Thorne had never really been one to trust anyone, or anything. Sure, he'd been the kind of guy who hopped around from date to date and was very unreliable towards the woman he dated.

Still, the last one turned out to be a bounty hunter who turned him for a cash reward.

It wasn't like he'd trusted people before that. Woman were notorious for doing anything to get what they wanted. At first, he'd thought Cinder ... or Selene, whatever, was only using him to "save the world", or whatever. Iko seemed like she only wanted to help Selene/Cinder. And all of the other woman he'd ever met always had some sort of angle.

But there was one girl he knew, who he didn't know what her angle was. Crescent. Out of the few times he'd spoken to her, he couldn't find out what she wanted. Though it was probably to get off the satellite she was imprisoned on. Still, there was always more to it with woman. There was always some big, end game plan that they had for the long run. But with Crescent, Thorne just couldn't figure what that end plan was.

Even though Thorne knew Cinder was Iko were just using him to get what they wanted, what they wanted was pretty admirable. They wanted to save Earth from Levana and to end her tyranny on Luna. Thorne also kind of liked the way the operated, almost like a tag team. One was ready to jump into the fight to save the other at any moment. Also, that neither of them swooned over him like most woman did, which was new to him.

Just when Thorne seemed to be making progress with those two, another girl and a freaky, Lunar soldier had been taken onto his ship. His ship.

The entire time Cinder and Iko had dragged that beast onto his ship, he'd pointed his gun straight at its head. Thorne didn't care if he was unconscious, or if he was friendly and had saved that girl, Scarlet's, life. That guy was strong enough to snap him in half like a toothpick. And if there was anything that Thorne hated more than being used or being told that he wasn't good enough, it was knowing there was something stronger than him.

"Thorne?" Cinder stood in his doorway, with dust and grime all over her clothes. He was sitting on his bed, and was half way to telling her to no track the crud on her into his room.

"Good day, Your Majesty," he said in a mocking tone. "What can I have the pleasure of doing for you today?"

Cinder smiled, a rare occurrence while being on his ship. "Actually, it's what I did for you. You know that rattling sound that's been coming from the engine room?"

"Yeah. It's almost as irritating as not being in command of my own ship," he grinned, but with none of the usual joking tone he carried in his voice.

She rolled her eyes, violently. "Well, I got rid of it." Thorne turned to her, alarmed. "I mean I fixed it. There was an overload of dust in the filter and some of the pipe links were loose. So .. I fixed them."

For a few minutes, he just stared at her, expression glowing with confusion. A princess who knew how to fix up a ship. Was there anything he hadn't seen yet?

"Huh," he smirked. Leaping off his bed, he swerved passed her to and went down the hall, close to the engine room. He'd grown so accustomed to the sound, that without it, part of the ship sounded empty.

But it wasn't terrible to have a little more quiet on his ship. "Hey, Cinder!" he shouted. She came jogging down the hall toward him. "If the whole Princess thing doesn't work out, you might have a real career in mechanics and repairs."

She gave him a lop-sided grin, one he almost thought she learned from him. "Maybe. It would be more fun than ruling over a planet," she muttered.

After she said that, it occurred to Thorne that maybe some girls weren't like all the other ones he'd met. If Cinder would rather roll around in dust than rule over a planet, maybe some other girl valued goodness more than riches. Unlike him, of course. Thievery would always be one of his strong suits. Whether it was of objects owned by the rich, or heart owned by ladies who fell for him, he'd steal them away from himself.

And nothing was going to change that.

.................

"Oh, stars," Torin sighed. The image in front of him was almost too horrifying to bare. The police force in Rieux, France had located the princess and her captor, and even managed to take photos of what had happened.

To start, it revealed a startling fact about the Lunars and their plans for Earth. A dead man, who looked like a cross between an animal and a man way lying dead in a house. But he wasn't the only one who'd been killed at the time. A woman who'd been identified as Michelle Benoit was found dead in her bedroom. It was apparent from the autopsy the police had done for her that she'd been killed by the dead hybrid.

Coming back to that, the hybrid was confirmation to all of the people of Earth that Luna had an army. One that was dangerous and bread to destroy and kill. Also, that Levana was interfering with the investigations of Princess Selene's disappearance. If it hadn't been for Levana, the police could have stopped the kidnapper, gotten Selene, and captured Michelle Benoit ... alive!!!

But the last thing Torin had noticed was in the picture of the bay door, of the ship the kidnapper owned, closing. Inside, there were several people. One of which was a limp man that looked like the dead soldier the police had found. Another was the chip being cast out of the ship, proof that the only form of tracker that there was on the princess was now gone. Lastly, the kidnapper, Carswell Thorne, pointing a gun at the princess.

Now, they not only had proof that the princess was being held against her will, but that she had also been held at gun point.

Once Kaito saw this, he would completely lose it.

Torin had been keeping most of the information about the case away from him on purpose. The way Kaito had reacted to that maid trying to take the princess's cloak from him, it was clear that he was unstable. If he saw any of these pictures, he would surely go insane with guilt.

"Tell Queen Levana that I need to speak with her," he told the assistant near him. "We have much to discuss about this."

Taking in a deep breath, Torin stood up from the chair that once belonged to his best friend, the old emperor, Rikan. He left the room, hoping that he could find Selene and protect the son of the only friend he'd ever known.

But little did he know, that after he left the office, a young man, who was already too close to the breaking point of his mind, crept into the room. Able to see all of the photos Torin had left open on his netscreen.

.................

Scarlet sat on a crate in the hanger bay of the ship. Practically glaring at the motionless body of the man she'd met the day before. In less than twenty-four hours, he'd managed to turn her world upside down and make everything that was right in her life wrong.

Thanks to him, her Grandmere was dead, her home was being monitored by the police, and she was stuck on a spaceship.

Because this guy had decided to come into her life, the only family she had was dead. The thought made tears well up in her eyes, and a distant cry crawled up her throat.

Soon, her face was plastered with silent tears. She pulled her legs up, into her chest, and wept into the sleeves of the hoodie she wore always. Now, it was the one thing she had left of her home, and would be for a while. If she ever made it home that is.

"I'm sorry," a voice creaked. Scarlet sniffed and looked up. Wolf, or whatever his real name was, was awake now, and looking up at her with sad eyes. "I know how it feels to lose family."

Her heart lurched out of her chest and her puffy eyes turned to glaring at him once more. "What would you know about family?" she snarled.

"Well-" He tried to stand up from the ground, but was denied. Cinder and Thorne had taken the liberty of his unconsciousness to bind his arms to a pipe. Scarlet was exceptionally glad for that act now, and wished she could make his bond a little tighter.

"Did you really find it necessary to tie me up?" Wolf asked, annoyed.

Her eyes narrowed on him as she wished she could break his jaw to shut him up. "Since you got my Grandmere killed? Yes. I think it was a good idea to make sure you couldn't kill anyone else."

"I didn't kill you grandmother and I never meant to hurt anyone. I found you out to warn you. I was only trying to-"

"Is your idea of warning like your idea of fighting? Because by coming to my home, you only made things worse! Thanks to you, I'm all alone now!" Scarlet was an adult. She knew she shouldn't be screaming like a child. But this was different. Her Grandmere was dead, all because this guy "tried to help them". And he was a beast and a freak. How could he even think he knew what a family, or love was?

"I'm all alone too," he added, glumly. "I was ripped away from my family when I was just a kid. And now, my brother is dead too."

Scarlet could feel the acid climbing up her throat, and all she wanted, more than anything, was to spit it out at him. "Who was your brother? Another soldier like you?"

His eyes, as impossibly green as they were, turned to the ground at his feet. "Yeah. He was a soldier." His hulking frame seemed to get a bit smaller, and his brutish face became less intimidating. "He was the man I shot to save you."

In an instant, her heart melted from anger to pity, and her resolve turned to mush. Wolf had killed his brother, his own family, to save her?

The fact made her feel both conflicted and a little scared. He was willing to do whatever it took to save someone from being harmed. But, he was also willing to kill his own brother. What exactly did that say about him?

Still, even with this new information, Scarlet didn't want to show that he'd changed her perspective of him. Even if it was only by about a hair.

She slide off the crate to her feet and growled, "You're still the reason my Grandmere is dead. Now, I have nothing left."

His eyes flew back up to her, almost like he was begging for her forgiveness. "I'm sorry, Scarlet. I never meant for you or your Grandmere to get hurt. I just wanted to get you out of France, and to keep you safe."

Not caring about what he said, she walked away, toward the door to the hall.

But in the back of her head, she realized that when he talked about saving her from his pack, he only said "you", and didn't include her Grandmere. Like she was the only thing he wanted to save. Still, that was no excuse for not saving her Grandmere from his brother. It was like she was the only one left in her pack ...

The Lone Wolf.