When they got to Kalie's room, Maddison couldn't even see her friend because of all the uniformed OWPD officers surrounding the hospital bed. Reece entered first and had a quick, whispered conversation with what Maddison assumed was the man in charge. She also assumed that they were talking about her if the glances they kept shooting her way were any indication.

  "Maddison," said Reece, walking back to their small group with the other man in tow. "This is my boss, Captain Liam O'Shea."

  Liam O'Shea was a tall, with disheveled ginger hair, with high cheek bones and brown eyes. He looked like a handsome enough older man who just spent a fifteen hour work day at the office. He nodded his hello and held out a hand. Something about the man struck her as odd but she could not place it.

  Maddison reached out her uninjured arm and took the officers hand. Vampire. It was the voice that both was and was not hers again. How she could tell this man was, indeed, a vampire she really didn't know, but every fiber of her being told her that it was true. She continued to hold the mans hand longer then socially acceptable as a hand shake. Her head tilted in an animal like way and she drew in a breath. He smelt of spice and man. Interesting...

  Reece growled. Captain O'Shea smiled and withdrew his hand, but Maddison still watched him. She had never met a vampire before. Not that she knew of anyway.

  Vampires were not the risen dead, but a living race. They were not cold, could go out in the sun- though it did weaken them- garlic and crosses did nothing, same as running water. A steak through the heart could kill them however. But because they were immortal they also needed their heads cut off to finish the job. Also, unlike werewolves, vampires could not naturally breed, they were only made.

  She drew in his scent again, curious as to what else her new heightened senses would tell her. When Reece growled again O'Shea laughed and Maddison looked at him in annoyance. It was also a little odd hearing a man growl right next to her.

  "Best not stare too long ma'am." Laughed the vampire with a light, but obvious Irish burr, "You're making Reece a might bit territorial lass."

  Confused, she looked to Reece who refused to meet her eye. Why? Now she was rudely examining him... as she again, stared too long, she watched his nostrils flare and his breath quicken. An unexplained thrill rushed through her, and the only thing that stopped her from stepping up to him and starting to sniff was Chase's hand on her arm.

  "What's wrong?" he asked with concern. He looked to Reece in alarm. "Is this one of those werewolf things you were talking about?"

  Reece glanced at Chase, but he was too busy glaring at O'Shea to focus on the teen to answer.

  "She is just working through her new senses." Liam O'Shea explained to Chase while taking two careful steps back. "Reece is the one who should know better. I suspect he is being a little over protective. seeing as I am no fool, I will step back and keep my liver inside my skin." He winked at Maddison, causing Reece to growl again. "Livers are a real pain to grow back."

  "Grow back?" Chased asked, confused and more than a little intrigued.

  "Maddie!?"

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  Maddison's head immediately snapped to the bed, still hidden behind several men. Kalie was there. The men were preventing her from getting to Kalie.

  A deep and rumbling growl built up in her chest and worked its way out of her throat. She trained her mismatched eyes on the officers and glared. All of them looked mildly alarmed.

  "Move." She said in a deadly, low rumble. She was never one to raise her voice. She was surprised, however, when one of the men looked down and backed away. She could hear his heart racing. Good, he should submit. Said that new part of herself with satisfaction.

  O'Shea let out a long whistle that stung her ears. "Really Maxwell?" he laughed and the man named Maxwell glared at the ground. "You are a very dominate female miss Nixon. Maxwell is no alpha, but its rare for a female to subdue a male at all." He clapped his hands together once and looked at the rest of his men. "You all heard the lady, move."

  At their boss's word the officers stepped away and then filed out of the room past her father and brother. She watched them go, not liking them being behind her back nor near her family. Well, check one for werewolf over-protectiveness.

  Finally Maddison had a clear view of Kalie. She was pale, but sitting up in bed. Her pink hair was limp and there were bags under her eyes. At least all the cuts and burns she had been covered in the night before were now barely noticeable. A whine bubbled up in her throat and she rushed the bed. She climbed up on top of the covers and they both clung to one another.

  Kalie broke down in tears and Maddison had to admit to a wetness of her own eyes. Poor Kalie!

  "I'm sorry Maddie! Look what I did to you!" she cried into Maddison's bandage, careful not to apply pressure.

  "Its okay Kalie. I'm okay." Assured Maddison gently.

  "The cure!" Kalie exclaimed straitening her spine and looking around the group around her bed. "There is still time right?"

  "I'm not taking it Kalie. I'm going to stay a werewolf."

  "What? Why? If I could have, I would have taken the cure. But my stupid uncle-" tears filled her eyes again and she looked Maddison in the eyes. "When I was 15 my uncle changed me. He was a stupid disgusting perv. He never ... took advantage of me... but he wanted to. He got it in his head that if he changed me he could have me to himself and no one could do anything about it. But he let his guard down and two days after the change I got away.

  I told my mom what was happening and she called the OWPD. They got me and my mother away from my uncle's pack and moved us here.

  That's when I met you Maddie. I'm sorry I never told you what I was. At first I thought you wouldn't want to hang around with me. By the time I knew you well enough to know you wouldn't care, I was afraid of ruining what we had. What if you didn't want me around your brother or-or..."

  "Shhhh." Comforted Maddison, wrapping Kalie in her arms. "You don't have to worry about any of that now."

  Maddison turned her helpless eyes on Reece, who immediately stood a little straighter and took a step forward, as if she had summoned him. She felt a fierce pleasure. It wasn't the same as when she made Maxwell submit. She felt that Reece was her equal, her partner. Just plain hers. Had they been alone she may have allowed herself to be embarrassed by that, but didn't want to in front of an audience. Were all these strange emotions and instincts really caused by some kind of inner wolf?

  "Kalie, when you went on a picnic with Wayne, you seemed to disappear." Said Maddison once she thought her friend had calmed down a little. "I was getting pretty worried by the time I was done setting up my place. When I got out of the shower I got a call. It was your number but it was a man who spoke to me..."

  Captain O'Shea was taking notes, nodding his approval when Maddison looked at him to see if it was okay for her to question Kalie.

  "That was Wayne." Kalie hiccoughed. "He is a werewolf too. the alpha of my pack. I'd been dating him since I switched packs last year. I switch packs a lot..."

  "Why is that?" asked O'Shea. "Normally a werewolf sticks to one pack for life. Why would you be going from pack to pack so often?"

  "Is that really important right now?" Maddison asked in irritation.

  "Its okay..." said Kalie sounding defeated. "I'm tired of secrets. Besides, I'v been through nearly every pack around and they all know now."

  "know what, miss Grace?" O'Shea pressed. Maddison would have snapped at him, but he looked genuinely apologetic so she let it drop.

  "I like women..." she said tearfully.