LIZZY's POV:

"Please. I've done what you want. Just let me go."

"No." He said while pacing the ground. The dirt around him has been dug deep from his walking. 

"Why not!" I shouted.

He stops walking and turns his head slowly to me. His lips were tight and his eyes stare at me intensely. With big steps, he stomps over to me and grabs me by the hair to pull my face closer, "Because I need you alive for him to see that he will never have you as long as he lives."

My mind is all over the place in confusion, "What are you talking about? Who?"

He just looks at me and shoves me on the ground. I sit on my knees quietly, holding my stomach, "I am not your mate." I whispered.

"You could be if you just stopped resisting. The mate bond cannot fully flourish if you keep rejecting my affections for you."

"Affection?" I growled. How dare he. "Is raping me a part of you showing your affection? Well I am so sorry that I resisted you on that one MATHESEUS!" I yell out sarcastically, "Your mate...is dead! She is gone! Why can you not accept that? My mate Xander, killed her and now HE'S DEAD because of you! You're even now! Isn't that all you want?"

"No, I need him to know that his precious little mate is suffering while with-child and there is nothing he can do about it. His very reason for living will be taken from him."

I dig my hands into the ground in anger, "You're a pathetic excuse for a man...no...a wolf. You don't even deserve your wolf. He's probably begging you to stop right now and with all your strength your resisting. You should be ashamed of yourself. Go rot in a little cave while sulking about your mate that has been dead for YEARS! Go and just die Matheseus! No one wants you and no one ever will!" I scream. 

He roars in anger. He back hands me and fall on the ground. He pulls my head back up and punches. I groan in pain. He kicks my back when I role onto my side. I don't even defend myself. I don't care what happens to me. But I will defend my pup. I hold onto my stomach, trying my best to shield my baby. He grabs onto my arm with a bruising grip. I yelp in pain. He moves me to my other side. He swings his leg back, readying himself to do harm. I close my eyes and sob. I'm so sorry little one. I wasn't able to protect you. I take a deep breath. This is gonna hurt like hell.

Suddenly I heard something. A dark, deep, brooding and ancient growl. It was loud as if it was a warning. My heart stopped. No. It cannot be. 

"Finally, you have come. You came just in time for the best bit," Matheseus cackled. 

"Like hell I'm gonna let you touch her again," he snarled. My heart stops. I close my eyes, "This has to be a dream," I whispered, "This cannot be."

I do not turn around, just in case I was wrong.

"You will regret ever laying your finger on her." 

"Who's going to stop me? You? You against me and my army."

"What army?" Suddenly a bunch of shadows appeared behind Matheseus, "Rogues," I whispered. All of them were either crouched in a lunging position or were in their wolf forms, snarling and growling."

"Funny you should say that because, I have an army of my own."

Through my hands and knees, I felt the ground vibrate and rumble violently as if there was an earth quake. With a shaking body, I slowly turns my head and saw a whole army of men. But it wasn't just any kind of men. It was the men from the prisons, they were free. And at the head of them was the one and only, Lincoln. There was also the army from our pack. I saw Soul, Eddie and Noah standing next to Lincoln. 

"Charge!" The man shouted. 

Hundreds of men run passed, while I am still sitting on the ground in shock. I can't believe this is happening. I try to control my breathing, but I can't. My heart and mind is going out of control. My vision starts to blur. This is literally the worst time to black out.

A warm pair of arms are what brings me back. I shake my head slightly and look at whoever was holding. This is literally impossible. "Xander," I whisper. 

He looked the exact same, except he now has a full on beard and his hair has gone kind of crazy. But other than that. It was still the same Xander in the flesh. I held my hand close to his face. But I was scared to touch him and realize that all of this wasn't real. "This is impossible," he takes a hold of my hand softly and guides it to his cheek. I shutter when I felt the heat of his flesh against my palm. This is real. He's alive. Xander's Alive! I throw my arms around his neck and sob, "I can't believe it!" He picks me up bridal style and carries me away from the battle.

After a few minutes walk, he lays me down next the lake, "I'll need to leave soon and find Matheseus. But I wanted to make sure you were okay first."

I felt so out of breath even though I did absolutely no walking or running. "You're here," you whispered, "You're alive." 

He smiles at me, "Yes, I'm here."

I touch his face, "I can touch you."

He chuckles, "Yes, yes you can sweetheart."

"Good." Then I punch him square in the face. He falls to his side and groans. I crawl towards him and hit him more and more, "How dare you let me go through all of that pain and grief! How dare you do that to me! Who do you think you are!" I slap him, punch him and hit him whilst he puts his arms up to try and stop me, "I went through Hell because I thought you were dead this whole time you bastard!" I sob. "I thought you were gone! I thought I was going to have to just deal with this gaping whole in my heart while raising my SON!" 

Xander grabs a hold of my wrists and stopped me from hitting him. I thought he was going to be angry, but instead he pulled me into him. I cried into his chest and kept mumbling, "You were dead, you were dead, you were dead..." He just help me close to his chest.

"Shhh, it's okay. I'm here, I'm sorry, but I had to do it for your safety. I had no other choice."

I sit up and look at him, "But I saw you die. I saw Matheseus shoot you in the head."

He sighs and shakes his head, "You only saw what I wanted you to see."

I scrunch my face in confusion, "What're you talking about?"

"When you were kidnapped first, I went to an old friend, a witch. She was getting us this potion and while she was doing that I was looking around. I saw this potion that's a hallucinogen. I asked her about it and she said, who ever the holder gives it to will have the power to make people see what they wanted to see. I stole it and put it in our pack's water supply. Then when I was in the prison with you, I escaped my cell and put it in the water supply."

"But the guards wouldn't have given the prisoners that water, they would have given them something unfiltered."

"Exactly. That's why I kicked the water pipes and let the steam into the room so than everyone would inhale the hallucinogen in the steam. From there on out, I pretty much made everyone see what I wanted them to see."

"So how'd you get out then?"

"I made one of Metheseus's guards think I was one of his men and that one of the prisoners escaped and locked me inside the cell."

"Why couldn't you have gotten us out sooner then?"

"Because I needed Soul and Noah to come and make sure you were okay."

For some reason I was getting angry. "So while I was slowly dying because of the loss of my mate, what were you doing?"

In his eyes I can see the sorrow, "I was training the men, but don't think for one second that this whole thing wasn't hard for me. It was one of hardest things I could've done. Some days harder than other."

"Really?"

He nods, "Yeah. I even came to your room after you had that nightmare, but I knew I couldn't stay long, so I made you think it was a dream as well."

"That wasn't a dream?" I whispered.

He shakes his head, "No it wasn't. I was always close to Izzy. No matter what, I was always watching over you."

Then it clicked, "Were you...were you my guard? Did you think you were Soul?"

He chuckled, "Sometimes. Whenever he was on duty at the patrolling I would make everyone think it was Eddie so than I could guard you."

I release a breath of relief, "Thank goodness. I thought this whole time that Soul liked me. Like when Soul...I mean you, said 'my pup' when I was in the early stages of a miscarriage."

I see his eyes slowly flood with pain, "I was going to give up my plan at that point. I thought I almost lost you as well as our son. That was the scariest moment of my life."

"Why didn't you?"

"I knew you were going to be okay afterwards. You wouldn't have done anything to risk the pup's life."

I nod my head, "So how'd you know-"

I was cut off when we heard twig snap. We both still. Xander crawls closer to me and guards my front. His eyes turn black as he scans the area. Another snap of a twig. "Xander?" I whispered. 

"Shhh. It's okay." He whispers. But I know for a fact...its not okay. I grabs a hold of his arms that are around me and squeeze. 

I growl echoes from the trees. Xander looks at the wolf in the eyes and growl back, warning him not to come closer. But the wolf does anyways. Xander stands up to his full giant size in front of me, "Stay back," He snarls. But the wolf keeps walking towards us. Xander launches into the air and shifts. He lands in front of the wolf, fully ready to protect me. 

XANDER'S POV:

I circle around this wolf, waiting for him to attack. Whenever I am in a position like this, I always make sure the opponent attacks first because you can get so much information about your enemy just by the first move. I can pin point their weaknesses, their strengths, their strategy, their tactics, everything. So we just circle each other. 

I feel my wolf smirk when our opponent makes the first move. He launches himself in the air. He bares his teeth, aiming for my neck. But at that very moment, it seemed like time almost stops. He launched on his right leg which mean he favours his left. If I attack his right side, he will be left vulnerable. He also seems to be quick to think, he doesn't calculate moves which will make it easier for me to kill him. I see a thick scar on his left hind leg. It seems skinnier than the other three, which indicates that he is weak. I smile on the inside. This is gonna be a peace of cake. 

I deflect his attempt to bite my neck and instead launch myself under him as he is still in the air. I extend my sharp fangs and clamp that down on his weak leg. I feel blood drip into my mouth. 

I land on the ground fine, while he whimpers and yelps in pain. He has weakened significantly now. I go in for the kill and bite his neck. The wolf's body went limp. I drop him to the ground. Well that's done. 

I turn around to check if Izzy is okay. But my whole world froze over when I saw no sign of her. I was so distracted with that wolf that someone took her. I step closer to where she was sitting. The dirt was all messed up and random, these were signs of struggle. I bend my wolf nose down and inhale a deep sniff. I growl with fury. I took off into the woods towards the battle. Matheseus I'm coming for you. 

Once I arrive, everything was a mess. Everyone was killing each other. Blood stained the forest floor. I scan the area frantically. I need to find her. She has to be here somewhere. A rogue tackles me to the ground. My wolf cannot contain it's fury. Someone has taken our mate! I rip the rogue to pieces. two rogues come at me and I easily deflect them. Both their bodies fall limp to the ground. I snarl at anyone who dares to challenge me. Where is he? Where is Matheseus. 

Looking for me?  I turn around and see Matheseus in his wolf form. A man with different coloured eyes is standing beside him, holding my mate with a knife to her stomach. My body is instantly shaking in fury. How dare he do this. 

Let her go Matheseus. This is between you and me, it always has been.

No anymore. She is a part of you which means she is heavily involved. You will never have her Xander.

I , Xander Nightwalker, challenge you, Matheseus Rome, for the position to be Elizabeth Crowe's mate. 

Matheseus gives me and evil snarl,  Challenge accepted.

He launches himself at me with a big roar. I try to deflect it, but he anticipated my move. He grabs me around the neck and bite down hard. But I do not whimper. I don't give him the pleasure. I extend fangs and use them to scratch his cheek since I couldn't fully turn to bite him. He lets his hold over me go. I scratch him again except in the eyes. With his paw he tries to rub it, but whimpers in pain again.  

I launch in the air to tackle him, but he cuts deep into my stomach. This time, I let out a small yelp. Damn it that hurts! I look down and see my fur coated in my blood. We circle each other as we breath heavily. 

IZZY'S POV:

My heart is literally beating so hard as I watch my mate try to fight for me. I can see that they are both getting weaker and weaker. I can't just stand here and do nothing while my mate is getting himself killed. 

I glance over my shoulder to see who was holding me still. I gasped when I saw his eyes. Different colours. Valentine. 

"Please let me go," I begged. 

"No."

"Why not!" I growled, "What do you get out of this."

"I get my family back."

I frown in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"All of these rogues are not here because they want to, they are here because Matheseus has taken someone precious from them, and the only way to get their loved ones is to serve him. I have a son."

I felt sad for him. For all of them. They never wanted to hurt people. they were just doing what they were told because Matheseus blackmailed them. I didn't want to do this, but I had to in order to be free and help Xander. While he was talking about his son, I turn around and knee him where the sun don't shine. He cups his crotch and groans in pain. 

I turn to run, but he grabs a chunk of my hair and pulls me back. I land on the ground. He punches me in the side of the head which got me dizzy. However, I shake it off. I get back up and look around for a weapon. I grabs a big shark ended stick and swish it close to his face, it cuts his cheek. He looks at me with anger and snarls, "You're gonna pay for that." 

I look over my shoulder and see that Xander is still fighting. I look back at Valentine, he has a massive dagger in his hand. I grab a sword that was on the ground. Probably one of the prisoner's weapons. No all of them can shift because matheseus tortured them so much that they lost their wolf. So they use weapons to defend themselves. In this case, a sword.

I swing it towards Valentine, "Are you crazy?" He shouts as he jumps back. I threw the sword at him and he yelped. I quickly turned around and ran, but that was short lived when I felt him grab my arm in a painful and bruising grip. He swings me around towards him. "Let me-" My sentence was cut short when I felt my mid drift jerk. I frown. A sharp pain radiates through my chest. I felt a warm trickling sensation in my chest. I thought I was in labor for a minute. But the pain I felt was too sharp and stinging. I look down and gasped. My legs instantly gave way and I fell. I hit the ground on my knees. I felt my whole body go into shock when I see the handle of the dagger in my chest. I realized the rest of the blade was inside my chest. He stabbed me. I look up at Valentine. He looked in shock.

I couldn't breath, I was astonished. I hold the handle and with all my strength, pull the dagger out, a new flow of blood gushes out of my wound. I throw the knife away. I close my eyes and fall backwards, ready to feel the impact, but there was none. I open my eyes and see deep brown ones staring back at me with pain, sorrow, worry, concern, panic and love. My Xander. "Oh Xander." Then everything around me fades away.

XANDER'S POV:

I have Matheseus in a lock when I smelt a strong scent of blood. I know that smell. I search through the battle in a panic. What I see has my heart stop. My Izzy is on her knees with a dagger in her chest. She is still alive, but I'm afraid that she won't be for long. 

I growl in anger, "This is all your fault!" I yelled. Matheseus gets out of my lock and punches me in the face. I didn't even feel that. I am filled with so much rage that I don't feel a thing. I extend my claws and scratch his chest. He whines in pain. He tries to swing again, but I catch his punch and break his wrist. He collapses onto his knees.

I have the upper hand now, "You will die knowing that you have nothing. And you will die knowing that I have everything."

He cracks a crazy grin with a mouth full of blood, "Do you want me to tell the devil you will be seeing him soon?"

I grab his hair and pull him closer to me. I whisper, "Right now...I am the devil." I twist his neck until I hear the crack of his bone breaking. I throw his dead body onto the floor. He's dead, he's finally dead. 

I turn around to see Izzy falling backwards onto the ground. I sprint to her and slide onto my knees. She falls into my arms with blood all over her chest. Her eyes slowly close.

"No no no! Stay awake sweetheart! Sweetheart stay awake! Look at me!" I shouted, but she didn't move. I look up and see the battle had ended and now everyone has surrounded me in the circle. Noah pushes through the crowd, "Move! I said move damn it!"

He comes into the circle, "Xander you need to take her to our hospital NOW! There may still be a chance!" 

With a little bit of hope left in my heart, I lift the woman I love and I run as fast as my legs could carry me to the hospital.