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I don't want to remember that night. I just shut my brain down and just followed Chester as he took me through the camp. I think he was trying to talk to me but i was too preoccupied keeping myself from falling apart. He took me into a cabin, I think it was the one I woke up this morning. He continued to try and talk to me, but I wasn't listening.

He sat me down and continue to make noise. I just want to leave. I just want to go home and crawl in a corner or something. Wait, I already told my supervisor I would be coming in late today. I wonder how far away I am from work? When I tune back in, Chester was nowhere to be seen. Guess he left me. As I stood up, something fell from my lap and hit the floor. By my feet was my phone. I picked it off the floor, did he give it back before he left? My message box was open showing a text from my supervisor. Elliot, we need to talk about your behavior lately. Call me before you come in. What does he need to talk about?

###

I was dragging my feet back to the meeting. I understood we need info if we wanted to help Elliot, but causing him to have a mental shutdown is too far. He didn't even respond when I was trying to talk to him or even when i gave him his phone. I hope we can help him.

As I approached the Office, Hector was leaning on the railing, wearing clothing this time. "Odd seeing clothes on early in the day."

"I prefer not to wear them at camp, but you know," he shrugged as he inhaled from his vape. "But I still take my Beta position serious and I don't want Millia and El to give me shit about just coming in my underwear again. How the kid?"

"Elliot," Hector nodded, "he shut down during the interrogation, I don't think he is good in the head."

"Guess El caused it."

"Yep," I leaned on the railing with him, "so who's left?"

"Just Ami. Tayler and Claude are on mountain duty today, Surge is taking the kids to school, Kamile can't get away from the kitchen, and anybody with balls big enough to go get Ash will be missing them when they come back. We'll just send them a brief report later."

"Sorry, Sorry," Ami's voice sounded as she rounded the corner. "I just saw the text,"

"It fine," I say to her, "just get in." Ami entered, followed by Hector then myself.

In the meeting office was only Millia and the Alpha, "how's Elliot?"

"Unresponsive," I took my seat, "Where are Dillion and Doc?"

"Digging up more info," the Alpha responded, "we are trying to find anything that might give us a clue about Elliot. I have already received texts Tayler, Claude, Surge, and Ash. Kamile is coming in late but I want to start the meeting."

"SO, what is this meeting about that you called all the Betas?" Hector asked.

"It is about the recent wolf we discover: Elliot Rice. I want to hear your thoughts of him."

"What's there to think about?" Hector leaned back in his seat, "he doesn't seem to be any different than the other time we found a Stray."

"On the surface yes," The Alpha locked her hands together, "but I feel like there's more to it than that."

Ami spoke next, "how so?"

"We did a little research about the area he was from." Milla pulled out some sheets of paper and passed it to Hector, "And we found something that may give us some clue surrounding Elliot. See some time ago there was a pack in that location we believe has some connection to Elliot transformation into a werewolf."

I spoke out, "Wait he was with another pack? He didn't strike me that he was aware that he knew anything about werewolves."

"And that where we have concerns." Ami passed me the sheet of paper after reading it,it was a list of names, "that list has the names of the members of that Pack, and we have confirmed that Pack has been exterminated one year ago by the Hunters Guild."

"A Pack's been exterminated?!" a tense moment filled the room, "but why?"

"We don't know, we are having Dillion and Oscar digging up details. All we know was the council ordered it."

"Um, sorry," Ami stood up and gave a slight bow," but what does that mean?"

The room fell silent, eyeing each other on who might explain it. "Generally, it means the Pack breached something in the Alliance and was killed as a result." we all turned to the door, Kamile, still wearing her cooks' uniform, entered the room.

"Sorry, I'm still lost," I don't blame her, she only became a Beta last week, we didn't have time to talk with her about it. "So, what did they do?"

"Can be a lot of things, Illegal Transformation and hunting humans are just the things off my head." Kamile smelled of breakfast: bacon eggs, sausage. It just made me realize how I haven't eaten anything today.

"Illegal Transformations?"

"It means that someone got turned into a werewolf illegally," Hector answer, "do you remember the paper we had you sign when you joined the pack," Ami nodded, "Packs are required to fill those out when someone new joins the pack, werewolf or human."

"Those sheets also get updated when a human is changed into a werewolf," I continued, "we then send it to the Hunters Guild as a way to keep track on who's in a Pack and how large it is."

Ami still looked lost, "Okay then, But why would that get a Pack exterminated?"

"That itself would not get a Pack killed," said Kamile, "however doing it repeatedly, against the word of the Guild, is dangerous."

"Knowledge is power," The Alpha spoke, "they don't act unless they have info on the targets, so they treat act of deliberately lying to them personal."

Millia spoke up, "don't forget we don't know why that Pack was executed, so it is better not to jump to conclusions."

"Actually, you guys are closer than you think," Dillion walk into the room with 'swagger'.

"Did you find anything Dillion?"

"A whole bunch actually, so which do you want first: Elliot or the Pack?"

"The Pack obviously." Millia was not in the mood for Dillon's antics, I see.

"Well to begin: The Pack was exterminated due to a link in the mauling in that area."

"Mauling," I asked.

"Yep, there have been reports of people being attacked by something in the area. something this time just happen to be the Pack."

Ami look confused, "But why would they do that?"

Hector answered again, "Can't say, the pack itself might of just consisted of Ferals acting out of instinct or they could be just assholes."

"Actually, Doc has a theory, but he wants to gather more info before he reached his conclusion."

"So, what is it then?"

"Hold your horses, I'm getting to it." Dillion pulled up a chair, "now here is the interesting bit: Elliot was one of the victims. There was an article saying he was found all bloody and fucked by the road and was taken to the hospital where he was in a coma."

"What!" I yelled without meaning to. Everyone's eyes were on me, "sorry."

"As you can see, he got better. So, this is Doc theory: The Pack was turning people into werewolves against their wills."

"But how," Millia shot up from her seat, "you can't just force people to become werewolves you...you just can't!"

"You can," all eyes turned to Hector, with completely serious look on his face. He turned to the Alpha," so want me to explain it to them, El?" The Alpha said nothing, "I'll take it as a yes. See the method of turning someone into a werewolf with a mulling is true. Early werewolves did it during the Dark Ages when humans started to kill members of their packs."

"The Hell?! How do you know this?!"

"Because El's father told us when we were children. Our Pack originally preserved the history of werewolves, so it's not like I'm pulling out my ass."

"But... that's, it's" Whatever Millia was going to say couldn't get out of her throat, she just stormed out of the room.

"Should I get her," Ami asked.

"No, it's a typical reaction really. If I went into more detail, I'm sure she would just get madder," Hector wasn't fazed, "besides being inhuman, there is also a high fatality rate, it has more failures than successes. Any Pack who uses this method would be killed without hesitation by the Hunters if they found out about it."

So the Pack was killed because of Mauling. Can't say they would be missed. "Hold on, something doesn't add up? How come there's no word about werewolves in the area. The process of turning into a werewolf takes about a month, wouldn't someone notice that Elliot was changing into one while he was in the hospital? Or any of the other survivors might have as well?"

"That's a simple answer," Dillion answered, "it means one of the Pack members was on the inside." after he said it, we all had a collective 'oh crap' moment. "That means Elliot isn't the only one!"

Panic would be a good word to describe what I felt with the revelation and I'm sure everyone else felt it too. Too many thoughts going through your head, you speak without thought. Before we knew it, we all tried to talk over each other trying to say something. "Silence," the Alpha ordered, "arguing is pointless. We need action. Dillion sent a report to all the Betas who didn't attend the meeting then continue helping my husband digging up any info you can find about any other survivors of those attacks. I want all the names you can find," Dillion left in a hurry. "Ami go get my laptop and another one from the computer lab. then help me connect the printer to both of them."

"Yes ma'am," Ami left in a hurry as well.

"Kamile, you're going to help me write a letter to the Guild explaining what happened when Ami get back." Kamile nodded her head, "and for you two." the Alpha looked at me and Hector, "I want you to keep a close eye on him, do not let him out of your sight."

"Wouldn't be a problem if he's cute," Hector responded. We both left the office.

###

"Please sir, give me another chance," I pleaded, "I promise I'll improve."

"I can't keep doing this. The higher ups are tired of your excuses. There's nothing I can do, I at least wanted to tell you before you come in. bring a box for your stuff, your fired." the call ended.

I'm fired? Tears ran down my face. I try to have a normal life but I just can't. I thought I had it under control, but I'm back to square one. "This isn't fair," I yelled, "If they haven't...they haven't...I could still be having a normal life if it wasn't for them!" that familiar feeling rose up inside me. I didn't even fight it.