By the time I make it back to the village, everything is chaos. The infected and completely over the hill bordering the safe haven, and making their way down. Our own fighters are running to meet him, while those who are unable to fight are making their way to the caves.

Someone collides into me, almost making me fall to the ground, but hands grabbing onto my arms steady me.

"Rowan, thank god," a familiar voice says, voice rough. Liam looks me over before his eyes flick over my shoulder, clearly looking for his son. "Where's Matty?"

"He's in the orchard. He wanted me to get you."

"Oh god," he says, voice coming out shaky. "Is he hurt? I've been looking for him everywhere. The others are in the caves, but I couldn't stay there when I knew he was out here."

Shaking my head, I gently grab his arm, trying to reassure him. "No, he's not hurt, but he wants to complete the ritual between Rosalie and Henry. There is no way I could convince him otherwise. You know how stubborn he is."

He lets out a strained laugh. "Yeah, I do."

Screams cut through the air, and we both look over to the hills. The humans have finally broken through, and they are quickly following behind the infected, taking out anyone they can.

"He can't stay out there," Liam says, looking back over towards me. "Tell me where he is, and I'll drag him back if I have to."

Knowing that Matty won't budge until the ritual is complete, I don't try to argue with my Luna. Better for him to be there with Matty anyway.

"He's in the storage shed. But I need to get Rosalie, Noah, and Henry." He opens his mouth to protest, clearly not wanting the ritual to be performed right now, so I hurry forward. "They will be added protection, and he needs it with two babies."

"Two babies?"

"He can explain that for you, but I have to go."

Liam looks back towards the hill, nodding his head. "You do. Go. I'll get the others." He leaves then, jogging in the direction of Taylor's tent.

The worry inside me grows stronger, but I know that the village cannot afford for me to go back to my boyfriend and our children. The best way to protect him would be to fight the infected and humans, attempt to stop them before they make it all the way to the village.

People are running all around, and I have to try and dodge them in order to make it to my tent. By some type of miracle, I am able to make it back to my tent without running into anyone else.

The homey ness of the tent make my heart clench, but strengthens my resolve. The crib and the disarrayed blanket son the bed remind me who I am fighting for.

Taking a deep breath, I walk over to the bed. Tucked between the tent wall and the bed are my weapons. As quickly as I can, I strap on my holsters, placing my daggers inside. The last thing I grab is the weighted, wooden club I had gotten during my first week here. It fits perfectly in my hand, excellent for taking out any infected with one swipe.

Grabbing the clanked, I bring it up to my face, breathing in the scent of Matty, Elias, warmth, and milk. It takes a lot of effort to put the blanket back down and move out of the tent, but I do it anyway. I trust Liam to gather the others and make it back to Matty. We can't afford for me to not trust them.

Steeling myself, I start into a job towards the hill. More people are joining the fight, clearly just as willing to fight for their village and loved ones.

Seeing Erik and Jesse at the end slope of the hill, I make my way over to them. Jesse catches sight of me first, ushering me over.

"Where is your brother?"

"Busy."

He doesn't ask for further explanation, just nods his head. "We're getting ready to launch a counter attack. The archers will be in position in less than a minute, and Ethan and your father are in charge of the catapults. They'll be here soon. I want you and Beckett to lead the runners. You two are the only available ones who have been trained on them.

Nodding, I follow him over to where Beckett is standing.

"Noah safe?" he asks me, eyes steely.

"I don't know."

His mouth tightens, clearly displeased with my answer, but he nods anyway. "We'll let's get this over with."

"Alright," Jesse says, looking in between us. "It's time for you to go." Before we can leave however, Jesse grabs his son into a tight hug. Beckett tucks his head into his father's neck, seeming to take comfort in his scent. "Be safe."

Beckett nods. Together, we head out. The fighting is intense, seeming to be everywhere. We try to stick to the outskirts, but it is no use. Infected follow our scent, braking away from the others.

"I got left, you got right," Beckett says, not waiting for a response before meeting the first infected.

Tearing my eyes away from him, I focus on the two infect coming toward me. One is a human infected, which is easy enough to take out. One swipe of my club and it 's head is bashed in. The other infected is the one that worries me, though. It's a werewolf, and it looks fresh.

"Shit," I murmur.

The beast lumbers towards me, lips curled up in a snarl as it faces me. The thing is huge, at least twice the size of me, and there are no marks on it.

Its feet brace on the ground and I quickly grip onto the club with both hands, turning slightly. The beast takes my movement as a threat and lunges at me, teeth bared. Pulling back, I swing as hard as I can. The beast manages to twist slightly, so I miss it's head, but I still manage to catch it in the shoulder.

The beast howls, muscle tearing. The arm lays limp at its side, the muscle exposed as the arm was torn from the socket.

It looks like it is about to come at me again, and I raise the club up, prepared for another attack. But before it can attack, though, it seizes up, body tensing before it falls away to the ground. It takes me a moment to notice the arrow sticking out of its head.

"The archers must be in position," Beckett says.

We both look up in the trees, and sure enough, all of our archers are sitting in the trees, arrows flying through the air. My eyes meet those of a familiar looking woman. It takes me a moment to recognize her as Noah's birth mom.

"No wonder she survived this long," Beckett murmurs.

Not wasting another minute, we continue up the hill. We go mostly unnoticed. Only two other infected stumble upon us, and we are quickly able to take them out.

By the time we make it to the top of the hill, my heart is pounding. Looking down the other side of the hill, I see that our own fighters have made it up the hill, and are taking out as many humans and infected in the back as they can.

"Do you wanna run or do you want me to?"

"Flip?"

Beckett nods. Bending down, I grab a piece of wood, carving an 'x' on one side. We hold each others gaze as I through the wood up in the air. We don't look away until the wood hits the ground.

"I guess it's me," I murmur, staring at the x I had carved only seconds ago.

"I'll cover you, and the archers should know to look out for you." Beckett, walks over to the biggest tree, unhooking the wooden pedal car that was leaning against it. The back is tall, reinforced metal that must have taken forever to build. Cords are connected to it, along with another piece of metal. As I pull the metal bar away from the car, the string unwinds, glinting in the sun. There are three attachments, meant to take up as many enemies as possible.

"You'll cover me?"

Beckett nods. "I'll covers you."

He doesn't question when I hand him my club. It is too hard to swing with one hand. I'll have to rely on my daggers. "See you at the bottom."

I don't wait for a response before running out into the open field. The infected are easy enough to push and kick away, and the humans are taken out with arrows before they can reach me. My heart is beating a mile a minute, anticipating a threat. But, I am able to make it all the way to the other pedal car without dying.

Taking it down from the tree, I slide the metal bar into place. The wires tighten, going from slack to taught as Beckett pulls the wires tighter.

Quickly, I get into the pedal cart, feet on the pedals. The top string strums, giving me a five second warning. My hands tighten on the wheel, and I take a deep breath. Once the five seconds are up, I hear the whistle coming from Beckett. All of our fighters are no on high alert, knowing to watch for the cords. It's their responsibility to dodge them.

My feet move on the pedals, moving rhythmically. We were trained stringently on how to do this, synchronizing our pedals so that we are moving equally down the hill.

Our people are either running off the field or falling to the ground, dodging the cords. The humans and infected, however, do not know what is going on. We are moving fast enough that the sharp cord slices right through them, and they drop like flies. As soon as we pass, our own fighters pop bac up, taking out and survivors.

The humans at the bottom of the hill are some of the only ones to survive, having more time to notice what is gong on and how to avoid it.

Ethan is waiting for me at the bottom of the hill, helping me out of the pedal car. "Head back to the village. We can take out the rest here, but I want you and Beckett to make sure no one has made it past us."

"Yes, alpha."

He leaves me once I am out of the car, joining the last of the fights. Our fighters are working their way down the hill, encircling the remaining infected and humans. It won't be much longer until all of them are taken care of.

Desperate to see if Matty and the babies are alright, I run as fast as I can towards the orchards. The sound of pounding feet behind me tells me that Beckett is following me.

The village is mostly deserted. No one is on the paths to block us. It makes the journey to the orchard a quick one.

The shack door is thrown open, and my heart pounds as I see the bodies laying on the ground. It isn't until I get closer that I realize that I don't recognize any of the fallen bodies. As I get closer to the shack, something bounds out from behind it, and the quick movement has me pulling my dagger.

But the dark figure stills in front of me. My eyes widen considerably when I realize that it is a wolf standing in front of me, and I would recognize that scent anywhere. For some reason, my brother is a fully shifted werewolf.

"What the hell?"

"Really." Beckett is standing behind me, eyes fixated on my brother. "Why is he shifted?"

"Rosalie must be hurt. Only extreme emotions can make the wolf take control."

"No she's fine now." We both whirl around to see Noah standing with Elias in his arms. "We're over here, come one."

Beckett quickly goes over to his mate, making sure that Noah isn't hurt at all. They whisper to each other, hands moving over one another as they walk. Following them, I see that the others are behind the shed. Henry sits back in the place he was before, keeping guard.

Matty is crouched next to Rosalie, who is cradling her arm to her chest.

"What happened?" I ask, moving to kneel next to Matty. His hand falls on my leg, squeezing it.

"Two infected and one human made it all the way out here. They caught us off guard in the middle of the ritual. Roalie was the closest to them, and the human grabbed her. We tried to tug her back, but the human was holding her so tightly. She ended up dislocating her shoulder. Mom hit her over the head with a shovel, and once she was down, the infected went after her. We just took care of the infected once they were done with her."

"We'll need to take you to your mom as soon as they are done fighting."

"It's pretty much over now. They alphas sent us over, and they are taking care of the rest of the infected and humans. They are probably done by now."

Liam nods. "Alright then," he wraps his arm around Rosalie's waist, gently pulling her up. "Let's get you to Taylor." They walk away and Henry follows them. "Good for you to come too, Henry. You two need your rest while the bond solidifies over the next couple days."

My eyes widen at his words, and I look at Matty in shock. My boyfriend has a wide smile on his face.

"It worked?"

"Yeah, love. It worked." He pulls me into a tight hug, and I pepper kisses on every part of him that I can reach. Elias lets out a cry, clearly upset about not being part of the embrace. Matty pulls away from me, and we stand up together. Come on, let's head back home. And with my arm wrapped around him, I reach down to grab the basket that Aren is sleeping in, allowing Matty to lead us back home.