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The bullet hit his shoulder. I watched him fall to the ground, blood seeping between his fingers. Iron Justice and Wolfsbane. They weren’t the only ones with weapons. That should keep him down for a long time. I put the gun back in my waistband.
I turned to my mother to figure out an escape route when a hand clamped over my mouth and a blade was pressed to my throat. I could smell the wolfsbane as it burned my throat slightly.
‘That was very bad of you, Talia,’ Thomas seethed.
‘What makes you think I can’t take you here right now? You’re just a human,’ I snapped back.
‘Oh, Tali, Tali, Tali. You really are a poor wolf. Can’t you see the hunters hidden in the dark?’ I adjusted my vision and, sure enough, I could see them all, rifles and knives at the ready. Wow, this wolfsbane really does mess with wolves.
All of a sudden, heavy footsteps entered the room. Low growls filled the air. My nostrils sniffed the air, and I realised that the calm presence that had surrounded me earlier was still there. Kieran was here. They were going to kill him. I just knew it.
Not only was Kieran here, but so were everyone else.
The Eclipse and Moonfire packs, including my brother, stood before me. They snarled and growled, baring their fangs. All of their eyes had dilated to a dark black.
“Isn’t this a sight?” Thomas chuckled, tightening his hold on me. ‘The Eclipse and Moonfire Pack actually standing together.’ Knox told me so much about you people. Or should I say animals? Let me just say: good luck. You’ve just fallen into my trap.’
As he pressed the blade into my skin, Kieran let out a growl and one of the hunters fired a bullet at Cruz, who leaned back due to his quick reflexes. That was all it took for the war to start.
They shifted, their clothes ripping and falling to the damp ground. Snarls rippled through the air, accompanied by a howl from both Luca and Kieran, telling them to begin fighting. I watched as two wolves threw two hunters against the wall and watched them fall to the ground in a heap.
‘You’re coming with me,’ Thomas huffed, pulling my struggling body along. When he pressed the blade deeper, I whimpered. Then a platinum-coloured wolf swept in from the side and nudged Thomas out of the way. Its sapphire eyes met mine before it nodded at the crowd fighting.
‘Shift,’ Maren stated simply through the mind link, before helping Lila tear the chains off my mother.
I shifted, my white fur taking over my whole body. I began running towards a hunter with grey hair who was focusing his gun on Kieran. I jumped over the crates and snapped at his side, hard enough to make him fall to the ground and not get back up again.
‘Thanks, Talis,’ I heard Kieran say in my mind.
‘Why are you here, and how did you find me?’ I growled, pushing a hunter off Roman’s back and throwing the spear that a hunter had been about to throw at Avery. “I specifically told you not to come.”
‘I’m your mate, and the mark you’re wearing helped me find you. So shut up, because I couldn’t live with myself if you were buried underground,’ he grunted, a blade grazing his skin. He snapped at the hunter before nipping at its shoulder.
That’s how it went for about five minutes – ten wolves against a hundred hunters. About twenty of the wolves were dead or unconscious, while the rest fought on for what they believed in. The wolves had minor injuries, and thankfully no bullets had been fired.
That was until a shot rang through the air and a female wolf cried out in pain.
Lila.
I threw the hunter off me and watched her wolf fall to the ground, then get up weakly. She broke the last chain binding my mother before throwing an approaching hunter out of the way. Kieran growled angrily and killed the hunter who had shot his sister.
Before my mum could change into her wolf form, Thomas appeared out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground, pinning her down. I started running towards them when Thomas picked up his dagger, ready to plunge it into my mother’s heart, but a searing pain took over my shoulder.
Through teary eyes, I saw Elias fly over my mother and throw Thomas against a nearby wall with a sickening crack. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to run, but the pain in my shoulder got worse.
Someone had stabbed me.
I heard Luca, Kieran and Elias growling at the same time, and then they all came running to help me. I felt two hunters trying to push me into a crate. Then another came, and then another. I stopped struggling when another piercing sound filled the air, and I watched horrified as Elias fell to the ground with a whimper.
I snapped at the hunter in front of me, biting into his leg and enjoying the sound of his cry. I threw him off. Another was thrown off me as I shook my body angrily. Kieran pinned down the other one and, just as he was about to shoot him between the eyes, he bit into his neck, killing him.
I felt the spear in my shoulder being pulled out immediately before it plunged into Luca’s side. I turned to face the hunter and, hearing Luca’s howl, killed him instantly with my teeth. I felt the warm blood stick to my white fur and shuddered. My first kill.
I wasn’t shocked for long before I heard another shot and Beck cry out in pain. Brielle and Cruz killed that hunter immediately. As one of the remaining hunters tried to kill Brielle, Maren and Damien arrived to stop him.
Seeing that they were weak and outnumbered, the remaining hunters ran away. Everyone shifted into their human forms, groaning in pain as they did so. I felt the pain in my shoulder, squeezed my eyes shut, and left my hand to heal the wound.
Kieran came over to me and pulled a large shirt over my head to cover my body. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me towards the group. Everyone was helping each other fix their wounds. Those who had been infected by wolfsbane were pale and weak. We were all covered in dirt and blood.
“When we get back, Tali will heal all of you. As you can see, she’s a healer,’ Kieran told the group. “I forbid any of you to kill her or touch her, do you understand?”
“Why would we?” Beck said, struggling to take the bullet out of his shoulder. ‘Sure, we hate Healers, but Tali has proved us wrong. I’m pretty sure we’ll all accept Healers now. We need them, Kieran.’
The whole group nodded and turned to my mum, whose sobs were growing louder. ‘I’m so sorry, baby,’ she said to Elias, trying to pull the bullet out of his leg. He grunted in pain and stopped her fumbling hands.
‘We’ll have to clean our wounds at home, where it’s less likely to become infected,’ Elias said. ‘But in the meantime, I’m sorry, Tali.’
“For what?” I asked. “I should be the one apologising. I led you guys here. I was the one who –”
Elias raised his hands to stop me. ‘No, Tali, not for that,’ he said, his eyes softening as a tear trailed down his cheek. ‘Dad’s dead.’
******
As I watched my father’s coffin slowly descend into the ground, a tear rolled down my cheek. Kieran kept a warm arm around my waist for comfort, for which I was very grateful. I clutched my brother’s hand tightly as he kept a straight face, unsure of how to deal with all this yet. Our mother sent us a sympathetic smile and rubbed our backs.
There weren’t many people at the funeral. In fact, the only people there were my mum, Elias, Tasha, Kieran, Fiona and me. The silence was filled with the sound of Fiona’s heavy sobs as she trembled and collapsed onto the floor. I rolled my eyes. Earlier today, she had snapped at the lawyer for not giving her the money she wanted.
You might be wondering why I’m crying.
Well, he was still my dad. I grew up around him and his values. He wiped the tears off my face when I had a grazed knee. He was there when I learnt how to ride a bike. He made me my favourite hot chocolate with marshmallows when I had a nightmare. He was there, just like any other father.
And just like that, he was gone.
He left this earth with the memory of me snapping at him and refusing to be his child or spend time with him. Yes, he caused me great pain. He watched me suffer, tried to kill my boyfriend and attempted to kidnap me in the hope of finding the Eclipse and Moonfire Packs and the Healers.
But he was still my father.
After the burial, we headed to my house, where we all sat on the Moonfire bench in the garden and looked at the stars scattered across the dark sky. My mum excused herself to help Aunt Mabel prepare something to eat. Kieran and Tasha went inside for a while to give Elias and me some time alone together.
“How’s the Pack?” Elias asked, his voice loud in the silence.