verb ~ to put, send, or give something back to where it came from

CHARLIE

The battlefield smelled like home and death.

Damp earth torn open by too many paws, pine split under claws and impact. And blood...

So much blood it was thick in the air until every breath tasted like iron. It should have turned my stomach, but instead, it hit something deep and instinctive inside me, something older than fear.

Home.

Pack.

Protection.

I was the beta, after all.

I could feel it all. The wild rhythm of my pack, the bond I had spent months aching for, and the brutal certainty that I knew this place even in ruin. I had dreamed of getting back to them so many nights it no longer felt real, and now that I was near, it wasn't reunion waiting for me. It was war.

Still, beneath the horror, beneath the shock of seeing everyone I loved drenched in mud and blood, a fierce, painful relief rose in me. I was home... Well, on royal grounds and a few hours north from home, but home enough to fight for. Home enough to bleed for.

Home enough that if I died here, at least I would die where I belonged.

It had taken less time to reach the battleground from Blood Moon than I expected, but it seemed I arrived at the perfect moment. I eased into a slower walk, my feet barely disturbing the ground as I advanced from the southeastern edge.

In one heartbeat, I saw everything.

Phoenix was in the centre of it all, bloodied and furious, every inch the Alpha he was born to be. Wolves pinned him down; countless limbs and teeth latched onto his fur. I was surprised they had not suffocated him.

Seeing him made my chest ache, because that was my best friend. The one man who took me in and saw potential rather than a disgrace.

But then my nostrils caught another scent, and surprise erupted on my face. Because why the hell was she here so close to the impact? And why did the scent of her blood taint the grass so heavily?

I was about to explode with anger when I saw her, because she should be home, safe and protected. She could stubbornly complain about it whilst she looks after the demon babies she created with Phoenix.

But instead, a stubborn Nova lay pinned and threatened on the ground, away from Phoenix. Her dark fur was slick with blood and dirt, pieces of fur missing from her limbs and her front leg twisted at a horrible angle. The ache in my chest deepened, spreading to my jaw as the urge to tear them apart for hurting her took over.

I continued to search, spotting more than just Blood Moon amongst the crowds. Aldren, Sean, and even Lyra stood among the wolves, fighting for their lives. It wasn't like Phoenix to join forces with another pack, but then again, I wouldn't put it past Lyra to come unannounced. She was the daughter and future ruler of the other King's pack; it was her duty to protect the throne as much as it was Phoenix's.

I growled, prowling closer, noticing the fighting had slowed, and a man stood before everyone. His scent was awful: a mixture of wolf and silver. In fact... everything around her smelled an awful lot like lycan, and I just hoped it wasn't Nova's blood.

But then the man in the front snarled darkly, the sound rumbling in his throat. And my eyes concentrated more on him.

He was obviously the leader, and very much an idiot, of what started this fight. Going against the royals? Stupid choice.

He had a mere two wolves covering his flank, neither of them even looking behind them. More surrounded his front, but they were meaningless right now.

Right now, my eyes were on him, and as I looked around, so was everyone else.

It was the shift of his weight that drew my attention to what he held in his hand, and my breath caught in my throat. Pollux, dragged through the chaos, thin and pale and barely holding his own head up.

The man held him roughly, a silver knife that smelt of enchantment in his grip. I could smell it pressing against Pollux's blood, the scent of burning flesh fouling the air.

"Last chance to choose, Alpha." The man snarled.

He was giving Phoenix an ultimatum, and from the look in his eye, I knew he was struggling to save everyone.

Something inside me snapped the moment the boy I'd come to care for cried out in pain. Every instinct screamed at me to launch into action to protect my pack. My wolf surged, eager to join me as we charged ahead without hesitation.

Months in the wild had prepared me for this; my blood boiling to the point of combustion.

I hit the first wolf so hard that we both left the ground.

My teeth closed around his throat, his spine giving beneath the force of it, and I used my weight to drive him into the dirt. He yelped once before I tore free and lunged for the next.

There was no time to think, nor time to explain, before everything around me exploded into action.

There was no time to be shocked that I was back here, with the pack, in the middle of a war I had only felt through fate's path.

I moved because they couldn't, and because Phoenix couldn't reach both Pollux and Nova. I knew he'd always choose Nova, but the hesitation on his face made it clear he was stuck.

That alone was something to question, because since when did the big bad alpha man hesitate at battle strategy?

You acted on the biggest threat and dealt with the smaller ones afterward. Killing this leader will make all of his zombies submit to you.

Basic battle math.

The other enemy wolf turned toward me, eyes too bright, movements too sharp. Whatever had been done to him had left him stronger, maybe, but feral too. I ducked beneath his jaws and slammed into his ribs, using every scrap of strength the wilderness had carved into me.

Months of hunger, of fighting rogues... Months of surviving beside a mate who barely knew me.

It all lived in my body now.

I wasn't polished anymore, or clean. I had blood in my claws that didn't belong, but I was harder to kill.

I tore through the gap the wolves had tried to close, blood hot across my muzzle, paws sliding in mud and gore. Pollux stumbled ahead as the leader dropped him, and I realised it had been mere seconds since I'd acted.

His head lifted slightly, eyes slightly unfocused.

The torture on his face was all I needed to latch onto the stupid cloak hanging from the leader's broad shoulders. But he snarled, unclipping the cloak with a fluid movement that shocked me. His eyes widened as they locked onto me, and I watched with barely contained disgust as he began to shift into a beast similar to the surrounding ones.

Two wolves approached me as their leader's fur sprouted, covering him in his most vulnerable state. Shaking out my fur, hackles raised, I crashed into one from the side, jaws snapping around his snout. He snarled, his blood filling my mouth as I flung him to the ground and crushed his neck beneath my paw.

The other clambered on top of me, but I rolled, taking his momentum and driving his skull into the slate beneath us. He died with a gargle, and I turned my attention to the wolf that now stood vulnerable before me.

His wolf was dark brown, eyes golden hazel that reminded me of Phoenix. He snarled at me, taking a threatening step closer, but before he could charge at me, a black wolf barrelled into his side.

Phoenix.

I huffed, letting the alphas battle it out instead.

An awkward moment passed as I turned around, my ears twitching to the sound of a sad whimper.

Pollux.

He dropped, his knees colliding with the ground as he swayed. I gasped, instantly shifting into my human skin beside him. I caught him before he could fall completely, one arm hooking beneath his chest and grasping the back of his head. He weighed too little. Far too little.

His head lolled against my shoulder, breath shallow.

"Pollux," I rasped, my voice dry from lack of use. "You've got to stay conscious, mate."

His eyelids fluttered, and for a second, I wasn't sure he knew where he was, but then his brow furrowed.

"Charlie?"

The word was cracked and faint, barely more than air, and my throat tightened.

"Yeah," I said, hauling him closer as another wolf lunged from our left. "Don't talk. It's okay."

The wolf never reached us, a Blood Moon wolf taking him out before it could.

I gulped, looking down at Pollux as he frowned up at me. "I must be dead. Because... because you're not..."

"I'm here. I'm back." I muttered.

He hummed, eyebrows tugging together in the condescending way he always did. A brief flicker of relief passed through me, but it was gone when his eyes rolled.

Gently shaking him, he groaned softly, his thin, frail hand smacking my bare chest. "Stop. Not again."

Again?

I frowned, looking up to see a spot I could take him away from all of this. Nova was still bleeding, limping into a fight. With barely concealed shock, I watched her tear the throat of a wolf without moving away from the tree that supported her weight. Her eyes were glassy, her strength depleting with the blood loss.

Lycans don't heal.

My wolf growled. His luna was in danger.

My eyes dropped to Pollux, counting any injuries or cuts. He seemed physically fine in that way, but I couldn't sense his wolf. The lethargic nature of his movements led me to believe he was drugged or...

I pressed my nose to his chest, noticing how he flinched away from the contact. Inhaling sharply, the scent of everything Pollux wafted through my nose, tingling against my tongue and throat before settling in my nose.

A spell.

Someone had control over him.

I snarled, looking up at the wolf that was battling Phoenix.

He was responsible. I was certain of it.

Suddenly, something forced me backward, and my head smacked against the slate. I groaned, momentarily disoriented. In the seconds it took me to recover, a wolf had latched onto my shoulder and was dragging me away. I grunted, throwing my fist into its nose. It sneezed, but didn't let go, sinking its teeth harder into me.

I could shift and protect my weaker, malnourished form, but risk losing an arm. Or I could try to fight this.

I chose option two.

I liked my arm.

Rolling onto my side, I grasped a nearby piece of loose slate and rammed it into the eye of the wolf. It released me with a yelp, and I gained a second to jump to my feet. I cursed at the pain in my shoulder, forcing it back into its socket with a wince. But the wolf was fast, fuelled by whatever consequences it had chosen to be this horrid beast.

I met it easily, trying my hardest to battle an alpha-sized wolf in my human skin. I'd lost the chance to shift; the movement would take too long and leave me vulnerable.

And right now, I was utterly alone.

And the wolf knew it.

I was back on the ground, its paws sinking into my chest as I fought off its teeth. We were both growling as claws sank through skin and scraped bones, agony searing my body into the faint pull of shock.

Adrenaline was a friend, and I pushed through it, forcing my feet into its abdomen in hopes I could push him off.

But then it all shifted.

Something hit it from the side with a snarl so savage that the sound cut through the entire battle. They tore the wolf off me, and I rolled, instantly checking on Pollux as I pushed past the blood that pooled in my throat.

He was fine, and still where I left him, and I gathered him back into my arms, trying to keep the blood away from him. It seemed the pack had formed a semicircle before him as they fought.

Just like they should. The instinct and training without me almost impressed me, but then a tug in my chest drew my eyes back to the wolf that tore me open.

Brown fur blurred with the silver of the monster wolf, the scent of mud, forest and something far too close to home. The strands of caramel across her spine seemed to mock me, her hackles raised and parading the beast that she was.

My heart stopped beating as every wild, terrified thought passed through me.

She shouldn't be here. She was a threat to herself and others. It wasn't safe.

I stared, and for one impossible moment, I forgot the battle.

All the blood, the pain.. even Pollux shaking in my arms turned into white noise.

Because Calida had followed me.

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