Norah and Hanna were on their feet before I could say anything else.

We sprinted out of the diner, passing the waitress who was on her way to our table with our food as we were on our way out the door.

Running to Luca's Jeep, which was parked on the curb, I got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

I nearly hit the car that was parked in front of us as I slammed my foot down on the gas pedal, swerving from the parking lane into the street.

I heard several cars honking behind us as I drove away quickly.

Looking in the rearview mirror, I glanced back at the bus stop to see Alpha Reid was gone.

Had I just imagined it?

"Carrie, watch out!" Norah screamed from the passenger seat.

My eyes returned to the road in front of me to see Alpha Reid standing in the middle of the street. I slammed on the breaks and the Jeep skidded across the pavement, stopping right in front of him.

I gulped, noticing the dark circles around his brown eyes and the way his once tan-complected face was now pale and dull.

I quickly put the Jeep into reverse and hit the gas pedal.

What I didn't realize were Alpha Reid's hands that gripped the bull bar on the front of the Jeep, holding it in place. The tires spun on the concrete, but the Jeep remained stationary.

"What the fuck," Norah muttered next to me, eyebrows furrowing.

I put the Jeep into neutral and pushed down on the gas pedal, revving the engine as a warning.

"Move!" I yelled.

There was a crowd of people that lined the street, watching.

Alpha Reid let go of the bull bar and walked around to the driver's side door.

"You have one week," he said, his broken voice muffled by the window that separated us.

"One week, and then I won't be able to stop him," he repeated.

His defeated expression gave me pause. He looked so much like Mady in that moment.

I unbuckled my seatbelt, and opened the car door. Reaching up, before I could let myself think about it, I hugged him as tight as I could.

The man had practically help raise me. He had always been supportive, even stepping in to co-sign with me on my tuition loans for college after my parents backed out. He bought my art at a school auction and hung it in his chambers at the courthouse. He offered me wisdom as a little girl, a teenager, and as an adult.

And all I could offer in his time of defeat was a hug.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

He let go of me and walked away, disappearing into the crowds.

I turned to Norah, watching her climb over the console into the driver's seat.

"I'll drive," she told me, giving me a sympathetic look.

When I turned back to look for Alpha Reid, he was gone.

I wasn't until I walked around to the passenger side door that I saw my reflection and realized I had tears rolling down my face. I wiped them away before climbing into the car and buckling up.

Norah began to drive away as I pulled my phone from my purse. Calling Luca, I pressed the phone to my ear.

"So you changed your mind–" he started.

"Alpha Reid is here," I interrupted, my voice shaky. "He's in Missoula."

"Where are you right now? Are you safe?" Luca asked quickly, his tone immediately changing.

"We're okay. We're on the way home now. I think he was just here to warn me," I said slowly, feeling the tears return to my eyes.

"What did he say to you? Is he still there?"

"No," I answered. "He's gone. He told me we had a week and then he couldn't stop him. I'm assuming he's talking about my dad..."

"Listen to me. We'll figure this out when you get home. Are you guys safe now?"

"Yes, I think so," I breathed out.

"Okay. That's all that matters to me right now. Just make sure no one's following you as you get closer to the pack. I'll meet you at the border when you get here."

"Luca, do you think that means he's going to authorize the raid?" I whispered.

"Worry about one thing at a time, amore. We'll talk about it when you get home, just focus on getting here safely. Okay?" Luca said.

"Okay."

"I love you," he said.

I couldn't help but smile briefly.

"I love you, too."

After we had ended the call, I looked down and noticed my hands were still shaking and I wrung them out.

"What the fuck just happened?" Hanna asked.

"Language!" Norah exclaimed, turning to shoot Hanna a stern expression.

Hanna just shrugged.

Norah looked at me warily.

"Why would he come all the way here just to warn you?" Norah asked me. "And how the hell did he find us?"

"Language," Hanna mumbled.

Norah glared at her in the rearview mirror.

"I don't know," I said, shaking my head. "I have a weird feeling about it."

We drove the rest of the way home in silence. By the time we got to the borders, the sun had nearly set completely and I had a splitting headache from worrying about Alpha Reid's ominous warning.

Luca's truck was parked on the road behind the gate and he got out as soon as we'd pulled up to it; his truck's headlights spotlighting the Jeep as we parked outside the gate.

Norah, Hanna, and I loaded out of the car as Blaine and his security crew surrounded the Jeep and began to search through every crevice.

Luca reached out and pulled me into his arms, kissing the top of my head.

"You're okay?" He asked, extending the question to Norah and Hanna as well.

They both nodded.

"What are they looking for?" I asked, watching Blaine and his team.

"It's just a precaution," Luca assured me.

Luca pulled away slightly, give me a wary look.

"What happened? Why is his scent all over you?" He asked.

"I hugged him."

He cocked an eyebrow before pulling me back into his chest, holding me tighter.

"Selfishly, I don't like that," he admitted.

"He just looked so broken... I couldn't hardly help it," I said, still able to see the exhausted and dejected expression Alpha Reid had worn. "I've never seen him like that before."

Luca's attention returned to Norah and Hanna.

"Do you guys want a ride home?" He asked.

The girls both nodded.

Luca turned to Blaine.

"You can drop that back back off at my place when you're done," he said, gesturing towards the Jeep.

Blaine nodded.

As we walked over to Luca's truck, I couldn't help but notice it was the first time he didn't open the passenger door for me. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach at the realization.

We dropped Hanna off at Ana and Philip's house before dropping Norah off at her white cottage-style home. Ben was sitting on the front steps, waiting for her, as he whittled away at a small log with a pocket knife.

"I'm redecorating," she told me. "I want you to come over so I can give you a tour of the house and get your opinion on a rug I'm thinking about buying. You need to come over tomorrow, okay?"

I nodded at her, smiling.

"Looking forward to it."

She smiled before closing the backdoor of the truck.

I watched as Norah walked down her driveway towards Ben, who stood up to greet her with a hug.

Luca began to drive away.

"I'm going to take you over to the tower," he told me. "Lincoln is setting up a call with Bates's sister. She thought it would be a good idea for everyone to be there so we were all on the same page."

I nodded.

We drove for a few more minutes until we reached the tower, parking in the road behind Bates's Jeep.

I followed Luca up to the door, Lincoln waiting for us there.

"Everything is set up. We're just waiting on Blaine," he said as we walked inside.

We walked up the staircase to the top floor where Bates was shooting a wads of notebook paper into a trash bin.

"Heard you had an interesting day," he said to me, smiling as he turned to see us walk in.

I just nodded, taking a deep breath as I sat down.

A few minutes later, Blaine and Lincoln walked up the staircase together.

Lincoln looked at Bates.

"Is she ready?" He asked.

Bates nodded.

Lincoln opened his laptop and began to set up the video call. It rang a few times before she answered.

Her face appeared on the screen and I raised an eyebrow. She looked nothing like Bates.

She had dark, straight hair that was cut to her chin with blunt bangs that nearly covered her eyebrows. She was pale and extremely thin, her ultra-defined collarbones exposed by the wide-neck top she wore. Her sharp gaze and piercing blue eyes were intimidating enough to make me look away.

"Let's make this quick," she said curtly.

"Nice to see you too," Bates laughed, waving at her.

She smiled briefly before her expression turned back to stone.

"I want to make it very clear that I am going against everything I preach and uphold by handing over this sensitive information," she said. "My church wouldn't be happy to find out about this betrayal of trust, so I need your assurance that my words will not leave this room nor will they be heard by anyone other than those I can see in front of me."

"We've got you covered, Clara," Bates assured her.

She took a deep breath.

"I also want to make sure you know that I'm not in anyway advocating for the violence that is no doubt going to follow this conversation. I just want to keep my baby brother safe," Clara insisted. "Adequately preparing you is the only way I know how to do that."

Luca nodded.

"I understand," he said. "We appreciate all the help we can get."

Clara hesitated for a moment before she looked directly into the webcam.

"You're Carrie, I presume," she said to me.

I nodded.

"And your father is..."

Clara trailed off as I nodded again, slowly.

"When was the last time you saw him?" She asked me.

"A month ago," I answered.

"Bates mentioned that you noticed his eyes were blue in the dream you had. Do you remember them being blue when you saw him one month ago?"

I shook my head.

"No, the dream was the first time."

She nodded thoughtfully.

"That means, likely, that you have about eight or nine days before anything super potent could be in his system."

I remembered what Alpha Reid said: one week.

"Do you know of anyone your father may have known to introduce him to these practices?" Clara asked me.

I shook my head.

"No, I honestly didn't know this existed until Bates was telling us," I said.

"That's the way it should be," she said firmly. "Only those within our chapters are privy to this kind of information. I've tried to find someone in your region of Oregon that was within the church, but was unsuccessful. Have you lived anywhere else? Where is your father from?"

"We lived in Twin Falls for as long as I can remember before we moved to Oregon twelve years ago. Both of my parents were born and raised in Idaho," I told her.

She nodded, making a note of this.

"I'll look into it," she assured me. "But for now, I want you guys to know two things..."

This caught the attention of Lincoln and Blaine, who leaned into the computer closer.

"One: don't make eye contact with anyone you don't know. It doesn't take long for the incantation that will open others' minds to settle in, especially if they're familiar with your scent."

My eyebrows furrowed.

"Open others' minds?" Luca repeated.

"It's mind control basically," she admitted. "We don't like to call it that because the whole point isn't to exercise control. It's to aid us in helping others work through various traumas, allowing us to see their thoughts. But there are those that use this incantation to peel back the mind and distort reality. It can be very dangerous."

"And all it takes it making eye contact with someone?" I asked.

"The more prolonged the eye contact, the more control they can exercise. I would suggest to watch out for those with icy-blue irises. This is typically is side effect of the incantation," she warned.

I leaned back in my chair as I allowed for this information to sink in.

"Does someone have to be in the room with you for the mind control to work?" I asked.

Clara shook her head slowly.

"Once they've got you, they've got you. That's how I am able to visit Bates from time to time from so far away."

"She likes to read my mind," Bates said, chuckling.

"It's not hard," Clara quipped. "It's a rather empty space."

Bates faked offense and she smiled.

"How do you know if someone's in your head?" I asked.

Clara shrugged.

"There aren't very many indicators initially. If this person is actively exercising control over you, you might find yourself with holes in your memory or acting irrationally. Typically episodes of control are followed by a pretty nasty headache."

Feeling my stomach drop, I turned to look at Luca.

"Do you think that's..."

I trailed off as he nodded.

"Probably," Luca admitted.

I closed my eyes and put my head in my hands.

I couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved.

Maybe I wasn't being as irrational and crazy as I thought I had been going into that cell...

It made sense that Johnathan would have had that kind of control over me, especially since I had seen him twice before Luca and I went to the cabin and then he had appeared to me in my dream.

I was mortified at the idea that he was reading my thoughts, a pit forming in my stomach at how violated it made me feel. I was even more grateful then that Luca had killed him than I was before.

"I gather my warning came too late," Clara deduced, her voice pulling me from my thoughts.

I nodded as I opened my eyes, sitting back into the chair.

"The only way to get someone out of your head–"

"He's dead," Luca said, interrupting her.

Clara let out a sigh.

"I guess that works too," she said.

A few moments of heavy silence rolled over us before Lincoln's voice cut through it.

"What else do we need to know?" He asked.

"Their scents will likely be covered," she said. "Bates had mentioned that was the case for the two wolves you've already captured. But if there is going to be any further assaults on your pack, you need to have measures in place to detect them that don't require their scent."

"Like body heat detection?" Blaine asked.

Clara nodded.

"That will work perfectly," she assured him. "In fact, we find those who are involved will likely have a higher body temperature than normal. A fever usually accompanies the majority of incantations that are performed on the body and mind, as the body is trying to defend itself against the foreign substances used."

"Would checking for a temperature be a good way to determine who has been hexed?" Bates asked her.

She nodded.

"If you're anticipating any kind of raid or assault on your pack, I would recommend letting all of your pack members within your gates for the maximum protection available. At least until this all clears up."

Luca nodded.

"Is there anything else we should know?" He asked her.

Clara shook her head.

"I don't think so," she sighed. "But if anything else happens or comes up that you have questions about, please let me know."

"Thank you for your help, Clara," he said.

She smiled briefly.

"I'm glad I could offer it. I only hope it was enough."

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that it wouldn't be.

- - -

Dun, dun, dun....

Hope everyone had a restful weekend! I was looking forward to resuming regular uploads, can't wait for you guys to read the ending!

This book will have 45 chapters and an epilogue, so we're almost done!

But don't worry... I've got a lot more plot up my sleeve ;)

As always, don't forget to vote and leave your thoughts on the chapter in the comments! And please vote!!

I'll be seeing you guys at 8:30am (EST, New York time) tomorrow for the next chapter!

Hasta mañana, iguanas!

MaybeManhattan .x