A dull thud resonates around my head and deep into my ears like my head is a set of clanging cymbals. My brain feels like it has been shaken and stirred in a cocktail mixer. I try to regain my balance but each time I sit up, I feel immediately dizzy and nauseated and end up tumbling back to the ground once more.

And each and every time, Elroy lets out a feral laugh, mocking and taunting me as he pokes and kicks at me.

This bastard has some nerve. And a death wish.

"What's wrong, little wolf, something up with your head?" he taunts, kicking a pile of dirt straight into my face, coating my eyes and covering my mouth and nose in a burst of red dust.

Never have I wanted to kick someone's ass more.

I take my time trying to sit myself upright once more. This time, someone assists by fisting a handful of my hair and yanking me up, lifting me off the ground completely so that I hang like a dirty rag doll in their hands.

"Don't tease my daughter, wolf. It's not nice to play with food," Marina teases, sticking her nose close to my ear and sniffing deeply before extending her tongue and licking up my neck. Before I have time to protest my disgust, I blink hard at the pain of her suddenly plunging her exposed fangs into my shoulder so deep, it shocks me and elicits a loud high-pitched scream deep from within my soul. She doesn't drink from me, but she holds me there until I feel my life force begin to dull from the wound.

The sound and sight must shock even Elroy because as my wide-open eyes meet his, it sends an instant chill up his spine and causes an involuntary shiver that wracks his entire body as he watches me flail helplessly.

My mother swings me so that my body is lifted above her face as she lets her fangs retract and she inhales deeply. A strange look crosses her face before she abruptly drops me back to the ground so hard that I fall into a heap at her feet. She wipes her hand across her face, cleaning the smeared remnants of my blood off her lips.

"Well, this is interesting," Marina remarks, her puzzled gaze lingering on me as I make no effort to move from where she discarded me. "Luka will not be pleased about this." She bends down to look at me, her cold pointer finger sweeping my hair from my face so that I can clearly see the distaste on hers. She pokes her bony hand at my neck as I attempt to stem the bleeding, but for some reason my healing is slowed. I can feel my heart beating in time with the spill that pours from my neck.

Elroy gags behind us, earning a scowl from my mother as a surprised look etches across his worried face.

"About what?" I ask, interrupting their stare off and feeling brave in the face of the eery and dangerous situation I find myself in. My brain begins to strain against the lull of the blood loss, a small disturbance keeping me awake, the fuzzy feeling of someone desperately trying to pry into my mind.

Argent.

A wicked smile stretches across my mother's face as she stares at me. The features of her face contort into something more sinister as she bends down to my level, slowly and gracefully, like an evil ballerina performing a dark and twisted routine. It's as beautiful as it is terrifying.

"Luka had grand plans for you, my child, for you to bare his heir, a true hybrid child, though that will be a side issue now seeing as though you are already carrying someone else's ..." Marina trails off as her icy gaze shifts from my eyes to something above my head. Though her actions are lost in my peripheral as the meaning behind her words sink in.

"What?" I gasp, subconsciously shifting my hands to cover my belly. Though I can't actually feel anything there, I know she's telling the truth. Something primal shifted in me the second she spoke those words.

A protective force. A natural instinct.

I will kill this bitch and all who stand beside her before I let her take away this child.

My child.

My whole world shifts on its very own axis, realigning somehow. I have literally stopped existing in my life as it was, and I am now here breathing and fighting only for the new life inside of me.

The shocking news wakes me the hell up.

I need a plan fast. I need to get out of here. I need to move or else I will bleed out.

"What did you just say?" Elroy blurts out, looking from my mother and back to me, shock worn clearly on his traitorous face.

"She is expecting. It's a surprise yes, and not part of the plan, but it will be a welcome change. Not only is she a hybrid of sorts, but the child will also be, maybe even more so now due to my bite. It's quite exciting, really. Evolutionary." The smile that covers her face now is as calculating as it is ferocious.

Elroy scoffs at the notion of a hybrid baby, disgust written all over his face. "This wasn't part of the plan. I didn't sign up for this ... It's an abomination. I only wanted to exterminate the dogs that stole my pack, not create this ... this ... monster." He spits, standing up to his full height and staring down at Marina. Her face contorts to a feral snarl and a shriek sounds from her wide-open mouth as she steps toward him. He shifts almost immediately, and I know that this is my only chance. It's now or never. Literally.

I can feel my pulse weakening as I continue to lose blood, and I know that I won't make it if I don't act now.

As the two stand off to fight I look towards the spot where my father lies motionless on the ground. The male vampire from before is making the most of my mother's lack of attention and is now feasting on Jasper's neck.

The fear and a small sadness I feel is tucked away for another day as I crawl slowly away from him, keeping one hand on my neck as the two beings behind me circle each other.

I search frantically around me for some sort of weapon or object that I can use to kill her or at the very least harm her enough so that I'm able to get away.

Elroy's wolf sends a quick nod my way as he turns to attack her from behind, keeping her attention from me.

What was that? Is he helping me now?

I continue to fumble around as they fight just in front of me. Elroy launches himself onto her back, but she catches him with her talon-like fingers and digs them deep into his rib cage. He howls as she drags them down lower and deeper before she pulls them out lightning fast, licking each of her bloody fingers. He limps backwards, dripping blood profusely from the long, thin slices.

Just as I'm about to lose all hope, my hand finds a hard item in the tall grass. I grab at it desperately and pull it up to see that I am holding a thick plank, long and solid enough maybe to spear the bitch.

I bang it on the tree stump to my left a few times to create a point. Waving it low to get Elroy's attention, he nods and snaps at Marina, keeping her eyes darting to him as he goads her to move in his direction.

I stalk forwards, letting my neck wound seep openly as I use two hands to bring the plank up above my head before I swing it around and plunge it deep into Marina's back. She screams, turning to face me just as Elroy launches onto her back, pushing his full weight onto the plank and sending it straight through her ribs into her chest and our desired destination, her cold dead heart.

She falls forward next to me with an ear-piercing scream as I fall to my knees in relief just beyond her reach. I see Elroy's eyes rise above my head, wide open orbs, full of only one emotion. Fear.

I turn over just in time to catch the male vampire as he springs from the ground next to Jasper, landing cleanly on top of me, eyes red and wild as he tries desperately to get his mouth close to the open wound on my neck. His long bony fingers dig into my skin, opening me up along my arms and causing me to scream equally in fear and pain.

Elroy uses the last of his power to throw the vampire from my body, slamming his whole-body weight into us both as he grabs the male with his mouth, momentarily shocking the creature before he rips him apart. His huge wolf jaw shakes the male from side to side before he plants his front paws onto his lower half and rips his head clean off his torso. Each piece of the pale monster falls to the ground with a shower of red like confetti around us as Elroy shifts mid-air and falls down beside me.

We each lay there panting and in pain, well aware that we're both bleeding out. We can't heal, obviously, as vampiric bites have that effect on wolves. Both of us are spent. Both of us are unsure how this ends. Both of us are eternally glad that the other is there.

And both of us wish that it was different.

Before the world turns black, I use every ounce of energy I have left to open my mind to the man that I love.

I show him the scene that just unfolded and tell him that it's only Luka left now.

And then I show him the most beautiful part of all of this. And the most devastating. I show him that we are having a pup. I feel his immediate heart altering joy and then I feel his heart break into pieces as he realises what I already have.

I'm dying. We're dying.

As my eyes begin to feel too heavy to remain open, I imagine what our baby would have looked like. He would have beautiful dark hair and a face like an angel. He would be smart and funny and sweet, like his father.

I would have loved him endlessly.

Would have.

***

It all floods back into my mind with a rush of emotion. Instinctively, my hands fly to my belly, protecting the bump that isn't even there. Hoping that all the blood loss and injury hasn't somehow hurt my little precious stowaway.

I try hard to unscramble my brain. It's fuzzy and confusing, and it's painful trying to unravel all the events of the night. What is real and what is a nightmare? As my eyesight finally clears and I'm able to focus on my surroundings, I realise that all of it was real.

The bodies of my parents are still there, lying where they fell, but suddenly I'm aware they Elroy is no longer here.

A long trail of blood leading to the forest is instead in his place, and I find myself hoping that he has dragged himself away rather than the other option. No matter what, he saved me and for that, he should at least survive to discuss his other transgressions.

For now.

I roll forward and peel myself up onto my knees, one hand on the grass and the other feeling for my wound. For now, it seems to have started to heal, though it still smarts and is moist to the touch.

I lean forward and place my aching head in my dirty and blood encrusted hands. I will my mind to link to Argent. To Amalie. To anyone. But there is silence. It's deafening in its complete and utter emptiness. It's astounding how much I miss the intrusion in my head. The comfort I get from knowing they are there, it's gone.

I don't think I have ever been so scared.

Why can't I hear them? Can they not hear me?

An unsettling feeling makes its way into my gut.

Luka.

I haven't seen him, yet I know deep to my core that he's here. It's as if now, in place of where I could hear the wolves, I can feel him. What that means does not escape me, and I immediately heave the empty contents of my stomach onto the ground.

The discomfort is a mild distraction from the absolute agony and despair I feel at the loss of my pack in my mind.

I slowly pull myself up from the grass and start to head back through the brisk forest and shrubbery, hoping that this is the way I'd come from what seems like hours ago. I can't even tell what time it is or if it's even the same night I fell asleep.

Time has either flown by or stood still. I'm not sure what's worse at this point.

I move slowly and unsteadily, stumbling on every uneven rock and twig I come across. Each time I fall, I brace my belly with my hands and pray I don't fall again.

I don't think I can continue much longer.

I move in amongst the trees, trying to be stealthy, but I know I'm failing miserably. My feet feel as heavy as the trunks of the trees surrounding me.

After what feels like hours, I get a glimpse of the outskirts of the pack lands ahead. My heart begins to leap in anticipation and anxiety.

Is anyone there? Are they looking for me? Are they alive?

I come across the school building first, empty and trashed. I move past, not lingering because I know I can't have much in reserve now. I push myself forward, trying to remain in the shadows in case any of the traitor wolves or vampires happen to come upon me. There is no way I could fight back in this condition. My best bet is to remain hidden for as long as I can.

I'm trying not to think on the scary fact that I'm not healing properly. My body doesn't seem to be mending. And when I pause momentarily to try to call to my wolf once more, thinking that perhaps I could shift and move faster in wolf form, perhaps be safer in my shifter body, I realise I can't hear her. I haven't heard or felt her since I was bitten.

I don't know what this means, but I do know that it can't be good. It's not the first time she was suppressed. But why does it feel like it's the last?

A loud shot clears my thoughts and I pause, pressing myself flat against the wall of the hospital building. I peer around the side to try to see where the noise came from and though I cannot see who was wielding a weapon, I can see a group of pack members surrounding something or someone on the ground.

I tip my nose to the sky, trying to scent one of my family members, but the group is too close together and the scents are all jumbled. I can't make them out.

My heart breaks but at least I know there are some pack members alive. I head for them, still sticking to the shadows until I reach the pack house and the group still hovering outside its entrance.

As I reach the back of the group, one young girl turns to face me and lets out a small scream before yanking on the hand of the adult woman next to her.

I realise quickly that I must look like a monster, covered in blood and dirt, limping and almost holding to the walls for support.

The woman tips her nose up and sniffs, a frown coming across her face before a small expression of realisation. Her eyes go wide as she discovers who I am and as she does, I lose my last ounce of strength and tumble from the safety of the wall to the ground as I plunge myself out into the open.

As I lay in a heap, I watch as the woman yells out to someone in the centre of the circle. Slowly, a mumble starts to stir the shape apart, and I am able to see into the centre.

The most beautiful sight awaits me as I begin to drift into oblivion once more. Argent standing tall, battered, and visibly weary, but alive. James is at his side and Deacon at the other. All three stand over a slumped form on the ground, a tall spear extending from its chest, its head sitting severed next to the body. They look fierce and brave and strong.

But they all look worried.

I realise then that they did it. They finished it.

Luka is the body in the middle of the group. He is no more. He can't hurt us anymore.

It's done. It's over.

The calm reaches me now, and I relent. I give in to the soothing promise of no more pain. The last thing I see before the darkness washes over me in its finality is Argent's face as he takes in the sight of me on the ground. I see James register what Argent is showing him as they both race towards me, the girls at their sides.

The silence comes as promised then. With Relief. Love. Peace.

My family is all okay.

No matter what happens next, it'll be okay.

Because they are.