They Met Again.

"You remember me... should I take that as you're impressed by my outstanding good looks or..." Ocean said teasingly. His eyes twinkling.

Kristensen took a subtle step up, be it her intuition or defense against the attractive opposite sex, Ocean put her out of sorts. Even pretending to be calm and collected was hard to do.

"I..."

"You don't have to be so guarded, I don't mean any harm." The amusement in his eyes didn't escape her notice, but there was nothing she could do... Ocean was...

Kristensen took off. She still had to survey her chamber, she thought, and exchanging whatever it was with Ocean wasn't going to keep her in her best state of mind.

"Hey... don't run." Ocean said as he caught up with her. "I really mean you no harm. Scout's honor!"

As if she would believe that. Kristensen kept quiet and resumed with what she was doing.

The whole place itself was a maze, and she'd gotten herself lost by trying to map the layout. It didn't matter that she'd been given directions. She didn't know how to get to where she needed to - something she would never admit.

"I should've known from that day that you here, I wouldn't have wasted so much looking for you."

It didn't help that Ocean kept chattering, distracting her - another thing she would never admit to.

Ocean watched the little thing trying her best to ignore him, a smile in his eyes. She was vigilant enough, he had to admit, but vigilance wasn't enough...

"I can take you where you want to go, you know. If you asked me nicely..."

Kristensen clenched her teeth. It was his fault she went off course anyway. Why did she have to beg him?

Ocean continued, very pleased with himself. "A please is all I need. You don't want to spend too much time here, right? After all... tonight's the full moon."

She didn't believe she couldn't get herself out of the damned buildings to where the chambers were!

Until she circled back to where she met Ocean, Kristensen conceded. She could only grit her teeth and ask him for help.

"Please." Kristensen whispered.

Ocean's grin widened at her reluctant plea, a teasing glint in his eyes. "What's that? Did you hear something?"

"You..." Ocean raised his eyebrows at her, and she could only bow her head. "Please..."

"See? Was that so hard?"

He gestured for her to follow him, leading her through the labyrinthine corridors.

As they navigated the twists and turns, Ocean started once again.

"So, how did you find our little cruise? Is it as effective as the rumors say?" He remarked, his tone laced with untraceable curiosity.

Kristensen snorted, their little cruise? Understatement she'd ever heard, not to mention she didn't bring herself there.

Ocean raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Oh, didn't like our hospitality, did you?"

"If I were here by choice, I wouldn't care about your hospitality." Kristensen replied, an anger she hadn't realized she had thick in her tone.

They had reached the chambers.

She faced the tall building and had to acknowledge what it represented. Do or die. Perhaps after she walked in, she would never walk out.

Kristensen turned to Ocean and briskly said. "Thanks."

Her gaze shone with a mixture of determination and apprehension.

As she was about to walk into the building, Ocean grabbed her hand. His touch sent shockwaves from the point of contact up the length of her arm to her heart. She took her hand back abruptly.

Ocean's gaze met Kristensen's, mirroring the shock in each other's. He cleared his throat and asked with a degree of seriousness, "What did you mean if you were here by choice? Didn't your parents send you her?"

"What's it to you? And isn't it a little late for you to ask? I dare you to find one recruit who came to this hell hole by choice." Kristensen's snapped.

And her eyes widened immediately afterward. What was she doing? She was... panicking?

She ran into the building. It was unlike her. It was too unlike her.

Ocean eyes narrowed as he watched his pub run away after snapping at him. The Camp was rotten to that point, then? He let out a full toothed smile. It seemed he'd found the right excuse to uproot those rats.

"Come out." He called out to thin air, and two figures covered from head to toe appeared. "Make sure she makes it out alive tonight. If not, don't come back."

His eyes glowed, and his gaze pierced through the walls. He saw Kristensen run until she reached her chamber, pace through the room, and kicked at the walls. The smile in his eyes deepened.

"Not so heartless then..." With that, Ocean left.

Inside the chamber, Kristensen sat down after her tantrum. She couldn't believe she'd let her guard down with Ocean subconsciously enough to show her true feelings. It didn't matter. She had to focus.

The chamber was really a cubic cage. There wasn't anything inside the room aside from chains, chains knocked on the wall, and long snake like chains.

She didn't touch the damn things. Something she'd learned was nothing in that place was for their own good. Kristensen thought it was better for her to risk her life unchained than being at someone's mercy.

It wouldn't be too long now...

There was one thing she had picked up, though. Most of the buildings in The Camp were made out of moonstones, and although the power in them was subtle, mostly nonexistent, it was better than nothing.

Just as Drew demonstrated that if one knew how to draw the power into them, it would strengthen their dormant wolf before the transformation, giving them a higher chance through the first transformation.

Kristensen closed her eyes and started to concentrate. She searched for that thread of power, the warmth of the moon, the resonance like she had during her awakening.

Af first, she thought her assumptions were wrong, and the moonstones there were placed in a way to repel the moonlight and not store it.

When she was about to give up, she found the thread. The thread was slim, practically nonexistent, but Kristensen didn't want to give up. She wanted to grap at any chance - no matter how slim that would increase her chances to survive.

She put all her focus into grabbing that thin thread and connecting to it. She tried a couple of times but couldn't grasp it. It slipped through every time.

"Damn it.!"

The more she failed, the more she wanted to succeed, even if her theory was wrong. She gritted her teeth and started the whole process again.

It was a thin line the size of the smallest needle hole. Kristensen put her thousand percent focus into grabbing the thread - one second, two seconds, and she did, she managed to do it.

Once the connection was established, she found the connection to the horde of the moonlight, a pool of it.

Unknown to Kristensen, her wolf had started to take shape in her subconscious. The more power she drew from the moonstones around her, the clearer her wolf form became.

She had already taken a crucial step towards succeeding.

Kristensen opened her eyes when she felt full to the brim, her whole being was filled with power, and it would help her endure a little more.

She looked out the window, and it was dark out. The chamber truly deserved its name, and even the windows were barred.

Was it really so they wouldn't hurt themselves? She didn't think so. At least that wasn't the case anymore. Now, it was meant to keep them from escaping, and though many might have guessed, there was nothing they could do.

How many would make it out if transforming didn't kill them first? She couldn't help but sigh.

She should've brought something to eat...

Leah paced around the office, biting his nails, dropping his hand, and biting them again.

"Would you stop? I'm getting nervous looking at you." Isaac chided. "Did you find out what chamber she's in?"

Leah shook his head as he sat down.

"Good for nothing. Aren't you and Winnie close?" Reprimanded Isaac, his eyes narrowing in thought.

"I never had anything to do with alphas this year... it would've been suspicious." Leah replied defensively.

Isaac walked out from behind his desk... "It doesn't matter. It's actually good that you did. I won't have to explain myself..."

Isaac's hand behind him had extended his claws. He rushed to Leah and slashed his throat before Leah could react - blood splashed on his face, and he slashed the same place again, watching Leah making gurgling noises until he stopped breathing.

"I'm sorry, Leah, but Kristensen is my ticket out of here. That man you guys were asking about, he's Ocean Ly. THE ALPHA."

Isaac started to laugh until his laughter turned to tears.

"I didn't want this. I didn't want to do it. You have to believe me, you understand me, right Leah? No one asks for this. Just because we're betas they think they have the right to control us..."

His glowing turquoise eyes flickered between blue and green.

"They turned me into this." Isaac gritted his teeth, "but it's alright. With her, I'm going to reach the peak - ALPHA. Let's see who dares control me then."

The howls were the first thing Kristensen heard from her chamber, indicating the moon was finally out. Her chamber wasn't one of the first to be hit by the moonlight.

When she heard the howls, she hurried to the window to see the moon for herself. She couldn't see it from her view.

It didn't stop the howls from reaching her, though, and it sounded like a lot of them...

Kristensen started to pace the room. She became increasingly nervous, as all she picked out from the howls was pain, excruciating pain.

"What does it mean to be a wolf? What is my lifeline?" Kristensen mumbled incoherently as she paced the chamber.

The air in the chamber was becoming stuffy, and she couldn't tell if that was true or if she was getting too nervous.

She repeated as the nerves started to get to her, "What does it mean to be a wolf? What is my lifeline?"

How long until the moonlight reached her chamber?

It was dark in the chamber. Only Kristensen's eyesight saved her from seeing things in the shadows.

The first ray of moonlight seeped through the window, and it happened that Kristensen had been standing by the window all along. When the light touched her skin, it felt as though her soul had been pierced. She jumped back hurriedly to where moonlight hadn't shone.

She finally understood... before the transformation killed her, the pain would do it first.

Kristensen cussed. She jumped out at the first slightest pain and didn't try to figure out what was going. She watched the moonrays with caution, contemplating whether to risk it or not... she didn't at the end.

She sat at the corner, worriedly watched as the moonlight filled the whole chamber.

And the moonlight reached her.