gaius

"How was I supposed to know that the word thick would offend him?!"

I roll my eyes at Foster as we sit inside my house. Taylor had kicked him out and now he was moping around my house.

"He's already pregnant, poor guy probably thought you were calling him fat," I shake my head at him.

"Poor guy? How about poor me! You're supposed to be on my side!" Foster whines.

I ignore him as he continues to whine and rant. My mind travels to Doctor Glassman again. After the two of us talked yesterday, I haven't been able to get him out of my mind. Something about the way he was action felt strange, almost fake even. He said he was down there to visit an injured rogue but why would he leave with me if that was the case?

"Hey, Fos," I interrupt his rant. "The rogue you caught yesterday, was she injured?"

Foster's eyebrows furrow at the topic change. "Injured? She had a few scrapes but nothing that didn't heal almost instantly. When she got her check up, she was said to be healthy. Why?"

I frowned at his words. If that was the case then that meant Doctor Glassman had lied to me. Why did he lie? I don't know but now I was determined to find out.

"Come on," I tell him as I stand up.

"Where are we going?" Foster groans.

"To find Doctor Glassman."

"Why?" He asks.

"The two of us were talking yesterday. He was in the cellar, I noticed that his scent was basically gone, and he lied about the new rogue being injured - it doesn't make sense."

Foster's lips form into a line as the words leave my mouth. Any trace of laziness was replaced with a serious expression as he, too, stood up.

"You sure?" He questions and I nod.

"Positive," I tell him.

The two of us leave the house and make our way towards the hospital. Doctor Glassman should be there.

The walk is silent and I'm sure Foster is thinking over everything I just told him. He may appear childish half the time but when it came to the pack, he was completely serious.

We're almost at the hospital when I pause in front of the park. Crouched in front of the slide is Doctor Glassman as he places a bandaid over a crying Layne's leg. As we walk closer, I can hear Doctor Glassman talking.

"You're alright, princess," he coos at Layne who's wiping her eyes.

"It hurts," she points down at her leg.

"I know it does, but it'll all be better soon!"

Gray and Quinn sit on the bench close by and wait for Doctor Glassman to finish. Quinn spots us first and a small smile replaces the worried expression on her face.

"Foster, Gaius, it's good to see you both," she smiles.

Foster nods and greets her before he walks over to Gray. Their eyes glaze over as they begin to talk through their links.

"Is everything okay? I know North's trial is coming up soon, how's everything going?" Quinn asks me.

"Everything's going well, I can only hope the trial does too. I actually need to talk to Doctor Glassman," I tell her.

Quinn's brows furrow in confusion and Doctor Glassman's eyes meet mine just as Foster finishes explaining the situation to Gray. Catching on, Doctor Glassman's facial expression changes to one of worry and his eyes dart down to Layne. Noticing this, Gray jumps up but Doctor Glassman quickly snatches Layne off the floor and runs towards the woods.

"Hey, that's my baby!" Quinn screams as the three of us run after him.

Pack members, council members, and elders around us hear Quinn's scream and quickly come to see what's happening. The ones who pick up on the situation quickly join us in our chase. Gray, Foster and I quickly close in the distance as we approach the borders. A growl escapes Gray's mouth as he shifts and tries to close the gap between Doctor Glassman and himself. Doctor Glassman speeds up slightly before he takes two steps out the border and turns around to face us.

"I didn't want to!" He yells as he pulls a blade from out of his pocket and raises it to a confused Layne's neck. "I don't want Layne to get hurt!"

"Doctor," Quinn's voice is low as she slowly moves forward. "Give me my baby."

Doctor Glassman shakes his head. "I-I can't! They'll get mad if I do!"

"Who will get mad?" Quinn asks slowly.

Quinn and Gray stand in front a few feet away from Doctor Glassman while the rest of us watch from a further distance. Quinn's surprisingly calm as she tries to talk Doctor Glassman down.

"They want the feral! They don't want Layne! Just give me the feral and you can have her," he pleads. It sounds as if he's begging Quinn but his eyes meet mine. They hold desperation.

He wants North.

"Doctor, put Layne down," Quinn begs again as she takes a step forward.

A growl behind Doctor Glassman has her stopping in place. Another wolf stands behind him and his red eyes indicate that he's also a feral wolf like North.

"Just give him the damned monster!" Councilman Steele calls out.

I glare at him before looking over at Doctor Glassman.

"Why do you want North?" I ask hesitantly.

"I don't know why they do! They didn't tell me that much, please, I don't want to hurt anyone!" He begs again.

Gray's eyes meet mine and I already know what's running through his mind. I shake my head at him before turning to Doctor Glassman again when a familiar scent runs through my nose.

North comes running as he makes his way through the group of pack members surrounding us.

How the hell did he get out?!

He stops beside me, teeth bared, and stares at Doctor Glassman or rather the rogue behind him.

Before I can stop him, North runs towards Doctor Glassman and stops in front of him. I try to move forward but a someone quickly grips my arm.

"Move!" I growl before turning to glare at whoever is holding my arm.

Mr. Rogers holds onto my arm and shakrs his head. "I'm sorry, Beta. Alpha's orders."

My glare turns to Gray but he refuses to look at me and shifts before slowly approaching Doctor Glassman.

"Let Layne go," he says sternly.

My heart drops as Doctor Glassman stares at North. I try to yank my arm away from Mr. Rogers but each time I manage to break free, someone else grabs me. When I manage to get free again, Councilman Steele grabs my arm.

"Stop," he growls lowly.

"Gray!" I call out to him pleadingly but he ignores me.

Doctor Glassman pulls a syringe out of his pocket that's filled with a clear liquid before placing the knife into his pocket and he begins to put Layne down. A growl from behind has him momentarily pausing and he quickly tries to pick Layne up again. Gray and Quinn both move quickly and the rogue rushes at them. Doctor Glassman drops the syringe he was holding and reaches for the knife again before he can manage to grab it, North lunges at him and knocks him down.

Foster moves and quickly scoops up Layne and the rest of the group moves to assist where they can. Soon, the rogue is killed, Doctor Glassman is knocked out, and Layne is safe. The moment I can move, I race towards North and pull him into my arms. North tenses slightly before relaxing into my grasp.

"Come on," Gray calls out before taking Layne from Foster. "Everyone go home. Foster get Glassman and place him in the cells."

Foster grabs Doctor Glassman with the help of Mr. Rogers and they take him off to the cells. Everyone is in a trancelike state after the events that take place. Quinn tries to calm everyone down and eventually we begin the walk back to the pack.

"Gaius," Gray calls out. "When we get back, I'd like to speak with you. You can bring...him."

I want to say no, but I know that isn't an option. I nod stiffly as I walk with North. I don't want to be mad at Gray but I can't help it. His daughter was in danger but he was willing to sacrifice my mate. I know as a parent he would be willing to do anything for Layne, but it still hurt.

When we arrive back at the pack, North and I make our way to Gray's office and take a seat while we wait for him. I assume he's taking care of Layne. My eyes drop to North and my brows furrow at him.

"Moses," I call the head warrior through our link. "Can you tell me how my mate managed to break out the cellar?"

I need to know that this won't cause more trouble for him. The council and elders may be momentarily distracted but they'll just use this as all the more reason why North should be killed.

"It appears one of the lower ranking warriors were assigned feeding duty and decided to open the cage to feed him rather than use the slit in between. When he heard the commotion above, he was momentarily distracted and the rogue managed to escape. He tried to catch him, but when he managed to catch up, the rogue was already at the border."

This has my jaw clenching. We're supposed to be a pack but it appears as if we're getting weaker every day.

"Thank you," I dismiss him through the link.

Some changes would have to be made. We had never been the strongest or biggest pack out there, but we weren't this careless either. We would have to fix this.

The door to the office opens and Gray walks in. He says nothing as he walks in front of me and stares down at North, he watches him for a minute before sighing.

"I was willing to give him up," he says, but it appears to be directed towards himself.

"You were," I answer anyways with anger clear in my voice.

Gray looks up at me and frowns. "I owe you an apology," he says. I open my mouth to reply but stop when he crouches to the floor.

North's ears pin back as he stares at Gray. Gray shakes his head and looks up at me again.

"I've been calling him a beast, a monster, all these different kinds of names and he still helped rescue my daughter," he says.

"I told you North wouldn't hurt anyone," I reply.

Gray nods slowly. "He isn't a beast."

I blink at him, not sure if I'm hearing correctly. Other than Dad, Gray had been the main one advocating for North to be gone so hearing him say North isn't just a monster shocks me.

"What do you mean?" I ask hesitantly.

"He helped save Layne. Feral's are supposed to be monsters and yet he helped save my baby. He can't be a monster," Gray mutters.

He rises off the floor and stares at me. "I'm not fully convinced that he's safe but I won't bust your balls every time you bring him up."

It's progress. It may seem small but to me, it's a huge leap from where we began.

"Thank you," I tell him honestly. "I can't say that I just forgive you for earlier though."

Gray nods. "I understand that, if someone tried that with Quinn, I wouldn't be able to forgive them either," he laughs dryly. "It's just...I already lost Cloud, I can't lose Layne too."

I frown at the mention of Gray's brother and place a hand on his shoulder. Cloud had gone missing when he was thirteen and was never seen again. Gray was sixteen at the time and was supposed to be watching him when he disappeared; he's never forgiven himself.

"That's how I felt about the possibility of losing North. I mean, after all these years I finally get a mate just to have him snatched away from me?" I say and my frown mirrors Gray's. "I can't forgive you for that, but we have another issue on our hands. You saw that other feral and Doctor Glassman kept referring to 'them'. We need no find out who 'they' are."

Gray nods at my words, the broken look in his eyes is soon replaced with his normal emotionless stare. It always surprises me how well he can conceal his emotions.

"You're right. When Glassman wakes up, I plan to interrogate him, you may come too if you wish. Something tells me that this isn't over just yet," he replies.

I nod at his words. Even with all that had happened today, it was clear to me that this was only the beginning. I glance down at North who is more focused on trying to find food.

I always wanted my mate, but now so much had changed. Between finding out he's a feral rogue, to the trial, and now this, I don't know what to think. It seems that the longer North stays here, the more things begin to go wrong, and we get tangled into a web of mysteries.

This seems to be the beginning of the web, but I'm sure it won't be the end.