**| Sang's POV |**
Silas stood on the back porch watching as I came out of the clearing. He looked happier, healthier, and handsome with all the scruff along his jaw. His hair grew since when I first met him and nearly covered his dark eyes. He looked wild and dangerous. Intimidating if I didn't already know him. His eyes followed every one of my movements and an emotion I didn't understand intensified his scrutiny as I got closer.
I took a step closer, wanting to touch him, but then paused, unfamiliar scents reaching my nose.
I didn't know them. My wolf surged forward on me before I could do anything and then I was back on four feet, lower to the ground, and a little angry. They said this place was mine while I was here, that the others would stay away. So why were there new scents. Scents I didn't recognize.
I growled as I worked my wait out of the clothes I wore.
"Sang," Silas said in a firm voice and I ignored him, still sniffing, working my way around the building. The scents were fresh.
My mind catalogued them.
Springs soap.
Luke's vanilla.
Leather and Cyprus.
Spice.
North's light musk.
Berry and moss.
Soft sandalwood.
Who? Who was here and where were they now?
"Sang," Silas said, keeping his voice calm when I returned to the backyard after making a full circle around the cabin.
I bared my teeth. They said no one else would be here and I didn't like that there were so many scents.
"Sang," Silas said again, with Sean moving around so I could see him better. "It's just us here. No one else."
I sniffed again and they shared an expression as I growled, sniffing out a spot strong of leather and Cyprus.
"It's only us here," Sean said. "The others came by briefly. That's what you scent right now. They came by to see Silas after missing him for so long. They needed to see him with their own eyes before going back to the pack house. But they already left. That scent is old, Sang. Please, calm down."
I sniffed and shook my head. The scent was about half an hour old.
"They didn't come inside," Silas said. He shifted closer to the back door and opened. "Take a look, go explore. I promise, the only other scent you will find is mine, Sean's, and Luke's from when he showed you around. Not even North came inside."
I did as he said, going inside the house and smelling every single corner of the house, every little nook and cranny. He was right. I didn't smell anything I wasn't expecting. Even Luke's scent was old, leaving the house when I left and never going back inside. Instead, he went around to the front of the cabin where he met back up with North. From the saturated scents, they must have shifted before taking off into the woods, leaving us with the two motorcycles.
I even spotted the keys in them. A way to leave. A clear sign that I wasn't a prisoner here.
"Feel better?" Silas asked, standing on the porch with his arms crossed over his large chest. He wore a dark blue t-shirt that stretched over his bulging chest.
I huffed, walking passed him and through the open door, not bothering to turn back into my human form. I found the couch in the living room and went to the corner, the couch acting as a barrier as I settled down, resting my head against my paws with my back to the corner walls.
"Sang, let me look at your wounds," Sean said, coming into the room with a black bag. "I know you're hurt. Your back leg is injured and your breathing is off. And I know you have silver in your system. I can flush it out so you'll be stronger again."
Silas came in, clothes in his hands. He held it up, giving me a challenging look, as if daring me to shift, not believing I would. I sent him a growl to let him know my displeasure before I relaxed my body and thought about two feet. A moment later, I was shivering, but naked and hairless with only two legs.
I stood up and caught the clothes Silas tossed my ways. The shirt went down to my thighs and the sweat pants kept wanting to fall down to my ankles.
Silas grinned. "I'll have Gabriel find you better fitting clothes. He'll be happy to help."
I nodded and walked over to the couch, trying to not limp. I did my best ignoring the pain but I knew I needed Dr. Sean Green's help. I needed the silver out of my system.
"Silas, I need you to take notes while I catalogue her injuries," the doctor said, passing Silas a pad of paper and pen. Silas got comfortable on the floor, the notepad in his lap as he waited patiently.
The next hour passed by with Sean going over every injury, bump, and bruise on my body. He felt out my ribs, letting me know two of them were broken. My ankle was sprained but nothing that wouldn't heal after they got the silver out of my system and my shifter abilities grew stronger.
Everything was artificial and already in the healing process. Well, everything but my brain. I knew it and by the way Sean watched me, he knew it too. Silas...he still held onto hope that I would be okay, that I wouldn't lose myself.
I didn't hold onto his belief. I'd seen it too many times with the other shifters the last couple years. They were pushed too hard for too long and couldn't handle it anymore. They were put out of their misery. I had a feeling I was headed in the same exact position. I couldn't decide if that would be a blessing or not.
"Silas," I said softly.
He looked at me instead of out the window.
"Can I talk to Sean? Alone?"
His eyes flickered back and forth between the doctor and me before he straightened from the wall and stalked out of the room. I could see the tension in his muscles. He didn't like that I wanted the privacy but he respected my wishes.
The moment I heard the front door open and close, I knew he was out of earshot and I turned to Sean.
"How long until I need to be put down?" I asked.
Sean's green eyes widened and he opened his mouth in surprise, but instead of answering me like I wanted, he closed it.
I sighed. "I know something's wrong with me. I know I'm about to go crazy. And I know when I do, I'll kill anyone around me. I don't want that, Dr. Green. I don't want to hurt anyone." I pleaded with him, begging him with my expression to listen to me. I didn't want anymore blood on my hands.
He frowned and ran his fingers through his dirty blond curls. "So you're asking me how long until we have to put you down like some raving animal."
I leaned forward, shifting closer to Sean, close enough to feel the heat off his skin. We always ran hotter than a normal human.
"I've seen it happen a few times in there," I said just above a whisper. "I've seen the way they acted leading up to it, I've seen the way reacted to certain situations. And I can feel the changes in me." I paused and took in a deep breath, my eyes begging him to listen to me. "I've been feeling less like myself more and more each day. I get so angry. I have moments I want to tear into someone until they're dead, not because I'm hungry or protecting anyone, but because of this deep rage inside of me wanting to be released over some stupid infraction on their part, if there is even a reason. I know that eventually, I'll shift and I won't be able to shift back. So how long?" I asked.
We stared into each other's eyes, trying to read the other's mind but we were both good at hiding our true thoughts.
"You're not."
I shook my head but Sean narrowed his eyes at me. I swallowed a growl wanting to escape. My wolf was taking that as a challenge and challenges were always meant to be won.
"You're not because I won't let you. You were in a high stress situation, sick, hurt, and poisoned. But we got you out and now you'll have time to rest. You're not a lost cause."
"But what if I am," I asked.
"You're not, Miss Sang. You're not," Sean said, his voice hardening with determination. I could see the desperation behind his words. As a true healer, I asked him to do something that went against his being. "You're just hurt and you've been beaten down, but you're not going to go wild. We are going to help you, get you back to your normal self."
I winced at that thought. Normal self? I didn't even know what that was anymore. I wasn't even sure if I ever had it. As a shifter, normal didn't even exist. If the humans knew we existed, they would want to destroy us.
Sean reached over and grabbed at my hand. I froze and stared at the touch. It was...kind.
"We are going to take care of you. The moment Silas made the decision to get you out became the moment we decided to take care of you. You just need to let us."
I nodded. "But I want a contingency plan. If I do...if I do go wild, I want to know you have a plan in place."
"We aren't putting you down like a damn animal if that's what you mean," Silas growled and I whipped my head around to see him glowering as he stood in the doorway.
"But that is exactly what I'll be. You saw it, Silas. With Johnson, with the way he shifted and went after everyone. With the way they shot him down. You saw it."
"I did. But I know we are better than them. We won't shoot you down like that."
"Sang," Sean said, grabbing my attention. "I'm a trained doctor and I know a whole lot about shifters. I've even developed a way to painlessly kill a wild shifter. Believe it or not, we've dealt with them before. It's kind of part of our job."
"You're job?" I asked, a little confused.
Silas nodded, moving further into the room and closer to me. "We are part of the Academy. We're tasked with dealing with others like us, with the shifters. Our team especially because we are large and each member has a unique skill set. Put all our skills together and we are pretty strong. The Academy likes to task us with taking down wild shifters before they do any damage."
"So The Gallows?" I asked, referring to the place we escaped from.
Sean winced at the name. "Is that what they referred to that place as?"
I nodded. "Was that a mission?" I asked Silas. "From this Academy?"
"I wish," he growled, his hands fisting at his side and the bones shifting underneath the skin of his face. He took in a deep breath and released it, shaking his head. "No, that wasn't our mission. That was a case of bad luck."
Silas's lip curled up into a snarl, the disdain strong in his dark eyes. The pupils of his eyes dilated, nearly taking over all the color in his eyes, becoming impossibly black. His shifter stood at the forefront, standing strong with Silas's anger and pain. Sean shifted slowly, moving closer to Silas. I could see him tensing, ready to move if Silas lost his control.
"I was doing recon and they found me," Silas said, his shoulders lowering as he focused on Sean. Just from that move, I knew in shifter hierarchy, Silas was lower than Sean. "Never even knew what was happening. I was on a different mission all together."
"But now that we know," Sean spoke up, turning to me. "We're going to deal with it. We can't let something like that to continue." He clapped his hands together, making me jump at the sudden sound. "Now, I'm going to put an IV in. You need to let it run for a couple of hours so you might as well take a nap while it does its magic. My first concern is flushing the silver out of your system."
I nodded and then watched as he got me comfortable on the sofa and hooked me up to an IV. I didn't forget that they never answered my question, about what they would do if I went wild. I learned to become determined. I'd let them think I moved on from that questioning. But I was going to extract a solid answer from them.
I didn't want them hesitating when I lost myself. When I went, I wanted them putting me out of misery.