'Love?' Nik asked gently and I dropped my head again, lifting my arms to cover my ears. I could still hear them, but this seemed to lessen the intensity of whatever it was that Nik's voice did to me. There was something wrong with Ray and I could smell his blood. The alpha girl woke up and Ray ran off, Stefan following after him while Nik made the girl feed off of her boyfriend. Stefan gets bitten, with Nik promising to heal him after he finds Ray and all the other wolves wake up and Nik feeds them the human's blood.

'Bad news my friend. It's the end of the road for you.' He tells the man before he drains him of blood, killing him. 'Are you alright, Little Wolf?' He says quietly, not approaching me as he knows I don't want him near.

'I think it's getting worse as the moon reaches its apex.' I tell him, shuddering, my eyes and fangs still present. I feel as though I'm burning up, but I'm shivering as though I'm cold. Suddenly I feel a shift in the hybrids around us, I look up, seeing them approaching Nik and looking murderous. I scramble to my feet, everything I was feeling gone as rage consumes me instead, my claws flicking out as I leap for the closest hybrid, slashing their throat before ripping out their heart. As they drop I let out a snarl.

'Bloody hell.' Nik breathes before we both start to tear our way through the hybrids that are suddenly on the offensive. By the end I'm covered in blood and still full of rage, vibrating at the intensity of it all. 'Shift. It'll feel better, I promise.' I hear Nik say and I kick off my boots, taking my necklaces off and dropping them before shifting, tearing through the clothes that were ruined anyway and racing away into the trees as fast as I could.

He was right, shifting made me feel more at ease but the pull to Nik was still there so I ran in the opposite direction to where I knew he was. I had no idea what was going on with me today, how little control I had over my body or my emotions. All I knew was that I needed help, to prevent me from being like this every full month. It would drive me insane.

So I ran, I ran until the sun rose and I knew that the moon's effects were gone. At which point I howled, signalling my location to Nik. I didn't even have to wait a full minute before he was there, my bag in his hand. 'Little Wolf?' He was questioning if I was feeling better, standing a safe distance from me. I padded across to him and rubbed myself against his side, telling him, in my own way, that I was fine now. He knelt down so that he was at my level and ran his hands across my fur. 'I'm glad that you are alright, and I'm sorry I didn't join you on our run. I felt that a bit of... distance was in order, you seemed to need the solitude last night.' He tells me softly and I can see that he is sorry and my heart melted that he took my feelings into consideration. I bump my muzzle against his cheek and he laughs, deep and rich, a sound that I love. 'Your clothes are in your bag, should you like to shift back anytime soon.' He teased lightly and I tilted my head as though considering it, which caused him to chuckle. I move around him and take the straps of the bag in my mouth, tugging it gently away from him before I let it go and shift back to myself. 'You truly are a marvel, most would be demanding I turn away and yet here you stand, bare as the day you were born and not a care in the world.' I looked to him, his eyes met mine and he didn't let them wander.

'I don't really see the problem in it. Having grown up shifting and doing it so often, ending up in some embarrassing situations I learned not to care. I'm confident in myself, enough that this,' I gesture down at my body and his eyes follow, 'this isn't something I get nervous about people seeing.' I crouch down and open the bag at my feet, pulling out underwear and a bra which I quickly pull on. 'It was kind of funny the first time Elijah was with me when I changed back, he just handed me some clothes and turned around but it was the time that I shifted in the back of his car that was really funny.' I tell him as I pull on the white sundress that I wore that day.

'You shifted in the back of Elijah's car?' He asked in disbelief. He looked completely shocked by this.

'Yeah, we had been at a party and we realised that Damon was getting attacked by some werewolves back at the house. I was wearing this dress and I really didn't want to get blood on it. So I climbed into the backseat and took it off. He was the perfect gentleman and looked away before I took off the rest.' I smiled, remembering that day. 'He told Damon and I something interesting that day too.' I mention as I find my boots in the bag and tug them on before closing the bag and lifting it.

'Of course he didn't look, this is Lijah we are talking about. What exactly was it that he told you?' He asked curiously as he began to lead the way out of the forest, reaching out and taking the bag from me.

'Well, Damon had asked Elijah what his intentions for me were.' I paused while Nik laughed heartily. 'Yes, well. Lijah informed him that he thought of me like a sister and that I was more his brother's type regardless. When I asked him whose type I was he said that really it was two out of the three.' I continue with a small grin.

'Is that so? Did he happen to tell you which two?' He asked me with an amusement in his eyes as he looked at me.

'Perhaps.' I tell him with a small shrug. 'I guess you'll have to ask him yourself when we wake him up.'

'I'll do that. Oh, that reminds me. Why did you tell Ray that your name was Marie?' He questioned.

'I had nearly forgot about that. It's my middle name, Jamie Marie Parish is my given name.' I had always loved my middle name, it was given to me for my grandmother on my father's side. 'Whenever I don't feel like going by my own name it's the one that I turn to. I actually went by it for a year before I ended up in Mystic. It was the name I first told Damon when I met him.' I tell him.

'Why would you lie?' He asked curiously.

'Ah well, you don't know how I met Damon.' He raised an eyebrow. 'I'm driving down a road at night in my way into town when I suddenly see a body on the road, just lying there. I do what anyone would, I get out and go to check if he's alright. Only the minute I get out of the car I can smell that he's a vampire. But hey, I'm me, so I walk straight up to him and just look at him before I go; 'This is how you get your meals? That's pathetic.'' I laugh as does Nik. 'You should have seen the look on his face, I'll never get over it. Of course they had no idea that werewolves even existed, let alone one as unique as yours truly. So he demanded to know who I was, I gave him a false name and told him that his little mind trick wouldn't work on me and that I wasn't afraid of him. Damon has this little condition known as an over inflated ego, I wasn't very good for that, I basically shattered this illusion he had that he was the big bad. It was so much fun. Of course he tried to attack me and I handed him his ass and ever since we've been best friends.' I finish. He looks at me amused.

'You became best friends with someone who had intended to make you a meal and attacked you?' He asked and I nodded. 'You really are fearless.'

'As I told Rosemarie, I am not fearless, I simply know my own abilities and those of the people around me. Like when I first met Lijah, I could have easily take down the two vamps, Rosemarie and Trefor, and put enough venom in Lijah's system to distract him while me and doppelicious went on our merry way. Therefore, I had nothing to fear.' I say as though this should be obvious.

'Well what about me? You were never afraid of me.' He points out.

'Seriously? I never had anything to fear from you, you wouldn't hurt me. At first, it was because you didn't know what I was, that was my leverage, you knew I was a werewolf but you also knew I wasn't normal. Then it was because I had knowledge about your family that I had no business knowing. By the end, you simply liked me too much, I was much too interesting.' I grinned. 'Besides, you're not a bad person, Nik, you never were. You were always just... misunderstood, and played the role that you were given. I've known that since before I met you, I knew that you would never have left your family at the bottom of the ocean, I told Elijah that you could still be saved, that he couldn't kill you and I was right.' I notice the stunned expression on his face. 'You Original's, always surprised by my knowledge and my intelligence.'

'You...' He shakes his head. 'You are an incredible enigma Jamie Marie.' He breathes out.

'I'm just a strategist.' I shrug. 'I see more than most, see ten moves ahead of everyone else, learn everything about everyone I come into contact with so that I can predict what they'll do next. It's the way I survive. It's what made me useful to the Scooby Gang. Well that and the fact that I can turn into a wolf and am not opposed to bloodshed.' We had almost reached the car by now.

'And you look glorious whilst you are causing that bloodshed, Little Wolf.' He declares. I move so that I'm walking slightly ahead of him before spinning to walk backwards.

'Oh, I know.' I tell him with a grin, turning around and sauntering towards the car.

'Bloody hell.' I hear his whisper under his breath and I laugh as I open the trunk, throwing my bag inside before moving around to the passenger side.