Alone and defenseless I was surprisingly calm as I stared down the giant wolf in front of me. I guess all the years of training weren't a complete waste, but without my daggers there wasn't much I could do, I'm pretty much done for. The wolf takes a step forward preparing to attack, but the roof tile he stepped on gives way causing him to lose balance. The force from when his two friends jumped earlier must have loosened all the tile around them. As the wolf struggles to keep his balance I realize this maybe my only chance. I quickly make my way over to the wolf and proceed to stomp my feet against the roof tiles. The vibrations from my stomps combined with the wolf's weight cause even more tiles to come loose, causing the wolf to fall and tumble towards the edge. But just like his friend from earlier this wolf is also smart enough to turn human and catch himself before he falls.

"Shit." I blurt out.

I hear a knock on the roof next to me, looking down I realize it's coming from underneath the roof. I immediately understand and look toward the wolf still in human form as he finally manages to get back up, I motion to him to come and get me. The cocky gesture seems to piss him off, I could easily tell what he was thinking, 'how dare a HUMAN mock me'.

As he charges toward me, I jump back and yell, "Now!"

As soon as do the roof underneath the man explodes, my father's wolf form reaching out with its massive jaw filled with fangs and bites down on the man's leg. The man screams out in pain as he's dragged down into the house. His screams quickly turn in to a gurgle and then I hear a sickening snap. I look down the hole and see my father standing over the mangled human body of the wolf, his head was now resting by his own feet.

"Are you guys okay, where's mom?" I ask.

Just then my mother's wolfen head comes into view, showing me she's okay.

"Alright, I'm coming down."

I carefully jump down into the hole and land in one if the still empty rooms on the third floor. My mother looks me over and makes a whining sound.

"Yeah, I'm okay but you have to help Keira."

Before I can explain two more enemy wolves crash through the wall, my parents immediately engage them, both parties locked in a deadly ballet. I do the only thing I can do and get the hell out of there, knowing full well I'd only be a hindrance if I stay. I quickly run to my old room and open the closet door looking for my spare daggers so as to not feel completely defenseless. After digging through a mountain of the girls' clothes I finally find my spare daggers. I hear the sounds of walls breaking, glass shattering, and wolves howling out in pain right outside the door.

I don't understand, why are they fighting inside the house? Wolves rely heavily on their mobility during a fight, there's no benefit in fighting in an enclosed space, mom and dad are too smart to limit themselves this way. If there fighting inside the house its because those wolves are making them fight inside the house, but why? It's just as much of a disadvantage to them as it is us, are they after something inside the house, oh fuck, are they after me!?

As the realization dawns on me, the wall next to me explodes as another wolf crashes through with its sights set on me. It lunges at me, but I wasn't so defenseless anymore I had my daggers, I quickly dodge out of the way and swipe at its face with one of my daggers as I do. The wolf sees the dagger and jumps back in surprise, but I still manage to cut it. The wound isn't deep enough to kill, but with the silver negating its healing, a nice steady stream of blood continues to run down its face. The wolf snarls at me in anger but as scared as I was, I still manage to stay calm and take up a fighting stance. This wolf was slightly bigger that the other wolves, it had to be either the alpha or the beta, either way its massive frame took up most of what was left of the room. This was both good and bad; good because it limited its mobility, but bad because there isn't any room for me to escape. Even worse the wolf was cautious now, I no longer had the element of surprise; dammit I don't know what to do.

A howl breaks out just outside getting both mine and the wolf's attention, we both look to see another wolf jump through the same whole in the wall and tackle the wolf in front me into the opposing wall.

"Daniella!" I cry out, both relieved and surprised to see her.

But as glad as I was to see her, we were both still in trouble. The room could barely contain both wolves, I had to back into the closet just so that I wouldn't be unintentionally smushed by Daniella. With no room to maneuver and the other wolf clearly bigger and stronger than her, Daniella was outmatched. Still that didn't seem to bother Daniella in the least, as she went at the wolf, swiping and biting at it wildly. She manages to push the wolf slightly back before it begins to overpower her, using its massive body to push her back. But it was so preoccupied with Daniella that it forgot about me. I ready one of my daggers, holding the blade between my thumb and forefinger, and throw the blade at the wolf with all my might. It stabs into the wolf's side causing it to howl out in pain, not wasting a second Daniella knocks the wolf through the hole in the wall, causing it to fall outside to the ground below. Because of the sudden disorientation and pain the wolf lands hard on its back. Daniella immediately jumps after the wolf, tearing into its now unprotected neck. After a moment to make sure the wolf was dead, Daniella looks up at me and I give her a thumbs up, she lets out a howl of victory. Lucas comes shooting out of the woods, his fur and teeth covered in blood, he immediately goes to check on Daniella to make sure she's okay. But she just brushes him off and barks at him to 'come on' and runs back into the woods, Lucas whines like a scolded puppy before running after his mate. My guess: that was her way of telling him that she could take care of herself. It was a bit funny to watch it play out between two giant wolves, but there wasn't any time for that the attack was still going on.

"Caden." My father calls out behind me.

I turn to see my father in human form followed by my mother still in wolf form.

"They were after me." I tell them.

My parents look at each other, unsurprised that I had figured it out.

"Not just you, you and Keira. The rest of the attacking wolves were just a distraction to get as many wolves away from here as possible. They must have figured that since you were human you would be left behind here at the house."

"I guess they didn't plan for Keira and you guys to still be here."

"No, they didn't. Regardless, even with the attackers here dead I think it best we regroup with the others in case more arrive."

My mother growls in the direction of the trees.

"I think it's too late for that." I tell my father.

At that same moment ten more wolves step out from the trees; damn, they must have waited for Daniella and Lucas to leave. Both my parents jump down to face them, with my father shifting mid jump, ten on two was not going to be easy, even with my father. Just then another wolf shoots out from the trees and in one swift motion crushes one of the wolves facing my parents. Even in her wolf form she still manages to take my breath away; her white fur and massive frame making her seem so, for lack of a better word, majestic.

The other nines wolves were clearly shaken by her sudden arrival, two of them split off to face my parents while the other seven attack Keira. Fear for my mate gripped me, but only for a moment, I was to busy being in complete awe of her to be scared for her. The speed in which she moved and danced around the attacking wolves had my jaw on the floor. It should be impossible for a wolf her size to be able to move so...beautifully. After dealing with their opponents, even my parents seemed to be in awe of her. Then everything changed as Keira began her attack, the once beautiful and elegant creature was now replaced by a ferocious beast. She tore through the seven wolves as if they were nothing with brutal efficiency. One wolf managed to get behind her and attacked, but Keira easily avoided the attack grabbing the back of the wolf's neck with her teeth as she dodged. In a feat of incredible strength Kiera proceeded to brutally slam the wolf's body over and over again against the ground, even though it was clearly dead after the first slam broke its neck. She then throws the body at another wolf the sheer force of which knocks it out cold, but that doesn't stop her from going over biting down and breaking its neck. The rest of the wolves were visibly shaken, in a last desperate attempt the remaining wolves charge at her, but it was useless she kills them all within seconds. We hear the all clear signal from the others and with the battle here done, it seems to really be over. Hearing that Keira lets out a howl of victory.

As I make my way down the stairs to meet with everyone, I look around to see the damage done to the house. Some of the walls were missing and quite a few pieces of furniture got trashed, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Reaching the the sliding glass door that led outside I see that the glass is completely shattered, judging by the direction of the glass it was broken by someone in the house running out. My money is on Lucas, either way Mom is going to be pissed 

Going outside I don't see my mother and its just my dad and Keira talking in their human forms.

"Oh come on, we both know it was Demetri!" I hear Keira snap at my father.

"I recognize these wolves, they're mercenaries, they could have just been as easily been hired by the White Moon pack." My father calmly tries to reason with her.

"The White Moon pack wouldn't need to; they have dozens of packs and wolves under their control that they could send instead hiring mercenaries. Face it your spy is either dead or captured." Keira argues.

"Or he just hasn't had the opportunity to check in." My father defends.

"Spy?" I say out loud, letting them both know I'm here.

Both look to me, but my father speaks first, "Yes, I have a spy in what's left of Demetri's pack."

"Why would you need a spy in Demetri's pack now of all times?" I question.

"I don't." My father responds.

My father's words confuse me, but then it hits me.

"Your hoping Demetri goes to the White Moon pack." I say in a loud whisper to myself.

No wonder no one's gone after Demetri in his weakened state, he's being used as a Trojan horse for my father's spy. And there's no way this would work without the council's help so they must be in on it too, a spy inside the White Moon pack could be huge!

"Dad, you're a genius."

"Actually, as much as I would like to take credit, it was your mate's idea." My father corrects.

I look at my mate in awe of her once again, beauty, brawns, and brains? Everything about her is ridiculous!

She gives me a cocky smile, before turning to address my father, "But as I was saying, the White Moon pack wouldn't hire mercenaries and we didn't hear anything about this attack from your spy, so he has to be compromised somehow. Meaning there's no reason in keeping Demetri alive anymore."

My father doesn't respond right away, he closes his eyes and thinks for a moment before opening them back up.

"Give my man twenty-four hours, if he hasn't checked in by then, then Demetri is all yours."

Keira thinks for moment before nodding her head, "Fine, as much as I want to kill him for going after my mate, I'll hold off."

"Speaking of which, are you two okay?" My father asks.

"There's few things we still need to work out, but we're getting there." I answer, giving Keira a small smile, which she returns. "Anyway, how is everyone are they okay?"

My father hesitates.

"Oh no." I whisper. "Who?"

My father answers with a solemn expression, "We lost Barry."

I get a small ache in my chest when I hear Barry's name. We've lost friends and pack members before, but this was different I had just saved him the day before, only for him to die now. Is this the pain James was referring to when he talked about being ready to lose?

"Damn." Was all I could say.

Sensing my sorrow Keira holds my hand, "I'm sorry."

Grateful for her touch, I let out a deep breath and steady myself, "He was a good wolf."

"Yes, he was." My father responds. "You two should probably head back home, its going to be a busy night for me and my pack."

It felt strange to leave my family with everything that just happened, but they're my family not my pack and from here on it was pack business.

"Give everyone my love." Tell my father.

He smiles and nods before heading out. Next to me Keira shifts into her wolf form and lowers herself for me to get on.

"We're leaving your car here?" I ask.

Keira huffs like its no big deal. Shrugging my shoulders, I climb onto her back and grab on as she shoots into the direction of home. Now I've ridden on other wolves before, but it felt weird riding on top of Keira, for some reason it felt naughty and I couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Thankfully with Keira's speed we were back home in minutes, something told me she could have gone even faster but just decided not to. As we reach the house there were a few pack members congregating outside talking and drinking, but they all stop and stare with open mouths when they see me riding on top of Keira.

Okay, now I felt even more embarrassed

Keira stops and lowers herself for me to get off, shifting back into her human form after I do. The other wolves just continue to stare in shock until Keira glares at them, causing them all to look down and away. We quickly make our way to our room, after a quick shower we both settle into our bed. A wave of exhaustion quickly washing over me making me realize how tired I was after everything that happened today I would love nothing more than to sleep. Keira on the other hand was a bit worked up, the adrenaline from her battle and victory over the mercenary pack still coursing through her. I could feel what she wanted so I slowly caress her cheek and give her a long slow kiss. But after a moment Kiera breaks the kiss and pushes me slightly away, which is something Keira never does.

"You're exhausted, sleep." Keira tells me.

"Yeah, but you're not."

Keira chuckles, "I'll live, beside as you so plainly made clear last night it's not always about what I want."

"Keira I..."

But Keira just puts a finger to my lips and shushes me, "Sleep."

Grateful for her consideration, we snuggle in close to each other.

"Besides, there's always morning sex." Keira states with a flippant tone.

Causing us both to burst out laughing as we both fall asleep.

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