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From the way Luca said this, we all knew that the news wasn’t going to be good. Everyone in the crowd watched him with fearful eyes. Their attention was focused on the two Alphas at the front of the room.
‘I will give the floor to Alpha Kieran of the Eclipse Pack,’ Luca announced. ‘He’s truly been on top of his game and found out a lot of information that has benefited our packs in many ways.’
The crowd clapped. My heart swelled with pride at what my mate had done and risked for both packs. He stood at the front with his shoulders squared, smiling gratefully at those praising his work.
‘Thank you, Alpha Luca,’ Kieran said in a deep voice. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the dramatic sighs coming from the majority of the young females. ‘The Moonfire Pack has a great Alpha. He has achieved a great deal too. He helped out as much as he could. His dedication and commitment to his pack is admirable.”
The crowd roared with applause again. I don’t remember the two packs ever being this friendly. It was clear that Luca and Kieran had left high school behind them and started afresh. I was shocked to see that the two men were friends. They no longer butted heads or disagreed about trivial matters. In fact, they were praising each other.
‘There’s no other way to soften the blow,’ Kieran said, his voice tinged with sadness. The crowd fell silent again. Even the representatives wanted to hear what the Alphas had to say. I’ve been waiting anxiously for some news on the problem at hand. ‘Therefore, I am just going to announce it as simply as possible.’
Gulp.
‘Alpha Luca and I order that all werewolves lock up and be on their guard for the next three days. Keep your families safe. That is all we ask of each one of you.” The attack is unfortunate—
After the announcement, there was a huge commotion in the conference room. The men wanted to join the fight to protect their families, too. The women were frightened. The teenagers were quiet, but I could tell what they were thinking. They wanted to keep their distance 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 had seen it coming anyway. We knew it was bound to happen. We stood there, trying to regain our composure in front of the frightened crowd. However, I could feel the fear radiating from each one of us.
I would be lying if I said I was prepared. I was anything but. ‘Frightened’ didn’t even begin to describe how I really felt. My stomach hurt. My head was pounding. The more I thought about the situation, the more I realised how serious it was.
We could die at any moment.
One shot from their gun in the right place and we would kiss our lives goodbye.
But we had to do this. Our only motivations were our families, our loved ones, and the survival of our packs. We had to do this. Backing down was not an option for us.
Once Kieran and Luca had convinced the men that they were not allowed to fight unless it was deemed necessary, they reassured the crowd that everything would be fine. Eventually, the crowd walked out of the conference room, still frightened. Some individuals wished us good luck and thanked us for our bravery.
Little did they know that we were shaken inside.
Once the crowd had left, the representatives broke down. We fired questions at no one in particular. We were ranting aloud. We shared our anxiety with each other.
I suppose it only added to the chaos when Kieran decided to tell the representatives the whole story. I reassured him that they would understand, and that they had a right to know what was going on. It took him a couple of minutes to tell them everything. He told them everything, including that we had been seeing each other.
I suppose I didn’t need to tell Logan after all.
My friends gave me shocked looks and I felt a blush creep up my cheeks. They turned their heads to look at Kieran, whose eyes were fixed on the marbled tiles. Their mouths hung open and they all looked absolutely bewildered.
“Oh my gosh,” whispered Lila.
Soon, everyone had something to say about it, except for Luca, who knew the whole story.
‘If I ever see that girl again, I’ll rip her to shreds,’ Maren growled.
‘What the f**k?’ Logan muttered, not knowing what else to say.
‘Have you found a way to protect us from wolfbane?’ Damien asked urgently.
‘I always thought she was a bitch. I never liked her,’ Cruz spat, crossing his arms over his chest.
‘When the hell did everything get so messed up?’ Avery grunted.
“Psychotic, desperate, disgusting, freaky slut,” said Brielle, emphasising each word with disgust.
“I don’t want Brielle fighting this fight,” Beck eventually said. We all stared at him. It was rare to see Beck so serious. When he was this serious, he didn’t leave any room for discussion. ‘She’s still ill.’
‘I’m fine, you buffoon,’ Brielle snapped. ‘I’m not even sick anymore. Thank you, Talia, for your amazing healing abilities.” Beck, seriously, I’m fine. I could fight. I want to fight.”
‘Brielle,’ Beck said painfully.
“Dude, bro. Stop hovering over her. You’re her friend, not her father,” Damien interrupted.
I used to think Damien was a smart guy. It was even worse because he wasn’t exactly Beck’s biggest fan. It was idiotic of him to interrupt a conversation between Brielle and Beck, especially when Beck was in serious mode.
“Shut the f**k up,” Beck growled, shooting Damien a death glare. ‘I didn’t ask for your opinion.’
‘What are you going to do about it, huh?’ Damien snapped back.
‘Stop being so immature,’ Brielle groaned. ‘You guys are so freaking annoying.’
‘He’s interrupting a conversation he clearly has no business being involved in,’ Beck complained.
‘Bro, I’m just saying, you have to respect her decisions,’ Damien replied.
“Stop fighting,” Luca growled at his Beta. ‘This is not needed at a time like this.’
‘Beck, I’m afraid the decision is up to Brielle,’ Kieran sighed, slapping Beck on the back comfortingly.
Brielle grabbed Beck’s face between her small hands. She whispered something we couldn’t hear. When he shook his head, she whispered furiously. Then she grabbed his hand and turned to look at us.
‘I’m in,’ Brielle announced. ‘This is for our packs, for our families, for the ones we love.’
Beck didn’t say anything. He just stared at the ground, his eyebrows drawn together.
“What exactly is the plan?” Cruz asked eventually. ‘Are we just going to walk out in the open wearing signs that say “shoot me”?’
‘You’re such a pessimist,’ Lila hissed, as Beck smacked the back of her head.
“Excuse me for being scared,” snapped back Cruz.
We were all caught up in the moment. It was the first time we had seen everyone bicker or snap at each other. I guess you couldn’t blame them with an eighty percent chance of dying.
‘We all are,’ I said, looking everyone straight in the eye. ‘But we were chosen as representatives for a reason. We will stand by our Alphas and Betas no matter what, and we will support them.”
Everyone stayed quiet after that. I sighed before continuing, “I’m pretty sure there is a plan.
‘Yes, there is,’ replied Luca. ‘Kieran made a plan early this morning. It isn’t the safest, but it’s the smartest.”
“Well, what is it?” Brielle asked.
‘You guys might not agree with me,’ Kieran groaned. ‘But it’s the smartest way to do it.’
‘We ask that you obey any orders you are given,’ Luca said, speaking for both himself and Kieran. ‘If not, you will face the consequences of breaking the representative oath. We would hate to have to do that to you, especially since you are the sons and daughters of the previous representatives and you have the strength and agility that other werewolves didn’t have. We would also hate to do that because you are our friends. It’s hard to let friends go. So, don’t make this any harder than it already is.”
‘Right,’ Kieran agreed, frowning slightly. ‘If any of you don’t 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,’ said Luca when everyone had silently agreed to fight. ‘Every one of you is vital to both our packs. We thank you for all you do.”