Declan sat on the couch and stared at Maria. He didn’t want to believe her theory, but it did fold together quite nicely. And he couldn’t deny that it would not be the first time Noelle had done something like this to him.

“Maria,” Declan said finally. “We need to find out more information before we jump to any conclusions here. And I need your help with something.” Maria grimaced, not thrilled by the idea of offering him any favors, but she eventually gave in.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Gabriel,” Declan said softly. “He was my beta, and the night of the ritual when I couldn’t turn, I deemed him the alpha of the pack. It seems that he cracked under the pressure, and I really need someone to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t completely destroy my pack while I figure everything else out.”

Maria nodded, her own alpha rearing its head at the request. “What do you think I should do?”

“Get close to him, if you can. See if you can push him into letting you be the alpha female of our pack, since you have already been in that position.”

“And if he pushes the ritual?”

Declan considered this, and he recalled Megan’s horrific admission that Gabriel would require it to be to the death. “Give him any reason he needs to choose you. Any means necessary.”

Maria nodded understanding exactly what Declan meant. She left the apartment and headed to Gabriel’s apartment, knocking on the door softly.

Gabriel opened the door and his eyes grew wide at Maria standing in the doorway. The last time he had seen her, she was laying on the couch, in and out of consciousness, and covered in blood. He had to admit —she cleaned up rather nicely.

“Hey,” Gabriel said, a small smile on his lips.

Maria turned on her full-watt smile and she could tell that it already had an effect on Gabriel. “Hi,” she said. “Do you mind if I come in for a little while?”

Gabriel nodded without hesitation and opened the door for her. Maria stepped inside the apartment and grimaced at the unseemly sight —clothes were lying on the ground, everywhere. There were small spots of blood throughout the place. It seemed as though Gabriel was getting sloppy, but she couldn’t allow herself to show disgust.

“What brings you here?” Gabriel asked.

Maria turned around and looked at him shyly. She spoke conspiratorially and said, “To be honest, I just really needed to be with another Alpha. Declan just doesn’t cut it anymore, you know?” Gabriel’s smile reached from ear to ear and Maria knew she had said exactly the right thing —she was in.

* * *

Mr. Sanders had told Noelle that if she required this information for the cure, they would need to go someplace else to discuss it. She had obliged and soon found herself in the back seat of a car, and traveling down a dark road. The driver was separated from them by a privacy window, although Noelle had the feeling that even if the driver did hear them, if he ever spoke of the conversation, he would probably meet some untimely demise.

“So, you wish to know my real name,” Mr. Sanders said in a matter-of-fact voice, although Noelle could tell that this conversation was making him uncomfortable.

“Yes.” Noelle nodded slowly. “And the real purpose behind what you are doing. Why would you defect from the council? What made you suddenly… so humanitarian?”

Mr. Sanders smiled sadly as he looked out at the rain from the car window. “You remind me so much of her,” he said softly.

Noelle pulled together her eyebrows in confusion. She was about to ask him who he was talking about, but she stopped as he opened his mouth to continue.

“My real name,” he said quietly, “is Edmund. I imagine that you would most recognize me as ‘E’ from the letters you read by Noelise.”

Noelle’s heart started racing abruptly, but her mind was slow to understand what he meant. “E” from the letters? Those letters were written such a long time ago —there was no way that this could be the same man.

“How is that possible?” Noelle asked, careful to hide the nervousness from her voice.

He nodded as though he agreed with her question. “How indeed, how indeed.” Noelle waited patiently for him to continue. “I was in love with her, you know? I would have done anything for her.”

“For Noelise?”

“Yes,” he said simply. “When she —when she took her own life…” he trailed off. “I could feel my own soul escape my body. She died and a part of me died with her. And then, of course, there was Annabelle. How could I have known what she truly was? I never could have killed her —she was like my own daughter. When she transformed that night of the ritual, every ounce of love that I had, left. It shriveled away and died. Not killing her was my final act of love.”

Noelle shook her head, still not understanding how he could be there, alive.

“Of course, I stayed on my path. I trained warriors and instilled in them their mission, but I could not bring myself to kill another werewolf again, for fear that I would be killing her.”

Realization dawned on Noelle in that moment. “So, this is why you wanted to create the cure? You want to save them because you couldn’t save Annabelle?”

“Oh, dear girl. I still can save her.”

Noelle’s mind started spinning but she fought against it, refusing to give into the blackness of now. Once she regained her senses, she looked at the man —he looked tired and fragile, exactly as he had when she’d first met him. His pupil-less eyes were staring out the window, they seemed softer somehow, although nothing had changed.

“What do you mean you can still save her?”

“Noelle, use the brain you have been blessed with. Children do not appear from nowhere —you have Noelise’s blood. You have Annabelle’s blood. This must mean that at one point, Annabelle mothered her own children. Generations came and went, and then there was you. Finally, a girl born of her blood.”

“Is she —is she still alive?” Noelle could barely choke out the question.

Edmund closed his eyes and sat back in his seat. He nodded slowly, exhausted, from the conversation. Noelle could not believe what was happening —how had Annabelle survived all this time? How had he survived all this time?

“Remember,” Edmund spoke out suddenly, “the only thing that can kill a werewolf is silver. No death comes for werewolves wearing a black robe, carrying a reaper.”

It was now Noelle’s turn to close her eyes. This man —his only desire was to bring his daughter home. Could she stand in the way of this? Yet, how could he condone the murder of so many werewolves who did choose humanity? What if Annabelle had been one of them?

“How do you know she is still alive?” Noelle asked, a sudden influx of questions polluting her mind. “How do you know you did not kill her already, through this cleansing of yours?”

“She is not dead,” he said simply. “But if she refuses the offer of humanity, then she should die with the rest of them.”

This time, Noelle could not fight against it. The blackness crept in from the corner of her eyes and she felt as though she was drowning.

Her vision blacked out completely, but in the final moments of consciousness, she heard Edmund say, very quietly, “We all must die in the end.”

* * *

Declan sat on his couch, his forehead pressed to his phone. He was trying desperately to reach out to Noelle, but she was not answering any of his calls or texts. He thought maybe if he could focus his mind hard enough, he might be able to reach out to her with his thoughts, just as Dustin had done, to call together the meeting of the alphas.

He clenched his eyes shut and with all his focus, he concentrated on the image of Noelle in his brain. Declan conjured up the perfect curve of her face, with those icy blue eyes which had burned their place in his memory, and her perfect, supple lips.

He spoke in his mind, “Noelle, if you can hear me, please come back. I think I know what you are doing, but I don’t want to be right about this. Please —please prove me wrong.”

When Declan finally opened his eyes, he realized he was lying on the floor. He must have fallen asleep. When he sat up he discovered that he had no idea whether he had reached Noelle, or whether it was all just a dream.

* * *

Noelle opened her eyes in the same room where Edmund had taken her before. She tried to sit up, but she found that her entire body felt weak and shaky.

“Noelle, you’re awake,” Edmund said as he stood up from a chair in the corner of the room.

He walked up to her bed and sat down gently on the side, brushing his hand over her forehead and dragging it down her cheek. Noelle had to try with all her might not to pull away from him in repulsion.

“Edmund, I should be getting back,” Noelle said softly.

She turned her face into his palm, and pressed her lips against his skin, gently. She closed her eyes and imagined that it was Declan’s hand that she was kissing, but at this point, she needed to do anything and everything to get to that cure.

“Why do you need to leave?” Edmund asked.

“I made a promise, Edmund. I am not the kind of woman who goes against her word,” Noelle said as she stared deeply into his eyes —she was trying to compel him to trust her, but she feared she knew where this might lead.

“Noelle, can I ask you something?”

“Yes,” Noelle said as she nodded, carefully pulling her face away from his hand.

“Do you care for me? I mean —before everything happened, I felt like you and I had an otherworldly connection. Didn’t you feel it?”

“I did,” Noelle said softly, but this time, she was not lying to him.

Edmund observed her carefully, his eyes burning their way from her own down her nose, and finally, stopping at her lips. Noelle felt frozen —if she pulled away from him, all hopes of finding a cure were gone. But what would happen if she gave in?

“I will tell you where the cure is if you can tell me one thing,” Edmund whispered.

“Yes?” Noelle asked quietly, secretly fearing what he might say.

“Are you truly done with Declan? I know that I will have to prove myself to you to earn your trust again, and I am willing to do that, but not if you are still sleeping with…” Noelle held up her fingers to his lips to stop him. Hearing him utter Declan’s name felt like the ultimate betrayal, but she needed to make it through one final lie.

“After I met you, I knew that I was not meant to be with Declan. You put everything into perspective for me, and for that, I truly do feel indebted to you. We will have to figure this out —you and me —day by day. But still, there can be a you and me.” Noelle nearly choked on the last word, but to her relief, Edmund took it as a sign of sudden emotion overcoming her.

He took her into his arms in a tight embrace and clutched her body close to his own. She could feel his hot breath against her neck and she closed her eyes. In that instant, she could hear Declan’s voice in her head, pleading for her to go back.

She pulled away from Edmund and saw a concerned look spread over his face. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Noelle said as she smiled weakly. “I just —I got a little dizzy is all.”

Edmund nodded as he brushed her hair away from her face, tucking a few strands behind her ear. Noelle shivered at his touch and he smiled at her.

“You need to get some rest,” he said softly.

Noelle shook her head and stood up from the bed. “No,” she said. “It’s better for me to go now. I can sneak in and collect the cure without anyone seeing me, and I will leave for them in the apartment.”

“Okay,” Edmund said standing up next to her, “I’ll come with you.”

“You can’t!” Noelle said a little too quickly. “I just mean, it will be dangerous enough for me, but at least they won’t be surprised if I get caught. If they find you —after what you did, it’s just too dangerous.”

Edmund studied her carefully and for a moment, Noelle felt like she blew it. She didn’t dare move or speak.

Finally, Edmund sighed. “You’re right,” he said. “I just wish I could be there to offer you some protection.”

“I don’t need protection,” Noelle said indignantly.

Edmund smiled at her bravery —but Noelle knew the truth. It wasn’t because she was brave that she didn’t need protection. It was because Declan was the last person who would ever harm her.

Edmund explained to Noelle exactly where she would be able to find the cure in the remnants of the laboratory. She collected her coat from the ground, and slipped it on as she headed for the door.

“Noelle,” Edmund called out. “Please, be careful.”

She smiled at him sweetly, before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her. She was just about to leave the main room when she saw her father sitting there, looking out the window.

“Dad?” Noelle whispered, not able to tell if he had fallen asleep there.

“Noelle, hi Sweetie,” he said as he yawned.

“What are you doing out here, all by yourself?”

“Oh, just thinking. There’s a lot to think about nowadays, it seems.”

“Tell me about it,” Noelle said sighing.

“Where are you off to?” Garett asked, taking note of her coat draped around her shoulders.

“I just have something to take care of,” she said quietly. Garett nodded but did not say anything in response. “Well, goodnight Dad.” Noelle walked over and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. She noticed for the first time the wrinkles which had appeared on his face, and the amount of gray in his hair —this year hadn’t been easy on anyone.

She turned to leave, but Garett caught her by the hand, forcing her to turn back to face him. “Noelle, I don’t tell you what to do anymore. You are a grown woman and you can make your own choices.” Noelle waited for him to continue. She remained in silence. “But this —thing that you have with Declan? It will not lead anywhere good for either of you, I can promise you that. Edmund, on the other hand, he understands us. He is one of us.”

Noelle stood in shock as her father spoke. “How can you say that Edmund is a good person, after what he did to me?”

“He had his reasons, Noelle, which we now know. As I recall, wasn’t it Declan who set out to hunt your entire family?”

“He wasn’t behind that,” Noelle said angrily.

“He was the alpha,” Garett said simply. “He could have stopped it if he wanted to.”

Noelle was hurt by her father’s words. How could he have gone from despising Edmund to adoring him so quickly? Did no one care about what he had done to her? Or perhaps her own father weighed the importance of the cause heavier, and over the life of his own daughter. Tears sprang to Noelle’s eyes, but she turned away before he could see them.

“I have to go,” Noelle said. She walked toward the door and did not turn back again to see her father, or to witness the gentle gleam of the tears reflecting in his own eyes.

“Theories spawning everywhere, are not necessarily truth.”