I broke my leg once trying to do a flip off a trampoline. Not a flip while I was on the trampoline, mind you--I thought I could be super cool and land on the cold, unforgiving ground like an Olympic gymnast. Rest assured, I could not. I couldn't even do a flip properly, so that was my first mistake.

But oh man, I thought that was the most painful thing I would go through in my life.

Turns out, a full set of razor sharp teeth bared by a very angry wolf down on your shoulder can match that. Surpass it, even.

My mistake here, much like my inability to actually do a flip, was that I was completely and utterly helpless to an attack from anyone, nor did I have a good enough reaction time to think to duck, or hit the ground, or move in any way but where I was. So when his teeth came down, they came down hard and on point.

The world started getting darker as I let out a scream. Before Roy realized his mistake, and could fully detach himself from me, someone came barreling into him. I screamed louder as his teeth ripped themselves from my flesh, and I fell in the direction Roy had been tackled. As I hit the ground, tears welling up in my eyes, my throat straining from the screams, I saw Bethany look at me with horror in her eyes. She scrambled over to me as my eyes began closing on their own, and the sounds of someone screaming my name broke through the sudden chaotic howling surrounding me.

I didn't want to pass out, but oh god did I want this pain to go away. So I gave in as Beth rolled me onto my back and looked over me. A tear fell from her eyes and landed on my cheek, and then I was gone. I thought it might be for good.

A horrible, sickening sense of despair and regret set in immediately. As I look down at Macy, eyes unfocused, blood splattered on her face, soaking her shirt, I can't help but begin sobbing. I can't bear to look at her shoulder, so instead I try to gently roll her onto her back. I don't know what else to do.

Joshua and Roy are still going at it. With their Luna attacked, the Dusk Valley wolves have begun fighting again. Whether or not they were told to is unknown to me, because Carter and Cayton are both running over.

"Macy!" Cayton screams, getting down on his knees next to her. Her eyes are shut now, and her head lolls to the side. I want to stay and help, but Carter grabs me and forces me onto my feet. I can't find it in me to fight him.

As Cayton takes off his shirt to apply it to her shoulder, I hear Carter say we have to move her away from the fighting. He tells Cayton that he can handle it, that Cayton should focus on leading the pack. And then the scariest, fiercest look I've ever seen on anyones face is directed at him, and then at me. I freeze.

"This is all your fault, both of you!" Cayton screams. I shudder, knowing he's right. Tears fall down my cheeks, but I stifle any sound. Carter's grip on me tightens.

"Channel that anger somewhere else right now," Carter says. His voice is shaky. There's so much going on right now, I can't even begin to imagine what's going on in his head. But I know he cares about Macy too, and Cayton, and I can see the slightest hint of guilt on his face.

Cayton scoops Macy up in his arms. He's shaking, his eyes are glazing over. "This is your fight now. Handle it." I'm surprised; Cayton takes his Alpha duties almost too seriously sometimes. So for him to walk away from a fight his men are in is a bit shocking. However, like I said with Carter, there's a lot going on. He's probably feeling the pain from Macy's injury, both mentally and physically. And we've all been through a lot these past few days.

I turn to Carter, nodding my head. His eyes follow Cayton's back as he runs away, tightly clutching Macy to his chest. He nods and then springs into action, leaving me to follow Cayton. Though, I'm sure I'm the last person he wants to see at the moment.

I catch up to him, and although he's sending daggers my way, I motion towards the house. Running up the porch steps, I open the door. He hesitates, but then climbs the steps. I watch Alexis, her arms hanging limply and her head resting against Cayton. As I'm shutting the door, the boy with the yellow eyes comes bounding up the steps as well, slipping in before I can even indicate he can.

I lock the door behind him.

Cayton lays Macy down on the couch, carefully. She still doesn't move. Without even looking up, he demands "Call your pack doctor. Now!" Waylon complies without hesitation. Her shoulder still wrapped in his shirt, he applies pressure to stop the bleeding, with a small bit of luck. I stand helplessly and watch.

I stand by, watching as Cayton whispers to Macy, as he has been for the past few minutes, quiet enough that no one else can hear. She isn't awake though.

I take a step towards them, and in response, Cayton snaps his head up to me, looking me dead in the eyes. I rear back.

"Get out." His eyes are cold, but fiery with anger. I want to stay, to make sure she's ok, but I know I have no right to. Especially not in his eyes. Bowing my head in shame, I turn to leave. Waylon hesitates.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Alpha Setters?" the boy asks. Cayton shakes his head, not looking at him. I don't know where to go, exactly, because all I can do outside is create more problems, or distractions.

Unsure of myself, I go up the stairs.

I need to give Cayton some time. But, I also need to tell him what's going on. Carter wouldn't listen, he blocked me out and is maintaining that wall. Cayton did the same, and he might not listen at first, but that's ok, because I can't speak. So, in Joshua's office, I search for a piece of paper and a pen, and scribble down as quickly as I can, the long and short of what's going on.

My sister was Luna of this pack. She was killed by Roy, who pinned the blame on a rogue from your pack. Roy's brother was the Beta, and he then pinned blame on him for not addressing the "rogue" issue. Roy becomes Beta, Joshua is hell bent on finding me, Macy is caught up because of Warren.

He would have questions, because I left quite a bit out, but those could wait for later. It gets the message across quick enough--get Roy.

I rub my neck, the soreness becoming more apparent as my body works to heal the wounds. Luckily the burn from the silver on my wrists isn't as prominent, though my wrists will likely take much longer to heal than my neck will. That is, if he didn't do damage beyond repair.

But that was the least of my issues, with everyone's lives on the line.

As I grab the piece of paper and start to head downstairs, I falter. Cayton made it abundantly clear he wants nothing to do with me, and with Macy in such a critical state he might not even give me the time of day. I look down at the letter, my resolve slowly slipping away.

My eyes catch something on the ground in my field of view, and I see the remnants of a picture frame, shattered glass, but the picture inside relatively undamaged. Smiling as brightly as the sun, my sister is wearing her famous bug-eye sunglasses, and has both her arms wrapped around Joshua, who is smiling just as big. The wind is blowing my sisters hair into both of their faces. And then, in the very back of the picture, right behind them, myself. I'm mid-jump eyes closed as I was yelling something out. Photobombing.

My lip trembles.

The last time I chose not to say something out of fear, it caused so much pain and suffering I was saving no one.

Besides, if Cayton decides to kill me, he can at least read the letter after I'm gone.

Gaining my confidence back, I take off back to the living room. It isn't even a second after I enter that Cayton's eyes snap up to me, glaring at me with the power of an exploding nuclear reactor. I don't back down, or look away, as much as I really want to.

Taking a deep breath, I begin walking towards him. He doesn't move from his spot, holding Alexis' hand. Waylon is alternating from looking out the front window and the side one, watching the fighting and, presumably, waiting for the doctor.

I stop just short of Cayton. His eyes don't leave me, and I break his gaze to look at Macy. I can see her body trying to heal her wounds, but they are deep and plentiful. They risk becoming infected before they heal over. My stomach churns and my heart hurts, so I turn my attention back to Cayton and extend my hand out, holding the letter out to him.

He all but snarls at me. "What the hell is this?"

I just continue holding it out, trying my best not to break under the Alpha's glare. After what feels like forever, he doesn't budge, so I resort to forcing him to read it. I open it up, putting it directly in front of my face, right between ours. I half expect to see his fist come flying through the paper, but it doesn't come.

Instead, he takes his free hand to rip the letter from mine. Examining it more closely, he reads and rereads over it a few times, before looking at me again, still steely but more curious now.

"Is this what the hell's going on?" I nod. He continues, "And you know all this how?"

Now is when I hang my head in shame. Explaining my transgressions is not something I want to do, but know I must. I feel him worm his way into my head, telling me to explain.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tell him everything.

How Roy was trying to worm his way into a position of power from the beginning. Alan, his brother, came to us concerned. Erica went to meet with Roy, to talk to him, because Joshua was completely blinded. How she never returned from that meeting. How days later, he said he knew Alan had something to do with it, he got word a rogue entered the territory but did nothing about it, and that rogue killed my sister. How Roy became Beta after Alan's subsequent arrest.

How I tucked tail and ran from it all.

When I'm finished, all earlier confidence is gone and I can't look him in the eye. I hear a long, deep sigh come from him, which shocks me. I risk a peek, and he actually looks...sympathetic.

Don't get me wrong; he still looks ready to snap my neck. But...less like he's actually going to do it.

His gaze softens immediately as he looks at Macy. Giving her hand one last squeeze, he lets go and stands up, surprising me.

"Then I need to go out there. This really isn't our fight. I'm not having anyone else hurt over this."

It wasn't directed at me, but it still made a wave of guilt rush over me like a tsunami.

"Can I trust you to watch over her?" he asks, looking directly at me, the true gaze of an Alpha. I nod my head viciously. I would guard her with my life at this point. He casts a gaze to Waylon, a bit weary. "Please, look after both of them." And with that, he takes off out the door, which Waylon promptly locks behind him again.

*

Within ten minutes, the doctor is here and working on Macy. I step away to give him some space. She hasn't woken up in that time, but she's at least semi-conscious, as she occasionally groans in pain. I know she will be out once again when the doctor injects her with some pain meds.

Leaving the doctor to work, I join Waylon at the window that has the view of the fighting. It isn't entirely in full view, but I can see the gist of what's happening. There are significantly less wolves than before, as the Dusk Valley wolves have fallen back, and a good portion of the Midnight Fire wolves have as well.

I look at Waylon, who is nervously bouncing from foot to foot. After watching him for a minute, he catches me staring and stops. "Sorry, I feel like I'm...betraying the pack." I have no other response than a shrug.

I'm curious about him though. He's a changed werewolf just like Macy now is, but I don't know him from before. He had to have been changed within the past three years. Joshua mentioned he was a new trainee, so it couldn't have been that long ago either.

When I have his attention, I point to his eyes, my own eyebrows raised in question. It takes him a minute to process.

"Oh, that. Well, what can I say except it's a long story." I want to point out that we have time, but he continues anyways. "Basically, Joshua changed me about, oh, six months ago now." He looks out the window again, this time resting his head against the glass. "My family and I were attacked when we were camping, by a rogue wolf. I was the only one to survive out of my parents and my two sisters, and that was only because Joshua initiated the change."

I hadn't expected his story to be so heartbreaking, and I almost regret bringing it up, as the wounds have to still be fresh.

"I really just...wish he hadn't. But, afterwards, he forced me here and made me one of the pack. One of the family," he mutters sarcastically.

I don't try and push further.

He doesn't get the chance to continue, because a howl rings out, and everything feels if it stops. Even the doctor, who had diligently been working on Macy, stops and looks towards the window.

It's unmistakably the howl of an Alpha. Joshua. Soon, more howls join in. The howls of victory.