Chapter 23：22.

When you think about your life you never account for how short it can be. In an instant you're stuck floating in an abyss, wondering what else awaits you, or if this is really the end. You some forget what you're fighting for, what you're living for, and what you have to get back to. That's how I felt while I was in transition.

I felt my soul snap back into my body as it neared and terror ran through me. Would the vamps realize something in the room had changed? That my soul had reconnected? Or would I be able to fly under the radar, to give Colton an advantage if he could make it to me. I held in a whimper as I tried to keep my breathing even, to hide the fact that I had made it through transition and back to my body, that I had survived the attempt on my life.

I worried for Mikayla's sake, I prayed to the goddess that she was okay. I had seen her in the room with me, surrounded by vampires as they held her in a cage further away from me.

I heard a spine tingling chuckle and I instantly knew they'd felt my soul return.

"Just in time." I heard that velvet voice whisper. It was so sickeningly sweet and melodic that I knew it held no compassion.

My body was so weak they hadn't even bothered to restrain me.

I decided not to delay the inevitable then, my eyes fluttering open to lock with a pair of unfeeling green ones as my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

"Hello little mate. I'm glad you could finally join us. We were unsure if you would actually complete the trials, but I'm so very glad you took your time." She chuckled, running a blood red fingernail across my cheek, drawing blood.

I stayed still, I didn't even flinch as her fangs emerged and she brought her face to mine to lick the wound she'd created, holding in the shudder that wanted so desperately to run down the length of my body.

"It's such a shame you mutts don't satisfy our needs, there are so many of you to eat." She pouted.

I heard a few chuckles of approval from the other vamps in the room, agreeing that instead of laying to waste the human race, they should just switch to wolves instead. Too bad for them, wolves actually put up a fight, while the humans could never stand a chance, they were cowards.

'He's coming.' My wolf howled with joy as I felt Colt's presence nearing, my mind relieved at the fact that I could still talk to Alusia here on earth as I could while we were in the goddess's realm.

Panic flooded my system moments later. If they heard him coming he would be outnumbered and without any advantage. I had to distract them, anger them enough that their attention would be solely on me.

"Maybe if your beloved wasn't such a psychopath Colton would've given you land." I croaked as she turned back to me with blazing eyes, and I used energy I should have saved to pull my lips up into a blinding smile, my cracked lips protesting against the action. I didn't care, I wanted the psychopath to suffer just as Colton and I had, just as my pack had, just as Eric and Mikayla had. I wanted them to pay for every horrible deed they had ever done, or even thought of doing.

She grabbed me by the neck and pulled me towards her in anger, her green eyes turning red as she shrieked. "Don't speak of him! I should kill you!"

"Then Colton wouldn't come and you couldn't get your pathetic revenge and all of this would be for nothing because you're too impulsive but go ahead and kill me, I know where my soul will go." I smiled at her and her eyes became pools of fire.

She gripped my neck in her hands as her fangs sunk into the delicate flesh, her jaws locking tight.

I screamed out in agony, my throat burning against my unused vocal chords, as her venom began pumping through my system.

The door was pulled from its hinges as a giant snow white wolf barreled through ripping the heads clean off of two vamps. I knew it was Colton, the little happy dance my wolf was doing inside of me told me as much.

There were darts and bullet wounds matting his coat with dried blood, but I didn't care. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

He shifted back, standing before Amethyst.

"Let her go." He growled and my spine shook with the amount of venom he threw behind those three words. Her fangs dug deeper, spots began to fill my vision as my loss of blood began to be too much.

"Let her go!" Colton roared as he hurled towards us, slamming into us as the world went black, my wolf taking over as I grew too weak to hold on.

ALUSIA POV

Our mate slammed into us seconds after India blacked out, Amethyst losing her hold on me as her fangs slipped out and we began to roll against the floor. The pain was nothing compared to the last few weeks we'd spent in transition, so I took it without protest. If I distracted our mate, he wouldn't be focused on ending the vampires life. She needed to be taken out, and fast.

I couldn't find my voice, I had only ever taken over India's human body a couple of times, and only when she was new to shifting, and it had never been for a long period of time. The human body was new to me, different, as I was accustomed to paws and fur.

I watched as our mate pounced onto the vampire as soon as I was free of her. I watched as his human hand turned into his wolf's clawed paw, and I saw him rip the vampires throat out cleanly, just as I had done to the vampire's beloved many weeks ago.

My irrational instinct had caused India and I to be thrust into transition, to go through the goddess's trials, but I regretted nothing. If I had learned anything, it was that together, India and I could accomplish anything. We had made it through something others can only dream of, and we had done it together, and we had made it back to our mates.

With that thought, my strength began to fade, our mate holding us the last thing I remembered as I joined India in the peaceful darkness.

COLTON POV

She was safe. It was the only thought my mind could process as members of the pack began pouring into the room.

I'd killed Amethyst. I ripped out her throat just as India had done to her beloved, only the mercury in her system didn't effect me anymore.

I hurried to India's side, pulling her into my arms against my chest as Eric entered the room and hurried towards the small cell they'd kept Mikayla in. She was never their target, she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Get the doctor!" I yelled towards pack members until I saw the grey haired man appear in a haste.

He looked India over before pulling things out of his bag. "She's lost a lot of blood, we'll have to transfuse, as her mate, your blood will be most pure and compatible with her system."

I nodded quickly, offering my arm as he quickly plunged the needle in my vein and hers, the blood flowing between us like a lifeline.

"We did it." He breathed a sigh of relief as he took her in. Though unconscious she was starting to regain color. I knew she would make it through.

I would finally be able to enjoy my mate, to fully mate with her and complete our bond.

"I accepted her." I heard Ty breathe lightly as I raised an eyebrow towards him.

"My mate. I accepted her. After watching you inject yourself like that for India I knew that kind of love was once in a lifetime. I accepted her and she's perfect. So thank you for opening my eyes."

I nodded, still clinging to India's fragile figure as I began to feel exhausted, my eyelids feeling as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

"Just get some rest Colt, we'll get you home." I heard Ty say as the rest of the pack began to agree.

I was grateful, because moments later I began to drift off quickly and peacefully with my mate finally safe, and in my arms once more.