The Moon is still up in the sky when I wake up. We are definitely not by the house, but I can see we moved a little closer from the previous cabins I was hoping to reach.

Had a good sleep, Sleeping Beauty?

Selene asks in my head.

How long have I been out?

I ask her, hoping it was not too much. I can feel dry blood on my face, but I must have already healed, as it is not painful anymore.

When I turn to watch who is next to me, I see Kate, unconscious on the ground.

You bought us three hours. Or he lost three hours. I don't know exactly how we should consider it. Look up in the tree.

As I try to glance at the tree as discreetly as possible, I see two eyes I recognize. Eva is here. As I focus, I can catch Joey's discreet presence.

Like I did on the hill last time, I order them not to move. Eva gently nods and waits, hidden in her tree.

"You're up, Princess. I'm happy to see you are better already. I was scared I had been a little too hard on you." His smile makes me furious. He leans his back on a trunk in front of me, his arms crossed against his chest. He looks so calm and smiling.

"What do you want, Nick?" I ask, trying to sound as nice as possible, even if I can't hide all the bitterness I feel right now.

"I want my Luna. You are supposed to be MY Luna, Liv. Not this lycan's Luna. He doesn't deserve you." His eyes are so dark, filled with rage.

"Moon Goddess chose. I have nothing to do with it. You know we must respect the Moon Goddess' choices. Do you want to go against fate?" Maybe he can be reminded of our rules. The werewolves' rules.

"You know Prince Alexander owes the right to kill you for kidnapping me, right? I'm not that worthy."

"Oh yes, you are. Even if I mark you, he'll never kill you. Despite what this stupid Amber thinks, he loves you. Even if she must have marked him by now, he won't kill you," Nick screams at me, delusion glimmering in his eyes.

"He could kill me," I whisper.

He gets closer to me and curls one strand of my hair with his index finger while his thumb caresses my cheek.

"He won't, trust me. Even if he forgets about you eventually, he will wish to have his little heir on the throne, as the probability he gets one with Amber is low," he says with a grin.

I shiver at the idea he knows about my babies.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you. He promised me I could keep you in the end. He only needs you to have a little gray wolf, and then I can have all of you for me." He kisses my cheek.

"Who promised you that?" I ask him.

"None of your business. You'll have the gray wolf heir he wants, and then you'll have my pups. Our master told me you just needed twins to have a gray wolf. One will go to Prince Alexander, one to our master. He is almost sure you're already pregnant as lycans get their mate quickly pregnant. Interesting fact, by the way." He keeps talking as all of this conversation was an absolutely delicious and nice chatting.

"Then we'll be done with this bullshit and have our family like it should have always been." He licks my neck, precisely on the spot where I should wear Alec's mark.

"You're delicious, sweetheart," he says with a grin.

He lays me down on the floor and goes above me. He moves my hair and bends over. His fangs are getting longer against the thin skin of my neck.

"Please, don't do that. You're going to kill me, Nick. You know Moon-Goddess can refuse a chosen mate when one of the wolves has already met his fated one," I growl at him, trying to move my hands to get rid of the silver cuffs.

"Stand still. You. Are. Mine." I howl as one of his fangs starts to pierce my skin. That's not pain. That's pure hatred.

Another howl answers to mine, and I understand reinforcements are here.

As I hear the angry howls of my mate, I throw my head against Nick's face. He moves back, one hand holding his face, blood running down as the cracking sound I heard was probably his nose.

I get up and break the silver cuffs, helped by Selene's strength.

Two wolves appear by Nick's sides. Joey and Eva don't need more to get out of their hiding places.

"Are you okay, Olivia?" Eva asks me, her eyes not quitting our opponents.

"I'm okay, Eva. Joey, take Kate and bring her back to the Oasis. It must be secured by now," I command him.

"Princess, I think I should stay with you. Prince Alexander will kill me if anything happens to you, and I must admit that I'm pretty happy being alive," Joey negotiates.

"If Kate dies, I will be the one killing you, Joey. Run away from here with my best friend." One look at him and the Alpha gray wolf's order is compelled to him, as he bows and takes Kate away.

One of the wolves tries to jump on him, but I bounce to stop him from tackling Joey. I grab him with my hand, realizing how weak he is compared to Selene.

The dark brown creature whines.

"If you want to live, I advise you to gently shift back and submit," Selene and I order simultaneously.

The man shifts back as soon as we finish speaking.

"Go to the Oasis and surrender. Inform the soldiers there that I will confirm that you changed your mind before doing something stupid," I say.

The man bows and runs away quickly.

"He was just a coward!" Nick screams at me.

"He is clever, and you can save your life if you take your chance, Nick. I don't want to kill you. Stop your madness here and tell your men to surrender," I answer him.

"I will stop when you're mine," he screams at me before he jumps on me. Eva moves to stop him, but the other wolf tackles her. She quickly shifts to protect herself and bites the other wolf to keep him at a distance. Nevertheless, he attacks her again as soon as she gets rid of him.

Before I can protect myself, I feel a sharp pain in my shoulder.

Nick tries to make me fall, but I push him back, scratching his face with my claws as Selene decides to play. Then I move my hand to my shoulder and take out the dagger Nick used to stab me.

"Silver? Really, Nick?" I ask him.

"Do you know how dangerous it can be for a werewolf?" I move slowly toward him to close the distance between us. Nick walks back, eventually hitting the tree behind him. As I am a few inches from him, Selene growls, and reading the fear on Nick's face, I know my eyes are glowing grey.

"Silver should stop your wolf," he stutters at me.

"Yeah, it should. But it does not," I answer calmly as the only chuckles escaping my mouth are Selene's. He takes a little vial in his pocket, opens it, and throws the dust in my face.

"Wolfbane is a nice try, too," I answer with a smirk.

"There's a reason my pack does not need to fight, Nick. We earned our peace centuries ago. We learned to be so strong that no other pack dares to come to our land. The last generations may not know why, but your ancestors did. I won't say that silver and wolfbane are agreeable, but at least they do not stop our wolves from turning," I explain calmly.

Deep inside, I know I risk little revealing my pack's little secret. Alexander is near.

"You are beasts," he spits at me.

"We are werewolves, Nick. Of course, we are beasts. We just made sure we could defeat other beasts. My pack and Alec's lycans are already here. Summon the people on your side to surrender. We can avoid deaths, Nick. Prove you are an Alpha and want your people's safety," I tell him again.

Eva has already won her fight, the other wolf whimpering on the ground. I take Nick's chin in my hands and turn his face to the wolf. As Eva growls, the wolf under her paws shifts back to his human form. His eyes are begging for Nick to have it end.

"Look at your people, Nick. Look at this madness. You've got nowhere to run from all of this havoc. Act like an Alpha, for the Moon's sake," I scream at him.

"In your dream, Olivia. He's just one man. His death won't stop me from having what I owe." He grabs my wrist, making it crack as he twists it. He again closes his fangs to my neck, and before Eva or I can react, he is pinched back to the trunk, his neck clasped between a large hand.

"Never dare to touch my mate ever again, pup," Alec growls.

Eva moves right to me, quickly joined by Jackson.

"Are you okay, princess?" he asks me, looking at my wrist. I can already feel that it is healing.

"I'm fine, Jackson. Thank you," I answer with a smile.

"Your shoulder still bleeds, Olivia. Let me check your wound," Eva says as she tears my shirt to reveal my bleeding shoulder. If the blood flow is weak, the wound has not healed yet.

"That must be the wolfbane and the silver together. But I'm gonna be fine, don't worry." I smile at her, quickly turning my head to where Alec and Nick are, as a threatening growl echoes through the woods.

"You stabbed my mate with silver and used wolfbane against her?" Alec shouts at Nick.

"She is my mate. I chose her years ago, and if you had not shown up, you would have never known her, and she would be mine by now," Nick answers.

"I've known my mate for more than a decade. The Moon-Goddess would never have accepted a chosen mate, neither from Olivia nor from me. We just forgot about it. We've always been meant for one another," he says, as his free hand grabs Nick's arm to break it. Nick groans in pain.

Elijah joins us and puts his hand on Alec's shoulder.

"They're ready to welcome us. We'll have witnesses for his crimes," he says, putting silver handcuffs around Nick's wrists.

As the metal touches Nick's skin, he whines. Alec lets go of him and walk heavily toward me.

"Are you okay, little wolf?" he asks, cupping my face with his hands. I nod and stay silent as his lips crash against mine. After a moment, our lips part, and his hands find my waist to lift me. I wrap my legs around his waist, my face hiding in the nape of his neck.

"I'm sorry it took that long, little wolf," he whispers.

"I am happy you're back, mister wolf. I missed you," I whisper back. Even if I don't see his face, I am sure my mate he's smiling as I call him as I did when I was a child.

"You remember?" his voice sounds calm and peaceful.

"I do." That's all I answer before he starts to walk.

No one is speaking as we make our way through the woods. The whole place is silent, no more sounds of fighting wolves resonating around us. I can smell blood, which was to be expected. Nick led his people to their death because of his madness. Some tears are rolling down my face as I think about all the broken families this battle leaves.

We finally reach a large clearing. As I raise my head, I notice the cabins I was headed for when I was knocked out earlier. I recognize the wolves' faces that stare at us. Alec poses me on the ground, and Elijah is already shaking hands with the oldest wolf.

"I wish you would not visit us under these circumstances, Alpha Elijah," he says in his raspy voice.

"Thank you for allowing us to have your family as our witnesses, Jonathan," Eli answers back. Alec takes my hand, and we move to Jonathan. His wife, Isobel, walks toward us and bows.

"Your majesties," she says, still bowing. I take my free hand to move her head so she can stare at us.

"That's okay, Isobel. You can look at us," I warmly say. She smiles back. As Alexander frees my other hand, Isobel hugs me tight.

"Sam told us you would come and asked us to watch over you. I called your mother as soon as we noticed their presence, but we could not do much, only the five of us. I'm so sorry," she says, tears rolling down her face.

"You did great," Alec answers.

"You had no chance against them. We don't blame you for anything," he says, moving to Jonathan.

"Thank you for allowing the trial to be taken here," he speaks. I follow his gaze to Nick.

"The Moon-Goddess' choices should not be discussed. That's your right to hold this trial wherever you want, Your Highness," Jonathan answers, bowing his head. He then moves to Nick, still held by Jackson and Eva.

Wolves and lycans are gathering in circles around the clearing. I notice that some of them also wear silver handcuffs or ropes around their wrists. I don't need much time to figure out they are lycans and wolves who worked with Nick.

"Nick Denison, you're accused of treason. Prince Alexander informed us you kidnapped her mate and tried to mark her against her consent, although she is rightly fated to him by the Moon-Goddess. These are serious charges against you that could be sentenced to death. What do you plead?" Jonathan addressed Nick.

"I plead the Moon-Goddess chose the wrong mate. He failed in protecting her as I could easily get what is mine," Nick yelled.

"You don't deserve her. You might be feared, but there is nothing to fear from a man who can't protect his mate," he says, spitting at Alexander.

"You really think you can take my mate and that I can't protect her from a pup like you?" Alexander asked with a grin on his face. His aura grew stronger, his power irradiating from his body.

"Free him," he says to Jackson and Eva.

"You want my mate? Kill me, and she is yours," he says. As I gasp, Alec walks to me and hugs me.

"I'll be back soon, little wolf. Don't worry. You're all mine, and I won't let anyone threaten our family," he whispers in my ear.

"I'll never let you slip away ever again, Liv."

"Be careful. Nick won't play fair. He has lost his mind." That's all I can say before Alec parts and walks back to Nick. Jackson and Eva have already uncuffed him.

"We fight to the death. Human forms only so my lycan does not eradicate your weak wolf. Is that okay with you, Alpha Nick?" Alec says, his voice more than bitter when he pronounces Nick's Alpha status.

"Say goodbye to Olivia, Prince Alexander. That's your last chance," Nick answers with a vicious smile on his lips.

It's not long before Nick bounces to Alec to kick him. Alec dodges his attack without a problem, kicking Nick's butt and laughing at him. If anger had a face, that would probably be Nick's current face.

His eyes radiate with pure wrath, and his face is not the one of a man but a pure beast without even being in wolf form. All humanity left him. Once again, he rushes and punches Alec's face, who does not avoid the attack. Even if Alec's jaw cracks under pressure, Nick's fist is not much better. Nevertheless, Alec's bones practically heal within a second, while Nick definitely does not heal as fast as my mate.

Alec grabs Nick's neck and throws him away. People move so as not to be on Nick's path as he ends against a trunk.

Alec turns, rubbing his cheek. That's when I see what's happening in the background. Nick gets up and races to my mate, turning into his wolf, while Alec does not face him.

All seems so unrealistic.

The entire world seems to slow down, and everybody stops breathing at the scene. This is so fast that no one can even react. We are all turned into puppets, unable to move or say a word.

My heart seems to stop, and my lungs crave air. My eyes are filled with dread as I meet the wonderful green eyes of my other half.

I can't lose my mate this way.