"Grrrrr." Kota's growl turned murderous the second he recognized the figure too. Glancing to the side and meeting Sydney's eyes and then my own, he barked softly, changing his tone in waves as a form of speaking. His ear twitched backwards to point on the direction of the Packhouse.

Moving my eyes from him, to the newcomer, to Sydney, I caught on. He wanted us to run home, warm and prepare the others. He knew Sydney was lithe and fast, and his overwhelming urge to protect me meant sending me with. Sydney barked, and we turned and sprinted into the trees.

Side by side we ran, matching our strides. I knew I was slowing her down, but there wasn't much I could do. I was smaller than her, weaker, and less used to the wolf form. But I pushed with all that I had in me; we had to get to the pack house.

While I told myself I had been done running from my problems, this was different. This wasn't running to hide, to get away from everything. This was running for a purpose: to warn and protect my pack. The power of that realization hit me with a surge, and my legs pounded against the forest floor even faster as we could spot the house through the branches.

Jack wasn't going to be happy, but I was doing what I could. He didn't control me anymore. I was in charge of me, and I was also in charge of an entire community of werewolves that needed me today. Because Jack wasn't alone.

When he was marching through the woods towards our little wolf huddle, my ears picked up hints of more. They had separated, parading about the woodland like they owned it. That, or they just really didn't know how to disguise their steps away from prying wolf senses. I wasn't sure how many there were, but what mattered was Jack had backup, and they were trooping right for the house.

Sydney let out a long howl, letting it echo as it bounced off the trunks and branches. We scrambled through the dried brush and into the yard. A few people were hanging out in the sun, not minding the chilled air as they winter prepped the yard, or simply watched their children run about and chase each other with sticks.

I slid to a stop and barked. Someone I barely recognized tossed some clothes at us and Sydney immediately shifted, slipping on the joggers and long sleeved shirt. I flattened my ears, uncomfortable with the thought of shifting in front of everyone.

"Everyone inside!" Sydney gasped out, trying to catch her breath from all the running. "We don't know how many are out there, or who exactly it is, but get your pups safe, and alert everyone you can!"

Immediately, those outside dove into action, dropping what they were doing and getting inside. People grabbed children, rushing them to safety as they went, calling out warnings. Sydney gave quick instructions to a group of five wolves that had come outside and shifted. They bent their heads and kept their noses close to the ground while they ran into the trees. Trackers.

Sydney finally noticed I hadn't budged. "Shift!" She urged, "no one cares, we're all wolves. We gotta move!" Leaving me in the yard, she dashed through a door I hadn't ever noticed was under the grand back deck.

Glancing around quickly, I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and let myself transform back into a human. My face pressed in, my ears moved to the sides of my head, my tail disappeared, and my bones rearranged themselves to fit my human body. Gasping as I was done, I scrabbled around to slip on the clothes as fast as I possibly could. Just as I did, two little kids came running outside to me.

"Eirenae!" Amber shrieked, spotting me in the grass. "What's happening, we can't find Mom!"

I dashed across to meet them on the patio. "We need to get you to safety. Bad people are attacking." I wasn't sure if that was the truth, but based on Sydney's attitude, and the fact that Jack was here, brought me to that assumption.

Quickly grabbing their wrists in my hands, we ran into the house. From this door, I had no clue where we were; I hadn't explored the lower levels of this place yet! Thankfully, mothers with their children were rushing all in one direction, and it only made sense to follow suite.

I pulled the girls along and we joined the fray. The crowd pushed us through a door, that seemed to be just an open wall, and then there were stairs. They were metal and steel, spiraling down steeply. The hinges groaned with every rushed step as everyone hurried to get their loved ones down. At the bottom, it opened up into a cellar-like room. Chairs and cots filled the area and there was a large stash of preserved food and water against one wall. They were all set for an event like this. I wondered how often they got attacked.

The room was mostly filled with women and children, but a few men stood by. I noticed Holly was there, making her rounds and talking to those coming in. She spotted me and came right over.

"Luna! Are you alright?"

"Yes," I said, and the shock was evident in her features, even when she tried to cover it. "Take these two to someone they know. I'm going back out."

"Wouldn't it be best you stayed in here, protected?" She argued, moving past the fact I was talking to her now. "We don't know who's out there, or what's coming. Kota would hope you were safe."

I lightly pushed the twins forward and Holly took their hands with a frown. "I know who's here. And he's here for me. I have to go up, this is my fight."

Her eyes widened in understanding. "The man who hurt you? It's him?"

"And others, but I'm not sure who they are or why they're with him."

She sighed and looked to the floor for a moment. "Just, be safe please. This pack can't lose its Luna so soon after getting her." Meeting my eyes again, she smiled warmly, "but you're stronger than I've ever seen you. I've got them, go."

Thanking her, I turned and pressed my way through the last few people coming down to get back up the stairway. When I reached the top, Sydney was ushering an elder to the stairs.

"There you are! I was afraid you ran again."

I shook my head, not even offended because she was right. Normally, I would get myself far away.

"Let's go." We headed back outside, hurrying to the gate that separated the yard paths from the woods. There we waited, but it wasn't long until the five wolves from earlier slid on their paws to a stop in front of us.

One of them shifted, and I tried to ignore the fact she was nude. At least it was a woman. "Ten or so men are coming from each direction, spread in a large semicircle. Each has a gun, and they smelled like they're loaded with silver."

I remembered reading about silver and how it's one of the most dangerous things for a werewolf. If touched, the metal would burn our skin off to the bone. I shuddered at the thought of a laced bullet piercing any of our skin.

"Any wolfsbane?" Sydney's brows were furrowed. I twisted my hands together anxiously.

I also remembered the wolfsbane section in the books. Apparently, it was this toxic plant that could be turned into a paste or a poison. The damage was worse than silver and even could be dangerous to humans if used in certain ways.

Relief washed through me as the tracker shook her head. "As far as we could tell, no. But we'll keep an eye out."

Sydney nodded. "Thank you. Please go get the enforcers ready. We're to expect the worst."

The tracker nodded, darting behind a tree and finding an oversized shirt to slip on before she led the four other wolves to the house. I knew Sydney was doing my job, what a Luna should be doing. But I was so new at this, I wasn't sure what was even happening or what the protocol was. Still, I felt bad.

I didn't get a chance to dwell on it though, because a howl ripped through the air, sending a shiver down my spine and snapping my attention to the woods. The crackling feeling running through my veins told me the howl belonged to Kota, and suddenly I was nervous. What if Jack got the better of him?

Figures dotted the forest, in between trees. I sucked in a breath, knowing this was it, a battle I hadn't been prepared to fight today. The marches towards us with purpose, raggedy soldiers determined to take us down for reasons I couldn't fathom. It didn't take long before they were roughly fifteen to twenty feet away. That's when they stopped and Jack pushed his way to the front.

"What are you doing here?" I asked at the same time Sydney growled out, "where are the others?"

Jack lifted his lips in a familiar sneer. "Oh, so she speaks now? Excellent!

"Don't worry, nothing happened to your little friends. Yet. And why do you think I'm here?" One of his men lifted the gun in the air, pointing it at me. Jack waved his arm for him to lower it. "You disappeared two months ago, and I miss you."

"That's a load of bull!" I snapped. "You never cared for me, you only wanted me to do your dirty work and be your human punching bag!"

He raised a finger, "ah, but I still miss it."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "you have no legal action to take me back; I'm eighteen, I'm an adult."

"You think that's gonna help you?" He snorted, "I think the more concerning issue, legally, is that you're part wolf!" I gulped. "And I saw you before you ran, white fur is rare in this world. Anne told me she thought you'd be like that."

Sighing, he put his gun away. "Might as well tell you, since I'll have to kill you no matter what." Sydney took a step forward, but I held my hand up, interested in what he had to say.

"When Anne died, taking your little sister with her, I realized I was stuck raising a wolf." He spat the word out, like it was vile. "So I tried to make sure you would never turn. I did my research the best I could, knowing you were due to transform at the age of sixteen. Keeping you small, malnourished, and weak gave me the best chance you wouldn't. Sure enough, your sixteenth birthday came and went with no sign of you even having a clue.

"It was working too, until I mistakenly moved us to this place. Suddenly you were swept away and now you're strong again, fully wolf and everything I didn't want my daughter to become."

I was too in shock to respond. My mind reeling through every detail of his words. He treated me like that so I wouldn't shift? I had been stunted because of him? I grew up in the dark because he made sure of it? Everything was on purpose? The anger I had felt this morning was back, this time directed at Jack instead of my mother. He wasn't working with her, that much I was certain. He still thinks she's dead. As much as I hated her guts, that was good.

"When I came looking for you at school last week, I met that little mutt of a mate you have. It wasn't hard to figure out he was hiding you somewhere, and when I landed with these guys," he gestured to the men surrounding him, "they helped lead me right to you."

I felt the presence of my pack behind me. The enforcers and trackers. Glancing back, I saw some in wolf form, others in human form. All of them were ready to stand by me.

"And who are they, anyway?" I pushed, stalling any bloodshed as long as I could.

His grin widened. "Hunters. And you know what we do? Track down and kill the werewolf species. You're an abomination; you're existence as a species is completely unnatural!"

A sudden fire stemmed from the desire to protect my new family, surging from my heart through my veins, traveling down to my fingertips until my hands were shaking.

"Now, it's time for your world to end." He lifted his gun and his men did the same.

"No!" I shrieked and the fire snapped inside me like a rubber band pulled taut. An invisible, but unmistakable force swept out from me in a wave, pushing the hunters back as if they got hit by a gust of wind. A few of their guns fell from their hands, including Jack's.

He jaw slackened, "what-" he scrambled to pick up the gun on the ground. While he was ducked, a black blur knocked him down from behind. I jumped back in surprise until relief hit me realizing that it was Kota. Jaycee and the other boys weren't far behind, leaping over the heads of the hunters in streaks of brown. They skidded as they landed, standing to provide a protective barrier between me and Jack.

Moving my eyes down to my hands, I turned them back and forth in awe. It was like how Anne had nearly choked me this morning. "My gift." I whispered. Raising my arm, I concentrated on Jack's gun, prying it from his fingers and sending it into the air to land at Sydney's feet.

"How are you doing that?"

I smirked as Sydney picked the gun up. "I don't know," I fibbed. Getting the hang of it, I shoved him backwards against the tree, just to shock him a little more.

Scrambling against my hold, he choked out to his men, "get them!"

The line separating the house yard and the forestry erupted into chaos.