"Out back."

"Let's take the box to the back porch." Colton cursed under his breath as he manhandled the box out of the trunk and carried it to the back porch. It was a long way around the side of the house. He set the box down and like a kid at Christmas he started to tear into it. When he opened the flaps and peered inside he started laughing.

"No way! Meryn this is awesome."

"Your job is to fill them up. I'm going to go challenge Aiden." Meryn lifted a super soaker from the box and looked around for a spigot. Colton grabbed two and showed her where the hose connected to the house near the back door. She filled hers up first and left him grinning like an idiot to go find Aiden.

She walked back towards the large obstacle course and stopped. Despite it being almost Halloween most of the men had their shirts off and were doing drills. Each man was trying to attack their sparring partner who was blindfolded. Quietly she snuck up behind her mate and jumped out screaming like a banshee. Aiden jumped nearly a foot in the air and turned around snarling. That was when she brought the gun to her shoulder, aimed ...

"Meryn don't!" Aiden warned.

... and fired. She shot him in the face, laughing as he sputtered. Behind Aiden the men hooted and egged her on. When she stopped Aiden's eyes took on a dangerous glint.

"Oh shit!"

"Heads up Commander!" Colton yelled and tossed Aiden a gun.

"Traitor!"

"Gamma versus Alpha. Meryn you're on Gamma's team." Colton yelled and began tossing guns to the men. Ben ran over and grabbed her hand.

"Come on!" Meryn ran with Ben for all she was worth. Behind them Gamma stood between her and Aiden laughing and shooting each other. She and Ben took positions at the edge of the obstacle course. He scaled one of the many climbing obstacles and lay in wait on his belly like a sniper. Meryn knew if she tried something like that she would fall off so she stood behind the rock climbing wall.

Minutes later the men began running by in an effort to get to the woods. She jumped out and got Colton in the ear.

"Agghhh."

Laughing hysterically, she bolted for the woods. She could hardly run she was laughing so hard. She ran until she couldn't go anymore. She looked around and took up a tactical position behind a tree. She listened to the men's laughter and cursing and congratulated herself. They had needed something to take their minds off the case they were working.

As the minutes went by she noticed how quiet it had gotten. Maybe she had run too far. She stepped out from behind the tree.

"Meryn!" She heard Aiden yell.

"Aiden, come and find me." She teased.

"Quit playing and come out." He yelled.

"Sourpuss!" She laughed and heard it echo through the trees.

"Come on now, no more playing." He called out. There was nothing but silence.

Meryn froze. She knew this scene. It was the scene she had been dreaming of for the past few weeks.

"That's not funny, come out!" Aiden's voice sounded frantic.

"Aiden!" Her scream shattered the silence.

Out of nowhere a body slammed into hers. She could feel someone on top of her but couldn't see anything.

"Almost time for you to die." A harsh voice whispered in her ear. A hand groped between her legs and she began to fight.

"Do me a favor and drop dead asshole!" She turned her head and bit down blindly. An angry roar emerged from above her. A heavy hand came down and clipped her cheekbone. Stars exploded and for a second she couldn't see, and then as quickly as he was there, the weight was gone. She lay on the forest floor, blinking up trying to focus her eyes.

She could hear feet running and men shouting.

"Over here!" She yelled. Seconds later a familiar face appeared over her.

"Found!" He bellowed. "Are you hurt?"

"Fucker punched me. I'm really starting to hate his invisible ass." She struggled to sit up. He offered her a hand and helped her lean against the tree. Aiden burst through the tree line and didn't stop until he was at her side.

"Has she been stabbed?" His hands pulled at her clothing trying to inspect every inch of her.

"No sir, she said that she was punched."

"Thank you Sascha. Take Gamma and find this fucker." Aiden ordered.

"He's bleeding. I bit him." Meryn told the tall Nordic looking warrior with the white blond hair. His icy blue eyes held admiration. He nodded.

"Good work, that will make it easier." He turned to the two men that had arrived after Aiden.

"Christoff you're up. He's bleeding, you're on point for tracking." The dark haired man nodded. He walked over to Meryn and sniffed her jacket that now sported blood splatter.

"Oron you're with him. Report in every ten minutes." Sascha commanded.

"Yes, sir!" Both men took off.

"Aiden let's get her back to Alpha." Sascha suggested. Aiden lifted her gently.

They ran back and Meryn wanted to groan. Each jostle hurt her head. They ran past the obstacle course to where the other men had assembled by the house for orders.

"Ben I'm assigning you to Alpha for today. Help them keep Meryn safe. Quinn you're with me. We're going to ransack the archives. We're looking for an invisibility spell." Sascha and Quinn turned and started towards where the cars were parked.

"Sir, I'd like to assist Quinn and Sascha. I grew up helping my brother in the archives in Storm Keep. I know some of those volumes by heart." Keelan stepped forward. Aiden nodded.