For a moment, my heart stopped, as the feral beast came into view. My mate''s white fur was stained red. His eyes were wild and aggressive as they scanned through the mes. His head snapped in my direction, and I was relieved to see that he was okay. He was wounded, but nothing looked serious. He raced toward me, but then Ivan''s enormous beast let out a roar.


    It was chaos. I''m not even sure what happened. It was a frenzy of movement and sound that left me disoriented. In the blink of an eye, the two massive creatures, their pure white fur stained with blood, were locked in a vicious battle. Teeth gnashed and ws shed as they tore at each other, the ground trembling beneath their weight. It was a brutal dance, the violence escting. The world seemed to slow down as I took in every detail of the epic sh before me, my heart racing as I tried to understand what was happening.


    Ivan threw the monstrous lycan into a burning building. I watched in horror as Darren''s lycan disappeared in the mes. I tried to run to him, but Ivan blocked my path.


    Stay back. I''ll fight him. You need to get that dagger out.


    WHAT?! What the hell are you doing?


    That is not Darren. It''s a changeling. It''s hard to differentiate, but as his mate, you should be able to tell the easiest. You aren''t focusing.


    He was right. I wasn''t focusing. I just wanted to get to Darren.


    couldn''t sense his anger inside of me. What I was feeling


    didn''t reflect this creature. The changeling even did a good job mimicking Darren''s scent. But as I stared into his eyes, I didn''t feel the mate pull. There was no connection. Wow... I was being an idiot. As a beast, I should be using my senses first. Instead, I had emotional blinders on.


    A changeling is a creature that is more rted to fairies. However, there are a subspecies of them that are demons. Were demons working with the vampires? Or did the vampires have some nasty pets?


    What I did know was that a changeling would have needed to draw blood or have something that belonged to the person to take their form. This changeling had injured my mate in order to take his form. I can''t imagine how many of our allies he killed with this confusion. But my blood was boiling!


    I bared my fangs and felt my ws sink into the earth.


    Allissa, stand back! I have this one! Ivan snarled. Maybe he did have this one, but it was fucking personal to me. As the sky began to darken, the moon peaked, shining its illuminating light on me. Power surged through my body as I lunged for the fake Darren. This wasn''t just a fight. This was retribution. Even a scratch was too much against my mate, and I had no idea how badly he had hurt him.


    My ws gashed into his side as I heard Ivan''s beast roar angrily. The creature shed at my nk as I went for his neck. Then, the massive pr bearunched himself at the creature, letting out a guttural growl as he sank his fangs into the changeling''s neck. The creature let out a shrill cry that was nothing like the sound a lycan would make.


    317


    I took this moment to dig my ws into the creature''s chest, prating its heart. The changeling screamed in agony before finally copsing in a heap on the ground, its form shriveling away into a brown, wrinkled heap. Its true form was hideous.


    I was panting heavily as I stepped away from it. My body was weakening, partially from theck of blood but also from using magic I wasn''t used to. The dagger was wedged into my bone, which was why it wasn''ting out on its own.


    I told you I had him! Ivan growled as he shifted to his human form. He was beside me in an instant, looking at the dagger wedged in me.


    That changeling must have injured Darren in order to use his form. There was no way I was just going to watch you attack him. I listened as Ivan chuckled.


    "You know, you''re not that different from your mate. Stubborn." I listened as he inhaled, moving his fingers around my shoulder. "This has to be treated immediately. This de needs to be tested to see if it wasced with anything." I listened as he clicked his tongue. "It''s cracked the bone. I''ve had an injury simr to this before. It''s incredibly painful. Why didn''t you report to the mobile infirmary unit?"


    -Same reason you haven''t reported to one. I nced at the blood


    trickling down his body. He shifted too soon. His body wasn''t healed, but he was putting my health above his own.


    The ground trembled again. A guttural roar had the burned vige houses crumbling to the ground. But this time, I felt it. The sound of his growl made my heart beat faster in my chest. And when I looked to the hill, I saw him. This time, my eyes


    4/7 saw my mate. My real mate. His fur was covered in blood, but he was okay. His eyes looked panicked as he sprinted toward me. He swiftly shifted next to me and ced his hand on my neck.


    "Ally," he breathed, his fingers sifting into my fur.


    "I''m going to pull it out... focus on healing," Ivanmanded, and I felt Darren''s fingers grip into me. I leaned my head against his body and felt myself rx. My focus had been on him and making sure he was okay. And now that I knew he was, the pain was bing real.


    I heard a crack, and a burning pain shot through my shoulder. Darren''s hand covered it, pressing down on the wound. "You''re going to be okay, Ally. You''re going to be just fine." His voice trembled, and I could tell he was worried.


    "It''s mistletoe." I heard Ivan''s quiet voice. Mistletoe was deadly to werewolves and lycans. It couldn''t do anything on the surface, but it reacted violently when mixed with our blood. It would cause internal bleeding and almost certain death..


    I felt tired, but I was fine. I felt my body healing normally... actually, I was healing


    at an unnatural rate. Perhaps the peak of the moon was helping, elerating my healing. After a few quiet moments, I felt like it was safe enough to shift.


    I reined my beast in, and soon I was back to being a human, wrapped in Darren''s


    arms.


    "Darren, are you okay?" I tried to step out of the stranglehold he had on me, but I was being crushed against his body.


    "Ally...


    ... how?" I felt him cup my cheeks and look at me, his eyes


    "Darren, I feel fine."


    "Maybe it''s a dyed release." Ivan was staring at me over Darren''s shoulder.


    "Gods, Ally. I''m so sorry. I shouldn''t have let youe. I can''t lose you." Darren''s fingers bit into my cheeks.


    "Dare, I feel just fine. I promise I''m okay. Look, my body''s all healed up."


    "No lycan has ever been immune to mistletoe. They only have dyed-release doses for when they question prisoners." Darren''s eyes watered as he shook his head. "I can''t live without you. I can''t. I won''t. Gods ... why my Ally?! Why you? I-" His voice cracked as he pressed his forehead against mine. "Take my life. Give her my life. Don''t take her from me."


    I honestly feltpletely fine. I felt like they were trying to convince me I had a deadly disease that I didn''t. I would have thought it was silly if it wasn''t for the pain Darren was in. His emotions were whirling in turmoil, which reminded me that if something happened to me, there was no hope for him.


    "I''m sorry, Darren. If something happens to me, your curse-


    99


    "FUCK THE CURSE!" he roared, his raw, red eyes locked onto mine. "I would live with a thousand curses. I''d endure all the pain, all the anger ... I''d take on anything. I just need you by my side. Please don''t leave me." He wrapped his arms around me,ying his cheek on top of my head. Was I really going to die? Were these myst moments?


    Strange. I thought I would have regretted never being a mother, but at this moment, my biggest regret was leaving Darren''s side. Not being able to be there for him or break his curse those were my biggest regrets.


    ...


    "We won this battle!" Finn whooped as he slid next to us. I turned my cheek to look at him. He looked fine except for the blood dripping from his hands and clothes. His amber eyes looked at Darren''s face and then back to me. "What happened? Is she okay?" I could see his eyes widen with worry as he began to look me over.


    "She was stabbed with a de that wasced with mistletoe. She hasn''t reacted yet, but-” Ivan started to say but Finn began tough.


    "And they say bears are intelligent. If she''s fine now, then she''s going to be fine." "What about the dyed form?" Darren asked, looking over at Finn with wet, hopeful eyes.


    "She still would have started to react with the dyed version. It just wouldn''t have killed her." Finn let out a relieved sigh and then chuckled. "Remember Gujin? The nine-tailed fox, messenger of the gods? He told us she''s blessed. Looks like we just discovered one of her blessings." He smiled, ruffling Darren''s hair. "She''s going to be just fine. Kiss your mate and celebrate. This day is ours!" Darren let out a shuddering breath as he squished my cheeks with his palms. "Dare, let go." I giggled with a muffled voice from my squished


    his lips against mine. It seemed I wasn''t dying. Well... I might die from suffocation, but I wouldn''t mind dying that way. With Darren sucking the air from my lungs.


    Finally, we broke apart and I looked into his relieved, wet eyes. "Thank the gods. I couldn''t do life without you. I love you, Ally."


    I smiled as Darren desperately held onto me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him tightly, feeling his muscles tense beneath my touch. "I love you too, Darren," I whispered, nuzzling my face against his chest, inhaling the warm spice of cinnamon wafers that was uniquely him.


    "Well then,” Finn interjected, pping Darren on the back, "let''s toast to that! To life, love, and victory!" He raised his air ss into the air. "The first battle is won and now the real work begins. It is far from over, but this was a great start."


    I held onto Darren tightly as I enjoyed hisforting arms. We had won the battle, but the war was just beginning.


    Writ