My pack ran through the woods along with the pack we called to help us. They were a neighbor pack that's never really interacted with mine, but Father thought that they would be a good help.

Father, Cody, Alex, and I were leading the pack together. It was hard to run when all you could think about was how your mate was being hurt right now.

When the warehouse was in sight, we saw men holding guns in front of it. I was about to run towards it when my dad's voice rang through my head.

"We're going to go at the same time." He said through our mind-link.

"Now, we need to go now." I said to him through our mind-link.

When my dad and I started running towards the hunter, the entire pack followed us. I caught throat after throat in my mouth, but the gunshots that I kept hearing, slowed me down.

I got closer to the door that would lead me to my love, but I heard a howl coming from my father. I turned my wolf around and saw my father laying on the ground with blood pouring from his side.

"FATHER!" I screamed as I shifted back into my human form. Wolves charged towards the hunters to make sure they didn't hurt me. I ran to my father and Cody and Alex had also shifted back.

I kneeled on the ground next to my father's wolf. I placed my hand over the would to stop the blood flow. I felt tears come to my eyes as I imagined my father leaving me.

"We need to get him home." I whispered, looking up at Cody and Alex.

"Matthew, you can't leave. It's your mate." Cody said.

"But it's my father! I need to make sure he's okay. Jack will understand. I need you two to stay here and when you get him back, which I know you will, you can't leave him until he's back in my arms." I whispered.

Cody nodded. "We promise. Make sure Joey is okay."

They walked back into the fight and ordered about five pack members to help me get my father back to camp. I looked up at my pack members fighting against the hunters. When I saw the huge, metal door open, I knew my baby was going to be okay.

Once we got my father back to camp, Dr. Moore immediately took him back into surgery. One of the doctors had to check me out and once he told me that I was okay, I went to the waiting room. The doctor was very insistent on running all the protocol tests, which took about three hours, literally. I saw Dad crying into a nurse's arms.

"He's gonna die, he's gonna die, he's gonna die." Dad kept whispering.

"Kade, calm down." The nurse whispered.

The nurse looked up at me and gave me a soft smile. I walked over to my dad and turned him, so I could hug him.

"Don't say that, Dad. He's going to be okay." I whispered.

"I love him, I love him, he can't leave me." He said.

I felt tears fall down my face. First my mate, now my father. The man that raised me. The man that took me in when my parents didn't want me. The man that has loved me, no matter what I did.

The nurse got up. "I'll go see what's going on."

I nodded to her and sat next to my dad. I put my arm around his shoulder and he set his head on my arm. "He's going to be okay." I whispered.

"Where's Jack?" Dad asked, looking up at me.

"I left to get Father back here. Cody and Alex promised to bring him back."

"Matthew, I know this is hard for you, but I trust our pack with my life. They're going to get your mate back."

"Why does shit always have to happen to us though? Jack is the best person I've ever met. He's – he's – he's everything."

Dad sighed and nodded. "I know, Matt."

The nurse walked back in with a small smile on her face. "Joey's stable. He's stable for now."

"That's good, right?" Dad asked and I could tell that he was trying to process what she just said.

"That's great. He's almost done with surgery."

Dad looked at me and more tears lined his eyes. "He's going to be okay?"

"He's going to be okay." I whispered, holding him in my arms until we were told that we were allowed to see him.

We walked into his hospital room and he was fully awake. He had an IV in his arm and he had a bandage wrapped around his torso. He had tiny cuts and bruises all over his body.

He tried to sit up when we walked in. "I need to leave. My pack needs me and-"

"No, lay back down." Dad said, trying to push his husband back down.

"Cody and Alex are taking care of it." I whispered to him, standing on the other side of the bed as my dad.

Father tried to get up again. "I promised to get him back, I promised. I need to help."

Dad was starting to look frustrated because he knew his husband was in a hell of a lot of pain due to the surgery and he wasn't calming down.

"You helped already, Father, don't-" I started.

"Let me go," he said to his husband. "I need to help and-"

"Joseph!" Dad screamed, tears now running down his face. "Stop! You already fucking helped, so lay down and try to help yourself fucking heal!"

Father laid back down and took his husband's hand in his. He brought it up to his lips and kissed it. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Calm down, baby. I'm okay, so you can relax."

I walked around the bed and pulled the chair over to my dad and told him to sit down. He gave me a grateful look and sat down. I went back over to the other side and Father took one of my hands.

"Is Jack okay?" He whispered to me.

I looked down at the ground. "I-I don't know. They're not back yet."

"Do you hear his thoughts?" Dad asked.

"The connection got cut off, I think."

"Matthew, he's going to come back. If Cody and Alex said that they were going to get him back, then they will. They'll make sure he gets back okay." Father said, gripping my hand.

"But what if he's not okay? What if he gets here and his injuries are too severe? What if I let him go without thinking about the fact that he could die?"

"Matt, I urged you to make him go. If there's anyone to blame, it's me." Father said.

"But I let him go. I made him go. I just wanted to save my pack, but because of that, I put my mate in harms way!" I yelled, backing away. I was becoming hysterical and it suddenly wasn't okay.

Nothing was okay. My world was spinning because I hurt my mate by letting him go. I hurt him by just giving him up to the hunters. These were the best hunters any pack has ever encountered. I know that there was no other way of tracking them, but we could have endured it. We could've -

"Matt, calm down. I'm at blame and I know this is hard, but you can be mad at me. I put your mate at harms way and-" Father started, but his hospital door opened.

Cody and Alex walked in. They were covered in dirt and blood, but they looked fairly okay. Alex has a large cut on his arm and Cody has a scratch on his leg. I looked up at them and Alex was walking towards me.

"Tell me he's okay." I whispered to my beta.

After a long silence, Alex's face broke out into a huge smile. "He's okay. He has a couple scratches and a grazed gunshot wound, but he's okay."

"Oh my fucking God, thank you." I whispered and collapsed into his arms. Alex held me as I sobbed into his shoulder.

I knew that after everything Alex has done in the past, he's so much better. I thank the Lithium he has to take for his disorder, but he's good. He's really good and he's really passionate about our pack.

"You're going to be an amazing beta." I said.

Everyone's smile widened in that room at our new friendship, but I couldn't focus on that right now. I needed to focus on my mate. I pulled away from the hug and sighed.

"Come on, I'll take you to him." Alex said and I hugged my parents and Cody before leaving.

Alex pushed open a hospital door and once I saw my mate sitting up in a bed with a blanket drooped over his shoulders, I sighed in relief.

He was staring at the bed, but he was off in another world. His hair was wet, probably from rain, which you could hitting against the hospital window. He had cuts and bruises on his body and his upper arm was wrapped up.

"Hey, baby." I said and you could just hear the smile in my voice.

He looked up at me and his face brightened up. He held his arms out for me and I walked over to him. The door closed and I knew Alex was going back to my father's hospital room. I sat in front of Jack on the bed and pulled him into my arms.

I tried to be careful when I touched him, but he crawled into my lap. He wrapped his arms around my neck and sighed.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He said. He sounded so exhausted, so I pulled him down to lay down. He snuggled into my chest and sighed again.

"Go to sleep, baby. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Thank you. I love.. you." He said before falling asleep in my arms.