Alex

I pushed my wolf as hard as he could go, faster and faster until we reached the outskirts of my pack. It was incredibly quiet, the smell of blood and sweat lingering in the air. My heart dropped as I passed dead wolves, some of which I recognized as my own. My wolf howled in agony at the sight, but I needed to get to Leah. I felt her when she was hurt, her pain and fear, until it faded to nothing. I run to the packhouse, snarling at anyone who gets in my way. I haven't looked behind me to see if Knox is there since I started running, but my guess is the out of shape Alpha is lagging behind.

I make it to the packhouse stairs and shift, running inside and looking around frantically.

"Alpha!" I hear Jon call from the stairs that lead to the second floor.

"Where is she?! Where is Leah? Is she ok?" I pepper him with questions as I slip on some shorts. He gives me a grim look, his chest heaving with heavy breaths.

"She's alive." He says and anger broils in my gut.

Why can't he just fucking tell me?

"What the fuck does that mean?" I bellow, clenching my fists.

"She was thrown into a tree. The doctors... they say her spinal cord was injured. She's unconcious. They believe she will wake up, but they're not sure what shape she'll be in when she does." He says sadly and I have to massage my chest to ease the pain radiating from me.

"What does that mean?" I ask again.

"She may be paralyzed." He says and my knees give out as I crash to the floor.

No. How can this be happening? I just got her, I was finally happy, a reason to live, and now this happens? It's not fair. It's not right. She deserves so much better than this. She deserves to be happy.

"Where is she?" I ask when I regather myself.

"In your room. Penny is with her." He says, his voice void of emotion. I nod and stand, walking up the stairs.

The door to my room is open and as I peer inside I see something I had never hoped to see again, Leah unconcious. Unmoving.

Penny is sitting in a chair next to her, her shoulders shaking as she cries silently. I walk in and rest my hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me with red rimmed eyes, a sob escaping her as she stands and wraps her arms around my shoulders. I pull her in close, rubbing her back as she cries onto me.

"She's going to be ok. She has to be." Penny says firmly, wiping her eyes. I sigh and kneel next to the bed.

Leah looks fine. Perfect even. Not a hair out of place, no bruises or scrapes. I reach out to hold her hand, tucking her hair behind her ear. I lean down to kiss her forehead, sparks flicking over my skin wherever I touch her.

"Did the doctor say how long she would be like this?" I ask and Penny shakes her head.

"No. She didn't know for sure. Could be hours, could be days." She says and the air suddenly becomes stifling. I can't breathe.

"I need to run." I say sadly and Penny gives me a shocked expression.

"You just got here." She says and I nod.

"I know I just... I need to run. Clear my mind, check the borders. I'll be back, just stay with her please. I need to check on the pack, do what I can before I can give her all of my attention." Penny looks annoyed, but nods in agreement. I place another kiss to Leah's forehead and leave the room, stripping down and shifting.

My wolf is anxious and devasted. Frustrated and guilty. We should have been here. We should have been here to protect our pack and our mate. But we let that stupid Alpha talk us into helping him. I should have picked a different ally. One that I could trust more. I huff out an annoyed breath and begin to run the perimeter of the pack, checking and smelling for any additional intruders.

I run for over an hour and just as I reach the most southern part of the pack, I hear a loud growl. I stop in my tracks and pad quietly towards the sound. As I get closer, two figures appear in the fading light.

"You idiots! You had one job." I recognize the voice.

Alpha Knox.

"You didn't give us all of the information we needed! She wasn't where you said she would be." I don't recognize the other man.

"She was out fighting with the pack! It should have been even easier to dispose of the human!" Knox snarls and the hairs on my neck go up.

"You didn't tell us she was marked either. If she weren't she would be dead now." The other man says and I have to swallow my snarl at his words.

"I needed her to be marked. That was the only way to weaken Alex. Once he lost his second mate, he would have been weak enough for me to overtake him!" Knox yells.

"Well, she might still die." The other guy says and I take a step back to stop myself from launching at him.

"I gave you everything you needed to get the job done and now I'm going to have to kill the little bitch myself." Knox spits and the guy growls.

"You still need to pay up. I lost some of my best fighters to this shit show." The guy says and Knox scoffs.

"All you had to do was kill one fucking human and you couldn't even do that. Fuck you. I'm not paying you a dime." Knox says before shifting and running towards my pack.

I fight every urge to go after him and tear him limb from limb. Killing him now would put a target on my back. Every other pack thinks we're allies, I can't kill him without confronting him first. Challenging him. But there is no mistake. That man will die by my hand.

I run back to the packhouse, shifting and putting on some shorts as Knox makes his way towards me.

"Alex. How's your mate doing?" He asks and I feel my body vibrating with rage.

The fucking audacity.

"She'll be fine." I say firmly and he nods, eyeing my tense stance.

"I'd like to peek in on her, if that's alright. I'm quite fond of the little spitfire." He says with a disgusting grin.

"You won't be taking one fucking step anywhere near my mate." I seethe through gritted teeth. Knox eyes me curiously and I take a few steps towards him, forcing him back.

"I heard your little chat with that rogue in the woods. Your grand plan of taking out my mate to get to me and my pack. You disgusting piece of shit." Shock travels over Knox's face before he steels himself, cocky arrogance taking it's place.

"Good. I'm glad we can quit this little charade." He says, snarling and attempting to shift. I wrap my hand around his throat and squeeze, stopping him mid shift.

We have garnered the attention of some of the warriors, they circle us watching. Knox's beta sees my hand around his throat and steps forward, but I drop Knox and raise my voice.

"I am officially challenging Alpha Knox! A fight to the death!" I scream and his beta looks at me curiously.

"Under what grounds?" He asks and I narrow my eyes at Knox.

"Treason." I spit and hear a collective gasp among our packs. His beta looks confused again.

"What are you talking about?" He asks.

"Alpha Knox conspired with the rogues to take out my mate and, by extension, myself so he could take over my pack. He used his own packmates, putting them in harm's way to do it." I say and his beta looks shocked.

"Is this true?" He asks Knox. Knox just grunts and stands, wiping dirt off of his pants.

"Yes. But I did it for the well being of all wolves." He says and I scoff.

"How do you figure that?" I ask.

"You saved that human from Silas' pack. I knew then that you were too soft. Too... inclusive. Human's don't belong in our world. But then you took her as a choice mate. It's an abomination! A disgusting stain on wolves everywhere. It couldn't be tolerated. Think of the messsage it sends to others, bringing humans into our packs whenever someone sees fit. It weakens us. Our packs, our children." He says and I scoff.

"You and I both know that pups born of a wolf and human are no less a wolf than a pup born of two wolves. That is your prejudice speaking. You cannot force all of us to have the same opinions as you." I yell back at him.

"You're right. I can't. But I can force my pack to follow my rules. Which is why I plan on taking over every pack that sympathizes with human mates. Starting with yours." He says with an evil smirk. I smile right back and cross my arms over my chest.

"Over my dead body."