Chapter 26 - a Symbol

**Lily**

"Ow... what the... ?" There is a huge pain at the back of my head. My hand reaches behind and a massive senitive bump causes a wince to fly out my lips.

"Here, take this."

I blink, trying to adjust to the lighting. The first thing I see is a cup full of water. I grab the cup and place it against my lips. The liquid is lukewarm and to be honest, gross. I wipe my mouth and hand the cup back.

"Want more?" The raspy voice asks. My eyebrows furrow while trying to adjust to the silhouette of the person. "You okay?" Jeremy asks with his concerned sexy voice.

Seriously, Lily?

You have a massive headache and I'm thinking about his voice? Focus, Lily. Focus.

I shake my head "no". The others are crowding around me, eyes looking for signs of weakness. I clear my scratchy throat before speaking. "What happened?"

"Well let's see, shall we?" Megan sneers. Her arms cross under her chest and her eyes pin me down on my spot. "You stayed behind to save an old fart, threw him out the window, didn't come down, disappeared, we searched for you inside, firefighters stopped the fire, didn't find you, we thought you were *dust*, and than you are out here in the woods." She takes a deep breath, "Explain yourself?!" Megan demands, her strong hands on my shoulders. My brain shakes inside my cranium as her hands pull me front and back.

"You'll break her!" Jeremy yells, his hands pulling Megan away.

My eyes focus on my friends. They are covered in black ash, and now that I'm gaining back control of my senses, they smell of heavy smoke. I can't believe they went back inside to look for me. It's sweet, kind of dumb, but sweet.

"I don't know what you mean," I claim and focus my eyes on my dark hands.

What is there to tell? I don't know why I felt like rescuing a human, it was risky. I was lucky he was knocked out or questions would have arose. It felt so good to rescue him but something told me to look behind me. And the blue eyes were there. I'm either crazy or those blue eyes, a Royals member, is out for blood.

Jesse sighs and sits beside me. "Lily, we were worried sick. I think you should at least explain yourself."

"Explain what?" I blink the black spots away. The headache is returning to normal. My hands feel for the massive bump, feeling around the chunks of hair on my head. The bump feels smaller, it's still swollen but it'll be back to normal in no time.

"This is serious." Chase eyes look concerned.

"This is serious!" Victor sings, giggling to himself. "We gotta help her. We gotta - " I send him a dirty look to which he thankfully took seriously.

Where do I begin? "I don't know exactly." I close my eyes, trying to remember how I felt in that moment. The smoke around me helps but all I see are the bright blue eyes. "The old man is a human so I just went to get him."

"That's fine, okay?" Jeremy grabs my hand and squeezes it. "I'm proud of you." Even in this state, Jeremy still manages to turn my cheeks into the color pink. "But," He continues, "You didn't warn us. You didn't even tell us that you ran off here."

"Yeah!" Debra angrily exclaims. "We looked inside and you weren't there! I mean, how could you just drop him off to us and than run off here? This is five minutes away, Lily! You gave us a heart attack!"

My eyes harden into pebbles. "We aren't that close, Debra." Hold on. "So you guys didn't carry me here?" My heart begins to thump.

"We just told - "

"Just answer the question!" My tone of voice makes them jump

Debra takes a step back before speaking, "No. We found you here."

A raspy cackle tumbles out my lips. A pain appears on my lower abdomen and I groan out, holding pressure against it. So I'm not crazy. That crazy blue eyed leader saved me from the fire.

"Should we call an ambulance?" Joanne whispers.

"Or a psychiatrist. Her facial expressions are creeping me out!" Alexis whispers back.

"I'm not crazy."

"I don't know." Jesse murmers. "Maybe I should check your pupils."

I shove his hands away. "It's just..." I bite my lip and take a deep breath. "I saw someone."

"Someone?" Jeremy's eyebrow raises.

"A boy?" Chase asks at the same time.

I ignore them and say everything from the time those eyes looked me in the forest to seeing them through the fire. After I'm finished, they are all expressionless with shock visible in their faces.

"So let me get this straight, and they left no tracks whatsoever?" I nod as a reply to Joanne's answer.

They don't say anything for a while. Probably spooked or thinking about the possibility of what I said. I don't say anything, I mean, what can you say? The real question is, who pulled me out the fire and left me here.

I check my pockets and pat my legs and chest. My wallet is still here. I pull out my wallet and check the contents. From debit card to credit cards, they are all there. Even my drivers license is there.

"Maybe you're stressed." Joanne says quietly.

"There isn't a human or werewolf alive that is fireproof, Lily." Megan says, her face scrunched in confusion.

"I know, don't you think I know that?" I give her a look. "That's why I didn't want to tell you. I'm just so confused."

"And they said they were Royals?" Jesse asks.

"That's what I heard."

"Well, so the Red Blood Pack is after us and now the Royals." Alexis holds out both her hands. "This is some Korean drama crap." She plops herself down beside me with an expressionless facial expression.

"You watch Korean dramas?" A smirk appears on Victor's face. Alexis gives him a look.

"So how did you get here?"

"I don't know." My hands move up and down my arms after goosebumps form on my skin. "I fainted after throwing the old man out the window." It was like my body had no energy left, like it had given up.

"So he carried you here." Chase concludes. "They are after you but he rescued you?"

"And nothing is missing from my wallet."

Jesse utters, "Maybe we got them wrong. Maybe they want to tell you something." His hands run over his thighs nervously.

I shake my head. "I think he's been trailing me." I shiver. "I felt watched and it burned my neck." I touch the spot. "I don't know but if they are that good, I think they would have told me already."

Silence.

"I think we need to find a shelter."

I shake my head in disagreement with Jesse's suggesstion. "We can't. A car and a hotel got blown up. We can't risk our identities and innocent people. It's too risky."

"I think that's for the best." Jeremy agrees, his eyes looking into mine deeply. I suddenly feel self conscious and look away.

"Let's run into the forest and than camp out later. It's already..." Jesse looks at his watch. "It's six in the morning so let's keep going."

On wobbly feet, I stand up and pat myself down. Some dirt and smoke particles fall off but most of it is stuck to my clothes. Chase leans towards me, his face getting closer. I feel my body pulling away and the fast beat of my heart. Chase leans down to pick up a white loose leaf paper. He offers it to me.

I blow out my breath. "That's not mine." Stupid heart.

Chase's face looses color. "It's a note from the Red Blood Pack. It was under you." His hand trembles.

I grab the note from his trembling hand, my eyes scanning over the contents. Each word causing a pile of goosbumps to erupt over my skin.

*Hello Princess,*

*You've been effiective in dodging our attacks. Acting like you don't know what you did. But we'll get you. And when we do, you'll be sorry.*

*Red Blood Pack.*

"I'm sorry, guys." My eyes water. Jeremy grabs the note from my hands and the others crowd around him.

I've been scared and I've received death threats before but this time it's different. Because, I know they meant it. And now my friends are going to suffer because of it. I brought them here and I'm the reason we've been so close to death.

"Who is princess?" Brandon asks, his eyes scanning the letter.

I shrug. "Me. I'm the one the note was under." My tongue wets my lips. So I was rescued by the Red Blood Pack? They could have just killed me there or stabbed me while I was laying down on the grass. But they place a note under my ass. Power play?

Nothing compares to the fear in my chest I feel right now.

"That's weird." He mutters.

"Look, I know we're all fightened." Chase begins speaking, his voice restricted. "We gotta move. We've been sitting ducks for way too long."

"You aren't mad at me? I brought you guys here." I want to cry but I've been crying too much. I feel like all my hard work is fading. I did my best to change and I felt confident for more than a year. Now I'm a blubbering mess.

Megan shakes her head. "I kind of want to kill you but it was our idea." She shrugs. "And we can't leave you by yourself. All you do is cry." It's nice when people point out your flaws. The others nod in agreement.

"Really?" My heart feels warm. "Because I really appreciate what you are - "

"Guys!" Chase shouts. "Sitting ducks!"

I don't know how long we've been running in the forest. We shifted a couple hours ago and haven't stopped since we stopped to eat a deer. It's been scary, running through the forest looking for an invisible gate, hoping to get hit in the face by it. It's darker outside and the wind is chilly. My white fur is keeping me warm but even my fur can't keep my paws warm. They ache and I didn't know it was possible but I think they are shivering.

But something smells odd. A scent so heavy and a scent that smells of iron. My snout take a long whiff, immediately identifying it.

It's blood.

My paws take off, my wolf salivating at the scent of fresh blood. As we get closer, my wolf recognizes it as another wolf. I try to take over and turn back to the trail but my wolf overpowers me. My paws thunder after the strong scent.

My eyes catch sight of a figure hunched over, groaning over and over.

My wolf stops a feet away. The others stop behind me.

Sensing us, the figure turns over. A man rolls around with his hand on his chest. Blood dripping under his fingers. His eyes fall on mine, scared but than filled with deep anger.

We gasp. And it isn't because his hand falls off his chest to reveal a hole with a bullet inside. There is a gold tattoo on his shoulder in form of a shield.

It's the Royals symbol.