"What the hell are you doing? I swear, if I hadn't guessed you were behind that woman's disappearance we would have all been in a world of trouble!"

Alex woke to a vaguely familiar male voice, the back of her head throbbing with pain. Her arms, her legs, everything felt numb and the ground beneath her was like a bed of ice. Wait, why was she on the ground? She cracked open her eyes with immense effort and saw the blurred outlines of a man and woman up ahead.

"What trouble? You're the one who is troublesome! Why did you send those men away, I paid good money for them you know?" This came from an angry female voice, one that Alex recognised even before the man said her name.

"Katya, have you seriously lost your mind? You can't kill her, she's Gabriel's woman!"

"I wasn't going to kill her! I was just going to let those men have some fun with her and rough her up a little. Gabriel wouldn't want her after her pretty little face was ruined, don't you think?"

Alex's vision cleared at the same time as her memory returned. She had walked out of Lupus Corps then blacked out after someone bashed the back of her head. And now? Now she was on the ground in what appeared to be a deserted alleyway with Katya and Peter Korovic arguing a few steps away.

Panic rose inside her as the words she was hearing sunk in. She had been abducted. Even though Peter had sent the men Katya hired away, their was no telling what the she-wolf would do now.

Alex closed her eyes, acknowledged the fear and welcomed it as the monks had taught her to do. Don't fight panic, make it your friend and breath through it. In-out-in-out. She was just starting to feel calmer when she felt someone leaning close to her face.

"Hey, you, wake-up." The annoyed voice belonged to Katya.

Alex made a show of coming to, and opened her eyes slowly. "What? What happened?"

Katya stepped back in disgust, her black fur coat glistening under the alley light mounted on the wall above her.

"Ms Turner, are you alright?" Peter wore a concerned look on his face as he stepped forward. "My sister saw you leaving Lupus Corp without a coat. She was worried something was wrong, then she saw a group of men knock you out and drag you here! Thankfully, she called me immediately and we were able to chase them away before you could be harmed."

What a show Peter Korovic was putting on! It was obvious that he was a very good liar and in this instance that was a good thing. By making up excuses for Katya, he was also giving Alex an out.

Continuing to focus on her slow breathing, Alex helped his excuse sound plausible. "A couple of nights ago I was attacked by a group of men. Gabriel beat them unconscious...I just can't believe they would try something again."

Katya just stared without saying a word, but Peter latched onto her line of thinking, "Don't worry, I will find the bastards who dared to try to harm you! But for now, you look like you are half frozen. My car is just around the corner, come, let's get you warm."

"Thank you," Alex attempted a smile as she adjusted the chain strap of her bag across her body.

"Please, let me help."

"Thank you," she said again and reached forward. Alex knew holding onto him would bring her pain, but she needed the man to be convinced of her trust in him. Just as their fingers were about to touch, her eyes landed on his bare hand and she froze.

"No." The word came out in a puff of white mist. Her eyes grew wide, her heart rate soaring at the sight of the scar that she had only seen in nightmares since the day her parents died. "You. It was you in Hong Kong?" Her lips trembled and she let her hand drop. Murderer. She couldn't think past that one word. He was the murderer, the werewolf who killed her parents!

"Hong Kong?" Peter looked confused for a moment, then his face crumbled and his nice-man smile was replaced with a grin of pure evil. "Hah!" He slapped the wall beside him, his maniacal laugh causing goosebumps to rush across her skin. "I knew you were familiar the moment I saw you, but I just couldn't figure it out. Now I recognize you! You were that cowering little thing in that back of that car!"

Only as his laughter washed over her a second time, did Alex realise how badly she had erred. In a moment of shock she had let her thoughts slip. Now Peter Korovic was no longer pretending to be kind...which meant he no longer intended to let her go.

"Peter, what the hell are you saying?" Katya looked angrily between her brother and Alex. "You can't be talking about that family you killed while we were in Hong Kong?"

"Bingo!" Peter laughed, his eyes now glistening with madness.

Alex blinked as snow landed on her eyelashes. The wolf that killed her mother and father, the one that chased her in dreams for ten years, the bastard murderer who ruined her life was standing right in front of her but she couldn't seem to move. She wanted to disappear.

"What the fuck? The girl from the car? You told me she was dead!" Katya complained.

Peter smiled cruelly and crouched in front of Alex. "She should have died," he said, his hands moving towards her. To Alex's shame she coward back, drawing another laugh from the man who dipped his hand into her bag and fished out her phone. Then he was standing once more and looking at his sister, "Since she failed to die then, we'll have to help her die now."

"Oooo this is going to be fun!" Katya clapped. She took a step towards Alex, but was stopped by her brother's voice.

"Not here!" Peter took his keys out of his pocket. "Somewhere far enough that it will take the committee a while to find the body. We need somewhere remote for Ms Turner to have an accident..."

"Wait, I know the perfect place to end this bitch!" Katya could barely contain her excitement as she turned her happy smile on Alex. "Don't worry, little slut. You'll like it there, it's pretty."