"Stay low," Greyson softly instructed as he gently placed his hand on the low of my back. My eyes were locked on my target: a mountain lion. It was a male, robust and strong. I hadn't seen anything like him in our woods before, but I was glad he was there. He was feeding on what was left of the deer I'd killed yesterday, but his guard was still up, his head and eyes constantly scanning the woods around him. He wasn't going down easy. Then again, neither was I.

"You need to stay alert," he continued. "Watch for his patterns. He's strong and big, but flexible. He won't hesitate and neither should you." I mutely nodded, eagerly awaiting the go. "The most important thing is that you listen. To his breathing, to his heart, to his muscles tightening and releasing. His body works against him. His body will tell you when and where to strike, you just have to be observant. Then strike. You have to be fast. Then, get as much as you can from the carotid and if you still want more," he said as he kissed my cheek, his voice deep and low, "take it."

His tone created a buzz in my body as I felt my eyes shift, triggering my heightened senses as my canines elongated. I was on ready set. The "o" in the word "go" had barely slid past his lips before my teeth had sunken into the cougar's jugular. He violently thrashed between my jaws, causing me to let him go as this blood slid down the back of my throat. I'd gathered that animal blood was far sweeter than normal blood, and though I liked the change of flavor, I liked the deep, rich taste of the latter.

I listened to his heart and breath as he staggered back to attention. His heart was beating incredibly fast to try to make up for the blood he was losing at an alarming rate. But I knew he wouldn't make it more than a minute or two. I could almost hear his body shutting down, so I decided to end it, a mercy kill of sorts. One moment he was up, the next he was lying down, his neck quickly and painlessly snapped. I didn't waste time digging in. I had to admit that hunts like this was good for channeling River's new abundance of energy and blood-lust. Grey had been teaching me techniques and other "channels" to control myself, and though it seemed easy enough now, I knew that wouldn't be the case for long.

When I was done, I straightened up and wiped my mouth. He was hollowed, but there was still enough on him for other animals to feed if they wanted to. Looking at what I'd done, a part of me, the old part of me was disgusted. I hated hunting for the meat, let alone clearing out the animal's organs and ligaments. But the old me was steadily dying and being replaced by the new stronger, more confident me. And I liked it.

"I think you're getting the hang of it," Greyson said as he approached me with one of his shirts in hand for me to wear.

"Yeah?" I asked as he slid it over my head before I slid my arms through.

"Yeah," he confirmed with a grin as he used his thumb to wipe my mouth clean. I couldn't help but grin too. It all felt really good and I loved it.

As we walked back to the house from the woods, we passed the Warriors training in the clearing. There were considerably more of them now than there had previously been due to Greyson allowing me to broaden the requirements. The war had shown that a lot of our overlooked pack members were incredibly valuable and I was glad they were getting their chance. As we passed, they all stopped what they were doing and bowed at us, which we returned with a slight head bow. It had been three days since the Hunt has concluded and the pack was thriving.

Greyson has told me about his little conversation with Natalie while I was gone, but I still hadn't seen her or spoken to her, but I couldn't blame her. I still visited Matthew every day and the doctors said that he should be able to wake up at any moment.

"Do you know what you want to do with Andrew yet?" Greyson softly asked, pulling me from my thoughts, causing me to sigh. That had been the main question on Greyson's mind since we'd gotten back. Though he wanted to rip him apart, I was a bit hesitant. Even though his actions were beyond disgusting and evil, he'd really helped in the war and I could see a real change in him. Plus, Greyson had been awful to me and we'd managed to move past it. It seemed like Andrew was just a product of what was acceptable in the pack at the time but still...

"I don't know," I honestly said. "I don't. Sorry."

He shook his head. "You shouldn't be sorry about anything, Av. This is for you. Sorry, I don't mean to pressure you."

I pushed open our front door and headed straight upstairs to the bathroom but I was stopped by Greyson calling to me. "Hey, Avery, I was just thinking...how about we have a pack dinner tonight? You know, celebrate the pack's victory and thank everyone. Celebrate a new chapter in this pack and maybe come clean about what I am. What we are. I mean, only if you want to. I don't know, I'm just trying this whole nice thing out-"

I kissed him, stopping his incessant rambling. We held it fast before I pulled away, smiling. "Yes, Grey, I think that's a wonderful idea." He grinned, letting out a breath. "Besides, nice doesn't look too bad on you anyways."

He chuckled. "Okay, I'll tell the pack and organize it while you wash up, then we'll visit Matthew, sound good?"

"Sounds good," I confirmed before I turned and hurried up the stairs. Once I reached the bathroom, I wasted no time turning on the water. Once I stepped in, River instantly aches for Gavin since there were very few times I would bathe alone, but I calmed her down as I pulled the washcloth along my body and watched the slightly red water dance into the drain as I rid myself of the rest of the animal's blood.

Before long, I was dressed and making my way back down to Greyson. He was sitting in the living room with his body tense and his eyes clouded over, showing that he was still in a deep conversation through the link.

I took a seat next to him and took his hand in mine, causing a bit of the tension that was running through his body to lessen. After a few moments, the fog cleared and he fully relaxed. "They're getting started on the food and everything, but they can't get it done by tonight. The best they can do is tomorrow, I hope that's okay."

I grinned at him. "That's perfect, Grey. Thank you." I stood up and offered him my hand which he quickly took without question. We made the short trip to the hospital where Matthew was, laying as still as ever. I sighed as I sat on the edge of his bed. "You really want me to think about what I've done, huh?" I drily joked. "Well, mission accomplished, if that's what you wanted. Now I just really need you back. It doesn't feel like a victory without you here to celebrate with us." I swept his growing hair from his forehead as I sighed. "Well, I think I'm getting better at this whole lycan thing. Not perfect, but better. Grey's been helping me curve the bloodlust so I don't hurt anyone anymore. It's hard though. Really hard. But you wanna know a secret? You're the reason I fight so hard for it. You're the reason, and when you wake up, you're gonna be so proud of me." I felt tears start to gather in my eyes but I quickly blinked them away.

"Uh, Grey is planning a pack dinner for tomorrow. He's getting better too. He's doing pretty good, I think you'll be proud of him. Oh, he wants to explain our condition to the pack and...I'm kinda scared, not gonna lie, but I think it's an important step. I mean, the Warriors that found Grey after his run in with Phoenix are already confused and I don't like feeling like I'm lying and...I miss you."

"We both do," Greyson said as he sat next to me. "You're doing good, Matthew, you just gotta open your eyes, okay?"

Silence was his only response and he sighed. "We'll have the dinner in your honor, okay?"

"And I'll save you some food because I know you need more than whatever's in that IV to keep you going," I said with a small chuckle. Greyson wrapped his arms around me and held me tight as guilt spread through me like food dye in water. But his touch diluted it a bit.

We stayed there for a moment before the sound of a door handle turned filled my sensitive ears. Both Greyson and I turned just as Nat walked through the door with a cup of coffee in hand and a beyond tired look in her eye. Her brows furrowed as I quickly stood up and stepped away from Matthew. "Hey," I said with a small wave.

"Hi," she said.

A thick feeling filled the air. I cleared my throat. "We're uh, about to leave. I just wanted to check on Matthew and talk to-" I was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping themselves around me. I was caught off guard but I wrapped my arms around her nonetheless.

"I've missed you," Natalie softly said into my shoulder, her voice being muffled by my clothes.

"I've missed you too," I admitted as she pulled away.

"I'm sorry. I get super overprotective of Matty and when you told me...I just snapped without thinking and I'm sorry. I know you didn't do it on purpose and I know that Matty wouldn't be mad at you, so how could I be, you know?"

"Thank you," I said, genuine relief washing over me as I hugged her again. "It's been hard not having you around and having to deal with him all the time," I said, jabbing a finger toward Greyson.

"Hey-!"

"- plus, I have a ton of things that I need to tell you," I said, raising my eyebrows for emphasis.

"Wait..." she trailed as she looked from my neck to Greyson's then back to me. "Did you..?" I broke eye contact as a smile spread across my face. She gasped. "Avery!"

"Annnd, that's my cue to leave," Greyson said with a playful chuckle before he leaned in and kissed me.

"Wait, you don't have to, I was just joking," Natalie said and Greyson shook his head.

"No, you two need this time together. Plus, Gavin's getting too restless and he needs to blow some steam."

"Okay. I love you," I said as he leaned in and kissed me one more time, the kiss deep and intimate.

"I love you too," he said before he pressed one final kiss to my lips before he hugged Natalie and disappeared out the door.

"Awe, we love good character development," Natalie said as she rubbed shoulders with me causing me to laugh. "You two are doing really good."

"Yeah we are. Really really good. I love him a lot."

"Aw, that's my girl," she said as she wrapped an arm around me. "Okay now tell me about everything from Atonya to being a lycan to mating for the first time."

I chuckled and shook my head. "So the first thing that I noticed was how insanely gorgeous Atonya was..."