"How is she?" Stephon asked the doctor.

"Her feet are an absolute mess. They're full of broken glass and have a bit of infection trying to set in, but I should be able to get all that fixed up. She's a little dehydrated and hungry, but that's no biggy. She's in the tub now getting cleaned up. I can take a better assessment when she isn't covered in soot to make sure there's nothing I missed."

"Okay, I'll come back in a bit and check on her. I'm sure you have it under control," he said with a nod.

"Yes, Sir. I'm sure you have more important matters to worry about."

"I wouldn't call them more important, but I have other things to tend to. If you need anything else for her, send someone for me."

"Yes, Sir," she said, a curious smile touching her lips.

He walked off towards his study, and she returned to her clinic to start tending to the girls feet.

"Sit here and hold her hand tight, okay Jax?"

"This is going to hurt her a bit. I have to dig all the little pieces of glass out of her feet, and I couldn't give her much for pain," Emily told him sadly.

"Why not?" the boy asked, looking concerned.

"Well, I don't know enough about her, honestly. I don't even know for sure if she's a wolf. Ordinarly, you can tell a wolf by their smell," she answered truthfully. "What does she smell like Jax? Does she smell like a wolf?"

Jax leaned closer to Catalina and breathed in deep. "She kinda smells sweet. Maybe kinda like a wolf?" he said, sounding surprised and confused.

"What does she smell like to you, Emmett?"

He was sitting on the other side of Catalina, and he leaned down and smelled. "I'm not really sure. Strange," he said, his furrowed brows reminding her of his father.

"But... if she wasn't a wolf, why would she be there? She has to be one," Jax started matter of factly.

"I don't know, sweety. It happens sometimes that there are people living with a pack that aren't always wolves. Rarely, but sometimes," she answered as she applied disinfectant to the little girls feet.

She winced and squirmed. Her little green eyes looked up at the doctor in fear as the disinfectant started stinging her feet as it ran across them. When the girl saw Emily pick up the tweezers and go towards her feet, she started to pull away whining. Emily went to a cabinet and got a strap, then brought it back to the hospital bed. The boys looked at it with concern. Catalina pulled away from her even more, starting to panic.

"Let me see your feet, Catalina. I have to get the glass out to make them better," Emily said, reaching towards her.

Catalina shook her head no. Jax squeezed her hand tight, and the little girl looked over at him. "It's okay she's trying to help you, Catta."

Emmett took her other hand, and she looked over at him now. "It's probably going to hurt a little at first, but then they'll get better," he said, giving her a reassuring smile.

Very slowly, Catalina extended her feet towards Emily. Emily strapped them to the bed tightly. "I have to strap them down because if she yanks while I'm trying to get out a piece of glass she could drive it deeper," she said, looking at Catalina seriously, and then the boys in turn.

Emily grabbed the tweezers off a tray beside her and slowly went towards the little girls left foot. Catalina whimpered in fear and buried her face in Emmett's shoulder. The doctor grabbed ahold of the first piece of glass and pulled it out as quickly as she could while still being careful. Catalina cried out as it was removed from her foot and squeezed the boys hands.

"Do you want to hear a story?" Emmett whispered in here ear.

The girl nodded and looked up into his eyes, her own full of trust.

"Once there was a great alpha. He had everything he could want in life, but he was sad. He was sad because he had no one to share his life with. He was lonely. He believed in finding your true mate instead of just a pretty girl to marry. So, he set out to search the other packs for her. He searched for two years and still he hasn't found her. One day, a family showed up on his doorstep asking for sanctuary because they'd left their pack-"

"But why?" the girl asked, looking up at him with big doe eyes.

"The alpha there was insistent on marrying their daughter, but she didn't love him."

Cattalina cried out as another piece of glass was pulled from her foot. "That was the last one from her left foot. You're doing great!" Emily said, sterilizing her foot and applying a bandage.

Emmett nodded and continued the story, "It was soon discovered that the daughter didn't love that alpha because she was the lonely alpha's mate. They got married, and they were so happy. They had two sons and were soon to have a daughter, but then when it came time for the daughter to be born, the woman and the daughter were lost."

"Why? What happened to them?" The girl asked through a winced.

"The mom goddess called them home. When she calls, you have to go. Now the alpha and the boys were sad again, but then they found a little girl who needed them. She was the daughter and sister they'd never got to have. She completed their little family. She brought light back into their life."

"What happened to the little girl? Was she happy?"

"I don't know, we'll see-" Catalina cut him off with a scream of pain.

"That was the last piece. Sorry, it was much deeper than the rest," Emily said, sterilizing and bandaging her other foot.

Just then their was a knock on the door and she went to answer it. It was someone from the lab. He handed her a packet of papers and left.

"Boys, she's going to need to rest now. Can you go and find your father for me so I can fill him in on her progress."

"Yes ma'am," the boys said, jumping up in unison.

Emily looked down at the packet in her hands and started to read through it.

"You asked for me? How is she? Is she okay?" Stephon asked, glancing over the doctor's shoulder at the girl behind her.

"Yeah, she's fine. She's sleeping," Emily answered, looking up at the alpha, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Well, why do you look so worried then?" he asked, his own brows furrowing.

"I was right. She's not a wolf," the doctor stated.

"What? What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"Well, I mean, she is, but not entirely."

"She's a halfbreed! That's forbidden!"

"Well, she's not exactly that either. Did you notice her scent? How it's kinda sweet? She's half wolf and half witch! There's never been such a thing! I don't know what the consequences of this will be, Sir!" She said, trying to hide the fear in her voice. "Does anyone outside of this pack know you brought her here?"

"No," he said, deep in thought now.

"We should probably keep it that way."

"I agree, and let's keep this new information between us for now. There's no point in worrying the pack with it when we don't even know what it means," he said decisively.

"Yes, Sir. The other reason I needed you is I didn't know where she was going to stay," Emily said.

"With me, I brought her here, and I wouldn't want anyone else paying for it. Besides, the boys have basically laid claim to her," he said with a chuckle. "Is she ready to go?"

"Yes, Sir. I'll have to come by regularly to change her dressing and she'll have to stay off her feet awhile. Other than that, she's ready whenever you are," she said, running a soft hand over the sleeping girls blonde head.

Stephon scooped the little girl into his arms. She felt like a feather, he noted. She snuggled into his chest, and her heavy eyelids fluttered open.

"Papa," she said sleepily, then her eyes closed again as she went back to sleep.