Chapter Thirty-Nine

*Morgans POV*

Mark relunctantly let go of me, turning towards the remaining warriors of his pack.

"We survived tonight. Albeit, we lost quite a few great wolves than I would have liked, but I thank you for your aid." He nodded towards all his pack. "Continue with the orders given. Round up every last wolf you can find, we need to properly bury them. As for the beasts, burn their bodies. Rip them off trees if you have to. We have to move quickly. We don't know when they're going to attack again."

"Yes, Alpha!" His warriors chimed in unison. Watching all this take place was exhilerating for me. I never knew exactly how a pack was managed, but Mark seemed to be an amazing leader. As if reading my mind, I watch as Mark turned towards me and smirked. I stuck my tongue out at him, hoping he would catch my meaning. Mark seemingly understood my mood before an agnoizing thought hit me.

This was the second time that I killed someone.

My heart stopped for a second. Turning towards where I had originally came from, I took off towards where the spikes in the dirt had been formed. Blood covered the ground, there laid a man who's body had shifted back from his beast form. His face was distorted and bloodied. I dropped to my knees, landing in the mans blood. Tears strolled down my face. There was a hole straight through the mans chest where his heart had been. Now nothing but a void of emptyness filled its wake. Mark rushed to me, crashing down next to me to see if I was hurt anywhere. As if the thought had just occured to him that I was included in the fight. Burying my face in my hands, I let the tears fall. Mourning the loss of the mans life, and the loss of my innocence in the fact that I never had hurt a fly in my life. Memories of the first person I killed came flooding back. Thoughts invaded my mind.

*'What if he had a wife? What if he had kids? Who was going to tell them? They would be devastated to find out their father/husband was killed. I murdered him. I-I killed another man.'

"Morgan, are you okay? What happened?" Marks soft voice echoed in my ears. I peered up at him, tears still flowing down my face.

"Mark, I-I-I ki-ki-killed someone, again. I have their blood on my hands. I physically killed someone, twice in my life, I killed someone. I-I can't take this. What if he had a family? They're going to be devastated. What about his kids growing up fatherless now? It's all my fault!" I kept babbling incoherent things about being a killer. Mark scooped me in his arms, holding me tightly, as if trying to take my pain away. I cried harder. Mark's grip on me tightened, occassionally sending me 'ssshhh' and 'it's going to be okay' my way. How could it be okay? I killed two people!

"Morgan, look at me." He pulled me back from his embrace, his hands never leaving my shoulders as I looked up into his eyes. "Babe, you did what you had to do to survive. It's never easy taking someones life. Especially someone with a pure heart as yours. I have killed too many people in my lifetime, and it still affects me sometimes. You have to remember that you were doing this to protect yourself. Those men attacked you. You amazingly defended yourself against them. It will be okay, I promise." He cupped my face with both hands, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"I don't know how to process this. The only thing I can think about is what if he had a family? His kids would be devastated." I sobbed again, lowering my head to hide the tears threatening to spill. I felt Marks hand under my chin, using a finger to list my face towards his. A grim expression covered his whole face, but he was still being senstive towards me.

"Morgan, it's never going to get any easier, but you have to understand something. You did it to protect yourself, to protect your pack and your mate. Your instincts kicked in and you saved us all. Mabe not entirely all of us, but the good portion that you did. There is absolutely nothing wrong with mourning the loss of a life, for anyone; however, you also need to realize that we're on two different sides of this fight. One way or another, this had to happen. You kept yourself safe from harm and you did it marvelously." He kissed each eye lid as he spoke the last part. He stood up, holding out his hand. I gratefully accepted it and stood up with Marks help. My legs were wobbly, and I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to stand for. Mark pulled me in for another hug, kissing the top of my head. Neither one of us spoke during that time. Without realizing it, a very tattooed, burly man walked up to where we stood. He stood there for a minute before I felt Mark's head nod towards the guy. I pulled away quickly enough to get a better look at the man.

"Luna, theres something I would like for you to come see. Alpha, you should probably come too." A 5'10 man stepped closer to us, his body riveted with muscles. His face was covered in scars that his sandy-blonde hair cascaded over the ones on his forehead.

"What is it?"

"I'm unsure, but it would be best if you two came along with me. I'll escort you there. It's not too far from the battleground." The mans arm was outstretched to the West of where we were standing. I glanced up at Mark, fear eminating itself in full force. My stomach twisted into knots as Mark grabbed my hand, basically pulling me in the direction the man was pointing to. We walked maybe 30 feet from the edge of the battlefield, a gasp releasing its way from my mouth. I covered my mouth, tears forming in my eyes, yet again. I barely heard Mark cursing behind me. There in front of me was a stake in the middle of a burn pit, several abandoned buildings surrounded the burn pit. Attached to the stake in the middle, was the remnants of a person who had been tied and burned at the stake. The burn pit was still smoldering, the fire had been recent.

I walked up towards the stake in the middle, carefully avoiding anymore hot embers that had fallen to the ground near the pit. Curiousity completely getting the best of me, I leaned in to get a better look at the body. It's features were too far gone, that if we had even tried touching the corpse, it would fall to a heap of dust. I noticed something glint off the lights surrounding the area, it was attached to the body. Trying to get closer to see exactly what was glistening under the lights, I managed my way towards the burnt body. Ripping a part of my shirt from the bottom, I reached towards the glistening object. Once I grabbed it, I was able to pull it further so I could see it clearly. I knew this necklace. Where had I-

"MOM!" I screeched loudly. "No, no this can't be happening. We were told she died in a car wreck!" So many questions filled my mind. I staggered back quickly from the burn pit, shaking my head furiously. "No, no, no!" I dropped to my knees, covering my face with my hands. "No, this can't be. Not again. Not my mom." Sobs wracked my body, hard. I couldn't make out what was going on. How could this be my mom? No, it couldn't be. She died long, long ago. This couldn't be her. Mark came up from behind, pulling me to my feet. I turned and threw my arms around his neck, buring my head into his shoulder. He didn't say a single thing. He held me and rubbed my back. I felt him turn his head towards the man that had escorted us here.

"Was this all you had to show us?" Marks voice was quiet, but dripping with fury. He was fighting a raging war inside, I could sense it.

"No Alpha, theres something else you should see."

"Lead the way."

Mark removed his grip from my back, basically forcing me to turn away from him. He grabbed my hand. I followed him, his hand never leaving my own as we trudged to the area with the some clustered buildings. The man pointed towards the side wall of one of the crumbling buildings.

"This is what I wanted to show you."

Mark and I walked closer to where he stood. On the wall of the crumbling building were words painted in blood.

*You're next Morgan.*