My eyes flashed yellow. “Then you will be responsible for the death of our kind!” I shouted. Kai walked forward and faced off with his father.

“You will do this. We don’t have time to argue. I don’t trust witches but I trust Sylvia.” Kai was barely holding onto his wolf form, I could see it.

Kai’s father let loose a growl. “You don’t tell me what to do!” They locked eyes. Oh God. I could see where this was going. I looked at Sylvia. ‘Help,’ I mouthed.

She chewed her lip. She reached into her purse and withdrew a fistful of powder. She threw it in Kai’s and Raj’s faces and whispered. “Sleep.” They both crumpled to the ground.

My eyes were wide. The council seemed in shock. Kai lay at an awkward angle near his father. I straightened his body and looked at Sylvia.

She pursed her lips. “Hopefully they don’t kill me,” she commented.

“They won’t, I’ll protect you.” I looked at the council members. “Extend your arm and we may be able to save our kind.”

Something seemed to pass between them. They extended their arms. Sylvia gave me the task of collecting the blood. Just a prick from each person there, including myself. I pricked Kai and Raj and winced in fear they would wake up.

Once I had the droplets of blood inside an ornate glass vessel I approached Sylvia.

“We must do this outside, in nature.” We all followed her outside.

“This spell is powered very differently from any other.” Sylvia looked at the council. “This spell is fueled by love. Love for each other, love for your kind, love for your mate, your children. Any love you can conjure in your mind you must do it now!”

Everyone closed their eyes and began to concentrate. I thought of my mother, of Drake, of Kai. My first kiss with Kai flashed through my mind. My belly warmed. I felt Sylvia’s hand slip into mine.

“Give me all the mist you got,” she whispered.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I imagined the mist inside of me. Magic. I let it leak out of my pores. It was never ending. I could feel that. It was everywhere, in the trees, the stars, the rain. This earth was magic! A huge cloud of mist leapt out of my body and slammed into the council members. They rocked on their heels but stayed standing.

Sylvia raised our hands to the sky. “Let every member of the four-legged race hear my call! Your survival is threatened. The vampires will attack your water supply with silver. Protect it now!”

Rain began to fall from the sky. It felt miraculous. The message was received, I knew it. The RAIDOS cell phone began ringing in my pocket. We had given it a batman ringtone.

Sylvia let go of my hand. “So be it,” she said and looked at me.

“So be it,” I repeated not sure why.

Then I answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“This is Dr. Tavern, our ETA to the Sandy water treatment facility is thirty minutes.”

“Uh.” I didn’t know what to say. I looked up at the sky searching for a drone.

“Well, we are allies now, aren’t we? We’re coming to help.”

I smiled. Maybe this ally thing was going to turn out okay. “Meet you there.”

The council had received word that the message had been heard. People were calling and asking what to do. Some were panicked and some were prepared. Sylvia awoke Kai and Raj with more spell powder and quickly left.

Kai sat up quickly and grabbed his head. Raj looked at Kai murderously. “I’m going to kill that witch.”

I stepped forward. “No, you’re not. She has my protection and since I found your daughter’s mate. I figure you owe me.” I smiled a little for good measure. I was sure deep down past the Alpha bullshit, that he was a nice guy.

His father looked pissed for a second and then appraised me with pride. “She is your perfect match.” Then he met my eyes. “Welcome to the family, Aurora.”

He stood and left with the rest of the council.

I ran to the door just in time to see a few pack members driving a truck full of water bottles up the driveway. Kai followed after me.

“What happened?”

I shifted. ‘I’ll tell you on the way.’

Alliance

Kai didn’t question. He shifted instantly and followed my fast pace down the mountain towards the small town of Sandy. After explaining to Kai that we had sent a message to all wolves about the water, I also explained about the call from RAIDOS.

‘So we are meeting the humans at the Sandy water plant to fight vampires together?’  he mocked.

‘Yep.’

‘Well they better not get in my way.’ He sped past me, dashing through the trees. We could get there faster in our wolf form. People would mistake us for a blur of an animal. Sandy was a 20 mile run as the crow flies. If we had taken a car it would have been a 50 mile winding road drive. After about twenty minutes of relentless running, we made it down the mountain and out into the heavily populated area. We slowed near a gas station. A black helicopter could be seen landing in the distance, in the general area of the water facility. We weaved in and out of a few cars and back onto a side street void of people.

There we sprinted to the water facility gates. It was dark out but my werewolf eyes could see a commotion just inside. The black helicopter had landed near a side entrance and the RAIDOS team had trickled in a gate that had been blasted open. A few of RAIDOS agents were perched on the roof and were using crossbows to shoot at the vampires. There must have been fifty of them. They were protecting six large drums of liquid silver. A few pack members had already arrived and were fighting alongside the RAIDOS team. A female vampire rose into the air and flew on top of my back. I rolled quickly hearing the satisfying crunch of her bones beneath my big wolf body. I twisted out of her grasp and turned to face her. It was  the vampire queen from that night in LA, Layla. Kai was preparing to pounce on her. She looked right at him and whispered, “Freeze.” He didn’t move. He barely breathed. It was like he was made of cement.