by Holly Hook
I won't let them. They might think they're doing the best for the world, and it's going to make me feel horrible to attack them, but I don't have to kill them. Just make them back off. I won't kill humans again, with one possible exception.
“Shoot them!” Edwin shouts from deeper within the trees.
I leap over the wall regardless, despite the fact that he's waving his silver dagger already. It catches faint starlight and seems to glow with a magic of its own. I have to hope the dark will protect me from his sight. Two other Wolves leap over the wall with me. He can't target all of us.
I leap down towards Cayden, who wrestles with a Hunter I don't know. The young man tries to punch the beautiful black Wolf, and I read conflict in his eyes as I approach. He's a strong guy and manages to push Cayden off, but just as he sits up, I ram into him. Around me, other Wolves collide with rogue Hunters. Equipment clicks and falls to the ground. They hadn't been expecting all of us.
Edwin must have forgotten about a pack's loyalty.
I shove the Hunter back, and we roll into a tree trunk. He strikes it first, letting out a grunt, and we make eye contact for a split second. The Hunter's brown eyes are wide and confused. But I see the meaning. He knows he's made a mistake. So I back away from him, leaving him unarmed, and let him push himself from the ground. I nod at him. This is a distant relative of mine, just like Callie, and he probably came here with Edwin because he didn't know what else to do.
And he runs back into the trees, running for his life.
The warm feeling stays in my chest as I watch him go. I turn to see his crossbow lying on the ground among boot and Wolf prints. Around me, the other four Hunters, all young men I've never spoken to, wrestle with Wolves who snap at their throats in false threats. None of us want to hurt them. Silver daggers lie everywhere in the mud. Allen, despite a bloody spot on his hind leg, pins another one of the Hunters down while Marleen paces around them both. We've overpowered them.
“What are you all doing?” Edwin shouts, advancing on us all.
Cayden keeps another one of the Hunters pinned down. The young man gives up as Cayden breathes in his face. He lets his head fall to the ground, which dislodges his leather hat.
Run, he thinks to me.
Then I realize why too late.
I whirl to find Edwin, silver dagger bared, standing just feet from me. Madness gleams in the old man's eyes. He's just as bad as any of the cult members. Just as dark, twisted, and insane. No. He's worse, because he can pass for good and that does so much more damage.
Despite the icy fear replacing the warmth in my chest, I growl at him.
Where is my aunt?
I growl again. Where is she?
“Stand down,” Edwin says to me in a scary calm voice. “If you care about your pack and the rest of the world, you will stand down. I will make it fast. If you continue to live, you will drag the rest of the world down with you and there will be no winners except for the Savage King.”
He truly believes this.
But as he holds that dagger up, ready to sweep it through the air and collapse me in less than a second, he's shaking. Edwin suffers some conflict, too.
But unlike the Hunter I let go, he won't change his mind. And that freezes me.
But I growl again and dare to take a small step closer. Where is she? Where's Aunt May?
Back away from him, Cayden thinks in agony. Brett might be holding his curse back for now, but if Cayden leaves his place pinning the Hunter down, Edwin will go ahead and end me, even if it means sacrificing his own life. Maybe he's more honorable than I thought and doesn't know another way.
I can't. I won't. Not until I get my Aunt May back.
Edwin seems to understand. “We will make sure the Noble line continues. There are ways. Science is a wonderful thing. We have money. Your aunt will never have to know what happened to you. She's safe. We'll keep her that way.”
His words almost sway me. Almost.
And he sounds truthful, almost enough to convince me to kneel and let him do as he promises. But I also sense he's grasping at straws. Edwin's not sure about his plan.
And Aunt May isn't stupid. She'll know the truth.
I backpedal, ready to leap. I might not ever reach Edwin, but I have to try. Eight feet separate us. Edwin senses what I'm about to do and backs away, raising the dagger--
A bolt flies from the trees.
And the silver end thunks right into Edwin's shin. Droplets of blood fly as the wooden shaft trembles from the impact. Edwin's mouth falls open as he staggers and looks down at the new injury.
It can't be. All the Hunters are pinned down and the rest of us are in Wolf form--
Human footsteps approach from the trees.
Edwin gasps as he realizes what's happening. He drops the silver dagger to the mud, trembling, as he shuffles behind a tree.
Three sets of human footsteps approach, all of them clad in leather. I look in the direction Edwin's facing to see three dark forms, two men and one woman, running straight towards us from the woods.
Alex leads the way, pointing his crossbow at Edwin's hiding place, and right behind him comes Earl and Callie. Both wear Hunter gear.
And all at once I remember.
I never told Callie things were alright by nightfall, and she kept her promise that she'd come for us. And now she might have brought the Savage King with her, straight into the heart of our territory.
Now I undestand why, despite Brett being near us, I haven't felt the pressure of the Savage King. He was waiting for this. Waiting for Callie to arrive. Now he can spring his trap, knowing I can't resist it.
The protective urge sweeps over me and I step in front of the others, growling at Callie. You can't come back here. Go back. Get away from me or things will get bad.
But being human, she can't understand me.
“Brie,” Callie says, breaking into a full run. “We're coming. We're not letting that dickhead hurt any of you. And why are all these Hunters pinned down? Scott? What are you doing there?”
The Hunter Cayden's pinned down shouts, “I don't know what's going on, either, but at least they're not killing us.”
“What have you done?” Edwin shouts, pulling the bolt from his leg. “Alex. You turned against me and everything good.”
But Alex lifts his crossbow and points it at Edwin's heart. “Your mistake is yours and not everyone else's. I can't go with your plan for any longer.”
“Mistake?” Callie asks.
Alex glares at her as she skids to a stop. He walks past her and Earl, keeping his weapon aimed on Edwin. He staggers back, leaving the silver dagger on the ground.
All I can do is watch. Callie stays back as if she's remembered the danger she poses. Alex must have gotten her and Earl. He left Edwin after the scene at Edwin's house. A warm feeling fills my ribs. Alex does have honor. A life for a life.
“You're a man of pride and secrets,” Alex says, closing the distance between him and Edwin. “You shouldn't have left your old journals out in your basement, Edwin. You trusted me to guard your home and that's your downfall.”
Edwin pales. I sniff. Not only does his blood fill the air, but also his terror.
I growl at Edwin. But his attention is no longer on me. Inside the house, Brett continues to chant in a low voice. Darkness swirls around me, invisible and centering on Edwin. Whatever Brett's doing, I'm going to go with it.
“So, you sold out the Noble Royals all those years ago to preserve your own life and learn dark magic from the cult,” Alex continues. “And then you blamed your nephew and his girlfriend to cover yourself. Those things shouldn't have been written down.”
Edwin gasps. “You're lying.” He's grasping for straws.
I snap at Edwin. He's unarmed. I can kill him now. Every muscle fiber begs for his blood.
Alex nods at me and his beard quivers as he speaks to us both. “I've had to put down fellow Hunters, my family, because of those Savages he willingly worked with.”
<
br /> “No. No, no, no,” Edwin begs, holding up his hand. “I'm not working with them now. They had me surrounded and they were going to kill me if I didn't give them information. So I did and they taught me some tricks and I went on my way.”
Alex isn't moved. “You should have chosen death. The rest of the Noble Order would have.”
Don leaves his pinned Hunter on the ground and snaps his jaws at Edwin. The other Wolves gather as Brett continues to chant and the Russells join in. A dark cloud gathers around Edwin as he tries to back away, gasping for life. None of the Hunters move to help him and Callie and Earl keep their distance, watching the horror.
My lie about him turned out to be true.
I advance on Edwin. He's the reason I have no family.
Cayden joins me, but he stays back, as if he knows this revenge has to be mine.
Alex fires a bolt into Edwin's chest.
He misses Edwin's heart, instead impaling his ribcage on the right with a sickening crack. Edwin makes a gagging sound and goes down.
Kill him, I think. If we all participate, I won't have to take the guilt.
I lead the charge.
Edwin does not die slowly.
Chapter Twenty
“Edwin deserves to be buried and forgotten.”
We all gather on the back of Olivia's deck around midnight after taking turns changing back, showering, and dressing. Back in human form at last, I lay my head on Cayden's shoulder. Even Callie stands on the back deck, looking into the trees where we buried what was left of Edwin. No guilt plagues me and judging from her lack of problems so far, no guilt plagues her, either. She leans on her husband for support.
“I feel sick,” Leonora says to her parents. “I mean, I know we did the right thing, but I'm not going to sleep for a week.”
“Shh,” Remo tells her.
“What am I going to tell my mom?” Olivia asks.
“Your mom will never notice a deep grave in the woods,” Noah tells her. “Just stay quiet. And if we need to hide any more bodies, we know where to go.”
Olivia slaps him.
I'm shaking. Brett moves to stand up beside me and he leans over the railing. “I didn't think cursing Edwin to generic suffering and pain would turn out this way.” He looks into the woods and the dark under the trees. “I guess it worked.”
“How's Karina?”
“Sleeping. I hope it's for a while, still,” he says.
“We still need to find my aunt,” I say, facing Callie. “The Hunters Edwin tricked into working for him must know where she is. They took off. You can call some of them, right?” As I ask, I search her eyes for any trace of that darkness. There's none. Romulus has backed away from her for now.
“Alex will be able to call them and we'll find her as soon as we can. They won't hurt her,” Callie says. “I could tell none of them wanted to be there with Edwin.” She smiles. “I never liked that guy.”
Cayden leans close to me after another pause. “You're doing great.”
“Huh?”
“You're not tearing yourself apart about Edwin and you didn't have your...problem.” Cayden eyes the Colling Wolves, who gather on the other side of the spacious deck and rest.
“That's because he hurt everyone around him and betrayed my parents. He had to die,” I say, gripping the deck railing. It still smells slightly of gas despite Noah and Olivia cleaning it up. Edwin was different than Brett's father. By taking him out of the picture, we made things easier for everyone. I can't find a reason to feel bad about helping to kill him. “Not acting alone helped a lot.”
Cayden kisses my cheek. “We can all share that responsibility. Not one of us delivered the final blow.”
“Good point.”
Then I realize that despite having Brett stand next to me, he's not draining us. He stands with purpose instead, though his shoulders still slump with the weight of things. I face the guy. “Feeling better?”
“Well, a little. When do I get to start helping tear people apart?” He forces a smile. “It might be a better outlet than I've had so far.”
“Whenever you want?” Cayden asks.
Brett frowns. “Karina's not going to like this one bit. So, this Noble Royal graveyard. I'm guessing we have a shot at contacting this Remus guy there. As soon as we find your aunt and make sure Karina doesn't murder us in our sleep, we should go.”
I look to Cayden and Everly, who now stands behind him. “He's serious?”
“What? You can't tell from my facial expression, alpha?”
Yeah. He's feeling better.
“Well, you're always sarcastic, so it's hard to tell even for me,” I say. “Where's this graveyard place?”
“Where Remus and Romulus fought for the last time,” Brett says. “In the former Roman Empire. He's buried there. If that place doesn't help you reach him for good, I don't know what will. But first things first. If we survive my sister, I'll show you the way there.”
END OF BOOK SIX
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Holly Hook is the author of several Young Adult fantasy, science fiction, fairytale, post-apocalyptic and adventure series. She has been writing since very young and publishing her work since September of 2010.
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