Our eyes battle in this long stare down, neither of us backing away. My face is set in an ugly snarl with my teeth bared in intimidation and anger. Alexei's eyes are wide, horror flashing through. Maybe it's how serious my tone is or all of what I said completely. The atmosphere in the room has become deadly as it looms around us, hiding and waiting.

"That'll never happen," Cytherea finally says through Alexei. "You're too late."

Confusion is what I feel at her words until there's an explosion around us. The windows shatter, shards flying in and pelting all of us. The door cracks, breaking into pieces from the explosive used. Not thinking of myself, I throw my body over Rory's to protect him from the flying debris. Smoke fills the air and my skin heats from the fire that has started from the bomb. Protectively, I wound my arms around my unconscious mate. Now I'm sure this has something to do with whatever spell Cytherea cast.

"Move, move, move," someone shouts from outside, a man's voice. Loud footsteps are heard before I'm ripped away from Rory.

"No!" I shout, though whoever has me ignores me. I'm thrown over a shoulder forcefully.

The hardness of the shoulder digs into my stomach harshly and uncomfortably. With a grimace, I lift my head so I can see what's happening. One of the warriors holds a syringe in his hand, silver liquid glinting in the light from outside. My pleads and shouts go unheard as he stabs the needle into Alexei's arm. She lets him, her mind still taken over by Cytherea. Once the poison is administered, her body slumps and her eyes close.

The same warrior picks her up. Her head hangs and bounces as he walks past us and out the door. There's nothing I can do to stop him from carrying my mate away. Werewolf warriors are strong, much stronger than regular werewolves. They train for years to fulfill this position so it makes sense I'm unable to get away from them. I wouldn't believe it if something was tugging at me, telling me that I'm stronger than they are.

Rory gets picked up next. Another warrior binds his hand with silver chains–his own hands protected by gloves–causing his skin to immediately burn from irritation of the silver. The same happens to his ankles before they pick him up, not being the least bit careful. Rory's body flails around like a rag doll and I want to command them all to stop.

"Alpha, aren't we glad we found you," the warrior holding me speaks. I don't know who because I'm unable to see his face.

It's funny. Before this, the pack refrained from acknowledging me. I was treated as if I was nothing but dirt, like I was a speck that never went away. Even when I became alpha, I know most were ready for the title to be transferred to Timothy and out of my hands. But before any of that could happen, Rory got me out of there. Now, it truly seems like they're relieved to see me.

The man holding me walks out of the cottage. Fire licks at my skin but he moves quickly, avoiding the flames as best he can. Taking a look up, I see the fire has grown and spread. Cytherea's cottage is gone now, or will be soon. This hideaway is no longer a safe place. It's no longer any type of place. Instead it holds more bad memories that are irreversible and will always be kept with the lot of us.

We reach the van and it's the same one from my dream. It was completely real then and I wish I could have prevented our capture. Instead, I was having words with a traitor witch who was living on borrowed time. Thinking about her gets my blood boiling. Rory, Alexei, and I spent so much time running only to be captured when we choose to trust one person. If... when we get out of this, I'll be having words with Alexei about trusting snotty women.

From my peripheral vision, I spot both Rory and Alexei being thrown into the van. The warriors climb in after, closing the double doors behind them. Looks like I'm not going to be able to reside with my mates. The man holding me walks to the front of the van and opens the passenger door. I'm lifted off his shoulder and set onto the seat.

"You can scoot to the middle, Alpha." He bows his head to show a sign of respect. It's confusing since he didn't care about respect when he threw me over his shoulder. "We'll be at the airport in no time."

"I don't want to go to the airport," I tell him before I can stop myself. Those words weren't meant to come out.

The warrior furrows his eyebrows. Now that I have a good look at him, I recognize him as Elijah Forrester. He's one of the top soldiers in our pack so it makes sense that they sent him on this mission.

"Alpha, we have orders from–" he cuts himself off, stopping abruptly. Then he clears his throat. "The stand in alpha has ordered your return."

What of my father? Where is he while all of this is going down? Timothy never should have been granted any type of power. The only reason he's there is because they–my father, Timothy's father, and Timothy–conspired and told everyone Timothy is my mate. But even then, Ambrose Amster should have stepped up and reclaimed his title as alpha. How could he not do anything knowing Timothy is out of control? It doesn't make sense.

"I'm not going back." I pin Elijah with a stern look. "I won't and none of you can make me."

I look around. Each fighter is silent, watching me with wide and unsure eyes. Do they listen to Timothy, the stand in, or me, the actual alpha? I only hope to the Moon Goddess that they choose to listen to me. If not, then we're screwed unless some freaky powers shoot out of my hands.

"I'm not going back," I say one more time, my voice firm and sure. "I will not subject myself or my mates to the wrath of Timothy."

Not that they can't defend themselves, but I'd rather we not deal with him turning rogue and his new vampire best friend... Ameri is the one I'm truly worried about. She's an old vampire and age has to be a contributing factor to her abilities. She is queen after all.

"Mate?" Elijah cocks his head to the side. "You found your mate?"

In a cloud of uncertainty, I nod my head. "Rory is my mate. Alexei is my mate."

Elijah looks behind me to the guy in the driver's seat. Furrowing his eyebrows, they share looks, letting me know they're mind linking. "Okay." Elijah sighs, turning back to face me. "Where is this Alexei you speak of? We didn't see any other males."

"That's because Alexei is a female and Stefan injected her with silver!"

"The vampire?" Each of them gasps, but it feels as if the sounds are muted.

Nodding, I finally scoot into the middle of the seat. Crossing my arms in front of me, I stare forward at the snow-covered terrain. It's tragic that I wasn't able to properly admire the lands of Canada. After this, I'll most likely never return because Timothy will have locked me away for as long as he lives. Wolves live long if we're lucky enough to avoid death.

"Alpha... forgive me." Elijah bows his head after I look at him. "We were told that you're Timothy's mate... the ceremony confirmed that."

"They were all lies," I tell him, though they can all hear me. "It was a plan devised by my father because of my status as an omega. Together with Timothy and Duke, they decided that I would be Timothy's mate and he would be the alpha while I, the luna."

"Alpha Ambrose has deceived us?" Elijah looks away, dejection clouding his face.

My father, Ambrose, was a good alpha. He did everything for his people and he was fair. To me, not so much, but he was to our people. To tell a lie is to betray the ones who trusted you most. Alphas are meant to be truthful and they are meant to confide in their pack so everyone can grow as a whole and become stronger. To tell a lie is to forfeit any trust that was previously there.

"I'm not going back," I repeat once more, drilling into them that my plans are different from theirs. "As your alpha, I'm telling you no."

I wonder if I even have the alpha command. It's an authority all alphas carry. Using the command made it impossible for those of your pack to disobey an order. I, myself, have never seen my father use it. That's only because people respected him and listened regardless if they wanted to or not. Now, it will really come in handy if I somehow have that despite having no wolf.

It's silent, no warrior speaking. I'm not even sure they're breathing from how quiet and still they are. Each second passes uncomfortably as I wait for them to do something, anything. Then as if my prayers are answered, Elijah bows. Taking a look around, each warrior has bowed their heads in submission, hands placed in front of them to show respect.

"Yes, Alpha," rumbles out of them all simultaneously.

"As our alpha, we devote our lives to you," Elijah comments before he gets into the van and shuts the door behind him. "Where to?

I bite my bottom lip and look ahead once again. The van starts with a rumble and the fog lights turn on.

"Take me somewhere we'll have time." My mind is in a frenzy, trying to think of any possible places we can go. "Take me somewhere I can plan a rescue."

"And who are we rescuing?" Stefan asks. I feel his eyes on me for a brief moment before he turns them back to the road and starts driving.

"Our pack from the clutches of Timothy Johnston."