The men hesitated even despite the order that they had received.

And now Riaknew that even though Roxanne was important and probably held a high rank,she wasn’t their leader.

But Castiel was.And he wasn’t there.“Do I have to repeat myself,” Roxy was getting visibly furious, “Castiel doesn’tcare about her.

Just kill her and let’s be done with it!”“Is this what this is about?” Riannon decided to taunt the redhead more, “Imentioned him to you today and you couldn’t handle it?”The men exchanged glances at her words, and she knew that she hit the goaland made them doubt why they were there in the first place.

This, whatever itwas, was not planned.“Shut up!” Roxy growled and her eyes glowed red for a few seconds, “Don’t thinktoo much of yourself! He would never be interested in someone as dull as you.”“Then you don’t have anything to worry about,” Riannon smirked, “Either way,there is an easy way to check whether he cares or not.

You can simply call himand ask.

Right?”It was a gamble, of course.

For all she knew, she could have misread Castiel’sintentions the last two times they met, and he wanted her as dead as Roxy did.But on the other hand, all she needed now was time for the lycans to comecloser discreetly.The expressions of the four men were tense and when one of them got out hisphone, she knew that it was a little victory of hers.

Her eyes locked withRoxanne’s, and she could see her snarling.“Hey, Cass,” the leader of the group managed to connect very quickly, “Sorry tobother you.

We have a situation here.

We have that Luna...

Well, she is actually

the Alpha now.

Yes, that’s the one.

Roxy said...

Oh.

Okay.

Understood.

She isalready here...

Got it.”He switched off the phone and glared at the redhead who was standing not farfrom him and clearly not happy with how everything was turning out.“Looks like we have a change of plans,” he announced to his accomplices, “AndAlphaRiannon will have to make a little trip with us.”Now this was better.

This she could work with.

Everything was so much easiernow that they obviously had an order not to kill her.

It gave her more freedom ofaction.“I am sorry,” she chuckled, “I am afraid I am busy tonight.”“Rick,” Roxanne turned to the leader of the group, “You owe me one.

I want tocollect now, and I want this woman dead!” want any trouble with Castiel, and hisorders were clear on her account.

He wants us to bring her to him.

So, finish offthe boy and let’s get going.”The man looked in the direction of the tree house and Riannon just knew that thiswas where they kept Dean.“Guys! Now!” she commanded Ash and Maya via the mindlink and charged forthe house in the hope of reaching Dean first.

He was of Beta blood and couldfight with her until help arrived.One of the men tried to stop her, but she twisted a bit and forced herself toescape his grasp.

However, she lost her speed due to that manoeuvre and thenext guy managed to capture her by her waist, laughing along the way as if itwas some kind of sick game.“Nice try!” he said, “But even if you managed that, you wouldn’t go far.

You didn’tseriously think that we would wander into the enemy’s territory with just the four

of us.”He didn’t even finish speaking when she saw glowing eyes in the darkness of thewoods.

One pair, two, three...

and then dozens.She was wrong in her calculations.

How didn’t she sense any of them?!“Ash, Maya, abort!” she tried to stop her Beta and Gamma, “There are too manyof them! Don’t come here without...”Now it wasn’t only about saving Dean.

It was also about not killing the rest of herfriends.

Even with the lycans they had, it wouldn’t be a fair fight.“We are not leaving you and Dean!” Maya growled, speeding up as she spoke.In the meantime, the glowing eyes were getting closer and Riannon was finallyable to make out the creatures they belonged to.Red and brown fur.

Foxes...

and bears.They were slowly getting closer, taking their time because they were sure thatthey already had their prey.She swallowed, thinking hectically.

Roxanne was working with them.

She wasone of them.Why didn’t she ever think about this before? They knew for a while who theirenemy was.

This made so much sense now.“Riannon!” she heard Roxy’s voice, which broke her train of thought.

Their eyesmet and Ria gasped, when she saw the fake omega already standing on the littleplatform of the tree escape her how beaten the boy looked.

He was barelystanding.“Release the pup at least,” she tried to sound as if it didn’t matter much to her.Because she knew that Roxy would only kill him faster if she knew she cared.

“What for?” the girl giggled menacingly and tilted her head, “He is a witness that Ino longer need.

He served his purpose.

And now I am done with him!”With that, she slashed her claws across his neck, making Riannon scream inhorror.

She tried to get out of the man’s grasp, but he only increased thepressure on her.

He was stronger now that she was without her wolf.Riannon’s eyes met with Dean’s as blood was gushing out of his throat and therewas so much regret in them.

It was as if he was asking for forgiveness for hispast mistakes.Tears were burning in her eyes.

Angry tears.

Riannon was angry at beingpowerless.

She had enough of this.She turned back in time to fix things, to save people who were dear to her.

Andyet she was losing family again.

Because that’s what Dean was to her – family.“You are probably wondering why he isn’t healing?” Roxy snorted loudly, “And theanswer to this is aconite.”This was like a cold shower for her.Aconite.

They drugged Dean with aconite so that he couldn’t heal.

Just likeRoxanne did to her in her past life.She remembered the feeling of helplessness, of how her hands and legs couldn’tmove properly and how scared she was.

This wasn’t the death that she wishedfor Dean.

She didn’t wish for him to die at all.At that moment, wolves jumped out from behind her, and she recognised Maya’sloud howl.

Bears and foxes charged at them, and a battle began.

Growls andsnarls filled the air, and red blood splattered over the grass as each of them wasfighting for their life now..However, she could clearly see that the powers were uneven.

They were notready for an attack today, since Brayden took almost all of the warriors away.

The

lycans were very helpful since their wolves were much bigger, but their smallgroup struggled with the quantity of their opponents, which seemed to onlyincrease every minute.The man who was holding her, started to drag her away.

Riannon was strugglingas much as she could in her position, but it was all useless.

at him, knockingthem both to the ground.Riannon recognised Ash and before she managed to say or do anything, he wasalready ripping her captor to pieces.She stood up and ran in the direction of the tree house, where Roxanne was stillholding Dean and watching the battle.

As soon as she noticed her, a smirkspread over her face, and she threw the young man at her from height.Ria tried to catch him and fell together with him to the ground.“Dean!” she tried to cover his neck and stop the blood flowing in a silly anduseless attempt to save his life.“Dean!” Maya shifted next to them into her human form and her shivering handstouched the guy, “Dean! Brother!”Her screams filled the air around them as she clenched the dying sibling to herchest with tears rolling down her cheek.From the corner of her eye, Riannon noticed Roxy jumping off her hideout andshifting rapidly into a fiery red creature.

A fox.

The fake omega was actually afox, after all!And she tried to run away.

Clenching her fists, Ria stood up and ran after her.She wasn’t letting her go this easily.

But Roxanne was faster now than she wasand soon she lost her out of sight.However, another fox, dirty brown in colour, crossed her path.

It was big and withhuge canines bared at her.

Another one joined it shortly after.

And then onemore.

But it was when a huge brown bear arrived that she knew she was in deeptrouble.

There was no way she could take them down.Those three did not look like they were going to capture her and take hersomewhere.

They looked like they were going to kill her and be done with it.And she was too far from anyone else.She was ready to die when a huge black wolf appeared out of nowhere andattacked the bear, who was clearly the biggest and most dangerous target.“Gideon!” she whispered in relief and he growled to her in response.

This wasn’thow he expected to find her and seeing her surrounded made him beyondfurious.He killed the bear with ease, turning to the foxes, both of which charged at him atthe same time.

But what was worse, another three werebears appeared, runningin his direction inHe was now outnumbered five to one and she couldn’t watch it.

She hoped thathe was strong enough.

He was the lycan king, after all.

But what if it was toomuch even for him?! She couldn’t know...It was as if the world around her stopped.

She saw her friends fighting enemies.And she saw Maya rocking Dean’s lifeless body as another fox was getting closerto them.It became hard to breathe.

So much was going on and she was useless...

Justlike back then...Riannon fell to her knees.

Pain filled her chest.

Unbearable and all-consuming.She couldn’t let it happen again.

She couldn’t lose any more people that sheloved.Not Maya.

Not Gideon...

She couldn’t let that happen.

She couldn’t.

She wouldn’t.

Shewould fight whatever it took.Something shifted deep inside of her.

Something familiar.

As if a piece of apuzzle has finally found its place.“Onyx!” she whispered, “I need you now!” “I am here,” her wolf replied with agrowl that shattered the mountains...