Chapter 23

~Aaden POV~

I sat silently on the balcony, enveloped in Derek's strong arms. The sorrow was almost too much to bear, and I only took comfort in him. I was grateful that I wasn't a wolf right now, because I had no idea how he was just sitting here, with my hurt clashing into his own. He had to feel like he was dying inside. How on Earth was I going to make it through this war in one piece?

I relived the details that had happened last night once again. It had kept me awake all night, and finally, I had done what I said I wasn't going to, and went to Derek's room. Sleep never came to either of us, but the pain, although constant, was soothed by each other's presence.

A loud crash. We'd been laughing, and talking and just enjoying each other, but then the screaming began. Upon running to the den, there stood a large vampiric man, grinning and holding a large chunk of raw, bloody skin and bone. That skin and bone had belonged to Derek's beta, Erica. I hadn't known her long, but she was sweet, and I had looked forward to being her Luna. Her little body lay quivering on the floor in a pool of her own fresh blood. Rage filled me, and I wanted to lash out, but I didn't get the chance before my intended did it for me. Suddenly, the room was full, and not of my own friends. We were surrounded, and we were going to have to fight our way out. I picked up the closest thing to me…

I tried to push the haunting image from my mind, but it stayed. I felt a tear roll down my cheek, and before I could wipe it away, Derek's rough hand was there, gently brushing it away before he kissed my cheek softly. He didn't tell me it would be okay, he didn't say anything, but I took comfort from the fact that he knew eventually we would be. I pushed my head into his side, bringing my legs up to hug to my chest, and his arms grew tighter. I still have you, I thought, and he sighed, as if he heard me. Again, the memory overtook me.

Another piercing scream caught me from the side of the room. I swung around, and out of instinct, lifted and sunk the sharp object in my hand into the heart of a vampire. His shocked face disappeared from my view, and I saw a vampire woman in the corner, one arm and the top half of her head missing. I felt sick, but wasn't going to go down yet. Farren appeared in the fog of the fight and ushered me to the side room with Spencer. She didn't tell us to be quiet, and she wasn't going to hide us, there was no time, but we were going to defend ourselves and anyone else she brought in. This I could do. The clanging of weapons and bodies hitting the floor was endless, and worriedly, I wondered which side was winning.

Frustrated by not being able to push away the thoughts, I tried to stand, but Derek held onto me until he decided to stand too. Together, and hand-in-hand, we walked down the hall and back to his room. He grabbed a gray sweater and pulled it over my head before we walked outside. Those who had attacked us had been the very men we'd worried about attracting the attention of when we went to get Amy. There had never been a scent or anything left behind to lead them to us, but we had to guess that maybe they'd followed tire tracks. We'd thought we'd covered it all up so well… but in the end we hadn't, and now three of our people were dead: two wolves, and one vampire. The loss weighed heavily on me again, and I tried to hide it for Derek's sake, but he must have felt it anyway, because his grip on my hand tightened.

Once outside, we slowly walked down the stone path to the lake deep in the woods from Farren's house. We didn't say anything, but I wanted to, and once we got to the gazebo and sat, I had to. I opened my mouth, but Derek kissed me. It was soft, then rough. I could nearly taste his anger, his pain. Before I realized what was happening, I was on his lap, my fingers laced through his black hair. His eyes glowed red, and they held both lust and the need for vengeance. I pulled away gently from the kiss, and held his face in my hands, stroking his cheek. "We need to talk about it." I said, but he was already shaking his head. "Derek, you'll feel better if-" He suddenly grasped my wrists, pulling them from his face angrily. "No," he said in his distorted wolf voice, "I'll feel better if we don't talk about it. Right now, the only thing that could even remotely make me feel better is killing the murderer behind their deaths, got it?" His words stung a little, but more than that, they made me angry. "Fine, we don't have to talk about it, but I am not your bitch to take it out on!" I yelled, ripping my arms from his grip. I stood then, about to walk away when pain ripped through me. It took me a staggered moment to realize it wasn't my own; it was his. He didn't say anything, but when I looked at him, tears were in his eyes. "You're right," he said, raising a hand out to me, "I…"

It was enough, and I took his outstretched hand. He pulled me to him, and I stood still as he buried his face into my belly, his unshed tears wetting the shirt. His hands rested on the backs of my thighs, and I lovingly held his head. "I love you, Derek." I said softly. His body stiffened for half a second before relaxing again. He didn't have to say it, I knew, but it would have been nice. Of course, he needed a while to heal from the pain of losing his Betas.

~Derek POV~

Everything about her comforted me. Her scent surrounded me, the softness of her skin, the pressure of her fingers on my scalp, and the way her emotions flooded to me was therapy I'd never had the chance to indulge myself in before. Tough times had to be gotten through, but it made me wish more than ever I'd had her when my family died. "I love you, Derek." Her words rang in my ears. Say it back dumbass! My thoughts screamed at me, but I couldn't make my mouth speak the words. When she had said it, a new emotion had flooded me, and for the first real time, I knew it to be true. She was sacrificing so much to be what she needed to be, what I needed her to be, and I couldn't even muster the most simple, yet foreign phrase to me. She was definitely stronger than me this time. "I love you too," I thought, and I did. Suddenly, I didn't just want to marry her, I needed to. Even now, I envisioned my mother's precious ring on her finger, and it flooded me with it. "I want my daughter-in-law to wear this ring one day," my mother's words filled my ears, "she'll be so precious to you Derek, more so than any gold or silver." You were right, Mom.

Obviously, there were no such priests or anything to marry a werewolf and a human, but Vlad could do as good of a job as any. If we promised to honor, love and be faithful to one another always, it'd be no problem to change her name. Aaden Hale. I already like this idea, but would she be interested in such? Women loved big, fancy weddings, right? But in the middle of a war, would she demand as much? Only one way to find out I guessed.

"Aaden?" "Hmm?" She brought her attention back to me from gazing out at the water. "I, er, well…" Come on, think! "What is it, Derek?" Concern and love came over me, given to me by her. It calmed me, and gave me a brain back. "Do you like big weddings? Would you ever want one?" She pondered a bit, but not long. "If you had asked me as a human male, maybe I would have wanted something bigger, but I had no worries then, about a pack, about a war, or the friends I'd have. Truth is, no, I don't want a big wedding, and I'm not keen on huge fancy ones either." What a gift I'd been given. "Why do you ask?" she said. "I was thinking about us. You need to be changed, and we need to get married. No way am I letting my mate walk around without my name. Vlad could easily help marry us." She smiled, lifting my face to press a kiss to my mouth. "That sounds perfect." Her eyes, the ones that had been so dull this morning, finally began to liven up.

The pain over losing Erica and Benjamin hit me again, but this time, I was able to stand, and it all came from just one little lifeline: holding Aaden's hand. We could do this, and we would.

We would save our pack.