"Conner, that hurts." I said spitting out blood and ruining the mood. He pulled back and inspected me.

"You’re alive. You’re here and your hair... it’s blue?" He said.

I laughed softly. "I died, yes but I came back. I’m gifted. See." I said.

I pulled some water out of the lake and shaped it into a wolf. I made it run before freezing it and melting it then heating it up until it was vapour.

Conner looked at me. "Your alive... and hurt. I hurt you didn’t I?" He asked broken.

I didn’t answer.

"I did didn’t I? Gemma I’m so sorry. I did this I-" I cut him off with a kiss. It was sweet and soft.

"I don’t care. You came back to me. That’s all that matters." I said pulling back. I realised I left some blood on his lips. I cringed.

"You’ve got blood. I’m sorry." I said trying to wipe it away with my good hand.

Conner chuckled and shook his head. "It’s fine Gemma. I’m just glad you’re alive." He said giving me a kiss on the head. The others came and joined us and we shared stories as we waited for me to heal enough. I slapped Conner on the shoulder when I heard he called the girls bitches and threatened Caroline. The boys had a wrestling match just to release the anger they had with Conner. I’m sure they are all cool now.

"We should head back." I told everyone. We had left the pack alone. Conner insisted on carrying me and I didn’t complain as we made our way to the pack house.

"Gemma?" I heard someone call. It was Jenny. She looked surprised to see me.

"What happened to you? I thought you died?" She said.

"No. I didn’t." I said.

"But the bond in the pack..." She asked confused. "What happened?" She asked slightly angry.

"We were by the lake you know, fighting and I got badly injured and I drowned in the lake and Conner managed to get me out but I had died. They performed CPR on me and Eve shocked me back to life." I said. I didn’t know why I lied but how Jenny was reacting was putting me off a little.

"Right guys. That’s what happened." I said to the others.

Play along. I mind linked them. And so they did.

Why? Conner mind linked me. We were all sharing a link now.

I don’t know. Something about Jenny’s reaction threw me off. I said.

Me too. Caroline agreed.

Yeah. She’s sketchier than a pie. Eve commented.

How is a pie sketchy? Jace asked.

You never know what’s inside it until you open it up. Eve answered.

Why are we talking about pie anyway? Ash asked.

I don’t know and I don’t care. Stop mind linking. Jenny is looking at us weird. I said.

"You know what, I’m tired. I’m going to hit the hay. Let’s go Conner." I said.

Conner walked us to our room and the others got excuses to leave too. When we entered our room, I signaled for Conner to take us to the bathroom. He placed me on the counter and I used my powers to turn on the shower full blast.

"We have a traitor in the pack." I whispered to Conner.

"What?" He asked.

"Well if you look at it in-" I stopped talking, wincing as my healing made a bone pop back in its place.

Conner, standing between my legs, run his gaze across my body.

"I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I... I did this to you. I... I hurt you. I’m so sorry Gemma. I..." Conner stammered. Tears started running down his face. I raised my good arm and run my fingers in his hair.

"Hey. It’s wasn’t you. I know you’d never hurt me. It’s ok." I whispered.

He shook his head. "It’s not ok Gemma. I hurt you and now-" I cut him off.

"It wasn’t you. I kn-" he cut me off this time.

"You don’t get it Gemma." He said tears falling faster. "When you died, I felt like my soul was being torn in two. I couldn’t handle it. Then a rogue tried to kill me and I just snapped. In lycan form, I felt powerful, invincible, like nothing could get me. Not even the pain of your loss. Then you came back but you were different." He said pushing a strand of blue hair behind my ear. "I didn’t want to believe it was you. Neither did Axle. We did know it was you the whole time we just.... then you started talking of the times we had together and we just couldn’t deal with it. We hurt you knowing what we were doing. Knowing our mate was dying. It wasn’t until you and Winter cried for us that we... " he sniffed and blinked. "That we realized we weren’t only hurting you physically, we were breaking you again just after we had started picking up the pieces and looking for glue. What I’m trying to say Gemma is that we love you and we are deeply sorry." He finished.

I was crying because his words hit me in the feels pretty hard. I used my good arm to pull him to my chest and we cried together. He for hurting me and me for... well I’m not even sure but something was sad for me.

"As much as I’m feeling this moment right now we need to catch the traitor." I said pulling back. Conner nodded.

"But first, mark me." I whispered.

"What?" He asked.

"Our bond is broken and you didn’t get the chance to mark me before so, mark me now." I said bearing my neck. Conner leaned in and pushed hair away from my shoulder. I squirmed in anticipation. He kissed my neck.

"As much as I would love to do that, I’m not doing it in my bathroom covered in blood. I’d rather have you spread out before me." He whispered.

I shivered. "Ok. Ok. Um.... cool. Cool. I.. uh..." I cleared my throat. His words got me all mushy.

"The traitor." He said.

"The traitor right. Ok. Didn’t you think it was weird how not even five minutes after I finished my speech, the rogues attacked. Not to mention that guy Gary or something, he said you killed his mate but he hated her. He was seeing that seamstress a few blocks after the bank." I said.

"And you know this how?" He asked.

"I’m Luna I know things. Anyway, how did Gary or whatever his name is, get all the rogues. They were hundreds. You can’t tell me he did all that in a week." I said. We had told the pack of the ceremony a week prior. "The only people with information about the ceremony almost a month before was Eve, Ash, Caroline, Jace and Jenny. Then Natasha in a way." I pointed out.

Conner scratched his chin and run a hand through his hair. Over the weeks, he had grown a beard which was trimmed neatly and close to his face. He looked kinda hot.

"So... it’s someone with influence because you can’t convince all those rogues without a kind of payment." He said.

"That’s what I thought but, I learnt rogues only like to care for themselves, they would keep the money but how would they use it if they knew they were going to die most likely. No, they were controlled." I said.

"Compulsion? Only witches and vampires can do that. Maybe some demons. " Conner said.

"Exactly. Have you ever had a pack witch?" I asked.

"Yeah but she was caught dealing with dark magic and sent to the dungeons. She was a hybrid. Her wolf side was mostly dormant." He said.

"Or that’s what she wanted you to think." I said. A thought tagged in the back of my mind. "Do you have any information on a wolf called Xavier?" I asked. I had not told Conner about the Jenny incident on her request.

"Yeah. He was a cell guard in charge of the hybrid witch’s execution." He said. "Why? Do you know him?"

My heart was beating faster. "How old was the hybrid and what did she look like?" I asked.

"She was powerful about 15. So young and she showed a lot of promise. She lived with a couple at the edge of the pack territory. She had black hair and grey eyes." He said.

My heart was practically leaping now. "Tell me everything you know about Jenny." I said. His eyes sparkled. He was catching on...

"She joined the pack when she was 15, she was an orphan, mateless I’m sure but how could she be the traitor. She cried when you left." he asked.

"Never mind that. I can cry right now for no reason. You said that when I left, you captured a witch and she told you everything. That she was working for the hunters? But if hunter activity is connected to Australia and the US, according to your paperwork, why would they be having connections here?" I wondered. "Wait. Did you capture the witch?" I asked.

"No. She was brought in by Natasha. " he said.

"Tell me about Natasha." I said.

"She was born and raised in the pack. Her family were all warriors and they lived close to the boarder to protect it and she never showed interest in anyone before Jenny. " So they both lived at the boarder.

"Who was in charge of killing the witch who knew about me?" I asked.

"Natasha..." He said. Then it all clicked. Everything made sense.

"When I came here Jenny was the one who got me in the pack. She had an abusive boyfriend, Xavier who was actually a good guy who didn’t want to kill the hybrid witch and instead keep her for his own pleasure. I took him out and Jenny worked her way in my heart and even compelled me to heal my scars and be close to you. She knew the Luna ceremony details and I for one know those woods like the back of my hand there was no way I could just end up at the cliff. She spelled me to go there. She’s been working with Natasha they’ve known they are mates for years you can’t tell me they both lived near the border and never came in contact once. Jenny hired the witch, Natasha brought her in and made her confess where to find me using a spell because she didn’t want me gone, she wanted me dead." I said quickly.

It all made sense. The times she let her power accidentally slip, the weird obsession for the witch mall. Everything.

"Fuck." Conner said.

I nodded.