Author's Note: Long time no post, I know. Sorry :( Usual busy work got in my way. Trying to get back into this story, so it's taken some work to get my plot flushed out. Anyway, this chapter is short again, But next one should be pretty long.

Hours Later…

Avery

Pain floods my senses as I try to open my eyes and lift my head. I take in a sharp breath when I feel a massive headache move through my temple.

I try to move, but can't. For a moment I'm scared I'm paralyzed. I look down and see I'm just bound tightly to a chair. I try my best to focus and push against the constraints holding me. With an exhausted breath, I slump against the back of the chair and look around me once more.

The setting isn't familiar, it's dark and small. The walls are made of wood, the ground is covered in dirt. There isn't much light, and what little there is comes from a small light bulb on the other side of the room, hanging plainly from the ceiling. To the left of me are a set of wooden stairs, leading up to what I assume is the main floor.

The setting isn't familiar, but the scent is.

I feel tired, and my head aches, but what little energy I have I put into a low growl, knowing he'll hear it.

Before long, I hear Derek's footsteps as he descends the stairs and comes to a stop in front of me. He's wearing a black shirt and dark jeans, nothing out of the ordinary. Except he has another's smell lingering on him.

"Where is he?" I ask flatly.

Derek sighs as he draws closer. "You lost control. Again. You should be getting better at this by now."

I shake my head at him. "Derek, I really don't care about that right now. Where is he?"

I hear Derek's heartbeat quicken, he's getting irritated. "You almost killed him, you don't care about that?"

A small pang of guilt hits me at his words, and it only grows at the disheartened look in his eyes. "He almost killed me, or has that already been forgotten? What, did you have a man to man and everything is just fine now?"

I strain against the restraints. Derek takes a few steps forward. "The story is more…complicated than you think, Avery."

I snap at him, "THEN ENLIGHTEN ME, DEREK!" He steps forward again, coming to a stop right in front of me. I strain to look up at him.

"I think he should tell you the story." I glare at him.

"You think I want to sit down and hear him tell me that story? He can save it for the judge, I don't want to hear it." Derek licks his lips and looks towards the stairs.

"Avery," He looks towards me, an understanding glimmer in his eyes. "I'm not protecting him. If I were, I would be telling you the story and I would have sent him to another country by now." Derek lowers himself so that he is kneeling in front of me.

He stares into my eyes for a long time before speaking, "Instead, he's going to have to face you and tell you exactly what he did. There's more pain in that than you think." I feel tears begin to roll down my cheeks as he reaches to untie me from the chair.

"I don't want to see him, Derek. I don't want to talk to him…I want him to disappear." Derek nods and takes a moment before answering, as if giving it some thought.

"That wouldn't do you any good, trust me." Derek's eyes look grave, "Bad things happened here, in this house, things I tried to run away from for a very long time."

I look around the dusty old basement, catching sight of a stack of building materials tucked away in the corner. "But…you're rebuilding it anyway?"

Derek remains silent, realizing that I've gotten the point. He frees one of my hands, and I stretch it out in front of me, letting the blood flow back into it. "I don't want to 'rebuild' anything with him. There's no trust there."

Derek continues to work at freeing my other hand. "I didn't say there had to be. I just think you need to hear what he has to say." I take a deep breath.

"Is he still here? I don't hear him." Derek finishes untying me, and I flex my other hand.

"I sent him out for a run, but he'll be back soon. He's staying here tonight." My eyes go wide as I stare at him. "It won't be for long, but until we deal with his alpha, he needs to be kept close."

"Like hell, he does." I say, my voice holding an angry edge to it.

"Avery, if he goes out there and the alpha meets up with him, he could be brainwashed in an instant." I give him a confused look.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know all these things I can do? How I knocked you unconscious? How I can help you calm down?" I nod yes, "It all comes from being an alpha. And alphas who are older and more experienced than me can do more things, like taking complete control of their betas."

I slump back in the chair. "Well, isn't that great." Derek smirks and hold out his hand to pull me to my feet, I take his hand and let him do so. "Just for the record, I'm really not okay with this. Consider yourself officially in the dog house." I push past him, my aching head making it hard to keep balance as I walk up the creaky stairs.

I can practically feel the smirk on Derek's face as he watches me walk up the stairs. "The doghouse?" he echoes behind me as he follows me up the stairs.

"Shut up." I call back to him as I head to the front door of his house. I reach for the door knob.

"Want me to take you home?" He asks with a concerned voice. I turn to face him and give him a small shake of my head.

"No, I could really use some time alone. I have a lot going through my head right now." He looks to the side, towards his living room, his eyes avoiding. "Besides," I say in a lighter tone, "doghouse, remember?" I give the best smile I can muster up, which is little more than pursing my lips together.

I turn then and pull the door open and step outside quickly. As soon as the cool night air touches my skin, I feel better. Before Derek has the chance to insist on coming along, I take off sprinting. It's not so much that I know what direction my house is as it is that I can sense where it is.

As I run, my head begins to clear and the pain from the headache fades. I do my best to push Jake and Derek from my mind, and for a while, it works. For a while, I feel like I did before the accident. I feel like I really am just out for a run to keep my stamina up for lacrosse.

But that simple feeling changes quickly once I reach my house. I stop at the edge of the clearing where the woods break off and my lawn begins. I crouch low in the bushes and stare at the wide open front door.

I remember I attacked Jake when I opened my front door, and I never closed it. But that isn't what is upsetting me. I take a deep breath and pull in the air around me, the scent is different and wrong. Just like the smell of bad meat, and the smell is thick.

I look down at the ground and see big, heavy tracks in the grass. The rotten smell clings to the tracks. I listen carefully and focus on the house, trying to hear any heartbeat.

But there's nothing. No one is inside, I'm sure of it.

I wait a few moments longer anyway, making certain that nothing is lingering in the surrounding woods, either.

I approach slowly, keeping focus on the sounds from the tree line. Nothing stirs, so I continue until I reach my doorstep. The scent is heavy in the air as I step inside my house. He's been in here, I know it.

I close the door behind me and follow the scent throughout my entire house. He went through my kitchen, my pool room, by dining room. As I follow the scent up the stairs, I soon realize he was in my bedroom, too.

As I step inside my room, I become more afraid, and feel violated more than anything else. The entire house smells wrong. As I look at my bed, I see a picture frame sitting directly in the center of it.

I walk over and lift the picture, I see an old picture of my dad and I. Underneath where the picture was laying, I spot a note scribbled in old cursive:

Someone's missing.

Panic fills my veins as I stare at the ominous note. I spot my phone on my nightstand and rush to it, immediately dialing Derek's number.

He picks up in the middle of the second ring. "Hello?"

I start to shake and slowly lower myself to the ground. "He was in my house." Tears begin streaming down my face as I speak. "The alpha was in my house."

"What do you mean? How do you know?" I shake my head as the tears stream more readily.

"His scent, it's everywhere, Derek, he was in my room."

I can hear a growl in Derek's voice when he speaks next. "Stay where you are, I'll be there in 5." I shake my head.

"Derek, no. You have to watch Jake."

"He'll be fine on his own." I can hear him open his front door.

"NO, Derek." I say forcefully. "You aren't understanding. Jake shows up and lures me away from my house just in time for the alpha to search it?" My voice is shaking. "You can't leave him alone. You have to watch him."

"You think they planned this?" I shake my head and let it fall between my knees.

"I'm saying don't trust him. Listen, I'm going to call the others over, I don't want to be here alone tonight." Derek is strangely quiet on the other end.

"That sounds good." He finally responds as I try to steady my breathing.

"I need to call them, I don't want to be here alone much longer, I'll text you, okay?"

"Call me after they're all on their way. I'll stay on the line until they get there. Avery, I'm sorry, we'll end this soon, I promise."

"I hope so, Derek. I'll talk to you later, bye." I hang up abruptly, feeling a sob swelling up deep in my chest.

Knowing that if I call I'll just end up crying, I send out a groupchat to Isaac, Erica, and Boyd:

Meet at my house, asap. It's an emergency.

I hold my phone in my shaky hands for two minutes until Erica writes back:

This had better be good

Followed by Isaac's reply:

Omw, be there in 3

And finally, with Boyd saying:

You got it

I toss my phone to the side as I stare at the note on the page.

Someone's missing.

Author's Note: Thank you guys for being patient with me! I'll be working on this story more, so be sure to let me know what you think of how it progresses, because the main plot is finally going to really get rolling here soon.

It's 2 am so please excuse any grammar issues, I'm tired!