Chapter 18

NOT EDITED

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After the announcement, a huge commotion broke in the conference room. The men wanted join this fight too to protect their family. The females were frightened. The teenagers were quiet, but I could tell what they were thinking. They wanted to stay away as much as possible. The little kids really didn’t understand what was going on. After all, they were so young.

We, the representatives, were speechless. We didn’t know how to respond to the news, but we saw it coming anyways. We knew it was bound to happen. We stood there, trying to regain as much composure as possible in front of the frightened crowd. However, I could feel the fear rolling off of each one of us.

I would be lying if I said I were prepared. I was anything but prepared. Frightened wasn’t even the right word to describe what I really felt. My stomach was hurting. My head was pounding. The more I dwelled on the situation, the more reality hit me.

We could be dead any second.

With one shoot of their gun in the right place, we would kiss our lives goodbye.

We had to do this though. The only things motivating us were our family, the ones we loved, and the survival of our packs. We needed to do this. There was no thought of backing down for us.

When Weston and Jarred had finally convinced the men that they were forbidden to fight in combats unless it was deemed necessary, they reassured the crowd that everything was going to be fine. Eventually, the crowd walked out of that conference room frightened nonetheless. Some individuals wished us good luck and thanked us for our bravery.

Little did they know we were shaken in the inside.

After the crowd left, that was when the representatives broke down. We were firing questions at nobody in particular. We were ranting aloud. We were sharing our anxiousness with one other.

I guess it only enhanced the commotion when Weston decided to explain the whole story to the representatives. I reassured him that they would understand and they deserved the right to know what was going on. It took him a couple of minutes to say everything. He told them everything, including the news that we’ve been seeing each other.

I guess I didn’t need to explain to Beau after all.

A blush crept its way up my cheeks when I received shocked gazes from my friends. They turned their heads to study Weston whose eyes were fixated on the marbled tiles.  Their mouths hung open and everyone looked absolutely bewildered.

“Oh my gosh,” Jade whispered.

Soon, everyone had something to say about it besides Jarred who knew the whole story.

“If I ever see that girl ever again, I will tear her to shreds,” Stacey growled.

“What the fuck,” Beau muttered, not knowing what else to say.

“Have you found a way to protect us from wolfs bane?” Charles asked urgently.

“I always thought she was a bitch. I never liked her,” Jet spat out, crossing his arms over his chest.

“When the hell did everything get so fucked up?” Dustin grunted.

“Psychotic, desperate, disgusting, freaky, slut,” Abigail said every word with disgust.

“I don’t want Abigail fighting this fight,” Eli said eventually. We all stared at him. It was rare to see Eli so serious. If he was this serious, he didn’t leave any room for discussion.  “She’s still ill.”

“I’m fine, you buffoon,” Abigail snapped. “I’m not even sick anymore. Thank you, Danny, for your amazing healing abilities for the wounded and the sick. Eli, seriously, I’m fine. I could fight. I want to fight.”

“Abs,” Eli said painfully.

“Dude, bro. Stop hovering over her. You’re her mate, not her father,” Charles interrupted.

I used to think Charles was a smart guy. It was worse because he wasn’t exactly Eli’s biggest fan. He was very idiotic for interrupting a conversation between Abigail and Eli especially when Eli was in his serious mode.

“Shut the fuck up,” Eli growled, sending a death glare to Charles. “I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“What are you going to do about it, huh?” Charles snapped back.

“Stop being so immature,” Abigail groaned. “You guys are so freaking annoying.”

“He’s interrupting a conversation he clearly has no reason to be involved in,” Eli complained.

“Bro, I’m just saying you have to respect her decisions,” Charles replied.

“Quit fighting,” Jarred growled at his Beta. “This is not needed at a time like this.”

“Eli, I’m afraid the decision is up to Abigail,” Weston sighed, slapping a hand on Eli’s back for comfort.

Abigail grabbed Eli’s face in between her small hands. She whispered some things that we couldn’t hear. When he shook his head, she whispered furiously. She grabbed his hand, before turning to look at us.

“I’m in,” Abigail announced. “This is for our packs, for our families, for the ones we love.”

Eli didn’t say anything. He simply just stared at the ground with his eyebrows drawn together.

“What exactly is the plan?” Jet asked eventually. “Are we just going to walk out in the open and wear signs that read ‘shoot me’?”

“You’re such a damn pessimist,” Jade hissed while Eli smack the back of his head.

“Excuse me for being scared,” Jet snapped back.

We were all in the heat of the moment. It was definitely a first time to see everyone bicker or snap at each other. I guess you couldn’t blame them if there was an eighty percent chance of dying.

“We all are,” I said, looking at everyone straight in the eyes. “But we were chosen as representatives for a reason. We will stand by the sides of our Alphas and Betas no matter what and we will have the strength to support our Alphas and Betas.”

Everyone stayed quiet after that. I sighed, before saying, “I’m pretty sure there is a plan.”

“Yes, there is,” Jarred replied. “Weston made a plan early this morning. It isn’t the safest plan, but it’s the smartest plan.”

“Well, what is it?” Abigail asked.

“You guys might not agree with me,” Weston groaned. “But this is the smartest way to do it.”

“We ask that you obey what orders you are given,” Jarred spoke for both Weston and himself. “If not, you will face the consequences of breaking the representative oath. We would hate to do that to you guys especially since you are the sons and daughters of the representatives before us and have strength and agility that other werewolves weren’t so lucky to have. We would also hate to do that because you guys are our friends. It’s hard to let friends go. So, don’t let this get any harder than it is.”

“Right,” Weston agreed with a slight frown on his face. “So, if any one of you does not want to fight, please let us know now.”

There was a quiet silence. We looked at each other. None of us chose to back out of course. We were stronger than that.

“Good,” Jarred said when everyone agreed silently to fight. “Every one of you is vital to both our packs. We thank you for all you do.”

“Why do you sound like your saying good bye?” Stacey whispered.

“I’m not saying good bye. I have faith in us,” Jarred replied, but even I was unconvinced.

“What’s the plan?” Beau asked, looking at Weston.

“Remember how I told you that the rogues were working with me?” Weston begun. Everyone nodded. “Well, here’s the plan. The rogues and I are going to be with the hunters when they arrive at our training spot. We will lead the hunters there. We’ve already convinced them that we saw werewolves in this area.

“As much as you guys will hate to hear this, we are going to try our best to not injure any humans. This is important. If we do harm or kill them, this will give the town reasons to hunt us down. These hunters have families too and people who love them. It may not make any sense to some of you. You’re probably wondering why we should spare their lives if they haven’t even given us a chance.

“But that is why we are going to convince them that we mean no harm. We’re not going straight for violence. Once you start war, it is hard to end it. We refuse to put our packs in that danger.

“We’re going to make an agreement to live peacefully amongst them. Therefore, we will lead the hunters into the open field where we will all be standing in our human forms. It is risky. It isn’t safe, but it’s safer than approaching them in our wolf form.

“If they do try to attack, we have enough rogues to knock the weapons out of each hunter’s hands. We have about twenty hunters and fifteen werewolves. If they do shoot, that is where I trust you guys to use your werewolf abilities to move out of the way as quickly as possible. Be alert. Be prepared.

“If they do harm the rogues and you, that is when we attack,” Weston finished.

We stared at him with our mouths slightly open. He wanted us to just … stand there. That is practically signing our death wish right there.

“You want us to just stand there?” Abigail blurted out.

“Yes,” Weston sighed. “I knew it would be hard to convince you guys.”

“How do you know the rogues won’t turn their backs on us?” Charles asked. “After all, nobody should trust a rogue.”

“I agree with him on that,” Eli added.

“The Alpha rogue is my cousin. A bigger rogue group attacked his pack in Georgia. Out of eighty people, twenty made it out alive,” Weston stated reluctantly. We gasped, horrified looks on each of our faces. “They diminished that rogue group and those twenty werewolves have lost everything. They’re going to join our pack. They heard about the hunters and they want to help.”

“There are no other ways to approach this situation?” Alex piped in.

“We don’t have time to think of another solution,” Jarred answered tiredly.

“Have you found a way to protect ourselves from the wolfs bane?” Stacey whispered, looking at her feet. Obviously, the memories were still fresh in her head.

“Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about these weapons.” Weston tried to keep his voice even, but it trembled at the end. “The only thing to protect us from the wolfs bane is ourselves. So be alert. Be prepared. I trust you every one of you. When you’re in doubt, remember why you’re fighting in the first place. Good luck … to all of us.”