Guilty

EVERETT

The pack of wolves moves closer, growling ferociously as Eddie, Oliver, and his dad all swing their rifles around, becoming more and more scared by the minute.

They look like they’re ready to shoot again.

And if they do, even I won’t be able to stop what happens next.

~“Let’s tear these humans to shreds,”~ Amber mind-links to the pack. ~“They shot one of our own.”~

~“They’re out here all alone,”~ Reynolds adds. ~“No one would ever find them again.”~

Amber takes a step forward, baring her fangs. Her body is tense, ready to pounce.

~“Wait,” I command them through the mind-link. ~“Do not attack.”

Amber turns back at me, glaring.

“~Alpha,~” she mind-links, ~“the treaty against hurting humans doesn’t apply. They shot one of our own.~”

She’s right.

But these are Aurora’s friends. I couldn’t live with myself if I let anything bad happen to them.

I step up to Amber. ~“I don’t care,”~ I say. ~“Back off.”~

The rest of the wolves, obeying my command, uneasily back away from the humans, who are getting more and more confused by the minute.

But Amber stays right in my face, not backing down. “~You’re saying we’re just going to let them free?~”

“~It was an accident,~” I mind-link.

Amber and I have disagreed about lots of issues, especially when it comes to humans. But so far, it’s always been just that. Disagreement.

But right now, Amber is staring right into my eyes—a sign of challenge to the status of the alpha.

~Is she going to challenge me over this?~

The air is tense as all the wolves watch us.

But before things escalate any further, the sound of bones cracking fills the forest air.

Lucius groans as he shifts back to human form, his fur receding to show his naked body covered in blood.

~Shit.~

~He must’ve been too weak to stay in his wolf form.~

And now, we have an even ~bigger~ problem.

Eddie, Oliver, and his dad stare wide-eyed at Lucius. They’re frozen in place, their brains trying to comprehend what they’ve just seen.

Most humans have seen fictional werewolves in movies, but to see an ~actual~ transformation take place is another thing entirely.

And my plan to let them go went to shit the second they saw it. If I were to let them go now, the secret could come out and it could endanger all of werewolf-kind.

“~What now, Alpha?~” Ace mind-links me.

All the wolves are waiting to see what I do. My mind starts to race, trying to come up with a new plan.

There’s no other choice but to shift.

Chaos recedes into the back of my mind as my body turns back into human form, and immediately the rest of my pack follows.

“What the FUCK?!” the older man screams out, staring in horror as all the wolves around him turn into naked people.

Then, Oliver and Eddie lay their eyes on me. “Everett?”

I can see them trying to keep their eyes on my face instead of below my waist.

“Hello,” I tell them curtly. “I’m sorry that it had to come to this, but you’re going to have to come with us.”

They look confused.

“What do you mean? Where?”

I ignore them. Answering all their questions now would take all night.

“Take them back to the pack,” I say, turning to Ace. “Put them in prison until we figure out what to do with them.”

Oliver’s father steps forward. “Prison? Wait, wait, please! We were just on a father-son trip. We…we didn’t see anything. Just let us go.”

“It’s too late for that,” Amber hisses. “You shot one of us.”

Ace and some other warriors grab them, pushing them back the way we came. Eddie and Oliver try to struggle, but it’s no use.

“Please,” Eddie pleads with me. “Everett, you know us! We’re Rory’s friends.”

I feel guilty as I watch them get hauled off into the darkness, back to the pack.

~Shit.~

This is ~not~ what was supposed to happen today.

I mind-link Ace, making sure the rest of the pack can’t hear it.

“~Make sure they’re comfortable. And don’t allow any visitors, we don’t know what the rest of the pack will do.~”

I run my fingers through my hair, exasperated, turning back to Lucius on the ground.

His eyes are closed, but his chest is still rising and falling. He’s still breathing.

I pick him up and he groans.

I need to get him back to Aurora as soon as possible.

***

RORY

I overlook the silent, empty stadium set up in the park gardens.

~Where are they?~

I managed to oversee the evacuation of the other packs to safety, and now I’ve been waiting anxiously here for Everett to return.

Then, suddenly, Everett appears out of the forest, holding a bloody Lucius in his arms.

I stand up, rushing over as Everett gently places Lucius down on the ground.

He’s bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound in his stomach.

But thank the Goddess he’s still alive.

I place my hands over his wound, closing my eyes and focusing on generating the golden, glowing energy needed to heal him.

The pain is overwhelming, making my vision go blurry. My heart is racing, knowing I’m going to die.

But I’ve done this enough times by now. I’m prepared. I know what happens next.

~Blackness.~

And then, my eyes open, and I wake up in the endless, misty expanse of the spirit realm.

I get up, looking around.

“Mom?” I call out, my voice echoing. “Achlys?”

But there’s no answer. Just emptiness in every direction.

I look down, remembering the last time I was in the spirit realm. Below, there’s the blackness. The land of the dead.

But that place is terrifying, and there’s no need to go there now. Lucius is alive, so I should just leave and get back to Everett.

I make my way to the door, glancing back one more time to see if my mom shows up.

But she doesn’t.

So I walk through the door, causing a blinding white light to envelop me.

And then, I open my eyes and take a deep breath.

~I’m back.~

Everett is leaning over me, and a smile grows on his face when he sees I’m awake.

“Hey, little one,” he says. “Welcome back.”

“Hi,” I say, smiling back. “You’re always the first thing I want to see when I come back from the dead.”

I glance over at Lucius. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see his wound has completely healed. But he’s still passed out from exhaustion.

“What happened out there?” I ask Everett, sitting up.

He grabs my hand, his face turning serious.

“Your friends Eddie, Oliver, and his dad are in the dungeon right now. They were out in the woods, hunting, and shot Lucius by accident.”

My eyes widen.

~Eddie and Oliver are in prison?!~

“They’re in the dungeon?” I cry out. “We need to get them out!”

“Don’t worry. They’re safe, and they’re comfortable. I made sure of that.”

My mind starts spinning. “So they know about werewolves now?”

Everett nods gravely. “Because of that, it’s going to be hard to convince the pack to let them go.”

~Goddess, no…~

Back in high school, I lived a double life. It was always hard to keep my life at school and my life at the werewolf pack separate.

I always thought maybe one day I’d be able to tell them the truth.

But now, I guess the truth found them.

“What’s going to happen to them?” I ask.

Everett squeezes my hand tightly.

“The standard punishment for harming a werewolf is death.”

I jump to my feet.

“Death?” I cry out. “Everett, those are my friends! We have to do something!”

He stands up and pulls me close, a reassuring look in his blue eyes.

“We’ll do everything we can,” he says. “Nothing is going to happen to them.”

I want to believe him, but even ~he~ doesn’t sound convinced of his words.

“We have a pack meeting in the morning,” he says. “It’s been a crazy couple of days. Let’s try to get some sleep.”

I nod, just wanting to be comforted and held by him. He takes my hand, leading me back into the pack house and into our bedroom.

We lie down, and he wraps his arms around me, pulling me close. The warmth of his body and the perfect closeness of his embrace instantly make me feel more calm.

This feels like ~home.~

His chest starts expanding and contracting, and his arms around my waist get limp as he quickly falls asleep.

~Goddess, after everything that’s happened he must be exhausted…~

But despite being in Everett’s arms, I still feel restless.

I can’t stop thinking about Oliver and Eddie, somewhere underground in the dungeons, scared out of their minds.

~What the hell is going to happen to them?~

***

The next morning, Everett and I walk into the pack council room. All the council members are talking amongst themselves, but as soon as we enter, everyone goes deathly silent.

They all stare at us as we take our seats at the head of the table.

The air is tense.

“Hello. I called this meeting…,” Everett starts, “…to discuss the fate of the humans that were captured last night.”

Of course, Amber is the first one to speak.

“There’s nothing to discuss,” she says. “They almost killed one of us. The laws are clear. The punishment is death.”

Everett points to Lucius, sitting in the chair next to him.

“As you can see, our luna has healed Lucius,” Everett counters. “The damage has been undone.”

Murmurs of agreement spread through the council.

“But they still know about our existence,” Amber calls out. “There is no way to undo that.”

Everett opens his mouth to respond, but I stand up and speak first.

“Eddie and Oliver are my friends,” I call out. “They’re just like Freya. They can keep a secret. I trust them with my life.”

“Well, the rest of us don’t,” Amber shoots back. “Countless wolves could die if the humans found out about us. Are you prepared for those deaths to be ~your~ fault, Luna?”

I stare at Amber like a deer in headlights, unsure how to respond.

~What if Amber is right? If I try to save my friends, am I destroying my pack?~

“We’ll find a way,” Everett says, grabbing my hand reassuringly. “There’s always another solution.”

Amber looks around at the council. “Everett is clearly blinded by his devotion to his human luna. Time after time, we’ve allowed humans to get closer to our pack. But this is ~enough.~

Everett growls. “Watch your tone, Amber. I am your alpha.”

“We’ve let you get away with too much already by allowing your luna’s human friend on pack grounds for the Running. So I propose a vote.”

The council murmurs agreement.

Amber stands up. “All in favor of letting the humans go?”

I raise my hand, and so does Everett, Lucius, and Ace. But no one else does.

Amber looks at me, a smile growing on her face.

“All in favor of putting them to death?”

I watch in horror as one-by-one, every other hand in the council goes up.

I turn to Everett, but he looks shocked when he realizes there’s nothing he can do.

The vote is in.

My friends are going to be put to death.