The challenge howl sent chills through Elara as she stood on her porch. Thorne was standing beside her. He had his hand on her shoulder. It was steadying her. The light from dawn was coming through the trees. It was shining on some figures that were approaching. Darius was leading the group. Jax was, in the center. He was all bound up and bruised.

"Come out and show yourself heir " Darius yelled loudly. "If you do not come out then your new friend is going to die."

Elaras mind was going fast. Jax had put everything on the line, for her and Elara could not just leave Jax now. "You have to stay " Elara said to Thorne.

"No way."

Together with Maya armed and hidden nearby they went to meet the pack in the clearing. Darius looked at them. Smiled. He said "You are being very bold.. That is a foolish thing to do." They were really being foolish the pack and Darius were not going to back Maya was armed and hidden and they were ready, for the pack.

"Let him go " Elara said in a voice. This situation is, between Elara and the other person.

Darius laughed. "You think you can question my authority? Well I want to see it. Fight for that person I dare you. Show me you are willing to fight for him.

The pack formed a circle for a ritual. Elara. Turned to face a big champion wolf. This wolf was really huge. It had scars, from many battles. The champion wolf looked very strong and tough. Elara was now facing the champion wolf.

The fight was really brutal. There were bites and slashes everywhere. Blood was flowing all over the place. Elara was very fast which helped her because the other person was so big.. Elara was getting very tired. Thorne wanted to help Elara badly but the rules of the fight said he could not do that. The rules were very clear. Thorne had to follow them.

Elara was really in a spot so she pretended to be weak. This tricked the champion into thinking he had the hand and he came close, to her. Then Elara saw her chance. She hit the champion in some very important places. The champion went down because of this. Elara had managed to defeat the champion by striking his spots.

Darius frowned,. He let go of Jax. He said "This is not over" to Jax. Darius was clearly upset, with Jax.

Jax went over to Elara when they were moving back. He said to her "Thanks. I am, with Elara now."

Back at the cabin the people got together to think of a plan. Jax told them about the weaknesses of the pack. He said that Darius always tries to scare people and that the locations of their hideouts are not well protected. The pack has some problems that they need to work on, like Darius relying on fear to get what he wants.

Miriam joined us and she brought some things with her, like charms. These amulets are supposed to help us have more control. She said "you should use these things when the next full moon comes around".

Days turned into weeks as Elara trained. She sparred with Jax a lot. Elara also worked on her shifts with Thornes help. As time went by Elara and Jax started to have feelings, for each other. They would talk all night. Their bodies would be close together. This love came from depending on each other to stay alive. Elara and Jax needed each other. That is how their romance started.

Things started to get really bad. The attacks started happening and Darius made it seem like Elara was the one doing them so the town would turn against Elara. Sheriff Daniels asked Elara a lot of questions he did not believe her he was suspicious of Elara.

Elara looked into this. Found out that people were being paid off. She went up to one of the officials. Scared them a little by changing her appearance slightly. This made them tell her the truth. Elara got them to confess by doing this.

Maya went through the records to find proof. She is really good with computers. That is surprising. Maya said "I got good at computers because I was bored a lot, in our town."

The Alliance grew and this happened because more people who did not agree with the others decided to leave and join the Alliance. The number of people, in the Alliance got bigger.

One night I was scouting around Dariuss lair. I overheard some plans. They were talking about raiding a town and the reason, for this was to force Elara out of the town. I heard that Dariuss people wanted to make Elara leave so they were going to attack the town where Elara was staying.

The ambush was all set,. A spy went and told the other side about it. So Darius decided to attack of time and he did this at Miriams cabin.

The battle was really intense. Wolves were fighting each other. Miriams spells were going off everywhere. Elara was fighting hard to keep her friends safe. Miriams spells and the wolves were a problem. Elara had to protect her friends from the wolves and Miriams spells at the time.

Thorne was. Could not get away. Darius was getting closer and closer to Thorne. Then Elara stepped in to help Thorne.. Darius was too strong and he hurt Elara very badly. Darius swiped at Elara. This made her wound very deep. Thorne and Elara were, in a lot of trouble because of Darius.

She fell down. Her vision started to fade away. The people who were, on her side her allies they all rallied around her.

Then something crazy happened. Darius grabbed Maya. He had his claws right at her throat. He said "Give up or Maya will die."

Elara's heart stopped, choice impossible

Elara's heart was beating fast; it was like it was going to break her ribs. Darius had his claws on Maya's neck. They were cutting her little lines of blood that shone in the moonlight. The air around Miriam's cabin, which was all broken and messed up terribly like blood and guns and burnt fur. There were wolves on the ground and they were dead. It looked really bad. Jax was standing next to Elara breathing hard. He could not use one of his arms. Thorne was holding his crossbow really tight, his hands were white and you could see all the muscles, in his body he was ready to do something.

Darius said to me "You have to make a choice of an heir. You can kneel down. Become my mate. If you do that your old family blood will be connected to mine. Our pack will be really strong.. You can say no and watch your human friend get hurt very badly.

Maya's dark eyes met Elaras. Maya gave the shake of Maya's head. Maya's lips formed one word: No.

The amulet that Miriam had given to Elara was burning against Elara's chest; it was really hot. This thing was making Elara more aware of what was going on around her. She could hear Maya breathing quietly the sound of blood dripping from Jax's hurt shoulder and the low growling noise that Darius was making in his chest. The amulet was making all of these sounds really clear, to Elara.

Elara said that there has to be another way. She took one step forward. "You want power," she said. "Take me instead.. You have to release Elara's friend first."

Darius tilted his head. He was amused. He said "That is a noble thing to do but I learned a long time ago that I should not trust people who make pretty promises. Darius nodded towards two of the enforcers that worked for Darius. Darius told them "Tie her up and use silver to do it."

The wolves came closer slowly. Elara made herself stay still when the cold ropes that had silver in them wrapped around her wrists. The metal cut into her skin. It hurt so much that it made her feel weak and sick to her stomach. Elara bit back a hiss. The wolves and the ropes and the metal were all very scary, for Elara.

The moment the ropes were tied up tight Darius gave Maya a push forward. Jax quickly jumped up and caught Maya before she hit the ground then he pulled her back, behind him to keep her safe. He stood in front of Maya shielding her from Darius. The ropes were secure now. Darius was still being really aggressive. Jax just wanted to protect Maya from him.

Darius said "Now". He was smiling more. He wanted the person to go with him. He wanted them to do it willingly. Darius said "you come with me willingly".

Thorne's voice was loud and shaky as it cut through the quiet of the clearing. It sounded like something was breaking. "Elara," he shouted.

She turned to him. Tried to say everything she could not say with just one look. She wanted him to know that she was sorry. The Facebook Girl was going to come to him. The Facebook Girl loved him.

She said this in a soft voice. She wanted someone to protect them. She also said please.

The pack pulled her away from everything. Thorne's loud roar of fury and helplessness followed The pack as they took her into the trees. It felt like someone was hurting her deeply. The sound of Thorne's roar stayed with her.

The people blindfolded the woman and tied her ankles. They threw the woman roughly into the back of a pickup truck. The pickup truck bounced up and down on the forest roads for what felt like a very long time, to the woman until the pickup truck finally came to a stop.

The blindfold was ripped away from Elara's eyes. She saw that she was in a huge room under the ground. This room was lit up by torches made of iron. The walls of the room had carvings of wolf symbols that looked like they were moving a bit. There were chains hanging down from the ceiling. In the middle of the room Elara saw a stone platform that was stained with blood from a long time ago; the blood had been there for centuries.

Darius walked around her slowly. His boots made a noise, on the stone floor. The sound of his boots echoed around her as Darius kept circling.

"This is the center of our land, " he said. "This is where our ancestors made promises to each other. Tomorrow night when the moon is getting bigger we will do a ceremony to tie our families together. The special power that you have will become mine. Your family will work for my family.. Silverbrook will finally do what I want. Silverbrook will be under my control.

Elara lifted her chin even though her wrists were hurting a lot. She said "You think that chains and rituals are what make you strong? I do not think so. To me the chains and rituals you use on me only show that you are really scared of what Elara might be capable of if you did not have these chains and rituals to hold her back."

The man's hand hit her face fast and she could hardly see it coming. Her mouth started bleeding away. The blood in her mouth was a lot. Her face was hurt from the man's hand.

He said "Defiant" with a smile on his face. He really seemed to like the word. I will have a time teaching you to respect the rules he told me and he meant it when he said that he would enjoy teaching the art of respect, to me to the person in front of him to the one he called Defiant.

The man turned around and walked away and two silent betas stood outside the iron bars that held the woman prisoner; they were like guards. The heavy iron bars were like a cage for her.

Time really crawled by. The silver was burning all the time.. The amulet helped to stop the transformation sickness from getting really bad. The transformation sickness was not as bad because of the amulet.

Then, a whisper from the shadows.

"Elara Voss."

She turned fast. This young woman, who was not twenty years old, was squatting near the wall. The young woman had wide eyes because of fear and she was also very determined.

Lila said this to me. Jax sent Lila. Lila said Jax told her that I would know what Lila is talking about.

Lila spoke in a quiet voice. She said I would understand what Jax meant by sending Lila to me.

She pushed a bundle of cloth between the bars. This bundle had things inside. There was a small bottle made of glass that had some dark stuff in it. The bundle was also made of brass but it was not shiny anymore. It was a bit old and worn out.

"Miriams antidote for silver poisoning " Lila whispered. Drink this slowly. This thing will open the side passage. We have to do it at midnight that is when the guards change shift. The tunnel will take us outside.. We have to hurry. Darius is planning to do more, than the binding. He wants to burn the town if Miriam's antidote users resist. Darius wants to burn the town if you resist Miriam's antidote.

Elara's throat got all tight. Why do this she thought, it is just not worth the risk why take a chance, like this why risk this?

Lila's jaw clenched tight. She said "I am upset because Darius killed my brother. He did this when my brother questioned one of Darius's orders.. I also know that Jax believes you can put an end to this whole thing, with Darius."

The woman completely disappeared into the dark. The darkness swallowed her up. She was gone.

Elara carefully opened the bottle with fingers that would not stop shaking and she drank what was inside. It felt like fire going down her throat at first then she started to feel warm and after that she felt strong again in her arms and legs. The strength was coming back to her body. Elara felt the warmth spreading. It was a really good feeling. She had drunk from the bottle and now she was feeling like herself again.

She stood there. Waited. She was counting the beats of her heart until she could not hear the guards walking anymore. The sound of the guards footsteps got fainter and fainter until they were gone.

At midnight she unlocked the cage. Then she slipped into the narrow side tunnel. Then the woman ran. The cage was now open and she was, inside the tunnel the woman was running.

The air was really tight and scary, the roots were, like fingers grabbing at her arms and the dirt smelled like something was rotting. Then she suddenly ran out into the moonlight. Found herself on a rocky hillside that the woman did not know.

Freedom.

Then she heard the howls. They were rising behind her. There were voices and they sounded really furious. The howls were loud. They were coming from the people behind her.

The people in charge had found out that she got away. The fact that she escaped was now known to them. She was no longer able to hide that she had managed to break. The escape that she made was discovered by them.

Elara moved around because the sharp pain was still there. Her body started to change fast. Hair grew over her skin. Her bones. Then they fixed themselves again. Then she was on the ground. She was running on four legs. Elara was running fast now.

The pack is getting closer and closer. It is here. The pack was. I could feel it. The pack is really scary.

She walked ahead. She had miles to go through a really thick forest. She could smell smoke from Thorne's chimney, which meant she was getting closer to Thorne's place. The smoke smell was pretty strong so Thornes house was not far away. She kept walking. The smell of smoke from Thorne's chimney got even stronger.

Home.

But the howls were gaining.