Evelyn

My heart sank when Clay disconnected. I must have fallen asleep because I jerked awake in pain. I opened my eyes to find Father Lucas standing over me with my cage opened with the damn cattle prod in his hand.

"Try to escape, and the cattle prod will be the least of your worries," he said as one of his men dragged me out of the room. I looked around, noticing we were in some kind of church as they dragged me into another room.

The men locked shackles around my neck and chained me to the floor. Another man held a go-pro camera in his hands.

"Now, little wolf, you will shift and show the world that demons do exist." Said Father Lucas

I shook my head no, "I refuse. The Guardians don't deserve to be slaughtered like animals."

"You," he says, pointing to one of his henchmen, "bring in the boy."

The boy was kicking and screaming as they brought him into the room. He screamed in pain when Father Lucas electrocuted him with the prod.

"Okay!" I screamed as tears dripped down my face, "I will shift; just please stop hurting him!"

"That's all I wanted to hear, little wolf," said Father Lucas, taking the camera from the man, then switching it on.

"Hello world, my name is Father Lucas, and today we will show you that demons exist. They call themselves Guardians, but we call them shapeshifters. These shapeshifters can change into animals but also walk among us as humans. Now witness this demon as she changes; here is proof that they exist."

He turned the camera to me after prodding me with the stick a few times; I hung my head in shame as I shifted. When the shift was done, I was shocked by the prod until I snarled and bit at Father Lucas.

He pulled the camera away with an evil smile, "You see? Here is living proof that we must rise against these demons and purge them all from this world. Stay tuned for the next video."

I froze when I heard the sound of gunshots coming from the hall. The door burst open "Father, we have company. It's the wolf tribe, and they're angry."

The coward quickly shifted into a black rat snake, then disappeared through the door.

The young boy ran to me, throwing his arms around my neck as I shifted and held him tight as the growls grew closer. Tears filled my eyes when a familiar red, gray, and white wolf entered the room.

"Clay!"

He ran towards me, shifting as he fell to his knees before me, making the little boy growl in fear.

"Shh, it's an okay little man; he won't hurt you. He's here to save us." I said, running my fingers through his rusty curls. The boy whimpered and sucked at his thumb as he clung tight to me.

"Little Bird, what did they do to you?" Said Clay, scanning my body. There were third-degree burns where I was shocked by the cattle prod.

"He used a damn cattle prod on us to make us obey him. I just did something terrible, Clay. No one will ever forgive me." I said with tears falling from my eyes.

"Oh baby, let's get this darn shackle off of you and get out of here; then you can tell us what happened," he said

I jumped when a large charcoal gray wolf ran into the room. The wolf shifted, and my brother hurried over to us. All the blood in my body rushed to my face when I realized we were all naked.

"Oh, sister, this isn't the time to be bashful; we need to get you out of here," said Asher.

Asher helped Clay with the shackle, then I was lifted into Clay's arms.

When Asher saw the boy, he held out his hand for him to take.

"He is one of the good ones, little man; he is my brother," I explained

I smiled when he took my brother's hand, and the four of us walked out into the church, where I spotted my father, Clay's father and the twin brothers. I gasped when I saw the blood oozing from Cole's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Eve, it will heal quickly. Perks of being a wolf and a healer." Said Cole with a smile. "And the girls dig battle scars."

The young girl named Skye ran to me, throwing her arms around my waist. "I was so scared when they took you. I'm glad to see that you're okay," she said with tears dripping down her face.

"Thank you, Skye," I said with a smile.

After some hugs and much-needed clothes, we all got into my father's black and chrome Ford Bronco and headed home. My father would call the tribes of the ones we saved when we returned home, and I wasn't looking forward to telling them about what I did.

I fell asleep in the car on the way home but soon woke up gasping, expecting to still be in the church, then sighed in relief when I found myself curled up against Clay. It's only been twelve hours, but I felt like I'd been gone for years.

Clay pulled me in tighter. "I got you now, Little Bird; you're safe." He said, rubbing my back.

But I wasn't safe, none of us are any more, thanks to me…

When we pulled into Clay's driveway, Clay scooped me up and carried me into the house. We had just sat down when Crystal ran into the room. "Chief, you have to see this!" she yelled, handing him her phone.

Tears fell from my face, "I didn't want to do it," I whispered.

"What baby? What did he make you do?" Clay asked with a confused look on his face.

"He was using the prod on the boy, and he wouldn't stop until I agreed," I continued.

"Little Bird, I don't understand what you're talking about," he said, running a hand through his hair.

I was startled when I heard my father's voice from behind me, "I do; you will have to watch this to understand, '' he said, handing Clay the phone.

My whole body shook as I held my hands over my ears so I couldn't hear Father Lucas's voice. Then closed my eyes so that I couldn't see the look on Clay's face when he saw what I did.

I jumped when I felt his hands on mine as he tried to pull my hands away from my ears. I tried to pull away, but he refused to let me go.

"Little Bird, look at me, please," he said softly.

I opened my eyes and was shocked when I saw no anger in his eyes. My lip trembled as the tears continued to fall.

"It's okay if you hate me," I whispered. "I deserve it."

I flinched when he lifted his hand, making Clay growl as he cupped my face. "Don't ever flinch at my hand; I would never hit you. Do you understand?!" he said in an angry voice.

I nodded, "I understand."

"Good, because Little Bird, I am not mad at you. I'm mad at the situation he put you in, but you won't be going through this alone. You have a whole damn pack at your back," he said

"I don't belong to this pack," I replied

"You are my daughter and the future Luna of this pack. If they don't accept you, then they can go somewhere else," father growled.

I had just remembered the others. Very slowly, I turned around to face everyone in the room. I was surprised that no one looked mad, sad, and maybe a little scared.

"Why aren't you guys mad at me?" I asked, looking from face to face.

My father stepped forward, dropping to his knees before me. "There is no reason to be mad at someone protecting a child; any person with a good enough heart would have done the same thing."

"Alright, I think the girl has had enough for today. Let her get cleaned up and some good rest; we can talk more about it tomorrow," demanded Lala

They all agreed and backed away as Clay carried me to the bathroom so I could take a quick shower. Clay sat on the toilet, refusing to leave.

When I was done, he dried me off, slipped one of his oversized shirts over my head, then carried me to our room. After rubbing some aloe on the burns, Clay laid me on the bed, then lowered his big body over mine.