Doc was tending to a large, ugly-looking wound on Amara's upper arm when Blake and Alex carried in the weakly-protesting Issac. He'd attempted to follow the would-be assassin and had collapsed near the tree line outside.

"Is it bad?" Alex asked her.

"It's nothing," Amara scoffed, although her face was pale.

"Is that the first thing they teach you warriors?" Doc asked icily. "To make light of your injuries?" The wound was slowly healing under his administrations, but it still had a long way to go. "She's lucky," he bit out slowly, inserting another stitch into the jagged cut. "A little higher up and she might have lost the use of her arm, werewolf healing or not."

"You're in excellent humour this morning, Doc," Issac joked weakly, looking his sister over to make sure she really was alright.

Doc pointed a threatening finger at him. "Issac. Sit," he said. "I'll deal with you in a moment."

Doc was not particularly impressed that the attack had taken place in his beloved hospital - he was even less impressed by the amount of cleaning up there was to do in the aftermath. His manner had been as stern as any of them had ever seen him, especially once it they'd discovered that several key pieces of equipment had been damaged during the attack.

Once he'd found out one of his nurses was injured, he'd been positively irate.

"They were after Hannah," Amara informed them, wincing at a particularly rough stitch.

Blake looked at her sharply, his eyes dark. "Are you sure?"

"They were chasing her when we got there," she confirmed. "The little creepy guy all in black - he kept trying to get back to her no matter how we distracted him. She's the one they were here for, no mistake."

Blake looked around. "Where is she?" he growled.

"She's with Marcus on ward four," Doc offered, still scowling at the wound he was trying to pull together. "Jenni's tending to a couple of burns on her –"

But he was already gone.

"Oh, sit still," he muttered to his patient as she squirmed beneath him.

Asher, who had been the first to make it to the scene of the carnage, looked thoughtfully in the direction his brother had disappeared, wincing at his own rapidly-healing broken rib. A gift, he'd explained to Doc, from a feral rogue using what appeared to be half a tree as a weapon.

"Any ideas how they got in yet?" he asked the two warriors.

"Same way he got out," grunted Issac as one of the nurses helped him out of his torn shirt. "He was in charge, I think. Dumb and dumber were following his lead anyway."

“Did you shift?”

“Not until it was over. No room. Tried to follow, but – " He hissed in pain, and the nurse rolled her eyes. “But he's damn fast, and I couldn't sustain the shift.”

Doc grunted. He was surprised the warrior had managed it in the first place with those injuries. He certainly hadn't done himself any favours.

"How on earth did he take both of you out?" Alex was asking, perplexed. "I've seen you take on rogues twice his size. He can't have been that dangerous."

"He didn't hit you," Issac told him. "He's dangerous alright, take my word for it."

Amara nodded wearily in agreement. "He didn't fight like the others. Although Goddess knows where they got their strength from."

Asher's eyes lit up with interest. "Could they have been Epsilons?"

Doc paused in the midst of his final stitch. Epsilons were a medical mystery; forged through a bite only a Gamma could inflict, and wildly unstable. As such, Doc found them fascinating. He wondered if he could examine the corpses.

"I didn't see a mark,” Amara shrugged. “Besides, their technique was basic. They should have been easy pickings, but their strength..." She shook her head. "They must have taken something."

"Was the leader abnormally strong as well?" Asher asked intently.

Amara shook her head again. Doc left her to check on Issac, who was still dripping blood onto the floor. "He was fast though,” she added. “And skilled. I've never fought anyone who could react that quickly."

"Interesting,” Asher murmured. “I can't wait to meet him."

"I think I'll pass next time." Issac hissed as Doc jabbed a needle into his arm. He pulled away. “Careful, Doc!"

The doctor gave him a look that promised all sorts of violence if he didn't sit still, and continued to work, carefully pulling together his patient’s skin and probing the wounds for debris. "This is going to hurt," Doc murmured when he reached the deep laceration in Issac's side.

"I think I'll go find my brother," Asher said, flinching as he caught a glimpse of an exposed rib as Doc manipulated the wound.

"An Alpha who can't stand the sight of blood?" laughed Alex mockingly.

"Blood doesn't bother me," Asher corrected. "It's bones. You're not supposed to see bones. They belong on the inside." He shuddered.

Issac began to laugh weakly, his wound trembling under Doc's hands. Doc straightened up and glared at the two warriors. "You two," he snapped. "Out. Now."

***

For Hannah, the events following the attack had blurred edges.

Her nerves jangled and her pulse refused to slow down. With so much adrenaline in her system she should have been more alert and had a better grasp on what was happening. But everything seemed to fade away as soon as she focused on it.

He tried to kill me.

The thought had raced around her brain since the man in black had stumbled out into the pitch black of the night. Numb to the sight of Issac dragging his bloody body into the ward in an effort to pursue her attacker. Blocking out the shock at the blood streaked across the corridor floor and walls. At Amara groaning as she came to clutching her injured arm. The panic-stricken voices of the nurses as they finally broke through the makeshift barriers, and rushed to the scene.

He tried to kill me.

She felt like her mind was trying to tell her something extremely important - something she had seen, but was missing. She flitted through her scattered memories trying to pin it down, oblivious to the chaos around her.

She didn't resist when a huge warrior scooped her up in his arms from where she slumped on the hospital floor. Only observing with a tired disinterest how remarkably similar he would have looked to the Alpha, if it wasn't for his shock of silver hair.

He tried to kill me, she informed him silently.

The silver-haired warrior had left her on a new ward, almost identical to the one she'd been asleep on just short while earlier. Just a few moments later Jenni had burst into the hospital uttering a thousand apologies and fussed around her like a mother hen - devastated that the attack happened after she'd left Hannah alone for the night.

Hannah allowed her to fuss, not really registering anything going on around her. Her feet were bleeding once again Her hands burned like they'd been dipped in fire. She stared at them dully as Jenni fetched bandages and clean water.

Hannah heard her gasp when she saw the burns. Listened without hearing as she talked rapidly to a tall, black man hovering over her with worry in his eyes. Another guard, she supposed.

She focused on him for a brief moment when the sting of pain from her feet finally penetrated her dazed state, and allowed herself to snap out of her daze long enough to wonder if all the men in this pack were giants. This new behemoth filled the room even more than the others had. Though generously proportioned, it seemed tiny in comparison.

Seriously, she wondered. How do they all fit in one building at the same time?

Imagining them all crammed into together like sardines in a tin, she let out a hysterical giggle, and they both looked at her in confusion.

He tried to kill me! she reiterated in her head.

"She's in shock," she heard the distant voice of the tiny nurse reassure the giant. The small nurse began carefully cleaning the burns.

Hannah paid no attention to what she was doing, even when the cotton brushed over the worst of the fiery lesions, continuing to observe the man with renewed disinterest.

"Will she be alright? The Alpha's on his way.” The man’s voice was deep and gravelly, and she could hear the hard edge of anger in his voice. “I can't believe they got into the hospital!"

"She'll be fine. She just needs a minute to process."

I'll be fine, she communicated silently, mimicking Jenni's words as she nodded to herself. I'll be fine and he tried to kill me.

She glanced back down at her hands, only now registering that they were injured. More her right hand than her left, contact burns by the looks of them. Not deep, but painful. Vaguely confused, she wondered how she'd received them.

Then, the horror of the attack swept over her again and she went back to gazing at nothing - her mind struggling to piece together the events in some sort of logical order.

"Marcus, pass me those bandages." Jenni ordered, finally answering Hannah's unspoken question.

Marcus. The pack's Beta. Second in command according to Jenni.

He reached over to the instrument tray, and she saw his eyes widen as he caught sight of the open bag full of powder lying beside them. She vaguely remembered Jenni prying it out of her unresponsive hands. The contents were spilling out across the table, glittering a greyish silver.

"Is that –"

"Silver. Silver Sulfadiazine, to be exact," Jenni confirmed, gently applying a soothing cream to Hannah's burns. "She was clutching it when we found her. I think she threw some at her attackers,"

Marcus looked confused, his eyes flitting between the bag and her hands. "Why did it burn her?"

"Sulfadiazine was used by humans as a treatment cream, ironically for burns." Jenni began wrapping one of Hannah's hands carefully. "They rather quickly discovered that it had a tendency to - wait for it - burn the skin. I've never heard of a reaction quite this severe before though. She must be particularly sensitive to it."

Hannah continued to stare into the distance, looking for all the world like she wasn't there.

"They stopped using it a while ago and we've been buying up all the surplus stock ever since. We turn it into a powder –" She tossed the bag over to him. "And add extra silver for more oomph... Careful! Don't let it touch your skin."

Marcus examined the fine silver powder with extreme caution. "Why in Goddess name do we have bags of chemical silver in our hospital?"

"Be grateful we do," Jenni replied, finishing her wrapping and smiling viciously. "I bet our would-be assassin is in agony right about now."

"They use it to cauterise wounds," Blake announced bluntly as he walked into the room. He offered no further explanation but walked straight to Hannah, cupping her face in his hands and staring deep into her eyes, forcing her to focus on him.

She did. Staring into his eyes that were full of concern and anger, her mind finally accepted the full force of everything that had just happened. It was too much. Her eyes filled with tears that trickled gently down her cheeks and she clung to him, trembling uncontrollably.

He tried to kill me.

"We pack it into travel kits for use in the field when there's no time to sew," Jenni continued explaining, watching the two of them with an unfathomable expression on her face. "It scars of course. But it does the job nicely."

Blake pulled away from Hannah's arms and went back to holding her face between his hands, brushing the hair away from her eyes. "Do you know why they're trying to kill you?" he asked seriously.

She blinked, her tears running dry. "No, I –"

"Did you know them?" he asked through clenched teeth. He paused while she stared at him. "Hannah. Did you know them?"

"No!" she denied, pulling out of his grasp.

"Wait, rewind a moment," Marcus interjected, still holding the bag of powder. "Hannah, how did you know to use this?"

She tore her eyes away from Blake's with great difficulty and gazed at the bag. "I – I – " She frowned, thinking it through. How had she known? "Silver is deadly to werewolves." She’d watched a film once.

"Only in very high doses," Blake said through gritted teeth trying to force her to look at him again.

She looked puzzled. "I don't understand."

"Silver is something of a myth," Marcus explained gently. "One we encouraged actually. It's very painful to werewolves, but it needs to be a significant dose to do any real damage."

Hannah looked surprised and he raised one shoulder in a half-shrug. "It encouraged any humans to focus on silver rather than seeking out the things that can actually kill us."

"A silver bullet for example," Jenni interjected. "Would have to hit the heart to kill us... and then it's more likely to be because it's a bullet in the heart, than because it's silver."

Marcus nodded in agreement and looked down at the bag with a small frown. "Exactly. But that's not what I meant. How did you know that we had this here and what it was?"

"That's my fault," Jenni interrupted again, taking the bag back off him. "Hannah showed an interest in some of our more unusual medical supplies when I showed her around – things we use only for werewolves – and I gave her the 'tour' of the cabinets so to speak." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Considering recent events, you can thank me later."

"Hannah," Blake said firmly, taking a hold of her shoulders and turning her back towards him.

She looked into his eyes and felt her heart sink as she realised, he still didn't believe her.

"He tried to kill me." Her voice sounded all funny and small now she said the words out loud.

He sighed and let go of one shoulder, running a hand through his hair in agitation. "Yes, I know he did," he said, not taking his eyes off her own. "That's why it's so important that you tell me the truth. Can you think of any reason why a werewolf would want you dead?"

She looked at him in exasperation, but her mind was too mixed up to think of a suitable retort.

"I hate to interrupt –" A man stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the doorframe. She recognised him from earlier, he was the one who'd found her.

"But I have to leave." She couldn't help a subtle double take when she saw the two men side by side, spotting the startling similarities. He must be Alpha Asher.

The man chuckled as he realised what she was doing, and flashed her a brilliant smile. "Hello again. I’m guessing you must be...” He let the sentence hang unfinished.

Blake's throat rumbled, a tight-lipped smile on his face that betrayed his continuing anger. "Hannah, this is my brother, Asher... Ash, this is Hannah, our guest."

She noticed that he'd stepped away from her slightly as he spoke and, despite his continued mistrust, she felt oddly bereft that he'd left her side.

“Interesting.” Asher stepped forward to greet her, his gaze intense.

Hannah stared into eyes so similar to Blake's, her body experienced a moment of confusion, and a flush rose to her cheeks. As she looked closely, however there was a subtle difference. While Blake's brown eyes shone with flecks of gold, Asher's glimmered in emerald hues.

Blake stared at his brother for a moment, his face a storm of emotions.

"Leave? What do you mean leave?"

"You're not the only one with responsibilities, brother," Asher admonished lightly. "I've just received word my pack was attacked yesterday as well. Not as serious as here, but I have to go home and talk to my warriors. Apparently, there was a civilian casualty."

"A human?”

Asher pursed his lips. “It would appear so.”

All the wolves exchanged matching looks of deep concern.

"Of course, go. I'll call you tomorrow," Blake said, sounding slightly abashed.

Asher nodded. "I'll leave at first light," he agreed. "Speaking of rogues attacking, did any of them survive this one?"

"One," Blake told him. "But I'm afraid that he won't be much help to us. Amara bashed in his head. It doesn't appear that he's ever going to wake up."

"Pity," Asher murmured briefly. "But a man doesn't always have to be able to talk in order to provide information, as we've already proved. Where are you keeping him?"

"In the dungeons. Doc has a cell set up to accommodate prisoners."

"You should swing by later," Asher commented to Marcus, who nodded thoughtfully. "He could have more to say than you realise. “Shame we didn't get the leader."

"He walked in here like he owned the place!" Blake snapped in irritation. "Whoever he is, I want him found."

“I doubled the border patrols,” Marcus confirmed.

"He wasn't trying to kill them," Hannah spoke up finally, too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice the looks of disbelief they gave her.

"He wanted me. He tried to kill me," she continued slowly, trying to focus on what her mind had been trying to tell her. "But the others, they were just in the way... collateral damage. He wasn't interested in them."

Asher studied her with increasing interest.

"And you know this because..." Marcus asked.

She looked at him in surprise - her befuddled mind failing to understand why they weren't keeping up with her train of thought.

"He didn't kill them. He could have," she struggled to explain, remembering the moment of icy dread when she thought it was all over. "All he had to do was bring his blade down, and both of them would be very, very dead."

Blake snarled and she flinched, but a sudden clarity urged her to carry on. "He didn't though. He used the flat of his blade on Amara instead. And he ignored Issac completely even though he was clearly still moving about. Even the nurse - he could have finished her off easily but he chose to knock her out instead."

She looked up at Blake who was still staring at her with a tight-lipped smile on his face. "I don't know why they wanted to kill me. I don't think I've ever seen him before. If I have, then I don't remember it," she said simply.

Blake's eyes softened and the corner of his mouth twitched for a second.

Asher, who had been listening to her reasoning carefully, nodded his head. "She's right you know - a rogue would take out everything in front of him. It's in their nature to cause as much chaos as possible. But a man with a target..." he mused; his eyes curious as he watched her.

"A mercenary?" Marcus hissed.

Asher shrugged. "Amara said he moved like he'd had training. He could be, I suppose. You don't kill what you're not getting paid for... waste of energy. The main attack could have been a distraction so that they could slip in here. I don't know." He rubbed the side of his nose with his finger. "I have the strongest feeling we're missing something important."

"Sounds simple enough to me," Marcus retorted. "What's wrong?"