Julien searched the river as he ran and then there Lacey was... clinging to a log in her human form, probably too weak to stay in her wolf form. Rex stood on the other side, pacing the bank, thinking of a way to get to her. But if Rex touched her, he was a dead man.Julien searched the side of the cliff, but there was no path leading down to the river below. He had only one choice. Julien ran back and Rex laughed, thinking Julien would abandon her. But he had another thing coming.When Julien was far enough away to gain momentum, Julien poured on the speed, heading straight for the edge of the cliff, pushing himself harder. He needed to jump into the middle of the river, as far away from the rocks on the edge as possible. When he neared the cliff's edge he pushed off, catapulting himself away from the side into mid-air, feeling the earth leave his paws below him. He fell for what seemed like an eternity and then splashed into the heavy current, plunging deep into the water.Under the w

Later into the evening, Julien knew they had to leave now before daybreak. He just hoped that Lacey was up for it. "Gggrrrooolll!!" a wolf-shifter growled outside the cave. "Lacey!" Julien gently shook her shoulder. "Lacey! Wake up!"She opened her eyes, sitting up abruptly and rubbed her eyes. "Julien, what is it?""Someone's here," he said, running his hand along the side of her hair as he rose to his feet. "Stay here." Then he let the tremors run down his spine and throughout his limbs as he stood back away from Lacey, not wanting to hurt her in the process. Then he let the red haze with black edges overtake his vision and then his paws touched down onto the gray cave dust, purplish in the darkness of the cave. Julien crept through the passageway and into the main cave but saw nothing. "Gggrroowwll!!" a shifter's growl resonated into the cave. Then Julien recognized his voice and ran out. "I could use a little help here," Brogan said in the Pack Mind. He, Misty, and Victor were

After Dr. Silva spoke with him, Julien came in and sat in a chair beside the bed. "I agree with Lacey. Let's keep her in the castle and do the tests. If it comes back that she has appendicitis, then we'll rush her to the hospital." Then Julien thought of something. "Could you take the samples and run the tests here in our suite?" Julien sighed, shaking his head. "Lacey's been through enough, and she really needs to rest."Dr. Silva nodded. "Against my better judgement, I'll agree. But if she starts running a fever or has more abdominal pain, we'll rush her to the hospital.""Agreed," Julien replied. "Both of you, please don't talk about me as if I'm not here," Lacey said. Julien nodded, patting her leg. "Sorry, darling."Dr. Silva rummaged around in his bag and pulled out a slender box. Lacey knew it was a pregnancy test. "I want you to take this test now. I need to go downstairs to bring up some things that I'll need, and I'll be right back." Then he looked over at Julien. "Do you h

"Eeekkk!!!" Lacey screamed in the middle of the night. She had been dreaming that Thorn had given her over to Rex, and he had taken her away from Julien. But then Rex grabbed her hard and pulled her to him. "Uuuuggghhh!" Lacey screamed as the strong arms held her tightly, pulling her to his chest. "No! Let me go!""Ssshh.... Lacey... it's me, Julien," he cooed, pulling her to him, brushing her hair from her eyes. "You're going to pull out your IV!"She thrashed about as he held her rms still, tried to calm her, not realizing it was Julien. "Eeehhh!""Lacey! Wake up! You're dreaming!" Julien shook her shoulders hard, trying to wake her. "Lacey! It's me! Julien!"Then she looked into his eyes, as if seeing him for the first time. "Oh, Julien! I'm so sorry! I was just dreaming—" She looked at the IV. Even though it had come untapped, it was still secure in her arm. She quickly smoothed her hand over the tape and the memory of what had happened over the last few days flooded her mind."Sss

"Julien?" Lacey asked, waking up in the hospital, feeling disoriented. When she opened her eyes, the light was much too bright. "Where am I?""You're in the hospital, Lacey," Julien said, holding her hand. Then everything started coming back to her... the pain... and then Julien carrying her to the ambulance... "Did they do the surgery?"Julien nodded, smiling. "Dr. Silva did the surgery and it went very well. Come to find out, your appendix ruptured in his hands as soon as he took it out." He sighed, shaking the memories from his head. "We got you here just in time."She nodded, giving him a weak smile. "Good. At least we know what it was."Julien raised her hand to his lips, and then looked up, his eyes pleading. "Lacey, I'm so sorry I waited so long to bring you here. They gave you some pain medication so it should help." Then Julien leaned in conspiratorially. "Dr. Silva said that you should be able to come home in a few days, but you'll need to wait until next week to go back to