grayson quickly shifted to his nude human form and crouched down, placing his hand on the nape of his sister's neck.

"I can't carry you like this, shift back" he said gruffly, his brow in its usual drawn together position. She did not answer, move, or for that matter appear to be breathing.

"Kyrrian, shift!" a deeper undertone took to Kaddian's voice and his eyes flashed gold as he used his Alpha tone, an order she could not deny even unconsciuos. Slowly, her body began to retract to the small version that was her human figure. Kaddian checked her pulse and found it faint but there. He quickly scanned her body, searching for any injuries, and stopped short on her calf. Angry at himself for not noticing the bleeding injury sooner, he gently laid the flayed skin back to her body, knowing it would heal but would most likely scar.

A noise at the open doorway of the basement had the Alpha cradling his sisters body close to his own while he growled at the intruder and bared his exposed canines. The local sheriff stood in the door in full uniform, holding her gun at the twins sitting in each others arms, surrounded by chaos, blood, and bodies.

"What the-" she began but shut her mouth and shook her head, "I knew those bastards were doing something illegal" she mumbled. The young woman had recently been appointed as sheriff, and with her appointment came a whole horde of mysterious disturbances, animal attacks, and poaching incidents. "Kaddian Grayson? That's your name, right?" Kaddian narrowed his eyes at the woman who appeared to be completely unfazed by the wreckage she currently traipsed her way through.

Returning to his human thought processes, Kaddian grunted yes.

"I don't know what happened, but I'm gonna need an explanation real quick if you expect me to help you" Sheriff Hale said quietly once she reached the two individuals. She crouched down and got eye level with the panting, naked man and said "because this looks like it was done by some sort of animal". She reached out and touched Kaddian on the arm. He looked down at her hand with a furrowed brow, then stood up slowly, not needing her hand there to help, but leaving it there none the less. He bent down and scooped up his sister before walking out the door of the basement.

"M-my car is out front" she called out to his retreating figure.

Looking around the basement one more time, Sheriff Lauren Hale exhaled with a whistle and said, "that man is more naked than babe on it's birthday" before shaking her head and following the two out to her car.

They drove in silence, the only thing Kaddian had said was that they were going to his house.

Once inside the Grayson home, Sheriff Hale couldn't help herself any longer.

"I'm puttin' my neck out on the line here taking you from a crime scene, I need an explanation, quick" she said.

Kaddian Grayson took note of her thick accent and turned around to say, "I plan to bandage my sisters leg, put her to bed, and put on clothes before I speak to you, or would you prefer we talk while she lies bleeding, unconscious on the floor and I sit in my 'bare-naked babe' nudity?"

"I- you're right, I'll wait here" the sheriff quickly replied. The massive man trudged upstairs and returned about twenty minutes later in gray sweats and a black shirt. His hair was wet and the blood that had covered his arms and face earlier was gone. Kaddian Grayson was a handsome man, black hair and tan skin that he and his sister both shared. His sharp, angular jaw was always set in a stubborn line and his brow was never unfurrowed. She had seen him occasionally around town, but had never had a reason to speak to the intimidating man until now.

"What's going on here?" Hale asked again.

Alpha Grayson looked into Lauren Hale's blue eyes and searched for some sort naivety or idiocy that he could exploit and found none. It was about time he had told the human police force about himself and his Sleuth. He needed some sort of human in power who knew what was going on and could help cover up the mysterious events. That had been the town doctor until he passed away three years ago. Things had gotten difficult with the previous sheriff after that as the man was convinced Kaddian and his Sleuth were drug dealers. Idiot of a man had gone asking questions around known offenders in the big city and gotten himself killed.

"My name is Kaddian Grayson and I am the Alpha of the Northwest Bear Sleuth" he began. Sheriff Lauren Hale took her hat off and slowly sat down as Alpha Grayson began explaining his past, present, and the future that she had just entangled herself into.