"I am fine, Alpha." I said sharply, disgust turning my mouth to bile.

"Call me Kendrick."

"I'd rather not." I retorted.

"And why is that?" He growled. "I am your mate, am I not?"

"You just murdered my entire pack, and you expect me to warm up to you?" I roared.

He stiffened at my words, then finally pulled back. The crowd of battle survivors parted to let his horse walk through, and then they all followed. The horse's gait was slow as we moved through the forest and towards the pack's border. His hand was wrapped around my waist, holding the reins of the horse, and soon I started to relax, leaning into his warmth.

For a moment, I felt like all was right with my world again, even though I'd just witnessed my entire pack being butchered to death. My mind was screaming orders at me, urging me to jump down that horse, grab my mother and make a run for it, but my heart was comfortable.

This felt like home.

As we walked through the forest, my eyes darted around, trying to catch any sight of my brothers or their familiar scent. But my wolf eyes and ears sensed something much more curious. First I smelled it: the nauseating stench of unwashed bodies, and underneath that, the sharp, metallic tang of blood. Then my eyes caught the slinking shadows on the edge of the forest, several metres away from our procession. I could hear them whispering, or perhaps it was only the sound of the wind moving through the trees around us.

"Vampires?" I whispered, and I felt the Alpha behind me stiffen.

"What did you say?" He asked. I pointed in the direction of the creepy shadows. As I do so, one of the shadows turned to me with a sudden, creepy precision, and my eyes met a pair of hungry, bloodshot ones.

"No!" I heard the Alpha yell behind me. Then another melee started.

The shadow moved swiftly towards us, covering the short distance, and leaped towards me. I caught a pair of sharp fangs and bloody lips before the Alpha pulled a stake from his belt and drove it deep into the vampire's chest.

I watched as the creature's eyes grew dim. "Wolfborn..." It whispered, then fell away from us.

A sigh of relief slipped from my lips, but the worst was yet to come. Around us, the other shadows were rapidly closing in. The Alpha's soldiers had formed a protective circle around us, stakes raised high to ward off the vampires. I could hear their whispering and see their hungry eyes through the darkness of the woods, most of which was focused on me.

"We have to leave here. It's you they want." The Alpha whispered in my ear.

I turned to him in the saddle. "What about the other captives? What about my mother?—"

"They will be safe, trust me." He murmured, then kicked his horse into action again.

"No!" I yelled, my heart jumping into my throat as he pushed through his circle of guards and took me away. "Mother!"

The alpha ignored me as he pushed the horse farther and farther away from the scene. I could see the shadows closing in on the guards and the captives, and another battle ensued. I could not imagine leaving my mother alone in that pandemonium.

She would die, and I would be alone again. So, terribly alone.

I glared at the alpha."Take me back to my mother this instant!"

"I think you have other things to worry about than your mother, Sekinah," he grunted. Then I saw what he meant.

Several vampires had dislodged from the main group and were actively chasing us. I could see their swift, sleek bodies covered in black cloaks moving against the wind. Their stench was even stronger now, and I retched a couple of times in disgust.

"Hold this," the Alpha ordered, and I took the reins of the horse from his hands.

I had no idea how to ride a horse.

The Alpha fetched a wooden bow strapped to the side of the horse, and a quiver full of arrows. The arrows did not have metal heads like the ones I'd seen, but they were completely made of wood: head, shaft and all.

The Alpha slung the quiver over his back, then took one of the funny-looking arrows and pulled it against the bow, aiming for one of the vampires.

Then he let go.

The arrow whistled in the air as it flew in the direction of the vampire, and buried itself in the creature's throat. I heard several snarls as the other vampires saw their comrade go down. The alpha behind me kept shooting arrow after arrow after the shadows, but they were gaining on us fast.

"Sekinah, you might need to jump." He yelled in my ear. "They're closing in!"

What?!

I knew I was as ungraceful as a cripple. I would break every bone in my body the moment I landed.

"Trust me," Alpha Kendrick murmured, and I feel my heart leap at those words. My eyes were on the road before us as I held on to the reins in terror, but I could feel his heart beating behind me.

"What—" I start to speak, but the Alpha had pushed me off the horse, cutting off my words. I let out a terrified yelp as I fell off the horse and rolled down a steep slope in the forest. My back hit a tree hard and I groaned in pain, then rolled to my feet. I staggered back to the narrow forest path and watched as my mate was being chased down the road, a dozen vampires hot on his heels.

Then I looked back towards the direction we'd come, and I saw my mother chasing after him on her own horse.

Her flaming auburn hair was billowing around her face with reckless abandon, her fierce green eyes prominent even from this distance. She was hunched against her saddle, a large stake in her hand, her eyes narrowed against the wind.

I'd never seen my mother ride a horse. I didn't even know she could ride one.

In that single moment, she reminded me so much of paintings I'd seen of the Moon Goddess. If I couldn't see the birthmark on her upper lip that told me it was my mother, I would have believed she'd fallen straight from the skies.

"Mother!" I yelled.

Her eyes turned to me as she blazed past where I stood, and they widened in alarm. She was shouting a warning, but I could not hear her from this distance. Then something closed in on me from behind. I saw the shadow before I heard the creature, and I turn in fear.

"Hello, Wolfborn." The vampire grinned, then raises a club over his head, bringing it down on me in one swift movement.

Then all my world went dark.