I hit the cell guard hard on the back of the head with my torch, and the loud clang sound it makes is almost cartoon like. I fully expect an instant egg-like mound to grow out of his head, and I'm disappointed when it doesn't. My sense of reality is really upside down at the moment. Something is wrong with me. Or rather, everything is wrong.

My father stands waiting for me at his cell doors as I edge closer to him, keys in hand. He steps back as I reach his door and waits for me to unlock his cell, stepping through and stretching out his hands for me to unlock the cuffs that bind him.

"It seems we have company," he says dryly, and I roll my eyes. None of this would be happening if it weren't for him, and I'm going to make damn sure that no one else is dragged into this extended melodrama either.

Even if I have to kill them myself. Even if I have to die. No more of the people I love will lose their lives tonight.

I push him forward and out into the dark and dank tunnels. The guard is still out cold, and a small feeling of guilt runs through me as we pass him, though it's eased somewhat when it dawns on me that he will at least be safe down here.

That's more than I can say for everyone else. For myself.

We trudge through the tunnels and out into the open. My father shivers as we exit the protective cover of the building and slows as I move to go past him.

I turn to face him and suddenly realise how old and weak he seems now. Standing here in the foreboding shadow of the early evening, he seems less evil dictator, mad scientist and more a sad, lonely, bitter, and jilted lover.

Surprisingly I feel only pity for him now. He, unlike so many others, had a choice in all of this. And he chose wrong.

"What is your plan, Aida? I assume you have one," he says, dragging me back to the present and my crazy half-baked idea.

"Yes," I reply pointedly, though my expression gives me away and a small frown etches its way across his wrinkled face. "Sort of," I try again, this time moving slowly away from the house, tipping my head to the side and gesturing for him to follow. "Can you still scent her?" I ask, not looking at his face but sensing his fast change in body language. He stiffens immediately, fear eminent and seeping from his every pore.

"Yes ... but why would you—" He cuts off as he realises what I am asking of him. "You can't be doing what I think you are doing. Where is your mate? Your Alpha?" he sputters angrily.

"Our Alpha is dead, and Argent is looking for his killer and getting the pack to safety," I blurt out, trying not to picture the dead form of Argos in my mind.

"Dead? How?" he stammers but as I pause to answer, I see the light of recognition form behind his eyes. "They're already here." I simply nod and pause once more, facing my whole body towards him now as we come to a complete stop.

"Yes. And they have taken some of the pack hostage and killed many others. They will return the taken to us if I surrender myself to them." I state the facts in a cold and calm manner, but my insides are anything but. The panic rising in my gut threatens to upheave anything held in there, and I swallow hard trying not to let that happen.

A small tickle in the back of my mind awakens other senses, and I feel Argent there in my mind. The link. He's searching for me. I need to act now before he comes and tries to stop me.

"Aida, you have to know. Going to them now ... it's suicidal. They won't let you live past tonight. And even if they do? The things they'll force upon you ... you would be better off dead." My father says this methodically, like a robot.

I'm counting on that tiny part of him to help me.

"I know. But what do you expect me to do? Let the pack be slaughtered? Let innocent children be murdered? No. I'm not like you. I will gladly sacrifice myself if it means my family is safe," I say, and I mean every word. He startles, but it's all true. Because that is what this pack is. My family. All I've ever wanted. And damn it, no more of them will be harmed if I can help it. I add, "But I'm not going to hand myself over. I'm not an idiot, Jasper. I know they won't just hand over the wolves they have as soon as I appear. They'll take them for food or, or worse."

His nodding only proves my theory. This is all a ruse.

"So, what do you suggest?" Jasper asks, He follows close behind as we begin to move into the shadows.

"I need you to scent her out. Help us surprise them. Maybe we can get the wolves out before they notice me," I say, realising it's a stretch. They would scent me a mile away.

"There will be scouts, maybe even some wolves working with Lukah. We need to think of a better plan that that," Jasper mutters, clearly deep in thought.

"What do you suggest then?" I retort, ducking for cover in the shadow of one of the houses when we see two young teenage members of the pack moving through the outskirts of the village close by.

"We need to mask you as much as we can. Find you something else to wear and, well, cover your scent with something." The way he says this does not make me feel confident at all.

"Like what?" I ask, not sure I want to hear the answer.

"Argos's blood," he states, and I have to swallow extra hard to catch the bile that tries to escape.

"What?" I hiss, shaking my head. That's a hard no.

Jasper shrugs. "It'll throw them off. It'll confuse the wolves and send the vampires into a frenzy. It may just be the small window we need to get the hostages out before they figure it out. If we have enough time, you might be able to escape with them." His hopeful face almost sells the idea to me, but I don't miss the fact that he said you and not we. But even just the thought of going back to the body and then touching his blood makes me almost want to let the upchuck free, even just to cure this whirling nausea inside.

We wait there together for a few seconds, staring at one another while I force myself to agree. This is just crazy enough that it may work.

"Let's hope your crazy pays off for once, Jasper," I snap, turning to head back towards the pack house. I just hope the others have left now so that we can get what we need from the poor Alpha.

"Let's hope I can actually do something good for once," he says lowly as he begins to follow behind me again. I pretend I don't hear him.

***As we make our way closer to the pack house, trying to remain undiscovered, the anxiety of what we need to achieve is killing me. The waves of nausea keep rolling over me, and we need to pause every now and then for me to be sick. Jasper eyes me with caution and speculation, but I know it's just the mounting nerves that are making me ill.

What else could it possibly be?

Oh wait, the fact that I'm about to rub myself in my recently deceased, future father-in-law-to-be's blood ... Yeah, that's enough to make any decent person sick.

When we make it to the pack house undetected, I can see that the body has now been covered with a blanket as a sign of respect. The pack seems to have deserted to the safe houses now, and I can't see nor scent anyone close by.

It's now or never.

Jasper and I slowly make our way over to the body and I again have to force myself not to throw up. He begins to put his hands in the now drying pools of blood and starts to smear it over my arms and upper body as I close my eyes and do the same with my face and hair.

We move on to my lower torso and legs, and Jasper makes sure that I'm completely covered before we drape the blanket over the body once more and begin to move away from the pack house. We head into the forest to the east, leading to the clearing where they said they would be, except not the side they're expecting us.

I begin to feel like some sort of sad copy of Carrie when she is covered in blood at her dance in that movie. I move slowly with my arms dangling away from my body. The thought of them rubbing together on my torso or clothes and creating any sort of friction makes me weak in the knees.

I'm hanging by a blood covered thread.

Jasper stays close to me, keeping watch behind me as we sneak our way through the tree lined pathway and into the dark of the forest. All I can smell is death around us as we inch closer to the centre and Jasper places his fingers to his mouth in a quieting motion. I assume what I'm scenting is the vampires.

I have only smelled something similar once before when I saw my mother.

Jasper puts his hand on my shoulder and pulls me to the ground. Up ahead I smell a strong combination of the vampire scent and something else. Something familiar. Someone who smells sort of familiar.

Have I seen this wolf before? I don't think I know him, but his scent is familiar. Similar to someone else I know.

To Jemma. This wolf has the smell of her pack, though it's faint somehow. Like it has worn away.

He stands a small distance from us now beside a willowy white man. They converse quietly as they keep careful watch over the tree line around them.

"Elroy," Jasper says beside me, and recognition settles in. That traitor. Jemma is going to kill him when she finds out. It makes sense that the vampires had help coming here. Wolves know how other packs work. He basically assisted in the deaths of members from our pack.

He is so done for.

I'm momentarily distracted from my death wishes upon him as I see a group of young children being pushed out of the trees and towards the edge of the clearing by another wolf. He must be one of Elroy's men, as I don't recognise him.

The small group that he's shoving along the rocky path consists of mainly pre-teen wolves, some very young children, and a few young females.

I realise these are the kids from the pack school, and the anger and nausea threaten to get the better of me once more.

"What do we do now?" I ask Jasper, but his attention is elsewhere. He is frozen, his eyes lingering somewhere behind my head. I follow his gaze, but I feel her presence before I even see her.

My mother joins Leroy and the male vampire now, leaning in to say something to the ghostly wisp of a man as Leroy moves to assist with marching the young wolves in towards the clearing.

"Marina," Jasper whispers to himself. He makes a move forward, but I grab him by the shirt.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I hiss into his ear.

He glares at me. "Making a distraction. You won't have long. Can you take on that one wolf if I get the attention of the traitor and the two vampires?" he asks, staring at me with tears in his eyes.

"Yes, I think so. But Jasper ... they'll kill you." I'm sure he already knows. I can see it in his eyes. He knows he won't see the end of this day.

Jasper nods. "Yes, most likely. But we both know it's less than I deserve." He places his hands on my shoulders. "Kill the wolf. Get the kids and run. Run as fast as you can. And as soon as you've done that, link Argent. You'll need everyone to defeat Lukah once I take out your mother."

Without warning, he pulls me in close and whispers in my ear.

"I'm sorry, Aida."

And then he's gone, pushing forward into the tree line and standing up where they can see him. I drop fast to the ground. As soon as they spot him, Leroy yells out, pointing to him, and the two vampires turn in unison, a sickening smile erupting on my mother's face.

"Husband," she purrs, making her way over to him, effortlessly taking his hair in her hand roughly and pulling him hard to his knees.

I use the distraction to make my way around them in the other direction, trying to circle back on the group of hostages and the one wolf with them. I hear my mother calling to Lukah and hear the slap of skin to skin contact as Elroy hits Jasper hard, knocking him down.

I ignore the guilt eating me from the inside and continue stalking the group. I can hear them now, the sniffling from the small children and the low cooing from the older ones, trying as much as they can to settle them.

The dirty wolf guarding them is standing to the side of the children now, smoking a cigarette, his eyes raking the area around him as the group huddle together, the small ones on the inside and the eldest on the outside, protecting them.

The smoker sniffs the air as I get closer, wrinkling his nose in disgust as he catches the bloodied scent and shaking his head. "Stay here or I'll kill you all!" he yells at the kids before moving a few steps away and taking out a phone.

He mumbles something that I can't quite catch about an off scent or something weird, but his reception must be off because he shoots the kids a look and then turns and steps a little further into the trees.

This is the break I need. Soundlessly, I slide out of my blood crusted clothes and shift fast, keeping close to the ground as I stalk my prey.

His startled face is the last thing I see as I launch myself at his throat. I clamp down before he can scream, biting through his hard surface just once but enough to completely sever the connecting tissue between his neck and skull.

I feel his life force draining down into my throat as his pulse dies. The coppery taste makes me immediately gag. I trot over to the edge of the ledge and I drop his shell of a body into the ravine, watching as his body sinks like a weight into the water. I move silently back to the pile of red that is my clothes and shift, vomiting over and over as I put the disgusting clothes back on.

If I survive the night, I will need some serious therapy about what I've just done. I'll wait to see if I live to even begin to unpack that damage.

I make my way through the trees once more to the group of scared children and try not to startle them as I step out of the trees. I must look and smell like actual death.

They look at me with confusion, but I make the 'shh' sign and open the link to them, asking them to follow me as quietly as they can. The bigger ones carrying the smaller so that we can move faster. As soon as the link is open, I am bombarded by Argent asking where I am and if I'm okay.

I force the kids forward and keep my answer simple, I'll explain later. I'm coming back to the pack house.

The children continue to move as fast as they can and we hit the open tree line before I hear them behind me. The commotion. They know.

"Keep running, and don't tell Argent where we are. Promise me!" I yell to the kids as I turn back and start in the opposite direction.

One of the older kids nods and starts to push the little ones to move faster. I watch as they disappear into the safety of the pack grounds and then turn to face the arrogant face of the wolf before me.

Elroy.

I link one more time to Argent before I shut it off again. I don't want him near this.

Something came up. The kids are coming. I love you. I'm sorry.

I hear the sound of air rushing around my ears before I feel the crack of something hard against my skull.

Cheap shot. What an asshole.

I guess this is it.