Carl
I'm burning down every bridge we made
I'll watch you choke on the hearts you break
I'm bleeding out every word you said
Go to hell, for heaven's sake
Lauretta
Alma is her friend. Well, she was her friend. She looked up to Alma and admired her strength in times like these where no one knew friend or foe. Your best friends, your family, and your lovers. They could all be wolves, and no one would know. Only the wolves knew. Yet in their case, knowledge was not power. They were just as helpless as their victims. She was ignorant once, too. She was a part of the coalition—actually, she still is. She was the one who blinded one with coffee and the one who had taken a few missed shots. She spent her nights at the cage with Alma, talking about books and theories. She loved to listen to Alma talk about her students and her recent rebuild as a mechanic. Yet as soon as Jade uttered those few words, it would all be gone. Jade would watch as Alma's once bright smile and twinkle-filled eyes turned into a snarl of pure rage. 

She deserved it. She hated herself too; that's why she sought Alma out on the full moon. She knew Alma would do the kindness of putting a bullet through her skull, and all would stop. Things would be quiet. Only Jade didn't get to confess that night. Rhett, Alma's lover, had also been attacked, and he smelled like her. He, too, had been changed. She wondered if that was her own doing; maybe she would tell Alma it was to give her motive. Alma was angry that night and distraught. She had been there too, as had Arthur and Akira, both. She knew what it was like. When Jade and Akira walked into the room, Alma immediately tore into them. Shady was the only thing stopping Alma from her attack. Jade left, but still brought Alma books and food. A silent empathy, a silent apology...

Now, Jade was up... Barely and making dinner, Alma would be over here shortly, and Jade was unsure of how to take it. She had Jackson set her grandmother's rings on the table so that Alma could silver-test her if she felt so inclined. Jade was not angry; she was at the end of her rope, where if someone were to attack, she would not try to calm them; she would not take it with a smile. The beast inside of her and her father's genetics could not take anymore of her own habits. Instead, she would bark back. She would show her snarl, and she would prove that she was the very beast that they feared. Not because of this... Curse, but because Jade Grant had enough. She was tired of her lover crying, struggling, and being painted as the bad guy; she was tired of the divide it had caused.

She was tired; she would turn into everything she feared—her father's daughter. She hoped it would not come to that, but she was ready. She could not fear the inevitable.

There was a knock on the screen door, and she paused, motioning Aki with a slight nod of her head to head to their room. She did not want to be present, and Jade did not blame her. Jade wiped her hands on her apron and met Alma at the door, painting on her best smile. "Well, ain't you a sight for sore eyes? C'mon in. Dinner is almost ready. Then we can chat." Jade may not have been herself, but she still had pieces of her left, and she would be damned if Alma left without a full belly.
Michael
`TW: light mentions of a PTSD related ED`

A War of Attrition. 

Alma finally knew what those words meant. She thought she had. She'd seen them placed side by side in textbooks before. She'd written them on the chalkboard and explained them out syllable by syllable to sleepy-eyed teenagers in the schoolhouse. France's march into Russia. The trenches on the Western Front. Alma had wielded those words with a calm and patient countenance year after year, but today she felt it in her bones. 

Rhett was awake more than he was asleep now. 

It was good. It was great, really. She could rest, but she didn't. There was only a month left for them to find the cure and, although she swore she'd leave them be, she was more desperate for it now than ever before. *Rhett was a werewolf.* She couldn't bear the thought of it, yet it plagued her at night. Her Rhett, one of *Them*. Rhett, who kept the woodstove blazing just so Spider had a warm sleepin' spot in the winter time. Rhett, whose gentle voice could dispel even the worst of nightmares. Rhett, who danced with her barefoot in the kitchen. Had been attacked again, and this time *Turned*. 

She wanted them dead. 

But she couldn't. Not while they were working on the cure that might save him. Might save Shady. Might save those babies. Alma had no choice but to sit on the sidelines and *Watch*. Every single day was a fight not to show up again and harass the Hirano's for a progress report. She swore she wouldn't meddle. Swore she wouldn't do it again. Wouldn't get violent again and trust them to do what they promised they'd do, but Alma was gettin' real sick and tired of waiting. Especially with there only bein' a single month left. It took every fiber of her being not to grab up Akira Hirano that morning of the full moon and demand she give her the cure that instant. That she do her damn job and ***End this Hell.*** 
_ _

Which is why Alma lingered at the end of the path leading to the cottage like a wraith. Her clothes, fetched up by Shady, hung off her. She'd always had issues keepin' weight on but, in these last few weeks (and this past one especially), it truly was startin' to show. Her cheeks were gaunt and her hair was lifeless. It'd been plaited and coiled up high on top of her head, but she hadn't washed it in a few days. She couldn't bear to be parted from Rhett a moment longer than she had to. Just cause he could speak more now didn't mean she was comfortable. She entrusted him to the only person she knew was still on her side: Shady Rooster. 

*Don't let them slip him any pain killers. He don't want 'em. Watch everyone, includin' his aunts. They're tryin' to do what's best for him, but he just got off 'em.*

Now she had to be *Here* With *Wolves* Instead of holdin' his hand. Jade and Akira had said enough for her to understand the gist of what was about to happen. Either one of 'em could've been the one to tear Rhett apart. Either one of 'em deserved a bullet in their heads. Both, really. But Alma couldn't go in there like that. She couldn't. So, she waited til she cooled off. Passersby looked at her oddly as she stared down the Grant cottage with a look that'd set it on fire if she only struck a match, her nose crinkled in disgust and her lips turned into a snarl. 

*They'd hurt him, they'd hurt him, they'd hurt him!*

Alma'd said that if Aki hurt a single hair on his—

Breathe. 
_ _

They were turning themselves in. They had a month. She could do this. One might think that Alma's anger would make her move quick as a rattlesnake, but she'd come to befriend it now that it was all she had left. Once she started moving, each step forward became purposeful. Prideful. Deliberate. Stubborn. Always stubborn, always a Cooper. She knocked three times on the screen door and took two quick steps back, waiting for it to be answered. When Jade pulled the door open, Alma was greeted by the heavenly scent of fresh cooked food. She'd only been pickin' at offerin's brought over by Rhett's aunts and Shady and even Jade herself for the past week. Something good and *Warm* Already threatened to thaw some of the ice around Alma's heart, but she knew she wasn't here on a house visit. This was business. 

Alma returned Jade's smile with a polite kind of lip twitch that you might give a neighbor despite the way they always let their dog do their business in your yard. 

"Thank you, Jade," She replied with an odd sort of neutrality, having the sense to reign in her rage. She could do this. She stepped through the open door, taking care to knock the dirt off her boots before she crossed fully through the threshold. She may have been on a warpath, but she still had *Manners*. Her eyes scanned the cottage curiously and she found that it was quite homely. Hell, comfortable even. It was all too easy for her to imagine herself and the librarian curled up in those two chairs over there, giggling over a borrowed book while their glasses of lemonade sweated onto the table. Instead of lemonade, though, she found silver rings. Curious. 

"Do you need any help in the kitchen?" She offered, both out of a curiosity for the menu and a desire to *Do* Something. Alma despised sitting still. Waiting for dinner sounded like Hell. Working for dinner sounded like a good way to keep her mind off of what was to come.
Lauretta
Jade tried to swallow her nerves; Alma was her friend. Alma was hurt too, and Alma needed just as much grace as they did, though Jade would've never treated others that way. Everyone was human, and no one asked for this. By God, she never asked for this. "No, no, you just sit and look pretty," Jade mused. "All I've got to do is put it on some plates." She set the first one in front of Alma and left her plate on the counter. Not hungry at this very moment. Alma was a smart woman; she saw Jade hobbled due to a silver bullet. She could put two and two together. She knew Alma didn't beat around the bush, and out of respect for her, neither would Jade. "Alma, I want to thank you for coming here. I know it's rough to leave a loved one's side," She looked down. "I wish I could say who hurt him, but the truth is... I don't know. But I grieve for you and Rhett... It's a hard transition." She chewed her lower lip. "I see your pain, and I can sense it. Akira told me I have healing hands, but I don't know if the infection negates that."

"I want to turn myself in. I don't want to be a danger to anyone, and obviously, I am because I was shot and stabbed in the shoulder. I was a threat to someone, and that doesn't sit right with me." She looked at the silver rings. "I had Jackson put these on the table in case you wanted me to prove how far I am willing to go. Burn me with these; they are something I hold dear, something sentimental, because that is what I deserve for betraying the community. I want the same thing you do: safety for my loved ones. Do you think I want Jackson to have this infection? I don't. I wouldn't wish it on anyone." She knew this came as a shock, but her intention was not to blindside Alma. She was being transparent. She desperately needed Alma to believe her. "Please, Alma, I do not want to be your enemy. You were there when I got attacked. I didn't ask for this, but I would choose it again if it meant that you or anyone else went home untouched."

What was she asking of Alma? She was asking Alma to see her at this moment, to see Jade for who she was. She was the woman who sat with Alma, curled around a warm cup of coffee. She would take a bullet for Alma. She protected her pack, even before she was a wolf. She was showing her loyalty, demonstrating that she had no tricks up her sleeve and no sneak attack.