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Zeke collapsed backwards. His body fell with a thick, wet squelch as blood spilled out across the tiled floor in a crimson wash. His heart thumped in my clasped, clawed hand slower and slower until finally it stilled. I dropped it and leaned back against the window sill. The wolf inside me receeded and left me all alone. My human senses, my human mind rushed to the forefront and took in the whole scene before me.

My breaths came quick and shallow, my hands were stained with blood. I dropped the heart and heard it thud wetly. I heard a series of loud bangs coming from Miles' bedroom door.

"Jack! Jack, I can smell blood! Are you alright?" Lian's voice came uncertain through the door.

"L-Lian..." my voice came distant and small. I didn't sound like myself. I heard the door open as hurried footsteps rushed across the bedroom and stopped at the bathroom door.

I slumped without looking to see who was looking at Zeke's body, all the blood, his heart, both of us naked and bloodied. I drew my knees to my chest and hugged my knees. Lian spilled into the bathroom before anyone else and stopped as he took in the whole scene.

"J-Jack, what have you done?" he whispered.

"I...don't know...SD faded...my wolf...I just didn't...Lian, what do I do? What do I do?" I asked, panicked and weak. Hot tears cascaded down my cheeks as I huddled in on myself, blinded myself from seeing the chaos before me.

Miles peered inside, took one look at the carnage I'd inflicted and abandoned us for his bedroom, retching noises splintered the quiet as I hiccuped with tears of panic and fear. Luis came in next and looked at everything with a cold, calculating stare.

"What happened here?" Luis asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lian snapped back as he clambered over Zeke's body and crouched beside me. "Jack? Jack, come on. Lets get you to your bathroom and get you cleaned up," he added softly.

I shook and cried silents tears as I stared up at the ruined form that was Zeke, that great hole punched through his chest. Dead. Zeke was dead. What had I done? Linus would have me killed. Wouldn't he? Emma was as good as dead too. But Lian had done the same. Did that mean I was destined to be branded with that scriptured 'E'? He'd ruin me. He'd feed me to the werewolves!

"Jack, please get up. Its not going to help you, or anyone else being hunkered down here anymore," Lian breathed. He gripped me by the shoulders. I let him help me stand, my blood stained hands looked stark against the rest of my pale skin. I touched my hands to my temples as a wordless scream escaped me, I could my mind unravelling. I shook. I reached for my piercings, some kind of familiarity, some kind of reminder of who I was before the carnage. Nothing. They'd been severed again because of the transformation.

I looked at Lian and whispered, "My silver."

Lian nodded as he helped me over Zeke's body toward the door, "I'll find them."

I nodded back weakly as I let Lian lead me through Miles bedroom. Miles was nowhere to be seen.

Luis stepped out from the bathroom and demanded, "Wait a minute, I need to know what happened between them!"

Lian rounded on Luis and growled, "Not now!"

Luis looked startled for a moment, then fell quiet. He let Lian lead me through the common room toward my bedroom. I saw Miles, he was huddled on one of the couches rocking gently as he hugged his knees and looked considerably paler than usual, soft whimpers escaped him as his mind raced with untold nightmares. Had I broken him?

"M-Miles...I'm sorry you...had to see all of this," I said quietly.

Miles flinched at the sound of my voice. What had I done?

I focused on something else. I felt a bit more solid now that I wasn't staring down at Zeke's corpse. "Where are Zeke's girls?" I asked.

"They left, they seemed to believe Zeke and you would be a considerable time and it was pointless for them to remain here and wait," Lian explained as he opened my bedroom door and helped me inside.

"Why is Luis here?" I asked.

"I summoned him here. Zeke broke Linus' command and I was hoping he'd stop whatever Zeke was planning to do to you. Zeke was foolish and acted of his own accord, not the Elite's or Linus'," he added, anger burned in his golden eyes.

"You shouldn't have intervened, Lian," I replied.

"This shouldn't have happened!"

I stepped through the shadow-strewn bedroom. I glimpsed Isaiah snuggled down amongst the quilt. His steady breathing told me he was still fast asleep. He must have been exhausted to sleep through mine and Zeke's carnage and Lian's heated words.

Lian asked, "Do you need help cleaning up?"

I shook my head. He turned to leave, but I grabbed his wrist. "No...don't leave, please, just stay...in the bathroom, til I'm done, please?" I asked weakly.

"What about waking up Isaiah?" Lian asked, bitterness on the edge of his tongue.

"Let him sleep."

"And Luis?"

"I'll talk to him when I'm done," I replied defiantly.

Lian smiled and together we made it to the bathroom. Lian closed the door behind us so we didn't wake Isaiah. He took up a post beside the door, against the wall. He crouched down and watched as I crossed the room and switched on the shower. I adjusted the temperature until it was hot, but not too hot. I trembled with some unforeseen cold that chilled up and down my spine.

I climbed into the shower cubicle and let the water wash over me, the heat felt good against my bruised and battered skin. I cleaned myself inside and out, I washed my hair and scrubbed at my body feverishly. I hunkered down soon and started the battle of cleaning the blood from under my nails. I felt a shred of dignity return to me when I cleaned the blood away. I was becoming more solid, less numb. I could do this, I could come back from this.

I basked in the heat as that damned cold still smothered me. I might have brawled and fought in the past, but I had drawn the line at mutilation and death. Now I'd crossed that line and Broderic's desires pressed down on me. What if I maddened like him and the other wolves? What if I became the violent little wolf he so desired?

I huddled down and scrubbed harder, the blood wouldn't come free from under my nails. God why wouldn't it come out?

I needed a distraction.

"What's going to happen to me, Lian?"

"Do you want the honest answer, or the sugar-coated one?"

That made me smile weakly. "Sugar would be nice, but be honest."

He nodded and replied, "When Linus returns he'll be notified of what's happened here by Luis. Linus will decide a punishment after that. He could have you killed, or branded as one of the Elite, like me. Either way, not a nice outcome."

"What if the death was done in self-defense?" I asked.

"Did you kill Zeke in self-defense?"

I thought about that. He had slapped me around, thrown me across the floors and brutally raped me. But when I'd killed him had he offered any violence. No. He'd finished, I was sure of it. No. What had happened was the wolf's pride inside of me demanded that I do what nature called for and devoured the rodent, just like the food chain dictated.

"No. No, it wasn't in self-defense. I caught Zeke off guard and removed his heart."

"Then I don't know what will happen, Jack."

I smiled sadly and returned to scrubbing at my bloodied fingers. "Thank you for being honest," I added.

Lian smiled back, "No problem."

"Linus is going to kill me."

"You should be more concerned about Broderic." Lian and I looked up and found Luis stood in the doorway, still clad in black and looking solemn and stern.

"What does Broderic have to do with this?"

"If he finds out about Zeke's death, he'll assume that Linus will cement his hold on Jack, whether it be through death or branding. He'll take it upon himself to protect his potential new weapon."

"Weapon? That's absurd?" Lian replied.

"He thinks of Jack as an expert killer in the making. For as long as I've known him, he has had this uncanny ability to see murderer's potential in wereanimal's beast. He sees true bloodlust in both Jack and the wolf. This moment proves him right," Luis explained.

"Is Broderic that possessive over Jack?"

"Its possible," Luis replied.

"So what do we do about that?" I asked.

"We try and keep this hushed up, plain and simple." He turned in the doorway and said over his shoulder, "Get dressed and wake up the werecroc. I'll clean up the mess with the fox's and lion's help."

"Miles doesn't look too steady at the moment to be any kind of help," I replied.

"He has no choice."

"Why are you doing this? Why are you helping us?"

"Linus left me in charge while he's abroad. Between Broderic's attitude in general, your little group, the other wolves and the Elite, it was never going to go smoothly. If Linus finds out I let something like this happen, I'll be punished."

And with that Luis abandoned us. Lian shrugged at me and followed.

I was alone, water rained down on me, that cold still breathing through me. I was numb again and hated it.