On the Outskirts of Manhattan

Nolan felt terrified. There had been guns and yelling and fighting. The only thing keeping him sane was the fact that once he arrived where the men were taking him, he would be protected by his Mommy They told him his Mommy would be there, and she had never let him down. Never. She would make the guns be put away, she would put an end to the fighting, and during the whole time she would protect him.

“We're here little man,” the passenger spoke up. The driver immediately got out of the vehicle. The driver's hood had been up the whole ride, obstructing Nolan's view of the individual. He or she hadn't spoken and hadn't looked at him.

“Is my Mommy here?” Nolan asked the passenger.

“Not yet. She's on her way. I bet you're hungry. Do you want a hotdog?” the man in the passenger's seat asked.

“I don't like hotdogs.”

“What kid doesn't like hotdogs? Never mind. Want some french fries?” he tried again.

“Yeah. Do you have ketchup?” The man was helping Nolan out of the vehicle and took his hand to lead him to the door. Nolan smiled at him. He seemed to be a nice guy; feeding him, talking to him and ensuring his safe trip from the car to the tiny house before him.

“We sure do, little man. Isaac, go make sure the boss was called. Kendall, go make some fries and ketchup. Want to go play some video games buddy?” he asked.

“Okay. What's your name?” Nolan asked the man leading him to a new room. The house looked empty, but the room he was lead to held a big boy bed shaped like a race car, a toy box, a large television on the wall and a computer with a desk and chair.

“I'm Troy,” he smiled at Nolan.

“When can I see my mommy?” Nolan asked.

“Troy? He wants to talk to you,” Isaac stood at the door, holding a sleek black cellphone.

“How about you play some Mario with Isaac here?” Troy smiled at Nolan.

“Okay...” Nolan said, a bit confused at what was going on. Who was the boss and why couldn't Troy play Mario with him?

Troy stood abruptly and grabbed the phone from Isaac's hand. “You didn't speak to the boss, did you?” he asked.

“No. You told me not to. They were already on the phone when I went to check. Just handed me the phone and said to give it to you. I swear!” Isaac looked terrified at the possibility of Troy. Troy was a large, muscular man that radiated dominance. Although Isaac was fairly muscular, and considered pretty dominant, it was clear who was running the show. And it definitely wasn't Isaac.

Troy spun around and quickly left the room, entering the dark room where he had previously sent Isaac to check on communication with the boss.

“Seriously? You have to keep it pitch black in here?” Troy moved to turn on a light. They were in the room where the driver had escaped to.

“Keep it off,” a voice demanded.

“Fine,” Troy brought the phone up to his ear. “Boss? It's Troy.”

“I assume everything's set up perfectly? You'll be locking the boy in the room and keeping an eye on the monitors for her arrival and will have a friendly conversation with her before you proceed with any of the scare tactics. And no one else knows my name?” the voice on the phone asked.

“Of course not. I have it all under control,” Troy insisted.

“Good. I'm counting on you. And Troy?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“I'm watching you as well.”

***

The smells were mingling for Ava. She didn't know everyone at the Base and she most certainly didn't know all of their scents. She hadn't met everyone, but everyone went through the lobby. You had to go through the lobby to make it up to any family's loft space. Ava recognized some scents—those of the pack members she had previously met, even on only one occasion—however there were too many that she couldn't filter out and she was becoming anxious and angry, prowling around in her wolf form. She had shifted back into her human form to keep her wolf under control, the animal inside her wanted out, to go and protect her young at any cost, and her human rationality couldn't compete with that; her human side wanted the same thing.

“Did they touch anything?” Ava finally growled out. “Run into anything? Break a table? Where was their car parked? I can't follow Nolan's scent alone!” Ava barked when Blake continued to shrug. “HOLD IT TOGETHER!”

Dawson finally walked into the room. He had been outside talking to several bystanders and getting the information out of them. He sent an apologetic smile Ava's way.

“I'm sorry!” Blake yelled back. “I'm a bit preoccupied in my thinking right now. It happened so fast!” he insisted.

“Get your mind off of the well being of your Alpha and realize what your other Alpha is demanding,” Ava growled out. “I am more powerful than you are. I'm trying to smell them after they got into a car. Now work!”

Blake took a deep breath and nodded. “One touched the doorframe. Over here,” he lead them toward the office. Ava walked over and touched the doorframe lightly, leaning in to sniff where Blake pointed. She let out a grunt, then a sneeze. Dawson watched her pupils dilate. “I have it...” she pondered.

“Don't you dare run away again,” Dawson growled out to her. “This is serious. I'm calling for backup. Wait,” he insisted. She sent that same apologetic smile back to him and bolted from the room. Dawson let out a low growl, transformed again and chased after the woman.

His steps were long and fast, but Ava's thin muscles and lightweight bones were what propelled her forward, faster and farther. An unknown scent encouraging her to get closer and closer to her most prized possession: her son.

Ava knew that he was following her, she could feel him. But her main goal she could see in front of her—the scent looked almost like a thin trail of bright blue smoke mingled with orange, two different shades of red, green, lilac and finally, the grey smokey substance which her nose identified as Nolan. He was her goal. She had to protect him. It was her job. It was the only job she had ever taken seriously. As she ran, she left Dawson further and further away from her until she knew that he could no longer see her and would have to rely on tracking her with his other four senses.

The scents were getting stronger. She was beginning to smell them again instead of just following them when she skidded to a stop. She could sense the cameras all around the area. If she took a couple of extra steps, they would be able to see her. She shifted her head to listen. She hadn't set off any motion sensors, but there were several around the perimeter. She could visualize a tentative outline of the building in her mind. Nolan was inside being closely guarded by a red scent and the blue. The other red stood guard outside a door, the orange stood at another door with the green, and the purple was in a different area of the house. The purple was sending off the faint smell of gunpowder, and Ava acknowledged the owner of the scent to be the one who had shot Alex. Although it was a horrible thought, it flashed across Ava's mind that he probably deserved it. If not for what he was doing to protect Nolan, than what he had done in the past and had gotten away with.

She sat still, ears perked. If anyone stumbled across them in the woods, they would probably identify her as a sitting dog. She knew they were waiting for her. Simply waiting, so the point of the cameras and motion sensors were of little to no importance to her. She stood back up, leaping over a motion sensor, if only to give her the element of surprise on the men guarding the doors.

There was a shout of recognition as she leapt at one of the guards defending the door. He attempted to shift as she tackled him, but she gave him no time to defend himself or explain himself. She bit at him, grabbing the scruff of his neck in her teeth and smashing him into the wall. As she turned from his unconscious form, she noticed the second guard leaping at her as the third came around the side of the house, already in wolf form. She ducked and rolled, but was still hit by the leaping wolf, sending her sprawling on her side. She didn't stay down long. She knew that was what everyone always expected. She leaped up, lashing out with a claw to one of the guards and then lunged at the other, using that same claw to slice through his chest. She stepped on his throat, cutting off his air supply as the other guard charged at her. Guard two lost consciousness just as guard three tackled her to the ground. He had her pinned to the ground, struggling to get back up and attack the men who had stolen her son. It was the red scented guard that had her down. Growling and using the ground as leverage, she snuck her hind legs between their bodies and shoved them against his chest, sending him flying off of her. She growled when he landed against the brick house with a thud and slid down the wall; seemingly unconscious. She turned from him, ready to head into the house when she felt her instincts kick in. Rolling out of the way, the wolf had little time to understand what was happening as she transformed back into her human form, grabbing one of the guards she thought to be out cold by the throat and bashed his head into the wall, effectively knocking him unconscious.

She let out a shaky breath as she moved to open the door. Before she reached the doorknob, it opened by itself.

On the other side stood a blonde woman in business attire. She had her wavy hair falling down her shoulders and the glasses on her face made her look almost teacher-like. “My, Miss. Wilkinson,” the woman spoke up. “We've been expecting you.”

Ava gaped for several seconds at the familiar woman in front of her. “Carly?”

***

Alex was in pain. It started from the top of his head and ran through the tip of his toes. Everywhere was in pain. Especially his chest, and at the same time, his chest didn't hurt at all. They had brought him into what they liked to call the Hospital within the Base. And they called Dr. Winters. Although they had their own doctor within the pack, Caroline was a professional trained in werewolf care; in the event that extensive care was needed, she was the woman to go to. She was the werewolf specialist. Every other pack doctor was simply a human doctor.

“Alex,” her kind face came into his line of vision. He tried to smile at her. “We're going to put you under. We need to do some surgery to get the bullet out. I'm going to extract the bullet and take care of anything it may have caught on the way into your body. I'll also take the time to stitch up that nasty gash you've got on your leg. Alright?”

That's what Alex liked about her, although he had only seen her a handful of times. She explained exactly what she was going to do.

“You should be awake in about two hours, but I highly suggest you get some rest so you can heal up quickly and get back to your Alpha duties,” she told him. “Jane's going to put this mask on you. Do you think you can count down from ten for me?”

A mask was placed over his mouth as he took a deep breath in, readying himself to count. “Ten....nine...eigh—”

His voice cut out as Caroline watched his body fall asleep. He was ready for surgery. Riley stepped out of the corner of the room. He had a worried look on his face as he stepped up beside Caroline.

“Did he say anything about Ava?” Riley asked.

“No. But you know where she is. You know Dawson is with her,” Caroline gave the man a sympathetic smile. “Alex simply has a gunshot wound, a few broken ribs and a leg wound. It shouldn't take too long. He'll be able to run his pack tomorrow, I'm sure.”

Riley nodded. “I'm going to go back to the Chambers,” he stated. “To keep an eye on Dawson's tracker and see if Luther can hack into any electronics around him.”

“Riley?” Caroline spoke up.

“Yes?”

“You don't need to tell me this. Think of her as every other wolf. Don't make her more important. Keep your cool. Now, go do your job.”