raiden

The moment I arrive at the hospital, everything around me starts to move in a blur. Maia is taken from my arms and rushed into surgery. I try to follow her, but the doctors refuse to let me go in.

"She's my sister!" I growl out, but it's no use.

I'm pushed back while Maia is taken away out of sight. "I understand that you want to go, but we must—"

"You understand nothing!" I say, frustratedly. My hands run through my hair. "What do you understand? You tell me, what about this fucked up situation could you possibly understand?!"

Nobody replies to me and I let out s frustrated growl. I move toward the door where they took Maia, but a hand grabs my wrist. I snap my head around, ready to yell once again but I see Harmony, Mars' mate, staring at me instead.

Her eyes soften and she shakes her head. "You know you can't go in there, Raiden," she says calmly. "You have to wait out here."

I want to argue and scream at her, but I can't find the will to. Harmony leads me to a room and gives me clothes. She waits for me to get dressed before taking me to a chair and I drop into it, I lay my face in the palms of my hands, and the tears I fought to hold back begin to fall.

"I fucked up," the words escape me quietly.

"Raiden—" Harmony starts to say, but I can't hear the rest of what she's saying.

My thoughts run wild, telling me about how I fucked up with Mom and Dad, how I fucked up my relationship with Cloud, and how I fucked up with Maia — and now she might die. The constant arguments and our ruined relationship may be the last things she remembers about me. She was only out there because of me — Alpha Demos only came because of me.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Maia and I'm sorry Cloud.

The feeling of arms wrapping around me causes me to look up. Sitting beside me is Mars. He says nothing and doesn't move, he only pulls me closer to him.

"Mars," my voice comes out choked.

Mars' eyes soften. "Everything's going to be fine, Rai."

"Everything's not going to be fine! Everything's going to hell and now Maia's—"

"Maia's going to be okay," Mars assures me. He turns to look at me and I see the determined look in his eyes. "Everything will sort itself out, but I need you to calm down. Take deep breaths."

I follow his advice and try to stop myself from crying. Mars doesn't let me go and we sit there in silence. It's only when the sound of footsteps racing toward us gets louder that the silence is broken.

My parents look at me with wide eyes. Mom has tears dripping down her face. Dad is stressed; his hair is a mess and his eyes are bloodshot telling me he's also been crying.

"R-Raiden, what happened?" Mom manages to ask me. "What happened to my baby girl?!"

They both look at me, more broken than I'd ever seen before, but as I stare at them, I can't help my anger from growing.

"Alpha Demos did this," I tell them, my tone coated in bitterness. "He came to me and Maia tried to protect me."

Neither one of them say anything and I can see the shock in Mom's wide, teary, eyes. I look at her with my broken ones.

"Why did you keep trying to force me to see him? Why didn't you just let it go as I told you? Why did you ignore me when I told you I wanted nothing to do with him!"

I can't help it as my anger grows. Mom flinches at my tone and Dad stares at me with an unreadable expression.

"Why was my happiness not enough for you? You always told me that you wanted the best from me and you wanted me to be happy, so why?" My voice cracks.

They still don't say anything so I turn away from them. My eyes squeeze shut as I try to block out the negative thoughts racing through my head.

Maia's going to be okay.

"Raiden," Alpha Tatum's voice pops into my mind as he links me. "Are you at the hospital?"

Taking a deep breath I pull myself together and reply. "I am. Maia was badly injured. Is Beta Reo okay?"

Silence.

There's no reply from Alpha Tatum. I try to wait and see if he will say anything, but he doesn't.

"Alpha?"

When he still doesn't answer, my heart begins to beat faster. Standing up, I ignore my parents and look over at Mars.

"Can you have Harmony keep me updated?" Mars nods. "Thank you, and I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything," Mars replies, not missing a beat.

"Find Cloud for me and bring him here. I don't want anything to happen to him."

Mars nods but looks at me with confusion. "Where are you going?"

"To make sure Beta Reo is alright."

I don't wait for his reply as I leave the hospital and shift, not bothering to worry about the clothes I had just received. Everything blurs together as I fly by. I can hear people say things, but I don't pay them any attention. The only thing on my mind is the beta.

We may not always get along, but I still consider him a friend and after I make sure he and Maia are okay, I'll make sure they both know that they mean a lot to me. I'll make sure Cloud knows that I love him more than he knows. I'll make sure everything is okay.

When I reach the pack borders though, Alpha Tatum is the only one standing. Below him, on the ground is Hopper. His face is badly bruised and he's passed out.

Did Alpha Demos do this?

"Alpha Tatum...?" I call out hesitantly. "Where's Beta Reo, is he alright? And what happened to Hopp—"

I stop talking the moment Alpha Tatum turns around. Instead, my eyes trail down his body and focus more specifically on his clenched fist. His bloody clenched fist. I move to Hopper's injured form and then I look back up at the alpha. He stares at me with a clenched jaw and dark eyes in place of his normal green.

"Alpha, what happened?" I ask quietly.

The scent of rogues lingers and just outside pack territory is a dead rogue lying on the ground.

Alpha Tatum's hand clenched impossibly tighter and he manages to growl out, "Reo's been taken."