I kept sprinting into the forrest, not risking slowing down. I planned to keep running South, and just stay in between pack borders.

After I had been running for about an hour, I stopped upon hearing twigs snap further ahead of me. The only problem with my plan to stay running on unclaimed land was that it meant dealing with rogues.

I summoned a sword, and continued trekking through the forrest, waiting for whoever was there to show themselves.

A wolf jumped out at me from the trees. It successfully bit my arm, and then clenched its jaws around my forearm, refusing to release its grip. Since the wolf was biting the arm that I was wielding the sword in, I summoned a knife in my other hand and jabbed it in its eye.

The wolf howled loudly in pain, releasing its jaws from my arm. Great, he just let every rogue in a ten mile radius know where we were.

I cut off the wolf's head with the sword I first summoned, disregarding the pain my arm was currently in.

I heard another growl from behind me, and turned around to see yet another rogue wolf. They no doubt had heard the howl from the other rogue, and wanted to see the action.

Without hesitating, I swung the sword at the wolf. The wolf narrowly dodged the sword by backing up quickly, and I was surprised when rather than staying to fight, it turned around with a whimper and began sprinting in the other direction.

Not wanting to let the rogue live in case if it decided to come back, I summoned a bow and arrow. Quickly taking aim before it could escape my line of sight, I released the arrow, hitting it right in the back of the head.

"Nice shot," A voice from behind me said. I whipped around, already knowing the source of the words.

Alpha Cain stood a few yards away from me, smirking as if he already won. I raised the bow again, and loaded another arrow.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you're trying to hurt me, mate." He said, emphasizing the last word, clearly trying to antagonize me.

I didn't respond, and didn't lower the bow either, taking aim at his neck.

I heard the trees rustling behind him, and shot an arrow into the source of the movement, and reloaded another arrow into the bow as soon as the first one was released.

"Ouch! What the fuck?" Carter stumbled out of the trees, limping while ripping the arrow out of his thigh.

Seeing me holding the bow, he looked shocked and confused. "Luna, you said you could only summon knives!"

Weirdly enough, I almost felt guilty. Not because of the arrow that went into his leg, but because of how betrayed he looked.

"Yes, well, you should know by now not to trust her," Alpha Cain said, glaring at me. "She takes advantage of people who trust her."

I shot an arrow at him, which he caught in midair. He snapped it in half, and flashed his canines at me. "I do wish you would stop trying to kill me, Ares. It was entertaining at first, but now I'm sick of this. Why don't you put down the bow and arrows and we can go get Carter some medical attention?"

I shot another arrow at him. Which again, he caught with a growl. "A simple no would have sufficed."

I continued launching arrows at him, all of which he easily avoided, and he charged at me.

I put down the bow and summoned two knives. I raised both of them in front of me, figuring that my best odds were wielding two knives and slicing him up as much as I could, and then making a break for it.

He came at me head first, and I sidestepped him at the last second. I kicked him in the back after he missed me, and then swiped the knife at his back. The knife cut his back, and his shirt ripped open and soon was coated in blood.

"I'm not going to go easy on you anymore, pup. It's time someone taught you your place." He growled and began to stood up.

He charged at me again, this time swinging his fist before I could dodge him. He gave me a mean right hook, right in my good eye. Before it could start swelling, I slashed both knives at him, one of them slicing the palm of his hand, and the other one leaving a nasty gash on his shoulder.

He roared, and I leapt backwards. I threw both knives at him, and then summoned two more in there place before they even made contact with him.

He dodged both of them, and when he looked me in the eyes, my heart nearly stopped.

Both of his eyeballs were pitch black, signaling that his wolf had taken over. Well, fuck.

I tried throwing the knives at him again, but it was no use. He was too powerful when his wolf was in control, and his wolf would not consider taking it easy on me.

He caught the handles and to my shock, when they connected with his palms, the daggers caught on fire.

He threw the burning knives back at me, which I barely was able to avoid.

Too surprised to conjure more weapons, all I did was stare in awe as he moved his hands around in harsh movements. As his hands moved, he summoned more fire, until he held two balls of fire in both palms.

He threw both of them at me, and I was too in shock to move out of the way. All I could do was hold my hands out in front of me.

Unsurprisingly, that tactic was extremely ineffective, and both of my hands were severely burnt.

Fire was one of the most painful ways to get injured, and one of the ways I had the least amount of experience with. I was blinded with the unfamiliar pain, and fell to my knees, examining my hands.

For the first time in many years, I was in so much pain, tears were brought to my eyes.

"Submit, pup. You've already lost." Alpha Cain demanded, taking long strides towards me. His eyes still were blackened, and I could tell from his tone that his wolf was the one talking to me.

I growled, refusing to submit. I tried to summon more knives, but when I conjured the knife, my hands were too severely burnt to grab the blades. I cried out from the pain of trying to to hold something after being hit with the full force of the fire.

Looking at my hands, they were a bright red, and some parts were so burnt they were blackened. Even with my werewolf healing, I could tell this injury would take awhile to recover from.

I was surprised by Alpha Cain's blatant use of deadly force. He may have hit me a couple of times prior, but they barely hurt, and I knew they were more of a warning than him actually trying to injure me.

This, however, was a clear attempt to cause me pain. Also, he probably aimed for my hands so it would be harder for me to fight back.

Still staring at my hands in shock, I barely noticed that Alpha Cain had walked over to where I was kneeling, and picked me up bridal-style, in the way I had grown accustomed to.

I looked in his eyes, and I was surprised to see that they were still black. I thought his wolf would have been satiated after causing such a serious injury to me.

"If you ever run again, I can promise you that the next punishment will be much worse." He growled lowly, sniffing my hair. I didn't dare move. I was scared to provoke his wolf, not wanting him to be antagonized into marking me. He continued sniffing my hair, and burrowed his face into my neck.

After a few minutes of breathing shallowly, hoping not to anger his wolf, he lifted his head up and I saw that his eyes were back to normal.

Alpha Cain didn't say anything to me, he just coldly stared back into my eyes. I shifted my gaze first, still unsure of what to do around him.

"Hey guys, I don't mean to bother you, but could we start heading back? Rose is going to kill me if I'm late for dinner, and I JUST GOT SHOT WITH AN ARROW." Carter requested pointing to his bloody leg.

I could feel Alpha Cain nod, and he continued to cradle me as we walked in the direction of his territory.

Carter walked a few yards ahead of us, and none of us said anything for the first thirty minutes.

"I want to say I'm sorry for using my Gift to harm you," Alpha Cain began, breaking the silence. "But I'm not. The way you have been acting is unacceptable. Violent actions have violent consequences, and you always choose to go the violent route. Just accept that we are fated for each other so we can stop hurting each other."

I blankly stared at him, not wanting to give him a reaction. I didn't expect an apology from him, and I didn't want one either. I used my Gift against him, and he did the same to me. And I certainly wasn't about to apologize for slashing him with the knives anytime soon.

I hoped he would just walk back to the pack house in silence, but he spoke again a few moments later.

"You of all people should see how violence can be taken too far." I stared at him in question.

My struggles were futile as he lowered my mask and took off my hood.

He traced a finger over my scarred eyelid, and then over the various random scars that littered my face. Finally, he cupped the side of my head that had half of my ear cut off.

"You have been fighting your whole life. Stop fighting, and let me be the one who fights in your defense. I wouldn't ever let anything harm you." Alpha Cain stopped holding the side of my head, and lifted one of my hands up to his face. He began kissing the burnt flesh, and unlike the knife I tried to summon, it didn't hurt when his lips contacted the skin.

After the initial shock, I ripped my hand away, and pulled up my mask and hood. He almost had me convinced for a minute.

I closed my eyes and felt asleep to the comforting feeling of being rocked as he walked through the woods.