As I cry into my hands, a part of me is dying. Brianna kneels next to me, rubbing my back, and trying not to tremble herself. I cling to myself, feeling vulnerable in my nakedness and in desperate need of something to cover myself.

This can't be happening.

A scream of agony behind us squeezes my eyes shut as my hands reach up to my ears in an attempt to block out the rogue's final cry of life.

The silence that follows makes my head spin. I fall to my hands and knees, gasping for air, bile rising up my throat as thoughts and images swirl around and around in my head. Evan punching him, screaming threats at him. The look in his eyes, dead set on killing him without remorse, flash before me making me cringe and my stomach twist painfully.

We just killed someone.

They said rogue attacks were rare. This has been the second incident in a matter of hours. How many more must there be before it ends? How much more blood must be shed before it will come to an end? How many lives will die at the hands of my mate and friends?

I shake my head at the thought. I'm afraid to face any of them now. I can't look at them the same way knowing that they have killed someone in cold blood with their bare hands.

"You should've been in the safe house with Ali," Brianna murmurs softly beside me as she continues to rub my back. "Rick should've known you weren't ready--"

"If I hadn't been here, he could've killed you," I snap, brushing her arm away from me.

I don't want her touching me. I'm disgusted with myself, with her, with both of us. For walking away and letting Evan and Keith manage the rogue--for allowing them to kill him, even if it was the only option.

She stares at me without flinching, but her eyes are soft as my words sink in. She knows I'm right, but we can't erase what has happened.

Maybe I wasn't ready? Maybe I should've been put in the safe house? Does it even matter now? That rogue is dead, and nothing will change that fact.

I dig my fingers into the cool damp soil as I take deep cleansing breaths. Its earthy fragrance reminds me of Evan and the knot in my stomach doubles.

Is this what it means to be a shifter? To live with a pack and kill other shifters that jeopardize our well-being? Is there no judicial system to lock up potentially dangerous shifters? Is capital punishment the only means of solving threats, even before a murder has been made?

Is this a world I want to be a part of? Is this everything my parents feared that I would become involved in when I discovered what I really am? Could they have anticipated something like this happening?

Were they right in their decision to keep the truth from me by suppressing my wolf so I'd never have to witness the murder of a stranger by the hand of the one person meant to make me happy for the rest of my life?

It sounds too far-fetched, but maybe they did consider the dangers I might face as a shape-shifter?

As my racing heart begins to relax, Rick's large copper wolf trots up to us. He looks from Brianna to me in an emotional heap on the ground. Huffing, he glides past us. A minute later, his howl cuts through the forest, announcing the kill.

The sound of it makes me shiver as I roll back on my heels and stand up, rubbing my arms.

Rick must have shifted as I hear his voice along with Keith and Evan as they approach us.

"Stay at your posts until Alpha gives the all-clear," Rick says twenty feet behind me.

I feel his gaze on me as he approaches. I don't like it. I can tell he's scrutinizing me, determining my worth.

Despite the trembling of my knees, I straighten my posture and turn to face him, holding my head parallel to the ground and fixing my gaze to look through him. I know if I focus on him, I'll lose my nerve, but I can't show any weakness. I can't let my nakedness be a source of humiliation when we are all naked.

Rick looks to Brianna next to me finally, his eyes studying the ripped flesh on her thigh. Blood runs down her leg and she clenches her teeth together to conceal the pain she's in.

"What happened?" he asks her, looking into her eyes then.

"He snuck up on me." Her eyes flick to me for a split second. "If Zara hadn't been there, he might have done more."

"I want details," he demands through gritted teeth.

She swallows and lowers her gaze, crossing her arms over her bare breasts. "I didn't sense him soon enough. Zara alerted me when she picked up his scent, and a second later he tackled me, biting my leg. I kicked him off, and he ran past me. I chased after him. We scuffled and when he was about to get me again, Zara bit his shoulder pretty hard."

I nodded, the dull ache still present in my mouth.

"Then what happened?" He turns to me.

"I chipped a tooth on his shoulder and jumped away before he could attack me," I say.

"Let me see," he says reaching up with a dirt-coated hand.

I shift my weight from my right foot to my left, and flash my teeth at him.

He clasps my chin in his fingers as he examines the chip. His dark brown, almost black, eyes look up into mine before he releases my jaw. "Don't be so reckless next time."

He looks from Brianna to me again. "I want you both to go to the infirmary."

I open my mouth to argue, to say I'm fine, but I catch Evan shaking his head. Don't argue with him.

"Yes, Alpha," I say, lowering my gaze to the ground.

After the words leave my mouth, I feel a bit relieved. To be honest, I don't want to be around more killing. I especially don't want to see Evan and Keith's faces like that again. My eyes sting with the memory, but I quickly blink the tears away.

Fighting back in self-defense is one thing, torturing a person for answers before killing them is another.

My mate... he's not that kind of person. I can't bear the thought of him doing that.

He did though. And he'll kill his own brother if it means protecting me.

Rick, Keith, and Evan shift back into their wolf forms and set out again.

My throat closes up as Brianna and I turn away and start walking toward the village. She leans on me for support to relieve some pressure on her wounded leg.

We have no words to say at first. Walking in silence, I fight back more tears. A sniffle escapes when I scrape my big toe on the edge of a sharp rock.

"Thanks for helping me back there," Brianna says.

She pushes aside some low branches from a bush and hisses when she loses her grasp on them and they scratch against her injury.

"It's aight."

"I don't know how he managed to sneak up on me like that. I mean--"

"It's cool," I interrupt. "Really, don't stress about it."

I don't want to think about it anymore. I just want to drop the subject and forget it ever happened right now, but I know I can't be so foolish as to pretend that the threat is gone. We must remain on guard for more rogues, even if we are injured.

She opens her mouth to speak again when a faint howl in the distance ushers a chorus of howls in response. The vast majority of howls sound happy with indistinguishable yips and yaps in the mix.

My brows furrow as I try to figure out the meaning. As it starts to dawn on me, I look to Brianna next to me with widening eyes. Did we win?

Seconds later, Evan bounds over to us in a blur, his pink tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. He shifts quickly and grasps me by my arms.

"They're retreating!"

Despite his grin and relief written all over his face, I flinch. It's then that I notice the dirt and blood smeared on his hands. I gape at him as the rogue's last scream echoes in my mind.

Jerking away, the feral eyes Evan possessed before he and Keith killed him flash before me again. I hold my arm before my face in a defensive posture as I suck in a lungful of air. "Don't touch me."

Evan's forehead creases in confusion as his eyes reflect hurt at my tone. "Zara, it's okay."

"It's not okay!"

"What? It's over. What's wrong?"

He reaches out to me again and I slap his hand away. Glaring at him, I exhale and swallow the forming lump in my throat. "You just killed someone!"

His eyes narrow as I take a step back and hug myself. "He would have done the same to us if given the chance."

My bottom lip trembles as I look away. I know he's right. I know the rogue would have enjoyed killing us too. That still doesn't make things okay.

Pressing my hands to my face, I inhale a shaky breath.

I should be happy, excited even. The threat is gone, but are they gone for good, or just for the time being? Will they come back? What are their motives for attacking? Surely they had something bigger in mind?

And what did that rogue mean when he said, too late? Too late for what?

----

Author's Note: A part of Zara's humanity/innocence is lost here, and that is the significance of this chapter.

Thanks for reading!