Hi guys!! Sorry for the slow updates! College is taking up so much of my time!!!! But guess what? I've listed myself as an English major with a Literature concentration (: YAY!

As we walked through the shrubbery to our main territory, I froze and felt my fur stand up on my back. Everything looked the same, and yet, everything was different.

Sarah padded ahead of me, ears flicking to make sure we were alone. She turned her head to me and blinked. I understood, but I had so many questions.

The first one being, where were the dead bodies? Their stench is stale and old, and while there is still the blood of our pack mates staining the forest floors, there are no bodies to accompany the smells.

For a second I can't believe my eyes, and realize that Sarah has made her way hundreds of yards ahead of me, to our pack house in at the end. My home. I sullenly walk to catch up her, passing a familiar pool of dried blood. Trotting over to it, I lower my nose only to realize this was where my mother died.

Whines and cries leave me and I'm panting out pitiful sounds that are mixtures of low barks and growls.

I hear a growl from Sarah, standing on the porch steps, looking back at me. 

I squeeze my eyes shut, and I can see my mother's dying body in front of me, where I cradled her until her last breath. It takes everything in me to turn from the spot and join Sarah. When I meet her she licks my nose. Nothing she can say or do will patch up my broken heart, but she knows this as well. Supporting each other is all we can do at this point.

I look to the open double doors of my broken home and feel my heart sink even lower which surprises me because I didn't know there was a lower.

I know Sarah doesn't want to go inside either, and for a minute I'm not sure I can do it. But a noise upstairs catches our attention. Tentatively, I take a step onto the marble, fighting back hundreds of memories. Sarah follows me, her her steps hardly heard as we know anyone could be upstairs. We try to pick up a scent but there are so many we can't distinguish who the intruder is.

I swallow my grief and silently make my way to the staircase where dried blood is streaked onto multiple steps. Sarah glances at me as she comes to my side. We both don't need a reminder that she was dragged down the stairs by our enemy. We keep going forward.

The noise finally stops when we get to the top, and we hear a growl. All of a sudden, Sarah rushes forward down the nearest hall. No! What is she thinking?

I run after her, mentally preparing ourselves for what's to happen next. I follow her into the room to see a large grey wolf with hunched over her. I'm ready to attack but the familiar scent stops me.

Jax! Sarah gets up as Jax trots over to me, licking my cheek and ears, giving me a playful cuff. I'm overwhelmed with relief to know that he's okay. But what was his plan, what is doing here? He senses my confusion and immediately he turns. I look away, and realize he's grabbing his clothes from the closet. Sarah turns next, putting on a shirt of his and some shorts in the corner.

I run to my room and change before coming back into Jax's room, where Sarah is wrapped in his arms. He smiles at me.

"Get over here," He says. I feel tears pool in my eyes but I run over to them and they welcome me in their embrace. This is it, this is my family; what's left of it anyway.

"What are you doing here, Jax?" I whisper, almost afraid that at any moment Red Claw will come and find us.

"Something isn't adding up. I overheard Elijah and some others talking about our home and the bodies. I had to see for myself."

"You think Red Claw moved them? Where..why.." I can't from words.

"Sarah.." Jax says in a low, patient voice. She looks at me with an emotion I can't decipher.

"What? What is it?" I grow tired of the silence.

"I think there's something our parents never told us. My grandmother made sure I was able to protect you when Red Claw pack invaded."

"I don't understand..." 

"Elle," Jax puts his hands on my shoulders and levels with me. 

"I think our parents were hiding something from us. Something really big. I'm not sure what, but I've found something in dad's study. I'm not sure if-"

"Show me."

Sarah and Jax look at one another with shock.

I ball my fists up.

"Show me, you guys."

Jax grabs Sarah's hand and leads us back down the stairs, into our dad's office. All there is is a leather couch, a desk with a chair and tons of papers on both. The whole place is a mess.

Jax walks behind dad's desk, somewhere that our dad always told us to never play.

"What are you..." But Jax throws the chair aside, flips up the rug to reveal the floor underneath, with a hatch. Bewildered, I come to his side, and he lifts it up.

"How have we never discovered this?"

"Dad told us never to come into his office, let alone behind the desk. Come on," Jax says.

"I'll stay here," Sarah states with a firm look. 

I want to object but I know we'll need someone out here to stay on the lookout. 

Jax grabs her cheek and kisses her harshly, afraid to let go it would seem. But they end up parting, and she lightly touches my shoulder as she walks out of the office and near the front where she begins to blockade our front door.

Jax opens the trap door and there's stairs that lead down. I take a deep breath and go in first. It's pretty dark and I can't see where I'm going to end up, but a light green glow emits from the distance. The farther down the steps I go, the glow intensifies and I reach the bottom. Jax comes down behind me, leaving the door open.

"What is this place?" I ask.

"Well," Jax says, and I hear him flip on a clanky light, and the place is lit up. It looks like a giant lab, and there are enormous tubes on the walls surrounded by green liquid that looks thick like gelatin. There's computers and tables everywhere in disarray.

"What the hell?" I ask to no one in particular, walking up to the enormous tubes. You could fit a person in these. I feel my stomach churn.

"I just saw this, I know just as much as you do."

I hold myself as I look at the papers strewn all along the metal floors. The place is about the size of a classroom.

I walk up to a folder on a desk and examine it.

In bold print, it reads. "Type A4, Testing #2"

I open the file, and see a picture of a boy, who can't be over the age of 10. Next to his picture is a load of data. 

Name: Ian McCreed

Sex: Male

Date of birth: 4/5/2018

"Wait a minute.." I mutter. Jax walks over to me and takes the file from my hands.

"The birth date...this was seven days ago but this kid..." I whisper. Jax's eyes harden as he looks at the computer next to us.

"I've never seen him before," Jax says.

I see another file on the ground and pick it up.

"Type A4, Testing Complete"

I open the folder and see a picture of a packmate that I do recognize. The boy who survived the mass murder...

"Treyvon Smith," I whisper, covering my mouth with my hand.

I'm about to read more, but Sarah screams from above and the scent of Red Claw comes crashing in.

"They're here!" Sarah yells to us from above.

"Shit," Jax growls. I crumple up the paper and stuff it into my pocket.

"We can't run," Jax says. "We have to try!" I shout. He firmly grabs my arm before we can move.

"Elle. There's over ten of them."

I lose my breath as Sarah climbs down and we wait. I can already tell that Baine is here, his scent is driving me to the edge.

Jax stands protectively in front of me and Sarah, who's holding my hand.

We hear banging, and scratches on the door. I'm not sure what Sarah's done up there, but it doesn't take long before we hear the splitting of wood. I cringe and we wait for them to find us.

"Alpha! In here!" I hear someone yell, and all we do is wait, the room is thick with suspense.

We hear the hatch open, and in pours Red Claw, a mixture of wolves and human figures.

Baine appears last, with a gun strapped to his shoulder. In fact, all those in human forms have guns and artillery of some kind. The wolves position themselves in front of Baine and Elijah, along with the others.

Elijah looks at me with fear, of course not of me, but for me. We were in for it. To get out of this alive would be a surprise. Despite being fated to Baine, I wouldn't put anything past him.

"It's time to go," Baine says, black eyes glaring at Jax.

"Where are the bodies of my pack mates?" I growl behind Jax, who says nothing but glancing at me behind his shoulder.

The wolves growl menacingly at me, one of them being the one who attacked me and Sarah earlier.

He lets out a raw snarl towards us.

I'm fueled by hatred, and fear hasn't sunk in yet.

"You're in no position to ask questions. You have committed various acts of treason-" Elijah states. 

"You can't commit treason when there is no pack to commit to," Jax growls.

Elijah glowers at him then to me. It's like he thinks he's trying to help us.

"Be that as it may, you are under the care and supervision of Red Claw," he says.

"We're hostages," Sarah spits although her hand is trembling in mine.

"I will make an example of you, Jaxon, if you make me," Baine says, his calmness seeming eerie.

I feel the fur bristles on my brothers arm arise. "Don't," I whisper to him.

It kills Jax to have to bow down to another Alpha, especially in front of me and his girl, but there's nothing else we can do in this position. We'll be lucky if we're not killed.

"Elijah, take the elder Royale and his mate back to the pack house."

"Elle comes with us," my brother says, narrowing his eyes at Red Claw's leader, and scooting closer to me.

"You are in no position to make any sort of demand. I could have you killed in an instant. Could have your precious mate killed. But I'm choosing not to. If you do not comply to what I say, I will kill your mate." Baine says this all so calmly that it makes my brother hot at the core. He's so angry I can feel his skin turn to fire.

"Jax..please, I'll be fine," I say but my voice betrays me as it wavers.  

"No Elle. I'm not leaving you with this monster," Jax says to me, but he knows everyone can hear us. A few wolves step closer to us, ready to attack.

"You have some courage to call me a monster, Royale." Baine replies with a hardened stare. He shows no emotion, showing me how much of a monster he really is. I hate him.

"Unfortunately, you have no choice," Baine adds.

The wolves close in on us and are snapping their jaws. We all move back slightly. The guys in with the guns walk to us and grab Jax and Sarah, their arms behind their backs like prisoners.

"No, Elle, no!" Sarah shouts as they push her towards the stairs. It's just as heart wrenching as the first time we were separated, but I know that if they kept insisting, things would get ugly - uglier than they already were. 

Jax turns to punch a Red Claw member in the face, to which they begin to scuffle until another member clocks the back of his head with a rifle. Sarah cries, a sight I am still getting used to. I feel my own tears flow down my cheeks as they carry my defeated brother out, Sarah after. Most of the wolves pad up the stairs, as the men do.

 "Move," Baine growls, now that it's just us two. I bite my lip and walk past him to the stairs. When I get to the top and come to the foyer, a  black van has already taken off with my brother and his mate inside. 

And for the second time within a month, I'm taken from my home, and stuck in the arms of my captor.

Okay ya'll we're moving pretty fast, so what do you guys think that lab is? I'm dying to know your guyses thoughts!!! Comment and vote! (: