"I can't believe we left them. We should have stayed and fought," Ethan says with a shaky voice.

We are all huddled around a campfire, the night sky reflecting our depressed mood. Tatum has not talked since we ran away from the pack of alphas, not even muttering a word to his little brother. He refuses to let Elliot be any further than five feet away from him. Even now, he is twitchy, despite the fact that Elliot is sleeping against Meeka, only a few feet away from him.

"We had no choice," I tell him, rubbing Olive's back as she sleeps on my chest.

Ethan is doing the same to a sleeping Grace, but I can tell he is about to have a meltdown. His whole body is trembling and tears are spilling down his face. Reaching over, I grab his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "If we would have stayed, all of us probably would have been killed, including Liam and Taylor."

"Yeah," he murmurs, taking deep breaths to calm himself, "yeah, you're probably right."

"We will get them back. We just have to come up with a plan that doesn't involve any of us dying." Ethan nods his head before scooting closer to me.

"We have to get them away from the alphas as soon as possible," Tatum says, making me jolt in surprise.

Olive squirms against me, blinking open her blue eyes at the sudden movement. Quickly, I shush her, helping her to fall back asleep. It has not been easy getting the girls to sleep. They seem to notice their brother's disappearance and have not been handling it well.

"Yeah, but how?" I say, my eyes meeting his. His curls are in disarray, but he does not seem to notice, visibly upset about what had happened. I am still surprised that he is finally talking. "There were at least twenty of them, and that may not even be all of them. Who knows how many stayed behind at their camp."

"Haven't you guys been taught anything by your old pack?" he questions, true confusion on his face. His dark brows are scrunched together, and his dark blue gaze flicks between me and Ethan.

"What do you mean?" Ethan says, adjusting Grace so that they are both more comfortable. "We were taught plenty of stuff. Every day we had hours of training."

"But did you learn about the history of wolves or other packs?"

"Not really, no," I say, feeling a little stupid about our lack of knowledge. "Our mom was the one who knew everything. She was the historian in our pack, and if we needed to know anything, we could ask her."

"Just tell us what you know, Tatum," Ethan says with a bite in his tone, obviously irritated with the beta's questions. I give his hand another squeeze, trying to tell him to calm down. He seems to understand me and deflates against my side, the exhaustion he is feeling clear in the way his body is slouching.

"Alphas are always protective of their mates," he begins, raising a brow at us. "This protectiveness gives Alphas an advantage over most other wolves."

"Like what?" I interrupt. Tatum gives me a look as if questioning why I interrupted him if I wanted him to talk. He really is started to adopt Taylor's mannerisms. With a sigh, I lean against the tree behind me and gesture for him to continue.

"When in great distress or when the life of their mate is in danger, an alpha can shift into a full wolf. It rarely happens, so I guess it makes sense that you two do not know about it."

He leans down to pick up his little brother, situating him against his chest. Meeka sleepily opens one eye, making sure that everything is okay before dropping back off to sleep.

"Why didn't we change when the alphas attacked us then?" Ethan asks, the disbelief in his tone.

We had always been taught that our wolf side is mostly in spirit. The only advantages we got from it was quick healing, advanced fighting skills, and the ability to find a mate. Well, for Liam, his wolf allows him to have children. My heart seizes at the thought of our child being in danger. Ethan, noticing my distress, scoots closer to me without breaking his gaze from Tatum.

"Your wolf didn't see Liam being attacked, so it did not force the shift. Now, if you saw your mate being hurt, you would have no control over your wolf. You would most likely black out and your wolf would take over."

"Okay," I say hesitantly, trying to absorb everything that he is saying.

"But, the most important thing right now is to get the omegas back. As soon as the full moon comes around, Taylor is going to be raped over and over again by the alpha pack in hopes of getting him pregnant. Liam will be too if he gives birth to the baby before then. Who knows, if the baby doesn't come soon, they may just cut it out of him so they can use him on the full moon as well."

My chest feels tight with every word he says. The fact that my mate and child may be hurt or dead terrifies me, and I can tell that Ethan is not handling it well, either. I pull his trembling form tighter against me, hoping to soothe the both of us.

"The full moon is getting close," Ethan whispers, looking at me, the fear clear in his eyes. "Erik, we have to do something."

"I know, I know," I whisper, trying to calm him down again. Tatum is staring at us, the despair clear on his face.

"How do you know all of this?" I question the beta. He gives me a wobbly smile before turning his gaze back to the fire, tears sliding down his face.

"Taylor and I have been talking a lot lately," he says in a small voice. He sniffs before reaching up a hand and wiping away the tears. "When he wakes up from nightmares, I talk him back to sleep. We have gotten to know each other over the past couple months, and I..." He stops, glancing over at us again.

"You what?" Ethan says.

"He has been through so much. I don't know if he can survive going through what he did again." He buries his nose in Elliot's hair as if to seek comfort from his little brother's scent. "He escaped once, I cannot imagine what they are going to do to him this time. He must be so scared."

The tears are falling faster and I can tell he is about to become a sobbing mess. Quickly, I hand Olive to Ethan before walking over to the beta and wrapping my arms around him. This is the first time we have really had any contact, and I can tell that he is a little surprised, but eventually, he lays his head on my shoulder and lets himself go.

His sobs are silent, but I can feel them wracking his body. My arms tighten around his as I try to show him comfort, even though my own eyes are welling up at the thought of my mate being in danger.

"We will save them, we will," Ethan says from directly behind me. Nodding my head, I pull him closer so that we are all huddled together.

"And we will help you," an unfamiliar voice says from behind us.

Jolting back in surprise, I quickly turn to see two figures standing in front of us. Meeka is standing up, her pulled back ears and straight tail showing her willingness to defend us against the newcomers.

"What the hell?" Ethan says from behind me. "Where did you come from?"

I stand up, moving to stand beside Meeka and block my pack mates from view. Crossing my arms, I stare at the new arrivals, trying to decide whether or not to trust them.

"We've been following you, trying to find a time to talk," one of the figures says.

Upon further inspection, I can see that it is a man. His blonde hair is pulled away from his face and his blue eyes stand in stark contrast against his tan skin. His beard is a couple inches long, showing how long he has been out in the wild. The person standing next to him is a young woman, her blue eyes the same as the man she is with, showing that they are probably related somehow. Even though her dark hair is matted, she is still beautiful.

"What do you want from us?" I growl, not happy that they were able to sneak up on us. We had been so absorbed with the loss of our mates that we had not even noticed others following us.

"He told you," the girl says, stepping forward, "we want to help you."

"And why would you do that?" I ask.

They both look over at me with an unimpressed look. Taking a deep breath, I detect that they are both betas, but they do not seem intimidated by an Alpha staring them down.

"The Warriors have my mate and his sister," the male beta says, "and we know that they have your mates as well."

I do not bother correcting him about the fact that Taylor and Tatum are not mates. That is not important right now.

"How?" Tatum says from behind me.

"We were following them before they took your omegas, and ever since then, we have been trying to catch up to you. We wanted to make sure you were not dangerous before we approached you." The girl beta takes another step towards me, but finally stops when she hears my growl.

"We need to work together to get them back. If we do not, then all of our omegas are in danger. The full moon is approaching, and what your beta failed to mention is that it is a special moon. The only one where an omega can get pregnant by someone other than their mate," she says.

Hesitantly, I nod and gesture for them to sit across from us. Sitting down, I make sure the little ones are still asleep before turning my gaze back to the new betas. They take their seat in front of the fire before they begin to talk.

"We have a plan, and with all of us, it is bound to work," the male says.

"Wait, we do not even know your names," Tatum says. "We have to at least know your names before we go along with this plan of yours."

The girl looks over at the guy and they both nod. She holds her hands in front of the fire to heat them up while the guy begins to talk.

"My name is Jesse," he says before pointing to the woman, "and she is my sister, Alexis."

We all nod and tell them our names, making sure to talk quietly so that the young ones do not wake up.

"Now, we have to act fast, and like we said before, we have a plan," Alexis says, her blue eyes flicking between us. We nod our heads, open to their idea, and listen to what they have to say.

*****

The picture at the top is  of Alexis.