He knew he would have to play this cool. He couldn't afford to get hot-headed. Not when Holly was still out of commission and counting on him to protect her. Monroe tried to go the peaceable 'aw shucks' routine, lying through his teeth about why he was out in the woods, saying anything that came to mind to keep them away from the treehouse directly above them. The two human hick idiots wouldn't lower their weapons but if worse came to worse he would throw the knife and attack if it would keep his future mate safe. Fortunately he didn't have to do anything as someone else entered the clearing. That someone being one Detective Nick Burkhardt, police issue Glock raised as he told the two hillbillies to drop their guns.

They refused and proceeded to prepare to shoot both the cop and the blutbad before there was a thud and something moved like a blur behind them. Nick got one with the crossbow in the shoulder and he went down before any damage could be done to Monroe. The other one was dragged by the neck to the ground, thick dark strands of hair wrapped tightly around his throat and effectively breaking his neck upon impact with the hard ground. Rushing forward, Monroe dropped to his knees besides the figure laying on the earth besides the two dead hunters, gasping for breath. Her features shifted in and out of her blutbad countenance, Holly clearly being too weak from her injuries and their prior activities to control her erratic shifting any longer.

Nick moved closer but stayed standing, his sharp silver eyes scanning the tree line for any more unwanted threats. Monroe gently unwrapped the long dark strands of his love's hair from her victim's larynx and bending slightly scooped her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style out of the forest. After calling in back up to the scene of the crime, Nick followed his wesen friend and his charge out of the woods and back towards civilization where Monroe's car waited to take Holly to the hospital.

After being given a thorough checkup, taking her first shower, that Holly could ever remember anyways, and being put into some baggy clothes Monroe had stashed in his car, they were on their way to meet Holly's long lost mother. Throughout the car ride Holly was nervous, playing with the hair clip her mother had given her so long ago, the one she couldn't recall where she had gotten it from, the one she took to rubbing between her fingertips whenever she was scared of something. It must be because it was her mother's gift to her that it seemed so familiar and comforting. But she now realized she had something, no someone else to cling to for safety. Monroe. She heard the darker haired grey-eyed male call him that repeatedly so that must be his name. Monroe was going to become a big part of her life, something in her told her so.

For his part Monroe kept one eye on the road and the other on the rearview mirror where he could see the anxious face of his young mate as she took in the unfamiliar sites of the city, watching to see where they would end up. He was still feeling over protective towards her, part of that the after effects of their earlier mating his mind told him. But his heart said it was more than that. His heart said that it had found its soulmate and nothing would stop them from being together.