It was not anything much; our lips touched for a few seconds—or was it more? Hers were soft, cold, and sweet. When we parted, I was sure that I was going to faint. Of course, I didn't—I would have crushed her.

Our eyes remained locked after the kiss. If I were in my wolf form, my tail would have been wagging so hard the table would topple.

After what seemed like an eternity, Auri broke into a smile and leaned in for another deeper kiss.

My mind went blank and my heart melted into a puddle.

And then, she screamed out in pain.

"What?" I screamed, pulling back and swinging my hands around. "What happened?"

"What is this?" Auri lifted her arm. At the back of her left hand, a tattoo began to form. A three-clawed slash across a crescent moon.

Oh, shoot.

"Isn't this the mark on Celine?" she cried. "Isn't this your mark?"

My mouth dropped. Did I mark her? How?

"Oh my god, I'm- I'm so sorry, Auri. I don't know... I didn't know what I..."

"Undo it!" she demanded.

"I- I don't know how!" I tried to remember the details of the bond magic, but I was too frazzled to think.

"What do you mean? Undo whatever you did here!"

"I'm not even sure how I did this!"

"How could you not know? Undo it, Bodie!"

Tears were forming in her eyes. Frantic, I grabbed her hand and tried to rub the family insignia off. It did not work; instead, Auri groaned in pain even more.

"Oh my god, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Forget it," Auri snapped, yanking her hand from mine.

"I'm sorry, give me some time to figure out what to do about this..."

Auri was about to say something when a few rabbits burst into the underground structure.

"Auri!" They screeched to a halt when they saw me. "Oh, who is this? Well, whatever, there's no time for introductions. Things are super bad now, Auri, you gotta come help us!"

Auri frowned and stood up. "What do you mean?"

"The werewolves are attacking us!"

"What? Where?" Auri asked.

The four rabbits hopped up and down, their feet as frazzled as their voice. "At the north border! We're trying our best to keep them at bay, but I don't think we can hold them off for much longer."

I cursed under my breath. I should have known that my father would do everything in his power to rectify what he viewed as a mistake, a failure. And I was that mistake, that failure.

This was all my fault.

Without hesitation, I shifted to my wolf form, shaking my body to get rid of my shredded clothes. I should really stop wearing clothes I liked when visiting Auri.

In front of me, the four bunnies screamed in terror and leaped away, except for one brave soul who decided to jump towards me and bite my paw.

"No!" Auri scooped all of them up into her arms. "Bodie's a good werewolf, no biting!"

"It's alright." I gave my injured foot a light rub before crouching down. "Here, get on me. I'm going to go and stop them."

Auri nodded. She stuffed the frightened rabbits down her shirt so she could free her arms. I looked away, trying hard not to think about the fact that four wererabbits were now crawling under her clothes. As she climbed onto my back, I felt her arms wrap around my neck. I gulped.

"Ready?"

Her grip tightened. "Yeah."

"Hang on, okay?"

With that, I sped out of the cave. Auri let out a small yelp, but she held on. Her nails dug into my fur, and her smooth skin pressed against mine. I ignored the tingles in my gut as I sprinted through the tunnel and into the forest.

Under Auri's and the other wererabbits' verbal guidance, I ran towards where the fight was at. When the border was in sight, my blood rose into my head and I saw red.

The wererabbits were all in their human form, donning armors and carrying guns. Despite being in their larger form, they were at best five feet tall. The weapons in their hands looked awkward and ill-fitted. Opposite them sprawled a large pack of wolves. My pack. The pack I had been cast out from.

I recognized them even in their wolf form. My father stood in front, along with his betas. His jaw was painted red. A few bodies lay in front of him, unconscious.

Wererabbits. Dead.

I was too late.

"No... No..." Auri's voice was a trembling whimper.

My body was trembling too, but I managed to lower myself.

"Get off, Auri," I instructed. We were still a long way away from the battle site, but I wanted her to be far—and safe.

The moment she climbed off of me, I charged toward my father, roaring at the top of my lungs. My cry was enough to freeze everyone in place. They turned to face me, including my father and his bloody jaw.

"What is a stray doing here?" he taunted, baring his sharp, blood-soaked canines.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded. "Stop this, Father."

What sounded like a growl mixed with a laugh escaped his throat.

"You and what army?" he said before gesturing his head towards me. "Take the lone wolf down."

The pack began to crawl towards me, their eyes glinting with fright, their steps hesitant.

My blood boiled within me. I recognized these people. I knew them. I grew up with some of them. I might not have been close to all of them, but I knew that none of them would have wanted this to happen. My father was making them do this, and all for what? Because I failed to get the wererabbits to agree to something? Something so unreasonable and so... trivial?

I stomped my foot forward and snapped, "Stay back."

Surprisingly, they stopped advancing.

"Why are you all stopping?" the Alpha growled. "Take Bodie down."

"Stay. Back," I repeated. "This is between me and Father."

There was a long moment of hesitation. And then, the pack backed away from us.

I was not expecting this, and judging by my father's open mouth, I could tell he was not expecting this either.

The pack was not listening to his command, which could only mean one thing—the fight between us was going to be a fight for the position of the Alpha.