Chapter 14: Kill Them All!

If you had asked me a week ago, I would've said there was no way a werewolf could ever be afraid of humans. But seeing their reactions to the infected wolf, I couldn't blame them. I had never witnessed anything so horrific in my entire life.

"Derell! No!" I turned to look, and it was his wife, screaming and reaching out for her now insane, dying husband as the other werewolves struggled to stop her.

"Let me go! Let me go! Derrel! What have they done to you?" she screamed in pain.

"What are we going to do? They're inside," Anya whispered, clutching my sleeves tightly, like she was expecting me to do something.

How the fuck was I supposed to know that?!

"They breached the walls?" My voice cracked, rising embarrassingly high. "Where are they? Inside the borders? Inside the courtyard? Can someone please be specific here before I pass out?"

No one stopped long enough to give me an answer. Warriors shifted mid-run, rushing to seek out the intruders, their bones snapping and twisting into fur, claws, and fangs. Omegas scattered, racing the other way as the warriors ran for the front, some falling to the ground in the stampede. Young werepups stood around in confusion, crying for their mothers.

Word had spread about the purple poison that drove wolves mad and bloodthirsty, and no one wanted to be the next victim.

Anya shoved me toward the covered walkway. "Go! You have to hide! The Alphas will kill me if you're caught standing here unprotected."

"Wait, where are you---"

But she was already running in the opposite direction, disappearing into the crowd.

I had two options: stay put and get trampled under their paws, or move. So I moved.

At this point, I was certain that I was definitely the worst Luna in all of werewolf history. No one could be worse than a Luna who would run and hide when her pack was falling apart. But fuck that, I barely knew these people, I wasn't going to risk my life for them! They had Alphas for that.

I shoved my guilt deep down, took my shoes off and made a run for it. My survival came first; everyone else would come later.

The great stone corridors echoed with boots, claws, and distant howling. Thick, black smoke drifted in from somewhere, stinging my nose. I tripped over broken furniture, clutched my cloak tighter, and ran, trying to remember which turn led back to Kieran's quarters so I could maybe hide in there.

I came to a stop when two warriors dragged a figure past me. It was human, his eyes wide, and his body burned and soaked in blood. He laughed as they hauled him along.

"You'll choke on your own ashes!" he screamed, before a fist slammed into his mouth.

I backed into a shadowed corner until they passed, my heart beating faster and faster. Humans weren't supposed to make it this far. The alarms, the guards, the terrifying wolf murder machines outside, all of them were organised so that none of this could ever be allowed to happen.

Which meant Rowan and Kieran were either losing, or the rebels were smarter than anyone else thought.

I forced myself forward, trying to breathe as I swiped the sweat from my face. I needed to find safety, to find answers, to find literally anything that wouldn't end up with me dying in this place, during a rebellion that I never signed up for.

Instead, I turned a corner and nearly face-planted into Rowan.

He was smeared with blood, his shirt was torn, and his eyes glowed a faint blue in the torchlight. He grabbed my shoulders, checking me all over for injury.

"Elowyn! Thank the Goddess you're okay," he breathed, relief and fury knotted together in his voice. "What are you doing out here?!"

"Oh, you know," I panted, "just practising my daily cardio, sprinting for my life, avoiding mobs of humans who apparently break into magical wolf forts now, just the usual."

He didn't laugh, and his hands tightened on mine "You should be hidden. I have to think of somewhere safe to hide you till all this is over."

"Yeah, about that, your definition of safe needs some serious workshopping. Aren't both packs supposed to be safe, too?"

His jaw flexed like he was holding back a thousand words, but he only growled, "You don't have to worry about that anymore. Kieran and I have a plan. In the meantime, stay behind me. I'll keep you safe."

He led me down another corridor, his steps silent despite his size. Every turn made my nerves crawl higher. I kept expecting another rebel to leap out, waving one of those sickly purple jars and turning me and Rowan into a rabid monster.

Rowan's ears twitched, then he froze, pushing me back against the wall, with one arm barring me like a steel gate.

"The Silverfang pack will burn first. I will never forget what they did to my family!"

"No, Hale's pups. We must start with the weaklings, kill them all off, then get their mutt parents!"

"Doesn't matter. Mattias will give us justice. They will all fall, one by one, until no single werewolf is left."