Sit with the pain until it passes and you will be calmer for the next one.

Naval Ravikant

Something was wrong.

He could feel it in his blood, he could feel it in his bones.

Something was wrong.

He didn't say anything, trying to get his mind off it, even when everything in his body screamed at him that something wasn't right.

He tried to concentrate on football, tried to ignore how furious Coach Bell had been when Kyle hadn't bothered to show up for training. Coach Bell had instead tortured them with ball passes and running until all of them had nearly passed out.

Afterwards, his muscles were burning and he caught up with Ollie and his sister in the parking lot. Ollie was pulling a giggling Grace to his car, and Daphne was nowhere to be seen.

"Ollie, you need to wait for Daphne!" Luke called after him. Ollie was not going to forget her only because he was too busy mooning after Luke's sister. Not on his watch.

"Oh, she wrote me a message that Art Club was cancelled," Ollie called back.

Cancelled? She was off earlier?

"Did she hitch a ride with Kiana?" He asked worriedly, only getting a roll of Ollie's eyes back.

"No, she walked!" Ollie called back, herding his sister in the car, both of them still giggling.

Daphne walked.

His mate had already been in a sorry state at Lunch, hadn't fought against him touching her soft hair but had leaned into the touch. He had felt how warm she was, far warmer than what was normal for her.

She hadn't been fine...and for her to walk the few miles home...that wouldn't be...

"Fuck," he cursed, getting in the car.

Had she even been able to get home? Had she been safe?

He was half expecting to find her huddled at the side of the road while he drove home but she wasn't.

Maybe she had managed to get home safe. Maybe he was just overreacting....

Luke hoped he was wrong with every fibre of his being.

He arrived home at the Hyde's house before Ollie and Grace and jumped out of the car, taking a deep breath. There was no trace of Daphne in the air, no trace of pineapple upside-down cake, no cinnamon, no sweetness...nothing.

He ground his teeth together, a small part of his brain offering ideas why maybe her smell wasn't there, while a bigger part and his wolf were in high alert as he rang the doorbell.

Caroline opened the door just moments later, surprised to see him alone and not Ollie and Grace at his side.

"Luke! Isn't Grace with you?" Caroline asked him but Luke just shook his head mutely.

"Has Daphne come home?" He asked. Please say yes Caroline, he begged silently. Tell me that she's just taking a nap, that she came home drenched but is fine.

But Caroline shook her head, surprise evident on her face.

"No, she has just as long as you, Luke..." Caroline trailed off but he cut in before she could say something else.

"Art club was cancelled. She wrote Ollie that she would walk home but..."

Before he could say another word, Caroline was already calling her. He listened to the phone ring once, twice, thrice...until finally, the mailbox answered.

"What's wrong?" Ollie asked from behind him as Luke already was thinking off all the things that could have happened to her.

It had started to snow again and she wasn't dressed to stay in that kind of cold for longer than necessary...not even with the thick parka she wore. She was too thin, to slight to withstand the weather, too weak to survive...she was fragile, she was just a human...everything would be able to kill her from a car accident to a bear attack and...

"Luke, what are you thinking?" Grace pulled him out of his thoughts as one thing suddenly stood out clear.

That couldn't be. wouldn't...

would. He was pissed off about Luke and he would do everything to make him pay up for it, wouldn't he? And if he thought that hurting Daphne would in any shape or form hurt Luke...

"That Kyle wasn't there for training today," Luke said softly, closing his eyes against the images that wanted to invade his head. He didn't know what was happened, maybe she just got lost, maybe...

"He wouldn't..." Ollie started but Luke needed to know the truth. And that .

"Get me something that smells like her," he snapped, not caring who would react to that order and jogged around the house to the back porch. He shrugged off his coat, pulled his shirt over his head and ignored the shiver that ran over his body as the cold air assaulted him.

"What are you going to do?" Ollie asked him suddenly as he got started with his shoes, slipping out of them and balling up his socks inside them.

"I am going to find her," Luke answered determinedly. He was going to find her. And she was going to be fine. "Take the car back to the school, I am starting there." He told Ollie, and in the next moment let the shift run over him, heat and pressure until a wolf stood where just seconds before a human had been.

He shook his head, orienting himself and then turned to find Caroline in the doorframe to the living room, holding what must have been Daphne's pillow.

"Here," she held it out for him and he pressed his nose into it, sorting through the smells easily enough until he had filtered out what was uniquely daphne.

Luke let her scent engulf him, tired to commit the sweet and warm scent to memory.

And then he turned and ran.

He wasn't as quick as Grace. Nobody was as quick as Grace.

But he was quick enough and he was the best tracker in the pack. His scent of smell was exceptional and right now he needed that. He needed it to keep his mate safe.

He didn't take a single break as he darted into the forest, the trees nothing more than a single smudge of colour in his peripheral vision as he ran to the school. If he caught her scent somewhere...then there.

It had started snowing again, diluting her scent, making it more difficult to track her.

He got a whiff of her scent just outside the building that housed the art classroom. Thankfully the School was empty now, so nobody saw the big black wolf sprinting over the parking lot but even if anybody did...Luke didn't care.

He had only one thing he cared about right now and that was his mate. Her scent pulled him right along the high way, sweet and soft and still the sour undertone that he couldn't place, the smell of iron and blood.

And then he smelled another scent, right there layered on top of Daphne. Masculine. Bluebells. Sharp and Icy.

There was only one person that smelled like that.

Something was wrong. Something was wrong....

And then suddenly her smell stopped. He came to a standstill, trying to figure out what had happened.

Either a car...or...he looked down in the forest.

He tracked over the forest, trying to find her.

And then he saw her.

Or more exactly, the first thing he saw was the bright sherry red of her scarf. He saw her backpack lying next to her, it's contents spilt out in the snow.

Her parka was laying there in the snow as well, nothing but a khaki green splash of colour against the white ground.

Daphne laid in the snow, her blood dyeing the white snow a scarlet red.

She looked like a rag doll somebody had carelessly thrown away like nobody had cared where her limbs would land.

He was moving before he could think, jumping down towards her, a howl ripping out of his throat louder and more desperate than any other sound he had ever heard before.

It was a cry for help and a call for arms all at the same time as the feeling of blind desperation filled him with his mate hurt in front of him.

The scent of blood intensified as he reached her, her breathing shallow, her eyes closed. Her face was a mess of bruises and wounds, technicolour. He couldn't even see her pale skin underneath all the bruises anymore.

He carefully pressed his nose against her face, a high whine escaping him, begging her to react to him, to open her eyes, to move a finger.

Nothing.

Her heart was beating weakly, shuddering, and he could feel how weak she was.

He reacted on instinct.

He wasn't proud of what he did. He never would be. Even years later he would want to apologise for his action when he reached for her wrist.

His sharp teeth closed around the fragile bones.

He bit.

Blood flooded his mouth, her blood and he licked the wounds trying to get as much saliva in her bloodstream as possible.

If he was lucky, if she was latent as he believed, if she had it inside her, if...

He howled again, loudly, getting to her left side and repeating his action. He didn't allow himself to move her, too scared about her back, her hips, too scared about any other broken bones.

If there were spine injuries...if his bite wouldn't take...He couldn't take that risk.

The only other place he could easily reach to bite her was her neck. He couldn't...

He tried to be as careful as he could, knowing that he would be able to break her neck too fucking easily like this.

Luke had dreamed about putting a bite there but only once....it would complete their mating.

A mating bite in the side of her neck. He would bite her and she would bite him, completing the bond and making it strong and durable and everything he hoped for.

He had never wanted to get his wolf teeth on her human neck, knowing that if he did this wrong, he would break her neck in seconds.

As careful as possible, he closed his jaw, punctuated the skin easily, slicing through skin and muscle like a hot knife through butter. He stopped as soon as her blood filled his mouth. He reacted instinctually with producing saliva, just like he would do if he would hunt another damn rabbit and licked over the wounds he had made, hoping that this would help, would help her alive long enough to get help.

He moved downwards, not being her torso and then was left with her legs. Her left thigh was mangled...was that bone sticking out?

If Luke would have been human...he would have thrown up.

He wasn't though and he was running on adrenaline and desperation. Enough desperation that he repeated the same thing to her right thigh. He bit through her Jeans, letting the saliva drip into the open wound.

"OH god." He looked up from biting her thigh, finding Grace and Ollie there, both of them human and getting down to them from the street level.

His sister sat down a bag in the snow just next to Daphne and he shifted back, pushing down the wolf as harshly as he could. Thankfully he went willingly, instinctually understanding that Daphne needed his human form far more than the wolf.

Luke had bitten her, had pushed enough saliva inside her that hopefully, the bite would take and now he needed to stop the blood follow.

He yanked on his clothing, it taking far too long for his liking, while Grace had fallen on her knees next to Daphne's head, shaking hands reaching out to touch her.

"Don't lift her, Ollie!" He snapped warningly.

"We need to get her out of the snow!" Ollie protested near hysterical and while Luke agreed...they couldn't...They could make it so much worse if they just lifted her up without a plan, without.

And then thankfully he heard another car, his Sherrif's car and just seconds later, his uncle Andrew took the scene in seconds.

It was ridiculous calming to know that there was an actual adult there now that knew what to do.

His uncle climbed down the hill to come to be at their side, already checking over Daphne.

"You bit her, Luke?" His uncle asked him, hands slowly pressing against Daphne's body, cataloguing and he could only nod.

His uncle said nothing else for a few seconds, winding his own scarf around her head and neck to try and stem the bleeding.

"Belt, Luke, Ollie" He commanded sharply. He used them as tourniquets around both of her legs, just above the bone and just above the bite that had been supposed to save her life and was probably just making it worse.

"Luke, you take her," Andrew commanded then suddenly and Luke lifted her immediately, as gently as he could. He cradled her battered and broken body against himself, a soft pained moan coming from her.

"We'll get her to Matthew as quickly as we can," His uncle promised him softly.

"Grace, you drive. Ollie, call your parents now." All of them listened to the snapped orders, just happy that they weren't the one needing to make these decisions.

"Susan, Thomas, you are on crime scene duty," his uncle continued to snap, now in Sheriff mode. "Don't leave anything behind...we can't do that the human way...not without a damn explanation of how we found her and with Luke's bites all over her and not fucking closing."

"Should...should we call an ambulance?" Ollie asked suddenly and Andrew shook his head.

"No, we can't. Not if you want to explain the bite wounds on her body," Andrew said softly. "We need to deal with that ourself."

"There's so much blood, Grace whispered before she finally seemed to shook out of whatever she was thinking, running up towards the street and Luke followed her. He tried to move as smoothly as possible, not wanting to put Daphne in more pain than what was needed.

They got in the car, Ollie on the phone with his parents, Grace behind the driver's wheel, Luke, Daphne and his uncle all on the backseat, her head cradled against his shoulder, trying to stem the bleeding. His uncle's hands were over the bite woads on her thigh, her other leg also smeared with blood and...

"She's hypothermic," Andrew told him, checking over her fingertips that had turned nearly purple.

"She has been in the snow for at least an hour by now," Luke whispered, pulling her as close to him as he could, cradling her head.

If his body warmth was going to make it better than he would happily keep her pressed against him.

She was going to be fine. She needed to be fine. He had no idea what he was supposed to do if she wouldn't be fine. He needed her to be fine. He needed her to be healthy again.

"You'll be fine. We'll get you help..." he whispered against her head, pressing a kiss to her icy skin. "It's gonna be alright."

He kept up the litany of that, promising her that the pain would stop, that she was safe, promising her that all would be well and a thousand other things that he knew he wouldn't be able to keep.

The drive was quiet and terse. He kept the pressure on the wound on her head, trying to stop it from bleeding as much as it was possible but her blood was all over him, soaking through his shirt and his jeans, her neck wound bleeding just as much.

He was hoping that her werewolf healing would kick in, that at least the wounds where he had bitten her would close but it didn't.

Daphne was quiet, her breathing still shallow, sometimes punctuated by a soft wheezing sound.

His sister was driving like the devil but he didn't worry about that.

Her reflexes were that of a werewolf, they didn't have car accidents like that. Not really. Speed wasn't a problem for them, their reflexes were so much better than the ones from humans.

The car skid to hold in front of the Hyde's house and Luke got her out of the car, resulting in another tiny pained cry that he tried to soothe.

"Oh god," it was Matthew's whispered words that told Luke that it was as bad as he thought it was.

"Get her in the living room, on the floor," Matthew commanded and he got her in the house as quickly as possible, Matthew throwing a clean sheet on the floor. For a moment Luke wondered why Matthew hadn't put her on the dinner table until he realised that the danger of her falling off that was real.

He kept her head supported, pressed the scarf to her neck and her scalp where there was still blood trickling from her.

"Caroline, I need scissors!" Matthew snapped, already cataloguing injuries. He prodded her legs, his hands shaking as they touched where Luke had bitten her.

"I have two of the deputies there," Andrew said, kneeling next to Luke on the floor "We are...rigging the crime scene. We can't do it the human way."

"Why not?" Caroline brought out as she handed Matthew scissors, her hand pressed in front of her mouth.

"Luke bit her to try and stop the blood flow, Caroline," Matthew answered softly.

"Where did you bite her?" Caroline asked him.

"Neck and wrist and thigh," Luke brought out. "I am so sorry. I tried to get as much saliva in the wounds as I could."

"You did well," Matthew told him but he shook his head.

The blood was still dripping. "It's not working." He whispered. It needed to start working. It needed to start doing something...she couldn't...

"It will," Matthew promised him.

Matthew cut through the layers of clothing Daphne wore and Luke concentrated on her face, on the way how nearly both of her eyes were swollen shut and bruised, on the black and purple and blue that covered her face.

"At least three broken ribs..." Matthew whispered, his hands on her ribcage which colour was the same as the purple and blue on her face. had taken care to bruise every square inch of her body.

"Any punctuated her lungs?" Andrew asked but Matthew shook his head.

"Deep bruises all over her torso..." Matthew continued, putting pressure on her stomach and being calmed by the non-existent reaction that he got.

"Andrew cut off her jeans," Matthew commanded. "Be careful with the tourniquets though."

Luke didn't look at her legs. He couldn't.

"Broken femur...I need to set that." Matthew said, his voice calm, narrating the horror of the whole situation."Broken wrist as well..."

"Turn her around, carefully," he told Luke and Luke turned her as gently as she could to her right side, careful not to jostle the broken leg too much.

"Oh my god." It was Matthew's whisper that made Luke lookup. He looked at her back, the bloody remnants of her sweater not covering it any more.

A criss-cross of scars, welts and marks were there, the sour smell intensifying when Luke saw the reason for it.

Her back infected, wounds angry red and pus leaking out of some of them.

New bruises covered them as well, but the wounds...these were old. At least days if not weeks. If not...

"I'll need to wash these out and..." Matthew said, his voice broken...

"When did that happen?" Luke brought out. Old enough...had they happened when she was already with him? Were they older? Had she walked around with them for weeks and none of them had noticed?

"I don't know," Matthew answered. "They are...they look old enough to have happened before her mother died but I can't..."

"Matthew," His Uncle's voice was soft, making them both lookup. "There are...cigarette burns on her thighs. Scarred though. They must be a few years old. "

The knowledge of that rippled through the room and Luke looked at her, his vision blurring at the edges when he fought with his wolf that wanted nothing more than to rip apart whoever had dared to do that to her.