"We found a place!" a voice says, jolting me out of the small nap I had been enjoying. Tiredly, I sit up, supporting my back with one hand and rubbing my eyes with the other. The blanket and pads I sit on help to cushion the hard ground a little bit, but between the added pressure of the baby and the little sleep I have been able to get, my body has been aching.

My voice is scratchy when I respond. "That's great. Where is it?"

"It's abo-" He is cut off my distant howls. This snaps me out of the sleepy haze I had been remaining in.

Howls are never a good sign when they do not come from familiar wolves, and especially since we have spent months running from a pack of rogue alphas.

"We need to run!" Taylor says, sprinting out of the woods towards us. Without stopping, he starts packing any of our stuff that he can reach. Food and blankets are stuffed into open backpacks, and Tatum does not seem to hesitate with helping Taylor. Seeing that all of us but Tatum are frozen to the spot, he yells, "Move! The Warriors are coming!"

"W-what?" I say shakily while Ethan helps me up. As fast as I can, I waddle over to Olive's and Grace's sleeping forms and grab the carrier cloth. Carefully, I strap them onto me, putting even more pressure on my already sore back.

"They're coming. I was out walking, trying to clear my head when I smelled them. They were a few miles out when I discovered them. Luckily, I was downwind of them, but by the sound of those howls, they have caught our scent."

Nobody questions him any further. All of us hurriedly pack all of our necessities before clearing out of the place as quick as we can, leaving a lot of stuff behind. My stomach makes it hard, but I manage to keep up with the rest of the wolves.

"We need to move faster," Erik says from behind me. We all turn our heads when we hear the snapping and cracking of branches as the Warriors close in on us. Grunts of human and wolf forms are loud as the follow us, signifying the vast majority of them.

"We can't get away from them," I cry. Quickly, I unwrap Olive's and Grace's now awake and screaming forms and hand them to Ethan. They cling to me hard, making me wince when I have to pry their tiny fingers off of me before handing them off.

"Liam, what are you doing?" he says as he takes the both of them from me. "We need to run, not unstrap children from ourselves."

I shake my head, hearing the growls getting closer, and the tears come even faster. "I can't run as fast as you."

"Love..." Erik tries, seeing what I plan to do. "We'll fight them. We won't let them take you or Taylor."

"You can't! There are too many of them and not enough of us. You'll be killed in a matter of minutes."

All of my friends around me are frozen by my words. This is our family, and the thought of breaking it apart causes an ache to start in my chest and spread throughout the rest of my body. Eventually, Taylor nods his head in resignation, but all of the other's start to shake their heads in denial.

"Are you insane?" Tatum says harshly, adjusting his brother in his arms. "You'll be killed, too."

Taylor and I share a look. We both know we will not be killed. Much worse things will happen to us, but we cannot let the others be hurt trying to protect us. The amount of time left for them to escape is dwindling, and we have to get them to leave us behind.

"I'll stay with him," Taylor says. "You can save us later, but right now, you have no chance when it comes to a pack of angry alphas."

"We aren't leaving you!" my mates say at the same time.

"You're pack," Tatum whispers. I suck in a breath. We are pack. We have been through heaven and hell together. Battling the infected and running from the Warriors has brought us closer together, and somehow without realizing it, we had formed our own little pack.

Pack is family and stays together. Even though I did not have the best experience with my old pack, I was still protected from the outside world. These wolves around me are my new family, and they would do anything they could to protect their fellow pack mates.

"Yes, we're pack," I respond quietly right as the wolves who are chasing us break through the trees. "And you need to run."

Something in my voice, maybe the resignation of mine and Taylor's fate, that what is about to happen cannot be stopped, pushes the rest of our pack to leave. Tears are falling down all of their faces, and I can see how they want to fight, but I shake my head.

"We'll find you," Erik whispers and Ethan nods his head. Together, they wrangle my screaming sisters, who seem to know what is going on, and run through the only opening left in the closing circle of wolves. Tatum reluctantly follows behind, the desire to protect Taylor clear on his face, but eventually he follows my mates.

The circle of rogue alphas closes around us. Taylor wraps his arms around my side, pressing our quaking bodies as close together as he can. His wide coat surrounds my body as if he is trying to protect me from the ones who want to capture us.

There are at least twenty of them, and I can count five fully transformed wolves. Each and every one of these wolves have a crazed look in their eyes, and the ones in human form do not look like they are faring any better. I guess Tatum was correct about the wolves being the alphas who had lost all of their sanity, and now their wolf spirits have taken over their bodies.

"Well, look who we have finally caught up to," one says, stepping out of the circle of Warriors. He is medium height, probably not much taller than me, and gangly. He looks as if he was once a powerful and large wolf, his tattoos on his flabby skin not looking as menacing as they most likely once were. "And an extra omega, too. How nice to see you again, sugar."

Taylor's trembling body shakes even worse. I fear that he is going to fall over or go into a full blown panic attack, so I wrap my arms tighter around him.

A snide grin spreads on the face of the wolf who stepped forward. All of the wolves in human form circling us chuckle at us and seem to find what their leader says to be funny.

"Stay away from us, you asshole," I say, satisfied that my voice does not waver as I stare him down. The cruel smile he has on his face slides off and is replaced with a deadly glare.

"You think you are more powerful than us, puny omega?" he growls through clenched teeth. Spit flies out of his gnarled mouth with every word he says. "We're alphas. You're nothing compared to us."

"We're better than you in every sense," I say back, not daring to break eye contact.

The growls of the alphas pick up, and the fully changed wolves shift in agitation. I want to take in the fully changed wolves' forms, but I do not dare break eye contact with the leader. My mind wanders, though, as I try to understand how this pack has managed to function. They break many wolf traditions, something that is supposed to be impossible.

"Liam, don't say anything else. You'll get in even worse trouble," Taylor whispers to me through chattering teeth. We are both terrified, but I refuse to give the alphas the satisfaction of seeing me quake.

"Grab them," the leader says, the sick smile returning to his face again. Everyone in the circle surges towards us, and the next thing I know, I am falling into darkness.