April

We sit and wait for any movement beyond the woods. The river is not far from here and any chance of someone attacking from this side went up in flames along with the camp we set fire to. But that didn't make the waiting any less daunting.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Jason's voice cuts through the silence.

I stop pulling the weeds from the ground. Something I was doing to give my hands something to do besides fidget. I give him a look of puzzlement.

"You asked Liam to make me stay behind," he states. He doesn't seem to be looking to me for confirmation. He is already sure.

"Yes."

"I understand what you were trying to do. But you can't expect me to sit and wait while people of my pack die. It isn't in my blood." I thought he might be angry but his voice seems calm.

"I was just trying to help Amy."

"I know. But you must understand. The baby is all the more reason I need to fight and protect everyone."

"Fair enough."

The final rays of the sun have disappeared to give way to the starry night sky and it makes me realise that we've been waiting here for longer than we expected.

"Shouldn't they have been here by now?" I look up and ask Jason.

Before he can reply, we are interrupted by a loud thud. It seems it came from far off.

"Looks like they are," Jason mutters, standing up.

There are ten other men with us. Some with guns and some in their wolf states. All of whom stand alert at the sound. Two more similar sounds go off. Bombs.

I can feel the blood rush through my body under the action of adrenaline and it takes everything in me to not link Liam to check if he is okay. Talking to him right now would just distract him and increase the likelihood of him getting hurt.

Another gunshot startles us, making both Jason and I spin around to face the forest. This one came from here. Within a second, one of the warriors hiding in a tree falls to the ground. Dead.

This makes Jason come into action.

"Everyone take cover," he shouts as both him and I jump behind a large makeshift wall, formed by sacks of cement.

"Do you see anything?" Jason links the warriors in the trees.

"No."

A few moments of quiet exist, followed by the thunderous boom of a grenade going off a few feet away from us.

After that, it sounds like it's raining fire. Gunshots go off from every direction. The clearing around us is not large enough for them to enter from everywhere, with a steep climb on either side. So the men and wolves mostly arrive from the front. The slow inflow allows the gunmen in the trees to take them down but after a while, we are simply outnumbered.

I stare in horror as men fall around us. Both ours and theirs. But unfortunately, we don't have a lot to spare. At that moment, it dawns on me that they tricked us by letting us think we had destroyed their camp. No one was going to attack Liam and the other packs. Because they were all here.

"They're here, Liam," I link him. "They're all here."

Jason and I look at each other trying to figure out what to do.

"You take the wolves, I'll take the men," I finally decide. He nods in approval.

Jason loads his gun and begins firing. I look over from behind the cement sacks and watch as a small bunch of men fight their way towards us, guns at the ready, while the wolves give them cover. I raise my hand, finding the strength to course through me and push back.

The men go flying back into the trees and then fall to the ground.

Jason and I continue our tactic for a little while longer but the gunshots from the opposite side poked holes into the fabric of the sacks, allowing the cement to leak out. Leaving us with no cover. Before the bullets can reach us, we head for cover behind the thick trees on either side. This gives them enough time to recuperate and now most of the clearing is full of their men, with only Jason and I left to fight them off. A few of our warriors try to attack from above but it is not enough.
I continue my attack but the men keep getting up after each one. I must figure out a different tactic.

I let my eyes wander over the small fleet now gathered in front of us. Luckily they can't spot me behind the tree, thanks to the cover of darkness and the dust flying off everywhere. I focus on all the guns the men are holding. Closing my eyes, I think of nothing but them. Clearing my mind of everything else. Then I point towards them, and flick. All of the guns rise up in the air, the soldiers entirely baffled. The muscles in my arm flex hard under the energy coursing through them and I twist the guns to contort onto themselves.

Before they are all completely destroyed, I feel someone grab me from behind. My concentration is broken as my hands instinctively reach for the arm around my throat and all the guns land on the ground with a loud thump.

"You really are extraordinary," the owner of the arm strangling me spits in my ear.

Daxton.

At that same instant, I hear sounds of men rushing towards us from behind. Finally. More warriors had arrived and they all rush to meet the men gathered next to us. Fights break out everywhere. Luckily, I destroyed most of their guns but we are still outnumbered. Liam is nowhere to be seen which means this must be the group stationed out North.

My main problem at this moment is that nobody notices me or Daxton. He keeps pulling me into the forest as I struggle in his grasp.

"I thought I would have to search for you. Lucky for me, your mate just offered you to me on a silver platter," he breathes, trying to keep me trapped.

His voice brings back the moment I watched him send a bullet into Liam and newfound anger erupts from my soul. I stop struggling for the smallest part of a second and shift my arm to elbow him in the stomach. He grunts in pain as his grip on me weakens for the briefest moment and that is all I need to spin and send him flying using the energy surging through my hands.

I look around. I need to decide where I should run. Quickly. Running into the forest even on this side is not a smart idea since it is probably already swarming with Daxton's men, who have most likely climbed up by now. So I go with the next best idea I have.

Spotting a large tree nearby, I begin climbing it. Having absolutely no practice of this, I do a terrible job. I feel someone give me a push from below and look down to see it's Jason. Once I'm slightly above, he drops his gun, which is most likely out of bullets by now, shifts into his wolf form and rushes into the fight around us.

I continue my climb up the tree. I reach for a branch above me to hoist myself up when a searing pain breaks through the back of my shoulder, making me scream. Ignoring the fresh tears pooling in my eyes, I turn my head towards the source of the pain only to spot a dagger sunk deep into my flesh and Daxton making his way to the tree with fire dancing in his eyes.

My entire arm feels like someone has set tiny fires inside my veins, making me realise the dagger is silver.

"Let's see how good those powers are now, bitch," Daxton shouts as he begins climbing.

I face upward, and lift my arm once again to reach for the branch. It makes the pain almost unbearable and then when I try to pull myself up, it gets worse. I grit my teeth trying not to scream and use every ounce of strength that I can find inside me to lift myself up.

The silver has made Jade weak and I can feel the pain around every single bruise I have now because she can't help me anymore. Daxton continues getting closer as I finally manage to settle onto the branch which is about thirty feet above the ground.

He thinks without Jade I won't be able to use my powers. But she only helped me unlock it. She is not the source. I am.

His hand almost grabs ahold of my foot when I raise my uninjured arm and shoot him down with a swoosh of energy. He lands on the ground with a loud thump. Muttering curses through gritted teeth, he stands back up with a groan.

I reach for the dagger in my shoulder, not knowing what to do about it. The silver is poisonous for Jade, and in turn, me. But if I take it out, I won't be able to stop the bleeding. I weigh my options and decide to let it stay where it is, for now. When I look back down, Daxton has called a number of men to gather around the tree and begin climbing it.

I wait until a few of them are high enough and then flick my hand to throw them back down. They do this over and over again and I can feel myself tiring out. Which seemed to have been Daxton's plan in the first place. But I don't have much of a choice.

I feel the energy almost completely drain out of me as I struggle to catch my breath, the pain still searing across my arm. A little while longer and I might pass out. But just that instant, I watch Liam rush through the woods, his battalion behind him.

He rushes through everyone in his wolf form and lunges at the men at the base of the tree. I watch in horror at the scene around me. There is blood and death everywhere. I never wanted any of this and nobody seems to want to stop. I watch Daxton stand quietly for a few seconds. And then I look over towards the flock of men and wolves fighting to the death. My eyes scan between the two and I realise he is mind-linking them when about half of his wolves ignore everything else around them and start running towards us.

They don't care if they die on the way but they keep trying to bustle out, even if they don't want to. Because an Alpha's orders can't be ignored.

In a flash, I realise he is trying to draw them all out towards us. Where Liam is surrounded and alone. Our warriors try to fight them off but some of them still manage through. My heart leaps out of my chest as I watch in horror, unable to do anything. If that barrage of senseless wolves made it through the fight, there is no way Liam will be able to fight them all off. He is already overpowered as it is.

I don't know where the next rush of energy comes from, but maybe watching Liam surrounded by danger gives me enough strength to stand up on the branch.

The adrenaline makes me forget about the excruciating pain in my arm for a second. I stand there and watch as Liam fights off the last warrior under the tree and turns to face Daxton who looks at him smirking, ready for him to be knocked over by the oncoming flood of wolves.

An involuntary scream erupts from my mouth as both my hands push away the onslaught of beasts and suddenly everything comes to a halt. All the fighting seizes, but not because they want to. They all seem trapped under my hold. They push against me and it sucks every breath out of me to keep them from moving.

All my muscles convulse under the overwhelming amount of pressure fighting against me. It feels like blood is being sucked out of my veins.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Liam gets distracted by my scream and Daxton uses the moment to tackle him to the ground with a knife at his throat. Fighting against every tired fibre of my being, I move one hand to push Daxton off.

I watch them struggle as Liam finally lands on top.

My head feels dizzy and my vision begins to blur until the only thing I can see is Liam. My legs tumble beneath me, ready to give way and lead me to crash on the ground below, but I don't feel anything anymore. Everything goes numb and the sound of my heartbeat thrums in my ears.

Out from a distance, I hear Liam's vague voice call out to me.

"Let go, April."

And I do.