Ailsyn’s admission brought on waves of bullshit from his brother who knowingly pressed Derek through his comments to her. “Hey, Aislyn?” Zane would start nearly every conversation with. “Not right now, Zane,” Aislyn would respond, regardless of his status over them. “You know I out rank that response,” Zane chuckled, expecting better. “To your pack,” she answered, making Derek shake his collar out. It was a warning that went silenced. Zane wasn’t having it and Derek, well, his status meant that he had to hold tight and listen anyway. Aislyn glanced at her wolf and sighed, “I’m not part of your pack, Zane. If anything, you’re intruding on ours.” It was as if she knew. Maybe she did. Maybe she knew his real identity, but how? “You’re hilarious,” Zane replied, with not even a bit of mirth left in his being. “Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Aislyn nipped. “How do you even know if that’s what you two are?” Zane pushed and Aislyn dropped her head back to rest on her shoulde

The forest is unusually still, even while it’s so full of life, of threats… of her. It’s oddly terrifying to be back and unsettled in this unnatural way. The forest was a place of peace, even before he met Aislyn, but now it was nearing its end; ready to die, to erase them all. Energy whispered from all around him, calling him forward and pushing him backward as if they were there, in the bay itself makes Derek nervous. The thought that another cataclysmic event could bestow itself upon the land such as calling out the rings of limbo once more was horrifying. He wondered, idly, if anyone thought along the same lines; if anyone knew exactly who they were messing with by keeping him from her. As he neared their clearing he found Aislyn in the middle of it, sitting right in the dirt with her knees bent up to her chest, just like she always used to. ‘Sweetheart,” he murmured to himself. She wrapped her arms around them tightly and rested her head down on them. Derek knew that look

“I don’t know,” Derek replied, rolling back onto his back. There was so much that was wrong with being there in the first place; too many reasons that shoved him off onto his own. “There was never really a place for me, Zane. All of the family shit… I don’t know.” He could hear the way his brother was going to let him have it. Every conversation about coming back was the same. We are one, together, and so on… It really did hurt when his position was so badly mocked despite the protection he provided. “I think we’ll take our chances out in the untouched spaces,” Aislyn replied, making chills run up his back. She knew him so well. “Right,” Zane replied. “Fall is approaching fast,” he began. “You don’t have to worry about us,” she promised. “We’re all we need.” Her eye caught Candice’s beside her after. “Excuse me,” Aislyn murmured and left her perch. Her warmth left with her as she went to assess her friend’s concern. Derek watched her as she approached her situation. “Beside