"It's nothing personal, but when you're sent to Council's prison or sentenced to death because of this, I don't want to be part of it," Roger hissed to Riley after having an epiphany that he didn't want to be a part of his revenge.

"A little too late for that," Riley responded before throwing him into the cement wall. "Your scent. Your strategies. Your accusations—even if they were wrong."

Roger stayed silent.

"If I'm going down, so are you," Riley added. "You can run as far and fast as you want, but Council has trackers that don't care."

Roger's jaw tensed as he thought of what he was about to say.

"And what if it's not Council that gets us? What if it's—"

"They aren't gonna do shit," Riley interrupted. "They aren't even here because—yet again—you made another mistake."

"If you're so quick to accuse me of making a mistake, then why are you still keeping the other girl here!?" Roger shouted. Riley's face twisted. "Unless you're twisted enough to see an innocent girl suffer for this long—"

"Ahem!" Riley stopped. "Dude. You're an assassin and tracker. You hunt down and kill innocent humans like her and others all the time. She's no different."

"If she's no different, then why isn't she dead already?" Roger reminded.

"I think she'll be of some use," Riley shrugged.

"How is she useful when she's stuck in a cell with Alicia, sworn to silence by you?" Roger asked, incredulously.

"Because if these stupid mutts come here looking for Alicia, I want to see their reactions," Riley smiled evilly.

"Wrong," Roger stated. "Because if those stupid mutts come here, you're dead."

"And wrong you are," Riley said before pulling out a folder and slamming it on the desk. He propped his feet up as Roger read it. "Another loophole."

"So they can't kill you on your property..." Roger paraphrased. Riley nodded in victory as he folded his hands behind his head. "It never said anything about indirectly."

"Wait what?" Riley asked. He put his feet back on the ground, took the file from Roger, and read over it.

"They set you up," Roger notified. "It basically says that you can't kill them on their territory or bite them or anyone else at all no matter where you are. Yet they can't directly kill you only on yours."

"Oh. So I have nothing to worry about?" Riley asked.

"Yes. You do," Roger said, smacking his head. "That means you can't kill them here."

"Yes I can," Riley said. He placed the document on the table and pointed to it. "This whole place is my property."

"Yeah. But you can't bite them," Roger reminded.

"I don't have to bite them to kill them," Riley mumbled.

"The only other way it to what, strangle them? And seeing as there's only one of you, I doubt they'd let you that close for that long enough time," Roger noted. "And plus, they can do much worse than just ripping you apart."

"No. They can't," Riley denied.

"Direct killing is just physical killing," Roger informed. Riley shrugged.

"They only have a set of teeth and some claws—nothing else," Riley chimed with a cocky smirk. His face dropped when Roger replied to him.

"Ever heard of vervain or wooden stakes? Drawn out torture is worse than death."

And then there was a thud at the door.

I was casually hitting my head against the base of the wall. I hated it here. No reception. No music. No anything. There was barely even water or food. And considering the other girl's treatment, I was so close to losing any remaining hope...until I started to hear Riley and Roger's arguing turn into a tremble of fear. Something slammed—not a door—and then items crashed around. I stood up and went to the cage's door to try and see what was happening based on the shadows, but the attempt failed. I connected my back to the wall when I saw a shadow round the corner. I narrowed my eyes and saw a boy that I had seen around the pack's house; he was the same one who considered liing there instead of finishing school. Nathaniel, I think his name was.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered. "What's going on?"

"They had to send a real man onto this rescue mission," he said as he pulled something from his pocket after trying to pull out the bars. I rolled my eyes. He pulled out a lavender-colored bracelet and a ribbon. He handed me the bracelet and slid it on my wrist through the bars. "I'll try to get you out of here as soon as I can—"

"We have to take my friend too," I insisted, grabbing his wrist. He looked past me as the girl (after our hours of bonding time, she never told me her name) walked up. He handed me the ribbon.

"Tie this around her," he commanded. He turned to leave.

"Wait," I said, grabbing his wrist. "Why do we need these?"

"Long story," he decided, but I insisted on a proper answer. "Look. I really gotta go help them. Faster you let me go, the faster you get outta here."

"What's that supposed to mean—" and then he disappeared around the corner as noises of stuff being thrown still occurred. I just trusted Nathaniel's word and tied the ribbon around the girl's wrist. Sooner than I assumed, beneath the sounds of a scuffle, a key was heard sliding against the cement towards the cell. Immediately, I grabbed it and freed us. With one look to the girl, we raced up the stairs and saw the chaos.

Chase and Wes were fighting Riley together as they balanced in strength while Nathaniel fought with Roger.

"Alicia, get away from here!" Chase yelled while his main attention was given to throwing Riley into a wall. However, apparently the warning distracted him enough for Riley to step back out of the wall and collide his fist with Chase's face.

"No. She must want to see her beloved mate die," Riley said as Chase grabbed his own face and Riley stepped toward Wes. They tackled each other and fought vigorously. Chase tried pulling him off, but got Riley's foot in his gut as punishment.

And then time stopped.

Riley roared in pain, but had Wes in a head lock and pulled his neck up more and more than it even pained me to see it.

"You kill him, I kill you," I threatened to Riley. He stopped pulling as Wes resisted him and just laughed at me. I was suddenly pinned from behind.

"And you move an inch and I kill you," Roger replied, his breath hitting me.

"Remember the treaty," Wes choked out.

"Oh. Your stupid little 'treaty' that excludes my friend?" Riley asked. "That leaves me to kill you while he kills Alicia and I can finish it up when I call my parents and tell them how they can finish off each and every one of you."

"Or of course there's this possibility," I heard a familiar female voice say and then something sharp like Roger's teeth just barely ripped the skin on my neck before he was pulled away from me and I turned to see the girl wrapping the lavender ribbon around Roger's throat. I thought he'd struggle against the strangulation, but instead he cringed and was pained to the eye about it as if it was burning him. But he was still aware enough to shove the girl back into the nearest wall before Nathaniel took over by adding a wooden pole along Roger's throat, pressing the fabric more into his skin. He stepped on the wood and crouched down to hold a lighter inches from Roger's face.

And then someone grabbed me from behind and I saw that it was Riley. I moved my hand up to push him away from me as his eyes were wide with hunger and his mouth revealed fangs—not werewolf fangs, but long, glistening, canines that extended down like another creature I feared and wished that wasn't real. Vampire. He grabbed me around my waist and pinned me against him just as Roger had.

"Make your choice," he said to Wes as he was just now getting up from the ground. Chase was nowhere in sight and I was fearing for my life. I gulped and felt blood running down my neck from Roger ripping my skin. "I can change Alicia right here and right now, or you can sign over my rights that I clearly deserve."

Wes gave me apologetic looks as he breathed heavily.

"Or of course you can take all day and I hastily bite Alicia and call my parents," Riley added and I started to panic. "That way you'll all be dead, not on my expense, and I can make any change to this treaty I want."

He's seriously threatening my life for a freaking treaty? I attempted to break Riley's hold, but in return I realized he had some hard muscles and his grip around me tightened. I wasn't being very hopeful because Wes was still sitting and helpless because he was beaten up so badly.

"Tick tock," he taunted as I felt his breath on my neck. And then I got fed up. I pushed him away and as my wrist grazed his hands, he let go off me with a push and a cry of pain. Wes immediately grabbed me and cradled me in his chest although my neck and collarbone was drenched with blood and sweat. Riley shook his head and walked slowly over to us and crouched down.

"Trying to save her, but you're too weak to do so," Riley commented. "Pathetic Alpha you are."

I felt and heard Wes' heart beat and breathing. Riley looked to me.

"And you're pathetic too for mating with such a weak wolf," he spat. "He came to save you, but you don't see him trying to fight anymore. He's giving up. Some mate he is."

His words only led me to believe that maybe he was the same person wrong about the Carina before...considering Wes wasn't my mate. My eyes searched the ground in confusion as Riley laughed and stood up. Wes mumbled something, but I couldn't make it out. I could barely even hear it.

"What was that?" Riley smirked.

"I'm not the Alpha," Wes growled. Riley got a confused look.

"Wait then—" he was cut off when he was stabbed in the stomach with a wooden stake. He fell to the ground in pain as I saw Chase standing in his place. Riley cringed on the ground in worse pain than Roger. Dark blood oozed from his stomach around the wound. His hands were on the stake, but he didn't pull it out...maybe because he couldn't. Chase stepped to him and Riley hissed at him with extended canines.

"When I tell my parents, all of you are dead," Riley threatened.

"No one cares about a couple of humans when there are more of us," Wes retorted.

"I don't know how the hell you got in, but I can guarantee you won't get out—"

"Shut the f*ck up before you end up like your sister," Wes said before pulling something that looked like destroyed flowers from his pocket and then shoving it into Riley's mouth. He groaned and screamed from the muzzle in pain and then spit it out—now with normal teeth. Chase and Wes sighed as they looked to each other and then Wes turned to pull me up from the ground. He pulled me into a hug and then pulled away, only to press his lips to mine. My hand ran through his hair as we kissed with our lives and then someone cleared their throat.

"Set that one to fire. Let's just hope it doesn't spread to our little friend, Riley," Chase instructed to maybe one of us or Nathaniel. "The Council is already on their way."

"Council?!" Riley asked.

"Yeah. You know. The organization that controls filth like you," Wes said down to him.

"I rather you just kill me now," Roger choked.

"Don't tempt me," Nathaniel joked with a serious tone.

"Kill or not kill—I don't care," I said. "Let's just get out of here."

"When we get back to the house, I'm teaching you how to fight all of our enemies," Wes said before kissing my head and wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "I love you, you know that?"

"Lucky me," I said, remembering the morning before I was taken. "And lucky for you, you're loved back."

With that, he leaned down to press his lips against mine again.

"I don't know how the hell you knew how to do that, but damn," Nathaniel said, hopefully addressing my new friend. I immediately pulled away from the kiss and turned to see Nathaniel helping her up from the wall Roger had thrown her into.

"Thank you so much. You saved my life," I thanked. She had a shocked expression as her lips were slightly parted and she looked scared towards me. "What...?"

And just as I heard Carina's name for the first time, the boys expressed their apparent familiarity with the girl when they both gasped her name as well: "April?"