Kassandra and Finn weren't completely taken by my old cabin, their faces falling once they stepped inside of the cold eerie building. It wasn't much- I was aware of that, but it was the best we could do for now.

There weren't any spare homes for them to settle into, and again, we didn't actually know if they were planning on staying at the end of all of this. Giving them something temporary was better for the time being.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly as I gestured towards the large bed that Amara and Tirus had placed in the corner of the room. "It isn't much, but it's all we could give you at the moment. It gets cold at night, but luckily it's warming up outside now, so you shouldn't suffer too much."

I made my way over to the small cupboard to pull out some blankets, gulping as I clutched onto the one that Cole had gifted to me when I had first arrived, him having heard me telling Claude at the bonfire that the cabin was cold at night.

We had come so far.

"These will help," I said, thrusting the blankets in their direction. "Amara and Tirus put new sheets on the bed for you. It's only been slept on a few times. I don't know whose it used to be."

Finn smiled, testing out the bed, springing himself up and down on it, Kassandra rolling her eyes at him. "Thank you for this, Reya."

I smiled back. I enjoyed having Finn here, although we hadn't been friends back when I lived at the colony, the situation we had been put in had bonded us. It was an honour to call him a friend.

I frowned, thinking of friends reminded me of Anthony, and I was going to head over to his bungalow to check that him and Amber were doing okay at some point. I couldn't imagine the sheer amount of betrayal they would be feeling. I wanted them to know they weren't alone.

I spent a good amount of time with Finn and Kassandra, sharing stories of our old training sessions, Kassandra telling me how her and Finn came to be. It was cute hearing how their relationship started.

"I'll let you guys get settled in," I said once my stomach started to growl, nodding, ducking out of the cabin. "Let me know if you need anything else at any point."

I could tell that they were going to become bored here pretty quickly since they couldn't venture outside of the pack grounds in case they were seen by the other humans. I would need to drop off some games for them to play. Amara had some good ones she had shown me.

Cole had gone off to speak to the humans at the apartment complex to let them know that they needed to begin thinking about their next steps. They had a week left here and they were going to be offered sessions with the pack guidance councillors. I was sure they wouldn't be happy that their time here was being cut short, but it was becoming riskier having them around.

Cole had told me that he was going to try and convince them to head to the human cities where wolves weren't hunted. Our secrets wouldn't mean anything to anybody there, and I knew that my old colony members would consider the possibility of taking the bait. The idea of a human city after living in nothing but a controlled and small environment your whole life sounded tempting. If I were them, I would go.

Rowan had been doing a lot of research on the cities, wanting to find the best one to recommend to them. Some were less welcoming than others, and ones nearer the border nearing us took a little more interest in the wolves.

Making my way back to our house, I hummed to myself, attempting to distract myself from thinking of the fact that mine and Cole's baby could not survive. I had already cried about it, and I didn't want to do it again. I wasn't much of a crier, and I preferred to keep it that way.

"Reya."

I whirled around at the husky voice, almost jumping out of my skin at the sight of a tired and frustrated looking Claude, his dark hair hanging limply from his head. He had dark bags under his eyes, and his usual tanned skin was pale and dull. He looked haggard.

"Claude," I muttered, taking a few steps backwards, my back hitting the side of our house. I ground my teeth together, feeling uneasy. We hadn't had many run ins, but the ones we had had, hadn't been invigorating. He hated my guts- that much was obvious. I sometimes caught him glaring at me, but I never mentioned it to Cole, not wanting to make even more of an issue of it. I wasn't going to stoop to his level. I didn't care if he didn't like me.

"Where's Cole?" he questioned, his words slurring, and I noticed the way that he stumbled forwards.

"Are you drunk?" I asked quietly, pushing myself further against the side of the house, my eyes darting around, but nobody was here.

Claude hummed, pinching his fingers together to show me an inch. "A tad. It's something I've taken to doing now to deal with the death of my own kind. You know," Claude slurred, taking a step closer towards me. "My cousin died in that attack. He fought to save your ass, and now here you are, without a scratch. It's laughable."

I gulped. I didn't know what he wanted me to respond. "Claude, I feel horrible about the people who died to save me, but I had no control-"

"Bullshit!" Claude spat, again moving forwards, his eyes blazing as he glared at me, his canines evident.

"We're organising the funerals," I stuttered, attempting to swallow my fear. I didn't want to show Claude how frightened of him I was, but I knew that he could easily rip my head from my body in a split second if he wanted to. I was always going to feel intimidated due to the disadvantage I had.

Claude chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Oh, well aren't you a saint? What are you going to do? A little speech? Are you going to spout your usual crap about how you care about us? Humans are weak, and your kind doesn't belong here. You're good for one thing, and I think you know what that is. It's what Cole believed before you came along and messed with his head. The mate bond has made him a weak leader."

I narrowed my eyes at him, fury bubbling up inside of my body. "You know nothing about mine and Cole's relationship, and you are overstepping a boundary by speaking on it, Claude. I suggest you step away from me."

Claude raised his brows, laughing. "Or what? What are you going to do? Slap me? I could rip your arm from its limb before you even raise it an inch."

"Is that a threat?" I questioned with a taut jaw, shaking my head. I was going to stand my ground.

Claude smirked, his head close to my own. "I don't know, Reya. Is it?"

I attempted to side-step to move past Claude, but he tutted, shaking his head, stepping with me, stopping me from doing so. His boy was huge, not as large as Cole's, but there was no way I would be able to shove past him. I wasn't an idiot. It was best to not antagonise him when he was under the heavy influence of alcohol, and when he left me alone, I could speak to Cole about this. His behaviour was unacceptable.

"Do you think you're special?" Claude muttered. "You have no idea how many human women he's fucked. You're just an addition to that number."

I felt a pang in my chest, but I knew that Claude was wrong. Cole had slept with others, yes, but that was before he had met me. I wasn't just a number to him. He loved me.

"I don't care what you have to say. I want to go inside, so if you could just step aside, that would be great," I spoke, holding eye contact. I wasn't going to shrivel up and give him the reaction that he wanted, but I also wasn't going to retaliate.

"No can do, Reya," Claude spoke, suddenly shoving me up against the brick wall, causing me to grit my teeth together, attempting to push against his arm that was holding me hostage. "You've caused nothing but trouble for this pack since you came along. I'm going to be doing everyone here a favour."

"What?" I asked, fear clear in my voice. What was he going to do?

"This will probably get me killed, but at this point, I don't care too much," Claude said, shrugging as he pressed his arm harder against me, my chest feeling tight. "I'm dead anyway, right? You've sentenced us to it."

"Get off of me," I complained, my voice strained as I used all of my might to shove him, his arm shaking slightly from my pushing, most likely an effect of the alcohol. It made him slightly weaker.

"Seriously Reya, this is nothing personal," Claude chuckled, his hands moving to my neck, my eyes going wide as I yelled out. "Then again, maybe it is."

My heart was beating out of my chest, Claude's furious face moving closer to mine as he glared at me through hazy eyes. I was struggling to hold myself up, my legs shaking, adrenaline souring through my blood. Was I really going to die? Here at the hands of one of Cole's pack members? I had believed I was safe here.

Suddenly, Claude was ripped off of me and shoved to the ground, blood splattering across my face and a small yell ripping from his throat as his heart was yanked from his chest. I watched with wide eyes as Cole growled loudly from above Claude's lifeless body, Tirus next to him, pinning Claude down, releasing him once he realised that he had been killed.

"What the fuck?" Cole muttered, immediately moving over to me and pulling me to his chest, stroking my hair down gently and shushing me. I clutched onto him, gulping, my throat dry.

"Shit," I breathed out, pulling away from Cole's chest, his thumb swiping away some of Claude's blood from my cheek, his eyebrows furrowed and wolf looking as if it wanted to escape. His entire body was vibrating.

"Are you hurt? What did he do?" Cole questioned, cupping my cheeks, his eyes scanning up and down my body.

I shook my head, biting down harshly on my bottom lip. "No, no. I'm fine."

"Alpha," Tirus spoke from behind us, gazing around with panic. "What do you want me to do with the body? There are some children on their way and they shouldn't see this."

He was right. It was a gruesome scene. Blood was soaking into the grass, the hole in Claude's chest gaping.

Cole nodded towards the trees, not saying a word, Tirus immediately understanding and lugging Claude's limp body over his shoulder. He strolled into the treeline, and I averted my eyes, focusing on the grass beneath my feet. This wasn't what I had expected to happen.

"You're okay," Cole spoke, mostly to himself as he wrapped his arms around me, closing his eyes and cursing again under his breath. "You're okay. Everything is okay."

Although I was shaken up, I was fine. Claude hadn't hurt me, but I did need to sit down. My legs were shaking.

"You can't leave me alone for five minutes without someone trying to kill me," I mumbled, wiping at my face, cringing at the sight of Claude's crimson blood on my palm.

Cole gazed at me warningly, not wanting to entertain the idea. "Let's go inside."

•••

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