AN: I've had 'Do I Wanna Know' by Arctic Monkeys stuck in my head all day. It doesn't fit this chapter at all. By now we should already know that Beth's hair is a blonde color.

Pain.

Where was it?

I keep my body still because maybe this is just an illusion. A beautiful but confusing illusion. I can tell that I'm in my bed, in my pajamas, but I don't feel any rough gauze to keep my injuries safe. Why don't I feel any gauze?

Pain.

I should be in a lot of pain right now. I can foggily remember my injuries and none were just a playful tap. Not one.

I clench my teeth before moving my supposed dislocated shoulder. It's the least disastrous of all of what I received in the fight.

Nothing. I'll try again with the next injury I remember.

The other side with the busted shoulder blade moves as if it's completely whole. As if nothing happened in the first place.

Instead of testing each of my injuries one by one, I jerk all of my limbs in different directions in a full body stretch. My left fist hits flesh and I'm out of bed in an instant, my yelp not even fully leaving my mouth.

Verena usually talks when it's obvious that I'm awake, she's not the silent type.

Shock courses through my veins as I stare at the creature in my bed. The very same creature that did far more damage to me than I did him.

Will.

"Why don't I remember meeting you as a child?" Is my first question.

Seeing him on top of the covers of my bed, propped up on one shoulder with his hair cascading everywhere, doesn't bother me like it should and now isn't the time to look into why.

Or that's what I'm going to tell myself.

"Hmmm." His eyes are mischievous and they call me out for what I won't draw attention to. "Your father thought it best to block that memory."

"Why?"

Will ignores my question and pats my vacated spot in the bed as a silent command to get back there.

I don't fight it.

Sliding back under my sheets feels goddess sent. I don't realize the intense heat my body's giving off until this moment and silently thank the ice cold fae next to me. Completely unprovoked, I slide a little closer to him until there are only inches between our bodies.

His cool relaxes my muscles so much that I almost fall asleep again, if not for the questions plaguing my mind.

I twist my side to match his and prop a pillow under my head so I'm matching his position but in a far more comfortable way.

"Why?" My voice comes out incredibly soft, almost like it doesn't want to interrupt the quiet peace we've achieved.

Will groans deep in his throat before taking stands of his hair and rubbing the ends around my face. They feel frostbite cold and I mentally pat the past me on the back for not grabbing his hair in the fight because I probably would've frozen my hand solid.

The sensation is so distracting that I almost don't hear Will when he speaks.

"You were close to shifting when we first met, I came to understand that it could've killed you from your being so young. I then immediately agreed to blocking my likeness from your mind. You were always such a curious thing, so troublesome."

I understand now why Will groaned, his soft voice is tempting a need that hasn't been satiated in a while. The same need flared once before when we were in the exclusive bar and the female wolf caused a scene.  At least now I feel some sort of pain, except it's a different kind that's dragging on my sanity as I clamp down so I don't act on my body's baser desire.

"You make it sound as if we've met more than the once when I was a child." I joke.

Silence speaks louder than any of the words we've said so far today.

"How many of my memories are blocked because we've interacted in them?" Slight anger peaks through my peace and suddenly his cold locks just feels like the soft strands they are.

Will drops his hair and leans his entire body closer to me until his face is inches from mine. So close that the hand not supporting his body is lightly resting on my waist, ready to pull me unbearably closer in a seconds notice. Heedless to the layers separating us.

"Why don't you look and see?" The challenge is prominent in his eyes, along with a slight resentment.

I deserve that.

Guilt creeps along my shoulders, pulling them in as the rest of me stills in overwhelming apprehension.

An abrupt tightening in my chest tells me that I don't want to know the secrets of Will's brain. I don't want to see myself through his memories, especially not while his eyes burn me with their intensity.

"I'm sorry." I pour out as much sincerity as I can to let him know that I truly regret plowing through his mind like I did.

My only excuse is that I was angry and that's never a good one when I could've permanently damaged something in his brain.

I feel Will's hand tighten on my waist, watch his eyes close themselves off as they roll themselves up to the moon, and see the force of which he pushes himself away from me with a scoff leaving his throat.

"Elizabeth and I healed you. Your body naturally sped up the process but to do that you've slept through the day to recover." Will snaps at me while picking up something from the carpet around my bed.
Why am I suddenly very aware of the emptiness in my bed now that he's out of it?

Bloody strips of cloth dangle from his hands thoroughly distracting me.
It's good to know I wasn't imagining my injuries, I just healed from them incredibly fast?

"I really am sorry Will." I murmur softly instead of the questions I want to ask because his blowing off my apology . . . . hurts my feelings.

Will throws the fabrics into my small trash can and turns to me, his chest heaving.

"Don't."

"But-"

"No! I receive your teeth every- though the time I encourage- the instance I yearn-" Will cuts himself off before storming out of my room in a rush.

What.

What.

"What?" My voice doesn't raise itself like my mind screams, I doubt very much he hears me.

The tight sensation in my chest doesn't leave me like Will does, instead it constricts effectively choking my windpipe.

I sit up in my bed to alleviate the pressure. Rasping breaths are forced out while I'm clutching my throat and I notice a chilled glass of water on my bedside. A couple of sips from the glass relieves some of the pressure.

What is happening to me, why should I care about what the stupid fae was trying to say?

Why did my breath catch at the words he was able to get out?

I slide out of bed, no longer able to take its sheer size that I never noticed before, and stretch my arms over my head to expand my lungs.

It hardly works.

Dragging air in is a challenge and my chest heaves with the suddenness of each breath. I run my hands through my hair and start to pace my carpet.

I will not run after him. It's ridiculous to even think about, so why is it so hard not to do exactly that.

I apologized! Why is he angry with my apology? Was it not grand enough? And what the hell was he trying to say? Did he yearn for- no don't go down that path.

Something is wrong with me, I don't pace after someone storms out of the room.

Besides me, something is definitely wrong with him.

Two black abyss' for eyes clash with my own and I freeze.

He breaks first and flinches as he takes me in.

"Verena has been injured."

Without needing another word, I run to my closet and throw on the first matching items I see before rushing to the bathroom to pull up my hair.

My movement halts when I notice my face, it's red and there are tears trailing down my cheeks.

I was crying. The heaviness of breath wasn't just that, I was sobbing. . .

Will flinched because he saw my face like this.

The need to bury myself deep underground and never come out is overwhelming but I push through because Verena may need me. Turning on the cold water, I splash some on my face and pull my hair up like I originally planned.

Ignoring Will, I walk out of my room fully intent to find my fallen friend. He follows with no comment.

As we step out of the apartment building I pause for a second, not sure where she is. Will notices and grabs my hand so that I'm now following him.

I push away the overwhelming happiness I feel because it's too much. This constant flipping that my body is doing isn't natural.

He shouldn't be able to have this effect on me.

As soon as we pass through the doors to the Student Counsel room, I rip my hand from his. Will doesn't look back at me but keeps moving through the room. Alone.

'Coward.'

Ignoring him, I stare down at a convulsing Verena on the coffee table, she has a wooden stake sticking out from her chest.

Since I loved anatomy as a child I know that if the wood pierced a couple of inches to the right, Verena wouldn't be moving like she is now.

Unlike everyone else, I don't crowd her.

My main reason being that I have no way to help her, the healers need as much space as possible and I'm not one of them. The other reason being that I can see her eyes changing as her demon forces itself forward. There's no doubt in my mind that the leech will strike out and I feel no need to get injured again after just healing myself.

"What the hell happened?" Eric bursts through the door not paying attention to anyone beside the bleeding vampire.

"Eric! I need you to grab her arms. My magic can only do so much and Rob's holding her legs. Alright. Bex! I need you to hold down her shoulders. Will, keep her head straight. Katy, I need hot water and cloth." Beth shoots out orders like a true Alpha and everyone follows without question.

Once stabilized, Verena is able to get more control over herself with only few flickers of blood red in her eyes.

"We were racing through the wood. I was winning until I went off the path to a witch just sitting under a tree. Her blood. . . " Her eyes change again and the entire table tightens our hold on her while she thrashes.

"Verena!? Verena! This is going to hurt." Beth warns as she sterilizes her hands and balls up a warm cloth to soak up the blood.

"What is pain to creatures such as we?" Verena locks her eyes with my own and I straighten my back so she doesn't have to tilt her head to me so much.

"We got you." I promise with our eyes connected, there is nothing that will loosen my hold on her shoulders. For some reason I want her to trust that we all have her back, I need her to trust me.

"I believe you." She gives a small nod and closes her eyes.

And then the screaming starts.

A fraction of it is from pain but most is insults/threats from Verena's darker side. It seems to me that Verena withdrew to let the demon take the brunt of this.

Smart.

"Why don't you just rip the damn thing out?" Eric yells over Verena.

"There are barbs on this stake if I don't move it carefully, they'll snap off. It also doesn't help that her vampire healing is making it so hard to take out." Beth answers neutrally not at all caring that Eric's yelling at her.

Rose appears out of thin air and no one jumps in surprise, most likely because we don't want our hands to slip off of Verena. The thrashing is insane but luckily we're strong enough together to hold her down.

"I'm good with thorns. You slow her healing and I'll maneuver." She doesn't wait for Beth to agree, instead she grabs the stake from the witches hand and pushes it deeper before twisting.

The next scream is definitely one of pain.

No one has time to ask what the hell that was for before we see Rose swiftly taking inches and inches of wood out of Verena's chest. Her hand steady the entire time and we can still see attached barbs coming out as well.

It's not just me that notices that a few are missing though. Someone swiftly curses and we all agree.

"You'll have to work fast when getting them out, she may not survive if I hold off her healing for much longer." Beth warns through gritted teeth.

I was so focused on Rose that I don't notice the red glow around Verena until now.

Rose nods her bright pink head tightly and immediately gets to work as soon as the stake it out. Using her hands, she feels around.

Verena's body suddenly slumps and it scares me far more than when she was thrashing around.

I'm not the only one terrified either.

"Verena? Verena!" Robert screams at the opposite side of me.

"One of the barbs must be close to her heart. The stake was spelled." Beth sounds angry but more importantly, she sounds weak.

Jumping to my feet, I grab onto her bloody hand and open myself fully to the room. I then channel the power of everyone's emotions into consumable energy. Surprise overtakes me because I've never done such a thing but suddenly I just knew I could?

The amount of power in the room buckles my knees under me but I keep funneling energy because I can feel it working. Beth's clutch on my hand is just as strong as mine is on hers.

Opening my eyes, I'm bombarded with a various array of colors so I quickly shut them to ward off the headache they induce.

I don't need to see anything anyway.

"Almost. . . I got it!" Rose screams and Beth releases her hold on Verena.

She falls to her knees like I did but I slow her descent with my arm around her waist. Even with my eyes closed I knew where to grab so I didn't hurt her.

Maybe this is how Beth"sees" things too.

She doesn't need to say her gratitude because I can taste it. All I do is grip her waist a little tighter so she knows that I understand and I slowly let go. The entire room is silent as we wait for Verena to heal. I keep my eyes closed and my hand attached to Beth's just in case.

A rumbling growl from her has the room exhaling a sigh of relief. I open my eyes so that I can get back to holding her shoulders down but the colors again attack my irises, making me cry out.

My headache worsens and I don't notice Beth's hands around my face holding my head up until she lightly taps me. I don't even bother with trying to see anything.

"Bex, focus. What did you do before to dampen the effects?"

"Numb. . "I mumble.

My head feels the full weight of everyone's emotions and its wreaking havoc like a tornado that has no where else to go. Everything within is sharp, slicing through every barrier. Nothing makes sense anymore, nothing has a place.

It's not even fazed by any of my attempts to stop its constant destruction.

I don't even know how to stop it, I've never attempted this before because I never needed to.

What have I done?

"Bex." Beth's stern voice catches my notice and I remember what I'm supposed to do.

Numb. Numb. I need numb. A helplessness engulfs me and I rip my head away from Beth's hands to clutch it in my own.

I can't do this.

There's no way.

I try to stand up to get away from this room only to fall down again, it's not going to stop. I pull my legs closer to my body, effectively shielding myself in the fetal position.

Funny, seeing as the enemy is in my head.

Out of nowhere a wolf runs into the tornado and it suddenly explodes with not a hair out of place on the wolf's fur. The separated shards are frozen mid air before they can pierce me. My numb returning achingly slow.

The wolf growls so loudly that I can feel it in my own chest. It looks angry as it focuses on grabbing the shards with its sharp teeth. I watch helplessly as it prowls around majestically causing me nothing but relief.

"Bex." Eric's voice makes it through my internal deep dive and I look up to see his concerned face.

"Bex." He says again while pulling me up and hugging me close to him.

I blink a couple of times to slowly notice that the colors are gone. Eric pulls away and I turn to see Verena slumped on the coffee table. I think her dead until I see the tiniest of breaths lift her chest.

"Are you okay?" Beth asks beside me.

"Me? What about you? That was a lot of magic." I retort.

"I'm actually feeling okay thanks to you." Her hand grabs my own and she gives me a gentle squeeze.

I squeeze back and take in the rest of the room.

Everyone looks a little worse for wear but what catches my attention is a small group off to the side arguing.

"I refuse!" Will snaps breaking their silent words.

"You have no choice! Verena is in no condition to proceed." David vents.

"And Bex is?" Wills spits incredulously.

Eric stands up and I can see the gathering of his every Alpha lesson solidify him as he addresses his peers.

"What are we deciding on?" His voice is flint, fine on its own until something strikes it.

"Verena can't take her test tomorrow. Her mind is too weak even if her body has fully recovered." David admits treading lightly.

"So we'll have to reschedule it." Eric knows where this is going even though I don't.

"Yes, but there has to be a test tomorrow. . . and since Verena can't take hers. . ." David's eyes connect with my own and I can see his sorrow.

At least he's not intentionally out to get me.

Me.

They're going to make me to take my test tomorrow, a full month before I was supposed to.

The only response I have to this news is probably the worst one anyone could ever have.

I laugh.

Full bellied, eyes shut, breath stealing laughter doubles me over.

Better than the crying I was doing earlier.
Verena would approve if she was conscious.

AN: I've finished the chapter with Hozier, not sure what that says about me. Anyway I am now the proud mother of a coven of plants. Yes I have thirteen and I'm tempted not to have anymore just because I like the number.