Matthias POV

I left Elise at the shelter despite how little I wanted to. I threw my dad's truck into gear and drove down the road between our two territories.

While I drove, my mind wandered back to the woman who owned my heart.

What I wanted to do was stand over her like a vicious guard dog and rip anyone who came near her to shreds. It was hard enough to leave her there when she was somewhat capable of managing, handing her over to one of the bastard's regular humans felt like ripping out my own heart.

But at the same time, I had to help with the defense. Nicholas had sounded more concerned than usual and his tone had raised my hackles. It made sense, when had he ever had to call on the third backup? The third line on call had always been nothing more than an honorary position, before tonight. I swore.

The shelter would be defensible enough. No one was getting in there easily. I had seen people with guns at strategic locations and even a couple of adolescents with crossbows.

I appreciated their contribution. I remembered being that age and wanting to help with defense. If they were being allowed to help they have learned to be responsible as well as good shots. It made sense to me that we would let the weaker members help defend themselves, in case the worst happened.

I adjusted the wheel and accelerated more sharply in the straight stretches. My parents would understand under the circumstances.

If I had known there was going to be a serious attack tonight, I would not have went to visit Elise even though I had been dying to see her. Waiting an entire week was excruciating.

I could feel my impatience roiling under my skin, torn between getting to the fight and getting back to Elise. I forced myself to focus on the road ahead. The fastest way back to her was through the enemy and that was just where I was going.

I drove straight to the meeting location. I threw the truck into park and leapt out. I threw my clothing in the cab and slammed the door and tossed the keys up against the front tire.

In only a moment I altered my human form into that of my wolf body. It felt damn good as I rushed to meet my team, who were congregating around my father, the one lone pack member still in his human form.

My father met my eyes only for a brief moment and nothing passed between us. I was his son, but right now he had to treat me as just another member of the third wave.

He divided us in half and gave us our instructions. Several of the other wolves barked their understanding. I was not the leader of my small division, although Nick had continually pestered me to step up. I always refused since I was happier simply focusing on defending myself and my teammates while I ripped through the enemy.

Perhaps he was right that I could be a leader if I wanted, but I did not want.

All I wanted was to take down the threat in the most efficient way possible.

I bared my teeth in anticipation.

"Alright, you have your directions. Move out," my father ordered.

I ran off with four other wolves, all of whom I knew. Tyson, Terrence, Jack, Todd. We had all fought together on numerous occasions, and this time was no different. They were my friends, my brothers and I would fight to protect them as much as everyone else.

We rushed through the forest towards the forces we were meant to back up. We knew where we were going, but soon enough the direction would have been clearly without even that foreknowledge. The forest was oddly quiet, but I could smell the scents of numerous other familiar fighters and as we got closer, the sharp scent of fresh blood was in the air.

As I we charged forward, I spotted at least one source of the metallic stench. A light brown, almost blond wolf was limping back in the direction of the town. I knew him well, it was my irritating cousin.

I did not find him irritating in that moment as I rushed past him in the opposite direction. It was unfortunate that Ernie had been injured, but I was glad that he was clearly alive and would survive. I barked as I ran past. I wished I could have gotten information from him, but it was not worth the time to stop and transform to exchange it.

Plus, he would probably be reluctant. Transforming with an injury hurt damn bad. He would be much less annoying stuck in his wolf form until he healed, I thought with some inappropriate amusement.

Shame he had never been stuck in his wolf form on any of those occasions when he had been flirting with Elise. Well, no matter, now that she had agreed to be mine I could smack him upside the head if he got out of line.

It was a rather pleasing thought.

But I needed to focus, because we were getting near to our goal. I turned my attention back to the available sensory information around me. Besides the usual scents of evergreen and rotting plant matter and moss and besides the familiar scents of my pack members and blood, I could smell the intruders. The scent fired my blood and pushed me forwards. It did the same thing to the others. Our wild sides wanted to protect what was ours.

We pushed forward until we hit the edge of our territory.

Our group leader, Tyson, looked at me and I could see my confusion mirrored back at me in his wolfish expression. The scents continued on into the forest beyond, but we never left our territory to pursue.

I paused and looked forward. The scents clearly continued, but had they been given orders. Probably, it was not just one or two renegade pack members surging forward, they had probably gone after the invaders as they retreated.

I pointed with my muzzle in the direction of the escaping enemy while keeping my eyes locked on Tyson. After a moments consideration he nodded. It was all the encouragement I needed, I was off in pursuit.

Maybe it was ignoble of me, but I enjoyed this part as much as I enjoyed the fight. It was probably the wolf in me that exhilarated in the chase, that sweet moment when the encroaching enemy turned into fleeing prey.

We rushed forward, outside of the pack territory.

Finally we could hear the sound of fighting and it fueled my blood. We no longer ran to maintain our endurance, we put on the burst of speed that would get us there before the conflict was done.

The enemy was clearly outnumbered, but there were still a few on their paws and that was all I needed. I could see an especially large wolf with black fur going towards one of our fighter's backs.

I did not hesitate, I rushed forward and went for his throat.

Unfortunately, he must have noticed my lunge and he dodged just in time.

Without the surprise attack, Dave brought down the wolf he was fighting from the corner of my eye. I could smell blood and was fairly certain that attacker would not end up as our prisoner.

My opponent lunged at me and I tried to get my powerful jaws around his leg but he darted out of the way at the last second. He was fast, and I missed with my next attack as well.

What the hell? Seriously, his speed made me think of training with my own people, not the weak easterners.

Then, he spun around and darted away. I rushed after him, my teeth almost throbbing with their desire to impale in his flesh and rip and tear until he was a threat to my people no longer.

My mouth swam in anticipation. He had gained an advantage by surprising me, but I was catching up with him. He had fought the battle, but other than the run over, I was fresh.

This enemy was going to die by my teeth if I could not subdue him.

My chase was interrupted by a short, far off howl, then a second, then a third, then a fourth, and then finally a fifth.

I growled what would have been a colourful swear in my human form. The signal to give up the chase had come. I did not want to, I wanted to finish this guy off.

I slowed reluctantly and turned around.

I ran back to the others. There was only one enemy alive and he was being dragged along by four warriors, they did not need me. I trotted past, still feeling the adrenaline and disappointment pound through me.

The situation was frustrating, but at least this interruption meant I could get back to Elise now. There was still time to resume our date, and since I had fought, someone else would be called upon to take care of my shift.

Maybe I should stop at home and grab that little pup tent in the garage and see if she wanted to camp outside tonight. It would be win win, I could see her and I could also get a good night's sleep. She would probably be game if I asked, it was not like we had not camped out dozens of times before.

As we returned to the territory line, I was surprised to see Issac in his human form. He must have transformed and I kept my gaze well away from any parts of my brother I absolutely did not want to see.

"Nick needs to talk to you immediately, Matthias," he said, as soon as I got close.

I drew my eyebrows together, wondering at this strange request as I pushed for more speed. Had Nick sent someone out specifically to speak to me, or was it incidental?

Either way, Issac's words ran around my head and curled anxiously in the depths of my stomach. I was not sure the growing panic was entirely reasonable, but I ran forward, dodging the forest obstacles with all the speed I could muster.

I rushed past where I had left the truck, because it was gone. I guessed my parents had grabbed it since I left it there, which was a bit inconvenient. I could get to Nick's house or office just as fast cutting through the forest in my wolf form as I could by driving along the roads, but my clothes were inside.

I was not going to waste my time going home to get something, hopefully Nick had a blanket or something more that I could wear or he would be seeing a whole lot more of his future son-in-law than he might have bargained for.

* * * * * * * * *

Nick's pack office was the most obvious place, plus they were a bit closer, so I ran over there first. The lights were on so there was a good chance he was probably inside.

I did not even bother to transform, I just threw my weight at the door and it pushed open.

Nick's secretary, Raina, was at her desk and she glanced up when she saw me. "Sorry Matthias, Nick went home."

Before she could get up, I caught the slowly closing door with my jaw and wrenched it open.

I dashed back out into the night and headed straight for Elise's childhood home.

I got there quickly, but not quickly enough for my liking.

I also did not like the sight that greeted me. Nick was sitting outside the house, and the scent of cigarettes bit my nose. It took me another moment to realize that the scent was coming from a lit one in his hand.

Worse than the fact that Elise's father was smoking, something that he had purportedly quit before Sean had been born, was how terrible he looked. I had only seen him look so broken once, back when Elise's mom had died.

"Transform," he ordered, throwing a cape-like blanket towards me.

I caught it with my jaw and then transformed in the shadows, pulling the cloth around me.

"What is it?" I asked.

He was quiet for a long minute.

"Is it Sean?" I asked. As terrible as it was, I hoped Nick was upset about his son, because then his obviously terrible condition would have nothing to do with his daughter. Not that I wanted anything to happen to Sean. I thought the guy was tolerable and worse, Elise would be crushed if anything happened to her brother.

But the dark hope was futile, because Nick probably would not have specifically called me here to hear about the condition of a man I was only tangentially connected to.

"No. It's Elise."

My frail hope snapped and my heart sunk.

"She's gone."

I just stared at Nick. His words made sense, but they were incomprehensible.

Before I could form words, Nick continued. "She was taken from the shelter, apparently by a traitor from Serge's pack. Name's Mark, a regular human. They're tracking his scent right now. We've sent everyone we can spare for now to help search the territory."

My mind spun around the last time I had seen her. I had handed her over to some regular human, she had said she knew him. I had a bad feeling about him, but I had let him take her.

I swore. I had always been taught never to pick on those weaker than myself, not to harm the regular humans and that was my creed. But right now, when I got my hands on that traitor I would rip him to shreds.

I transformed back to my wolf form and rushed off into the darkness.

Nick did not even try to stop me.

* * * * * * * * *

I found myself back in Serge's territory almost without being aware of my own actions. It felt like a dream, moving seamlessly from one place to another without the passage of time, but it was in truth, a nightmare.

Elise's name was in the sound of my footfalls in the forest and everything she was haunted my mind.

I hoped against all odds that when I arrived I would be told it was a false alarm, that they had found her, that she had been moved for her safety and it had all been a horrible misunderstanding. Elise had been through enough.

Dan, Serge's second and his wife Karen were loading their children into their truck as I arrived. Karen whispered, "Dan, that's Matthias."

Dan stepped forward to me and said, "We haven't found her yet, but Serge is looking." He pointed beyond the shelter.

I nodded and rushed forward.

I picked up numerous scents as I rounded the shelter. I could smell scents familiar and unfamiliar and over it all I could smell the scent of the bastard and even more aggravatingly, the scent of that piece of shit traitor who had dared to take Elise.

He would be best to pray that I did not catch him, because if I did, I was not at all certain that I would be able to stop myself from killing him.

I met Serge on the way to the back. He was alone in his wolf form, but for several of his wolves. My heart sunk and I growled.

He met my eyes evenly and shook his head.

I wanted to howl out my fear and pain, but I held it all back. Instead I turned and followed him back towards his town. I wanted to rush forward and search for her myself, but it would probably be futile. I wanted to know exactly what had happened.

I wanted to pound his face in, but not nearly as much as I wanted to tear up that traitor.

I had left her in the care of his people and one of them had taken her. I had probably left her right in the traitor's arms.

Self-revulsion washed through me. Shit.

No, I would keep a cool head. Maintain my cool. The only thing that mattered now was finding her. And bringing her home to safety.

We transformed back at Serge's pack offices. I was lent clothes, although I barely cared at the moment.

My mind whirled its anguish. My blood pounded. My rage boiled.

Returning to my human form did nothing to tame the wild fury inside me.

"What happened?" I growled.

Serge looked at me, his face stony and his tone calm. "Mark carried her inside and straight out the back. No one noticed right away during the fevered activity, until Macy asked where Elise was."

I wanted to slam my fist into his face. The only thing I wanted more was to have Elise safe in my arms again, with me. Where she belonged. Where I could help sooth her anxiety. Where her distance from the bastard would not constantly cause the magic to hurt her.

I gritted my teeth. We had to find her.

"I know you had a prisoner, is he still alive? Turn him into a thrall and force him to give you information," I suggested. I did not care that it was against the rules, I did not care what it did to the bastard if he did it again, we needed a lead more than we needed to be morally upright.

Serge watched me, those cold eyes steady as they tried to bore into me. I was not intimidated, I stared straight back at him, daring to do as I had suggested.

"You've got my permission, Matthias. Try to beat something out of him yourself, first, and then I'll think about it."