1st Person POV

I didn't know how to feel about Annabelle Clayton. There was rage of course, cold simmering rage, that made me want to throttle her and leave her body out for crows to pick on. She'd betrayed me, destroyed such an important part of me and contributed to a cause that had killed so many.

But there was also a part of me that knew that she was just a teenage girl, staring at her brother with heartbreaking guilt and tears in her eyes. She'd lost her life too, just like the rest of us.

And it was the only thing that had me keeping my clenched fists close to my side.

"Why are you here," Theo asked.

Annabelle flinched at the coldness in her brother's voice but she replied a beat later.

"I'm on the run. They'll put me in jail if they find me. They know I helped the operation willingly before they injected me," Annabelle said desperately.

"And you think we're going to hide you," Theo snapped.

"I have nowhere else to go. You're my brother. Surely you can help me," she pleaded.

Theo shot up from the couch then, beyond livid. Veins stood out prominently on the side of his neck as he clenched and unclenched his fists. Annabelle curled into herself like she could melt into the couch.

A part of me rejoiced as he lashed out at her with rage that I felt deep in my bones.

"Seriously? Now you remember the fact that I'm your brother because you have no one else to cover your sorry ass. You got mom and dad killed. I've lost everything thanks to you. Why the hell would I protect you now," he screamed.

Annabelle had tears streaming down her face as she stood up and held out her hands pleadingly. He wasn't finished yelling though, not by a long shot.

"There's nothing you can do, nothing you can say that can fix this. You've ruined my life, and ruined so many others, and I hope the guilt of that tears you to shreds for the rest of your life so you can feel a fraction of the pain you've put me through," he finished lowly.

He was breathing hard, panting like he'd run a race. Annabelle's whole frame was shaking as she sobbed in earnest.

"I didn't know what I was doing Theo. They said they could make me stronger, faster, better and I thought that's all they were really trying to do, like steroids or something. I didn't know it would turn us human I swear," she begged.

He took a careful step toward her and there was nothing but pure malice in his face.

"You think being human now is the worst part? That drug made me, made us go insane. We took innocent lives Annabelle," he said slowly.

She hurriedly stepped back to put some space between them.

"It was the drugs Theo. Those deaths aren't on us," she said rapidly, shaking her head. 

I'd said those words to myself plenty of times, whispered it to Maia as she lay shaking on the couch after a dreadful nightmare. It sounded different when Annabelle said those words though, callous and insensitive. Surely she felt something for the lives she'd taken, some guilt, some remorse.

"So you feel nothing," Theo asked disbelievingly.

"We need to move past it," she replied firmly, her fire slowly returning to her.

"I can't even look at you right now," Theo breathed.

He crumbled back onto the couch like his puppeteer had suddenly cut off his strings, staring up at the ceiling like it held all the answers.

Meanwhile, Annabelle quickly recovered from the bout of tears she'd plunged into. She turned to me and I raised a brow in question. Did she expect me to show sympathy where her brother hadn't?

"The Operation is still out there. The whole supernatural world is pretending that our problems just went away because of the one battle we won. You know that, you've always seemed smarter than all of us, you know we haven't won the war right," she pressed.

"You change sides so readily, almost too readily," I mused aloud.

I watched the color drain from her features as she stared at me, shocked and wide-eyed.

"You don't think I'm still with the Operation after all this," she gasped aloud once air seemed to renter her lungs.

She lurched forward a little, like physical contact would convince me that she was on the right side. I cleanly twisted away from her touch.

"I don't know what to think of you Annabelle," I said tiredly. 

A sick feeling had twisted in my gut at her words though. Of course I knew we hadn't won the war. I'd just ignored that fact as I'd waged my own internal one.

Annabelle pressed on, seemingly determined to prove that she was finally on the right side, like it wasn't too goddamned late for that, like I even cared about her enough to formulate an opinion of her at this point. 

"I know more about the operation that anyone that's not sitting in a jail cell right now and unlike those people in those jail cells, I've come to my senses. Those people in those cells will die before they give any information about the operations' whereabouts but I'm here and I know things. I need you to listen and to help me," Annabelle requested.

I laughed a little at that, staring at her incredulously.

"You think I'll help you. After all you've done," I hissed.

Before she could reply to that, Theo interfered, his rage returning as he tore his gaze away from the ceiling to settle on his sister.

"We're human now you fool. We barely survived a battle against the operation when we were supernatural creatures. You think we're going to win against them now," Theo snapped.

Before Annabelle argue, I cut in.

"He's right. If there's going to be a war, it's not going to be our responsibility to fight. The supernatural world has got plenty of people to fight its battles," I said.

It hurt to distance myself from a world that I still considered my home, but it was the honest truth. We'd be slaughtered if we tried to move against the operation. Theo nodded vigorously at what I was saying before looking at his sister.

He pointed a single finger towards the door and it somehow came across crueler that all he'd said to her. But Annabelle wasn't going to back down so easily.

"So many more lives will be lost if the operation strikes again. We can change that," she said passionately.

I wanted to match her fire and strength, though I still couldn't gauge whether it was truly genuine. I recognized a part of it that had once lived in me too. I'd had that urge to fight the battles that couldn't be fought, to make a difference even if that meant losing my life.

Now things had changed.

"Annabelle some things aren't within our power anymore," I said.

It was about as conciliatory as I could make myself sound with her.

"You're a coward. Both of you," she snapped.

I barely registered what happened next. The next thing I saw was Annabelle sprawled on the couch, holding her cheek in shock. Alex stood before her with deadly rage dancing across his youthful face.

"Apologize," he intoned.

It was the first word he'd spoken in a month and it couldn't have been more wrathful if he tried. Annabelle looked ready to hit the kid back but she must have noticed our expressions. The kid was sullen, moody, and didn't speak at all but at some point, he'd become ours to defend just as he defended us.

Besides, she had that hit coming. 

"Just consider it. Please. I think I know where the head of the operation. We can destroy them from the inside," she pleaded.

The three of us didn't say a word. She didn't say anything else before she left. The door slammed shut behind her and I glanced at Theo in surprise before looking at Alex.

The kid just stared back unnervingly for a second before making his way to the bedroom he shared with Theo, like he'd nothing out of the ordinary. 

3rd Person POV

Cassius stood at the base of the amphitheater alongside all of the other candidates for the Alpha position. There were only nine in total, a disappointing amount considering how big this pack was. Ralph was amongst the nine, as well as Leila, one of Raphael's ex-girlfriends.

Despite being Raphael's ex, she'd been nothing but kind to him, even sympathetic when they'd talked before this.

"We've finished counting the votes. The results are as follows," a man announced.

Cassius recognized him as his father's beta, although his father had rarely used the man's council, relying on Michel instead.

"The highest number of votes belongs to Leila Blackwood. She is now the Alpha of Demetrius Pack."

Leila's family, her sister and her parents cried out in glee as she stepped forward with a triumphant smile. There were really no plaques or medals to be given. She'd just won the pack and from what Cassius knew of her, she'd make a good Alpha.

She gestured for the crowd to be quiet so she could speak.

"I never thought, in a million years that I could be Alpha of a pack. The only reason I've had that chance now is because of Cassius. He may have come from a family of traitors but he has a wonderful heart and has shown plenty of courage and resilience over the last few months. It should be of no surprise to any of you, or him, that I'm appointing him as my Beta," she said calmly.

Her smile was warm and gracious as she extended a hand to him. He took it and stepped up to her side. There were a few shouts of approval, some disapproval as well, but Cassius blocked them all out as he looked at the woman at his side.

"It would be my honor," he whispered to her.

She smiled at that before turning back to the crowd. For one blistering second, when her smile still faced him, he'd seen Catherine. Even now, as she turned away from him, all he could see was Catherine.

Catherine would have been one of the greatest Alphas the world had ever seen if she'd been a werewolf.

And suddenly it became too much to be holding this woman's hand when all he could think about was her. He released Leila before stepping off the stage. No one really seemed to notice as they clamored around the newly elected Alpha, who enchanted them all with her grace and warmth.

He took off in the direction of the woods, shedding his clothes as he went before shifting into his wolf.

It would take time but this sharp pain would ease eventually. He could find peace in this new responsibility of leading the pack at Leila's side.

He just needed time. 

1st Person POV

I slept even worse than usual over the next few days as Annabelle's words played through my head over and over again. She knew a way to shut down the operation forever, the organization that had ruined me and taken so many lives in the process. Just a month ago, I would have jumped at the opportunity.

But today I just couldn't.

She'd been right about me. I was being a coward now. I wanted to tell myself that I wasn't defined by my ability to shift, that I was strong without it, but the truth was far from it.

I'd always relied on my forms to free me from dangerous situations. My whole life I'd worked to become one of the best shapeshifters in the world and for a while, I'd been on the right track. To have that torn away was like losing a limb.

How could I hope to win this fight without it?

But still, her words haunted me. Theo had been able to tell and he'd ranted about his sister more than once, encouraging me to ignore all she'd said. But she'd set off a train of thought that made me realize just how much the operation had changed me.

I'd rushed into danger then, heedless of consequences because all I'd wanted to do was the right thing. Nothing had really scared me because I hadn't even known of the scariest things that could happen to me until it was too late. I'd been naïve, reckless but passionate, so passionate about fixing this world.

And I wanted to find that passion again instead of being so afraid that my own mind and body would turn against me.

I gathered everyone in the living room. Theo hesitated before planting himself down far away from me. Alex sat close and Maia sat on the ground with wide eyes.

"We need to help Annabelle end this. If she really knows a way to end the operation, we owe it to all the people who lost their lives, to the people we once were, to help her end this," I started.

The words sounded passionate in my head but they came out with little fire to inspire.

"Catherine we're human now. We don't have the strength to go against them. Haven't we lost enough," Maia pleaded.

Her eyes were wide and sad, and I was tempted to end the conversation then and there.

"If we let them, they will destroy the whole supernatural world," I argued feebly.

"The world that threw us in jail and later kicked us out. They turned their backs on us. Why the hell should we care what happens to them now? We're a part of this world, the human world," Theo snapped.

I straightened up a little to meet his blazing eyes and sudden shift in stance.

"You're angry and I get that. The only reason I'm not angry is because it takes too much energy but I get it. They turned their backs on us but it doesn't mean we have to do the same thing. We can be better people and help them," I explained calmly.

"You're only saying all this shit because you want to protect those three boys," he retorted.

"This has nothing to do with them," I snapped.

He reeled back a little at that, eyes wide. It was the first time I'd raised my voice in a month, felt anger coursing through my veins like it did now. The world seemed to come into focus as my frustration grounded me.

This was so much better than the emptiness that had been eating me alive.

"Tell me you wouldn't have helped your sister if she'd come to you with this information before you'd been turned," I pressed.

He hesitated before looking down at his shoes.

"They took away our strengths from us but ultimately we're the same people. We need to believe that or it means that they won," I said firmly.

"I'm not strong or fast like I used to be Cat. I don't want to die," Theo said shakily.

His shoulders drooped, eyes dropping down to the carpet. I squeezed into the seat next to him wrapped him up in my arms. His arms came around me in return as he buried his head into my shoulder. He was shaking in my hold, releasing tears that he'd clearly been holding in for a long time as he talked rapidly.

"I'm afraid they'll take more than what they already have. I'm afraid they'll turn us into monsters again and I can't do that. I really can't do that," he sobbed.

I drew back, keeping my forehead pressed against his as I cupped the back of his neck.

"We'll get people to protect us but even then, if you don't want to, you don't have to do this. I understand. It took me a week just to get the courage to say all this," I said softly.

The tears in his eyes slowly dried up and he looked at me then with strength he'd always had as the world around him had fallen apart over and over again.

"If you go I go," he said firmly.

I smiled, a real genuine smile, the mirror of which appeared on his face. They were the first real smiles we'd shared in so long. I drew back to look at Alex and Maia. Alex looked bored as he played with his fingers.

"You coming with us," I asked.

He nodded and that was that. I turned to Maia, who was talking with someone on the phone in a hushed voice. She then pocketed it and turned to me.

"That was Talia. You said we needed protection," she said.

A tiny smile appeared on my face before I pulled out my own phone. They'd wiped our phone when we'd moved here but I knew their number by heart now. I dialed Azriel first, but hesitated as my finger hovered over the call button.

I was breaking a law by getting them involved with me and therefore, I was effectively ruining whatever progress they'd probably made in the time I'd been gone.

"Those three would break a thousand laws if you asked them to," Maia said matter-of-factly.

I took a deep breath before calling him. 

I'm so sorry for the delay. Work came in the way. This chapter's a little longer to make up for it so I hope you enjoyed it. Reunions coming soon, at least reunions over phone calls. This chapter was more to establish the new bonds everyone's creating, whether it be Catherine with Theo and the others, or Cassius with Leila and the pack. While Cassius, Azriel, Desmond and Catherine are undoubtably a close unit, and deeply care for each other, I wanted to emphasize that there were relationships outside of that too.

We'll be getting back to the action soon enough so keep reading! 

If you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment down below. Let me know what your favorite part of this chapter was. The next chapter will be up soon. Until then, 

LOVE, 

ASH