We have been walking for almost two weeks now, and we are finally only a day away from pack lands. But instead of going home, we have to go off course and try to find what the humans are up to.

Alexis had found their trail early this morning, and it stuck out like a sore thumb. The humans are obviously not as used to the woods as we are, leaving marks that they had been here all over the place. They seem particularly fond of putting notches on trees every ten feet or so, making it easy to follow their path.

"We're getting close," Alexis whispers from in front of me.

Looking around, I have to agree with her. The notches that used to be about ten feet apart are now much closer together, and the undergrowth is almost completely trampled.

My eyes catch on something familiar in the trees, and my arm snaps out, stopping Alexis in her tracks. Her right foot is still raised, seeing as she was about to take a step, but when she looks in the direction of my gaze, she falls back against me. Because in the trees are large spikes, ones that swing down if you step on the trigger somewhere hidden on the ground. Our saving grace, though, is that the humans seemed to only be trying to fend off the infected since the triggers are almost completely visible under a fine layer of dirt.

"Jesus, how many do they have?" Alexis whispers, her eyes darting from tree to tree, probably doing the same as me and mentally counting all of the spikes.

Situating Alexis so that she is standing again, I carefully pull out my knife, wanting to be prepared for any potential dangers. If the humans are taking this level of defenses, then they must have a lot of attacks from the infected.

"I counted thirteen of them, and they seemed to be placed around the more worn parts of the undergrowth."

Alexis nods her head, pulling out her own dagger before she follows me through the traps. I have spent my whole life setting traps and being out in the wilderness, seeing as I was a park ranger at the forest next to my old pack lands. So my eyes easily find all of the triggers for the swinging spikes, and Alexis makes sure to stay right behind me, stepping where I step.

It doesn't take too long to clear the spikes, and Alexis lets out a sigh of relief from behind me. We stay quiet, though, after that, not wanting to alert any potential threat to our whereabouts.

The sound of voices becomes louder the farther we go, and soon enough, we find ourselves on the edge of a large clearing. We crouch behind the tree line, making it so that we are not visible to the people down below us. Luckily, we are on the top of a hill, and the gathering of humans are down in the small valley.

My eyes widen slightly when I realize that there is actually a good number of them, probably around fifty or so, and they don't seem too concerned about anything. The reasoning for that soon becomes clear the longer I stare at their compound. Because tied to the fence poles about twenty feet apart are eight fully shifted werewolves.

"Holy shit," I whisper, and Alexis nods beside me.

The wolves are clearly agitated, some of them scratching at themselves and others pacing the length of their ropes. Every time a human walks by, they snap their teeth, trying to get a piece of them between their strong jaws. The humans make sure to steer clear of them, though, obviously knowing what would happen if they stumbled within reach of the wolves.

"What the hell are they doing with fully shifted wolves? How did they even get fully shifted wolves?" Alexis mumbles, shaking her head in confusion.

"It looks like they are using them for some sort of protection," I say, watching as one of the wolves sniffs at another, before jumping away when the wolf lets out a growl. "And how they got them, I would guess through torture." Alexis looks over at me with wide eyes and I shrug my shoulders. "The only way a werewolf can access their wolf spirit and fully shift is through extreme pain or distress, usually having to do with a loved one. I bet you anything, these humans are doing something awful to the ones those wolves love in order to keep them chained up. Probably why they are so agitated is because they can't do anything to stop the pain, since they are tied down."

"Shit," Alexis mumbles.

We both stay quiet after that, observing the compound with heavy hearts as the sun starts to set. The wolves only seem to become more irritated as the moon rises high in the sky, watching the forest with bright eyes. For one second, I am absolutely sure that one of the wolves is looking directly at us, but it doesn't make any sort of sound. Instead, it just cocks its head before laying down, its head on its paws. Huh. It is as if the sight of us calmed the wolf down.

Before I can even mention the odd happening to Alexis, she is swatting my arm, trying to draw my attention. When I look over at her, she has wide eyes, looking at the other side of the compound, where there is movement.

All of the humans went inside hours ago, seemingly without a care in the world. They probably thought the tethered wolves would keep any potential threats away, so they don't even have any of their own guards patrolling the border.

"Jesse, look," Alexis whispers, pointing at the black figure that is steadily becoming bigger.

The person is climbing up the hill we are sitting on top of, seemingly at ease. As they come closer, it is clear that they are holding something close to their chest, a small blanket thrown over top of it.

"What the hell?" I mumble, my eyes squinted as I watch the person take a slight right turn, making it so that they don't cross our path.

Alexis and I exchange curious glances before deciding to follow where that human may be going and what they are holding so tightly. Our movement through the woods is practically silent, while the human is clumsier. It isn't hard to follow them, seeing as the underbrush sounds with every step they take.

The person stops finally at a small clearing. Really, it is just an area free of underbrush surrounding an old tree, with its roots partially raised from the ground. The human kneels to the ground, every movement careful, before placing what they are holding against their chest onto the moss bedding spread between the two largest roots.

That's when a very familiar sound makes its way to our ears: crying. The small thing she set onto the moss is crying.

"What the hell?" Alexis mumbles.

"Shh," the human soothes, pulling off the pack from their back rooting around inside. The person pulls out a small bottle, already full of milk before giving it to the small baby. The infant is pleased for the moment, eagerly gulping the milk.

"Jesse," Alexis mumbles, her eyes never moving from the two people in the clearing, "the baby is a werewolf."

Almost as if on its own, my nose lifts in the air, trying to catch the scent that Alexis obviously did. It takes a couple of seconds, but I realize that she is right. The baby is a werewolf, but-

"But the other one is human," Alexis says, finishing my thought.

"Why does a human have a werewolf baby, and why the hell would they bring a baby out here?" I question, all while trying to get a better look at the person.

A branch snaps from the right of us, causing the human to whip their head around. Alexis and I both look in the same direction and watch as two infected stumble into the clearing, their moans causing the baby to cry.

The human immediately stands up and tries to draw a knife, but it must be stuck, because they are not able to get it out, their hand pulling hard on the handle.

I don't even hesitate to stand up and quickly make my way over. The knife I am holding is razor sharp, from all the time I spent sharpening it during our long walks, so it easily pierces through the skull of the first infected. The second one turns at the commotion, coming towards me instead of the human. Half of its face is missing, making it easy for my knife to pierce its skull and make it drop to the ground.

Once both of them are completely dead, I look back at the human, who is watching as I wipe the blood off my knife with wide eyes. Now that I am closer, I am able to see that the human is a woman, probably around Alexis's age, with dark hair and eyes.

"Jesse, what the hell were you thinking," my sister says from behind me as she makes her way into the clearing. She stops in her tracks when she takes in the human who is still watching us.

"Couldn't let the baby get eaten," I say, and Alexis just shakes her head while letting out a long sigh.

"True, Micah would flay you alive if he knew you let a baby die."

My mouth opens in retort at the insult of me not caring enough to want to save an innocent life without the threat of my mate's wrath, but before I can say anything, the human clears her throat. "You two shouldn't be here," is all she says, her voice soft. "It isn't safe."

"We can take care of ourselves," Alexis says, crossing her arms as she looks over the human in scrutiny.

The girl just raises her eyebrow. "You never know the dangers you are in until you are fighting for your life."

The baby starts to cry again, and the girl walks over to it, picking it up from where it is squirming in irritation. The baby is tiny, looking about the same size as Rosalie and Matty when they were first born.

"Why do you have a werewolf baby?" I ask, barely restraining myself from snatching the baby away from her. My wolf is starting to stir again, and I don't want to risk it growing in strength before I get home.

The girl doesn't say anything for a while, instead focusing on the infant. It isn't until the child is settled that she turns towards us again.

"They were going to kill him since he is a wolf, so I stole him."

"And what are you planning on doing with him, just keeping him here in the woods where anything can stumble upon him?" Alexis questions. "How did you even get him anyway?"

The girl shakes her head. "I hadn't thought that far, just that he didn't deserve to die because of who he is. His mother already had to pay the price; he didn't deserve the same fate."

"And the mother?" I ask, watching as the girl picks up the blanket from before and uses it to cover the naked baby. "What happened to her?"

"She came in with the last batch of werewolves and humans that were captured about two weeks ago. Once she gave birth earlier this evening, they took the baby away, in hopes of making her shift. It didn't work, and so she was killed."

"Wait, wait," Alexis says, her face scrunched up in confusion. "You are capturing werewolves and humans? That doesn't even make sense."

The girl nods her head in understanding. "Our elders try to bring in as many people as possible, hoping to grow stronger. If the humans don't want to be in our community, then they are thrown out. The wolves, though," her face twists in sadness, "the wolves aren't given any kindness."

She sits down on a fallen tree before looking back over at us. "Most of my fellow humans have gone insane, thinking about taking over the world, even though there is really nothing left to take over. So, they are using everyone they come across as leverage, hoping to gain more power."

"Are you saying you're the only sane one left?" I question a bit dubiously.

"My sister and I are the only ones who aren't affected in the same way as the others. Our sanity hasn't been stripped from us, and I think that we are immune to whatever sickness has taken over the others. The others, they crave," she pauses again, her face twisting in disgust. "They crave flesh, like the stumblers, except they only need very little to get by, and they aren't truly dead."

"Just crazy?" Alexis says.

The girl nods her head. "Just crazy."

A loud bell rings from the compound, and the girl flinches at the sound. "It's time," she says, looking back over at us with wide eyes. "They are about to go on their hunt for the next victim, and you have to run." She looks back down at the baby, who is now fast asleep. "Take him and run."

She quickly hands the baby over to Alexis and gives me the backpack, not allowing for us to object. It is then that I realize she really is different from the others. Her eyes are clear, instead of crazed like the other humans we have seen. Something inside me untangles, and I realize that she is like a newborn chick among foxes in that compound. At any moment, the other humans could come for her.

"You should come with us," I say quickly, stopping the girl in her tracks. Alexis looks over at me in slight shock, but her face quickly clears into one of understanding. "They could turn on you at any minute."

The girl just bites her lip before shaking her head. "I can't leave without my sister." And with that, she quickly starts to run down the hill and back to the compound.

Alexis and I exchange looks before looking down at the sleeping baby. "What the hell are we going to do now?" she asks.

The bell rings again in the distance, and I quickly clip the baby pack onto my own backpack. "Run."

And run we do.