"You told me you had this handled."

Selene pinched the bridge of her nose, pacing the small confines of her tent. The phone felt hot against her ear. "I did. We've hit some...unexpected roadblocks."

"If I'd known you'd be so incompetent--"

"It won't happen again." She wouldn't let it happen again. Not when Dominic's life was in the balance. Every day she visited him he struggled more and more with staying in his human form. How long until he wasn't her baby anymore?

"It seems you are incapable of doing this by yourself."

She ignored the additional gripe about her failures. "When is the best time to...visit?" She asked, "I need to find a time when she's alone. Without witnesses."

"This endeavor is ridiculous. The girl doesn't know anything. There's nothing there. I've told you before, she won't have your answers."

"Harley Pierce might not know anything," Selene said, "but she is her father's daughter...and his greatest achievement. We will find a use for her. As a test subject, if nothing else."

A sigh over the line. "I'll have some work ahead of me."

"I don't have much time left," Selene said.

"Some of us are careful and meticulous with our operations. You will wait. Or you will get nothing."

Selene's fist tightened. Dominic didn't have time for her source to set something up. "Need I remind you of the wolf in my pocket? Don't test me."

"It is not my fault you have a desperation to ruin everything." A pause, then, "give me two days."

Two days. "If this doesn't work," Selene threatened through tight teeth. "I will start with the young wolf in our captivity."

"Two days. Then Harley will be yours."

~

Harley

Harley ripped a page in two.

She sat on her bed, piles of crumpled sketch paper around her, and tapped her chin with her pencil. Why wasn't this working? It was not hard to copy a picture into a drawing. Especially something so easy as a lily.

Serves her right for trying something different. She should stick to reading her books instead of drawing.

A knock sounded at the door. She was frowning down at the page on her lap and messing intently with the shading. "Come in," she called without looking up.

"What exploded in here?"

She snorted. It kinda did look like something--

Her head snapped up. "Will?"

Will leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed. He smiled. "Hey."

Seeing him there made the butterflies in her stomach come alive. He was here. Safe.

He took a step forward and she decided she couldn't resist. She scrambled off the bed and flew at him.

Will caught her easily around the waist. She hugged him tightly, pressing her face into his collarbone. "What are you doing here?"

"We had to come back and grab a few things. Figured I'd stop by."

Which meant he'd have to leave again soon. She refused to let that sadness touch her close and instead focused on the fact that he was here.

She played with a lock of his wet hair. He smelled nice. Like soap and rain--a scent that spiked her awareness."You showered."

"I did."

"How long are you staying?"

His smile turned sad. "Not long. We're picking up and going out as soon as possible."

"Oh." Her heart dropped.

He cupped her cheeks, "are you okay? How is everything here?"

"Good." She assured him. If he was only going to be in town for a little bit, she didn't want to ruin that by telling him about the incident with Jamie. "Cam's doing okay."

"I saw him." He placed a kiss on her forehead, "He told me you two are keeping each other together."

She nodded. "Cam is worried. We all are."

"Hopefully he won't worry too much longer."

"You have a lead?"

"We do," Will said. "And it's a damn good one. That's why we have to go right away. Can't let the trail go cold."

Warren peeked his head around the doorframe. "Will? The party's leaving."

"Tell them I'll be there in a minute."

Warren smiled gently at her. Then disappeared.

Harley smoothed out the navy shirt he wore. After his shower, he'd changed into a navy t-shirt, durable pants, and worker's boots--fighting gear. "So you're off again already."

He tucked some of her brown hair behind her ear. "I guess so. But this time, I have a really good feeling about things."

They were quiet. Simply taking in the presence of the other. Harley tried to memorize his features, afraid that for some reason she might forget them. But she would never forget his dark hair and the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he laughed, or the quiet intensity with which he moved.

"Please be careful," she said softly.

"Always."

He took a step back, looking like he wanted to say more. Do more.

Harley wanted so much. She wanted to drop down and beg him not to leave her in this house that was still somehow not a home. She wanted to ask him to go with her and her brother somewhere--anywhere else.

She couldn't do any of that.

Her heart ached and already she felt his absence, though he hadn't left. So instead she reached her arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers.

He kissed her back softly, desperately, leaning forward and pulling her tight until her body pressed flush against his. He was hard muscle where she was soft skin. Strength to her quiet tenacity.

Reluctantly, he ended the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. "I have to go."

She closed her eyes, absorbing this moment. "I know. Go. I'll be here when you get back."

He gave her one more quick kiss. And left.

~

Bailey hesitated, then knocked on the solid dark wood of her father's door.

"Come in."

She poked her head. The Alpha sat behind his desk, typing away at his keyboard. He looked over the top of the monitor at her. "Bailey. Come in."

"Is everything okay?" she asked. Alpha Mark hardly ever called her in for a meeting. He tried not to show his love for her. If at all--which meant often times he'd ignore her.

When she was little they were close. He was her hero. Everything she wanted in a father. Strong, capable, loving. They'd do normal things together like throw a ball around or go for walks. But when the pack started thinking it was weird for him to be showing so much love for a "bastard child", he'd begun to grow distant.

He'd taken their moments and started giving them to Jamie. Because Jamie was the daughter of his mate. And Bailey was...not.

Only, Jamie never wanted to run in the rain or draw with chalk. She was into Barbies and music. She would rather paint her nails and gossip about boys in grade school than play frisbee or throw water balloons.

Bailey remembered being cornered by Jamie one day when they were eight. Alpha Mark has just bought her a new expensive doll and Jamie made sure to show it to all the pack kids.

"See?" Jamie had brandished the doll in Bailey's face. "This is what the real Alpha's daughter gets. Daddy loves me. And mommy says you'll never have what I have."

Bailey had been a bit desperate for his love since.

"How are you feeling?" The Alpha asked her, "I know Benjamin is a close friend of yours."

He...wanted to know about her?

She sat in one of the armchairs in front of his desk. "I'm okay. It's been hard, but--"

"You are close to Cameron too, yes?"

"I--yes. Of course. Cam is a good friend of mine. He's taking it about as well as he can."

"It is a shame that something like this has happened. Again." Alpha Mark said. He fiddled with something small, passing it between his palms. "Though I have a good feeling that in two days or so, this will be all wrapped up."

Confused, Bailey frowned. "Is Will getting close?"

Her father held up the little figure he'd been playing with. It was a little ceramic frog she'd painted for him in kindergarten. He hadn't thrown it away? "Something like that," he said.

"It's a little disconcerting that all this has happened," he continued. "Though it's strange..." he grimaced and put a knuckle to his chin.

"What's strange?"

Alpha Mark blinked, coming out of a thought. "Oh, it's nothing."

Her curiosity piqued. "Do you know something?"

He sighed and picked up a pen on his desk. "I just...can't help but notice the coincidence between Harley Pierce's return and this second attack."

It was strange. But Bailey knew Harley. Harley wasn't connected with these people. She didn't know anything about them. "Harley doesn't have anything to do with them."

Alpha Mark stared at her intently. He always had a natural intensity about him--he was an Alpha always looking out for his pack, which meant he needed to be serious. Right now though, he seemed to be trying to figure something out.

"What if I told you she did?"

Bailey blinked. "What?"

"I'm sorry, dear, I know you're close with the girl. But my gut is telling me that there's something not quite right about Harley Pierce." He crossed his arms over his chest, the pen still in his hand. "I mean, why would she come back now? Of all times? It's been thirteen years since her family died."

"She wanted to reconnect with us." They were her family--or at least, close to it.

Alpha Mark pointed at her with the pen. "Precisely. Why now though? And her brother's sudden reappearance. Don't you think that's a bit odd?"

"I don't..."

He stood and came around the desk to crouch in front of her. "Bailey, I know you don't want to hear this. But...I think Harley Pierce intends to betray us." He settled a hand on her knee. The most fatherly gesture he'd given her in years. "You would never want that for the pack, would you? Think about all the people here you love. Benjamin. William. Cameron."

All the people she loved. All the people in the pack she'd come to care about. The members she'd worked her ass off to impress. To prove that she was strong. That she deserved to be the Alpha's daughter.

That she deserved love.

"Bailey, I need your help."

Bailey bit her lip, thinking about Cameron. About their runs, the way they laughed and joked around. About how he made her chest ache and her stomach feel lighter than air.

About what it would do to her if something happened to him.

"What do you need me to do?"