Layla was limping towards the helicopter and I turned to Kai who was running over to me. He recoiled suddenly, looking scared as I knelt down to pick up a broken branch with a sharp tip. I ran so fast after Layla, I think it could have been categorized as flying. I had never been so enraged in all my life. Sylvia was my friend, my mentor, my second mother. When I was a few feet from Layla, I leapt into the air and came down on her back, shoving the stick through her chest, then I turned her around to face me. “That was for Devon!” I roared as the trees shook with my magic. Leaves rattling around me.

“You are a cancer upon the earth.” I held her head in my hands, as the helicopter blades whirled above me, making my hair whip around as Layla gaped at me with an open mouth and one hand clutching the stick in her chest. Her skin was turning grey, but it wasn’t enough to kill her. I knew that. The Devi and I had merged into one, to end her for good.

“This is for Sylvia.” I grabbed her by the waist and thrust her up into the helicopter blades as they cut into her neck and ripped her head clean off of her body. Dropping her on the ground, I stared at her headless corpse, and for a second nothing happened. I actually had a fear that her head could somehow be reattached. But then the grey color of her skin turned black and she crumbled into ash.

I was covered in blood, mine and hers. Spinning around in shock, I saw that Kai and the pack were taking out all of her vampires. I slowly walked forward a few feet and then fell to my knees.

“Balance,” I whispered.

‘Layla is dead. It’s safe.’ I told my all female pack as the adrenaline rush made my hands shake. I did it. I actually killed Layla. Something that started so long ago had ended. Kai and I would never have been able to have true happiness as long as she hunted for my blood, for my child’s blood.

The sound of spinning wheels behind me forced me to turn. Coming from the thick forest, was a group of black quads driving out of the trees. RAIDOS. The black army fatigues they wore brought only bad memories.

When I saw what was in their hands my stomach dropped. No!

‘Get out! Get out of the building!’ I frantically sifted through the pack bonds to see if anyone else was left inside. Spinning around, I glancing at the scene before me. Sylvia dead on the lawn, Kai, Max, and the others locked in battle with the vampires that kept spilling out the open facility door. Most of my female wolves were fighting with them.

I quickly searched my pack bonds again; Chelsea was still inside. One of the vampires caught up with her and was fighting her in a small utility room.

Sadie was still inside, too, and I couldn’t reach her. She was unconscious inside the room. NO!! I sensed Karissa was the only one left inside with her. That was three of my wolves inside the building. Karissa’s wolf nudged Sadie to try to wake her.

‘Shift and get her out now! They are going to bomb the building,’ I roared at Karissa with Alpha power.

‘No, I’ll wipe her memory if I do!’ Karissa whined.

Shit. She was right, she would have to shift to human form to carry an unconscious Sadie. ‘It won’t matter if you’re both dead! Pick her up and run!’ I commanded it. I slammed Alpha power over her body. Forcing her to shift. Her bones cracked as her human form took shape. She hadn’t been human in so long she almost forgot what it was like.

A clicking noise forced me to turn around as RAIDOS released the RPG launcher at the building and it felt like time stopped.  It sailed through the air and when it hit, it exploded, sending glass everywhere and the building burst into flames. My body hit the ground with the force of the blast and I was stunned into silence by the ringing in my ears.

Fumbling, I stood and ran at the side door. “No! Sadie!” I screamed as tears ran down my face.

Kai was shirtless and bleeding as he ran up behind me, grabbing me by the waist and stopping me.

“No, let me go! My pack!” I wailed as Kai pinned me down.

Earl and the militia took off after RAIDOS, pushing them back into the thick trees, guns snapping out bullets around me. This is what it must be like to be in a war. So much death and destruction you didn’t even know where to look.

Suddenly, I felt all of the fight go out of me. I had used too much power to kill Layla, Sylvia’s death, forcing Karissa to shift, it all had drained me. I prepared for that feeling; that awful feeling you get when someone in your pack dies. It’s like having an organ cut out. I had felt it with Devon and never wanted to feel it again. The pain hit me, Chelsea; she was dead, her essence ripped from the pack. Oh God, as an Alpha it hurt so much more. She burned alive, taking the baby with her and I burned too. My skin, my hair; it tingled with pain as my heart ached from the sudden loss of her.

“No!” I screamed as Kai held me tightly. Even though he held me close, he felt so far. I needed to be pack with him again, to feel him inside my head. I braced myself for the loss of Sadie and Karissa. The pain of losing three wolves might kill me.

But it didn’t come. A banging noise drew my attention to the side of the collapsed building. Karissa was naked, in human form, carrying an unconscious Sadie in her arms. They were covered in black soot and Karissa’s leg bled freely. She coughed as she fell to the ground, letting Sadie spill out of her arms.

I choked on a sob as I ran over to them and Karissa quickly backed up. “Don’t touch me!” she shouted as Kai moved to give her a shirt.

He froze, arms out. Brett skidded to a halt at Sadie’s feet and picked her head up, slapping her face gently. She was breathing steadily but out cold.