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29

JACKSON HALE

This is my pack too. The words from the love of my life sent fire to my heart.

I watched as Spencer walked away from me and to the side of Kate. Tori reluctantly gave her mate to mine so they could go to the packhouse. The one where we have meetings and a small werewolf hospital. Rooms for the sick to heal: that packhouse.

"How is she still alive?" Tori asked once she walked up to me.

When Spencer saved my life she was immediately knocked out by the blast. I thought for sure she was gone, my heart tore as she lay still and stiff, I couldn't breathe. But she awoke, oblivious to the blood streaming down the side of her head and her beautiful face covered in dirt. Her black dress was torn and dirtied. She looked like death but she was right in front of me, alive. The human body still amazes me even with myself being half-human.

"Because she's Spencer Murdock," I murmur before turning away from them and looking at Tori. Her face bears no injuries but the smoke of the blast covered half of it. Thank the moon goddess that we are werewolves. "Tell me you have a plan."

"You're the alpha! I thought you did." She argued.

"We don't have time for this!" I groaned looking at the attack. My regular men fought in their wolf form, attacking the perpetrators. The humans seemed to be beating them. Stuffed with weapons of silver.

"We need to stop this," Tori murmured. I silently agreed with my best friend.

Looking through the crowds I spot Cayden holding my little sister behind a tree. He wrapped his arm around her body and handheld her head gently into his chest. Cayden didn't want Claire anywhere involved with this.

Running to them, with Tori following shortly behind, I reach them. Cayden looked at me with fear in his eyes. Not for him but for his mate.

"Claire," I say through the noise of silver bullets being shot at my pack. "Claire, look at me."

My sister pops her head out helplessly and squeezes Cayden tight. A tear runs down her face and her hair sticks to the sides of her cheeks. She looks like the rest of us, fortunately with abnormal healing, and no surface injuries.

"Spencer is coming back with help. I want you to leave with her." She nods her head at me. "Tori is going to stay with you. I need my beta by my side." She looks at Cayden hesitantly before nodding her head in agreement.

Cayden looks at me conflicted. He needs to choose between his duty as my beta or protecting his mate from what's behind them. A difficult decision I could imagine. I know his father trained him well, and Cayden knows how to be the best beta in our generation. We are both 18, ready as ever to take over the pack. To protect it.

Cayden whispers something in my sister's ear before planting a loving kiss on the top of her head. He squeezed her tight in a hug before letting her go.

"Tori, protect her with your life," I ordered. She nodded her head with no hesitation and took Claire from Cayden.

I could tell Cayden didn't want to leave but with the men of our pack fighting our battle and dying, we had to leave them behind. Spencer wasn't here right now, I could focus on fighting them off instead of worrying if she is safe or not.

"They have silver, they are basically unstoppable," I inform him.

"So what's the plan?"

"Why does everyone think I have a plan? This was unexpected, this was my father's burial. I didn't have the plan to take them down here." I ramble as we run closer to the 'battleground'. Maybe I should start having a plan of escape everywhere I go in case something like this happens again.

I was about to say something else when I heard a loud yelp. I turned around towards the noise to see Cayden on the ground with a large wooden stake protruding out of his shoulder blade.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I muttered as I ran to his side. "Cayden." He groaned at his name. "Cayden, you've gotta shift. You need to heal or you'll die." He groaned as the stake moved to make him bleed out even more. The blood pools under us making my breath hitch.

Cayden's closed his eyes.

"SHIFT GODDAMN IT!" I roar in a deep dominant voice. Cayden opens his eyes, they're glowing yellow. His body shifts into a great big brown wolf with the same yellow eyes looking into mine. He growls, but not at me.

I used my Alpha voice, for the first time.

During Cayden's shift, it healed his injury. It's a life or death situation, we usually don't use that method. He looks at me and gives me a small bow of respect. The one I've seen pack members give my father. The indescribable need to bow down to your leader.

"Let's get those sons of bitches," I tell him and he lets out a howl gathering everyone's attention. He runs past me and towards humans.

Why are they using stakes? It isn't a werewolf method of killing. I look around at all of my pack mates turning into their wolf forms and attacking the attackers anomalistically. The men that were left in human form didn't look like my werewolves. In fact, they don't look like werewolves at all. In the crowd stood Diego with blood and dirt on his face.

They're vampires, they've come to help. Diego and his family. Camilla, Derek, Danielle, Kendrick, and his friends. About 10 other vampires fighting for us.

I got up from the ground and look around at the cemetery filled with fighters. The squealing of cars arrives and I look at them. They stop and the door swipes open relieving dozens of my trained warriors. I growled in honor. They ran from inside towards the humans, their feet thumping against the ground until they shifted into paws. Growls and howls erupt as some of the humans began to yell. 

Everyone ran at each other throwing punches and bringing down silver blades. 

These are the character's wolf forms.

Jackson

Cayden

Tori

Claire

And here is my dirty dog, Ghost.