Oliver's P.O.V. I waited until I heard the collection of locks slide into place before I forced my eyes away from the barrier between me and my family. The trees and houses around me were mostly abandoned, leaving only the assigned guards around the outside of the pack house and the handful of guards inside the house with the children as the last line of defense. The rest of the pack were either in the forest waiting at our second and third line or were already in battle at the border. I could hear yips and yowls of pain even though they were around two miles away. The sound of my brothers and sisters being injured made my hackles rise as soon as I transformed into my fur. The dirt shifted slightly under each paw as I walked further from the house. It took everything in me not to turn back and look for Lana in the windows. I could feel her eyes on my back as I took my place and held my stance, waiting for someone to be fast enough to make it past our other wolves, but stupid enough

Lana's P.O.V.With each step I took forward, I was forced two steps back. Back toward the house, further away from my mate.One after another, rogues were racing through the tree line, past the homes that they had set alight, and straight for the pack house.Bodies surrounded me as I fought with everything in me to protect my pack, my daughter. There wasn't a single rogue I was going to let in that house. It was bad enough that the house was filling with the injured, who were seeking help from the pack doctor.But I needed to be in two places at once.Maddie was with guards on her way to safety. But she also had enemies breathing down her neck, trying to get passed me to the innocent children so they could eliminate the pack in its entirety. I knew the chances of the rogues getting to Maddie were slim. Only those that knew of the passageway could find it, and the rogues didn't know where the tunnel let out.On the other hand

Lana's P.O.V.My body had begun healing as I moved naked through the forest, tracking the paw prints and mixed scents. The only hope I had that I was trailing after the right set of rogues was the faint lingering distinction of my mate's scent.Where they had initially surrounded him, a large rock had been broken in half and left on the ground, covered in my mate's blood.I had been able to follow it until he had healed enough for the bleeding to stop, but when his scent had been thinned by the breeze, I had resorted to tracking him by the scuffs and paw prints on the ground.My nose twitched as another scent crossed my path and that of my mate. It was familiar, poisonous almost, and I wrinkled my nose."What the Hell is that stench? Just when I thought rogues couldn't get any more disgusting." Scarlett lifted her hand, covering her nose and mouth as she walked next to me. It would not take much longer before I could shift. I could

Oliver's P.O.V. The feeling in my back had all but vanished. My body was no longer my own. It was shutting down slowly but surely with each lashing, each punishment. I wanted to close my eyes and speak to the Goddess. I needed to know what I had done in this or my previous life to deserve such pain and torment, but she didn't answer. I knew she was real. She was out there. She was just watching with a sick sense of amusement as I was tortured. I had honored Her my entire life. I prayed to Her and respected Her and her creations. I had done everything to be worthy of Her, yet She continued to punish me for something that I did not understand. I wasn't sure that I ever would. Had I taken too long? When I had vowed upon my reincarnation that I would rid the world of the rogues who were poisoning Her name, had I taken too long? The whip sliced the skin on my back, the tip reaching over my collar and cutting a portion of my chest that had remained untouched until now. "Ah!" I groaned

Lana's P.O.V. I was livid. There was no other word for it. I was going to support him, but I was so angry at him. He felt like he needed to do something to honor his Goddess and beliefs, but he forgot about one little thing. Me. I wasn't going to sit in some cave like a damsel in distress while he was out there taking down our enemies. I wanted blood too. I was just going to go about it a different way. He seemed to feel like he was on his own in this battle, but he wasn't. Did he want his revenge? That was fine by me. I would bring the fucking popcorn, and we could eat it together as we looked over the bodies we dropped. But he wasn't going to do it alone. Instead of running headfirst into a battle where we would be outnumbered, I went for help. Water dripped from my fur as I sprinted through the forest toward where I had last seen Scarlett and her guards. Only when I stumbled upon them, their group had grown larger. More wolfs had joined them and were stalking through the trees