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Alex stayed behind to keep Roy from following us, while Naní moved me along with her out of the building. We hurried together essentially jogging the blocks back to the loft. Naní tried to ease my anxiety with comforting words but to no avail, nothing soothed me.

Once we got to my loft Naní unlocked it for me. My nimble shaking hands nearly had me dropping my keys. The moment the door opened I rushed inside throwing my backpack on the ground.

"Ev-"

Naní tried to slow me down but my mind was worried about one thing and one thing only hiding. Flying up the stairs I pulled my jacket off and stripped out of my jeans. I crawled into bed bundling the comforter around my body as protective shield.

With the apartment so quiet, only the sporadic noise of cars passing by could be heard. I listened to my distinct racing heart beat. It felt like I was about to pass out at the rate it was pounding.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

Why couldn't he just leave me alone?

Ba-dum.

How did he know them? How did they know him?

Ba-dum.

What did he want with me?

Ba-dum.

The apartment door opened below the loft and I retreated further into my comforter with a small whimper. It slammed shut making the pictures on the wall rattle from the force.

"Slam the door harder I don't think the people upstairs heard you." I heard Naní spat clearly annoyed at the person who slammed the door.

"I don't give a fuck, where's Eve?" It was Alex and he sounded winded. He probably ran the whole way here.

"She's in bed-" There was shuffling heard like people were struggling against each other. "-hold on a second! You can't just go up there. She needs space give her that much."

"Space from what Naní?! I don't need the alpha knocking my teeth in because he finds a single scratch on her." The hysteria in his voice was easily heard. They all feared Caleb right now. I knew Naní did to but she just kept those feelings to herself. Alex was an open book on the other hand.

"He won't! Now relax, or your gonna scare her more. Nobody needs your high-handed shit right now."

A growl rumbled across the loft and I heard Bastet hiss in response. She never hissed.

"If anyone else spoke to me that way they'd be six feet under." He spoke lowly but I could hear his lethal threat in his words. I had no doubt he could kill just about anyone and the way he spoke left no doubt that he had. Yet, he was making an exception for Naní. "Don't push it."

"Well, don't bother her. We should wait down here until Alpha arrives." Alex must have listened to her because I didn't hear him come up the stairs.

Clutching the blanket tighter to my body I let the dark void consume me and I faded away into the abyss that was my own pandemonium. Just the steady rhythm of my heart beat enveloped my senses and I tried to focus my mind on him. I tried to focus on Caleb because that was the only thing that seemed to give me any sense of hope that I would be okay. That I would be safe.

With the thought of him I slipped into sleep that I joyfully greeted.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

I was trying to keep my emotions from getting the best of me after Alex had called saying Evelyn was having a panic attack over some male. All I wanted to do was fly on the highway back to her going a hundred or more miles an hour. Hell, I was okay with running people over at this point if it meant getting to her sooner.

I knew she had a dark history that she didn't feel safe sharing but no one's history should be that traumatizing that you can barely even operate.

My anger boiled at the thought that someone could have scarred her that badly that she couldn't even bring herself to talk about it. I tried the night she stabbed me but she still closed up and avoided my questions. It made me that much more furious she couldn't confide in me, but what could I have excepted at the time. I had whisked her away and thrown so much information on her and then I had the audacity to wonder why she didn't feel safe telling me.

I thought back to the first few days that I had spent with her. She barely spoke and wouldn't even look at me. She was petrified of me... of what I was. Things have changed since then. She's not as scared of me and I think she sees I'm not as animal as she once thought. I'm just nervous that I'm one disastrous moment away from being my true self... an apex predator.

I be never minded anyone looking up at me in fear or horror in fact I happily welcomed it. I'd rather those who wish to do me or my pack harm to panic when they see me coming. I never had to worry how I acted before. Now things are different and all I can think about is how I might say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, act like the monster I know I am.

Seeing Eve terrified of me breaks my heart. Admitting it to myself makes me sound so weak I couldn't ever say these feelings out loud... to anyone. With a rat out there already trying to ruin me and now trying to ruin Eve made me cautious about who I speak to and what I said. I was already uneasy with adding Naní to Eve's security detail. I was hoping it wouldn't bite me later.

Immersed in my rambling thoughts of insecurity, curiosity, and the blatant uncertainty I arrived at Eve's apartment in half the time. I must have floored it the whole way here. Thankful no one pulled me over I didn't want to think what I might have done had I been stopped.

I skipped the elevator taking the stairs instead being able to skip every three steps as I ran up. Alex must have sensed me near because by the time I pushed open the fourth floor door he was closing her apartment door.

"Alpha." He said looking hesitant.

"Is she alright? Where is she?" I sounded cool and collected but I was the opposite. My anger was bubbling up again and if I didn't grab a hold of my emotions I was afraid I would burst.

"She's asleep." Alex answered. Moving around him to grab the door he placed a hand on my chest to stop me. "Listen, there's things you should know."

"Like?" I narrowed my eyes studying over his position and attitude. He looked unsure with a hint of unsteadiness. What had him shook-in up?

"The guy that has her all upset is her ex." He paused watching, waiting for a reaction. I had none. What she did in her past was her own history before me. I wouldn't hold anything against her. I couldn't be a hypocrite. That didn't mean I was holding back a possessive growl though. He continued, "Her ex is Roy. Like James Valencia's son Roy." The disgust in his voice was clear. "He mentioned that they would always be one step ahead of us."

"You don't think he knows anything. That James knows anything?" My rage was growing impossibly higher, my wolf growing more feral by the second. He couldn't handle our mate being hunted down by someone else. She was ours!

Alex shook his head pushing back his blond hair in distress. "I-I don't know man. The little shit wouldn't just say something like that just for the hell of it. He's brat but he's not stupid. I just don't know how she got all wrapped up with him. To see her that... low... I don't even wanna think about what he might have done to her."

Towards the end of his sentence a low protective growl came out. He was just as pissed as I was. Hunter's thought that we were monsters but they were just as cunning and ruthless as us, probably even more so as they had no excuse.

"Naní and you can head over to The Den. I need everything and everyone ready for when I meet with Druscilla tonight."

"Are you bringing Eve?" He asked looking a bit concerned. We didn't have much of an option it was either having numerous people sit in this tiny apartment with her, which I new she's object to, or she'd have to accompany us. I was hoping she wouldn't fight me on this.

"We'll see." Answering flatly I opened the door. Naní bowed her head as I entered acknowledging me with "Alpha" and leaving the loft.

Locking the door behind them I stepped further inside, picking up the sweet smell of cinnamon and her faint relaxed breathing from up stairs. Standing at the base of the staircase I contemplated going up to check on her but I changed my mind not wanting to seem like a perv.

What if I just take a small peak? Like the smallest of peaks.

No Caleb. Remember she might not be scared of you but she definitely doesn't exactly want you. A twinge of pain struck my chest at the inclination she may never want me. She may never accept me and she very well may reject me once she figured out I wasn't what she wanted or needed. But I wanted her. I needed her.

I moved away from the stair cause sickened by my own thoughts.

I found myself wandering over to the sofa to sit down. Nearly sat down I heard a hiss and claws smack my behind. Jumping up I turned around. Bastet had been curled up on the sofa asleep and I had almost sat on her. I swear she was even glaring at me.

"I'm sorry damn! Don't make me grab the spray bottle." She continued to glare at me all while licking the paw that she used to assault me. Sitting down beside her this time I turned on the tv and kicking off my shoes.

I laid my head back against the arm of the sofa to get comfortable listening to the back ground noise of the tv. I hadn't meant to fall asleep but I was purely exhausted for the adrenaline of a rush I had the past two hours. Knowing she was alright and perfectly safe I allowed myself a few blissful minutes of sleep.

That bliss however would be brief and the sleep would barely set in as piercing scream would make my wolf to get me leaping to my feet in a matter of seconds. It was her, no doubt but how could someone have gotten in and I didn't hear them. I was half expecting someone to be attacking her but as I reached the top of the loft and looked at her bed for the first time she was wrestling with her blanket panting as if she were trying to escape something. No one was around.

It was just Evelyn gripping at the blanket as if it were suffocating her. She was battling with demons in her dreams and she couldn't find her way out.

"Eve." I said bending down to sit on the bed. Trying to tear the blanket away from her and free her from her entangled comforter. Her hand broke free and she it shoved against my chest in blind instinct.

"No get away I promise I won't do it again." She begged.

I pulled the blanket off her face revealing a tearful face. Sadness didn't even begin to explain how I was feeling knowing she was falling apart. He had really broken her. How could anyone do something like this to someone?

"Eve." I spoke louder pulling her to my chest as she tried desperately to push away. It didn't take much effort to hold her to me. I needed to calm her down though before she did something that would end up hurting herself. "It's okay. No one is here. He's not here." I cooed into the top of her hair. I used a free hand to brush through her hair hoping it would calm her down.

It was working as she slowly relaxed into me, taking in shaky breaths. "Eve wake up." I whispered hoping it would break through to her.

"I want Caleb." She said in a chocking sob clutching my shirt in fist fulls. My heart both leaped in joy and shattered at her vanquished state.

"Eve listen to me." I pulled her back so I could see her face putting my free hand to the side of her face. My thumb brush a stray tear from her perfect skin. Her eyes were squeezed shut. "I'm here. Please hear me. You're safe, you're safe with me." Allowing my lulled voice to reach into the depths of her hurt I hoped it would pull her out of her agony.

Without thinking about it I placed a soft kiss to her forehead as one final reassurance that it was me. That I would keep her safe. That I cared about her, hell I loved her already but I couldn't tell her that. Not yet but I could at least show her I cared for her like no one else would.

Removing my lips I gazed down at her, brushing another stray tear, captivated when big brown eyes locked on to mine.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Evelyn's POV

I was gazing up at the most magnificent blue eyes I had ever laid eyes on. They were deep, rich, and sad. Why were they said?

As I raised my hand to his on my cheek I noticed dampness that coated my skin. I had been crying.

Fuck! I had another nightmare about him. I couldn't even escape the bastard in my dreams.

Embarrassed I pulled away from Caleb's reach but as I did so he clung onto my hand. I looked at our touching hands feeling another wave of heartache.

I wanted him but I couldn't say that. It wasn't natural, but why did it feel so natural. It didn't matter, here I was not pulling my hand away and embracing the comforting tingles he gave me.

Moving my eyes back up to his he was already looking at me deeply. Reading me. He was looking at me with pity and I hated it. I didn't want to be seen as weak... as broken. But I was.

"I- I'm-"

"No need to say sorry." He said rubbing the top of my hand with his thumb. The sensation distracting me for a moment.

Brushing the wetness from my face I sniffled trying to somewhat clean myself up. I expected him to be repulsed by my tattered condition but he only looked at me like I was the most important thing in the world.

"It's stupid how much control someone can have over you, even though you've tried to forget them." Blurting out my true feelings knowing if I didn't I'd just suppress them again only to haunt me later.

"We all have our demons. We just can't let them control us." He spoke from experience and I remembered back to our conversation about his father. I couldn't imagine the demons that followed after his death. All the responsibilities that were thrown into his shoulders because of his death and to also deal with the pain of losing a parent.

"It's not easy. How did you do it?"

"Do what?" He pulled me closer. My knees now touching the side of his thigh.

"Not let all the bad memories, all the dark... feelings control you. You make it sound so... easy."

He sighed with a slight chuckle to himself, like my assumption was all wrong.

"It's not easy. It took me a while to learn how to move on and feel normal again. I guess I got lucky that I had to take over as an Alpha for my pack when my father passed away." His combed his fingers through his dark hair remembering it all. "I had plenty of distractions. Soon I found myself again and well... here I am." There was a pause as he looked off into the distance. "Funny thing is I didn't even want the title. I was able to persuade my father to let me be an enforcer instead but with his passing my mother pressured me to take on the role. Believe if it was the best thing for everyone, so I took over."

"It must have been hard, to replace him." I replied compassion in my voice as I rubbed my hand up his forearm.

"Eh, I don't like to say replacing him. I think of it more as honoring him. It's what he always wanted." As he admitted this to me he turned back to me with a mournful face.

I wanted to take his pain away. He might have said he dealt with the pain and moved on but as he spoke to me now I knew he was still hurting. Caleb just never said it out loud to anyone. Then again why would he? He had so much on his plate he had no time to pity himself.

"But you missy," He pointed at me half jokingly the other half was serious. "-should tell me why that asshole has his nails dug so deep in your mind you can't even sleep."

My face fell as he brought Roy back up.

"If it helps I already know how much of a dick he is. His father isn't much better, so I see where he gets it from." Caleb was trying to keep his composure but as he spoke I could see the growing flames behind his eyes. He was fuming, but keeping his emotions controlled just for me.

I wouldn't have been more appreciative but the bombshell of the news he knew exactly who Roy was had me surprised. They really did all know him.

"You know Roy and James? How?" I asked thinking back to how Roy so nonchalantly spoke to Alex like they were long term enemies.

Searching my face for something Caleb was ruminating on something he was looking for. I couldn't tell what though.

"The few humans that know of the existence of supernatural banded together to form a hunters coalition."

"Naní told me this morning about hunters. I never knew what Roy and his family did." It struck me then what Caleb was looking for. He thought I might have always known what they did. "I can assure you Roy wasn't very explicit."

He hummed as if understanding how appalled I was from learning this new information.

There was a buzz from Caleb's phone as he went to pull his phone from his pocket I removed my hand from his arm. My movement was stopped however as he grabbed my hand again with ease not even looking. I had to bite back a moan from the overwhelming pleasure that came from the little touch.

"Yes?" He answered. He was busy listening to whoever had called him not realizing that he had gently pulled me closer to him. Caleb wrapped his arm around my shoulder pressing my up against his side. If he wasn't so indulged in the conversation in his phone I wouldn't have thought it was innocent.

I played with his fingers that rested on my shoulder looking out the window of my loft. Another car honked the horn at a pedestrian that took to long to cross the road. I swear some people just gambled with their lives or maybe they just wanted tuition money for school. I can't lie I've thought about purposely getting hit for tuition money.

A groan from Caleb broke me from my guilty confession and I looked up at him. He looked stressed but quickly he hid it.

"You hungry?" He asked looking down with a smile. God I could look at that smile everyday if I could. Maybe I could.

"Yes."

"Good I'm starving. Let me take you out." He said standing up. He helped me up and I instantly regretted it as the coolness of the apartment hit my exposed legs.

I was only in my underwear.

Caleb's eyes darkened for a moment as he noticed my very bare legs. Then as quickly as he looked down he turned around embarrassed. He was embarrassed! How the hell do you think I felt?! I wanted to bury myself a hundred feet below the surface. And he was embarrassed? At least he was being a respectable man in looking away.

"Uh, I-I'm going to wait down stairs." He awkwardly said swiftly moving down the stairs and out of sight.

I cringed. Great!