First thing I noticed once the darkness of the cave was left behind us was the torches of fire. Their light was so bright I had to squint in order to accommodate it. There must have been around 40 torches placed in a circle in our packs clearing with what appeared to be in the form of a ring. Our pack members were surrounding the outside of the ring and were shackled together with silver chains. The pain etched onto their faces would forever haunt my mind.

Flames from the torches in the darkness eluminated their mournful faces to give way to expressions of guilt and fear. As my jailers picked up the pace, I was frog marched and manhandled towards the circle and I spotted Alec to my right as we passed. His beaten face was full of confusion as not one member of the pack understood the reasoning behind their Luna being dragged into the centre of a torched circle. Once I reached the centre I was released just as quickly as I was taken and soon enough I found myself standing alone.

Walking in a circle I tried to see the Rogue King himself behind the faces of my pack. I spotted a few faces of the children and my heart broke for them. It seemed that not even their small minds were spared from whatever gruesome challenge would await me. He wanted them to 'see' this. I searched all the little faces for Noah and Peggy but came up short. This only doubled my anxiety. It appeared to be well thought out, planned so as to make me weak and second guess everything. He wanted the entire pack to witness the downfall of their Luna. To squash their morale and beat submission into them with the promise of violence should they intercede or go against him.

Waiting in silence the pack also started to survey the area. Chained in silver meant our pack were practically human. None of them could mind link to me nor I them. They were vulnerable and weak. Just how HE wanted it!

"Momma?"

I snapped and nearly twisted my neck to find where that wonderful voice had come from. The voice I had come to know so well recently. Standing on the opposite side of the circle was Noah. Someone had placed him there and he stood completely shocked at his surroundings. I opened my arms for him to run to me but he shook in fear, completely rooted to the spot he was so obviously told to stand in. I heard tricklets of water run and my sensitive wolf nose could smell urine.

God!

He was so scared he wet himself. My eyes began to tear up as I noticed for the first time a figure emerge in the darkness behind him, fully cloaked and hooded. My blood ran cold as I saw the 'Rogue King' had replaced his face with a mask of human skin.

Dear god!

My eyes widened in horror and my arms inched forward. A maternal reflex to reach out to Noah and pull him towards me.

To safety.

I gulped as I realised the gravity of the situation. Noah was in shock and right now he could barely function.

Narrowing my eyes I penetrated the human mask that shielded this predator from me.

"You harm that child, and I'll kill you"!

It was a promise made in the space between us. A promise of absolute retribution if he so much as laid a finger on my son.

He laughed mockingly and placed his hand on Noah's shoulder. If it was possible, Noah recoiled in on himself even more than before. But I attempted to keep my gaze solely on his abuser. Not taking my eyes off of him even for a second. If he harms him... I'll shift.

I was weighing up my options in my head and they were not good. The pack were in a circle surrounding us and facing inward. I was under no illusion that the 'Rogue King' did all of this by himself. Which meant his minions were in the forest surrounding the pack from behind. One wrong move and they would attack them all and within a few seconds we would all be dead. We were at their mercy it would seem.

The man who orchestrated all of this clicked his tongue.

"You jump to conclusions Luna. It is not me who would harm the boy." He drawled.

4 black hooded figures stepped into the circle and I gulped.

"Let me explain this to you Luna. As my Queen I would need you to protect me from all others. Even if that meant with your own life. I also need to ensure my line has the strongest bloodline. For training purposes, I decided to take an unwilling subject and allow them to be me for the evening".

He bent down and whispered something into Noah's ear which riled the very fabric of my core. With a few shaky steps Noah began walking to me... very slowly... too slowly. I made eye contact with him. Trying to reassure him.

My heart was beating painfully and I could hear the beats of each step he took with the rush of blood in my own ears. When he faltered half way over to me I ran the other half of the distance between us so as to catch him just before he fell with exhaustion and freight. I hugged him closely to me and kissed his forehead.

My heart told me to tell him 'your safe'. But my head knew I could not promise that. I could never promise anything again.

My eyes fluttered up and made contact with Alec. As a Beta, he was feeling the same as Liam would right now. Total and complete and utter helplessness. He was a dominant male who wanted nothing more than to protect our kinds young and the women along with them. But he couldn't... not today. He saved my life a long time ago, at the cost of his own mates life. I knew then that I should have died that day and I had always been on borrowed time ever since then. I nodded at him with reassurance. This was out of all of our control and it was no owns fault. I was just thankful that Liam was not here to witness this.

I propped Noah behind me and stood to face down the four hooded figures who had moved to circle around me within the circle. I stared back at the 'Rogue King' awaiting his explanation.

"Here is your challenge Luna. Protect this pup from all four of my wolves and you and your Alpha, along with the whole of Bloodstone pack will live. You will become my Queen and Bloodstone will swear allegience to their new King...... simple".

He nodded his head having given his signal and removed himself from the circle. Vanishing behind the pack. Hiding like the coward he is.

The figures removed their cloakes and revealed themselves one by one. I tried to conceal the shock when I saw

Miriam, Mathew, Adam and Will.

The siblings of hell!

I tried hard to swallow the fear that was closing in around me. This was not a fair fight, not that I ever expected that it would be but I had at least hoped it would be easier than this. I was fueled by my absolute hatred towards them though, the anger that followed with the knowledge of how they ruined this pack, my Mate and my Son. The vision of Miriam attacking Noah in our pack house this morning invaded my mind and my eyes couldn't help but narrow in on her. I wanted her to feel the same pain he had felt. I also found the eyes of Matthew.. the same wolf who had attacked Peggy. To think this morning I was still questioning it. Now however, I was absolutely certain of Violets innocence which only made me even more feral in that moment. I widened my stance and told Noah to back up a few paces behind me. If they wanted to get to him they had to go through me. I tried to re call all the training liam and Alec had ever shown me.

I had to be smart and not just act irrationally. If I wanted to defeat them I had to use my own advantages against them. I had three strong males who had strength but could they match that in speed? Miriam was slight and would probably be the dark horse here. If anyone would play dirty, it would be her. I had to move fast with the wolves and watch my back with the shewolf. I was outnumbered and couldnt underestimate them. This was a challenge designed for failure.

I could not fail!

Not for Liam, not for Noah and not for the pack.

Staring at the ground in front of me I relied on my periphery to gauge who would move first. I couldnt keep moving my head from one side to the other incase I missed one of them attack from the opposite side.

I crouched and waited for the inevitable. I was defending Noah, which meant I was already not able to move freely from this spot which shielded him.

As if hearing my thoughts, Adam lunged forward on the left and swiped his hand out at the same time Matthew did the same on my right side. I ducked and dived out of their grasp and moved Noah out of their reach. Diving low I landed a blow to Adam's gut and kicked out at his knee cap. I heard the snap and break but could not afford to enjoy the moment like I should have as I only had a few moments to turn and swipe out the legs from under Matthew. I lifted my arm above my head and I elbowed him in the stomach with speed, completely winding him for a few moments and offering myself and Noah a small reprieve from their advances. This allowed me some time to stand and move Noah behind me again and towards the other side of the circle. Will watched with a bored expression. Still not making any effort to move. Looking over at Adam and Matthew I recognised that as wolves it would not take them long to recover and the only energy I had right now was the adrenaline coursing through me. The innate need I had to protect.

Miriam circled and grinned as we played this game. I noticed that she held back, allowing the stupid male wolves to attack me first. She was probably hoping they would wear me down enough for her to swoop in and make the final blow. Like a crow does after a lions kill. A lazy killer but a resourceful one. She rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck in a disgusting display of indifference. Like a young boys life meant nothing at all. Without thought I attacked. Probably not the greatest idea as I had yet to see her fight but my rage won out over rationale.

She grinned and dodged my fist, I had taken the bait. I swung again and she dodged a second time. I became conscious of Noah remaining so still and the distance which was now between us after I ran towards her. She took my momentary pause to use it against me and landed a back hand to my face. I went sprawling along the floor on my back and skidded closer to Will and Adam. Both who had recovered by now. I turned to look towards Noah and watched helplessly as Miriam walked towards him. He was completely open to her attack. With speed I caught her from behind, grabbed her shoulders and threw her away from him before standing in front of him again. The pack started to fidget around the outskirts of the ring and a few of the children were calling out to their Luna. Worried for her safety.

All three of the siblings stood and ran towards me head on. I zoned in on Will who was in the centre, and round house kicked him. The force of the kick sent him spiraling towards the other side of the ring and he knocked into Adam during his decent from the air. Miriam took that moment to pull my hair from behind and my head whipped back to expose my throat. Matthew gave me a menacing smile and I let out a shaky breath as he slowly walked towards me. He lifted his right hand and I watched in horror as he extended his wolfs claws to their full length. His intent was clear. He would slit my throat with them.

"Hold her" he said to Miriam.

"With pleasure" she replied.

However, Miriam was struggling to hold me. I was still the stronger one of the two of us with my Luna blood. I stamped down my heel on top of her foot just as Mathew swiped his hand in my direction. I ducked and rolled out of the way but not before catching the greatest sight I would ever see.

His claws had scratched Miriam in her chest when I had rolled out of the way at the last minute. She screamed out in agony and dropped to the floor beneath Matthew. Blood was trickling from her chest and she sent me a look of absolute malice and retribution.

Her eyes darted behind me and gave me the small warning I needed as I stood to my full height to round on my attackers from behind me. Will and Adam were ready to pounce but I caught them off guard with my speed. I punched Adam in the jaw and heard the break... I guess It really wasnt his day. Will side stepped my swipe to his face and punched me square in the jaw. I dropped to the floor like a ton of bricks and noticed that my eye had also been affected by the blow. I felt warm liquid roll down my nose and noted the break instantly. That would hurt later on, but now.. I had no time to hurt. Looking behind me I saw Noah had sat on the floor, his little legs had given up on him. I tried to stand but the blow of the punch I received from Will temporarily dazed me. I was punch drunk and I started to panic as my vision deteriorated in my wounded eye. If I couldnt see, I couldnt fight.

If can't fight I can't defend.

If I can't defend.....

Death.

When I had hit the floor I failed to notice Miriam had slithered in behind me. She swipped Noah's leg and dangled him upside down as he screamed. I moved onto my knees and begged all four standing wolves to let him go as I cried.

Adam kicked my chest and I fell backwards. My head hit the floor with such ferocity I heard the break and crack of my skull. I whimperd out in pain.

"Its only a small break you little bitch"! Adam spat.

Will placed his hand on Adam's chest preventing him from advancing any more on my frozen form. Matthew moved and stood over me. He looked down, as If assessing a small insect he was about to step on. His boot collided with my right cheek and pushed my face into the floor. The force of his boot shattered the bones in my eye socket but I didn't have the energy to scream out in pain. The adrenaline had left my body and now, all I could feel was pain.

He removed his boot and Miriam swooped in now that the tiger had left her scraps to peck at.

I felt her saliva on my broken cheek and took a few moments to assert that she had in fact spat on me. Groaning, I attempting to roll to my side. I had to win.

Bloodstone cannot die.

LIAM.

I closed my eyes and saw his face in my mind. I can't fail him.

Slowly turning to face Miriam I said

"She will find you and when she does, I pity you". I whispered with the last breath I swear I had.

Her smile faltered only slightly the smallest tell that she understood whom I was referring to.

Violet.

She would avenge me.

I was sure of it with every bone in my body.

My friend.

My best friend.

Before long, the Rogue King entered the circle and called off his dogs. It was plainfully obvious at this point that I had lost the fight and it was pointless continuing it.

He sighed and I waited for the moment he would order my death. I looked around the open space and looked at the faces of my pack, friends, family. All of them stared at the ground. Too upset to watch my end.

I had failed them.

I saw Alec and noticed he was crying. Unashamedly loud sobbing. How had I not heard it before? He was shouting at them to stop. Begging them to let him take my place. I also over heard the hysterical cries of my mate from the cells a few hundred yards away. Now that he had healed I was sure he had mind linked and known everything which had just transpired. As mates he could probably feel my pain also but he was still too weak to break out of his silver chains to come and rescue me.

A fate worse than death knowing your mate was about to die and you were helpless to prevent it. I asked Alec to stop his shouting and spoke to him directly...

"Do something for me Alec...

I motioned with my head towards the cells so he understood that I meant Liam.

"Tell him he didn't fail me....

.....

"I failed him". I whispered in defeat.

As soon as the words left my mouth I heard a howl. A heart wrenching howl of my mate who had just heard my confession. I remembered our chat by the window in his office earlier today. It seemed that the Goddess had truly sent him a warning. Only, ALL of this was my fault.

NOT his.

I looked back to Alec and his chest was still sobbing as he tried to control his breathing between sobs. He dropped to his knees and hung his head low.

I turned my head to stare death in the face. I may have lost... but I was no coward.

The "Rogue King" motioned for Miriam to pass Noah to him. I watched helplessly as she lowered her head in deference and obeyed his command. Tears fell freely as I watched him hold a crying Noah out before him effortlessly. Within seconds he tore Noah apart limb from limb in front of me until Noah's cries were no more.

The women of the pack were screaming and the men looked away in disbelief. I could only stare in absolute shock at what he had done. Noah's blood was everywhere. I lost the will to live in that moment. My life was now forfeit and so was this pack's.

I stared into the eyes of the "Rogue King" as he said

"Another disappointment for a Luna"

********

Alec

I have never witnessed anything quite like this in my entire life. I was so sure It was a nightmare. Noah's lifeless limbs were spread out across the ring in front of us and the horror was unimaginable.

I watched helplessly as the "Rogue King" lifted his claws high above his head and swooped them down towards our kneeling Luna.

Her decapitated head rolled on the floor of the clearing and there was silence.

Liam's cries had stopped the moment her head was severed and she ceased to exist anymore. All of our Pack lowered their heads in mourning and respect for her sacrifice.

Our Luna was dead and Bloodstone was finished ...