"It's better this way." Abby said, wrapping an arm around her daughter's shoulder. "I know this is hard, but your friends will be able to visit once we know it's safe."

Clarke nodded, wiping away the last of her tears with the pale blue sleeve of her sweater. She looked around her room, barely recognizing it. All her paintings and art supplies were boxed up. Her closet doors hung open exposing the inside completely bare. She couldn't believe they were moving. She'd lived her entire life here. She grew up here. All her memories of her father were here. She swallowed the painfully large lump forming in her throat, and blinked back another round of tears, refusing to let them start up again.

Noticing her daughter's forlorn expression, Abby only tried harder to comfort her. "It's only an hour upstate." She said. "I'm sure Octavia and Bellamy and Raven, will all be able to come visit on the weekends."

Clarke was only half-listening, once her thoughts were on her father, and the last time she'd seen him, she retreated into her head reliving the memories of that fateful night, whether she wanted to or not.

They had been on a camping trip, her and her father, along with the Jahas, Theo and his son Wells, who had been Clarke's best friend at the time. Normally Clarke loved spending some quality time with her dad, Jake, but camping? She'd questioned it as soon as her mother had brought it up. 'Come on,' Wells had said. 'It'll be great.' Clarke wasn't so sure though.

That first night, Clarke forgot all about her initial reservations. Sitting around the campfire, looking up at the stars. It took her breath away. There were so many more stars visible here, now that they were away from the city. Clarke couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to live among them up in space, gazing down at the earth. She imagined it like an shimmering emerald and sapphire jewel.

Theo pulled out a bottle of old expensive whiskey, and he and Jake started passing it back and forth. They chatted and laughed, long into the night, burning through heaps and heaps of firewood.

"Don't worry," her father said. "We'll gather some more tomorrow."

About an hour later though everyone was starting to fall asleep. Jake stopped stoking the fire, instead allowing it to burn down to embers. They all laid out their rucksacks around the pile of glowing coals, and one by one drifted off to sleep.

Clarke laid awake for what seemed like a long time, just lying on her back, looking up at the night sky. She could make out the smoky gray ribbon of stars that were the Milky Way, arching high above them from one ridge of mountains to the south, the direction Clarke's feet were pointing, all the way across the sky and over her head to the opposite ridge of mountains to the north.

She couldn't recall at what time she actually ended up falling asleep. She just remembered waking up in the middle of the night with an urgent need to pee. Crawling from her sleeping bag, she pulled on her boots. She grabbed her flashlight and a roll of toilet paper from the truck, and headed off into the woods. She didn't want to go too far, but she also didn't want the light, or more importantly the noise to wake anyone. Who wants to be woken up by the sound of someone pissing in the woods?

When Clarke figured she was a safe distance away, she undid her pants, pushing her jeans and underwear down to her ankles. She squatted and relieved herself. She wiped herself, dug a little hole with the heel of her boot, and buried the used toilet paper. She was using her foot to pack the earth back into place when she heard a brief rustle of leaves and the snap of a twig. She turned, shining her light in the direction the noise had come from, but she didn't see anything.

There was a sudden blur of movement from her left, then snarling, drooling jaws were only inches from her face. The white flash of teeth and fangs caught her eye as the tremendous weight knocked her off her feet. She landed hard, with the breath knocked out of her, but as gnashing jaws opened again, she was able to raise her arm just in time, sacrificing her limb, instead of letting that vicious maw clamp around her throat.

She hadn't remembered screaming for help, but suddenly her father was there. A large tree branch came crashing down on the wolf's head. It yelped, released Clarke's arm, and turned on Jake, snarling ferociously.

"Dad!"Clarke cried.

"Get back to camp and get in the truck." He said. "Go!"

Clarke had staggered backwards out of sheer terror, cradling her damaged arm, but she had no intention of leaving her father's side.

"Go!" He repeated, swinging the branch in wide arc's, keeping the beast only barely at bay. Suddenly strong hands grabbed hold of Clarke's shoulders and began pulling her away.

"No. Dad." She cried again.

"Get her to the truck." Jake yelled.

Clarke struggled and fought, but the hands holding onto her were too strong. She dropped her light in the struggle, losing sight of her father. She heard the vicious growls and snarls of the animal. She heard her father's shouts and yells in his attempt to intimidate the animal. She heard the crashing of branches and bushes, heard the hollow thud of what she thought must be her father's improvised weapon making contact.

Theo dragged Clarke all the way back to the campsite. Opened the rear door of the truck and pushed her into the backseat, closing the door behind her. She saw him grab the ax and head back out into the woods. She went to follow, but Wells was in the backseat also. She hadn't even noticed, until his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders from behind, firmly holding her in place.

"No!" She screamed. "Let me go!" She struggled and fought him with all her might. Despite weighing nearly twice what she did, Clarke's adrenaline was pumping too high for him to keep ahold of her. During her haphazard, lashing attempts to free herself, a lucky elbow caught Wells' nose, and his grip loosened enough for her to get free. Her fingers quickly found the the door handle, popping the catch, and she leapt from the truck. The gravel crunched briefly under her boots, then she running through the dead leaves and underbrush, branches scratching at her face.

"Dad!" She called out. "Dad!"

"Clarke!" She heard her name, and ran towards it, even as she recognized that it wasn't her father's voice. Before she could stop herself, she was back in Theo's firm grip, and the hundred pound teen gave the full grown man, the fight of his life as she fought to free herself once again.

"Dad!" Her screams turned to wails. Her fright and terror, turning to agonized grief. There was no way she could've known what had happened, but on some deep and primal instinctual level, the truth was already gnawing at her.

"No!" Her voice was between a shriek and a growl, haunting, as it echoed off the mountain ridges around them before the sound dissipated into the blackness of the night sky.

The feeling of her mom's arms squeezing her tightly for an instant, pulled her out of her reverie. She noticed she was breathing heavily, and adrenaline beat through her rushing heart. She focused on taking deep breaths, realizing that her efforts to fight back her tears had failed, as they fell in hot trails gently but steadily down both cheeks.

Clarke snuffled, and wiped her tears away again. She took a deep breath and let it out with a laborious sigh.

"You okay?" Her mom asked.

Clarke nodded, sniffling again.

"Okay" Abby said. "Jackson will be here soon with his truck. Come down to help when you're ready."

Clarke nodded again, Abby gave her daughter another hug, kissing her on the forehead before she stood and left the room.

Clarke heard Jackson's voice as she came down the stairs a few minutes later.

"I still can't believe you're leaving Arkadia General, Abby. And for what? The thrill of small town medicine?"

Abby caught her daughter entering the kitchen from the corner of her eye. She gave Clarke a weak smile before turning back to Jackson.

"It's time for a change." Abby said. Jackson was the head nurse at Arkadia General Hospital, and Abby was the next in line to become chief of surgery. Abby could understand, how it might seem to Jackson, like she was throwing away a great opportunity, but he had to understand that her daughter came first. She let everyone assume it had more to do with her husband's death, and less about what happened to her daughter.

"Hi, Clarke." Jackson said, as she came in.

"Hey, Jackson." Clarke said. "So are you guys done, or did you save all the heavy boxes for me?" She asked only half joking.

"We were just about to get started actually, so you're right on time." Abby said.

"Oh good." Clarke replied.

She turned back around to the living room, followed by her mom and Jackson, where stacks of boxes waited to be loaded into Jackson's truck. With no specific indication of where to get started, Clarke simply bent down to pick up the box nearest to where she stood.

"Careful, dear. Those are... my medical journals..." Abby's voice trailed off as her teen daughter hefted the heavy box as if it was nearly empty, when she knew for a fact, that it was full of very thick hard-backed books. Abby had needed to push it from her office to the living room. Luckily cardboard slid over carpet pretty easily.

After lifting the box, Clarke looked to her mother and simply shrugged.

"One of you wanna get the door for me?" Clarke asked, after a moment. Jackson hurried to the front door, opening it, before running ahead to lower the tailgate of his truck as well.

Neither Clarke nor Abby were terribly surprised by Clarke's impressive strength. Abby just seemed to let it slip her mind, just how much Clarke had been changed the night her father died. For Clarke though, it seemed to be all she thought about.

Theo drove that night, when they had left the campsite. Wells tried to console Clarke, but Clarke refused to let him. The last thing she wanted was to be touched by him. Clarke's arm was still bleeding, hot throbbing pain pulsed from the tips of her fingers, up to her brain, echoing just behind her eyes with every thudding pulse of her heart beat. She had grown slightly dizzy and had broke into a cold sweat.

"How's she holding up?" Theo asked his son as he drove, glancing into the rear view mirror.

"She's burning up" Wells said, putting his hand on her forehead. "I don't know what's wrong."

Clarke bitterly smacked his hand away with her good arm.

"I'm going into shock." She glared at him, as if he was a moron for not knowing that.

"Don't worry Clarke, we'll get you to the hospital." Theo told her.

Clarke shook her head.

"Our house is closer." She said. "My mom'll be home."

Theo thought about it, but only for a moment. Abby was the best surgeon in the state, and the Griffin's medicine cabinet was better stocked than the average walk-in clinic.

"Gimme your shirt." Clarke said to Wells. Wells looked at her confused. "Fine." She muttered. "God dammit, Wells."

"Clarke, what are you doing?" He asked, as she began tearing at her own shirt with her one functioning hand. Again she swatted his arms away as he tried to still her. Her one good arm still delivering an impressive amount of strength considering her condition.

Finally she managed to get her t-shirt over her head. She wrapped it tightly around her open wound, and he realized too late what she was doing to offer any kind of useful assistance. Using her one good hand and her teeth, she tied her makeshift bandage off with a tight knot. She slumped back in her seat, leaning against the door, trying to put as much space between herself and Wells as she could. Her chest rose and fell, breathing heavily from her effort, as she glared at Wells with her icy blue eyes. He looked back at her pitifully, swallowing the lump in his throat, trying very hard to ignore the fact that her upper body was nearly fully exposed, concealed by only her black sports bra.

The image of him swallowing nervously and awkwardly looking away, was the last thing she remembered before finally passing out.

Looking back on it now, Clarke would have loved to have been awake to hear the conversation Jaha had with her mom when they carried her bleeding unconscious daughter into the house, and how Jaha had tried to explain the fact that he had left his best friend behind in the woods to be eaten by wolves.

When Clarke did finally wake up though, it was with confused disorientation. A part of her had expected to wake up, in her rucksack, staring up at the sky through bare reaching tree branches. Instead she woke to the dim light filtering through her window. No, it wasn't her window. She was in her mother's bed. Why? Suddenly all the memories came flooding back to her. Her eyes shot to her arm, where her wound was covered with a clean and professional bandage. She tried to sit up, but her body was heavy and her arms felt like Jello. She collapsed back onto her pillow, and opened her mouth to try to call for someone. Her throat was dry and scratchy though, and no sound came out at first.

Just then the door swung open. Clarke's initial relief was swallowed up by something else, when she saw Wells enter.

"Clarke, you're awake." He said, rushing to her side, the relief obvious on his face.

"Where's my dad?" She asked. Her voice was weak, and gravely, and she didn't recognize it. It hurt her throat to talk, but she forced herself to.

"Clarke..." Wells said.

"Where's my dad?" She asked again. The pain tore through her vocal chords along with choked sobs, which hurt worse than speaking did. Tears began streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks.

"Tell me." She demanded. Her blue eyes boring into his. Wells had stood and was backing towards the door. "Dammit Wells!" She cried. "Tell me!" He turned and rushed from the room. She heard him calling for her mother, even as she wanted to chase him down and force him to tell her. She wanted to hear it from him or his father. She was too weak to get out of the bed though, and once again, just fell back on her pillow. This time with a steady stream of tears running down her cheeks.

Abby rushed in moments later. Her own tears began falling as soon as she laid eyes on her daughter. She kneeled by the bed, brushing her fingers through Clarke's hair. She tried to whisper words of encouragement to her. She tried to ensure her daughter that everything would be alright, but they ended up just crying together, for what seemed like a long time.

Clarke was only moderately surprised to learn that she'd been out of it for the better part of two days; she had forbade Wells, or Theo from visiting again once she was fully lucid. It was another three days before she was strong enough to get out of bed. Abby was puzzled as to why Clarke was so weak. She changed the bandages, and checked the stitches everyday. There was no sign of infection. She drew Clarke's blood, took it to the hospital and tested it, but found no evidence of blood poisoning there either. It wasn't Clarke's appetite either, that was for sure. Abby couldn't explain it, but Clarke was devouring food like never before. Her resting heart rate and core body temperature were also at a near constant elevated rate. Abby figured she'd give it one more day, and she would have to relent and take Clarke in to the hospital. It was that night. The night before Abby would've given in, their lives truly changed forever.

Abby was in her room sitting on the edge of the bed. Clarke padded in from the bathroom after showering and brushing her teeth. Her mom had offered to help with the shower, but Clarke adamantly refused, no matter how difficult it was to do in her weakened state, and with only one arm. Clarke was dressed in a t-shirt and sweats, and crawled into bed. Her mom was still sleeping in her room for some reason, even though Clarke had offered to giver her back the master bedroom.

"I really don't need it anymore." Clarke said, but Abby just smiled and said it was fine. Clarke snuggled under the covers, and Abby was saying, 'goodnight,' when a sudden, lancing pain shot through Clarke's spine. She couldn't tell where it had originated, only that it was blindingly intense.

"Oh, god! It hurts!" She cried, arching her back off the bed.

"Clarke? What hurts?" Abby asked, trying to hold Clarke still. "Where does it hurt Clarke?"

"Everywhere." Clarke's eyes were screwed shut tight. Her face twisted in a grimace. Her fingers clawed at the mattress. Abby stood, trying to pin her daughter down, in an attempt to prevent Clarke from hurting herself, but it was to no avail. Clarke's powerful thrashing was enough to force Abby clear. She stumbled backwards a few steps, and froze in place. The sickening crunch of bone shifting beneath the skin filled her bedroom. She watched in terror as it began at Clarke's extremities. Her fingers and toes morphed and grew deformed. Clarke managed to roll herself over, and lift herself up onto her hands and knees.

The blood drained from Abby's face as the clothes tore themselves from her daughter's misshapen body. Her mind had identified what was happening, but there was no way she could consciously acknowledge it. It went on for several more minutes. Clarke's cries of pain, turned to grunts, and then growls and snarls. Her back arched as her body was covered in a thick fur coat. Her head thrashed from side to side as her long blonde hair grew shorter and her face and skull grew longer. Suddenly everything was quiet. Abby's heart was racing. Her eyes bulging. On her bed before her, where her daughter had just been lying a moment before was an immensely large wolf. She had yellowish, off-white fur with a pure white underbelly, but the same color bright blue eyes.

She sniffed the air, catching the scent of fear. It stirred something instinctual, that she couldn't identify. Her head whipped around, to where the human stood by the door. Clarke was in there, but it was like she was a passive observer in the animal's head. No clear thoughts registered, and she had no control over her new body.

Abby hadn't realized she'd been backpedaling towards the door until that massive head looked her way, and those piercing blue eyes fixed on her. She wasn't sure if Clarke was still in there or not, but instinct took over, and Abby moved faster than she ever had before. She was out of the room and slammed the door behind her. It still almost wasn't fast enough, as Clarke, or at least the wolf that was Clarke, slammed into the door only an instant later.

The growling, snarling and scratching at the door continued for several minutes. Abby collapsed, her back against the door. Her body jostled every time Clarke threw her weight against it. Abby prayed silently that the door would hold, and deeper down, prayed that her daughter was still in that animal, somewhere.

"Clarke" Abby pleaded. "Please, stop it, Clarke. Calm down." Her voice was barely a whisper. Tears of shock and terror streamed down Abby's face. She looked up to the ceiling, repeating her words over and over again. Then it stopped. Everything went quiet.

"Clarke?" Abby said at a near normal volume. Then she heard breaking glass from inside her room. She stood and opened the door to find a window broken, the night breeze blowing in through the drapes. Abby ran to the window.

"Clarke!" She yelled, but the wolf was a ghost, a wisp of fog that disappeared once it slipped into the shadows.

Abby immediately ran from the house, grabbing up her keys and getting in her car. She drove around all night looking for Clarke. She hadn't stopped to think, to try and explain what had happened. There was no way that would help anyway. She just had to find her daughter. It was nearly dawn before she did. In a park, at the far end of the suburbs, she found her daughter, fully in human form, lying naked in a the middle of a patch of bushes. Abby had found the wolf tracks, tracks nearly the size of her hand and followed them to where she found Clarke.

Clarke woke with a start, confused and even more disoriented, and cold. Her mother was kneeling over her, and she was in a bunch of bushes.

"Mom?" She tried to cover herself as she sat up, realizing she was completely naked.

"Stay here." Abby said. "Let me get you something." She ran to her car and grabbed a blanket from the trunk. She'd gotten stuck on the side of the road in a bad snowstorm once, and now carried a whole emergency kit everywhere she went. Crawling back under the bushes, she wrapped the blanket around Clarke's shoulders. Clarke hugged her arms around her shivering body.

"Come on, let's get you home." Abby helped her daughter out from under the bushes and to the car. The sun was just peeking over the horizon. Cold morning dew chilled Clarke's feet.

They rode home in silence, the heater turned all the way up. Clarke simply stared out the window the whole time, not offering a word. When they got home Abby sat Clarke on the couch in the living room and started a pot of coffee. She kneeled down in front of her daughter, rubbing her hands up and down Clarke's arms to help warm her up a bit.

"Clarke, do you remember what happened?" Abby asked.

Clarke nodded. "Kind of." She said. "I remember the pain. I remember when the change started."

"Do you remember anything after the... change?"

"It's... blurry. It's like I blacked out right after the change, but slowly kind of became aware of things. I heard your voice on the other side of the door. I saw the scratch marks and cracks in the door and was terrified of what might've happened if I'd made it through. I heard you call my name again, and I wasn't even sure what I would've done if you had opened the door, so I had to get out before that happened."

"So you jumped out the window." Abby said.

"Well, I never said I was thinking clearly." Clarke replied. "Just... thinking."

"At least we know you're still in there when that happens."

Both Clarke and Abby fell silent. Neither of them asked if it would happen again. It was as if they both already assumed that it would. Clarke let out a heavy sigh.

"Clarke..." Abby said drawing her daughter's attention to her forearm. Clarke looked at her arm. The bandage had obviously fallen off during the transformation, but now that she was human again, her arm was perfectly healed with not even a scar to show where she had been bitten.

"I... I was bitten by a werewolf." Clarke said, more to herself than her mom. She shook her head. It would've been impossible for her to believe if it hadn't actually happened to her.

Since that day, both Clarke and her mom began keeping track of her body's changes. She hadn't... changed since that day, but her knew body continuously surprised her.

The first thing they noticed was that her metabolism remained elevated. At least now Abby knew what was causing it. Clarke's resting heart rate, core body temperature, and appetite were all well above average.

Also, Clarke realized her senses of smell and hearing retained their canine acuity, even when she was in human form, as did her ability to see in the dark, which she actually thought was pretty cool.

Then there was her body's overall physicality. She was faster and stronger, with heightened agility and reflexes. She also had seemed to develop a preternatural ability to sneak up on people.

Clarke worked throughout the day mostly in silence, reliving the past month in her head as she carried box after box out to the truck. She saw that both Abby and Jackson were dripping with sweat, breathing heavily and taking regular breaks to rehydrate. Clarke though felt like she could go like this all day long. When Jackson voiced his surprise about it, both Abby and Clarke were able to laugh it off with practiced ease, and she simply continued working.

They finished loading the truck just after noon. Abby and Clarke took a long moment to say their silent goodbye to what had been their home. They shared a hug, and exchanged warm glances, their eyes misty. They both smiled though and Clarke nodded that she was ready. Abby nodded in return. They locked up the house and got in their car. Jackson would follow in the truck. The car was filled to the brim as well, the backseat and trunk were both fully loaded with boxes and bags, a cooler full of food from their old fridge, and the suitcases with the clothes they would want right away. Jackson's pickup mostly held Abby's medical journals and Clarke's painting supplies. A separate, professional moving team would truck some their furniture from their old house to their new one later that day. Abby explained that the new house would already be partially furnished though.

A little over an hour later, Abby slowed with her indicator on, and turned into a driveway of white smooth concrete. The driveway dipped down a slight hill, trees lining both sides. At the bottom of the driveway, Clarke was surprised to see a wide turnabout area. She had been a bit apprehensive, having not seen the new house yet, but when she did it nearly took her breath away. It was a unique blend of rustic and ultramodern, with a log cabin feel, but with plenty of full height glass windows, high ceilings, and sharp square angles. She could tell from the outside that it was at least two floors.

Abby pulled up in front of the door and parked. Clarke got out, the dappled sunlight that filtered through the leaves hit her face. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, the scent of trees and earth. She heard the burbling of a stream close by.

"Wow, mom." Clarke said, turning back, sharing a smile with her mom over the roof of the car.

Jackson pulled his truck up, doing a three-point turn so that the tailgate was positioned closer to the front door.

"Wow, Abby." He said, echoing Clarke's sentiments. "I can almost see why you left Arkadia now."

"Come on, Clarke." Abby smiled, relieved to see that her daughter was pleased with her choice. She led the way to the front door, slipping the key in and turning the lock with a smooth *click.* She stepped inside and held the door open for her daughter and Jackson. "Welcome home." She said gently.

The main entrance opened into a small foyer. Instinctively Clarke removed her shoes before continuing. There was a single step up to a landing. A large decorative mirror hung on the wall to her right. There was a coat closet with double doors facing her. Turning to her left though, her breath caught in her chest, as she looked out through the living room. Clarke had underestimated just how much full height glass there was. Nearly two full walls of the living room were nothing but glass, and they looked out over the woods, revealing that the house was built right on the edge of a hill. Rolling hills of forest spread out as far as Clarke could see. A part of her, that new part of her, that was always with her now itched to leave the house and tear off through those woods, but she resisted. The living room had a high ceiling, with a railing from the upstairs hallway looking down over it. Wrapping around the house, the living room was adjoined to the very impressive kitchen finishing off the downstairs of the house, with a half-bath and the open set of stairs. Clarke went upstairs to find only the one hallway looking down on the living room, and two bedrooms, each with their own full bathroom and walk-in closet. Both rooms had at least two walls of full height glass as well and from the second floor, the view was even more amazing. One of the rooms, the one intended to be the master bedroom, Clarke figured, had a sliding door with a private patio.

"I figured this could be your room." Abby said. Clarke was almost startled, as if she forgot that her mother was with her. Abby shrugged when her daughter turned to her, with a questioning look on her face. "You know," she said. "Just in case you have any... urges in the middle of the night. At least you won't have to jump through a window."

Clarke could tell her mom was only half joking, but the little grin her mom was trying to suppress, made Clarke smile.

Clarke stepped out onto the patio. Their new home was not only an hour north of Arkadia, but also at a higher elevation. The air here was crisp, and the afternoon breeze smelled of early summer. Thinking practically, Clarke looked around the edge of the patio. She found a place where she could easily jump the railing, land on the roof of the first floor, and then down to the front yard. From there it would be easy to slip around the back of the house and down the hill into the woods.

Her mom came up behind her again. This time Clarke wasn't startled at all.

"So, what do you think?" Abby asked.

"I... I love it." Clarke said, turned and wrapping her mom up in a firm hug. Abby hugged her daughter back, and they stood like that for a long time.

"Come on," Abby said, finally pulling away. "Let's go help Jackson unload."

It was dark before they finished, and the movers arrived with the furniture they had decided to bring with them. Mostly it was just the personal items that would go in their bedrooms. Clarke understood now why the house had come partially furnished, with the common areas all having designer items. There was no way their old sofa would have worked in that new living room.

Clarke and Abby and Jackson stood around the island countertop in the kitchen, and had a dinner of frozen pizza; three frozen pizzas actually. Clarke had two by herself. Jackson surprised Abby with a bottle of wine as a housewarming gift, and they even let Clarke have a glass. After they had finished eating Jackson left in his truck, and Abby and Clarke got busy unpacking their things. Along with having a room twice as big as her old one, and having miles of woods to run wild in, Clarke was most excited by her private bathroom. In the old house, she'd had her own bathroom, but it had been halfway down the hall from her bedroom. As she unpacked her painting things, she was also excited by how much natural light her room had now, and with the view, she'd certainly never run out of inspiration.

Clarke woke up the next morning to bright early sunlight filling her new room. She climbed out of bed and spent a good thirty minutes just looking out over the woods. It had been nearly a week since her and her mom had moved in and gotten settled, and still she hadn't fully taken the opportunity to explore more than a few hundred yards from the house. She did find the stream that she had heard that first day, just at the bottom of the hill behind their house. A fast moving, shallow stream that spilled continuously over a bed of fist-sized rocks. Today though, she'd take that opportunity.

She'd felt it over the last two days. The wolf inside her. It wasn't necessarily clawing to get out yet, but she knew that if she resisted it too long, she'd eventually lose control. After getting dressed and going downstairs, she spoke with her mom about it.

"If that's the case," Abby said, "then it would probably be best to let it happen when you know it's safe, get it out of your system so that it doesn't happen when you can't control it."

"You think I should try to change?" Clarke asked.

"If it reduces the risk of someone catching you, then yes."

Clarke told her mom that she'd think about it, and Abby kissed her forehead and headed out. It was her first day of work as the town's doctor. She wasn't the only doctor, but there was only the one community clinic. A small, single-story brick building on the edge of town. The town of TonDC itself was about a twenty minute drive west of there new home, with a population of just under 3,000 people. The town actually had a town square, with picnic benches and a gazebo in one corner. There was a church on one side, across from it the town hall. Quaint little storefronts lined the other two sides of the square, with flower shops, and cafes, and bookstores.

She walked into town on her lunch break and entered a small cafe off Main Street. There were a few people in there, sitting at table in front of the large plate glass windows.

"Well hello there, dear." An older, if perhaps not elderly woman behind the counter greeted her. "Never seen you in here before."

Abby smiled to return her greeting. "No you haven't." She said. "We just moved to the area, up off Route 9."

"Oh lovely." The woman replied. "What can I get for you?"

"Can I just get a French Vanilla Roast, please." Abby said.

"I'd also recommend one of Hannah's Cinnamon Raisin Twisty Rolls." A male voice spoke up behind her. Abby turned to see a man only slightly taller than herself with medium-length dark hair. He also wore a black uniform with a badge over his left chest pocket.

"Sure, why not." Abby said, turning back to the woman, who she suspected was Hannah. Hannah gave her a smile and nodded.

"You won't regret it." The man said with a smile. "I'm Marcus Kane."

Abby accepted his hand in her own when he extended it to shake. "Abby Griffin," she introduced herself. "Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine."

Abby paid for her coffee and cinnamon roll, and stepped aside to wait for her order. Marcus placed his order, and by the time he had paid, Abby had received hers.

"So what brings you to our leafy little hamlet?" Marcus asked.

"Well, I recently decided to leave the big city." Abby said. "Tired of treating gunshot wounds and gang-related stabbings." It wasn't the truth, but it was certainly going to be a perk of leaving the city, she told herself.

"You're a doctor then?" Marcus said.

Abby nodded. "I am. I started today, just down the road at TonDC Medical Center."

"Very nice." Marcus said. "Well, I can assure you we have no gang-related activity in TonDC."

She nodded, indicating his uniform. "I guess you make sure of that." She said.

"Sheriff." Hannah called out, placing his order on the counter. He paused before gathering his order.

"That's my job." He went back to grab his coffee and a cinnamon roll of his own. "It's been a pleasure, Abby. I'll see you around."

"I'm sure you will." Abby replied.

She finished her cinnamon roll, and then took her coffee for a brief walk around the square. She found the 'small town' feeling of the community rather endearing, and wondered why it took the death of her husband, and her daughter being turned into a werewolf for her to decide to make this move. After finishing her coffee, she tossed the cup in a waste bin on the street corner, and walked back to her clinic to finish off the rest of her first day of work.

After her mom left, Clarke thought hard about what her mom had said. She wasn't sure though whether she was ready to purposely turn herself into a wolf. She was barely able to regain control of herself last time, and she hadn't turned since. Her mom was right though, she could feel the strength of the wolf growing inside her.

Maybe she wasn't ready to turn yet, but she did feel the 'call of the wild' so to speak. Her desire to run through the woods was too strong to ignore any longer. She went downstairs from the first floor, which led the basement. Half the basement was an unfinished storage room with concrete walls and floor. The other half was finished, but unfurnished with wood paneled walls and plush carpet covering the floor, there was also a full bathroom and a kitchenette. About half of one wall, the side looking out down the hill behind the house, was full height glass.

Clarke went out through the sliding glass door, and down the hill. There was a faint trail, the one she'd used the first time she'd explored the woods, and she followed the familiar path down to the stream. She crouched down, smelling the water and could tell by the scent alone that it was clean enough to drink. She couldn't believe how isolated they were out here. She figured if she had to be a werewolf, this was a hell of a place to do it. Her mom had picked the perfect place.

With a step and a hop she easily clear the six feet, up the rise on the other side of the creek. Without another thought, her feet carried her gracefully over the uneven ground. Trees flew by in a blur. She caught a new scent in the air, and cut hard to her right, following it. Before she knew it, there was a burst of noise from the bushes just in front of her. She leapt over them without thinking about it, and found herself running right in the middle of a heard of deer. The poor animals were probably terrified, but Clarke found it exhilarating.

She came to a stop at the top of the next rise, looking back over her shoulder she could barely make out the edge of the roof of her house. 'Holy crap.' She thought. How long had she been running? The noise of the deer that crashed on past her, faded off into the distance, though she could still hear them if she tried listening harder than her normal human hearing allowed. She wondered briefly what would have happened to those deer if she had been in her wolf form.

"I probably wouldn't be so hungry." She muttered to herself. She shook her head, silently scolding herself. 'That's just the wolf talking.' She thought.

She turned to head back home, and was shocked to see a woman standing there behind her. The woman stood, frozen in a half crouch, unsure if she should advance or retreat. Clarke froze as well, for a tense instant her icy blue eyes locked on the other woman's pale green eyes. When the woman held her gaze it stirred something unfamiliar deep in the pit Clarke's stomach. The hair rose up on her arms and the back of her neck. Her pulse hammered in her chest. She widened her stance, and clenched her fists at her side, grinding her teeth. She had no idea what she was doing, but the adrenaline coursing through her body fueled a set of instincts that told her this woman was a threat. Those same instincts also refused to allow her to back down from a direct challenge.

Lexa had been out on patrol, skirting the edges of her territory. Sure it was something she could have deferred to just about anyone else in her pack, but she enjoyed the rare opportunity to get away. Especially in the days leading up to her heat, which she could already feel coming on. This one would be strong and lasting, and it made her memory ache for a time long past, when she actually had a mate to spend her nights with.

All these thoughts running through her head had distracted her. So much so that she was nearly on top of the human before she even realized it. Lexa froze suddenly, luckily she had still been quiet enough that the blonde woman hadn't heard her approach, but then she turned. She was more of a girl than a woman, maybe in her late teens, though Lexa herself was only in her very early twenties. For a brief moment they only stared at each other both too much in shock at actually running into someone this far from anywhere.

Then Lexa caught the scent though. This wasn't an ordinary human woman. The adrenaline pumping through the blonde's system caused her body to begin heavily secreting alpha pheromones, and Lexa realized that by holding the girl's gaze, she had taken it as a direct challenge to her dominance. Lexa hadn't exactly meant to, but then again she was the Alpha of her pack, and this was her territory. She had to act like the Alpha.

In an instant she had covered what had to be nearly twenty feet. Clarke barely had time to react, had it not been for her above average reflexes, the woman would have slammed into at full speed. As it was, Clarke was just able to step to the side. She tried to grab the woman as she went by, but she spun out of Clarke's grip. A hard fist landed on Clarke's jaw, wrenching her head to the side. Time seemed to freeze for a moment. Clarke nearly in shock.

Lexa wasn't sure what had happened, it was like the blonde hadn't expected the blow at all. It confused Lexa since the blonde had been the one to take up a fighting stance in the first place. The blonde's gaze fixed on her again, her blue eyes blazing now. Lexa was caught off guard when the girl lowered her head and bull rushed her, wrapping her arms around Lexa's waist and taking her to the ground. The girl obviously had no formal fight training though, and Lexa easily twisted, spun, and got out of the blonde's hold, rising quickly to her feet.

"Okay, just stop." Lexa said, surprised at how hard she was breathing.

The blonde blinked several times, looking surprised as she stood up straighter and relaxed her fists slightly. Lexa looked the girl up and down. She was obviously werewolf, but also quite obviously, had no idea what she was doing.

"Who are you?" Lexa asked.

Clarke's head was swimming, and her busted lip, where the woman's fist had made contact was already starting to swell. She spat a mouthful of blood into the dirt. She eyed the girl hard, though she didn't feel that initial surge of adrenaline that she had before.

She was unaware that Lexa was intentionally averting her eyes. It was against her nature to submit fully, but at the same time, she didn't want this blonde flying off the rails again.

She asked again. "Who are you? Why did you come into my territory? Why did you challenge me?"

"What?" Clarke replied dumbly. "I don't know what you're talking about. You attacked me."

Lexa rolled her eyes, pursing her lips slightly. She relaxed fully and approached Clarke. She tilted her chin up slightly, showing her throat. It was a subtle show of nonaggression that Clarke understood, even if it was only on an instinctual and subconscious level. Lexa noted that it must have worked when she saw that the blonde also relaxed her stance.

"My name is Lexa." The impressive brunette said. "I'm the Alpha of the pack in this area, and you're in my territory."

"I'm Clarke. Wait, pack?" Clarke repeated. Then it suddenly clicked. "You mean you're... you too?"

Lexa didn't answer as she saw the understanding and embarrassment light over Clarke's features.

"Of course. How'd I not notice?" Clarke muttered. Lexa stood patiently waiting for Clarke to make the necessary connections. "Why did you say that I challenged you though?" Clarke asked.

"Because you did." Replied Lexa. Her voice was even, her face calm and poised. "When you saw me, when we locked eyes, what did you feel?"

Clarke thought about it for a moment. "A... rush of adrenaline, I guess." She said with a shrug.

Lexa nodded. "You saw me as a threat. You're alpha instincts didn't like that, and you released pheromones that told me as much. As the Alpha of this territory, I couldn't very well ignore such a challenge, could I?"

"I guess not." Clarke said, still a bit confused. "But I'm not an alpha, I don't even have a pack."

Lexa's stoic face twitched at the corner of her pink lips, teasing a smile that quickly disappeared.

"You do not need to lead a pack to be an alpha, just as I do lead a pack but am not an alpha." Lexa explained.

None of that made sense to Clarke. "But I thought you said you were an alpha?" Clarke asked.

Lexa sighed. "I'm the Alpha, but physiologically speaking, I'm an omega."

"Oh..." Clarke said. "Nope. You've lost me."

Lexa shook her head in disbelief. She wondered at how it was that Clarke knew so little about herself. Then a thought hit her.

"How long have you been a werewolf?" Lexa asked. The bluntness of the question took Clarke back a bit, as she hadn't used that word out loud since that first morning after her initial change.

"I-I was bitten about a month ago." Clarke said. "I-it's been... twenty-three days since my first... change."

"And you haven't changed since?" Lexa asked. It was her turn to be shocked. No one from her pack had turned anyone new in years, and she should have heard about any strays roaming through her territory.

Clarke shook her head. Lexa pursed her lips again, giving Clarke a hard glare. Again, Clarke felt her pulse quicken. She realized that Lexa was right. Holding direct eye contact caused her pulse to race and made her feel threatened. Of course there was another reason her pulse raced as she stared into those emerald green eyes, but Clarke immediately pushed that thought out of her mind.

"Clarke, if you go more than a month without changing, the change will occur whether you want it to or not." Lexa said sternly.

Clarke nodded. "That's what I figured. It's why we moved way out here. I wasn't going to let it get that far, I just... I wasn't sure I was ready. I barely regained control of myself after that first change."

"That's the way the first change is." Lexa explained. "The next time you change, and every change after that, you will retain your self-control, and almost all of you mental faculties as a wolf. It's also far less painful after the first time."

"What do you mean, 'almost'?" Clarke asked.

Lexa hesitated to answer, but only briefly. "Some instincts are stronger when you're in wolf form. The instinct to hunt for example. Fight or flight. Base instincts like those are more powerful, but even they can be controlled with the proper focus and training." Lexa refrained from mentioning the instinct to mate. She figured Clarke shouldn't need to worry about that yet. "The most important thing when changing though," Lexa continued, "is not to fight it. Remember Clarke, the change is something you let happen, not something you make happen."

Clarke was silent, nodding to herself after a moment. She moved over to a large rock and took a seat. She was still nervous about changing, and a part of her desperately wanted to ask Lexa for her help. There was no one else who could train her to be a werewolf, but she didn't know how werewolves would even go about these things.

"How many of us are there?" Clarke asked after awhile. Again there was that little twitch at the corner of Lexa's pink lips.

"More than you'd think." She said obliquely, as she looked out over the woods and hills. Her gaze turned to Clarke briefly. She noted that Clarke averted her eyes. Now they were both being careful not to inadvertently challenge the other. Not to mention that every time she looked into those deep sapphire pools, she found it just a bit harder to look away.

"My pack has eight members." Lexa said. "The next closest pack is the Azgeda pack, to the north. I believe they have around a dozen members. They control a larger territory though." Lexa's face turned stony. "They are vicious. Animals." The last word Lexa nearly spat out as a curse, but her face quickly became neutral again. "We're the only two packs, in this state."

"Are there packs in every state then?" Clarke asked. Lexa nodded, squatting on her heels.

"Most states." She said. "There are twelve packs in the upper northeast that have formed a sort of coalition. An alliance to maintain the peace."

'Peace?' Clarke thought. A lot of help their peace did her and her father.

"What about the wolf that attacked me?" Clarke asked, making only a passable attempt at not sounding offensive.

Lexa was silent for a moment. "That is troubling, Clarke." She said. "We have very strict laws about attacking humans. We will find the wolf that attacked you. You have my word."

The sun was beginning to drop behind the mountains now, and both Clarke and Lexa agreed that it was about time to head to their respective homes. Clarke stood, and extended her hand.

"Sorry for the, uh, misunderstanding earlier." She said. Lexa took her hand, or rather clasped Clarke's forearm, the corner of her mouth curling in the closest thing Clarke had seen to a full smile so far.

"I'm glad I didn't kill you." Lexa said.

Clarke gave a sharp laugh, a reaction that visibly surprised the Alpha. "Me too." Clarke said. Lexa turned, but before she could go Clarke spoke again.

"Hey Lexa." Lexa turned back. "How can I know where the edge of your territory is?" Clarke asked. "So that I don't make the same mistake again." With that same little half smile, Lexa reached up and rubbed her fingers over the pulse of her throat. She stepped over to Clarke and held her hand up. Clarke looked at her briefly, confused.

"Smell." Lexa instructed. Clarke hesitantly leaned forward. She inhaled deeply and was shocked at how her body responded. Lexa's scent was earthy and smoky and sweet and musky all at the same time. It made Clarke's head spin worse than that rock-solid punch to the face. A pang of intense arousal hit Clarke out of nowhere and the heat rose to her cheeks. She licked her suddenly dry lips, opening her eyes, not even realizing she'd closed them.

"Oh." Her voice cracked when she finally spoke.

When Clarke's eyes finally fluttered open, blinking several times. Lexa found herself staring into those bottomless blue orbs, watching as they were swallowed by the black of her quickly dilating pupils. She saw the flush rise in Clarke's cheeks. She could smell the subtle yet distinct change in Clarke's own scent. She was in no way prepared for that kind of reaction. She swallowed at the prompting from the sudden nervous lump in her throat.

"That scent is marked around the perimeter of my territory." Lexa said. Her voice sounded a bit deeper and a little huskier even in her own ears.

Clarke just nodded. "Okay." She said. With that Lexa turned and disappeared moments after she had walked off into the woods.

For several moments Clarke just stood there staring in the general direction Lexa had wandered off in. She shook her head, trying to clear the fog.

'Woah.' She thought. There was still so much she didn't no about being part wolf. She turned back in the direction she came, heading back to her house. She reached the line of Lexa's territory and the Alpha's scent was so obvious she couldn't figure out how she hadn't noticed it earlier that day. She actually found herself pausing there, inhaling the air deeply. She realized that Lexa's scent was actually marked on trees and rocks, spaced roughly every fifty yards or so, at the line of her territory's perimeter. Clarke also realized there were other scents there also. The scents from other wolves, each was unique, but each carried similar notes of wood and soil. Clarke guessed that the Alpha didn't always have to go on runs to mark her territory, and instead probably had other pack members go on the runs for her most of the time.

It was dark before Clarke reached her house again, entering through the basement door, just as she had left.

"There you are." Abby said as her daughter came up the stairs.

"Hi, mom." Clarke said. "Sorry I'm back so late. I ended up going further than I thought I did."

"Did you... you know?" Clarke knew what she was asking, and since her talk with Lexa, she was also far more comfortable speaking about it now.

"Change?" Clarke said, finishing her mom's question. She shook her head at her mom's raised eyebrows. "No, not today, but I will. You were right. I need to get used to doing it on my terms, so that I can control myself when I have to, or when for whatever reason I can't change."

Abby nodded.

"So how was work?" Clarke asked. She listened as Abby talked about how calm and slow her day was. Working in TonDC was so different from working in Arkadia. Clarke could tell though, despite her mom's tone, that she enjoyed it. She described the other doctor, a man named Nyko who stood over six feet tall and had a huge black beard. She described the little cafe she went to for lunch, and she described the sheriff she had met there too.

Clarke simply listened mostly while she shoveled down four large helpings of lasagna. She would need it, she thought, if she she was going to change tomorrow.

"Geez, Clarke." Abby said. "Do you even taste your food anymore?"

"Yes." Clarke replied. "And it was delicious." She smiled. She leaned over, giving her mom a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, mom."

Up in her room, Clarke had planned on going straight to bed. Instead, though, she found herself in her pajamas, sitting cross-legged on her bed, with her large sketchbook in her lap. She looked out her floor to ceiling windows, but with the lights on in her room, couldn't even differentiate the mountains from the night sky. 'So much for my inspiration.' She thought.

If visual inspiration failed her, her next step was always music. Grabbing her phone, she opened up her 'art' playlist. She hit play and turned the volume up, tossing her phone onto the bed next to her. Sometimes she preferred using headphones, if she needed to block out the distractions of the world around her, but she didn't feel like bothering with them tonight.

She let her eyes close briefly letting the music fuel whatever inspiration decided to strike her. It came to her in the form of a familiar face. A face with brilliant green eyes, a twitch at the corner of soft, pink lips. At least Clarke imagined them as soft. She let that image fill her mind's eye. The challenge of capturing the sparkle in those eyes, the imagined softness in those lips, that challenge was part of the reason she loved art, and she faced that challenge head on.

Her pencil was nearly a blur scratching over the surface of her page. Her eyes nearly crossing as she entered her 'zone.' Her level of concentration so great it bordered on a hypnotic trance. She became so focused, her mind went nearly completely blank. These brief moments of inspiration were the only moments she had felt completely at peace since the passing of her father.

She held onto that feeling for as long as it would last. By the time it faded, she had six fully completed sketches of Lexa's beautiful face, and she could barely keep her eyes open. She tossed the sketchbook to the side, by her feet and crawled up to wrap her arms tightly around her pillow. Her sleep fogged brain conjured up more and more images of Lexa, even against her will. The music still playing in the background lulled her slowly to sleep, sweeping her away into Lexa-filled dreams.

When Clarke woke up to the bright morning light filling her room, her head was much clearer. She took another look at her sketches, and as always being her toughest critic, she found that the ones that she had thought looked the best late last night, really needed some work, and the ones that she had thought needed some work last night, were nearly worthy of ripping out of her sketchbook and tossing in the trash. She had long ago made it a policy to never rip anything out though. Every drawing she did, she figured could teach her something. It was a policy that she had yet to implement to full success though.

She went downstairs that morning, still wearing the tank top and sweats that she had slept in. Her mom was already headed out the door, and Clarke barely caught her in time to get a 'goodbye, sweetie,' before she left for the day.

With her mom gone, Clarke went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. She grabbed a packet of sausage, and a carton of eggs. The sausage was the ground up kind, and she opened it and squeezed it out of the plastic package into a large sauce pan, and began browning the meat. She cracked eight eggs into a large metal bowl and whisked them, added a bit of milk and then whisked them some more before pouring them into a large frying pan. While the eggs and sausage cooked, she chopped up a whole green pepper, and a large piece of onion. She used a spatula to keep the eggs moving so they wouldn't stick to the pan, and once they were properly scrambled and cooked, she tossed them into the pot with the sausage. She mixed them together, adding in the green pepper and the onion. Lastly she topped off her breakfast with plenty of salt and pepper and a generous amount of hot sauce. Against everything her mom had taught her, she ate directly from the pot, not even bothering to take a seat at the counter. She stood in the kitchen, looking out the window over the hills, as she practically inhaled her food. 'You weren't raised by wolves.' Her mom's voice echoed in her head. She nearly laughed out loud at the irony of what her mom used to tell her.

With her appetite sated, Clarke did a cursory cleanup job, then returned quickly to her room. Her mind was racing, and her nerves were tightly wound. She paced around her room briefly as she considered whether or not she really wanted to do this.

Lexa's voice echoed in her mind. 'Remember Clarke, the change is something you let happen, not something you make happen.' She nodded to herself, making up her mind. She went over and opened the sliding glass door to the balcony. She figured she could have gone down to the basement again, but for some reason she felt safer doing it in her own room. Hesitating for one last brief moment, she steeled herself, grabbed the hem of her tank top and peeled it off over her head. Then she shucked off her sweats and kicked them away, standing there naked for a moment, basking in the sunlight that washed into her room.

Clarke took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She relaxed completely, reached deep down to where she felt the wolf within her resided, and figuratively speaking, opened the door for it. For a single breath of time it felt as if nothing was happening. Then the first lancing pain struck. It caught Clarke off guard, but wasn't as bad as she remembered it being. She sank down to her hands and knees on the plush carpet, and let the change fully overtake her.

There was a brief moment during the change where it felt like she had blacked out again, because the next thing she knew she was on the floor, her vision slightly distorted, the coloring of everything was a bit off. Her heart was racing, but she could feel the energy, the strength just beneath the surface of her skin. She turned her head towards the open door, stepping cautiously out onto the patio. She sniffed the air and listened intently for several beats, but there was no sign of anyone being around to see her. She felt the breeze as it caressed her all over, lightly tousling her silky fur coat.

She surprised herself, when instead of descending the way she had planned; over the railing, onto the roof, and down to the ground towards the front of the house. Instead, in a single bound, she leapt over the railing in the opposite direction. For a brief moment she was soaring through the air, before landing at a full run, down the hill towards the stream. She cleared the stream without even thinking about it. If she thought running through the woods in her human form had been exhilarating, she had no idea what this feeling was. There were so many scents and so many noises. She moved with so much grace and speed and agility. Before she knew it she was at the line of Lexa's territory. She skidded to an abrupt stop just short of crossing that invisible line, padding over to a particular tree, that seemed to radiate with Lexa's scent. Clarke closed her eyes inhaling deeply, a shiver coursing down her spine. Curious to see how far Lexa's territory extended, she decided on a whim to follow the perimeter. If that meant a whole day of being awash in Lexa's scent, all the better.

She followed the perimeter of Lexa's territory to the west for a ways. Clarke wasn't sure how many miles. Sometimes she moved at a casual trot, other times at a full sprint. She didn't keep track of how long she was going or the distance she covered, she was just enjoying the freedom she felt. She'd thought so many awful things about the monster that had killed her father, and she felt a growing amount of guilt at how much she was beginning to enjoy being one of them.

Lexa leaned back in her chair, turning from her desk to gaze out the window over the south-east corner of her territory. It was just a coincidence that from her office window she could just happen to look out in the direction that Clarke lived, but once she made that realization, it was a thought that continuously tickled the back of her mind. It was something that bothered her immensely. To say that Clarke represented a big problem was putting it mildly. It meant that there was a stray, an errant mutt that had made his existence known to humans. Attacked humans. The laws were clear. Attacking humans was only permitted in order to keep the existence of werewolves a secret. If it was discovered by the coalition that there was a rogue mutt so close to her territory, Lexa would be held accountable. She had to track it down and destroy it. She'd have to talk to Clarke to get more information about where the attack happened.

She buried the gentle flutter she felt in the pit of her stomach at the thought of Clarke before her mind even had a chance to register it. She was going to see Clarke as the Alpha of her pack, nothing more. She couldn't let the attraction she felt for the blonde cloud her judgement. She couldn't linger on the way Clarke had reacted when she had inhaled Lexa's omega pheromones.

Lexa had risen to her feet and moved around her desk, but gave pause at the door to her office. She carefully considered how close she was to going into heat. It was inconvenient timing, to say the least. On top of everything else she had to deal with, her heat would raise those reoccurring suspicions and rumors. She'd been lucky so far, no capable alpha's had come along to challenge her leadership, but she knew that even members of her own pack were beginning to grow impatient. She'd heard the murmurs and whispers, and she knew her time to find another mate was running out. Soon her pack would have no choice but to overthrow her leadership. Either that or risk letting another pack come in and take over their territory.

Lexa took a deep breath, releasing it slowly and calmly through her nose as she blocked out the rising thoughts and memories of her past mate. She blinked several times, steeled herself, and headed downstairs.

"Nyko already leave for work?" Lexa asked.

Lincoln sat at the heavy wooden kitchen table, nodding with his mouth full of eggs and bacon.

"Where's everyone else?" She waited patiently, as Lincoln finished chewing and swallowed.

"Gustus and Indra are sparring out back," He said. "Echo is on patrol. What's happening?" He asked.

"Gather Gustus and Indra, meet me in the den. I'll tell you all at one time." Lexa turned and left.

The expected murmur of discontent sizzled through the room like a rising current of static electricity. They all felt the need to share their opinions on the stray mutt and the attack on the humans. Lexa lifted her hand, silencing the members of her pack.

"There's nothing we can do about the attack now." Lexa said. "All we can do is track down this stray, and kill it."

"And what of this... Clarke?" Indra asked.

"Let me worry about Clarke." Lexa said.

"Commander," Gustus spoke up, taking half a step forward. "She has no pack. She has no territory. What makes her any different from this mutt we hunt down?"

"She deserves a chance to learn the rules and laws of our kind before we render judgement." Lexa said. Gustus looked from Lexa to Indra, and then back to Lexa. Lexa lowered her chin, looking at Gustus from under her stern brow. "No one is to move against Clarke without my permission. Is that clear?"

Gustus nodded, retreating his half step. Lexa relaxed and looked to Lincoln and Indra, to make sure they understood as well. They both nodded in confirmation.

"Good." Lexa said. "Lincoln, go bring in Echo, inform her of what happened along the way. Indra, Gustus, prepare for the hunt." This time she didn't wait for any replies of confirmation, she simply turned and left the room.

She stepped out into the near-blinding sunlight of late morning. She climbed into her jeep, and spun her tires as she pulled out of the gravel driveway. The elegant manor-style home she shared with five other members of her pack, was set back secluded in the woods, a long way from any of the main roads.

Lexa knew that there was an empty house just a few miles up Route 9, and Clarke had mentioned that she had just moved to the area. Judging by the direction she had headed off in the other day, Lexa figured that had to be it.

She didn't know what exactly she was doing. She told herself that this was the most prudent course of action. After all, it wasn't like she had Clarke's number or anything, and she couldn't just wander out into the woods and pace back and forth at the edge of her territory waiting to see if Clarke just happened to show up again. Is it odd to just show up at someone's house who you just met? She asked herself. She figured it didn't matter though. What she need to talk to Clarke about was important, and this was the best way to find her to speak with her.

Luckily for Lexa, the 'For Sale' sign hadn't been removed yet at the corner of the driveway. Otherwise there would have been no way that Lexa would have remembered which house along Route 9 had actually been the one Clarke had moved into. Lexa did note however, the bold 'SOLD' placard that had been added to the sign, reassuring Lexa that she was indeed in the right place. She drove slowly down the driveway, pulling around in the little turnabout, to face her jeep back up the hill. She got out after shutting off the engine, admiring the modern looking structure. It was a beautiful home, if you liked that sort of style. Lexa had personally always gone for the more classical architecture, but she could appreciate the beauty of the clean lines and simple angles.

Lexa shook her head clear of her current stream of thought. She had only a cursory knowledge of architecture anyways, and she wasn't here to take note of the design integrity of Clarke's home. She took a deep breath as she approached the front door. This was definitely the right place. Even from outside, Lexa could catch notes of Clarke's scent. She knocked on the front door, waited for several moments, and then knocked again. She looked around, noting that there were no cars in the driveway. 'Of course no one is home.' She thought. 'This was a stupid idea.' She deliberated for a moment between getting back in her jeep and driving back home, or waiting around for Clarke to get back. She was already walking back towards her jeep though, her hand reaching for the door handle, when something caught her attention. She froze, turning around slowly.

Standing there at the corner of the house, near the edge of the driveway, was quite possibly the most beautiful animal Lexa had ever seen. Of course, she didn't let those those thoughts enter her mind, instead swallowing her suddenly restless nerves. She kept her gaze averted eyes cast down at the ground, and she slowly sank into a crouch, her fingertips resting on the concrete surface of the driveway.

"Clarke." She said simply, softly, in a greeting full of deep respect. A small part of her mind was wondering at what the hell she was doing. She hadn't even given it a thought before she submitted, it had almost been reflex. 'This is her territory though,' her mind reasoned. 'This is her home.'

Clarke had approached slowly. Her claws clicked on the driveway as she approached. Her thick wheat-colored coat shimmered in the sunlight like white gold. Those deep blue eyes though, which Lexa dared not give more than a cursory glance, were the same deep blue eyes that Lexa remembered.

Lexa raised her right hand up, holding it out to Clarke, with the palm face down. Her mind still scolding her. It was like she had no control over her body's reaction. It was the most outright form of submission she could have displayed, short of rolling onto her back and offering her throat. Lexa remembered that Clarke had never gone through such a ritual before, but it didn't matter. As Lexa soon discovered, Clarke's wolf-instinct guided her. She reached out, her massive jaws opening them and accepting Lexa's offered hand. They held on Lexa's hand for only a moment, so gently that Lexa barely even felt the sharpness of Clarke's teeth, then she was gone.

Lexa raised her head in time to watch in amazement as Clarke leapt from the driveway, a good ten or twelve feet into the air. Her claws caught onto the tacky grip of the shingles on the roof of the first floor, over the front door. From there she cleared a glass railing onto a second floor balcony, and slipped into an open sliding glass door that Lexa hadn't noticed before. She heard the growls, the crunching of bone, and then the moans and groans. Lexa walked back to the front door, reaching it at the same time as Clarke. Her face was flushed and her blonde hair had a tussled look, as if she'd just gotten out of bed. Lexa shot that line of thought down immediately.

"Lexa." Clarke said, opening the door with a bit of a huff. "This is a surprise."

"Yeah, sorry to drop by unannounced like this, but I didn't have a number to reach you at to call ahead or anything."

"No, it's fine." Clarke replied. "Come in." Clarke stepped back out of the way and let Lexa in.

"Your home is lovely." Lexa said.

"Thanks." Said Clarke, "though I didn't really have anything to do with that. My mom picked it. I didn't even see it until the day we moved in" She thought she saw Lexa's jaw clench at that for some reason, but couldn't be sure.

That was a whole other complication that Lexa couldn't bother with right now. It had been nagging at Lexa since yesterday. Clarke had mentioned moving this far from the city because she'd been changed into a werewolf. Now she just confirmed that her mother moved with her. Lexa guessed that it was safe to assume that Clarke's mom knew her secret.

Lexa let out a heavy breath.

"Lexa, why are you here?" Clarke said, growing concern evident in her voice, as she took a step closer. Lexa's train of thought completely derailed, and her steady pulse stutter-stepped when Clarke said her name in that tone

Lexa sighed again. "I'm sorry, Clarke." She said. "I need to ask you some questions."

"Okay..." Clarke said hesitantly.

"About the attack... when you were turned." Lexa clarified.

"Oh." Clarke responded softly.

Lexa sat at the end of the couch. Clarke sat in a chair at the end of the coffee table, most of the time staring out the full height glass windows. She went through the whole series of events. Her voice broke several times and her deep blue eyes glistened wetly and Lexa felt an inexplicable rage well up inside her. She swore to herself that when she got her hands on that mutt, she was going to make him suffer for what he'd done.

She reached out without thinking about it, resting her hand on top of Clarke's

"I'll find him Clarke." She said. "I swear it."

Clarke glanced up to meet Lexa's gaze. Between the gesture, her words, and the tone of her voice, it was the most emotion Clarke had seen other girl let herself show. Even though Lexa's tone may have been tender, her emerald green eyes were alight with an angry glint, that caused a slight shiver to traverse Clarke's spine.

Clarke realized as she held Lexa's gaze a moment longer than necessary, that that initial threat response wasn't there, but another response that still made her pulse race, was.

Clarke swallowed nervously after several moments of letting the tension fill the room.

"Can I ask you something, Lexa?" Clarke said.

"Of course."

"How did you become a werewolf?" Clarke asked. Lexa was a bit surprised, though she didn't think she let it show. She'd never been asked that question before.

"I, uh... I was born this way, Clarke." She said. Clarke barely heard her response though. She was far too focused on the minute little facial expressions Lexa made. The subtle clenching of her jaw, the way her jade eyes flicked up to meet hers, the twitch at the corner of her lips. Clarke wondered if Lexa had any idea what it did to her every time Lexa said her name. The way her tongue clicked over the 'c' and the 'k' and flowed smoothly over the vowel in between.

After saying it out loud, Lexa was struck by an unexpected feeling of guilt. Up until a month ago, Clarke had been just another unsuspecting human, with no idea that werewolves even existed. She'd had her own life, plans probably, maybe a career picked out. Lexa wondered what the blonde's plans were now.

Lexa opened her mouth to ask, but her question was cut off at her lips by what sounded like an air horn coming from outside. Both girls turned in the direction of the front door. Clarke's face scrunched slightly in confusion.

"What is it, Clarke?" Lexa asked.

"I'm not sure." Clarke replied, standing and heading outside. Lexa followed instinctively, just in case whatever, or whoever it was ended up somehow being a threat to Clarke.

Outside a large box truck, with an obnoxiously bright rental company's logo on the side, was slowly making its way down the incline of Clarke's driveway.

Clarke kept her confused gaze fixed on the truck, up until it came to a complete stop and a messy-haired guy, with dark curls and a semi-crooked smile hopped out of the driver's side.

"How's it goin, Princess?" He asked.

Clarke at once rushed over and wrapped him in a tight hug. Lexa felt herself tense for some reason, almost more than she would've if he'd actually been a threat. A short brunette, with her dark hair in a ponytail, and a taller light-skinned black girl climbed consecutively down from the passenger seat.

"Oh my god." Clarke said, giving each of the girls a hug as well. "What are you guys doing here?" She said, looking from one to the other to the other, for whichever one would give her an explanation first.

"Moving." The young man said with shrug. Again, Clarke's gaze flicked between the three of them.

"What my brother is trying to say," the shorter brunette interjected, "is that when he finished training at the academy, he got a list of departments with spots available and guess what little town, in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere, he found on that list? Little ole TonDC."

"Yeah," said the taller girl, "and since every small town needs a quality mechanic, I decided to make some calls." She stood with her hands buried in her back pockets, a proud look on her face. "Looks like I'll be opening up my second location in a new franchise of garages."

"That's awesome, Raven." Clarke said. While silently watching the exchange, Lexa would've felt really awkward if it weren't for the fact that she had distracted herself by noticing that every time Clarke laughed, or smiled really wide, her nose had a way of scrunching up in the most adorable way.

"So who's your friend?" The shorter girl asked. Realization struck Clarke.

"Oh yeah!" She said excitedly. She reached back, grasping Lexa's hand to pull her forward so they stood next to each other. Lexa didn't know if it was on purpose, or just some reflex, but she didn't protest when she felt Clarke's fingers interlace with her own. "Everyone, this is Lexa." She introduced. "Lexa, this is Bellamy, his sister, Octavia, and Raven."

Even as she shook hands with the three of them, her left hand was still held in Clarke's.

"See." Octavia said, giving Clarke a chuck on the shoulder. "And you were afraid you wouldn't make any friends." Clarke ducked her head a bit shyly for some reason, tucking a stray bit of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Hey," she said suddenly, "would you guys like to come in?" She offered.

"We can't" Bellamy said, even though he sounded disappointed. "We've got a lot of unpacking to do."

"Oh come on, Bell" Octavia said.

"Yeah, don't be a buzzkill, Blake." Raven chimed in.

Bellamy looked over to Raven. "You remember that we've got to meet the other truck too, right? Unless you want Wick to stark unpacking and arranging all your tools for you in the new shop."

A mortified look crossed Raven's face. "Oh god no. Sorry Clarkey, but we gots to go."

"Wick? Really?" Clarke asked, unable to contain her cheeky grin. "How'd you rope him into that?"

Raven shrugged. "I told him that if he didn't help me move my shit, I'd find someone else to run the shop back in Arkadia."

"You're letting him run the Arkadia garage?" Clarke nearly choked in disbelief. Again Raven shrugged.

"Yeah. He might be a jackass, but he's a good enough mechanic. Besides who else is gonna handle it for me?" She explained.

It was Clarke's turn to shrug at that. "So where are you guys living?" She asked.

"In town." Bellamy replied.

"Yeah, we found a place almost identical to our old one actually." Said Octavia. "Duplex-style. Two apartments, directly over the garage Raven will be running."

"Lucky you." Clarke grinned, looking at Octavia and Bellamy.

Bellamy smiled. "Hey, I don't think I could fall asleep anymore, if I couldn't listen to the soothing sounds of an impact wrench going all night."

This time Raven gave Bellamy a hard punch on the shoulder, "You love it." She said, before finally reminding them that it was time they get going. The three of them climbed back into the truck, but not before Clarke gave them all hugs again, finally releasing Lexa's hand to do so. They all shook Lexa's hand as well, then waved goodbye as the large truck carefully back up the driveway and drove off.

Lexa and Clarke were left standing in the driveway, Clarke still grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh my god, that was so crazy." She said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Lexa gave her a small smile. "Your friends seem nice." She said.

Clarke nodded. "Yeah they are, I can't believe they moved all the way out here too."

"Do they know?" Lexa asked. Clarke paused looking at her puzzled for a beat.

"Oh god no." She said as she realized what Lexa was talking about. "The werewolf thing? Absolutely not."

Lexa felt herself relax, exhaling slightly. She found it troubling that she didn't ask because she was concerned about them revealing to the world the existence of werewolves, but because she was holding onto the hope that that would be a part of Clarke that she would know that they wouldn't. Lexa quickly shook her head, clearing her mind of those thoughts. Now she was just being ridiculous.

"So where were we?" Clarke asked.

"What?" Lexa said dumbly.

"Inside, before we were interrupted." She said. "We were having a pretty serious conversation. Was there anything else you needed to talk about? Or anything else you needed to know?"

"I don't think so." Lexa said. "Let me give you my number, incase you remember anything else."

"Okay." Clarke replied. "Let me go get my phone, you can come wait inside."

Lexa followed Clarke back in, taking a seat at the bar facing the kitchen, while Clarke ran up to her room. Clarke came back down a moment later, and they exchanged numbers.

"Okay." Lexa said, putting her phone away, knowing she either needed to come up with a reason to stay, or a graceful way to make her exit, before this became a drawn-out awkward thing of a goodbye. Instead she just stood and headed towards the door. Clarke followed, and held the door open watching as she left. Lexa turned just as she crossed the threshold.

"You know," she said. "I was born this way, like I said, but I know you weren't, and I know this is all new for you, so if you have any... werewolf related questions." She said with a slight smile. "Don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks." Replied Clarke. "I'll do that."

Lexa nodded, pausing again before turning to her jeep. Clarke waiting patiently for her to speak.

"You should come over sometime." Lexa said suddenly, quickly backpedaling when she saw the look of surprise on Clarke's face. "I mean, like to meet the others." She tried to explain. "The rest of my pack. There are some things I'd like to show you too. Werewolf things."

"Oh, okay" Clarke said nodding.

"Yeah," Lexa said. "Just call or text, anytime."

"Okay." Clarke repeated.

"Bye, Clarke."

"See you, Lexa."

Clarke watched until Lexa was in her jeep, pulled out of the driveway, and had driven out of sight, before she closed the door. She spun around with her back to it tilted her head back and let out a tremendous sigh. 'Why does that girl get to me so bad?' She asked herself, unaware that as she drove, Lexa was asking herself the same exact thing.