Holly and I Only!!!

She nodded, not letting go of his hand. "Alright."

Ryder chuckled. "You have to let go of my hand, Lilli," he told her gently. "I'll be back, I promise."

"I'm sorry." she chuckled, slowly letting go. She didn't want him to leave. She had a really bad feeling about tonight.

He squeezed her hand before she completely let go. "I'll be fine," he promised and left.

Lilli nodded, watching him leave. "I'm not so sure..." she mumbled.

Ryder gathered his weapons and equipped himself before he left. He checked in with Gideon every ten minutes. Early in the morning as he was headed home, he was ambushed, Rogues attacking him from every direction. Ryder cursed, calling in backup from Gideon as he fought to keep the rogues off of him.

Baily got the call from Damon, saying that Ryder was hurt. She got Lilli quickly, going down the stairs right as Damon came in. "Is he alright?" Baily asked, worried for her son.

"He's pretty banged up. Lost a lot of blood," Damon frowned, half-dragging his limp son to the infirmary. "I can't tell if he's in extreme pain or he's turning..." he sighed as he laid him down in the hospital bed.

Baily moved to her sons side, looking at Lilli who was standing in the doorway. She looked back at Damon. "He needs blood and mine doesn't sustain him anymore." she told her mate.

"Lilli, the choice is up to you," Damon told her. "You will be his mate, but you will save his life by giving him blood. He will be able to sense what you're feeling, always. No matter how far you are apart."

Lilli looked at each of them one at a time then nodded, slowly stepping forward. "What do I have to do?"

"He needs blood. If you are one hundred percent sure about this, I will hook an IV into your arm that leads to his mouth to feed him," Damon said, looking at her intently. She had to be sure about this, there was no reversing anything.

She nodded. "i'm sure."

Damon nodded and acted quickly, grabbing a small tube and IV needle. He connected the two and carefully placed the open end of the tube in his son's mouth and the needle into Lilli's arm in her vein. "Just look away if you get queezy," he murmured to her, watching the blood flow through the tube and into Ryder's mouth. Almost immediately, Ryder croaked a grown and began drinking the liquid.

Lilli did get slightly queezy but couldn't look away. She knew something bad was going to happen tonight, she just wished that she was strong enough to actually make him stay. Then this wouldn't have happened.

Damon watched his son closely, knowing full well what could happen if he had too much blood. Once he knew he had enough, he removed the tube from her arm and told her to press down on where the needle had been with a cotton ball. Once the tube was drained, Damon threw it out along with the needle.

Ryder growled, sitting up. His fangs had yet to receed and his eyes were still glowing amber in his hunger. All he could think about was blood - he didn't know where he was or anyone. They looked familiar, which made him pause before sniffing the air and growling, looking down at the cotton ball that was covering the fresh smell of blood. He growled and leaped at her.

"Ryder," Damon yelled and pulled at his son. "Baily, get Niko!!" Damon growled, dragging his son away from her and pinning him to the ground. "Ryder, snap out of it!"

Ryder struggled, growling. He'd gotten a bite of her arm. Not enough to permanently do damage, but there was plenty of blood.

Lilli screamed in frear but mostly in pain. She was on the floor, her arm bleeding and Ryder trying to snap at her. She covered her arm best she knew how but the dark chrimson blood still flowed from her arm.

Baily nodded, running as fast as she could but it seemed that Niko was already on his way. To check on Ryder or becuase he senced something was wrong, she didn't know and honestly didn't care. "Ryder's changing." was all she had to say for Niko to know what was going on.

"Damnit! Take care of Lilli," he told her and ran to the infirmary to help Damon with his son. Damon was still struggling with Ryder under him. Together, Damon and Niko managed to get Ryder up off the ground and dragged him toward the containment room. They chained him up behind the glass wall and closed the door when they left so they couldn't hear his growls and howls of hunger and pain.

"No more going on missions alone," Niko murmured. Damon nodded. "Most definitely..." he said, watching his son struggle against the unbreakable chains sadly.

Baily took care of Lilli before going back to the containment room with Damon. "Is he going to be alright?" she asked softly from behind her mate.

"We'll do the best we can, love," Damon wrapped his arms around his beloved. "Our son is strong. He'll come back."

"I don't know if Lilli will though. When he comes out of this he's going to be upset that he scared her. Probably for long time." she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Hopefully Lilli will understand that Ryder won't be himself for a few months... This is all my fault, I should have gone with him...."

"We thought we got rid of them all. All the minions or whatever." she mumbled. "It's not your fault."

"I'll continue to blame myself until Ryder is back, love," he kissed her forehead.

"But what if he doesn't come back?" she asked. "He's not like you were.... He's a whole lot worse..."