Levi walked with me ways after we said goodbye to the others. I could see it in his eyes. Contemplation. He was still itching for blood, itching to run and have his revenge.

He sighed and pulled me tight into his chest for a long quiet hug. "I love you Charlie girl."

"I love you too Levi," I replied back softly.

"Take care of Ethan, alight?"

I nodded as he kissed my hair then stepped away from me a little as Lander walked to stand a few feet behind his brother with a watchful eye cast forward. I smiled at Lander and nodded before walking to where Ethan was leaning against a tree. His blue-green eyes met mine in a tired firm hold as I walked up to him. He pulled me to him and kissed my lips before nuzzling my neck. I shivered at his touch, I don't think I would ever stop shivering at his touch.

"We could always tell them to come back tomorrow?" he murmured against my skin.

I chuckled and nipped at the lobe of his ear. "No, we need to talk to them."

"You ruin all my fun sunshine," he teased before kissing the edge of my mark. I sighed as my fingers trailed up his chest. "And you drink all my damn whiskey."

I laughed as he slipped an arm around my waist. My beast wanted to nudge me forward, she wanted our mate. She was greedy. We were greedy. We would always be greedy for Ethan.

But we had to go.

We had a home full of people waiting on us, waiting for answers–for direction. We had plenty of time to be greedy later, but now, we needed to act. We needed a plan and figure out how to get the virus out of our pack.

"Come on, see if you can keep up," I said with a sly grin before bolting into the forest.

I heard a low growl from behind me. My wolf yipped as we sprung into our fur and tore off into the forest, back to our home. Our home with Ethan.

We ran hard through the forest as Ethan playfully chased us. We would nip at his legs while he would bump into us or try to trip us on the long way home.

The long way home. We couldn't take risks so Ethan and I had to run a route that took us much longer to get home, even though we were running at a pretty fast pace. It gave us enough time to think, it gave me enough time to think.

Think of our lives, our relationships, and our pack. Our pack. Our pack that was in danger. The thought of it sent my wolf in a frenzy, she didn't like the rogues being so close to her pack. She wanted to tear them up and tear up the wolves that willingly let them in.

I agreed.

Any person who uses others at their own expense; harms them, endangers lives, and treats them like they are dispensable is filth to us. We didn't want such wolves, such people, in our pack. We wouldn't have it.

Ethan and I came around a bend when Ethan tackled me hard to the ground behind a boulder. I turned to snap at him a little out of annoyance when he shook his head quickly. His fur quickly cracked and ripped into skin until he was looking down at me with a finger pressed to his lips.

My eyes widened a bit. I shifted back to my skin while he crept around the boulder, peaking around it before he looked back at me a little annoyed.

"Patrols, there about thirty yards up ahead," he whispered to me.

"Shit," I hissed out. "What do we do?"

"Follow my lead," he said before peeking around the boulder again. "Alright, now come here sunshine."

"What?" I asked with a raised brow.

Ethan just rolled his eyes and reached over for me, grabbing my waist before he flipped me onto the ground below him, then his eyes flickered to the side of my neck before he knelt near my mark and licked his tongue over it.

I closed my eyes as my back arched from the tendrils of flames that were starting to wrap around my body. "What are you doing?" I hissed out as a wave of heat coursed through me.

"Improvising," he breathed against my neck before he nibbled at my mark. I bit my lips as a raspy moan tried to escape while he moved his hand down my side until it was kneading a handful of my ass.

My fingers slithered through his hair and tugged while my thighs began to rub together as a familiar wetness started to slightly pool between them. "This is improvising? Are there even really patrols?"

"Shhhh, sunshine," Ethan whispered before he sucked at the mark again. "Just relax."

"Wha–" I started to ask before his lips silenced mine, melting me into him as he devoured my lips.

I sighed into his mouth as he moved a leg between mine, his thigh, and started to slowly grind it against me. I moaned into his mouth, completely lost in the ecstasy of the situation to care about where we were or who the hell was around. I rocked against him and sucked on his bottom lip, earning me a deep rumble from his chest as he growled into his kiss.

He slid a hand up my belly, up my chest as my back arched again for him while he ground his leg against me, then back down my middle to cup me where it felt like I was a puddle. The vibrations coming off of his chest were as equally powerful as they were erotic; I moved my hands down his back, pulling him closer to me, I needed him closer to me.

"Shit baby," he groaned into my mouth with tense need.

"Um, Beta?" a voice timidly called from behind the boulder. My eyes flew open as the moment seemed to evade us. Ethan just smiled deviously and winked at me before he quickly kissed the corner of my mouth. "Beta Everette?" the voice called again.

"Yes?" Ethan replied breathlessly. The patrols were quiet. I could feel their fear dripping off of them like I could feel familiar wetness dripping off of me. Ethan growled lowly to them as his blood simmered some more. "Did you need something?"

"Right, we were just, uh, running the routes sir," one rushed out.

"Obviously," Ethan replied sardonically back to him.

I looked up at him with wide incredulous eyes. He just smiled at me with boyish innocence and dipped his head back to my neck before he began to move his thigh back over my core again. "Come on sunshine, we're improvising," he whispered hotly into my ear.

"Really?" I replied a little dryly before he bit on my earlobe and tugged playfully. I let out a moan, breathless from the back of my throat while waves of fear from the wolves on the other side of the boulder mixed with Ethan's arousal spun in the air.

"Ok Beta, we um, well goodnight!"

Ethan chuckled as the young wolves hauled ass away from us. I let out a tense breath and slapped his chest. "Really?!"

"What I was improvising? And it worked sunshine," he said with a coy smile.

I grumbled as he started to kiss at my skin. He took a nipple between his teeth and tugged playfully, looking at me with blue-green eyes that were full of memories from various erotic scenarios like this between us. He flicked it with his tongue a few times, enough times to make me forget how irritated I was with him for pulling a stunt like this. 'Improvising' my ass...

He growled seductively and kissed his way back to me, to the edge of my jaw where his lips teased my skin. I was burning up now. I was hot and needy for him; I met the thrusts of his leg with my own, but they weren't enough. I needed more of him, I needed him.

The energy pouring off of him and burning throughout me was like a damn drug. That mixed with his arousal, the fire of the bond, was enough to light me up like a damn rocket. "We should probably go," he murmured against my skin.

"Ethan," I breathed out.

"What's that sunshine?" he asked as he nipped at my collarbone.

"Please..." I practically moaned out as I ground myself against him.

He growled in approval before capturing my lips again and slowly pushing himself into me, stretching me, a familiar sensation of being full that seemed to start a stirring in my belly. "I guess they can wait," he breathed against my lips before devouring me again.

Needless to say, Ethan properly devoured me before we left the safety of that boulder. We also successfully evaded the patrols after that, I think they could smell us from a mile away and knew to stay the hell away. Improvising...

We eventually got back to our cabin; hair tossed, skin flushed, lips swollen, and sleepy eyes admonishing both of us. Ethan pulled me to him and kissed my crown before we approached the door where we could see Andrea sitting on the arm of a couch while she laughed next to Elliot and Derek.

I smiled a little as Ethan pulled me forward and through the door where familiar faces all gave us kind smiled. Andrea immediately rushed to me and wrapped me up in a hug while she nuzzled my cheek. 

Lyanna walked over with a smile as Billy pulled Ethan into a quick hug. "Andrea you met Lyanna, right?"

"Course, she's the only other blonde female that I like around here," Andrea chuckled as Lyanna bumped her shoulder playfully.

She walked up to me and hugged me as well, rubbing my cheek before letting out a tired sigh. "They all know."

"How's Evan?"

"Better, but still livid. How was Levi?"

"Almost came after Thomas, took all of us to stop him,"

Lyanna sighed and nodded a little knowingly. "I expected worse, but I'm glad that's all that happened."

"Nice place you got here Char," Jake said with a smile as he walked towards me with a beer in his hand. I sighed a little and side-hugged him before looking to my two vamps.

Derek shook his head with a devious smirk while Elliot eyed Ethan and then me. I rolled my eyes then walked over to them and hugged them both before walking into the kitchen. Ethan kissed my hair and walked to the refrigerator. "I'm making coffee."

"Charlotte," Billy said with a smile.

"Hey Billy," I replied warmly as he engulfed me in a big bear hug. I walked around the island and slid onto a stool then looked back at Ethan. "Wanna get started?"

"Yup," he replied as he started to scoop fresh coffee grounds into the pot. "Alright, everyone in here," he called over his shoulder with a hint of authority. Every day he sounded more and more like the alpha I knew he was going to be, sometimes I didn't even think he really realized how natural it was to him.

Everyone filed in and started to pull up chairs and stools around the island. Evan walked around and hugged me then kissed my temple. "How was Levi?"

"As good as we can expect."

He nodded as Ryder nudged my shoulder. "Hey, Ghostrider."

I slipped an arm around his lean waist and hugged him. "How's it going Maverick?"

Evan rolled his eyes which made Jake, Ryder, and I laugh. Ryder shrugged. "Come on Goose, don't be jealous. We love you too."

Ethan shut the lid to the pot and then hit 'start,' causing the pot to gurgle before it started to brew. He turned around and eyed Ryder firmly until Ryder scooted away from me so Ethan could stand next to me. He slipped an arm around my waist and kissed my crown.

"So, Evan told you all what we saw at the tree?" Everyone nodded

"We are in agreement with them that we need to move fast, I think all of you know that. First and foremost, this pack is in danger. Thomas is letting rogues in and if you were listening, then you know something else is going on and he's either part of it or allowing it to happen.

"For this pack's sake, we need him gone, but we cannot spook him. He's already suspicious enough as it is, so we have to tread carefully and move quickly. I don't know how much longer I will be able to wait, my beast doesn't recognize him as our alpha anymore, he hasn't in a long time–"

"Same," Evan interjected.

"Me too," Jake added.

"Same here Ethan," Ryder said.

Ethan sighed and nodded. "We have to move quickly. There's only so much bullshitting and ass-kissing I can do." He looked over at Derek with a small smile as Elliot slipped an arm around Derek's waist. "Levi wants you to visit Leo soon, say he summoned you. We're going to send the rocks with you, see if Leo knows something or someone?"

Derek nodded to Ethan. "That's a good idea. Leo's, well, not worried, but now interested in the situation. He's on your side Ethan, but the rogues make Alex and him nervous. I know I don't have to tell you how dangerous they are for all our species."

Ethan nodded deeply. "I know. Levi also wants Elliot to stay here. He doesn't want Thomas to think we know about his feelings towards the vamps."

Derek growled lowly until Elliot rubbed his back and nodded. "Which cabin?"

"Well," Ethan sighed. "You can stay in the one you're in now, but honestly I would feel better, and I know Char would too if you were here with us. I doubt Thomas would take well anyways to you being in that cabin now that Char's up here. I really don't give a shit, you two can build your own cabin out here if you want for all I care, but we can't rock the boat just yet."

Elliot nodded. "It's alright Ethan, we understand.

"We have room too," Lyanna offered.

"It's whichever you want to do Elliot," Ethan said with a gentle smile.

Elliot nodded. "We'll talk to Leo tonight and see what he says. Char needs to move her stuff out anyways and you two really need some help in here."

"What? I like our cabin," I said with a faint mock hurt.

"Me too baby," Ethan said before he kissed my temple.

Elliot rolled his eyes. "Yes well, I figured that you know, some finished cabinets and an actual coffee table instead of boxes would be nice."

Ethan shrugged a bit. "Alright, knock yourself out Elliot."

"What about evidence?" Jake asked.

"We need to find it," Ethan sighed. "Anything, there's no way that there is none. That was a huge attack, you can't hide everything."

"So, besides Dad's office, where do you want to look? I was thinking our old house, the tree house, maybe where Dad met mom?" Evan asked.

"That could work, we should look where Levi met Eve too," Ethan added. "You and Ryder go look where Dad met Mom and where Levi met Eve. See If you can't smell anything else."

"What about our house?" Evan asked a little cautiously. "We can't get into Dad's office until the party, which is a week away. We should do this in the meantime."

Ethan nodded a little reluctantly. "You and Ryder take those spots tomorrow night. We can do the house, and maybe the treehouse if there's time."

"What about the tree?" Andrea asked. "Could you not touch it again? Maybe you will see something useful again?"

Ethan sighed as a slight shiver ran across his skin. Neither of us were a fan of that tree to say the least. While it was useful, in a way, it also was painful. Every time I touched it, it only caused me pain–us pain.

"You should Char, you should try what Barrett told you about," Derek stated with firm gentleness.

Ethan raised a brow at me as I sipped my coffee. "Barrett is a friend of Derek's. He's a dream walker, well, he and his mate are. He basically can walk around in your dreams or memories. We talked to him about the tree, and he said we may be able to control the memory.

"I totally forgot about talking to him, and last time it was so powerful I don't know if I could unless we were both trying to do it together."

"Dream walking?" Ethan asked with a raised brow.

"We were still fighting and I guess it hasn't come up yet, anyways, yes. Derek, do you think we could call him again?"

"Of course, Barrett has been texting me nonstop about that tree. He and Evie want to have a go at it one day."

"We should let them, they probably could sort through it better than we could," I mumbled.

"Well if you could control it in a way, maybe you could see something that could help?" Andrea asked hopefully.

I nodded. Ethan's lips were in a firm skeptical line. He looked over at me with heavy eyes full of memories from our last time but begrudgingly nodded. "Let's try that first. We can go early in the morning before the first patrols. They go at six, right Ev?"

Evan nodded. "Yes but tomorrow is Sunday, they won't be out until probably eight-thirty."

"Right," Ethan nodded. "Billy, see if you can't steer the warriors and patrols away from that area."

"What about Thomas' house or office? Could there be anything there at all?"

Ethan sighed and eyed Evan before shrugging. "I don't know, I don't know if he would actually keep anything that close."

Evan wiggled his head back and forth. "Maybe, but I'm with Ethan, I don't know. That's beside the point that breaking into his office or house would be like, suicide."

I nodded. "Well, let's hope we don't have to. Hopefully, we'll find something before then."

"Billy, I want you to round the captains up. Bring them up here, I want to meet with them," Ethan said.

Billy nodded. "I'll round them up. Shouldn't be too hard, most of them are in favor of you anyways, I think you just need to shake up the ones that aren't."

"You two also need to let people start to see you, Levi is right, you two need to put on a strong front," Andrea stated with a soft firmness.

Ethan nodded. "Want to go for a late-night run?"

I smiled a little as I thought about our 'late night run' earlier. "Might as well."

Ethan talked with Billy some more before everyone started to file out. Our house was quiet, and I was starting to miss the sounds of the soft laughter in our kitchen.

"Hey Ethan," I said softly as Ethan toyed with an empty coffee cup then looked over at me. He raised his brows a bit in question while I chewed on my cheek. It had been brewing in my since we left the meeting, twisting and turning me. "We didn't tell them about what they said to us, in the tree."

Ethan stilled a bit then sat back on a barstool and rubbed his face. "I know," he sighed.

I think I was more bothered on why I didn't, and why I thought Ethan didn't. My wolf felt protective of it, too protective of it. Like she would tear anyone who wanted to harm it.

"Why didn't you?" I walked to a seat across from him and sat down.

"I think for the same reason you didn't" he answered before looking at me a little warily. "I feel it too and over the bond."

"When you got to that part I couldn't help but want to tell you not to say anything, I know it's wrong, Levi should know, but she pulled me back. It's like it's too personal, too delicate, too precious. I don't understand why she felt so strongly to hide it," I thought out loud.

"I just had this feeling in my gut. It was like it wasn't meant for everyone's ears, our ears yes, and Levi's yes, but not everyone in that room." He sighed and tugged at his hair. "I almost said it, honestly it was there and he yanked it back down my throat. I feel like I have to protect it."

"Why?" I breathed out. "I just–I don't get it."

He shrugged again and shook his head in a confused daze as he chewed on his bottom lip. "I don't know."

"We should tell Levi, alone. I don't feel odd about telling Lander, it would probably be best if Lander were there when we did," I thought out loud.

Ethan nodded. "I agree. I wanted to when we were walking out but I don't know, I felt like–"

"It wasn't safe?" His eyes widened as they snapped to mine. He nodded as I let out a sigh.

"My brain feels like it's going to either melt or explode, this is all just so screwed up," I groaned out.

"Why don't we just go to the house now? My mind is too wired for me to sleep anyways, yours?"

I shook my head. "I couldn't fall asleep now if I wanted to." I looked back at him with a half-smile.  My feet carried me over to him where I slipped my fingers in his then lifted up on my toes to kiss him. "Run?"

He smiled against my lips. "Run," he breathed out before kissing me again.

We cut down the hill and through the valley. Some pack warriors, probably on their way to their patrol shift slowed as they passed us and bent their heads respectfully before yipping at us.

Ethan yipped back politely and my beast did as well, which seemed to please the other wolves who looked like they were almost smiling at the sight of us. Us. The word made my beast shiver and relish the feeling of running with her mate in the softness of the almost-morning night air.

We cut down through some woods and ran past the pack house. Past it, until we were winding around another mountain, down a path with an old scent, a scent much like Ethan's, that seemed like it was barely a whisper.

I could smell it from here, the ash.

As we turned a corner we approached a house that was mostly burnt down. Destroyed. Broken. My heart twisted as I slowed down and assessed the sight before me.

I could feel Ethan's pain grow over the bond. He stopped and just stared at the house for the longest time before biting back a whine.

"Stay in your fur," he murmured to me.

I nodded and followed him up a small dirt path with bricks dirtied by ash. I looked down and saw the sun and some pink flowers painted on one with the words 'Evangeline' painted in green.

My heart was twisting painfully and awakening old wounds, old pains–demons that needed to stay dead.

The house was a two-story at one point and had barely any of its wrap-around porch left. There were two cedar columns that held up what was left of the roof and guarded the entrance to the non-existent front door.

Ethan trotted in first with me right behind him. I could smell them. His family. I could smell them even amongst the ash.

I heard a faint whine, from Ethan, as he walked to a corner of the house. I trotted over and rubbed my length against him before looking down at what he was looking at.

It was a frame. A frame that I let my nose breathe onto, blowing the ash away, so we could see a photo of his whole family together. They were outside in the backyard, it must have been spring or summer.

His father had his arm around his mother and a red-headed baby in his lap and his mother held onto two laughing boys, Evan and Ethan, while Eli stood between his parents as he made a monkey face.

"We can take it if you want?"

He was quiet. He just stared at it for the longest time. I sighed a little, making a decision that I knew he would thank me for later.

I carefully grabbed the frame, tilting it so the leftover broken glass would fall out, then placed my teeth safely around it so I could carry it.

Ethan walked forward and sniffed around while I found myself looking for more heirlooms or things that he would want. I found more photos, photos of them. I wasn't sure if he would want them, but I started to put them in a pile while he dug through the ash.

Soon my pile was too big though and I needed a way to carry them home. I knew he would be a little irritated, but I decided it was worth it.

I shifted to my skin and bent down to figure out this picture situation. I was trying to pull the one out of the broken frame, which would be a problem to try and carry that with the together photos.

My fingers were starting to roll them hot-dog style, which I knew wasn't the best idea, but they wouldn't be that way long–it was just to get them home. Then I saw something in the ash. I started to move away some of the burnt debris when I found it. A rock. A black porous rock.

"Ethan," I whispered as dread filled my belly.

He trotted over and eyed my skin then gave me a look that relayed his displeasure with my decision. I shrugged and held the rock up to him.

He sighed and nodded. "I know, they're all over here. Outside too."

"Did you find anything?"

He shook his head as his fur started to ripple. He looked back up at me as he ran his hand through his hair and tugged. "I don't think there's anything here." He flickered his eyes to the small bundle I was working on and furrowed his brows. "What's that?"

"I, um," I paused then let out a hot breath. "Photos, I found them. I thought maybe one day you would want them. I just–I couldn't leave them here."

He blinked hard and shook his head. "How did he get away with it?" His voice was tense and full of ire.

I looked around and shrugged. "Why don't we try the treehouse? We can look here a little more, but it wasn't a waste. We know the rocks were here, which, I know sounds obvious, but it confirms that this was planned. Why else would these rocks be here if it wasn't?"

Ethan nodded a little. "It just smells like them still. It doesn't smell like anything but ash and them. Where our kitchen was–" he said as he nodded to a corner where a counter was barely standing next to appliances that looked more like they had been painfully melted. "Still smells like my mother. It's so faint but it's still there."

I scooted to him and kissed his shoulder. "Why don't we try the treehouse? We can always come back here another time?"

He nodded. "Alright."

I stepped back and let my fur come forward. My beast was anxious, she felt our mate's pain and just wanted to help him.

She walked forward carefully and nuzzled his arm until he wrapped it around us and pulled us closer to him, letting his head rest on top of mine while his fingers combed through the silky fur of my neck.

He sighed and reached for the pictures. His fingers rolled them up as his eyes looked at them painfully. "I do want these, I'm glad you thought of it," he said on the edge of a tired breath as he extended the bundle to me.

My wolf gently took them in her teeth while Ethan stepped back to shift to his fur. We left his house quickly, not looking back like we were afraid of disturbing it; the place where it all burned.

The run to the treehouse was quiet as sadness seemed to seep into the bond. I could feel it, feel his mind going in all different directions as his beast yearned for vengeance.

Mine did too and seeing that house didn't help.

I shifted to my skin as we came up to the treehouse and found the familiar burrow with some old shirts of Ethan's in it. I tugged on an old gray one and some maroon boxers then stashed the photos safely there before I picked up a pair of sweatpants for him.

He was leaning against the tree when I tossed him the sweatpants. "Anything down here?"

He shook his head. "No, but I think Ryder needs to take a look at the old house and this place. I don't know if we'll find anything, I mean, I've been here so many times that if there was something I would have known."

I shrugged. "We don't know that. It's not going to hurt anything so let's just try, ok?"

He nodded then moved out of the way as I climbed up the ladder. I couldn't help but wonder where something would be up here. My beast agreed and leaned more to agree with Ethan.

We felt like he would have smelled something, we would have. Or not. I thought of the rocks and wondered if maybe that was why. It probably was.

Damn.

I got onto the porch and let my beast come forward. She was a little tired but she was so desperate to find something, anything. I reached out and calmed her, we needed to keep a level head and push away our anxiety.

She sighed but agreed as I started to smell around the place. Ethan got onto the porch and went directly inside, his eyes were scanning every nook and cranny carefully like it was the enemy.

We walked around and looked for at least half an hour without finding anything. At one point, Ethan thought he had something, but it turned out to be an old sandwich that Evan had forgotten about.

He walked out onto the porch and leaned against the railing. His fur was starting to poke out of his skin as his eyes swirled a little.

"Ethan," I said gently as I walked to him. I slid my arms around his waist and kissed his chest. He slowly found my waist as well and pulled me into him as he let out a hot breath. "This doesn't mean there is nothing here."

He shook his head. "Baby I don't think there is. We would have found it."

I looked around again. My eyes captured the porch, or the newer part of the porch as an idea flashed in my brain. "You said you and Evan made a lot of repairs right?"

"Mhmmm," he murmured a little tiredly.

"What did you do?" He sighed and looked at me with a raised brow. "Come on, list them out."

He shook his head and looked around as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Well, we filled the gashes in the walls, painted inside, we replaced some of the floorboards inside, and re-did the railings–they were getting loose and kind of dangerous."

"What about out here?"

He looked around and shrugged. "We did the deck down here, well part of it. We replaced some of the walls..." his voice trailed off as his eyes started to swirl.

I could feel his heart pick up, beat a little faster. "Ethan, what is it?"

He walked silently inside the house and to a wall of wood paneling that he proceeded to knock on until he found the area he wanted. He looked around until his eyes found a screwdriver sitting next to an empty beer can in the corner–a makeshift bottle opener.

"Can you get me that screwdriver?"

I nodded and retrieved it while he looked down at the four screws that held that particular panel. "What is it?"

He took the screwdriver and started to unscrew the old rusted screws. "This," he said as he twisted firmly at the old screw that was stiff from the rust. "Is where Eli used to hide our beer from our dad."

I knelt down and looked at it as Ethan pulled the first screw out and moved to the next. "You think?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Eli and I came out here when I was like fifteen? We made a false wall. Tore out the insulation and made a small cubby. We always left the screws kind of loose so we could use our fingers instead of a screwdriver."

"Insulation? In a treehouse?"

He shrugged. "Levi's idea. Told dad that if 'we're going to build a house, 'then we're going to build a damn house.'"

I laughed as he untwisted another screw and set it next to the other. The board came loose, and when it did I felt my heartbeat pick up some more. "But weren't they warm? The beers?"

He chuckled a little as he started to work the other screw. "We didn't care, we were more excited that we actually got away with something. I feel like my dad probably knew and didn't say anything, he always knew."

"Sounds like Levi," I mused as I thought about how Levi always saw straight through me.

Ethan set the third screw down and moved to the fourth. "Yup, they've always been like that. Lucas tried to hide beer from Levi once and the next thing we heard was Levi came out of his house drinking it and told Lucas something like, 'son I taught you better than to drink this shit,' before he chunked it and then proceeded to give Lucas a day he would say was 'real fun.'"

I shivered as my lips turned to a smile. I looked down as Ethan pulled the fourth screw out, he set it next to the others then carefully pulled away the board and set it aside.

It was an empty cavity, definitely big enough to store a few beers which made me laugh. I had no idea how the boys actually got away with that.

But there was something else, something that had been collecting dust and had cobwebs around it. Ethan smelled at the box for a few moments as his eyes swirled. "It's old, whoever put this here did it a long time ago. Hasn't been back it looks like either."

"You mean this wasn't yours?"

"No, this was definitely not ours. We only kept beer in here, stacked up the cans on top of themselves," he said with a voice that was trying to hold back his anger.

He picked up the box, almost the size of a small lunch box. It was longer than it was wide, made of dark metal that looked light because of all the dust.

We walked to the couch where he set it on the little coffee table before he proceeded to open it. I jumped back a little as the lid flew off as my wolf stood and shook her fur out.

On top, there were tons of papers, letters it looked like. Ethan took them out and set them aside then reached at a long bundle wrapped in an old cloth that lay on top of some other papers at the bottom next to one small porous rock; grey and old, used.

He smelled it and stilled a little before he began to furiously unwrap it while I picked up the other pieces.

It was a photo. One of them was.

It was Christmas and Levi had an ugly Santa sweater that matched Eve's while Lucas and Lydia both had on reindeer antlers. They were all standing together and smiling brightly with the Everette's.

Chris was wearing a red sweater while Margaret had on an apron that was decorated with snowflakes. Ethan and Evan stood in front of Chris while Eli held Evangeline next to Lydia.

Their faces were all distorted though, because they were x'ed out with what looked like a knife or some kind of razor.

I felt vile creep up my mouth as I stared at it, stared at all the people with two lines crossing through their smiling faces.

Ethan felt like he was about to rip out of his skin.

Shaking.

I snapped my head over and pushed him back against the back of the couch then held his face in my hands until he looked at me. "Ethan don't," I gently ordered.

I rubbed his cheek a little with the back of my fingers. His eyes were still brewing like a storm though, the rage was far from gone.

His fingers gently found my chin and directed it so I could look at what was in his hand.

The smell itself made me sick, I reached over for a little makeshift trash can and threw up. Which I guess was a good thing since it broke Ethan's fury-filled trance; he was up quickly holding my hair and rubbing my back while I emptied my stomach out.

"Oh my God," I breathed out as I wiped my mouth.

"Stay here," he gently said.

"Ethan–"

"I'm getting you a water," he quickly interjected as he opened a cabinet and pulled out a plastic bottle.

I let out a sigh of relief as he came back to me with the bottle extended from his hand that had a slight angry tremble. My fingers quickly unscrewed it before I downed almost half of it, gulping for air and wiping the drops off my lips as I looked at the source of my sickness.

A knife.

There was a bloody knife laying on the table–blood that was theirs. I could smell it, the ghost scent. It was old and dry but matched the faint smell I had scented at their house.

Ethan pulled me up and then walked a little warily to the couch before he sat down and rubbed his face in his hands. I walked over with my eyes glued to the knife, a knife that was made of silver. The silver hummed a tone like a mosquito, it practically burned your ears.

Ethan eyed it a little longer before covering it with the cloth. He flickered his eyes to me then looked at the paper and picture I had been holding. I sat down as his fingers snatched the paper; a furious growl erupted as his eyes met it.

He chunked the photo down next to the knife and clenched his jaw so hard I thought it would break.

I could see it.

His skin moving.

His skin was close to turning.

The bond was filled with his anger, his pain. My beast whined out and scratched at me to let her out so she could help her mate–help him kill the ones who harmed us.

I pushed her back hard. We needed none of that now, that would only be bad for the pack.

Ethan let out a sharp breath as I crawled onto his lap, straddling him before my fingers started to comb through his hair. "Just know if you go, that I'm with you."

"I know," he breathed out tensely.

"We're getting closer to the truth..."

"It could work," he thought almost wistfully.

"Not by itself. Sure it has their blood on it, but can you prove it was in his hand? Maybe with something else, sure, but not with what we have now." I kissed his forehead then his lips before sitting back and smiling a little sadly. "I'm sorry."

He flickered his eyes at me and let out a long sigh. I gave him a half-sad smile and leaned my forehead against his. "What else was in there?" he breathed out.

I leaned back and reached for the other piece of paper that I hadn't looked at along with the bundle of letters. Ethan took the one piece of paper from my fingers while I undid the bundle and went through the letters.

They were interesting, to say the least. There was no name on them. No name to or from, no date, no nothing; just a message.

One said, "It is done, don't forget to hold up your end." I felt my mind stir as I thought about what that rogue had said to Thomas.

I looked through another that said, "Play your part and we'll play ours. You know how."

Ethan was studying the piece of paper carefully in his hands. I looked at it a little and saw the figure he was staring at. It was a circle with an x in the middle of it and three small dots on the left all in black ink on the worn cream paper. "What the hell is that?"

He shook his head. "I have no idea." He looked at the letters curiously. "Those?"

I shrugged. "No name just a message. This one–" I said while holding out one to him. "Mimics a little of what we saw that one rogue say to Thomas. I have a feeling these are between the two of them."

"Ya, but there's no name..." his voice trailed off as he looked at the cloth covering the knife, the picture, then the letter in his hand. "There's no name Charlotte."

My eyes flickered to his which started to fill with dread and fury. I felt my mind swirl a little as I looked at the box and then back to the letter when it clicked.

"Shit," I hissed.

"It could be anyone, there's no name which means it could be anyone's name. These have been here, they haven't been moved. That and this place, the treehouse, it was never really mom and Dad's place. It was more for the kids until–"

"After the attack," I finished.

"It's my place, it's been that way ever since then."

"But the picture?! Your face is scratched out too," I rushed out in mild desperation that what I was thinking was not actually true.

"Baby there is a bloody knife with my family's blood still on it and suspicious ass letters with no name in this treehouse, my place. It wouldn't matter."

"Oh my God," I bit.

Before I knew it, it was Ethan the one pulling me back from the door. I was clawing out and thrashing wildly as pure rage poured into my body.

I was the epitome of fury.

My beast snapped out and let out a growl of cold wrath in the back of my mind as my tendrils of chilling vexations grasped at our bond.

My beast and I wanted to end him, end the one who dare frame our mate for this. 

Surprisingly, though, Ethan wouldn't let me. He eventually got a hold of me then tossed me over his shoulder and marched us back to the couch with me growling out furiously.

He threw me down on my back against the couch and then pinned me down before I even had a chance to move.

I was fuming. I was fuming as his eyes bore into mine. His fingers were gentle as he pushed hair out of my face before he slowly kissed my cheek. My body settled a little, but I was still simmering with anger; that is until he placed another feather kiss on the edge of my jaw.

"What are you doing?"

"Remember when you told me something like, 'we have to have a handle on our emotions?'"

I let out a frustrated breath and closed my eyes as he kissed me gently again. It was hard not to melt little by little, like an ice cube sitting in a room just above freezing.

"I'm not going to apologize," I breathed out as I drug my beast back.

She was wrestling with me until I pushed her back hard. This wasn't the way to get what we wanted, what our pack needed, even though we were certainly entitled to doing it.

"I wasn't asking you to," he breathed out before pulling back and loosening his grip on my arms a little.

"You were what? Sixteen back then? Christ, he did this when you were still a teenager! What kind of a path–"

His hand covered my mouth while his conflicted eyes bore down at me. "I know baby, you don't have to tell me how much of a bastard he is."

"Do you think there's more?" I asked after he removed his hand.

He looked at me a little warily. "Shit. Hold on, let me link Evan."

I sighed and looked back at the table as he laid his head on my chest while he furiously linked Evan. His brows would furrow every now and then, and sometimes a low growl would rumble off of him.

I tried to push my anger out as best I could. I found that playing with his hair helped, it didn't take it away, but it did alleviate it.

He let out a hot breath and then looked back up at me a little tiredly. "Evan's searching our cabin now. He's going to look around your place and our's after, he has Ryder on it."

"Do you think he planned on using this soon?"

Ethan looked over at the table and mused for a bit. "It's been here undisturbed for a while, so I don't think so. This was his insurance. He was probably going to use it in the case that I threatened him or–"

"Challenged him," I said as our eyes locked. "Shit," I hissed.

"We need to tell Levi," he said.