Pushing past my wolf's fear, I take over. Using all of my strength to duck past his attack, I clamp my sharp canines into his side. He snarls and flips backward at a strange angle causing me to lose my grip on him. He clamps down hard on my lower abdomen and rips out a large chunk. Blood immediately gushes out and his red eyes shine in amusement as he swallows. His wolf winks and he darts through the portal. I howl in anger and force myself to stand and sprint through. What I see is surreal. The scene looks exactly the way it did three hundred years ago. Except this time I am seeing everything through my own eyes.

The League is here fighting off everyone who opposes Emerson. I look around and see my grandfather fighting against Reece while more packs arrive. John, the alpha of the Crescent pack came trudging out of the trees alongside Alpha Ryder and Alpha Blake. I never thought I'd be so relieved to see them in my life.

Off to the side, I see Nick leading in our pack and my heart immediately triples in speed. I've no time to say anything as I hear Rose and now Asha chanting to send Emerson back. The moon casts a spotlight around Emerson and since I'm right on his ass it covers me as well. I hear Nick's howl and my wolf immediately jerks her head towards the sound. I shake her to the back of my mind and push past the dizzy feeling as I latch onto his hind leg and pull it out of place. He snarls and knocks me so far back I fall back through the portal. My wolf whines from the blood loss. I look down and the amount of blood spilling out of me is concerning.

If I'm going to die I'm taking Emerson with me. Huffing out in pain, I slowly come to stand and take a moment to ready myself.

Come on, you know we can do this. This is why I was brought into this world. Let's bring this bastard back, then we can join father and the others.

Gathering up what's left of my energy, I burst through the portal and latch onto his hind legs and pull him backward with all my strength. His upper half drops to the ground and he growls but can't fight against the moon, the witches, and me at the same time.

I hear a wolf cry out and see Fallon being attacked by none other than Lucinda. Where the hell is Josh?

Another cry off to my left and I see one of Blake's wolves getting his throat ripped out. We're losing this fight. The League is too powerful. My eyes lock with Lucius as he protects the witches. He nods to the left and to my surprise I see Clementine and the vampires hissing to get past the barrier.

I am so going to regret this I thought to myself as I shift back into my human form and the bleeding worsens. At this rate, I may only have a few minutes left. "Asha! Lift the barrier!"

She looks at me then at the barrier with uncertainty but one reassuring touch from Lucius and she breaks the barrier down. The vampires slither in and Clementine immediately comes straight towards us. Emerson growls and shifts back, sneering at her in disgust. "You just don't give up do you?"

She spits venom in his face which causes his face to sizzle as she smiles evilly "My father is dead because of you. I promised the kingdom he would be avenged. This is me keeping that promise."

She lunges at him and they begin their deadly fight. She claws at the deep scar on his face making it bleed and he growls angrily. I take this opportunity to race over and help my pack. Relieved to see Fallon kicking Lucinda's ass. I stopped her when she was about to rip out the girl's heart.

"Fallon stop."

She halts instantly and looks at me. "Why?"

I shook my head at Lucinda who was going to take advantage of the distraction.

"She's Josh's mate. And Lucinda, this is his sister. Maybe you should try to get along instead of killing each other." I explain.

"Fallon?" We hear a voice call, looking up we see Josh running towards his sister. The siblings immediately crash into each other and hold on for dear life. It's a sweet sentiment but right now I only have one question.

"Where the hell have you been!?" I all but shout.

He grins and nods over at Emerson "I was releasing the vampires per Lucius's order."

Understanding crosses my features. The sneaky bitch had Lucius in her pocket this entire time. Clever.

"Alpha." I hear Julian say "We should get you to the pack doctor. That injury doesn't look too good."

"No. Not until I barbecue their asses." I state "Which reminds me. You need to pick a side, Lucinda. Either you're with us or you're with them."

"I'm with Josh." She answers.

"Good enough." I reply as I feel my eyes burn, summoning up all my strength, and with a scream of power I unleash my flames. Incinerating the League one by one. Making my way towards Emerson as Clementine and her bastard son Jack push his bruised and battered body down to his knees while he remains paralyzed by the combined powers of the witches and the moon. I grab his chin and slowly light his face on fire.

"You have ruined my life and the lives of so many others." I say as I cover us both in fire and Clementine and Jack take a few steps back. "Now we get to burn in hell forever."

With all my strength I pull him with me as we jump back into the portal. Landing on the other side my flames disappear and Emerson immediately stands over me. Choking my weak body his eyes blazing in anger.

"You're going to die in here, and once the portal closes you get to relive this moment again and again for eternity. As much as I'd love to sit here and watch, the portal is closing and I have a world to conquer." He smirks as he steps onto my open wound and walks away. Fighting away my weakness and ignoring the dark spots in my vision I force myself to stand and lunge at him as he steps through. The witches continue to chant and my grandfather and Lucius are trying to push Emerson back. I hop onto his back and wrap my arms around his neck in a chokehold as I angle us backward.

"Alora!" I hear Nick shout and my head automatically whips towards him. I see him try to get past the red barrier the moon has cast around the portal preventing him from coming in. "Alora please! Don't do this! Don't go!"

Shaking my head as tears came to my eyes I focused on pulling us into the portal. Lucius grabs Emerson's hands holding them down as my grandfather digs his hand into Emerson's chest and pulls out his heart. Emerson snarls in anger as his body starts to shut down.

Lucius shakes his head "He's the original werepire; it'll take his body a few more minutes to shut down. We have to push him through. The portal is closing."

I nod. "Do it."

My grandfather shakes his head "Alora come on."

I shake my head "I can't. Me holding him back right now is the only thing that's stopping him from pulling anyone else with him. I won't have him repeat history. Just push us. Now!"

"Alora!" Nick shouts, desperation clear in his voice as he bangs on the barrier.

Lucius and my grandfather look devastated as they push us back into the fiery forest. The portal begins to close and Emerson goes wild.

"No! Don't you understand!? This is our last chance! We'll never get out of here!" He shouts as he fights me.

He flips over and begins to crawl towards the closing exit. I gasp out as my body begins to shut down but I follow him anyway. I climb onto his back and his knees buckle as he falls flat on the ground. His body finally weakening without his heart.

My heart begins to slow and my body goes limp. As the portal begins to close I sigh in relief and my eyes droop closed.

Just before the exit disappears completely two hands grab me and pull me through but Emerson grabs onto my ankle. Looking up I see Asha's determined face as she kicks Emerson with all her might back through the portal and holds me close to her chest. "Close your eyes." She says right before the explosion happens.

The ground shakes and the portal closes shut causing the Kynda to burn extremely bright before it explodes into millions of pieces that stay frozen in the air. Asha looks up and smiles, watching it disappear.

"What happened to it?" I cough out as I try to stand on my own.

"It's gone. Forever." She smiles.

The blood moon slowly changes back to its natural glow and I feel my heart slow even more.

"Alora!" Nick shouts as he rushes over. I turn to look at him but my body gives out and I begin to fall.

He catches me a few inches from the ground and I gasp. Looking into his eyes, I feel everything in the world freeze. Nothing else in the world matters to me more than this man. His gorgeous brown eyes looked like delicious melted chocolate that I could stare into forever. My numb body suddenly comes alive as his touch sends shockwaves through my system.

"Should she stray from fate, she will fall... at the hands of her mate." Lucius whispered as he hugged Asha against him.

"She went in to save me instead of just destroying the crystal-like she was intended to. It's all my fault." Asha murmured sadly as she buried her head in Lucius' chest.

The packs all kneeled around us and bowed their heads. I shakily raise my hand to caress Nick's face and our bodies hummed with electricity.

"I knew it." He whispers huskily. His voice sent a thrill through my body.

"Mate." I gasp out. My weak wolf howls in my mind as I feel his wolf calling out to us.

"Mate." He confirms as he brings his lips down to meet mine in what can only be described as the most devastatingly amazing kiss of my entire existence.

My heart stutters for a brief moment before it stops altogether. My body falls limp and I feel my mind slipping away.

Everything goes dark and I feel weightless. I want to laugh and cry all at the same time. In the past three days, I have died about three times, four counting right now. It's just like me to die right when I've found my mate. Out of all the scenarios that could've played out of course the most tragic one of all happened. It's as if the universe has it out to get me, to make my life a living hell. Luckily enough it seems fire is my friend so no matter what happens now, it can't be worse than being ripped away from Nick.

I would actually prefer fire to this cold empty void. Sighing I curl my knees into my chest and place my head down onto them. This is it. I've completed my mission. My usefulness has run its course.

With nothing to distract me from my own thoughts, I feel tears stream down my face as I completely break down. For this moment I am not Alpha Lume, leader of Ember Pack and fearless werepire. I'm just Alora. An orphan who had to take over after her entire family was slaughtered in front of her eyes. I'm the girl who has sacrificed everything for her pack, for her people. I sacrificed my life to save the entire planet and the reward I get is to lose the most valuable thing on this Earth... time with my mate.

Out of all of the things that should bother me, that is what I hate the most. All the time Nick and I lost. All of the hurt we put each other through. Never being able to fully commit to each other for fear that either one of us could find our mates at any moment and leave the other heartbroken and devastated.

I love him. I've always loved him. Even when I was under a spell and my body told me Lucius was my mate, my heart still belonged to Nick. I should have known he was my mate. We could have been so happy together. If I'd known who we were to each other I wouldn't have put up so many walls between us. I would have cherished each touch, each look, each moment spent together. I would have told him how much he meant to me.

Now there's no way to get back to each other.

It's over.