"Harper? Harper!"

I coughed, my throat feeling as though I had just swallowed a mouthful of flour as dust spurted out of my lips. Cracking open my eyes felt as though I was peeling two layers of skin apart, and when the blinding light streamed into my eyes, I instinctively winced.

"Oh thank the Goddess you’re alright."

It took me a lot of adjusting and blinking before I realized that the shadowy figure who stood in front of me was none other than Blaise. He squatted down to my eye level, surveying my body before he eventually pulled off his jacket.

"Here," he said, laying the clothing on top of my body. I hadn’t even realized how cold it had been until he did, and I instinctively shivered, grabbing the jacket and wrapping it tighter around me.

"What happened?" I croaked, my voice hoarse and strained. Then, I realized that I could finally speak again― I was human again. I couldn’t even remember shifting back. "Did I really―?"

Blaise nodded firmly. "Yes," he said. "You did."

His confirmation had me jolting up to full attention. I looked around, eyeing the debris scattered around us.

The city looked as though it had just gone through war, the streets pulverized and covered with a fine layer of dust. Chunks of cement lay waste across the roads, while glass shards filled the area. There were cars that had gone up in smoke, others still had their blinkers on. Bodies were strewn across the pavement, some moving while others remained still.

In the ashes of this city, I managed to climb out reborn. What did it cost?

Everything.

I had never seen so many deaths as I did now. Perhaps when Stormclaw was invaded― that was the only day I could think of that could be on par.

"Wait... Damon..." I turned back to look at Blaise, grabbing at his arm and squeezing down. He winced in pain, but I hadn’t noticed. "Where’s Damon?"

"Kyle is with him," Blaise replied, and that was when I caught the scent of blood.

I looked down only to see that my nails had dug into Blaise’s skin, drawing blood off the surface of his flesh. Gasping, I withdrew quickly, and he offered a soft smile.

"Let’s go, Harper," he said. "We need to get him back to Nicole as soon as possible. I don’t know what it is that your mother shot him with, but his condition doesn’t seem life-threatening, surprisingly. It didn’t hit any major organs or arteries, and he isn’t bleeding as badly as he should, but it might not be good."

"The journey will take too long!" I cried out. "My mother... She... She shot him with a substance meant to destroy the wolf part of a werewolf. If we dilly-dally any further, he might lose it for good!"

Panic flared through me just as it showed on Blaise’s face. He got up immediately, pulling me to my feet along with him before we made a mad dash for Damon and Kyle. My clothes were lost to the transformation — they had ripped into shreds and nothing substantial remained — but Blaise’s jacket was big enough to cover everything that was essential once it was zipped up.

We found Kyle and Damon quickly, tucked away safely in a corner behind an empty street. No one was nearby, alive or dead. In Kyle’s arms, Damon’s face was incredibly pale, but his chest still rose and fell steadily as though he was merely asleep.

"I’ve contacted Alpha Darach," Kyle said. He pulled out a phone and showed us a message. "He left me this along with the weapons. He should be coming by soon."

Just as he spoke, a Land Rover stopped in front of us, its wheels skidding to a stop. The windows rolled down and revealed Darach sat snugly in the driver’s seat, his expression grim. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of my little-to-nothing clothing, but he made no comment about it.

"Get in," he curtly said. His eyes then went to Damon, and instantly, his lips pursed into a tight line.

We did as told, filing into the car as quickly as we could given the circumstances. The moment the doors closed shut, Darach slammed on the gas and we were off, whizzing through the city streets which were engulfed in chaos.

I kept my eyes trained on Damon the entire time, refusing to look out of the window. The further we left the city center, the less chaotic the scene looked. I only dared to glance back once we were at the outskirts.

I could no longer see the towering magnificent building that once belonged to my mother. What was left was nothing but ruin.

***

"Nicole!" Blaise all but screamed as he kicked down the doors to the infirmary. "We need help!"

We had only arrived at Fangborne at night, traveling all the way using Thunderstrike’s private jet. I hadn’t even realized that Thorton Elrod had built an empire so insane as to be able to afford one― not to mention his ties with the humans in the two countries that manage the borders and immigration.

With all the help Darach provided, we returned to Fangborne in the span of mere hours. Damon, thankfully, hadn’t died on the way, but his breathing was getting fainter and fainter. With it, his life.

"What happened to all of you?" Nicole asked, her eyes widening as she caught sight of the state we were all in.

Other than Darach, who was still fairly properly attired, the rest of us were a mess of blood, scrapes, and torn clothing. I stood in the center of it all, my hair a tangled mess and my clothes straight up missing, wearing nothing but Blaise’s jacket.

"Long story short, we got into a fight with the hunters," Blaise said, placing Damon down on the empty infirmary bed that Nicole had gestured to.

"And Damon got shot with something that could endanger his wolf. It’s... It’s probably a mix of wolfsbane and silver, or something along the likes," I said.

"If he’s not immediately dead, the silver content shouldn’t be high," Nicole observed. "Kaine!"

Her mate darted into the room as soon as he was called. His eyes landed on Damon before they widened just a fraction of an inch. Although, this state of shock didn’t last.

Without needing instructions, he quickly grabbed a pair of gloves and reached for the equipment, Nicole following suit.

"We will need to get whatever he was shot with out of him," Nicole said. "Now where is my scalpel?!"