I woke back on my bed, tucked into my covers. My phone buzzed from its spot next to me, and I tapped the screen to turn off the alarm. Sitting up, I felt normal again, like I had yesterday morning and last night. You know, before everything went into madness.

The pack! I gasped and scrambled out of bed, my legs tangling in the sheets and ultimately leading to me actually falling off the side of the bed.

"Ahh!" The floor said when I landed. Except the floor couldn't talk, and it was definitely River's voice. Slightly croaked from sleep, but still unmistakably River.

I ricochet off of him as if he had bucked me away like a horse. "Sorry!" I screeched, finally getting my ankles out of the blanket and stepping backwards away from him. By the time I looked at him, he was standing up and staring back at me, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

His face was a conflict between wanting to hug me or wanting to kill me.

"Good morning?" I tried, then remembered how we got like this. "Wait, were you on my floor all night?"

"Yes. I tried the guest room, but couldn't sleep with my wolf knowing we were so close to you, yet still so far. Fell asleep instantly once I was in your room again."

I rolled my eyes and bundled the blankets up in my arms, tossing them past him to the bed and then walking to my bathroom without saying another word. It wasn't until I was washing my hands after using the toilet that I once more remembered about last night.

Bursting from the bathroom, I ran back to him and threw my hesitancy about him out the window as I grabbed ahold of his arms. A flood of questions poured from my mouth. "What happened last night? Who attacked? Are my parents okay? Is there anyone hurt or. . .?" And finally because the question screamed inside my head, "Are you okay?"

"Slow down!" He chuckled a little, twisting his wrists so he could grab my elbows from underneath, since I was holding onto his unflexed bicep just above his elbow.

"Answer me." I demanded, and he seemed to think that was funny, too.

"Your pack is fine. Your parents went to bed last night unscathed. And yes, I am also okay."

A breath I didn't know I was holding puffed out through my mouth. I released my grip on his arms, wincing a little when I saw the red, finger-shaped imprints left behind. "Sorry." He shrugged, not even indicating he would try to rub the marks away. I'm sure his sparks lingered with the imprints, and that made me want to rescind my apology. "Who was it?" I asked instead.

"Quarter Moon."

My brow furrowed, then stretched up into my forehead when I realized who that was. "No. No, no, no!" I jerked myself even farther away from him, leaving him confused. "That can't be right. Quarter Moon wouldn't attack us!"

"Are they another ally?"

I stopped pacing, though I didn't remember starting to move my feet in the first place. "Well, not exactly. But two of our Beta Female's family members found their mates there. Dad said. . ."

River folded his arms, his biceps defining with the pressure. I tried not to stare, I couldn't make that a habit. "Did they mate high-ranking wolves?"

"Well, no, not exactly." Both Eva and Skylar mated enforcers.

"Then there's nothing that could stop them." I stared at him in disbelief. He explained, "Unless they were high-ranking, the alpha wouldn't listen to the pleas of two she-wolves trying to stop an attack on their birth pack. Not if he was determined and had a very specific end goal in mind."

Like returning Mom to Her Majesty.

"But—but-"

"Sorry, Em. Your friend didn't have a say."

The shiver running down my spine when he called me by my nickname tried to distract me. "I never. . . How do you know about Skylar?"

His arms unfolded so he could raise his hands in defense. "I didn't know her name. But I knew you had a friend that moved away for a mate." He crossed the space between us in one step. I forced myself not to shrink away. "And I know she's one of the reasons you didn't tell me for not wanting a mate."

"Did my mother tell you this?" I demanded, daring to lean closer to him, keeping my eyes locked in a fierce glare. "My father? Cole?"

"It doesn't matter." He said, and now he was the one grabbing me by my triceps. "But you should know that joining my pack means a forever bind between Shining Moon and Crescent Moon." His face was centimeters from mine, willing me to understand his point.

"Obviously that wasn't enough for Sky." I whispered, my breath going right to his. If he so much as tilted his head, our lips would touch. My heart jumped at the thought, and honestly, I couldn't be sure in which direction.

Finally he released me, and then said, "Because I'm the alpha, it's different. You have the most important voice in the entire pack. I'd never just. . ." he searched for the word, flailing his arms a little. Tilting my head, he sort of looked like a lost octopus. ". . .decry you like that."

His words sobered me back up real fast. I knew he had already explained this to me last week at his pack, on the front porch. Why did I need this clarification so many times? Why couldn't I just believe him? I was raised with good parents, in a good home, with good friends, surrounded by a good pack. What was wrong with my trust?

Dejected, I hung my head. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'll keep trying to believe you, I promise."

He appeared in front of me again. I knew because I watched his socked feet appear on the carpet across from mine. He placed one finger under my chin and lifted it until my eyes met his once more. "I'm not asking you to roll over and accept me as your mate right now, but I'll keep telling you how much you'll mean to the pack—to me—as Luna until you believe it. No one will walk all over you, Em. You're a leader, I can see it."

His lips touched my nose, on the bridge right between my eyes. Naturally, they fluttered closed and I felt my body leaning forward. Catching myself, I twisted away.

"Come on," he said, not even fazed by my obvious rejection. "I promised you could go to school."

*___*___*___*

The cool metal of the locker soaked into my skin where I leaned my forehead against it. Another dizzy spell hit like a wave as I reached the last ten questions of the exam. Honestly, I would be shocked if I got a remotely decent grade on any of these this week. This was brutal.

I had searched my locker this morning for any hint or sign or clue of what might be causing this, but Scarlet must have cleared any speck of evidence out of there before I could figure out if it was the source of what was happening. I kept telling myself it was a stupid prank, that it didn't mean anything. But why would she hide the remains of the powder and whatever shot it at me? That's what made me suspicious. I thought I would try to poke around again after that last exam, but grogginess had overpowered my mind again and I had to lean against a neighboring locker to catch my breath.

River would come inside looking for me soon. I told him eleven thirty. It was eleven forty, and he seemed like the type to worry after only ten extra minutes. Pushing myself away from the metal, I turned my head and breathed as deeply as I could. Go away go away go away I said to the nausea pounding at the base of my skull and my temples.

A blurry figure formed in the hallway, coming towards me. "River?" I whispered, doubting that was even audible. But when the figure was close and I got a flash of clear vision, it was most definitely not River.

It was a guy, about the same height and build as River, but with bleach-dyed curly hair and ebony skin, darker than Sky's by several shades. His eyes were like caramel, and they were glowing brighter by the second.

Coming to my senses, I scrambled backwards away from him. "Don't come near me!"

"I'm on special orders." He told me, his voice like honey, not meant to be used for menacing words at all.

"What—"

"Hey, Emerald." Scarlet said from behind me.

"Scarlet! Do you know this guy?" I turned as I spoke, to face her. But instead of being met with words, snarky or not, her fist came flying at my face. My nausea made me slow, and my reflexes couldn't save me in time. Pain exploded through my face, bursting from my cheekbone and sending lines through my eyes.

I stumbled backward, tripping and hitting the lockers. My head fought the waves of never ending nausea and pain, but in the end, they won and the red lines across my eyes stretched until they consumed my vision completely, and I was encased by shadows of maroon, a last image of Scarlet's brown eyes and olive face slowly fading from view as the lights went out and the red turned black behind my eyelids.