** THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME DISCREPANCIES FROM HERE ONWARDS AS I HAVE NOT EDITED THESE PARTS. PLEASE REFER TO THE FIRST PART OF THIS BOOK FOR MORE INFORMATION **

Chapter 14

Christopher's POV

"Ugh..." I groaned, rolling over slightly in my bed. My head...It hurt so much I thought I was going to puke. What happened?

"Chris?" The familiar voice of my beta suddenly called out, as I felt a presence in front of my closed eyes.

Slowly squinting them open I winced slightly at the bright light, my vision blurring before finally focusing on the face of my best friend "...Cody? What...What happened?"

"You tried to shift. Bad move man." He chuckled in return, before slumping back onto presumably a chair and running a hand over his face. Smiling as he did. He looked relieved, why I had no idea. And I tried to shift? Why? What could have possibly...?

Oh...

"I'm gonna kill that son-of-a-bitch." I seethed groggily, sitting up quickly before my head started swimming and I ended up back on the bed. "Ugh shit."

"Yeah that's going to have to wait a bit I'm afraid. Your body's still pretty fucked up." He replied, grimacing slightly at the thought. Wow was it that bad? I can't remember any of it. Heck the only reason I know it happened was due to the soreness of my body.

"...How long was I out?" I asked, dreading the answer really. I hoped it wasn't more than a few days or it would've been chaos in the pack. I still felt extremely tired so it couldn't have been that long

"The good part of two weeks."

Well shit.

"But then who's been running the pack while I've been away?" I questioned, thinking of all the missed work I'd have to catch up with. God crap.

"I have. And it's fucking killing me man! How the Hell do you do it?" He muttered, and now that I looked closer he did look a bit exhausted. Well it's sort of both worrying and pride-worthy that they couldn't survive very long without me. I didn't know if that was good or bad though...

"Well no wonder it's all getting over-whelming you're in here watching me sleep like the pervert you are instead of being down stairs catching up on work." I scolded, annoyed with myself more than anything. This was partially my fault for flipping out...But mostly that stupid Stan's fault for not doing patrol's and instead banging some random girl. Idiot.

"Dude this is the first time I've been here for over ten-minutes in weeks! Danny has been staying with you mostly." He replied, getting defensive. I was about to give a sarcastic reply before what he said dawned on me.

Danny had been staying with me?

"...Danny?" I repeated sceptically, thinking it couldn't be her. She wasn't exactly my number one fan.

"Yes! She's been force feeding you and everything dude."

"...My Danny?" I said, wanting to double check. What? It didn't make any sense at the time! Her, feeding me and taking care of me? No offence to her but it didn't really sound like something she would do.

"Yeah your Danny. The only reason she's not in here right now even is because she had to take a phone call." He replied, still sounding defensive.

"Okay I forgive you Cody," I snapped, begging to get annoyed. Sighing I shook my head "Sorry it's just... I'm having a hard time picturing Danny looking after me."

"YOU ARSE CHRISTOPHER CHILDES!" A loud British voice suddenly yelled, making me jump slightly and my eyes snap to the doorway where a pissed off looking Danielle stormed in, the stitches which I swear were removed still in her forehead but otherwise she looked okay, wearing a button down plum flowy shirt and leggings. She still looked beautiful. Why couldn't she have gotten uglier over the two weeks I was passed out and make it easier for me? But saying that it wouldn't have done much help, I'd still want to kiss her every minute I could.

"...What?" I answered confused, my brain starting to slow down slightly. I really had the urge to yawn but held it in.

"You scared the crap out of me!" She seethed coming over to us and lifting the rolled up magazine she was holding before hitting Cody over the head, gaining an Ow from the slightly angry looking black man and afterwards for her to turn and look at me "That was meant for you."

"...Ow?" I chuckled, wincing slightly as my chest constricted from pain. Damn I shouldn't have done that.

"You made me think I would be stuck here with him for God sake!" She stated, huffing and pointing at Cody who was still rubbing his head.

"Oh wow thanks." He answered sarcastically, before she grabbed his arm and started shoving him out of the room, hitting him repeatedly with the magazine as she did.

"These are for you!" She shouted at him, grunting in-between each attack. After he surrendered she nodded before slamming the door in his face, duping the magazine into my trash-can and pouting her way over to me.

My mate was funny.

By the time she'd slumped down in the previously occupied chair my head had started to swim all over again and this time it was diving in the deep end. Everything felt, just so heavy.

My eyes lids dropping I drearily nodded "Okay..."

I think she started to note my state and sighed, reaching her hand out and brushing some sweaty hair from my forehead "...I'm glad you're okay."

"...Who are you and what have you done with my Danny?" I asked sarcastically, my breaths coming deeper and longer now that I was trying to stay awake. I liked talking to her. We didn't do it a lot.

"Haha!" She answered sarcastically, before her face took a sadder look "But seriously you did scare the hell out of me." She admitted, sighing through her nose.

"Sorry..." I breathed, my eye lids dropping heavily.

"Yeah, just don't do it again okay?" She smiled sadly,

"Okay..." I trailed off drearily, feeling exhaustion start to drag me under once again "...Okay..."

And I fell asleep with the last thing I saw being my mate's face.

I could get used to that.

Danny's POV

"Alright, how's that?" Yvane asked Christopher, as she and I helped him into the living-room.

"Yvane, I'm fine." He reassured, repeating the same words he'd been saying for the past day that he'd been awake. He'd been in an out of consciousness for over two weeks before he finally came around properly, the bones he'd manage to break re-set and healed. Apparently they healed faster than us boring humans.

Go figure.

But ironically not everything had gone as well.

He'd permanently damaged some nerves in his leg due to the bone shattering and tearing through the flesh; and now had a pretty noticeable limp. After Lucy and I figured this out we felt sympathetic and went out with the intention of getting crutches for him. Well...that was of course until we passed an antique shop full of canes. So we bought him one of them instead.

He wasn't amused.

And to be honest he needed a shave. His once smooth looking face now had a pretty heavy looking stubble on it, on the verge of becoming a beard. It looked kind of sexy but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Right right," She shrugged off, before we both pulled away and sat on the sofa with him standing unbalanced in front of us "So what do you think?"

"I feel like an old man." He muttered, as Lucy and I snickered quietly together. The cane we had chosen for him was made of black metal with a silver knob on the top for him to lean on and a silver stump at the bottom. It was a cool cane but didn't half look weird with Christopher holding it.

"Well I think it makes you look rather dashing." I said, causing his scowl to waver slightly before it came back at full force. Someone was stubborn.

He glared at us slightly "And you're sure there were no crutches left at the hospital?"

"Mhmm." Lucy nodded, lying through her teeth and to be honest it was pretty obvious.

"I hate you." He muttered, as we burst out laughing. At the time this was hilarious. After all the panic and the worry he'd finally come through and honestly I was relieved. Yes I didn't like admitting it but if he had died I would've been pretty upset. And I hoped for hell that the 'Process' hadn't begun and I was starting to trust the guy. It all just seemed so...fake. As in we had no choice in the matter and we were forced to love. I didn't want that, I'd feel as if I was tricked into loving him.

"Alpha," A male voice suddenly cut in, catching us off guard and causing both Lucy and I's laughter to choke on itself. Jesus that scared the crap out of me!

Scrambling for impassiveness we regained control over our bodies; both of us turning to the archway with our backs incredibly stiff and our pinkies sticking out, looking like two stereotypical posh women.

Yes act posh, that always helps.

An unfamiliar man stood in front of us, looking at us all stonily and ignoring my and Lucy's behaviour "We're ready for you."

He looked to be in his late thirties but his black hair was thinning out and he had wrinkles that shouldn't have been there. He had an average build and was standing tall with his hands crossed in front of him.

I'd spent enough time in the military to recognise the posture. A soldier. And a high ranking one at that.

Wonder where he went, maybe we could compare notes...

Chris sighed and nodded, beginning to limp his way out of the room while leaning on the cane "I'll be there shortly. Danielle follow me. You might as well."

Me? Why?

Looking at the girls in confusion they merely shrugged in response. I wonder why I was needed? Maybe they wanted notes on how I killed a banshee. Just get a big stick! It bloody works.

Curiosity had the better of me as I slowly got up and followed the limping man out of the room. Walking behind him I couldn't help but feel a stab of something every time his leg jerked slightly as he leaned heavily on the cane. I hoped he wasn't in pain.

"Does it hurt?" I asked, a twinge of worry in my voice as I ended up falling in step next to him. He blinked slightly at my question but didn't look at me or miss a beat; just continued to walk forward.

"All the time." He mumbled back, sounding reluctant to even admit it. Another pang of something hit my heart, causing an uncomfortable feeling in my chest at his words.

What was wrong with me?

After a few more seconds of walking in silence I decided to break it "...You can cry if you want you know."

Silence followed until a quiet chuckle left his lips "...Alphas don't cry."

"Sure they do, everybody cries. It's nothing to be ashamed of." I shrugged, following him as we came to a stop in front of a closed door.

"Do you cry?" He asked, turning to look at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Occasionally." I replied, leaning on the side door. Alright not a lot but I do I swear! I have emotions!

"Alright then, cry." He stated, nodding towards me for emphasis.

"What, now?"

"Yeah, prove to me everybody cries." He said, sounding completely serious. He was joking, right? He couldn't expect me to just burst into tears for no reason, what was he an idiot? I'm not some Hollywood wanabe drama-queen. I'm British!

"You can't expect me to cry out of nowhere! You have to be in the mood." I replied, before twisting the doorknob we were currently in front of and opening the door, my eyes landing on a spacious office with about five men inside including the soldier, Cody and Christopher's dad. "Gentlemen."

I could've sworn I heard Chris behind me chuckling slightly and muttering 'In the mood...' under his breath before following me in. Idiot werewolf.

Acknowledging my greeting everyone in the room nodded "Luna."

"Uh...Yeah." I replied, before stepping aside to allow Chris inside. Limping in he closed the door behind him before greeting everyone with a nod.

"Alpha."

These people had superiority issues

"People, what have I missed?"

"Right, well you were right about the portal. We found one about half a mile away from the clearing and have wolves guarding it twenty-four seven in hopes nothing else got out. God knows how long it's been there."

Portal?

"Any sign of it closing any time soon?" He asked, as they made their way over to the desk.

"None so far." William, Christopher's father answered, as they formed a tight knit circle around the table and efficiently blocked my view from seeing anything. What was the point of bringing me along if I wasn't told what was happening?!

"Further activity?" Christopher asked, as they all looked down at what seemed like a map. Shuffling my way forward I managed to peer over Cody's shoulder to see what was going on. I was so confused right now...

"Only one," The soldier said, before he bent down and brought up a rather large looking cage from behind the desk which had a blanket drafted over the top. Where the hell did that come from? "That we know of, this is the only other thing that came through."

"Came through what?" I finally cut-in; the annoyance of ignorance coupled with the indecision that these men were loony's overpowering me. Everyone suddenly turning around and acknowledging my presence all at once threw me off a bit but I held my head high, I wasn't going to appear weak in front of these men.

If Christopher asked for me to come, then I was God damn going to learn as much as I could about this place. As cliché as it sounds, I wanted to know everything about this world. The dangers, the origins, EVERYTHING. Because if those banshees were anything to go by then it was pretty obvious that there was a high chance other things could, become known. Terrible things.

Looking at each man expectantly nobody moved or said anything, causing me to place my hands on my hips in annoyance. "Well?"

"Alpha I don't think a human should be present during this meeting. Especially one of her gender. I believe it best if she were to leave." The soldier suddenly said, cutting off whatever Christopher was about to say. Did he just...? Did he just...?

"...I'm sorry?" I asked in disbelief before anyone else had a chance of replying to his suggestion. If this man-

"A woman should not be involved in these matters. Especially one of your species." He said, a condescending air about him. My look of disbelief never wavered as pent up anger from all these weeks started to bubble up to the surface of my being. If he's insinuating what I think he is-

"A woman?" I repeated, my disbelief doubling. The other men glanced at each other nervously as they predicted what was about to happen. And they weren't even going to defend me! The cowards!

"Yes." He replied sternly, looking me dead in the eyes.

"Of my species?"

He nodded "Yes."

Not blinking at the man I did nothing but stare at him for a good five seconds before I sighed loudly "Get out.

"Ma'am?" He asked, blinking at my calm yet angry voice.

"I SAID GET OUT!" I exclaimed, pointing at the door and glaring at him. Hesitating slightly he didn't move for a few seconds before nodding curtly and leaving awkwardly.

Following his every move I never seized my glare as I watched him leave the room, my anger not wavering even after he closed the door after him. If I saw him again I swear to God I'd give him a bitch slap that would make his face turn inside out.

That's what I hate about some men. No offence but I think I've proven my worth in this world and am probably way stronger than some people. Heck I'd probably be able to assassinate most boy bands out here with one tooth pick.

"Woman of my species-- it's the twenty first century not the middle ages." I grumbled to myself, turning and facing the others. Noticing them all looking at me I snapped "Anyone else got something to say?!"

"No I'm good."

"Nothing comes to mind."

"I'm fine."

"Nope nothing." They all said at once, suddenly coming alive and scattering around the room while looking anywhere but my face. Yeah I should think so too. I mean Chris was my 'Soul-mate' for Christ's sake the least he could've done is defend me! Heck he probably feels the same way and only brought me along because he thought I'd get bored and wonder off somewhere to pet a kitten and knit an oven like us good women folk did.

"Good." I answered, moodily leaning over the table with both arms. "Now...Someone tell me what's going on."

"Right," Chris coughed, coming to stand next to me and causing me to narrow my eyes slightly. I wasn't happy with him. Noticing the nod he gave to Cody I continued to glare as he went over to the light switch and turned it off, following with closing the curtains so the room was enveloped in darkness.

My breath hitched and heart accelerated almost instantly as I tried not to notice the pitch black. Either the others didn't notice or didn't say anything as Chris suddenly tapped the desk and a large touch screen popped up.

Wow...I didn't know they did wood touch screens now!

The blue glow illuminated the room entirely making me feel a whole lot better.

With a few swishes of the hand and a few light touches here and there the screen suddenly lifted upright, so it was now like a blue, see-through projection television screen with a load of files dotting the mainframe.

Wait I'd seen one of these before...this was for military use only how the hell did Christopher get his hands on it?

"Just to make sure you're up to date we'll keep to the basics," He said, reaching out and moving the screen with his hand in mid air; causing it to move to slide across to another as he air touched another file. Damn this brought back memories. "As you know, man is not alone in this world. In fact, there are countless other intelligent humanoids living amongst you including Shifters."

"Yeah I got all that. We are not alone and all that shit just, skip to the important part." I waved off, leaning further into the desk. I was angry and impatient I didn't need to hear what I already knew.

"Fine," He muttered, selecting a file and causing it to blow up largely on the screen. "Unlike humans we don't come from Earth--well, ancestry wise. Obviously we've been born here for decades but our forefathers came from another world. A parallel world. Where everything you've come to learn of exists. And to get there, you need one of these."

The large picture on the screen in front of us seemed ordinary. The trees surrounding the grass clearing were illuminated by the high sun of probably mid-day. The other forestry such as shrubs and the leafy ground seemed oblivious enough so really everything about the picture seemed inconspicuous.

Well, except for one thing.

"A mirror?" I asked sceptically, analysing the grand reflection glass in front of me. There, smack bang in the middle of the picture within the clearing was a large mirror with gold intertwining around the bulky edges. Nothing seemed to be holding it up but it was balancing itself completely. How on Earth did this mirror end up in the middle of a forest?

"A reflection-less mirror." The one stranger in the room added, causing my eyes to snap to his. He was an older gentleman with thinning blonde hair and a pair of large black glasses. Who was he anyway? Or on a more important note, what the hell was a reflection-less mirror?

"...You lost me." I admitted, looking at him expectantly. What was he saying?

"These mirrors--The portals, give off no reflection." He tried explaining, loosing me a bit further. What so we were like vampires? No reflection...

"What?"

He exclaimed loudly in frustration "Okay think of it this way, our reflection is what stops us from going to the other world. Every time you touch a mirror it stops you by touching it at the same time. And vice-versa of course."

"So...our-- 'reflections', are blocking us from going to your world?" I tried dissevering, as it all started to make sense.

"Right! And the portals block your reflections; allowing you to walk in-between universes." He smiled, looking at me encouragingly.

I scowled "Stop smiling! You're making me feel bad."

It instantly dropped "Sorry."

I sighed as a guilty feeling began crawling up my back "Don't be I'm in a bad mood; Se-- I'm sorry. Now about these mirrors, where do they come from?" I asked, analysing them further. They looked man-made (Or you know, they could be WEREWOLF made) But at the same time the detail around the edges and the sheer beauty of the pattern just gave off an unknown feeling. Even if it was just a picture.

"No one knows," He replied shrugging "They just pop up anywhere for any given amount of time."

"Well then how come humans don't know about them? If they pop up at any given time then surely someone must've stumbled upon one of these things?" I asked, thinking as logically as I could in this situation.

"Oh they do, but the ones that find a portal get...curious."

"You're not saying..." I asked, dread creeping into my tone. He can't mean...

"Of the around five hundred people that have gone missing to our world over time, only one has come back. A teenage girl. And if what they tell us is true back in Ecrim, she only just managed to escape a massacre that killed over fifty thousand people in a war." Christopher answered, sighing slightly as he leaned onto the table.

"Jesus..." I trailed off, coming to grips with the information. This Ecrim sounds terrible! What kind of world can kill five hundred people just by allowing them to step through? You know, other than Earth.

"And that's why we guard the portals when we find them. To make sure no one falls into our world." He explained, looking at the mirror as he did. All of the men looked worried; as they gazed at the picture with a look of sadness, frustration and in some ways guilt.

"Or the other way round." William added, looking at the cage that the soldier had brought in specifically. Following his league I too looked at the blanket covered prison. It looked pretty small... but big enough for a banshee to fit in. That sexist idiot better not have brought one of those things in here or when I see him I'm going to slap him twice.

"Cody if you please," The stranger suddenly said, as Cody moved to switch on the lights. Once they were back fully functioning the stranger turned to me with his hand hovering over the blanket "Luna, meet one of the most vicious creatures on Ecrim." He declared, before lifting the veil with one large swoop.