At the ass crack of dawn, Mara, Max, and I set out to find Kai. I'm exhausted and grouchy after not getting any sleep the last two nights. The first night, I was plotting against hybrids and escaping with Max. Last night, Max and I made up for lost time. I lost track of how many times we made up for.

Max, without a single word or mind link, shifts and motions for me to get on his back. I crawl on and lay my stomach against his back, my head laying right on his neck. His fur is soft and I feel myself already falling asleep. Mara crawls on behind me and lays against my back, and I know if I do fall asleep, she'll hold me in place.

I drift in and out of my slumber on the way to my house. Every time I open my eyes, the sun is a little higher in the sky. Max doesn't slow down at all, and I wonder how he has this much energy after getting the same amount of sleep I did.

I mean, I'm also pregnant, so that probably plays a huge factor.

When we get to my house, Mara wakes me up and we slide off Max's back. He shifts back into his human form.

I stare at the broken, crumbling, ashy house in front of me. Most of the second floor caved in and is in piles of dust and rubble. Some of the walls were left half standing, the edges charred and black. The smoke is still in the air, and I pull my shirt up over my nose. Max comes and wraps a arm around my waist, pulling me into his side.

I love that he knows I just need his comfort right now. No words are going to fix the sight of my destroyed child hood home in front of me. Of course we can rebuild it, but it will never be the same.

I'm surprised I haven't started crying yet, but I'm glad I haven't. I don't have time to mourn over my house for longer than a few minutes. We need to find Kai.

At the thought of Kai, I turn around to face Mara, who also has her shirt over her nose. She's patiently waiting for me to be ready to go, giving me the time I need. I see the sadness in her eyes at Max's arm around me.

"Have you caught his scent?" I ask softly. She nods, her eyes flashing with anger. Not directed at Max or I, but again at the fact that out of everyone in the world, Kai had to be her mate.

"C'mon," she says, gesturing with her head in the direction I'm assuming we need to go. She shifts with out another word and takes off. I know she wants to get this done and over with, so I don't mind the abruptness of her actions.

Max and I shift and take off after her. I'm more awake than I was on the way to my house, so the couple minutes of sleep I got on the way must have helped a lot more than anyone would expect.

We easily catch up to Mara. I think my vampire side automatically came back because all of my senses are back to normal. Maybe because I completely forgot that I had turned it off once I reached Max's, or maybe it could only work for so long. Either way, it worked when I needed it to, and that's all they matters.

We stay a little behind Mara since she's the one that knows where to go. The scent of Kai is strongest for her since he's her mate. Max and I could track it if we needed to, but us wasting time tracking him when Mara can do it in a split second is more time for him to get farther away.

I don't know how far away I was expecting Kai to be, but it for sure wasn't within an hour of my house. He's laying down at the base of a tree, passed out and weakened. His face is pale, and the sound of us approaching wasn't enough to wake him up. I can hear his slow heartbeat, so I know he's still alive.

Mara, Max, and I shift back into our human forms. "I thought he would have gotten farther away," I murmur.

"He must have had just enough strength to escape but not enough to make it back to the base," Max guesses.

"He does look pretty weak. I must have gotten you away just in time if this is how badly it affected him."

"What's the plan for getting him back?" Mara asks a few seconds later, and I hear the tension in her voice. I look over at her and see all the different emotions in her face. Pain, anger, sadness, broken-hearted. My heart goes out to her and I wish I could do something to take away her pain. I hate that she is mated to the man who tried to destroy us, and the moon goddess will definitely be getting a piece of my mind once this is all over.

Figuratively, of course. I wouldn't actually be able to approach the moon goddess and disrespect her like that. I also wouldn't be able to approach her at all.

"We can put him on my back and Brynn can ride too to make sure he doesn't escape," Max proposes. I nod, and Mara nods once.

"Do we wake him up?" I ask. Mara shakes her head.

"Let the bastard sleep."

I know she doesn't want to be around him when he's awake, so I don't push it. Besides, with me also riding on Maddox's back, he won't fall off if he stays asleep the whole time.

Without another word, Max shifts back into his wolf. He gets down low so his belly is touching the forest floor, and I am easily able to grab a still-sleeping Kai and maneuver him on top of Max. The fact that he still hasn't woken up makes me think that he inhaled enough of the smoke for it to at least knock him out for a while. I hop on behind him and Max stands up. Mara shifts, and the now four of us head back to the pack lands.

I mind link alpha Ryan and let him know it's safe for everyone to come back. He doesn't ask me too many questions, but I know I'll have to tell him everything once we take care of Kai and things are semi back to normal. I tell him that we'll have a new prisoner who we'll need to make special cell accommodations for with the utmost security.

The ride back the pack lands is easy. Kai is still knocked out, so throwing him in a cell is easy. I leave Max to watch over him so Mara and I can start making more of the mixture harmful to hybrids. We'll coat the cell bars in it so he won't be able to touch them, and the small fumes they'll give off will weaken him enough so he won't be able to escape.

After collecting the ingredients once again from the armory, we go to Mara's empty house to execute our plan since mine doesn't exist anymore.

At the kitchen counter, both of us focusing on our own tasks, Mara quietly says, "I'm glad all of this is almost over."

"Me too," I murmur without looking away from the wolfsbane. I'm handling the wolfsbane and standing as far away from Mara as possible. "I'm sorry that he's your mate. If there's anything I could do to change it, I would in a heartbeat."

"I know you would," Mara says, and I hear the faintest smile in her voice mixed in with the anger. I know her well enough where I don't have to look to know how she's feeling. "It just really, really sucks."

"It really, really does."

"Have you thought of any names yet?" She's changing the subject, and I go along with it without hesitation. She doesn't want to dwell on what she's lost before even having it.

"I have. Max and I haven't, though," I say, not bother to fight the smile that forms on my lips.

"And?"

"It's a secret."