"Wyatt?"

Stunned that the last being on Earth was standing before me in this place.

Wyatt took a deep breath, bending down, holding out something, "There's no time to explain. You guys were never supposed to be here. For now, they're occupied."

"Why are you here?" I leveled his gaze. My mind raced to a hundred different reasons. None of them making sense. Some horrible thoughts.

Wyatt's mouth formed a thin line, and he ran a hand through his long hair that came just above his shoulders, so unlike West but he was definitely his twin. Which made me wish West was conscious now because before me was a stranger.

His expression was grim. "Let me get you out of these cuffs and then we can talk."

"Get West out first," I pleaded.

Wyatt stared at me for a moment. "West would want to get you out of these first."

"Please," I blinked back my tears, unable to think about the pain he was feeling.

Wyatt held his chest over his heart. "Trust me, I feel it too. We're two halves of each other." The jangling of keys made it's way to the silver cuffs, Wyatt wincing when he made contact briefly with my silver cuffs, and when they unlocked, I could breathe again.

Shooting straight up, Wyatt took no time in running to where West was. I followed.

Wyatt growled in pain as he pried off the collar from West's neck. Once the collar came off, Wyatt cursed out loud colorfully when we both saw the deep pink scarring on West's neck and back, and I helped him get West on his back.

"West's keys are in his pocket- do you remember where you parked?"

I nodded, taking West's keys in his pocket, and led the way towards where we parked, hoping no one would come back. But now that I'm not chained, I'm going to kick some serious werewolf butt.

Rain started to down pour.

"The fire I started is going to stop," Wyatt said.

"How did it just started raining like this?" it was a rhetorical question, but wet socks were the worst and I didn't think it would.

"West," Wyatt explained. "His magic- powerful kind- does this.f he feels strongly, the weather changes. Same thing with my mom and fires..."

I think about all the times when it was down pouring rain and thundering. That was West this whole time?

"Wow." The air was electrified, ready to strike lightning at anytime.

"I know," Wyatt snorted, "you really don't want to piss him off."

"There's the car!" I exclaimed, running to unlock the back door so West could get in. Wyatt carefully placed his brother in the backseat so West wouldn't be on his back. I handed to keys to Wyatt, who started the engine and like a state trooper, he zoomed out of this cursed area, the heavy rain a comfort in the momentarily quiet car as we both gather our thoughts.

"Tell me- are you the one selling wolfsbane?" I hissed at the realization.

Wyatt chuckled. "Trust me, my parents would kill me if I did something that stupid. I was undercover. That day I was supposed to meet someone named Nicholas, something felt off about it, so I didn't go."

"You were the one that was supposed to meet Nicholas that night?"

"I was," Wyatt answered, increasing his speed once he got onto the road. His eyes narrowed. "Last minute thing showed up that I couldn't...I had a bad feeling meeting up with this Nicholas guy."

"If you showed up he probably would have killed you," I recognized. "Or worse." If Wyatt met him that day, he was going to get Wyatt to confess and kill him.

The thought made me want to hurl.

It was a good thing that Wyatt didn't meet him and that we did.

"Well guess everything happens for a reason, huh?" Wyatt asked.

"Then what is your involvement in all of this?"

"Principal Greer told me to do some recon and investigating on the wolfsbane that supposedly is going around the school and packs and get to who is selling them."

"The principal trapped you into this? Why doesn't your parents know?"

Wyatt gave me a look. "Top secret here."

"Oh." I rolled my eyes at how absurd that is. "That's a really dangerous thing to do though, Wyatt."

"Geez, thanks, I would've never guessed. No wonder I didn't tell my twin brother or my parents or anyone about it."

We both looked at West.

"Will he be okay?" I whispered worriedly.

Wyatt's obvious look of concern for his twin made me guilty even more. His jaw clenched. "I did this all so he wouldn't have to get involved but this idiot gets involved anyways!" I blinked- not expecting this reaction from him. From what I gathered, West and Wyatt haven't been on the best terms. Wyatt, however, wasn't done, "I try to protect him and then of course- of course- he gets himself tangled up in this mess making it even a bigger mess."

"Sorry," I could barely say now. This did turn out into a huge disaster and West paid a big price for it. It's my fault.

"No, no," Wyatt sighed, running a hand through his hair again. I've seen this tick with West: this was stress mode. Wyatt gave me a sideways glance, focusing on the road.

"Anyways, why are you here...with West?"

I looked away. There was no point in hiding it. Friends. Just tell him we're friends.

"We're mates."

Wyatt blinked at me. Once. Twice.

"Oh......?" he looked floored. And hurt.

"I don't want anyone to know."

He laughed without humor, "No wonder my Mom hasn't said anything or started to beg for grandpups for West." He cast me a sideways glance, "So you've been making West shut his big mouth that you're mates. Can I ask why that is?"

"It's...complicated," I hesitantly responded. It was already complicated before. I pushed my feelings towards him, but kissing him- kissing him wasn't a mistake. The feelings I felt for him were very much real and then he gets put in a collar and gets the whipping post all because of me....

"Complicated?" Wyatt asked in disbelief. "West is pretty straightforward when it comes to what he wants."

I leaned back in the seat, my emotions all over the place. "I'm the one making it complicated. And now...It's not your fault, it's mine. It's my fault he's like this. West would never have come here if it wasn't for my persistence on trusting Nicholas. West didn't trust him at all, but he only followed me here because for some reason he trust me. And I-" I paused, unable to form a sentence because I thought of how much pain he was in right now. How much hurt I caused.

"Hey, I don't think West blames you," Wyatt told me gently.

"He should," I said darkly. He got collared. The effects of silver on a wolf was excruciating. The pain on my wrists were nothing in comparison to West's. He's going to get scarring because of the whip and on his neck. "It's not your fault West got involved because I think you did a good job keeping him away. I sucked him in."

"Feeling guilty isn't going to help. Trust me, West has done some stupid things before too when we were younger, but I've never blamed him. He went with you because he wanted to. He trusted you because he has a very good judgement of character."

I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but nothing will change the fact that West will carry those marks forever.

Wyatt continued, "West is- well, he's like my Dad, in the way how intensely he feels. And I think I can put it together of how he feels for his mate. So he'd probably do anything for you and follow you to the end of the world. It's not your fault." Wyatt took a shaky breath. I glanced over at him, and his face was contorted in anger, sadness and guilt too. "It is my fault for not warning him and keeping this. But it's too late now and what I never thought would happen came true."

We were quiet.

"Where are we going anyways?" I asked. It looked like Wyatt knew where he wanted to go.

"To the Alpha of the nearest territory. They'll come looking for us, probably already started, but there won't dare come near her territory," Wyatt answered, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.

Her? Suddenly, excitement flared through me. "Alpha Heidi? You know her?"

"Yes," Wyatt nodded, "she's an old family friend. We can take some salve for silver burns for you and West when we just stop by for a short bit."

Wow. I was going to meet the first ever female Alpha Heidi.

"Except she can't know West is injured, so he stays in here. We'll tell her that we're stopping by."

I nodded, "Sounds good. They'll come looking for us. Nicholas will know we're at the school."

"Then we'll prepare for them," Wyatt's look of determination was set stone in his face. "We'll be the ones to be after this time around." It sounded like a threat.

Getting into Alpha Heidi's territory was actually easy if you knew the Alpha personally. The pack wolves that were guarding the perimeter took one look at Wyatt, and let him in.

"You know some cool wolves," I told him. I rolled up my sleeves so the burn marks wouldn't show before we meet the Alpha.

"Not me," Wyatt pulled into the parking lot. "My parents do."

Getting out of the car, Alpha Heidi with was already outside, a huge smile on her face. "Wyatt this is a surprise." Wyatt walked around the car, and hugged the Alpha.

"Thanks Heidi for letting us come on such short notice," Wyatt said, leaning back, and he motioned towards me. "This is Edith, one of my classmates at your school."

My mouth dropped. Alpha Heidi would be the director of the school?

"It's good to meet you. A friend of Wyatt's is a friend of mine," she said to me holding out her hand, her brown eyes warm and I couldn't think about how much of a boss she is.

"T-thank you," I shook her hand, and I think I accidentally shook it for a little longer than necessary because Wyatt gave me an eyebrow raise so I stopped.

"I'm sorry you guys can't meet my mate because she's out on vacation with her parents," Alpha Heidi said, "but please come in and have some tea. I'm glad the rain stopped although it's still thundering. Such weird weather."

"Super weird," I agreed, exchanging glances with Wyatt.

"Is West in the car?" Alpha Heidi nodded at the car, looking confused at Wyatt.

"It's been a long trip and he's so tired so I just didn't bother to wake him."

"You guys should sleep here for the night," Alpha Heidi offered, and Wyatt opened his mouth and closed it.

I jumped in, "I have work early the next day so we can't, but definitely another time."

Alpha Heidi guided us in her pack house- which was actually not even a house. It was built more like a hotel than a normal pack house. She led us to a large dining area littered with small tables and chairs, booths and some wolves were in in the corner, eating something.

"Heidi, could I quickly just get some headache relief medicine in the pack doc's room for a second?" Wyatt rubbed his temple, really selling it. He fooled me as he winced in pain.

"You know where it is, right?" Alpha Heidi asked. Wyatt nodded.

"Thanks, I'll be right back," Wyatt stood up, hands in his pocket as he makes his way into the hallways, going to get the salve.

I sat down as soon as Wyatt left, hoping he'd get enough salve for West until we got back to his dorm.

"How's school going for you, Edith?" she asked. Some other wolf wearing all white set up cups at the table

"The curriculum is amazing," I had to say, feeling all fangirl like.

"I wanted to replicate the human experience," Heidi said, nodding. "So it'd be easier for werewolves to have an option if they want to pursue a college degree or not. The werewolf normal isn't the human normal, but in order for us to really thrive, we have to do things like get an education so we don't kill each other."

"You're so right."

"Tell me what your favorite part about school so far is?"

I had to think about it. It was meeting up with Penelope and Blaine in the morning at my locker, talking about mindless stuff or venting. It was meeting new werewolves bad and good.

"I could actually have a future in the real world. Right now I'm working as a barista at a coffee shop, and it doesn't pay the best but I make it work," I replied.

"I had to fight to even try to get an education with my own father who finally gotten better as he grew up," Alpha Heidi said. "Sometimes I wonder if we should do a school for all the current Alphas, but I have a feeling someone like Alpha Grayson is going to burn the school down."

We both chuckled, and Wyatt came back, sitting down.

"You found what you were looking for?" Alpha Heidi asked.

"Yup," Wyatt smiled at her easily. "Thank you so much, Heidi."

We had coffee, tea and an array of pastries, but I could tell Wyatt wanted to hurry and get out of here. Anxiously tapping his foot, but making do.

He looked at the time on his phone, and he stood up. "It's been a pleasure to be here as always. I'll make sure to let my parents know we need to come over sometime soon, but you know-" Wyatt shrugged, such a great actor that I could never be, "school is killer." I stood up too to follow Wyatt.

Alpha Heidi chuckled, "Study hard you two."

Before we were about to leave, I had to turn around and let Alpha Heidi know something. "I just want you to know that I really think you're awesome."

"It was a fight. I'm still fighting. But it's worth it. You must know you're doing this for future generations. I'm doing this so one day it won't be a maybe you'll lead a pack, Edith. It'll be so you will lead a pack one day. Without the messy male Alphas' judging you."

I want to be her when I grow up.