She's gone through every possible scenario in her head.
Only one seems to keep coming back to her.
They're going to kill us. I don't know when or how or why, but they're going to kill us.
Boyd drifts in and out of consciousness slumped against the wall, lack of sleep finally starting to get to him.
They can't kill him. Not Boyd.
She looks toward the vault door, watches as it opens and Kali walks in, nails scraping against the floor and eyes glowing red as she drops a tin of food to the ground.
"Enjoy."
It makes her blood boil. Makes her heart race and her anger ring clear.
She knows what she has to do. She knows what she WILL do.
And to her surprise, there are no thoughts about the fact that her parents are probably filled with worry about her, or that she won't ever see them again or that she will never go home again.
Instead, she thinks of her new home.
She thinks of her Alpha. She thinks about Derek.
Maybe he will be proud of what I'm about to do. Maybe he'll think I'm an idiot. I'll never know…
Kali's starting to walk away. It's now or never. They can kill her.
But they won't kill Boyd. I won't let them.
She turns, calling his name gently.
"Boyd?" He lets out a soft grunt. It makes her smile slightly.
She wishes she could tell him. Tell him how much she loves him. But it'll only make things worse.
She'll miss him.
She isn't sure what prompts it, but she needs him to have hope. She needs him to stay alive and to have faith that one day, Derek will find them.
Will find HIM.
"What do you think'll happen to us on the lunar eclipse?" She asks gently. He doesn't answer, still tired, still sore and pained from struggling to get out of here and failing. Still sore from battling those Alpha Twins.
But it's okay. She doesn't need him to answer. She just needs him to KNOW.
"They last for hours, you know…cause it's just the earth's shadow." He looks at her now, slight confusion written on his face.
"I wonder what will happen to us." She whispers. Kali stops in her tracks now, as if she's intrigued by what she's saying.
"Maybe it'll make us stronger." Boyd frowns through his pain, perhaps wondering what his best friend is doing.
She wishes he wasn't here to see this. She turns to look at the Alpha before her.
There's no fear. No fear at the fact that the woman before her is an Alpha, someone who has probably been a werewolf for years while she, Erica Reyes, is a Beta, a newborn werewolf only two months old.
Derek will be proud.
"I hope it'll make us stronger!" Kali is smiling now, and she cracks her neck. Perhaps she's been waiting to do this since day one. She stands, forgetting the fact that she hasn't had food or water for days, or that she's tired and her body hurts and that she might not, no she definitely won't make it out of this alive.
She's not going down without a fight.
They can't kill Boyd.
"Erica…" His voice is soft, but she ignores it, bares her teeth and rushes forward, claws slashing. Kali dodges it with ease, grabbing her by the throat with a laugh.
"Really?" And with that, Kali flourishes her nails and digs them into her stomach.
It's pain beyond anything she's ever felt, and she can't help the cry of pain that escapes her lips. Kali drops her with ease, and as her head smacks the pavement, she looks up to see Boyd reaching out to her, trying his best to get to her.
She reaches out, hand grasping, searching for him.
"Boyd…" She whispers. Her consciousness is beginning to fade as the blood begins to pool beneath her body.
She feels nails scrap her scalp as she's yanked upward by her hair. Kali laughs in her face.
She takes a swipe.
Kali drops her in shock, and she notices a cut on her cheek that's bleeding. Kali looks beyond furious.
She smiles.
Derek will definitely be proud.
The first punch hurts the most. She hears Boyd scream her name, but things begin to blur and eventually everything fades.
She thinks of her Alpha. She thinks of her Beta Brothers.
They'll all be proud.