On the Outskirts of Manhattan

Dawson watched from the rooftop. A lone man was talking to Ava, one he had never really noticed before. However, upon closer inspection, Dawson recognized him as the man who had been in the middle of the large group of enemy soldiers. He had been the man who was being protected by everyone. He was the rebel leader. And there the lone man stood, talking to Ava. His hand was outstretched, a smile on his face as he touched her arm gently. Dawson growled at the intrusion. He knew that he was acting ridiculously, but with the combination of the touching and the fact that he was the enemy, Dawson could not hold in his protective growl. Ava was his.

Several of his men looked up at him, unaware of what to do in that situation. Originally they had been shooting any and all wolves, men or women who jumped to attack Ava, but this man who had been protected by the enemy soldiers was not making a move to attack Ava. She was not in any danger, yet their boss still reacted negatively.

“Boss?” someone spoke up.

“Not unless she's attacked.” Dawson knew how Ava worked. She would not kill someone unnecessarily, at least, that was her goal. Her very active and very dominant wolf liked to show her power, and killing was often the outcome with Ava if she was provoked. It took a lot of self-control to stop herself, a lot of self control and guidance that her previous lover had given her. However, there was another thing Ava was good at and she did that all on her own: stopping herself from killing.

Taking a look at the diminishing number of men and women fighting on the ground, and still being unable to determine who was winning or losing, Dawson turned to his men. “I need more of you on ground level. Madison,” he pointed to one of his top ranked men. Madison had been keeping a keen eye on Ava on the ground below through his scope. “You stay up here and keep an eye on Ava. Let her do her thing, but if she's down and out, or even looks like she's about to be down and out, take him down. Everyone else, ground level to take on those left standing. Try to give them the chance to surrender. If you can.”

The men nodded and started a quick decent to ground level. With nothing else to do but watch the battle unfold on the ground, Dawson picked his own gun up off the ground and took a closer look at Ava. She was seemingly in a deep discussion with the man behind the attack.

Shaking his head, Dawson sent Madison a kurt nod and took off down the stairs. He needed to be in the action. He needed to get his hands dirty to stop himself from shooting an unprovoked man. Until the evil mastermind took a step in the direction to harm Ava, there was nothing Dawson could do.

Jumping into the most active part of the battlefield, Dawson got to work on killing anyone and anything that got in his way.

***

Blood everywhere. That was what Felix knew. He knew nothing else except the feeling of attacking his enemies. He only barely managed to avoid his own men as he ripped throats out of other wolves, devoured stomachs and made sure the entire gymnasium was covered in blood. He probably looked like a serial killer dog; his fur matted with blood, his face crimson red and the sticky liquid dripped from his jaws, but he couldn't care less. His wolf was excited to be free, to be able to attack and kill as much as it pleased. As one of the oldest werewolves to exist, Felix's wolf did not have to see the light of day to be kept tame. As much as his wolf would love to get out and attack everything it saw, Felix had full control over his out of control wolf. It was something he and the rest of the Council kept tamed and quiet. While Felix was a quirky, fun loving lad in his human form, his wolf form was relentless and went on killing sprees and the Council as a whole had decided to keep it under lock and key.

Everywhere, wolves were falling with their blood spilling across the floor. Felix's men, enemy men, women, children. No one was safe. A small part of him was saddened as he thought about all the men, women and children who had come to them for protection, expecting to be safe from battle in the Council's Chambers. The other part of him rejoiced in all of the blood and activity going on around him, no matter who was subjected to it.

Felix's wolf was too busy, too pleased with the action going on around him that his human brain—the one that had been quietly keeping an eye on things, ready to push the wolf side of him out of the way if needed—barely saw it. A little boy with his black wolf stuffy dangling from his grip was being lead out the side door by a very burly man with several wolves protecting his flank. Those were several wolves that were not Felix's men. His wolf whooped with joy as Felix's human half pointed the wolves out as bait, and took off before Felix recognized that the joyful feeling that was coursing through him was his wolf excited to kill.

His jaws clamped down on a brown wolf's flank and bit down hard, soon taking his leg into his mouth and snapping it clean in half. That wolf was down for the count. Felix went for the next one to round on him, ripping out a throat of one, snapping the neck of another and slashing the face of one more. He turned to round on the last two when his body was thrown to the side. His head hit the floor with a thud and things went blurry and then black for a few moments before he lurched himself up again, glaring at the grey and white wolf bearing its teeth before him. His human brain noted that the burly man was getting away. Without a second thought, Felix lunged at the throat of the angry and protective wolf in front of him, incapacitated him, and kept going. He ignored all the wolves that bit at his flank as he ran to catch up to the man that was ushering Nolan into a black SUV. The door was closing just as Felix clamped his jaws onto the man's thigh, yanking and throwing the man to the ground at the same time that Felix transformed back into his human form.

Stark naked with blood covering him, Felix pulled the door open the rest of the way and yanked the three-year-old out of the vehicle. The driver, shocked and terrified at Felix's actions didn't say a word, didn't move and hoped to high hell that he could get away unscathed.

“Come on Nolan,” Felix cradled Nolan in his arms. “Lets go to my office. We'll be safe there.”

“Where's Mommy?” Nolan's tiny voice squeaked out.

“We'll check on her through the video system.”

Felix turned to one of his own men who stood guard, still in his human form and still in his uniform, “get Caroline and Jane. They're in the gymnasium audio room. Bring them safely to my office.”

“Yes sir.” The man nodded, turning abruptly and obeying his order. Felix considered giving him a raise, but shrugged it off. That man had simply been following orders, that was what he was supposed to do. As Felix carried the whimpering boy to his office, Felix noted that things were being cleaned up. Those who had infiltrated were either dead, detained or had gotten away. He hoped that some of those that got away got away with their sanity. He knew that the only way Ryder could have convinced so many of them to take part in his Council take over, and even his human eating master plan was through manipulation, blackmail and brainwashing. But all of Ryder's men knew they would die if they infiltrated the Council. He couldn't feel sorry for that.

Placing Nolan down on the couch in the room filled with computers and technology, Felix brought up a tiny image of the battlefield. He checked out the Base's image first to ensure that he wouldn't terrify the boy if his mother was in the middle of an intense fight. He zoomed in on the image of her as she stood, speaking with the man who started it all—Ryder.

“Nolan, here's your Mommy,” Felix told the boy just as Caroline and Jane walked in with the guard. Felix turned to the guard as Nolan watched the screen intently. “We're initiating full lockdown mode. No one in or out. You have two minutes to get to your post before this place turns into a cell. Lets go!”

The guard rushed off as Felix typed away quickly. No one commented on his lack of clothes as they thought about the building they were in. The place was about to become impenetrable, bars and thick steel doors would be around the entire building. No one in or out. Not even for an emergency.

“Caroline?” Nolan asked. “Can I go see my Mommy?”

“Not yet sweetheart,” Caroline frowned, glancing at the screen as a man on the screen transformed and lunged at the petite woman. “Not yet.”

***

“Ryder, what are you doing here?” Ava asked confused. She stepped towards him, looking around, ready to protect his fragile human form from any wolves that were attacking anything around them. Humans shouldn't be in the midsts of a werewolf battle. However, when she stepped closer to him and his arm reached out to gently touch her arm, she realized that he was no longer human. It was subtle, a distinct shift in scent, but one that Ava noticed. This was not the boy who had kissed her on graduation day; not the boy who she had grown up crushing on. This was a werewolf.

“No,” she stuttered out, sadness coating her voice as she realized that he had been subjected to the same terrible fate she had. “I'm so sorry. Who did it? What happened?” she asked.

“Who turned me?” Ryder asked. “A man named Lucian, I believe you know him.”

“Lucian? But he's dead. He's been dead for years. What's going on? Why are you here?” Ava asked him.

“I brought everyone here,” Ryder explained. “I'm why everyone is here. I'm trying to change the world. We're the top predators; top of the food chain. We should be able to do what we're designed to do.”

“What are you talking about? You're the one who...you're the one that wants to kill the humans?” she asked softly, stepping back from his caressing hand as she realized what was going on. Ryder was the one she had been sent to kill. Ryder was the leader. Ryder wanted to kill humans. Ryder wanted to take over the Council and kill humans for the sheer joy of being the top of the food chain.

“Don't leave!” His face was pained as she took steps back from him. He had an emotional attachment to her; he wanted her to stay with him. Forever.

“Why?” she asked him. “Why are you doing this?”

“They said no. It was a simple request,” Ryder tried to explain, stepping toward her again, but she stepped back. Fighting was going on all around them, but everyone avoided them as if they knew not to interrupt them.

“How did you become a werewolf?” she asked him.

“I told you,” he said. “Lucian found me. It was some time after he was chased away from your pack for whatever reason. He was pretty peeved about that one, but he was talking about you, and I was in the same bar as him. So I sat down and talked to him. I told him how you just left. You were so into me, just like I was into you, and then you just disconnected from everyone and didn't go to college and left me. And then he explained everything to me: how you became a werewolf, how it wasn't your fault, how you didn't want to leave me, and how it was Greyson's fault. He was telling me how I could help you, how you needed my help. To get away from Greyson; to get away from the Council. But, he said, the only way I could help was if I was a werewolf too. He explained it all to me. He said what it would mean for me, what it would feel like, how it happens. Everything. So, I let him,” he told her. “I let him change me.”

“You let him turn you? And he explained what it meant? That you wouldn't be human? That you wouldn't die? That you would stay the age you are forever, having this insane urge to kill everything, to be in the wild, to live in this world where other wolves think that women are subordinate? To have a need to live within a pack or else you'd go crazy? And you said yes?” Ava asked, sadness dripping from her voice.

“Yes, and it was amazing! He changed me, and he trained me. He taught me how to fight and how to control myself. He taught me everything I know. And then, when he finally decided to go back and save you, save you from Greyson, he told me to stay. That I would need to save the entire werewolf community if he didn't make it back. And he didn't. He didn't make it back. But I came back. And I made a plan. I had a plan to save you. He told me that you would understand if I ever had to put this plan into motion because you, of all people, would understand this lust for human blood, because you crave it. You crave it too. Everyone craves it, but you do more than most. You understand, don't you Ava?” he asked her.

Every time he said Greyson's name, her heart broke all over again. There was nothing quite like the connection you felt to your destined mate, and although Ava was trying to put him away in a safe little box way back in the dark corners of her heart, any little thing that reminded her of him, like the woods or other wolves, sent a tiny tear through her heart.

“No,” Ava told Ryder. “This isn't right. You have parents, and friends and family. You want to kill them? You want to eat their flesh and suck their blood dry?” she asked him.

“I'm not part of that world anymore; you know that Ava,” he told her. “You understand. You have to understand. Don't you?”

“No. I am still part of that world. I still have friends and family—”

“No you don't! You killed your parents!” Ryder burst out, insisting that they were the same.

“I still have Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents. You have to call this off, Ryder. This isn't right,” she told him.

“No, Ava. What I'm doing is what's right. This is what it is supposed to be like. You know the taste. You know the need! I want you. I want you to join my pack. You're strong, you're dominant. You can be my Alpha Female,” he told her, a soft grin on his face as he thought about the prospects. They would be unbeatable, a team who ran the new and improved Council and let werewolves natural instincts thrive.

“No, Ryder. That isn't going to happen.” She could feel his anger boiling inside him as she denied him. It was spewing out of his pores and her simple refusal had him ready to attack. That was what human blood and human flesh did to werewolves. It made them irritable, emotional and more animal-like. He was on edge, easily pushed over.

His growl erupted before even he understood what was going on. Bursting into his golden form, he was already lunging at her when her hand whipped out and sliced his throat. It wasn't anywhere near an artery, but it caused Ryder's wolf to step back and glare at the human in front of him. She still hadn't transformed all the way, but the nails she had used to defend herself were sharp; too sharp for a human. That was not right. Ava was not right. She was wrong, she had been altered with. She needed saving, and the only way to do that was to make her die.

Ryder glared at the mutant before him, the evil demon that had taken over his love's body.

“Ryder, you need to call this off. It isn't right. You're not right. Something is wrong. I can help you. I promise, I can help you,” she insisted.

Ryder growled, ignoring her and lunged again.

Ava's heart broke a bit as she let herself transform for the first time since she had walked onto the battlefield. She gave up a little part of herself to her wolf and let the unforgiving, brutal side of her come out.

She was strong. She knew just how strong she was, especially when the Council had explained her alterations. Ryder didn't have a chance. Sure, there was the probability that he might claw her in the right place to spew her blood all over the ground, he might get a nail stuck in a pressure point and get her down and out for the count or he might even get his jaws on her throat, but Ava knew she was fast, she was strong, and her bone density far exceeded the average werwolf's. None of the simple things were going to take her down.

Feigning left, Ava slid past Ryder's lunging body. She saw the wonder in his eyes, the same as everyone else's. Everyone's thoughts were the same: she was magnificent, she transformed so quickly and so flawlessly. Ava snorted and turned to Ryder, lunging herself and pushing him onto his back, growling in his face. She was hoping that her dominance would put him in his place, but he twisted his face and clamped down on her leg.

Letting out a growl, she ripped his head off her leg and clamped onto his flank, ripping skin and muscle from his body.

He let out a howl of pain, turning to her quickly and lunging again.

Ava considered the fact that Lucian hadn't exactly taught Ryder the best fighting techniques when Ryder pushed her to the ground, clamping onto her shoulder and tearing flesh from bone.

She let out a growl. Her wolf was mad, ferocious and ready to kill. Her wolf was taking over, and she was doing nothing to stop her. Teeth were pulling flesh from muscle, muscle from bone and breaking everything in between. Anything that Ryder got on her, she barely felt. All the adrenaline that was pumping through her system couldn't tell her how injured she was. A small part of her, in the back of her brain, could see what she was doing: attacking without mercy, killing someone in the least humane way possible. Her wolf acknowledged it, and just as she was clamping her jaws around the poor animal's throat to break his neck, she stopped. She stepped back and she sat down beside the poor, bloodied and dying soul in front of her. And her human side let out a whimper as Ryder's body changed into his human form, bloodied and battered and mangled beyond much recognition.

“Ava,” he whispered out. “It's okay.”

And they sat there, bloodied and dying as the battle went on around them. People were dying everywhere and there was nothing they could do about it.

Ava closed her eyes, laid down beside Ryder and let his fingers run through her fur as her human mind mourned everyone who had to die.

“Ava?” Riley's voice made her eyes snap open. She didn't know how long she had had her eyes closed for, but it felt like an eternity. The outdoor lights of the Base were on and it looked like people were surrendering or simply staring at the pair on the ground.

She let out a whimper to acknowledge the elder man.

“Battle's over. You did it,” he told her. “You ended it. You won.”

She could feel her body shifting as a hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked up at Riley. “I don't feel like I won anything.” Then she was wrapped in the comforting presence of Dawson's arms.