Emma's Pov

　　My consciousness returns with the jolt my body suddenly feels. My head is throbbing, and it takes long seconds for my vision to focus.

　　Where the hell am I, damn it?

　　I look around and realize I'm inside a car, lying in the back seat. I sit up with some balance, as the car makes a very tight turn. I look through the car's rearview mirror to see who's driving.

　　"James?" I question uncertainly, unable to believe this is happening.

　　Oh, for fuck's sake! Just what I needed, my brother trying to play the hero. My brother's knuckles are white from gripping the steering wheel so hard; his eyes don't stray from the road, and he doesn't even say anything to me. "Where are you taking me?"

　　Silence returns to me, and I hit my brother's head, who curses at me.

　　"Bitch!" he curses and turns his eyes to me, "I'm taking you home, where else would I take you?" he responds angrily.

　　"To the Moonshadow pack?" I ask anxiously. I don't want to go back! No, no, this shouldn't be happening! I twist my body and try to open the side doors; I would jump out of the moving car if necessary, but I wouldn't go back to the Moonshadow Pack.

　　"Stop making this harder than it needs to be. It's because of you that we're in this shit, I'm in this shit, Emma!" James declares with a raised voice, irritated.

　　I turn my attention back to him, my body leaning forward, "I already said I didn't want to go back. I don't belong to the Moonshadow Pack anymore. Why don't you just listen to me?"

　　James pushes me back, catching me off guard, and I end up sitting back in the rear seat. "Stop being selfish, Emma. It's not just about you; our whole family is paying for your crime!" James argues back at me.

　　"How many times do I have to tell you... I DIDN'T KILL AVA!" I shout angrily, my fist clenches tightly, and I punch the leather seat.

　　My reaction didn't cause anything in my brother except disdain. James didn't take his eyes off the road, but his voice cut through the air firmly. "Emma, I don't give a fuck if you killed Ava or not. But if Michael wants your skin, it's yours that I'll hand over if it gets me back in the pack's good graces. Do you know how they're calling me out there? The murderer's brother! No one wants to be seen with me anymore. Dad's been suffering from suspicion from the advisors and elders. Mom can't even get clients for her work anymore."

　　I shrink with my brother's sharp words. But even so, I can't be locked up in the Moonshadow pack after what I saw today; I know I saw Ava. "It's not my fault these things are happening, James. The pack is being irrational. They barely searched the crime scene, and barely opened an investigation. They just found the dagger in my trunk and accused me!" I retort nervously.

　　"All this is your fault! Ava's death is your fault. Starting a war with the Night Howlers pack is your fault. Losing my friends and my prestige in the warrior academy is your fault. Your whole life is a curse to all of us, Emma! It would have been much better if you had never been born!" James says each word with hatred spreading like poison from his mouth. I look at him in pain, each word hitting me like a poisoned dagger.

　　"Don't you care what Michael will do to me? Whether I live or die? Whether I'm tortured or imprisoned for the rest of my life?" I question desperately. "Damn it, James! I'm your sister; doesn't that mean anything to you?"

　　My brother's dark brown eyes look at me through the car's rearview mirror, his expression so cold and malicious that it sends shivers down my spine with the feeling of helplessness. "No, Emma. It means nothing to me."

　　Tears fill my eyes ready to spill, and I allow them. I cry softly upon hearing those words. My heart breaks once again, but this time my pain is deeper.

　　I'm alone, I'm truly alone! James, my own older brother, doesn't give a damn if I live or die. Whether I'm guilty of Ava's death or not. I'm just nobody to him. When did this become my reality? What did I do to be treated this way?

　　"Stop fucking crying, you idiot! It won't help at all!" James announces angrily, and I try to hold back my tears. "We'll be home soon. Our Alpha Davis will be proud of me when he finds out that I brought the fugitive back home." James declares proudly.

　　"Please, James! Let me go, please," I plead desperately, leaning my body forward again. I grab my brother's jacket, but James pulls away from my hand forcefully.

　　"Let go of me, you bitch! You'll ruin my jacket!" James shouts at me, his hands returning to the steering wheel. I started to notice the streets surrounding us; we were close to the Moonshadow pack territories.

　　Desperation begins to dominate my senses. I can't go back to the Moonshadow pack; I simply can't! Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it! My eyes dart around searching for a solution; I try again to open the doors on both sides of the car. "Please, James. Have mercy on me!" I beg with a choked voice, but James, my older brother, who should take care of me, and protect me, couldn't care less about my desperation.

　　For one insane second, I think about lunging over him and using all my strength to turn the wheel and make the car flip. If he won't save me, I won't let him take me to hell either. But I don't have the courage for that; I can't think of suicide again as a way out. Not after what I saw in the forest. I know very well what I saw!

　　What's left for me in a desperate moment like this is to scream!

　　"PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP ME! SOMEONE, PLEASE! I NEED HELP!" I scream at the top of my lungs through the car's open window. James tries to pull me back to shut my mouth, but I move away as much as I can from his hands. I stick my head out of the car and scream even louder, with all the air I have in my lungs, "FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODDESS. I NEED HELP. PLEASE, I'M BEING KIDNAPPED! HELP ME, SOMEONE!"

　　"Emma, stop screaming, no one will come to... DAMN IT!" James curses and I hear the tires screech on the asphalt; my body jolts when my older brother slams the brakes.