•Mara's POV•

Do you know that feeling when you're young, and riding your bike for the first time without any assistance.

You're Mum and Dad are behind you cheering you on.

And you just feel like the whole world stops.

It's just you and your bike, you're in control, you're flying.

The whole world stops because it's just one of those moments that you know, 'This is the best day of my life'.

Then there's the fall.

You're better on the bike now, it's about your third ride. You're parents are inside, and you're just riding around the backyard. Just you and your bike.

You speed up, wanting more of the thrill. Then the bike wobbles, you lose your balance.

And you just feel like the whole world stops.

That whole two seconds feels like two hours, your senses alert, your eyes wide.

You put your hands out in front of you, the time moving like it's in slow motion, and you make contact with the ground.

Your hands scraped, knees red and blochy, and the bike is all tangled in your legs.

And what do you do?

You cry.

Because it's the trigger for your mum and dad to come out, they know that you're hurt.

Then time just seems to come back to normal.

And finally the pain kicks in.

What was just the best day of your life, just turned into the worst.

This is what it feels like right now, right at this moment.

I turn my tiger head to the side and see him, James.

Before I can react I see Ryder running at him, as soon as his paws lift from the ground, the whole world goes in slow motion.

I just watch, too shocked to move, James moves his head to see Ryder, a moment of horror crossing his face. Then, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gun.

And points it right at me.

In the two seconds that it happened, it felt like forever.

We looked into each others eyes, just watching each other.

As Ryder's paw makes contact with his shoulder, a loud bang sounds and a force pushes me backwards.

For a moment, I just stand there, no feeling at all running through my body.

I start walking and feel a pain from my stomach, that's when a tear runs down my furry cheek.

Knowing it will be better for Snow, I shift back to my human form.

"Mara, I thought-"

I hear Ryder behind me, but the pain takes over, it's too much.

I clutch my stomach, feeling it's a bit wet, and my knees buckle under me and I fall onto them.

"Crap." I mutter.

•Ryan's POV•

I laugh as Torah tells me some stories from her childhood.

"So, what about you?" She asks.

"What about me?" I ask back.

"What's your past?" She says.

I look away, "Just full of lies."

She grabs my hand, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I look back to her, to her beautiful face, "I'm just so happy I found you, otherwise I'd feel like I'd have no one."

"That would never happen." She says.

I look around the Pack House, "Do you like it here?"

She nods, "Yes, I do. The people are so nice, especially Mara, and it's a very tight Pack."

I give her a small smile, "I know that your supposed to come into my Pack, but I like it here too."

She smiles, "You want to join this Pack? But what about your other one? Aren't you the Beta?"

I shrug, "I hardly did anything anyways, I'm sure it would be fine."

She jumps up, "Lets go and find Ryder now!"

I laugh and let her pull me up, just as we start going to the door, the doorbell happens to ring.

Torah looks to me and I shrug, going to the door.

When I open it, I see am unfamiliar man.

"Can I help you?" I ask, keeping Torah protectively behind me.

"Ryan?" He asks.

I nod slowly, "Who are you?"

"I was hoping I would find you here, your old Pack told me you were visiting here." He replies.

"Who are you?" I repeat.

"My name is George, I'm your biological father." He says.

I step back, nearly running over Torah. She squeezes my hand and steps forward, "Hi I'm Torah, Ryan's mate."

He shakes her hand, "Pleasure to meet you."

"Come in, I think we have some things to talk about." She says.

He nods and then looks to me for approvement.

I nod and step back, then walk into the kitchen.

Torah tells him to sit at the kitchen bench and offers him a drink, which he declines.

"Why are you here?" I ask.

He looks at me, "I'm sorry."

"You didn't answer my question." I say, ignoring his apology.

He sighs, "I needed to make things right, I've already stuffed everything else up."

"Like leaving my mother?" I ask.

"You don't understand." He says.

"Tell me then." I reply.

"I loved someone else." He says.

"So, you just forgot about us then?" I raise my voice.

He puts his hands out in front of him, "Your mother had James, I had Daniella, she just had a child with me. It just worked."

"You just had another child? So you kept that one then?" I ask, my jaw clenched.

He shakes his head, "We put her up for adoption."

"So you just got rid of both of your children?" I ask.

"You don't get it, I had too, it was for both of your safety." He replies.

"So somewhere out there, I have a half-sister?" I ask.

He nods, "Yes, closer than you think."

"Did Mum know?" I ask.

"About my daughter?" He asks.

I nod.

"Yes, as did my wife know about you." He replies.

"And when Mum died? You just left me with him." I say.

"That was an accident." He replies calmly.

"An accident? Who was the tiger that killed her then?" I yell.

Torah puts a hand on my back, calming me down a little.

George closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, "I promised myself when I came in here that I would tell you everything."

"So, tell me then." I urge.

He opens his eyes, "My wife, Daniella killed your mother."

I step back, "But, if Daniella was a tiger, and you just said that you had another child, and that she was adopted." I think out loud.

George just stares at me.

"That means." I continue.

"Mara is your half-sister." He finishes for me.

I stand up, "I need to talk to her and find Ryder."

I start walking towards the door but Torah stops me, "Wait."

Her eyes look a little out of focus so I know that someone is talking through mind-link.

"We have a problem." She says.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"The Alpha and Luna are, missing." She says.

"Missing?" I gape.

"Mara's missing?" George asks as he comes towards us.

"Who made the call?" I ask Torah.

"Trent." She replies.

"Tell him and Josh to meet me at her house, I need to talk to them." I reply.

She nods and then turns to George, "Coming?"

He nods too and we walk out together.

•Josh's POV•

"Josh." Trent says as he comes up to me.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Ryan wants to meet us at Mara's house, apparently he has something to talk to us about." He says.

"Well lets hurry it along, we're wasting time." I reply.

He nods and we jump onto our bikes, zooming down the street in no time.

When we get there, I see Torah and Ryan standing in the driveway, next to them is a man that seems familiar.

"Thanks for meeting me." Ryan says as Trent and I approach.

I nod, "That's fine, we need to make this quick though."

"I know, I'll try my best."

After that he explains everything to me, in about a minute as well.

"So Mara is your half-sister?" Trent asks.

He nods, "Yeah."

"We need to find her." George speaks up.

"You think I don't know that?" I ask back.

"We're wasting time, lets just go." Torah says and runs into the forest.

We all look at each other and then run too, following her and shifting as well.

"They're going to be okay right?" Torah asks me.

"This is Ryder and Mara we're talking about, they're the strongest people I know." I reply.

"True." She replies.

We continue running, our senses alert for any sign of anything.

I suddenly stop as I smell something off.

"What's wrong?" Trent asks.

"Do you smell that?" I ask.

Everyone smells around.

"Is that?" Torah wonders.

"Blood." I confirm.

•Ryder's POV•

"Crap." She mutters.

"Mara!" I rush to her, supporting her side so she can lean against me.

"This wasn't part of the plan, was it?" She asks, letting out a little laugh.

"Just breathe, I need to put pressure on it." I say and grab a shirt from a near-by tree, not worrying to put on clothes myself.

I wipe Mara's forehead as she starts to sweat, her face turning pale.

Her blood starts soaking the shirt and I have no choice but to just keep it pressed firmly against her injury.

I can't carry her back to the house, I'll have to take pressure of the wound.

For some reason my mind-link isn't working, and I let a tear fall from my eye.

"You're going to be okay, you're going to be okay." I whisper to her.

She reaches up and cups my face, looking into my eyes as hers grow heavy.

"Promise me you won't lose yourself." She whispers.

I shake my head, "You're not dying on me."

"Please Ryder, promise me." She says.

I look at her and wipe the tear that fell out of her eye, "I promise."

Suddenly I hear footsteps and I look up to see wolves charging towards me, when I realise who they are, I relax.

They all shift and quickly grab clothes, pulling them on as they approach me.

"What happened?" Ryan asks as he goes to Mara's other side.

"Get away from her." I sneer.

He looks up at me, "I'm her brother."

I frown but let it go for now, I need to focus on Mara.

Josh hands me some shorts and I quickly put them on while Ryan holds the pressure, then I take it back.

Josh looks to James's dead body and back to me, "He did it?"

I nod and continue looking at Mara, checking her weakening pulse every couple of seconds.

"What do we do?" Torah asks, tears streaming down her face.

"Ryan?" Mara whispers.

"Yes, I'm right here." He replies.

"You're my brother?" She asks.

He nods, "That's right, I'll always be here."

I look around frantically, "How do we do this?" I ask.

"I've already mind-linked the pack doctor, he's on his way and said to stay put." Trent replies.

I look at the other man here and recognise him as Mara's father, I nod my head at him, which he replies to with a nod too.

He comes forward and kneels near her.

"George?" Mara mumbles.

"Yes, it's me." He replies.

Mara's pulse skips a beat and she intakes a sharp breath.

"Breathe Mara, breathe." I soothe her.

"It's getting," She gasps a little, "Harder."

"Just keep breathing, keep a grip on my hand." I say.

"Don't close your eyes." Ryan adds.

"Where is he?" I ask Trent.

"He's coming Ryder." Trent replies sternly.

Mara looks back to me, "Ryder, I'm falling."

Suddenly my dream comes rushing back and I shake my head, "No you're not, you're right here, right with us."

"I'm falling." She says.

"You're fine, everything's okay." I reply.

"I'm falling Ryder, I'm flying." She continues.

"Hold onto my hand Mara, hold onto my hand. Don't leave me." I say.

"I'm going Ryder, I'm falling." She says.

"You're not going anywhere!" I demand.

But then her eyes go cold and her hand falls limp in mine.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Hi!

Okay, I know I do this quite often but thanks everyone for 45,000+ reads! This is seriously surreal.

By the way, the book is almost finished, but I have a few more chapters to go. Thanks for all the support and the lovely comments I get, you guys are my inspriation!

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