***Conlan's POV***

Immediately, organized chaos erupted as the warriors assisted the lame wolves. Groups broke out among the sparse group in front of me. Ronald barked orders and gathered the strongest. It was if they were the most battle hardened pack ever to walk the earth. All the allegations that this pack was nothing but monsters and traitors was somersaulting catapults full of that nonsense out of my head to be only replaced with respect.

A sudden chill riled the glossy black fur on my back. Something within us ferociously roared. All the Veiled Moon Pack members stopped and stared at me in shock and horror. Karr's howl mixed with my own rage racked the wet hill and shook the ground. Thoughts escaped me. There was no reason or logic left. Only Karr's thoughts and thirst for vengeance remained. In that moment Conlan ceased when we heard a mournful cry in our mind. The cry was filled with such pain that not even the goddess could attempt to depict such sorrow.

Without words or need for explanation, all the able bodied wolves ran towards me. Feeling Alpha power coarse through my large wolf frame I led them to the direction of the cry. Our small pack thundered over another hill as dawn broke over the landscape in front of us. Reds, golds, and pinks streaked the bluish purple sky. Mud squelched loudly in between my white paws staining them a ruddy brown. A howl ripped through my being as the sight became clearer. It was a sight of two figures, one of which was much smaller than the other. Silhouettes of a naked man sinking his fangs into Zara atop the next rise of hill. How we knew it was Zara was beyond our current comprehension, but Karr and I somehow knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was her.

Three men next to them sprinted for us. Their bodies transformed into their wolves as we collided with them midway down the hill. In my wolf's body we tore through the first one easily. Our fangs sank deep into his furry neck and tossed him away with enough force to snap his neck on release. It really was a tremendous size difference as Karr's wolf was twice the size of the runt. The biggest one was fighting three of the wolves that ran with me. Frustrated huffs escaped our throat. Such utter annoyance as I saw him defeating the wolves on my side. Blood in my mouth tasted even more bitter as I approached. His big gray wolf seemed to sneer at me as we locked eyes. With one swipe he knocked two of the remaining wolves away. Ronald and Rolland lay defeated as their wolves writhed in pain. Sounds of their pathetic attempts to continue to fight was fueling my already unyielding rage. A sort of bond had formed between myself and these few pack members. Wolf bonds were as mysterious as the goddess herself, but it was never formed without reason and was to be considered a blessing.

"Please," Zara's plea swept over to me by the whip of wind. "Just kill me." My lungs stopped assisting my breathing. Her words lacerated my heart penetrating my soul.

A quick bark of warning snapped me back to the gray beast. Rolland had warned me in time to evade a death blow. However, it was not quick enough for me to escape injury. His massive jaw sank into my shoulder. The force of his bite threatened to break my bones. My paws raked at his wolf trying to cut any soft flesh. Two wolves pounced the gray wolf from behind. An opportunity arose as he slacked his jaw a fraction. In one swift move I was able to break free and slashed his face with a sharp paw. He then reared and bucked as he tried to wipe his face with his grimy paws. Thick mud made his face worse. When I was about to finish him a slow cocky voice rang confidently in the air.

"Oh my precious little mate. I have many plans for you. You will rule beside me as The First did." He smiled at Zara, his eyes hidden behind blondish brown waves of hair. "Just as Silas ruled the wolves before the Moon Goddess's Blessing I will too with my bitten and marked mate beside me."

With wide eyes Zara reeled her head back trying to get as far away as possible from his face. His grip on her was too tight. Her thrashing was so violent that I was afraid she was going to cause her wounds to split open and kill her. She screamed curse word after curse word in a wild fever. He ripped the only thing left to cover her upper body. Perfectly perked creamy flesh exposed. So soft compared to her perfected sculpted abdominal and toned body. A familiar like necklace nestled a steel heart locket between the valley of her bouncing breasts. When his hand came down to grip the hem of her jeans I roared.

The man stilled for a second and slowly turned to me. I waited for him to face me. My fear was that Zara would get caught between us and get hurt more. Zara slumped to the ground trying to catch her breath. Her shaking hands gripped her steel locket in a silent prayer.

"Conlan." She breathed out heavily. I gave her a slight nod, Karr's wolf giving her a brief look over before glaring fiercely at the mad man. Zara's eyes closed out of exhaustion or relief, I couldn't decide. With each step his tanned skin rippled over with off white fur. One eye was deeply scarred just as in his human form. It was something rare to see. Golden eyes bored into me; ready and welcomed for the challenge. We bared our fangs at each other as we circled cautiously. Every few seconds one of us would snarl and make a feigned leap to try to catch the other off guard. This was a dangerous game. Our eyes sized each other and assessed each other's weaknesses as we continued to circle. My situation wasn't good and he knew it. I could tell he was going to make his move soon. Blood seeped from my shoulder, and a sort of stiffness began to grow because of my stupidity earlier.

Thoughts started to race through my mind. In the corner of my eye Zara was gripping her head in anguish. She was grunting in pain and then screamed as she fisted her dark hair. It was the type of scream that bordered on the edge of insanity. The witch's words in the cells echoed back. 'Was Zara's spell really breaking?' It sure seemed like it.

Luckily, I never lost my focus on the predator in front of me. There was something in his eyes and the way that he moved that told me he was not only the most dangerous opponent I've ever had but also the most cunning. While I was still fearfully worried about Zara I had to deal with the threat to us first before I could take care of her. I changed my normal dominant strategy to one of a slightly more injured wolf. Acting a little more on my shoulder injury I purposefully took a misleading step to leave an opening to bait him closer. My plan worked as he lunged with a swiftness to rival my own. He was still too fast for me to get a clean grip on his throat for my plan to work as quickly. We both used our bodies to hold each other's cuffs and try to lacerate the other's soft bellies in a display of strength and speed. Swipe after swipe, we were tearing each other to pieces. Each of us is relentless in our assault.

One howl started, and others answered. Outside of our heated battle flashes of wolves and witches fought around us. A rogue fireball blasted close to us and briefly set my tail on fire but it also set my opponent's hind legs on fire. Fire broke off our engagement as we both tried desperately to get rid of the flames plaguing our wolves.

"Beta Conlan!" It was James' frantic voice. "Get Zara and get in!" The next thing I see is our truck. Hazel driving like hell is on her tail while Teagon and a few other wolves led the truck to our location. Our numbers now outnumbered theirs. The off white wolf noticed this too and roared before being forced to retreat. He snapped at any wolf or witch that came too close and disappeared in the tree line.

"NOOOO!" Zara screamed. "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" Her hair whipped around wildly as Hazel tried to cover her with a new shirt. "MATE!" She called.

My heart sunk. All of a sudden I felt every wound. The wounds on my body but also that of somewhere deep inside my heart. There was no feeling left in my racing limbs. Everything was just numb.

A loud smack across Zara's face sang over the remaining members. "Zara! Pull yourself together girl." Rivers of tears flowed from the witch's eyes. "Remember." She said so quietly almost like in a prayer of hope. "Remember, what he did. What you have to find."

Shock from her aunt's slap only lasted long enough for her aunt to say those few words. "FUCK! IT HURTS! I NEED HIM BACK! WHERE DID MY MATE GO?!" Every word wrenching in my gut. Her ranting and raving only got worse the closer I got. Hazel made attempt after attempt to calm her down, but it was like Zara had lost her mind.

"Move." I commanded once I transformed back into my human form. The witch looked at me and then back at Zara. Strands of dirty silver hair fell over her expression in utter loss and defeat. It was painfully clear to the both of us that she was no longer there. All Zara was now was a very loud annoying shell that the Rogue King wanted. Zara suddenly made a run for it in the direction of her 'mate.' Anger overflowed and rolled off of me with my dominant Alpha waves. I no longer cared. In seconds I caught her. She bucked and squirmed to get out of my rough hands. Profanity continued to spew from her mouth. Fresh tears erupted over her desperate face. Looking now at her facial features I noticed that her lips were slightly swollen.

"ZARA!" I growled terrifyingly in her face. There was a brief clarity in her eyes as she looked into mine. During that brief moment I saw the same forest hued eyes of the sexy rogue I met for the first time at the bar. For that brief moment I could almost feel her immense pain that threatened her sanity. In that moment I was reminded why I was so drawn to her. The moment was gone too quickly though. She ended up losing her fight. Her eyes went from clear in pain and anguish to being clouded over in insanity. My strength was leaving me as I tried to contain her raging form. Zara's back indeed split open in her deranged state. Bits of dried blood and fresh streams littered her back. With help from the witch I was able to get Zara into an oversized shirt. The shirt only seemed to fuel her rage as she spouted nonsense about it smelling like another wolf that wasn't her mate.

"James, get a sock or something and gag her. I'll try to find something to bind her with." I barked at him exasperated with her behavior. "And where the hell is Theo?"