Once we got to the industrial estate, we split up. After kissing Ember, she hid in the warehouse directly next to the one with the vendetta spiral on. Kaden and I stood just inside of one that was about three warehouses away from it.

Most of the building was empty, apart from a few rotting wooden pallets. We didn't have to worry about anyone other than Victoria and the hunters showing up.

We could still hear and see everything, but thankfully the wind was blowing in our favour — Victoria wouldn't be able to tell that we were there.

Al was going to make the hoax calls to the police; she should've been doing it right then. Everyone had been sure and convinced that Al's visions had worked.

Me? I was still doubtful.

But my doubt also gave me an edge. An edge that meant I never let my guard down, even when it came to Ember. Especially when it came to Ember.

I closed my eyes momentarily, remembering what I saw when I showed her my wolf's eyes. I hadn't told her, but I saw her Phoenix for the first time then — like my other eyes had given me an insight into the mystical creature that inhabited her body.

Encircling her body, her Phoenix consisted of a faint shape of a bird, with flames dancing around the edges. And, like she kept insisting, it did look like it was protecting her.

When I opened my eyes, I focused on her with my wolf eyes. The Phoenix was stronger, glowing brighter and fiercer than before. It looked more powerful, she looked more powerful.

That doesn't look like protection anymore — it looked more like offence than defence.

"You okay?" Kaden glanced across at me.

"Yeah," I replied, returning to my human eyes. "Just checking Ember's okay."

"Is she?"

"Look for yourself."

"Holy shit. What is that?" He exclaimed when he saw her with his own werewolf eyes.

"Her Phoenix," I stated simply.

"Victoria's here."

Simultaneously, we stepped behind the broken corrugated iron door of the warehouse a little more. We didn't admit it to one another, but Victoria scared both of us.

"The Betas?" I checked.

"Also here." He nodded.

"How long did we say Ember should wait until she sets it on fire?" I asked, looking at Kaden.

"We didn't." He gulped.

"Shit," I muttered underneath my breath.

"She'll know when to do it," Kaden insisted with a sort of confidence I'd never heard on him before — maybe Halia is making him surer of himself. "She'll do it when she knows the hunters are close enough."

"When will that be, huh?" I spat at him, before rubbing my face and apologising, "Sorry, I'm just on edge."

"We all are," he reassured.

As much as I was desperate for this all to work out, I knew that as soon as it was over, things would change. Ember would go off to live with her uncle for a bit, and I would go off to find my pack.

What about Kaden? The thought raced across my mind. I couldn't just leave him behind in Lake Oldoy, could I?

I was becoming sure that he'd help me if I asked him to... But I didn't need help from an amateur. As much as I'd grown to like him, Kaden didn't exactly have tons of experience at being a werewolf.

Speaking of experience, though, I needed to get some time alone with Halia to find out what she knew about what happened in Georgia and see if she had any leads on my pack for me to follow. I wasn't convinced that I could get her away from Kaden for more than five minutes though...

"Where the hell are those sons of bitches?" We heard Victoria exclaim and we glanced at each other.

"Nice to know what she thinks of us, isn't it?" I grinned sarcastically at Kaden , brushing away the threat that Victoria posed to us.

"Personally," he joked back, "I thought that we were all getting along so well — she was starting to grow on me and everything!"

Then we heard at least two trucks come rumbling along Lyme Lane — the road next to the industrial estate — and the smiles dropped right off our faces. Hunters: trained killers dead-set on murdering supernaturals.

I shuddered, despite the mild heat the sun provided through the sky's grey haze.

"Now, Ember!" I whispered; wishing she could hear me, wishing she would do it already.

The hunters jumped out of their trucks, already armed to the teeth with rifles, daggers and crossbows.

"That one!" One of them yelled and pointed at the warehouse with the vendetta spiral on, where Victoria and her other Betas were holed up. Dangerously close to where Ember was.

"Shut the hell up!" Another hunter hissed at him.

God, who invited these amateurs? I couldn't help but roll my eyes; if you're going to hunt supernatural creatures, at least do it properly. What is the world coming to?

"Now, Ember!" Kaden echoed me and began biting the side of his nail again. It was beginning to be an annoying habit of his.

Irritated, I snipped at him, "Cut that out."

He grumbled but stopped all the same.

We waited for what felt like forever but was, in actual fact, about 30 seconds, before we saw the first flame. It came straight from her, almost like she shot it out of part of her body. I think she did, actually.

Then another flame hit the warehouse wall a few metres from the first. Then another and another and another. Then the entire warehouse was on fire — the flames dancing up around the walls, twisting and twirling like acrobats. The fire was almost as mesmerising as Ember herself.

One of the hunters, staying back from the fire just like the rest of them, dug something out of his pocket and threw it into the fire.

That has to be wolfsbane.

I had no idea what it could end up doing to Ember if she got too close, so I chewed my lip anxiously. "She needs to get out of there."

"Who? Victoria?"

"No, dumbass!" I growled slightly, pent-up anger surfacing in me. "Ember! Ember needs to get the hell out of there right now!"

Victoria screamed violently and it was the most awful thing ever; it tore right through me, and, briefly, it felt like I was burning in wolfsbane flames as well. A glance at Kaden told me he was feeling the same thing. It was because we were part of her pack.

We were her Betas and we were feeling her pain. It was nearly excruciating for me, but I had dealt with a lot worse.

Kaden wasn't holding up too great, though.

"You okay?" I coughed out.

"How do we get... outta... this?" He spluttered back as his face contorted into agony.

"Take my forearm," I told him and I took his.

Controlled, but still forceful, I let my claws sharpen into his skin. A natural reflex meant that Kaden's claws dug into my skin as well — both of us almost transitioning fully due to our bodies fighting against the pain.

He gasped and released my arm, breathing relief as our pain eased.

"It's not over yet." I gritted my teeth; while Kaden and I were okay, Ember was still over there — still in danger.

"What the hell is she doing?" Kaden frowned, and I snapped my eyes over to her, following his gaze. She was still over there; still setting the burning warehouse alight.

Kaden swore strongly under his breath, "What the fu—?"

He was cut off by the flames that sprang up next to us.

"Ember." I breathed as soon as her figure appeared. She had teleported across to us, which was pretty genius of her — we hadn't even discussed it.

But she didn't look good, her face was ashen and her nose was bleeding from the effort, though at least I could see the fire dying from her eyes. She coughed out some blackened chunks of God-knows-what and stumbled towards me.

"Theo." She collapsed into my arms.

"Are you okay? How did that happen?" Kaden frowned, obviously she hadn't yet told him about her being able to teleport.

"I did it." She breathed, looking up at me. "I did it."

"I know." I kissed the top of her head. "You were great, but we gotta go now — can you walk?" I asked since she looked so weak and fragile in my arms.

"No time." Kaden rushed, after looking back towards the hunters. "Carry her."

I picked her up as carefully and as quickly as I could, then followed Kaden out of the warehouse — heading away from the wary hunters and the burning warehouse and the screaming Victoria.

"Will someone please shut that bitch up?" Ember complained wearily in my arms.

"I think we just did." I grinned down at her, as we entered the treeline. I directed at Kaden, "How long will it take us to get back to your caravan?"

"30 minutes — maybe 45 with her like that." He nodded at Ember in my arms, whose eyes were drooping shut.

"Hey, hey — don't go to sleep." I urged and suddenly noticed that the side of her temple was bleeding as well. I knew it could be bad if she went to sleep without us knowing if she was okay or not.

"I'm just... so... tired..." She muttered.

"No, no." I tried to keep harshness out of my voice as I insisted that she stayed awake.

Her eyes drooped again.

"Kaden, I think we're gonna have to run." I chewed my lip.

"Can you run with her like that?" He pointed at her in my arms.

"Yeah." Worry was now lacing through my body like wolfsbane poison. I just had to make sure that worry didn't paralyse my body.

"You sure?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Just start running already!" I exclaimed, nearly yelling.

We started running.

Ember wasn't heavy, but she wasn't light either. The fact she was struggling to remain conscious made it harder as well, as she couldn't change the way she was lying in my arms. Now and then, I'd look down to see her eyes beginning to shut again, and I'd have to shake her awake.

"C'mon. Stay with me, Ember." I had to shake her as I ran.

Please stay with me, Ember.

By the time we reached Kaden's caravan, my arms were pounding from carrying Ember's weight and she was barely conscious.

"What happened?" Wednesday rushed over to us, clearly feeling better.

"It worked." Kaden breathed as Halia rushed up to him. "It actually worked!"

"What happened to Ember?" Wednesday's face crumpled, placing her hands upon Ember's body.

"I think it might just be exertion," I explained, stroking some hair out of the blood on her temple. "She should be fine after some rest."

Wednesday nodded and confirmed in a certain tone, "You're right."

I moved her inside Kaden's caravan, tucking the quilts around her.

"You can sleep now." I kissed her forehead and drew the curtains.

Stepping as quietly out of the caravan as I could, I pulled the door shut, and headed over to Halia.

"Hey, Halia. Can I talk to you?" I asked impatiently, paranoia and apprehension gnawing at the pit in my stomach.

"It is about your pack — yes?"

"Yeah." I nodded and pulled her away from Kaden, much to his despair.

"You want to know what happened in Georgia, is that right?" She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"C'mon Halia. You know it's about that." I sighed, crossing my arms.

"What do you want to know?"

"Do you know where my pack is?" I demanded to know, bordering on desperate. Okay, so maybe it was totally desperate.

"I heard things whilst I was in Georgia, but I am not sure exactly where they are." She pressed her lips together firmly.

"What did you hear?" I insisted.

Looking out across the lake, she told me, "There were hunters in Georgia whilst you were there, whilst we were there."

My jaw nearly dropped onto my chest — all that time I'd spent in Atlanta and the hunters were there the entire time?

"Why didn't they come after me then?" I asked once I'd found my voice again.

"Because," she explained slowly, "There was a werewolf pack in Georgia that had been murdering drug dealers across the state. And whilst I am not against some justice, the way they did it was..." She closed her eyes, swallowing. "Brutal. Just brutal."

"You saw it? You saw them?" My curiosity was growing by the second.

"Yes. I saw them, murdering a teenager who had joined a drug cartel to pay for the health insurance for his dying mother." She hesitated, and I realised for the first time that I couldn't pick up on any of her chemosignals, and her face was even harder to interpret. "I was almost tempted to betray them to the hunters myself. But then I heard about what happened in Montana, and that the Beta that was supposed to have murdered them was living in Atlanta, just forty miles away from the lake I was living in — I was living in Lake Lanier."

"Shit, for real?" Shaking my head at how close we were living to one another, I explained, "I visited Lake Lanier with Neal and Lis a couple of times whilst I was in Atlanta."

"I know. I saw you there."

"Of course, you did." I huffed back; she is the nearly all-knowing naiad, after all.

"So, after I heard about you, I made sure I kept an even lower profile and started looking into what had happened with your pack — I could not believe that a Beta had killed the pack of Jason."

"You knew Jason?" I exclaimed incredulously; the connections between us were only increasing.

Halia dipped her blonde head, "He saved my life, about three years ago now. And ever since then I have been indebted to him, carrying out favours for him. But when he moved far inland to Montana, we fell out of touch."

I blinked. "Do you know where he is?"

"Maybe." She hesitated yet again — as if something was holding her back from revealing the truth to me.

"Come on, Halia." I sighed. "Please... Just tell me what you know already."

"I know that not all of your pack are alive," she told me in a harsh tone that I didn't expect her to have.

"I figured as much." I brushed it off — though inside, I was already hurting and already grieving.

"They are still in the States." She wet her lips while her wide eyes darted left then right. "If you are going to go look for them, you need to start in Georgia, then work across the country back to Montana. You need to follow any leads that you can."

"I know, and that's why I'm trying to get something, anything out of you." I fidgeted, her reluctance to talk was seriously getting to me. "Please, Halia. You're the only one that can help me."

"Alright," she agreed reluctantly. "Whilst I was in Georgia, I heard that the hunters move your pack around frequently, so it is harder for them to be tracked—"

I cut her off; "Yeah, I know that already."

"Well, they are moving them on every new moon of the month. And they use reinforced metal cages with electric current running through them," she explained, "The thing is that only a certain number of places can cope with this much electricity, so—"

"So, they'll be close to electrical power stations." I breathed as the revelation hit me — why hadn't I thought of that before? "You're a genius, Halia Coralie." I wrapped my arms around her, embracing her.

"You can let go of me now, Theo Aquila." She patted my arms, and I let go. "You're welcome."

"Thank you so much, Halia." I smiled widely at the prospect of reuniting with my pack — oblivious to the months of despair and anguish that would lay ahead of me once I left Lake Oldoy. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"I think I do, actually." She smiled briefly in return before she glanced over at Kaden and then away again. "You cannot take Kaden with you, I'm afraid. And that is not because of me — yours and his paths are diverging, Wednesday told me as much."

"I know and I wasn't planning on doing so," I reassured. "He needs to stay here and finish high school."

"What about you? What will you do about your... GCSEs?" She frowned as she remembered the qualifications and the grades that we were all supposed to be working towards.

The supernatural world never takes notice of mundane education.

"They don't matter as much as my pack do."

Halia dipped her head, but didn't say anything.

But it wasn't like I was the only one abandoning school and GCSEs — Ember was also doing it, and I was sure that she'd be fine passing them as well.

I guess mine and Ember's paths are diverging too.

After another couple of hours hanging out at Kaden's caravan, we called it a night, and all went home for a well-deserved hot shower.

Ember hadn't mentioned anything about me coming over later that night, so I guessed she just wanted some time to herself.

As soon as my head hit my pillow, I was pretty much fast asleep.

And, for the first time in months, and without Ember next to me, night terrors didn't plague my sleep — maybe things were starting to get better.

At times, hope is the only thing that keeps me going.