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I had ended up falling asleep too. The forest was cool and inviting. I could feel the rise and fall of Micah's chest as he breathed heavily. I didn't know how long we had been there for, but my eyes drifted open as I heard Micah growl.

Jun was standing a few feet away with his head tilted to one side as he regarded us. "You're awake," he smiled at me.

"I guess I am now," I said as I stretched. "What do you want?" I asked, surprised that he was brave enough to come here despite having a bad history with Micah.

"Everyone's busy being upset about what happened and no-one wants to train or fight with me." His lower lip jutted out in a pout.

"I don't think I can help with that either," I yawned.

Jun took something out of the bag he was carrying and Micah growled a little louder this time.

"Oh, shut up," Jun said, rolling his eyes.

He placed some clothes on the ground. I stared at him in confusion.

"These should fit." He shrugged and pointed at Micah. "Since his clothes got torn when he shifted."

I smiled at him and Jun frowned. "Don't get the wrong idea," he blurted. "I still don't like him."

"Thank you, Jun."

"It's nothing," he huffed. "His brother got attacked by rogues, right? We're even now."

He gave Micah a onceover and then left. I looked down at Micah, who was staring after Jun in confusion. I would be pretty suspicious too, if Nicole suddenly did something nice for me.

"Are you ready to go back now?" I asked gently.

Micah sighed. He looked uncertain. He got up and stomped past the clothes Jun had left. I guess it was too soon. I picked them up as Micah stepped through the trees.

We walked back to his house slowly. In a way, I guess he was dreading going back. When we got there, he stared at the house piteously. He gave a long heart wrenching cry. A call to his brother who had gone on ahead.

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Micah spent the rest of the day curled up on the bed in his brother's room. He just slept. When he woke up, he cried himself back to sleep. No matter how long he slept, he always woke up feeling drained. He didn't want to eat or do anything.

I was worried about him, but I just stayed with him in the hopes that my presence could ease if even one percent of his pain. He stayed like that for three days. He only showed any sign of life when it was time for his brother's funeral.

That was arranged by the elderly neighbor. She was ashamed that she had let her anger get in the way of being with Micah during such an important time. She did this as a last favor to Armani.

"Are you going to stay curled up like that your entire life?" she shouted at Micah.

"Please be gentle with him," I said, coming into the room.

She frowned at me. "Gentle my backside! Stay out of this human mate!" She turned back to Micah. "Why don't you just curl yourself into a cocoon and stay there then?!"

Yeah, she wasn't the gentlest person around. But tough love was how she showed her affection towards them. She had known their parents and had even hoped that they would be the ones to lead them into freedom, and then they had died leaving their two sons behind. She tried to take care of them while making sure they were completely independent of her.

"Should I just go attend the funeral myself?" she hissed.

Micah didn't respond and she grabbed the broom I was sweeping with from my hand. For someone who was almost eighty, she was pretty energetic.

"Get off the bed this instant or I'll sweep you off!"

Micah cracked an eye open and she raised the broom, ready to sweep. He reluctantly got off the bed.

"Good, now go take a bath and wear these," she said, placing a black suit on the bed with a huff. "That's my life savings you're looking at."

"That damned Alpha's son offered to pay for the funeral and you know what I said to him?" she asked, turning to me suddenly.

"Uh...no."

"I said to hell with you and your damn blood money. You killed him, so don't think you can repent by burying him. And I walked out with my head high just like that."

The color drained from my face. I'm sure that must have hurt Ashton a lot. The only time I got to talk to him was when Micah was asleep. He wasn't doing so good himself. The king had been pushing him and CaVaughn to the core.

I felt sorry for CaVaughn. It wasn't his choice to not be able to shift. It was awful that he was being punished for something that he literally had no control over. Micah carefully took the clothes and walked over to the bathroom.

"And you," she said, directing her anger at me. "Don't think I trust you just because you're helping Micah."

"Um... okay, ma'am," I sighed.

"Don't ma'am me," she grumbled. "Call me Esmeralda. That's the name my parents gave me."

She thrust the broom in my hands. "Those damn Betas have been going around threatening people not to come to the funeral," she groaned. "I'd like to summon enough strength in my bones to knock the teeth out of their heads."

"They've been doing that?" I frowned.

We suddenly heard jeering outside. We moved over to the window to see the three guys pelting rocks at the house.

"Can't they let us mourn in peace?!" Esmeralda shouted. "We're not even allowed to do that?"

"I'll deal with them," I said, storming out of the room.

"Wait! Foolish human girl," Esmeralda chased after me. "You're no match for one of them much less three. Do you want to make this a double funeral today?"

"I will not allow them to terrorize you like this," I said, turning around to face her. "I'm not going to stand for it anymore."

She looked taken aback and didn't try to stop me anymore. I marched out of the house, leveling my glare at the three guys who were laughing their heads off. They all looked to be in their twenties.

"Well, what do we have here?" the ring leader said. He was obviously the bravest out of the cowardly group.

"She's that human who's always hanging around the Alpha," one of them grinned.

"You were at the hospital too," the leader remembered. He looked me over. "She's not bad, should I take her for myself?" He grinned at the other two.

"What if she's mated to one of them?" the one to his right asked nervously.

"I don't see or sense a mark on her." He laughed loudly as he turned my head to look at my neck.

I heard the slap before I even realize what I was doing. He let out a surprised breath.

"Don't touch me with your filthy hands," I seethed. "You've been acting like scumbags your entire lives, haven't you? I think you should take today off. I'm giving you ten seconds to leave."

He laughed once, but it was humorless. "Do you realize what you just did? You hit me. I'm a Beta. If my dad finds out about this you're dead."

"Wow, look at all the damns I don't give. Six... five... four..."

"Looks like you're feisty. I don't like feisty girls," he spat. His face reddened in anger or embarrassment, maybe both.

"Let's teach her some discipline," one of the other guys said with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"It looks like you're going to have to join your friend in the afterlife." The leader smiled, savoring his own cruelty. He picked up a rock.

I glared at him defiantly. I knew enough self defense to disarm the rock from his hand. Esmeralda ran out of the house, screaming at them to leave me alone.

The guys suddenly dropped the rocks they were holding and backed away. Huh, that was easier than I thought. Yeah, you better run.

A growl erupted behind me and I whirled around to see a very enraged Ashton who was glaring vehemently at the three guys. Oh, so I guess it wasn't me who scared them.

"If they hurt you, just say the word," Ashton growled darkly. "I will rip them to pieces."

The guys stumbled back, falling on their butts. Looks like all three of them shared one brain cell too. They were too frightened of Ashton to even run. I had to admit he did look extremely threatening right now. Everything that had happened this past week had put him on edge and his anger was just one inch away from erupting.

As much as I would love for them to get a taste of their own medicine, I was genuinely worried for the guys on the ground if Ashton got his hands on them.

"They didn't hurt me," I said, stepping in front of him. "They didn't get a chance to."

"I should make it so they have no more chances," he growled.

"I want the one in the middle," Jun laughed as he skipped into view. "No, I want all three," he grinned.

"Don't just run off like that," Kristof said, grabbing him and dragging him away.

"No, I want to fight! Elizabeth!" he wailed, reaching for me.

"Please let us go," the two side characters begged, kneeling down and rubbing their palms together.

The ring leader lowered his eyes in embarrassment. "We won't bother the Omegas again."

"You better not!" Ashton warned darkly. "Or I'll be happy to send you to the detention facility."

Their eyes popped open and they were literally shaking in their boots.

"Get out of my sight before I change my mind."

They scrambled to their feet and took off down the street as fast as their legs could take them. The excitement had caused a crowd and a lot of the Omegas had come to their gates to watch. They sailed rocks after the three stooges as they ran crying for their mommas.

"Elizabeth, what were you trying to do?" Ashton asked me angrily.

I gave him a sheepish smile. "Defend the people?"

"With what power? What if you had gotten hurt? How could you try to take on three of them by yourself?" he yelled and crushed me to him in a hug. "If you had a mark, you'd be much safer."

"Human girl!" Esmeralda shouted as she came over to me. "What the hell would I tell that kid if you had died too?"

I winced. "Sorry, Esmeralda."

She gave Ashton a once over. "You didn't even mark her? What if something were to happen to her? Imagine that, an Alpha who doesn't mark his soulmate. Now, I've seen everything," she grumbled as she went into the house, shaking her head.

"Boy, are you trying to drown yourself in there? Get out of the bathroom before I sweep you out!" I heard her yell as she slammed the door shut.

Ashton stared after her. "She certainly has character," he scoffed. He glanced at my neck and then shook his head.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Am I not invited to the funeral?" he asked softly.

I bit my lip.

"I thought I should at least pay for it," he sighed. "I deposited the money back into her account."

"That's sweet of you, but she's going to raise hell when she finds out."

He looked past me to the house. "That looks like it's going to fall apart any minute. I don't feel safe with you in it," he frowned.

"You can come pay your respects at the funeral if you want to," I sighed. "I don't know how they'll feel about it, but nobody else might show up. Those guys made sure of that."

He nodded. "I have some stuff to do before that, though. I'll see you later."

"Thanks again, for you know, helping me out."

"No thank you for putting yourself in such a dangerous situation," he remarked. "But you can thank me more in depth later," he winked.

I smiled, glad that he was in a better mood. "Bye, Ashton."

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