EMILY'S POV
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At the break of dawn, I'm woken up by Alpha Cade through the mind link. I shoot up at his words echo through my head, "We're under attack," my blood runs cold as I scurry out of bed and I don't bother to change as I head for my window. I stre down at the ground before I leap out, shifting mid-air, and my heavy paws bang against the ground as I start running towards the commotion. I mind-link my mother as I run as fast as I can towards Alpha Cade, following him towards the woods. 'Mother, wake up!','Em? What's wrong?','We're at war, hide.' I don't doubt my mother's ability to protect herself, but the fear of losing her makes me anxious. I've lost enough, and she needs to be safe. I can't lose another parent. 'Hide? No, I'll help.', 'As your beta, I demand you to hide,' I seethe and shut her out, hoping that she'll do the right thing and just hide. I run up to Alpha Cade, connecting my mind with his, 'Who's attacking us?' His silence is making my heart beat fast, and when the first round of wolves approach, Alpha Cade shifts to his human form, "Where is your Alpha?" he bellows, making sure he's heard loud and clear.

The wolves don't stop coming towards us, but they slow down. They inch closer like we are their prey, but when a large black wolf snakes through to the front and stops, making every other wolf freeze, we know that it's him. "Tell me why you're declaring war on us." Alpha Cade demands, a noticeable shake is clear to me. One snarl, that's all we get before the black wolf charges at us, and Alpha Cade steps back, shifting, but in the split second he's unaware of his surroundings, the black wolf leaps right at him. I jump, tackling him to the side and we roll, his heavyweight crushing me and when I'm at the top, I kick off him. Alpha Cade replaces me and starts fighting the black wolf while I start to take on the others. It feels like the earth is spinning slower as I end the lives of strangers invading our home. Remorse is for after the war, not during. I keep repeating that one sentence in my mind as I defend my home. While rolling with another wolf, a howl escapes me as sharp pain shoots up my leg, spiraling through my entire back and I'm tossed to the side, thrown into a tree so hard that the wind is knocked out of me.
I wake up, the crimson stains all over the ground, and dead wolves make my eyes flutter shut for a second before I force them open. We're at war. Get the hell up, Emily. You have to get up. I bring my hand to my face, my blood-tainted palms rub against the dirt and I push myself up into a sitting position, but sharp pain shoots through my left leg as I straighten it. Bones, that's what is sticking out of my leg. It's unable to heal outside the body. I crawled over to the bush, sitting against the tree stump as I stare at my leg. I know that I have to pop it back into place... I know I have to get it to heal, but staring at my bones piercing through sliced skin...it's terrifying. "Emily," Haten's baffled voice rings through my ears, and when I look up, he's blurry. I squint my eyes, focusing on him as he comes over to me, "Goddess," he stares at my leg, "Come," Am I delusional or is my ex-mate going to help me?
Haiden hooks his arms beneath me, and I wrap my arms around his neck. He never once looked at me, just in front of him. He doesn't want to help me, I know he doesn't, but he is. He pulls me deeper into the bush right beside a house, putting me down, "I need to reset this bone," I grit out, stiffening when a sharp pain squeezes my heart, knocking the air right out of my lungs. I watch as Haiden kneels, his nails clawing at his heart as his eyes widen. "Haiden," I breathe out, scared and furious. His gaze slowly lifts to mine, "My dad..." his head turns, looking back to where the wolves are fending for their lives. "No," I gasp, my bloody hand covering my mouth as tears swell. Remorse is for after the war, not during. "Stay here," Haiden leaves me, even after I beg him to help me with my leg. My head drops back as I groan, and I knock my head into the wall behind me lightly as I try to think of how I'm going to push my bones back to where they need to be.
The howls, snarls, and growls are silenced when Haiden comes striding back, his head tall and his eyes narrowed on me. "Haiden, what happened?" I ask breathlessly. He tilts his head, not saying a word as he freezes beside me. "My father is dead," he deadpans with no remorse. He lowers to his haunches, scooping me up as tears swell in my eyes. "I'm sorry," I mutter, I know what it's like to lose a dad. I know what it's like to feel the loss of someone important. "Don't be," he shrugs, his eyes cold as he walks. I glance in the direction he's staring, and in the few seconds I had been focused on his father's death, he's carried me further into the woods. "Where are we going?" I grit out, and his silence is the answer I was dreading. "Haiden," I grit out, "Put me down," I demand. He stops, his eyes connecting with mine, "This is your fault," he deadpans. There's no emotion in his eyes, none on his face. He's a stone, hard from the inside out. His arm that held my legs drop and the bottom half of my body drops, my feet hitting the floor with a hard thud, making me scream as the pain spreads through my body.
He lets go of me completely and I fall down, laying on the ground as he haunches over, staring down at me while his hands rest on his knees, "I'm the Alpha now," he shrugs, "And I hereby declare you rejected from this pack," he spits, and my body starts to feel hallow as I lose every connection to the pack and it's members. I grab his ankle, but I'm too weak to keep him here. He swiftly pulls his leg back, stepping away from me. "You'll bleed out, and die." he shrugs, "And then you are replaceable." the sly grin forming on his face sickens me. "Your father didn't want this," I try and use the loss of his dad to save my life, it sickens me that I do it, but I want to live. Haiden can't win like this, "My dad?" he snorts, "He was more your dad in these last few weeks than he's been my dad in twenty-two years." He doesn't love his dad. He never did. "Haten," I spit, but instead of saliva, it's blood. "Oh, looks like your time is coming to an end," he tuts.
His sarcastic caring tone boils my blood, "Are you really going to just leave me here to die?" I grit out, tears swelling in my eyes, "You lost, Em." his careless and cold tone stings. "Screw you Haten,", "It's Haiden, are you delusional? Did you lose too much blood?" he sarcastically pouts, "No," I smirk, "It's because everyone hates you," I deadpan, which makes his eyes widen. "Enjoy dying alone you worthless, wannabe, fatherless pest," I bite down on my teeth, refusing to cry. He doesn't deserve to see me cry, but when he walks away, leaving me alone in the woods, the tears just flow and nothing can stop it. I cry for a minute or two, but then suddenly stop when the sound of crunching leaves catches my attention. I wipe my tears away, "Who's there?" I snap while trying to control the shake in my voice. The large black wolf appears, inching closer and I don't waste a second to crawl away. I use my arms to carry my weight, grabbing every rock and stick and tossing it back at him. "Go away, demon!" I yell.

I probably shouldn't call the Alpha who just killed our Alpha names, but I'm panicking. I'm not nearly fast enough to escape him, and he's just walking. The crunching leaves stop, but I don't stop even though I'm slowing down as my vision starts to blur. My arms start to get weak, my leg is hurting and as I try to reach for another rock, I see black dots all over before I just see black.