Hey! Another question - who do not want to die?

Also, check out my book Monsters Among Us - it'll be one of my main works after this series is over! ~Lissa

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I never thought there would be a day where I was standing in the same room of all three of the Volkov brothers. Gulping loudly, I watched as Ethen finished knotting the rope, keeping the unconscious Temp tied to a chair. Regret washed over me as I stared at him, his head slumped and his shoulders hunched forward. In the end, I hadn't killed our enemy; instead, I was standing with him, suddenly on the opposite side. I was betraying the man who had stuck with me - who had helped me find Ethen. I folded my arms across my chest when Ethen took a deep breath, his emerald eyes flickering my direction. I squirmed underneath his gaze and glanced towards his brothers, uncomfortably.

The closest one was Caine who was rubbing his chin in thought. His face was splattered with blood and his black hair, the longest of the three, was messy. On the other side of him was Ryker, his hair spiked, his hands covered in blood, and his jaw clenched. It was strange how similar the brothers looked, but how different they were. Outside, the battle had ended after my command; I was relieved when there weren't too many deaths. As far as I knew, everybody was lingering beyond the cabin, taking care of injuries.

Caine looked over at me. "So, let me get this straight, you're Luna of the pack outside? And, the pack outside happens to be Emma's brother's pack? Tyler, Drew's brother, sent my brother to kill him? But, her brother, Ethan, is still alive and currently on the outskirts of town because you refused to kill him?" Caine pointed towards Ethen who stepped away from Temp, sullenly. Stopping next to me, Ethen and I exchanged looks, before nodding in response, simultaneously. Ryker shook his head while Caine took a deep breath, processing. "That mutt - that was the favor he asked from you?"

"Indeed," Ethen responded, quietly. "I couldn't do it."

"Yeah, it's a good thing you didn't," Ryker said, coldly. "Emma would've never forgave you." Ethen looked down at his feet for a long moment and I chewed on my bottom lip, nervously. Ryker shifted his attention to Temp and raised his chin, before speaking, "What do we do about him?" When nobody answered, he added, "It'd be best if he was dead."

When he stepped towards Temp, I instantly reached into the waistband of my pants and yanked out the gun. Flicking off the safety, I pointed the barrel at his forehead, a serious expression on my face. I knew that Temp wasn't going to be happy when he awoke; in fact, he was going to hate me. But, I refused to let anything happen to him - while he was a pain in the ass, he was still a friend and ally. I didn't realize it until then, but he had always been looking out for me. It was time for me to do the same thing. Ryker paused, his eyes flashing a terrifying red, and his nostrils flaring at the sight of my gun aimed at him.

Suddenly, the room started becoming hot, extremely hot. Sweat began rolling down my forehead and glancing at my shaking arms, I noticed how pink they were turning. All of my thoughts disappeared, replaced with a sharp pain in my temples. I winced, breathing heavily at this point, and looked at Ryker in anger, only to notice that he was blurry. Not a single part of me was functioning, including my brain, so I didn't understand what was happening. My gun slipped from my hands when Caine looked back and forth between us, before speaking up. "Ryker, knock it off!"

Next thing I knew, Ethen was lifting a hand, easily sending his brother flying against the wall behind him. Emotionless, he watched as Ryker collapsed to the floor, leaving behind a large hole in the white wall. Slowly cooling down, I stepped behind Ethen, peering around him to see his brother rising to his feet, growling. Caine lunged forward, moving between his two brothers, whipping his head around to Ryker. "Stop it! Ethen has never harmed Emma, so it's only fair you don't harm his mate!"

I froze. "Wait, w-what?"

Caine looked over, catching the pointed look on Ethen's face, before clearing his throat. "We should leave the room, Ryker." Reluctantly, Ryker followed Caine out of the room, giving Ethen a nasty look when he passed. I stumbled backwards, away from Ethen, towards the bed on the opposite side of the bedroom. It was nearly impossible to process everything. I started flashing back to the past, to the facility with Ethen, and I gulped loudly, frowning at him. He ran his fingers through his hair, calmly stepping towards me.

"Look, I was going to tell you," he started, raising his hands. "At the right moment - I just didn't want to scare you off."

"It makes sense now," I muttered, shaking my head. "Everything you've said, everything you've done, how the hell didn't I see it?" I placed a hand on my forehead, feeling the disgusting sweat. I looked at him, overwhelmed with a variety of emotions. "You should've told me as soon as you knew! God, I didn't even find out from you; I found out after your brother nearly killed me. This is unbelievable - I'm your mate? How's that even - how's that possible?"

"Ryker has a temper," he spoke, quietly. "I understand if you're angry; it wasn't fair of me to keep it from you."

"I should've known," I told him, shocked. "I'm such an idiot."

"You're far from an idiot," he said, hesitantly stepping towards me. The closer he moved to me, the faster the butterflies in my stomach went crazy. "Thea, tell me what you're feeling - what you want me to do."

I sputtered for a moment. "I-I don't know." He stopped in front of me, close enough that if I had turned, our clothes would've brushed together. Hearing the hammering of my heart in my chest, I looked towards Temp who was still surprisingly unconscious. Quite honestly, I was hoping he stayed that way for awhile; I wasn't prepared for what was going to happen afterwards. "Nothing happens to Temp, that's for sure. If you want to make it up to me, you make sure that nothing happens to him. No one touches him, understand?"

He pursed his lips. "You care for him."

"He's still a pain in the ass."

"I'll keep him safe," he responded, the corners of his lips tugging upwards. "I owe you more than that, but it'll be a start." Hesitantly, I forced a grin, slowly nodding. "I just can't believe you found me and you're in control of a pack - I knew you were strong, but damn."

I laughed. "You have no idea." Remembering what had happened outside, I started shifting back and forth on my feet. "By the way, I think I killed Tyler."

Ethen frowned. "You killed - Thea, you killed him?" Nervously, I nodded in response, a little surprised that I wasn't feeling any guilt or regret. He pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling loudly. "This isn't good." Biting my bottom lip, I glanced towards Temp, checking to make sure that he was still breathing with the tight rope around him. "Was he still alive when you left him?"

"Maybe," I said, shrugging. "I hope not."

He smirked, shaking his head at my response. Before he was able to say anything, two unfamiliar men burst into the room, ironically carrying a moaning Tyler. In disbelief, I watched as they reclined him on the bed, followed by Pete rushing into the room, carrying his medical supplies. I gaped, surprised at the situation in front of me; Ethen looked around the room, frowning at the people rushing place-to-place, frantically. Rambling assuring words, Pete started removing the bullets from Tyler, his body struggling to heal.

A man, one with dark hair and ocean-blue eyes, approached us, a scowl on his face. Ethen cleared his throat, before saying, "Drew, I see your brother is injured."

Drew looked towards me. "Yeah, I wonder how that happened."

"It was an accident," I tried, fearfully stepping towards Ethen at the coldness in his blue eyes. "Okay, it wasn't, but it was self-defense." Drew pinched his lips together, pondering the possibility, then nodded at the two of us. He whirled around and returned to his brother's side, grabbing his shaking hand. Pete looked towards me and forced a grin, pulling out a large bandage from his kit. Ethen took a deep breath and looked down at me, noticing the expression on my face. "Damn, he must have nine lives."

With a chuckle, he placed his arm along my shoulders.

* * *

"They're setting up camp," Kolton informed me, peering through the trees at my surviving pack members. I pinched my lips together, spotting Pete speaking to a woman, wiping his hands with a damp rag. Unfortunately, Tyler was in the cabin, breathing - his brother, Drew, and his mate, Nora, were hovered at his side while the Volkov brothers whispered about Tyler's favor from Ethen in another room. Despite Drew's relation to Tyler, they knew he wasn't to be trusted; in fact, I guaranteed that they thought it was better if he had died. Tyler wasn't a good guy and everybody saw it. Kolton ran his fingers through his hair, appearing tired. "I never got to decapitate anyone."

"Well, I thought I had it handled," I responded, calmly. "I shot the jerk and he was supposed to die, but he didn't."

Kolton frowned. "I want to get my hands dirty."

"Oh, you will," I assured, watching the scampering of my pack members in the trees. Kolton raised an eyebrow in curiosity and gestured for me to continue. "We'll be fighting the government - can't you feel it? It won't be long until we're at war." I folded my arms across my chest and looked at him, not surprised to see an evil smirk on his face. "Why are you smirking? This isn't one of your pathetic fight circles, Kolton. This is war; there's a high chance this is the end for all of us."

"I'm not worried," he spoke, shrugging. "If I die, I die with as much blood on my hands as possible."

I turned away from him. "You know, you're disturbing."

Hearing his laughter, I jogged up the porch steps into the cabin, licking my lips. I wandered throughout the place until I reached a bedroom, one that contained Cole, Brody, Emma, and Katie. I was familiar with all of them by now and hesitantly, I moved farther inside. Katie was relaxed on her back, clearly showing - her pregnancy was going fine. Next to her, her brother, Brody, was laughing, happiness dancing in his brown eyes. He was an odd one, but honestly, I liked him. His mate, Cole, was seated beside him, his legs stretched out and ankles crossed. I had learned that he was Drew's Beta and best friend. Finally, there was Emma, her back facing me and her auburn hair pulled into a high ponytail. She was Ryker's mate, the mate of the man who had tried to kill me earlier for pointing a gun at him.

They were all situated in a circle and seeing me, Brody beckoned me towards them. "Thea, come join!"

Emma scooted closer to Cole, allowing me to plop down on the other side of her. Picking at the tips of my fingers, I cleared my throat, before speaking. "So, what are you talking about?"

"Greek Mythology," Brody answered, excitedly. "We're sharing myths."

"I am sharing myths," Cole corrected, nudging his arm. "You don't know shit."

Katie smiled. "Tell the one about Artemis again."

"Okay, fine," Cole muttered, taking a deep breath. "Artemis was just a girl and Zeus had sent her into the woods to kill a black bear, Callisto. Yes, Artemis was young, but she was smart - she decided that to defeat the bear, she needed to become one. So, she chopped off her long hair and ripped off her childish clothes. She attached bear skin to her skin, beer teeth to her teeth, and claws to her small fingers. Then, she crept into Callisto's den and thinking she was her cub, Callisto curled around her." I listened, not realizing how intrigued I was until he momentarily paused. "Artemis had smashed Callisto's head with a rock and when she returned to her village, covered in blood, she was named a goddess."

Emma shook her head. "That is gruesome."

"I've never heard that one," I responded, crossing my legs. "My favorite is the one about the twins - how Apollo tricked Artemis to kill the only man she ever loved out of jealousy."

Cole nodded. "Apollo is also known as the Wolf God." Brody tapped his mate's knee in excitement, resulting in Cole rolling his eyes. "Wolves are a symbol of Apollo."

"Wolves were sacrificed to him," I countered, cocking an eyebrow. "You seem to know quite a bit of Greek Mythology. . ."

"My mother," he answered, quietly. "What about you? You seem to know a bit?" I nodded, looking down at my hands. "We don't know much about you, so why don't you share, huh?" I glanced at each of their faces, pulling my legs to my chest and wrapping my arms around my knees. Brody was beaming, his childish dimples showing. Both Emma and Katie were watching me with assuring grins while Cole gazed, peculiarly. Avoiding their eyes, my skin crawled; a part of me was worried that they were onto me. What if they figured out that I had worked with the government? What if Tyler told them?

"Not much to know."

"Thea," a familiar voice came, startling me. I whipped my head around, relieved to see Ethen lingering in the doorway, a grin on his face. I smiled at the group and leaped to my feet, rushing to him in concern. What was wrong? "Temp is conscious now - 'angry' is an understatement. You might want to come calm him down." I made a face and with a laugh, he led me through the cabin into the bedroom where Temp was still tied to a chair, struggling to escape.

"Blue, I'm going to kill you," were the first words out of his mouth. Ethen cleared his throat and slowly, exited the room, leaving the two of us alone. Temp winced, fighting against the rope around him, toppling back and forth on the legs. "What the hell? I helped you! I knew you would pull something like this - you fucking bitch!"

I flinched. "You don't understand."

"Oh, I understand perfectly," he argued, coldly. "Let me go. Now." I stared at him for a long moment, feeling regret stirring inside of me. "The deal was that we kill him and now, you're on his side? Are you serious? I thought he was a monster - a mistake that you needed to fix, huh? What the hell happened while I was unconscious?" Hesitantly, I approached him, allowing him to ramble in rage. "After everything, you do this to me? I don't just feel angry, Blue, I feel betrayed."

"I'm sorry," I apologized, shaking my head. "Things are different now."

A moment of silence passed between us and I noticed the distraught in his eyes. "You chose him again," he muttered, a pained expression on his face. "I've always looked after you; I've always been there for you. This is how you repay me? Seriously?" I stopped in front of him, keeping my distance, just in case he kicked his feet out at my ankles. "God, I can't believe this - I care for you, Blue. Why the hell do you think I came out searching with you? I fucking care about you."

"Temp, I care about you too."

"Clearly not," he snapped, coldly. "Look at the situation, Blue." I took a deep breath, feeling the burn in my eyes as I listened to his words. "I risked my life coming out here, but I didn't care. I didn't want you going alone and getting yourself killed - I care about your life more than my own." He dropped his head, looking down at his lap in disbelief. "Isn't that sad? It's like one of those sappy romance movies, isn't it?"

I pinched my lips together. "I'm his mate." Another moment of silence passed between us as he replayed the three words in his head. "I-I'm his mate, Temp. That's why I couldn't kill him."

"Please, tell me your joking," he responded, nearly pleadingly. "Tell me this is some sick joke."

I hesitated. "It's not."

"Let me go," he ordered, gritting his teeth together. "Or, leave."

"Temp, come on, don't - "

"I'm done talking," he interrupted, avoiding my burning eyes. My chest was heavy at this point and blinking away the tears threatening to spill, I backed out of the room. Before I turned the corner, I witnessed his shoulders hunch forward and his head drop in defeat.