CHAPTER 7: Massacre

It looks like an ambush when I go outside, out of the pack house, into the open where I can see everything.

People are screaming and shouting for help. There are large wolves attacking the pack. They're coming in from everywhere, from every corner.

The first thing that I can think of is my safety. My safety and Henry. But Henry is back home, with Melinda.

I need to go to him. I need to go now before anyone gets me. My eyes dart around, trying to find an opening, a place to run.

And when I do find it, I just run.

My feet lead me, they carry me away from this massacre. The scent of blood and the screams of those in the house follow behind me, and I can't stop. I cannot. I just keep running, away, and away.

Until I hear gunshots. Then I halt in my steps and look back.

Gunshots. Silver bullets.

My father.

No, it can't be possible. It can't be him. There are foreign wolves here, and there are hunters. It cannot be him.

No. I refuse to think so. It's not him. He cannot have found me this quickly. I won't believe it. But the more gunshots I hear, I begin to question what is happening. How can it be that hunters are working with wolves?

It's absurd.

But it is possible. And it is also possible that my father is here, with these hunters. Hunters are the only ones that carry guns to attack wolves, along with silver knives. He has found me. Somehow.

The thought of Henry just rushes inside my head.

"Aria!" a voice comes through all the chaos.

I whip my head around to find Henry, wide awake and standing in front of me. He quickly kicks his feet and starts running toward me. And I do, too.

I run to him and grab his arm. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be with Melinda!" I snap at him, unknowingly. The fear in me is rising, my wolf is getting scared, and so am I. If Dad has found us here, we're not safe anymore.

I'm not sure what to do.

"They—they came and killed her—"

He doesn't say much as he is interrupted by Darius, who is the one who has brought Henry to me.

"I returned home after a distressing call from Melinda. By the time I reached, there were hunters there. I managed to kill them, but I believe there are more of them coming," Darius looks at me and then behind me. "Take Henry with you, and get out of here. Go to the shelter grounds near the training area I told you of, there are many wolves there, they'll protect you."

"But—"

"There's no time to waste, Aria. Go. These people aren't going to spare anyone." He tells me, his tone strict. I look at him in the eye and then glance back behind him.

He's right.

There are more and more wolves coming, attacking this place, attacking everyone.

Darius pushes me ahead, and I take off with Henry. Instead of going from the front, where I can smell rogues, I take the route from the back of the pack house that leads into the woods behind. There's chaos everywhere, and it seems like no matter where I run or where I turn, I cannot seem to get away from it all. I keep running and running.

There's a wolf that jumps at us suddenly. Henry screams and falls back. My heart is thumping, loud in my ears.

"Aria!" he screams, terrified, his hand reaching out for me. "Help! Help me!"

The wolf—it's big. And I know what I need to do. My wolf is already out, and she's trying to get out, too. But I can't seem to shift, even when I try so hard.

My hands are shaking, and my legs are, too. It's hard to even keep standing.

"Stop, stop!" Henry keeps screaming, and it's hard to ignore the plea in his voice, the desperation, the fear in him.

I reach forward and push at the wolf that is almost on him. It's so big, and my pushes do not even budge him. Instead, it just makes him angrier.

I fall on my ass and crawl back, away from him as he comes at me, baring his teeth. He growls loudly, and my wolf is scared. I'm scared, too. The wolf doesn't look normal; it looks different, like it's rabid, like it's lost all control. His eyes are red, so dark that I just feel the evil inside him.

And he's coming at me, closer and closer.

My eyes close, and I brace myself for his attack, for his jaws to bite me and tear me open, for the pain to begin.

But instead of the pain, instead of the agonizing feeling that will overtake me, I feel the power in the air. It grows stronger and stronger until I can feel the intensity of it, the weight on my shoulders.

And suddenly, the wolf that is attacking me is pushed off. It falls on the floor with a thump, and then it howls in pain.

I open my eyes and quickly scramble back on my feet, staring at what I had done. The wolf has blood seeping from its neck, and I did that—somehow.

My lips part, but I cannot say anything. Instead, I grab Henry and continue to drag him along, running away into the forest.

"Why can't you shift?" Henry asks me.

"I don't know," I shake my head. "I just can't. Not right now. Maybe later. It's fine, we'll be in the shelter grounds soon enough."

We run and keep running until I see bodies on the ground in the woods. Dead wolves. Their scent is familiar, and I recognize some of them from the pack house. They are dead, and their eyes are wide open.

Henry is behind me; his eyes are red from crying. "They're all dead."

I swallow hard and take his hand in mine. "It's alright. Don't look."

But the more we continue, the more I begin to feel dread inside me. The scent in the air grows heavier and heavier, and the bodies increase. There's no one left alive.

And then there's the alpha—my mate. His scent is strong but fading.

I stop once more and look around, darting my eyes left and right. I can see it. I can see his wolf, he's lying there on the ground, blood surrounding him. He's wounded, his fur is soaked with blood, and his breathing is shallow.

He's dying.