"You do..." It's more realization than statement. All my life, I've been told that I can only trust myself. If it's down to a werewolf or my own life, I can't wait for friends or family or lovers. All I've got is my wits and a gun--or now a crossbow.

Mission before blood. Those words form the basic truth of all of the hunting clans, beyond individual mottos and crests. We are hunters, ultimately alone no matter how many omegas we use as our example of its fallibility.

But not here. Not with Scott and his own strange pack. Not with Allison, who's surrounding me an keeping me warm and making me aware, for the first time in my life, that it's almost Christmas.

"We've got each other."