Chapter 18: Eighteen.

Shane couldn't help but laugh; Sammy's reaction was as priceless to him as Daniel's slurred and desperate declaration.

Though, his laughter ceased and he couldn't help but frown in concern as Sammy began to walk away. Shane began storming towards her, losing sight of her as he navigated through the undergrowth.

When he reached her though his annoyance evaporated, Sammy wasn't able to abandon his friend after all. In fact, she was sat on a rock shivering, having draped her jacket over Daniel's naked body instead.

Her expression was unreadable as he cautiously approached, and for once he was unsure of the possible outcomes.

"Sammy?" He asked, with his hands raised in front of himself, "Please don't shoot me too." He joked, trying break the ice.

"I won't." She sighed, " I don't need two of you to babysit."

Her voice seemed weak, it startled him. Sammy infuriated him half the time, a topic he had discussed plenty with Abigail, but she was never weak.

"You want to talk about it?" Shane asked softly, his Alpha need to care for his pack taking over, and for some reason, despite not being marked yet, Sammy still felt like part of the pack.

Sammy scoffed at his question, of course she didn't want to talk about it. This whole thing was just too... beyond. No, she definitely did not want to sit here and discuss everything that was going on in her head with someone she had only known a month.

That was up until she looked up into his eyes. There was a genuine concern there, and for some reason all her angst disappeared and she wanted to open up to him. She wanted to lean on the shoulder he was offering.

Suddenly her eyes were welling up as her emotions over whelmed her.

Without hesitation, Shane crouched before her putting his hands on her shoulders as she began to cry, and pulling her forward to hug her close.

"Sammy, tell me what you need. It won't go any further, I swear, but whatever this is, whatever you are so angry about, you can't keep bottling it up." Shane stated, pulling back and hating himself for this next question he was about to ask, the next question that felt like a betrayal of his closest friend, but one that as a responsible pack leader he would ask all the same. "Did Daniel do something to you?"

Sammy suddenly sat up right, and pushed Shane back angling her body between the two men instinctively.

"What! No. He hasn't. Well, he disappeared off the face of the planet,  but at least he came back. No, this, this isn't about him." She ranted off defensively.

Shane's relief was evident on his face at her words as much as her defensive posture. She really didn't see just how much their bond affected her.

However, Sammy felt like she had been slapped when he asked his next question. "Who didn't come back, Sammy?"

It was a question scarily close to her traumatic past and not one she wished to relive through discussion.

Shane watched as her entire body stiffened, and suddenly he saw it. Why Sammy was so defensive and why despite obviously feeling her and Daniel's bond she wasn't wanting to forgive him. His question had hit the nail on the head and her reaction had confirmed it.

Sammy had experienced being abandoned.

"Sammy, who left you before?" He asked softly.

Sammy sighed as a wave of pain she buried long ago surfaced, it was too late, unable to keep it buried, she was reliving it.

"My father," she whispered quietly. "When I was eleven, my Mom found out he was leading a double life. He worked away a lot, I'm not actually sure I was ever told what his job was though. Anyway, he made a mistake on valentine's day and sent both bunches of roses to the one address. Both bunches, which were addressed to two different women. My Mom opted to stay quiet and follow him, I was in the car too. I remember she cried the whole way, while faking jokes with me like it would hide her tear stained face. We parked up outside this really big house, and watched my father in the driveway as he got out of his car. The house door opened and two boys came running into his arms. One about my age, the other a bit older, then a beautiful woman followed, and he kissed her." She spoke so quietly, but Shane could tell she wasn't done. "They were a family. We drove home straoght afterwards, and Mom sent me to bed, it was four thirty, I hadn't eaten since breakfast that day. When he came home a few days later, they got in a huge fight. Mom wanted him to choose, and he did. He chose them. My Mom killed herself later that week and I was put into the care system i bounced about for a while till I met my brother Dax, he saved me really."

Shane was incandescent with rage, not only at her father, but at her Mom. Sammy was only a child and both her parents abandoned her. Left her to fend for herself while they were more concerned with themselves.

He struggled to pull himself back to reality. Too busy seething at everything that had happened, and plotting a way to find her so called "father" to teach him what responsibility was.

Werewolves cherished their mates, they lived for their young. The skewed human nature that caused some to abandon their children was alien and obscene to Shane, and it made him so fucking mad.

"I, I should go," Sammy spoke up suddenly, feeling uncomfortable now that she had shared her story.

"Please, wait till he wakes up at least, he will want to see you. You're his mate. There's still so much to explain, and I understand you're hurting, but he will want to help." Shane pleaded, knowing it had to be her decision.

"I don't know what any of this means, Shane. But, Daniel made out I belong to him, and I just can't. I can't become so dependent on someone that when they leave I become my mother." Sammy clarified. "We grew too close, too fast and I just can't do this." She pleaded.

"Daniel won't leave you though. He physically can't. Since he met you,  you are all he has thought about. Jeeze, he almost challenged me, when I sent him away," Shane tried to reason with her.

"Wait? Challenged? Sent? Shane, I don't understand, but this is hurting my head." She objected, rubbing her temples and feeling like she was only being given half the story.

"If you stay, I will explain," Shane offered.

Sammy sighed, knowing her head would only churn relentlessly until she got some answers. With another shiver she sat back down.

"Okay, explain," she answered.

Shane took a breath, shrugging off his own jacket, "Here. You're human, and you're cold."

"I'm fine," she said with a shake of her head.

"No, you're cold, and I promised him I'd keep you safe. So, take it." Shane responded somewhat gruffly.

Sammy smirked, "I'm not exactly in danger from a little cold weather. Now stop stalling."

Shane's stare bore into her as he raised his brow unimpressed, holding out his jacket still.

"Fine," Sammy huffed, slipping it over her shoulders. "Thank you."

Shane nodded before asking, "What would you like to know first?"

Sammy thought for a second, "The wolves on hallowe'en, they are part human too? Like Daniel, like you?"

Shane smiled, some how admiring that is where her brain went first. Back to the beginning of her experience.

"Yes," he nodded, "They are not tame, they are members of our pack, and you have met them all now."

Sammy's brow furrowed, "The volunteers?"

"Yeah. When you showed me what was going on, particularly with our lupine cousins, we had to help. I actually knew the pack when they were in the wild. Luna, the female has chewed on my ears many times as an infant herself." He answered, trying to fill in as many blanks as possible.

Sammy smiled at the thought, taking comfort that there were more people who genuinely cared for her wolf pack.

"That explains her attitude," she smirked, "It's your influence. You said, Daniel almost challenged you, so you're the Alpha right? You guys have a hierarchy too?"

Shane smiled at her perception, "Yes. I am." He stated proudly. "And, for the record, I would appreciate if you yourself would stop challenging me at every opportunity. You are my beta's mate. That makes you the pack's beta female, and I out rank you, Sammy." He stated semi seriously.

Sammy smirked, ignoring his request, "Daniel's your beta." She nodded. "What's a mate?"

"Well, we are part wolf so, we mate for life." Shane began.

Sammy scoffed interrupting him, "Oh please, there is no way that man was a virgin when we met!" Her face instantly reddened when she realised what she had said.

"No. That's fair," Shane laughed, "We are also part human remember. Our mate bond kicks in when we find our soul mate. From then on out, we are completely loyal."

Sammy nodded, "And, Daniel thinks I'm his mate?"

"No, he knows you're his mate." Shane corrected her, "And, so do I." He stated without room.for argument.

"What?" Sammy responded, "No. You can't just decide something like that for me, who the fuck do you guys think you are?" She snapped.

"Enough!" Shane growled loudly. "Do not disrespect me!"

Sammy angrily stood up, "Respect is earned, Shane, and so far I'm discovering just how many lies I have been fed over the past month." She countered without fear, her own face steely with anger. "Let's be honest, even this little expedition was staged right? Secluded spot. No interruptions. Funny how there's been radio silence since we got here. Is it at least on the truck, or will it need replaced?"

Shane paled momentarily at how she had seen through him.

"Oh, and if my scope is permanently damaged, you are replacing it!" She added.

Shane ground his teeth, his wolf itching to answer Sammy's challenge.

"Daniel should be awake in about twenty minutes." She added, shrugging off Shane's jacket, and swapping it with her own. "He will be unsteady on his feet for another twenty. Don't let him eat until the tranqs worn off, he might choke," she paused, "Well, that's what I would expect for an animal, I have never studied the affects on a werewolf, so I'm not completely sure."

She began walk away, her own annoyance overpowering her at this point.

"Wait," Shane called out.

"Don't worry, I get it," she commented without slowing down.  "I will destroy his blood samples."

Shane paused, he hadn't even thought that far ahead yet. Sighing he let her go, seeming to sense she needed time to process, and right now, his Beta needed him.