Kierra

At the mention of Faline, a sob escapes me, unable to hold it back. My eyes drop as I try to get control over myself. Ava looks startled with the beginnings of horror dawning. I shake my head.

"As far as I know, and I refuse to think otherwise, she's alive. She's just not with me. Do you remember what her favorite thing to write and roleplay was?"

She nods, then realization creeps in, and she looks at me in horror again, a hand going over her mouth. I can hear the denial in her catch of breath.

"Over a week ago now I think..."

I look to Asher for confirmation and he nods. Christ.

"Almost two weeks ago Faline and I had gone for a walk to check out a new store that opened in the mall. Earlier that day she'd asked if we could go meet a friend of hers, but I'd said no. The checking out of the store was my apology for my abruptness with her."

Not even Asher or Bastion had known that part, so it catches them by surprise. I pull my hand from the warm fur, moving them both palm upon my knees as I stare at them, feeling Asher's tentative touch in my head as I continue.

"When we were leaving the store and on our way back home, we were stopped in the parking lot by two men. It turns out that one of them was the 'friend' she had wanted to meet up with hours earlier. Also turns out that he's a Vampire, and his companion was a Werewolf."

I find myself really hoping that 'Anthony' had died in that parking lot, but I seriously doubt it. He has become a fixture in my nightmares as well.

"As I was being attacked by one, the other took Faline. I tried bashing that things head in with a rock. My shoulder was all fucked up, but I had made it back to the house. Once there I had passed out on the floor as soon as I opened the door. That's the last thing I remember before I woke up three days later."

"Three days? You were out the whole time? Laying in your doorway?"

She sounds incredulous then notices I'm shaking my head and gives a confused look.

"I had been taken. Do you remember James Carrigan?"

His very name on my tongue brings up bile, I'm sure it shows on my face as well. Ava's face goes pale as she takes on a look of alarm, a whispered 'no' passing her lips. I nod.

"He came for me, just like he'd always said he would. He'd been watching Faline and I for months, waiting to make his move. He kept me doped up for three days, laying on a dirty floor. I woke covered in my own waste."

I had left that out from Asher and Bastion as well, but I'm sure there'd still been some smell to me when Asher had come. I look over to Bastion, his part coming up in all this. Asking with my eyes if it's alright that I tell her. He inclines his head slowly, pulling into his coat more.

"He had a house with another man, another pedophile. They were in the process of trying to clean me up, talking about selling me, when I turned."

My hands clench on my lap as I look up at her.

"I tore them to pieces, Ava. I ripped into their bodies, and I enjoyed it. I still enjoy that I did it and wouldn't change anything. No, I take that back, I would change one thing. I remember thinking they died too quick. If I could, I'd go back and make it last. They died hard, seen it coming, but it wasn't long enough, Ava, it wasn't. Not for them."

My voice had gone hard, but I think deep inside, I was seeking some kind of approval from her. She knows how I feel about that man, my thoughts on all those who would abuse a child.

"I don't blame you, hun, I would have too. Remember, I also have a past monster, and I have yet to find him."

I nod, looking over to Bastion again, reaching out a hand for him. At first he shakes his head and retreats into the chair and his coat, but after a moment, after I drop my hand, he gets up and comes over. I take his hand in mine when he's next to me, keeping my eyes on his as I continue.

"I found this one there, the other man that I had killed was his step-father. I found him in a dog cage, Ava."

My gaze flies to her, my bright green eyes flashing.

"He has no one else, no other family. His mom had died in a crash sometime before, and I'm not for sure certain, but I think that man had made it so Bastion would never be looked for. More than likely faking his death so no one would come looking for him."

My eyes go back to his, a silent tear sneaking from his blue eyes. I cup his cheek and wipe it away as if it were never there.

"These last few days with that full moon bullshit, he took care of me. He helped me through it."

I smile at him, showing in my face my gratitude and awe of his bravery. I have a bad feeling I will be spoiling this boy like no other. Not to forget about my other protector, I look over to him and bury my hand once more into his neck.

His head turns to look at me, blue-green eyes find mine and I fall into them. Knowing that if it weren't for Asher, I wouldn't be here at all.

"Then there's this wolf right here; Asher. The night before I had gone on that walk with Faline, this crazy wolf was roaming around near my house. He'd tried to help by jump-starting my Change, if it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't be here at all. I would have died at the hands of that Werewolf."

My hand moves to his face, rubbing through his cheek to his ear. His tongue comes out and swipes across my arm. I blink a few times, then look back to Ava, a little embarrassed. She has a raised brow but says nothing. Smart girl. Although I know she'll be asking when she and I are alone.

"It was at that house that he'd found me again, walking me through what was going on. We burned the house down, but not before I found pictures of so many others. I also have a video chip that is hidden in my room right now that I took from there. We stayed long enough to make sure it would burn wild. From there we went back to my place. That was an interesting experience, running through town as a freaking real live monster with a small boy in my arms and a huge wolf running at my side."

I smile, letting go of Bastion so if he wanted he could go back to his chair. He does. My one hand slips back into the black wolf's scruff, my rock in a crazy world. Looking back over to Ava, I continue.

"We made it back home, but not long after, I'd had some kind of episode. I connected with Faline. Our minds not just brushing, but an almost falling into the other. She was in pain, so much pain. I was feeling her pain as if it were my own. I could see that Nicolaus, the Vampire, was doing something to her. My raging thoughts had become hers, and I think she tried to eat her way through his chest, to his heart. It was my thought. My thought and she did it. I tried to pull back so nothing else would go through, but I'm afraid when I do find her, she won't be the same girl either you or I know."

I expected to get choked up, had even prepared for it, but the only thing in me at that moment is my burning need to find her. To get justice for both her and I.

"You plan on going after her? Do you know where she is?"

My head shakes, wavy hair falling forward over my shoulders.

"I'll be going after her, I don't know where she is though. Don't even know where to start. Asher had known some of yours and his people way back when, and when he needed their help, they turned their back on him. So I refuse to ask for their help and chance them preventing me from getting to her. She and I had connected again when I was having Asher teach me to shift since it didn't complete."

My brow furrows as I try backtracking to make more sense.

"The first time she and I connected, it forced me from Were form back to human, way before I was supposed to. So the second time when Asher was walking me through it...It was hella painful. It seems when she or I are in extreme pain, our minds find each other. We got lucky that time though, as she was asleep, so she didn't feel any of my agony."

Of course, the events after that are kind of embarrassing, but I put them out there. Bastion now also knowing what went on.

"That time when I shifted, I went straight wolf. It was amazing, and when I got to run...Oh my, God Ava, it was beautiful. I flew over the ground. Asher here went a little crazy on me, we kind of got into a fight, but it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. That, of course, was when I learned about the effect the full moon has on female Were-critters."

My nose wrinkles as I draw it back, a loud exhale shooting from my mouth in agitation. The look on Ava's face is a mix of worry and laughter, so I glare at her.

"Getting told that you'll be going into heat like an animal is a little daunting."

She starts laughing at me, unable to contain it anymore. I cross my arms over my chest, my hand leaving the wolf's pelt, also hearing his soft laughter in my head. It doesn't do to my body what it did then, but I still enjoy it.

I keep that thought hidden from him. No use stroking his ego when he's already a pain at times. I mock scowl at Ava, then follow with sticking my tongue out at her. I miss my tongue ring. It feels naked without the barbell in it. Now I know why Ava never seemed to have any of her piercings in for long.

"Anyway, Bastion and I came up with a system of me getting locked in my basement at night so I can't cause or get into any trouble. That first night was fine, the next morning, however, is when things went downhill. Somehow, someone found me. Staying in wolf form, I tracked it. Going way farther then what I intended. He laid a false trail, and I fell right into it."

This, Bastion and Asher are hearing for the first time as well. The black wolf presses his body harder into my legs before laying at my feet. Still tall enough to have his head in my lap. Which he does so, nosing at my hands. I comply and put one on his head, fingertips rubbing his soft ear between them.

"By the time I realized it, I was many miles away from home, so far out that I didn't recognize anything. When I turned to go back, that's when I came face to face with a very, very large male."

My friend's eyes widen, her hand once again going over her mouth as she can guess what happened.