Lily's is injured

After leaving Drake Manor, Marshall could barely contain his burning questions and frustration. As soon as they were on the road, he rounded on Lily.

"Okay, spill it! What did that arrogant jerk Drake say? Did you get him to confess about the werewolf rumors or not?"

Lily stared out the window, only half-listening. Her mind was an insane whirlwind replaying her strange confrontation with Ethan over and over. The raw power and animal magnetism radiating from his tall, muscular frame. Those intense emerald eyes that seemed to stare straight through to her soul.

She squeezed her thighs together as unbidden thoughts of running her hands over Ethan's chiseled abs made her squirm. Get a grip, Lily!

"...Hello? Earth to Lily!" Marshall's annoyed voice finally broke through her dazed fantasies. "Were you even listening?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry," Lily shook herself. "Uh, no, Ethan didn't really confess to anything specific. But he made it obvious I should back off from investigating him and his family's secrets."

Marshall scoffed loudly. "So it's just another arrogant rich guy who thinks he's above having his dirty laundry aired out. We can't back down now, Blackwood! Not when we're this close to blowing the lid off wide!"

Lily frowned uncertainly. "I'm not so sure it's that simple. We could be dealing with some really dangerous...beings here, Marshall. Things we never could've imagined existing."

Her partner gave a melodramatic eye roll. "Oh, what, you think Drake and his weirdo clan are literally werewolves or something? Come on, Lily, you can't honestly believe those kooky old wives' tales!"

But Lily couldn't shake her disquieting sense that the rumors were drastically underestimating the gravity of the truth. If only she could get solid proof one way or the other!

"Look, we're going back out there tonight," she stated with more conviction than she felt. "We'll stake out the forest around Drake Mansion after dark and see if we can catch anything concrete on camera. Then we'll know for sure if this is all some colossal hoax or the real deal."

Grinning excitedly, Marshall nodded in agreement. "Now you're talking, Blackwood! I'll call Carter and give him the heads up. This could be our career-defining exposé!", I don't care if it is true or not as long as it sales is all that matters.

As Marshall pulled out his phone to call their editor, Lily gazed sightlessly out the window, her mind churning. She felt like she was barreling headlong into a supernatural world she never could have imagined. One that could be immensely beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.

All she knew for certain was a strange, undeniable urge to understand Ethan Drake, no matter what dark secrets he harbored.

Meanwhile, Crystal strode into the run-down ramshackle house that served as her pack's de facto headquarters, fuming silently. Her beta and most trusted friend, Sasha, looked up as she stormed inside.

"Take a look at your 'fearsome luna' now," Crystal spat, throwing herself into a battered recliner. "Trembling like a newborn pup before that arrogant, domineering Ethan Drake!"

Sasha frowned uncertainly. "I thought our territory dispute with Drake's pack was settled for now? What's got your fur riled up this time?"

Crystal bared her sharp canines in a wordless snarl as the memory of Ethan dismissing her romantic overtures so coldly resurfaced.

"He's bewitched!" she burst out at last. "Utterly enthralled with some pathetic, mousy little human reporter who's been poking around asking too many questions about us!"

"A human?" Sasha wrinkled her nose disdainfully. "Surely no one would take the ravings of a clueless human seriously regarding our existence?"

"You'd think so," Crystal agreed bitterly, "but this one has Drake all twisted in knots to 'protect' her from the nasty wolves who want her gone." She gave a humorless chuckle. "As if she would hesitate to expose and imprison all of us like animals if given the chance."

Realization dawned in Sasha's eyes. "You want to eliminate this human before she sticks her nose where it doesn't belong and ruins everything for us all."

A cruel smile curved Crystal's ruby red lips. "Oh, I have something much better in mind than a quick death for our little friend. We'll give the nosy bitch a warning she'll never forget..."

What about your brother and Alpha Drake, won't they be angry at what you are about to do, remember your brother fought hard for this arrangement between our pack and Drake's own, Sasha said looking at crystal curiously.

Don't worry about that, they will understand in time that I did us all a favor.

As night fell, Lily and Marshall crept deep into the shadowy forest surrounding Drake Manor. Though Marshall clearly thought she'd lost her mind, Lily couldn't shake her driving need to capture irrefutable proof of the supernatural.

"This is beyond idiotic, even for one of your crazy hunches," Marshall grumbled under his breath, wrestling with his camera gear.

Lily ignored his gripes, scanning the eerie tree line intently.

Her intuition was screaming at her that something extraordinarily inhuman lurked just beyond the veil of darkness. All she had to do was lift the curtain a little and—

A distant howl suddenly pierced the silence, raising the hairs on the back of Lily's neck. It was quickly joined by several more haunting wails that definitely did not sound like normal wolves.

"You hear that?" she hissed urgently at Marshall, adrenaline spiking. "Tell me that doesn't sound like—"

"Look out!" Marshall suddenly shouted, panic thick in his voice. His camera flashed wildly as it captured several huge, snarling shapes bounding towards them from the pitch-dark forest.

Lily's breath caught in her throat as the hulking beasts came into view - they were massive, terrifying wolf-like creatures easily the size of bears, their malformed bodies a grotesque blend of human and animal. Rows of dagger-sharp fangs dripped saliva from slavering jaws as they fixed their soulless gazes on the two trespassing humans.

Definitely not normal wolves, Lily thought with chilled detachment as one of the beasts let loose an earthshaking roar that vibrated her bones.

With one final flash of camera light, the hellish pack surged forward, slashing and snapping at Lily and Marshall with reckless ferocity, marshall ran like hell without looking back.

Lily felt scorching agony rip through her shoulder as one of the massive creatures sank its jaws into her flesh.

She instinctively swung her camera hard, cracking it over the beast's skull but only managing to dislodge it temporarily. More of the twisted wolf-monsters closed in, flurries of claws and fangs that soon engulfed Lily's vision in a whirlwind of blood and seering pain.

In the back of her dimming awareness, she thought she heard a bellowing, truly inhuman roar echo from somewhere else in the forest depths. Moments later, an emerald blur crashed into the chaos with the force of a freight train.

But soon even that flicker of violent resistance faded to black as unconsciousness claimed Lily at last.

When she finally managed to pry her eyelids open, Lily found herself in a massive bedroom suite she didn't recognize. Every inch of her body throbbed with fiery torment - her clothes were shredded and blood-soaked, deep lacerations crisscrossing her arms and torso. Yet the wounds themselves seemed partially...healed?

A pained groan nearby drew her gaze over to Lilith sitting vigil beside the bed in a straightbacked chair. Her normally pristine features were drawn and haggard, dark circles like bruises ringing her hollow eyes. She caught Lily staring at her and attempted a thin, ghostly smile.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Miss Blackwood," the witch murmured in a strained voice. "You had us quite worried there for a time."

As if summoned by her voice, Ethan suddenly appeared in the bedroom doorway, his eyes wild and face haggard. He crossed the room in three long strides and hovered over the bed, gently brushing a stray lock of hair off Lily's clammy forehead. The simple gesture held so much tender relief and concern that fresh tears burned in Lily's eyes.

"That damned reckless curiosity of yours almost got you killed this time," he chided in a low, shaken rasp.

Then his mouth was crashing onto hers in a desperate, searing kiss that robbed Lily of breath and sent hot tears to her eyes.

Just as the kiss started, it ended immediately with Ethan pulling himself off the bed.

"Take care of her Lilith, I will be back shortly", he said seething with anger as he left the room.

Crystal will surely pay for this.