= Mason's Pov =

As Mason watched his desperation grew.
His mate was no longer writhing in pain—which was probably less terrifying than her stone-cold pose she had adopted now.

She hadn't moved after Mason had made the split decision to move her from the chaos that was once a dance floor, changing forms be damned. His hands still tingled from the nerve frying shock of electricity that passed through his hands the minute he touched her shoulders.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up in a bleak barricaded house with Akira standing over him, telling him that he had passed out after he had tried to pick up Taylor, so Akira brought them somewhere safe until Mason came around.

It seemed during his snooze, Taylor finally had decided on a form, opting for one with fur.

He stroked her side once, hoping for any sign that she could feel him, sense…something.

The battle raged on outside, making Akira and Daren hover outside the house as protectors. Mason could smell the panic of other WereFamilies seeking refuge, huddled in the back rooms.

Mason's eyes shot briefly to a crying WolverineWere pup, currently in his human form, his little brown eyes filled with tears as he clung to his mother's shirt. Mason had made a mental catalogue of all the animals in the room with him. He wasn't about to be caught unawares if some species got edgy and decided to lash out. Everyone was a potential threat right now.

A few lion cubs mingled with other young cats near a sofa, their reflective eyes wide in terror but refusing to breakdown into hysterics. Two foxes curled themselves in the corner, their red orange coats mirroring the color of the fire's glow filtering through the windows from outside.

There were more shots, making a pack, consisting of some hyenas, wild dogs, jackals, dingo, coyotes—and of course, wolves, yip and flinch under the dining room table.

All of the Weres around him were young and very few were accompanied by any parents of their own. But the beauty of the Sanctuary, other mothers, daughters, fathers, stepped up and tried to comfort foreign young.

A young lioness in human form, only 16 if he had to guess, hissed her displeasure at his probing attention around the room. His wolf rose to the forefront and a growl burst from his lips, making him step between her and Taylor.

Half the Weres in the room jumped, shying away from what they thought would be bloodshed. The lioness backed down with a shiver, almost making him feel guilty.

Daren burst into the room, coated black by being so close to the smoke and ash, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Mason tried to keep his voice even and calm. He rose to his feet and swayed.

Daren was at his side at once steadying him, "Alpha, lie down, please. You're of no good to us in this condition, let alone if you get yourself killed."

He bristled, knocking Daren's hands away.
His condition? He was never in any damn hindering "condition" and he wasn't about to be useless now.
"No. We need to get out of here."

"We can't. We're surrounded, the most we can do is sit tight and kill as they invade."

"Surrounded?" Mason blinked, "By whom?"

"It seems some of the local wolves," Daren sneered the word as if he wasn't in the least bit related to the genus at the moment, "Leaked the girls' location and were waiting until ALL of us were in the same place to eliminate us."

"Us?"

"Basin and Kansas City. Competing packs for the female ownerships, Alpha." Daren was being careful not to look into his eyes still.

Still, two packs shouldn't have been able to cause such damage.
"What aren't you telling me?" his tone changed to one of barely contained rage.

Daren hesitated, putting distance between them, "They've hired outside help."

He nodded. It was what he figured but why did this make Daren so jumpy?
"Which they have already been doing, considering all the strays we've caught prowling around Axel's. How many Weres did they employ?"

"….not Weres….witches."

He stared at Daren for several heartbeats, "Pardon?"

"Magic carrying bitches." Akira growled from the open doorway, his arm cradled into his side, "And you haven't heard the best part. Guess whose leading it all?"
His heart was stinking as he suspected the answer, "…Gaby."

"Gaby." Daren nodded in confirmation.

Shit. Mason's mind whirled.
How much did she know? She had been present at all their meetings, all their prisoner questionings.
No wonder the bastards hadn't broken. It was either a snapped neck from them or some magical horror of a slow death from her late in the night.

Christ! She had even been a guard.
That was how wolves kept getting in Axel's perimeter so easily.

"Where's Kaden?"

"No idea, but she's not in danger, YOU are. Gaby doesn't care about getting Kaden or Taylor. She's merely using that as an excuse to appease those packs in exchange for manpower. Persuading them that you won't concede and death is the only option. I wouldn't be surprised if she's arranged attacks at home too. With Axel and you gone and a coven to support her, she'd get what was left of both packs and rule the territories with no opposition."

"Then we need to find Kaden. Where Kaden is, so is Axel. We need to band together and stop her before this all goes to hell." Mason took a step forward.

"No you need to rest—" Daren was cut off by a feminine voice.

"Sorry Alpha," he didn't need to turn around to recognize it was Bree, "But this is for you own good."

He felt a sharp blow to the back of his head before his vision went dark for the second time in one day.

~ Taylor's Pov ~

Was this mutiny? …More importantly, why was she still alive?
Her body wasn't in mind numbing pain anymore. That was a good sign.

She sniffed the air subtly, still keeping her eyes closed.

"Bree! I can't believe you just did that!" Daren chaisted.

"Yeah, well, you know that he wasn't about to stay put and considering this was the first time out of nine others that he could actually understand you and wasn't screaming nonsense about her—"

Taylor could practically feel Bree's fiery gaze on her.

"What did you expect me to do? He kept passing out before he even got to the door. I figured it save him the trouble."

"Not funny." Daren growled.

"Its fine," Taylor recognized Akira's strained voice, "He needs to stay put anyways. There's no way he could fight right now and he wouldn't have listened to us."

"I'm switching guard duty. Daren, you take my post, I need to be where some action is. "

"Fine….besides the more distance we put between you and Mason when he wakes up the better."

Taylor waited what seemed like forever for the noise of footsteps to fade and the doors from the back and front of the house to close.

It was lucky to wake up in her Wolf form because she didn't think she had much energy to Change again. Inside, what little magic she had, rolled, a spiking beat still dancing in her head.

Opening her eyes, she attempted to stand.
Weres of all breeds looked at her progress with unease, as if they could sense the magic her body leaked. With a shake of her head, her vision cleared. Putting one paw in front of another she realized that her body was more than fine. What used to be her bond felt…different. Taylor wasn't sure if this was how she used to feel before sharing a bond with Kaden but she didn't feel empty as she had when it first snapped. Maybe she had acclimated while she was out.

With a glance to the windows, she could make out Akira and Bree in the front lawn, alert and focused on the center of battle that was only a block from their doorstep.

Taylor's eyes next roved over Mason, who lay in an unmoving heap.
Sorry, Mace…
She felt her ears go back at the prospect of what she was about to do.

He had protected her and now she was going to abandon him.
But she had to find Kaden.
It comforted her to know that she left him in good hands at least…although Bree was questionable.

She turned to the audience she had gained since she had rose to her feet.
Showing her teeth in the fiercest silent snarl she could muster, she felt good about making all in her company flinch further away from her—and more importantly, Mason.

Bounding down the hall and jumping through the back window, she thought she'd made it home free…until Daren's voice of alarm reached her ears.

With a snarl of annoyance, she poured on a burst of speed and twisted through the familiar back alleys. She recognized where she was now, only two blocks from the awful purple office.

"Taylor!" Daren called from behind her. He was losing ground, at a severe disadvantage because she was in her Wolf form and he was not.

I'm sorry Daren, I have to find her.

..::. Kaden's POV .::.

Kaden placed the gun back against the small of her back, and knelt down to Gaby's level, placing two fingers on her wrist.
She was definitely dead.

Kaden was indifferent as she took this chance to search Gaby's body for anything that might be useful. She wasn't sure if Gaby had been a part of the ongoing raid or not, but as she searched her pockets the only thing produced was a small red stone.

Before she could figure out what to do with it, Kaden's decision was made for her as she heard a group of voices, freezing her on the spot.

"I heard the shot this way!"

Kaden jumped to her feet as she heard people coming closer, and bolted for the backdoor of the horrible pink office, simultaneously sliding the stone into her pocket.

She reached the door and tried to give the doorknob a twist, realizing with dread that it was locked. Kaden wiped her damp brow on the back of her hand while debating if she could just knock the damn thing down, she rejected that idea as too noisy and conspicuous as she went around the side of the house.

Luck finally being on her side, she spotted a small window big enough for her to squeeze through. Hoping the window was unlocked, she ran for it. Kaden could have leapt for joy to see the glass slide up so easily, only a screen covering the frame.

Popping the frame out with a single jab, she leapt through the opening, expecting for an easy landing, but instead her shoelace caught hold of a piece of splintered wood making up the old window frame, sending her off balance.

Landing with a loud thud on the hard wood floor, she rolled with the fall and went into a low crouch. She crept through the dark room, now seeing that it was some kind of staff lounge, and out into the lobby. Prowling into the next closest room down the hall, she closed the door while praying no one had heard her.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head against the door, listening as the battle raged on outside. If she had any idea what was going on, she would probably be out there fighting alongside Axel, or one of the other Wolves that had waltzed into her life, but she didn't even know who was fighting, or even who the enemy was. For all she knew, another "friend" of theirs could have pulled a "Lucas" and betrayed them again.

With a wary sigh Kaden pushed herself off of the tile floor, and flipped on the light switch, illuminating a small, elegant restroom.

She grabbed a few lilac hand towels and stuffed them into the door crack to block out any outgoing light. Taking stock of the damage done to her body—she couldn't feel the palms of her hands, and her back throbbed from having been thrown backwards on it, but otherwise no major injuries.

Her shirt and jeans, however, hadn't boded so well. They had big burn holes perforating them, and her boots had no soles.

Thinking it was better to go barefoot, she took her shoes off.
Her clothes however, she'd have to deal with.

Wanting to refresh herself a little, she turned on the faucet, letting the water run until it got cold. As she reached down to scoop up some water to splash on her face, she jumped back as a blue electrical discharge left her hands and traveled into the water's stream before she made contact with it.

Slowly she reached for the water again, and the tips of her fingers lit up with what Kaden had to conclude was an some sort of electric current flowing from her insides.

With a pause, staring at her outstretched hands, she sighed warily, "You just HADto blow that damn necklace into the afterlife, didn't you Kaden?"

With a sudden hardening resolve she didn't know she had, Kaden stuck her hands in the water.
No shock, no pain—nothing.
A light still drifted from her hands and traveled through the water, like a harmless illuminating flashlight.

Kaden's heart was beating a mile a minute from the adrenaline rush she'd just induced. Ecstatic she hadn't died from electrocution, she splashed her face with the icy water, helping cooling her nerves a bit. She was still chuckling as she bent over the sink, not believing the situation she was in, when a loud crash shook the little house.

Turning off the light, she forced open the towel barricaded door and crept back out into the hallway only to find that the soul shaking crash had been a body tearing through the walls. Connor's body.

Kaden ran to him, seeing that he was bleeding from a wound on his thigh where he had been staked by a piece of wood from the house.

She grabbed his face between her hands, "Oh shit, oh shit Connor…Connor wake up!"
She slapped him lightly on the cheek.

"Come out and play pup, I ain't done with you yet," Came a taunt from just beyond the hole in the wall.

Grabbing a hold of Connor, she dragged him back to the open restroom door with her, before proceeding to turn and lock it, hopefully slowly whatever happened to blast Connor through the wall in the first place.

She propped him up against a wall and turned to the sink, opened the faucet, and splashed him with water, "Connor! Wake the hell up, man!"

Connor's eyes snapped opened startled, "Kaden?"

"Connor. You okay?" She asked, giving him a slight shake as his eyes started to drift close again.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, eyes still resolutely closed,
"Are you daft? Stop shaking me, it's giving me a bloody migraine."

Kaden smiled, "Guess you're ok."

"I'm aware sweetheart, I'm still alive, eh?"

"You're welcome for that." Kaden mused, reaching towards the stake.

"Thanks sugar," he replied, as he pushed her hand away, smirking up at Kaden, "Though you have to know, since you two came into our lives, thing have got a bit dodgy."

Kaden looked away, shamed, sitting back against the opposite wall.
"What do you know about all this?" she gestured about the warring outside world, but as he opened his mouth to reply, the door blew up into a million pieces.

A tall, slender man stood on the other side.
Around his neck hung a pendant that looked exactly like Gaby's.

Which wasn't good news for them. Not good news, at all.

"You're the filthy dog that killed our leader? Give it back, and I may spare your life." He said in a calm voice.

Kaden looked back at Connor, and then at the man, "The hell are you talking about?"

"Her pendant."

Kaden's wolf was in a frenzy, she wanted to run as far from this man as she could, but Connor was injured, and the only exit was blocked. She worked hard to see past her wolf's panic,
"I… don't have it. It's been destroyed."

The man's eyes bulged before his composure fell and he stuck his hand out towards them, the sudden act made Kaden flinch and put her hands up in a purely instinctive manner to protect her face, and in the process lightning erupted from her open palms, striking the tall man square in the chest.

She fell back as a blinding show of light engulfed the room, and just like that, abated.
It left Kaden and Connor momentarily blind but the tall man was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell was that? Are you a part of the damn coven attacking us?" Connor angrily growled at Kaden, making her flinch.

"No! I don't know what it is! It just kinda' happened!"

Connor made a good show of smelling the air for the sour smell of lies, before calming down a degree.

"Now, what's going on out there?" She asked him again, as she slowly scooted next to him, and started working on removing the stake.

He closed his eyes tightly and ground his teeth as she tenderly removed the stake from his upper tight, "Gaby wants Kansas and Basin pack territories. She bribed t-" Before he could continue, a low growl erupted from his throat as the stake left his leg with a spurt of blood.
He looked up at her not with his usual sky blue eyes, but with dark red eyes.

"Shhh, it's okay Connor." She said soothingly, as she tore a piece of his shirt off and bandages the leg.

He let out a soft moan, and rested his head against the cool sink,
"I never should have left London."

Kaden chuckled, "C'mon, we have to find Axel." She pulled him up.

He growled and snatched his arm out of her grasp, "I'm fine..."

Kaden rolled her eyes, mumbling about males and their pride as she slowly made her way out of the restroom, and out of the horribly pink house.

The fight was still intense; everyone's faces made an ocean of chaos, until one face with brightly blue hair stood out, yelling for her.

"Kaden! Help me! Please!" The young Lynx screamed and trashed against her captor.

Kaden started to go after Cleo and her captor, but Connor beat her to it. The Australian was a very skilled fighter, he got Cleo free from her captor, and the smart girl bolted for Kaden.

"Kaden! Kaden!" She said as she slammed against her in a tight hug.
"What's going on?" She asked, mid sob.

Kaden looked down at the Baby Were, her mascara running down her face,
"Kid I don't know, but when i find out who—"
Was all Kaden was able to say before an anguished, cry cut across the sky.

Taylor's cry.

Kaden's looked up just in time to see Daren fall to the ground in the distance, motionless...

Sorry guys, its been a while huh?
Now, no need to get testy. Its not like that will make us snap to it faster.
But I'll spare excuses, and just say hope you enjoyed it.
And for the future? ...Its gonna get bloody :]
LWW