It was mid-July when the full moon arrived, and we made our way to Washington in the orange-purple sunset dusk — half of us in the GMC Sierra with Jason driving, half of us in Jonathan's pickup.

Needless to say, Theo was in his dad's car and so was I; Theo and Jason had struggled to stop fighting over the tiniest things since Theo found the blueprints on the USB stick. It was a hell of a good thing those two weren't paired together for our attack.

Refusing just to be a getaway driver, Jonathan volunteered and insisted that he be some sort of bait or decoy. Theo and Thea had been against it, along with most of the pack. Yet with Jason still as Alpha, he made the final call, putting Jonathan in danger.

Maia was caged for the journey there in case of any 'outbreaks', as Thea had so carefully worded it. They'd been paired together purely so Thea could keep an extra close eye on Maia.

I hadn't yet spoken much to her, though it wasn't exactly like there'd been time for cosy little chats down in the basement with her locked up and prowling around the cage like a rabid animal. It was hard to believe that some part of Maia was still underneath that fur and that snarling face. It was hard to believe that any part of her was still human.

Thea insisted that if the skinwalker got vengeance, maybe the dark and controlling spirit would let up a little, and the Maia we once knew would return. Yet part of me felt it was just an elaborate theory to make sure I was fully focused on our plan.

Theo wouldn't let go of my hand for the entire journey there — we hadn't been paired together, he was with Ryder whilst I was with Abi and Zack — and so it felt like he was holding onto me for as long as he could.

It'd been Jade's idea to split up into pairs so that we could attack from multiple directions — it made a lot of sense strategically but it felt like she had other intentions when she demanded she be paired with Jason. Nobody mentioned anything about it, but Jason and Jade were definitely getting closer, and I had no doubt that when this all ended, they'd stick together — the same way Theo and I would.

Little conversation passed between us in Jonathan's pickup; Theo held my hand, Jonathan remained focused on the road ahead, Thea kept glancing back at the pickup bed where Maia was secured in the cage and Ryder studied his palms intently as if he'd never looked at them before.

"We're here," Jonathan spoke as he pulled up beside Jason.

We jumped out of the truck, Thea going around the back to unlock the cage.

"We're gonna be okay." Theo squeezed my hand before kissing me on my cheek.

"My cheek?! I exclaimed, throwing a hand towards the large grey building that was the hunters' base. We could die in there and you're kissing me on my cheek?"

In response, he smashed his lips against mine, pulling me close to him and entrapping me in his arms — exactly how I want to be. I clung to him desperately and kissed him back with just as much passion and love as he did.

"I love you," he muttered against my lips, finally breaking off the kiss.

"I love you too," I responded, gazing up into his hazel-blue eyes.

Jason cleared his throat impatiently. "We should get moving."

Theo and I broke apart, though not before he could gently kiss my lips one last time. Ryder slapped Theo on the back of his shoulder, as the rest of us ordered ourselves into our pairings; Theo and Ryder, me, Abi and Zack, Thea and Maia, Jason and Jade.

Jonathan grabbed a shotgun from underneath the back seats of his pickup, cocking the rifle and eyeing down the barrel.

It was unnerving how much this was making me think about taking on the hunters back in Lake Oldoy. I could only hope that this time, we'd take them down for good.

"Have you got a plan?" Theo asked his dad anxiously.

Jonathan shrugged. "All I need to do is distract some of them long enough so that you lot can get into position — right?"

"Right." Jason nodded firmly. "That doesn't include you getting hurt, though."

"I'll be fine." He eyed his son and daughter. "You don't need to worry about your old man, okay?"

Theo nodded uncertainly; Thea said and did nothing, becoming a wall of blank silence.

"Let's do this then," Jason announced, casting a glance up at the quickly darkening sky where the full moon was beginning to peek out from a cloud. "We need to make sure that these hunters never come after any of us ever again. We have to pull together in one last effort. It's now or never."

"We better make it now, then," Theo stated assertively — alliances are shifting alright...

"Does everyone know where they're attacking from?" Jason checked even though we'd been over it several times already. We all nodded and told him the location each pair had when he looked at us all frustratedly.

"If this is it." Theo let out a sigh. "At least we're together on this one."

Jason smiled across at him. "There's no place I'd rather be; no one I'd rather be taking an evil organisation down with."

Abi, Zack and I were attacking from the back of the building, entering via a side door used for cleaners when the base was originally military. It was the furthest entrance away from the control room — where we were all indefinitely heading — which meant that we'd been stuck with probably the 'safest' entrance and situation of them all.

It wasn't surprising though; Zack was armed with an aluminium baseball bat.

"Couldn't you find a gun or something?" I hissed at him as we snuck around the side of the building, branches constantly whacking in our faces; the woods were dense and it was now pitch-black out.

He gripped his pale hands tighter around the bat. "What you don't realise is how many times I've used this bat... And how many times it's served me well."

"This isn't a game of baseball." I rolled my eyes at him.

"I don't even play baseball," he responded, causing me to stop dead in my tracks and eye him, "I meant it's served me well every time we, as a pack, have taken on hunters or other... threats."

"What do you mean, 'other threats'?" I questioned as we continued walking, trying to catch up to Abi.

Zack shook his head despairingly at me. "You've not been doing this very long, have you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" My voice crept up in volume.

"It means that there are other threats apart from hunters." He glanced across at me grimly. "Just hope you don't have to find out."

"Will you two shut the hell up?" Abi hissed at us, eyes glinting in the moonlight. "We actually need to be able to hear when Jason gives the signal."

I blinked; I'd forgotten that Jason would be giving us a signal for when to attack the compound.

Abi, Zack and I crouched down amongst the trees and listened in silence. It would take around two minutes to run down the grassy slope, get to the side door, which Abi would scream open if Zack's bat didn't manage to break the lock and then we'd be in — having to face whatever hunters came our way.

"Why Cygnus?" I asked Zack in a whisper — I had to know. "Why did you choose Cygnus?"

He whispered back, "The constellation is in the shape of a swan, and it's flying straight towards the constellation of Lacerta, just like I know I'm always heading to Abi — no matter what..."

My heart warmed as Zack pressed his lips against the side of Abi's head as she stared down at the compound. A shadow of a smile flitted across her face before fading again.

I felt a rising sense of urgency for the Phoenix to emerge began mounting inside of me; without my fire I was useless. I mean, it wasn't like I brought a metal baseball bat with me.

A howl sounded through the valley; so deep and so loud, it shook me to my core. Being an Alpha must've given Jason extra power and strength when it came to his howl.

"Is that the signal?" Zack asked, glancing across at Abi, who was frowning intently.

"That... that wasn't Jason," Abi spoke slowly while cocking her head to one side.

"Another pack?" Zack questioned anxiously; I was stunned into silence; if it wasn't Jason, who could it have been?

"Not another pack." Abi swallowed and shifted uncomfortably, tucking a strand of hair back into her ponytail.

A second howl resonated through the valley, and this time it was Jason, though the thought of another Alpha roaming the valley chilled me to the bone.

"Let's move," Abi stated, and we ran down the grassy slope, keeping our heads low down.

The slope had become slippy underfoot as the coldness of the night was quickly setting in, and there were a couple of times I almost landed on my butt whilst running down the slope.

Zack bat didn't manage to break off the side door's lock so it was up to Abi to scream it open. I'd never actually seen Abi's scream in action before then, but it seemed to resonate out of her, coming from the centre of her being rather than just her throat.

The heavy metal door easily buckled due to the force of her scream and swung open from a single, hesitant push of Zack's baseball bat. The now-dilapidated hinges creaked, causing the three of us to wince simultaneously at the sound.

I swallowed, my blood running cold as I looked down the long hallway that was behind the door.

It was deadly silent; we couldn't even hear any of the other pairs — that's how big the hunters' compound was.

"How are we going to find the control room?" Zack whispered; his breath visible in the unseasonably cold night air.

When Victoria arrived in Lake Oldoy on Halloween, the night had been bitterly cold. Theo had told me it was because there was a new Alpha in town; how the supernatural world affected the meteorological world was beyond my grasp, but the coldness of that night had to do something with us taking on the hunters tonight.

Abi unfolded a map of the compound she'd had in her pocket, and pointed along several twisting corridors until her finger stopped and tapped at the largest room — the control room. We'd figured out that the hunters must have had all their plans stored in there.

After memorising the map, Abi folded it back into her pocket and stepped into the building.

We made our way quickly along the stretches of corridor after corridor. At the doorways, we stopped and looked into every room. The place felt entirely empty; clearly, the hunters had rushed to the front of the compound, where most of the other pairs were attacking, and where Jonathan was planning to distract them.

The empty metal corridors chilled me; the same way Everly had tried to freeze my fire out of me the last time I was there.

We came five heavily-armed hunters and took them down easily — two for Abi, two for me, and Zack took down one of them, his metal baseball bat serving him just as well as my Phoenix was serving me.

For the first time in my life, I was at one with the Phoenix; a fighting instinct awakened inside of me and I knew how to use my fire to its full potential.

By the time we made it to the control room, a deadly-quiet silence had fallen over us; we had no idea who, or what, we would find in there.

The control room was dimly lit, though I could see maps and charts lining the metal walls and there was a large map rolled out over a huge metal table in the centre of the room.

Wiping a trail of blood from my upper lip, I stepped into the room and began to look around at the maps and charts. I worked my way around the room, looking for evidence to destroy — my fire at the ready. Towards the back of the room, there were photos of experiments the hunters had done on supernaturals. It was so sickening I had to look away before I saw any pictures of the pack... or even myself.

The door to the control room suddenly burst open — Abi inhaled a breath; Zack gripped his baseball bat tighter and I felt the fire flood through my veins into my fingertips; we were ready to face whatever or whoever came through that door.

Theo and Ryder rushed into the room, also ready to take on hunters.

"Ember?" Theo realised, the yellow colour of his other eyes fading away, fangs and claws slowly retracting.

"Theo." I breathed, running towards him and jumping into his arms.

He caught me easily and wrapped his arms around my back, pulling me close to him. Letting me down gently, he looked around the room. "So this is the control room, huh?"

"How long have you been here?" Ryder asked Zack.

"Not long." The latter shook his head.

"Have you seen any of the others?" Theo eyed me, before looking between Abi and Zack.

I shook my head. "You're the only other pair we've seen."

"Guys... Guys!" Ryder called to us from the centre table, "You should see this."

The map on the table was a world map, with red pins marked on every continent.

"What is this?" I asked in a hushed whisper as Abi pulled a lamp over the table, illuminating it further.

"Looks like... world domination plans," Ryder responded seriously.

Theo and Zack held back scoffs, though barely.

"Hear me out, okay?" Ryder frowned indignantly. "Evan Woodman is the only hunter I've ever come across that's been crazy enough to even consider 'curing' supernaturals. This may be a national base of operations, but what if it's more than that? What if it's international in some aspects? I mean, if it's Evan who's come up with the idea of 'curing' us, why wouldn't he reach out to other hunter organisations about it?"

"You've got a point," I admitted as Theo began rifling through a pile of papers.

"Look at this." He pulled out one of the sheets. "It's transcripts of emails between Evan and... some other hunter, in Spain, I think. This other hunter, it says his name is Cazar, seems reluctant to 'cure' supernaturals — but Evan blackmailed him. This Cazar person said 'there is a darkness to every light' and that the hunters 'need to maintain a balance, not commit genocide'... I guess you're right, Ryder."

"So they are world domination plans!" Ryder shook his head incredulously at us.

"We have to destroy the entire base," Abi said bluntly, "That's the only way. Without Evan's constant instructions, the other hunters won't know what to do, and the whole 'curing' thing will disappear."

"Are you sure?" Theo eyed Abi.

"Positive." She looked back at him unwaveringly.

"Ember." Theo turned to me. "You need to burn everything in this room, then once all of us are out of the compound, you'll need to burn this building to the ground."

I swallowed; this is beginning to feel too much like Lake Oldoy and burning Victoria in the warehouses.

"Will you be able to do that?" Theo's hands grabbed my arms tightly, his eyes searching mine intently.

"Yes." I nodded, trying desperately not to let my gaze slide away from him. "I'll be able to do it."

"Good." He kissed my forehead. "I just need to find something first."

He went over to the back wall, where the photographs and documentation of the experiments were.

"Are you okay?" Abi asked me softly.

"I will be." I forced a weak smile that she saw straight through.

"It'll all work out," she told me with a similar sincerity to Wednesday's. "After this, things will get better. I promise."

Oh Abi — don't you know you shouldn't make promises you can't keep?

"Let's move." Theo grabbed some sheets, rolled them up and stuffed them in his back pocket.

"What did you get?" I asked him, frowning as he, Ryder, Zack and Abi stepped out of the control room.

"Documents on the experiments they did on Jason." He avoided my eyes. "So he knows how they took away his sense of smell."

Stunned into silence, I watched as Theo made sure the others were out of the way of the door before he shut it on me.

My fire rushed through my veins to my hands and sparked out of me as I felt the Phoenix take a hold of my body. A burst of energy surged out from me, and the flames caught hold of everything inside of the room, rapidly turning all the paper into dusty grey particles of ash — destroying everything and leaving nothing behind.

If any bastard hunters were in here, they'd perish instantly, the dark thought crept into my mind unbidden.

At that thought, I cut off the fire instantly. The job was done; my increasing pyromania would have to wait for another day.

I stepped out of the burning control room, shutting the door tightly behind me.

"Let's leave these godforsaken headquarters," Ryder said, and we did just that.

We didn't meet any hunters as we left the compound, though when we reached the front, we came across the rest of the pack, including Jonathan, Maia and Thea, fighting the last of the hunters. We barely had to step in and help before the remaining hunters were either running off scared shitless or knocked out.

"Did you do it?" Jason asked us. "Did you find and destroy the control room?"

A smile stretched across my face as I nodded. "We did it."

Theo wrapped his arm around my waist, repeating my words and mirroring my smile. "We did it."

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet." A cold, clear voice sounded — making my smile drop and my blood run cold; I knew that voice. It belonged to someone who was supposed to be dead. I turned to face a badly scarred Evan and Everly. "Did you really think that it would be that easy?"

"Do the maths, Woodman," Jason growled, "There are ten of us, and two of you."

"Make that three of us," Everly smirked coldly as another hunter stepped out from the compound and strode towards where we were stood, his face sullen.

Chris.

"That motherfucking liar," Theo growled angrily and I had to hold my hand out to stop him from tearing Chris's throat open — as much as the latter deserved it.

"You still don't stand a chance," Jason warned. "This time we'll make sure we kill you properly this time."

"Maybe you're right." Evan mused, beginning to pace towards us. "Maybe it is time that our reign as hunters ends."

"Or maybe it's time your reign as living bastards ends; time you're just dead bastards." Jonathan threw back at him, causing Evan to look up sceptically.

"And who are you?" Evan eyed Theo's dad. Jonathan opened his mouth but Evan shook his head. "On second thoughts, I don't care."

Without hesitating, Evan pulled out his gun and shot Jonathan in the leg.

"Dad!" Theo and Thea yelled out at the same time, rushing toward Jonathan, only just managing to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Now I count nine against three," Evan smirked cruelly.

"Make that ten against two," Chris spoke up, finally finding his voice.

"What on Earth do you think you're playing at?" Evan hissed at him.

"You may be my family, but that doesn't mean I have to be like you," his son responded, his entire body trembling as he defied the ruthless killer that was his father.

Chris cocked the pistol he was holding, raised it, and shot his father and his auntie in their kneecaps — causing both of them to cry out in pain and fall to the ground.

Chris threw the pistol on the ground, turning away and walking towards me. "They're all yours. I don't care what you do with them."

I took his arm as he reached me and led him away from where his family were lying — where Jason and Jade and Abi and Maia began tearing them apart.

"You did the right thing," I told him, making sure he was facing away from his family, though he wasn't oblivious to the torturous screams as the pack exacted the revenge they so justly deserved.

Chris nodded, blinking his watery eyes quickly. "It was still hard."

"I know... but you've just given yourself a second chance in life by doing what you did. You can be whoever you want to be now, do whatever you want with your life," I insisted, "Our fate shouldn't be determined by our birth rights and the family we were born into, but by what we decide to do with our lives. And while that may sound like the American Dream, Chris, you've now got the chance to make your own life, get away from the States if you have to."

He nodded sadly and I pulled him into a hug, telling him, "It's all gonna be alright, it's all gonna be okay..."

I could feel Theo's jealousy, disgust and scepticism radiating across from where he was kneeling beside his injured dad.

Theo shouldn't be jealous because he should know I'm all his, I thought as I let Chris go.

I should tell him that.

"This is it then, I guess." Jason voiced after we arrived back at the ranch several hours later — with Chris dropped off at a bus station and Jonathan heading off to the hospital with Thea (we couldn't properly deal with a gunshot wound to the lower leg) Jason continued; "This is where we say our goodbyes."

"Do we have to?" Ryder asked, frowning, "Surely we can work things out after having just taken down the Woodman hunters?"

"That was a necessary one last effort," Theo told him, placing his hand on Ryder's shoulder.

"What now then?" Jade asked.

"Now we work out where we going and what we're doing," Jason responded, looking across at her caringly, almost as if it was just the two of them in the room.

"Abi and I have been thinking..." Zack began voicing, "Thinking that we'll head up to Canada for a bit, a bit of rest and recuperation. After all this, we just need some time together, alone..."

"We'll find a cabin in the woods somewhere," Abi spoke up tiredly, "And then we'll decide where to go in a couple of months. Whether we join Jason or Theo."

"Is there a reason we didn't lock Maia up?" Ryder suddenly asked and I noticed Maia standing beside me.

Her voice quivered, "The skinwalker spirit is... satisfied for the time being. I'm me again."

Theo got louder. "Abi, what do you mean by joining me or Jason? And why didn't you let me go to the hospital with my dad?"

I spoke up, keeping my voice soft as I linked my fingers with Theo's. "Theo... how could you not see that things have been changing for you? That your power's been shifting? It was obvious to everyone, me included."

Hesitating, he swallowed. "I didn't want to believe it. I didn't, and still don't, know how to deal with it."

"You deal with it by starting a pack, starting somewhere afresh." Jason's mouth turned up in a half-smile.

"What will you do?" Theo frowned at him.

"Continue helping supernaturals." Jason shrugged.

"Our job here isn't done; there are others out there that will need our help," Jade spoke up, stepping forwards and holding Jason's hand.

"We'll be okay." Jason nodded, though I wasn't sure if he was reassuring the pack or himself. "Jade and I... We've got each other. We heard about some wendigos and werewolves causing trouble in Minnesota. We're going to head over there once all of this blows over."

"What about you, Ember?" Maia asked me, "What will you do?"

"Stay with Theo," I responded in a heartbeat. "Wherever he goes, whatever he does."

Theo pressed his lips against the side of my head but didn't say anything. I could only hope that he would come to terms with his new power sooner rather than later.

"Ryder?" Theo asked him.

"Theo, man, you can be so thick sometimes... Of course I'm coming with you!" He wrapped his arms around Theo. "Ever since the pack alliances started shifting, I was already moving towards you."

"I guess this is what you were trying to tell me the other day." Theo glanced at Abi and laughed, "I can be pretty thick sometimes."

Maia started speaking slowly, "I've been talking with Jonathan a lot... And he and I are going to try and figure out how I... took on the skinwalker spirit... If I ever want to come home, I need to figure out what's wrong with me..."

"And my dad is on board with this?" Theo asked her.

Maia nodded meekly and dropped her eyes to the floorboards. "He suggested it..."

Theo's phone started ringing loudly, and he went outside onto the decking to answer it. I followed him out as he answered it.

"Hello? Dad... Are you gonna be okay? I understand. Yes, she's just told me..." He glanced at Maia through the window. "I know, Dad, it's just— Okay...yeah, it's okay... Bye."

"Everything okay?" I asked tentatively.

"They're going to the Navajo Reservation, in Arizona," Theo told me, voice blunt, numb. "It's what my mom would want — for him to help Maia."

I wrapped my arms around him tightly. "I'm sorry you're losing him so soon after just getting him back."

He hugged me back but didn't say anything as we went back inside to the rest of the pack.

"I'm sorry..." Maia began but had to tear herself away and run off, down to the basement.

My phone began vibrating loudly on the kitchen table, where I'd left it before we departed for the hunters' base. Frowning, I picked it up, wondering who could've been calling me. Before I answered, I saw several missed calls, unread texts and voicemails — all from the same unknown number.

"Hello?" I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Ember, it's me, Halia." Halia's voice rushed out rapidly, "I would ask how Svalbard is, but Wednesday told me that you are in Montana, with Theo. But listen, you need to come back to the UK. Something really bad has happened here and we need you to come back..."

"Woah, woah... Slow down, Halia." I sucked in a breath. "Tell me what happened."

She slowed down and told me what had happened. A sickening fear began to consume me and my eyes widened with utter terror as I remembered everything Theo told me when we came across Kaden in the woods.

"He came back from the brink of death, so it's possible that in exchange for life, Death took something from him — or left him with something... Death isn't exactly supposed to work backwards, only forwards. There'll always be a darkness around his heart, around his soul..."

My phone slipped out of my hand and clattered to the ground as Halia continued explaining what had happened with Kaden — what had changed — what he'd done...

"Ember, what is it?" Theo's eyes searched my desperately — searching for an answer I didn't know how to give.

The same fear consumed him and his eyes widened full of terror the same as mine when I was finally able to utter the words:

"It's Kaden."

𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝟐

~~~