"Even when we're six feet under, and our bones are dust, I will haunt your soul until it aches to be free of me. And then, I will hold you tighter." -Hunting Adeline

I wake up to chains trapping my arms. My nose and eyes sting and I'm unable to smell anything. My vision is a blurred mess but I can make out two figures in front of me. The room is humid and feels sticky against my skin. I must have shifted back into human form when I was knocked out. Whoever has taken me threw a large white shirt onto me.

Thanks.

The pebbles on the floor poke against my feet but at least my legs are not chained to the wall as well. If I had to guess they have taken me to the abandoned storage facility on Blood Moon land. There's a small sense of comfort knowing I am still on my territory but most of the pack has evacuated by now.

They won't find me. Zane will though.

My back still hurts and what had started out as a sting of pain has morphed into a throbbing that makes me nauseous. The wolfsbane subdues my wolf and I panic when I don't feel her.

Leya?

Leya, are you okay?

No response. My heart feels tight at the realization.

I'm here Al.

It's weak, barely present in my mind, but the small communication with my wolf brings me some solace. As my vision clears, I see Donata standing next to the hunter I was chasing. Darkness engulfs the room except for a single light bulb above me making it harder to see my surroundings.

"Get away from her," I croak out.

Apparently, I'm the next big comedian because they both burst out in laughter. I know what has happened now. I know, but I don't want to admit it. It would simply be too painful.

"Silly girl, always in over her head," Donata spits out.

Betrayal hurts no matter how small or big it is. I just never imagined it to be this bad. I went to this woman for help, she helped my mate and me, and now? Now she's ready to kill me. I can see the murder in her eyes.

"You're twenty years old, Alessandra. What the hell do you know about leading a pack? Trust me, if it wasn't me who got you, it would have been someone else."

"Why would you do this?"

"Why not?"

My mouth opens to ask more questions but then I hear a door slam. I look past Donata and see a glass barrier between this room and the next. Everything is set up like a makeshift torture chamber which means these people have not been here long. I'm able to see through the glass but I don't know if anyone on the other side can see me. Two men file in, the hunter's tattoo stamped on their biceps. They tug on the chain they brought with them and Zane walks in. He's bruised but it's nothing extreme. He could take the men on if he wanted.

Why hasn't he?

His eyes search the room frantically and I see the redness in his eyes from the wolfsbane. Wolfsbane lowers our senses down to a human's. He won't be able to smell me or hear me. Judging by his reddened eyes, I'm not sure his vision lets him see much either.

"Where is she?"

Two more men shuffle into the room, closing the door behind them.

"Sit down, mutt," the largest one says.

"Where is my mate? I cooperated, now show me her."

"Of course, alpha," he spits out before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a large needle. He launches it into Zane's neck so swiftly that for a second, I'm certain it didn't happen.

"No!" I shout.

My wrists strain against the metal as I pull and tug in vain. My movements feel sluggish and lazy. There is no greater frustration than losing control of your own body. I will my limbs to move faster, my eyes to search for an exit, my ears to hear anything of importance, but my body does not respond to my brain.

"What was it?" I croak out, referring to the injection they lodged into Zane's neck.

Donata sneers at me and goes back to fixating on Zane.

"WHAT WAS IT?" I shout. My chest heaves as I exert the small bit of energy the wolfsbane has not drained from me.

"Wolfsbane. Goddess, you're acting like I would poison him," Donata says.

"What do you want, Donata?"

"What I want is for you both to suffer."

As the words leave her mouth, I see one of the men reach for a whip that he slashes across Zane's bare chest. His skin sizzles, informing me that the whip was doused in wolfsbane.

"No, please. Don't hurt him, Donata."

She ignores my pleas.

"Take down the glass," Donata commands. The man on my side of the glass obediently follows her orders. Zane sees me the second the glass falls and a smile stretches across his bloody lips.

"Mio amore," he rasps.

"Zane," I cry out. He looks worse now that the glass has disappeared. The men have moved to whip his back and I watch as he clenches his jaw with every lash.

"Don't worry my luna," he whispers. I can see the torture getting to him. The wolfsbane prevents his healing on the outside while slowly draining his wolf of life on the inside. It's torture that is mental and physical.

"Let's take this party outside," Donata says.

My brows furrow as the men open the door and take Zane with them. His chains still bind him and his legs are shaky. He's close to passing out. Donata goes to leave as well opting to leave me chained to the wall.

"What are you going to do?"

"I've heard the alpha enjoys a good swim," Donata says with an evil smile that shakes me to my core.

"He can't swim in that condition? He is bound! He can barely stay awake!"

"Precisely."

She goes to leave but stops at the threshold.

"I do hope you said your goodbyes," she adds before disappearing.

"No! Wait! Please!"

My pleas are unheard. Humiliation sticks to me as I wonder how I never noticed Donata's suspicious behavior.

Fight.

I hear Leya's words, but I'm so tired.

Fight. For me and our mate.

I tug on the chains that bind me and notice that the hook they are attached to is loose. There's no way for me to leave without the chains around my wrists but I can manage it if I can pull them off the hook on the wall.

I focus all of my attention on pulling them out of the wall. It takes longer than it should but eventually the chains snap off. I cringe as they make a loud rattling noise when they fall to the ground. I try to send Zane a mind link but the wolfsbane still lingers.

I give up on the idea and hope that if I can get far away enough from here, I'll be able to mind link Zane and the rest of the pack. Unfortunately, the door is locked when I reach it. There will be no way for me to break this door open and spare the man guarding it outside.

I kick through the door and watch as the guard goes to shout to his friends for help. He doesn't get the chance. I try to release my claws but the wolfsbane prevents me from doing so. Instead, I use the chains still attached to the cuffs on my wrists to strangle him. He struggles but I'm hellbent on getting out of here. I will myself to feel some remorse as he takes his last breath but the sight of Zane being tortured floods my mind and any remorse I had disappears.

There's no way I will be able to take down all those people who are currently planning on drowning Zane. Everything in me urges me to run to my mate, but I know it's not the right choice. I opt to run off into the woods. I need to get help or at least let the wolfsbane wear off enough to send a mind-link to my brother.

The uphill climb is one that I could complete in a minute on a usual day. However, the wolfsbane still plagues my senses and the chains drag me down. Everything I do feels like it's in slow motion. It feels as if a thousand-pound boulder was placed on my shoulders as I continue the trek upward.

I can feel my mind slowly start to clear so I take the opportunity to mind link my brother.

Help. Donata, Nightshades, western border.

I try to string the words together in my mind and I can only hope that it reaches him. As I approach the top of the hill, a piercing pain cuts through my heart. All the breath leaves my lungs as a pain I've never felt before cuts me in half. My mind instantly goes to Zane.

Are they killing him? Did they decide to finish him off themselves instead of drowning him?

The thought brings tears to my eyes.

Footsteps sound in front of me before Donata comes into view. I fall to my knees, unable to support my body weight any longer. The pain in my chest as well as in my back from the Nigthshade's talon coupled with the dosage of wolfsbane becomes too much for my body to handle.

"Watching you finally fall is just as satisfying as I had imagined it to be," Donata says. She holds a bow in her hands. Looking down, I see an arrow protruding from my chest. I used my last bit of fight on the climb and mind-linking my brother that I didn't even notice the arrow pierce my chest.

At least now I know the pain wasn't them killing Zane.

"It's a shame I couldn't watch you die the first time. That would have been poetic don't you think? Watching you die twice, each time for the same man."

"Fuck you, Donata."

She cackles as if this is amusing as if my pain and suffering are entertainment for her.

"How about I show you how your mate felt when you died, Rosanna?"

Her hands grip my temples and a vision assaults me.

I'm holding onto my stomach as knives fly at me from each direction. I can't call Lorenzo and he won't know anything is wrong because we have not been marked yet. Tears stream down my cheeks as blood pools on the ground beneath me.

"That's the vision I've sent Zane for the past three years, that's what has plagued his mind for so long," she whispers connivingly.

I stare at her in shock.

"It was you," I say dumbfounded.

"Of course it was me! The Morettis ruined me! Do you understand? They ruined me!"

She takes a step closer to me.

"Do you know how hard it was not to murder you? Even as a child, you were a spitting image of Rosanna, it's nauseating," she spits.

Taking a step closer, her hands grip my shoulders.

"I am Donata de'Medici, Alessandra. My family disowned me when I ran off with a boy but he loved me, Alessandra, he did! Then that whore Rosanna had to go and marry him," she whispers angrily.

"You know why they killed him, Alessandra? Because that bitch couldn't keep her mouth shut and had to tell Alpha Lorenzo that he abused her. Giuseppe only hit her because she was a bad wife! She deserved it, but we all know what happened to anyone who dared look at Rosanna Moretti wrong, her neanderthal of a mate murdered him!"

She grips my chin and forces me to look into her beady eyes.

"So you see why I can't let you and Zane live happily ever after? I might not have been able to kill the Morettis but Zane is the last person alive with an ounce of Moretti blood in him. Your wolves can never be together, I won't allow it, not when I can't be with my love."

"You're doing this for something that happened years ago? I am not Rosanna! Zane is not Lorenzo! We didn't kill your love. For goodness sake, you watched us grow up. You've been there on the entire journey of us being mates. This pack treated you like family and you endangered their lives by bringing Nightshades and hunters here?"

"Collateral is necessary during times of war," she responds.

"This isn't a war! This is you acting like a crazy person!"

"You sure talk a lot for a dying woman."

"Why not ruin our mate bond from the start. You pushed us together in Italy. You helped us!"

"That was my sister's doing, not mine. She's always been ready to do whatever the alphas demand. Well, I'm sick of it! Your power does not entitle you to kill people."

"You're right. It doesn't. But you're not talking about people. You're talking about Giuseppe. I didn't kill Giuseppe. Zane did not kill Giuseppe. Lorenzo did!"

"And someone must pay! I will never let his wolf live in contentment when he stole my love away from me."

Looking at Donata, I know she's too far gone. Anger and resentment have been brewing in her heart for years. There is no reasoning with her. She's been poisoned by the hate in her heart and there is no cure for those who are already dead.

"Giuseppe was an abusive piece of shit who deserved to die," I spit at her.

Anger fills her aged face and as I stare up at the woman who has been a part of my life in both of my births, I realize she got to prevail in each one.

Bullshit.

I gather the small remaining strength in me and push myself up to my feet. I know I am dying, there is no way to escape it. The arrow in my chest drenched in wolfsbane solidifies the fact. The stench of wolfsbane permeates the air and even the strongest of werewolves cannot survive when wolfsbane has entered their bloodstream for so long, especially through the heart. I refuse to die like this. If I am going to leave this earth, then she will come with me. She will pay for endangering my pack.

I sway on my feet. Donata looks at me with amusement which only pisses me off further. I know I must look like I am two seconds from death but I'm able to use it to my advantage. My claws extend and I pierce them into her throat with no warning. Her eyes widen in terror while mine fight to stay open a minute longer.

"I will be remembered as an alpha, you will be remembered as a traitor," I hiss the words out as I squeeze, the added pressure makes her weep.

"Everything you ever did got you to this moment Donata. I hope it was worth it."

With those words, I pull out her jugular. I watch as her body falls to the ground and mine follows with it.

I stare into the sky and watch as the place I called home welcomes the night. The sun has disappeared, the moon taking its place. I look at the moon and will the goddess to give me peace.

I cry as I think of my family, my friends, and Zane. I hope he moves on. I don't want him to have the same fate as Lorenzo Moretti.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. I ruined our second chance. I couldn't save him or myself.

I'm sorry for the love story we never got to have. I'm sorry for the time we wasted. I'm sorry for all the things I never got to say.

As I feel myself float away, I wonder if Zane can feel my heart become untethered from his as it reaches for the moon, for the final light that werewolves receive.