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THE CALL ENDED. The phone dropped from Adele's shoulder when she moved her head, the sturdy mobile clattering on the hardwood floor, but the racket didn't wake Jade. She was completely unconscious in a way she hadn't been for two weeks, resting in a moment of utter peace. Adele had a suspicion it had been longer than a fortnight since Jade had really been able to relax. She could feel her breaths spiralling out of control, her heart racing so fast that she felt as though she was going to throw up or pass out, or both.

She had to go. But she couldn't. But she had to. Ainslie needed her. Caleb needed her. Reed needed her.

She sprang to her feet, Fiona still clutched in her arms. She had finished feeding and she had settled, lying content in her aunt's arms. Adele nudged Jade, shaking her shoulder to no avail. "Jade," she said, the solitary word a shaky one. "Jade, you have to wake up. I need to go." She shook harder until Jade took a sharp breath and blearily opened her eyes.

"Adele?" She stared up at her baby sister, still half asleep. Her face crumpled. "I dreamt you died. I dreamt he killed you."

"I'm right here; I'm fine," Adele said, "but I need to go. I really need to go." She held out Fiona but Jade didn't take her. She sat up, an effort to move, and her face twisted as though she was in agony.

"Don't move," she said, gut-wrenching desperation in her voice. "You can't leave me, I need you. Fiona needs you." She shook her head, her eyes welling with tears that effortlessly snaked down her cheeks.

"Ainslie needs me," Adele said. She picked up her phone, stuffing it into her pocket. "Is there anyone I can get to take the baby? Is there someone who can come in and check on you?"

"I don't have any friends. I don't have anyone," Jade said, covering her mouth when she cried. "I only have Fiona and she hates me."

"Don't be ridiculous. Come on, Jade, you know she doesn't hate you. But I really have to go. I can come back tomorrow. Will you two be ok until then?" She tried to get Jade to take the baby but she didn't move.

"You can't leave me with her," she wept, her chin quivering. "I'm bad for her. I can't look after her."

Adele didn't know what to do. For a moment she stood clueless, painfully aware of the ticking clock. Ainslie needed her but the minutes were passing and she was no closer, and she had no idea what she could say to Jade to get through to her. She couldn't call Morag. The less she knew, the better. The last thing she wanted to do was give her any reason to worry before whisking her daughter away right before Christmas.

"I'm going to call Archie," she said eventually. "He can come in and make sure you're ok. He's a good guy." She fumbled for her phone, bouncing Fiona as her shaking hand slipped over the keys to find Archie's number. Her breaths turned jagged as she waited for him to pick up.

"Officer Muir," he said after only a couple of rings.

"Archie? It's me, Adele. Listen, I really need a favour," she said, her words coming out too fast.

"Del? What's up? Are you ok?" His tone shifted from his professional greeting to one of genuine concern. "Has something happened?"

"I'm really in a bind right now," she said. "Jade, my sister, she's not doing well and I need someone to check in on her. I'm really worried about her and she's really struggling right now. Can you help?"

"God, I'm sorry," Archie said. "My shift ends at eight. I can pop in when it's done, no problem. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just have a lot on my plate right now and I can't stay with her. Thank you so much, Archie. You're a damn life saver."

He chuckled. "That's my job," he said. "I'll be over as soon as I'm done. See you around, Del!"

Adele breathed a deep sigh, ending the call. "Ok, Archie's going to be over at eightish," she said. "That's only six hours away. You can make it six hours, Jade."

"I can't. I really can't," she said, her words turning to sobs. "Please don't go. She needs you." She looked up at Adele, her eyes streaming. She was the most broken Adele had ever seen her, a vulnerable mess in a heap on the sofa. She couldn't even bring herself to hold her own baby.

"Shit," Adele muttered. "I have to go."

"Don't leave her with me. I ... I can't."

"I..." Adele trailed off. "I'll take her. I really have to go, Jade. I can't stay. I can take Fiona, though. Is that what you need? Is that ok, if I take her? I'll bring her back tomorrow. I just have to go right now."

Jade hopelessly nodded, her eyes cast down, and she dropped her head into her hands. It killed Adele to leave her like that but she hardly had a choice. She couldn't take her sister with her; she couldn't leave her in charge of a baby when Jade couldn't even hold her head up.

"I need her stuff," Adele muttered. "Shit, I need her stuff. What do I need? Nappies? How am I supposed to feed her? Jade?"

"She has formula," Jade murmured. "I failed her. I'm not enough for my own baby. I can't feed her enough."

"You're more than enough for her, Jade. It doesn't matter where her food comes from," she said, darting into the kitchen. Rooting through every unfamiliar cupboard, she found a tub of formula in one and a couple of bottles in another. Throwing it all into a canvas bag, she found Fiona's carrier in the hallway and laid her down in it, clipping her in.

"I'll be right back," she said, her heart pounding even harder as she took the stairs two at a time and ransacked the nursery for anything she could need to keep her niece alive for the next twenty-four hours. Racing down the stairs, she filled the canvas bag and grabbed the carrier. "I'll be back tomorrow, Jade," she called. Her sister appeared in the doorway to the sitting room.

"I'm so sorry," she said quietly, clutching the frame.

"So am I," Adele said. She hesitated. "I love you, Jade."

That didn't seem to help. Jade cried harder. "I love you too."

Adele left. She didn't have time. Fumbling with shaking hands, she figured out how to clip the carrier into the back seat, her fingers fumbling over straps and buckles until it was secure and she flew to the driver's seat, leaving the manor in the dust. It would take at least twenty minutes to reach the quarry from town, taking a less familiar track. She didn't have time to waste.

*

The woods felt like they were closing in on her as drove down the track she rarely took, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her fingers ached. Her eyes kept flitting up to the mirror to check on Fiona, though she couldn't see her face in the rear-facing carrier. Her chest was burning, her lungs and her heart in competition for which could hurt more, and she couldn't control the tremor that ran through her.

She had left Caleb and Ainslie. They had found Reed, and she wasn't there to help.

A hint of light hovered on the horizon as she approached the clearing, the trees giving away to the huge space that never failed to send her stomach dropping to her feet and her heart jumping to her throat. As the distance grew closer, the giant hole in the ground looming right in front of her, she spotted Ainslie.

She was standing by the entrance that Caleb had pointed out to them, her hair whipping in the wind. Both hands were covering her face. Adele pressed down harder on the accelerator when she hit steady ground, driving as close to Ainslie as she could before she brought the truck to a stop and called her over.

Ainslie ran. Her cheeks were red from the cold and her tears, and she fell against Adele, who held her tight.

"You need to stay here," she said, holding Ainslie's shoulders. "That's an order, not an ask. I need you to stay right here in the truck. You keep an eye on Fiona and I'm going to help Caleb. I don't want you coming anywhere near the quarry. Ok?"

Ainslie nodded, her breaths hitching on her tears. She didn't ask why the baby was in the car; she didn't insist on helping. She just sobbed, and she climbed into the back seat to sit beside the baby. Adele flipped into action mode, grabbing a rope and a sheet from the back, and she made sure the brakes were locked in place before she fled across the snow to the dip that would carry her down into the quarry. There was no time to let fear trip her up.

She spotted Caleb. The sight sickened her. He struggled up the rocky edge, battling the wind one handed. The other held a bundle around his shoulders. Reed. He was wrapped in Caleb's coat, a shirt tied around his skinny legs. The hood flopped back, showing his pale face and a flash of orange hair. Adele draped the rope and the sheet around her neck, freeing up both hands to navigate her way down into the deadly hole.

Caleb looked up. When he spotted her, his face changed and he stood straighter. "No!" he yelled, letting go of the rock to hold up his hand. "Don't come down!"

"You need help!" she shouted back, starting to descend the frozen, jagged path.

"It's too dangerous," Caleb called. "Don't come down. You'll die. Stay back, Adele."

She stopped. She hated to feel so helpless, watching as he fought the elements to haul Reed out of the quarry. He was determined and he was strong, but that didn't make the quarry much easier to navigate. He had conquered the hardest part, pulling Reed out of the caves at the bottom, but the climb was exhausting and he still had thirty metres to go.

Adele shrunk back, returning to Ainslie. She slipped into the back beside her and wrapped both arms around her, swaying her as though she was a baby. She had no idea what to say when she didn't even know if Reed was alive. Even if he was, she didn't know if he would survive.

"Whatever happens," she said at last, "we're going to be alright. You're strong, Ains."

Ainslie sniffled, Adele's scarf soaking up her tears. "What if he's dead?"

She faltered, still holding her until she found her words. "Then you've got closure."

They stayed like that for what felt like forever, until Adele peeled away to load the quadbike onto the back of the truck. Her gloveless fingers numbed, fumbling as she worked, but she fought through the pain to secure the bike. When she saw the top of Caleb's head bob above the lip of the quarry, she almost dropped to her knees.

"Stay here," she said to Ainslie before she rushed over to his side, righting herself when she skidded on the ice. No matter his strength, Caleb wore a pained expression as he reached the top, his bare chest scratched from the rocks. The blood froze before it could fall.

"Oh, God," she said, nausea rising. "Are you ok? Is he ok?"

"I'm fine," he said, his words short. It was an effort to speak when he was freezing, his body aching with the effort of the climb that wasn't supposed to be possible. "Reed is hurt. He's hurt and he's frozen. He can't control his shifts."

"Is he alive?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"I don't know," Caleb said. He let Reed down from his shoulders, his lifeless body dropping to the floor when he couldn't hold him any longer. Adele dropped down to his side, her fingers touching his cheek. His skin was ice to the touch.

"Come on," she murmured, warming her hands to bring some sensation back to her fingers. "Please be alive, Reed. You have to be alive." When the numbness left her fingers for a moment, she pressed two to his neck. She huddled over him, immune to the snow that was seeping through her jeans.

"Is he alive?" Caleb asked. Adele bent over Reed, pressing her fingertips deep into the crevice under his jaw.

"He has a pulse," she said, a laugh bursting out of her. "Oh, God, thank fuck. He has a pulse. We need to warm him up. God, he's frozen. We have to go." She found her strength and crouched at Reed's side to lift him up. There wasn't much of him, his body frail and his cheeks gaunt. He weighed too little for his height: he wasn't tall, but he was taller than her, a scrawny weight in her arms.

Ainslie flew out of the truck, her hand clapped over her mouth. "Reed," she whispered, reaching for his icy hand. He didn't respond when she held it. "Oh my goodness, Reed. It's really you. You're really here." She looked up at Adele. "Is he alive? He has to be alive."

"He's alive," Adele said. But only just. She didn't add that. "We have to get him home and warm him up. Ains, get in the front. Caleb needs to be in the back with Reed. It'll be a squeeze."

Caleb filled the two seats beside Fiona's car seat, clutching Reed's frail form across his lap. He looked down at the baby, who stared up at him with equally curious eyes, but he didn't have the words to question what she was doing there when all he could think about was his brother.

*

Three heaters blasted in the kitchen, quickly heating the little room while Ainslie hastily build a fire and Adele knelt over Reed. He lay wrapped in a few blankets, his head propped up with a pillow, and she pulled a thick hat over his hair. Caleb sat in the armchair with Fiona against his chest, his hands dwarfing the her.

"Is he hurt?" Ainslie asked. Her voice was tiny. Adele had tried to shield her from Reed's ragged body but she had caught enough of a glance of his chest to send devastation through her. "He looks hurt."

Adele peeled the heavy blankets away from his chest, where she had hurriedly cleaned and covered his wounds before she had bundled him up. "Most of the cuts are superficial," she said. "They look worse than they are. I don't think he was attacked or anything – it looks more like he had a fall. And they're fresh."

"Is that good?"

"It's good," she said. "I don't think he's too badly injured. I think he's mostly frozen. He would be dead if he had been human for too long down there. I think he must have shifted recently. Some point in the last twenty-four hours, probably less."

Ainslie did her best to hold herself together. "Why would he shift? It's so dangerous down there. Why wouldn't he stay as a wolf?" She sat back, moving away from the fire when the flames took off, and she put his hand over Reed's cheek. The heat of the kitchen was doing a good job of warming his skin, the blankets helping to safely raise his temperature without forcing him into cardiac arrest.

"He can't control it," Caleb said, rocking the baby as if she was his own. He was a natural, his instincts kicking in as soon as Adele had asked him to hold Fiona while she tended to Reed. "He's a leth. He can't control his shifts. Not yet. He's learning, but it's hard."

"You're amazing," Ainslie said. "Both of you." She looked over at Adele. "How d'you know what to do?"

"I did some first aid training," Adele said. "Years ago, but I remembered some I guess. I think Reed might be hypothermic. But we can't go to the hospital."

"No," Ainslie said, shaking her head. "That would be bad. What do we do now?"

"We wait," Adele said. She took his pulse again. It was getting stronger; his chest moved with each breath. "I think he's going to be ok." She stood, and like a head rush, the day struck her like a train. Her face crumpled, her shoulders hunching when she was crushed by the past few hours.

Caleb stood and pulled her to his chest, one arm around her as he held Fiona with the other, and he kissed the top of Adele's head. "You are incredible," he said to her. He smiled, his eyes glistening. "We found him."

"You found him," she said, her arms wrapped tightly around him. She buried her nose in Fiona's hair. "I didn't do anything. I left you. I'm so sorry. You saved him."

"You did what you had to do," Caleb said. "You are strong and beautiful and amazing." He loosened his grip on her and when she looked up, he kissed her.

Ainslie watched them, sitting beside her cousin with her hand over his. "You two look like Fiona's parents," she said, her eyes on the baby nestled against Caleb's chest. "Speaking of Fiona ... why is she here? Did you kidnap her? Is Jade ok?"

"Jade's struggling," Adele said. "She's having a hard time, being a mum. She said I couldn't leave her with Fiona; she thinks she's a terrible mother, so took Fiona and I said I'd take her back tomorrow. I didn't kidnap her."

"Poor Jade," Ainslie said with a pout. "Is she going to be ok?"

Adele let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know," she said. "I've got no idea. But I'll do what I can before we go to make sure she will be."

Caleb rubbed her arm. "You're a good sister," he said. "You're a better sister than she is. Even when she is bad to you, you are good to her."

Adele nodded and pushed her hair off her face. Her eyes fell on Reed, only his face peeking out of the blankets. There was a little more colour in his cheeks. She counted her lucky stars that he had survived Caleb manhandling him out of the quarry when even sitting him up could have prompted a cardiac arrest. His body was weak but he was a fighter, werewolf blood pumping through his veins. Even if he couldn't shift, being a leth had kept him from death's door.

"You're good with her," she said, her hand over Fiona's back. "She likes you."

"She's so small," he said, looking down at the baby, and she started to cry. Caleb's eyebrows shot up. "Did I do something?"

Adele took her, her hand over her bottom. "I think she needs her nappy changing," she said, beckoning for the bag. "Ains?"

Ainslie rooted in the bag for a nappy, and she found a bag of wipes that Adele had thrown in too. "D'you know what you're doing?" she asked.

"I can figure it out."

"I know how to change a nappy, if you want." She held out her hands. "I can do it." She cuddled Fiona, murmuring to her as she carried her through to Adele's room.

Adele turned to Caleb. She draped her arms around him, just to hold him. She needed to be close to him, to feel his warmth and the tug of the bond that tied them closer each and every day. Resting her cheek against his chest, she closed her eyes and tried to persuade the tenseness to leave her shoulders.

"I'm sorry we didn't find him sooner," she whispered.

"We've found him now," Caleb said. "That's what matters." He tipped her chin up, his gaze drinking her in. "Our pack is all together."

She smiled up at him, a hundred emotions swarming her chest before they spilled out of her eyes and Caleb dried her cheeks with his thumbs, kissing her wet skin before he met her lips. One hand cupped the back of her head, holding her close in the moment of peace.

Ainslie returned with Fiona, the baby's tears settled, and she settled into the armchair. "Can we keep her?" she asked. "If Jade's struggling, we could, you know, help her out. Take Fiona off her hands."

"No. Jesus, Ainslie."

"She's so cute," Ainslie said, pouting. "I want to keep her."

"I'm pretty sure that would tip Jade over the edge. We're not stealing her baby. I'm taking her back tomorrow: she just needs a day off." She rested in Caleb's arms, her ear against his chest as she spoke to Ainslie. She found herself swaying slightly in time with music she couldn't hear. He swayed with her, his hands clasped around her back.

The room fell silent as Caleb cradled Adele and Ainslie cradled Fiona. The fire crackled, smoke curling up the chimney as the wood blackened. The wind raged outside, forcing the branches to scrape against the window, but it was deliciously warm inside. The cabin hadn't been so full in a long time, five bodies crammed into the tiny kitchen, but it felt right.

Silence swaddled them until it was pierced by a cough. Three pairs of eyes snapped to Reed. His eyes were open, moss-green irises ringed with black, his stare fixed on Caleb. Ainslie gasped, her free hand flying over her mouth. Adele froze, fixated by the life in Reed's face. He was alive. He was really there.

"Reed," Caleb said. His smile grew, his eyes instantly watering. "Hi."

"Caleb," Reed said, too weak to move. His voice was scratchy. He hadn't used it for a while. A smile pulled at his dry, cracked lips. His gaze flickered to Adele and back to his brother, and his smile grew. "You found her."

"I found her," Caleb said, his arm around Adele, and he beamed before he dropped to his knees and clutched Reed's hand. "I found you."

Ainslie's tears started back up as though she could cry on cue, shakily getting to her feet when she heard her cousin's voice, the voice she hadn't heard for more than two years. "Oh my goodness," she said, her face crumpling. Adele took Fiona before Ainslie could drop her. "Reed. You're ok. You're here."

He saw her for the first time. His face changed. His eyes watered and he choked, trying to sit up, but he fell back down. "Ainslie," he said, his voice cracking. "Ainslie?"

"Hi," she said, happy tears flowing. "I missed you so much. I always knew you were out there. No-one listened to me but I knew you were ok."

Reed began to cry, his chin wobbling as he tried to control himself. Tears tracked down his temples, wetting the pillow beneath his head, and he tried to free his weak arm from the blanket to hold his cousin but he didn't have the energy.

"You need to rest," she said. "I'm so glad you're here. Oh my goodness. You're really here." She wiped away her tears. Reed nodded. He let go of Caleb's hand to hold Ainslie's. He gripped her hand as tightly as he could, choking back his tears.

"I missed you, Ains," he said, his words weakening. "I missed you so much."

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well. there we go. i'll admit, my heart was racing a bit writing this one. i even have a bit of a lump in my throat!

how did you like that one?