Out of all of the things that should be on my mind right now, the one thing that bothered me the most was Stiles. I was worried after we had left the hospital if he was alright and that he got Cora out of there safely. I mean, Stiles and I aren't brothers, but he's the closest thing I have to one.

Are you okay? What about the others? I'm sorry about what happened; I had to do-

My fingers slip away from the buttons as someone takes the phone from my hands, growling under their breath. When I looked up to see who it was, it was Kali of course; angry that I was trying to contact someone.

"No texting, no calling, no talking to your friends," Kali snarls, clutching my phone before handing it to Jade beside her to do something with it. "If I catch you trying to contact anyone other than us, then Deucalion won't even be able to protect you. You're with us now. You don't need to talk to them."

The saliva in my mouth thickens as she glares at me, turning and walking away. I wasn't sure where we were exactly, but I had to guess that it was some type of rundown warehouse that they managed to hide away at. I remembered Stiles telling me something about how they had stayed in a room at Allison's apartment building, but I guess that place became compromised after we figured that out.

After Kali was gone, Jade turns to me and looks me up and down, making me feel uncomfortable. It was only the two of us standing in this large area, shelves stacked miles high with boxes and other large objects no one could lift without some type of machine around us. After I had left with Deucalion, I felt out of my skin—like I was floating, or lost in my thoughts I suppose.

Jade stares at my phone in her hands for a moment before holding it out for me to take, but I just stared at her. "Take it."

"You heard Kali," I speak, surprised at how broken my voice sounded. I wished that it wouldn't do that. "I'm with you now."

Jade snorts quietly, grabbing my wrist and slamming my phone back into my hand as she stares me in the eyes. "You and me both know the lies behind that last sentence."

I stared at her as she let go of the phone, stepping back and crossing her arms. It was like she was wanting me to say something to her, but I wasn't sure what. I wondered if she wanted me to apologize for what I had said earlier, but I meant every word of it. I wasn't going to apologize for something I wasn't sorry for.

So, she talked first.

"I'm guessing you have a plan then?" she remarks, raising her eyebrows.

I furrow mine. "Plan for what?"

She looks at me like I was dumb. "I know you, Corey. You know that. You also know that I know that when you don't get your way, you find a way out of it. So, what's your plan?"

I stare at her, eyes dull. A part of me wanted to tell her some type of plan I had formed in the back of my mind, but in all honesty, I didn't have anything. I was too drained and too deprived of hope to actually come up with something, and either way, if I did have a plan, I sure as hell wouldn't be telling a member of the alpha pack what it was.

I dodged the question. "Why'd you lie to Deucalion back there?"

Jade was the confused one now. "What are you talking about?"

"You lied to him about me," I cross my arms, gaining a little bit of confidence back. "You told him that I sucked at lying, but I guess you forgot all of the times I got you out of trouble because of my lies."

She smiles then, something that triggered a memory deep within me. Like seeing her smile was a foreign concept. "Ah, I forgot about those. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be standing here today."

And just like that, I wondered if maybe those lies would have made things different; if those lies would have changed what happened to her and I. After all, it was one of my lies that caused all of this to set into motion.

"Do you remember why we went driving that night?" I fade out, remembering it vividly. Jade stares at me for a moment, remembering what had really happened, before nodding slowly. It was the last lie I ever said to get her out of trouble, and I had a feeling that I'd never need to lie for her ever again. After all, her parents think we're both dead, along with mine.

It wasn't a long story; it was actually quite simple. The reason Jade and I went driving that night wasn't to go to the movies like we frequently did, or to find an open place away from the trees and city lights to stare up at the stars, but rather to talk. Another hobby of ours was to drive and talk about life, and it was always quiet peaceful. It was always one of my favorite things to do with her.

I guess now that I know that Jade had been bitten by that point, this story made more sense to me. Jade had called me and begged me to talk, like what we've done in the past. It had been a week since Kaitlin and I had broken up, so I had barely gotten to speak to Jade at all during that time we had been dating and that week, so I accepted of course. She needed to talk about whatever it was, and I needed to talk to her about Kaitlin and to get that stress off of my shoulders.

"Hey Cindy," I smile as Jade's mother opens the door, a different type of look on her face.

She faintly smiles at me, different than the usual hug she usually pulls me in. "Hello, Corey. It's been awhile since I've seen you around, how are you? I'm guessing you're here for Jade?"

I nod my head, still a little suspicious that something odd was going on. "I'm good, and yeah, she called and said she needed to talk."

Cindy sighs. "As much as I know how good of a kid you are, Corey, and that Jade would love to hang out with you tonight, but she's grounded right now."

I stared at her, wondering why Jade didn't tell me before she asked me to come over. "Oh, really? What'd she do this time?"

Cindy smiles faintly once again. "Something got into her...I'm not really sure. Do you uh...has she told you anything that might make her act out towards us?"

I was more than confused. "I haven't talked to her in awhile, but maybe I'll be able to get something out of her if you let her come with me. I'm sure she'll talk to me."

She hesitates. "I don't know, I don't want her thinking she can avoid our rules-"

"We'll just drive around town," I point behind me at my still running truck in the drive way. "We won't go far. I'll have her home in less than twenty minutes."

I was lying of course. I told Jade we'd go to her favorite spot outside of Beacon Hills, which happened to be a cliff that overlooked the city. I always took her there when she was upset, and it always seemed to put her at ease.

Cindy's face told me that she agreed; only because she wanted to know what was wrong with her daughter. "Alright. As long as she's back by 8:50."

I smile, knowing that my lie had gotten Jade out of the house once again. "Of course."

Little did I know that that lie would get me killed.

"I guess I'm the reason for my death," I breathe, only realizing it now. If I would have just accepted her mother's rules, I would have gotten back into my truck and drove home. I never would have drove over that bridge and I would have never taken my last breath, or so I thought.

Jade's eyes show sincerity. "That doesn't matter anymore, Corey. You're here now. That's what matters."

I wanted to ask her if she was aware of what happened when we were drowning, that if she knew what was going on and why she didn't try and save me, but I bit my tongue. I didn't know how to ask that without making it sound like an accusation, so I kept quiet.

"Listen...I know that I'm with them and that you're here with us now," Jade says quietly, her voice making me grow curious. "But I won't let them hurt you. I'm loyal to Deucalion, but if they lay a finger on you, I'll break that, I swear. Just know that."

I wasn't sure what to say to that. "Why? After all I've said to you, you'll still protect me?"

Jade stares at me for a long moment, searching for the right words. "Like you said once, Corey, I'm like a one sided mirror; always only seeing one side of the situation. I guess you're the only thing on the other side, and that's what maters—keeping you safe."

It was a good thing my phone rang in my hand then, because I had no idea what to say to that. My eyes flick down to the number to see Allison's face pop up on the screen. I wondered why she was calling me, but it didn't matter. Jade watches me with close eyes as I hover my finger over the red button, pressing it before looking back up.

"I'm on your side, remember?"

-----------

"I can't believe you have to babysit me," I groan as I look over at Jade who was watching me closely out of the corner of her eye.

Deucalion looks over his shoulder. "It's not babysitting. Call it, let's say, guarding."

"I'm not some delicate glass vase up on your shelf," I fire at Deucalion as we walk through the woods, searching for Ms. Morrel. "I can take care of-"

I stop myself when I realized that I was taking Allison's line.

Allison.

"But you are," Deucalion says as Jade glances over at me, ducking below a tree branch along the path we were on. "You're the winning piece in this game, why can't you understand that?"

I groan lowly. "Maybe it's because this is all new to me."

Suddenly, I hear growling up ahead, and I knew then that they had gotten her. When we stepped into the clearing, I saw that she had a mountain ash barrier around her as the three other alphas growled at her, unable to get inside.

"How did you know we'd come for you?" Deucalion says then, lifting his walking stick up to rest it.

She glares at him. "Because Jennifer and I are the same. You've always been suspicious of us; of what we can do."

"With good reason," Kali snarls, walking outside along the barrier of the ash. "We know you sent that girl. That one that helped Isaac."

Ms. Morell glares at them. "Braeden, and I sent her to do what I had always done: maintain balance."

"What do you know about Jennifer?" Kali snarls back, getting to the point.

I sulk behind Deucalion as I watched the scene start to play out, uncomfortable about what was happening. Ms. Morell looks over at me then, her gaze stern. "I know what you can do, Corey, and being here with them isn't right. Go back to your friends and help them."

Deucalion holds his cane out in front of me, as if he was protecting me from something. "He can decide what's right for himself."

"Not without all of the information!" she yells this time, and that was when I knew that being here was wrong; being here with the alphas was wrong in so many ways, but it was my only option at this point. "Corey, you're capable of so much more, you don't even have a taste of what you can do. Deucalion knows it too, and that's why he needs you. He needs you to eliminate a threat that is Jennifer Blake, and he also needs you so that he knows that you won't be threat later down the line. He has to learn your weaknesses."

Deucalion snarls. "Lies people will tell when they're begging for their life."

"You and Lydia are an unstoppable duo," she assures me. "But you already know some of that, don't you? Deucalion knows too, and he knows that you have the capability to take him down-"

She gets cut off as soon as Deucalion rips off the end piece of his cane, throwing it so that it lands right into her shoulder. I scream at him for doing that as Ms. Morell starts to fall to the ground, still inside the ash barrier. I knew that as soon as she stepped outside of it, the alphas would be all over her. So, I ran towards her first.

When I reached her, her knees were already failing. She almost hits the ground before I catch her and lower her to the ground, making sure not to touch the rod in her armpit. She hisses and groans in pain as I stare at the blood, not sure what to do.

I thought that the alphas would have came running at me to get away from her, but they didn't even move a muscle. Instead, when I looked up at them, they were standing there in awe, as if I did something I wasn't aware of. It wasn't until I looked down to see that I was still inside the mountain ash barrier, meaning something I wasn't quite sure of.

Ms. Morell notices that I noticed that, so she smiles to herself. I knew that she was only smiling because it further proved her argument from a few moments ago, but I had so many questions still. Instead of getting to ask them, Deucalion speaks up finally, not mentioning the ash barrier.

"Thank you for reminding me about Lydia Martin," Deucalion says, fixing the collar on his jacket. "I guess that's just one more person we'll have to pay a visit to tonight."

-----------

Stay away from my baby Lyds, Deucalion. You touch her, and I'll make sure you don't get your eyesight back.

So, thoughts on Jade again? Should we trust her or not?

Thanks for reading guys! You don't understand how awesome it is to have such awesome readers like you, so thank you, really. <3