Revolting

"No! No she can't be.." All of the fight went out of Heath as he glanced desperately between his sister and the giant behind her.

"I think..." Michael rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand. "I think her human self is still in there. I mean, we've made some progress over the last few days..." He extended his hand to Hannah. She looked suspiciously between the men, and then reached for Michael's hand. He tucked her against his good side, eliciting a growl from Heath.

Hannah growled back at him.

"She doesn't talk?" William asked, studying the couple from where he stood.

Michael shook his head, "Not really. She said my name once, though."

Heath was still glaring daggers at Michael. "She rejected you!" He hissed. "She wouldn't want this!"

Michael grimaced, and his arm tightened around her slight body. "Well, I didn't reject her! Besides, I'm not sure she remembers all that."

"Whatever, I remember just fine! Now get your hands off her, she's coming back with us."

Michael's chin jutted out stubbornly. "She's not leaving without me."

"The hell she isn't!" Heath would have launched himself at Michael again, but William held him back.

"If it wasn't for me, she'd still be wandering around the wilderness as a feral wolf." Michael pointed out with a snarl. "Where were you, huh? To busy fucking around with your mate to go look for your baby sister, huh?"

Heath made a pained sound in his throat, and sagged back against William as his own guilty conscience overwhelmed him.

"Michael," William interjected himself into the conversation. "You know what will happen if we take you back." He quietly reminded Michael that he was in fact a fugitive.

"I don't care," Michael growled, "I'm coming with her."

"What about the rest of us?" Lonnie piped up. "Are you just going to leave us out here to get picked off by the hunters? We risked our necks for you and your mate!"

Michael looked around the camp. "He's right." He looked William hard in the eye. "You need to take all of us."

"Pfft, we only have one car." Heath said bitterly. He gestured to Hannah and held out his hand.. "Hannah, come on, please? Let me take you home."

"She's not going without me." Michael repeated, enunciating each word. And then, to prove his point, he lifted his hand from Hannah's body, giving her the freedom to go if she chose. However, her golden eyes darted between the brother, whose face was a blurred memory, and the familiar comfort of Michael. She only clung tighter to his side and refused to budge. "See?" He looked smugly at Heath and William. "She trusts me."

William considered them. "How many are you?"

"Seven... no six now." Michael frowned.

"How are we going to fit 8 people in the car?" Heath scoffed. "It can't be done."

"Where there is a will, there's a way." William considered. "If everyone sat on a lap... Michael in the front with Hannah because he's too damn big. You could squeeze in the middle of the back seat..." "Oh no, we are not doing this!" Heath protested.

William gave him a long, thoughtful look. "Do you want to bring Hannah back?"

"Yeah, but..."

William nodded his blond head toward the group. "I think you owe it to them to relocate them. We can leave them in the no-man's land outside the pack boundaries." The very same unclaimed land where Heath used to stay with Hannah before he found his mate.

"I'm telling you, we won't fit."

Somehow, they all fit. It was difficult to convince Boyd to shift back into his human form, but he finally reluctantly pulled his ratty shorts back on. The front seat had to be pushed all the way back to accommodate Michael's long legs, and then Hannah was arranged on his lap. Behind them Body squeezed in although his knees were pressing into the seat, right into Michael's back. Sarah perched indignantly on his thighs. Caroline and Lonnie took the other window seat. They were very squashed but at least they were a mated pair and didn't find it awkward to be pressed against each other. And Heath was crammed into the small space between them, with his knees practically in his own face. William had to slam the door three times before the latch would close, and then he quickly locked it to make sure nobody would come popping out accidentally. The car's undercarriage was sagging low to the ground with the combined mass of all the adult werewolves weighing it down. Their luggage had been piled in the trunk, with a few extra items tied to the roof.

"I hope to God we don't meet any traffic police," William said flatly as he pulled back out onto the dirt road. "I'll have a hell of a time explaining how I ended up with my car full of werewolves."

"Hikers," Michael corrected, flashing him his old, jaunty grin, "We're just a bunch of hikers you found thumbing on a back road."

Hannah's eyes were large and frightened as the car began to pick up speed. She clung desperately to Michael's neck. "Easy there, beautiful, everything is going to be fine now." He hoped to hell that the words he was speaking were true. He could very well be walking right back into a hangman's noose. But for Hannah, he would do it. He was ready to die for her. He stroked her long hair, massaging her scalp lightly with his big fingers until she finally started to droop in sleep.