My ears rung as the earth swayed before me. No longer standing, my knees dropped to the ground as my eyes remained locked on his.

Playing in slow motion, I wanted to wind back time but couldn't.

I watched helplessly as a trickle turned to torrent, spilling down his shirt and turning it from beige to red.

His eyes spoke his resignation, and his regret. I shook my head as if in reply to the fact he knew it had to end this way. It didn't.

I had only just found him to have him so cruelly taken away.

My father.

He was stoic in the face of what they'd done. Refusing to give them the satisfaction of a fight, no matter how easily lost. No expression. No tears. Acceptance.

It was as if it was just the two of us. Everything else faded to black, my focus razor sharp, my senses attuned and alert.

My gaze wouldn't let go of his, refusing to let him die alone.

My heart held him where I couldn't.

But it was when he smiled, the corner of his lips edging upward as his face softened that I knew he was giving his final goodbye.

And I gave mine as he surrendered to the night.

~

Clawing at the dirt, a strangled, pained howl quaked through the cold night air, ripping away the stunned silence. My body trembled before a blood fuelled rage tore through me. Every cell burned as I felt my bones snap and bend, contorting as I whipped around uncontrolled.

Tearing around to face Leila, I clawed through the air in manic fury as I launched at her before my mind could process what was happening.

I couldn't control it. I couldn't control my thoughts, my movements or my actions. Each second that passed saw me lose all sense of humanity as I ran off an unabated quest for revenge.

I felt my mind fall into depths of darkness that I never knew I could feel... Falling, falling into a dangerous pit of despair as another part of me fought to the surface, gasping for air, clawing, climbing for her chance at retribution.

I could feel the ground shake with each ripple of my changing form. Every second in the cold, night air bringing me closer to my wolf as I felt myself transform.

I was a bystander on high alert, watching as my wolf took in Leila's fear, winding her further into a state of unravel.

My wolf was rabid. Wild. Unhinged. I didn't have time to process the feeling, the sensation of sharing a form, a body... with another soul. My wolf.

There were two of us, but it was all her doing now. I couldn't control her, and I couldn't hold back her dominance and power as she unleashed years of anger, hurt and pain on our behalf.

Leila's eyes stunned open in a state of shock as she could do nothing but take the impact.

You fucking bitch!

My wolf twitched at hearing my voice, further pushing her into madness as she became hellbent on her cause.

Colliding against her, she threw her down, claws ripping through her shoulder and opening an angry wound that splattered blood like paint to a canvas.

I could taste the metallic tint smear across my wolf's gnarling jaws, and felt her delight and satisfaction at having a taste of things to come.

She would be fucking easy, fucking end her! I thought as we circled her, giving her a moment to grapple with her situation.

I wanted her fear to linger.

My wolf was about to spring from her haunches, eager to wear her down slowly before I felt her being pulled back, her claws tearing through the dirt to hold on.

Whimpers cascaded into the night as I realised what was happening.

Turn around. There are others!

Beckoning for blood, she tried desperately to spin around and end our attacker as their jaws wrestled against her hind leg, dragging her backwards.

My father's killer.

Tossing her into the soaking soil, my wolf was dazed before spinning, eyeing the unfolding situation.

Two wolves.

Slightly larger than my own, her russet brown wolf was posturing her intent. Leila. Despite her shoulder wound, she had shifted and she was pissed.

A low snarl reverberated from her throat as she stalked, circling slowly.

Limping around, I saw him. Significantly larger, his ash grey coat shimmered under the moon as he too beckoned for a fight. It seemed the others from before had run to safety, or to get others. I didn't know and I didn't have time to think about it. I could only focus on what was before me.

Circling on the spot, I felt my wolf bolster at the threat. The indignation. The audacity.

Looking up to the Moon, our howl of anguish sent shockwaves through the trees as I felt a shift deep within.

My wolf would not back down.

I would not back down.

And then something changed... we were one.

I was the wolf. The hunter.

The Luna.

Like thunder claps in the sky, I launched onto the male first for the take down.

Snarling, I turned my back to Leila before charging at him in unbridled anger.

I felt my grief crack the air as I collided with him. My war song playing for the forest amphitheatre as I twisted desperately to get atop of him.

Scrambling, I yelped in shock as his claws sliced through my haunches before I ducked down and swiped at his underbelly.

I heard his fat drops of blood hit the dirt like dancing rain before I stalked behind him, having gutted him, forcing a slow and seeping wound that would be impossible to heal.

Wear him down.

Snapping in fury, I continued unabated, latching onto his hind leg, snarling in savagery as I held on for the crunch.

Grinding and twisting, I wasn't letting go. Tossing my head back and forth I snapped his leg, desperate to flay flesh from bone.

Without realising, yelps of pain echoed off the trees as Leila's wolf landed against my back, toppling me over as we wrestled to a stop.

Both of them at once, the fucking cowards.

I didn't have time to react as blow by blow hit me from both directions.

Mud flung in my eyes like poison arrows, fuelling my irritation as I struggled to see who was who.

I felt my hackles raise defensively as I spun and snarled to try and get on the offence, determined to end them both whatever the cost.

Canines glinted in the moonlight as savagery echoed across the terrain. No other creature dare peek from the shadows as the ferociousness unfolded.

It was mayhem. I was like a Jekyll and Hyde, a long lost friend deep within that had a story to tell and a score to settle. With my ears pinned back, I showed my commitment to the cause, blatant in my refusal to back down.

Suddenly, I felt the air shift. His scent.

Phelan.

I called out to him from within despite knowing he couldn't hear me.

Please hurry!

There were not even seconds between blows as my howls rattled the earth in impatience.

All skill went out the window as I catapulted through the air, a sense of desperation dropping over me. With everything I had left, I sunk my canines into the flesh of the grey male, shaking my head blindly, ripping, tearing before tufts of blood soaked skin flung to the dirt with a heavy, soaking thud.

With his underbelly still dripping, I dove under, scrambling paws up as they drew through his tender, raw skin once more.

Yelps of pain and realisation from him rang through the air as my golden eyes pierced through him, but Leila was having none of it.

I saw the horror in her eyes as her yelps of agony hung stagnant in the damp, night air. Her pain told me everything... I had killed her mate.

Snapping and spiralling, I took the brunt of her weight as she collided against my ribs and pummelled with me into the earth. Scrambling in panic, huffs of breath escaped me like billowing smoke from the impact.

Both of us refused to concede as we fought for control, but she too, was as equally determined as I.

I was drunk in my state of madness. I felt like fire, doused in gasoline, raging and uncontrolled.

I was losing all sense of reason, and she knew it, using it to her advantage as she pinned me by to the ground.

Both of us were fuelled by the instinct to survive, whatever the cost.

All it took was one mistake that gifted her the chance to end it all. Slipping beneath her, I felt her jaws grip my neck like a vice as I scrambled to get back up.

It was it. This... this is how it would end.

My legs clawed blindly desperate to make contact, but I was out of breath. Stars spotted my vision as I looked up to the sky, all pain leaving me as I began to surrender to my fate.

Like a final requiem, howls rolled over the hills and into the valley below, and I pictured my pack, my family, coming to take me home.

I could feel myself splayed on my side as I suddenly felt weightless. I was numb.

I was tired.

I thought I am dreaming when I saw that midnight fur fill my vision, and I was thankful that my final moment was filled with his image.

Phelan.

I watched on confused, my chest heavy and breathing ragged as I heard the most sickening of cracks between his jaws.

Stunned and proud, I watched his jowls spill her out before me as he lifted her from above.

It was so fast that she didn't even have a chance to react. She too, was so blinded by grief that she couldn't sense him before it was over.

Suddenly, I didn't feel like it was all in vain anymore.

He came to me.

He made it.

Blinking slowly, I watched as he shifted before me. Bloody and exhausted, he knelt beside me before he issued his command.

"Shift."

His voice was strong... firm. But I could also hear it falter as if recognising that he was afraid that I couldn't.

Whimpering in return, I was too tired, my eyes pleading with him to just let me go.

But he would not give up. Instead he roared, bellowing out into the air, his authority unquestionable.

"I said, Shift!"

I couldn't help but whine in agony at his words as my body shook and shuddered before submitting to his command.

I recognised my own voice as my screams and cries rang in my ears. The pain was immeasurable. Indescribable.

The cold air stung like a slap to my face as my bleeding and broken body convulsed in the mud and I could do nothing except lay there naked and exposed as he pulled me to his chest.

"Forgive me, Edie."

Staring into his face, I smiled softly, making it clear that he had nothing to apologise for.

I was just thankful my final moment would be with him.

My mate.

Feeling his warm palm caress my cheek, my brows furrowed as he slowly turned my head into his chest and held it there.

"Forgive me..."

I couldn't ask why, only feeling my chest rise with panic as his teeth grazed my neck as he gently moved my hair aside and bared it to him.

There was no time to register anything. The searing pain shot through me as if piercing me to the bone as I realised what he'd done and death itself welcomed me with open arms.