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Love you all! Again, thank you for all the wonderful comments and votes!

Song of the chapter is, "Savages," by Mariana and The Diamonds.

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"Are you sure about this?"

"No."

"Dammit Levi."

"What choice do we have?!"

"Shouldn't you be wooing?"

"Shouldn't you shut your damn trap?"

"Do you want advice?"

"Not from you dipshit."

"You're so lovable you know?"

"Lander, I swear—"

"Shut the hell up!" David hisses to us. "Or link! We can do this thing where you can talk without talking you know?"

We're close to the Lusa pack line but we're trying to find traces of those wolves. We have no choice. There are no traces of them anywhere and this is all we have to hunt them down.

Bowie has already been over the area multiple times, but he wanted to come again. I told Eve to stay put. She hated it. I hated it. But I hated the idea of Jeremiah catching her. I hated the idea of her being taken from me.

I'm slowly walking through the grass. My eyes looking over ground that I've already canvassed. Frustration is growing at me while my beasts paws at me. I shift into my fur and let him have a hay day.

He's got his nose to the ground as Lander and David both follow suit. There's a scent close to where we saw the deer, not the kill spot, but on a new trail that I hadn't picked up yet. My beast is following it fast now. We're not looking up, just following the trail when a scent hits me.

Inwardly I groan as my eyes dart up to see a chocolate brown wolf with blue-green eyes walking towards me. Chris huffs and trots over towards me.

"You shouldn't be here."

Thomas is flanking him but the look Lander is giving Thomas has his tail slightly tucking. I can't help but feel proud of my brother at that moment.

I look back at Chris. "And what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm not here to tear into you, I'm here because you're dancing too close to their line. They're trackers know you're here."

"So? We're following a scent, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Levi—use your thick skull for once in your damn life!"

"You know she thinks you'll abandon her?"

"I wouldn't and she knows I won't—you should have let me tell her."

"You should have told her when you knew."

"Things are not always so simple!" he hisses out. "She and I don't have the luxury of living in a pack where we can piss at the sky without repercussion!" A growl vibrates off of me and over to him. "You have no right to be angry. I have more than just your feelings to worry about—there's no one else to look out for her and our pack."

"So what are we going to do about? Mmm? Just wait on our asses until the solstice?!"

"We're working on it!" he growls out, a growl that surprises me by the way it makes my skin actually shake. "We can't always fight him. I can't yet."

There's more there and those words seem innocuous but they're words of war to the wrong ears. I say nothing, it's his burden—his pack, but perhaps I was wrong. I know I am lucky to have Luca as my father. He's a just man that treats his pack fairly and puts his family above all things.

Perhaps I was wrong, although right now I'm not going to openly admit that.

"I found tracks and scent of deer innards going to the mountains. Billy is looking into it," he says.

Landers walks over to Thomas and sits a few feet away, taunting him for the hell of it. I shake my head then look back to Chris. "You know how to find us."

"Let's go Lander."

Lander yips and jumps towards me, half prancing like a fool across the grass. I was never as carefree at his age, I don't think I ever knew how to be, but right now I envy him. There's never a time when my mind will shut up enough me to prance around the way he is—I say that but when she's near me she brings my thoughts to their heels. I try to push her out of my mind because the bond twists up at the thought of our mate that isn't here, but it's impossible to ever stop thinking about her.

"I will bring her over myself if something happens," Chris says.

I look back to him. "Emmett would be furious."

"He would."

I sigh. "There's always room for more here."

"I'm not leaving my pack," he replies before he dips back into the forest with Thomas on his heels.

I was wrong about him, I see that now.

I was wrong about so many things and I hate it. I hate the feeling of uncertainty, especially in my own discernment which is usually spot on.

But uncertainty grows in me as the days go by without a word from her. I want to link her but I always don't want to drive her mad. Claire said to give her some space to think so I'm trying to do that, and failing. It's eating me up inside, Lander says he can see it. Derek told me that I was turning into a sap while we worked on the greenhouse. At least there's more than jerky and whiskey at my cabin now.

Elliot's out hunting deer. I wanted to go with him but Derek is teaching me how not to kill shit in my new garden. I pray to the moon that she has a green thumb because my luck half of this shit will be dead in a month.

"She must be something."

"Mmm?" I ask arms covered half up in dirt from pulling weeds.

"Eve, I've never seen you like this." I roll my eyes buy Derek just laughs. "I've known you since the day you were born Levi Thorne, you can't hide such emotion from me." It's hard to remember that Derek is as old as he is. My father feels like a father to him at times. He and Elliot love it up here and regardless of motivation, they—and Leo—have done a great deal for our pack. They're the reason we have allies with witch covens who cast spells around our borders so humans won't find us.

"I don't know how long I can keep doing this," I find myself saying, my beast nodding inwardly. He's worse than I am right now, walking around with his head down like he's never going to see the sunlight again.

"They say it's easy, but it's not. We're lucky, we have this thing that humans don't yet even still it's not easier," Derek says. "Elliot and I, well, we were attached at the hip very quickly but it wasn't without its rough patches.

"People think love is this emotion that instantly makes things a fairy tale and in reality, it's so much uglier than that—savage almost. It's a series of choices, many you won't want to make but you do because you love this person and are committed to them and what you have together."

"It sounds like prison."

Derek laughs. "You wolves. You were all taught that you meet your mate and 'bam!' everything is happy-go-lucky, what a tragedy the older generations are setting you up for. The one thing you understand is war and hunting, it's a lot like war, but also a lot like hunting."

"Well do explain Eros."

"We may be bloodthirsty beasts, but we can't just go slay a bunch of deer because we're hungry. As hunters, we are also are stewards of the forest, responsible for more than just the game there. We can't take life without caring for it as well.

"To be a good hunter you have to be patient, and to be a good steward, you must know sacrifice. To be in love, you must know both."

I lean back on my heels and sigh, looking at the creature that looks nowhere near three-hundred years old. "I can't force her to come here, but she won't come willingly."

"Does she want to?"

"Of course."

"Are you sure?"

I bite my tongue because I can imagine that she would want the alternative.

Derek shrugs. "It will work out, it always does."

"You ever heard of deer being killed like the ones we've seen?"

Derek bit his lip, his brows furrowing in thought before he looked back at me. "No, not really to be honest. The fatty parts are good if you're trying to get the most bang for your buck, so to speak. I've only ever heard of it going to pigs and rogues."

"Rogues?"

He nodded. "Steve feeds his pit of rouges whatever is leftover from the humans he butchers; brains, intestines, toes. I loathe the vampire, but I do remember Dominic saying something about vampires in Transylvania feeding their rogues whatever they fed their pigs. It was around hundred years back—I think."

"That can't be right, if there were rogues around here we would know."

"I agree," Derek says with a nod. "It wouldn't hurt for us to scout more? You know Elliot's top notch, and Alex has two twins that are solid too—as good as your trackers.

"If things go well with the mating, and you don't end up in war, well, it wouldn't be hard for us to sneak the three of them in here. Jeremiah and Emmett wouldn't know. The twins are very good at covering their tracks."

And now he's shown me his hand, which means that Leo and Alex, two ancient vampires, are interested in this small regional matter. The question is, why?

"Is this what Leo and Alex sent you up here for?"

Derek isn't a delegate. He's truly a friend but he's also fiercely loyal to his sire, to Leo. I don't blame him. Leo is like his father and I know for my father I would set the world on fire, so I can't blame Derek at all. I would be doing the same thing if I were him.

"This area touches their territory, you know that. Considering the wolves, it's concerning. We don't need war. Things are already bad enough out there. There's so much unrest in the states and Europe, South America too. Covens and packs are attacking each other, too close to humans." And that's a huge problem. "We're lucky here to have your father and Reese as allies and advocates, but other's are not so lucky. Steven isn't so level-headed like Leo, some of my kind—they just pour gasoline onto the fire.

"You know Leo wants to work towards a peace agreement, Alex too. We can't keep living like this. The humans will find us out and, well, regardless of what species you are, it's not good."

My father has mentioned it. Right now it's tough. We're considered to be incredibly progressive besides a few others in the region, many are not as welcoming towards vampires as we are. Many would pull their fangs out before signing a peace treaty—but there are a good number of packs that just want peace and see the benefit of coexistence. I mean we're getting running water for Christ sake! But many have good reason to hate them. Vampires like Steven don't punish his coven members when they kill weres; we've heard he keeps a pit of wolf rogues, not just vampire rouges, for entertaining. It's hard to want peace when they have people like that.

"What of the human's war?"

"Mmm," Derek groaned. "Leo's been busy. It seems to be coming closer to an end. I hope so. Too many have died."

"You could just intervene."

"It's not our place, you know that, but, well, you know how that goes."

Leo said once to let the humans run their world and we'll run ours, but this war right now seems like it's going to eat the whole world up eventually. "We heard they want to have a draft in the lower forty-eight."

"I think they will, some of our kind is involved. The Russian covens and many covens in Europe are."

"How's that working out."

"Well, I don't know if you knew but we're very hard to kill, that and, well, the Russians love their games—they don't know how to stop. The allies have benefitted greatly from their information."

"Do they know what they are?"

Derek laughed with a shake of his head. "Dominic's been busy making sure they don't. They think they're just wealthy Russians, watered down Royals, who have too much money, too much time, and sometimes like to tinker with families of high society. Gossip kills quicker than bullets will."

"You and Elliot didn't want to play?"

"Oh we may have to," he sighed out. "Elliot has connections to a German family that could be of use to the allies. Leo has tossed the idea around. Nothing is certain. They may end it soon, I hope they do. Too many humans have died, it's so sad.

"Why do you keep intervening? If it's your not place, then why not just leave it?"

Derek laughed under his breath then looked at me, his eyes showing all the years he's seen. "At first it was for fun because we were bored. Hundreds of years and life aren't all as colorful as it seems. Now? Well, now it's almost bred into our brains."

"Levi!" Lander sparks to life with a tone that has me walking hot out of the greenhouse.

"What's wrong?"

"Patrols on the border," he pants out. "It's escalated."

"Which border?" I ask, but in my gut, I already know.

"Mangata."

"I'm on my way, just hold the line until dad or I get there."

"Levi!"

"Stay here, you'll only make it worse!" I call back to Derek, because the last thing we need is what that pack hates most strutting up into the fire.

"David—"

"I'm already on my way with Bowie. Dagger and Luca are coming, they're further out."

"What about Nalia?"

"Bowie hasn't said—just hurry before Lander loses it on them."

My brother is the humor that I am not, but in my brother, there is a monster that shakes even me at times. He's a force of his own and he doesn't realize it yet; he still has a lot of work to do on himself before he's disciplined enough to be my beta.

Derek's calling after me but I lung quickly into my fur and charge towards the line. I pray to the moon that Lusa doesn't show up, that it's just some dumb patrols that pushed a little too far—a spar gone wrong, which is easily fixed.

But when I get there it's anything but a spar gone wrong. It's a bad mix of fur, teeth, and claws slinging blood onto the trees. Lander's right in the middle; two of their wolves tearing into him but he's too wired to care. He knows how to bleed, we both do, our father made sure of that.

There's a wolf coming from the back to jump onto him. If he get's close to Lander's neck, it won't just be bad, it will be a nightmare.

My beast roars out to them; legs running faster because at the end of the day, he's my younger brother—my responsibility to look after.

I collide with the wolf charging towards Lander then take a bite into his shoulder, grinding my jaw until I can hear the bones break—until I know he can't use that shoulder anymore. My beast lets him go before we whip back towards my brother. David is running towards me with a fire in his eyes while Bowie zips around them.

David knocks a wolf off of one of our patrols while lunge at another that's biting Lander's ear. He sinks his jaw into my leg but I rake my claws across his face before shoving him off of me. Bowie slams into him, finishing the job that I no longer care about.

I turn and shift to my skin, rage pooling into me. My hands are still claws when I sink them into the extra skin on the tracker's neck that's trying to rip into Lander. I yank him back and toss him towards our warriors then block my brother from going after him.

"Stop!" I growl at Lander, my hands holding him back while his jaws snap out towards the other wolf. "Look at me! Dammit, Lander—look at me now!" I snatch his jaw and force him to look me in the eye where it's a bloodbath ready to come out. "You need to calm down. In your skin. Dad's on his way."

He lets out hot breaths through his nose while I hold his jaw. He's sidestepping back and forth, fighting with his beast who wants to try and overpower me. There's going to be none of that damn nonsense today.

"Shift back," I say, my voice calmer. "It's just the two of us. We're all dad has." A motto that I constantly need to remind myself of; we're our father's legacy, his two chances of ensuring our bloodline's survival. We can't afford to do anything stupid.

Lander lets out another long breath before the fur starts to ripple and skin starts to take place while bones crack into the air. There's more crack sounding, the other wolves shifting back.

My hand is on his shoulder while he lets out a series of pants. He's fighting so hard with himself that it almost hurts me to watch. I always like a good ass beating, I hate interfering.

"What happened?"

"They attacked first," he panted out. "I was downline. Came to back them up."

"Levi." David tosses us some pants.

I grab a pair then shove another pair into Lander's hands. "How bad?" I ask David while I pull them on.

"One of ours is bad, we need to take him to the pack doctor, two of their's even worse. Lander really laid into them."

"Take ours now, we don't need to wait," I say. I look back at the Mangata trackers, my eyes finding one that's holding the other two back. He's got few injuries, part of me wonders if he's a good fighter or came in late to help.

His eyes catch mine. I open my mouth to tell him to get them out of here, but a growl shakes the trees around us.

Lander quickly buttons the pants up then looks at me, eyes wide and a nasty gash on his shoulder. There's another growl, the scent, and sound of warriors coming. Bowie's eyes go wide, his legs twitching like he's ready to run.

"We should go," Lander says.

"We stay."

"Levi—"

"We leave we admit that we are guilty. You say they started it?"

"They said that our vampires have been poaching their deer!" One of our trackers called out. "Said we were on our knees for them!"

"You are!" One of their trackers barks out.

"You piece of—"

"Enough!" David barks out, shoving our tracker back and whispering hotly in his ear.

"Who started it," I say louder.

"He stepped the line. We don't tolerate blood lovers on this pack land," a Mangata tracker spat out.

My wolf is snapping out in the back of my mind, licking his teeth, ready to show them just how much blood we really did love. I push Lander back, I can smell Mangata warriors as soon as another growl sounds. "If it gets bad, I want you to run."

"What—no, I'm not leaving."

"You will," I say.

"Don't be—"

"We are all he has," I bite out to him. "You will run, and you will not stop until your safe in our borders."

"I can handle myself!"

"You can't if you're dead!"

Another growl and I shove Lander close to Bowie who watches him carefully. Bowie knows that his job will be to drag Lander back to the pack if it gets bad—our legacy is more important than a pissing match.

We're not running though. We did nothing wrong. My brother wouldn't lie and neither would our patrols. If we run, we pour gasoline onto the fire.

Another roar is matched by my father's. I can hear him coming but the sight of Emmett Everette and his warriors has my beast shaking out his fur. We may not have time to wait for my father.

"You're on the wrong side of the pack, pup."

"There was a brawl, it's been broken up," I answer.

"Blood lovers," one of the trackers spits out.

Chris steps out from around the warriors, watching his father closely but more closely watching my men. "How far is Luca?"

"Close," I say, and I can feel him. His anger is its own animal that always makes itself known.

Chris looks into the distance but gives nothing away. He's clever, easily maneuvering on a tightrope that seems impossible to walk. "She's safe."

"I haven't spoken to her."

"She needs time, let her have it. You underestimate her."

"Who started it?" Emmett asks.

"They stepped over the line," one of their trackers answers.

"Which doesn't warrant blood!" One of our patrols spats out. "Do you rip everyone's throat out for crossing your line?!"

"Enough!" Emmett barks out in time for another growl. It's one that has the hair on the back of my neck raising. It's one that reminds me who is still in charge of my pack.

Lander has made his way beside me. Blood is covering him like a silk scarf and in that moment I don't think I've ever seen my brother look more terrifying. Good.

"How much of your pack is like this?"

"Enough to cause discord. It's never the large numbers, just the few that are the loudest that sew the bad seeds," Chris answers. "I'm taking care of them."

"How?"

His lip twitches, it looks like it wants to curve into a crooked smile. I say nothing. He needs to keep doing whatever the hell he's doing.

Emmett's eyes snap to the figure behind me whose presence sucks up all the air in the room. "Luca."

Dagger walks alongside David, extending him a knife. "You forgot this at home."

David takes it and puts into the holder on his calf. My father walks over to our patrols, their skin shaking from the anger that's rolling off of him. "Since when do you attack those that toe over your line?"

"It's not your business how I choose to govern my pack, or how I choose to handle those that cross the lines," Emmett says in a cool way that suggests he's not intimidated.

I see my father's lips quirk into something dark. Lander's eyes go wide while inwardly my beast is smiling enough for his fangs to show.

"Should we then just feed all your patrols that cross over our lines to our hoard of vampires?" my father muses. He gives one of our patrols a squeeze on his good shoulder, reminding them that he is loyal to his pack before he strolls over towards one of our injured warriors standing slightly behind David and Dagger. "We can chop up the bodies after their done, put them in boxes for you if you would like?"

Chris looks away, his eyes are wide and it looks like he's trying not to laugh. My brows raise high before I look at Emmett who is a fire crackling to life. "You think I spat on the moon but you invite them to your land, you have been shitting on her doorstep every time you let them near your wolves!"

"She created them just as she created us," my father answers, giving the warriors shoulder a squeeze before walking towards Lander. "Or do I need to tell you the story again? Your friends know it so well. The two twins asked for the gifts that have made us what we are, both of us, but that is not the argument for today, but for another."

"Your patrols have rendered two of mine to bedrest—they won't be able to walk for weeks—"

"Did you do that?" my father asks Lander. Lander takes his eyes off the warriors to look my father in the eye before nodding. "To the bone?" Because you never stop biting until you hear the bones crunching—ever.

"To the bone," Lander replies.

My father nods then looks back at Emmett. "And one of mine is on bed rest for weeks, but it is yours who have started this. It's a violence that was unwarranted. If anyone demands retribution, it is us, unless you are declaring war in which the laws of combat would negate any dispute here."

"He's not mad, right?"

I look at Lander from the corner of my eyes then shake my head. If anything dad's going to give him second helpings at dinner.

"No."

"We do not want war Luca," Emmett breathes out like he's annoyed that he's even here. "But we would demand the retribution. Your patrols know not to cross the lines."

"If you do not want war, then why don't you drop the agreement you have with Jeremiah? It's against the moon's will, surely you understand that."

"I do," he says, almost like he wants to laugh. "What of these deer that are missing Luca?"

"We have nothing to do with that if that's what you're implying. Maybe ask your dear friend?"

"Wolves were disappearing towards his lines, father," Chris says, a bold move for a young wolf.

His father flickers his gaze to him. "Were they?"

"They were not his. Jeremiah should know, I can't imagine he would be happy about intruders—like us," he adds but the look in his eyes says that he's playing at something else, trying to cover his hide.

"Then what do you suggest we do, my son?" Emmett asks with an arched brow, testing the young wolf that's leaning against a tree.

"Go home, doctor up ours, let them leave. Why spill more blood? Neither of us wants it, retribution only makes for more anger. They can mind their line from now on and we ours," he says before looking at my father right in the eye. He's either stupid or has a larger set of balls on him than I thought. "And now you know not to step over the line."

My father's brows go high but it seems Chris has bought favor with his father which in my situation could be worth its weight in more than gold. Emmett eyes his son, this pleased look that indicates that whatever Chris is doing is working. "My son is right," he replies. "Go home Luca, mind your line."

No one gives Luca Thorne an order.

I'm half surprised that my father wasn't showing Emmett that, but there was something else exchanged between my father and Chris before Chris turned and walked back into the forest from which he came. I think it was trust, but I can't be sure. Luca still looks pissed as hell.

"Come on," I tell Lander. "You need stitches."

"I'm fine."

"You're not. Let's go home."

"What do you think that was about?" Lander asks me while we walk silently behind my father towards home.

"I don't know," I answer. I want to link Eve, I should just link her but I don't know if I can handle her telling me "no" again. I could handle it, I know that, but right now I feel in my gut it will cause an argument that I don't want. If she wants to speak to me, then she will.

We run back behind my father who is silent all the way to his cabin. He's only silent before he roars and I know that he's livid by the way that his feet are crushing the grass as he walks across his lawn.

My mother walks outside and looks at both Lander and I then lets out a long sigh. "Come, Lander let's get you fixed up," she says, gesturing us both in.

I pull on a sweater that was in the burrow and follow after Lander who is wearing a pair of pants that are too short for him. Father is pacing in the living room when we get inside. Mother has Lander sit at the kitchen table while she walks to the bathroom, stopping in front of my father and stilling him with her hands on his shoulders. They say nothing but my father slightly deflates before walking to Lander.

He looks at his shoulder then walks towards the sink, turning a knob so water will funnel out of a pipe. The vampires gave him that—running water.

"Dad, I—"

"Should have put them in bed rest for longer than a few weeks," my father bites out. He wets a towel then walks towards Lander and starts to wipe some of the blood off from around the gash in his shoulder. "You need to watch your hide better. You get too angry and too lost in the bloodlust that you forget to look behind you. What would have happened if your brother weren't there?"

Lander says nothing because he knows my father is right. He nods to him while dad continues to wipe the blood off of him.

"Are we going to war dad?"

"Our allies are with us, furious with Emmett. We don't know yet how much his allies approve of him. But there's discord, not just here. Tensions between the vampires have spread, regardless Emmett is going to lose more than he knows. This is not a good trade."

"Trade?" I ask.

"He's always been in deep than he thought he could handle. There's something else, I just don't know what."

"What about Chris, his pup?" I ask.

Lander looks over at dad, his eyes growing increasingly curious. Dad tosses the bloody rag into the sink then pulls another one out of a drawer right as my mother walks back with a wooden box in her hands, stitching needles in it.

"You could learn a thing or two from him," my father tells me.

I furrow my brows as my mother sets the box next to Lander and opens it up. "Flies are caught with honey Levi," she says. "You cannot always use a stick to rule, sometimes you need the carrot, and sometimes you need the illusion of the carrot. The illusion is the most important and most dangerous, but one that you will have to better learn."

"My an ally of him," my father says, an order no doubt. "That is someone that as an ally is more dangerous than all the silver in those mountains. The things you two could do..."

"I think he hates me."

"I can't imagine why?" Lander snickers out.

My mother playfully smacks his good shoulder before pressing her cheek to his. "My sweet Lander, if people only knew what lurked under your skin."

My father chuckles and takes a seat next to Lander. "I think all the sweetness you had to offer my love, Lander took from you. I'm sorry Levi, but it seems you've only inherited my qualities which don't include any of your mother's finest."

"Oh hush now!" my mother scolds, the needle going into Lander's skin, but he doesn't flinch. "Oh, my Levi has plenty of my qualities. He may have your eyes Luca, your stubbornness, and all the rage that you carry with you to battle, but Levi inherited my devotion, which will make him all the more fearsome to his foes."

"Now mother, you didn't save any for me?"

"No my sweet boy, someone had to inherit my wits. How else do you think I keep your father in line?"

"There are other ways," Father says in a way that has both Lander and me groaning as we look away from our parents who to do this day are still as crazy about each other as they were the day they met.

Father laughs then gets up and walks towards the stove, embers just simmering inside it. He tosses some logs in then holds his hand over the top. "What shall I serve us for dinner, my dear?"

"The heads of our enemies is always preferable," she answers with a wink towards Lander.

"Don't tempt me," my father replies, another laugh before he looks to me. "Make an ally of him Levi. The long game is more important than the short."

"Is that why we walked away today?" Lander asks as my mother ties off his stitches.

"No," my father laughs again before he turns to us. His eyes are slightly glowing, growing wide in a terror that his beast wants to let out. "What fun is battle if there's no one there to watch your foes fall?"

"Dad?" Lander pushes, curious if my dad has plans for Emmett's demise. I wouldn't mind.

"Oh no, my son. It won't be me that ends him, but it will be me that orchestrates it. He's going to fall by his own blood, I'll see it before I die."

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So mama Rose for the win, ammirite?!

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