Lily hadn't stopped shaking since Andrew handed her the ransom note. Her mind was churning up horrible ideas of what Yuric was doing with Poppy in his grasp. How'd she even get into his clutches? Why did Yuric go after her? She was a young werewolf and they weren't friends, so why'd he get her? What did she do?

Andrew had driven her back to the packhouse. He claimed it wouldn't be safe going back to her home, and he wanted her in his eyesight at all times. As he said in the cemetery, Lily was his only chance at getting his pack member back.

Now sitting in his office, surrounded by books, Lily was trying to drown out everyone's yelling. Apparently Andrew had his top wolves out searching for Poppy or any trace of Yuric and his rogues, but with no luck yet. In the meantime he had the other people he trusted in the room deciding what their plan should be.

"Look, when we find Yuric we can send our wolves to get him-"

"That's if we find him Laura! We have miles of forest to look through, you really think we'll find him that quickly?"

"Andrew, I'm trying to be optimistic."

Jack raised her hand but didn't bother waiting for everyone to be quiet. "Hear me out, what if we send witches in to scour the forest? We could sense if anything's wrong with the forest and go from there?"

Andrew scowled. "What good is that going to do Jack? These wolves are rogue, they won't care about some trees."

"That's my point, we could sense if there's any bonfires or something similar-"

"Why would they light a bonfire?!"

"I don't know maybe they're idiots!"

Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, look, are we sure Yuric is after Lily?"

"Are you daft?" Jack scrunched up her face. "The note said, 'a flower for a flower'. Do you know anyone else who's name is a freaking flower? Or someone who's been followed by rogues for the past two weeks other than Lily?"

Ryan narrowed his eyes. "What if we sent someone into the forest that looked like Lily but wasn't? Like a doppelganger?"

Jack stared at him. "Oh that's a great idea, why didn't we think about that? Why don't we send someone that looks like Lily to the unknown location of Yuric and his rogues, into a place where a rogue knows what she looks like thanks to the escapee from the lock down, and from the attempted kidnapping on Alice-"

"Okay I get it, it won't work-"

"While we're at it, let's get them to wear a shirt that says 'I'm Lily' just to make it clear that this person is totally Lily!"

"I'm trying to think of another way!" Ryan snapped, rubbing the back of his neck. "There has to be another way instead of handing Lily over!"

Andrew crossed his arms. "And what about Poppy?"

Laura held up her phone. "I've heard nothing from her still."

"You think she can escape a compound of rogues?" Jack scoffed. "She's one wolf!"

"Hey, she might have found a way!" Laura defended. "I can't believe they have her until I see some proof!"

"There was a note on your alpha's doorstep with a bouquet of poppies, what more proof do you want, a finger in the post box?!" Jack stood from her chair, hands flayed in exasperation. Lily spotted her magic shoot to the browning plant on the shelf, now a living vibrant green with beautiful blue flowers. Green magic was now coiled around each of Jack's fingers, but they all kept bickering over Lily's head regardless.

Andrew held a finger up, eyes sharpening. "I have an idea."

"Oh no." Jack muttered under her breath.

"What if we send Lily in, give Yuric what he wants, and then storm the rogues with the pack?"

"That's the worst idea in the world!" Jack spat, and Ryan and Laura quickly backed her up.

"We can't give Lily to Yuric! Who knows what he'll do with her!" Ryan shot up from his chair.

Laura also stood. "We can't storm a place where we don't know what the numbers are! There could be thousands of them! We're a pack of barely a hundred wolves!"

"And you don't know where their stronghold is!" Jack added. "They might pull a Kenobi on you and have the high ground, and then where will you be? Legless and burning and bathing in milk for decades!"

"For goodness sake Jack we haven't watched Star Wars!" Laura snapped. "We need to focus on what we can do to help Poppy!"

"It's not my fault you're all uncultured!"

Ryan sat back down. Lily watched him as he held his fingers to his temples to stop the oncoming headache he was getting from all of Andrew's bad ideas, Laura's logic, and Jack's sarcasm. His blonde hair was ruffled up from stress and his eyes were shut to the world. Lily let out a breath as she watched the others still yelling about what to do with the ransom dumped at their doorstep. Whatever decision they would finally come to, it appeared they'd do it without asking her at all.

Lily gently stood up from her chair, no longer shaking. Reality had washed over her but she wouldn't be able to think clearly with her friends yelling her ears off. Ryan lifted his head up when he saw her move but she shook her head when he went to stand.

"Just need some air." She quietly whispered, hoping he'd hear over Andrew's yelling that maybe they should get some drones to look over the forest, and Jack's rebuke of, "There are trees, you cretin!"

Ryan hesitated but sat back down, watching as Lily walked out the office. Jack spun around at the sound of the door closing, and the room fell silent.

"She just wanted some air." Ryan filled in. Jack's expression deflated however Andrew clenched his jaw.

"She shouldn't go to far from the house." Andrew scowled. Jack whirled on him.

"Don't treat her like she's some pet." Jack stood up for her friend, eyes bright in fury. "Of all the things we've yelled about this past hour, the one thing we haven't discussed is how we'll save Lily when she's in Yuric's hands?"

"She doesn't have to go-" Ryan attempted to say, trying to think of another way than handing off the girl he couldn't get out of his head to a psychopath and a murderer.

"Yes, she does." Jack interrupted, looking sadly at the door Lily left from. "Yuric won't accept anyone that isn't Lily, and his rogue will confirm if it's her or not. We don't know if Poppy's really in his clutches, or even if she's still alive, but it has to be Lily that goes."

Jack went and sat down, the others following suit as they came to the realisation all their ideas were useless. The only plan that would work was to hand over Lily to save Poppy. "We need to think of a plan, a damn good plan, that will help Lily get to the rogues and then to save her and Poppy from them." Jack said sternly. "And if I hear another stupid idea I'm going to turn your house into a jungle; snakes and all."

Andrew leaned back on the sofa next to her, his scowl softening to a smile curved with respect. When she wasn't being sarcastic, she was quite the leader. Jack was a phenomenal person and always took him by surprise. He was glad she was on his side, and not against. He was glad Lily was as well.

"Okay." He agreed. "Let's talk about how we'll save them."

Lily herself had wondered out the back of the pack house, following the sounds of the forest. Her feet were leading her away, she wasn't paying too much attention to where she was going, just letting her instinct guide her. She hesitated when she stood on the decking outside, noticing the broken wood on her left.

Remnants from the attack on the pack house last week.

Lily paused to look at the wreck the rogues had made; damaged bricks on the side of the house, shards of broken wood scattered around scorched grass like a mosaic. Lily inhaled deeply to try and settle her churning stomach but all she smelled was smoke trapped in the wood beneath her.

If the rogues could do this to a pack house and kill their alpha - why did they need her?

Lily left behind the charred remains and followed the pebble path into the forest. It was still pack territory so Andrew couldn't yell at her for veering off to nowhere, endangering her life and Poppy's too.

She just needed some space away from the people who seemly were deciding her fate, without even asking what she thought about it all.

Lily was scared. She knew already she'd give herself over to save Poppy, there was no questioning that. She was scared for what Yuric was going to do with her after. Was he going to lock her up and then attack the pack house again? She did knock out two of his wolves without a mark on her, maybe he was playing a power card, like Andrew said earlier in the week. Yuric wanted the wild card - herself - just so Andrew's pack didn't have her.

She didn't remember suddenly becoming a pack member, or being a wild card in a game of power plays and werewolf politics, but here she was - about to be sacrificed as bait and win the game for Andrew.

Lily stopped when the pebbles ended by a small lake. It shimmered under the arching sun, illuminating the tyre swing roughly hooked on a tree, and the dock a little further ahead. This must be where the werewolves went to cool down in the summer, or in autumn when it was warm enough, but the place was deserted since it'd been raining and miserable weather for weeks.

Lily head to the dock and sat down at the edge, overlooking the gently swirling water. She glimpsed her rippling reflection on the surface; a blur of her red hair, pale skin, and a dark void where her eyes were before water moved again, disturbed by the fish swimming underneath.

"How easy your life is." She muttered to the fish lazily swimming under her hovering feet. "I wish I was a fish."

Lily sighed, knowing it was pointless to wish for impossible things. She couldn't save Poppy if she was a fish. She couldn't have saved Alice is she was a fish. She couldn't wish for the easier option, it was always impossible or improbable. Having a hard choice always benefited someone in the end.

Lily had to hand herself over to Yuric to save Poppy.

She was just trying to work up the courage to walk into his grasp, wherever he was. How was she supposed to find him? Lily didn't even know what he looked like.

Or whether Poppy was still alive.

Lily's lip trembled. She didn't want to cry but the pressure on her shoulders grew to match the pressure in her chest, and the tears sprung in the corner of her eyes. Lily wiped them over her freckled cheeks, trying to hold herself together.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose and a shiver went down her spine.

Lily whipped around, alert, but nothing was behind her. Her fingers gripped the pier tightly, nails digging in. The forest was silent. The birds she'd been hearing moments before flew away, shrieking in alarm. Adrenaline flooded her body as Lily slowly stood up, staring at the forest at the end of the pier.

Someone was here.

She heard twigs cracking underfoot, the grass bend as they walked closer to her. Lily blinked, and her eyes burned away the darkness to reveal the glowing silver beneath. She was alert, not letting this person get away again. They'd escaped in the meditation class, and Lily was willing to bet they were the same person that followed her outside the principal's office as well.

Lily heard the shuffling stop and the quick thumping of their heart. It was clear to her now with her creature's eyes - she could glimpse the outline of someone at the end of the pier, swallowed in the shadows.

"I know you're there," she said with a clear voice.

Instantly the shadows melted away, revealing the person standing before her. A man stood at the edge of the pier. He watched her intently with black eyes, his skin akin to a shadow itself, with a shaven head that gleamed under the sun. He was wearing dark cargo trousers and a loose top, nothing fancy and completely practical, but there was nothing casual in his glare.

"I think it's about time we talked, Lily." He had a deep voice and a clipped accent. "I'm the Supernova, and it's been a long time since I've seen one of your kind around here."