"Dad, what is this?" Bailey walks in with her Macbook Pro and a container full of cereal bars. I learned that her Macbook is for big projects and her iPad for smaller ones.

"Deadly Women," Hank replies absently, his eyes glued to the screen.

"Deadly Women?" Bailey repeats doubtfully.

"This episode is about wives poisoning their husbands," I explain to her. I have the blankets pulled up to my chin, but my eyes are glued to the screen.

"Hmm," Bailey murmurs, giving her dad the side-eye. "Have a protein bar. I made them with Auntie Cassie." Hank snorts. "I mostly made them," Bailey amends.

"Omega Cassidy is here?" I perk up as I snake my hand out of the blankets to grab one of the bars. My fingers are warm today, but the bars are even warmer. Bailey must have just made them.

"Yes, but she's not coming here because Dad said no," Bailey adds with a frown.

Shocked, I look at Hank Washington with a thrum of pure thankfulness vibrating through me. "Thank you," I blurt out.

He nods, still watching the show as the actress, dressed in a long, old-fashioned dress, pretends to sprinkle arsenic in her husband's dinner.

"I'm missing something," Bailey announces as she looks back and forth between the two of us. "Why don't you want to meet with Auntie Cassie? I thought that omega wolves helped? I have notes about positive psychological well-being and the lack of chronic illnesses in the LoboGris pack! Alpha Carmichael is almost disgustingly healthy," she adds with a small pout as she angrily clicks a few buttons on her MacBook.

Hank grunts. "Ili is a fighter. She doesn't need her feelings to be siphoned off. She needs to be angry. And you don't study your friends, Bailey Madison."

We all stare at him. It's a little creepy how he knows so much about wolves. My she-wolf loves this human man, though, because he brought us an electric blanket. How did I never know about electric blankets? "That's not why..." I pause, "Well... I guess that is why. I just feel like she's Braxton's aunt, not mine, and... she'll know about his Mark and how my heat is broken because of it. But I still smell like Sean." I bury my face back in the blankets, my face heating with a blush. My body was jolted out of the worst of my heat cycle by the Mark and the sex. At least, that's what the nurses think.

I'm very comfortable with Hank after just a few days. He has a very clinical way of taking care of me that isn't embarrassing at all, but I still don't want to discuss my shitty heat in front of him.

Bailey sits down next to me, careful not to jostle me, and tugs the blanket down, handing me my smoothie from the bedside table. "Isn't that a bit like refusing therapy or counseling?"

"You can ask for help, but if you aren't ready, you aren't ready," Hank adds. "Look at this. Took this poor sucker two years to die. Now that's cold." He nods at the t.v. Now the actress is wearing black and an evil, triumphant smile.

"Dad, I'm slightly concerned about this particular viewing selection," Bailey tells Hank. She turns back to me, "well when you're ready, Auntie Cassie or Uncle Mattie will definitely meet with you. In the meantime, they're both trying to convince the Grim Reaper that he's not allowed to lose his mind."

I wince, "is the Grim Reaper, Beta Grim?" My she-wolf hides in her den. I try to bury myself back under my blanket cocoon, but Bailey doesn't let me. Bailey takes a bite of her protein bar and I copy her. "Of course. His current ideas are the following; number one, take his family, minus Braxton, and move somewhere remote and alone so that his girls don't ever suffer from, in his words, 'pissants.'"

"Too late," Hank mutters. "The biggest pissant is defecating in my backyard."

I wish I was strong enough to go peek and see if Alphason Conner is actually shitting in Hank's yard. It wouldn't surprise me, even if males typically pee to mark out their territory.

Bailey gives me a significant look and mouths "Velia." My hurting, overwhelmed mind immediately thinks of the two mates. I'll have to ask her later how Velia and Vicente are doing and if Beta Teague has figured out that they're mates.

"Number two, he is going to build a torture device. Think medieval dungeon meets gym equipment," Bailey shudders delicately. "Number three, he's hoping that the Mark Braxton left on you doesn't fade. Then you meet a nice accountant who drives a Buick, move to a pretty cottage with a white picket fence, and have five children with said accountant."

"That would torture Brax," I whisper. My fingers fly to my neck, but it's encased in bandages.

"Boy needs to be tortured," Hank mumbles in a not-so-quiet whisper. He starts to play with the remote, and selects an episode of deadly women that specifically mentions 'husbands' and 'torture.'

Head spinning, I close my eyes for a bit.

"Ili? I'm sorry. We shouldn't be talking about those-who-shalt-not-be-named."

I smile without opening my eyes. "Did you just Voldemort reference both of them?"

"They deserve it," she says fiercely.

It hurts to spend even one moment dwelling on either of them, but I can't stop thinking about them for even a second. Beta Teague's methods of torture have nothing on my brain's ability to persist in mental agony. The straw is slipped into my mouth and I swallow reflexively.

Very quietly, Hank says, "Ili, your mom is here. Do you want me to send her away?"

My eyes spring open. I've been here for at least a few days, maybe a week. I can't really keep track of time, but I know that Hank has been turning people away. Was Mom one of those people?

Do I care if Hank is playing gatekeeper? I'm ridiculously thankful he's let me be alone through the worst of my broken heat cycle. I still have the fevers, the flashes of cold that leave me shivering.

Do I want to see Mom?

"I think I have to," I say slowly.

He shrugs. "You don't," is his simple reply.

My she-wolf's nose twitches. She sneezes. Her tail wags. "I want to," I tell Hank.

He smiles at me proudly. "OK. Bathroom first?"

I nod and he helps up so that I can hobble down the hall to do my business. I wish I could bring my electric blanket with me. The carpet in the bedroom is warm, but the bathroom tile is cold on my toes. By the time I wash my hands I'm shivering again.

"Here, Ili." Hank is waiting for me with a thick, plush dark green robe. It wraps around my waist twice and smells like Braxton.

I must give him an odd look and he frowns. "The defecating stalker gave me a box of things for you. Is something wrong with the robe?" His eyes narrow on the green fabric. "It's a man's robe," he notes with a frown.

"It's Braxton's," I rasp out.

"Ah," Hank nods. "Do you want to wear mine?"

My she-wolf is curling into a ball, the scent soaking into her bones. Her rumpled fur smoothes out, and she relaxes.

"No. But can you wash it later?" I ask him. I will wear it just this once, then I can grow a spine and wash it.

"Of course." He mutters.

Hank helps me downstairs by holding my elbow. My body is recovering and the pain is gone. I'm just weak. I have to stop once in the middle of the staircase because I'm dizzy.

"Here we go," Hank brings me to the kitchen. I'm surprised my mom is in here and not the living room, but Hank has decorated his house in a very comfy-bachelor-chic look. The living room is dominated by a 70-inch flatscreen, a very plumpy brown leather couch, and two equally comfortable-looking armchairs. In the kitchen, mom is sitting in a simple wood chair. No cushion.

Hank settles me into an office chair that's been pulled up to the table. I could fall asleep in this. Correction - I may fall asleep in it. It's heated and absolutely wonderful. Hank pushes in the chair, adjusts a warming pad at my feet, and leaves me there with another one of his smoothies.

It takes courage to meet Mom's eyes. What must she be thinking? What is being said? I assume Hank is keeping Sean and Braxton away from the house, but I'm still surprised they haven't found their way here. Is the pack turning against me? Am I the female who played two powerful males against each other and lost?

Hank walks out the backdoor with a shotgun in his hands. OK, maybe I do understand why Sean and Braxton haven't come here.

I force myself to look at Mom, finally. She isn't looking back at me. Her head is bowed and my she-wolf whimpers. Is Mom that furious?

"Mom?" I ask, tentatively. She looks up and my breath catches. Her eyes are bloodshot, her face pale. She always takes such good care of herself, being mated to a former pack officer. Her hair is usually sleek or in big blond curls and I know she takes good care of her skin. She's always plastering on creams and salves and whatever else makes her look ten years younger than she is. Right now, though? She looks... rough. Her skin is dry, her lips chapped, and her hair is mussed and oily at the scalp as if she hasn't washed it in a while.

"Ili," she whispers. "I'm so sorry, my baby."

A sob rips free of my chest. I clamp my hand over my mouth, trying to hold it in. She knows. I know that she knows about Sean. She knows he's more than just my lover or my heat helper. She knows he's my mate and she knows he's in love with the wrong daughter.

My mom... Georgina looks so much like her with silky blond hair and big blue eyes. They resemble each other so much, but I was always her favorite. She was my skating mom, the one who drove me to competitions and went crazy searching for hours to buy the right kind of skates. She's wiped my tears from injuries and losses and celebrated all of my successes. She knows me and now she knows the truth.

"How did you know?" I ask softly. Granted, being with him during heat is transparent, but still. She knows.

"I suspected," she says in a raspy voice. "The way that male looked at you... then I asked your dad." Oh. "But..." she whispers outloud her internal thoughts, "you and h-him... that male is your mate, Ili? He and you... your heat... but it isn't his Mark. What is happening? Is that male choosing Georgina? How could he... Was he..." she mumbles, angrily wiping at her tears. Her face grows paler, almost grey with grief, "did he reject you, Ili?" she asks with a gasp of pure pain.

"Mom," I mutter miserably. How do I explain this? She can't even say his name. This is a huge betrayal from the pack's future Beta. It's a huge deal.

"Tell me!" she orders. I can see her wolf in her eyes, her straining muscles. Her knuckles are white on the table, joints starting to pop out under the stress from the she-wolf. Her little pup has been threatened and she wants the hurt the male who is responsible.

Two of her pups, really, if I want to be generous to Georgina. I don't.

I open my mouth, then shut it. Do I tell her that I overheard a conversation between Sean and Georgina? I look at her ravaged face, the ferocious mother wolf. I can't. I can't tell my mom that Georgina knew exactly what she was doing to me when she screwed my mate and ruined my mating to him. Mom doesn't need to know how duplicitous her oldest daughter really is. I blame Sean more, anyway, who's to say it wouldn't have been another female if not my sister?

But... if I don't tell her how Sean rejected me, then she will never understand why the last year-and-a-half has been so awful for me. Why I lied and called myself MateLess when... goddess, I have two mates and no mates all at once. My life is a ridiculous mess.

"Ili?" mom prods gently. I snap back to attention, wondering what emotions must have just been running across my face.

"Sean rejected me in a conversation I overheard between him and one of his friends," I tell the truth mixed with a little evasion. "He said that I was too ugly, too boring, too weak," I repeat his insults haltingly. My she-wolf bites at her paws, her ears twitching as if the remembered words are hurting her ears. "He called me a loner freak and said that he would reject me after my first shift." I feel the familiar sense of shame and sorrow, but now it's mixed with guilt. The emotions sit on my chest like a lead balloon. Saying them outloud is awful. My she-wolf slumps over, eyes buried in her bitten, scraped paws. She doesn't want to look at the mother wolf while we confess what happened to us.

Over the last month, Sean has consistently told me the opposite of his insults. He tells me I'm beautiful, smart, talented. His eyes light up and his voice softens when he compliments me. I just don't know-

I jump in my seat when I hear a loud bang from outside the house.

"That's just Dad shooting at Conner! Don't worry everyone is OK!" Bailey calls out as she rushed through the backdoor with Hank's shotgun clenched in her hands.

"He said those things?!" my mom hisses. My eyes jerk to hers. I watch her in fascinated horror as her gaze grows ice-cold. "My sweet pup," she hisses. "You overheard this and suffered without telling anyone for that male's sake, didn't you?" Her clawed hand comes over mine and squeezes. "For Georgina's sake?"

I shudder. "I hate her. I'm sorry."

Mom starts to cry silently, but her jaw is still held tight, her eyes burning with fierce anger. "Georgina always reminded me of her mother. You don't know her. We were like sisters, but really we're cousins."

"I never knew that," I say hoarsely. I thought Mom was Georgina's aunt, but I guess it doesn't really matter.

"She left the pack so long ago. Fiona. She was in love with Blu Henness in high school. She hated Mina for years and years until she just couldn't stay in ClearHowl. It was a relief when she left," Mom admits.

"Blu?" I ask. "Beta Teague's Blu?"

"Mhmm," Mom nods. "Fiona flattered him endlessly. She would insert herself into his life in every way she could. It broke her when he chose his mate over her, but how could Blu do anything else? Mina was his truemate. Blu would have died if Beta Teague had taken only Mina as his."

"Sean's nothing like Blu," I whisper, thinking of the sweet, older man who was the one side of the soft heart to Beta Teague's mean claws.

"No. That male is disgusting," Mom says flatly. "He's powerful and should have known better."

My mom's tears have dried up, but my own have started to leak down my face. "I have to make some phone calls," Mom says.

"No!" I shout, startling her. "Mom, you can't repeat this to anyone!" If she spills and Alpha Alexander hears about this then Sean and I are both in deep shit. I lied and he's an ass and Braxton Marked me. A mess.

Mom smiles at me, "I understand the quandary, Lee. I won't be speaking to anyone in the pack about this. No, I have something else planned." Her smile is pure evil, I swear. I am suddenly really, really worried about Sean's safety. Hank bursts into the room, grumbling and stomping about damn wolves.

"Now, who Marked you?" Mom says, unfazed. "Because I, unfortunately, know that male's scent and it isn't the only one pouring off of you, Iliana Amarylis."

I wrinkle my nose at the hated middle name. It's unbelievably awful. A name a four-year-old would come up with for a pet turtle. And not a cool turtle, either.

"Ili?" Mom says my name gently. "What male Marked you?"

"Braxton Marked me," I whisper, then add "in a sort-of angry rush or something."

"An angry rush? From jealousy?" Mom's eyes narrow.

"I guess?"

"Well, what did he say?" she asks me with a frown.

"Um... nothing? I don't remember him saying anything. He moved so quickly. Sean must have forgotten to lock the door again and suddenly Braxton was just there."

Mom blinks and me. "He... he didn't ask you? He just... Iliana, was he in a mating frenzy?"

My she-wolf's head jerks up. My own mouth drops open. "No, it wasn't - I mean, I guess?" I slump over. "Yes," I whisper, "he was in a mating frenzy. But he's not my mate."

"He is now," Mom says frostily. "And he didn't even ask. He just bit right into you, didn't he? Well. That's fine. Just absolutely peachy. I'll fix them both. You just wait, oh, give me a couple of days. Nate Green spoke with your dad, did you know? You were training. Well, I've got that covered, now. You don't need anything from that male or his family."

"Um, Mom, Hank is taking care of me," I point out desperately. I can't train. I can't swim or run or do yoga or do anything right now.

"Iliana Amarylis Thomas, you are a fighter."

Tears prick my eyelashes. Why do all these people think I'm a fighter? Just look at me.

"I'll talk to Hank," Mom says with satisfaction. "He was an army medic, did you know? He knows about recoveries, Ili. And he seems like a petty bastard. He'll like my plan."

She stands up. "If you need me I'll be at Grandma's. Call my cell, not the house, OK?"

I look at her, confused and worried. "Is Grandma OK?"

Mom nods and walks around to give me a gentle hug. "Grandma is fine, Ili. Phoebe and I are just visiting."

My heart dips. Uh, oh. Dad is in the doghouse.

Mom says goodbye to Bailey and Hank in the living room. I listen as her footsteps recede and the door shuts behind her. Distantly, I can hear her car start as she drives away. My she-wolf pokes her nose into the air, sniffing until she's satisfied that the difficult conversation is over. Coming out of her den, she circles once, then twice, before plonking herself down and closing her eyes.

Bailey comes into the kitchen. "You have the best middle name!"

I wrinkle my nose at her. "Let Alphason Conner name your pup, OK?"

Bailey frowns. "You're just as boring as he is."

"Normal," I tease her. "It's called 'normal.'"

Bailey laughs as she sits in the chair Mom vacated. "So, Uncle Alex is keeping the boys and everything that happened under wraps. Conner is furious at them both. He said they're in exile until he's satisfied that they won't hurt you again."

I gasp in horror. "Bailey, he said exile? Are you sure?" Exile may be one of the cruelest punishments for a wolf, especially wolves like Braxton and Sean, who are pack males through and through.

Bailey thinks for a moment. "Yes. 'Exiled to the mountain camp,' is what he said, specifically."

I relax a little. A mountain camp doesn't sound too bad. That's not a real exile, right?

"So," she says. "Who was the friend that Sean said those things to?"

"Were you listening?" I ask her. She was outside, wasn't she?

She squirms guiltily. "No," she mumbles. "Conner was. He bugged the house months ago because he's completely nuts."

"Oh."

"Sorry," she murmurs. "I didn't mean to invade your privacy. That's all I overheard. Conner... he's taking this really hard. Brax is his brother and Sean is like a brother and they both betrayed you. I think he was going to go kill Sean. He shifted and everything. Until Dad shot at him. Again. That's what knocked him out of the rage." Bailey chews on her bottom lip.

"Georgina," I mouth to her. Her eyes widen. She stands up and rushes to my side so I can whisper in her ear, "Sean told my sister those things. He told her that he loved her so much. His plan was to reject me for her after my first shift."

Bailey goes pale. Tears fill her eyes. I start to cry again.