~Lakota~

I was having so much fun today. I didn't think it was possible to have this much enjoyment after the last few weeks but here I was, with my two mates and Nicholas at a local fair. There were these huge 'rollercoasters' I was told that's what they were called. There were so many people here that it was hard to keep from being swept away by the crowd of grinning humans. It seemed that everyone was having just as much fun as me.

Festive lights adorned the whole giant park area, there games and food stand everywhere. The air smelled of so many things it was hard to pinpoint them all. High pitched music from the rides blasted in my ears to the point of pain but I could care less about this meaningless sort of pain, all I wanted to do was try everything. At this current moment, I had one hand full of cotton candy and the other hand was some sort of pastry covered in sugar. They were both so sweet and delicious, tastes I had never experienced before exploded in my mouth and took me to another plain of mouthwatering.

Gale took up his position to my left and Cyrus to my right while Nicholas stuck to the back as broody as ever it seemed. This whole day he hadn't really said anything. But after walking around all day sightseeing, something I had missed out on since going with Tegan and Connor, we found ourselves here.

"Lakota, you want to try shooting?" Cyrus asked suddenly. I glanced up at him with wide eyes.

"You want me to shoot these people?!" I asked shocked. Everyone ended up laughing and I couldn't figure out what was so funny but apparently, I said the wrong thing.

"No silly, it's a game. You shoot a target with a fake gun and get prizes for it." Gale informed me while placing his large hand on top of my head.

"Oh" I giggled.

"Are you saying you've never been to a fair, Lakota?" this time it was Nicholas who asked behind us. He sounded generously curious and I turned to look back at him.

"No, I haven't" I answered softly my eyes falling towards the floor.

"Oh, I didn't mean-"

"Nick, it's fine. Just let it go for now" Gale said a bit firmly to his brother.

Nicholas glanced over at his older brother and a look passed between the two before he nodded.

My hand was quickly grasped and I was being pulled away from the two.

"Let's get a gun in those hands shall we?" Cyrus said tightening his grip.

"That's a terrible thing to say to a kid Cyrus." Gale said jogging up to catch up with us.

"Well to you everyone's a kid so..." he grumbled.

"Yes, and I think it's time you hand over those weapons sunny" he joked and I smiled.

Cyrus just rolled his eyes and continued to guide me towards a booth full of hanging targets.

"Welcome, would you like to try." a man behind the booth with an unusually large grin stared at us with what seemed like greedy eyes. I flinched back a little.

"Yes, can we get a gun for this one" Cyrus said to the man pointing at me, handing him money over the counter. Why did this look like a shady deal?

"Sure thing" the man said and turned around taking one of the many guns hanging from the wall next to him and placed the weapon on the table.

"Go ahead kid" he said to me.

Tentatively I walked up to the counter and reached for the gun. The moment it was in my hand I knew it was fake. It was too light and cheap.

"The more bullseyes you get the bigger your prizes are." The man advertised.

It was your standard long short barrel rifle, nothing special. Since living with Cyrus, I knew quite a bit about guns. My mate was a little obsessed with weapons in general and like to perfect every type of fighting style there was.

There was no scope on the gun so I had to brace myself on the counter with my elbows and held the gun steady. I place the stock against my right shoulder as I looked down the short-crooked barrel. I closed one eye and aimed a little off as I took the barrel into account and shot the target. With the placement of the targets, they seemed a little too far away from what this gun was capable of but I hit the bullseye any way, but just by a hair. I see that the man was trying to pull a fast one on everyone who wanted to play his games. But now that I had a feel for the toy, I was ready.

I heard Cyrus snicker behind me and lent over the counter towards the man, rather cockily.

"Can we get the giant wolf back there." The man frowned at him as I moved towards the other target and pulled the trigger again.

****

The stuffed wolf was so big I had a hard time holding it in my arms.

"Damn Lakota, I didn't know you were that good at shooting, you almost had that guy in tears." Gale praised.

"Well duh he is, I trained him myself." Cyrus puffed up.

"Why though? When will you need guns to fight? You think your hunters or something?" Gale snickered.

"No, but I think he needs to be well versed in all types of combat. That's the way that I like to fight and that's how he will too."

"Your teeth aren't enough for you then?" this was Nicholas.

"Not always, we can't just flaunt our shifts to everyone that picks a fight."

"You make a good point."

"Sucks for you. We can just hypnotize, unlike you sad wolves." Gale said poking his lip out with sad eyes. I smiled behind my giant stuffed animal as Cyrus growled.

"You always have some smart comeback don't you" Cyrus's voice held a hint of irritation and humor.

"I can go all day kid, just try me" Gale grinned walking up behind him and throwing his arm around his shoulder. I watched as he leaned his head down into Cyrus's neck and inhaled his scent rather heavily.

"I'd rather not, old man"

"I may be old but that only means I've got lots of experience under my belt and I can school you kid" Gale nuzzled his neck and Cyrus laughed.

"I'm sure you can" even though he was trying to sound nonchalant I could hear a little hitch in Cyrus's voice as Gale got closer. The proximity was getting to him and Gale's charms were hard to push aside.

We turned a corner walking down an empty alley, caught up in our group's antics, when warning bells went off inside my head. It happened so fast that all I could do was act. I dropped the stuffed wolf in the dirt and moved without a thought. I got in front of Gale and Cyrus so quickly I felt like I teleported. For a split second, I saw a shiny gleam in the dark heading towards Gale's face and I reached out catching the blade in my bare hand.

<*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>

~Cyrus~

There was a pause between both my group and the attackers. One moment we were all having a fun time, Gale and I bantering back and forth when there was a sudden breeze. Lakota was in front of us holding a serrated knife in his bare hand all of a sudden. It was only for a few seconds but we were all taken back by Lakota's quick bold reflexes in his act to protect us. In astonishment, my eyes trailed up from my mates' hand to his eyes and saw something I had never wanted to see again. They were glowing a dangerous yellow, more intense than his normal soft gold. There was a look of calm rage. It sent chills down my spine; that was a new feeling for me. Not much scared me these days but my usually soft mates' expression was no joke and I knew this wasn't going to end well.

The sound of Lakota's blood splashing on the concrete broke the tension and everything moved rather quickly. Gale took his arm away from me and ran into the fray. I was only a second behind him. There were about five guys against our three, easy. Lakota turned his body inwards and used his elbow to jab it into his attacker's gut making him let go of his knife and he took it. Flipping it in the air and catching the handle smoothly in his already wounded hand, he jabbed it into the assailant's neck. The man gargled through his now useless throat and dropped hard. I know I taught Lakota how to fight but I didn't think he would be so ruthless with it. It both filled me with pride and frightened me at the same time. His killing someone without an inch of hesitation was a sad sight to see and honestly, he didn't deserve it. Why couldn't he just have it easy? Fate was cruel to my mates and I was about done with it.

One of the hooded attackers came after me and as all the shock quickly passed, I was finally able to process the scent of wolves. So they weren't random people attacking us. I grabbed his arm as he tried to punch me and turned my body into him, using his weight as I flipped him over my back on to his. He hit the ground loudly. His breath was knocked out of him and I brought my knee down on his sternum, crushing it inward and moved to go onto the next guy but there were none left. It was then I recognized the musky scent that had been teasing my nose this whole time. It reminded me of Leo, Lakota's father. These were the rogues from his pack! How the hell did they find us?

The last man to drop was only moments after I was done with my one guy as Nicholas unlatched his teeth from the wolf's neck and let him fall, completely drained. Wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and presented me with a rather sinister and bloody smile.

"Your slow Cyrus."

"Oh no, we have another smart-ass Gale in our midst" I sighed as the previous excitement died down.

There was an uneasy laugh amongst us all. I looked over at Lakota as he stood silently with a small smile like nothing had happened but I could see his eyes were telling a different story.

"Lakota are you okay?" I asked as I moved towards him.

"I'm fine" His hand was still bleeding and it accrued to me that since his wolf was gone he wouldn't be able to heal like he used to.

He was practically human.

"Shit" we needed to get his hand healed up quickly.

Gale glanced towards his bleeding hand too and understood exactly what had me worried. Moving with his crazy speed he took Lakota's hand and brought it up to his mouth. His eyes caught mine and I knew that this was a dangerous thing for him to do but he wasn't going to let his mate bleed one more second longer. I could tell the moment Lakota's blood touched his lips. His eyes turned from their warm brown to the sultry hungry black color that completely took over the whites of his eyes.

When I heard the moan leave Gale's lips I knew we had to get out of here fast. Nicholas was on it in moments as he ran to his brother in a blur and practically tore him from Lakota taking him away from his mate and the fair. As he was taken away there was a chilling growl that was definitely not a happy sound. I was right behind them as I grabbed Lakota in my arms and got out of here before we were caught by the humans.

And as we fled, there was one thing on my mind.

Leo had a lot of explaining to do.