4

"I'm going to start looking for her. You get her stuff and take it to the pack house." Liam said as he rushed down the stairs and opened a door. The room inside was small with a twin mattress on the floor against the far wall. A short white utility rack held blue bins covered in fabric at the foot of the mattress. The walls where painted a plain white and a small desk served as a sewing table next to the door. Conal grabbed one of the bins and put it on the desk to examine the contents.

Inside was a pile of neatly folded under garments. He suspected that all the bins held Dawn's wardrobe. None of the clothes had tags or even labels, meaning she had made them all herself. Liam threw four large bags on the floor beside him just as he reached in and began to pull the items out of the bin. 'Gamma I need you to come help me move the luna's things.' He linked knowing that the gamma had stayed behind incase Dawn showed up at the pack house.

'Alright I'll be there as soon as I can.' Conal relayed the address. Then linked the alpha.

'Alpha it seems she was trying to get to the pack house. She may have gotten turned around in the storm though.'

'I'll start heading south.' Conal could feel the desperation through the link and he had to tell him the truth.

'Be looking for a body, Alpha. She left here three days ago.' The odds of her surviving at all were slim to none. It wasn't likely that Dawn would make it to the pack house. He felt rage surge up in the alpha and wondered if maybe he had said the wrong thing.

He closed the link and and kept packing. Surrounded by her scent it was hard to imagine her dead body being found. He wanted to believe that Dawn was alive somewhere in the woods, hunkered down in a semi- warm cave out of the elements. Or maybe she had found one of the many huts that dotted the forest. They were well stocked and cozy as they were used by pack members as camping spots.

As much as he wanted to believe she was alive, another storm was moving in fast. If she didn't find shelter she definitely would not last the night.

It took less than half an hour to get everything packed because of how little there was. Just as he was zipping a half finshed wool dress into a garment bag the gamma was coming through the door.

"Is this all?" He asked incredulously as he stared at the morbid emptiness of the room.

"just these two and the two in the hall." Conal confirmed as he handed over the garment bag. "Careful it has pins in." The sun was setting by the time they made the twenty minute drive back to the pack house.

As Conal stepped out of the truck he spotted something at the edge of the forest. A flash of crimson color that didn't belong in nature. Squinting he could almost make out a person stumbling towards the pack house from the north west corner of the lawn.

"Dawn?" He called over the rising howl of the wind. "Dawn is that you?" There was no response but it definitely was a young woman. She was wearing a dark brown dress that was torn in a couple of places. Her toes and fingers were a sickly sort of redish purple that came with sever frost bite. Her hair was matted and had small icicles hanging off the ends. Had she been swimming? For the life of him he could not understand why she would, or even where she found an unfrozen body of water.

He was jogging up to the unresponsive girl before he could register anything. "Dawn, everyone's been worried about you! Let's get you insi-" Her eyes snapped up as he got closer and he saw fear in them just before she screamed and spun around to dart back into the rapidly darkening forest.

However she was not prepared to slam into the huge wall that was Brandon. "Your dress. It's frozen." He said with a look of pure horror on his face as she relaxed into his embrace.

"So c-c-cold." Conal heard her breath out just before slipping into un consciousness.

**************************************************

Brandon went pale as his mate went limp in his arms. He hadn't expected to run into her here of all places. He quickly recovered as Brennen shouted for him to take her inside. Brandon scooped her up in his arms and half ran inside. Her body was like ice and fear went through him as he charged into his apartment. He rushed to the bathroom as Brennen started the hot water flowing in the tub.

Brandon lowered Dawn to the floor and began to remove her half thawed and dripping dress. The tiny buttons proved to be far to tricky for the task so he ripped it off. Brennen left just as Brandon removed Dawn's under garments. He lifted her in his arms and tried to step into the tub with her.

"NO! NO! PLEASE NO! I'LL DROWN! AHHHHHAHAH!!" She wailed as she thrashed and clawed at him causing him to lose his balance and sit roughly on the floor.

"It's okay! It's okay! Sh sh sh! it's okay. You won't drown. I won't let you drown." He soothed as he stroked her hair gently. Once her wails died to subdued whimpers he stood and carried her to the shower stall instead. He turned on the hot water and sat in the spray with her.

Soon the gamma returned with the pack doctor in tow. Brennen glanced at the still steaming tub and then the shower where they sat. He was completely confused now. "Why-"

"She had a panic attack over the bath." Brandon explained as he rubbed soothing circles on her back. "She was convinced that she would drown in the tub. I don't understand it."