I woke up alone and groggy. My eyes hurt as did my head. Great another headache. I groaned as I got out of bed, making my way to the ensuite. Memories from yesterday filtered back.

They drugged me... I begged them not to but they did it anyways. I know I was out of control, but it felt like a betrayal. I wasn't ready to face them yet so I took a long hot shower instead.

The clock read 10:30am, we'd be leaving this godforsaken place in hours and it couldn't come fast enough. I spotted the trunks sitting there ready to pack, so I set to filling them to keep myself occupied. It didn't take long enough, even packing up all of Chris's stuff.

A soft knock sounded before Claire peaked in. She looked startled to see me up and around. 

"Come in," I answered her unasked question.

"I brought you some lunch for when you woke up but I can see I'm a bit late," she says, setting a plate down next to me. "How long have you been up?"

"A while," I mumbled, taking the sandwich. I didn't realize just how hungry I was until the food was available. I devoured it like I hadn't eaten in days.

"So I see," she says looking at the trunks and rack. "Chris and Jace are at the pack house wrapping up for our departure. I'll get someone to grab this and load it up if you're done with it?"

"Sure," I said with a shrug.

"I'm sorry Jess, this isn't the way any of this is supposed to go," she said sitting next to me as she gave my hand a sympathetic squeeze. 

"So are you my babysitter today," I mumble, unable to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

"It's not like that Jess," she defended. 

"Isn't it?" I ask, eyes locked on hers, the guilt in hers spoke volumes.

"We'll be leaving soon, then we can put this all behind us," she says with a smile. "Did you want something else to eat?"

"Yeah, I guess I didn't realize how hungry I was," I say embarrassed. 

"Let's go, I'll make you whatever you'd like." Nurturing Claire is in full swing, she's going to be a great mother.

I couldn't help but notice the lack of people, only Jude was there. They are handling me with kid gloves and I can't blame them. Mid way through, Ethan joined us.

"Can we go to the range?" He asks, golden eyes full of hope.

"Sorry kid, I'm grounded," I mumbled annoyed.

"You're not grounded," Jude defended.

"So I can?" I ask, raising a brow. "Actually it is what I would do at home to destress."

Jude looked far away as he no doubt linked Chris. Shockingly enough he actually nodded.

I wasn't about to give him a chance to change his mind and quickly grabbed my bow and quiver before practically dragging Ethan out of the house.

Once we made it to the range it was like a weight was lifted. Archery was my happy place, teaching brought me joy.

Ethan has quickly become my favourite pupil, he's sharp, focused and talented. In a couple short months he's gone from never having shot a bow to being able to hold his own. The day's not long off where he will be able to outshoot me.

"Don't get cocky," I chide as he rushes his shot and it's sloppy.

"It's breezy," he mumbles as he collects his arrows.

"Hmm," I tease as I square up and aim from the second line, further back. In a fluid breath in, I draw and aim, releasing on exhale and repeat. The simple action brings me such peace as I focus on the task at hand blocking everything else out.

"Show off," he grumbles as my third bullseye hits.

Jude just laughs on the sideline. The lightness of the moment is quite refreshing.

"How come you don't shoot, Jude?" He asks.

"I've got no skill for it, I'll stick to watching," he dismisses. 

Ethan squared up to make his next round of shots. I smiled as I assessed his form and found it flawless.

"Wait," Jude called as Ethan made his shot.

"What's up?" I ask, seeing the concern on his face as he was mid link.

"We need to go, Chris says to get back to the house and wait for him,"Jude says looking around.

Ethan ran to collect his arrows while we waited for him. I slung the quiver over my shoulder as the hair suddenly stood up on my neck. Something was very wrong, and we were exposed.

"Jude, the woods," I whispered. "They're coming."

Jude growled and stepped in front of us as I pulled Ethan closer. I couldn't help the panic that welled in me as a ragtag mix of men and wolves slowly stepped out of the woods. A woman's scream drew everyone's attention to them as chaos ensued. 

We stayed frozen in place watching the scene unfold as the newcomers started to attack. They were here for one reason, to slaughter as they cut down the first couple people they encountered. 

"We need to run," Ethan whispered in terror.

"We can't, the targets don't give much cover but we'll be cut down as we try to cross the open field. Stay close, you run and hide if anything happens to me or Jude." I was surprised at how even my voice was.

I grabbed my bow, knocking a silver arrow, the archers gloves let me handle them without issue. My heart burst with pride as Ethan grabbed a bow and a batch of arrows from the stand, knocking an arrow like me. 

Gone is that defenseless little boy I met just months ago. It's a bittersweet realization, his childhood is ending far too soon.

A squadron of council guards had joined in along with a handful of Guardians. The civilians were shifting and fighting to defend themselves, the Guardians were fighting the attackers but the council guards were split, some were fighting the attackers but others were fighting the guardians, civilians and other council guards.

'Times up, it's happening now.' 'It's all a set up.'

"They're coming on all sides," Jude snarls as he looks around for a way out. "Chris and Jace are pinned down in the pack house, Xavier and everyone else are pinned back home. The Guardian house is being swarmed."

"Jude I need you to listen to me and hear me with no questions, ok?" I asked locking eyes with him. He raised a brow but nodded. "Ethan is everything, he is more important than I will ever be, I need you to promise you will make him your number one priority."

"Jess I'm not leaving either-"

"Jude promise me that if it comes to me or him you will pick him!" I didn't bother to hide my desperation as I begged him.

"Jess," he says pained. "Fuck fine, but I'm not leaving either of you."

A snarl to our left brings our attention to a leaping wolf. My bow is drawn before I've fully aimed and by the time I'm lined up the arrow's already flying. It hits true sinking deep in his chest as he crumples.

I set the next arrow and look for my next shot. Lydia is running towards a woman fighting with a rogue. It's an easy shot and he drops fast. Both women snap their attention to me nodding before they take off to the pack house.

My next two shots take down council guards attacking a Guardian. He grabs the arrows and the one on the first rogue handing them at me as he makes his way to us.

"Where's Derek?" I ask, unable to contain my panic.

*Thwap* 

The sound of Ethans bow spins me to his shot. He had pegged a rogue attacking a Guardian in the back. His plain arrows weren't as potent as my silver but it was enough to buy the Guardian time to make the fatal strike.

"Perfect," I say reassuring Ethan. "You did good, look for shots like that to help the defender gain the upper hand."

"Derek's stuck at the Guardian house but he's fighting his way to us," he says, taking up a defensive position beside Jude.

I pick off another rogue as he pins a screaming woman. She shoves him off and gets up staring at us shocked. It's Ashley, the bitch from before but even she doesn't deserve this.

The civilians are all breaking for the pack house, I know Chris is that way but every fiber of my being is telling me to go the opposite way. Howl's ring out from the far side of the pack house and send a chill down my spine.

"We can't stay here," Jude warns.

"We can make it to the pack house," the Guardian offers.

"No, they are pushing everyone that way... the woods," I say with determination. 

He looks at me skeptically then looks to Jude. The fighting is slowing down as the attackers are losing and civilians retreat.

"She's right, they are herding us," Jude growls. "Chris wants me to get you as far away from all of this as possible, steal a car and drive home if need be."

My next shot takes out another council guard going after a Guardian followed by a rogue after civilian.

"If we're making our moves we better go now there are more coming," the Guardian warns.

Ethan grabs a packed quiver and slings it over his shoulder, while I don mine. Even with the salvaged arrows I'm down to 12. Ethan falls into step behind the Guardian while I follow Jude. 

I shove my fear aside, I could really use a bit of that fire from yesterday right about now. We made our way through the corpses heading to the woods, I was able to salvage a couple of my arrows. 

It was a good system, Jude and the Guardian took care of anything that got too close but me and Ethan were efficiently picking them off before they had a chance to get close.

By the time we made it to the safety of the trees I was beginning to hope that we might actually make it out of this. We stopped to catch our breath at the base of a cliff.

"We'll rest here for a minute," Jude said, pausing by a tree. He had taken a couple minor hits along the way, but over all was fine. The Guardian was a bit beaten up to begin with, the lengthy running and fighting hasn't done him any better. 

'You need to keep moving, they'll find you here.' 'The Guardian is running on empty, it's just a breather.'

"How are you holding up," Jude asks, pulling me out of my reflection.

"I'm fine," I mumble, holding Ethan close.

"Bull shit," he calls me out.

"My head's pounding and it's so fucking hot," I complain. "I don't think this is what Chris meant by having a low key day," I say with a dry laugh.

"You just need to hold out a little while longer," he tries to reassure me, but his energy is giving him away.

I snap to the left as I feel someone approaching, scratch that many someones and they aren't friendly. In an instant I'm up and dragging Ethan with me.

"What is it?!" The Guardian asks.

"We have to go, they're coming," I warn as we take off in the opposite direction. One foot in front of the other, I can do this, we can do this, as long as we're still moving we haven't lost. I repeat this over and over pushing all the fear and doubt to the side. I'll deal with it later, for now we keep running. 

My heart was threatening to burst out of my chest as we ran aimlessly through the woods. We'd come near other groups in the woods but I'd turn us as soon as I picked them up.

A searing pain in my thigh caused me to stumble, sending me crashing to the ground.  I hissed in pain as I grabbed at it but the pain started to subside.

"What is it, are you hurt?" Jude asks, kneeling next to me, his blue eyes locked on mine.

"It's not mine," I whisper, realizing that I must be feeling his pain through the bond.

"They're beating them back, Jess, he can withstand a lot. We have to keep moving," he pleaded, helping me back up.

I rubbed the burn away and we continued on. Two rogues caught up to us but were easy for me to pick off. It didn't seem to matter how many we picked off there were always more.

"Fuck there's another group ahead, the batch behind us are catching up," I warned as we stopped. I was down to my last six arrows, Ethan didn't have many more either.

All my hopes were quickly fading as the situation looked darker and darker. We were isolated and outnumbered.

'We're fucked.'

The first wolf caught up to us and I dropped him with a clear shot to his chest. Ethan tagged the next one leaving the Guardian to dispatch him.

I picked off the next two as the group charged us. Fuck three arrows left, Jude grabbed the next one ripping out his throat.

"Where's Derek," I snapped desperately.

"He's coming," the Guardian growled as grappled with the next wolf.

"Tell him to fucking hurry, we're out of time," I beg as I feel the other group coming closer.

Ethan used up his last two arrows as Jude dispatched them turning to grab the third mid lunge. A new wave of wolves and men joined in from the other side trapping us.

Panic threatens to take over as I take in the scene. The Guardian is failing, Ethans out of arrows and on the verge of panic. The ground is littered with the dead and dying but there are still more than a dozen opponents.

His golden eyes are locked on me, desperate for something, anything. I took one of the two daggers I had and pressed it into his palm. 

"Hang on, stay behind me, you'll be ok," I promise him, having no idea how I'm going to hold up my end of the bargain.

My heart drops as I spot the newest arrival, his powerful aura announced him before he came into view. We're so fucked.