The Great War between the Three Queens and the Free Lands ended over 4 years ago, but Sally is still fighting the ghosts of her past. The continent of Sharleneton has been devastated by decades of war and a massive recovery process is in the works. The Great Council is trying to rebuild the packs all over the continent and they are filtering their projects through the Rogue Workers Union. Hunters are humans with special gifts that allows them to protect their humans. All other beings fear Hunters expect the humans they are sworn to protect. Sally is a hunter without a village who finds herself as a member of the Workers Union made up of mostly werewolves. If this is not enough, she discovers that she is a mate to a troubled Alpha which, is unheard of for a hunter. Suki was a POW who had to endure experimentation by the hands of the Red Queen. Can they make peace with themselves and find a way to move on together or will the war that is still raging inside them consume them? That night I found myself a little girl again. It was the dead of night and I laid on the ground covered in blood. My village burned to the ground as the army of the Pale Queen had destroyed everything in sight. The Hunters of my village were all dead, they had held out as long as they could, and a huge number of the queen’s fighters had lost their lives in the battle with our hunters. Once the last of the hunters had been dealt with, the army took its anger out on the village. It was all lost. Some kid, I could not remember, came running up to me. “We have to go. The village Stillwaters needs us, now. Their hunters are at their last.” The boy screamed as he took my hand, dragging me along. I think I remember him from school. I should, it is such a small village, but what is wrong with my head? Why am I drawing such a blank? We were so soon at the village, but that should have been impossible. To have gotten there that fast, we would have had to run like a werewolf and an impressive at that. There is something in my free hand, but I am not sure what it is, and I have no time to look at it. The scene in front of me is beyond horror. The army had broken down the walls of that village just as they had broken through ours, they were inside of the village itself fighting both the hunters and the normal humans. But the number of hunters did not seem right. There must have been at least a hundred of them of all ages fighting in very different styles. Most hunter families fight as a unit, but these hunters seemed so untrained but somehow affective. The boy joined the fight, but my 12-year-old self was still feeling weak and unsure. I wandered around the burning village, walking up to a scene where several hunters were facing off with a green/black magic mage. He must have been half fae and half human, or at least that is what he seemed to be. Direct green magic really has little effect on humans and less on hunters, but boulders and pieces of homes being thrown at a person does have an effect. The hunters and humans are all trying to stay away from the flying objects, but they are coming at such a speed. Plus, the mage stacked dirt and rock around himself to help shield himself from the others. I had never seen black magic, so I watched the mage use some to defend himself against the attack. I am not sure why or how, but a sudden need to protect finally made its way through my foggy brain. From out of nowhere, I jumped onto the mage’s back, wrapping one arm around his neck, holding my arm tight with my other hand. My legs wrapped around him as I tried to choke the man out. I remember watching our hunters train, wishing I could work with them, but I am just a weak human, what can I do but hang on? The man started to have wild vines whip at my back and head. I felt little of it, all I could think of was the word, protect. It repeated in my mind like an endless song, there was nothing else for me. I had to follow it all the way to the end. Before I knew it, the head hunter of Stillwater was upon us. “Close your eyes, child,” was all I heard and, as I followed his orders and felt a warm liquid all over my upper body and the taste of metal on my lips. The Mage started to fall but I did not. The headhunter held me in his arms and walked me over to the other hunters. Something was rubbed all over my face and arms, followed by a heavy amount of water and more rubbing. I am told to open my eyes. “What is going on? Who are you?” A sudden thought took the man. “Riverbend, where are your hunters, child?!” He seemed somewhere between mournful and mad. A crazy look crossed his eyes and then pain like I had never seen before. It was a helpless pain when courage could not even save. I stepped back from him holding out my hand. I opened it up to show him what I had been carrying in my hand since I woke up in the field. “From the weakest come the strongest.”