"Wake up, Princess."

A grouchy male voice vibrated in my ears as fingers clasped around my shoulders. My head snapped, arching my neck as I was shook, my torso sagging like a ragdoll. Trembles vibrated my lips, both from the cold sensations that bit into my skin and as my mind recalled what happened.

"Zara!"

He shook me harder, which flipped my eyes open. I squinted as Cole and Elena's brown eyes came into focus, then blinked until they cleared, staring down at me.

"What happened?" I croaked out of my throat. My entire canal felt dry, like I'd screamed for hours, and tasted salty from the sea water.

"You saved us!" Elena's arms choked around my neck. I would have fallen over from her force, didn't since I was seated and strapped in a seat belt already.

How did I get in a seat belt?

I blinked at the interior of a car over Elena's shoulder, my pulse throbbing in my veins and threatening a headache deep behind my skull. Relief sagged my shoulders as I hugged her, taking a few deep breaths as my racing heart stabilized. My palms gave her shoulders one more squeeze, then released her in order to take in our new surroundings.

"Thank you Zara." Cole's eyes softened at me, before they fixated in Elena's direction.

With a relaxed jaw and forehead, his lips for not not scowling, he looked relieved. In a blink, his pupils enlarged, overtaking his hazel irises as they dilated. That heated look, lust, was strong enough to make my eyes avert.

"I didn't save us." I squirmed in my seat, stilling when I realized my bare skin brushed against a warm, fuzzy-textured surface.

Looking down with a groan, I was naked under the blanket wrapped around me like a burrito.

And now I know why Cole's looking at Elena like that.

Awkward.

"Lumi did," I admitted as pride for her flickered inside me like a small candle. My words were true, I panicked, asked her to save us, and she did.

'Not weak.'

No, you're not. Thank you, Lumi.

She didn't respond, but I felt that she was pleased with herself. I was proud of her too.

Goosebumps pricked up the skin on my chest. Feeling a bit exposed, my fists tugged the blanket up under my armpits, then my bare arms crossed over my stomach. My nose cringed at the cuts and bruises lashed all over my arms. The bright red gashes looked like streaks of red paint had been flung over my pale skin. Based on the throbbing pain in my left thigh, I assumed it looked worse.

"What happened?" I dragged my gaze up to Cole. 

He sat back, pulled a bare Elena into his lap, and hugged her close. His palm pressed on her cheek, he held her ear into his chest. I glanced away as he bent down, nuzzling his nose into her neck and pretended the best I could the loud inhale of his breath.

She couldn't have smelled much better than I did, like the briny, salty, dirty water Cole had fished us out from.

"We were attacked by a pack of rouges about a hundred and twenty miles away from the Northern pack house." As Cole turned away in my peripheral vision, I glanced back out of the corner of my eyes.

His eyes were narrowed, his jaw clenched shut, and based on the pools of gold that dripped into his eyes, his wolf Sable had his own opinions on what happened. Cole's broad chest expanded and collapsed as he breathed like he tried to control himself.

"I'm confused." A small tension pushed between my eyes as I frowned. "I thought rogues weren't in a pack."

"More organized than any rogues I've seen." Cole's eyes were now dark, almost entirely black and dripping with yellow. His face flushed red, veins protruding in the sides of his neck as his breaths turned ragged. "They killed fifteen of our security guards, and almost you two. We killed seven of them and Baron captured one. He's wounded but alive."

"Ronan," his name rushed out in a whisper as I remembered our driver.

"He was the one who pushed you over the cliff." My eyes stretched wide at Cole as a breathless gasp escaped my lips. "Before he died."

My heart sank at the idea that I would never be able to thank him. Nausea stabbed into my empty stomach. Holes created by my emptied positive feelings filled up with guilt and flooded with uncontrolled negative thoughts.

He sacrificed himself... and I barely knew him.

Hot tears pricked my eyes, then spilled over my cheeks. A thick, uncomfortable silence closed in around me, blurring my vision and catching my breath in my throat. It squeezed inward like an invisible hand choked me, my stomach coiled in my stomach as reality sunk in me like a weighted stone.

Nakedness aside, we were still over an hour from the Northern packhouse, one car exposed on the open road after an attack. My spine trembled.

"How did you find us?" My voice wavered as I struggled not to get too emotional.

"Elena mindlinked me your location." His somber tone and expression washed over his anger, softening the red in his face to a dull pink. "I found you as soon as I could."

"Where are we now?"

I glanced around the interior of this unrecognizable vehicle. The leather seat was quite uncomfortable on my bare ass, so I wrapped the blanket tighter. My hair lay in matted, clumpy strings, Elena's was frizzy like she'd touched an electrical socket. Sand and dirt itched my skin from my ankles to my eyelashes and both of us reeked of saltwater remnants.

"The Northern pack arrived five minutes after the attack started. They helped us fight off the rogues and took us under their security."

"Did they capture us?" I asked, flicking my eyes forward to an unrecognizable driver.

Cole shook his head. "No." His expression remained somber, with a dull tone cast over his eyes. "It's their responsibility for handling rogues within their territory. Don't worry, we're safe now."

I allowed his words, and the slight amount of comfort and security they offered, to sink in. My respite didn't last long, as I wondered if he had heard any word from my father.

"My father -"

"Baron already informed him," he answered in a tight, curt tone.

And then... nothing. No reciprocated words of comfort or at least assurance that he was pleased I was still alive. My head dipped until my chin rested on my chest. Cole didn't have to explain. Nothing needed to be said in response.

We rode for twenty minutes more in complete silence, Elena shivering against Cole and the sounds of his hands rubbing over her back. With my best efforts, I ignored the soft sounds whenever he kissed her forehead or cheeks. The sweet gesture, coupled with the fact I sat alone, rose tears to my eyes and I sniffled.

I couldn't look out the windows because they were sealed shut by the same metal sheeting coverage. This time, I didn't know if that was for our protection, or to protect the privacy of the pack house location from us. The truth didn't matter, since I had no idea where we were. So, I sat and tried not to pay attention to the indiscreet petting and groping next to me.

Lumi, wanna chat?

'Tired.'

I couldn't blame her. Lumi saved both of us and deserved a rest, even a mental recovery. My lower lip folded under my upper teeth and I bit down. Tears sprung to my eyes again at the realization that we wouldn't have been here without her.

I'm no hero, only a weak, pathetic girl who cost people their lives.

'Stop.'

I'm sorry I'm the weak one.

'Not weak.'

I didn't believe her though. Fortunately, Elena's groggy voice, and clicking sounds from the metal sheets on the windows lowering, snapped me out of my thoughts. A brighter sun flooded into the vehicle's gray interior. The adjustment made me blink and wince.

"Zara, we're here." Suddenly, Elena was in my face, blotting a stick substance on my lips. I blinked my eyes and, with no coherent thought in mind, I rolled them inward.

Ugh, cherry chapstick. How did we lose all our belongings over a cliff but she kept that?

"Sorry, your lips were a bit chapped." She winked then pinched my cheeks between the pads of her fingers. "You look a little... umm..."

"Alive," Cole deadpanned, shooting me a smirk that was no consolation.

"It's okay..." I smoothed my fingers over my knotted hair and imagined that I now looked like a drowned rat.

But hey, now my lips are sugary and sticky.

My eyes traveled out the now glass window and what I saw dropped my mouth open.

While the Northern Territory was the largest territory, it was controlled by the smallest pack, the Silverback. Elena explained to me during one of our history lessons that their name was derived from how most of their wolves resembled a larger version of North American wolves, with streaks of gray and white.

Surrounded by expansive, overpowering white stone cliffs, a stone structure loomed ahead of us. Far from the white mansion I knew, this compound was both imposing and charming. Shades of gray and white stones comprised the walls, looking at least two feet thick. Inside two large gates made of solid metal, painted in black, stood only one entrance door.

I recognized the Silverback sigil from one of Elena's books, a black wolf head silhouette with a silver curve down the back of its neck. The sigil was mirrored on the front gates. Despite the harsh cold and windy conditions, the silver gleamed in the light.

"It's a... castle?"

My eyes shifted to Elena's mesmerized look. We gaped driving up the long entrance, where the road narrowed and pinched down to a single lane and no shoulders. As the road around us disappeared, I sucked in a breath, trying not to look down the cliff below both sides of our vehicle.

This pack house was obviously chosen for the strategic defensive position.

"Looks like a castle to me," Elena stated the obvious.

"Is there wifi?"

She looked at me and chuckled. "Next you'll ask me if there's a Starbucks."

My lips twitched because that was in my list of questions.

"Should I shift?" A small group of werewolves stood at the edge of the driveway entrance, fluttering nerves into my stomach. Some were in human form and all the wolves some shade of gray.

"No." Cole pointed at my leg. "Lumi is injured. You don't want them to see her weakened. Let her heal while you rest, I'm sure Alpha Faelen and Luna Cassandra will understand."

"I meant Lucus," my voice croaked out of my dry throat.

During the uneventful part of our trip up here, Elena had given me an earful, four if I counted Lumi's, about the North's future alpha. If a sense of feeling like a shipwreck existed, then I was encased in it.

Freaking naked wrapped in a blanket.

Not the first impression I hoped to make.

Heat rose into my cheeks and my heart thumped faster. My shoulders slumped and corners of my lips turned down as I averted my eyes to my dirty, blood-stained legs.

"Plenty of time for Lucus and his wolf to ogle Lumi later, Zara," Elena zero some reassurance. "Given the circumstances, you're lucky to be alive."

"Besides, he's not even here." Cole scoffed. "He should've been heading up the security team chasing the remaining rogues down. I'll speak to him about that, I promise."

"Not here?" I echoed, my shoulders drawing down and tension draining from my neck.

Given my current state of appearance, I'm kinda relieved.

"I don't know where he is," he muttered, shaking his head. "Working security, training, who knows."

"Training for what?" I asked as we lurched to a stop.

My fist tightened the blanket around my body to ensure there weren't any openings.

Don't need a flashing repeat.

One indecent exposure was enough.

"Their competition event. Kinda stupid if you ask me," was all Cole said.

Quivers trembled my smile as the door opened, and we all scooched over to the door. My heart pounded hard against my chest walls, threatening to break out. With shaky legs, I stood up and exited the vehicle behind Elena, the best I could without flashing too much skin.

Nodding at the security guy who held the door open, I looked around outside and gasped.

Bitter, salty wind bit into my cheeks and tossed a few heavy strands of hair into my eyes. I brushed them aside with the tips of my fingers as my eyes traveled up, widening at my surroundings. The older, stone compound more resembled a medieval castle with two round turreted towers loomed over me. Rhythmic rushing sounds of the waves lashed against the cliffs. The sea spray noises below were a bit romantic, once I got past the plummet to my death aspect.

I suppose if there's any place for a princess to fall for a prince, then this is it.

'No prince. Mate.'

That's enough, Lumi.

My toes lifted into the first adventurous steps to the people who stood, mindlinking by their hazy eyes, outside the pack house door. The rough stones in the unpaved driveway bit into the pads and soles of my bare feet like dulled shards of glass, and I tried not to wince.

Pain throbbed my left thigh with each step, like a drum that marched me forward. A tickling feeling accompanied the drops of blood that slipped down the outside of my leg, circling around my ankle before tipping over the side of my foot.

I walked closer, sandwiched between Elena and Cole, as if I could draw from their strength. Halfway between the gap to the small, curious crowd, Cole nudged me ahead.

"You first, Princess," he mumbled.

"You must be Zara." A stern, prideful male voice greeted me.

Here we go.