Maddison was not surprised by the pain shooting through her fist and arm, but she was impressed with herself when Wayne went flying five feet back into one of his wolves.

  "I'm not dead, you bastard!" she snarled, making a leap for him. Reece grabbed her around the middle, though, and stopped her. "Why don't you come here Wayne, you sack of shit?! Show me how a real man handles things?"

  "What the f-" exclaimed one of the men, eyes wide.

  "I swear Wayne, if you come within a mile of Kalie again I'll tear your still beating heart out!" screamed Maddison, still trying to escape Reece. "She is not yours, and has never been yours! Just because you are only half a man who needs his whole pack to beat up some tiny submissive!"

  "'Ello, boys." Said a familiar Irish burr. They werewolves of Wayne's pack spun around, one still trying to help Wayne to his feet. "We've been looking for you lads." Smirked Liam O'Shea standing on Reece's front lawn. He looked pretty good for a pale, red headed, vampire out in the late morning sun. "We didn't think you would be so dumb as to come back here, but I set some people on watch any-a-ways. Lo and behold, I'm on my way over for follow up questions and I get a call! The very people I've been wanting to see are right outside the door!"

  "Let me go Reece." Maddison growled dangerously.

  "I can't do that." He grunted.

  "Why not!? I just want to maim them a small bit!"

  "Because there are five of them."

  "So! I took out their dumb, useless, Alpha with a single punch! And I've been a werewolf for a day! Besides, what are they going to do with you and Lucky Charms over there watching? Let-Me-Go!"

  "Lucky Charms? Not very original miss Nixon." Laughed Liam O'Shea, a gun in one hand pointed at Wayne's head, almost daring the man to attack him with his werewolf strength. Maddison could see other officers behind Reece's mustang, and around the side of the house too. They were surrounded.

  "Well, I'm a little preoccupied to be thinking up pet names!" she snapped.

  "You bitch!'" snarled Wayne, a bloody nose and a bruise forming around one eye. So Kalie couldn't even kill you right! Where is the little whore? KALIE!!! Come out here!"

  "Don't you even say her name!"

  "Alright Reece, you might want to reel in your female. Cant very well arrest some criminals with her trying to tear out peoples hearts."

  Maddison snarled at O'Shea now. She did not belong to anyone! Maybe she would beat him up too.

  "Maddie?" Kalie called out fearfully before her pink head appeared around the door.

  Maddison immediately stopped struggling to turn to Kalie. "Get back inside!" she hissed. Kalie yelped and dove back into the house.

  Wayne tried to make a break for her, but- freed from Reece for a moment- Maddison slammed her knee into his face. He fell to the ground again, clutching his face and shouting profanities.

  She barely registered the OWPD officers closing in to arrest the other wolves. She was in too much pain. Reece scooped her up and brought her back into the house. He carried her to the kitchen and sat her on a bar stool. She saw Kalie cowering near the fridge.

  "Sorry Kalie... I didn't mean to snap at you. Im usualy more in control then that..."

  "Maddie, your leg!" Kalie exclaimed, pale in the face.

  Maddison looked down at the burning knee she had slammed into Wayne's face while Reece rummaged in his drawers and then turned on the faucet. Her pants were torn and bloody.

  "Is that a tooth?" she asked, feeling nauseous. Stuck in the flesh above her knee was what appeared to be an incisor.

  "That is what happens when you knee a man in the mouth!" Reece snapped, rushing back to Maddison with a damp cloth in hand. "Kalie, go to the washroom and grab the first aid kit from under the sink."

  Kalie nidded and rushed to do what was asked of her.

  Maddison sucked air between her teeth and swayed a little on her stool. "I'm sorry Reece..."

  He reached out and yanked the tooth out of her skin. She winced, but otherwise made no reaction.

  "Its okay." He said kindly, unbuttoning her pants. Her heart skipped a beat and heat spread up from her core and through her limbs. Reece smirked, his nostrils flared. "Don't tepmt me woman." He growled, fire dancing in his green eyes. "Now stand up so I can get these off of you and treat that bite. I don't like his mark on you..."he added in an angry grumble.

  "Mark?" she asked, feeling all the more drawn to Reece as she shimmied out of her jeans, wincing as the fabric scraped on her wound.

  "It's the bite." Said Kalie, reappearing with a blue tackle box that she laid on the island. "If its not cleaned out good right away then you'll carry Wayne's scent till it disappears with your next shift, or the one after. Reece is Call Bonded to you, so the mark is probably driving him a little nuts."

  "Sorry." She said to Reece again, enjoying his hands on her bare skin when she sat back on the stool. He leaned over her to get to the first aid kit and Maddison took in his scent. When he came back holding peroxide he gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. She felt urges bubble up inside.

  Kalie snorted. "A good fight always gets the werewolf juices flowing." She joked, rolling her eyes. "Though, usually that's with the males not the females..."

  "Shush. Leave her alone." Said Reece a little playfully.

  Kalie giggled. "Wow detective Masters, you're a bit of a perv."

  He pretended to growl at Kalie. Maddison liked seeing them get along. It boded well for their future in the pack. Ugh! She really could not wait to be part of the pack. She didn't even know these people, yet she was desperate.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Wait till we run! The wind through our fur and the moon up above. One with the pack!

  Yes, there was that too. Maddison had to admit she was looking forward to the shift.

  "Ouch!" Maddison shouted as Reece poured the peroxide over her wound.

  "I did warn you." He said with that now familiar rougish grin. "Not my fault you were day dreaming."

  "She was probably picturing you snapping a man in half." Kalie said whistfully, gaining a smile from Reece.

  "Not at all." Maddison huffed. "If you must know, I was talking to my wolf. She has an attitude, and an inability to stay on topic. I'm contemplating pack things and she wont stop howling about running under the moon! It's confusing, having another person in my head."

  "Hmm. That's odd. Usualy, other than a few insignificant things, the person and the wolf are very similar. They don't get into arguments very often." Reece said gently wiping Maddison's wound. She caught him steeling glances at her panties too. After a few seconds his scent seemed to change. It got muskier and richer.

  Kalie started giggling again. "You two are going to be so fun to be around. Can you not even be within touching distance without getting all frisky?"

  Maddison flushed again, realizing that it was Reece's arousal she had been smelling. She looked at Reece shyly, but he didn't look embarrassed at all. In fact, he looked cocky and pleased with himself.

  "What are you smirking about?" she asked, as the noise outside began to rise. She had almost forgotten about Wayne, she was so engrossed in Reece. It sounded as if the other pack was being herded away from Reece's house.

  "Nothing." He said with a self satisfied smile that both intrigued and annoyed Maddison. Then he bent over and licked her wound! Three times!

  "Hey! What was that about?" she asked a little grossed out. That was an open-albeit small- cut, and it had just been soaked in peroxide... Her wolf was not put off at all. She was pleased by Reece. Wolves are weird.

  "Now you smell like me." He said, his face still down by her knee and a hand on either side of her on the island. He truly looked like a predator and Maddison had never felt so drawn to a person in her life.

  "I can smell the pheromones all the way outside." Chuckled Liam, who had appeared silently in the doorway.

  "Damn it Lucky Charms! Do I have to put a bell on you?" gasped Maddison, her heart racing.

  "You do realize that he is my boss's boss right?" Asked Reece with a raised eyebrow, not bothering to move from his prone position. "Not to mention a centuries old vampire."

  "Really? Got any good stories?" Maddison asked, switching from irritated to fascinated in an instant.

  "Aye. Some would make even your toes curl miss Nixon." Growled the vampire flashing a toothy grin. She really did like Liam after all.

  "Do you mind?" snapped Reece, growling at his boss. "Don't you have some lowlifes to arrest or something?"

  The red haired vampire chuckled and winked at Maddison, causing Reece to snap up straight and growl threateningly at him.

  "Take it easy werewolf." Liam laughed. "I have no designs on the young miss Nixon, no matter how fetching her eyes, or alluring her take-no-prisoners-attitude."

  "I also say those things are awesome." Kalie piped in, raising a hand.

  "How are things outside?" Maddison asked to change the topic. "Need my help?"

  "No ma'am. We've got them all loaded up. Some of the pack is un accounted for, but we got Wayne, and that was the main thing. He won't be harming anyone, anymore. And you've given him a few scars to take with him. He's shifted to wolf in the back of a car right now."

  "So he's gone for good then?" Kalie asked worriedly.

  "Yes, he is. The OWPD takes human transformations very seriously. If werewolves and vampires were allowed to change people all willy-nilly, the humans would put up a stink and we'd be back at square one with them." The vampire turned to Maddison and withdrew a slip of paper from his sleeve, handing it to her.

  "What's this?" she asked.

  "A cheque." He said.

  "A cheque? For what?" she turned the piece of paper over and gasped.

  "Compensation from the OWCC. Restitution for trauma, life long disfigurement, loss of wages and just about anything else. I sort of toned out the OWCC representative after ten minutes of her prattle. I've no patience for people in suits." Is what he said, but Maddison was quite sure that he, himself, often had to wear suits considering his job.

  Yet another government acronym. The OWCC, or Other-Worlder Council Canadian division (why the left out the 'D' she had no clue), was the all powerful group of Other-Worlders who ran the OWPD, and anything else that had to do with Other-Worlders.

  Apparently being turned into a werewolf against your will got you a lot of money. More like an obscene amount of money! Her, and everyone down to her grandchildren, would be well off for life.

  "Are you sure there are supposed to be this many zeros?" she breathed.

  Curious, Kalie came forward and bent her pink head over the slip of paper. "Holly crap!" she exclaimed, stepping back and looking at at Maddison with wide eyes. "Who knew becoming a werewolf would be so lucrative... You're totally a millionaire now! Hey, you can buy your own place now too."

  "I-I don't know if I'm comfortable with this..."

  "Millionaire? I know they payout good for accidental turns, but that is a lot." Wondered Reece, his face somewhat sad.

  "Well, one reason would be because Maddison here is an Alpha – its always a good idea to keep an Alpha werewolf happy, less collateral damage that way. But my guess is that Wayne is the main reason."

  "Him? What's that prick got to do with anything?" Maddison growled.

  "Well, between us four, this is information I'm not supposed to know. I did some digging and found out that this Wayne character has been getting into trouble for years. Turns out his granddaddy is a big-wig at the OWCE- the euro division you know?- and was pulling his weight to cover up Wayne's bad behavior. Had Wayne been taken care of properly he would never of been around to hurt you or Kalie at all."

  Rage filled Maddison like white-hot fire. She growled savagely through clenched teeth, the cheque crumpling in her balled fist.

  "Why didn't you let me skin him!?" she snarled at Reece, taking him by surprise. "I don't want money, I want his head stuffed on the wall!"

  He was leaning away from Maddison's rage, but a grin was plastered on his face and a spark had returned to his handsome, emerald eyes.

  "I never took you for the type to lust after the violent ones." Liam chuckled, his hands in the pockets of his trench coat. "Who knew we had that in common?"

  "Just because you are my boss does not mean I won't snap you in half vampire!" Reece growled, but the grin was still on his face.

  "Ugh!" grumped Maddison dramatically. She hated when people drove her to dramatics. She tossed the cheque on the counter and stomped her foot. "And what about Kalie?! Doesn't she get some compensation? I hardly think I've been through much compared to her!"

  The room grew silent. Liam looked unaffected and very vampire-y, Reece wouldn't meet her gaze, and Kalie just smiled sweetly at her.

  "The things done to me- Maddie, to werewolves all of it is normal..." she said sadly, but with resignation. It broke Her heart.

  "Rape is not normal! Being prejudice is not normal! How can everyone just get away with that?!" Maddison raged. She felt the tears well up in her eyes, and she threw herself into a dining room chair, pulling up her legs and wrapping them in her arms. She buried her face in her knees and cried.

  "Maddie! Oh no, please don't cry!" Kalie said, rushing forward.

  "So this is the world I'm in now?" she said, voice muffled and strained. "So if some werewolf storms in here right now, throws me on the floor and has his way with me its okay?"

  "What!?" snapped Reece. "No, absolutly not!"

  "Oh, right, wrong time of year. In the summer then? Then it becomes okay?" the only response she got was the air rushing out of Reece's lungs.

  "You don't understand-" he began.

  "Your right! I don't understand!" She screamed. "clearly the council knows what happened is wrong, or else they wouldn't have bothered trying to buy me off."

  "During the heat things go crazy- you have to live it to know-"

  "Well I will live it now, wont I? Congratulations to Maddison, she gets her independence stolen, a shit ton of hush money, and gets her virginity stolen in a few months to boot! Oh, and she get to look forward to that happening every year for the rest of her life!"

  "That wont happen!" insisted Reece, making an attempt to approach her.

  Maddison jumped up from her chair with a grace and speed she was not capable of the day before, and held out a hand, warding him off. Her chest hurt so much! "Why won't it happen Reece? Because you'll make sure you are the one doing the deed?" she moaned, feeling like a hand was squeezing her hart.

  Maddison spun on her heel and stormed past Liam, who glided out of her way, a look of concern on his face, and ran up the stairs to her own apartment, slamming the door behind her.