The crescent moon hangs low in the night sky, barely lighting the world on this cloudless night. The woods surrounding the pack house are barren of every creature on the earth. The only sounds arising in this night are the sounds of battle cries and howls of pain.

My white paws are coated in a thick layer of dirt and mud. I head straight into the mix of the attack. Hunters battle with weapons against my pack members in the yard at the front of the pack house. At least fifty or so hunters battling against double that many werewolves. I can barely make a path to the front door.

As I squeeze behind a gray-white wolf, it suddenly bumps into me. The surprise hit sends me flying to the side. A sharp pain stabs into my back left thigh. I growl in annoyance and slight discomfort as I whip my head to the left. A hunter stands beside me, raising a gun to my head as he pulls the knife from my thigh.  Blood pools from my leg. I ignore the pain promptly and glare at the man staring down at me. My leg burns, a strong heat flashing through the new wound but I've felt this pain before and I'm not going to let it stop me now.

Without hesitation, I ignore the flaming pain in my leg. I jump forward and quickly grab the man's arm in my mouth. I crunch down. A snap cracks through the air and the man screams in pain.  My mouth unclenches from his mangled up arm. I spit his blood-splattered limb out and aim for his throat next. In one swift movement, I tear his throat from his body and drop it toward the ground. Blood pools around me.

I turn my direction back toward the house. I run at top speed, ignoring the pain in my leg and in my side from my earlier wound. I can feel my blood matting my snow white fur, clumping awkwardly trying to heal my leg wound but not being able too sufficiently. The damn knife was made with silver, but luckily not coated in wolf's bane.

My legs push me into the house. I'm about to head down to my suite when suddenly a small shrill scream erupts from my left. My head turns from the high pitch sound. Instinct urges me to follow the noise. My legs quickly follow suit. A door, which belongs to a small janitors closet, is open. I see the back of a man - no - the back of a hunter.

"No! Please leave me alone!" The young voice screams.

A growl sounds from in the closet as well. A familiar growl. One I've heard before, but not often.

My actions are swift as I jump onto the man's back, grabbing his neck from behind and flinging him away from the closet and onto the hallway floor. A small clink rings around us as I notice a small silver dagger falling away from the man. It rolls a good two feet away from his grasp. He groans and places his hands on the ground trying to push himself up. I don't allow him to do so before I find myself once again ripping out a hunter's throat.

Blood pours down my jaw, staining my white fur crimson.

I drop his remains to the ground. I turn my head around and look into the closet.

Before me is a smaller wolf, not yet fully grown.

I know the wolf.

My step brother's hackles are raised high, but lower slightly when he realizes I've relinquished the threat. At least for now. Behind him is a shivering Milena. Her eyes are seeping tears and she has one hand holding onto Palmer's fur for security.

He looks at me with a sense of gratitude. I can't help but wonder if this could be a start to finally having a brother-sister relationship with him.

The thought quickly fades as the sound of war breaks into my hearing again. I jump to the wall as a group of hunters and werewolves duke it out. Blood spills as they pound, stab, bite and howl their way around the house. Avoiding their brawl, my mind falls directly to my mother.

Ignoring everything else going on around me, I head straight for the basement steps. I have to dodge three groups of fighting hunters and werewolves. My paws carry me quickly down the stairs. I land on the floor. As I go, I notice the basement has been infiltrated as well. Two dead hunters lay to me left. On my right, a fight still resides between two werewolves and a hunter. I have to jump to the left to avoid being hit by their intense quarrel.

By jumping suddenly to the left, I accidentally slam my large body into a passing hunter. He slams into the wall and I land on my feet. I look down and two piercing brown eyes glance back up at me. My eyes flicker down to the bloody dagger in his hand and his torn up shirt. I look back up at him and he smiles. A chill runs down my spine.

Before he attempts to attack me, I turn and lunge down the hallway. I have no time to deal with him. I have other important matters to attend to.

When I get to my suite, I notice a few things.

For one, there's a different smell in the air. Not a familiar one at that. For another thing, the door is opened with a slight crack. I nudge it fully open with my snout.

As it opens wide, another smell hits my nose. An irony-tart smell.

Fresh blood.

My eyes scan the room. As they reach the floor leading to the master bedroom, I see tracks of red. Blood. I run to the room where the door remains open. The blood trailing all the way around the bed to the other side.

My heart thumps. It pounds in my ears drowning out any other lingering sound. I run around the bed. Then I stop. So does my heart. My legs tremble beneath me.

My eyes trace the blood soaked carpet all the way up to a body. A body painted red.

Dressed in a stained and shredded, once beautiful yellow blouse. I notice the giant gash remaining on her left side. Pouring fresh blood from her body as she clutches the wound in one hand and a small chest box in the other. Her hair, once in a perfect strawberry blonde ponytail, is now tousled and frizzed. It clings to the sides of her sweat coated face. Her eyes remain closed but her mouth hangs open just a bit, just enough to allow tiny shallow breaths in and out.

My shift occurs instantaneously. Now in human form, I fall to my knees, next to my mother.

A small whimper escapes my trembling lips as I lift her her head and torso onto my lap.

"Mom," I cry out and gently stroke her hair away from her face.

No reply.

I put pressure onto her wound which is still seeping a massive amount of blood, trying to prevent outward flow.

"I'm going to find something to stop this bleeding," I tell her, placing her torso back onto the ground.

As I go to stand, a trembling hand shoots up and grabs my wrist. My eyes fall towards my Mother's face. Her eyes are squinted open. She groans, causing me to sink down to my knees once again and quickly lean in close. I stroke the side of her face in a soothing fashion.

"Hush," I tell her, willing my voice not to break as my eyes threaten to shed tears, "I'm going to take care of you. You're going to get better."

"No," her voice is a mere whisper.

"Yes Mom. Now shh. I'm going to find someone who can help you."

She coughs. A small amount of blood spits to the floor. "No one..." She can barely speak, "no one can help me now. Please just be with me."

"Don't talk like that Mom. There's always hope, remember? Please let me find you help." Tears bubble in my eyes, blurring my vision.

"Lucia..." She whispers. "Listen to me... Please."

I sniffle and cradle her closer to me. "I'm here Mom. I'm listening."

With great strain and effort, her eyes flutter open. She slowly grabs hold of the small chest in her hand and forces it into my arms. I grab onto the small wooden object. Then she lifts her hand and places it on my cheek. She rubs her thumb under my eye, picking up a stray tear I hadn't know had fallen.

"Lucia, don't hate me." Her words are so low, I almost think I misheard her.

"Hate you? Mom I could never hate you."

Her hand begins to slip from my cheek. I reach up and catch it before it falls. I hold it close, squeezing it gently.

"Everything you need to know, is in this chest. I'm so sorry. I wanted-" she coughs, releasing some more blood. "Wanted to tell you sooner, but I just couldn't."

I squeeze her hand as her eyes drift off. "Mom, I don't care what's in this chest. Don't leave me, please." I cry out. "Mom who did this to you?"

"Hunter... He wanted the location of the Alpha." She coughs again and groans a bit before continuing. "I didn't tell. He stabbed me before I could shift and I tore his shirt. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough."

My eyes tear up as my memories fade back to the hall a couple of minutes ago. The hunter who smiled at me. His shirt was torn. His dagger bloodied. It was him. I was late by mere minutes. I could have saved her.

"Mom this isn't your fault, it's mine. If only I ran straight here. If only I didn't go on the mission... I could have-"

"No Lucia," she squeezes my hand. "You can't blame yourself. Promise me?" I stare down at her as her blue eyes flick open for a moment. "Promise me."

I choke back a sob. I nod my head. "I promise mom..."

She smiles, "I love you Lucia. Smile for me."

A small sob breaks through but then I force a smile onto my mouth. Her smiles reaches her eyes before they quickly close again.

Her eyes shut tight and she coughs loudly. This time, the cough is completely filled with blood. The wound reached her lungs. Her blood is suffocating her. "Lucia I love you. I wish I could stay here longer with you in this world."

"Mom stop don't say that!" I scream at her. "Mom I love you please! You're everything I have, you can't leave me!"

One small, last groan sounds from her mouth. Her hand goes limp in my grasp. Her face falls to the side.

I stare at her for a moment. Then I shake her. When I realize she isn't responding, my eyes fill with tears. Through my blurred vision, I shake my mother again, this time calling out to her. As a few minutes pass with no response, I feel the sadness begin to push to the back of my mind as rage pummels in, replacing it quickly.

I slip my Mom's body onto the floor. I stand, clutching the wooden box to my chest. My vision clears and the room turns red. A flash of the hunters face flicks through my mind.

I need to find him.

I need to kill him.

I growl and place the memorabilia chest into one of the drawers in one of my mother's side tables to keep it safe and hidden. As I turn for the door, the sounds of war clouds my eardrums once again.

Back to reality, I shift.

At least I know where that douche bag was headed. I snarl as rage fills my muscles. My wolf releases a battle cry in my head and ferociously struggles in my mind. She's ready to tear this man and every other hunter in the place limb from limb.

And for once in my life, I let her loose.

With that thought, I feel my soul being yanked back. I can see everything clearly, but I cannot control a single muscle in my body. A growl erupts from my muzzle, a growl so frightening, a growl I had never released before.

My paws thump against the ground, running into the hallway. A group of three hunters surround two werewolves, cornering them with their weapons.

At the sight of them, my wolf snaps. She charges.

Blood spatters over my vision as she tears into one of the Hunter's backs. Her teeth slicing through like a freshly sharpened blade. As he falls, she wastes no time killing the other two. I feel my rage growing along with hers as we continuously slaughter Hunter after Hunter on our way to our destination.

We run through the halls as a team. She is the instinct, the fighter, the killer. I'm the eyes, the mastermind, the intelligence. Together we slaughter nearly forty Hunter's before reaching the doors that lead to the large ballroom. Today was the day the Alpha was setting up for Milena's birthday. It was going to be a large gathering.

The huge double doors are opened wide.

I step inside. The room is poorly decorated considering there must not have been much time to set up before the raid occurred. In the center of the ballroom, the Alpha stands. My father flanked on his right and my squad behind them. All in human form. Directly across from them, quite a distance away, is a large group of Hunters. At the front of the group is a man with a ripped shirt and a smirk planted firmly on his cheeks.

My wolf growls and creeps behind a table. No one has noticed us just yet.

"What is it you want from us?" Alpha Serg snarls. His tone deep, rumbling the floor. Normally this would shake me, but the rage filling my body seems to have numbed his ability to intimidate me.

The Hunter continues his cocky smirk. "Why, I simply want you all to disappear."

My dad cuts in, "where is Salvador? He's the mastermind behind this."

The Hunter laughs outrageously loud. The sound causes my paws to tremble in rage. My nails dig into the wooden floors, scrapping the surface as I hold back my anger. "Salvador the mastermind? He's just a simple pawn I used. That man is good for one thing, and that's being a decent money source. No. I want to make a deal with you, Alpha."

This catches the Alpha's attention. "A deal? I'd say you're in no position to be making deals."

The Hunter stares at the Alpha for a moment. "How rude of you to jump to that conclusion. I'm no idiot. I've come with something you will want. Well, something you will want back, that is." He snaps his fingers.

A moment later, another Hunter walks through the doors behind me. Wiggling in his arms, is a tied up and very frightened Milena. Her mouth has a cloth covering it, preventing her from speaking.

The Alpha's face pales. If there is one thing he loves in this world. It's his daughter.

"You bastard." The Alpha snarls.

The Hunter shrugs, "I must do what I have to. Now if you want your cute daughter alive," he says and walks closer to my table where the other Hunter is holding Milena, "then I suggest you listen to my proposition."

"Don't touch her." The Alpha snaps as the Hunter lifts his hand to run a finger over her pale cheek.

"Now look who's the one not in the position to be shouting orders?" He laughs, the sound so sickening I feel my wolf getting ready to pounce. He is a mere foot away from me.

"What do you want from us?" The Alpha asks finally.

"I need you, Alpha of the Rogues, to help me. Give me some of your least important pack members that I can use to help me and my crew gain recognition and I will return your daughter to you."

"You want me to sacrifice some of my pack in order to help a Hunter gain recognition in their Society?" His voice is deathly quiet. Hard to hear his words as his teeth are clenched so tightly together.

"Precisely. I've already killed off a good amount of your weakest followers. And if I do say so myself, your women are poorly trained. Easy to kill. Easy to slaughter."

Rage fills my eyes and my heart at the sound of his words. He's talking about my mother. He's calling her weak. A blast of adrenaline pumps through my veins.

My wolf is still in control as I sprint from under the table.

I take the Hunter by surprise, ramming him the the floor. He groans as his back slams hard against the ground, my body weight anchoring him to the floor. I have his throat in my mouth, ready to snap shut when suddenly I hear the small reloading click of a gun.

My eyes flick up, following the sharp sound.

The Hunter holding onto Milena, now has a gun pointed promptly at her head. The barrel resting next to her temple. Her face is even more pale as she stops struggling due to the immediate threat. I notice the slight trembling in his hand. My eyes squint at him.

"Get your dog off of me before I order your daughter dead!" The Hunter under my grip screams.

"Lucia, back down, now!" My Alpha orders, full Alpha tone.

My wolf slinks back a bit. I feel myself obey his command. My mouth slips from around the man's neck, only leaving partial puncture wounds. I step off of him and back myself up. He rubs his neck with his hand and sits up.

"Now tell it to leave."

Like a loyal puppy to it's master, the Alpha commands, "leave Lucia."

My wolf submits. She turns and starts walking away.

"Hold on a second." The Hunter says out of sudden realization. I hear him stand from the ground. "You're the wolf I saw in the hallway. The one who ran into the suite after I had just killed that woman..." he laughs, "So you must know her, huh? You must be her child or something."

My muscles twitch. My wolf freezes in place. Rage resurfacing again.

The Hunter laughs aloud. "She screamed bloody murder as I pierced the dagger into her side seven times. All she could do was cry and claw at my shirt. The bitch would owe me a new one if she wasn't dead alrea-"

My eyes goes black as my wolf's rage concurs. She tears Milena from the other Hunter's grip tossing her to the ground. She proceeds to then rip his throat out and turns roughly towards the main Hunter. Without hesitation she pounces, once again landing on him. Unfortunately, this time he saw it coming and holds his arm up in defense. My teeth clutching it tightly.

"We need to question him Lucia, don't kill him." The Alpha yells. In that moment I notice the squad has taken out all the other Hunter's in the room, while still in human form.

My breathing is ragged and rough. My rage pulsing through my muscles, ravaging my brain of any sane thought. I crunch my jaw tightly, my teeth breaking the flesh of the Hunter's arm. Blood seeps down my teeth, down his arm, and drips onto his face. He screams loudly and I crunch a little harder.

"Lucia, enough!" the Alpha yells, full Alpha tone.

I feel my wolf shake at his voice. Yet she doesn't move. My eyes stay locked with the Hunter's. I take in his face. Memorizing every sickening detail of the man who killed my mother. His smirk is finally off his face, but I'm not satisfied.

He groans and tries to push against my weight. "Damn, if only your mother was as strong as you. She would have lived."

My jaw snaps shut.

A loud scream echos throughout the room.

Blood pours to the ground. Crimson red pools around us as the man screams in pain. His forearm falls to the floor, completely detached from his upper arm at the elbow.  The bone completely exposed and blood gushes around him. His eyes are shut in pain and he struggles beneath me. My mouth quickly grips around his neck. Rage pulsing through me, instinctively moving my muscles.

My wolf urges me to do it, to pierce this throat and end it now. Another part of me wants him to suffer a bit more.

"Lucia," another loud voice echos into my ears. That's when I realize there are three men trying to pry me off of the hunter. The voice is angry but soothing at the same time. My wolf shakes, but not from fear of the voice. "Let go Lucia. You don't want to do this."

It's Greyson.

I feel my wolf slinking back and I start to gain full control of my muscles again. I blink a few times as I start to calm down a bit.

Tears line the edges of my eyes. They threaten to spill over, but I force them back. Now isn't the time.

"Let go Lucia." Greyson's voice is next to me now. He says it lightly, but I can tell he urgently wants me to let go.

A hand lands on my neck. I can feel small sparks as a thumb runs up and down my fur gently. It's soothing, and comforting. Something I could really use in this moment. I can feel the other guys successfully pulling me off the hunter. I finally comply and release the mans neck.

From the sudden release, I'm pulled back and flung to the floor along with the three boys trying to pull me off. The force sending us flying backwards. We land in a small pile. I hear small groans and I look around me.  Inside the pile are Raymond, Ruben, and Leo. Then my eyes scan the room.

The Alpha is commanding some of his men to gather the Hunter off the floor and the remaining living hunters sent to the dungeon. As he organizes that, I notice a set of eyes trapped on me.

The green orbs watch me carefully, as if I were to break in a second. I stare back at Greyson for a moment. He walks closer to me. When he gets to me, he kneels beside me. "Are you okay?" he asks me.

The question shatters any restraint I had on my emotions. Tears bubble in my eyes and a whimper escapes from my mouth. He goes to reach a hand towards my face, but before he can get me to break fully down, I jump up and away from him. Then I sprint toward the door, tears falling as I go.