Thank you ShyDoll97 for the picture

---

Mikko POV

Shock wasn't something that I experienced often anymore. It has been a long time since anything had been able to shock me. Emily did. Her pain seared through the bond that I had on her. Someone was attacking Emily.

Once the initial shock, I a high alert signal was sent reverberating through the pack bonds. The change started without my control. The wolf was at the surface with me now. I could feel through the bond that it was that bastard Jones who was attacking her.

He's going to die.

All I had was the last place she had been. Miles away. I wouldn't get there quickly enough to help her. I sent those on patrol, who were already changed in that general direction, leaving a skeleton crew to protect the house.

Finn was already with the children. He would stay with them.

I could feel the power surging through the pack bonds. I was a wolf completely and out the shattered doorway in a fraction of the time.

I started in the general direction I had felt her pain. There was no more connection to her. Jones had torn the mark out by the root, which meant she was bleeding.

I ran faster.

I felt tugging through the pack bonds as I continued to run.

I expanded the bonds with those I had sent before me. They were at least 10 minutes ahead of me.

They were still running.

It felt like I was running in waist deep water, but I couldn't push myself any faster.

The enforcers are now surrounding the house; the children will be safe. I could tell that he was distracting the children in their playroom.

Any worries I had about the children were wiped away. It would take a well-trained army to get to them with enforcers and Finn guarding them.

All I could think about as I ran was: why?

Why would she go meet him? I knew that she put too much trust in the people she thought she knew. But going alone?

It was another 5 minutes before the enforcers sent anything through the pack bonds.

We've found Jones' body. They say it's his scent, but we can't ID him. One echoed through the bonds.

I felt relief at that at least. She had at least managed to kill him.

I found her. Philip said through the pack bonds. He too was in his wolf form. Her scent's changed. She's also carrying something. I could feel his hesitation. She's Changed.

I slowed. If she changed while pregnant, she would've lost the child. I felt a pang in my chest at the thought.

Stalk her in the right direction home. Philip would make sure she was unharmed. I sent those who were following me in her direction to guard her home.

Tell me when she gets close. She may not let anyone near her. I said through the bond.

You're not coming? Philip asked, confused.

I'm going to kill every last one. I sped up again.

The wolves who had found Jones's body had continued onward and found where they had brought her. When I came up on the property, I knew there wasn't anyone alive on the property.

But there was a car coming, which slammed on the breaks when they saw me.

With all due haste, the driver worked on getting them out of there, initiating a U-turn, but not nearly quick enough. The three wolves ran with me at the SUV which was trying to get away. It only managed to start driving forward, we four wolves jumped on the side of the car, knocking it onto its side with a loud crash.

No one would make it out alive today.

Emily POV (Keep in mind where we are starting with her is not where we are leaving off with Mikko. The timeline is a little off for the two POV's.)

My eyes shot open as pain shot down my spine as fast as light. I gasped arched forward. I looked down to see the baby sleeping peacefully. I reached down and felt him. He was warm and happy.

I sighed in relief, but then another sharp pain shot through me. I slowly popped myself up onto my elbow to check my wound. It wasn't bleeding and it was noticeably healing.

"Oh no," I whispered to myself. I was Changing. The trauma of labor wasn't what would've killed me, JJ's wolf attack was the fatal factor. I scurried away from my son. I didn't want to change next to him. I didn't want the wolf to know he was there. The wolf could kill him.

I felt the bones break with the sounds of snapping twigs. By far, the femurs breaking and reforming was the worst part.

I felt the muscles tear away from the bones, only to reattach.

I felt my skin crawl as the wolf's needle-like hairs sprout through.

I felt my fingers individually break, shorten and reform.

I felt my fingernails harden and shape into claws.

I felt my teeth recede and the sharp wolf's teeth replace them.

When my skull shattered I nearly passed out. It took pure will to stay conscious. I couldn't fight for control if I passed out. I couldn't save my baby if I passed out.

I needed the control. I needed to get my baby home. I needed to introduce him to his family, his siblings, and his daddy.

I wouldn't give in. I would fight until my child was safe. When the pain finally subsided I felt sore. It felt like I had run for hours and just collapsed.

But I couldn't rest. I needed to get out of here. I stumbled when I tried to walk. This walking on four legs thing was going to take some major practice.

When I was stable, I made my way over to my sleeping son. He looked like he had been through so much with that bloody skirt wrapped around him. The smell of the blood was mouthwatering. I knew that came along with the wolf's craving for bleeding meat.

I let out a sigh and kept my ears alert. It would only take a half an hour, maybe an hour until I changed back. The first change didn't last that long. I kept hearing growls. I wanted to give into the temptation of blacking out.

My mouth wouldn't stop watering from the smell of the blood from JJ and, oddly, from my own. I could hear every sound the trees made. I could hear animals. And then I focused on my son's heartbeat. It was steady and strong.

I tried to find a place I could grab onto with the teeth of the wolf, but I couldn't. It was wrapped too well. I nudged the edges of the blanket and managed to get a grip on it with my teeth. Very slowly, I raised my head away from the ground. I didn't want the blanket to give and drop my son, but I knew we couldn't stay here.

I would smell different now. There was the chance that they would follow the unknown scent, but it would be confusing. They would pick up my new scent mingled with the scent I had when I was a human. The scent of my son would smell more like me than anything else right now. He was too newly born. I carried my son until I found a cabin after some walking. There weren't any cars and, as weird as it was for me, I could pick up any scents. So many scents of trees, plants, vermin, wolves, humans. No one had been here recently.

I put the baby down before running the perimeter of the cabin, looking for any way to break into this place. I didn't find anything. I couldn't keep my son out in this weather, so I leaned on the door, and it crashed open. I was a lot stronger than I thought I would be. I immediately looked over at the baby to see a frown on his face. I grabbed him by his blanket and walked into the house. As long as he wasn't crying, the world was good.

When the second change came, I felt tingling all over. When I realized what it was, I put the baby on a rug since I didn't have as much time as I would have wanted.

Then I changed back. The process was nowhere as bad as it had been last time.

When I was human again, it took a few minutes before I could walk again. Changing was exhausting and I was starving. Then he started crying.

I picked the baby up off the ground and held him to my chest. There was no harm in trying to feed him. Would I be able to feed him? Would the change have stopped the lactation?

He quickly latched on. There was a moment of fear when he'd reject me when I couldn't feed him, by then he started feeding. I don't know how it could have happened, but I wasn't going to question it. My son was hungry, so he was going to eat.

When he was finished, I washed off the filth from the baby, then myself. I found a new blanket for the baby. I found a sweatshirt and some jeans that were way to big. I used rope as a belt.

Then I was on my way. I used the road to the house to figure out where I was. I actually wasn't that far away from Finn's house. I'd have to watch out for wolves looking for rogues. I would smell unfamiliar. If anything, they'd assume that I was the rogue that had killed... well, me.

It was maybe ten minutes of paranoid searching later when I recognized my surroundings.

When I did, I started walking faster. I could smell scents that were slightly familiar. I could hear running wolves in the distance. When the house came into view, I could've cried. I needed food and a hot bath.

But I didn't even see the house before I spotted Mikko. I actually heard him before I saw him. And it wasn't him necessarily that I heard. I heard footsteps coming quickly towards me.

Once I turned to see him, he slowed. Now that I was a werewolf, I could feel the power he had. It was the most terrifying thing.

"Em..."

I had never been so relieved to see him.

Mikko's eyes were golden. There was a mixture of fear, relief, and anger in his eyes. "Emily?"

I nodded once and looked down at the sleeping baby. "I need to get to Albert."

The look of relief on his face was priceless. "H-he survived?"

I smiled. "Of course he did." I held the baby out. "You should take him."

Mikko came closer to me slowly.

I whined and looked down at the sleeping baby. "Please don't keep him from me."

"You're newly changed," he reasoned. "I'm going to make sure he's safe."

"I've made it this far with him." I needed to make a good enough argument. "You don't know what I've been through."

Mikko nodded. "You can tell me all about it. No one will keep you from the baby, but we have to keep him safe first."

Mikko held his hands out for the baby, I was resistant to the idea, but I handed over my son. Mikko looked over the baby slowly, inspecting him for any sign that something could be wrong.

I smiled at the baby. "I've looked him over 3 times already. He seems pretty healthy, considering he's a little early."

Mikko nodded looking away from the baby and into my eyes. "You're going to tell me why you did this."

I looked down with a nod. "I will."

Mikko sighed, "When we are alone."

Which meant we weren't alone. Mikko kept a strong grip around the small baby.

It was only then that I noticed that he was covered in dirt and blood. My only thought was that he had to have just changed and found someone to let his anger out on. He was only wearing a pair of shorts that were a little too small, revealing a lot of his anatomy.

When we got to Finn's house, I felt a wave of anxiety coarse through me. I knew that I was on the pack's lands, but I had never not been a nonpack wolf on pack lands. My wolf knew I was not supposed to be there. Before I could turn and run, I felt Mikko's hand on my back, anchoring me and stopping me.

"You'll be pack by the end of the night. You're fine." Like he could read my mind. I knew he couldn't now that there was no bond between us, but his experience with new wolves gave him insight to what I was feeling.

Finn and Madeline were waiting in the driveway for us.

I had a suspicion that it was a compromise.

I didn't like getting closer to Finn. Something was there that I had never noticed before about Finn. Something old, something dominating. I didn't every want to be on his bad side. He could kill me in an instant that there would be nothing I would be able to do about it.

When Mikko stepped closer, I stayed my distance.

Mikko handed the baby off to Madeline.

I growled and tried to get at Madeline, but both Mikko and Finn stepped in my way.

"You said you wouldn't keep him away from me!" I felt panic starting to set in. "You liar!" I screamed. I didn't want anyone else to have my child.

Mikko caught me when I tried to get past him. He held me close. "You need to calm down," he cooed, but held me inescapably tight. "If you lose it, you won't see him. Keep it together and no one will get in your way."

I buried my head in his chest and felt my eyes tearing up. "I'm afraid."

Mikko moved his grip so he was hugging me instead of restraining me. "It'll be okay. We'll get you through this."

I nodded and took a deep breath. Mikko smelled like dirt and sweat and blood. I uncovered my face and looked at him. He was covered in splotches of dirt and speckles of blood. "I can still breastfeed him. I need to pump so he can have food if I lose it."

Mikko nodded and led me into the house. Finn looked over me as we passed by him. I kept my eyes down and cowered away from him.

When we were on the second level, I asked, "Where are the babies?"

"Playroom." He kept his vice grip on me. "You should know I'm not letting you go until you're in a hundred percent control, especially around the kids."

"Can I just see them?"

Mikko sighed. "They won't understand why your eyes are gold. They might not even recognize you."

I nodded, slightly heartbroken. "I just want to spy on them."

He nodded and led me to the playroom. He cracked the door open. I didn't try to go in with them. Mikko was right, they wouldn't understand and I needed to get a handle on how things were going to be now.