Greg and I crouched by the trees, looking at the mayhem unfolding in front of us. We were quite well concealed by the shadows and thick tree trunks, so I wasn't worried, but it was still gut wrenching to witness. Wolves of varying sizes and colours were all pouncing on one another in the clearing, snarling and ripping into one another with razor sharp teeth.

Closest to us, our pack were positioned to block rogues from advancing further into pack land. Anytime a rogue came near, we had about five of our wolves to attack them, so I was pretty confident that the rogues weren't going to make it anywhere near the pack house. Te damage they were doing here was enough, however. Somehow, they had set a house on fire and were using that as their base, which seemed sort of idiotic, but what did I expect from a bunch of rogues?

"You stay here." Greg whispered, "I don't think it's safe for you to go any further, so I'll bring Xavier and Noah to you."

I nodded silently, watching him run off into the conflict. I couldn't actually see Kodiak fighting, so I could only presume that they were on high ground, strategising. They were using a pretty smart method so far and since Greg and I hadn't run into any rogues on the way here, I'm sure that none had managed to break through the defence just yet.

Since I had a few minutes to observe while waiting, I began to brainstorm strategies myself. Xavier and Noah must have exhausted themselves coming up with them, so I could at least come baring suggestions.

"Cameron?" Noah's voice called from just a few metres away, surprising me.

"Noah? Where's Greg and Xavier?" I hissed, creeping closer to him.

"No clue who Greg is, but follow me to find Xavier." Noah rushed out, stalking off into the woods.

I followed behind closely, not wanting to be taken by surprise by any rogues. The atmosphere in this part of the pack land was way more intense than anything I had seen around the pack house or even the hospital, it seems that the rogues were putting up a better fight than they had expected.

"How's Gracie?" Noah asked the second we were far away enough from the main action.

"She's doing really well. You can feel her contractions right?" I realised, "She's not fully dilated yet, so she wanted me to check in with you guys quickly before she is."

"Her contractions are getting closer and closer together." Noah sighed, "I really do wish I could be there, but Xavier and I have our work cut out for us."

I began to feel that familiar warm feeling spread through my chest as we slipped inside an old shack and Xavier's head instantly shot up, his eyes meeting mine. He left his chair and flew towards me, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

"God, it's good to see you." Xavier breathed.

"He's not shut up about whether you're okay. I told you that you should have just marked each other." Noah shook his head, "Cameron, how did things go with the drills?"

"Perfectly." I shrugged, "Everything went to plan and everyone who was supposed to be escorted to the pack house was there on time and registered."

"Really? How are they coping?" Xavier seemed quite impressed.

"The kids were quite scared, but they've built a fort and I calmed them down. Everyone else is having tea in the dining hall, so I think they're fine." I caught them up to speed, "The Doctor's office is looking like a casualty clearing station, though. They're coping for now, but it's hectic there."

"You don't happen to know how pack members are holding up, do you?" Noah asked.

"When we arrived not too long ago there were no deaths, but one patient was in a very bad way." I recalled, "That's what the doctor said, anyway. I don't think I can stomach seeing that until everything's over, though."

"That's understandable." Noah nodded, "Things are good for the most part then. Did you see that our line of defence is working perfectly?"

"I wouldn't boast, Noah." I chided, "What are you doing next? What's the plan?"

"What do you mean 'next'?" Noah frowned, scrunching his nose.

"Oh, come on! You and I both know that although this is working right now, Jude is quick on his feet. He'll find a weak point in your defence in no time and force his way through. You need to stay two steps ahead." I rambled, gesturing wildly to the direction of the battle.

"How do you suggest we stay ahead?" Xavier seemed genuinely intrigued.

"Keep changing your strategy." I suggested, "If you keep changing it, then Jude won't be able to keep up enough to crack it in time. By the time he's figured out how to break through, you'll already have switched to your next tactic."

"That's true." Xavier sighed, "Jude won't stop, so we'll have to keep him stalled until he runs out of men."

"I'll go relay it back to the others that we're moving on to strategy two, then." Noah declared, getting ready to rush off.

"Noah, wait." I called, "Gracie says that she loves you."

"Tell her that I love her too." Noah grinned, "I'm going to enjoy being a Dad in the morning."

With that, he rushed off and disappeared out of the shack door. Xavier dropped the pen he was scribbling down strategies with and crossed the room to give me another tight hug, sighing into my neck.

"I'm so glad you're okay." He murmured, kissing my jaw softly.

"I'm glad that you're okay, too." I sighed, holding him to me.

"Before I came here, I had no clue how bad things would be at the border and..." Xavier choked up with tears, "I thought that I wasn't ever going to get another chance to tell you that I love you."

My heart melted like that and I held back my own tears, trying not to let myself become too emotional. I had been keeping myself preoccupied with worrying about the pack and Gracie, so that I didn't think about Xavier being hurt, but it was always at the back of my mind.

"I love you, too." I sobbed, the tears spilling over.

"I've got to get back to the front line, but I'll take you to where Phil is first." Xavier sighed, pulling away slightly.

I nodded, looking up at him as he wiped away my tears softly, his every touch meaningful and gentle. He took my hand in his, linking them together as we exited the shack. We both crouched down slightly as we jogged through the trees, but something didn't seem right to me.

"What's that light over there?" I hissed, gesturing to the bright light in the distance.

If it was in the direction of the battle, I wouldn't think twice about it, but it was in the opposite direction. I knew for a fact that we had cleared that area earlier, so it should be pitch-black over there- there was nobody left and we had cut the power so that the rogues couldn't find their way to neighbourhoods.

Xavier stilled, his face going blank as he strained to hear anything from that direction. My heart was continuously slamming into my chest as I waited, a bad feeling in my stomach. Xavier's expression slowly hardened and he turned to face me with a face of thunder.

"Jude is over there with Noah." He growled, "I need to go, but Phil is just ahead. Please, please don't follow me, Cameron. Promise me that you won't follow me."

The bad feeling in my stomach spread to the rest of my body and I bit my lip, nodding silently. With one last warning look, Xavier shifted and sprinted towards the direction of the glowing light.

I glanced in the direction of where Xavier had said Greg would be waiting, willing myself to just keep walking in that direction. However, I couldn't bring myself to move an inch. My mate was heading straight towards our biggest enemy with no backup and I was supposed to just run back to safety with my bodyguard? Fuck that.

Despite Xavier's pleas, I set off towards the light, following in Xavier's footsteps. I kept down low, so that I could hide in the tree line, out of sight of Jude when I got closer. With all of the noise coming from the battlefield, luckily Jude wouldn't be able to hear me as well as he usually could. I was still extra vigilant with my steps, however- I avoided every twig in case it snapped and caught his attention.

Once I was close enough, I spotted Noah sprawled out on the floor bleeding from the chest with Jude towering over him. Kodiak stood across from them, glaring at Jude with hatred so intense it could melt metal. The atmosphere was so tense you could cut it with a knife, but I was more concerned with the amount of blood Noah was losing.

"How did you even get through, Jude?" Noah groaned, trying to stop the blood with his own hands.

"I got through a few days ago now." Jude smirked, "All of those people at the border were just a show to distract you idiots. A friend in the hospital let me in- goes to show how loyal your pack members are, Xavier. I've enjoyed my short stay at the pack, though. Shame about the fires."

I looked at the fire he was gesturing to, wondering why on earth he set a house on fire. Jude was smart and setting a house on fire only gave his position away, so why would he do it?

"Your dad would hate what you've become." Noah spat at Jude's feet, "Burning your old house? What is that going to achieve, Jude?"

My mouth gaped open at the realisation that he had set fire to the only thing left of his father. He must have a lot of hate towards the pack because of what happened, but why on earth would he be angry at a fucking house?

"I'm going to enjoy this." Jude smirked sadistically, pulling out a knife as he took a menacing step towards Noah.

My heart sank as I realised what he was about to do. Kodiak was quick, but he was too far to reach Jude before he got to Noah. I was right behind them before I could even register what I was doing, tackling Jude from behind. We both went crashing to the floor, the knife bouncing off the ground and landing a few metres away from us.

Jude was quick, grabbing my hands to hold me to the ground as I thrashed against him. It was rash to act so quickly, but if I hesitated Noah would have had Jude's blade in him right now. Putting myself in Jude's path was worth it to buy Kodiak some time to catch up to Jude.

"Not fucking you again!" Jude roared, grabbing me by my hair and slamming my head into the floor aggressively.

He punched me across the face, but I still smirked up at him with blood all in my teeth. I can't explain how happy I was that Jude dreaded seeing me as much as I dreaded seeing him- I could take a punch if it meant Jude was pissed off and unhappy.

"It's good to see you too." I retorted sarcastically, spotting Kodiak in the corner of my eye creeping up on Jude.

"When I'm done with Noah, I'm coming for you next." Jude hissed, slamming my head into the ground once again.

The world went slightly spinny, but Kodiak was quick with tackling Jude off of me before he could get a second punch in. As they sprawled on the floor, I sat up straight and tried to stop the world from moving so fast.

Grabbing Jude's discarded knife so that he couldn't go back for round two, I tucked it in my pocket and ran over to Noah. What I saw made me sick to my stomach, but I had to stay strong for Gracie. Noah was sitting in a pool of his own blood, clutching the wound in his stomach desperately while writhing in pain. It was clear to me that he was in a bad way because he was as white as snow and was dripping with sweat, panting heavily while cursing Jude with every swear word under the sun.

I pulled off his shirt, gaining better access to his wound. I didn't know much about first aid, but I knew enough to know that if Noah didn't see a doctor quickly then he was going to lose too much blood. I ripped his shirt and tied it around the wound, trying to cut off some of the blood flow all while getting Noah to continue applying pressure to it.

He was swaying back and forth, his eyes focusing and unfocusing as he watching Jude and Xavier struggle right behind me. I waved a hand across his eyes, trying to get him to focus on me. The last thing I wanted was for him to faint right now, because there's no way I could carry him.

"Can you stand?" I asked desperately, trying to help him off of the floor.

Noah simply shook his head, pushing my hands away. He had lost so much blood that he was gasping for breath, his eyes opening rapidly and drifting closed repeatedly. He was trying to fight it, but we both knew what was happening.

"No!" I sobbed, trying to haul him off of the floor to no avail.

"Tell... Tell Gracie I love... Her." Noah managed to gasp out between his shallow, rapid breaths.

"You can tell her yourself." I cried, beginning to yell, "Somebody help!"

No matter how much I screamed at the top of my lungs, nobody came to help. I still tried to move Noah, applying pressure to his wound, but the feeling in my chest was telling me it was a lost cause. I didn't want to believe it, but Noah's breaths eventually became more and more shallower until they completely cut out and his body went limp in my arms.

Footsteps pounded behind me and two pack members rushed to my side, looking Noah over. They were moments too late, however.

Noah was already dead.

The tears were running down my face endlessly, a few of them dropping onto Noah's cold chest as I hunched over his body. I couldn't believe that he was actually gone. He had died in my arms and there was nothing I could do...

"You!" I screamed, jumping to my feet and glaring at Jude.

My sudden rage distracted him from his tussle with Kodiak and he lost the struggle, being pinned to the floor in mere moments by Kodiak. Jude put all of his effort into resisting Kodiak's strength, but it was futile. Xavier had just lost his best friend and Beta, so Kodiak was filled with rage fuelled adrenaline. Kodiak's teeth were pressed so roughly on Jude's neck that they drew trickles of blood, just hard enough to pin him, but not enough to do serious damage.

"What are you going to do, Xavier? Kill me?" Jude sneered, "If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it a long time ago. You and I both know that you don't have the guts to kill your best friend. Even after everything I've done, you still care for me, because you're weak."

"Rot in hell, Jude." I hissed, waiting for Kodiak to finish the job.

As I waited, however, time passed and it became increasingly apparent to everyone there that Xavier couldn't do it. Xavier couldn't bring himself to take Jude's life, even after everything he'd done. Even after he'd killed Noah...

"You wanna know why I waited for Noah's mate to go into labour?" Jude smirked, "I've hated Noah ever since he replaced me, but I didn't just want to kill him. I wanted his kid to grow up feeling the same pain I felt, knowing my father had been taken away from me."

"You're fucking delusional, Jude!" I screamed, marching closer, "It's not Xavier's or Noah's fault that your dad was an alcoholic! It's not their fault that you went through all of that pain and chose to ignore their help! You're an ungrateful, sadistic fucker!"

I pulled out Jude's knife from my pocket, taking Jude by the hair roughly. Kodiak backed down and I yanked Jude's head up, placing the knife to the marks where Kodiak's teeth had been. Xavier may not have been able to bring himself to kill Jude, but I had nothing but rage towards this rat of a man. I don't think I could sleep at night if I didn't kill him, knowing that he had gotten away with doing that to Noah, Gracie, their child and every other pack member he had terrorised.

"I hope that wherever you're going, you fucking suffer." I hissed in his ear before I pulled the knife, finishing everything once and for all.