Mid-February...

The smoky strip club was very loud as dancers of every species performed for the males. None of these females compared to his lost Madeleine.

Galen waved a hand full of singles at the single mother on the stage. She was raising three children alone after their father abandoned them. A good mother who was trying to do right by her kids after she married the wrong guy. In the center were four one-hundred-dollar bills and a post-it that said, 'For your son's winter sports camp, a friend. ' If her oldest could be kept from the gangs that infested the city like lice, he would be a great athlete. She smiled and tucked them away as she left the stage, a moment later she was back looking at Galen with wide, grateful eyes.

He waved her away, putting his finger to his lips. "Shhh. Just go home to them tonight, Sugar."

Galen hated that what he was and what he appeared were such different things. His Demonus Fae mother, Morgana blessed one son and cursed the other, she stole Galen's light for Gerard, leaving Galen to bear his brother's darkness.

Moments later, Bianca draped herself across Galen's lap, she was a cursed fae too. "That was sweet, but you better be careful, your hair will turn gold."

"My brother is the only golden one in my family," Galen reminded resentfully.

She leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek, "Liar. Some day you will shine brighter than he ever did."

He tucked cash and a card between her ample breasts. "I need to see your wolf friend, the tracker."

"I can have him here tomorrow, or would you rather somewhere else?" Bianca asked as he pushed her up.

Galen stood up and slapped her ass for show, "Have him call me or find me at the park."

Outside, he saw Sugar was getting hassled by two drunk guys. Galen summon a cabby who owed him. As he pulled up, Galen smoothly stepped between the two human men and put Sugar in the cab.

"Take her home on me."

The Cabbie nodded without a word, knowing Galen would cover any fare. Galen saved his father and mother from a robbery that would have killed both.

After the cab pulled away, Galen turned to the drunks, "Gentlemen, I do not appreciate you harassing the girls."

"What's it to you?" the first snarled belligerently, then Galen wrapped his hand around the drunk's throat. His drinking buddy ran away.

Galen watched the drunk's life with him. His own father was a drunk, his mother committed suicide. He spent many troubled years in foster care. Years later, his wife left with their daughter because she just couldn't take his behavior anymore. Then Galen showed him his most likely future; him dead in a smashed car, no one at his funeral. Then his least likely future; him walking his little girl down the aisle on her special day and taking a seat next to his wife and other children.

"What's it going to be, Dave? The coroner or the cathedral?" Galen whispered to him as the drunk collapsed, sobbing. Galen hoped Dave would make the right choice, the hard one. "This is a card for Father Malachi's AA group, they meet every day." Galen tucked it in the drunk's pocket before he walked away.

VvvvvV

The park was always full of lost souls at that time of night.

There is no hate,

there's no love,

only dark skies that hang above.

He listened to the music from the woman jogging by.

She was a rape survivor who made herself come here once a week on the same night at that time. She ran back to the place of her nightmares while running through her fear. She was trying, she said so in Bianca's sex assault recovery group, and he couldn't help feeling proud of her. She smiled at him as she went by. So many needed someone to guide them home, like the wolf Galen would soon meet.

A voice interrupted his walk, "Never seen a dark fae help a stripper, save a drunk, or stroll through the park looking to heal lost souls."

"Never seen a rogue werewolf admit being a murderer for another, when he only works to defend and save the innocent," Galen retorted.

"I'm a lone wolf, technically not a rogue. And I haven't murdered anyone who didn't deserve it." The wolf retorted.

They stood quietly for a moment sizing each other up, Galen sighed, going for honesty, "No, but your brother has, and you took the blame, Saul."

The wolf just half-smirked, "Bianca says we have a lot in common, both of us carry the sins of our brothers, Galen." He was scruffy looking; his duster hid his build and size. He was good at making himself look less than he was.

"I need you to find someone, a shewolf who survived the Revelation Night," Galen said.

The wolf laughed, "Just check Mid-America pack, all the refugees are there. Job done."

"She isn't there. She escaped before the rescued wolves and vampires were detained and went back into the quarantine zone. She is living there now with a survivors' group of wolves, vampires, humans, and a fae in the mountains. Allow her to rescue you, then ask her to take you home to search for your family. I understand Monarch Mountain is beautiful this time of year." Galen held out her picture and a vial of her blood taken at the hospital. The wolf took them.

"You want me to bring her back?" Saul asked as he lit a cigarillo.

"No, I want you to decide whether or not she is worthy of your protection. Her and her pup. There are others who will seek her to harm them both, to harm all wolves."

Galen let his shaggy dark hair fall over his eyes and shrugged his leather jacket closer in the night air. The chill he could feel was not the weather, it was his soul and he wonder what evil his dear brother was up to. He needed to leave and find someplace where he could scream so he hurried to finish.

"She doesn't know it, but she is waiting for you. You're the only family she will accept for now. Teach her to be a wolf. Find her truth, Saul, and you will find yours."

The wolf looked at the fae, like he was trying to read his soul, but Galen knew it was a talent he didn't possess. Turning abruptly, Galen walked away, and before Saul could catch up, he just disappeared into the shadows as Cursed Fae often did.

VvvvvV

Saul looked up at the crystalline stars in the sky over a dark city that once held over a half million. The shewolf's house was ransacked, her family's bodies tossed carelessly in a corner. Saul carefully re-wrapped them and placed them in the garden. Frozen soil mixed with snow covered the remains so shamefully treated. The house was obviously a place of love. He could tell from the pulled down and broken pictures that once hung on the walls. He collected the surviving images and tucked them in a drawer.

Someone very thoroughly searched the place; humans, four of them by the smell. The mattresses were even cut open as were all the cushions and pillows. Furniture torn apart; carpet pulled up. Even the walls were busted open. The three cars in the driveway fared no better. Whatever the humans were seeking, Saul had the distinct impression it wasn't here. He wondered, who were this woman's enemies that they would destroy a building?

He smelled the bedding in the master suite, she had been here and slept in her bed since that night. His wolf reacted strangely to her scent, demanding they find her. He was the best tracker in his family, if she was still in the state his wolf would find her. He shifted from skin to fur. His nose smelled the family, the other dead wolves, two wolves he knew that had come too late to save them, a dark fae and vampiress who both work for his brother for pay, and four humans most recently.

Saul followed her scent trail same as the dark fae and vampiress. They led him to a bank, the shewolf trapped the dark ones in the vault. She took something from three deposit boxes then fled in a car.

Saul's wolf smelled something in her house, on her shoes. It was aviation fuel. A few miles away Saul found the car in a hanger. He turned, looking at the runway. The Cursed Fae said she was in the mountains in the Quarantine Zone. Saul's wolf wanted to follow the interstate south, he howled the hunt and ran into the coming dawn, letting his wolf's nose and intuition guide him.

VvvvvV

Saul really regretted coming alone. Every few days, he was fighting one of the homicidal wolf or vampire survivors from the Revelation Night. For almost a week, he had been running from a group that he dwindled down to three. The vicious remnants of once sane beings wouldn't stop coming until they were dead. He didn't know how much longer he could hold out. Only his wolf's strength and stamina saved them, but each time he escaped, they found him again.

Now, others chased the ones chasing him. It was like a demented game of cat and mouse and Saul was the mouse. The sun was high overhead when he ran into a smaller city, seeking a place to hide and rest. Just a few blocks into town, they cornered him near a Carl's Jr. restaurant. His warform howled in defiance at them, but the crazed wolves did not retreat as lesser wolves should. Their weird whitened eyes stared, almost blankly as they sniffed and twitched tracking his movements.

Suddenly, three smoke grenades exploded in the street. A shot rang out and the mad wolf closest to Saul dropped dead as his brains splattered all over Saul and the wall behind him.

A female screamed out to Saul, "Stay there! Don't move and don't run!"

She waited for the two crazed wolves to turn toward her, then she started jumping up and down. Shouting, she waved her arms. "Hey you! Fresh Prey. Come and chase me!"

Saul thought she must be crazy, she was pregnant. The creatures started toward her and she ran around a building down the main street, shouting for them to follow. The two immediately started after her, his first instinct was to stop them because she was a pregnant female, but the Cursed Fae's words came back to Saul, 'Let her rescue you.'

Moments later, she ran through the smoke from the back of the first building on the street. She cut off the dead wolf's head and whispered to Saul, "Come with me if you want to live."

His wolf howled with joy in his head as he shifted to his skin. His wolf believed their family saved them and wasn't making sense. Saul was close to passing out, he could barely stand as she put him in a truck. She pulled out onto the street. Through ever-encroaching blackness, he watched her stop the truck and get out. He saw her as she stood valiantly and shot the two who were chasing them, then she decapitated the deranged wolves before running back to the truck. The door slammed, and the engine revving was the last thing Saul heard before he passed out, but his wolf wasn't worried.

I'm safe, Saul hoped.

VvvvV

Quinn Shalom...

I drove down to the town by the interstate in search of maternity clothes. At almost five months, I was bulging enough to make all my clothes uncomfortable, except Kenneth's flannel shirts. I have never been this big, this early. I have several boxes of baby things from Luca's beloved's family. Amelia's mother, Anita, and grandmother, Herlinda, crocheted enough booties, bonnets, and blankets for five babies.

Last month, I finally broke down and told them all what happened to me that night, in as little detail as possible. My family died, I was in heat and was raped. I survived by hiding in my greenhouse. When I healed, I came here to a friend's cabin. Only Grayson and Lance knew the whole story, I told them everything before I asked for their help with Kenneth's research. I knew I couldn't do it on my own anymore. They both agreed, and after a month, came to the same conclusion I did. The A.S.H. formula did not cause the Revelation Night like the media claimed. They were also the only ones who knew, I wasn't a wolf before that night, but I thought Rand and Luca suspected it.

Werewolves Rand and Clark were only affected for 6 hours, but it was long enough for them to kill several people they knew, including their mates and children. Both had terrible nightmares, PTSD-like symptoms and got drunk a lot to cope. Clark almost killed himself twice. We all worried one day he would succeed.

I parked off Main Street, the emptiness of the town was disturbing. We all lived further up the mountain, hidden and secure from the roaming ravers that were making their way down from the cities to the north along the interstate. I cautiously draped several maternity tops and pants over my arm and grabbed some super-sized granny panties. I frowned to myself, as my wolf mocked me. Most werewolves didn't wear underwear. They were just one more layer to strip out of before shifting but I didn't care, I wasn't going to go commando.

As I loaded the truck, I heard growling and fighting. I knew instantly, the Ravers had some wolf cornered. Grabbing the sword Luca taught me how to use, my rifle, and the smoke bombs we used to distract the Ravers, I hurried to search for the wolf before it became Raver food. Stopping only to throw a battery-operated alarm clock in the store I just left.

A block down the street at the burger joint, I saw three ravers, all wolves and a large silver wolf warform. I managed to toss three smokers and shoot one of the ravers, before screaming at the trapped lone wolf, "Stay there! Don't move and don't run!"

The Ravers immediately turned toward me. "Hey you! Fresh prey! Come and chase me!"

I made a show of jumping up and down, waving my arm, and screaming at them to catch me, before darting around the corner and into the first store. I was grateful that the smell of the smokers hid my scent trail. I heard the alarm clock I left in the clothing store start screeching and peeked out to see them running into that building. I ran out the back and to the wolf who was barely still standing, hesitating only long enough to cut off the dead Raver's head.

I whispered, "Come with me if you want to live."

He shifted back into his skin as I helped him to my truck, luckily parked out of site from where I sent the Ravers. He was barely conscious, feverish, and covered in Raver bites and scratches. I cringed as the engine turned over, it sounded so loud. When I pulled out on the street, I saw the Ravers running toward me. I got out and waited for them to get closer. Shooting first one, then the other in the head twice before I rushed over to decapitate them.

I heard more growling and howling in the distance and realized there are many more nearby. So, I ran to the truck and gunned it. If they saw us, they would have to chase us, and I would have to kill them or die trying. Once you ran from a Raver, they wouldn't stop chasing you until you were cornered, caught, and dead. This wolf was very lucky that I decided to come get pregnancy panties today. I looked over at the bloody unconscious man in the passenger seat, then my wolf said the strangest thing she ever had.

'It was good to protect him. He is family.'

I could only shake my head as I drove toward the mountains and my cabin. I decided my wolf was crazy, I had never seen this man in my life.