"I was so scared after you called," Caleb said.

We were laying in my bed, my head on his chest, his heartbeat steady in my ear. Our heartbeat.

"I know," I said, "I could feel it."

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," he said. He adjusted his grip on me, holding me just a bit tighter.

"What would happen?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me, "Would you get back with Sophie?"

"No," he said, his voice stern, "after a mate dies...most of us can't handle it." He paused for a moment before continuing, "You might be able to move on, find someone to spend the rest of your life with. That's an advantage of being human. I could never be with anyone else."

I lifted my head, resting my chin on his chest so that I could look up at him. "I don't think I could ever be with anyone else either. Nothing would ever feel as right as this."

"We won't have to worry about that for a long time," he said, rubbing his thumb over the cut on my forehead. "What were you doing in the woods today?"

"I couldn't think of a good excuse not to," I said, my eyes pleading for him not to be angry at me, "it's not like I could've told her we need to be careful of werewolves."

"But you did know that hikers were being attacked," he said, "they could know about us, it's possible you were targeted."

I sat up, rubbing my temples, "You're overthinking it, he just came at us because we were there."

"I'm not willing to take any chances," he said, getting out of the bed. Caleb walked over to my desk where a bottle of Tylenol sat, he opened the cap and shook a few pills into his hand. "I'm going to make sure that nothing like this happens again."

"What are you going to do? You can't be with me all the time," I said, taking the pills from him and washing them down with the glass of water on my night stand.

"If I can't be there I'll make sure another pack member is," he said.

"Don't you think that's a little much?"

"Do you not realize you could've died today?" He said, his voice raising, "We still don't know who these wolves are, if they're part of a pack even! We don't know anything about them, and how the fuck am I supposed to protect you if I don't know what the hell I'm up against!"

"Caleb," I said, standing and grabbing for his arm. I stumbled slightly. Caleb quickly wrapped a strong arm around me, supporting my weight. "I'm fine. I'm okay," I said.

"Please stop saying you're fine, it doesn't stop me from worrying about you," he said, setting a gentle hand on my cheek.

I began to make an attempt at a joke when my phone rang.

A chill ran down my back, knowing that the only call I'd be getting this time of night would be from the hospital.

"I'll get it," Caleb said.

"No," I said, grabbing the phone off the night stand. "Hello?"

"Miss Parker? This is the South Peninsula Hospital," the voice answered.

"This is she," I said, trying my best to make my voice steady.

"I was just calling to let you know that your grandmother is out of surgery and she's stable."

I sighed, relieved. "Thank you," I said, before hanging up. "She's okay. Can you take me back to the hospital?" I asked, Caleb.

"Birdie, I think you should rest-"

"No, I want to go see her," I said, grabbing the Jeep keys off of my desk, "I'll drive myself."

Caleb grabbed my arm, stopping me, "I promise, I will take you first thing in the morning, but you need to sleep."

"What is she going to think when she wakes up and I'm not there?" I said, my voice cracking.

"She's probably not going to wake up for hours-"

"I'm going-"

"Birdie, there's nothing you can do right now. The doctor said you needed rest," he said, wiping the tears falling on my cheeks. "They said she's okay, why are you so worried?"

I pulled away from him, harshly wiping my face. I couldn't stop the tears. I couldn't stop the lump in my throat. I couldn't stop the thoughts that I had spent so long pushing down and trying to forget.

"Hey," he said, bringing my attention back to him, "baby, what's wrong?"

I didn't say anything. I only buried my face in his shoulder and cried.

I hadn't had a panic attack in what felt like forever. Not since Caleb. He couldn't keep the nightmares away, I don't know why I expected him to be able to fix me.

Caleb led me back over to the bed. "Talk to me, please," he said, trying to sooth me by rubbing his hand up and down my back.

I couldn't catch a breath. I wrapped my arms around Caleb, fisting his shirt.

"Okay," he whispered, kissing the top of my head. He laid us back on the bed and pulled the duvet up around us.

My sobs had started to die down into soft whimpers before I was able to speak.

"My parents," I started, my voice was rough and scratchy, "when we went to the hospital. After the car accident..."

Caleb shushed quietly in my ear, "You don't have to tell me," he said, "you don't have to say anything else."

I was grateful. I didn't want to say anything else.

"Do you still want to go to the hospital?" He asked.

I nodded.

Caleb threw off the duvet and walked over to the door to slip on his shoes. He held a hand out towards me and I didn't hesitate to take it.

The night air was crisp, chills ran through me as the breeze hit us. The hospital was even colder. I'd forgotten a jacket, so all I could do was wrap my arms around myself.

"Elizabeth Greene," I said to the nurse at the front desk, "I'm her granddaughter."

Caleb must have noticed that I was cold because then I felt his warm hands on my arms, rubbing up and down for some friction.

"Room 2707," the nurse said.

Caleb let me take the lead.

My grandmother was asleep, a heart monitor off to the side beeped smoothly. I pulled one the chairs from the corner of the room up to her bed.

"Do you need anything?" Caleb asked. He stood in the doorway, not wanting to intrude.

"No, I'm okay," I said, giving him a thankful smile.

He nodded and took a seat in the second chair in the corner.

We didn't speak for a while, and after a few hours of silence my eyes grew heavy. I laid my head against the hospital bed, only meaning to rest for a short while.

There was a soft brush of hair across the back of my head. That's what woke me up. When I opened my eyes there was sunlight dripping through the windows, making the room look a tad less depressing.

I lifted my head, my neck stiff from the position I fell asleep in.

"Good morning," my grandmother said.

She had an oxygen tube under her nose and bags under her eyes, but somehow she'd made her voice sound as chipper as ever.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and sitting back in the chair.

"As good as can be expected," she said.

I turned around to see that Caleb's chair was unoccupied.

"He left to get something to eat," she said as she watched me scan the rest of the room for him. I nodded, my muscles relaxing slightly. "Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?"

I shook my head, "I'm fine."

"Well, you look like shit," she joked. I laughed, swatting at her arm. "What happened to your neck then?"

"My neck?" I asked. Instinctively I raised a hand to my neck, landing on the bandage over my mark. "Oh," I said, thinking quickly, "I didn't exactly come out unscathed. I hit my head too, but I'll live."

Caleb walked in with a brown paper bag. It had grease darkening the bottom and the word 'Angie's' scrawled across it in red letters.

"How'd you get burgers so quickly?" My grandmother asked.

"My brother dropped it off," he said, pulling up a table over the hospital bed and setting the bag on there.

"Angie's has the best burgers," she said to me.

"You haven't had Angie's yet?" Caleb asked. I shook my head. "You're a horrible host," he said to my grandmother, who laughed.

"I've been otherwise occupied," she said, "My granddaughter sneaking boys into the house, book signings, getting attacked by large animals. I'm a busy gal."

Caleb and I shared a guilty look at the first example she listed.

"Why aren't you at school?" She asked, digging out her food.

"Are you serious?" I gaped, "I thought you were going to die, school was the last thing on my mind."

"Well I'm fine. Isn't the homecoming game tonight? How about you go to that?"

"I hate football," I said, pulling out my own burger.

"You should enjoy your senior year. Caleb will take you, right?" She looked at Caleb, raising a stern eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said suddenly, after registering her cue. "I'll take you."

"I'm good-"

"You're going," she cut me off. "Actually," she said, "go do something now. I'll be sent home soon, I'll call for you then. I don't want you moping around here, go have fun."

"Gran-"

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Beatrice," she said, shooing us out of the room.

Outside the hospital Jack was in the parking lot, leaning against Caleb's truck.

"We're not going to the homecoming game, are we?" I asked.

"Some of the pack members are going to search for the people doing this," he said.

"Let me guess," I said. Once we reached the truck Caleb handed Jack his keys, "You're going with them?"

"You and Jack are going to head straight to the pack house. I'll be there later tonight," he said, turning his attention to Jack. "Straight to the pack house."

Caleb led me over to the passenger side, opening the door for me.

"I'll see you later tonight," he said, pulling me in for a kiss.

Once in the car, Jack wasted no time starting it and pulling out of the parking lot

"They always have a bonfire after the football game, wanna go?" Jack asked.

"Caleb said we have to go to the pack house," I said, looking at him with confusion.

"He did," Jack said, a sly smirk on his face.

"I thought you had to do everything Caleb said?"

Jack laughed, "Out of respect for the next Alpha, yes, technically, I do. However, Caleb only said that we had to drive straight to the pack house. Not that we couldn't leave."